Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 256: Fire in the River
"The enemy soldiers changed their route, marched a hundred miles day and night, and attacked Yanchuan by surprise."

"Officers and soldiers were attacked, and more than 7,000 people died or drowned. The bandit leaders Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei fled to Yan'an."

"The rebel army requests that the rebel leader Wang Shouwen be appointed as the governor of Yunzhou, and Wu Wei be appointed as the governor of Puzhou..."

"enough!"

On November 23, upon learning the news of the government army's disastrous defeat in Yanchuan, Li Chen stopped Ma Gongru from reading the military report.

He slowly opened his eyes, and all the civil and military officials in the Xuanzheng Hall lowered their heads and dared not say a word.

"There are more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in the four towns, and more than 6,000 elite cavalry alone."

"In such a situation, we were defeated miserably by 3,000 enemy troops!"

Li Chen's face turned pale: "Now the enemy army has moved southwards and entered Yan'an, which is only 500 miles away from Chang'an."

"I would like to ask you, are you going to let the rebel army invade Guanzhong?"

"I am terrified..."

Upon seeing this, Linghu Tao and Xiao Ye bowed and saluted, and all the officials followed suit.

Seeing this, Li Chen said with a dark face: "I don't want to hear your so-called panic, I just want to know how to wipe out the rebels!"

The troops from the four towns surrounded and suppressed 3,000 rebels, but ended up suffering a disastrous defeat in Yanchuan, with the loss of more than 7,000 soldiers.

If this news gets out, how will the various towns view the court?
Don’t you all think that the imperial court is already too weak to deal with even a small rebel force, let alone the various towns?

"Your Majesty, the reason for this disastrous defeat is that the elite cavalry from various towns had not yet assembled, and the army was short of horses, so the Tang cavalry was released, which caught the rebels by surprise."

"The reason why the rebels went south to Yan'an was because they knew that the Pingxia tribe and more than 4,000 elite cavalry from the three towns were chasing them, so they went south to Yan'an."

"Now the elite cavalry of the Pingxia tribe and the government troops have moved to Yanshui. There are still 4,500 elite cavalry and more than 10,000 armored soldiers."

"Plus, the two thousand elite cavalrymen of the Tianxiong Army have already arrived in Danzhou, so the enemy army has only one chance to cross the river and flee eastward."

"I request that Cui Yu, the governor of Hezhong, lead his army northward and station heavy troops at Madou Pass and Xizhou to prevent the rebels from crossing the river."

"Also, please ask Li Chengxun, the governor of Tianxiong Army, to lead the elite cavalry to Wuren Pass and station at the ferry pass."

"If these two passes are strictly guarded and all the counties defend themselves, the imperial army will march south from Yanshui and will surely be able to encircle and suppress the rebels in Yan'an County!"

Xiao Ye spoke eloquently, but Li Chen said coldly after listening: "In this case, recall Xiahou Zi and send Xiao Xiang to the north to control the various towns!"

"Um... Your Majesty..."

Seeing that he was sent north to command the troops of various towns, Xiao Ye immediately hesitated.

"I have never led an army, and I am afraid I will disappoint Your Majesty..."

Li Chen's face turned even darker, but Linghu Tao stepped out to smooth things over:

"Your Majesty, I think it would be better to appoint Li Chengxun, the governor of Tianxiong Army, as the punitive envoy to command the troops of various garrisons to encircle and suppress the rebels."

"Your Majesty, I second the motion!" Xiao Ye hurriedly seconded the motion.

Not only the two of them, but many officials in the court also agreed.

Judging from the disastrous defeat at Yanchuan, Xiahou Zi really had no ability to lead troops.

If he had not sent out elite cavalry without authorization, causing the government army's main force of horses and cavalry to be short of supplies, the government army would not have been caught off guard.

Li Chengxun's previous official position was the Jiedushi of Jingyuan. Later he was transferred to Qinlong to serve as the Jiedushi of Tianxiong Army.

With him in charge of all the towns, the Pingxia tribe, the Tianxiong army and the Jingyuan army would not disobey him.

As for Fengxiang Town and Bining Town, the former suffered heavy losses in the disastrous defeat in Yeonchuan, and the latter had no talent for leading troops, so they would not cause trouble for Li Chengxun.

Thinking of this, Li Chen could only nod and say: "Promote the Jiedushi of Tianxiong Army to the four towns of Fengxiang, Jingyuan, Tianxiong and Bining."

"A few days ago, the Western Sichuan Wei envoy asked for leave due to illness, and I couldn't find a replacement."

"Now that Xiahou Zi, the co-prime minister, no longer needs to worry about military affairs, he will be transferred to the post of Jiedushi of Xichuan and Yin of Chengdu."

A defeat in a war ruined Xiahou Zi's official career, so he was transferred to Xichuan and became an envoy.

Given the emperor's temper, it would be difficult for Xiahou Zi to return to the court.

Thinking of this, Linghu Tao couldn't help but feel regretful, thinking that the more he did, the more mistakes he would make, the less he did, the fewer mistakes he would make, and if he did nothing, there would be no mistakes.

While he was thinking this, Li Chen also stood up, and all the ministers sang and presented gifts to him.

After Li Chen left, all officials retired from the court one after another. Among the courtiers, Zhang Yichao and Zhang Yitan remained silent until they walked out of the Daming Palace and got on the carriage, then they started talking.

"More than 20,000 officers and soldiers were defeated by 3,000 rebels and lost 7,000 men."

"I never thought that Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei actually had such abilities."

Zhang Yitan stroked his beard and sighed, while Zhang Yichao shook his head and said:
"It's not that they are powerful, it's just that the officers and soldiers in the towns have been at peace for a long time, unlike these two who are on guard at the border in Liangzhou."

"Now the imperial court has appointed Li Chengxun as the punitive envoy. If these two people don't change their ways, I'm afraid Yan'an will really be surrounded and suppressed."

"But compared to these, I am more concerned about the situation in Liangzhou."

Zhang Yitan and Zhang Yichao came to the court for the sake of peace in Helong. Although the unrest in Liangzhou was part of the plan, it is better to be safe than sorry, so Zhang Yichao was still a little worried.

In response, Zhang Yitan stretched out his hand to comfort him and said, "It's okay. With Huai Shen and Liu Jilong here, these barbarians will not amount to anything."

"I hope so..." Zhang Yichao sighed, and Zhang Yitan also asked:

"Has there been any news from Huai Quan?"

"Yeah!" Zhang Yichao nodded, then spoke;

"He is currently stationed outside Wulan City with his troops and has not yet headed to Liangzhou."

"But this move was not his idea. It was because the military supervisor Wang Zonghui learned that the barbarians were heading south to besiege Liangzhou, so he did not dare to go to Liangzhou."

"That's good." Zhang Yitan breathed a sigh of relief:

"Wang Zonghui is a member of Wang Zongshi's clan. If he ordered the troops to stay put, even if the court knew about it, they would not blame Huaiquan."

"By then, the matter in Liangzhou will be settled, and Huaiquan will be able to return to Chang'an."

While they were talking, the carriage returned to Xuanyangfang. The two men got off the carriage and returned to their mansion.

But when they returned to their mansion, the imperial edict from Chang'an was also sent to Yan and Dan states.

At the same time, in the Tianping military camp outside Yan'an City, Wang Shouwen, Wu Wei and others were also discussing the next step.

"Now that we are being labeled as rebels by the imperial court, brothers, tell me, should we return to Yunzhou, or find a place to seek refuge?"

Inside the tent, Wang Shouwen asked everyone, and one of the generals bowed and said:

"We wanted to go home in the first place, and we were willing to mutiny just to go home."

"Even if the imperial court labels us as rebels, the officers and soldiers are just so-so and cannot stop us from returning home!"

"That's right!" Another general also agreed:
"I heard that there were floods in Hebei, Henan, and Huainan, and hundreds of thousands of people suffered. Who knows if my parents or brothers are among them?"

"We have armor in our army. If we can get back to Yunzhou, we can raise our arms and call for help. I don't believe that no one from Henan will come to join us!"

After the two finished speaking, everyone nodded in agreement. Wang Shouwen also looked at Wu Wei and said, "Da Lang, what do you think?"

"Damn it, of course I'm going home!" Wu Wei gritted his teeth and said:

"We were labeled as rebels, how many people would dare to take us in?"

"Even if we find a corner and rule the mountain, but we don't have the support of the people, every death will reduce our number."

"Why not take this opportunity to return home? Just like what Zhao Sanlang said, if we raise our arms and call for help, there will be countless people in Henan Province who have suffered and will come to us for help!"

"Okay!" Hearing everyone's unanimous opinion, Wang Shouwen said:

"If we want to go home, we must move quickly. We should turn off the engine tonight and reach the Yellow River by noon tomorrow."

"Even if the Yellow River has not frozen, we have prepared so many sheepskin rafts, so we are not afraid of not being able to cross the Yellow River."

"But once we get to the river, I'm afraid the people in the river have already received the imperial decree and will definitely stop us!"

Before Wang Shouwen finished speaking, everyone started to clamor:

"What's there to be afraid of? At worst, we can just fight our way home!"

"Yes, officers and soldiers are just like that!"

Seeing this, Wang Shouwen nodded and said, "Then it's settled. Turn off the fire tonight, and while the soldiers in the city haven't noticed, leave the tents to confuse them, and the army will head for the Yellow River at night."

"Good!" Everyone cheered, and Wang Shouwen saw this and told them to disperse.

Two hours later, as it grew dark, the more than 2,900 surviving Tianping soldiers began to turn off their flames and sneak across the river. They did not dare to light torches until they had walked three miles to the east and then moved southeast along the official road.

Since Xiahou Zi was reorganizing the defeated army in Yanshui at that time, no one stopped them along the way.

The next morning, when the magistrate of Yan'an County saw that there had been no movement in the Tianping military camp for a long time, he boldly sent people to check.

Upon learning that the Tianping army had left their camp and disappeared, he immediately sent people on donkeys to deliver the news to Yanchuan, Yanshui and other counties.

It is more than eighty miles from Yan'an County to the nearest Yellow River ferry.

However, the distances from Yan'an County to Yanchuan and Yanshui were eighty miles and one hundred and twenty miles respectively.

Because of this, when Xiahouzi of Yanshui County received the news, news had already come from Madou Pass in Hezhong Town that the rebels were trying to cross the Yellow River at the ferry downstream of Madou Pass.

There were only 600 soldiers at Madou Pass, and they did not dare to go to stop the rebels. Upon hearing the news, Xiahou Zi immediately sent Tuoba Sigong and Lai Chong to go through Yanshui and enter Yonghe Pass, trying to go south to stop the rebels.

But compared to their speed, the Tianping Army was faster.

Tuoba Sigong and Lai Chong had just crossed the Yellow River and arrived at Yonghe Pass.

The Tianping Army in the south had already crossed the Yellow River and gathered at a shallow beach downstream of Madou Pass, then entered Jinzhou via Xizhou.

When Cui Yu, the governor of Hezhong, learned the news, he immediately began to gather troops from Hezhong and march north.

Before Xiahou Zi could take any action, his plan was disrupted by the Tianping Army.

By the time he reorganized his army and marched south, the imperial edict had already reached Yanshui, and he was dismissed from his post as the envoy of expedition and marched south to Xichuan that same day to take up his post.

Li Chengxun of Danzhou became the punitive envoy, who was not only able to control the troops of the four towns and the Pingxia tribe, but also able to enter Hezhong to encircle and suppress the rebels.

However, Danzhou is more than 200 miles away from Yanshui, and Li Chengxun has only two thousand elite cavalrymen.

For this reason, Li Chengxun had to urgently transfer the Yanshui army to the jurisdiction of Fengxiang Jiedushi Jiang Xi, and asked Jiang Xi to cross the Yellow River and enter Jinzhou along Yonghe Pass.

Li Chengxun led two thousand elite cavalrymen south to cross Longmen Pass and joined forces with Cui Yu of Hezhong Prefecture to march north.

At that time, the troops of the four towns and the troops of Hezhong would attack the rebels in Jin and Jiang states from the south and north, and from the east and west.

Military orders were sent to all states, and all counties within Xizhou were required to defend themselves strictly and not allow the rebels to enter the Hejin Basin (Linfen Basin) from the Luliang Mountains.

After Li Chengxun's military order was issued, Wang Shouwen and others who crossed the Yellow River did encounter resistance.

"Smash!"

"Boom bang bang-"

“The city collapsed!!”

"Close the gap! Close the gap!"

On November 25, the Tianping Army, led by Wang Shouwen, crossed the Yellow River to the east and was blocked in Daning County, Xizhou.

There were only 400 officers and soldiers in Daning County, but due to the narrow terrain and the city occupying the official road to the east, they had to attack by force.

Li Chengxun originally thought that Daning County could hold off the rebels for three to five days, thereby buying time for the five towns to assemble their troops.

However, for the Tianping Army that had been stationed in Liangzhou for six years, in addition to mastering the skills of riding and archery, their second skill was building counterweight catapults.

Under the heavy bombardment of the counterweight catapults, the rammed earth wall of Daning County, which was not high to begin with, collapsed within a day and a night. The Tianping Army rushed into Daning City and raised their butcher knives.

In the midst of blood and fire, Daning City was broken, 400 officers and soldiers were all killed, and half of the residents in the city were killed.

Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei released 200 criminals from prison and sent them into the army, driving along with them eastward.

On the 28th, the Tianping Army captured Pu County and the flames of war ignited Pu County.

At the same time, the infantry of the three northern towns crossed the Yellow River and arrived in Yonghe County. It would take at least seven days to get out of the Luliang Mountains.

Li Chengxun in the south urgently recruited Tuoba Sigong of the Pingxia tribe, Lai Chong, the military commander, and others to go south to meet up with the troops in Hezhong in Taiping County.

After the armies joined together, Li Chengxun crossed the Pu River first and set up defenses on the east bank of the river.

On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, the Tianping Army walked out of the Luliang Mountains and entered the Jinzhou area in the northern part of the Hejin Basin.

Wang Shouwen sent two thousand elite cavalrymen twenty miles away to gather information, leaving only eight hundred elite cavalrymen and four hundred exiled criminals to guard the baggage wagons.

On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, the rebels and the main force of the government army were confronting each other across the Pu River in the north of Linfen County.

The flags of Pingxia, Hezhong, Jingyuan, Fengxiang, Bining and other towns were flying on the east bank of the Pushui River.

Six thousand five hundred elite cavalrymen were stationed on both wings of the army, and the center of the army was composed of five thousand armored soldiers from Hezhong Town.

On the west bank of the Pu River, the rebels consisting of 2,800 elite Tianping cavalry and more than 400 prisoners from the river were equally high-spirited.

Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei led their troops to break through the Guannei Road and arrived at the Hedong Road.

The infantry of the four garrisons in Guannei Road were left far behind by them. If it were not for Li Chengxun's proper command, the four garrisons and the elite cavalry of Pingxia would probably still be west of the Yellow River.

"The troops are so strong, no wonder my husband is no match for them!"

On the east bank of the Pu River, Li Chengxun squinted his eyes and looked at the Tianping elite cavalry on the other side of the river.

Cui Yu, the governor of Hezhong, who was riding beside him, snorted coldly: "Our army is nearly four times larger than the rebels. I don't believe they can still make such a fuss!"

Li Chengxun ignored Cui Yu's words. The troops in Hezhong were indeed good, but they lacked enough elite cavalry. It would be difficult to please the rebels if they fought on the plains.

Fortunately, he had assembled the elite cavalry from various towns. Now their number was twice that of the rebels, which was enough to encircle and suppress the rebels.

"Damn it, where did the government army get so many elite cavalry?!"

In the Tianping Army, Wu Wei and other generals showed rare fear.

On their return to the east this time, they defeated 20,000 government troops in Yanchuan, then crossed the Yellow River and successively captured Daning and Pu County.

Now, you only need to cross the Pu River, go south to Heyang, and then you can return home along the Yellow River.

But the current formation of the government army was obviously not comparable to the one that was defeated in Yanchuan.

"General, their forces are four to five times ours. How can we fight this battle?"

Each of the generals asked Wang Shouwen, and Wang Shouwen looked hesitant when he saw this.

"Set up camp first..."

Wang Shouwen hesitated again and again, but still didn't know how to fight the officers and soldiers on the other side, so he could only set up camp and think of a way.

But he also knew that the longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for them, so he had to come up with a solution quickly.

At night, there were flames on both sides of the Pu River. On the east bank were government troops, and on the west bank were rebels.

But judging from the firelight, the government army’s camp was four or five times larger than the rebels’.

Wang Shouwen came to check with a dark face, but returned disappointed.

He returned to the tent and summoned his generals to discuss the matter. He said, "The government troops are currently camping on the east bank, and their strength is four to five times ours."

"There are more than 10,000 Jiang's soldiers in the rear heading towards Jinzhou. They will reach Linfen in six or seven days at most."

"Now I am gathering everyone together, mainly to find a way to cross the Pu River and return to Henan!"

After Wang Shouwen finished speaking, the tent fell silent. Everyone looked at each other, unable to come up with a solution.

The morale that had been boosted with great difficulty suffered a blow today when they saw Li Chengxun and more than 6,000 elite cavalrymen.

"Is there no one who can solve this problem?"

Wang Shouwen got angry and couldn't help questioning everyone.

Wu Wei and the others wanted to say something, but they didn't know what to say.

Seeing this, a young general couldn't help but stand up.

Wang Shouwen saw that he was a stranger and after thinking for a while he remembered that this man was promoted from the prisoner army and was in charge of the general of the 400 prisoners.

"you say!"

Wang Shouwen didn't have any expectations and waved his hand to signal him to speak.

The general bowed and said, "There are so many armors and money in the army. Why don't we recruit soldiers and fight a decisive battle with the government troops?"

Hearing this, Wang Shouwen showed disappointment, and the veteran general of the Tianping Army also mocked:

"We are the rebels, how many of us will accept recruitment?"

"Why not?" will all retort:

"During this journey, haven't you noticed that the Hedong Road is full of barbarians and the officials of the imperial court are unpopular among the people?"

"If the commander-in-chief is willing to offer money and food to recruit soldiers, then the barbarians from all around will surely come to surrender, and the thousands of sets of armor captured by our army can also be put to use."

As soon as they finished speaking, Wang Shouwen's eyes lit up: "Go on!"

Upon hearing this, the general bowed in gratitude and then explained:

"Most of these Hedong barbarians migrated from Guannei Road in the past few decades, and their number is over 100,000."

"In the sixth year of Dazhong, Li Ye, the governor of Hedong, allowed his officials and people to invade and plunder the barbarians and kill those who surrendered, causing unrest in the north."

"Although the area was later stabilized by Lu Jun, after Lu Jun and Wei Mo were transferred away, the Hu people were again abused by officials, complained a lot, and suffered from hunger and cold."

"These barbarians usually make a living by herding sheep. They are excellent horsemen. As long as they are dressed in armor, they will become natural cavalrymen."

"If the general is willing to spend money, a large number of barbarians will surely come to join us. It won't be a big deal if their military strength exceeds that of the government troops!"

Hearing this, Wang Shouwen stood up, walked back and forth, and then said:

"I will promote you to be the commander of the left wing of the Tianping Army, and you will recruit the Hu people."

"You are in charge of all the money, food, and armor in the army!"

Upon hearing this, they all knelt down, trembling with excitement and said:

"I will definitely fulfill your mission!"

(End of this chapter)