Tibet

Li Xilie never dreamed that the main force of the Tang army would come from the south. Under attack from the front and rear, Li Xilie's army could not support it and had to order a retreat. The Huaixi army was defeated. The Tang army pursued them all the way. More than 20,000 Huaixi army were killed. people and captured more than 18,000 people.

Eighty thousand people set out to march north, but only 35,000 escaped across the Huaihe River. More than half of the Huaixi army was killed or injured. Li Xilie immediately ordered fire to burn all the pontoon bridges, and ordered 20,000 remaining troops to come to support, bringing his army back to 50,000. Five thousand people, Li Xilie breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, 100,000 Tang troops and 20,000 Bian Song troops also rushed to the Huaihe River and stationed on the other side of Shouchun. Due to the strong water flow of the Huaihe River, the army was stationed at a high place.

Wang Sili, Li Sheng, Zhang Boyi and other major generals came to the Huaihe River and saw that the river flow was very fast and the water was quite strong, making it difficult to build a pontoon bridge.

At this time, the soldiers brought an old man up for questioning. Wang Sili asked: "Excuse me, my father-in-law, how did Li Xilie's army escape across the Huaihe River?"

The old man pointed to the east and said: "There used to be a pontoon bridge three miles away over there. The bandits retreated from the pontoon bridge to the south bank and set a fire to burn the pontoon bridge."

Zhang Boyi asked: "What is the floating bridge made of?"

"The boats are all big boats with 500 stones each. They are chained and covered with planks. No matter how strong the current is, they cannot be washed away. Unfortunately, all the boats were snatched to the south bank by Li Xilie. There is not a single boat on the north bank!"

Several generals looked at each other with disappointment in their eyes. They wanted to find a boat on the north bank, but they were all attacked first by Li Xilie.

Wang Sili asked again: "It rains continuously in the Huai River. Is there any place where the embankment will burst?"

"Of course there is. I heard that the banks of Haozhou and Sizhou burst, and many people drowned. Natural and man-made disasters. It is said that there was also an outbreak of plague, which is very scary."

"plague!"

Wang Sili's heart sank. What he was most worried about was the plague.

At this time, Li Sheng said to Wang Sili: "Coach, the only way is to wait until the water in the Huaihe River becomes smaller and build a pontoon bridge with rafts, and we should be able to cross."

Wang Sili had served as the deputy envoy of Jiedu in Longyou for a long time and knew Pi Paozi very well. He nodded, "That's all!"

Everyone returned to the military camp, and Wang Sili wrote a memorial to the emperor, explaining the situation and waiting for the water in the Huai River to subside before finding a way to cross the Huai River.

In fact, Wang Sili knew in his heart that he would definitely be able to find a boat. There were so many rivers in the Central Plains. How could he not find hundreds of boats? He was just looking for a reason. He was worried about the plague on the south bank, in case it spread to the army. That would be terrible.

He immediately led his troops to retreat to Yingshang County and sent scouts to closely monitor the situation in the Huaihe River.

At night, Li Xilie was woken up by the soldiers. The soldiers whispered a few words to him. Li Xilie was shocked and hurriedly got up and followed the military doctor to Dongying.

"When did you discover it?" Li Xilie asked anxiously.

"Reporting to the prince, I just found out, but it has been a few days, but more than a hundred people suddenly developed symptoms yesterday. I feel that the situation is very serious."

"Damn it, how could you be infected with the plague!"

Li Xilie felt great hatred that at this critical moment, a plague broke out in the army.

In fact, Li Xilie also heard about the outbreak of plague in Haozhou, but he always felt that it was still far away from Shouchun and the problem was not big. Unexpectedly, it still attacked the military doctors silently.

When we rushed to the east camp, we saw more than 20 large tents surrounded by soldiers with barracks. Countless soldiers were holding crossbows. As long as any soldiers dared to escape, they would immediately kill them.

General Dong Daiming stepped forward and said: "They are all the troops who stayed in Shouchun before. It is said that many refugees fled from Haozhou to Shouchen. They are probably the ones who brought the plague. The top priority now is to remove our troops and those who stayed behind." The troops separated."

Li Xilie nodded and immediately ordered, "Separate the East Camp and the Central Camp with a fence. Only fully healthy soldiers can be placed in the Central Camp within seven days."

At this time, counselor Hou Xuanji found an opportunity and whispered to Li Xilie: "Find a way to send the infected soldiers to the Tang Army's camp. Once the plague breaks out in the Tang Army's camp, this battle will not be fought."

Li Xilie was overjoyed, "Is there any good idea?"

Hou Xuanji whispered a few words, and Li Xilie nodded repeatedly. Using water sources to infect was indeed the most powerful method.

There is a small river in the south of Yingshang County, called Xiaoying River, which flows into Rushui just south of the county seat.

The Tang Army's camp was stationed on the south bank of the Xiaoying River. The water quality of the Xiaoying River was clear. The Tang Army used water from the Xiaoying River for drinking and cooking.

That morning, a villager came to report that a large number of dead bodies were found in the river. Li Sheng immediately led a Tang army to the river to check the situation.

The corpses have been fished out by the villagers. There are about a hundred of them, all of them are young and strong men. The military doctor went up to check and suddenly shouted: "Everyone, retreat, don't come close, it's a plague corpse!"

The onlookers were so frightened that they stumbled and ran away.

Li Sheng was also shocked and hurriedly ordered his men to go back and report. The soldiers also brought firewood and oil to burn the body.

When Wang Sili got the news, he immediately realized that something was wrong. It couldn't be ordinary people, more than a hundred young and strong men, most likely soldiers who died of illness. Li Xilie used the plague to deal with himself.

He immediately ordered that no more water from the Xiaoying River be taken for drinking and cooking, and the army prepared to march north.

That afternoon, more than 100,000 Tang troops left Yingshang County and retreated north towards Ruyin County.

It was impossible to prevent the plague. Three days later, a large number of soldiers in the army suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. The epidemic was fierce. In just two days, more than 3,000 soldiers fell ill.

Not only the army, but also the plague broke out in Shangying County where they were previously stationed. One village after another was infected. The people in the county helped the elderly and children to flee north. Wang Sili ordered the army to intercept and prevent the people of Yingzhou from fleeing north. .

At the same time, Wang Sili urgently asked the emperor for help, requesting doctors and medicines to assist Yingzhou in large quantities.

The news soon spread to Luoyang, and Emperor Li Heng was shocked. He immediately issued an order to collect doctors and medicinal materials from all over the city and rushed to Yingzhou to treat the army and people.

Li Heng also adopted Yu Chaoen's suggestion and blocked all the passes to the south and east of Luoyang, preventing anyone from entering the Luoyang area.

No one cared about the war anymore, and Li Heng once again convened the political hall to discuss strategies and measures to deal with the plague.

Pei Zunqing said to the emperor: "Your Majesty should issue an edict to publicly and severely condemn Li Xilie's despicable and shameless act of spreading the plague, so that everyone in the world will punish him."

Li Dai, the left prime minister, also said slowly: "Your Majesty, you poisoned the army and the people with plague corpses. His despicable and vicious behavior has been unheard of since ancient times. It can be seen that Li Xilie is not even as good as a beast. Such evil spirits are in power. It is simply a misfortune for the people of Jianghuai. The imperial court We must never make peace with him again, we must kill him.”

Li Heng nodded and said: "The attitude of the two prime ministers is also my attitude. No matter who intercedes, I will never tolerate Li Xilie anymore. The epidemic is now the most serious. Please brainstorm ways to control the epidemic. We cannot let it be allowed to happen." The epidemic is spreading in the Central Plains."

Cui Huan pondered for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, our current problem is that there is not enough medicine. Wei Chen remembers that we left a lot of medicinal materials in the Chang'an warehouse when we moved the capital. Wei Chen suggested asking the King of Qi for help."

Du Hongjian also said: "The King of Qi's army is equipped with anti-plague medicine, and also stores a large amount of honeysuckle and isatis root. It is more realistic to ask the King of Qi for help. We also believe that the King of Qi will strongly support the court."

Pei Zunqing glared at Yuan Zai, "Yuan Xiangguo, you didn't say a word during the last meeting. Is it the same this time?"

Yuan Zai smiled bitterly and said, "I don't dare to do this!"

Yuan Zai said to the emperor again: "Wei Chen suggested that more troops should be used to blockade Yingzhou to prevent the plague from spreading. In addition, Your Majesty would like to send an experienced minister to take charge of epidemic prevention. Wei Chen recommended Li Xiangguo, who is here Runzhou once effectively blocked the spread of an epidemic."

Everyone understood Yuan Zai's intention to ask Li Dai to take charge of epidemic prevention. This was actually to force King Qi to increase support.

Li Heng smiled and said to Li Dai: "Can Li Xiangguo accept the order in danger?"

Li Dai nodded silently, "I will never refuse my responsibilities as a minister!"