Chapter 389: Rebellion Incident
The news of Liu Yan's debate with the scholars spread throughout the palace and beyond.

Many people were not interested in the content of the debate. What they cared about was whether the court had reduced their labor service and taxes. If it had nothing to do with taxes and labor service, they thought it was all nonsense.

The person who was most concerned about the debate was Li Longji.

Because both the reformists and conservatives have complaints about him. The reformists think that he avoids problems and has no enterprising spirit, while the conservatives think that he favors treacherous people and is arrogant and licentious.

The only people who had some good feelings towards him were the powerful and wealthy families.

However, it was impossible for the powerful families to help him regain his throne. After the debate, Li Longji felt that he had been scolded and his authority was once again greatly reduced.

This made him very depressed and he couldn't sleep that night.

……

Hebei.

After Guo Ziyi captured Boling, he did not rush to attack, but built fortifications in Boling and fought against Shi Siming.

Shi Siming was originally outnumbered in terms of military strength and did not dare to attack rashly, so he just defended the city.

Yan Zhenqing, who was in Pinglu, surrendered half of the people in Pinglu, and set out from Liaocheng to attack Liucheng in Yingzhou.

The rebel Pinglu Jiedushi Li Huaixian also wanted to recapture Pinglu, so he confronted Yan Zhenqing in Yingzhou.

Yan Zhenqing personally led the army to fight Li Huaixian head-on, and sent Dong Qin, Tian Shengong, Wang Xuanzhi and Hou Xiyi to attack the rebels from both sides.

Tian Shengong and Hou Xiyi were both brave enough to fight against ten thousand men. They rushed in from both sides of the rebel army, causing chaos in their formation.

Seeing that the rebels' formation was in chaos, Yan Zhenqing led the government troops to attack from the front. The rebels were defeated and the government troops beheaded more than 10,000 people.

Yan Zhenqing recaptured Yingzhou and pursued the victory, then recaptured Pingzhou and Lulong. After a brief rest in Lulong, he marched into Jizhou and Yuyang.

At the same time, Li Guangbi set out from Weizhou, pretending to attack Zijing Pass, but actually besieging Juyong Pass with heavy troops.

Before Gao Xiuyan ran away, the rebel troops in Weizhou could still defend Zijing Pass and Juyong Pass at the same time. However, Shi Siming did not want to lose Yunzhou, and the rebels' food supplies were cut off by Li Guangbi's men. Gao Xiuyan had no choice but to run away, and half of the rebel soldiers either ran away or surrendered, so they could not defend the two passes at the same time.

Li Guangbi used a feint attack to trick Cai Xide into going to Zijing Pass. Juyong Pass was not heavily guarded and was conquered by Li Guangbi.

Li Guangbi captured Juyongguan and continued to advance eastward, forming a pincer attack with Yan Zhenqing, sandwiching Fan Yang in the middle.

Shi Siming was furious when he learned about the two major defeats in the rear.

If the government troops only attacked in one direction, he could still lead his troops to resist, but the government troops attacked in three directions, and he could only defend one direction, thus losing sight of the other.

At this time, he couldn't help but think that if An Lushan had not defeated the main force of the rebels who were brought to attack Luoyang, he might be able to defend three routes.

But there are no ifs.

Shi Siming knew that if he continued like this, he would be trapped to death by the government troops.

After much thought, he felt that he could not wait any longer and decided to have a good fight with the government army. If he won, he would continue to rule his own country. If he lost, he would flee to the north.

With strategy, the next step is tactics.

Shi Siming asked Shi Chaoyi to continue building fortifications in Mancheng to paralyze Guo Ziyi and make him think that he only wanted to continue to defend the city, and then lead his troops to bypass Boling and take Cangzhou first.

In order to make the effect look real, Shi Siming ordered Shi Chaoyi to build a small city to store grain behind Mancheng within one day.

After receiving the order, Shi Chaoyi led his men to work overtime. When the deadline arrived in one day, Shi Chaoyi completed the work on time.

When Shi Siming came to inspect, he saw that the wall had not been plastered, and he was furious: "How can we win the war if you procrastinate and delay the construction like this?"

In order to finish on time, Shi Chaoyi had not slept for a day and a night, and was now exhausted. After hearing what Shi Siming said, he felt very aggrieved and immediately kowtowed and said, "One day is too short, please forgive me, father!"

"There is plenty of time, it's you who are not doing your job well!" After saying this, Shi Siming personally led people to supervise, and soon the mud on the city wall was applied.

Shi Siming originally wanted to punish Shi Chaoyi, but thinking of the upcoming war, he held back and said, "I will punish you for your incompetence after I finish this battle!"

After all, walk away.

That night.

Shi Siming lived in Mancheng, enjoying good wine and meat, appreciating singing and dancing, and preparing to set out to attack Cangzhou the next day.

Shi Chaoyi, on the other hand, lived in the military camp, tossing and turning in fear.

At this time, Luo Yue led Shi Chaoyi's subordinates to Shi Chaoyi's tent.

Shi Chaoyi asked in confusion: "What are you doing here, generals?"

Luo Yue said, "There have been cases of monarchs being deposed and enthroned since ancient times. The king and I are on the verge of death. Please ask the king to find General Cao to discuss important matters."

The General Cao that Luo Yue mentioned was a Sogdian, the general of Shi Siming's imperial guard, who was responsible for protecting Shi Siming's safety tonight.

After hearing this, Shi Chaoyi said, "Wouldn't this put me in a position of being disloyal and unfilial?"

Luo Yue said: "I will not cite any examples from the past or present. I just want to ask you, Your Majesty, do you want to sit and wait for death?"

Shi Chaoyi pondered for a while and said, "Perhaps we can use divination first. If the divination shows that it is feasible, it means that it is God's will, and God's will cannot be violated."

"How can we let false gods decide matters of life and death?" Luo Yue sternly retorted, adding: "If the king continues to hesitate, we will have no choice but to surrender to the Li family. By then, the king will also be in danger."

Shi Chaoyi sighed, tears streaming down his face, and said, "Everyone must handle this properly and not disturb our father."

"Yes." Luo Yue took the order and withdrew, sending Xu Jichang to invite General Cao over.

In the tent.

Shi Chaoyi glanced at Luo Yue and said to General Cao, "I consider myself loyal, filial, benevolent and righteous, and I have done nothing wrong. But Your Majesty listened to slander, was cruel and murderous, and wanted to depose the eldest and establish the youngest, and kill us. Since I have done nothing wrong, I cannot suffer this great disaster for no reason. I want to do something big tonight, and I hope you will help me!"

Another general, Fan Zhixin, said, "Since ancient times, those who killed their kings with their sons never had a good ending. I hope Your Majesty will think twice!"

Before Shi Chaoyi could say anything, Luo Yue stepped forward and stabbed Fan Zhixin to death.

First, An Lushan rebelled, and then Shi Siming deliberately left An Lushan and his son to the Tang court and usurped the throne of Dayan. These people first followed An Lushan and then followed Shi Siming. They had no loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness anymore. To them, everything could only be measured by interests.

The rebels are like thousands of Shi Simings gathered together. When there is profit to be made, everyone unites as one. When there is no profit to be made, they all want to take up their swords and go to Luoyang.

Luo Yue turned to General Cao and said, "General Cao, what do you think?"

General Cao had long known that the soldiers were dissatisfied with Shi Siming, but he had always been intimidated by Shi Siming's majesty and dared not refute. Now that the conflict had broken out, if he did not conspire with Shi Chaoyi and others to rebel, the only thing waiting for him was death.

General Cao then said, "I have followed the king in the past and have always wanted to serve him. Now that things have come to this, I will do my best to obey the king's orders."

Luo Yue said: "General Cao is really a man who knows the current situation. If this matter is accomplished, we can all share the glory and wealth!"

"Yes." General Cao accepted the order.

Luo Yue, Xu Jichang, General Cao and others entered Mancheng with three hundred people.

Shi Siming's guards found it strange, but seeing their boss, General Cao, there, they did not raise any alarm, but only asked, "General Cao, why are there military movements in the middle of the night?"

General Cao asked, "Does His Majesty have to report to you before doing anything?"

The captain of the guards didn't dare to say anything else and let him go.

Luo Yue and others were able to easily reach Shi Siming's bedroom, but they did not see Shi Siming.

Luo Yue was horrified, thinking that Shi Siming knew their plan, and looked at General Cao.

General Cao hurriedly said, "I have already handed my family over to General Luo, how dare you leak the information?"

Luo Yue was skeptical and asked the guards who were on duty for Shi Siming, "Where did your Majesty go?" Several guards hesitated and refused to say.

Luo Yue knew the situation was urgent and he didn't have time to waste with the guards, so he said, "I'll just ask once, where did your Majesty go?"

After saying that, he looked at the first guard in the team.

The guard shook his head.

Luo Yue said no more and killed the guard with one knife, then looked at the second guard.

The second guard still didn't say anything, so Luo Yue killed him again.

He killed five of them in a row. When he got to the sixth guard, he got scared and said, "Your Majesty likes to have sex outdoors. He took the concubine out to the grass behind the stable."

Luo Yue and others led their troops to the grassland, but still did not see Shi Siming, but saw the naked Concubine Shu.

Seeing Concubine Shu was there, Luo Yue knew that the guards were not lying, so he said, "Everyone, search carefully and make sure to find His Majesty!"

As soon as Luo Yue finished speaking, he heard a noise coming from the stable.

It turned out that Shi Siming heard the noise and knew that something was wrong, so he ran to the stable and wanted to escape on horseback.

Luo Yue quickly led his men to the stable, and indeed saw Shi Siming escaping on horseback.

Luo Yue ignored Shi Chaoyi's instructions not to disturb the emperor and directly ordered the soldiers to shoot arrows.

Shi Siming was hit by an arrow in his left arm, but he endured the pain and continued to escape.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Luo Yue drew his bow and shot an arrow at Shi Siming's back.

Shi Siming was hit by an arrow in his left arm and could not use his strength. In order to avoid another arrow shot by Luo Yue, he fell off his horse.

Luo Yue led his men forward and captured Shi Siming alive.

Shi Siming was furious and asked, "Who is plotting rebellion?"

Luo Yue said: "I am here on the orders of King Huai to greet Your Majesty."

Shi Siming was shocked and angry, and said, "I should have expected this to happen when I made a slip of the tongue this morning!"

Luo Yue didn't reply.

Shi Siming changed his tone and said, "Why don't you wait until I finish this battle before taking action? Now it seems that it will be difficult to accomplish anything great!"

Luo Yue still did not reply. He detained Shi Siming and went to report the situation to Shi Chaoyi.

Shi Chaoyi saw Luo Yue and asked anxiously, "Is the big thing done?"

Luo Yue said: "It's done!"

Shi Chaoyi breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked, "How is Father?"

Luo Yue said: "Your Majesty is safe and sound. You can spend your remaining years in the mansion."

"That's good." Shi Chaoyi's tone did not sound very happy.

Shi Chaoyi didn't know what was wrong with him. Ever since he decided to launch a coup to seize the throne, he found that he no longer cared so much about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness. Instead, he hoped that Shi Siming would die.

Seeing that Shi Chaoyi was in a trance, Luo Yue said, "Your Majesty, although your Majesty has been imprisoned, your Majesty's confidant Zhou Zhi is still in Dingzhou, and your brother is in charge of Fanyang."

Shi Chaoyi said: "I am very confused now, General Luo, please make the arrangements."

Luotuo said: "Xu Jichang's father Xu Shuji is Zhou Zhi's deputy general, you can secretly ask him to get rid of Zhou Zhi. Zhang Tongru is in Fanyang, you can ask him to arrest your brother."

"As you said." Shi Chaoyi said.

Luo Yue took the order and issued secret orders to Dingzhou and Fanyang in the name of Shi Chaoyi.

Xu Shuji of Dingzhou got Zhou Zhi drunk and cut off his head. Shi Chaoqing of Fanyang had been prepared and led his men to fight with Zhang Tongru in Fanyang city. However, Shi Chaoqing was eventually defeated by Zhang Tongru and was killed by him.

News of the rebel unrest spread quickly.

No one expected that Shi Siming and Shi Chaoyi would perform a show of loving father and filial son at this critical moment.

The first person to react was Cai Xide.

When Cai Xide heard that Shi Siming was imprisoned and Zijing Pass was no longer guarded, he led his troops to Fan Yang. While Zhang Tongru and Shi Chaoqing were fighting, he rescued his family, then plundered Fan Yang and fled north.

Li Huaixian, who was in Yuyang, did not defend Pinglu anymore. He led his army back to Fanyang, defeated Zhang Tongru, and took control of Fanyang himself.

When Shi Chaoyi heard about the chaos in the rear, he had no idea what to do.

At this time, Luo Yue made the decision directly for Shi Chaoyi.

He brought people to Shi Siming's room.

When Shi Siming saw Luo Yue, he knew he would die today and asked, "Why didn't King Huai come to see me?"

Luo Yue said: "Prince Huai is busy with military affairs and has no time to see Your Majesty."

Shi Siming said: "It seems that he is guilty."

Luo Yue had someone bring Shi Siming some fine wine and delicious food, saying, "This is Prince Huai's gift to Your Majesty."

Shi Siming stared at the food and wine on the table for a long time, threw the wine pot on the ground, and said, "Let King Huai do it himself!"

Luo Yue did not reply, but ordered the soldiers to rush forward, press Shi Siming on the bed, and suffocate him to death with a pillow.

After killing Shi Siming, Luo Yue reported to Shi Chaoyi, saying, "Your Majesty, His Majesty is dead. Please ascend the throne and succeed him."

Shi Chaoyi was shocked and asked angrily, "You killed my father?"

"Your Majesty committed suicide." Luo Yue did not admit it, but said, "Under the current situation, only if you ascend the throne will the governors of various places obey your orders."

Shi Chaoyi collapsed to the ground.

Shi Chaoyi knew that whether the local military commanders obeyed his orders or not had nothing to do with whether he became emperor or not.

The reason why Shi Siming was able to suppress the generals in various places was because he had outstanding military achievements and was the old superior of the others.

And what is Shi Chaoyi?

Shi Chaoyi knew this would be the result, but if he didn't seize the throne, Shi Siming would have killed him.

Luo Yue quickly helped Shi Chaoyi up and said, "My king, what happened to you?"

Shi Chaoyi said helplessly: "Forget it, being the emperor for one day is still the emperor, ascend the throne and succeed to the throne."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Luo Yue saluted quickly.

Shi Chaoyi held a simple coronation ceremony in Mancheng, but the generals of the rebels in Youzhou, Yizhou, Mozhou, Dingzhou and other places did not come to congratulate in person. They only sent people to deliver congratulatory messages and extremely simple gifts.

Seeing that the rebels had become so divided, Shi Chaoyi knew that he could not defend the entire city, so the day after he ascended the throne, he led his army back to Fan Yang and prepared to make further plans there.

After Shi Siming was killed and Shi Chaoyi ascended the throne, the government troops advanced on three fronts at the same time.

Tian Chengsi, Ashi Na Chengqing and others who stayed behind in Mancheng also knew that the government army was powerful, so as soon as Shi Chaoyi left, they followed him north. However, compared to Shi Chaoyi, they looted as they went, and robbed all the places controlled by the rebels.

(End of this chapter)