The situation of the Yan army has become increasingly difficult recently. Food and fodder have been burned several times, and there are not many intact houses in the city. The lives of the people of Youzhou are even more miserable. Shi Siming does not care about the life and death of these people. He is worried about the lack of military morale.
The steady soldiers no longer used their lives on the city wall. Since the day before yesterday, their morale has been at an extremely low level.
Several aides saw through Shi Siming's thoughts and took the initiative to propose to him in a military meeting that he withdraw the army to the west of Yuguan, but Shi Siming waved his hand and rejected it. Of course, they would not stop there, but tried more diligently to persuade him to retreat to Liaodong.
But Shi Siming knew in his heart that when An Qingxu defended Yecheng, he still had reinforcements to look forward to. Now that it's his turn to defend Youzhou, he may have to rely on himself. As for Li Heng's court in the south...
He stroked his beard and nodded. Liaodong and Hebei were completely different geographical concepts. As soon as Shi Siming retreated into Liaodong, how could the imperial court be willing to let Li Siye occupy Hebei? Guo Ziyi would definitely lead troops into Yecheng, and then it would be his turn
Shi Siming was sitting on the mountain watching the fight between tigers. He wanted to see how durable the fighting power of Li Siye's army was. If he ran away, he could still knock down the imperial army. Then he would have to enter the pass again and challenge him again.
The tired Li Siye army.
He summoned the generals to him, waved his hands helplessly and said: "Now that Li Siye is attacking the city with sharp weapons, the soldiers and civilians in the city have suffered heavy losses, and I am afraid it will be difficult to hold on. For many days, you have advised me to abandon the city and escape to Yuguan.
.Today I thought over and over again and decided to withdraw into Yuguan and hold on behind it."
All the generals breathed a sigh of relief. Two months of defending the city had already made them exhausted. It would be good to hide behind Yuguan to rest for a while.
In the autumn of the fifth year of Yuanshuo, it was the first year of the Dali calendar for Li Yu. In the early morning, Shi Siming led the remaining 50,000 people to withdraw from the north gate and ran all the way to Yuguan. On the way, he faced the Tang army's pursuit from the rear and was out of breath.
Exhausted, by the time they retreated to Yuguan, they had lost nearly 10,000 people, leaving only over 40,000 people.
When he entered Guanzhong, he immediately ran to find Shi Chaoyi with a whip in hand. When father and son met, Shi Siming hit him on the head with a whip. Shi Chaoyi was so painful that he ran away with his head in his arms and shouted for his father to spare his life. Shi Siming didn't care about him and gave him a violent beating with the whip.
He beat Shi Chaoyi until he was covered with bruises.
"Don't think that I don't know what you are up to. You listened to the rumor and lost Jizhou City, and then you went to Youzhou City to make such a fuss!"
Shi Chaoyi knelt on the ground with a face full of shame. It turned out that the things he did could not escape his father's eyes.
Tian Chengsi quickly stepped forward to intercede with Shi Chaoyi: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, the eldest son. All these are my suggestions. Please punish me."
"You don't have to plead for him, let me beat this beast to death first!"
From then on, whenever Shi Chaoyi acted inappropriately, he would be punished by Shi Siming with a whip, or threatened to disqualify him as heir. Shi Chaoyi was frightened and worried every day.
…
Guo Ziyi's scout team crossed the Yellow River and ran to Heyang. They saw Guo Ziyi and his son in Heyang City. They crossed their hands joyfully and said: "Your Majesty, Shi Chaoyi and Tian Chengsi have withdrawn from Jizhou, and Li Siye's army has left Hedong.
The direction was to attack Jizhou."
After hearing this, Duke Guo Linggong paced back and forth on the ground, stroking his beard. Then he turned to Guo Xi and Pugu Huai'en and said, "If I'm not wrong, Shi Siming will soon be unable to defend Youzhou, and he will definitely retreat."
After arriving at Yuguan, we fled to Liaodong, and the huge Hebei Province will soon fall into the hands of Li Siye."
Guo Xi quickly said: "Father, we must not let Hebei fall into the hands of Li Siye. We should attack Yecheng immediately."
"What my son said is true. The 130,000-strong army set off immediately. Before Li Siye had time to capture Ye City, we crossed the Yellow River to take the lead and enter Ye City!"
So the Tang army immediately recruited civilians to repair the pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, and quickly crossed the Yellow River and entered Yecheng, Xiangzhou. This was the first time the Tang army set foot on the land of Hebei since the Battle of Xiangzhou, and it was also a major event worthy of celebration. Pugu Huaien immediately went to Yecheng, Xiangzhou.
Guo Ziyi suggested that he should report his merits to the court first.
As a veteran of three dynasties, Guo Ziyi still wanted to show off his face. He just waved his hands and said: "The occupation of Yecheng did not encounter any resistance. It was just opportunistic. How can I ask for credit and flattery to the emperor?"
"Old Ling Gong is already highly respected, famous all over the world, and has no title. Everyone in the world knows that you don't care about this little credit, but these soldiers under our command need merit to motivate them, so Ling Gong should just ask for credit for them.
.”
Guo Ziyi quickly said apologetically: "Look, if you don't tell me, how can I remember it? I will write a letter to your Majesty to ask for rewards for the soldiers of the three armies.
Less than a month after they entered Yecheng, the emperor's decree of reward was delivered, and many gold and silver rewards were sent to the soldiers. Of course, the soldiers were very excited, because they captured Yecheng without any bloodshed, and this was also thanks to Lao Linggong
Can think of the soldiers.
Dong Xiu, the supervisor of the army, secretly found Liu Qingtan, the envoy who conveyed the decree, and told him the whole story of this achievement. Liu Qingtan was doubtful and asked Dong Xiu, "With Guo Linggong's current prestige and achievements, there is no need to be greedy for this."
It’s a small contribution, you’re exaggerating.”
"Old Linggong himself may have no desires, but his son and his old subordinates are all in the army. Yecheng was originally unmanned, and he crossed the Yellow River to get it easily, but he boasted about his success. This
It’s not about deceiving the emperor and disrespecting one’s superiors.”
Liu Qingtan smiled and said: "It's not enough to deceive the emperor and ignore your superiors. I also read the memorandum written by Guo Linggong to report the merits of His Majesty. Although it was a report of merits, what he wrote in it was that there was no resistance when entering Yecheng. Fortunately, the soldiers marched quickly.
, don’t dare to neglect, you will get full credit, according to what he said, there is no problem.”
Dong Xiu said angrily: "He is playing a word game! As a prince of the dynasty, he actually deceived your majesty like this. Your majesty is magnanimous and can not argue with him, but as ministers, we know it and do not repay it, which is disloyal. Even if Liu
If the envoy doesn't want to cause trouble, you should inform Mr. Yu first."
Liu Qingtan nodded, as if what Dong Xiu said was not unreasonable, but compared with ordinary eunuchs, he was much more humane, so he decided to go to Guo Ziyi to ventilate his breath first, and then report to the superiors.
offend.
Eunuch Liu met with Guo Ziyi in private. He did not get straight to the point. After a short exchange of greetings, he got to the point. He said that there were some rumors that were unfavorable to your Majesty. He was afraid that they would be spread to His Majesty's ears. Your Majesty must be mentally prepared in advance.
.
Guo Ziyi instantly understood the meaning of these words, and quickly wrote a memorandum of apology to the emperor at night, saying that this was to boost the morale of the soldiers, and that he was willing to demote himself to apologize to His Majesty.
By the time Guo Ziyi's memorial reached Yangzhou, Yu Chaoen had already made plans to attack his colleagues. It was not easy to dig up dirt on Guo Ziyi, a moral model who was just and law-abiding.
Yu Chaoen publicly attacked Guo Ziyi in the court for falsely claiming credit. Fortunately, Guo Ziyi's memorial arrived in time. Emperor Li Yu was also enlightened and said that when the army entered Yecheng, they were about to face Li Siye. Asking for merit rewards for the soldiers was also to boost morale.
Duke Guo Ling is very loyal to me. You don’t have to be suspicious.
Of course, Yu Chaoen refused to give up so easily. He went up to the emperor and said: "Guo Ziyi is loyal, but this trend cannot last long. In order to prevent others from imitating him, your majesty should impose a slight punishment, demote Guo Ziyi and fine Guo Xi."
The rewards of He Pugu Huai'en and other generals were withdrawn."
All the party members in the court who were attached to Yu Chaoen came forward to express their agreement. Li Yu couldn't say anything, but he believed that what was given as a reward could not be taken back, so he decided to punish only Guo Ziyi.
The emperor's decree was conveyed to Yecheng, and Guo Ziyi accepted the punishment willingly, but for the soldiers, it was quite unpleasant. No matter what, they had to face life and death at the front, and the court had to care about such a small contribution.
The morale that was easily boosted was instantly reduced by half.
In stark contrast to the Tang Army, Li Siye successively promoted the lieutenants of the Hedong Army who occupied Jizhou City. They were also like the Tang Army, not spending a single soldier, nor a single shot, nor an arrow. They just took advantage of Shi Chaoyi to withdraw.
After leaving Jizhou, they attacked the city. Li Siye did not begrudge his rewards at all. Thirty captains were promoted to Zhonglang General, and the rest of the generals were promoted. Zhang Guangtao, the commander who led the army into the city, was promoted by Li Siye to Hedong Jiedu Envoy.
This made the soldiers feel guilty, as if they had never really experienced fighting and were sorry for the reward that was placed on their heads.