On the first day of the first month of the thirteenth year (818), a festive atmosphere was permeated inside and outside Chang'an City, and people finally looked forward to the pacification of Huaixi Domain.
In the past few years, people have borne a heavy burden in order to crusade against Huaixi, and the constant troubles in the feudal towns in Beijing have made people frightened and unable to live a peaceful life.
For two consecutive years, Kenjong has canceled the Yuan-Ri Dynasty because of the war ahead. Now, on the first New Year after the pacification of the Huaixi Domain, Xianzong held a grand celebration ceremony in the Hanyuan Hall.
1. After Wu Yuanji was captured, Wang Chengzong of Chengde became nervous. He knew that once Huaixi was pacified, he would be the next to be defeated. Therefore, he tried his best to thwart Huaixi's crusade, forcing Xianzong to consider using troops against Chengde.
In the second crusade against Chengde, Wang Chengzong took advantage of the weakness of the official army and barely resisted the crisis, but Xianzong did not quit because of this. However, this time, Wang Chengzong could not be as happy as in the fifth year of Yuanhe (810).
Because Xianzong's strike was obviously to concentrate his forces to level Huaixi. Now, the day has finally arrived. The Battle of Huaixi was coming to an end, and a man named Bai Qi suggested to Han Yu that if Wu Yuanji was captured, Wang Chengzong of Chengde would definitely be afraid.
At this time, if he brought the letter of the prime minister to Chengde to persuade him to surrender, Wang Chengzong would definitely automatically submit to the imperial court, and the imperial court could obtain Chengde without using troops. Han Yu reported this suggestion to Pei Du, and Pei Du approved Bai Qi to go to Chengde to persuade him to surrender.
After Bai Qi arrived at Dade, he handed over Pei Du's letter, and how Wang Chengzong replied is impossible to verify in historical records. However, soon after, Wang Chengzong formally submitted a request to Xianzong for submission through Wei Bo's Tian Hongzheng.
Wang Chengzong proposed four concessions to the imperial court: first, to send his own son Wang Zhigan, Wang Zhixin, and Yajiang Shi Xun and others to the imperial court as hostages; 2. Dedicate the disputed states of Germany and Di; 3. Please send ** to Chengde to serve; 4. Pay taxes at the prescribed rate and offer salt.
Wang Chengzong's four concessions are targeted, and sending parents and children and teeth to the imperial court means that the post of Chengde Jiedu will no longer be hereditary, but will be appointed by **. The cession of De and Di was to satisfy the requirements of Xianzong and to express his remorse.
The payment of taxes and the request for dispatch** meant that Chengde completely submitted to the imperial court. Wei Bojiedu made Tian Hongzheng willing to write to Xianzong for Wang Chengzong, asking for pardon for him.
Tian Hongzheng believed that accepting Chengde's automatic submission could not only avoid the destruction of Hebei Prefecture and County by the war, but also avoid the embarrassing situation of the imperial court in case of defeat in sending troops. However, Xianzong did not initially agree to Tian Hongzheng's request, because he could not forget the great humiliation brought to him and the imperial court by the two failed attempts to conquer Chengde.
However, Tian Hongzheng went to the table many times and finally persuaded Xianzong to agree to pardon Wang Chengzong. In April, Wang Chengzong's son Heya will arrive in Beijing and present the maps and seals of De and Di.
In the process of conquering Wu Yuanji in Huaixi, Xianzong did not let the Pinglu army participate in the war, so as not to cooperate with Wu Yuanji's army and affect the overall situation. After Wu Yuanji's defeat, Xianzong sent Zhang Su to Yunzhou, hoping that Li Shidao would cut the land and send protons.
After receiving Li Xun's consolation, Li Shidao's attitude changed and he set up a military array to demonstrate, but Li Xun was not afraid and resolutely conveyed Xianzong's will. Although Li Shidao expressed his willingness to submit, his henchmen conspired to refuse in a perfunctory manner, which was noticed by Li Xun.
Li Shidao was stubborn and repeated, and the imperial court tried to solve the problem peacefully, but ultimately failed. Xianzong decided to use troops against Li Shidao, but there were concerns. The Huaixi War had just ended, the country's financial and material resources were exhausted, and at the same time, Pinglu's geographical location was complex and its economic and military strength was strong, so the conquest of Pinglu needed to be carefully considered.
However, the public ** supported the use of troops against Pinglu, and Xianzong finally issued an edict to crusade against Li Shidao.
From Li Shidao's refusal to accept the quality of land in April to the official issuance of the edict of Xianzong to crusade against Pinglu in July, the imperial court has carried out various military moves. After Xianzong's careful deployment, in the direction of Huazhou, directly west of Pinglu Fang Town, there was the army of Li Guangyan; In the south, there were the armies of Li Yu, the envoy of Wuning Jiedu, and Li Ting, the assassin of Chuzhou; In the southwest, there was the army of Han Hong, the envoy of Xuanwu Jiedu; In the northwest, there was the army of Tian Hongzheng, the envoy of Wei Bojiedu; In the north direction, there was the army of Zheng Quan (later changed to Wu Chongyin), the envoy of Henghai Jiedu.
Under military pressure from many sides, the town of Pinglu in Li Shidao was besieged. In July, after Xianzong issued an edict against Pinglu, he launched an all-out attack on Pinglu.
First of all, Henghai Jiedu made Zheng Quan defeat 500 Pinglu troops in Fucheng, Qizhou. Then, the Xuanwu Army made Han Hong personally lead the army to surround Caozhou. When Han Hong conquered Huaixi in the ninth year of Yuanhe (814), he sent his son Han Gongwu to lead 3,000 men and horses to fight with Li Guangyan, but he did not directly participate in the battle against Huaixi.
This time, Han Hong personally went out to attack Pinglu, which showed that he attached great importance to the edict of Xianzong. Then, Wu Ning Jiedu made Li Yu and soldiers and horses made Li You defeat the Pinglu army of 3,000 people at Yanzhou Yutai.
Then, Wei Bojiedu made Tian Hongzheng lead the army to raise Liu to cross the Yellow River and set camp forty miles away from Yunzhou, the seat of Pinglu Town. In the end, Tian Hongzheng defeated Li Shidao's 50,000 men again in Dong'a, which dealt a major blow to the Pinglu army, and the morale of Li Shidao's army was greatly defeated.
Prior to this, Wei Botian Hongzheng had asked Xianzong to cross the river from Liyang and enter Huazhou to join the army of Li Guangyan, the envoy of Yicheng Jiedu, and jointly attack Pinglu. However, Prime Minister Pei Du believed that once Wei Bo's army crossed the river, it could not retreat, and it must march immediately in order to succeed.
However, the joint deployment of troops by the two armies may be suspicious of each other. Rather than letting Wei Bo wait and see after crossing the river and spend time on grain and grass, it is better to wait until the frost and precipitation are backward and then directly cross the river from Yangliu and approach Yunzhou, so that the enemy army in Pinglu will inevitably waver.
After careful consideration, Kenjong adopted Peidu's suggestion. Sure enough, a few months later, a great victory was achieved in Dong'e and Yanggu.
On December 29 of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe, Wei Bo and Yichengjun escorted 47 people, including Xiahou Cheng, the captured Pinglu Duzhi soldier and horse envoy, to Beijing. In order to divide and disintegrate Li Shidao's army, Xianzong ordered the pardon of Xiahou Cheng and others, and made it clear to the military and civilians of Pinglu Fangzhen that the goal of the imperial court was to attack Li Shidao, and other coerced people could be pardoned.
This policy quickly paid off, and after some of the captives returned to Pinglu, they publicized Xianzong's will, and Pinglu's army began to surrender to the official army, and morale was even more shaken.
This made Liu Wu's reversal smoother. In order to solve the problem of insufficient military salaries, Xianzong transferred 300,000 horses of silk and 300,000 yuan from the inner treasury from June to the front line.
On September 6, another 100,000 horses of silk silk from the inner treasury were again allocated for the army. In the illustrious achievements of the Wuning Jiedu envoy Li Yu's brothers, Li Yu led his army to conquer Jinxiang in Pinglu Yanzhou on December 30 of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe, defeating more than 20,000 people.
Jinxiang is an important military point in Yanzhou, and the conquest of Jinxiang has created conditions for the northward advance of the official army. Since the beginning of the war in July, Li Yu has led his army to fight the Pinglu army 11 times, each time winning and capturing more than 50 generals.
The conquest of Jinxiang is of great significance. On the first day of the first month of the 14th year of Yuanhe (819), when the New Year arrived, because the war in the east had not yet ended, Kenjong canceled the Yuanri Haga.
The successive victories of the official army and the repeated defeats of Pinglu led to the resurgence of the war and factional struggles within Li Shidao's ruling group. On the second day of the first lunar month, the Xuanwu Army Jiedu made Han Hong conquer the city of Caozhou, killing more than 2,000 enemies, and the southern part of Caozhou was controlled by the official army.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, Shuyang County of Haizhou in Pinglu ordered Liangdongju County to surrender to Li Ting, the assassin of Chuzhou. Li Ting was the thirteenth son of Li Sheng, a famous general at the time of Dezong, and inherited the younger brother of Li Yu, a famous general in Huaixi.
In the first recruitment, he offered wisdom to capture Lu Congshi. Since the Pinglu campaign, Li Ting was responsible for leading the Huainan army to attack Pinglu from the direction of Chuzhou. The Pinglu army has always despised the Huai army, and Li Ting secretly conducted strict training for the Huainan army, and by surprise, attacked Shuyang, causing Liangdong to surrender.
The defenders of Qishan and Huairen in Haizhou also surrendered, and Haizhou in Pinglu was completely recovered by the official army. In February of the 14th year of Yuanhe (819), Wuning Jiedu made Li Yu capture Chengxian in Yizhou, causing the official army to advance further north.
Li Guangyan fought a series of victories in Puzhou, killed thousands of enemies, captured Doumen City, Duzhuangzha and other places (now Puyangnan, Shandong), and formed an "embattled" situation with Tian Hongzheng's army, Han Hongjun's army, and Li Yu's army.
At the same time, Liu Wu's army achieved a series of victories on the front, which made Li Shidao panic. Faced with the defeat at the front, Li Shidao began to strengthen the fortifications of Yunzhou (present-day eastern Yuncheng, Shandong), mobilizing a large number of people, including women, and causing discontent and fear among the people.
However, Li Shidao still had hope for victory and kept urging Liu Wu to fight. Liu Wu was the grandson of Liu Kenu, the envoy of the Pinglu Festival during the Xuanzong period of the Tang Dynasty, and his father Liu Quanliang served as the Bianzhou Assassin and Xuanwu Army Jie Du Observation Envoy during the Dezong period.
Ever since Xianzong began his campaign against Pinglu, Li Shidao sent Liu Wu to take charge of the defense north of Yunzhou.
Due to the shortage of military funds, Liu Wu ordered merchants to contribute money to support the army, but often lent money to merchants and ordinary people, and won the gratitude of the people, and was called "Father Liu". He was lenient to his subordinates, strictly enforced the law, emphasized credit, and the soldiers were willing to serve their lives.
However, under the powerful offensive of Wei Bo and Yicheng's army, Liu Wu retreated in defeat after defeat. Li Shidao therefore recalled Liu Wu and prepared to take the opportunity to get rid of him. Liu Wu was already aware of Li Shidao's suspicions and began to prepare for contingencies.
In order to prevent Liu Wu's mutiny, Li Shidao appointed Liu Wu's son Liu Congjian as his subordinate to play a special role, nominally for reuse, but in fact to leave him in Yunzhou as a hostage. Liu Congjian took advantage of the opportunity to play with Li Shidao's henchmen to find out his plot and report it to his father on the front line in time.
At the beginning of the fourteenth year of Yuanhe (819), some people continued to advise Li Shidao, believing that Liu Wu might become a disaster, and it was better to get rid of him as soon as possible. Li Shidao sent a henchman envoy to Yanggu and ordered Zhang Xian, the deputy envoy of the battalion, to kill Liu Wu's head.
However, instead of killing Liu Wu, Zhang Xian conspired with Liu Wu and killed two of Li Shidao's envoys. Liu Wu was on strict guard in the camp to prevent news from leaking, and ordered the soldiers to be ready to leave at any time.
That night, Liu Wu led the army to march to Yunzhou, with the rank of man and horse tie, and detained pedestrians to prevent news leakage. They arrived in Yunzhou before dawn, and Liu Wu ordered the soldiers to stand by on the spot.
Hearing that the sound of the patrol on the city stopped to report the change, he sent 10 people to the city, claiming that Liu Dutou had entered the city with a warrant. The gatekeeper asked to report to Li Shidao for approval before entering the city, but 10 people drew their swords and wanted to behead the gatekeepers, and the gatekeepers dispersed in a hurry.
Liu Wu led the army into the city quickly, shouting loudly, and there was chaos. When Liu Wu entered the city, the gate of the sub-city had been opened. Li Shidao retreated to Yacheng, but his troops were insufficient, and he was finally defeated by Liu Wu.
Liu Wu led the army into the Pinglu Jiedu Embassy and searched for Li Shidao. At this time, Li Shidao and his two sons were hiding under the bed and were found by soldiers. Liu Wu ordered the soldiers to escort Li Shidao's father and son to the Yamen open space.
Before Liu Wu returned from the Yanggu front line to attack Yunzhou, he had informed Tian Hongzheng to enter his camp and told him that if the attack was successful, he would use the beacon fire in the city as a signal.
If there are preparations in the city, you are not allowed to enter, so please ask Tian Hongzheng to lead Wei Bo's army to come to help. On the day it was done, the credit went to Weibo. Tian Hongzheng saw the beacon fire in Yunzhou and knew that the attack had been successful.
Subsequently, Liu Wu sent people to send the heads of Li Shidao's father and son to Tian Hongzheng's military camp, and Tian Hongzheng immediately reported to the emperor. Since Yuncheng had been breached, Li Shidao had died, and the defenders of all the prefectures and counties in Pinglu had also submitted to the imperial court.
On February 14, the 14th year of Yuanhe, Tian Hongzheng's envoy entered Beijing and reported to the emperor the victory of Yunzhou. The emperor was very happy, although the pacification of Pinglu had long been expected, but the victory came so quickly and so smoothly that it exceeded his expectations.
On February 21, the head of Li Shidao was transmitted to Jingshi. In order to fundamentally prevent the recurrence of the Pinglu Domain, the emperor took two important measures.
First of all, in terms of administrative divisions, the 12 prefectures of Pinglu were divided to consolidate the achievements of the recovery of Pinglu. The emperor appointed Huazhou Thorn Shi Ma as the envoy of Yun, Cao, Zi and other prefectures, and appointed Xue Ping as the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, Zi, Qing, Qi, Deng, Lai and other prefectures.
In addition, the emperor also appointed Wang Sui, the envoy of Ziqing to camp on all sides, as an observer envoy in Yi, Hai, Yan, Mi and other prefectures. In order to prevent the old Pinglu Department from being difficult to control, the emperor divided the original soldiers of Li Shidao in Yuncheng into three, which were subordinate to the three prefectures of Yun, Qing and Yi.
The division of Pinglu into three and the transfer of the old generals of Pinglu eliminated the conditions for the reappearance of the Pinglu domain in terms of administrative divisions. Another major measure that was elicited by the reconquest of Pinglu was the question raised by Wu Chongyin, the envoy of Henghai Jiedu, about completely changing the power of the state and county administrators that Fang Zhenjun would intervene in.
Wu Chongyin's performance was highly valued by the emperor.
On April 19, Xianzong adopted Wu Chongyin's suggestion and promulgated the "Edict on the Suppression of the Assassination of the Subordinate Towns of the Branches". The two most important of these are: first, the abolition of all military powers of the Jiedu envoys outside the state in which they are stationed; Second, the command of the local armies was handed over to the governors of the prefectures and counties, so that they would have independent military power and not be controlled by the envoys.
Kenjong's intention was very clear, that is, to weaken the military power of the feudal town and town governors, expand the power of the prefecture and county administrators, and change the phenomenon that the military power of the prefecture and county administrators had to obey the governor of the prefecture and county in the past.
This measure is the same as the edict of the fourth year of Yuanhe (809) that Fangzhen Jiedu should not collect taxes from the prefectures and counties to which they belong without authorization, and directly pay the taxes of the prefectures and counties to the ** degree, thus weakening the economic power of the feudal towns, and further weakening the military power of the feudal towns from the redistribution of military power.