Chapter 390: Borrowing something

The internal changes of the rebels happened too quickly. By the time the government troops on the front received the information, identified the truth, and determined the tactical route, most of the rebels on the front had already fled.

The rebels' sudden change was like a surprise attack, catching the government troops on the front line off guard.

After Guo Ziyi reacted, he led his troops to recapture Mancheng and pacify Mozhou. Then he divided his troops into two groups, one group went north to attack Yizhou, and the other group went west to attack Dingzhou together with Pugu Huai'en.

The rebels in Dingzhou now have two commanders, the chief commander is Xu Shuji and the deputy commander is Zhang Zhongzhi.

Xu Shuji was originally the imperial court's garrison commander of Bianzhou. When An Lushan attacked Bianzhou, Xu Shuji was defeated and surrendered to An Lushan.

Later, when Li Guangbi, Guo Ziyi and Yan Zhenqing threatened Hebei, An Lushan sent Xu Shuji to support them, and he gradually became a general under Shi Siming.

As for Zhang Zhongzhi, he was originally An Lushan's adopted son. He was present at the banquet where Shi Siming seized power from An Lushan. At that time, he smoothly submitted to Shi Siming.

Zhang Zhongzhi is a king of jumping around in history.

In history, Zhang Zhongzhi first rebelled with An Lushan. After An Qingxu and others killed An Lushan, he surrendered to An Qingxu. Then when the nine military governors of the imperial court besieged An Qingxu in Yecheng, Xiangzhou, he surrendered to the imperial court. After that, Shi Siming defeated the nine military governors and killed An Qingxu, he surrendered to Shi Siming. Later, Shi Siming was killed by Shi Chaoyi. Seeing that the rebels had no power, he surrendered to the imperial court again.

In history, the Tang Dynasty was unable to wipe out the remnants of the rebels and accepted Zhang Zhongzhi's surrender. It changed Zhang Zhongzhi's name to Li Baochen and appointed him as the Jiedushi of Chengde, in charge of the six states of Heng, Ding, Yi, Zhao, Shen and Ji.

After Li Baochen took control of Chengde, he reorganized the military preparations within the territory, appointed his own officials, and did not pay taxes to the court. Externally, he allied with various vassal states such as Youzhou and Weizhou, gradually forming a local separatist force.

Chengde, under the management of Zhang Zhongzhi, who changed his name to Li Baochen, later became one of the three famous towns in Heshuo.

Xu Shuji and Zhang Zhongzhi were both good at jumping around, so when they saw the rebels lost Mozhou, they smoothly surrendered to the court again.

Guo Ziyi believed that his biggest enemy now was Shi Chaoyi, so he did not do anything to Xu Shuji and Zhang Zhongzhi. Instead, he wrote to Li Heng, requesting that Xu Shuji be appointed as the governor of Dingzhou and Zhang Zhongzhi as the chief secretary.

Li Heng did not want to appease, but in order to give Guo Ziyi face, he agreed.

Because he felt that there would be plenty of opportunities to deal with them in the future.

Moreover, although Li Heng gave the appointment, he attached a condition that Xu Shuji must come to the court to meet the emperor.

Xu Shuji and Zhang Zhongzhi both knew that Li Heng would most likely settle the score with them later, and they both had plans.

After Guo Ziyi and Pugu Huai'en led their troops northward and left Dingzhou, Zhang Zhongzhi said to Xu Shuji: "Marshal surrendered the city to the Tang court, allowing the Tang court to recapture Dingzhou without bloodshed. For such a great achievement, the Tang court only gave him a small governor. Marshal has 10,000 soldiers, how can he accept such an injustice? Moreover, the current Tang emperor has the intention to annex the world, how can he tolerate people like us who have committed rebellion? If the Marshal goes to Chang'an, how can he protect himself?"

Xu Shuji was very embarrassed and said, "But if I don't go, the court will send an army to take me away."

Zhang Zhongzhi said: "At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the land of Hebei was attached to Dou Jiande, and then there was the rebellion of Liu Heita. Now An Lushan has started a rebellion again, and has long been alienated from the Tang court. Hebei is eager for rebellion, just like drought-stricken seedlings looking forward to rain. The general can secretly send people to contact An Lushan's old subordinates in Hebei while recruiting soldiers. As long as the war breaks out again, we can surround Guo Ziyi's army in Yizhou. Once Guo Ziyi's army is defeated, the land of Hebei can breathe and be stable. At that time, the general can lead his troops to Luoyang and enter Tongguan in the west."

Xu Shuji thought for a long time and said, "Even if I lose the war and become a bandit, it's better than being a worthless governor whose life is held in the hands of others. Let's do it!"

Xu Shuji agreed to Zhang Zhongzhi's proposal, imprisoned the court envoy, and began to make intensive preparations for another rebellion.

Xu Shuji was preparing for a rebellion, and Zhang Zhongzhi, who persuaded Xu Shuji to do so, also began his second step of the plan.

The reason why Zhang Zhongzhi advised Xu Shuji to rebel was not because he really believed that the rebellion could defeat the government army now, but he just wanted to use Xu Shuji's head.

This is what Zhang Zhongzhi thought. Now that he had surrendered to the court, he had not made any contributions, so no one would object to Li Heng's decision to control him.

But if he had made great contributions, Li Heng could not kill him at will.

This great achievement is Xu Shuji's head.

At noon on a sunny day.

Lü Dewen, one of Xu Shuji's aides, was having a banquet in his mansion when Zhang Zhongzhi rushed in with his soldiers.

Lü Dewen was the cousin of Li Heng's former confidant Lü Xiang. He had given gifts to Wang Zhongsi and was specifically responsible for contacting border generals for Li Heng. When An Lushan rebelled, Lü Dewen was active in Hebei and was captured by the rebels. He then surrendered to the rebels and is now a military officer in Dingzhou.

When Lv Dewen saw Zhang Zhongzhi leading his troops in, he was shocked and angry, and asked, "What is General Zhang going to do?"

Zhang Zhongzhi didn't say anything and chopped off Lu Dewen's head with one blow. The guests and geishas present were so frightened that they dared not breathe.

Zhang Zhongzhi mentioned Lü Dewen's head and said to the crowd, "Lü Dewen and Xu Shuji conspired to rebel, imprisoned the imperial envoy, and recruited soldiers without authorization. Now that Lü Dewen is dead, Xu Shuji can't accomplish anything on his own. Do you want to be exterminated with Xu Shuji, or get rich with me?"

Upon hearing this, everyone chose to follow Zhang Zhongzhi without hesitation.

Zhang Zhongzhi won the hearts of the people and led two thousand people into Hengyang City, heading straight to the prison. He first rescued the imperial envoy to gain recognition from the imperial court, and then went to Xu Shuji's mansion.

When Xu Shuji got the news, he realized Zhang Zhongzhi's vicious intentions and hurriedly led several hundred people to escape.

However, just a few steps out of the mansion, he met Zhang Zhongzhi who was leading his troops.

Zhang Zhongzhi publicly disclosed the evidence of Xu Shuji's treason and launched an attack on Xu Shuji in the name of the court.

The morale of Xu Shuji's subordinates was low, and some surrendered or fled. Zhang Zhongzhi captured Xu Shuji alive.

Xu Shuji said indignantly: "I have treated you well, why do you treat me like this?"

Zhang Zhongzhi wiped his knife and said, "Anyone can kill a traitor."

Seeing Zhang Zhongzhi's appearance, Xu Shuji knew that Zhang Zhongzhi wanted to kill him, and he became even more angry. He said, "You despicable villain, you sold me out to please yourself, you must not die a good death!"

Zhang Zhongzhi did not reply and chopped off Xu Shuji's head with one knife.

After killing Xu Shuji, Zhang Zhongzhi wrote a letter to Li Heng to report Xu Shuji's conspiracy to rebel.

Li Heng felt that there was something sinister about this matter, but he didn't know exactly what had happened. He could only promote Zhang Zhongzhi to be the governor of Dingzhou and have him confiscate Xu Shuji's property. He wanted to make plans after the rebellion was completely quelled.

However, Li Heng, who was far away in Chang'an, didn't know what happened, but several counties near Dingzhou heard the news, so they began to follow suit and report others for treason. At first, the people reported were still those who had connections with the rebels, and later, those who were reported gradually included Li Heng's people. Later, many people involved many innocent people for personal grudges.

It was impossible for Li Heng to investigate these reports one by one, so he handed them over to his subordinates to handle. This way, there was more room for maneuver.

For a time, everyone in Hebei felt in danger.

Li Sheng and Ma Lin, who were stationed in Weizhou and Bozhou, found that reporting was a common practice in various parts of Hebei. Even the Shuofang Army in the front and the Hebei soldiers who had surrendered to the court were deeply affected. So the two wrote a letter to Li Heng, hoping that Li Heng would send people to inspect.

Only then did Li Heng realize the seriousness of the problem.

Li Heng convened an emergency meeting to discuss who would be more suitable to send.

Li Mi was the first to say, "Most of those reported are former generals of the rebels or former party members of the former deposed crown prince, so the people sent to inspect should convince the people of these two parties."

The former rebel generals in Hebei are easy to understand. After all, An Lushan and Shi Siming led hundreds of thousands of people to attack Luoyang. If they really wanted to make a fuss, most of the people in Hebei could be linked to the rebels.

As for the fact that Li Heng's old party was also in Hebei, it was related to the previous court situation.

The three most important places in the Tang Dynasty were Guanzhong, Northwest China and Hebei.

Li Longji kept a close eye on Guanzhong, and Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong were also on guard against Li Heng. No matter how bold Li Heng was, he did not dare to use his connections in Guanzhong. The northwest was firmly controlled by Li Heng, and Li Heng could not intervene, so he could only develop towards Shuofang and Hebei.

Li Heng put the most effort into Shuofang, followed by Hebei.

It's not that all the local officials in Shuofang and Hebei wanted to collude with Li Heng, but Li Heng was the crown prince after all, so they had to give him face.

Li Ying asked, "Who do you think would be a good choice?"

"I would like to recommend myself and take Xue Song with me." Li Mi recommended the person first, then analyzed the reason, and continued: "I have some reputation under the deposed prince. I have previously convinced the deposed prince's former subordinates in the court, and the deposed prince's former subordinates in Hebei should also trust me. As for Xue Song, I have observed him. He has a straightforward character and is not good at flattery. In his early years, in order to be promoted, he went to An Lushan's camp. When An Lushan rebelled, he was forced to participate, but he was able to turn back. After the whole city surrendered, he returned to the capital at the behest of the emperor. Your Majesty did not blame him. He knows how to repay the kindness and should be willing to die for you."

Li Heng pondered for a while and did not agree immediately. Instead, he asked someone to bring Xue Song over first.

Not long after, Xue Song arrived at the Council Hall.

After Xue Song bowed, Li Heng asked, "General Xue, are you used to staying in Chang'an?"

Xue Song had also heard about the recent reports of treason. He knew that he was too straightforward and easily offended the powerful, so he thought that Li Heng wanted to settle accounts with him, so he knelt down and said, "I have done something wrong. Your Majesty has not abandoned me and allowed me to be restored as a Tang official. I am grateful to you. If Your Majesty wants to punish me, please punish me alone, and please do not implicate my wife and children."

Li Ying didn't expect Xue Song to be so straightforward and couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Historically, Xue Song also rebelled, but later surrendered to the imperial court and commanded Xiangzhou, Weizhou, Mingzhou, Xingzhou and other places. However, he did not secede together with the three towns of Heshuo. After Xue Song's death, his son Xue Ping succeeded him as the governor, and became a general and a prime minister. His grandson Xue Cong even commanded the imperial guards.

In the late Tang Dynasty, since the imperial court did not have a powerful army of its own, its policy towards the vassal states had always been to use them to fight against each other. Among them, the vassal states led by the Xue family were the ones that were more loyal to the imperial court.

Li Heng asked Xue Song to come today, and he did have the intention of testing Xue Song's background, but Xue Song was so straightforward that he really didn't know what to say for a while.

Li Heng gave a look to Li Mi who was standing beside him. Li Mi understood what he meant and said to Xue Song, "General Xue, what are you doing? You are making malicious assumptions about the king! In your mind, is His Majesty a person who tortures people without knowing right from wrong?"

Xue Song was horrified and kowtowed immediately, saying, "I have spoken out of turn. I deserve death. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"

Li Mi had already said what Li Ying was not comfortable saying, so Li Ying followed up with, "Forget it, General Xue does not understand me, and some misunderstandings are understandable. General Xue, please stand up."

Xue Song stood up and said nervously, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Li Ying said: "General Xue has been in Hebei for a long time. There are many soldiers and civilians in Hebei. Do they think the same of me?"

Xue Song hesitated for a moment and said truthfully: "It is wrong for the rebels to spread rumors about the imperial court in Hebei. Some soldiers and civilians have indeed been affected."

Li Heng said: "General Xue is from a famous family. He has misunderstandings about the court and me. Naturally, the soldiers and civilians in Hebei find it difficult to understand the truth. Therefore, I need someone to explain to the soldiers and civilians in Hebei what kind of person I am and what kind of court the current court is."

Xue Song said: "This is a good idea, Your Majesty is wise."

Li Heng said: "I want you and Changyuan to go, what do you think?"

Although Xue Song was an upright person, he was not stupid. He knew that when Li Shimin was in power, the people in Hebei and the central government were divided. So Li Shimin sent Wei Zheng, a man who was well-versed in Hebei, to Hebei to win over the people's hearts.

In other words, Li Heng was making use of him.

Xue Song was deeply moved and said, "Your Majesty is so kind to me and has entrusted me with such an important task. I am willing to die for you."

"Okay." Li Heng stood up and said, "Then I'll leave this matter to General Xue and Changyuan. In addition, next year the court will implement the Two Tax Law in the areas recovered from Hebei. The policy of the Two Tax Law should also be publicized to the people of Hebei. For the specific matters, please ask Changyuan and General Xue to discuss with the Right Prime Minister."

Li Mi and Xue Song accepted the order at the same time and said, "Yes."

……

After the meeting, Li Heng returned to the inner hall, not feeling very well.

Seeing Li Heng's appearance, Yang Yuhuan asked, "What's troubling you, my dear?"

Li Heng said: "As for the handling of the rebels, I follow the principle of eliminating the main culprit and dealing with the rest as appropriate, but recent events have made me doubt it."

"My dear, this is a wise decision. Why do you doubt it?" Yang Yuhuan thought. "If the main culprit is not eliminated, the local forces will become too powerful to be eliminated. The rest of the people can be dealt with appropriately. On the one hand, it can appease the people's hearts, and on the other hand, it can prevent the locals from fighting each other and killing each other under the pretext of suppressing the rebellion."

Li Heng said, "But now there are two extremes in Hebei. Some rebel soldiers have fled to the mountains and become bandits, while others are fighting each other, all wanting to suppress the rebellion and eliminate dissidents. The most important thing is that I didn't notice it."

Yang Yuhuan said, "This is not your fault. In times of chaos, there are always many people who will take advantage of the situation. Your Highness is in Chang'an, not at the front, and cannot grasp the news from the front. It is inevitable that you did not check for a while. Just like you said before, a person's energy is limited. After all, you are only one person, and it is impossible for you to do everything. As long as the general direction is right, things will slowly move towards the better side amidst twists and turns."

Li Heng was surprised that Yang Yuhuan had such an understanding.

(End of this chapter)