Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 750: Little Karami also wants to celebrate spring!
Xiangyang City is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the scenery is extremely beautiful. The mountains behind are as green as ink, and the Han River in front is as green as blue.

Especially now that it is spring, colorful flowers can be seen everywhere, dotted all over the city. The breeze blows under the golden sunshine, making people just want to lie in the sun, close their eyes and take a nap.

However, there was no breath of spring in the palace, only endless gloom and worry.

In the "Purple Palace", Bai Zhizhen knelt on the ground with his forehead touching the ground. Facing the furious Li Yu, he dared not say a word.

After the fall of Jiangling, a main force of the Bianzhou Army coming from the north also attacked with unstoppable force.

They successively captured the Tangzhou capital of Biyang and the northern gateway Fangcheng.

Now the Bianzhou army was divided into two routes. One route entered the Nanyang Basin from Fangcheng (near Kunyang) and headed straight for Deng County. The other route went west from Biyang and headed straight for Xinye.

This method of cutting off the head and tail means that the two armies block the entrance to the Nanyang Basin separately. It is self-evident what they want to do.

"What should we do? What do you think we should do? Who will stop Che Guangqian?"

Li Lu roared at Bai Zhizhen who was kneeling on the ground. He was shocked and angry, and was on the verge of collapse.

To the north of Xiangyang is the territory of Dengzhou, separated by the Han River. If this battle is over, it is almost certain that the Bianzhou army will drink water from the north of the Han River.

Perhaps if Li Lu stood on the top of Xiangyang City and looked north, he would be able to see the Bianzhou army’s camp. How could he not panic?
Everyone knows their own business. Li Lu knew very well that people's hearts were already scattered.

The reason why Che Guangqian was able to lead his troops to victory was that Jiangling, the gateway to the south of Xiangyang, had been captured by Li Guangbi in a "surprise attack".

Since Jiangling has been lost, we should quickly take it back!

However, the fact is that the Jingxiang court cannot send troops to Jiangling to recapture the city in the short term.

This is enough to show that the Jingxiang court is so weak that it is unable to hold its territory. In this way, if the northern states are attacked by the Bianzhou army, they will also face the situation of fighting alone without reinforcements.

You have come to this point. Why don’t you surrender in the face of a powerful enemy?

In fact, we can't blame these people for being two-faced. It's really that Li Lu's "personality" has no appeal. If he can't give his subordinates more, they won't contribute their loyalty.

People in this world are driven by interests.

Some seek fame and be recorded in history; some seek power and live a life of luxury; some seek wealth and have no worries about food and clothing.

No matter what it is, one must always seek one or all of them. Even Yan Zhenqing pursued fame, not indifferently.

The Bianzhou army won't massacre the city, and if you surrender you'll have a chance to become an official. What else is there to say?
Li Lu could not give you future power.

Not to mention money and other things, the Lu Qi incident is still stinking for 300 miles against the wind.

All that can be achieved is "steadfast and unyielding" and the so-called "righteousness" of sacrificing oneself for the country.

However, even if Li Lu emphasized orthodoxy, the court in Bianzhou nominally had Li Qi as the emperor, which was also orthodox!

Cao Cao pretended to be a prime minister of the Han Dynasty, but he was actually a traitor to the Han Dynasty. Fang Qing pretended to be an official, but he was actually a traitor to the Tang Dynasty.

Having said that, no matter what, neither of them has become emperor, at least Fang Qing has not yet.

Since he hasn't become emperor, there's no question of whether it's orthodox or not. Everything will have to wait until Fang Qing becomes emperor.

You have to provide evidence when issuing a manifesto!

No matter what, Fang Qing is not the emperor, and Li Yu's scolding of him is not convincing at all.

If we have to talk about it from the perspective of feudal orthodoxy, then what Wu Meiniang did was much more excessive than what Fang Qing did.

Li Lu was completely helpless against Fang Qing, who clearly had real power but refused to declare himself emperor.

The orthodox narrative of the feudal dynasty that Yan Zhenqing tailored for him had no effect at all in front of Li Qi, who was also a "Son of Heaven" and Li Lu's half-brother.

One hundred percent immune to magic!

This may not seem like a big deal at normal times, it's just an internal conflict between brothers due to unequal division of the property.

However, when Che Guangqian led his troops to attack, Li Lu found that the prefectures and counties north of Jingxiang were so happy to raise their flags and surrender, and there was no decent resistance at all.

To put it bluntly, it is you, the Li family, who are fighting among yourselves. What does it have to do with us workers? Do you want our whole family to be buried with you?
There were more than one or two provincial governors and county magistrates who held this idea.

Li Yu knew this very well, but he had no way to deal with it. All he could do was to be furious in the Purple Palace.

At this moment, an eunuch ran into the hall in a panic. Seeing Li Lu's unhappy expression, he was so scared that he stood aside at a loss. He had something to say but didn't dare to.

"Why are you in such a hurry? How disgraceful!"

Li Lu roared with a gloomy face, his impatience had reached its peak.

"Your Majesty, Dengzhou's garrison commander Kang Chuyuan and deputy commander Zhang Jiayan rebelled! They killed Dengzhou's governor Li Chang!"

The eunuch reported in a low voice.

"Rebel, rebel, rebel! Let's all rebel! Join the Bianzhou Army! You can join them too!"

Li Lu sat down on the dragon throne, muttering to himself.

He had an urge to cry, but he held it back.

Who knew that the eunuch had a strange look on his face, and continued to explain in a low voice: "Your Majesty, these two did not surrender to the Bianzhou army, let alone Che Guangqian. They established themselves in the city and killed Li Chang, the governor of Dengzhou. Kang Chuyuan now calls himself the Overlord of Southern Chu."

Uh, Li Lu was a little confused for a moment.

"You mean, Kang Chuyuan didn't join the Bianzhou Army?"

Li Yu asked doubtfully, his face full of disbelief.

"Yes, Your Majesty, Kang Chuyuan did not surrender to the enemy, he just rebelled."

The eunuch emphasized.

There is such a thing!

For a moment, Li Lu didn't know how to comment.

You say Kang Chuyuan was loyal, but he killed the governor and rebelled. You say he was a traitor, but he did not surrender to Bianzhou.

There is also the title of "King of Southern Chu"... I don't know how to comment on it.

What on earth does this hottie want to do?
Li Lu swallowed his saliva and asked hesitantly: "Are they simply rebelling?"

"Yes, they are simply rebelling, not seeking to join anyone."

The eunuch said with great certainty.

In fact, if Kang Chuyuan and his gang had really surrendered to Che Guangqian, it is very likely that the Bianzhou army would have already reached the other side of Xiangyang City.

"It's not all bad news."

Li Lu breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

It was better for his subordinates to rebel and become "wild monsters" than to surrender to the enemy directly. As for the final outcome of Kang Chuyuan and his gang, that was no longer something Li Lu cared about.

"Go and call Yu Qi here. I have something to ask him."

Li Lu gave the order in a deep voice, regaining some of his dignity.

……

In the lobby of Xinye County Government, Che Guangqian held a battle report in his hand, his brows furrowed.
The battle report was sent by Lu Jiong, telling Che Guangqian some bad news.

The Bianzhou army, which had been invincible all the way, failed to persuade the Dengzhou garrison to surrender. Of course, this kind of thing is actually normal. A rotten ship still has three thousand nails. The Tang Dynasty always has loyal people.

However, this matter is slightly different from what Che Guangqian thought.

The reply Lu Jing received from Deng County was: General Kang Chuyuan of Dengzhou has now declared himself the Overlord of Southern Chu and is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Jingxiang court. You can deal with Li Lu as you wish, but please do not disturb us, and we will not interfere with you.

"How could such a thing happen?" Che Guangqian was shocked. This was similar to Li Lu's reaction after he learned about this.

What he couldn't understand was, what era was this, and there were still people living in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period? Hundreds of years had passed and their minds hadn't come to their senses.

Just because you occupy a few cities, you start to call yourself a king. Don’t you know how to write the three words "Jiedushi"?

Yuan Zai, who was standing by, was also so shocked that he was speechless.

In their view, the forces in Jingxiang could either be "loyal subjects" and die with Li Lu, or "be a hero who knows the current situation" and join the Bianzhou army and follow the government in the future.

At worst, you can be a military governor who is fickle and only obeys orders.

There are actually some soldiers who are like bandits, wanting to occupy the mountains and become the kings, and circle the land for themselves!
"Lu Jing asked for instructions on whether to attack Dengzhou City. Kang Chuyuan's troops only numbered 10,000."

Yuan Zai took the battle report and asked in a low voice.

This battle was very important to him, so Yuan Zai kept a low profile along the way and followed Che Guangqian's opinion in everything.

Lu Jing was a surrendered general, so no matter what happened, he didn't dare to make decisions on his own, especially when faced with something as unexpected as the current one.

Most of the time, ordinary people think that separatist forces should participate in the struggle for the world. In a world of great contention, those who do not fight will die.

This line should be the main theme after the chaos in the world.

However, this is not actually the case, at least not entirely.

Some places are relatively remote, and people's hearts cannot be guessed by common sense.

When the influence of the Tang government was not strong enough, local divisions were inevitable. Some separatist forces attempted to unify the country again, while others just lived one day at a time.

Although it is a bit exaggerated and stupid that Kang Chuyuan and others wanted to "establish themselves as kings" at this critical juncture, it cannot be denied that similar things did exist.

Without Fang Qing, there would be countless "small princes" in the world who would claim to be alone. To some extent, Yan Zhenqing's wish that "the world would belong to the Tang Dynasty" was just wishful thinking.

Even if Fang Qing wasn't there, there were still a bunch of little turtles jumping around in the mud, and they had nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty!
"Dealing with Li Lu is secondary. We must first eliminate the soldiers who are ready to make trouble in these places."

Che Guangqian said in a cold voice, feeling extremely unhappy.

Damn, the Jingxiang court was about to fall, but there were still people who wanted to establish their own regime and become a local emperor! Li Lu was after all the descendant of Brother Ji, and he established his own regime, so at least he had a so-called "righteousness".

But what on earth does Kang Chuyuan have? How dare he do that!

Che Guangqian had never heard of this guy before. With tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, he began to call himself the "King of Southern Chu".

Absolutely ridiculous!
If this kind of person is not hung on the city wall, Che Guangqian doesn't know how to explain to Fang Chongyong after returning to Bianzhou.

The government didn't even declare itself emperor, but some country bumpkins started to declare themselves emperor! How can this be tolerated!
"Immediately break camp and march the entire army to Deng County. I want to see if this Kang Chuyuan has three heads and six arms!"

Che Guangqian snorted coldly, stood up and left.

Maybe it was because the journey was too smooth and the Bianzhou army didn't kill many people, so some country bumpkins thought they came to Jingxiang for sightseeing!
We have to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys here.

……

"What should we do? What should we do? The Bianzhou army has already surrounded the city. What do you say?"

In the study of Deng County government office, Deputy General Zhang Jiayan looked at Kang Chuyuan who didn't care at all, and became as anxious as an ant on hot pan.

"Don't worry, the Bianzhou army has come from afar and they don't have enough time to deal with Li Lu, so how can they take care of us?

The siege is just a show, hoping that we will surrender voluntarily.

We now occupy the three cities of Dengxian, Xincheng and Jutan. We have well-trained soldiers and sufficient food. What do we have to fear?

Don't bother with them, just wait until they attack the city!"

Kang Chuyuan sat in the main seat and drank, looking nonchalant.

The so-called elite soldiers he mentioned were a total of 10,000 people, most of whom were united soldiers, and the "Imperial Guards" had less than 2,000 people.

The so-called sufficient food means that there is still some food in the Dengzhou government warehouse to allow them to live comfortably until this year's autumn harvest.

Kang Chuyuan's greatest strength is his confidence! After a few drinks, he dared to compete with Guan Gong in swordsmanship.

"Do you know how many states and counties Bianzhou governs? That's dozens of states!

If a state trains a thousand soldiers, that means tens of thousands of elite soldiers!"

Zhang Jiayan stamped his feet in anger! Looking at Kang Chuyuan who was now drunk, he cursed him in his heart for being stupid!

"Tens of thousands of people? Where are they?"

Kang Chuyuan waved his hand carelessly and drank the wine in the glass on the table.

He put away his smile and said seriously, "Bianzhou is more than a thousand miles away from here. How much food will be left after it is transported a thousand miles? If we fight on an empty stomach, ten of them can't beat one of me! If the Bianzhou army dares to attack the city, I will stop them with my sword!"

Kang Chuyuan seemed to have no idea that the Bianzhou army could gain any advantage by coming to Jingxiang.

First of all, he was just independent and did not work for Li Lu.

Secondly, the primary purpose of the Bianzhou army was to deal with Li Lu, and they had no time to deal with him.

In the end, Bianzhou is more than a thousand miles away from here, and the food route is too long, so there is not enough energy to "suppress the bandits."

If a fight really breaks out, it is still unknown who will win, but Kang Chuyuan is certain that the advantage lies with him.

Fang Chongyong was not here to listen. If he had heard what Kang Chuyuan said, he would probably roll on the ground laughing.

For the soldiers in Bianzhou, do they have to transport food from Bianzhou?
If a war breaks out between China and the United States one day, will all the food for the American troops on the front lines have to be shipped from New York?
Bianzhou is far away from Jingxiang, it is true.

But the area under the jurisdiction of the Bianzhou court, bordering the Jingxiang court, is not far from Deng County at all! It can even be said that it is so close that there is no strategic location to defend!
It would not be a hassle at all to set up a transfer warehouse at a node near Dengzhou to transport food and fodder to the front line.

Food goes its own way and troops go their own way. These are common sense issues in logistics specialization.

Seeing that Kang Chuyuan was a hopeless case, Zhang Jiayan was so angry that he turned around and left. He had no interest in continuing the negotiation with him.

At the beginning, the two of them had agreed to establish their own power quietly without raising any banner. Anyway, no matter what imperial decree Li Lu issued, they would just pretend not to have heard it.

As a result, when Kang Chuyuan heard that the Bianzhou army was about to attack, he thought that "the time was ripe" and immediately raised the flag of rebellion and raised the banner of "King of Southern Chu".

He seemed to feel that the opportunity had come.

The two armies were facing each other, and he, a little Karami, was not very conspicuous, so no one cared about him. In the future, if he could get along with both sides, he might not have no way out, and he might even be able to live comfortably for another ten years.

As for the future, there is no need to consider it. These days, dead people are no different from dead dogs. Who dares to say that they can live peacefully for ten years?
In a daze, Kang Chuyuan was thinking about building a big palace in Deng County. There must be no shortage of palace maids and concubines.

In fact, you don't need a lot. A thousand palace maids and a hundred concubines would probably be enough.

Kang Chuyuan heard that Li Longji had 60,000 palace maids in the past, and he collected 1,000 of them, which was already very simple.

Of course, the local delicacies from the mountains and seas of Jingxiang will also be presented, with something different every day, and we will eat them for a year first.

I don’t know how long I slept, but suddenly, I seemed to smell a bloody smell!

Kang Chuyuan suddenly woke up and sobered up a lot, and found that he was still in the study.

However, he saw Lu Jing, the general of the Bianzhou army who had challenged him outside the city a few days ago, standing respectfully next to a young man at the entrance of the study.

The man was holding a human head in his hand, and it was exactly that of his deputy general Zhang Jiayan!
"Someone, tie this guy up and hang him on the wall!"

The young man pointed at Kang Chuyuan and spoke in a cold tone.

"I am the Overlord of Southern Chu, what are you going to do?"

Kang Chuyuan shouted incoherently, but was dragged away like a dead dog by a few ferocious soldiers.

(End of this chapter)