Chapter 397: Sang Guoqiao Has Ruined Me

In Hebei, at Zhenzhou, the Chengde Army yabing officer Li Qing, as agreed with Du Chongwei, opened the south gate of Zhenzhou city at the beginning of the mao hour.

Wearing black lamellar armor, the Later Jin imperial guards, who had long been waiting, poured into Zhenzhou city like a tide.

Upon receiving the news, An Zhongrong, Military Governor of the Chengde Army, wanted to lead his personal guards in resistance, but Zhenzhou had been besieged even longer than Xiazhou, and the morale of the troops in the city had scattered; they had long lost their will to fight.

An Zhongrong led a dozen or so men to block the gate of the governor's office, and after personally cutting down five yabing guards of the Bangsheng Army,

this Military Governor of the Chengde Army, who had been determined to resist Khitan annexation but whose reach exceeded his grasp, left behind the bold words, "The Son of Heaven is he who has strong soldiers and sturdy horses!" and was cut down by the mutinous troops at the gate of the Chengde Army governor's office.

And three hours after the Later Jin imperial guards took control of Zhenzhou, the sounds of wailing and killing cries rose once more.

Du Chongwei was no Zhang Zhao. This butcher nicknamed the Plague Marquis had not the slightest softness of heart, and immediately ordered the slaughter of Zhenzhou.

In the several hours during which he cut off An Zhongrong's head and sent it by fast horse to Shi Jingtang at Yedu,

of the more than thirty thousand people in the city of Zhenzhou, almost none were spared. Even Li Qing, the Chengde Army yabing officer who had opened the gate, had his entire family killed all the same.

Although An Zhongrong had risen in arms more than a year early under the flapping of Zhang Zhao's butterfly wings,

the inertia of history still would not let him alter his fate; he was defeated and died all the same.

However, to the south, in Xiangzhou, where the Military Governor of the Shannan East Circuit was based, the situation had changed again.

An Congjin and his son had, after all, been operating in Xiangzhou for many years. Although they were besieged and attacked by Gao Xingzhou, Jiao Jixun, and An Shenhui, they relied on Xiangzhou's high walls and thick defenses, and had the advantage of a river navy, so the Later Jin army had been unable to do anything to them.

But after more than five months of siege, once Shi Jingtang knew that An Zhongrong was surrounded and doomed to defeat, he finally felt at ease sending envoys with edicts ordering Jingnan and Ma Chu to also send troops to join the siege.

At the end of the third month, Gao Conghui, King of Jingnan, dispatched Chief Commander Li Duan with several thousand naval troops up the Han River to the south of Xiangzhou.

Ma Xifan, King of Chu, also dispatched Zhang Shaodi, Commander of the Tiance Army, with more than a hundred warships into the Han River to join the siege.

As soon as these two forces arrived, the naval forces under An Congjin's command were immediately suppressed, and Xiangzhou city was in imminent danger.

But just at this time, Li Quanjin, Military Governor of Anyuan under the Later Jin, was greedy and cruel in his governance. Fearing punishment by Shi Jingtang, he simply offered Anzhou—that is, present-day Anlu in Hubei—in submission to the Southern Tang.

One wave had not yet subsided when another arose. Shi Jingtang had no choice but to send Ma Quanjie, Military Governor of Henghai, south with his army.

He also drew off more than two thousand men from An Shenhui's force besieging Xiangzhou and sent them to Anzhou to stop Li Quanjin's defection.

The Southern Tang side dispatched Li Chengyu, Ezhou Garrison Commander, and his deputy Duan Chugong, with eight thousand troops to receive Li Quanjin.

Fortunately, however, the fighting strength of the Southern Tang army was truly beyond words, and this Li Chengyu was a heavyweight in his own right.

After arriving in Anzhou, instead of first arranging defenses against the Later Jin army, he first seized the wives and concubines of Li Quanjin, who had defected to the Southern Tang, and began to enjoy himself.

The Southern Tang soldiers followed suit, plundering the people of Anzhou one after another to fatten their own purses.

In the end, before Ma Quanjie even arrived, An Shenhui used only his own two thousand-odd yabing guards and directly shattered the Southern Tang force of more than eight thousand.

The Southern Tang army abandoned the city and fled, but was overtaken at Huanghua Valley south of the city. Deputy Commander Duan Chugong was killed on the spot, while Li Chengyu led more than three thousand defeated troops in another wretched flight.

And An Shenhui, who had been frustrated beneath the walls of Xiangzhou for several months, was hardly willing to let go. He led his troops in close pursuit and finally caught up with the Southern Tang army again at Yunmeng Marsh.

As soon as the two sides clashed, the terrified Southern Tang troops collapsed at the first contact. Li Chengyu and more than a thousand Southern Tang soldiers were slain, and more than a thousand were taken prisoner.

At this time, the Tang ruler Li Sheng was building an academy at White Deer Grotto on Mount Lu, called the Lushan National Academy—the predecessor of what would later be the White Deer Grotto Academy.

After Li Sheng received word that Li Chengyu and Duan Chugong had both died in battle, he hurriedly sent the great general Zhang Jianchong to hold Yunmeng Bridge, and from then on completely abandoned any thought of contending with the Later Jin.

Li Chengyu and Duan Chugong had been defeated too quickly, so they had not caused the Later Jin much trouble at all.

Only Xiangzhou, which had been besieged, took the chance to catch its breath. An Congjin successively defeated the naval forces of Jingnan and Ma Chu, and it looked as though the city could not be taken in less than half a year.

But the good news that the Southern Tang had been easily repelled did not cheer Shi Jingtang for long, because his Khitan daddy's envoy arrived.

The visitor was Yelu Chage, a kinsman of the Yelu imperial clan. He pointed at Shi Jingtang's nose and let loose a torrent of abuse.

It was only after listening in a daze for a long while that the muddled Shi Jingtang understood: the envoy he had sent to Yunzhou had actually been intercepted and killed by the Sanggan River.

This child-emperor had thought that Yelu Yeye had long since taken Yunzhou, yet after all this time it still had not fallen, and they still needed his imperial edict.

After secretly gloating for a while, Shi Jingtang was just about to make a few barbed remarks to Yelu Chage, but Yelu Chage's next tirade made him feel as though he had fallen into an ice pit.

The Grand Commissioner of Hexi and Longyou, King of Han Zhang Zhao, had smashed the Khitan with five thousand cavalry by the Hun River.

Shi Jingtang was not afraid of Zhang Zhao provoking the Khitan; rather, he was shocked at how fast Zhang Zhao's strength had swollen. Those were three thousand Pishi Army troops!

That Zhang Zhao, while besieging Xiazhou, still had strength to spare to defeat three thousand Khitan Pishi Army troops was proof enough that his attack on the Li family of the Dingnan Army must have been utterly crushing.

Shi Jingtang had originally planned, once An Zhongrong was dealt with, to meddle in the conflict between the Guiyi Army and the Dingnan Army—helping whoever lost, and making sure both sides bled heavily. But now, seeing this, something was wrong!

His mind in turmoil, Shi Jingtang hurriedly spoke deferentially and coaxed Yelu Chage out.

He also promised to send another envoy at once, have Du Chongwei at Zhenzhou select imperial guards as escort, travel from Zhenzhou to Youzhou, and then deliver the edict to Yunzhou—this way, he guaranteed, no one could secretly intercept and kill them.

Once Yelu Chage had swaggered out, barking orders, Shi Jingtang's face immediately darkened.

This was the consequence of his serving the Khitan as a father: even a clansman of the Yelu family dared to put on airs before him, the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains.

But Shi Jingtang had no good solution either. Just as Sang Weihan had said, his only option was to keep clinging to the Khitan's thigh.

Because if he did not cling to it, someone else would. And with Shi Jingtang's situation—rebellion on all sides—if anyone else ever gained the Khitan's support, he would be doomed.

He was just about to have the attendants at his side draft another edict ordering Wu Luan, Administrative Assistant to the Military Governor of Datong, to hand over Yunzhou city, when the sound of wailing came again from outside the gate.

Shi Jingtang, vexed beyond endurance, ordered the palace gate opened, and saw Li Yizhong, Prefect of Suizhou, who months earlier had been sent by Li Yiyin, Military Governor of the Dingnan Army, to seek aid, kneeling prostrate outside the gate, weeping with tears and snot streaming down together.

"Your Majesty! On the eighteenth day of the second month, Xiazhou city fell. Our Dingnan Army Military Governor, Lord Li Yiyin, died fighting unyieldingly. The Hexi barbarian rebels have already taken the four prefectures of Yin, Xia, You, and Sui.

It is said that Tuoba Yanchao, chieftain of the Tangut Tuoba tribe of Lingzhou, personally went to Xiazhou to pay homage to the barbarian rebels.

I beg you to send troops at once, or the barbarian rebels will swallow up the Lingwu Army as well."

Shi Jingtang swayed a few times, as though about to fall. Then suddenly the child-emperor shuddered violently—he remembered Pei Yuan, whom he had apparently dispatched to Lingzhou.

This...!

Originally it was to prevent the Khitan from taking Lingwu, but now it had all been handed to Zhang Zhao. And that Pei Yuan was someone Zhang Zhao had sent to the Central Plains!

Now it was all over!

Zhang Zhao of Hexi now held all of Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, and part of the Guannei Circuit.

Of the ten military governorships of the Tianbao era, he already controlled the three great military governorships of Hexi, Longyou, and Shuofang.

The people there were fierce and hardy; the land west of the passes produced many fierce generals. Moreover, the great horses of Liangzhou and the iron cavalry of Shuofang were unmatched under heaven—how could he, Shi Jingtang, still hope to restrain them?

The Child Emperor threw back his head and let out a wretched scream, a mouthful of fresh blood spurting out.

"Sang Guoqiao has ruined me!"

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