Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Empress Fu was still dignified and beautiful, sitting high on the table, announcing that from tomorrow onwards, the big and small courts will remain the same, and all civil and military officials will perform their duties.

This move was far beyond everyone's expectations, and many people were relieved.

But in fact, only the people at the top know about the far-reaching changes at the top. This is politics, and it is also an eternal truth. The more confidential things are, the fewer people know about them.

That afternoon, Han Lingkun was hastily called into the palace, and then Si Chao replaced Han Lingkun and took over the camp outside the city.

Subsequently, Shi Congyun's personal guards took over the defense of Zuoyemen, Youyemen, Xuandemen, Donghuamen, Xihuamen and other gates of the imperial city.

After that, he controlled the defense of eleven gates in the inner city and more than a dozen gates in the outer city. Within a day, he completely controlled Daliang City.

For ordinary people, they don't really know what's going on.

Daliang City is very large, consisting of four layers of matryoshka dolls: the settlement outside the city, the outer city, the inner city, and the imperial city.

The settlements outside the city are mostly the bottom of the society, or foreigners who have avoided the disaster of war, mixed with good and evil; the inner city is mostly local people with considerable wealth, and many low-level civil and military officials of the court.

The inner city is home to dignitaries, Shi Congyun's mansion, Li Gu's mansion, Wei Wang's mansion, etc. are all in the inner city, and then there are Kaifeng mansion yamen, guards department, Dianqian department and other yamen, Daxiangguo Temple.

Inside is the imperial city. The imperial city has two parts, the front and the back. The first half can be understood as the office area, the office area of ​​various departments, the vertical arch hall where court meetings are held, and where affairs are discussed. Civil and military officials have to work in these places.

The second half is the real palace garden, which can be regarded as a royal private place, such as the Long Live Hall, Kunning Palace, etc., where the royal staff live and live, and foreign ministers are not allowed to enter.

Shi Congyun's army entered the inner city directly from the North Fengqiu Gate, then entered the imperial city from the Donghua Gate, turned northward to the Chuigong Palace, and directly blocked the royal palace garden, which can be said to be a sword to seal the throat.

Not to mention that the people in the outer city didn't know what happened, they only heard some rumors that someone saw the army entering the city, even the dignitaries in the inner city didn't know the situation immediately.

Because the army entered from Donghua Gate, Xuande Gate, Zuoye Gate, and Right Ye Gate were only blocked by Wang Shenqi's army.

Until that night, the queen issued a decree stating that the government was seriously ill and unable to govern, and the queen was temporarily regent. They all inspected Shi Congyun, Zuo servant shot Li Gu, Zhongshu servant Wang Pu, door servant Fan Zhi, and privy envoy Wei Renpu as assistants. Minister.

In the next few days, it seemed that everything calmed down again. The atmosphere of panic in the court because of the official's serious illness was swept away.

Shi Congyun directly ordered to set up a temporary "inner court" in the side hall of the Chuigong Hall. All the auxiliary ministers temporarily concentrated here to deal with big and small matters. Shi Congyun also came to work every day, waiting for the prime ministers to give a solution. After Congyun passed, the empress temporarily took over the work of the official family, affixed the seal, and handed it over to Shangshu Province for execution.

Although it seems that the queen is the one who decides, in fact, the queen is used as a seal, and it is Shi Congyun who makes the final decision.

It seems to have returned to the system of the virtual monarch and the real reality in the Western Han Dynasty overnight.

Probably because of being frightened by Shi Congyun's army, the queen is very well-behaved, and it may have something to do with the Fu family's lack of action. If there is anyone in the world who is qualified to stand up and fight for the throne, the Fu family is definitely one of them.

The Fu family not only had the Jiedushi of the Tianxiong Army, Wei Wang Fu Yanqing, four or five people of their brother's generation were worshiped as the Jiedushi, but also the governor, and other officials, with great influence.

At such a time, the Fu family neither sent anyone to the capital, nor did they dare to bring troops into the capital. They basically expressed their attitude and maintained their influence, but they had no ambitions. With the attitude of the Fu family, Queen Fu naturally did not dare to contend with him up.

But Shi Congyun needs Empress Fu, because there are still Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin in the court.

Shi Congyun got the news early and acted decisively, so that everything happened too quickly. On the day the army entered the city, the overall situation was settled, and the court instantly stabilized and returned to the right track.

At this time, Shi Congyun had [-] troops in Daliang City, and there were more than [-] troops from Commander Si Chao in the camp outside the city. He had completely controlled the situation, and there was no possibility of further changes. At this time, he slowly recalled the army to the north, and everything was safe. Back on track.

On the day of entering the city, Shi Congyun was absent all night, so he arranged to garrison troops in the Chuigong Hall, fearing that the influence would be bad. After all, Empress Fu was also there, so he intentionally left all the ministers behind.

The next day, he hurried back to the Shi Mansion, which was protected by heavy soldiers. Zhao Shijian in the mansion saw him, and couldn't help but threw himself into his arms and cried after being frightened.

This time they were really frightened. When they first heard the news from Li Gu that someone had sued Shi Congyun for treason, Zhao Shijian was at a loss. Since the Five Dynasties, it has been too casual for the ruler to kill ministers. , chickens and dogs do not stay.

She even once considered whether to take her family out of Daliang City and take refuge at her father's house, but thought that if she took people away, she might be convicted of the crime. Suspicious, but hurt her husband.

In the end, he was frightened and frightened, and had nightmares one after another at night. It was not until five or six days later that Wang Zhong led his troops back to protect the Shifu regiment.

When seeing Shi Congyun, Zhao Shijian, who had lost a lot of weight because of fear, couldn't bear it anymore, and silently shed tears in his arms without saying a word.

Seeing him both distressed and cute, the two embraced tightly for a moment, and the silence was louder than the sound.

......

Two days later, the official family, who only relied on ginseng soup, died in the Long Live Hall. No miracle happened. When the emperor faced death, he was no different from ordinary people.

Everything was so normal, and it was expected. Officials from the Ministry of Rituals and the Ministry of Industry had already made preparations. After that, there would be a national ceremony and a one-stop burial. These were all handled by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry.

In such an era, everything is kept simple, just as Guo Wei's burial did not have any complicated and lengthy etiquette, this time is also the same.

The world is still falling apart, there are many things to do, many battles to be fought, there is not so much hypocrisy and procrastination in troubled times, everyone can only seek a slightly better result, as for the process, it is up to future generations to comment.

Because Shi Congyun had Li Gu's informant, and he brought all the cavalry, he galloped all the way back from the North China Plain, and after arriving in Daliang, he completely controlled the situation and stabilized the situation within two or three days.

So much so that until now, many people outside have not reacted, such as Li Chongjin near Zhenzhou and Li Yun near Liaozhou must not know what happened to the court.

The transmission of news takes time, especially in this age, so the value of information has become extremely precious. If there is no Li Gu's informant, wait for all the troops to join forces, Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde's army; Han Lingkun's army; Shi Congyun's army Going back to Beijing together, when he wants to get an overview of the court situation, he will be completely unable to do so.

At this time, the Zhou army defeated Khitan, captured more than [-] main forces of the Liao army, and captured the news of the king of the Nanyuan. Only then did they follow Shi Congyun's buttocks of the wind cavalry and swept across the country.

Soon, the emperor of Zhou State died, and the queen was regent, and the news that Shi Congyun was appointed as the king of Qin and served as the auxiliary minister spread to the north and south of the river.

Undoubtedly, when hearing these two pieces of news, anyone with a smattering of brains will understand that the Zhou Dynasty must have fallen into Shi Congyun's hands, and the three countries that border on the Great Zhou are undoubtedly the most feared when hearing these two news.

Northern Han, Western Shu, and Southern Tang, they all fought against Great Zhou, and they all tried to use Khitan as their backing. Now Khitan was defeated by Zhou State, and Zhou State’s government fell into the hands of Shi Congyun.

Coincidentally, it was Shi Congyun who beat them up at the beginning......

Chapter 255, North Deployment

Under the city of Youzhou, flags and camps are everywhere.

There were two moderate rains in autumn. Guo Tingwei put on a felt cloak and rode a horse to inspect the camp. He wondered what was going on in the south, but the situation in the north was settled.

Without the commander in chief, it is impossible to attack a fortified city like Youzhou.

Fighting a war is not an easy task, especially attacking a fortified city. Putting aside those morale-boosting words, you can even just say that you are sending people to die...

This is completely different from a field battle, so the prestige of the commander is very important, otherwise no one would want to take on such a job. If the official or the commander is there, as long as the order is given, the generals will definitely work hard, and the soldiers will use their lives no matter how difficult it is, but He can't do it.

Even if the commander-in-chief let him temporarily lead the entire army to forcibly order the siege, there must be discord among the people. No one wants to contribute, and it may cause disagreements among the generals.

Guo Ting said that he was very self-aware, so from the beginning he only planned to siege, but never thought of a strong attack.

The people of the Liao Kingdom were already terrified of being killed, and their emperor was also trapped in the city of Youzhou. The Liao people guarded Youzhou and dared not leave the city at all. Build city barriers and build fortresses at Kouguan and other places to stabilize the situation in the north, allowing the Zhou army to completely control these lands and gain a firm foothold.

As for the orders of the generals, Guo Tingwei never thought about it, because he knew that he could not command, as long as the current status quo was maintained, everything would be fine.

He also followed the command of the commander in a hurry before he left, and proposed to the Liao State to exchange Xiao Siwen, who stayed behind in Nanjing, for Dong Zunhui's mother and her daughter.

Guo Ting said that he was a descendant of Guo Ziyi, but their family had already moved to Huainan, and many things in the north were unknown. It was Luqiu Zhongqing who told him the matter and explained the reason to everyone at a military meeting.

Luqiu Zhongqing was from Qi. Later, he spent most of his life in Hebei and Hedong, and he knew more about the affairs in the north. When he said it, he probably considered that he was afraid that the generals would not accept him. Why should he use a Nanjing left-behind to replace him.

Dong Zunhui, a native of Fanyang, Zhuozhou. His father, Dong Zongben, was originally the governor of Suizhou. Later, when the Liao people went south, his family was ruined. Dong Zunhui's father was killed. Occupied by the dignitaries of the Liao Kingdom, he became a slave.

But things quickly progressed, and it turned out that Xiao Siwen was the one who occupied Dong Zunhui's mother.

Dong Zunhui's mother was the governor's wife, and she was pretty. After the Liao people occupied the sixteen prefectures, because of Dong's good looks, Xiao Siwen occupied her and took her as his concubine.

It's just that the commander's remaining orders made him a little puzzled. In exchange for Dong's daughter?Did Mrs. Dong give birth to Xiao Siwen's daughter in Youzhou?

After interrogating Xiao Siwen, Guo Tingwei found out that there was no such thing. Although he took over the Dong family as his concubine, he did not give birth to any children. He was even more puzzled for a while, what did the commander-in-chief's hasty explanation mean?

Does it mean that if the Dong family is occupied by the Khitan people and has children, they should also be rescued.

However, the commander-in-chief had already gone south, so he couldn't ask clearly.

This move moved the lieutenant general quite a bit. The commander-in-chief redeemed his family members for his confidant general, and he was willing to exchange people like Nanjing Liushou of the Liao Kingdom. You must know that the Liushou of Nanjing is a high-ranking official of the Liao Kingdom. How great is man.

........

And a few days later, Tao Gu, the servant of the Ministry of War with the imperial decree, also slowly came to the army, bringing the imperial decree requesting the withdrawal of the army.

People who knew the inside story of this decree were not shocked, such as Guo Tingwei and Luqiu Zhongqing, but other generals, such as Zhao Kuangyin and Wang Quanbin, were shocked when they heard that the officials were seriously ill and asked the army to withdraw, and their attitudes immediately changed. changed.

No matter how unintelligent they are, they should have realized why the commander-in-chief disappeared early at this time. The commander-in-chief went south on the grounds that he retreated to the south to take care of the aftermath. Wise men in the army.

The situation has changed significantly in the past few days. Guo Tingwei found that every morning and evening, more and more generals began to report to him the situation of their troops, and no one yelled when discussing matters.

Veterans like Zhao Kuangyin and Wang Quanbin also listened to his orders more. This feeling made him very happy and proud, and all this was because he was the person next to the commander-in-chief. The choice is right, my heart is full of hope for the future, I have more ambitions and aspirations, and sometimes I even think about the beautiful future that I didn't think about before.

Guo Tingwei doesn't know how far the commander-in-chief will go to the south, but he thinks the commander-in-chief is a person who will go step by step and will not go to the last step. The biggest reason is that Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde also led the army in north.

If Li Chongjin was still in Huainan and did not lead the imperial army outside, things would be more favorable without any suspense.

But there is no way to do this, the official family fell ill too unexpectedly, but when the official family fell ill, all the army was out.

The most difficult thing for the imperial army is how to move troops out of the city. Only the official edict and the order of the Privy Council can the generals have the right to move troops. The Privy Council can move troops but cannot lead them. Generals can lead troops but have no right to move troops.

So if there is no war, the forbidden army is in Daliang, and the generals are not so threatening, but this time the army has already set off, and the military power is already in the hands of the leading generals.

If Li Chongjin is still in Huainan, there is no need to worry at all, but now he is leading an army outside, and the military power is still in his hands.

This was not a perfect timing. If Li Chongjin handed over his military power and returned to Huainan after the war was all over, then many scruples would completely disappear.

However, he also knew that it was just an assumption, and time would not wait. It would be even more troublesome if Li Chongjin and others led the army back to Beijing with the commander in chief. Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde were relatives of the emperor.

Regardless of the identity of the royal relatives and relatives, the most important thing is whether they have military power in their hands. The royal relatives and relatives who do not have military power are the targets of the court's precautions.

After making a round of inspection, the scouts from the north also hurriedly came to the big tent to report to him: "General Guo, the reinforcements from the Liao tribe in the north have arrived in Tanzhou, but they dare not go south for the time being, and they seem to be waiting for someone."

"How many people are there?" Guo Tingwei asked.

The scout said: "Yesterday it looked like there were only three or four thousand soldiers, but today there are more than five thousand. The reinforcements in the north are still gathering."

Guo Tingwei nodded. Tanzhou is more than 120 miles north of Youzhou. Xiao Siwen did explain that the tribal armies of the Liao Kingdom were ordered to gather towards Youzhou. A wave was killed and defeated.

The tribal army of the Liao Kingdom is a large army assembled from various ministries. It is definitely not as good as being defeated by them. The main force of the Liao Kingdom has no courage to confront them head-on, but it is still daring to rescue Youzhou.

It was time to withdraw from this battle, and the government's imperial decree had also arrived, but Guo Ting said that Tao Gu was temporarily settled down, because the withdrawal of the army would take time to prepare, so he did not withdraw immediately.

In fact, he was waiting for the commander's order.

Until two days later, the messenger from the south rushed to deliver the latest order from Commander Shi Congyun and the Privy Council, ordering the army to withdraw to the south.

There are also arrangements for newly occupied land.

Waqiaoguan is Xiongzhou, and the city of Yicheng belongs to the two counties of Yi. Chen Sirang, the governor of the Yicheng Army, is deployed as the capital of Xiongzhou.

Chen Sirang is also a veteran, and this time he led more than a thousand people with the army. He has served in the Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han, and has been a courtier of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Afterwards, it was ordered to take Yijinguan as Bazhou, cut Wen'an, and the three counties of Dacheng and Gu'an belonged to it.

At the same time, the commander-in-chief specially explained that Zhao Kuangyin deployed for Bazhou, Yizhou, and Zhuozhou, and led the army to station at Yijin Pass as the forefront of resisting the Khitans.

At the same time, Ding Fu was conscripted from Binzhou and Dizhou in Shandong Province to build Bazhou and Gu'an city defense fortresses to stabilize the defense against the north.

In this way, in this battle, the main force of the Liao State was severely damaged, and Yizhou, Zhuozhou, Bazhou, Xiongzhou, Mozhou, Yingzhou, Ningzhou and other places were taken back from the Liao State, and at the same time, Gu'an, Yijin Pass, and Waqiao Pass were built. , Yukou Pass, and Duliukou are the first-line defense system to the north.

Guo Ting said that he summoned all the generals to announce the matter. At the same time, according to the content of the commander's letter, he said at the end: "General Zhao Kuangyin, the commander said in the letter that you are outstanding and skilled in warfare. Leave such a major event to others. He is worried.

That's why I entrust you with the task of frontier defense in the north. I hope you can shoulder this heavy responsibility and do a good job in frontier defense for the country and the people. "

Zhao Kuangyin hesitated to speak, then knelt down on one knee, thanking the Marshal for his trust, and at the same time expressing that he would be able to do well.

Guo Ting said that he didn't know if the commander-in-chief's arrangement had any deep meaning, but he could feel that Zhao Kuangyin was bold and powerful in battle, but he was different from ordinary generals, very ambitious and ambitious.

Such people probably don't want to stay away from the capital. Leaving the capital is tantamount to staying away from the political center, not to mention that the Zhao family is all in Daliang.

However, I also feel that there is nothing wrong with the commander-in-chief's arrangement. The Khitan people were indeed defeated, but the northern frontier defense is still the most important. Most of the southern countries are not to be feared. Only the Liao Kingdom is still a threat. At this time, the northern frontier defense needs a capable person I will serve as the big future.

Thinking of this, Guo Ting said he could only comfort him with his hands: "General Zhao, there is no need to worry. I also know that your family is in Daliang, but at this critical time, the commander-in-chief has nothing to do. There are not many people with the ability of a general.

Presumably, when the situation in the court stabilizes and many things in the south are settled, the court will call General Zhao back. "

Zhao Kuangyin nodded and clapped his hands together: "Then please ask General Guo to speak kindly for me in front of the commander-in-chief."

"Definitely." Guo Ting said with a smile and cupped his hands.

.........

Outside Youzhou City, the Zhou army showed signs of retreating, and the soldiers at the head of Youzhou City could naturally see it. Many people cheered happily, and they were already frightened to guard heavily in the Youzhou government yamen, shutting their doors and panicking All day long, when he heard about Zhou Jun, Shi Congyun and other news, the Liao Emperor Yelujing, who was panicked when he heard the news, excitedly pulled the hand of the soldier who reported the news and questioned him again and again.

It frightened the soldiers a lot. It is well known that Yelvjing loves to kill people. How long ago have they seen their tyrannical and cruel emperor get so close to his subordinates?

Afterwards, Yelujing boarded the top of Youzhou City to confirm the situation under heavy guards, and laughed excitedly when he saw that Zhou Jun had indeed packed up the luggage in the camp and showed signs of retreating.

At the same time, he ordered the defenders at the head of the city not to fight back, and sent people to fall out of the wall at night, and went to the north to warn the tribal troops near Tanzhou, which were assembled more than 100 miles northeast of Youzhou, not to go south for the time being. Thoughts of retreat.

After experiencing the disastrous defeat at Yijin Pass, Yelujing's expression changed when talking about history, and when talking about Zhou Jun, he felt chills all over his body.

Of the [-] main forces of the Liao army he led, only a few hundred followed him into the city, and most of the rest either got separated or were killed.

Afterwards, Shi Congyun released more than a hundred captives, and described to them that the Zhou army captured Yelu Talie, the king of the Southern Academy, captured Xiao Siwen who stayed behind in Nanjing, executed more than 200 generals and school officials, and massacred tens of thousands of elite soldiers. , The river was blocked, and the land for several miles was dyed red.

Fear spread everywhere in Youzhou City for a while, and people called Shi Congyun the "Decapitated Demon King" of the Zhou Kingdom. For a while, his reputation was so good that it could frighten children so much that they dare not cry.

And Yelvjing was even more panic-stricken all day long, hiding in the heavily guarded Yamen of Youzhou Mansion, not daring to come out, drinking all day long to soothe his worries, not daring to face the army of Youzhou City, for fear of hearing Shi Congyun's name again.

In this atmosphere, it was suddenly discovered that the Zhou army might be about to retreat. For everyone, it was like the rest of their lives. They wished they could beat the gongs and drums to send Zhou Jun away as soon as possible, and send away Shi Congyun, the murderous god.

Yelvjing and even the generals around him never thought about relying on the tribal army to launch a counterattack. Not to mention the loss of the main force that led the south this time, the previous fiasco and the fear of death are still like nightmares, waving in the mind. If they don't go, they don't even have the courage to face Zhou Jun now.