Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

At the beginning of December, the Anxi Army and the Beiting Army were reorganized and marched toward Chang'an in a mighty manner.

On the same day that Anxi's Beiting army set off, a major event occurred on the battlefield between the Tang army and the rebels - the eastern capital Luoyang fell.

Turning the clock back, in mid-November, the Hebei army captured Hulao Pass and reorganized more than 20,000 Tang prisoners, greatly increasing its military strength.

On the other hand, the army led by Gao Xianzhi received bad news in Luoyang City. As the commander, Prince Rong Li Wan fell seriously ill and died.

Li Longji originally had his doubts when he ordered Gao Xianzhi to lead the army.

When Gao Xianzhi was the governor of Anxi, because of his greed for money, he secretly used troops against the Shi Kingdom, which made the small countries in Anxi dissatisfied with the Tang Dynasty, and even allowed the Great Food to take advantage of the loophole and occupy the land of Talas.

Therefore, Li Longji has always had doubts about Gao Xianzhi's loyalty.

If such a general who was greedy for money and meritorious deeds paid heavily to the rebels, would he surrender to the enemy and rebel against the Tang Dynasty?

For this reason, when Li Longji ordered Gao Xianzhi to lead the army, he also assigned two people to him as supervisors.

One is the Rongwang Li Wan, and the other is the eunuch Bian Lingcheng.

But now, as luck would have it, one of the most important military supervisors, Rong Wang Li Wan, fell seriously ill and died.

At this juncture, the rebels arrived in Luoyang. In the first battle, they held more than 20,000 newly surrendered Tang prisoners in the front line and slowly approached the city wall.

Since these Tang prisoners were all locals of Luoyang, many of them were friends or even relatives with the defenders on the city wall.

As a result, some of the Luoyang defenders burst into tears and could not bear to shoot arrows.

Gao Xianzhi had no choice but to kill the cowards and force the defenders to fight back.

Suddenly, relatives were killing each other on the battlefield, and the cries were loud.

Gao Xianzhi finally defended the rebels' first attack on the city, but the morale of the defenders was almost at its lowest. Some soldiers even took advantage of the darkness to sit in hanging baskets and descend outside the city to surrender to the rebels.

Gao Xianzhi knew that Luoyang could not be defended, so he planted more flags on the city walls and asked the people to wear military uniforms and patrol the city towers to confuse the rebels.

The main force of the Tang army withdrew from Luoyang City and retreated at full speed to Tongguan, the last natural barrier outside Chang'an City.

At this point, Luoyang completely fell into the hands of An Lushan.

And Gao Xianzhi's fate was almost exactly the same as in the history books.

Luoyang fell, and someone needed to take responsibility. Bian Lingcheng lied and claimed that Gao Xianzhi failed to lead the army; King Rong Li Wan died suddenly, and one of the most important supervisors was missing from the army. Li Longji became increasingly worried about Gao Xianzhi.

Therefore, Li Longji issued a secret order and asked Bian Lingcheng to rush to Tongguan and execute Gao Xianzhi in the name of unfavorable war.

Gao Xianzhi went out for inspection, and as soon as he returned to Tongguan, Bian Lingcheng had the ambush swordsmen swarm up and tie up the former.

Bian Lingcheng read out the imperial edict, and Gao Xianzhi shouted injustice while listening. The soldiers under the latter also shouted injustice in order to save their coach.

It is a pity that the swordsman finally raised his sword and fell, and a generation of famous Anxi generals died in Tongguan.

On the other side, in Chang'an City.

Ge Shuhan lay on the bed, frowned and drank a bowl of concoction. He took a long breath and asked the old man next to him: "Duff, what did the military report say?"

The old man called Dafu, whose surname was Gao Shi, was the chief secretary of Ge Shuhan's staff.

(Gao Shi was a famous frontier fortress poet in the Tang Dynasty, and he and Cen Shen were both called "Gao Cen". Since Gao and Cen had the highest achievements in frontier fortress poetry, later generations would call the Tang Dynasty frontier fortress poetry school, also known as "Gao Cen's Poetry".

School". Wang Zhihuan, Wang Han, Wang Changling, Cui Hao, Li Qi and others with similar poetic styles are all included in this school.)

Gao Shi glanced at the military report and sighed: "The saint decreed that Gao Xianzhi beheaded in the name of unfavorable war results."

Hearing this, Ge Shuhan was silent for a long time, and finally said quietly: "Ruthlessness is the most important thing in the imperial family..."

Gao Shi: "The bandit army has now occupied Luoyang and is becoming more and more powerful. It may be detrimental to the morale of the army and the people."

Ge Shuhan: "Twenty thousand Luoyang Tang troops surrendered to Anlu Mountain. Now the rebels' strength in Guanzhong has exceeded 150,000. If more troops are recruited in the prefectures and counties, the number of soldiers will exceed 200,000. This is incompatible with the imperial court.

The strength of the troops is almost the same."

Gao Shi: "In your opinion, how should the next battle be fought?"

Ge Shuhan: "Today's emperors often go to extremes when doing things and thinking. Before Anlushan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, your majesty believed in this. If someone gave a loyal suggestion and Anlushan had the intention to rebel, the emperor would even bind the person who made the suggestion and send him away.

Go to Fan Yang; and after An Lushan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, the emperor's temperament changed drastically. He originally blindly believed in the generals, but now he has become suspicious of all the generals. This move is really not done by a wise king..."

Gao Shi spoke quickly and interrupted Ge Shuhan: "Your Majesty, be careful what you say."

Ge Shuhan shook his head and said: "You and I have been friends for more than ten years. So what if we have some heart-to-heart talk."

Gao Shi sighed.

Ge Shuhan sat up from the bed and said, "Han has been a soldier all his life, but in terms of admiration, he is only one and a half people."

Gao Shi: "One and a half?"

Ge Shuhan: "One of them is Wang Zhongsi. The king protects the integrity and integrity, is dedicated to the country, and can do what the ancients did. Han is ashamed to say that he is far behind."

Gao Shi: "The remaining half?"

Ge Shuhan looked at Gao Shi and said, "The remaining half is Zhou Jun, the military governor of Anxi. This man acted in a measured way and planned well. Even Li Linfu fell into his hands.

But he comes from a humble background and is a prince-in-law. After all, he is just living under someone else's roof. He has to rely on others for everything, and his hands and feet are tied."

Gao Shi nodded first, and then asked: "The Duke has not yet said how to fight this battle next."

Ge Shuhan: "Gao Xianzhi is dead, and the court is afraid that I will go into battle next. If you want to defend Chang'an, you must do three things. First, defend Tongguan and not leave the city; second, Shuofang's army must stop the rebels."

The army cannot force Anlu Mountain’s army to bypass Wangmu Mountain (Taihang Mountains); thirdly, both the Tongguan and Shuofang armies must persist until the Anlu and Beiting 2nd armies arrive.”

Gao Shi: "Hold on until Zhou's prince-in-law arrives with his troops?"

Ge Shuhan: "Yes, as long as Zhou Jun leads Anbeiting's Second Army to Guanzhong in time, the rebels' siege of Chang'an will be completely collapsed. The offense and defense of the two armies will also change."

Gao Shi nodded slightly.

At this moment, a servant outside the door came to announce: "My lord, there are angels in the palace who have come to deliver the imperial edict."

Ge Shuhan glanced at Gao Shi and said, "Here we are after all."

Gao Shi called his servants, helped his brother Shu Han to stand up, and said: "The Duke knows things like a god."

Ge Shuhan took out a letter from the bedside, handed it into Gao Shi's hand, and said, "Please find someone to take this letter to the Anxi Army and give it to a general named Li Guangbi."

Gao Shi received the letter and nodded in agreement.

With the help of his servants, Ge Shuhan sat on the sedan chair, took a deep breath, looked out the window and said: "This battle is related to the national destiny of the Tang Dynasty. It is time for me to show off my skills."

It was midwinter in Chang'an City outside the window, and the cold wind was biting.

In the gloomy sky, dark clouds loomed over the sky, and there was no ray of sunshine or warmth.