Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 743: I am ready to fight to the death
Although it was spring and flowers were blooming outside, there was a dark cloud in the Zichen Palace.

Li Lu, the emperor of the Jingxiang court, sat on the dragon throne with lifeless eyes, thinking about something in his mind, and clenching his sleeves from time to time.

Two memorials from Hongzhou arrived in Xiangyang one after the other. They told the same story, but different people gave completely different accounts of the event.

Yao Lingyan said in his memorial that he was the vanguard commander of the army and followed the military order to attack Xunyang. After the army successfully landed on the shore and was about to attack the city, the ship behind them was suddenly burned by the enemy! The army was immediately in chaos!
At this time, the Bianzhou army rushed out of the city, and there were ambushes behind them, surrounding the vanguard. But at this critical moment, Liang Chongyi did not help! He did not even send a single soldier to rescue!
Yao Lingyan was forced to flee in panic, and it took him great effort to escape into the mountains and forests. He found a small boat at night and fled back to Yuzhang from the Ganjiang River. He did not dare to return to the water stronghold, for fear that Liang Chongyi would harm him.

Liang Chongyi's memorial was simple and clear: Yao Lingyan disobeyed orders and led his troops into battle without authorization. The army was surrounded and unable to rescue them, so they had to abandon them and return to Shuizhai to defend.

The two men's accounts of the battle were similar: the vanguard was annihilated, and Yao Lingyan escaped with his life. But the two men were shirking responsibility and each had his own reasons.

It seems that the situation has reached a point where there is no end in sight.

"Go and invite Mr. Yan to the Purple Palace."

Li Lu rubbed his eyebrows and gave instructions to his personal eunuch Bai Zhizhen.

"Your Majesty, Mr. Yan..."

Bai Zhizhen was not a fool. Anyone with eyes could see what Li Yu's attitude towards Yan Zhenqing was before. Now that the military situation in Hongzhou was urgent, he remembered Yan Zhenqing.

Does being an emperor really require thick skin?
"What nonsense! This is not something you should be asking!"

Li Lu scolded in a low voice, with a worried look on his face.

Bai Zhizhen quickly knelt down and saluted, then ran out of the Zichen Hall in small steps.

Soon, Yan Zhenqing, who didn't even have time to put on his official robe, entered the hall in a gray Confucian shirt. Although the spring weather was not hot, he was already sweating profusely.

"Your Majesty, I am late, please forgive me."

Yan Zhenqing bowed to Li Lu. It was not known whether it was an illusion, but the emperor always felt that Yan Zhenqing seemed to have aged a lot.

"Mr. Yan, do you know the latest military situation in Hongzhou?"

Li Lu asked with a sigh, never mentioning the past, let alone Lu Qi.

"Your Majesty, I have heard a little bit. I only know that the government army was defeated. As for how it was defeated and how much it lost, I am not very clear."

Yan Zhenqing nodded slightly and said, his face very calm.

Li Lu pointed to the table in front of him and invited Yan Zhenqing to sit down and talk.

After the other party sat down, Li Lu did not hesitate to hand the two memorials in his hand to Yan Zhenqing.

"This……"

Yan Zhenqing quickly flipped through it and was immediately too exhausted to complain. It was the same old internal strife, with internal discord and powerful enemies outside, it would be strange if they were not defeated!

Yan Zhenqing was not at all surprised by the disastrous defeat on the front line.

"Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, in this critical moment, the only way is to withdraw the troops and abandon the outer water forts to avoid being defeated one by one by the Bianzhou army.

Withdraw the troops to Yuzhang, confront the Bianzhou army under the city of Yuzhang, and then transfer troops from Xiangyang.

Only in this way can the current crisis be resolved.”

Yan Zhenqing gave a "solution that is not a solution".

At present, in addition to occupying Yuzhang, the Jingxiang Army's forces are also scattered in two water forts at the mouth of the Ganjiang River and Duchang County.

Everyone can see that it is impossible to defend all these places, and there are not enough soldiers available.

Only by abandoning all outer defense lines and concentrating troops around Yuzhang City can we form a local military advantage and make it possible to fight this battle.

At this moment, an eunuch hurriedly walked into the Zichen Hall, whispered a few words in Li Lu's ear, and then left the hall.

"Duchang fell, and Li Guangbi began to fight back."

Li Lu said with a wooden expression, no one knew what he was thinking, but he was definitely not in a good mood.

"Your Majesty, you can issue an order to have Liang Chongyi lead his troops to retreat to Yuzhang and reduce the number of troops. No matter how many people are left, concentrate them in Yuzhang.

Then I will recruit new soldiers in Jingxiang. As long as we can hold out for a month or two, the situation can be saved."

Yan Zhenqing said with great sorrow, wishing he could make the decision for Li Lu.

"How about ceding Hongzhou to Fang Qing? To be honest, he and I are brothers-in-law."

Li Lu laughed dryly, feeling somewhat guilty.

Hearing this, Yan Zhenqing shook his head helplessly.

"Fang Qing wrote a strategy for the late emperor during the Kaiyuan period, in which there is a paragraph that goes like this:
Today I ceded five cities, tomorrow I ceded ten cities, and then I could sleep peacefully for one night. I woke up and looked around, and the Qin army was coming again. However, the land of the princes was limited, and the tyrannical Qin was insatiable. The more we offered tribute, the more urgent our invasion became.

Your Majesty, Fang Qing is no different from the tyrannical Qin now. Is it really okay for us to serve the tyrannical Qin and sleep peacefully for one night? "

Yan Zhenqing questioned, making Li Lu a little embarrassed. This is also why Li Lu likes Lu Qi. Lu Qi can talk and say nice things. When getting along with him, he feels superior in intelligence.

As for people like Yan Zhenqing who like to cause trouble for the emperor, it is better not to see him unless he is really needed.

So that both parties will not be unhappy.

In fact, Li Lu's surrender was not entirely due to his weak character. To some extent, it was also the result of careful consideration and choosing the lesser of two evils.

The area of ​​Hongzhou is Jiangzhou during the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties. At that time, the pattern of the Southern Dynasty was "a pole with two ends", one end was Jingxiang, the other end was Yangzhou, and the pole in the middle was Jiangzhou.

Admitting defeat and withdrawing troops is equivalent to giving up the outer barrier. The next time the Bianzhou army attacks, they will directly attack Jiangling by water!
Will it die? If it continues to develop like this, it will definitely die in the future, but it won’t die for now.

But if a strategically significant decisive battle is fought in Hongzhou and Li Lu loses, the navy from Bianzhou will immediately attack Jiangling!
After all, Hongzhou is not close to Jiangling, and it is impossible to break through the pass on the Xunyang side. Ships cannot enter Poyang Lake from the Yangtze River, and supplies are not convenient.

Li Lu felt that Yan Zhenqing had integrity and was loyal to Li Tang, but his strategic vision was really average.

“What Mr. Yan said is not without reason.

However, if I transfer troops from Xiangyang and lose again, I will really have no money left.

Let Liang Chongyi lead his troops back to Jiangling and reorganize the troops, so that if the navy of Bianzhou attacks, they will still be able to fight, right?"

Li Lu asked back.

Yan Zhenqing could not answer this question because no strategy can be called "the best of both worlds".

If you choose a direction, you will inevitably reveal flaws in another direction. Before the results come out, everyone has their own reasons!

"Since Your Majesty has made up his mind, why did you summon me to the Purple Palace? Just send an envoy to Bianzhou to ask for peace!"

Yan Zhenqing snorted coldly, not caring about the hierarchy. He was irritated by Li Yu!

"Lord Yan, if we want to recruit soldiers, where will the money come from? Have you forgotten what happened with Lu Qi?"

Li Lu asked back.

Now Yan Zhenqing was really speechless.

Fighting a war costs money, and recruiting and training soldiers costs even more. Jingxiang is not like Fangqing, where there are two large commercial ports, Bianliang City and Yangzhou City, to make money.

"In that case, I will go to Hongzhou and keep an eye on Liang Chongyi."

Yan Zhenqing didn't want to care about it anymore. He knew that Li Yu would definitely bypass him and seek peace with Fang Qing. He was only asked to come here to use his prestige to stabilize Liang Chongyi. Otherwise, what would happen if the Hongzhou navy rebelled?
As for Yao Lingyan, in Li Lu's eyes, he was already dead. "Well, Mr. Yan, please leave today. I am worried that the war situation is changing too quickly."

Li Lu suppressed the anger in his heart and spoke calmly.

Yan Zhenqing thanked him and left without looking back. During this meeting, he was obviously less respectful to Li Lu.

Perhaps in Yan Zhenqing's eyes, Li Lu was a "promising talent" before. But now that he has seen his true colors, he has classified him as a member of the same group as Li Lin.

Since he was such a useless emperor, it was impossible for Yan Zhenqing to worship him as the "Son of Destiny".

After Yan Zhenqing left, Li Yu told Bai Zhizhen beside him: "Go to Bianzhou and ask for peace with Fang Qing. I don't want to fight anymore."

"I will set off now. Your Majesty, don't you want to take a letter with you?"

Bai Zhizhen reminded.

Li Lu nodded quickly and said, "Yes, yes, yes, I have forgotten about it. Words are not enough, hahahahahahaha."

He chuckled a few times, spread out a large piece of paper and began to write the letter.

……

The navy of the Jingxiang Army in Hongzhou was defeated, but Li Lu was not the most anxious person.

Lu Qi in Tangzhou, because he was closer to the enemy, learned about this earlier than Li Lu. He was so anxious that he was like an ant on hot pan and felt very uncomfortable.

On the left was the letter Fang Qing wrote to him with the three words "Got it" written on it, and on the right was the defeat of the Jingxiang navy on the Hongzhou front. Lu Qi felt that his bargaining chips were greatly reduced, and the capital he could use to "sell himself" was less than before.

He quickly wrote a letter and sent someone to Bianzhou, asking his servant to present it to Fang Qing in person for him to read.

Meanwhile, in Hongzhou, Li Guangbi was still pursuing the victory.

After Hao Tingyu conquered Duchang County, the Bianzhou army was divided into two groups. One group, led by Hao Tingyu, went south by land to Diaoji Mountain Water Fort, where there was a military camp of the Jingxiang Army, but there were not many soldiers and horses.

Li Guangbi personally led the navy to besiege the old water stronghold located at the mouth of Ganjiang River, which had been operated by the Jingxiang Army for many years.

The purpose of attacking from two directions was to prevent the support of the army from Diaojishan when attacking Laoshuizhai.

Li Guangbi's movements were very quick, but Liang Chongyi ran even faster.

Liang Chongyi was foresighted. After Yao Lingyan suffered a disastrous defeat on the front line, he knew that the Bianzhou army had deliberately suffered several defeats before. It was all a routine. They were deliberately stretching the supply lines of the Jingxiang army and dispersing the troop deployment of the Jingxiang army. They had no good intentions at all!
So Liang Chongyi took the remaining main force away from Shuizhai Runle in advance, and the fleet went south along the Gan River to Yuzhang, and deployed defenses around Yuzhang, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out.

When Liang Chongyi returned to Yuzhang and learned that Yao Lingyan was also in the city, the first thing he did was to behead Yao Lingyan in public on the charge of "collaborating with the enemy" and hang his head on the city wall as a warning to others.

This is called "no evidence after death". No matter how the court sent people to ask, Liang Chongyi could put all the blame on Yao Lingyan. As for the truth, it is impossible to verify it, and only Liang Chongyi's one-sided statement remains.

The Jingxiang army retreated, and Li Guangbi did not dare to advance rashly. He could only take over the water stronghold without bloodshed, completely suppressing the Jingxiang navy in the Ganjiang River, preventing it from advancing to Poyang Lake.

He wrote a letter and sent someone to Bianzhou to report the military situation and ask for instructions on what to do next.

……

"Tang army commander Fang Qing has been blessed by ghosts and gods since he was young. He is followed by eight gods and eight ghosts, the eight gods protect him and the eight ghosts clear the way. He led the Tang army to the west, and was invincible along the way. No one could stop him.

The army fought all the way to Mulu City, where they saw a monster over three feet tall, with a green face and fangs that was very scary.

Fang Qing shouted towards the top of the city wall: Who are you, you thief? Come and get killed!

......"

In the study of the government office, Fang Chongyong was listening to Fang Laique's storytelling in a clear and melodious voice with a strange expression on his face.

I want to cry and laugh at the same time.

During this "crackdown", not many banned books were found, and not many people were sent to Shanyuan Villa for forced labor.

However, although there are not many banned books, there are many strange books. These books are just strange, and it is an exaggeration to say that they are "banned".

Because there was no ban on speech and business was developed, Bianzhou's cultural undertakings also developed rapidly. Many "strange stories" and "romantic novels" appeared.

There are many large-scale ones among them!

For example, this book "The True Record of Fang Qing's Western Expedition" is the author's undisguised flattery in an attempt to attract the attention of the government.

"Your Majesty, someone has arrived from Jingxiang. It's a eunuch named Bai Zhizhen."

Da Congming reported outside the door.

"Got it, bring him in."

Fang Zhongyong responded.

He was a little surprised that Li Lu actually sent someone here.

"Ah Lang, do you want me to humiliate him?"

Fang Lai Que asked eagerly, obviously having been badly bullied by the five-colored parrot at home and wanted to find someone to vent his anger on.

"Forget about it, go home and take care of the kids, don't make a fuss here."

Fang Zhongyong waved his hands impatiently.

Fang Laique just said "Oh" and went out from the back door of the study.

After a while, a fair-skinned eunuch walked into the study, and the other party Zhongyong saluted with his hands crossed.

"Sir, this is a personal letter from the Emperor."

Bai Zhizhen respectfully presented the letter in his arms with both hands.

Unexpectedly, Fang Zhongyong knocked his letter to the ground with one hand and scolded him in a deep voice: "Think it over before you speak. I will give you one more chance."

Bai Zhizhen's heart tightened, and after thinking for a while, he said, "Sir, this is a letter from Li Yu to you. Do you want to read it yourself or let me read it to you?"

His voice was as soft as a woman's.

Fang Zhongyong nodded with satisfaction and said, "No need, I will take a look at it myself."

He took the letter, read it quickly, and then was surprised to find that Li Lu was actually talking to him about friendship.

Please, I have never done anything with your princess. What kind of relationship do we have? Do you act like we are so familiar with each other?
But leaving aside all that nonsense, Li Lu's meaning was clearly expressed: I don't want to play anymore, you can give me Hongzhou, let's both stop fighting!

Fang Chongyong had never expected that the emperor would write a letter to ask for peace. However, this also shows that Li Lu's life was not easy, especially after Lu Qi's mess, his life became even more difficult.

"I am a little tired today. You should go to Shangyuan Inn and rest first. I will call you if there is anything in a couple of days."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand casually and sent Bai Zhizhen away with a very bad attitude.

"Give in? Li Lu, Li Lu, you have a nice idea.

Once you sit at the poker table, how can you leave without losing everything? "

After Bai Zhizhen left, Fang Chongyong sneered and talked to himself.

(End of this chapter)