Tibet

From Tongguan to the east to Luoyang is the famous Weihan Ancient Road, especially the Shaanzhou section. To the south is the towering Qinling Mountains and to the north is the surging Yellow River. The mountain road is rugged and narrow. Cars and horses cannot run side by side. Once a few boulders fall from the mountain, , it will block the road.

But this road is the only way from Luoyang to Chang'an. Its military status is extremely important and it is a must-conquering place for military strategists.

Cui Qianyou waited patiently for news in Shaanxi County. When he heard the news that Wang Sili led his army out of Tongguan, he was overjoyed. The plan must have succeeded. Without Feng Changqing's dissuasion, Ge Shuhan would not be able to withstand the persuasion of Wang Sili and Bian Lingcheng. , will definitely send troops.

Reluctant to bear the child, he cannot trap the wolf. He must act according to the plan and even deceive his own people.

Wang Sili marched all the way eastward, just like fleeing at a small checkpoint. The Tang army advanced fifty miles eastward in one go.

That afternoon, the cavalry sent by Wang Sili cut off the retreat route of a checkpoint. Unable to escape, more than a dozen of them knelt down and surrendered, and were escorted to Wang Sili.

Wang Sili immediately interrogated the leader of the Yan army prisoners of war, who was kneeling on the ground, trembling. Wang Sili asked coldly: "Are you a Han?"

"The villain is from Xiangzhou, Hebei. They threatened the lives of his family members, and he was forced to join the Yan army."

"Let me ask you, why are there so few Yan troops along the way?"

"Reporting to the general, the army withdrew half a month ago, leaving us to burn beacon fire every day and pretend that hundreds of people were stationed."

"Why did the army retreat?"

"I heard it was an order from Luoyang, but I don't know the specific situation."

"How many troops are there in Shaanxi County?" Wang Sili asked again.

"It is estimated that there are about 10,000 people! I have only heard about it."

Wang Sili had some information in his mind and led an army of 20,000 people to continue marching eastward. They split bamboos all the way and arrived in Nexiang County the next day.

Nuxiang County is the closest county to Tongguan and has always been the command center for the Yan army's attack on Tongguan.

The garrison in Nexiang County had fled, and there was no army to guard it. Wang Sili's army occupied Nexiang County with bloody swords. The county magistrate came out to surrender. The county magistrate's name was Li Ruling. He was originally the chief administrator of Nexiang County in the Tang Dynasty. The Yan army came to kill him. , he had no time to escape and was caught by the Yan army. He had to surrender to the Yan army and became the magistrate of Yanxiang County.

Wang Sili couldn't care less about liquidating him for the time being and asked him: "What's going on? Where are the troops?"

Li Ruling smiled bitterly and said: "They started to withdraw their troops half a month ago, transporting food to the east, and half of the army retreated. I heard that Luoyang was recruiting mules and horses, and all the mules and horses in our county were plundered. There was not a single animal in the county. .”

"Did something happen over there in Luoyang?"

"A relative in a humble position sent news that An Lushan led his army to retreat north, and thousands of carts were filled with various treasures. Now Prince An Qingxu is in charge of Luoyang. In the past, it was the order of the emperor, but now it is the order of the prince."

Wang Sili finally believed that An Lushan's army had withdrawn to the north. He immediately sent someone to deliver a message to Ge Shuhan. He continued to lead his army eastward. Two days later, he captured Hucheng County and obtained a lot of food. An army of 20,000 troops immediately came to Lingbao. There are only 3,000 Yan troops stationed in Hangu Pass in the county.

Wang Sili led his army to attack Hangu Pass, but the Yan army at the top of the city resisted desperately. The two sides fought fiercely for a day. The Tang army lost nearly 3,000 people, and the other side had suffered more than half of its casualties. Without its troops, Hangu Pass could not be defended.

In the evening of that day, the Tang army used a battering ram to break open the city gate. Hangu Pass was finally captured by the Tang army. The capture of Hangu Pass meant that the Tang army opened the gate to Shaanzhou.

Hangu Pass is also the gateway to Guanzhong, which is of great significance. Ge Shuhan finally believed that An Lushan's army had withdrawn northward and Luoyang was empty. He must take the great credit of recovering the eastern capital.

Ge Shuhan immediately asked the supervisor Bian Lingcheng and general Li Chengguang to lead 10,000 troops to guard Tongguan. He personally led an army of 180,000 to fight out of Tongguan and march towards Luoyang.

Both Nuxiang County and Taolin County are under the jurisdiction of Guozhou. Guozhou hangs like a pocket to the south of the ancient Xiaohan Road, close to Tongguan, but it belongs to Hedong Road. The Qinling Mountains cross Guozhou and divide Guozhou into two. To the north is the extremely narrow Weihan Ancient Road, and to the south is the Funiu Mountains, dotted with many small basins. The famous Hongnong County and Zhushi County are located in these small basins.

There are two roads from the south of Guozhou to the Kohan Ancient Road. One is the east route, which goes north along the Honglu River to Taolin County, and then goes east along the Kohan Ancient Road to Luoyang.

The other line is to the west and needs to pass through Dagong Pass and arrive at Nuxiang County, which is very close to Tongguan Pass.

Dagong Pass is a dangerous pass. The gate is not big and can only accommodate a hundred people at most. It has a certain momentum that one man is in charge of the pass and ten thousand people cannot open it. Dagong Pass has naturally been occupied by the Tang army, and hundreds of Tang troops are guarding this dangerous pass.

At night, hundreds of black figures silently approached the westernmost side of Dagong Pass. Several black figures approached the city wall. They quickly removed the bricks on the city wall one by one and took out a three-foot-wide and three-foot-long The black shadows got directly into the square hole, and soon, hundreds of shadows also got into the city cave one after another.

The defenders never dreamed that the Yan army had already made Daguguan the defender. Unfortunately, hundreds of Tang soldiers were killed in their sleep by the Yan army before they woke up from their dreams.

Ten thousand Yan troops, led by General Sun Xiaozhe, rushed from Zhushi County in the south, passed through Dagong Pass, and occupied Nuxiang County where the Tang army stored grain, cutting off the food supply of nearly 200,000 Tang troops.

At the same time, Wang Sili's 20,000-strong army, which was rapidly advancing eastward and trying to get out of Xiaoshan, was severely beaten by Cui Qianyou's 50,000-strong army at Wuling Pass. Wang Sili's army was defeated and retreated to the west. Suddenly, smoke billowed from the valley road ahead, and the entire valley The road was filled with thick smoke. The Yan army suddenly fired arrows from the west. A battle broke out between the two sides. They fought all night. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. When the smoke cleared at dawn, it was discovered that both sides were Tang troops. They actually killed each other.

At this time, Cui Qianyou's thousands of troops threw huge rocks and burning trees from the mountains into the valley, and tens of thousands of Yan troops came from the west.

The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were panic-stricken and their morale was low. At this time, news came from behind that the food route was cut off. The morale of the Tang army was completely shattered. The nearly 200,000 troops were defeated across the board. They scrambled to escape to the west, trampling on each other, crying and wailing loudly. There were countless dead people everywhere. Tens of thousands of soldiers fled for their lives into the Yellow River. They were chased by the Yan army and all drowned in the Yellow River.

The Honglu River was also filled with Tang army corpses, and the river flow was cut off. It was impossible to escape to Guozhou, and the passage was cut off by the Yan army.

Wang Sili grabbed a supply ship and led dozens of his men to escape into the Yellow River and fled to the other side of the Yellow River.

Ge Shuhan was trapped in Hucheng County, his retreat was cut off by Sun Xiaozhe, and the Tang army in the east was killed until rivers of blood flowed, and their bodies were laid for dozens of miles.

After killing for a day and night, only more than 20,000 of the 200,000 Tang troops were left, trapped in Hucheng County together with the general Ge Shuhan.

Ge Shuhan looked at the banner of the Yan army a mile away in the distance. The banner covered the sky and the sun. He didn't know how many troops there were. The main force in Luoyang did not evacuate at all. This showed that everything was just speculation without precise intelligence support. Self-righteous speculation, from the emperor When it came to Yang Guozhong and all the officials in the court, they all underestimated An Lushan's rebels.

Their disastrous defeat was due to insufficient intelligence. Ge Shuhan felt resentful and regretful. Looking at the mountains of heads of Tang soldiers in the distance, the Yan army was using human heads to build the capital. Ge Shuhan couldn't help but burst into tears.

At this time, a group of generals led by the general Huopu Quiren came to Ge Shuhan. Huopu Quiren said rudely: "Almost all the 200,000 troops were destroyed, and only 20,000 brothers were left in the city. The general also Do you want them to die?”

"What do you mean?" Ge Shuhan said angrily.

Huo Po Gui Nhen said coldly: "We have discussed it. Only surrender can save the lives of our brothers. Please take the lead, general, to raise the flag and surrender!"

Brother Shuhan drew his sword and became furious, "What the hell are you talking about? My brother Shuhan is also a dignified prince general and will surrender to that thief An Lushan!"

The crowd rushed forward, hugged Ge Shuhan's arms, pushed him to the ground, and tied him up with ropes. The general immediately opened the city gate and took Ge Shuhan to surrender.

Cui Qianyou looked at his brother Shu Han who had been pushed down and knelt down. He couldn't help laughing up to the sky and said to Yan Zhuang: "The Prime Minister's great plan is indeed to attack the enemy. If Feng Changqing is here, it will not be easy for them to attack." ."

Only then did Ge Shuhan realize that they had been tricked into alienating each other.

Historically, Li Longji repeatedly forced his brother Shu Han to go out to Tongguan for a decisive battle. A big reason was that the good situation in Hebei made the rulers of the Tang Dynasty have the idea of ​​​​quick success and instant benefits.

It is not ruled out that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty fell into the trap of diverting the tiger away from the mountain, thinking that the main force of Anlu Mountain would return to support Youzhou and Luoyang would be empty, so Li Longji would rush to send troops to regain the eastern capital Luoyang.