Chapter 1286 The Demon Who Destroyed the Nation

Chapter 1286 The Demon Who Destroyed the Nation

While the Northern Qi factions were still trying to resist the Tang army's offensive, a riot of considerable magnitude broke out in Qingzhou City, or it could be said to be a political struggle.

The cause of the incident was that a monk from a famous temple in Qingzhou City accused the minister Gao Yuanhai of borrowing the ancient scriptures from the temple and then taking them for himself. The temple went to collect them several times but the minister refused to return them, so he had no choice but to appeal to the government.

Gao Yuanhai was a favorite minister under Gao Zhan, so there was naturally no ripples at the beginning of this matter, and the government did not dare to handle it at all. As a result, the monk was introduced by someone and asked He Shikai for help. He Shikai reported the matter to Gao Zhan, who immediately ordered Gao Yuanhai to return the ancient Buddhist scriptures to the temple as soon as possible.

This incident naturally made Gao Yuanhai a little embarrassed, and he therefore bore a grudge against He Shikai and prepared to take revenge. He served as the general in charge of the army and controlled a part of the Qingzhou Imperial Guard. He found out that He Shikai often stayed in the inner garden and did not go out at night, so he led a team of imperial guards late at night one day to arrest He Shikai in the Forbidden City.

As a result, this arrest operation brought out some explosive inside stories, especially the fact that the queen Hulu broke her leg because of the shock. This made Gao Zhan furious. He directly dismissed Gao Yuanhai from all his official titles and locked him in the Forbidden City with iron chains, only allowing him to feed some cattle and horse feed every day to fill his stomach.

At this point, it was just an ugly thing that made the people involved more embarrassed. But then He Shikai retaliated against Gao Yuanhai, complained to Gao Zhan that he had accepted many bribes, and requested to search his house.

This search really yielded a lot of gains. A large amount of treasures and goods were seized from Gao Yuanhai's home, revealing his greed.

Most of these goods were extorted after he came to Qingzhou. Among them, there was a pure gold Buddha statue that was bribed by Bi Yiyun, the governor of Qizhou, to Gao Yuanhai. Some letters between Gao Yuanhai and Bi Yiyun were also found with the goods. In the letters, Gao Yuanhai asked Bi Yiyun for goods and slaves, while Bi Yiyun asked Gao Yuanhai to fight for a position of three officials for him.

Such solid evidence of collusion between the inside and the outside was in front of him, which shocked Gao Zhan much more than his wife's leg was broken after being caught in adultery. In addition to severely lashing Gao Yuanhai, Gao Zhan also planned to capture Bi Yiyun and bring him back to Qingzhou to punish him.

However, Bi Yiyun was born in the Dongping Bi family, and his family was a Shandong noble clan. Gao Zhan now had to rely on the support of these nobles to maintain his rule over the six states of Shandong. Moreover, Bi Yiyun was now the governor of Qizhou and was responsible for intercepting the Tang army from the south of Hebei along the Yellow River. He should not be dispatched easily.

Gao Zhan originally planned to keep things quiet for now and deal with these guys after the Tang army was repelled, but He Shikai urged him: "Bi Yiyun bribed Yuan Hai with a lot of money, so they must have been deeply connected. Now that Yuan Hai has been arrested, even if the Supreme is magnanimous and does not want to punish Bi Yiyun again, this disciple's heart is not pure, how can he not doubt himself?

Moreover, he bribed Yuan Hai with a lot of money, and if he is not given, he will be angry and resentful. If it is because of If you turn to the Western bandits, it will be too late to regret! I beg you not to indulge such traitors who endanger the country because of your momentary kindness! "

After listening to He Shikai's advice, Gao Zhan suddenly felt a sense of crisis and changed his original idea. He ordered Gao Anagong to lead an army of 10,000 and go to Qizhou in the name of reinforcement. After arriving in Qizhou, he removed Bi Yiyun's military power and sent people to escort him to Qingzhou City. Gao Anagong stayed in Qizhou to replace Bi Yiyun to fight against the Tang army.

When this matter was just handled, news came from the south again, and this time it was good news.

Yang Lie, the governor of Langya who had refused to submit before, wrote a letter to accept the official title granted by Gao Zhan and expressed his gratitude. There was also a more important point, that is, to report the victory and offer merits.

According to Yang Lie's report, when the Tang army in Huainan marched northward, he gathered the villagers and organized the people in the county to fight against the Tang army in the territory, and successfully defeated several offensives of the Tang army, killing and wounding many people. Accompanying the messenger were many Tang army armors, horses, weapons and canes seized in Langya County to prove this battle report.

Gao Zhan was overjoyed when he learned about this, and he clapped his hands and laughed, saying: "It seems that Qi's luck is not exhausted, and it can still be passed on to me! In the past, the powerful army was defeated repeatedly and the two capitals fell. Now, in the remaining six states, brave men have emerged and repeatedly defeated the powerful enemy. God really does not want to kill me!"

Unfortunately, Yang Lie said in the report that because Langya County itself had fewer troops, it was unable to continue pursuing the Tang army when it retreated, thereby expanding the results of the battle, so that the Tang army was still able to calmly reorganize its troops after retreating and advance northward again.

Therefore, Yang Lie requested the court to send a reinforcement army to the south. If he had enough troops, he could lead the troops to fiercely block the Tang army again, and completely repel this Tang army and drive it back to Huainan. If he failed to do this, he was willing to accept any punishment from the court.

Gao Zhan was naturally very happy that Yang Lie could defeat the attack of the Tang army. But when it comes to sending reinforcements, he was a little hesitant. Although he had also formed a considerable armed force after coming to Shandong, as the Tang army launched an attack, the Qingzhou troops had to disperse to meet the enemy. Now the troops left in Qingzhou are not as sufficient as before.

What's more, Yang Lie was not his confidant at all, and Gao Zhan was not very confident in assigning troops to him to command.

However, Yang Lie also made a prediction in this memorial that the Tang army might not advance to Langya again because of the previous defeat, but would choose to bypass this place and go north from the eastern plains to attack Qingzhou. Once this happens, it is difficult to effectively intercept due to the limited strength of Langya County itself.

On the contrary, if the court is willing to send more troops to reinforce, he will have enough confidence to repel the Tang army along this route. After the danger from the south is lifted, he can mobilize troops and supplies from the southern part of Shandong to the north to assist Qingzhou, and participate in the fight against the invading enemies from other directions, defeat these enemy troops one by one, and the danger of Qingzhou will naturally be lifted. He can even take advantage of this great victory to advance to Henan, Huaibei and other places to expand his territory.

The beautiful prospect outlined by Yang Lie is still very attractive to Gao Zhan. Although he is fierce on the outside but weak on the inside, he is not completely without ambition. Otherwise, he would not have hurriedly proclaimed himself emperor in Qingzhou after hearing that Jinyang had fallen. If he could defeat the Tang army and achieve greater results, he would certainly be very happy.

So after weighing the pros and cons, Gao Zhan decided to send Han Feng to lead 5,000 soldiers to the south to reinforce Langya County. In order to show his respect and win over Yang Lie, he also expressed his willingness to marry Yang Lie's daughter as a concubine, and to select a young daughter of the Yang family as the crown princess. Of course, these will only be implemented after Yang Lie defeats the Tang army.

In short, Gao Zhan is not stingy with useful people. As long as he can help him defeat the enemy and keep the six states, he is willing to reward the meritorious people in any way, such as Hulu Ping, a Jinyang noble, and Yang Lie, a Shandong noble.

Han Feng was not very willing to lead the army south, but among Gao Zhan's confidants, He Shikai still had to stay in Qingzhou to serve the emperor and empress, Gao Yuanhai had fallen out of favor and was imprisoned, and Gao Anagong was sent to Qizhou. If he refused to go, he would have to send Cui Jishu and other court officials to lead the army south, which would be tantamount to giving them the opportunity to surrender to the enemy.

So after being scolded by the emperor, Han Feng still had to lead his troops on the journey. But if he knew what would greet him next, he would not go no matter how much he was scolded.

Gao Zhan was very generous in rewarding nobles and official positions, but he was very stingy in using money, food and materials. Although Han Feng and his party were sent south to reinforce Langya County, they were not allocated enough food and materials, but were ordered to raise them on their own along the way.

So Han Feng led his troops to the south, burning, killing and looting along the way, and lived a life of hunger and fullness. Finally, he arrived in Xintai City with great difficulty.

Fortunately, Yang Lie, who accepted the rescue, was also sensible. He waited outside Xintai City early to welcome them and provided a lot of supplies to reward the reinforcements. The reinforcements stayed in the camp outside the city and started to make fire and cook, while Han Feng and his trusted followers were invited into the city and feasted at the banquet prepared by the city lord's mansion.

With such a warm hospitality and the sound of flattery in his ears, Han Feng's mood also improved. As the smell of alcohol got to his head, he hooked the neck of Yang Lie, who was sitting next to him, and said with a smile: "Before the trip, the Supreme Lord specifically told me that as long as Taishan Gong can defeat the enemy army this time, I will take Taishan Gong's daughter as a concubine and propose marriage to the Crown Prince..."

"What? I'm treating you warmly today, but the dog thief still wants my children for sex. It's really hateful!"

Yang Lie was originally smiling, but his face suddenly sank after hearing this. He directly grabbed Han Feng's neck with his backhand and pressed him down to the table, shouting and cursing.

Han Feng was also stunned at this moment. He shook his head to make himself clearer, and said repeatedly: "Taishan Gong heard it wrong, it was a misunderstanding, it was a misunderstanding! The Supreme wanted to visit the woman under the Gong as a concubine, not..."

"Shut up! The dog thief bullied me and said that I was bloodless, and even offended and begged. Come, quickly capture the villains!"

With Yang Lie's order, many fully armed soldiers rushed in from outside the door, and each rushed into the table to capture Han Feng's personal soldiers. Han Feng was still a little slow to react because of drunkenness at this moment, and he kept arguing that Yang Lie had heard it wrong.

It was not until the group was completely controlled, and Han Feng was given special care and tied up, that he realized that Yang Lie had bad intentions for a long time. Han Feng was shocked and began to curse Yang Lie: "Thief, have you surrendered to the enemy? You are deceiving me to come to help, but you really want to harm me..."