Chapter 306: Ji Ge Smashes the Defense

In western Weizhou's Zhang County, near Longma Mountain, the Tang army used Zhang County as a base, deploying defenses around Longma Mountain to stop the Tufan from attacking Weizhou from the east.

By Ji Ge's order, Fang Youde led ten thousand men of the Shen Ce Army to Weizhou, bivouacking outside Zhang County without entering the city. Though he arrived in a great hurry, the front around Longma Mountain was unusually calm.

The Tufan launched no attacks, only Tufan scouts frequently appeared on the mountain paths, and they were unusually cautious in their reconnaissance; the Tang army captured no prisoners and knew nothing of the Tufan's movements.

Fang Youde changed his previously aggressive stance, spending his days idling in the camp, reorganizing military affairs, eating and living together with the soldiers, yet assigning no combat missions.

Then, on an early summer evening, Fang Youde received an edict delivered by eunuch Bian Lingcheng, filled with boilerplate, summarized in four characters: "Return to Chang'an quickly."

Just going back isn't enough; it must be a "quick return"!

"I know the main Tufan force withdrew from Shanzhou, General, but the Tufan detachment marching through Weizhou can't be left unchecked; the Shen Ce Army can't just march away, can it?"

Inside the command tent, Fang Youde, with a puzzled expression, questioned Bian Lingcheng, who had delivered the imperial decree.

"Ah, General Fang, you don't know—there was a major incident in Guanzhong two days ago!"

Bian Lingcheng was so frantic he was hopping mad; Ji Ge wouldn't let him speak plainly, yet now he can't stay silent!

"An incident? What could happen in Guanzhong?"

Fang Youde, bewildered, stared wide‑eyed at Bian Lingcheng and asked.

"It's a rebellion in Binzhou—no, rather, there has already been a revolt, and they have seized the Binzhou prefect Li Qiwu! They have proclaimed Li Qiwu emperor, naming the state Great Zhou!"

Huh?

Fang Youde was stunned; this makes no sense—Binzhou seems just northwest of Chang'an, how could there be a rebellion?

"General Fang, I've told you everything that should be said and everything that shouldn't."

"Hurry and take the Shen Ce Army to Binzhou to quell the rebellion! The sovereign is now frightened, no one believes anything, and no one is permitted to take troops out of Chang'an to suppress the uprising."

"Such matters cannot be delayed; if postponed too long, disaster will follow!"

Bian Lingcheng's throat was smoking from his haste.

He thought the Binzhou incident was either inexplicably strange or, paradoxically, inevitable. The key is that the old emperor seated in Chang'an thinks differently from ordinary people.

He likes to attribute everything to a "conspiracy theory."

When word spread that Binzhou was in trouble, Ji Ge's first edict was that all provincial troops were forbidden to act rashly! The Chang'an Imperial Guard was not allowed to leave Chang'an!

When a central region of the Great Tang had an incident, Ji Ge didn't care at all; he only feared it was a ploy to relocate the Imperial Guard!

He even worried that Fang Youde might refuse to dispatch troops and deliberately stall, so that when Bian Lingcheng set out, he would repeatedly be instructed not to tell Fang Youde the full details!

"If you withhold the truth, I find it hard to obey,"

Fang Youde said stubbornly.

Seeing the stalemate, Bian Lingcheng could no longer stay silent, so he let out a long sigh, gave Fang Youde a signal. Understanding instantly, Fang Youde withdrew his personal troops and led Bian Lingcheng into a hidden grove.

"It goes like this: long ago Chang'an was short of charcoal, Zheng Shuqing, who served as the Charcoal Commissioner, petitioned for your son. The current Hexi Jiedushi, Fang the Jiedushi, went to search for stone coal."

Then the Jiedushi found it here in Binzhou—a huge mine. Later the court saw profit in it and sent the Khitan slaves that An Lushan brought from Hebei to excavate the stone coal there.

One batch died and was replaced by another. As the stone coal output grew, Chang'an no longer lacked charcoal in winter.

Bian Lingcheng narrated slowly; Fang Youde nodded without comment, because the story was indeed truthful.

While training the Shen Ce Army in Chang'an, he never heard that Chang'an lacked charcoal, and indeed a ferry outside Banqiao in Chang'an had been set up to transport stone coal. The stone coal was stored through spring, summer, and autumn, then sold to Chang'an residents in winter at relatively affordable prices.

Of course, the slaves' stone coal cost almost nothing; the court sold it merely as a favor.

"But what does this have to do with the Binzhou rebellion?"

Fang Youde was a bit confused about the situation.

"The Khitan slaves mining stone coal killed the guards, and while many from Sanshui County went to Chang'an to watch the presentation of captives, the county office was left undefended. These men seized the county town and looted the weapons stored in the county office treasury!"

"Later they took advantage of the chaos to capture the Binzhou prefectural capital Xinpíng County, abducting Prefect Li Qiwu. Upon learning he was a Tang royal descendant, they forced him to become emperor, naming the state Great Zhou!"

Bian Lingcheng recounted this bizarre, far‑fetched story in one breath.

"Were there many Khitan slaves digging stone coal?"

Fang Youde asked a question that seemed inexplicable to Bian Lingcheng.

"Not many; stone coal must be dug by hand, and the dead were simply buried in pits. At its peak, over ten thousand people maintained the site."

"Not everyone participated in the rebellion, but at least five thousand were involved, I'd say."

"The leader was called Yelü Mingguang, perhaps an alias; in any case, he was a Khitan who didn't escape."

Bian Lingcheng couldn't help but sigh.

The mining Khitan slaves banded together, revolted, killed the guards sent by the county office, seized the county office and its armory, then, while the court was still unresponsive, captured the prefectural capital, abducted the prefect, and set up a makeshift regime.

How to put it? To Fang Youde, this seemed like a fanciful tale, yet it truly happened!

The point is, he had never heard of such a ridiculous event occurring in the High Tang in his previous life!

After An Lushan was killed, shouldn't the Great Tang enjoy peace and prosperity for its people? How did such a ghastly incident arise?

The Khitan captives should have just mined stone coal peacefully; they actually dared to rebel!

A surge of anger rose in Fang Youde's heart!

"Understood. I will now muster the troops and eliminate those rebels."

Fang Youde placed one hand on his sword and said.

"Then I can return to report back!"

Bian Lingcheng exhaled, feeling as if he had just walked through the gates of the underworld.

Normally, Ji Ge's orders were unimpeded; whatever he said was law, and eunuchs delivering orders found it pleasant, even pocketing small red envelopes.

However, when trouble arose and aid had to be sought from outside Chang'an, many previously taken‑for‑granted rules no longer applied. For instance, if Fang Youde were bought off by a prince and, under the pretext of quelling the rebellion, returned to Chang'an to "advise the throne," what then?

They could just use Bian Lingcheng's head as a sacrificial banner!

As the saying goes, the human heart is hidden behind the belly; even a tiny risk can doom an emperor's realm, let alone a seemingly low‑risk "dragon‑from‑the‑crown" feat of escorting a prince to the throne.

"Chang'an should still have many detachments of the Shen Ce Army; why doesn't the sovereign send them to quell the rebellion?"

Fang Youde asked abruptly.

"General Fang, such a question isn't one that a lowly eunuch like me, who constantly delivers imperial edicts abroad, can answer, right?"

Bian Lingcheng smiled wryly.

The man before me truly can't compare to his son Fang Chongyong in conduct. If Fang Chongyong were here, he would have already handed over the Jiaozhi or wealth! He certainly wouldn't ask such an unanswerable question!

Bian Lingcheng vented an internal complaint about Fang Youde.

"Very well, depart in an hour; the inner attendant will accompany the army."

Fang Youde suppressed his inner displeasure and shook his head helplessly.

The cavalry! An Lushan is dead, yet a rebellion erupts just a stone's throw from Chang'an, even proclaiming a kingdom and an emperor—how absurd!

Fang Youde felt as if he had swallowed a fly—utterly miserable.

……

In the early summer of the eighth year of Tianbao, shortly after Wang Zhongsi sent captives to Chang'an, Guanzhong witnessed a shocking "major incident" that left Emperor Li Longji mortified.

A band of Khitan prisoners, who were supposed to spend their lives mining coal, "without any warning" rebelled in coal‑rich Binzhou, founded a makeshift regime called Great Zhou, and forcibly installed the Li Tang royal scion Li Qiwu as emperor!

A man named Gao Hui declared himself "Prime Minister." The commander‑in‑chief, calling himself Yelu Mingguang, was a Khitan. Such a bizarre creature left Ji stunned, unable to act against him for a while!

It's not that Chang'an lacks the means to quell the rebellion; in Ji's view, this affair is merely a "prelude," a bait, or perhaps just the first "stand‑in" to take the blows.

Ji hasn't yet seen the true mastermind, but he is convinced there's a conspiracy!

The elite Shen Ce Army had just marched to Weizhou to resist Tubo; these Khitan slaves chose to rebel precisely when Chang'an's forces were most depleted. Claiming no one colluded with them, Ji would die before believing it!

Ji is convinced that the "mastermind" wants him to pull troops from Chang'an to suppress the revolt, and that moment will be his cue to act!

Ji, a master of power struggles, restrained his impulse and issued an edict: all prefectures of Guanzhong must guard their gates, refrain from unauthorized moves, and must not mobilize troops out of their jurisdiction under the pretext of defending the throne; violators will be deemed rebels.

Immediately after, he issued a second decree: all princes and royal clan members may not leave their respective prefectures nor return to Chang'an from elsewhere.

Ji, still uneasy, added a third order: impose an indefinite night curfew on Chang'an, have the Jinwu Guard patrol the streets, and scour every market for thieves!

The Khitan rebels, brazen and fearless, must have inside help. This is no ordinary troublemaker; a heavy hand is required!

At the same time, as soon as Ji learned of the civil unrest, he dispatched the seasoned Bian Lingcheng—who often handled "field duties"—to Weizhou in secret, instructing Fang Youde to return his troops to Chang'an, without revealing what had transpired.

When Ji was riding high, convinced of his invincibility, those Khitan slaves slapped him hard! His prestige collapsed, the illusion of the celestial empire was shattered, and it became a joke the aristocracy whispered but dared not voice.

The emperor raged, and the earth trembled.

The Khitan slaves had not yet been punished; instead, the petty thieves of Chang'an fell into misfortune. The Jinwu Guard inspected house by house, especially the chaotic southern districts, turning them upside down.

The Jinwu Guard was swamped; they failed to catch the Binzhou rebels' inside man, yet a slew of absurd scandals surfaced—silver parties in temples, a nunnery treating male ailments, and so on. Chang'an was thrown into chaos.

Ji found nothing of what he sought, and the alleged mastermind left no trace.

The wide‑eyed emperor of Chang'an displayed a somewhat incompetent fury.

The day after the Khitan slave rebellion, Chang'an was placed under citywide martial law.

Yan Zhuang and Cen Shen, who were to go to the Ministry of Revenue to coordinate matters concerning Hexi Jiaozhi and Chang'an Jiaozhi, were ordered not to exit the gates of the Imperial Document Office.

"The defenses of this region are truly as flimsy as paper,"

In a study of the Imperial Document Office, Yan Zhuang complained to Cen Shen. Though many were still unaware of the events, the secret channels the Hexi Imperial Document Office had established had already obtained a rough picture from the authorities.

All of Chang'an's common folk remained in the dark, unaware of what had happened.

Frankly, Chang'an's defenses are decent. Yet beyond the city, Guanzhong's prefectures have few troops. If Ji deems the capital's guard unsuitable for deployment, even a minor civil disturbance can only be worn down.

It even cannot be ruled out that the unrest could snowball.

"The venerable sage is already in his seventies; any commander must think of his legacy, as the chance of being bought by a prince is high.

It's natural that the sage dares not send troops out of Chang'an."

Cen Shen sighed, offering a defense for Ji. They all deeply understood the old emperor's reasoning.

"No matter how chaotic it gets outside, I will not move troops out of Chang'an. Ambitious schemers then cannot use the turmoil to back a prince's ascent."

Ji is meeting all changes with steadfastness!

"Great Tang may appear splendid on the surface, but in reality—hee he!"

Yan Zhuang sneered twice, said no more, and drained his cup of fine wine.

At that moment, the gate of the Imperial Document Office was knocked, the sound urgent!

"I'll open it."

Yan Zhuang feigned nonchalance, opened the gate, and saw a left Jinwu Guard detachment led by Zhang Guangsheng, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

"Search! This is a governmental office; be careful while searching.

If you encounter Khitan, or those from Hebei, they must be screened."

Zhang Guangsheng, expressionless, pointed at Yan Zhuang and said, "Dean Yan is a Hebei native, but as a court official he need not be screened."

The Jinwu Guard soldiers inspected the cramped Imperial Document Office, questioned several people inside, all of whom were Hexi's Qiu Ba, still bearing military IDs, and reported back to Zhang Guangsheng.

"You all stay outside."

Zhang Guangsheng waved his hand at his subordinates, sending everyone nearby away.

"Colonel Zhang, is there a major incident?"

Yan Zhuang asked calmly.

"Indeed, it's a major incident, cannot elaborate. Khitan slaves mining coal in Binzhou rebelled; the sage suspects inside help in Chang'an and possible ties to a prince, ordering the Jinwu Guard to investigate thoroughly.

Alas, I originally didn't go with Jiedushi Fang to Hexi to fight Tubo, and now I'm forced to scour temples daily for the aristocrats' men and women having affairs—what a misery!

I petitioned the sage to resign my post as Middle Colonel of the Jinwu Guard; the sage refused, otherwise I would have left long ago!

Zhang Guangsheng couldn't help but complain!

Because he performed a "rescue of the emperor" that day, he was on Ji's trusted personnel list. Resigning from the Jinwu Guard was, of course, impossible to obtain approval for.

"Colonel Zhang, did you find anything?"

Yan Zhuang asked softly.

"Found nothing! If we had found something, we wouldn't be making such a big fuss!"

I tell you, the Sage feels that…

Zhang Guangsheng said halfway, then suddenly felt it might be improper to speak, quickly stopped, and solemnly nodded at Yan Zhuang, warning: "For the next few days do not go to the Memorial Hall; I'll ensure you are safe. This time the Sage is furious; whoever it falls on won't escape even a single slash!"

He made a throat‑cutting gesture.

Yan Zhuang hurriedly took several jars of fine wine from the main hall for Zhang Guangsheng to hold, and with kind words sent the other party away from the Memorial Hall.

Although the Fang Jiedushi has thought of many solutions, the Great Tang's situation does not seem to have fully improved.

From behind Yan Zhuang, Cen Can's voice came.

The Khitans are also people; throwing them into coal pits as slaves, indifferent to life or death—how could they not rebel?

All the people of Chang'an enjoy these blood‑stained coals in winter, and they are not allowed to resist, right?

Yan Zhuang spread his hands helplessly and asked.

(End of chapter)