Chapter 550: Destroy Han, My Brother Should Be Yao and Shun

In March of the ninth year of Zhenguan, Yecheng had been under siege for more than half a year. The people in the city had no food to eat, and there were starving people everywhere. Two or three out of ten people died of starvation and freezing in the winter. After all, there had been no supplies for half a year, so you can imagine what kind of outrageous state the people's livelihood and prices in the city would be. Except for the army, which had some storage of firewood and salt, many essential items for survival were consumed even by wealthy families.

Although the defenders in the city had already learned the sad news of the previous emperor's death, the news that the new emperor was leading an army of 100,000 south still made everyone in Yecheng excited.

The new emperor Liu Chengyou is the eldest son of the late emperor. He should be as brave and good at fighting as the late emperor, right?

The defending general Wei Xiaoju was not so optimistic. He was one of the witnesses of Liu Xuanji's heroic feat of driving away thousands of bandits alone, and he understood the prince's character better.

He has great ambitions but little talent, and he knows nothing about military affairs.

If he had not completely offended the Tang Dynasty's Li family in some past events, he would definitely open the gates and surrender the city now.

There's no way, what he did was even more excessive than Yang Kan's.

Yang Kan chased Li Yuanhui for more than ten miles and almost stabbed him through with a spear. Even in such a situation, Li Yuanhui could let his son persuade him to surrender. It can only be said that Li Yuanhui is a magnanimous person who can forgive grudges.

What Wei Xiaoju did was rather sinister. Li Yuanhui did not hold Yang Kan accountable for chasing him for eighteen miles because it was Li Yuanhui's personal vendetta.

However, Wei Xiaoju released the floodwaters and drowned tens of thousands of troops, and the Wei family was targeted by Li Xuanqing in recent years because of the incident involving King Shang of Jin, and many people were killed.

Because Li Yuanhui didn't mention it, no one was willing to recruit Wei Xiaoju. After all, it's okay for a Guanzhong person to mix with Hebei people, but you don't care about your fellow villagers at all and beat them to death.

Who would still recognize you as a fellow villager? And who would still beg for mercy at this time? No way.

However, when the 100,000 troops gathered together and marched south, Li Yuanhui ordered Chang Yanheng, Dou Cong and others to retreat, pretending to be afraid of the power of the Han army.

He pretended to be defeated in several battles and was afraid before the fight even started.

As soon as Chang Yanheng and Dou Cong saw Li Yuanhui's military order, they knew that this was a strategy to make the soldiers arrogant.

The so-called humble and arrogant.

The two men resisted the urge to overwhelm the 100,000-strong army in one fell swoop, and moved southward towards Yecheng.

When Liu Chengyou saw that the Tang army fled without fighting, he thought they must be afraid of the might of our army, so he should take advantage of the situation and pursue them.

But the ministers around him, including Si Tu Lingjing and Taiwei Zhu Lingshi, all advised him to be steady, saying that the enemy was trying to lure them into deeper territory. Liu Chengyou thought about it and felt a little hesitant, so he reluctantly listened to the advice of the old ministers and moved forward steadily.

By May, the Han army had pushed directly to the north bank of the Zhang River and could already see Yecheng on the other side of the river.

Liu Chengyou proposed to take the initiative to launch an attack. A group of old ministers advised him to be more steady. Your father couldn't defeat Li Laosi when they had equal forces. Can you do it?

How could this young and hot-tempered man listen to such words? Earlier you did not allow me to pursue, saying there was an ambush, and now the enemy is right in front of us, and you still do not allow me to fight?

No, we have to fight.

Liu Chengyou ignored the opposition and crossed the Zhang River to rescue the city of Ye.

The Han army had gained some morale from the retreat of the Tang army in recent days, and they began to build a bridge across the river.

The Tang army had already made preparations. As soon as the Han army crossed the river, they attacked the Tang army immediately. They even gave up the siege of Yecheng and retreated directly to Anyang and Dangyin.

This move made all the old generals of the Northern Han Dynasty cry without tears. Li Silang, aren't you bullying a child?

Sure enough, after the siege of Yecheng, which had lasted for almost a year, was relieved, Liu Chengyou became even more arrogant. He thought, "How could Li Yuanhui, such a great man, not even dare to fight me? You are famous all over the world, how could my father lose to such a man?"
Am I a rare and talented general?
It’s a pity that I didn’t listen to my mother, otherwise it would have been a huge loss.

After becoming inflated, Liu Chengyou's goal was very simple: he would lead the army in person to restore the Han Dynasty and reach Luoyang in one breath.

So he gathered all his troops and marched south to attack Dangyin.

The Tang army generals, who had been retreating all the way, were already exhausted and asked for a fight in unison.

Seeing that the strategic goal and morale had been achieved, Li Yuanhui also issued military orders and sounded the clarion call for attack.

Li Yuanhui led the central army, Chai Rong led the left army, and Zhu Deyu led the right army. The three armies launched attacks simultaneously. He also ordered Chang Yanheng, Zhang Jian, Luo Shixiang, and Zhang Jin to lead the cavalry to encircle and attack the Han army's flanks.

The Han army had just crossed the Zhang River and was still in an unstable state. The Tang army's counterattack was extremely powerful. On the vast plain dozens of miles south of the Zhang River, many Tang troops advanced in parallel, and their momentum was daunting.

When Liu Chengyou saw the Tang army's counterattack, he pretended to remain calm and immediately ordered Taiwei Zhu Lingshi to lead the army to resist.

Li Yuanhui appointed Zhu Deyu as the commander-in-chief of the vanguard army and led 40,000 elite soldiers from the left and right guards to serve as the rear guard, but at the command, they immediately began to charge as the vanguard army.

The Eighteen Old Camps of the Jianghuai Army of the Left and Right Wuwei had already become the most powerful army in the world after Zhu Deyu conquered the Eastern Wei on the 20th.

I have been following military orders and avoiding fighting these days, which has made me very angry. Now the rear team has become the front team, but they are not the first team to encounter the enemy.

Seeing that the Han army's formation was loose and had not yet formed a tight battle formation, the Tang army's cavalry quickly advanced.

After Li Chengdao returned, Li Yuanhui gave Li Chengdao the command of the guard cavalry led by Yuchi Jingde, Duan Wuda and Gao Ang. Together with the troops of Zhang Yixian and Xi Junmai of the Zuowuwei who were originally under his command, there were a total of 4,000 cavalry.

After seeing the situation of the Han army, Li Chengdao immediately requested to lead his troops to attack without giving the other side time to regroup. After all, Zhu Deyu's infantry was naturally not as fast as the cavalry.

With his father's consent, Li Chengdao immediately led his troops forward and attacked quickly with a group of fierce generals, heading straight for the vanguard of the Han army led by Zhu Lingshi.

In fact, when the Han army completely crossed the Zhangshui River, the outcome of the battle was already decided. The Tang army, which had ambushed at Fukouxing in advance, launched an attack and directly burned the Han army's pontoon bridge with small boats, cutting off the Han army's last retreat.

Only the front army led by Zhu Lingshi resisted strongly and maintained the dignity of the Youzhou border army. However, the comprehensive counterattack of the Tang army caused the left and right armies of his Han army to collapse directly, and Liu Chengyou did not understand why.

Clearly, just a few days ago, no, just an hour ago, the Tang army was afraid of his prowess. How come the situation changed in an instant?
When the Tang army counterattacked, Liu Chengyou himself was leading the central army into Yecheng, and was preparing to reward and encourage the Yecheng defenders led by Wei Xiaoju.

But the situation ahead was changing rapidly, and his guards on both sides had already started to carry him to escape. However, Liu Chengyou said, "I am in a strong city, how can I escape when the enemy is attacking?"
Ling Jing, the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Left, said: "Yecheng is a dead end. It has been under siege for nearly a year. If we enter Yecheng now, there will be a large army and it will inevitably lead to mutual trampling. The Tang army can take advantage of the situation to attack Yecheng. It is better to cross the river quickly. Although three of our army's bridges have been burned, there are still two, and there are still ferries."

This time, Liu Chengyou chose to listen to the counselor who had always been relied on by his father, and quickly went to the Zhangshui Floating Bridge and returned north under the surround of his personal guards.

Liu Chengyou's escape to the north also inspired the soldiers and civilians in Yecheng, because no one wanted to stay in the city any longer. Even Wei Xiaoju could not suppress them and had to join the fleeing team.

The Han army fled on a large scale, and even the defenders of Yecheng were all in the process of fleeing. The Tang army pursued them on all fronts, and the situation on the battlefield became one-sided after the initial resistance of the Han army.

Even the Han army began to surrender in an organized manner, and major generals such as Xue Andu and Lu Shuang all led their troops to surrender.

Those who did not flee in Yecheng also opened the south gate of the city and surrendered to the Tang army. Li Yuanhui ordered Zhu Deyu to lead a team to enter Yecheng, eliminate the resistance forces and provide military rations to the people of Yecheng.

The people of Yecheng then thanked the King of Qi for his kindness and called the Tang Dynasty "a benevolent and virtuous teacher."

In the Battle of Yecheng, the Tang army killed more than 10,000 Han soldiers, and captured or surrendered as many as 60,000 people. Countless Han soldiers trampled on each other and were squeezed into the Zhang River in their attempt to escape. Finally, the Tang army could no longer bear it, and Li Yuanhui ordered a rescue.

On the Han side, only a few thousand out of the 100,000-strong army followed the young emperor Liu Chengyou across the river to escape. Taiwei Zhu Lingshi died in the battle, General Zhang Shiwu died in the battle, and Hulu Jin and Hulu Mingyue, father and son, Situ Lingjing, and other civil and military officials escaped with Liu Chengyou.

The Tang army quickly sent out cavalry to pursue.

The Han army fled northward, and several Tang cavalry units outflanked them from the front and back, eventually blocking Liu Chengyou's way back to Xindu.

He was not allowed to escape to Youzhou with Hulujin and his son, so he could only protect Liu Chengyou.

The Tang army was approaching the city of Xindu. Empress Li lamented deeply when she heard the news. The entire Northern Han court in Xindu was shaken and people were in panic.

In May, after settling Yecheng, Li Yuanhui led his troops northward and dispatched a large army to take over Hebei. Along the way, he was unstoppable and all the counties and prefectures in Hebei surrendered.

Zhu Deyu stayed in Weijun to stabilize the rear, Li Yaoshi took Zhaojun, Zhang Jian took Julu, Hou Jun took Hejian, Zhang Zhen'e took Pingyuan, Cheng Zhijie took Bohai, Duan Xiong took Qinghe, and Li Yuanhui's army drove straight to the city of Xindu in Anping County.

Chang Yanheng and Li Chengdao led the cavalry troops north to Youzhou.

In late May, Empress Dowager Li issued an edict to surrender, and ordered her younger brother Li Xiaochang, Prime Minister Cui Tingbi, and General Zhao Xiang to go to the Tang camp to surrender.

As soon as they entered the Tang camp, the three saw the mighty and majestic Tang army lined up on both sides. Cui Tingbi was still able to maintain the demeanor of a prime minister, and Zhao Xiang was a warrior after all. They all walked with their heads held high and their eyes straight ahead.

Only Li Xiaochang, who was born into the Tang royal family, felt so guilty that he even trembled when he walked.

He really didn't want to come, it was too embarrassing. But there was no way, his sister told him, if you want to live, you have to go. The three of them entered the big tent, Li Yuanhui looked at them, and first had someone drag Li Xiaochang out to fight a hundred battles.

Cui Tingbi and Zhao Xiang had no point in doing this, because it really wasn't humiliating them, the surrendered people, it was their family affair.
After the battle, Li Xiaochang was dragged in again. Li Yuanhui ignored him and asked Li Qinglian and Cui Tingbi to discuss the specific matters of surrender. He took Zhao Xiang for a walk in the camp to reminisce about the past.

Zhao Xiang was an old brother brought up by Liu Xuanji, and he also served under Li Yuanhui. Empress Dowager Li of the Northern Han Dynasty also spent a lot of thought in selecting these people.

As for the content of the negotiations, there was actually not much to discuss. Basically, the Northern Han had to accept whatever conditions and demands the Tang army put forward.

After all, it has come to the point where I am at the mercy of others. With the enemy at the gates, you are surrendering and I don't have much capital for negotiations.

On the first day of June, the gates of Xindu were opened, and Empress Dowager Li, along with her youngest son Li Chengji and Liu Xuanji's children, and civil and military officials of the Northern Han Dynasty surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.

The entire Jizhou region was thus pacified. Afterwards, Li Yuanhui ordered his men to send Liu Xuanji's children and Empress Dowager Li to Chang'an, while he continued to lead his troops north.

Before leaving, Li Yuanhui met with this cousin and comforted her. After all, they were all members of the Li family, and this cousin had been the matchmaker who married Liu Xuanji.

Empress Dowager Li originally wanted to plead for mercy for her eldest son, but she swallowed the words back when they came to her lips, and she couldn't say them.

How could he ask for this favor since Liu Chengyou is still resisting stubbornly and preparing for another battle with the Tang Dynasty in Youzhou?

In mid-June, Empress Dowager Li and her entourage, as well as Northern Han officials, headed for Chang'an under the escort of Li Changgong.

Li Yuanhui continued to lead his army northward to Youzhou, and he was unstoppable along the way, with countless people surrendering at the sight of him.

Even when they arrived at Liu Xuanji's hometown in Zhuo County, there was no decent resistance, and the vanguard broke into the city in a few days. However, the only drawback was that Liu Chengyou was really good at running, and this time he ran directly to the outside of the Great Wall, which seemed to be possessed by the ancestor of the Liu family.

Situ Lingjing died of illness in Zhuo County due to the bumpy journey.

Liu Chengyou went out of the border and defected to the Eastern Turks, and was named Dingli Khan by the Turkic Khan Tuli.

Li Yuanhui wanted to laugh when he heard this. This ability to run was really inherited from the Liu family.

By September, all counties and prefectures in Youzhou were completely pacified, and the defense lines in the Yanshan Mountains, such as Yuguan and Lulong Pass, were controlled by the Tang army. As for Liaodong, it was still occupied by Goguryeo.

He then sent Li Yaoshi, Chang Yanheng, Li Chengdao and Hou Jun to lead cavalry to raid Liaodong.

Li Yaoshi and Li Chengdao led their troops out of Yuguan, while Chang Yanheng and Hou Jun led their troops out of Youbeiping. The two teams each had 10,000 cavalrymen. They defeated the Goguryeo army along the way, but because Xiangping was on guard, they failed to take it in one battle.

Li Yaoshi and his men withdrew in November because the army had been fighting for a long time and did not carry a large amount of baggage. It was easy for their blunt soldiers to give way to a strong city, so they retreated.

Fortunately, the pursuing troops were all wearing cotton armor, so even though the temperature dropped, there was no large-scale frostbite.

Although Liaodong was not taken back and the Northern Han emperor fled to the outside of the Great Wall, the Northern Han Dynasty was still actually destroyed.

The Tang Dynasty had basically accomplished its goal of unifying the world, and both Chang'an and Luoyang were celebrating the demise of the Northern Han.

Li Yuanhui went to Liu Xuanji's tomb to pay tribute to his old friend, and then said something to give him face in order to win people's hearts.

"If Brother Liu were still alive, how could I have come this far?"

This sentence was actually just to save face. Formally speaking, Liu Xuanji's death did accelerate the collapse of the Northern Han Dynasty, but even if Liu Xuanji had not died, the Northern Han Dynasty would at most have survived for a few more years.

The trend of the Tang Dynasty unifying the world is unstoppable.

And this sentence is exclusive to conquerors and victors.

After the royal family of Northern Han entered Chang'an, Li Xuanqing conferred the title of Princess Guangyuan on his cousin, and the title of Duke of Anle on Liu Xuanji's legitimate son Liu Chengji. The rest were also conferred the title of Duke of the County and granted residences in Chang'an.

At the same time, during the winter solstice ancestor worship in the ninth year of Zhenguan, he ordered people to prepare a sacrificial text to the ancestral temple, which highly praised the achievements of Li Xuanqing during his reign.

In any case, it was during his reign that the Tang Dynasty accomplished the great feat of unifying the country. After Li Yuan started his army in Sichuan, the brothers Li Er and Li Si responded in Longyou and Jianghuai, and seized Chang'an and Luoyang in just a few years, but were tripped up by Hebei and suffered a major setback.

Twenty years had passed since this fall, and during those twenty years, Li Yuan and his son Li Erfeng died one after another.

Fortunately, after the brothers Li San and Li Si took control of the Tang Dynasty, they cooperated sincerely, adhered to the principle of waiting until the meat was rotten in the pot, fought wars in the south and the north, and finally accomplished the great cause of unifying the world.

This is the result of the two brothers' tolerance for the country and their unity of mind.

When Li Yuanhui was conquering Hedong and Hebei, anyone in Chang'an who dared to say that the King of Qi was holding his troops back and had ulterior motives was killed by Li Xuanqing.

He personally gave his all in Guanzhong to fully support his brothers in the war in the north.

This led to the unification of the Tang Dynasty and the reunification of the north and the south.

Somehow, those who can remain restrained in the face of power will naturally have everything they deserve.

Li San deserves this achievement, and so does Li Si.

After spending the Spring Festival of the tenth year of Zhenguan in Zhuo County, Li Si reshuffled power and appointed garrisons in the entire Hebei Province.

Zhang Zhen'e was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Youzhou's military affairs, Zhang Jin as the governor of Youzhou, Li Chengdao as the governor of Zhuo County, Li Yanzong as the governor of Yuyang, Xu Qiande as the governor of Liaoxi, and Fu Weixue as the governor of Youbeiping.

Hou Jun was the governor of Jizhou, and Chai Rong was the commander-in-chief of Jizhou’s military affairs.

All the surrendered generals of the Northern Han were sent to Chang'an and Luoyang to take up posts, and all the surrendered soldiers were disbanded and reorganized.

The Left and Right Wuwei, the Left and Right Weiwei, and all the Tiance troops were stationed in Hebei.

At the same time, Li Yuanhui recruited a large number of descendants of four surnames in Hebei to serve as officials, namely the Lu family of Fanyang, the Li family of Zhaojun, the Cui family of Qinghe, and the Cui family of Boling. He also registered the households of all the people in Hebei, checked their appearances, and measured the land.

Then a group of volunteers and rebels inexplicably appeared in Hebei, and someone even tried to assassinate Li Yuanhui.

But 200,000 Tang troops were stationed in Hebei, and the powerful people in Hebei soon realized that since you have never fought on the battlefield, it is too late to do anything at this time.

However, in order to quell the aftermath of the shock among the various tribes in Hebei and thoroughly complete the inventory of population and land, it took the Tang Dynasty two full years to implement all the work.

During this period, Li Yuanhui traveled back and forth between Yecheng, Zhuojun and Jinyang. Wherever there was resistance, the Tang cavalry basically arrived the next day.

These two things were pushed forward with the knife and the pen.

During this period, rumors circulated in Chang'an that the Prince of Qi wanted to proclaim himself emperor, but Li Sanlang remained obsessed with having children, and finally achieved success, with three princes in his harem.

However, Li Sanlang's health was getting worse and worse. In October of the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Princess Pingyang passed away.

Li Yuanhui, who was in Jinyang, and Chai Rong, who was in Yecheng, both returned to Chang'an to attend the funeral.

In the twelfth year of Zhenguan, Li Silang stayed in Chang'an to celebrate the Spring Festival, preparing to return to Luoyang to take charge after the fifteenth day.

But before the fifteenth day, Li Sanlang was infected with the epidemic. Within a few days, he had a high fever and was so sick that he could not get out of bed.

Li Sanlang had a fever and was talking nonsense, but he kept repeating "Silang" and "My brother should be Yao and Shun"

When Li Yuanhui entered the palace, he saw that the man's arms and legs were covered with red rashes. Could this be erysipelas?

As soon as he asked the eunuch, Li Yuanhui broke out in a cold sweat. My goodness, his third brother had taken a lot of medicinal pills in the past few years.

However, Li Sanlang was still relatively sober. He urgently summoned several prime ministers, generals and important royal family members to his bedside and entrusted all state affairs to Li Silang.

At the same time, it was made clear again, "If I am ill, the King of Qi will inherit the throne."

Then he said it again in front of everyone, repeating the same sentence.

"My brother should be like Yao and Shun."

(End of this chapter)