The situation of the Yan army has become more and more difficult recently, grain and forage have been burned several times, and there are few complete houses in the city, and the life of the people of Youzhou has become even more miserable. Shi Siming didn't care about the life and death of these people, he was worried that the army would be unstable and the soldiers would no longer use their lives on the city wall. Since the day before yesterday, morale has been extremely low.

Several staff members saw through Shi Siming's mind and took the initiative to propose to him at the military meeting that the army should retreat to the west of Yuguan, but Shi Siming waved his hand and vetoed it. Of course, they would not stop there, but only persuaded him more diligently to leave for Liaodong.

It's just that Shi Siming knew in his heart that when An Qingxu was guarding Yecheng, there were still reinforcements to look forward to, and now it is his turn to defend Youzhou, I'm afraid he can only rely on himself, as for the Li Heng court in the south......

He stroked his beard and nodded, Liaodong and Hebei are completely two geographical concepts, as soon as he Shi Siming retreated into Liaodong, how could the imperial court be willing to let Li Siye occupy Hebei. Guo Ziyi will definitely lead the troops into Yecheng, and when the time comes, it will be his turn Shi Siming to sit on the mountain next to him and watch the tiger fight, he wants to see how durable the combat effectiveness of Li Siye's army is, and if he runs away, he can still take down the army of the imperial court, and then he will enter the customs again and challenge the tired Li Siye's army again.

He summoned the generals to him, waved his hand helplessly and said: "Now that Li Siye is attacking the city with sharp weapons, the soldiers and people in the city have suffered heavy losses, and I am afraid that it is difficult to hold on. For many days, you have advised me to abandon the city and flee into Yuguan. Today, I thought about it again and again and decided to retreat into Yuguan and hold on behind it. ”

All the generals breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, they had already been exhausted by defending the city for two months, and it was good to be able to hide behind Yuguan to rest.

The autumn of the fifth year of Yuan Shuo was the first year of Li Yu's calendar. In the early hours of the morning, Shi Siming led the remaining more than 50,000 people to withdraw from the north gate, all the way to Yuguan, facing the pursuit of the Tang army in the rear halfway, panting and exhausted, and when they retreated to Yuguan, they lost nearly 10,000 people, leaving only more than 40,000 people.

When he entered Guanzhong, he immediately ran to find Shi Chaoyi with a leather whip, and when the father and son met, Shi Siming smashed a whip on his head, Shi Chaoyi hugged his head in pain and shouted to his father to spare his life. Shi Siming didn't care about him, and whipped him violently, until Shi Chaoyi was bruised all over his body before he stopped.

"Don't think that Lao Tzu doesn't know what you are thinking, I lost Jizhou City by listening to rumors, and I want to cover Mizhang and run to Youzhou City to make such a fuss!"

Shi Chaoyi knelt on the ground with a face full of shame, it turned out that these things he did couldn't escape his father's gaze.

Tian Chengsi hurriedly stepped forward to plead with Shi Chaoyi: "Please forgive your majesty, all this is the advice of your subordinates, and please ask your majesty to punish your subordinates." ”

"You don't have to intercede for him, let me beat this beast to death first!"

Since then, whenever Shi Chaoyi misbehaves, he will be treated with a whip by Shi Siming, or threaten to cancel his heir qualifications. Shi Chaoyi was terrified every day, and his heart was doubly worried.

……

Guo Ziyi's scouts crossed the Yellow River and ran to Heyang, where they saw Guo Ziyi's father and son in Heyang City, and happily crossed their hands and said: "Ling Gong, Shi Chaoyi and Tian Chengsi have withdrawn from Jizhou, and Li Siye's army has attacked Jizhou from the east of the river. ”

After Guo Linggong heard this, he stroked his beard and paced back and forth on the ground, and then he turned to Guo Xi and Fugu Huaien and said: "If I guess correctly, Shi Siming will soon be unable to hold Youzhou, he will definitely retreat to Yuguan and then flee to Liaodong, and the huge Hebei is about to fall into the hands of Li Siye." ”

Guo Xi hurriedly said: "Father, we must not let Hebei fall into the hands of Li Siye, and we should attack Yecheng immediately." ”

"What my son said is good, the 130,000 army set off immediately, and before Li Siye had time to enter and occupy Yecheng, he crossed the Yellow River first and took the first place and entered Yecheng!"

So the Tang army immediately requisitioned the people to repair the Yellow River pontoon bridge, and quickly crossed the Yellow River into Xiangzhou Yecheng. This is the first time that the Tang army has set foot on the land of Hebei since the Battle of Xiangzhou, and it is also a major event worth celebrating. Fugu Huaien immediately made a statement to Guo Ziyi that he should first report to the imperial court.

Guo Ziyi, as an old minister of the Three Dynasties, still had to nod his face, so he only waved his hand and said: "There is no resistance to entering Yecheng, it is just opportunistic, how can the old man invite the emperor to flatter?" ”

"Lao Linggong has long been highly respected, famous all over the world, and there is no seal, everyone in the world knows that you don't care about this credit, but these soldiers under our command, they need meritorious service to motivate, and Linggong should ask for merit for them."

Guo Ziyi hurriedly said apologetically: "Look at you, if you don't say how can I think of it, the old man will send a letter to His Majesty and ask for a reward for the soldiers of the three armies."

Less than a month after they entered Yecheng, the emperor's reward decree was delivered, and many gold and silver rewards were sent to the soldiers. Of course, the soldiers were very excited, because they did not shed blood when they occupied Yecheng, and this was also thanks to Lao Linggong's ability to think about the soldiers.

Dong Xiu, the superintendent of the army, quietly found Liu Qingtan, the lieutenant envoy who passed on the will, and told him bluntly the beginning and end of this achievement. Liu Qingtan was suspicious, and asked Dong Xiudao: "With Guo Linggong's current prestige and meritorious deeds, you still need to be greedy for this little credit, you can't help but exaggerate." ”

"Lao Linggong himself may have no desires, but his son and his old subordinates are in the army. Yecheng was originally ungarrisoned, and he crossed the Yellow River at his fingertips, but he boasted of his success, which is not a bully to the king. ”

Liu Qingtan said with a smile: "It's not enough to bully the king, Guo Linggong wrote to His Majesty to report the merits I also read, although it is a meritorious service, but what he wrote on it is that he entered Yecheng without resistance, fortunately, the soldiers marched quickly, and did not dare to slack off, so they got the full merit, according to what he said, there is no problem." ”

Dong Xiu said angrily: "He's playing word games!" As the prince of the current dynasty, he deceived His Majesty so much, His Majesty is magnanimous and can not care about him, but as a subordinate, it is disloyal to us if we know and do not report it, even if Lieutenant Envoy Liu is not willing to do much, you should report it to Yu Gong first. ”

Liu Qingtan nodded, as if what Dong Xiu said was not unreasonable, but compared with ordinary eunuchs, he had a lot more humanity, and decided to go and ventilate Guo Ziyi first, and then report to the top, which can be regarded as a non-offense.

Father-in-law Liu made an appointment with Guo Ziyi in private, and he didn't get straight to the point, and only after a little greeting did he get to the point, saying that there were some rumors that were unfavorable to Ling Gong, and he was afraid that it would be spread to His Majesty's ears, so Ling Gong had to be psychologically prepared in advance.

Guo Ziyi instantly understood the meaning of these words, and hurriedly wrote a letter of accusation to the emperor in the starry night, saying that this was to boost the morale of the soldiers, and he was willing to lower his title to apologize for His Majesty.

When Guo Ziyi's recital spread to Yangzhou, Yu Chaoen was already ready to attack his colleagues, and it was not easy to dig up black material for a moral model like Guo Ziyi, who was impartial and law-abiding.

Yu Chaoen openly attacked Guo Ziyi in the court for falsely reporting his merits, but fortunately, Guo Ziyi's performance was timely, and Emperor Li Yu was also enlightened, saying that the army was about to face Li Siye when he entered Yecheng, and asking for merit rewards for the soldiers was also to boost morale, and Guo Linggong was loyal to me, so you don't have to be suspicious.

Of course, Yu Chaoen refused to give up so easily, and went up to the emperor and said: "Guo Ziyi is loyal, but this trend cannot last, in order not to make others follow suit, Your Majesty should punish a little, and take back the rewards of Guo Ziyi's demotion to the knighthood, and Guo Xi and Fugu Huai'en and other generals will be withdrawn." ”

The party members of the DPRK and China who were attached to Yu Chaoen stepped forward to express their approval, and Li Yu couldn't say anything, but he thought that what he had rewarded could not be taken back, so he decided to punish Guo Ziyi alone.

The emperor's will was transmitted to Yecheng, and Guo Ziyi willingly accepted the punishment, but for the soldiers, it was quite unpleasant in their hearts. No matter how they say it, they will also face life and death in the front, and the court will have to take care of this little credit, and the morale that they have finally boosted will drop by half in an instant.

In stark contrast to the Tang army, Li Siye successively promoted the lieutenant generals of the Hedong Army who occupied the city of Jizhou, and they were also the same as the Tang army, without spending a single soldier or arrow, but only taking advantage of Shi Chaoyi's withdrawal from Jizhou to attack the city. Li Siye did not spare his reward at all, thirty captains were promoted to Zhonglang generals, and the rest of the generals were rewarded and promoted, and Zhang Guangtao, the commander who led the army into the city, was promoted by Li Siye to be the envoy of the Hedong Festival.

This made the soldiers feel ashamed, as if they had not really experienced the fight, and they were sorry for this reward that came to their heads.