Late Tang

Hezhong Town.

Known as Puban in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it is located in the southwest of modern Shanxi and has jurisdiction over Hezhong Prefecture, Jiangzhou, Cizhou, Jinzhou, and Xizhou, a total of four states.Hezhong Town has one prefecture and four prefectures, and is an important town.It is located in the center of Chang'an, the western capital, Luoyang, the eastern capital, and Taiyuan, the northern capital, among the five capitals of the Tang Dynasty, and its location is extremely important.Especially Puban, where the Pujin Gengxun main road connects Guanzhong and Hedong, and even Changan in Guanzhong enters Taiyuan in Hedong, and then it can go out of Jingxing and go straight to Hebei.

Puban Bridge is the north gate of Tongguan.

Hezhong is located in the middle of the three capitals, with Chang'an in the southwest, Luoyang in the southeast, and Taiyuan in the north, all not far from each other.Moreover, Hezhong Town not only has an extremely important strategic position, Hezhong also has two salt ponds in Anyi and Jie County, which have always been the largest salt producing areas in the Central Plains.At this time, the salt tax paid by Liangyanchi to the court alone reached nearly 200 million guan each year.At this time, for the imperial court, which only has an annual income of about tens of millions of guan, the profit point of the two pools of salt has reached almost [-]%, which is completely the last cornucopia of the imperial court, the golden rice bowl.

At this time in the late Tang Dynasty when the towns were separated, Hezhong Town, which had two pools, was extremely wealthy because of this, comparable to Huainan.

And if Fengxiang Town is the barrier to the west of Chang'an, then Hezhong can be called the northeast gateway of Chang'an, and it is far superior to Fengxiang in terms of territory and wealth.Fengxiang Town has Fengxiang Mansion, which is Xijing. Although Hezhong Town does not have an accompanying capital, Hezhong Mansion is also one of the residences of the emperor and one of the ten mansions of the Tang Dynasty.

Hezhong Township is so important, so all the previous Jieshuai were civil servants appointed by the imperial court to serve as Jieshuai.However, the Hezhong army is rich and strong, so it is difficult for the soldiers to be arrogant.The slightest dissatisfaction led to mutiny and rebellion. After the Huangchao Rebellion, the world was shaken, and the prestige of the court became weaker.It was under such circumstances that Wang Chongrong, the leading general in Hezhong, mutinied twice, expelled two Jieshuai in a row, and finally became Hezhong Jieshuai.

In order to stabilize his position, Wang Chongrong immediately defected to Huang Chao after Huang Chao entered Luoyang.

However, Wang Chongrong's defection to Huang Chao was just to take advantage of Huang Chao's power to consolidate his position, but he had no real intention to work for Huang Chao.However, Huang Chao himself was born as a salt dealer, how could he not know the huge economic benefits of the two salt ponds in the river?

Huang Chao didn't pay much attention to Wang Chongrong.He didn't pay enough attention to Wang Chongrong's surrender. Instead, he regarded Hezhong Town as his cash cow.After Luoyang proclaimed himself emperor, Huang Chao sent an endless stream of envoys to collect taxes and food in the river. In just over half a year, the number of envoys sent reached as many as a thousand.He even ordered several times to ask Wang Chongrong to lead the army to obey.

Wang Chongrong originally wanted to borrow Huang Chao's influence, but he found an ancestor for himself.

This is naturally satisfying, but the Hezhong Army, which was domineering in the Tang Dynasty, is now under the Qi Dynasty, but it will be squeezed like this, and the soldiers under it are of course very dissatisfied.However, at that time, Huang Chao was powerful, conquered from east to west, even broke through Tongguan, and occupied Chang'an, forcing Wang Chongrong and other soldiers in the river to grit their teeth and endure, but they still regretted it in their hearts, and hated Huang Chao even more.

Originally, according to the practice of the late Tang Dynasty, Hezhong Town, as an important town in the north, was at the forefront of preventing Hebei feudal towns. They seldom paid taxes like the imperial court, and almost all the money and food collected were used to support the army in the town.Only the two pools have huge salt profits, and Hezhong Town shares the salt profits with the imperial court, and the tax paid by the imperial court is actually nothing more than everyone's default sharing ratio.

But now, Huang Chao changed the old rules and regarded Hezhong Town as a cash cow, which naturally made him an enemy of the entire Hezhong Town military group.

In the late Tang Dynasty, when soldiers got angry, the consequences were very serious.

It's just that Huang Chao was holding back because of his power.

Now, the King of Qin issued an edict to the King of Qin, and Kang Chenghui, Xin Xun, and Yu Yu in the east of Luoyang all issued a call to respond, and then Zheng Tian of Fengxiang Town in Guanzhong also responded.Then Yang Fuguang, the supervisor of Zhongwu Town, explained that Zhou Ji, the Jiedu envoy, had gone anyway, and then all the towns in Guanzhong turned against each other one after another. Now the accumulated resentment of the soldiers in Hezhong Town suddenly exploded, and they immediately beheaded Huang Chao. All the officials and envoys in the river issued a message to announce that they would return to Tang anyway in response to King Qin's order, and vowed to crusade against the yellow thieves.

Huang Chao, who was far away in Chang'an, woke up and found himself suddenly plunged into the ocean of Tang Jun.All the towns turned against each other, leaving only those states and counties controlled by the rebels themselves.Huang Chao was furious, and immediately appointed his younger brother Huang Ye as the marshal of the march, and led the soldiers from Shanzhou to launch a crusade against the river.

The soldiers and horses in the river fought for themselves. This time they were very brave. Relying on the danger of the Yellow River, Wang Chongrong defeated the Qi army Huang Ye's troops, annihilated more than [-] Qi troops, and captured more than [-] grain ships.The victory in this battle boosted the morale of the towns even more, and they all became tougher.

However, although Wang Chongrong defeated Huang Ye for a while, he was still full of worries.After all, he came to power after expelling two Jieshuais in two previous mutinies, and later he turned against Tang. At present, the court still doesn't know what attitude towards him.If Tang Ting wanted to replace him, or Huang Chao wanted to attack if he didn't give up, he would fight alone, and he would inevitably be outnumbered.Whether it is against Tang or Qi, what he is doing is not for anything else, but for his own handsome position.

Wang Chongrong's brother, Wang Chongjian, said: "Brother, why don't you ask Li Jing from Yanjing? Li Jing is not only Shang Shuling, the commander-in-chief of the world's soldiers and horses, but also a fake Huangyue, and the leader of the five soldiers and horses in the sky. Besides, Li Jing, as the king of Qin, He is honored as the emperor's uncle by the emperor, and has millions of elite soldiers and thousands of generals in his hands. The land is vast, the food is full of elite soldiers, and his prestige surpasses that of the emperor. If you donate money, food, treasures and beauties to Li Jing, and get Li Jing's support, why should you worry about it? Is the position of Jieshuai in Hezhong Town unstable?"

Wang Chongying's third younger brother, Wang Chongying, objected: "Brother's words are wrong. The so-called distant water can't save near fire. It's true that Li Jing is highly respected, and it's true that he has elite soldiers. But didn't the two elder brothers find out that Li Jing Cheng's mansion is very deep, and it can be seen from his past actions that although he made a high-profile call to the world's soldiers and horses to seek thieves, but someone thought that Li Jing would only shout a few times at most, and he would watch the fun from the side at most, but he would not Really sent troops to seek thieves."

Wang Chongrong and Wang Chongjian thought for a while, and they also felt that this seemed to be the case.Last time Li Jing hit the east bank of the Bian River, and it seemed that he was about to hit Luoyang.As a result, this guy handed over Song Cao Zhuzhou to Xin Yuyu and others, but he himself shot back and went straight to the southeast, fought with Gao Pian, not only robbed Xu Si, but also went to The three states of Hao Chu Shou in Huainan were robbed.It can be seen from this that Qin Wang and the like are nothing more than shouting.Li Jing made a move, obviously to grab the territory.Now Li Jing is in Hebei, how could he go south.

If he defected to Li Jing, apart from a verbal promise, there would never be any other help.

"Then what is the best strategy for the third brother? Now we are facing Huang Chao across the river. Huang Chao has hundreds of thousands of troops. If he attacks with all his strength, we will never be able to stop him." Wang Chongrong is full of worries. Otherwise, he will be sucked dry by Huang Chao sooner or later. up.But on the contrary, he was unable to bear the anger of Huang Chao's revenge.

Wang Chongying narrowed his eyes slightly, and after a long time gritted his teeth and said, "Why don't we turn defense into offense and fight Huang Chao."

"Brother, what kind of nonsense is this, if we can fight Huangchao, why should I be wronged and surrender to the thief?" Wang Chongrong shook his head and said.

Wang Chongying smiled, "Second brother, don't panic, listen to me, we are not fighting Huang Chao alone. What I mean is, why don't we just send letters to invite Zheng Congyu from Hedong, Li Zhuo from Zhaoyi, and Yanmen Li Keyong, Mihaiwan, Anqing, and Qi Bizhang from Datong, Wu Shitai from Zhenwu, Helianduo and Bai Yicheng from the Tiande Army, and Li Sigong from Xia Sui all counterattacked Luoyang? Zheng Tian united with the towns in Guanzhong to counterattack Chang'an, We can invite all the ministries to counterattack Luoyang. In this way, we don't have to fight against Huangchao alone. Hedong is united with the towns on Longshang. Now the main force of Huangchao's army is in Chang'an, and Luoyang has few troops. If we unite the towns to attack it, the matter will not be successful. Then we can also solve Huang Chao's urgent attack. If it succeeds, then in the future, we will talk about merit, and with this merit, we should be able to stabilize the second brother He Zhongjie's position as commander in chief. If this is the case, why should we look for Li Jing?"

"Third brother's wonderful plan." Wang Chongrong praised, this is indeed a good plan.Regardless of whether Li Jing really wanted to crusade against Huang Chao or not, once Li Jing's order came out, all the towns in the world responded, and the momentum had already been achieved.Zheng Tian has united the towns in Guanzhong and the towns in the south of Shanxi to counterattack Chang'an.At this time, they joined forces with the towns of Hedong and Longshang to counterattack Luoyang. Not to mention the success of the matter, they could firstly help solve Huang Chao's upcoming crisis.

Wang Zhongjian was a little worried: "The third brother's plan is indeed very good, but there is one point, if we want to unite the towns to counterattack Luoyang, then we need a very famous person to preside over it. Although the second brother has the intention, he doesn't have the appeal. Think about it , in addition to holding Li Jing's orders, we also need a person who presides over the overall situation. I think only Zheng Congxuan, the Jiedu envoy of Hedong, can do it. They are from the same family, and now Zheng Ting has a very high prestige, and Zheng Congxun has always had a good reputation and high prestige. If he comes forward to unite the towns, things will definitely come true."

Although this sentence is straightforward, Wang Chongrong really can't compete with Zheng Congyu in prestige, if Wang Chongrong comes to call the towns, I'm afraid the other towns may not sell face.But if it was convened by Zheng Congyun, the situation would be different.After all, Zheng Congyu was born in a wealthy Zheng family in Xingyang, and he is of the same family as Zheng Yu. Moreover, he once led the towns to fight the Daibei Rebellion. Even Li Jing was Zheng Congyu's deputy commander at the beginning. It will work really well.

"That's no problem, I'm not someone who fights for that false name." Wang Chongrong thought very openly, if he could become the leader of the Hedong towns, it would be great.But he has self-knowledge, he just became the commander-in-chief after two mutinies, and he has surrendered to Huangchao, so how could he be the leader of the towns in Hedong.This time, the purpose is to keep the handsome position, and everything else can be considered.

"I'll write to Li Jing and Zheng Congxuan right away, proposing a joint dispatch of troops."

Wang Chongying reminded: "If Zheng Congxuan wants to agree to call all the ministries to send troops, Guan Jian has a problem to solve."

"what is the problem?"

"Convince Li Keyong to send troops to the south, otherwise, if Li Keyong does not send troops, I am afraid that other towns will not easily send troops." Wang Chongying explained.Almost all the towns in Hedong have a feud with Li Keyong of Yanmen Town. The last time Zheng Congxuan had planned to go south with King Qin, but in the end, because of Li Keyong’s second rebellion against Tang, the towns immediately dispersed for their own lairs. .If Li Keyong doesn't go south, who can safely keep Li Keyong in the rear, and they lead the troops south?

Brother Wang Chongrong frowned, Li Keyong was too capricious and unpredictable.He had two previous convictions against Tang, and he was indeed an unbelievable guy.But apart from uniting the towns to send troops to Luoyang and turning the defense into an offense, they couldn't think of any other good way to solve the current crisis.

"It may not be easy to persuade Li Keyong to send troops south. Of course, the towns in Hedong are guarding against Shatuo, but Li Keyong is now surrounded by the towns. He is also afraid that the towns will be unfavorable to him, especially now that Li Jing has occupied Youzhou and just defeated Shatuo. Li Keyong is also worried about what happens if Li Jing sends troops to Yanmen after going south."

"This matter should be resolved quickly, and it should not be delayed for too long. If it is too late, I may have long nights and dreams. If Huang Chao sends troops, we will be too late." Wang Zhongjian said.

"It's better for me to go to Taiyuan and Yanmen in person, meet Zheng Congxuan and Li Keyong, talk about the power of them in detail, and facilitate this matter. By the way, I can also go to Youzhou to meet Li Jing. No matter what, I will make friends with you." Good Li Jing, it is still very necessary." Wang Chongying suggested.

Wang Chongrong clenched his fists and pondered for a long time, but he couldn't think of any better way, so he said: "Then I will leave this matter to the third brother, and my elder brother and I will stay at home to treat you well."

"Don't worry, brother, I will do my best." Wang Chongying suddenly remembered something, "I heard that Li Keyong's wife has no sons, only a daughter, who is only a few years old. Big brother Ake is only ten years old this year Why don't I take this opportunity to propose marriage to Li Keyong on behalf of Ke'er, and make Li Keyong's concubine daughter and Ke'er his fiancée. In this way, our families in Hezhong and Yanmen Town will become good friends of Qin and Jin. After the two families get married , the alliance relationship is stable, we will be commensurate with Li Keyong's brothers in the future, and we are also relatives of sons and daughters, wouldn't it be better for the two families to watch over and help each other?"

Wang Chongrong had no children, so Wang Ke, the son of his elder brother Wang Chongjian, was actually the adoptive heir of Wang Chongrong.If Wang Ke and Li Ke use their prostitutes to make a marriage agreement, the two families will naturally become marriage allies and their relationship will be more stable.It is a great thing that Hezhong Town can have Yanmen Town as an ally.

Wang Chongrong nodded: "Li Keyong's daughter is a bit younger, but it would be worthwhile if it can make the two Yanmen in the river form an alliance. Anyway, this matter is settled like this, and I will leave it to the third brother to handle it. Presumably, Li Ke Yong will not refuse our marriage proposal, but he has wronged Ke'er." (To be continued.)