Tibet

In the Chang'an County government office, two officials were secretly discussing a major matter. One of the two officials was Jingzhao Yin Cui Guangyuan, and the other was Chang'an County Magistrate Su Yao.

Although the two surrendered to Anlu Mountain, they were not sincere. They had been secretly in contact with the emperor Li Heng who had ascended the throne in Shuofang. A large number of officials stranded in Chang'an could not escape to Shuofang without their huge help.

Seeing that winter was coming, An Lushan's army was fighting the Tang army in the Fengxiang area. All the grain and grass of the Yan army were stored in Taicang, Chang'an, with hundreds of thousands of stones of grain and millions of dans of fodder.

Cui Guangyuan found that this was an excellent opportunity. Once Taicang's grain and grass were burned, the more than 200,000 Yan troops stationed in Guanzhong and Chang'an would be unable to survive. They would have to withdraw from Guanzhong, leaving at most a small number of garrison troops. Wouldn't this Provided an opportunity to regain Chang'an?

After discovering this opportunity, Cui Guangyuan discussed the plan with Su Yao. Cui Guangyuan looked at the drawing and said: "Taicang has four gates and more than 3,000 defenders patrolling day and night. It is almost impossible to sneak in and set fire. The only way is to set fire at the west gate. It’s possible to cause trouble, attract all the defenders at the west gate, and then sneak in and set fire to it.”

Su Yao hesitated and said: "If we want to cause trouble, at least three to five hundred people must participate to be effective. Otherwise, hundreds of households should be mobilized to make trouble?"

Cui Guangyuan shook his head, "If these people can't run fast, they will be surrounded and massacred. Our sin will be great."

Both of them realized that the biggest problem now was that they were short of manpower. Taicang was heavily guarded. Their two civil servants and dozens of government officials simply couldn't handle this big thing. They had to seek foreign aid.

Su Yao's mind flashed, and he thought of a person, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, how about Wannian County Lieutenant Zhang Ping?"

Cui Guangyuan's eyes lit up, and he walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "Actually, I thought of him at first. This man has five hundred subordinates, all local snakes in Chang'an. If he is willing to participate in arson, he will definitely succeed, but the key is He may not be willing, and I’m worried that he will betray us.”

"It's okay to betray us!"

Cui Guangyuan sighed and said: "This man is a grassroots man who has never been an official. After An Lushan hired him, he became grateful. You can see that after he became the captain of Chang'an County, he worked very hard. Wherever anything happened, his five hundred men would be there." Hold a red and black stick and participate in the quelling.”

"What should I do?"

Cui Guangyuan pondered for a long time. It was unrealistic to rely on external troops. After much deliberation, the only help he could get was Zhang Ping and his five hundred men.

Cui Guangyuan had no choice but to say to Su Yao: "Go and talk to him! Tell him about this opportunity and see if he has the idea of ​​setting fire to the food?"

"I'll talk to him tonight!"

That night, Su Yao found Zhang Ping. He tested Zhang Ping and said: "The new emperor has ascended the throne in Lingwu. The goal of the Tang army must be to regain Chang'an. Has Zhang County Lieutenant ever thought about doing his part to regain the Tang army's Chang'an?"

Zhang Ping grinned and said: "First of all, I am not a Jinshi, and secondly, I am not from a powerful family. I am just a scoundrel from the lower class of Chang'an. If the Tang army regains Chang'an, will the emperor use me as a scoundrel?"

"The key is to make meritorious service. If you make great achievements, the emperor will definitely reward you. If you can't be a civil official, just be a military general. With Brother Zhang's martial arts and merits, being a general is more than enough."

Zhang Ping smiled slightly and said, "Does the county gentleman need my help with something?"

"Both Cui Shijun and I saw an opportunity!"

Su Yao said slowly: "The main force of the Yan army's 200,000 troops is in Fengxiang, but their military rations are in Taicang, Chang'an. If the food and grass suddenly catches fire and is burned, winter is approaching, the Yellow River freezes, and the food and grass cannot be transported in, the Yan army will not be able to transport food and grass in." Do not evacuate Guanzhong."

Zhang Ping said for a while: "How can such a good thing happen? If the military rations are gone, the Yan army will steal the people's food. County Lord, this will cause a large number of people in Guanzhong to starve to death. You can't do this!"

"The people in Guanzhong are not wood, so they won't hide the food and let the Yan army snatch it away?"

Zhang Ping smiled bitterly and said: "There are at least a hundred ways to get people to hand over food. The quickest is to arrest people if they don't hand over food and use food as ransom. Which people dare not to hand over food?"

Su Yao said with some displeasure: "Don't make these excuses, just say whether you want to do it or not!"

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and said, "Give me three days to think about it!"

"also!"

Su Yao agreed, and he repeatedly warned: "But please County Lieutenant Zhang must keep the secret confidential."

Su Yao left, and Zhang Ping paced back and forth in the room. Of course he knew that this was indeed an opportunity, but was he going to seize it? He had promised Li Ye that he would act only after receiving Li Ye's instructions.

Zhang Ping thought for a long time, then he got up and went out.

Chang'an Dongdong Market is one of the two major commodity trading centers in Chang'an, the other is the West Market, which is known as the gold market.

After An Lushan's army entered the city, most of the shops in the East Market and West Market were rewarded by An Lushan to his generals, and they soon began to open one after another.

Among them, there is a restaurant in the East City called Xiao Zhang Baiwei Restaurant. It is Zhang Ping's shop, so it was not confiscated and got a safety sign. Hanging this safety sign at the door will prevent Yan Jun from coming in to harass and cause trouble.

This Xiao Zhang Baiwei Restaurant is also the intelligence point of Jiang Hanjun in Chang'an. The shopkeeper Qin Afu and five waiters all stay in the shop at night.

This was also a change after An Lushan occupied Chang'an. In addition to the normal closing of the city gates, the square gates were not closed. Of course, this was not for the convenience of the people, but for their own convenience.

Zhang Ping came to his restaurant, found the shopkeeper Qin Afu, and handed him a note, "Send it to Xiangyang for me early tomorrow morning."

"Don't worry, proprietor! It will be sent out early tomorrow morning."

After a pause, Zhang Ping asked again: "The grain and grass of the Yan army are concentrated in Taicang, Chang'an. Do you know this important fact?"

Qin Afu nodded, "We have known about it for a long time and have also sent pigeon letters to Xiangyang."

"Is there any reply from Xiangyang?"

"Yes! Let us continue to monitor."

Zhang Ping was relieved. It turned out that Xiangyang knew about this situation and it seemed that Xiangyang did not intend to take advantage of this opportunity.

Perhaps what he thought was true, if the food and grass were burned down, the Yan army would only continue to plunder the people's food, and would never consider retreating.

Zhang Ping nodded, "Notify me as soon as you receive a reply!"

The pigeon letter from Chang'an to Xiangyang only took one day. In the evening of that day, Li Ye received the pigeon letter from Zhang Ping.

Li Ye immediately invited Li Mi for discussion. Li Mi read Zhang Ping's pigeon letter and smiled slightly: "Cui Guangyuan and Su Yao can understand, but after all, they are just scholars and do not know much about the war.

Two hundred thousand Yan troops are fighting the Tang army in Fengxiang. According to the normal deployment, there must be food and grass in Fengxiang, which can guarantee at least half a month, or even more. So even if Chang'an's food and grass are burned, the Yan army still has half a month to carry out the battle. Food supplement.

In fact, it is very simple. The food rations of the people in Guanzhong can be solved for a while, and then Luoyang uses camels and carts to transport food to Chang'an. How could An Lushan withdraw from Chang'an? However, a large number of people were robbed of food rations and would go to Xiangyang. and Hanzhong fled in large numbers. "

Li Ye nodded, "I thought so too. In fact, I have received similar information from Chang'an before, but I thought that the time to regain Chang'an was not mature, so I did not consider this aspect. If the food and grass were burned, it should be the food and grass of Fengxiang's army." Burning it will force the Yan army to retreat to Chang'an, but the premise is that they must have enough strength to defeat the Yan army. This is the key to whether they can recapture Chang'an. Burning food is just a auxiliary method."

"Your Highness is right. The key is to surpass the opponent's military strength. A small tactical victory cannot change the overall strategic situation."

Li Ye walked a few steps and said with a smile: "But this is an opportunity for Zhang Ping!"