When Wu Yizong's army arrived, King Xi was shocked and uneasy.
After ambushing Sun Wanrong, he immediately wrote a letter of credence and sent someone to the Zhou Emperor, stating his mistakes. He said that because his territory was close to the Khitans, he had no choice but to go against his will and compromise with Sun Wanrong in order to avoid being attacked by the Khitans, pretending to be an alliance. Now he was sending troops to help the court quell the rebellion to show his sincerity and ask for forgiveness from the Celestial Emperor.
However, there was still no news after the letter was sent. In the end, Wu Yizong, the Zhou Emperor's nephew and the Northern Marshal of the Fourth Route, personally led troops to the border of the Xi Kingdom. When King Xi learned of this, he naturally thought that the Zhou Empress was not willing to pardon him. In a moment of desperation, he could only ask for protection from the Turks.
After the Turks plundered the Eagle's Mouth, they escorted the Khitans and countless supplies back to the Turks. Because of the burden of the prisoners and supplies, their speed was not fast. Thus, Mu En escorted the prisoners and supplies back to the west while Tschkbili and Seljuq led the light cavalry to bring up the rear.
This way, they moved very slowly and King Xi's messenger quickly caught up to them. When Tzikbili and Seljuq heard that King Xi was willing to submit to the Turks and abandon Wu Zhou to serve the Turks, they couldn't help but be overjoyed. This was the biggest harvest of this expedition to the east. They immediately agreed and sent people to escort King Xi's envoy to see Moche.
When Tschkbili heard that the Zhou army was pressing on the border and intended to invade the Xi Tribe, he personally led 20,000 elite cavalry back into the Xi Tribe's territory to confront Wu Yizong.
Wu Yizong was arrogant at first, but when he found out that the troops were not the Xi Tribe but the Turks, he was scared out of his wits and immediately withdrew his troops back to Youzhou.
When he fled back to Youzhou, the generals and Wu Youyi heard that he had attacked the Xi Tribe without permission. By now, it was too late to stop him. The Xi Tribe had already submitted to the Turks and the entire Rao Le Commandery had become Turk territory. The people of the Xi Tribe's ten provinces had all become Turk vassals.
Even worse was that the Songmo Governor's Office was further north of the Rao Le Governor's Office. Because the Rao Le Governor's Office had submitted to the Turks, the Wuzhou Imperial Court had no way of flying over Turkic territory to enforce its rule over the Songmo Governor's Office. Thus, the Six Khitan Tribes had essentially separated themselves from the Imperial Court and could only submit to the Turks in the future.
What was even more unexpected was that after this series of changes, the Bi An tribe, which was located in the eastern corner and separated from Goryeo by a river, had also undergone earth-shaking changes.
The leader of the Taowu tribe, Da Zuorong, was brave, skillful, and resourceful. He had long unified the Taowu tribe. He had always wanted to establish a kingdom, but due to the power of Khitan, he had to rely on Khitan and didn't dare to proclaim himself king. The Khitans submitted to Wuzhou, they submitted to the Khitans, which was equivalent to Wuzhou's vassals.
At present, the Six Khitan Tribes were like scattered sand and had no time to care about them. The Xi tribe had all submitted to the Turks, and the Central Plains Empire was blocked by the Xi tribe that had submitted to the Turks and couldn't threaten them. Da Zuorong was overjoyed and immediately took advantage of the situation to establish a state. He proclaimed himself king and established the State of Zhen (Bohai).
Because of Wu Yizong's foolish action, the Wuzhou Imperial Court lost a large area of territory and its people in the southern part of the Hebei Province, and even gave birth to the State of Bohai. This was completely unexpected. Wu Yizong finally realized that he had caused a great disaster. He personally went to Wu Youyi's tent and begged for forgiveness, kneeling on the ground and wailing.
Although Wu Youyi had been so infuriated by him that one Buddha was born and two Buddhas ascended to the heavens, the matter had already happened and could not be undone. If this matter were to spread, the entire Wu Clan would be attacked. Helpless, Wu Youyi could only invite Lou Shide, Li Duozuo, Shazha Zhongyi, and all the other generals to seal their mouths.
Although this matter could not be completely concealed, as long as there was no official confirmation, even if there was some discussion among the people, how long could it last?
Lou Shide and the others had been guarding the border all year round and fought with the enemy for every inch of land. For the sake of territory and population, they had fought with the Tubo and Turkic Khaganate for their entire lives and shed blood for their entire lives. Seeing how scoundrel Wu Yizong was, they really wanted to hack this scoundrel into a thousand pieces to appease the hatred in their hearts.
However, this world belonged to the Wu Clan, and everyone knew that the Empress was biased towards the Wu Clan. Even if this matter was reported to the imperial court, Wu Yizong would not be executed. In order to give an explanation to the people of the world, the biggest possibility was that he would be banished to a place to be a provincial governor. He would be a scourge to the people for a few years and return to the capital after everything had calmed down.
But what about them?
From then on, they would become a thorn in the Wu Clan's side, and they would never have peace again.
Helpless, the old generals maintained their silence at the same time.
Wu Youyi pacified the few generals and tried to conceal the cause of this series of events as much as possible. However, he did not dare to deceive Wu Zetian. He had always maintained a neutral position between Wu Sansi and Wu Chengsi and had directly attached himself to the current Emperor, so how could he dare to conceal anything? Therefore, after the matter was settled, he wrote a secret memorial and had it sent to the capital on horseback.
Yang Fan was heading south at this moment and was completely unaware of the upheaval in the north. Because of Wu Yizong's carelessness, a large portion of the country that his ancestors had fought for was lost.
After rushing day and night, he finally returned when the spring breeze had just blown through Luoyang and the city was filled with poplar catkins.
Yang Fan's carriage drove through Luoyang's northern city's Anxi Gate and passed through various lanes until it exited Yuji Lane and arrived at the Luoshui River. Only then did it turn west and rushed along the riverbank to the Tianjin Bridge.
Along the way, there were more and more pedestrians in front of him. Later on, the road was jammed with people and the carriage could not move forward at all.
Although Luoyang was bustling, there were not so many people in the past. For some reason, it was still far from the Tianjin Bridge but the road was already crowded with people and it was difficult to move even an inch.
Yang Fan was in a hurry to go home to see his beloved wife and son. Seeing this scene, he couldn't help poking his head out and seeing the crowd in the distance, he could only see that the entire street was jammed. He couldn't help asking in surprise, "What happened?"
At this time, one of the Succession Hall Imperial Bodyguards who was secretly protecting Yang Fan had already gone forward to inquire. A moment later, he came back to report, "Ah Lang, the Emperor has issued an edict to execute the criminals at the Tianjin Bridge. The common people have all come to watch, so it's extremely crowded."
Yang Fan's heart thumped. On the day that Lai Junchen and Li Zhaode were executed, the street was not as crowded as this. Who was it that the Emperor wanted to kill today that there would be such a large crowd?
Yang Fan hurriedly asked, "Who is the Emperor going to execute?"
The Imperial Bodyguard replied, "The one to be executed is the Great General of the Baotao Guards, Yan Zhiwei!"
This surname was rare but Yang Fan found it somewhat familiar. After thinking carefully, he asked in surprise, "Is it Yan Lide's grandson?"
The Imperial Bodyguard replied, "Yes!"
This Yan Lide was a great craftsman in the early Tang Dynasty. He was an expert in architecture and painting. Emperor Taizong's Zhao Mausoleum was designed and supervised by him. The Pavilion of Lingyan was also built by him. Moreover, the Pavilion of Lingyan's 24 Meritorious Officials and the Qin Residence's Eighteen Scholars Painting were both created by him. Therefore, although he didn't know much about his grandson, Yang Fan, he knew a lot about this famous craftsman who had passed away a long time ago.
Yang Fan asked in surprise, "What crime did this General Yan commit?"
The Imperial Bodyguard replied, "Yan Zhiwei committed the crime of colluding with the enemy. The Emperor has issued an edict, ordering all the officials to shoot him. Because of this rare scene, the common people are scrambling to watch!"
Upon hearing this, Yang Fan frowned. He didn't know what kind of enemy this person had conspired to provoke the Emperor into such a thunderous rage that he came up with such a method to vent his anger.
The Imperial Bodyguards under him also knew that their Sovereign was anxious to return home. Seeing that the road ahead was blocked, someone had already gone to the embankment to call for a boat. After promising a generous reward, the boat anchored there and returned to Yang Fan's side, saying, "Ah Lang, I heard that the imperial court wants to execute his entire family. The execution won't be over for a while. Ah Lang, please board the boat and cross the river so that we can return to the residence!"
Yang Fan nodded and alighted from the carriage with Ah Nu and Gu Zhuting. They walked along the embankment and boarded the small boat. From afar, they could see a sea of people on both sides of the Tianjin Bridge. On the lonely bridge, there was only one person tied up. His heart was moved and he ordered, "Sail the boat over, I want to see!"
The boatman who had received a generous reward had no reason to refuse. He hurriedly and attentively rowed the small boat over slowly.
On the Tianjin Bridge, a person was standing upright in the middle of the bridge. One end of a long rope mixed with metal wire was tightly tied to his body and the other end was firmly fixed to the stone pillars on both sides of the bridge railings to prevent him from falling.
At this moment, the person's body was already covered with arrows. He looked like a human-shaped hedgehog, looking very frightening.
A court official slowly walked to one side of the bridge. A military general handed him a bow and arrows. The person pulled the bowstring and looked at the bloody human-shaped hedgehog on the bridge. Even the facial features were difficult to recognize. The person's arms couldn't help but tremble.
He shot an arrow, but it unexpectedly went askew, and the arrow lightly fell into the river. The military official next to him very patiently handed him another arrow, but this time the civil official shot the arrow askew again. After shooting five arrows in a row, he finally hit the bloody man's body.
This civil official was already sweating profusely. Seeing that he had hit the target, he immediately felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He retreated with the help of someone else as if he had collapsed. Another official walked up while trembling with fear and trepidation. He took the bow and arrow from the general's hands …
This Yan Zhiwei was originally the Great General of the Baotao Guards. Because Wu Zetian had agreed to make peace with the Turks through marriage, she sent Wu Yanxiu to the Turks to escort the bride. Yan Zhiwei was appointed as the envoy and was even given the title of Minister of Rites.
As a result, as soon as Wu Yanxiu arrived at the Turks, Moche used the excuse that Wu Yanxiu was not the son of the Emperor and that his daughter was going to marry Prince Li Tang to put him under house arrest. Even now, he has not been released.
Soon after, Moche sent his troops to Hebei and pillaged the provinces. When his troops invaded Hebei, he also brought this unlucky ambassador to escort the bride with him. During the attack on Zhaozhou, in order to lower the morale of the defending troops, Moche ordered Yan Zhiwei and the Khitan soldiers to sing and dance at the foot of Zhaozhou's walls, singing 'Long Live the Emperor'.
Zhaozhou's Garrison General Chen Lingying was furious and questioned him from the top of the city wall, "The Minister of Rites is an important position, yet you are forcing people to sing for you. Don't you feel ashamed?"
Yan Zhiwei could only reply with a bitter smile, "I was forced by others. I really had no choice!"
When Lou Shide and Shazha led their loyal troops into Hebei, the Turks retreated and killed tens of thousands of Zhaozhou people. Because Yan Zhiwei had been obedient, they released him.
In the end, when Yan Zhiwei returned to the court, Wu Zetian heard about his shameful behavior at the foot of Zhaozhou and felt that it was a disgrace to the country. Especially when she had agreed to the marriage, the Turks went back on their word and detained Wu Yanxiu. It was like a fierce slap to her face. In her anger and humiliation, Wu Zetian vented all her anger on this cowardly man, resulting in this unprecedented execution.
By the time the last official finished shooting, Yan Zhiwei had become a 'hedgehog' stained with blood. Because some of the officials were not good at archery and their aim was poor, the arrows were all over his body. It was only because he was tied to a rope that he did not fall.
At this time, an executioner dressed in red suddenly strode forward, followed by his disciple, who was holding a lacquer tray with red damask in his hand. The people at the bridgehead who had just started a commotion suddenly quieted down again …
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