Li Congke knew that the rewards at this time could not be discounted, so he had to make a promise to the surrendered soldiers and said, "Don't worry, each person's reward of 100% is definitely yours. Fengxiang's money is not enough at present, but it will be compensated on the road. When you arrive in Luoyang at the latest, you will definitely send it all out and will never lose your words!" The surrendered soldiers said nothing and agreed.

Afterwards, Li Congke officially set out from Fengxiang, advanced eastward, and began a great journey of fighting for the world and finding money to fill the pit. Originally, Li Congke thought that a tough battle might be fought in Chang'an. But as soon as he arrived at Qishan, he heard that Liu Suiyong refused to enter the city with Wang Si. Li Congke was overjoyed and immediately sent envoys to Chang'an. Liu Suiyong took the initiative to surrender, and moved out all the gold, silver and wealth in the Chang'an public treasury and placed it on the avenue outside the city to reward Li Congke's Eastern Expedition Army. First come first served, Li Congke's vanguard troops received the reward, but did not go to the city to make a fortune.

On March 20, Li Congke arrived in Chang'an and Liu Suiyong welcomed the city. At this time, all the money in the Chang'an public treasury had been used up, so Liu Suiyong had to collect emergency special taxes in the city to use them as rewards for the Eastern Expedition Army. But it was still not enough.

On March 20th, the defeated general of the imperial siege fled back to Luoyang. The news of the Fengxiang mutiny spread to the court, and the court was shocked! I never expected that such a thing would happen! Li Conghou was at a loss and had to urgently summon Zhu Hongzhao, Feng Yun, Kang Yicheng and others to discuss countermeasures.

Seeing that he joined forces to take over power these days, he excluded many ministers' confidants and turned him into Xu Jun. Thinking of the current situation that was smashed by them, Li Conghou was angry. The originally cowardly emperor couldn't help but be brave for the first time and blamed these people who had made him afraid.

He shouted, "When the late emperor passed away, I was still in Weizhou. Who would inherit the throne at that time? It was entirely decided by you. It was not that I wanted to compete with others for the throne! After I ascended the throne, because I was young and had no experience, all military and national affairs were left to you. You just assist me like this? Originally, my brothers and I have always had a harmonious relationship, and there was no suspicion with King Lu. But you told me that this matters is related to the country and I cannot care about my personal relationship. Can I not listen to you? Before going to Fengxiang this time, you all slapped your chests! What is the rebels vulnerable, and Fengxiang can be pacified soon! Okay, what's going on now? What are you good ideas?"

What disappointed Li Conghou was that although Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun were domineering before, they all seemed to have great talents and strategies. Now that they encountered a big event, they both trembled and couldn't answer a word for a long time. Li Conghou said annoyedly: "Forget it, it really doesn't work. I will go to greet King Lu and give him the throne! Even if I can't escape punishment, I'm willing!"

At this time, Kang Yicheng had a sudden inspiration: he had joined Zhu, Feng Yi Party for a short time, and had little revenge with Li Congke. If he could take the personal army of his command and take the initiative to surrender to the army coming from the west, perhaps his identity on Li Congke's side would be able to turn from a war criminal into a successful minister! Yes, this is a good idea to turn misfortune into a blessing!

So Kang Yicheng advised Li Conghou: "The defeat of this siege army is mainly because of the incompetence of the chief general, not because of how powerful the rebels are. Now there are still many personal guards in the capital. I am willing to lead them to the expedition in person.

Keep the dangers, recruit defeated soldiers in the front, and resolutely stop the rebels from advancing. Your Majesty, don’t worry.”

Li Conghou was still a little worried. Among the generals of the Later Tang Dynasty, the only one who can match Li Congke's qualifications and reputation is Shi Jingtang. If Shi Jingtang was not transferred to Beijing, command the imperial guards, and resist Li Congke, Kang Yicheng quickly expressed his opposition. How could he give up the great contribution of his plan to revolt and surrender to others! So he repeatedly emphasized: "Soldiers are the most important, and the situation evolves too quickly, so we can't wait for Shi Jingtang!"

Li Conghou thought it was reasonable, so he agreed to Kang Yicheng's request. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Li Conghou ordered to open the national treasury, take out all the gold and silk, and give a reward to the guards' personal army. This was not enough, because he was afraid that the army would turn against him again, Li Conghou made a double reward equivalent to Li Congke's promise to the imperial guards who were about to go to war: once Fengxiang was captured and the rebellion was quelled, each soldier could receive another 200 stag reward!

Li Conghou did not consider how he would give the bounty if Feng Xiang was really pacified. This was also a prescient idea, because the facts later proved that Li Conghou really didn't have to worry about this problem.

Someone has said that problems that can be solved with money are not problems. In other words, there are still some problems in the world, and even if you have money, you cannot solve them. Li Conghou faced such a problem. The rewards he received only further stimulated the greed and arrogance of the guards' personal soldiers, and did not even enhance their belief in being the king. The soldiers who were rewarding money met on the road and greeted each other proudly: "When I arrived at Fengxiang, there was another one!"

On March 21, Li Conghou personally went to Zuozangku. At that time, his national treasury was divided into three parts: Zuozangku, Youzangku, and Innerku. Zuozangku was the most important, responsible for storing and custodying the world's tax revenue; Youzangku kept items tributed by various places and foreign countries; Innerku was the royal private treasury. He inspected the property and distributed it to the army of the imperial guards to prevent officials from embezzling it.

All the generals of the Imperial Army were naturally present. Zhu Hongshi, the commander of the horse army, was unable to attend the imperial meeting yesterday because of insufficient rank. At this time, he knew Kang Yicheng's idea and clearly expressed his opposition. Zhu Hongshi believed that the imperial army could not be sent to the west to meet the enemy at this time, otherwise the army would probably collapse on the way! Think about the result of Emperor Zhuangzong personally leading the army to attack Emperor Mingzong after the Weizhou mutiny. It might be better to concentrate the army to defend Luoyang and wait for the reinforcements from all over the country. There might be a turning point.

Kang Yicheng was furious. Although he and Zhu Hongshi worked together when they saw the shame of turning down the flowers, it did not mean that they had a deep relationship. Originally, when Zhu Hongshi was destroying Li Congrong, Zhu Hongshi stole his first achievements, and Kang Yicheng still held a grudge. Now he still wants to break his plan to turn against him. Is it tolerant? So the two started a big quarrel, and Kang Yicheng, in anger, reported: "Zhu Hongshi obstructed the decision of the court to use troops, and he clearly wanted to rebel!" Zhu Hongshi also retorted: "It is obvious that you want to rebel, but you still have to taint others!"

The more the two of them quarreled, the more fierce they became, and Li Conghou was completely unable to distinguish who was right and who was wrong. But since he had decided to let Kang Yicheng lead the army to fight, he naturally could not punish the commander of the army who was about to go on the battle at this time. So Li Conghou fell one side and immediately ordered Zhu Hongshi to behead him in order to maintain Kang Yicheng's authority in the army! But the effect was not good, Zhu Hongshi's troops

Everyone in the lower world thinks that their superiors have died unjustly and their resentment and anger cannot be suppressed.

Zhu Hongshi was Zhu Hongzhao's brother, the main hero of killing Li Congrong. Li Conghou killed him without even saying hello. From this incident, it is certain that the court was Zhu Hongzhao and Feng Yun's party. Since the imperial meeting on March 20, since the imperial meeting on March 20, because Zhu and Feng retreated for fear of crime, Li Conghou has regained power. In the following few days, the court's decision should be the emperor. It can be seen that with authority in hand, Li Conghou changed his previous impression of being gentle and became cruel and easy to kill.

In a critical moment, Li Conghou tried his best to save himself. First, in order to show that the court was never compromised with the rebels of Li Congke, Li Conghou sent the palace to Songzhou to kill Li Congke's eldest son Li Chongji who had been imprisoned. After Chu Kuangzuo arrived in Songzhou, he tortured Li Chongji first, tortured Li Chongji in every way, forcing him to hand over all his hidden property, and then killed people. At the same time, Li Conghou killed Li Huiming, the detained daughter of Li Congke in the palace.

Then, Li Conghou appointed Kang Yicheng as the Fengxiang Camp's Chief Advisor and commanded the imperial guards to attack Li Congke. Wang Sitong, the commander who had originally attacked Li Congke, was appointed as Kang Yicheng's deputy. At the same time, Li Conghou urgently summoned Shi Jingtang to the south, intending to use his brother-in-law's reputation in the army to fight against his brother-in-law who was advancing eastward.

Wang Sitong was unable to receive a new appointment. On March 22, he was captured by Li Congke's vanguard troops on his way to Tongguan. Li Congke asked him, "Why don't you surrender and run away?" Wang Sitong replied, "I was in the army and only because I was promoted by the late emperor, I was the commander of the Jieshou. I often felt ashamed that I had not made any contributions to repay the late emperor's great kindness. I know that relying on the king now can bring glory and wealth; continuing to be loyal to the court is a dead end! But if I cherish my life today, what kind of face will I have to see the late emperor underground after death? As a general, since I lost, I should bear the consequences. I sacrifice my blood to the king's war drum. Please kill me quickly!"

After hearing this, Li Congke was moved and ordered someone to take Wang Sitong down to rest. Then, Li Congke discussed with everyone and planned to pardon Wang Sitong. This made the rebel hero Yang Siquan and Yin Hui very anxious. If Wang Sitong was defined as a loyal and righteous man, what were we? Especially Yin Hui, when he entered Chang'an, he broke into Wang Sitong's home and occupied Wang Sitong's property and his wife and daughter. How could he let Wang Sitong come back alive?

So Yang Siquan and Yin Hui spoke to Li Congke's confidant adviser Liu Yanlang, "If you keep Wang Sitong's life, aren't you afraid of losing the morale of the uprising soldiers?" So Liu Yanlang took advantage of Li Congke's drunkenness and took the initiative to kill Wang Sitong and his wife, so that Yang Siquan, Yin Hui and other uprising soldiers would feel at ease.

When Li Congke sobered up and knew that Wang Sitong was dead, he became angry at Liu Yanlang and sighed for several days. However, killing Wang Sitong was also Li Congke's own decision, but he was unwilling to kill a loyal minister and righteous man by himself, and did not dare to rebel against Yang Siquan, Yin Hui and others' willingness to surrender the troops, so he had to push this problem to Liu Yanlang. Therefore, Li Congke did not punish anyone for his subordinates killing Wang Sitong without any punishment.
Chapter completed!