Late Tang

October [-]th of the third year of Zhonghe, Lidong!

Around one o'clock, the city of Chang'an was already under martial law, and the city looked particularly gloomy and desolate.Jinwuwei soldiers stood in front of every city gate and Jiekoufang gate.The doors of every house and courtyard were tightly closed, and under the dim light, one could see large sheets of martial law notices printed in movable type pasted in front of the gates of each neighborhood.In the closed street of the workshop, the old watchman held a lantern, knocked on the clapper loudly, and shouted feebly, "The sky is dry and the things are dry, be careful of the candle!" His shrinking body kept shaking under the frosty wind, Continue to disappear into the darkness.The slow, listless sound of gongs or clappers also faded away in the cold wind.

It was very quiet on the top of the city, and there was a lantern not far away. Since the front line had sent back the news that Qin Wang Li Jing had just won a big victory in the Bohai Kingdom and had led 20 Qin troops and [-] Mohe barbarians back to Hebei. The entire Chang'an city suddenly became tense.The defense of the capital also began to strengthen, and the lanterns on the top of the city also became denser.

There were many flames outside the city, and the sky was reflected in black and purple. From the far east, the sound of rumbling guns came from time to time, rolling in the sky like summer thunder.

The sound of the cannon was conveying news, and during the day the beacon fire was used to convey the news and report safety.At night, the tradition is to use up the light, but in winter there is often rain and snow, so it is difficult to transmit the fire, so the imperial court ordered the beacon towers every twenty miles to use newly produced gunpowder to fire the cannons at night.One cannon, it means all is well, two cannons, warning, three cannons, the enemy is coming!

Since the extermination of Huang Chao, the recovery of Chang'an, and the accession of the new emperor Chang'an, the situation of the new court has not been good.More than [-] towns together supported the establishment of the current emperor and established a new dynasty, but Tian Lingzi in the southwest held the Supreme Emperor and controlled the land of Sanchuan.In the southeast, the original famous general Gao Pian, Zhou Bao, etc. are already very old. Gao Pian has been begging for immortals all day long, especially after being assassinated two years ago, and he has been sick. In the hands of Jiang Hu warlocks, Huainan Town, which was once a powerful town in the world, is now extremely weak. Those generals under Gao Pian's subordinates were killed and maimed by Lu Yongzhi and others.Zhenhai Jiedu envoy Zhou Bao was immersed in wine, sex and wealth, and the town of Zhenhai was almost divided and emptied by the military governors of various states.Almost all other towns in the southeast have become Li Jing's allies. Datang used to be the source of nearly half of the annual tax revenue, but now it has become a place for Li Jing's money and food tribute. A steady stream of money and food is transported from the southeast coast every year. To Huaisi, Shandong and Hebei, there is no tax to be shipped to Chang'an.

The biggest threat to the new imperial court still comes from the Qin Fan in the Northeast. Since Li Jing's rise in Shandong, in just ten years, Li Jing has established a powerful feudal town, a feudal town that is completely out of the control of the imperial court, a completely Read the separatist feudal town.Within ten years, Li Jing had conquered and annexed countless feudal towns, big and small. After careful calculation, Zhendong, Andong, Ziqing, Pinglu, Lulong, Cangjing, Yiwu, Yanmen, Datong, Tianping, Taining, Yi Cheng, Ganhua, and the three towns of Xuanwu, Zhongwu, and Huainan were mostly annexed by the Qin army. In addition, Fujian, Lingnan East, Lingnan West, Annan, Zhedong, Huaixi, and Zhexi were almost completely attached to the Qin army. Li Jing, it can be said that in today's world, Li Jing monopolizes half of the country.

Whether it is territory, population or army, Li Jing is more powerful than the newly established Chang'an court.

Li Jing started from Shandong Liaonan. While expanding to the Central Plains these years, he has also been expanding semi-outward. Goguryeo, Bohai, Heishui, North Korea and other foreign countries have now surrendered under Li Jing's feet. Seeing Seeing that the tribes outside the pass would no longer be able to hold back the full rise of the Qin army, the court in Chang'an was also worried.Everyone knows that as long as Li Jing defeats the barbarians outside the pass, his next step must be to go south. At that time, how terrifying and terrifying will the Qin army who can go south with all their strength without any worries?

The imperial court's overtures to Li Jing had already been rejected by Li Jing.Li Jing refused to accept the gift from Admiral Tiance, nor did he accept the honor of making his daughter a queen. Li Jing was not even willing to say anything superfluous. Be strong and start a war in the Central Plains.Li Jing's strong statement, coupled with the constant rumors outside that Li Jing summoned famous people in the world and the patriarchs of the big families to go to Hebei to discuss the matter of establishing a new monarch, made the people of the new dynasty feel an imminent pressure. Crisis, Li Jing, the most powerful vassal in the world, is finally about to tear off the mask of hypocrisy and wear the identity of Li Tang's loyal minister all the time, revealing the fact that he is the biggest murderer today.

Li Jing wants to establish a new emperor?Who will be the new emperor?

People in the new dynasty believed that since Li Jing was so uncharacteristically tough, it was very likely that he would establish himself as the emperor and ascend the throne.

The atmosphere became more and more tense every day. Everyone believed that since Li Jing brought 20 Mohe Mannans to the south, it was natural that he would not bring them back to Yanjing as guests.The biggest possibility is that Li Jing will use these newly surrendered Moheman to enter the Hebei battlefield, or directly into the Central Plains battlefield.The investment of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses will inevitably change the situation of the entire battlefield immediately.

Even in the city of Chang'an, which is far behind the rear, soldiers and horses are patrolling day and night, and night travel is prohibited.

However, although the Yang brothers and other warlords in other feudal towns are worried, there are still many people living a life of luxury and debauchery in the deep houses in Chang'an.

In those mansions in the square area that are closer to the imperial city, the nobles, princes, court ministers, and wealthy businessmen who returned to Chang'an after the recovery of Chang'an lived in them. The situation outside is tense, but they are still living their lives. life.Every night, there are endless banquets in each family's mansion, and the singing of silk and bamboo, singing softly and softly, hovering on the exquisitely painted roof beams.

The host and the guests toasted and exchanged glasses, hugged the beautiful daughter-in-law, and sat on the wheel couch, with half-drunk and slightly smoky faces, nodding their heads in keeping with the rhythm, in a wild mood.

Singing constantly, they nod their heads in praise frequently, persuading wine and serving food happily, reading poems and composing Fu, guessing and throwing fists, they seem to be high-spirited scholars who live in seclusion, and don't pay attention to the sound of guns and fire outside the city.No one even thought about how to offer any strategies for the new dynasty, how to revive the Tang Dynasty, and rejuvenate the Li family.On the contrary, the birds in the gardens of various prefectures were disturbed by the sound of the cannons, and flew up in flocks from time to time, circling over Chang'an City, making mournful calls.

Chang'an was once an international metropolis with millions of homes, a metropolis of the world.However, after the Anshi Rebellion, the population of Chang'an became smaller and smaller, and it has maintained a population of about 70 million for a long time.After experiencing the Huangchao Rebellion, there were only tens of thousands of people in Chang'an.The Yang brothers supported Li Jie to proclaim himself emperor in Chang'an, and moved a lot of people from other places in Guanzhong to Chang'an. With the addition of a large number of troops stationed in Chang'an, there was a bit of excitement here after all.

As the weather got colder and colder, those people who had fled to the mountains when Huang Chao occupied Chang'an also began to come down from the mountains and pour into Chang'an.There were already many victims and beggars in Chang'an City. During this period, tens of thousands of people flooded in from around Chang'an, and more refugees escaped from the Central Plains battlefield in Shannan, which was once again reduced to a battlefield. There, 10,000+ troops faced each other. During the war, countless people suffered. Either they were robbed by the officers and soldiers, or they were robbed by the former officers and soldiers who surrendered to the Qin army, or they were forcibly conscripted as civilian husbands. The people fled one after another, and a small number fled to Jingnan. , Jiangxi, Hunan, but more fled from Wuguan to Chang'an.As for going to Qin Fan's territory, that road was blocked by the officers and soldiers of various towns.

The 10,000+ refugees who fled into Chang'an from Shannan had no place to receive them. Many people slept at the foot of the city wall. The refugees huddled together for fear of freezing to death.They shivered, groaned, and sighed in the biting cold wind.

The women called their husbands in low voices, weeping in mourning.The children huddled together in their mother's arms, crying, crying, and hungry, with heart-piercing sounds.

But when the patrolling new Shence sergeant passed by, they all held back temporarily and did not dare to make a sound.

From Hebei last month, it was reported that Li Jing returned to the Qin Fan with 20 Qin troops and [-] Moheman. After the news of the landing in Tianjin, the entire Chang'an began to be under martial law, and all the refugees were expelled from the city, in case there were Qin Fans among them. The J-spies were mixed into it.The refugees had to gather at the foot of the outer city wall to suffer from the cold. Hundreds of refugees died every day, and sometimes thousands of them died.Although the new emperor ordered to set up a porridge shed outside the city to provide relief, he could only drink one bowl of gruel that could reflect the silhouette of a person every day.More and more people are dying, especially the elderly and children. Tonight, the frosty wind is blowing again, and the cold is terrible. Who knows how many large and small corpses will be dragged away tomorrow morning and thrown into the mass burial ground middle.

Some refugees even complained, why did King Qin rebel against the court? Isn't General Tiance satisfied? The emperor is going to marry his daughter as queen, but why he refuses? Why does he have to go to war?

"Who doesn't want to be an emperor, how can General Tiance have an emperor." An old man with white hair sighed.

"In the past, it was said that the King of Qin was the most loyal minister and commander-in-chief in the world. He loved the people like a son in Qin Fan these years, and was extremely supported by the people. Moreover, he was also fighting outside the customs. The barbarians and Hu tribes all surrendered. Such a person should not Is it to care for the people? Why do you still have to fight? This war will hurt many people.” Some people don’t understand.

The white-haired old man looked up at the sky, smiled wryly and shook his head: "It is precisely because the king of Qin is supported by the people that he will not accept the canonization of the new dynasty. In the world, the virtuous live in it. Even if the king of Qin doesn't think so, his civil and military subordinates will Will push him to this step. For us, this is a nightmare, but for the people of Qin Fan, this is what everyone hopes to see. No matter if it is the court in Chengdu or today The imperial court in China is always changing the soup but not the medicine, how can they accept it, what they need is to ensure that King Qin's rule can continue forever."

Many refugees half-understand, but they understand that this war must be fought, and it will even be fought more and more fiercely.What are they going to do?At this moment, everyone lowered their heads and sighed in despair.Who really thought about their feelings? (To be continued.)