Chapter 897 The regime will perish in internal friction
Li Siye was sitting in Youzhou City, and his generals were arguing over an issue: whether to attack Yuguan and enter Liaodong to eliminate Shi Siming first, or to go south and drive Guo Ziyi to Henan first. This was a choice that was difficult to judge based on the pros and cons.
In the Battle of Jizhou, both the Feihuqi and Xuanwu Artillery Battalions suffered considerable losses. Although Guo Ziyi had withdrawn his troops to Yecheng, if he gathered strength to make a comeback in the future, it would be enough to give them a drink.
There is no doubt that Guo Ziyi is the biggest enemy at the moment. Duan Xiushi, Li Chongbao and others suggested concentrating their efforts to deal with Guo Ziyi who was stationed in Yecheng. Prime Minister Xu Bin raised objections. He believed that although Guo Ziyi had occupied Yecheng, he was still geographically advantageous.
At a disadvantage, as long as Zhang Guangtao is given a certain amount of troops and ordered to hold on to Jizhou, it will be very difficult for the imperial court to advance north with its current strength.
And now Shi Siming retreats to Yingzhou, Liaodong, which is still within the scope of his home base, Pinglu Jiedushi. As long as he is left alone, Shi Siming's vitality will soon recover. At this time, our army only needs to relax its control on Youzhou City.
He will come out of Yuguan and come back to take back Youzhou. Moreover, the forces in Liaodong are complex and intertwined. Shi Siming relied on the money plundered from Luoyang to establish friendly and cooperative relations with many forces here, such as Shi Wei and Hei.
Shui Mohe is as close as Bohae Kingdom and Silla. If Shi Siming cooperates with these regimes to form an alliance of interests, it will not be easy to eliminate him by then.
Li Siye seems to be having trouble making a decision. If he wants to march north to Liaodong, Yuguan is a very difficult nut to crack, and he must go through a long-term attack. Guo Ziyi will definitely take the opportunity to send his troops north. He will not be very comfortable with being attacked on both sides. If he goes south to catch Guo Ziyi, then
Shi Siming will definitely attack Youzhou from Yuguan.
He finally made up his mind to seize Yuguan in his hands first, so that he could seize the initiative and use a relatively small number of troops to guard the road to Liaodong. As long as he sent people to hold Yuguan, he could rest assured.
He led his army to attack Yecheng.
Li Siye immediately ordered an infantry army to go to Jizhou to change defenses with the Feihuqi and Xuanwu Artillery Battalions. Although the two armies suffered heavy losses in the previous night attack, Li Siye had a strong reserve force. As long as the troops were replenished, they would be given a certain amount of time.
With a little rest, it will definitely be able to return to its full glory.
Naturally, the Feihu Cavalry is not the only powerful force under his command. The original Hexi Army, Beiting Han Navy, Anxi Modao Team and Qiuci Cavalry all belong to the Longyou Dao system, and their combat effectiveness far exceeds that of other vassals. In the entire Tang army
Among the array, only the Northeast military camp represented by An Shi is qualified to compete with them. Even Guo Ziyi's army in the south now derives its core strength from the Shuofang Army in the northwest military system.
Li Siye transferred back the Feihuqi and Xuanwu Artillery Battalions, and naturally they would not use them as excessively as before. He would just use the firepower of the Xuanwu Artillery Battalion to baptize Yuguan with artillery fire.
The general guarding Yuguan was General Zhang Zhongzhi under Shi Siming. He was one of the earliest veteran generals to follow An Lushan in raising troops. Shi Siming probably used him to guard Yuguan out of complete trust.
Yuguan is adjacent to Yanshan Mountain in the north and Bohai Sea in the south, blocking the throat of Liaodong and Hebei. Shi Siming arranged most of his troops to garrison here. Naturally, Li Siye would not take it lightly. He deployed 300 artillery pieces and displayed them on the plain in front of the pass.
, artillery fire roared continuously every day, and more than a hundred giant Kongming lanterns floated over Yuguan to drop bombs in turn.
The entire city of Yuguan Pass is quite large, with nine small towns connected in a chain. The Hengsai Pass is set up as a natural barrier. In order to withstand the Hexi Army's artillery and bombing, Zhang Zhizhong ordered people to build many simple bunkers on the city wall, and also built or dug them inside the city.
There are many corridors and tunnels, and most of the time it can be done without being exposed, but sometimes it is unavoidable to be exposed. If possible, Zhang Zhongzhi hopes to find a cover to cover the entire Guancheng.
This was a protracted and long offensive and defensive battle. In order to maintain a continuous offensive, Li Siye customized a rotation schedule for the Hebei armies. The 150,000 people rotated every seven days on average. This is very much like a junior high school and elementary school math problem. 150,000 people rotate.
Every seven days, how many people attack the city every day?
After nearly a month of attacking, Yuguan was still standing. As winter was coming, Li Siye decided to stop the attack, and the three parties entered a short truce period. He also organized manpower to build buildings in the three cities of Youzhou, Yunzhou, and Jizhou.
Workshop, used to mass-produce gunpowder shells and improve artillery technology. He once thought that attacking Yuguan next year would still be a long struggle.
However, as soon as the Shangyuan Festival of this year passed, a power change occurred within the puppet Yan. Shi Chaoyi killed his father to seize the throne, and also killed his stepmother, the queen, and the legal heir Shi Chaoqing. The source of this internal strife came from the control of the heir.
Because of the suspicion and discord between father and son Shi Siming and Shi Chaoyi, Shi Siming designated his younger son as the legal heir. Of course, the original heir Shi Chaoyi was not satisfied. He believed that once his younger brother succeeded to the throne, he would definitely suffer the murderous hands of his stepmother and brother.
Therefore, a man who is petty is not a gentleman, and a man who is not poisonous is not a husband. A man should strengthen himself. Everything he does is to protect himself. As for whether the inherited power he has won can be continued, that is a matter for the future.
After Shi Chaoyi succeeded in usurping the throne, the first thing he faced was that his foundation was unstable, and his abilities and qualifications were difficult to convince the public.
Originally, the troops in his hands were completely sufficient to protect himself, but among today's rebels, most of them were as senior as Shi Siming. These people respected An Lushan and Shi Siming as two saints, but for Shi Siming
There is really no respect for our son. What qualifications do you, a young boy, have to ride on our heads?
After Shi Chaoyi forcibly inherited the throne, he decided to go and take command personally, expressing that as the king of Yan, he was willing to share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers.
Zhang Zhongzhi was wary of him, thinking that Shi Chaoyi was trying to snatch the military power from him, so he went to Shi Chaoyi to politely refuse. In fact, he was warning him not to step into Yuguan.
In fact, since Shi Siming killed An Qingxu, the entire Northeastern vassal town has entered a dangerous and disorderly stage of power. The traditional legal father-son inheritance does not work among the warlords in the vassal town. The handover from the previous generation of rulers to the next generation must be in the military.
Those in power would otherwise be replaced soon. This chaos lasted until the early Northern Song Dynasty, and it was not until the brothers Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi slowly got rid of it.
Shi Chaoyi had no choice but to send a letter to Zhang Zhongzhi to offer good words and comfort, but General Tian Chengsi couldn't stand Zhang Zhongzhi and began to encourage Shi Chaoyi to take tough measures against Zhang Zhongzhi.
If Shi Chaoyi had a clear understanding of his current situation, he should follow his inner decision and adopt a policy of appeasement towards Zhang Zhongzhi.
Nowadays, most of the Yan army's troops are in the hands of Zhang Zhongzhi, Li Huaixian and Tian Chengsi. Before Shi Chaoyi usurped the throne, he only had a personal military camp, not even the prince, and the prince's sixth rank was also deprived of him by his father. If he wanted
To integrate the entire Yan army, one needs to compromise between these three people, use the contradictions between them to check and balance each other, and ultimately concentrate power on oneself.
Of course, Shi Chaoyi did not have such an emperor's ability to control people. Not only was he unable to control these three people, he also made Tian Chengsi whisper slanderous words in his ears all day long, trying his best to encourage him to deal with Zhang Zhongzhi.
"Your Majesty, Yuguan is the gate of Pinglu. Zhang Zhongzhi has 50,000 troops in Guancheng, but there are many ways in front of him to prevent His Majesty from going to take charge. This is not a rebellion."
Shi Chaoyi asked hesitantly: "Tian Gong, it is precisely because he has too much military power that I cannot act rashly. If he makes any drastic move and causes him to lead his troops to attack Yingzhou, wouldn't it mean that Youzhou's people are in danger?"
Li Siye is reaping the benefits."
"What are you worried about? Your Majesty has my troops here in Yingzhou, and Li Huaixian's Khitan soldiers are in Liaodong City. Both of us are loyal to you. If your Majesty is worried that he will switch to Li Siye, you can find a way to lure him to Yingzhou.
Come and kill them in the city."
Shi Chaoyi was finally moved and asked excitedly: "How to trap and kill?"
Tian Chengsi leaned into his ear and whispered: "The third day of the lunar month next month is Zhang Zhongzhi's birthday. Your Majesty can make an order in advance to expand Zhang Zhongzhi's residence in Yingzhou City, and make him the county king, eliminating his
Be wary. Then first give his son an official position, trick his family members into coming to Yingzhou City to treat them politely. Wait until the eve of his birthday, and invite him to Yingzhou on the pretext of hosting a banquet in Yingzhou to celebrate his birthday.
It is not too much to ambush a swordsman in advance at the birthday banquet. Your Majesty, you throw a cup as a signal, and hundreds of swordsmen will come out to chop Zhang Zhongzhi's family into a pulp."