Li Shi had already retreated to Chengdu. Chengdu was designated as the southern capital after the Anshi Rebellion. Emperor Xuanzong took refuge here for many years and built a large palace here.
The prosperity of Chengdu and the comfortable life of the palace finally made Li Shi breathe a sigh of relief, but his arrow wound had not healed and he spent most of his time recuperating from illness.
At this time, the important ministers and dignitaries of Chang'an also fled to Chengdu one after another. Li Shi appointed the bachelor Jiang Gongfu as the left prime minister, and Lu Qi continued to serve as the right prime minister. The court began to operate again, but Lu Qi's opposition in the court was too loud.
Damn, he won't be the right prime minister for long.
The top priority was to stop the war between the Central Plains and Hebei. At this time, news came that the Tang army was fighting for Xiangcheng with Li Xilie's army. Because the Tang army was cut off from food and grass, Ge Shuyao's army had to withdraw from the battlefield and retreat to Henan Prefecture, while Liu
Without the support of Ge Shuyao's army, Qia's army was unable to support itself and had to abandon Xiangcheng and retreat to Songzhou.
Li Xilie's army won the final victory and occupied Xuzhou. Both sides were exhausted and temporarily withdrew their troops. Li Na was also limited by his lack of strength and stopped at Puzhou.
Ge Shuyao's army controlled Henan Prefecture and Ruzhou, Zhengzhou, Huaizhou and Shaanxi Province, while Liu Qia's army controlled Songzhou, Bianzhou, Huazhou and Caozhou.
Li Xilie's power expanded northward, occupying five states including Xuzhou, Yuzhou, Bozhou, Yingzhou, and Chenzhou. Together with his old home in Huaixi, An, Mian, and Tang, his power expanded the most, controlling most of the Huaihe River Basin.
Li Na also succeeded in making a comeback and occupied the entire Shandong Peninsula and the five states of Yun, Pu, Ji, Yan, and Xu. The entire eastern part of the Central Plains became his territory.
Due to the mutiny in Chang'an, the three towns in Hebei also temporarily stopped fighting with the Tang army. Li Baozhen and Ma Sui each withdrew their troops and waited for news from the court.
At this time, Li Shi was under tremendous pressure. Although the officials still wanted to hide it from him, he finally knew how serious the situation was. His uncle Li only proclaimed himself emperor in Chang'an, and Prince Li Song ascended the throne in Taiyuan.
Three imperial courts appeared in Tang Dynasty, which almost caused Li Shi to collapse.
For several days in a row, Li Shi could not sleep at night. He could not explain to the people of the world, nor could he explain to his ancestors.
Lu Qi said to Li Shi in Yangxinzhai: "Your Majesty, the top priority is to assemble the army. The Jiannan Army only has 20,000 people. Once the rebels move south in a large scale, we may not be able to resist it. We should first withdraw all the troops that can be withdrawn to Bashu."
Li Shi was silent for a long time, then sighed and said: "It is my responsibility that the situation is chaotic to this day. I must punish myself and admit my mistake to the world!"
"Your Majesty, now is not the time to issue an edict to punish yourself."
Next to him, Jiang Gongfu advised: "Morale cannot be reduced now. Once Your Majesty issues an edict to accuse others, it will seriously affect morale. After Chang'an and Taiyuan are recovered, it will not be too late to issue an edict to accuse others."
Li Shi was just talking. He really felt that it was not the time to issue an edict to punish himself. He wanted to calm down the chaos one by one, and then admit his mistakes to the people of the world.
"Stop the war between the Central Plains and Hebei first! I can only pardon them first and restore stability."
This was not a temporary decision by Li Shi, but the result of repeated discussions among the ministers. Now the imperial court simply cannot bear a two-front war. It can only face reality, recognize the vested interests of each vassal town, stabilize the situation in the east, and then concentrate on
Responding to the Chang'an Rebellion.
Lu Qi said quickly: "We only admit it temporarily, but when our strength recovers in the future, we will deal with them one by one."
"No need to explain anymore, Xiangguo Lu, I know what to do."
Li Shi immediately promulgated a decree to pardon Li Xilie, Li Na, Tian Yue, Wang Wujun and Zhu Tao for their rebellion, and officially conferred upon them the title of king.
The so-called pardon and canonization are just a fig leaf, which is tantamount to the imperial court giving in and recognizing the power and vested interests of the five major vassals.
Li Shi also issued an edict, appointing Li Huaiguang as the military governor of Hanzhong and ordering him to lead his army to retreat to Hanzhong. He appointed Ma Sui as the military governor of Shannan East Road and ordered him to lead his army to retreat to Xiangyang. He also ordered Han Huang, the observer envoy of the two Zhejiang provinces, to quickly escort the Jiangnan tax collectors.
Taxes and salt taxes were transported to Chengdu via the Yangtze River.
Li Shi also issued an edict, ordering Hexi Jiedushi envoy Guo Song to lead the Hexi army to King Qin of Shu, and ordered Shuofang Jiedushi envoy Cui Kuan and Longyou Jiedu envoy Li Sheng to also lead their troops to King Qin of Chengdu.
This actually ceded Longyou, Hexi and Shuofang to Zhu Si. Li Shi now urgently needed to assemble an army. He needed at least 200,000 troops before he could have the confidence to regain Chang'an.
After Li Sheng's army conquered Pujin Pass, they marched all the way to Chang'an, but they also encountered the dilemma of insufficient food and grass. Zhu Si's 50,000 troops guarded the famous Guangtong Granary, although there were millions of stones of grain there.
, but Li Sheng's army was unable to obtain it. After two failed attacks on Guangtongcang, Li Sheng's army moved to the south of the Wei River.
Li Sheng originally hoped to get the support of the people, but to his disappointment, his army encountered strong resistance from the people in Guanzhong. He was reviled everywhere, and even the farmers organized themselves to fight them.
That afternoon, 20,000 troops were resting next to a willow forest near Luonan County, Shangzhou. They received an edict from the Emperor, ordering them to rush to Bashu immediately. However, they were short of military rations and had to find a way to replenish them before setting off. However, various places in Guanzhong
There was no food in the official warehouses, so they had no choice but to come to Shangzhou to try their luck.
Lieutenant General Jiang Chun whispered to Li Sheng: "I don't understand my humble position. We are here to quell the chaos and kill thieves, but in the eyes of the people, it is as if we are the thieves and the rebels. It is hard to understand."
Li Sheng was Gan Yun back then. He was the first to leave Kongtong Mountain, when Guo Song had just ascended the mountain. It has been twenty years now. The vicissitudes of time have left deep traces on his face, and the memories of the past are gradually being faded away.
Buried by the wind and sand, perhaps the time together was too short. He and Guo Song only had the title of senior fellow apprentices, but did not have the feelings of senior fellow apprentices.
Among several senior brothers, he had the best relationship with his senior brother Gan Feng. Every time he returned to the capital, he would go to Qingxu Palace to visit his senior brother and pay homage to his master.
Li Sheng is over forty years old, tall, with long arms and legs, and thick joints. He has a square face, dark skin, a half-foot-long beard on his chin, and a pair of bright eyes that are extremely sharp, like a sharp knife.
An incomparable sword with sharp edge.
Li Sheng was silent for a moment and said: "Zhu Si is very good at winning over people's hearts. He uses small favors such as reducing taxes and burdens and allocating land to win over the people in Guanzhong. Naturally, the people in Guanzhong will be deceived by him for a while. Over time, his cruel nature will slowly be exposed.
, then, he will naturally lose the support of the people in Guanzhong."
"So what do we do now?"
Jiang Chun added: "Although the emperor ordered us to go to Bashu, the food in our hands is not enough to support us to reach Bashu!"
"Wait a little longer and look at the news from the scouts. I think Shangzhou should be different from Guanzhong. I won't be disappointed again this time."
At this time, several scout cavalry rushed over. The leading brigade commander dismounted his horse, knelt down on one knee and reported: "General Qi, we have found out clearly that there are 3,000 shi of wheat and 50,000 shi of fodder in the official warehouse of Luonan County.
Take it!"
Li Sheng was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "The whole army sets off to Luonan County!"
Li Sheng's army took 1,500 shi of grain and 10,000 dans of fodder from the official warehouse of Luonan County, then turned around and returned to Guanzhong, then headed to Hanzhong via Ziwu Valley.
Li Sheng's King Qin's army went to Bashu. When Li Huaiguang's army arrived in Tongzhou, they got the news that Prince Li Song had ascended the throne in Taiyuan. He immediately turned around and returned to Taiyuan. Yuan Xuanhu promised him that he would be crowned the king of Fenyang County.
General, Li Huaiguang now understands what is going on. In fact, he is asking him to be loyal to the new king of Taiyuan.
The relationship between Li Huaiguang and Prime Minister Lu Qi was extremely bad. If Lu Qi was dismissed as prime minister, he might consider going to Bashu, but Lu Qi was still the prime minister. Li Huaiguang decided to join the new king of Taiyuan, and would rather be the head of a chicken than the queen of a cow.
Cui Kuan, the governor of Shuofang, received the edicts from Chang'an Emperor Li Ji and Emperor Li Shi at the same time. Li Ji named him the Prince of Pingliang County, opened the Yitong Third Division of the Prefecture, inspected the Minister of Military Affairs, and Ping Zhangshi under Tong Zhongshu.
He continued to serve as the governor of Shuofang and promised that all military expenses for Shuofang would be borne by the imperial court. However, Li Shi's edict was very simple, asking him to immediately lead his army to Bashu and abandon Shuofang.
On the one hand, he was tempted by a high-ranking official and generous salary, but on the other hand, he was asked to pay unconditionally. After weighing it for a long time, Cui Kuan finally accepted the edict from Chang'an Emperor Li Ji and led his army back to Shuofang. He also had feelings for Shuofang and asked him to
Giving up Shuofang would be tantamount to handing over to the party members. How could he agree?
In just a few days, the four armies of King Qin were left in Guanzhong with only thousands of cavalry commanded by Guo Song, the governor of Hexi Province.