Li Siye and Duan Xiushi repeatedly launched surprise troops to kill Ashina Chengqing in only twenty days. At the end of April, they recaptured Shangzhou, Tangzhou, Junzhou and Dengzhou (now Shangluo City, Shannan East Road).
Shiyan City, Nanyang City, part of Xiangyang City), and the Southern Tang general Lu Jiong stationed in Xiangyang were only separated by the Han River.
At this time, Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en, who were on the eastern front battlefield, were commanded by soldiers from Hebei Province and were assisted by gunboats. Logically speaking, their combat power should be the strongest.
However, the situation along the way may be more complicated than imagined.
After the imperial meeting in the third year of the New Yuan Dynasty, Pugu Huaien finished handling affairs in Liangcheng and set off at the end of February, returning to the Handan camp in Hebei Province with Li Guangbi.
On the way, Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en passed by Shuofang Lingzhou. Sun Aying, the military governor of Shuofang, heard the news and prepared a banquet in the city to welcome them.
During the banquet, Sun Aying prepared good wine and food. After some pleasantries, he asked Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en about the situation in Liangcheng.
Li Guangbi was familiar with Sun Aying and knew that the latter was the emperor's former guard. He said: "Your Majesty is in good health. He had a prince and a princess two years ago. There was a banquet in Yuan Zhengri's palace and a general amnesty for the world.
."
Hearing this, Sun Aying couldn't help but smile and nod, and then sighed inaudibly.
Sun Aying was stationed at Shuofang, and the situation in Mobei was tense. He had not been able to return to the court for several years.
Li Guangbi guessed that he was thinking deeply, so he began to persuade him: "Shuofang is located in the northern border, and the location is dangerous. The imperial court ordered you to stay here, which is also a sign of His Majesty's trust in you."
Sun Aying nodded, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty has placed great trust in me, and I will definitely live up to it."
Li Guangbi: "By the way, speaking of Mobei, what's the situation in the north now?"
Sun Aying: "The Uighur people in the north stopped paying tribute to the imperial court last year, and sent troops to Anbei to plunder the people and property. They also shamelessly sent envoys to ask the Tang Dynasty to recognize the throne of the Uighur Khan who had moved to Anbei.
His Majesty was furious and issued a military order to Shuo Fang, demanding a head-on attack."
"In September and October, Shuofang's army attacked Huihe from Xishoujiang City and Zhongshoujiang City in Fengzhou respectively. There were more than a hundred major and minor battles, each with its own victory or defeat. Among them, at the end of October, the east foot of Helan Mountain flooded the Hu River.
In that battle, Uighur mobilized 8,000 cavalry and 20,000 followers, which was regarded as the most intense battle of the war. Uighur lost more than 7,000 people, and almost all the troops of the Ha Lai family of the Pugu tribe died in the battle.
The number of people killed in Shuofang's battle exceeded a thousand."
Li Guangbi: "So it seems that the Uighurs used more troops every time?"
Sun Aying nodded and said: "Yes, the nine surnames of the Huihe people, plus the 26 auxiliary guards, if they are all mobilized, a total of 110,000 cavalry can be used. It can be seen from these few battles that
Shijijian is a Uighur leader, and his control over the Uighurs has become stronger and stronger. I am afraid that most of the tribes in Mobei have already surrendered to his command."
Li Guangbi frowned and muttered: "This is not a good thing."
Sun Aying: "Not only that, Uihe also has connections with Shiwei, Uluo, and Tiele tribes..."
When Li Guangbi heard this, he gave Sun Aying a look. The latter reacted, quickly shut up, and glanced at Pugu Huai'en, who was drinking with Shuofang generals not far away.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to toast, Li Guangbi approached Sun Aying, took out a letter from his arms, and whispered: "This letter is written by His Majesty, please read it when there is no one around."
Sun Ah Ying calmly took the letter and hid it in his sleeve.
In early March, Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en arrived in Handan, and they went to order troops for their respective central armies.
Pugu Huai'en led his troops northward and arrived at the Jizhou camp, where his generals came to greet him.
Pugu Huai'en's son Pugu Jing came to visit his father when he entered the camp and said, "My father is on his way to Liangcheng. Did your Majesty say anything?"
When Pugu Huaien heard this, he felt strange: "The war is imminent, so your Majesty is naturally encouraging, what else can you say."
Pu Gujun breathed a sigh of relief at first, and then said after hesitating for a long time: "Years ago, there were Jinyi guards in Fusi, Nanzhen, who went to the main family in Pinglu."
Pugu Huaien: "Jinyiwei's gang can go as they go, why should you care..."
Having said this, Puguhuaien suddenly reacted, stared at Pugujuan and asked, "Let me ask you, are you hiding something from me when you say this?"
Seeing that there was no one around him, Pugu Jian suddenly knelt down and said, "Father, the Pugu family in Pinglu have been taking advantage of the military to secretly misappropriate tea leaves in the official treasury over the years, and lied to the outside world that they were affected by dampness or insects."
Pugu Huaien was stunned in place and asked: "Where did the misappropriated official tea go?!"
Pu Guyun whispered: "Sold to Mobei."
Pugu Huai'en felt as if he was struck by lightning, and yelled loudly: "The Uighurs are at odds with me, the Tang Dynasty. The court has long issued a strict order not to smuggle tea to Mobei. Don't you know?!"
Pu Gujun tapped his forehead and said sadly: "Father, since the imperial court cut off the tea leaves from the Huihe people, the price of tea in Mobei has been pushed up again and again. In the second year of the New Yuan Dynasty, ten pounds of tea can be exchanged for a bad horse, and this year, it has been
The price has increased to the point where a pound of tea can be exchanged for a war horse, and the price has increased more than thirty times. Such huge profits are unmatched by any business, how can we not be tempted!"
Pugu Huaien was angry at first, and then he was stunned and asked: "We? Apart from you, who else is involved in this matter?!"
Pu Gujue: "Many uncles and nephews of the Pu Gu family, as well as many generals in the army, as well as officials of the Pinglu government, are more or less connected..."
Hearing this, Pugu Huaien was so shocked that he could hardly stand.
He stretched out his trembling hands, looked around, and murmured something.
Seeing this, Pu Gujun asked: "What is father looking for?"
Pugu Huai'en roared: "I'm looking for paper and pen! I want to plead guilty to His Majesty and ask him to let us live out of the Pugu family's past loyalty!"
Pu Gujun quickly stood up, stopped Pu Guhuaien, shook his head desperately and said: "Father, you can't write!"
Pugu Huai'en opened Pugu Jian, kicked him over, and cursed: "You bastard who doesn't care about the emperor's favor. I usually don't care about family affairs, but you dare to be so presumptuous! Now I want to report to the palace."
I beg for mercy, but you still dare to stop me!"
Pu Gujun quickly crawled over and hugged Pu Guhuai'en's thigh: "Father, why can't you write a letter to the court? I have a reason. Please listen to what I have to say."
A bad premonition suddenly arose in Puguhuai'en's heart and he stopped: "Say it!"
Pu Gujuan gritted his teeth: "Father, did you remember that I just said that there were Jin Yiwei from Nanzhen Fusi who went to Pinglu family to investigate the private market of tea?"
Pugu Huaien: "Remember, what happened?"
Pu Gujue: "Those Jin Yiwei got the evidence of the Pugu family and planned to leave Pinglu and go to Liangcheng. I and others calculated that if the Jin Yiwei were allowed to arrive in Liangcheng, the Pugu family would definitely be treasonous.
Instead of sitting back and watching the family be convicted, it would be better..."
When Pugu Huai'en heard this, his hands and feet became cold, and he asked in an almost trembling voice: "Why not?"
Pu Gujun didn't speak, he just raised his head, put his right hand on his neck, and made a horizontal pull.
When Pugu Huaien saw this, his eyes widened, his body trembled, and he immediately collapsed.
