Chapter 375 A Difficult Victory

Hebei, Changshan Zhending.

Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and Pugu Huai'en and other military generals discussed the matter.

The court's military pay has arrived, and they need to discuss the next military action.

Li Guangbi suggested that there was no need to confront Shi Siming head-on, but that the troops could be divided into two groups, one to go to Raoyang to contain Shi Siming, and the other to attack in the direction of Fanyang and directly attack the rebel's lair.

Guo Ziyi agreed with Li Guangbi's suggestion, but the specific details of the military deployment still needed to be discussed further.

After the meeting, Pugu Huai'en found Guo Ziyi and said, "General, where do you want to go after the An Lushan Rebellion is destroyed?"

Guo Ziyi smiled and said, "I will go wherever your majesty tells me to go."

Pugu Huai'en said, "Shi Siming's tactics are unpredictable, and your majesty is well aware of this. Now that Li Guangbi wants to use the strategy of besieging the city to tire out the enemy, we might as well cooperate with him and besiege the city for a while longer."

What Puguo Huai'en meant was that he wanted to keep the enemy at bay for his own benefit.

Since the Jiedushi became powerful, supporting the enemy and gaining personal benefits became a common problem among the commanders on the frontiers.

Puguo Huai'en is one of such types. They are loyal to the Tang Dynasty, but also want to gain power by nurturing the enemy.

Guo Ziyi understood what Pugu Huai'en meant, but he pretended not to understand and said, "How long to siege and how to fight should be determined according to the battlefield situation. General Pugu is also a man who understands military tactics. How could he make such a foolish suggestion?"

"This..." Pugu Huai'en was startled, smiled awkwardly, and whispered: "When the birds are gone, the good bows are hidden. It has always been like this since ancient times. I hope the commander will think twice."

Seeing that Pugu Huai'en didn't know how to advance or retreat, Guo Ziyi couldn't help but sigh and said, "Let's not talk about justice first. Do you think that His Majesty has no one else to use except us?"

Pugu Huai'en thought for a moment and said, "There are indeed Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing and others, and your Majesty yourself is very good at using troops."

Guo Ziyi asked, "Who are your majesty's personal troops?"

Pugu Huai'en said: "The elite troops from the four towns in Longyou Road."

Guo Ziyi said: "Since suppressing the rebellion, we have fought many battles, but Gao Xianzhi has always been holding back the elite rebels. Although I am now in command of the front, I have soldiers from Hedong, Hebei, Anxi, and Helong in addition to the Shuofang Army. If I dare to have selfish thoughts today, my head will be sent to Chang'an tomorrow."

After hearing this, Pugu Huai'en remained silent.

Guo Ziyi continued, "Your Majesty appointed me as the commander-in-chief because you trust me and show me such favor. How can I betray Your Majesty and cut myself off from the world for my own selfish interests? If I really become a person like An Lushan, I will be abandoned by the heavens and spit on by the people!"

Seeing Guo Ziyi's firm attitude, Pugu Huai'en said respectfully, "Yes, I am shallow, please punish me, Marshal."

"It's not your fault." Guo Ziyi waved his hand and said, "If the monarch is unclear about rewards and punishments, the foreign generals may have selfish intentions. If the monarch is weak, the foreign generals may be in danger of surpassing the monarch. If the monarch is old and sick, the young and brave generals may be in danger of being killed. But now your majesty is clear about rewards and punishments, has great talent and strategy, and is strong and healthy. What do we have to worry about? You can't use past events to apply to the current situation."

Pugu Huai'en seemed to understand something and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Marshal!"

Guo Ziyi smiled knowingly and said, "Well, focus on the war and prepare to make meritorious deeds."

"Yes." Pugu Huai'en took the order and left.

……

A month later, Guo Ziyi led a large army, with Pugu Huai'en leading 20,000 troops, to attack Fan Yang in the north. He personally led the troops to attack Raoyang.

When Shi Siming learned that the government troops were advancing, he left 10,000 men to guard Raoyang and led the main force to attack northward. Shi Siming did this for two reasons.

First, although Raoyang was difficult to attack, it was a small city after all, and Zhending and Hengyang were both in the hands of the government troops, which had formed a semi-encirclement for him. If he left all his troops in Raoyang City, he would easily be trapped to death by the government troops.

Second, he thought that Raoyang could be lost. As long as Fanyang and Pinglu were held, he could maintain his power for a while, and he could also let the government troops get rid of those people who were inconvenient for him to deal with.

Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi arrived at the city of Raoyang, unaware that Shi Siming had already escaped, so they adopted a strategy of besieging the city.

After two days of siege, scouts came to report that Shi Siming was no longer in Raoyang City, but An Lushan and An Qingxu were still in the city.

However, although Shi Siming was not in the city, Guo Ziyi still did not know how many people Shi Siming had left in Raoyang City.

So Guo Ziyi sent scouts to investigate while trying to attack Raoyang City.

Through the information from the scouts and several tentative battles, Guo Ziyi roughly understood the strength of the rebels in Raoyang City and prepared to attack Raoyang.

However, just as Guo Ziyi was preparing for the attack, Wu Chengen and Xue Song led the rebels to open the city and surrender.

It turned out that Shi Siming appointed An Taiqing as the commander-in-chief of Raoyang, and led Wu Chengen, Xue Song and others to stay in Raoyang. Wu Chengen and Xue Song had been wavering between the Tang Dynasty and the rebels. Now that they saw that the government troops were strong and Shi Siming had escaped, they conspired to kill An Taiqing, open the city to surrender to the government troops, and offer An Lushan and An Qingxu father and son.

The government troops took Raoyang after only a few tentative sieges and captured the rebel emperor An Lushan alive.
This victory was a big one in that there wasn’t much fighting. But if you look at it as a small one, it was that An Lushan was captured alive.

Guo Ziyi and others didn't know how to comment for a moment.

However, Guo Ziyi's mood did not last long, as bad news came. Shi Siming led a large army to defeat Pugu Huai'en. Of the 20,000 soldiers led by Pugu Huai'en to attack Fan Yang, only more than 2,000 escaped.

Guo Ziyi felt that he had been tricked by Shi Siming, but he could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger. He asked Yan Zhenqing to bring An Lushan and An Qingxu back to the capital to report the victory, while he continued to lead his troops northward.

As soon as Yan Zhenqing left, some powerful people in southern Hebei launched a rebellion because of the Double Tax System. They nominated Helan Jinming, the governor of Bozhou, as their leader and responded to Shi Siming's rebellion.

Helan Jinming was originally the governor of Beihai, and Li Heng transferred him to be the governor of Bozhou.

There were riots in many places including Xiangzhou, Jingzhou, Bianzhou, Chenliu, and even Qizhou in Guanzhong because of the Double Tax System.

The situation seemed to be taking a sharp turn, with reports from all over the country continuously being sent to Chang'an.

……

In Chang'an, Li Heng summoned civil and military officials to discuss matters.

Wei Jiansu spoke first: "Your Majesty, except for Shi Siming, all the riots in other places were caused by the implementation of the two-tax system. Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, only implemented the 'land measurement', which caused rebellions in many places. The two-tax system that Your Majesty is implementing now is even worse than the 'land measurement'."

Measuring land means checking the population on the fields. As early as the Western Han Dynasty, the population on the fields in each state and county was checked.

When the Eastern Han Dynasty was founded, Emperor Liu Xiu ordered all states and counties to check the amount of land owned by the people, their household registration, and their ages.

However, the power of the aristocratic families in the Eastern Han Dynasty was too great. The powerful families used intimidation and inducement to deal with local officials, and colluded with local officials to conceal and lie about the land and population.

When Liu Xiu found out about this, he was furious and sentenced more than a dozen provincial governors and county magistrates to death. He also forced an investigation with even more severe measures. The powerful families in the prefectures and counties in the lower reaches of the Yellow River saw that they could no longer conceal the truth, so they launched a riot.

(End of this chapter)