A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 386 House slaves with three surnames
A cold autumn rain.

In Henan, in Guanzhou and Guancheng, behind the General's Office, raindrops fall like beads on the eaves of the surrounding corridors.

Duke Guo Qing of Xun entered the inner courtyard and walked along the corridor. He had not yet taken off his armor. Princess Wang of Xingyang heard the sound of the armor plates rustling and came out to greet him.

"With such heavy rain today, my husband still went to patrol the city?"

The bright armor was soaked with rainwater, and the polished round guards reflected Wang's somewhat pale face. The couple were quite different in age. Back then, Wang Shichong married his elder brother's daughter to this prince of the Sui Dynasty in order to win him over and support his usurpation of the throne.

Wang Shichong had many brothers and daughters. He used his nieces' marriages as political bargaining chips. For example, Shan Xiongxin, Pei Xingyan, Guo Qing, and even Chuluo Khan were all married off to Wang Shichong's nieces.

Dressed in a gold-embroidered silk skirt and adorned with a gold hairpin, Lady Wang instructed her maid to remove her husband's armor. "Quickly cook a bowl of mutton soup for my husband, add plenty of ginger and pepper to warm him up. The autumn rain is very harmful to the body."

Guo Qing held Wang's hand; her slender hands were very cold.

"You haven't been feeling well these past few days, so just rest indoors and avoid drafts."

"It's out of the way."

Guo Qing hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Seeing her husband's expression, Wang asked, "Is it because the war is not going well and you are worried about the affairs of the country?"

Guo Qing nodded and took his wife's hand as they went into the house.

After removing his armor, he waved for the servants to leave, leaving only the couple in the room.

"Madam, to be honest, Luoyang is about to fall. Tang official Li Yi has repeatedly sent letters to persuade us to surrender. After much consideration, I have decided to submit to the Tang Dynasty."

Wang's face turned even paler, and she gave a bitter laugh.

"Don't worry, Madam. I've spoken with Attendant-in-Ordinary Li. I will remain as the Governor-General of Guanzhou, and he has said he won't punish you because of your status. When you return to Tang, although you can no longer retain the title of Princess of Xingyang, the Tang will grant you the title of Lady of Xun."

Wang pulled her hand away from Guo Qing's grasp, got up, and sat down on the other side.

"The reason why the Duke of Zheng offered his concubine a broom and dustpan to serve him was to demonstrate his loyalty. Now, the Duke has betrayed his promise and is fickle, only caring about his own interests. What can his concubine do?"

If I go to Chang'an, I will inevitably become a slave in the Guo family.

"I do not wish to end up like this, but I beg you to send me back to Luoyang. This would be our final act of affection as husband and wife."

Guo Qing walked over and tried to sit next to Wang Shi, but Wang Shi got up and avoided him.

"Why don't you believe me, Madam? I have already pleaded with Minister Li to grant you a pardon."

Wang Shi would never believe it. Back then, Yang Qing also had wives and concubines, but he later divorced his wife and married her. Now that he is going to return to Tang, Guo Qing will change his name to Yang Qing, and then there will be no place for her.

"My lady, please don't worry, I will never leave you."

These words touched Wang somewhat, but ultimately made her unable to remain composed.

After Guo Qing left,
Lady Wang summoned her personal maidservant and said with a bitter smile, "If the Tang army wins, my family will be in danger. If Zheng is not in danger, my husband is dead. We are caught in a dilemma. How can we survive?"

Wang Shi had wanted to return to Luoyang and live and die with the Wang family, but now Guo Qing wouldn't allow it, leaving her in despair.

Not long after, the maid went outside to find out the news that the Duke of Xun had officially changed his allegiance, declared his allegiance to the Tang Dynasty, and changed his name to Yang Qing again. The Tang Dynasty still appointed him as the governor of Guanzhou and the Duke of Xun.

Upon receiving this news,

Wang took out the prepared poison and drank it, committing suicide.

When Yang Qing arrived, Wang was already dead.

She was wearing the gold-painted pomegranate-red dress she had worn when she married him more than a year ago. The hem of the dress spread out like a pool of crimson blood, and she lay there quietly on the Persian carpet that had been part of her dowry.

She was dressed neatly, with a flower tree hairpin in her hair, but blood was flowing from her seven orifices, and her face was terrifying.

In her hand, she clutched a jade hairpin tightly, broken in two; it was a family heirloom he had given her on their wedding day.

Seeing this delicate woman lying there like that,
Yang Qing felt a lump in his throat and sighed.

He ordered that Lady Wang's body be collected, placed in a coffin, and sent to Xingze to be handed over to Prince Zheng, Wang Xuanying.

When the coffin of Princess Xingyang was delivered to Xingze,

News also arrived that Guo Qing had betrayed Zheng and surrendered to Tang, and had changed his name to Yang Qing.

Wang Xuanying stroked his cousin's coffin, tears streaming down his face, his eyes reddening.

"Damn Yang Qing, how dare you do this!"

The enraged crown prince immediately summoned generals Zhang Zhi and Zhang Cibao.

"Yang Qing killed the princess and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. I cannot forgive him. I will immediately muster my troops, retake Guanzhou, and execute the traitor Yang Qing!"

No amount of persuasion could dissuade him. Wang Xuanying gritted his teeth and said, "I want Yang Qing dead, and I want to slaughter his entire family!"

Zhang Zhi thought for a moment, "Guanzhou is indeed not to be lost. If the Tang army comes to take over Guanzhou, we will be in trouble."

Zhang Zhi and his men immediately gathered their troops, assembled more than 10,000 men, and marched towards Guanzhou.

Xinzheng is located south of Guanzhou.

Li Yi led 12,000 men and quietly arrived in the city.

At this time, there was indeed a large army heading towards Bianzhou City, stretching for dozens of miles. However, this army was not Li Yi's main force. It consisted of local troops, able-bodied men, and other soldiers, totaling more than 20,000 men, but actually had few combat soldiers.

It was just a bluff, with many flags and a long marching column to make it seem like there were many soldiers. Li Yi deliberately ordered them to march slowly, only twenty or thirty li a day.

The main force consisted of 9,000 combat troops, including soldiers from Guanzhong Prefecture, imperial guards, and armored soldiers from Shannan and Hebei, along with 3,000 auxiliary troops.

He made a show of force in the direction of Bianzhou, but secretly led his main force to Xinzheng City, which was only a hundred miles away from Guanzhou.

All because Guo Qing surrendered.

Li Yi had initially thought Guo Qing would continue to observe for a while, but to his surprise, the man was decisive, predicting that Wang Shichong couldn't hold out any longer and thus surrendering without hesitation. Li Yi immediately granted him the privilege of being the governor of Guanzhou, and then led his troops north.

He came secretly because he knew that Wang Xuanying would definitely attack Guanzhou after learning that Guo Qing had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.

After arriving in Xinzheng, he did not continue north, but instead quietly sealed off Xinzheng and waited for news from the north.

A light cavalryman galloped back from the north of the city.

"Reporting to the Attendant-in-Ordinary, we have spotted a troop of light cavalry. After we surrounded them, they claimed to be from Xinzheng and said they had important information to report."

Li Yi asked, "Can you ascertain the other party's identity?"

“After he recognized us as Tang soldiers, he claimed to be the son of Zhang Zhenzhou, the self-proclaimed General of the Left Guard of the Pseudo-Zheng Army. He said he came to see our army on his father's orders, saying that Zhang Zhenzhou wanted to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.”

That was unexpected.

Li Yi was not unfamiliar with the name Zhang Zhenzhou. "As far as I know, Zhang Zhenzhou should be by the side of Wang Xuanying, the false crown prince of Zheng, right?"

Soon, Li Yi met Zhang Zhenzhou's son, who had been captured by Tang scouts and brought to him, bearing some wounds. "I heard you wanted to see me?"

Zhang Zhenzhou's son looked at the young Tang general with surprise, "You are Li Shizhong?"

"Yes, Li Yi, concurrently serving as Inspector-General."

Zhang Huaidao was still somewhat incredulous.

Li Yi produced his official seal and official document.

"Zhang Huaidao pays his respects to Attendant-in-Ordinary Li."

"Are you Zhang Zhenzhou's son?"

Zhang Huaidao took out a secret letter hidden in the lining of his clothes and wrote it on silk.

Seeing how cautious he was, Li Yi believed him a little more. But after reading the letter, he was very surprised: "Your father is with three thousand soldiers near Guanzhou?"

"Yes, Wang Xuanying and Zhang Zhi asked my father to lead troops to reinforce Bianzhou. It was said that they gave him three thousand soldiers, but in reality, only eight hundred were fully armored."

My father saw through the inevitable demise of the false Zheng regime, and thus led his troops south to submit to Li Shizhong.

Zhang Zhenzhou's three thousand men were unexpected.

However, his voluntary surrender to the Tang Dynasty is now the icing on the cake.

“Very well, I accept General Zhang’s allegiance. From now on, he is a man of the Great Tang. He will retain his original official title and command his three thousand former troops as a general commander under my command.”

Li Yi wrote a letter to Zhang Zhenzhou, instructing him to lead his troops to ambush near Guanzhou.

"General Zhang and I will agree on a verbal code, which will be 'Golden Autumn Brings Cool Breeze'. When I summon him, in addition to my seal, I will have someone announce this code, which will confirm that it is my military order and he will immediately obey the order to send out troops."

Zhang Huaidao nodded, "I will immediately have my men take the Attendant's letter and password back to my father. I request to remain by the Attendant's side as his servant."

This is a voluntary act of leaving oneself as a hostage.

Li Yi said no, but he insisted.

“Okay,” Li Yi patted his arm; his staying undoubtedly increased the trust between the two parties.

Zhang Gongjin privately asked Li Yi, "Why doesn't the Attendant-in-Ordinary summon Zhang Zhenzhou and his three thousand men?"

"It is not yet entirely certain that they are trustworthy."

"Isn't the Chamberlain worried that Zhang Huaidao's men will expose our whereabouts after they return?"

Zhang Gongjin felt that Zhang Zhenzhou sending his son to find the Tang army to surrender might just be a feigned surrender.

Li Yi believed that Zhang Zhenzhou was unlikely to feign surrender, since he could foresee that Li Yi might secretly head north to Guanzhou. It would be better for him to have Wang Xuanying lead troops to ambush him.

Zhang Zhenzhou's behavior is also easy to understand.
When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. It's not surprising that Guo Qing of Guanzhou surrendered, Wei Lu of Xingzhou surrendered, and Zhang Zhenzhou surrendered as well.

I waited for three days in Xinzheng.
Wang Xuanying finally led his troops across the Suo River and arrived at the city of Guanzhou.

Prince Zheng arrived at the city walls.
"Send Guo Qing to me!"

Yang Qing was on the city wall, but he didn't stand up to talk to Wang Xuanying, his former brother-in-law.

Anyway, his name is Yang Qing now.

Wang Xuanying cursed and shouted for a while, but no one responded. He became even more furious and ordered an attack on the city.

Zhang Zhi surveyed Guanzhou City. Although the city was built on a plain, its walls were tall and not easy to attack.

"Please, Your Highness, do not rush. It is not too late to attack after our army has prepared siege equipment. First, we will surround Guanzhou City, and Guo Qing will have no way to escape."

Yang Qing was not in a hurry.
Before Zheng Jun crossed the Suo River, he had already sent several groups of messengers south to Xinzheng to report to Li Yi that Zheng Jun's army had arrived.

Anyway, that's what Li Yi instructed: as long as the Zheng army attacks Guanzhou, just send someone to Xinzheng to ask for help; there's no need to go out of the city to fight, just leave it to the Tang army.

For the next three days,
Zheng Jun took turns hurling insults at them while preparing siege equipment, but Yang Qing ignored him completely.

On the fourth day, Zhang Zhenzhou led three thousand men from the southeast of Guanzhou and sent someone to report that Wang Yaohan of Bianzhou had surrendered to Tang, so he had to retreat. Hearing that Guo Qing of Guanzhou had also surrendered and that the Crown Prince was personally leading an expedition, he rushed over to join him.

Wang Xuanying had no suspicions and ordered Zhang Zhenzhou to lead his troops into the camp to attack Guanzhou together.

Zhang Zhenzhou, who was far away, received a reply from the camp and shook his head dismissively, saying, "Heaven is going to destroy Zheng." He waved his hand and led three thousand men toward Zheng's camp.

at night,

Zhang Zhenzhou led 800 of his former soldiers in a sudden rebellion, setting fires throughout the camp and leading his troops to attack the Crown Prince's central army camp.

The Zheng army camp, located ten miles from Guanzhou City, was ablaze with flames.

It was all clearly visible from the city walls of Guanzhou.

South of Guanzhou

Looking at the raging flames, Li Yi smiled and said to Zhang Gongjin, "Zhang Zhenzhou is still very fierce; one fire has laid the foundation for victory in this battle."

It's our turn to move in.

Clad in iron armor, Zhang Gongjin excitedly shouted, "This humble general is willing to be the vanguard!"

Actually, it doesn't matter whether it's avant-garde or not anymore.
Zheng's camp was thrown into chaos after Zhang Zhenzhou launched a surprise attack in the middle of the night. The Tang army arrived shortly after, and their nine thousand armored infantry and cavalry were unstoppable in the face of the chaotic Zheng camp.

However, even in a well-equipped military camp, a night raid is not always an option.

But now,

A tiger among sheep.

On the city wall of Guanzhou, Yang Qing stroked the battlements, watching the battle cries from Zheng's camp grow louder and louder, the flames within the camp growing larger and larger.

He knew that Li Yi must have arrived.

"Issue the order: Follow me into battle, kill the enemy, and provide cover for Li Shizhong!"

Yang Qing, seeing that the situation was under control, immediately led his troops to attack, determined to strike a fatal blow against a defeated enemy.

Zhang Zhen has three thousand men, Yang Qing has three thousand men, Li Yi has nine thousand men, and there are three thousand auxiliary soldiers in the rear.

Zheng's camp was already dilapidated and in complete chaos.

Three armies fought fiercely in the camp.

Zhang Zhi barely managed to protect Crown Prince Wang Xuanying as they fought their way out of the camp, and fled north without daring to look back.

(End of this chapter)