The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 44 Hell
On the first day of April in the first year of Jingfu, the imperial court issued an edict:
He listed the serious crimes of Li Maozhen and his sons, such as cruelty to the people, indiscriminate killing, violation of the palace, and cannibalism, and urged the people to pay tribute to him.

The emperor ordered Wang Xingyu, the governor of Bining, to be the acting grand tutor.

The Imperial Censor Xu Yanruo was appointed as the officer in charge of supplying military rations.

Pei Shu, the right son of the emperor, was sent as an envoy to Fufang, Xiasui, Shanguo, Hezhong, and Jinshang to comfort the soldiers and inform them of the reason for the attack on Li Ni and his son, so as to prevent them from having any wild thoughts.

He ordered 23,000 troops from Yaowu, Yushan, Yingwu, Baoguo and Shangchen to stand by.

Taking into account that the main force was Ximen Chongsui's troops, the Yingwu Army envoy Ximen Yuanyuan was given the power to observe Fengxiang and manage the military farms as a pie in the sky.

Following the defeats of Shu and Jin, this was the third time the sage had used military force since the first year of Wende.

The reaction of the officials and common people in Chang'an was normal, the only difference was that no recruiting envoy was appointed for the expedition against Qi this time.

Rumor has it that the sage intends to lead his troops into battle himself.

This caused a lot of discussion among the people.

The only six emperors who had fought in the battlefield in the Ming Dynasty were Gao, Tai, Su, Dai, De and Shun.

Emperor Gaozu pacified Hedong, Emperor Taizong settled Luoyang, Emperor Suzong withdrew his troops to Lingwu and led his army to Fengxiang to Chang'an. Emperor Daizong was appointed as the Grand Marshal of the Army and attacked An Qingxu. Emperor Dezong guarded Shanzhou and resisted Shi Chaoyi. Emperor Shunzong took up his sword and fought against Zhu Ci on the top of Qianxian City. These emperors were all sword-drinking emperors. There was also one emperor who twice threatened to personally fight against An Lushan, but unfortunately he fled west in panic.

The emperor decided to be on the front line today, probably because he was forced into no other choice.

Throughout history, peace has always come at the cost of bloodshed.

Give the Jiedushi an inch and they will take the entire dynasty!
But will the current emperor lie all the time like Li Longji did, just to trick the soldiers and civilians' families into covering his back?
……

Chang'an Palace.

The Saint sat opposite Concubine Shu, and more than ten ministers and concubines including Concubine Chen, Zhaoyi Li, and Jieyu Pei gathered together.

He was in tears, holding the saint's hand and trying to persuade him: "The vassal ministers have been in trouble for many years. Just summon Zhongzhi to help. The military situation is changing, and it is difficult to predict safety. If something unexpected happens, we will be orphans and widows..."

The saint sat there, not saying anything. If you don't work hard, you can't expect others to bow down to you.

The concubines wept and were extremely anxious. The talented Yuwenrou gritted her teeth and advised: "The warriors are all rebellious. Killing one will cause a hundred suspicions. It is difficult to offend the public anger. The situation is very urgent. The fate of the country will be decided in a moment. Please think carefully again, Your Majesty."

After saying that, he knelt down again and kowtowed repeatedly, his forehead turning red.

Li Ye could not help being moved, and pulled Yuwen Rou up. His tough attitude disappeared. "Although you have lived in the palace for a long time, you have experienced wars over the years, and you must know the consequences of losing everything. You will die and your country will be destroyed, and your wife and daughter will be abducted and sold by warriors. So how can you not know why I am going to the expedition in person? There is no way to retreat."

After the Chaos, how many concubines and princesses were manipulated and their whereabouts remain unknown?

Nangong Chongyan followed up Yuwen Rou's words and advised: "That is true, but if the sage does not go, the defeat can still be avoided. If he goes, it is hard to predict the disasters and blessings in the army, how can the subjects feel at ease? I hope the sage will think about it carefully."

This sentence revealed the concerns of the wives and concubines.

If you don't go, you can still run away if you are defeated. If the emperor dies in the army, killed by the swords of ordinary people, how can the country be preserved?

"Just as the commander said, Bashu has changed hands, Heluo is shaken, and there are wolves all around the pass..." Li Ye sighed and said self-deprecatingly, "I have not yet seen the emperor's carriage go to Yue, where will he go from now on? If I don't go out, the situation will really be deteriorating to the point of being out of control. Who would respect a caged emperor in the deep palace? There is no right in the world that will come without paying. If the saints did not fight bravely, there would be no Tang Dynasty today."

If Li Heng, Li Yu, Li Shi and Li Song had not fought for their lives, the country would have been destroyed long ago.

At this point, the saint shook his head silently and repeated what he had said to Du Rangneng that afternoon at Taiye Lake: "Times have changed."

He's delicate body involuntarily collapsed a few times, and she finally sat up steadily with the help of her maid.

All the wives and concubines burst into tears.

……

Fengxiang, Yong County.

Yang Shouliang, Wang Xingyu, Li Maozhen and Li Jikan fought for several months, and this place had already become hell.

The raging fire engulfed all the houses. The people's clothes, food, and livestock were robbed, and all the able-bodied men, regardless of their status, were forced to work in the army. The weak, sick, old, and young were tied to pillars and tortured, and killed with swords and spears.

Abandoned children and dead babies filled the streets, and naked corpses of starving people were scattered everywhere.

The Shannan army that had passed by earlier was short of food, and the warriors were arresting people in the villages and towns, throwing them into big pots and eating them with their bones intact.

Wang Xingyu also captured people on his way to Dazhen Pass to attack Li Maozhen.

The people were driven and killed like sheep and dogs, without a sound, and the bodies and blood were piled up on the grass and trees. However, the captured people were still not enough to satisfy the hungry Bining army. The strong and the weak in the army bullied each other, and the officers and officials could not stop them from beheading them. They used more cruel military laws, such as breaking the waist or chopping diagonally, to stop the cannibalism, but it still could not stop them.

In the entire Yong County, are there still 500 elderly, weak, women and children alive?
There were few young women left, and those who were even slightly pretty were captured by the warriors from various towns and raped to death. From Yong County to Qishan, from Chencang to Guo County, from Dasan Pass to Dazhen Pass, female corpses could be seen everywhere on the ancient post roads, some of them committed suicide because they could not bear the humiliation, or were killed and their bodies were thrown away.

On a small hill covered with bright peach blossoms.

A ragged little girl sat blankly under a tree, staring at the village engulfed in flames.

She was very young, only about six or seven years old, and didn't know what had happened. She only remembered that her mother took her to a tree hole on the mountain and hid her in her sleep. Her mother said to her with a dark face: "You must remember this, don't make a sound, or I will beat you."

Yi Niang was very obedient and stayed in the tree hole. When she was hungry, she would catch ants and insects to eat. In the dark and quiet tree hole, she would often lie there, dreaming that her parents would come to pick her up, and imagining with expectation that she was in a bustling market.

Once, she tried to escape from the jungle.

As a result, halfway through the journey, she heard a faint howl mixed with laughter, which frightened her so much that she ran back.

I don't know how long it took. Yi Niang climbed out of the tree hole in a daze. As she continued to stumble and stumble to the hillside, she saw the village burning in the raging sea of fire. This made her feel a sense of joy and intimacy, but also a sense of strangeness that confused her.

"Aung, Aung..." She called out weakly many times, but the only response she got was the chirping of birds.

Maybe Aong and the others are hiding somewhere.

When she couldn't shout anymore, the little girl stood up, trying to remember the vague scene of her hometown in her mind. As she looked, tears suddenly welled up in her dry eyes, like beans falling down, one by one...

The capital city that A Niang is talking about is on the other side of the mountain, right?

She left the hill sadly, her small figure staggering towards the other side of the mountain.

……

Spring is here, the snow on the mountain has melted, the grass has secretly emerged from the soil, the mountains are full of wild flowers, and swarms of bees are busy collecting honey with their wings flapping. On the mottled post road from Qishan to Xianyang, a baby is crying softly on a woman's back.

The woman let go of her two sons, patted their swaddling clothes, and hummed weakly a few times to coax them.

The woman hummed and hummed, but before she could comfort the child, she squatted on the ground and burst into tears.

How to live like this?

The man in front, who was carrying a bag on his shoulders and pushing a wheelbarrow, stopped, looked back, and said gently: "While it's not too hot, walk for another half a day to Xianyang, and then to the capital..."

The man wiped the beads of sweat from his face and paused: "Don't dare to rest, or you will be caught and made into jerky."

"I don't need to." The woman's crying gradually subsided. She wiped her face with her sleeve and stood up with difficulty. Her cold hands clenched the small hands of her two sons, gritted her teeth, and followed the man.

My eldest son is only eight years old. If he had been born five or six years earlier, he would be able to support this family that is on the verge of collapse.

Unfortunately, he was only eight years old.

Although he was more tolerant than his younger brothers and sisters, he still couldn't stand the torture along the way. Moreover, the family had only eaten some cooked beans for two days and one night.

The couple fled eastward with their child at the risk of their lives, just to get away from those man-eating warriors.

With a thud, the eldest son knelt on the ground, mumbling through his cracked lips: "Mother, I can't walk anymore, I'll just rest for a while..."

"Get up." The woman lifted the eldest son up with great effort, and muttered to herself like a madman: "Just walk for another half a day, half a day, and we will reach Xianyang."

If they slowed down their escape and were seen by the warriors who were arresting people everywhere, the whole family would become food for those beasts.

Going to the capital to find a saint, even if you have no land, no house, and no food... at least you won't be eaten by bones. Escaping to the rule of the court is the only hope for these people in despair.

As she was daydreaming, the woman felt a sinking sensation in her hand. She looked down and saw the child whining and curled up into a small ball.

"Erlang, Erlang!..." The woman squatted down, picked up the child, and slapped his face in panic.

After a long while, the child finally opened his eyes with difficulty, but his eyes were narrowed into a slit: "I really can't walk anymore, let me lie down for a while..."

The woman's nose felt sore again, but she could no longer cry. She just cried hoarsely and slapped the weeds on the post road with her hands.

The man stopped his wheelbarrow and trotted back.

Seeing this, he immediately carried his two sons to the cart, fed them water and beans, and comforted his wife, saying with a silly smile: "I will push you, and you walk. I have so much strength that I can't stop using it."

"When Dalang and Erlang grow up, let them serve as soldiers for the emperor and kill those beasts."

At dusk, the sparsely populated official road gradually became more crowded. In the fields on both sides of the road, there were clerks distributing land, marking boundaries and issuing land deeds. There were also local people working in the fields, working hard to clear the canals.

"Have we arrived in the capital area? How far is it from Xianyang?" the man asked with all his strength.

Someone in the field, hoeing his hoe, asked in confusion: "This is Xianyang."

“Are we there yet?…” The man was stunned for a long time before he reacted. As soon as he breathed a breath, he tilted his head and fell to the ground, unconscious.

……

On the third day of April, the military supply envoy Xu Yanruo received an order from the Secretariat to collect some carts and animals and began to organize the people to escort grain, straw bundles, firewood, beans, bows and arrows, tents and other supplies to Fengtian County.

On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Li Yanzhen, the commander of the Shangchen Army, led more than 2,000 soldiers to march out. Each infantryman was given a horse or mule as a footstool, and the other soldiers were jealous and complained that Ximen Chongsui was partial.

On the fifth day, Li Sizhou, the commander of the Yaowu army, arrived at Ji Shui with more than 6,000 infantry and cavalry. When he set out, he also recruited more than 4,000 able-bodied men in Jingzhao to do miscellaneous tasks such as cooking, chopping wood, and building camps.

On the afternoon of the same day, Yang Shouxin, the military commander of Yushan, received money and goods from Du Rangneng. Perhaps he was delayed by some personal matters, so he replied that he would mobilize the troops to set off within three days.

The 4,000-strong Yushan Army plus the troops of Li Yanzhen and Li Sizhou make up nearly 13,000 true warriors. Although the Shen Ce Army had 70,000 or 80,000 before it was cut, it sounds impressive, but in fact, there are only about 10,000 people who can fight and fight hard battles. In addition, there are 5,000 Yingwu troops led by the saint himself, 6,000 Longjie knights, and more than 3,000 miscellaneous soldiers from the Tianwei tribes gathered by Wang Congxun.

A total of 27,000 infantry and cavalry were mobilized.

Among them, the Longjie Army and the Yingwu Army were established only a few months ago, so it is hard to say how strong they are. Let's just fight them. Sooner or later they will be dragged into the battlefield and shed blood.

On the sixth day, it is beneficial to tidy up the armor, open warehouses, and make money.

When asking for divination in the Taichang Temple, the result was: Fire-Wind Ding.

The Doctor of the Imperial Household interpreted the Xiang and said: "Ding, the Greatest Auspicious Sign, is a great success. There is fire on the wood, and the gentleman will settle his fate with the right position."

(End of this chapter)