The autumn of the second year of Qianyuan of Li Heng, the first year of Yuan Shuo of Li Jixuan, and the first year of Shuntian of Yan Shi Siming were the reign names of three regimes that existed at the same time.
In the autumn of October of this year, Shi Siming failed to attack Taiyuan, and Hedong Jiedushi Deng Jingshan won the final victory.
Deng Jingshan turned around from the joy of victory and looked south, only to find that Shangdang had already changed hands, and the imperial court had lost Guanzhong again. Emperor Li Heng fled south directly to Xiangyang. He had no one to be loyal to. And he was also in a difficult situation at the moment.
Caught between two major rebels, as long as he was attacked from both sides, he would definitely die.
In Deng Jingshan's view, the biggest threat was not Shi Siming who was far away in Youzhou, but Li Chongbao who was dormant in Shangdang.
His judgment was correct. Although Shi Siming had ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, Youzhou and Bingzhou were not in the same geographical range. If Shi Siming wanted to enter Hedong, he would be blocked and restricted by the terrain. But Shangdang occupied by Li Chongbao was in Hedong.
Within the geographical scope, the opponent occupies the Shangdang Basin and the entire Taihang Mountains, and the southern section of Taiyue Mountain. As long as Li Chongbao passes through the mountain pass between Taihang Mountain and Taiyue Mountain, he can easily go north to conquer Taiyuan.
Deng Jingshan had not yet felt that he had to make a fateful decision before, but now he has a sense of crisis. He should consider where he will go once the Tang Dynasty ceases to exist.
He finally decided to lead his army south to conquer Shangdang. Even if it was to protect his own safety, he also wanted to take all the land east of Hedong into his hands.
Li Chongbao learned that Deng Jingshan was going to attack Shangdang, so he led his troops to garrison in Wuxiang County and Qin County in advance. Relying on the steep terrain, he could only defend but not attack. Deng Jingshan continued to attack for more than two months, but was repelled by Li Chongbao's troops.
Jingshan had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat to Taiyuan, and continued to hold on to Hedong, looking for new opportunities to attack.
Just one month after Li Jixuan ascended the throne, Li Siye asked the puppet emperor to personally lead 60,000 people to stabilize the situation in the Hexi Corridor. Why do we say stabilization rather than recovery? Because at this time, the Hexi Corridor had not yet been completely occupied by Tubo, at least four parts of the Hexi Corridor.
The county towns of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang were all still in the hands of the imperial court, which was shrinking its defenses.
He left Yan Xiaosi to guard Chang'an, and appointed Cao Anding as the guard in the capital, and Cheng Yuanzhen as the supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the general of the right guard, using a troika structure to maintain stability in the rear of Chang'an.
Now is the best time to attack Hexi. Although the Tubo people have repeatedly invaded, the transportation routes and major cities are still in the hands of the Tang army. Now that the imperial court has retreated to the east of the Yangtze River due to its new defeat, there will not be any pressure on Wuguan. Tian Zhen is in charge of Tongguan, but
Shi Siming was newly defeated in Taiyuan and would not have the strength to march into the Central Plains for the time being. The only thing he needed to watch out for was Guo Ziyi who fled to Hanzhong.
Guo Sikong was a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty, and he could be sure that Guo Ziyi would be the last opponent to be eliminated by him. Li Guangbi could surrender, and Pugu Huaien could be forced to rebel, but Guo Ziyi could definitely insist on fighting with his stubborn will.
He fought until the end. Even if the Tang Dynasty was wiped out by then, as long as Guo Ziyi was not wiped out, he would never be able to calm down for a day.
Therefore, before he set out for Hexi, he specially appointed Ashina Chulu as the prefect of Fengxiang County and also as the guard of Dashan Pass to monitor the movements of Chencang Road. The other three roads, such as Baoxie, Dangluo and Ziwu Road, all have capable guards.
Yan Xiaosi and Cao Anding assisted Li Xu, the minister of Zhongshu and the crown prince of King Yong, to supervise it.
At the beginning of November of the first year of Yuanshuo, Li Siye led 70,000 Hexi troops to Longyou Road with his attendant Xu Bin as the marching officer, Duan Xiushi and Bai Xiaode as the left and right vanguards.
The current Hexi Jiedushi Yang Zhilie sat in Liangzhou City and waited and watched. The news from Chang'an became worse and worse, which also made Yang Zhongcheng's mood gradually worsen. He thought it was time to adjust his mentality. Now Hexi is empty, and he urgently needs the Central Plains.
He felt that he might as well lower his standards and no longer insist that the Tang Dynasty should be the same as before. A child who was about to starve to death still cared about whether he was his own mother. As long as he had milk, he would be his mother.
When Li Siye's army arrived in Lanzhou, Taoist priest Zhao Zhengyi, who had been dormant in the temple, completely regained his vitality. He wiped his nose with tears and cried: "Lord, I have been waiting for you in Lanzhou for two years in fear.
I knew you would come back, and I didn't wait in vain."
Li Siye held his shoulders and comforted him: "Don't worry, I will reunite with you today and will never leave you behind again. Because they have been isolated in the Central Plains by the imperial court for the past two years, Yan Xiaosi's Xuanwu artillery battalion has wasted all its gunpowder projectiles.
, and no more additions were found. Now I want to establish Lanzhou as the capital of Longyou Road, establish the Lanzhou Ordnance Department here, appoint you as the Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and increase the title of Duke of Jincheng.
The old Taoist priest knelt down and kowtowed in excitement: "Thank you, Lord, for giving me the title. It's just that a poor Taoist and an outsider cannot accept worldly wealth."
"There is no conflict. You can be a Taoist monk from Xianyun Yehe, or you can be my minister of the Ministry of Industry. We have not been able to come to Lanzhou for two years, so you must have something to give me."
"My lord, please come with me," Zhao Zhengyi raised his sleeve and wiped his tears and nose, then led him to the Qingliang Temple, passed through the mountain gate, entered the main hall and the front yard, and then detoured back to the backyard. He saw that the backyard was full of things.
Daochang Zhao lifted up any of the straw bunks and straw mats, and he could see a heavy artillery lying underneath. In one of the side halls, Li Siye saw piles of gunpowder boxes and spherical projectiles.
Li Siye held these projectiles in surprise and said, "Okay, now my Xuanwu artillery battalion can be used again."
He recruited 30,000 civilians as auxiliary troops in Lanzhou City, responsible for carrying grain, grass, artillery and ammunition from Wushaoling into Hexi.
At this time, Li Siye had been fighting for half his life. Wearing heavy armor, he could still cut off the heads of enemy horses with his Mo Dao. However, as time passed, his hair on his temples had turned pale. No matter how powerful a hero was, he would eventually become old.
When the army was stationed at the foot of Wushaoling, he climbed to the top of one of the mountains at dusk and looked back towards the direction of Longyou Guanzhong. Mountains and rivers intertwined under the sky. The Yellow River flowed slowly between the mountains like a jade belt. Those ridges were raised.
Like a dragon's back, everything in the past reappeared in front of him like a picture. Marching all the way from Hexi, and returning to Hexi from the Central Plains, his life seemed to have taken a big arc. He lost a lot, but he also seemed to have gained.
a lot of.
If he was as determined as he is today, he must be in a different situation.
He was filled with emotion and recited: "The general's reputation has been ruined after a hundred battles. To the west of the river, looking back thousands of miles, old friends will be gone forever. The water is flowing and the west wind is cold, and the clothes in the house are like snow. A strong man, but his sad song is not complete. Birds are singing.
I still know how much hatred I have, but I don’t know how to cry clear tears and cry blood. Whoever shares my love will make the bright moon drunk."
Xu Bin stood behind him, seeming to be aware of what he was thinking, and suddenly said: "My lord, you are also taking a detour now. Since you have already invaded Guanzhong and are at odds with the imperial court, why do you still support a puppet? You should
Establish a new dynasty and ascend the throne as emperor, let the world only remember the glorious moment of the Tang Dynasty in the past, and create a new glory."
Li Siye shook his head and smiled and said: "You really don't understand me. In the current situation, for us, we still have the title of Datang, and it is much easier to do things."
He turned around and walked down the mountain, then suddenly turned back and said, "Let's go down the mountain to discuss the next direction of attack."
Li Siye and Xu Bin returned to the camp and immediately sent someone to call Duan Xiushi and Bai Xiaode. They sat on the top chairs and said, "When we return to Hexi, of course we must make some noise. Which direction should we choose for the first battle?"
Bai Xiaode immediately crossed his hands towards Li Siye and said: "Of course we will go straight to Liangzhou Wuwei to give Yang Zhilie a dismantling force and force him to surrender."
"Oh?" Li Siye asked him, "What if he is unwilling to surrender?"
"Then just attack the city and defeat him."
Xu Bin was sitting on the right side, squinting and shaking his head and laughing. Bai Xiaode suddenly felt something was wrong and asked him: "Does the military advisor have different opinions?"
Military Master Xu stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Yang Zhilie is not an opponent. We don't need to give him power, nor do we need to conquer him. My lord led his troops to Hexi to stabilize the Longyou Road in our rear area. If we want to stabilize the situation, we must not first
To show authority to our own people, we should expel the Tibetans and restore stability to Hexi. Where Yang Zhilie will go when the time comes, we will solve it internally behind closed doors."