Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 272: The one who is below defeats the one above

"Pattering..."

In July, it drizzles continuously.

Standing in the main hall of Guzang Yamen, Liu Jilian looked at the rain flowing down the eaves in the courtyard outside the hall, and heard Li Shangyin's report in his ears.

"News came from the Protectorate that the imperial court has increased taxes twice in succession, causing the people in Shannan, Jiannan and other places to flee to Longyou."

"Lu Jun, Xiahou Zi, Cui Shenyou and others did not stop the people from fleeing to Longyou. Many officials even openly forced people of good character into slavery and then sold them to Longyou as oral horses."

"In June alone, more than 8,000 people fled or were sold to Longyou."

"Shang Bibi is stationed in Mochan City, Shang Moyan is leading more than 10,000 soldiers to the south of Xishan, Xiahou Zi only sent Yang Fugong to lead 500 cavalry and 3,000 horsemen to Yizhou, waiting for the imperial court's order before waiting to send reinforcements."

"In addition, the Jinzouyuan in Chang'an has received news that Qiu Fu of Liangzhe has launched attacks everywhere, but was stopped by Cui Xuan's army. He is now restricted to the five states of eastern Zhejiang."

"Wang Shouwen of Puzhou is trapped in Puyang. Pei Xiu's 60,000 soldiers have surrounded Puyang."

"Since June, the Supreme Emperor has been unable to attend court. He may be ill. Officials from the Southern Court and the Northern Court are all waiting in line to transport him to King Kui."

Li Shangyin summarized the military situation of more than four months in just a few words.

After hearing all this, Liu Jilong pondered for a moment, and then asked, "How is the expansion of the six garrisons in Linzhou, Liangzhou, etc.?"

Hearing this, Li Shangyin said without hesitation: "The soldiers have been recruited, and there are enough armors in the treasury, but the horses..."

He pondered for a moment, flipped through the book in his hand, and said, "In the previous recovery of Liangzhou, all the soldiers and horses of the six towns suffered casualties."

"After filling the gap between the original number of horses in the towns, the horse farms in the various states of Longyou can only mobilize 2,400 horses, leaving a shortage of more than 4,600 horses."

"Given the situation at the military horse farms in each state, it will take at least three years to replenish the army's horses."

Liu Jilong continued to ask, "Has the military horse farm in Liangzhou been built?"

As for the government affairs of Liangzhou, Li Shangyin did not need to look through the documents, so he closed the document and said:

"Although there are many herds in Liangzhou, their quality varies. Even if we select and breed them carefully, it will take five years to train them."

"If we include the Liangzhou Military Horse Farm, the Protectorate has been able to produce 4,000 military horses every year since the 19th year of Dazhong, and the number will increase year by year."

"The nineteenth year of Dazhong..."

Liu Jilong murmured about the time and couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

Judging from the current situation, there is no such thing as nineteen years in Dazhong.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but think about the situation.

History has changed a lot because of him. First of all, the Tang court did not increase taxes three times in history. In addition, Longyou did not have such a huge force as his, and Wang Shouwen was just an unknown general in the Tianping Army.

Now, because of its growing strength in Longyou, the Tang court had to increase the number of troops stationed on the western front, so the military expenditure burden became even heavier.

Coupled with Wang Shouwen's rebellion, the Tang court was forced to increase taxes for the first time.

Due to the tax increase, the Qiu Fu Uprising in eastern Zhejiang was triggered ahead of schedule, casting a shadow over the almost "perfect" Dazhong era in history.

Xiahou Zi's disastrous defeat at Yanchuan led to his early entry into Western Sichuan as an envoy and prime minister.

Originally, he would have stayed in the position of prime minister longer, so he had the opportunity to recommend Wang Shi to go to eastern Zhejiang to quell the rebellion.

Now without his recommendation, Wang Shi is still guarding Annan, and Qiu Fu's rebellion has not yet been quelled.

The changes I have caused are so great that I can no longer predict the course of events based on the original history.

It is natural that both Qiu Fu's Rebellion and Wang Shouwen's Rebellion will be put down. After all, the Tang Dynasty has not yet reached the point where "bandits are everywhere."

Although there were many civil uprisings, there were still many talented people left during the Yuanhe and Huichang years.

However, as these people gradually die out, the day when bandits will appear everywhere is not far away.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong looked at Li Shangyin and said:

"Send a message to the Protectorate, asking Shang Moyan to hasten the capture of Xishan."

"Also, send a message to Envoy Zhang in Hexi to see how the western silk trade route is going."

"Also tell Cao Mao and Chen Ying to train two thousand elite cavalry first, and after the autumn harvest, join forces with the Hexi Guiyi Army to attack Juyanhai."

"Yes!"

Without any unnecessary nonsense, Li Shangyin agreed to everything Liu Jilong said without hesitation, and drafted letters to send to various places.

While the entire Longyou was busy, the Tang Dynasty in the east also obtained money and food to survive after the tax increase. The soldiers of Pei Xiu and Cui Xuan's armies were rewarded respectively, and morale was high.

On the fifth day of July, Cui Xuan led officers and soldiers from Huainan, Xuanshe, Zhenhai and other places to launch a counterattack from Yuezhou, Muzhou and Quzhou.

Upon hearing the news, Qiu Fu convened a meeting in Yiwu to discuss strategies against the enemy.

Liu Sheng, deputy commander of the rebel army, advocated taking the initiative and immediately led his troops to attack Yuezhou (Shaoxing).

As long as they could control the Yuezhou treasury, they could recruit local Yuezhou citizens, establish a solid defense line in the Xiling area at the gateway to Yuezhou, and build fortifications along Zhejiang.

In addition, he dispatched two more armies, one to attack Xuan and She states, and the other to fight against the government troops.

As long as one of the two routes is successful, they can counterattack western Zhejiang, capture Shitou City (Nanjing), cross the river and capture Yangzhou, and raise military pay.

Faced with Liu Sheng's suggestion, many Confucian scholars who joined the army thought that Liu Sheng's strategy was nothing more than imitating Sun Quan and dreaming of separatist rule.

This can only be achieved when the world is in chaos, but today when the world is unified, it is impossible to establish one side.

Therefore, Confucian scholars believed that instead of attacking, it would be better to gather the people and hold on to the dangerous place, and to farm and fish to be self-sufficient when necessary.

Once the government troops attack, we will sneak into the island and come back after the enemy leaves.

After listening to the opinions of both sides, Qiu Fu was undecided and put this important matter on hold, thus making the situation of the rebel army even more difficult.

Fortunately, compared with him, Cui Xuan, who commanded the official army, only knew how to attack fiercely, so the two sides fought a tug-of-war on the east-west line of Zhejiang.

Seeing that Cui Xuan was nothing special, Qiu Fu immediately accepted the advice of the Confucian scholars, farmed and fished in the five states under his command, and sent people to Haizhongzhou (Zhoushan) to build a city and navy, and re-established the Wengshan County (Zhoushan) that had been abolished in the past.

While the two sides were fighting, Wang Shouwen in the north was the first to give up.

In mid-July, Wang Shouwen led his troops to break out to the south, but was blocked by Tuoba Sigong of the Pingxia tribe.

Wang Shouwen tried to break out thirteen times but failed. The soldiers and civilians in Puyang City had to eat cold rice and suffered from many diseases, and were in imminent danger.

"Cough cough..."

On July 24, after completing the thirteenth breakout, Wang Shouwen returned to the city for a brief rest.

Today, all the houses, government offices and gate towers in the city have been demolished, leaving only the city gate intact.

The rebels had to collect wild grass, dry it and use it for firewood, while the people could only eat rice soaked in cold water.

Wang Shouwen, who was sitting in the tent, finished the hot meat porridge in the bowl, then glanced at everyone with a sharp look:
"Tonight, we will break out to the west!"

Faced with his military orders, few people responded.

He was also very anxious about this and looked at Zhu Huai: "Zhu Huai?"

"Don't worry, General Jie, I will definitely follow you!"

Zhu Huai bowed respectfully, with a sense of righteousness.

Seeing him like this, Wang Shouwen calmed himself down and then looked at Wu Wei.

Seeing Wu Wei nod, they immediately began to plan a night attack.

Zhu Huai and others walked out of the tent, and everyone subconsciously looked at him.

In the previous breakouts, the already few old Tianping soldiers suffered even more casualties. Those who are still alive now are basically the Hu people and Puzhou people who joined the army later.

Zhu Huai walked towards his tent without saying a word, and everyone followed him closely.

Not long after, when everyone entered Zhu Huai's tent, Zhu Huai spoke:

"In the imperial edict to suppress the rebellion, only Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei were mentioned."

"When we raid the city tonight, if anyone has the courage to capture these two and deal with all the old soldiers in the city, we can survive!"

Zhu Huai either didn't speak at all, or once he opened his mouth he wanted to take the lives of Wang Shouwen and all the other Tianping veterans.

Even so, everyone's eyes were still fierce.

For the chance to survive, everyone is willing to give it a try.

Because of this, the silence in Puyang City lasted until midnight.

As more than 3,000 armored soldiers gathered at the east gate of Puyang, Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei also arrived late with more than 500 elite cavalry.

Wang Shouwen cast his gaze towards Zhu Huai and said with satisfaction: "Zhu Huai, if we can successfully break through this time, we will head south."

"The defenses in the south are weak, and there are very few garrison troops. With our military strength, it would be easy for us to seize control of a few states."

"Then I will appoint you as the governor of a state as a reward for your hard work these days."

"What are you saying, Marshal Jie!" Zhu Huai said righteously;

"If it weren't for the Marshal, I would have been beheaded by the government troops. I am still alive and well now, all thanks to the Marshal's kindness!"

"Haha, you, you..."

Wang Shouwen chuckled, then adjusted his sitting position, waved his whip and said, "Open the city gate, break out!"

After he gave the military order, the city gate slowly opened, and Zhu Huai quietly retreated to the infantry.

"Walk……"

"Do it!!"

Before Wang Shouwen could shake the reins of his horse, the infantry and elite cavalry around him drew their swords and charged towards Wang Shouwen and his companions.

"You bastards! What are you doing?!"

After all, Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei were people who came out of the Tianping Army, so they reacted immediately.

Things like the lower class rebelling against the higher class are not common nowadays, so the two were naturally on guard.

But no matter how much defense they took, they could not withstand the large number of enemies around them.

Wang Shouwen reacted quickly and shouted:
"Zhu Huai! I've treated you well, is this how you repay me?!"

The spears were stabbing at them, and Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei fell off their horses to avoid the spears.

Zhu Huai remained silent, and when the screams in the battle array stopped, he pushed aside the soldiers in front of him and walked into the battle array. Wang Shouwen, Wu Wei and more than a hundred Tianping veterans died miserably.

Wang Shouwen had his head and limbs chopped off by an axe, and Wu Wei also had his head chopped off.

Seeing the two men with their heads and bodies separated, Zhu Huai, who organized this incident, broke out in a cold sweat.

He was not afraid that the two would turn into evil spirits and seek revenge on him, but he was afraid of the people around him.

If this group of people can kill Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei in order to save their lives today, will they be able to kill themselves in order to save their lives tomorrow?

Thinking of this, Zhu Huai swallowed his saliva and pretended to be calm:

"Alright, send someone to take the heads of these two thieves out of the city and hand them over to Prime Minister Pei!"

"Yes!"

Several generals agreed and then sent elite cavalry to escort the heads of Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei out of the city.

"The Prime Minister!!"

It was only 4: am at Yin time when the news and the head reached Pei Xiu.

Pei Xiu walked out of the tent wearing a cloak, and then saw Bi Yu, the governor of Zhaoyi Army, walking towards him, followed by several armored soldiers.

"Prime Minister, great joy!"

"Zhu Huai, the commander of the left wing of the rebel army in the city, has restored order and killed the two thieves Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei as well as the former rebel soldiers. I beg you to surrender!"

"Wang Shouwen is dead?"

Although it was expected, Pei Xiu still found it hard to believe when it really happened.

But after a moment, he reacted, checked the heads of Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei, and sent people to Tianping Army to ask the soldiers related to them to identify them.

By the time the message was confirmed and reported, it was already Chenshi (7 o'clock).

"The Prime Minister has pacified the two thieves. If the Supreme knew, he would surely be delighted!"

Facing the good news of defeating the two bandits, everyone was very happy to congratulate Pei Xiu, but Pei Xiu said:
"Zhu Huai committed adultery with his sister-in-law in the river and murdered his brother and his sons and nephews, so he was thrown into death row."

"Now he has killed his benefactors Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei, which shows how sinister he is."

"If we pacify them, disaster will inevitably occur in the future."

"I want to pretend to accept the rebels' surrender and have the rebels kill Zhu Huai to prove their guilt. What do you think?"

Pei Xiu's transformation caught everyone by surprise.

The original congratulations gradually faded away, and I didn't know how to respond.

Seeing this, Pei Xiu stroked his long beard and said, "You don't need to express your opinions. This matter will be handled by me. All the troops just need to obey my orders."

Upon hearing this, all the generals bowed in response and then dispatched troops according to Pei Xiu's words.

At noon, Pei Xiu led an army of 60,000 to the city of Puyang and sent out light cavalry to indicate that he would accept Zhu Huai's surrender.

When Zhu Huai heard the news, he immediately led less than 20,000 soldiers in the city out of the city to surrender.

The government troops took advantage of the situation to take over Puyang City, and Zhu Huai and his "meritorious" generals on the left and right were brought before Pei Xiu respectively.

"Criminal General Zhu Huai, please meet the envoy!"

"Meet the envoy..."

Looking at the three people who came to surrender, Pei Xiu smiled and stroked his beard and said, "Envoy Zhu played an indispensable role in the recovery of Puyang by the government army this time."

"Envoy Zhu?" Zhu Huai looked up in surprise, only to see Pei Xiu smiling:

"Envoy Zhu has made great contributions in killing Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei. I have already asked the court to appoint you as the governor of Hezhong Xizhou."

Zhu Huai was originally from Xizhou. Now that he learned that he was about to become the governor of Xizhou, he could hardly hide his joy.

"Thank you very much, envoy! One day I will serve you wholeheartedly, even if it means death!"

Zhu Huai gathered together the little knowledge he had just to win Pei Xiu's appreciation.

A cold light flashed in Pei Xiu's eyes, and he obviously thought of the fate of Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei.

But he hid it well. Charity smiled and said, "I have prepared a banquet in my tent. Please invite Envoy Zhu and several generals to come with us."

"Yes!" Zhu Huai excitedly led several rebel generals into the tent, and there was no ambush in the tent.

During the banquet, Zhu Huai, who was already happy, soon got drunk and was drunk by everyone.

Pei Xiu ordered his men to take him to a tent in the camp to rest, and then left behind the rebel general who had not been forced to drink much.

Seeing Zhu Huai leave, Pei Xiu put down his wine glass and said with regret:

"My dear friends, I would like to offer you a toast!"

Several generals were originally Hu people or commoners, so they had no idea about etiquette and could only raise their glasses with both hands to return the toast.

"The imperial court's decree will arrive soon. Please enjoy these few days. I'm afraid that in the future... Alas!"

Pei Xiu's words made everyone tremble. One of them asked anxiously, "What is the Prime Minister doing?"

"Hmm?" Pei Xiu pretended to be confused and frowned.
"Aren't you all responsible for the crime and are recommending Lord Zhu as the chief meritorious official?"

"What crime?"

"Yes, didn't we kill Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei together?"

"It would be fine if the Prime Minister didn't reward us, but why did he make us bear the punishment?"

"Me?" Facing the accusations of the generals, Pei Xiu pointed at himself, looking confused, and then took out a letter and said:

"Isn't this what you guys said?"

The letter was passed on to the generals by the soldiers. Although not many of the generals could read, there were still one or two who could.

After taking the letter, they found out what had happened.

It turned out that Zhu Huai had tampered with the letter of surrender, putting the blame of rebellion on them and portraying himself as an innocent person.

It was because of this that Zhu Huai was given the official position of an envoy, while they not only got nothing but were also exiled to Qianzhong for their crimes.

After learning about the situation, everyone cried out for injustice:
"Prime Minister, we were forced to join the army by the rebels."

"That's right, it was Zhu Huai who took the initiative to join the army and tricked and killed the government troops in the river!"

"Let the prime minister see clearly!"

As everyone was talking at once, Pei Xiu went from being confused to being furious.

"Asshole! Zhu Huai actually deceived us. How despicable!"

He overturned the table and cursed, then his face became hesitant again, his brows furrowed as he said:

"But the petition has already been sent to Chang'an, this..."

"The Prime Minister!"

Upon hearing this, all the generals knelt down and saluted: "Please, Prime Minister, save our lives!"

Seeing this, Pei Xiu hesitated and sighed, "I can do nothing about it, everyone... this... ah!"

When the generals saw him like this, they immediately felt disheartened.

"Prime Minister, there is actually another way..."

Suddenly, a Confucian scholar standing behind Pei Xiu stepped forward. Judging from his status, he should be Pei Xiu's staff member.

When the generals heard this, their eyes sparkled and they looked at him expectantly.

Pei Xiu was also surprised when he heard this: "Is there any other way?"

"The solution is..." The staff member paused for a moment, then glanced at several generals, and finally said, "There will be no evidence if you die!"

"What...what does this mean?"

Several generals obviously didn't know what this meant, and the staff had no choice but to explain:

"You just need to give a unified testimony, saying that Zhu Huai was one of the culprits of the rebellion, and was trying to pretend to surrender and break out, but was then suppressed by you. This will explain the previous request."

"Not only that, you can also clear your grievances and even get an official position..."

Compared with the previous sentence, the latter sentence moved several people more.

Several people looked at each other, then looked at Pei Xiu, then knelt down and bowed, saying: "Please help us tonight!"

"This old man... this..."

Pei Xiu hesitated, like an old man who had no idea what to do.

Everyone was helpless and could only focus their attention on the staff.

Upon seeing this, the staff member immediately said, "Tonight, the envoy and I will go to Puyang City to rest. We will not know about the events here until tomorrow."

Everyone's eyes lit up, and Pei Xiu hurriedly left the tent when he saw this.

After Pei Xiu left, all the generals gathered together. They could understand each other's thoughts just by looking at each other.

They walked silently towards the tent where Zhu Huai was resting. After the curtain was lifted, Zhu Huai on the couch murmured a few words, then tightened the quilt.

When he felt something was wrong and slowly opened his eyes, several generals had already surrounded him.

"What are you doing!"

"How dare you lie to us, you bastard!"

"Hold him down!"

"What are you doing?!"

Zhu Huai's tone was filled with fear, but several generals used their hands and feet to hold him down. Finally, as Zhu Huai looked desperate, one of them raised an axe and chopped at him fiercely.

"Pfft..."

Scarlet blood splattered all over the tent. Pei Xiu, who was not far from the tent, nodded when he saw this, then turned and left.

(End of this chapter)