Chapter 654 Shi Siming returned to the Southern Tang Dynasty
The time goes back to the third year of Tianyou (760).
Pugu Huai'en led the cavalry, passed through Laizhou Port, bypassed the natural dangers of the Yellow River, landed on Henan Road, and captured Qizhou.
Qizhou was Shi Siming's base. Without this place, Shi Siming's 100,000-strong army would have to risk being flanked by Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en to cross the Yellow River if they wanted to go to Henan Road again.
Naturally, Shi Siming was not that stupid. He chose to go west, intending to use the troops in his hands to negotiate with the Luoyang court of Yan State and try to gain as much benefit as possible.
At first, the officials in the Luoyang court treated Shi Siming with cold eyes.
The army led by Shi Siming fought against the Northern Tang Dynasty and suffered repeated defeats. Not only did they lose Fan Yang, they also lost Hebei and Hedong.
Because of these achievements, everyone in Luoyang, from the emperor to the ministers, began to doubt Shi Siming's ability, believing that the previous rumors that Shi Siming was good at using troops were all fabrications.
Some ministers in Luoyang suggested to Emperor An Qingxu that they should send an edict to recruit Shi Siming to Beijing for an audience, then ambush the army, forcibly detain him, and eat the elite soldiers of Hebei.
Fortunately, not all Luoyang is stupid.
Yan Zhuang, Gao Shang and other advisers expressed their opposition to this proposal. They all believed that Shi Siming would never be fooled.
Li Guangbi's army had already reached the edge of the Yellow River, and Pugu Huai'en began to recover the prefectures and counties in Henan Province. Shi Siming's army was a barrier to the Yan State.
The immediate plan should be to stabilize Shi Siming and make him available to Luoyang.
Therefore, for Shi Siming's successive failures, the Luoyang court not only did not punish him, but instead sent many rewards, and also promoted officers and nobles to the generals of the Hebei Army. Firstly, it was to win over people's hearts, and secondly, it was also to test their attitude.
Seeing Luoyang act like this, Shi Siming gradually felt relieved.
The Luoyang army and Shi Siming were like this, one in the west to fight against Guo Ziyi, and the other in the east to defend Li Guangbi from going south.
The two parties got along well and lived peacefully for several months.
Unfortunately, these good times did not last long.
On the battlefield of Chang'an, Guo Ziyi listened to Kong You's strategy and ambushed the Yan army general An Shouzhong in Fufeng County outside Chang'an City.
The Yan army was defeated and Chang'an was recovered.
Tian Chengsi, who was left behind in Chang'an, did not care about the shame and looted the city crazily, then led his troops to escape from the city and went to Tongguan in the east.
An Shouzhong was defeated and captured, Chang'an fell into the hands of the Northern Tang Dynasty, and the 80,000 Yan army was almost wiped out.
As a result, the military balance between Luoyang and Shi Siming has begun to waver.
At this juncture, An Qingxu, the second emperor of Yan State, did a huge stupid thing because he was greedy for life and afraid of death.
An Qingxu believed that Chang'an had been lost, all of Hebei had fallen, and Luoyang had been flanked by the armies of Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi, and that holding on to the capital would only be a recipe for death.
Therefore, An Qingxu issued an order to sweep away Luoyang's goods and flee south to Ye County in Henan Province. He used the geographical environment there to reorganize a defense line to resist the armies of Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi.
As soon as this imperial edict was issued, there was an explosion within the Yan Kingdom.
There are many ministers of the Yan State who have been operating in Luoyang for a long time. They have not only private property but also farmland, and they don't want to leave at all.
In addition, generals including Ashina Chengqing, Li Lijie and other generals were also dissatisfied that the emperor only retreated and did not think about progress.
Suddenly, there were endless quarrels and undercurrents in Luoyang City.
At this time, Shi Siming, who was far away in Bianzhou, was trying every means to recruit troops and expand his territory. After hearing the news of the chaos in Luoyang, he said with great joy: "This is my best opportunity to make a fortune!"
Therefore, Shi Siming personally led an army to Heyin (north of Zhengzhou) east of Luoyang in the name of garrison, and offered to protect An Qingxu.
When An Qingxu saw Shi Siming's army approaching Luoyang, he became very nervous. On the one hand, he sent envoys to ask Shi Siming to stay where he was and not to approach. On the other hand, he asked Ashina Chengqing to lead 5,000 elite troops to Heyin to guard against Shi Siming.
Ashina Chengqing and Shi Siming were old friends. When the latter heard that the former was coming, he held a special banquet to entertain him and invited him to the banquet.
Ashina Chengqing was not too wary of Shi Siming, so he led his troops to Heyin for the banquet.
At the banquet, Shi Siming raised his glass and said to Ashina Chengqing: "I got to know you when I was selling horses in Mobei. At that time, we only thought about filling our bellies every day. How could we have expected that we would be here today?"
Ashina Chengqing was originally a descendant of the Turkic royal family. After the collapse of the Turkic Khanate, he met An Lushan and Shi Siming and gained his current status.
Hearing Shi Siming's words, Ashina Chengqing was also filled with emotion. After drinking some wine, he said through his drunkenness: "When the late Emperor was still alive, I still had the desire to rule the world peacefully. Now His Majesty does not want to make progress and just retreats. Back then,
The empires we conquered all turned into nothing in the blink of an eye.”
From here, Shi Siming could already hear Ashina Chengqing's dissatisfaction with An Qingxu. He smiled and said: "The general was highly valued by the late emperor, but now he has surrendered himself to mediocrity. It is really a disgrace to his talents."
Ashina Chengqing was depressed and didn't say anything, just kept drinking.
Shi Siming added: "The reason why the general serves the An clan is because he is forced by their power. Now that the Yan country is weak, if the general can think of a way out, it can be regarded as a way out to turn disaster into blessing."
Hearing this, Ashina Chengqing was stunned and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
Shi Siming clapped his hands, and a civil servant came out from behind the screen, saluted Ashina Chengqing, and said, "I am the envoy of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and I came here specifically for the general."
When he heard the word "Nantang", Ashina Chengqing suddenly sobered up and unconsciously stretched his hands to his waist.
Seeing this, Shi Siming said: "People go to higher places and water flows to lower places. Is it possible that the general still wants to continue to rely on Yan?"
Ashina Chengqing frowned, glanced at the envoy of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and said: "The Southern Tang army was killed by An Shouzhong and no one was left alive. They were about to invade the capital. Why would General Shi want to join them?"
"
Shi Siming: "There are currently only three kingdoms in the Central Plains. The emperor of the Yan Kingdom is greedy for life and afraid of death, and is mediocre. Sooner or later, the country will be destroyed in the hands of this person. Although the Northern Tang Dynasty is a dominant family, the person in power, Zhou Jun, is a direct descendant of the Northern Fan.
We have always been enemies of Hebei, and the generals under his command regard us as enemies, so how can we be friendly with them?"
"It seems that although the military strength of the Southern Tang Dynasty is relatively weak, it is a land of plenty and rich, and coupled with the natural dangers of the Yangtze River, we can defend it by the river. I dare not say more, but we can win an invincible position."
The envoy of the Southern Tang Dynasty said at this time: "Two generals, the Southern Tang Dynasty deployed its troops in the Huainan area earlier, which made the rear area empty and lost several battles in a row. In fact, when the Southern Tang Dynasty resisted the Yan State, Deng Guogong Zhang Xun sent 5,000 soldiers,
Fighting against the Yan army of 150,000, Lu Jiong, the Duke of Qi, sent 10,000 troops to defend the city against the army of 100,000. Both of them defended the city, which shows that the Southern Tang Dynasty had great fighting power."
"Your Majesty has long heard of the reputation of these two generals, and this time I have been specially sent to recruit you. As long as the two of you agree to submit to the Southern Tang Dynasty, the imperial court can grant you the titles of prince, duke, censor, military envoy, etc.
A general under his command can also receive the title of minister."
Shi Siming looked at Ashina Chengqing: "Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi's armies will attack Luoyang soon. The defeat of Yan State is just a matter of time. The most important thing at the moment is to find a way out. What do you think?
?”
Ashina Chengqing thought about it for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "Just do everything as the general said."
