Hiding on a mound a thousand meters away, Pu Gujuan lay on the ground, looked at the towering city wall of Taiyuan in the distance, and let out a long breath.
The Jizhou army deployed five thousand light cavalry and marched day and night, finally arriving at the gates of Taiyuan City.
As long as they can capture this strong city and open the way for the Huihe people to go south, the Pugu family will have a foothold in Mobei.
Thinking of this, Pu Gujun asked the general beside him: "Are the horses ready?"
Someone replied: "Everything is ready."
As the northern capital of the Tang Dynasty, Taiyuan had a strong city and was garrisoned by the Hedong Army. If it were just a few thousand cavalry troops, Pugu Jian knew that it would be absolutely impossible to capture it.
At that time, An Lushan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and the first fortified city he attacked was Taiyuan.
He took Taiyuan, the northern capital, with little effort. He relied on ambushing a few hundred elite soldiers in the city in advance, then captured Taiyuan and stayed behind, and finally won the victory without any bloodshed.
Since that incident, the Northern Tang Dynasty had extremely strict regulations on the management of the city, especially the temporary garrison of other vassal towns in the city.
Unless there is an imperial edict from the emperor, the troops in the feudal town are not allowed to stay or use the city to pass through.
Therefore, Pu Gujuan could not place his cronies in Taiyuan in advance like An Lushan did, so he could only resort to the next best thing and use strategies to deceive the gates of Taiyuan.
Deng Jingshan stayed in Taiyuan. As the governor of Hedong, he had made great achievements in quelling the rebellion in Hebei. However, it was said that this man had a problem. He was greedy for petty gains and even tried to deduct the pay of soldiers.
Pu Gujun knew all this, so he selected thousands of war horses from the Jizhou army. He said that he came here to express his gratitude for Hedong's support to the Pu Gu family.
However, in fact, among those war horses, not only were the horseherds disguised as Jizhou soldiers, but there were even fully armed soldiers hiding under the horses' bellies.
At this time, when he saw the horses as a gift being driven to the city, Pu Gujuan's heart suddenly rose to his throat.
If Deng Jingshan takes advantage of the situation and opens the gates of Taiyuan City, the soldiers in the horse group can rush into the city. It won't take long, as long as they can hold on for a quarter of an hour, the Jizhou army can enter the city for reinforcements.
The horses stayed at the city gate for about a while. After a period of silence, the city gate of Taiyuan slowly opened.
Seeing this scene, Pu Gujuan almost jumped up from the ground with joy.
When all the horses entered the Wengcheng in Taiyuan, Pu Gujuan was so determined that he got up from the ground, rushed onto the horses, and shouted to his soldiers: "Mount your horses! Enter the city quickly!"
Hearing the shouts of killing coming from his ears, Jizhou Qingqi galloped all the way and finally arrived at the gate of Taiyuan City.
The vanguard of the Jizhou Army rushed through the city gate first and entered the Wengcheng of Taiyuan.
Immediately afterwards, Pu Gujian and a group of generals also entered the city.
As soon as he entered the city gate, Pugujuan noticed something was wrong.
Outside the city, one could hear the loud sounds of killing in Taiyuan City, but inside the barbican city, no traces of fighting could be seen, not even a single guard could be seen.
Pugu Jian originally wanted to stop on horseback and call for the army to stop, but unfortunately the forward rushed too fast and had already approached the gate of Taiyuan's inner city.
Just as the Jizhou Army forward approached the gate of the inner city, a sudden change occurred.
The suspended gate on the inner city was suddenly lowered, and several cavalrymen who could not dodge were smashed and their flesh and blood flew everywhere.
Countless crossbowmen climbed up the city wall, aimed at the Jizhou army in Wengcheng, and began to set up their bows and shoot arrows.
Amidst the bursts of arrows that were like locusts, Pu Gujun dodged and shouted to his soldiers: "Retreat outside the city!"
However, the battlefield was chaotic and many messengers died in the rain of arrows, so Pugu Jian's order could not be spread at all.
After twenty breaths, the crossbowmen on the city wall stopped shooting.
The war horse was shot dead, and Pugu Jian, who was lucky enough to escape, raised his head and looked at the tower. He was surprised to find that in addition to the Hedong Army, there were also the flags of Shuofang Army on it.
Pu Gujun was suddenly at a loss. He could not figure out why Shuofang's army appeared here.
Sun Aying, the governor of Shuofang, and Deng Jingshan, the governor of Hedong, appeared on the tower together at this time.
Sun Aying held an imperial edict in his hand and shouted to the Jizhou army in the school field: "The Holy One has known about the Jizhou rebellion for a long time, so he has designed a trap here and is just waiting for you to come and die!"
Hearing this, Pu Gujian murmured: "This is impossible."
Sun Aying said again: "Those who know the current affairs should put down their weapons now and surrender without restraint!"
All the generals of the Jizhou Army looked at Pugujuan one after another.
Pu Gujun looked up and saw that outside the city gate of Taiyuan, the cavalry of Shuofang Army had arrived. The Jizhou soldiers outside the city had suffered numerous casualties under the joint efforts of Shuofang Army and Hedong Army, and most of them had lost their lives.
The will to resist, kneel down and surrender.
Seeing this, Pu Gujun closed his eyes, threw down his weapons, and said to the generals around him: "A certain strategy was ill-conceived, which has affected all of you... Now that the situation is over, there is no point in fighting anymore."
Seeing that Pu Gujun gave up resistance, all the generals of Jizhou Army knelt down one after another, begging for their lives.
Sun Aying, who was on the city tower, saw this situation, snorted coldly, and ordered: "Tie up all the rebels and take them to the prison camp to wait for their punishment!"
Deng Jingshan, the governor of Hedong Province on the side, raised his hands and congratulated: "Sun Duhu, you have made a great contribution this time."
Sun Aying said: "The victory this time is not due to me, but to your Majesty's foreknowledge of the enemy's opportunities. Jizhou, Pingzhou, Yingzhou and other places started from selling tea, and connected with Huihe. Your Majesty has heard about it for a long time.
I didn't touch them before because I didn't want to alert them."
Deng Jingshan rolled his eyes: "Now that the traitor has been caught, what should we do next?"
Sun Aying: "Your Majesty has already made an explanation in the imperial edict given to me. As long as we take in the prisoners and wait here, someone will naturally deal with them."
Half a month later, Feng Changqing and Fan Jinian arrived in Taiyuan.
Entering the prison camp, Feng Changqing looked at the Jizhou Army that suffered heavy casualties. He was surprised and at the same time he couldn't help but sigh that the emperor knew things like a god.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In the inner room of the prison camp, Feng Changqing met the most critical figure in the rebellion-Pugu Huai'en.
Compared with his former high spirits, Pugu Huaien now looks depressed and physically weak.
He knew in his heart that the Pugu family had caused a great disaster.
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi took away the main troops of the Northern Tang Dynasty respectively. The elite troops of Anxi and Beiting were too far away from Liangcheng to provide help.
If Pu Gujun really succeeds in his sneak attack on Taiyuan this time, then the Huihe people can lead a large number of cavalry and move south from Yunzhou into the plains.
By that time, the centuries-old foundation of the Tang Dynasty may have completely collapsed because of the Pugu family.
Looking at Feng Changqing and Fan Jinian standing in front of him, Pugu Huaien sighed first and then said: "Back then, there was a rebellion in Hebei. The Tongluo tribe rebelled from Xijing and invaded Shuofang from the north. My eldest son Pugu Ping was outnumbered.
He was captured by the enemy. He pretended to surrender and found an opportunity to escape. At that time, I knew that his heart was towards the Tang Dynasty, but I still beheaded him in front of the three armies in order to protect the loyalty of the Pugu family.
.Unfortunately, to this day, all efforts have come to nothing.”
Feng Changqing looked at Pugu Huai'en and said in a deep voice: "The Pugu family is in Pinglu and other places, and they have formed a party with officials and generals for personal gain, colluded with Huihe, and even assassinated the Jin Yiwei. As the head of the Pugu family, don't you know?"
Pugu Huaien: "I attacked Fan Yang, fought a bloody battle at Boling, and then led thousands of light cavalry deep into the enemy's rear to capture Qizhou. However, I never imagined that when I accomplished such a feat, my family would
But behind the scenes, we caused such a big disaster."
Feng Changqing emphasized his tone: "Do you really not know what's going on?"
Pugu Huaien smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Things have developed to where they are today. Even if I say I don't know, what's the use?"
Feng Changqing stood up straight, looked at each other and Fan Jinian, and then said: "Feng used to be a judge in Anxi. If someone in the Anxi army dares to collaborate with the enemy, or even dare to assassinate the imperial guards of the Central Dynasty. The nine tribes of Yi will be destroyed and their genealogy will be destroyed.
The ancestral graves should be leveled, and this surname should be listed as a great evil surname, so that its infamy can be passed down from generation to generation!"
Every time Feng Changqing said something, Pugu Huaien's body trembled slightly.
After finishing these words, Feng Changqing was silent for a long time, and suddenly said something that Pugu Huai'en couldn't understand: "However, I don't understand your Majesty's thoughts."
When Pugu Huaien heard this, he raised his head.
Fan Jinian on the side cleared his throat: "Pugu Huai'en, please accept the order."
Looking at the imperial edict that Fan Jinian took out, Pugu Huaien knelt down, took it tremblingly, and opened it with trembling.
After reading the imperial decree word for word, Pugu Huaien first opened his mouth in disbelief, and then burst into tears and broke down in sobs.
Carefully putting away the imperial edict, Pugu Huai'en faced the west, knelt down on the ground, knocked his head heavily on the floor, and said in a mournful voice: "Your Majesty's kindness of reincarnation, the guilty minister has no way to repay, I can only be a slave for the rest of my life."
Servant, I have dedicated myself to death and died."
Feng Changqing frowned and said to Pugu Huaien: "The Pugu family committed such a serious crime. Your Majesty was too lenient. He only ordered to kill the culprit, but spared the accomplices. This decision, Feng Changqing
I am opposed to it in my heart. From now on, your Majesty will not mention every move of the Pugu family, but the court will be a hundred times more vigilant."
After saying that, Feng Changqing turned around and said: "Feng will stay in Taiyuan for three days, and then he will escort you to Pinglu... As for how to clean up the house later, it is your business, don't