History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 341 Mingzong Enters Luoyang 2
【Mingzong enters Luoyang 2】

Yuan Xingqin rushed back to Luoyang from Weizhou, and Li Cunxu personally went out of the city to comfort him and inquire about the latest news from the front. The answer made Li Cunxu quite sad:
The Weizhou rebels have extended eastward, occupied Bozhou, and controlled the western part of today's Shandong Province. They plan to cross the river to attack Yunzhou and Bianzhou (in fact, when Li Cunxu heard these two place names, he already thought of the "left hook"). Now their morale is low and the army is scattered. Your Majesty, please go to Guandong (Sishui Pass, located between Bianzhou and Luoyang) in person to recruit them, so that they will surrender!

Li Cunxu accepted this suggestion. On March 926, 3, Li Cunxu ordered the execution of Wang Zongyan and his entourage. The reason was Li Siyuan's rebellion.

The actor Jing proposed a suggestion to Li Cunxu, saying that Kang Yanxiao had just been pacified, Shu was in chaos, and many remnant forces of the "war faction" had not been eliminated. They were still hoping that their old master Wang Zongyan could do something. Wang Zongyan's family and his followers were no longer a minority, and there were thousands of them. Now that Central China was in turmoil, if they heard that Your Majesty was leading an expedition to the east and was tired of the rebellion in the east, they would definitely have some ideas... It is better to strike first and eliminate the trouble!

Li Cunxu agreed with this and ordered the massacre of Wang Zongyan's family and thousands of surrendered generals and ministers of Former Shu who came with them.

The next day (March 3), Li Cunxu set out from Luoyang and arrived at Sishui Pass on March 19. This was the place where Guan Erye warmed wine and killed Hua Xiong, and now, another important thing was about to happen here.

Li Cunxu sent Yuan Xingqin to lead the cavalry to patrol eastward along the Yellow River to recruit and appease the soldiers and civilians who were wavering. In theory, the number of people in this team should increase as they go, and more and more people should follow under the king's banner. However, the actual situation is that the number of people is decreasing, because there are a large number of Li Siyuan's relatives and followers in the team that came with the army, and most of them took the opportunity to slip away and join Li Siyuan's organization.

Some people advised Li Congshen to flee, but Li Congshen always followed Li Cunxu and never left him. Li Cunxu talked to Li Congshen many times, hoping that he would be a reconciliation envoy to communicate with his father Li Siyuan to eliminate the misunderstanding between the monarch and his subjects. However, Li Congshen firmly refused and said that if Li Cunxu pushed him away again, it would mean that he doubted his loyalty, and he would commit suicide in front of Li Cunxu to show his loyalty.

At that time, Li Siyuan's "Left Hook" operation was still in the planning stage and had not been implemented immediately. There was still the possibility of negotiation and settlement between the two sides.

So Li Cunxu talked to Li Congshen again and said a lot of heartfelt words, and finally persuaded Li Congshen to cross the river to the north to negotiate peace with Li Siyuan.

As a result, Li Congshen met Yuan Xingqin halfway on his way, who refused to listen to his explanation and killed him.

After Li Congshen's death, there was no possibility for both sides to clear up the misunderstanding, and the "misunderstanding" could only continue to increase.

Now, Bianzhou has become the top priority of this war, and both sides are aware of its importance. Whoever controls Bianzhou controls the world. Li Cunxu continued to move eastward to Bianzhou to appease the people and strengthen their faith in resistance; Li Siyuan also officially launched the "Left Hook" operation.

When Li Siyuan was crossing the river, he happened to encounter several ships carrying tribute. God help me, I have already publicly declared rebellion, why should I be afraid of robbing the emperor's money? So I robbed it! Li Siyuan seized all the silk on the several ships and then used it to reward the army. The soldiers were jubilant and shouted "Long live the emperor".

For Li Cunxu, this was like cutting off the source of his financial troubles. He had finally waited for the emergency money, but it was intercepted by the rebels.

Li Siyuan successfully crossed the river and reached Huazhou. He sent people to summon Fu Xi, the governor of Pinglu Army in Qingzhou, who was in a dilemma. The Qingzhou army mutinied, and the eunuchs who supervised the army refused to allow Fu Xi to return to the army and ordered him to go to Weizhou to quell the rebellion. The Qingzhou generals killed the eunuchs who supervised the army. Li Siyuan on the front line in Weizhou also openly rebelled, so Fu Xi became a lonely ghost, unable to return to Qingzhou or go to Weizhou. Fu Xi's situation was quite embarrassing. He wanted to be a loyal minister, but he couldn't be a traitor. He was caught in a dilemma.

Li Siyuan wanted to unite all forces that could be united, and Fu Xi was obviously the comrade he needed to unite with.

Before going south, Li Siyuan also sent letters to Wang Yanqiu, Duan Ning, Fang Zhiwen, An Shentong (An Jinquan's nephew) and others stationed in Hebei to win their support.

Now, An Shentong has led his troops to join the battle and provide strong support.

Kong Xun, who was guarding Bianzhou, sent an envoy to express his support for Li Siyuan and asked him to come to Bianzhou as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation. It is worth mentioning that Kong Xun was a typical double-dealer. While sending a memorial to Li Siyuan, he also sent someone to send a memorial to Li Cunxu, expressing his firm support for Li Cunxu and asking him to come to Bianzhou as soon as possible to maintain stability.

Kong Xun prepared two identical welcoming ceremonies, one at the north gate for Li Siyuan and one at the west gate for Li Cunxu. He had to be strong in both. He bet on both sides to ensure that he would always be invincible. Kong Xun instructed his men, "We will support whoever comes first. By the way, remember to deal with the other set in time, so as not to be exposed."

(Kong Xun, the governor of Bianzhou, had two intentions. He ordered the north gate to welcome Emperor Mingzong and the west gate to welcome Emperor Zhuangzong. Therefore, the tents and the piles of supplies were the same. He said, "Whoever arrives first may enter.")
At that time, Caozhou Governor Xifang Ye was stationed in Bianzhou with Caozhou troops. He said to Kong Xun: "When the emperor destroyed Liang, he spared your life (Kong Xun was Zhu Wen's confidant and adopted grandson. He was Zhu Yourang's adopted son along with Dong Zhang and Gao Jichang. He was treacherous and had framed and killed Jiang Xuanhui, Zhang Tingfan, Liu Can, and Emperor Zhaozong's Empress He). Why do you still support Li Siyuan now?"

Kong Xun was speechless, but continued to do as he pleased.

At that time, Li Siyuan's daughter, Shi Jingtang's wife, was in Bianzhou, so Xifang Ye wanted to kill her in order to force Kong Xun of Bianzhou to be loyal to Li Cunxu and become an enemy of Li Siyuan. Unexpectedly, Kong Xun had already hidden her in his home to protect her, making it impossible for Xifang Ye to kill her.

Shi Jingtang took the lead and rushed into Bianzhou first. Kong Xun immediately welcomed him warmly. Shi Jingtang sent envoys to urge Li Siyuan to come to Bianzhou as soon as possible.

Xifang Ye was outnumbered, so he led his 500 cavalrymen to break out from the west gate and join forces with Li Cunxu. The king and his minister met by the Sishui River, Xifang Ye sobbed and reported the incident in Bianzhou. Li Cunxu was filled with emotion and sighed.

On that day, Li Siyuan officially entered Bianzhou to take over; Li Cunxu sent Yao Yanwen, commander of the Longxiang Army, to lead 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard to recapture Bianzhou, and said to them: "You are all from Bianzhou. The reason why I did not send other troops is that I am afraid that the people of Bianzhou will be afraid. Go, Bianzhou soldiers, recruit my people."

Li Cunxu gave them generous rewards and promised them more generous rewards after the task was accomplished.

(End of this chapter)