Eight hundred and fortieth IX Hexi surrender to the heart
There were still six or seven days before Yuanzheng in the second year of Yuanshuo. Hexi Jiedushi Yang Zhilie finally made the decision to leave the city and surrender to Li Siye, which was regarded as officially betraying Li Heng and turning to Li Siye.
Today, there are still 40,000 troops in Hexi, all huddled in four counties and cities, including 20,000 in Wuwei City, 8,000 in Dunhuang City, 5,000 in Zhangye, and 7,000 in Jiuquan. Yang Zhilie held a summons, and behind him were his own soldiers holding two-sided door banners.
The six-sided banner walked out of the city gate and walked five miles westward.
The army of Hexi in the past was displayed in front of him. Li Siye was wearing golden mountain armor, a red cloak on the back of his shoulders, and riding on a horse with a Thousand Ox Sword on his waist, looking down at Yang Zhilie in front of him.
I remember that when he first served as the military envoy of Hexi Province, Yang Zhilie was just a small deputy military envoy. Now that things have changed, how many old people are he familiar with?
Yang Zhilie knelt in front of Li Siye's horse holding the Jie Zhao and the seal in his hands, bowed his head and said: "Since Yang Zhilie took over Hexi, he has been unable to appease the people's livelihood internally and unable to defend against Tibet's enemies externally. In the past two years, Baiting and Jiaocheng have been lost one after another.
The Tibetan army is rampant in all counties in Liangzhou, and only four cities can be defended alone. I am ashamed of the imperial court and the people. I am willing to apologize to your majesty and King Yong and return the military power scepter and large banner in Hexi to the imperial court.
, please ask King Yong to choose a virtuous person and appoint him."
Li Siye got off his horse and did not pick up the scepter and seal. Instead, he took Yang Zhilie's arms and helped him up from the ground. He said with relief: "When I led my troops into Guanzhong to fight, I killed 80,000 people from Hexi.
He took away 50,000 people and left only 30,000 people for the Jiedu envoy Cheng Qianli. However, Cheng Qianli died early shortly after taking over, and the government and military affairs were somewhat neglected. There are Uighurs in the east of the Hexi Corridor and Tubo threats in the west, so a large number of troops are needed to defeat them.
Be persistent and enterprising. Since you took office, you have expanded the army by 10,000. It is already a great achievement to be able to hold on to the four counties in Hexi with only 40,000 troops."
He patted Yang Zhilie on the shoulder and said: "I have sent a memorial to the emperor, recommending that you continue to serve as the governor of Hexi, be promoted to the imperial censor, and expand the army to Hexi by 20,000. As long as you can ensure that the Hexi Corridor is not lost during your term.
, there will definitely be a reward in the future.”
When Yang Zhilie heard this, he knelt down on the ground in fear, crossed his hands and said, "King Yong's great kindness will never be forgotten by Zhilie. I will protect Hexi for you in the future."
"What are you talking about?" Li Siye frowned and said, "Hexi is the emperor's Hexi and the imperial court's Hexi. How can it be my personal possession?"
"I made a mistake due to my humble position, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Under the respectful welcome of Yang Zhilie, Li Siye led the children from Hexi into Wuwei City. They had left Hexi for more than five years, and now they finally returned to their hometown after countless bloody battles. However, the people in their hometown have been wiped out, and some parents have become
In the barren hills and mounds, the hairs of familiar people have turned white. The people who used to cherish the spring silently have already married. The old friends and partners have become strangers. Their eyes are full of sighs, and then they cross their hands and choke in silence.
.
How many times have they dreamed of returning to their hometown and thinking of the reunion of their loved ones, but when this moment actually arrived, more regrets and losses were added, and returning home after the joy was meaningless.
When Li Siye brought them back, he had already promised to leave 10,000 veterans in Hexi. Firstly, it was to supplement the troops under the command of the Hexi Jiedushi, and secondly, some old soldiers were suffering from new injuries and old illnesses.
Soldiers, or those with wives, children, parents in special difficulties, stay and provide farmland and financial subsidies. This kind of human touch will make his subordinates more cohesive.
They thought this was a choice for the soldiers to fight for their lives, but they encountered an unexpected situation. There were only more than 6,000 soldiers willing to sign up to stay in Hexi, and more people chose to follow them to leave their hometown to fight. This made
Li Siye and Xu Bin were puzzled.
They did not explore the reasons why the veterans were willing to leave their hometown. It may be that years of fighting have made them hard-hearted and at a loss. They can no longer integrate into the social world of their hometown. Instead of guarding dozens of acres of Yongye fields until they die alone, it is better to fight on the battlefield and end up alone.
Wrapped in horse leather, it would be even more perfect if he could achieve military exploits and win a title.
There was another reason why Li Siye chose to take the lead in attacking Hexi, and that was to hoard a large amount of gold and silk in Tingzhou City, the seat of Beiting Jiedushi. This was a large amount of gold and silk that he obtained through the pepper trade route in the few years he supported the Western Regions Chamber of Commerce in Hexi.
Wealth. For this reason, he once built a fortress in Tingzhou City and dug tunnels underground to store gold and silk. The stock of these gold and silk was huge. The wealth of Jiuzhou and all over the world was gathered in one place, which could help him complete the task of pacifying the world.
great cause.
In the second year of Yuan Shuo, in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty, after they had eaten Yanyue wontons in Liangzhou City, Li Siye led his troops to continue northward, from Zhangye to Jiuquan, and then to Dunhuang. Every city opened its gates and lined the streets to welcome them. This is of course inseparable from the Hexi surname.
The credit goes to the Zhang family and the Guzang Li family. For this reason, Li Siye specially held a banquet with singing and dancing in Dunhuang City, and invited all the elders and elders of the clans with surnames in Hexi to the banquet, which could be regarded as enjoying themselves with the people.
During the banquet, Li Siye, wearing a plain scarf and purple tuanhua uniform, walked into the venue with a bronze wine cup and said loudly to everyone: "Longyou Road is my hometown, the place where I made my fortune, and where I am.
Thanks to the support of the elders in Hexi over the years, today there is chaos, but only Hexi is stable. This reminds me of the days when the Five Liangs were in chaos in China, and when the Central Plains was in trouble, only Hexi and Jiangdong were stable. How many escapees were accommodated in the homeland of the Five Liangs Hexi
It is because of the great scholars that our glorious Chinese culture has no gaps. Now we still have to rely on Hexi to continue the cultural prosperity brought by the Tang Dynasty, and all of this is inseparable from your help."
All the noble families present stood up and raised their wine glasses to toast Li Siye. Zhang Kuo took the lead and said: "Please rest assured, King Yong, you are the savior of the people in Hexi. We, the people who have lived here for our ancestors, except you, no one else."
No one recognizes him."
No matter what Zhang Kuo said was for show or the truth, Li Siye was very happy to hear it. At least in terms of prestige in this land, the only people who could compete with him were the Li Tang royal family, and Li Tang had already fled to Jiangnan, and the others
What about Shi Siming? Guo Ziyi's foundation in Shuofang and Youzhou is not as solid as his. He just needs to rely on the three lands of Guanzhong, Longyou and Hexi to complete his reshuffle of the Central Plains.
Li Siye was slightly tipsy and left the banquet with Xu Bin's support. He returned to the hall and sat on a chair. He asked Xu Bin: "Xu Gong, look at whether these people are really loyal to me. Are they right?"
Do I sincerely support it?”
Xu Bin said implicitly: "It is only when friends in the capital can see their true feelings when they get along with each other that they are in adversity. I think it is the same with governing a place. When you are going well, my lord, everyone is loyal and loyal. But once the sun goes down and the army is defeated, they will also be defeated."
I won't be buried with you. This is true for the Zhang family in Dunhuang, and the same is true for the Li family's aunt in Longyou. Yang Zhilie, who serves as the governor of Hexi Province, needs to be more careful."
"You don't need to tell me to understand that the military power of the Jiedushi Commander is too heavy, let alone my base camp in Hexi. Naturally, I cannot safely hand it over to the hands of an outsider. Let Yang Zhilie be happy for a while first, and wait until we return to Chang'an
, so he was transferred to Chang'an for retirement."
The Jiedushi system has its own advantages and disadvantages. Coupled with the professional military recruitment system, the army's combat effectiveness has become increasingly stronger. Its disadvantage is that it is easy for generals to become powerful. Naturally, Li Siye cannot beat him to death with a stick, but
Various regulations and regulations need to be restricted. Of course, this is a matter for the future, but it must be put on the agenda.