At this time, Tian Qianzhen came back from Tongguan, spoke for nobility and solemnity, and persuaded An Lushan: "Since ancient times, all emperors who want to accomplish great undertakings have won and lost, so how can they expect to succeed in one fell swoop! Although there are many officers and troops in all directions now, they are all newly recruited rabble, and if they have not gone through the battle formation, how can they be able to defeat these elite soldiers and strong generals in our Jibei? You don't have to worry at all. The noble and solemn are all meritorious heroes and fathers who have followed you for many years, and Your Majesty has abandoned them all at once, and if you let the generals know, then can you not be afraid in your heart! If there is internal division, and you are divided up and down, I think Your Majesty's situation will be dangerous!"

When An Lushan heard this, his heart moved, and he said, "Ah Hao, you can understand my heart the most. ”

So he summoned the noble and solemn and threw them to a banquet, and An Lushan sang for them and persuaded them to drink, and still treated them as before.

An Lushan planned to abandon Luoyang and lead the army back to protect Fanyang, but he hesitated for a long time and did not make up his mind.

At this time, both inside and outside the court believed that An Lushan's rebellion was caused by Yang Guozhong's arrogance and indulgence, and everyone hated Yang Guozhong. Moreover, An Lushan's army was also in the name of begging Yang Guozhong, so Wang Sili quietly persuaded Ge Shuhan to ask Xuanzong to kill Yang Guozhong, but Ge Shuhan did not agree. Wang Sili also asked to lead 30 cavalry to kidnap Yang Guozhong out of Beijing and kill him at Tongguan.

Ge Shuhan said: "If I really do this, it will be my rebellion, not An Lushan's rebellion." ”

At the same time that Wang Sili persuaded Ge Shuhan, some people also persuaded Yang Guozhong: "Now that the heavy troops of the imperial court are in the hands of Ge Shuhan, if he waves his troops west to the capital, won't you be in danger!"

Yang Guozhong was panicked in his heart, and after hearing this, he was even more shocked, so he played Tang Xuanzong and said: "Although there is a large army guarding Tongguan now, there is no reinforcement after that, once Tongguan is lost, the Beijing division will be difficult to protect, and I asked to select 3,000 soldiers to train in the forbidden Wan to deal with the unexpected." ”

Tang Xuanzong agreed directly without thinking, so he sent Jiannan Army General Li Fu and others to lead the team.

Yang Guozhong recruited another 10,000 troops to garrison Ba and ordered his confidant Du Qianyun to lead them, nominally to defend against the rebels, but in fact to guard against Ge Shuhan.

After Ge Shuhan learned of this, he was also afraid of being plotted by Yang Guozhong, so he went to Tang Xuanzong to request that the army stationed in Bashang be under the unified command of the Tongguan army.

In June, Ge Shuhan summoned Du Qianyun to Tongguan and took the opportunity to kill him.

Du Qianyun's death made Yang Guozhong even more frightened.

At this time, someone told Tang Xuanzong that Cui Qian's troops in Shaanxi County were less than 4,000, all of them were old and weak soldiers, and there was no preparation for battle.

Ge Shuhan said: "An Lushan is good at using troops, and now he has just raised troops to rebel, how can he not defend himself! This must be a deliberate show of weakness to lure us, and if he sends troops to attack, it will be exactly his plan." Besides, the rebels are coming from afar, and the advantage is to fight a quick victory, and we will hold on to the danger and hold on for a long time. Moreover, the rebels are brutal and lose the hearts and minds of the people, and the strength of the army is becoming unfavorable, and there will be civil strife, and then they will take the opportunity to attack and win without a fight. The most important thing for us is to win, so why do we need to send troops immediately! At present, most of the troops conscripted from various places have not yet arrived, so please wait for a while. ”

Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi echoed the above words: "Please let us lead our troops to the north to attack Fanyang, go straight to the rebels' lair, and seize their wives and sons as hostages to recruit surrenders, so that the rebels will be in chaos." The army that held Tongguan should hold on to frustrate the enemy's spirit, and should not fight easily. ”

At this time, Yang Guozhong was convinced that Ge Shuhan wanted to murder him, and told Tang Xuanzong against public opinion: "The rebels must not be prepared at this time, but Ge Shuhan deliberately lingered and delayed, and he was about to lose his fighters. ”

Tang Xuanzong believed it, so he sent eunuchs to urge the troops, and several holy decrees continued to urge the attack, so that Ge Shuhan had no choice but to touch his chest and cry bitterly.

As a last resort, Bingxu (the fourth day of the first month), he personally led his troops out of the customs.

It has been ugly (the seventh day of the first month), and the official army and Cui Gan's rebels met in Lingbao Xiyuan.

Cui Gan's army occupied a dangerous place, bordering the mountains in the south and the Yellow River in the north, with a narrow road of 70 miles.

Geng Yin (the eighth day of the first month), the official army fought with Cui Gan's rebels. Cui Qian first ambushed the elite soldiers in a dangerous place, and Ge Shuhan and Tian Liangqiu took a boat to observe the military situation in the Yellow River, and when they saw that Cui Qian's troops were few, they ordered the army to advance.

Wang Sili and others led 50,000 elite soldiers in the front, Pang Zhong and others led the rest of the 100,000 in the rear, and Ge Shuhan led 30,000 Qiu to climb the high hill on the north bank of the Yellow River to observe and command, and beat drums to help the battle.

On the surface, Cui Gan sent less than 10,000 troops, in groups of three or five, sparsely pulled, the ranks were sparse and dense, and the soldiers were in front and behind.

When the officers and soldiers saw it, they all laughed at the rebel Cui Gan's inability to use soldiers, and they had a heart of contempt for the enemy.

At this time, Cui Qian had already put the elite soldiers behind the battle, and he was waiting for the trap.

As soon as the two armies fought, the rebels pretended to be defeated and fled, and the officers and soldiers were slackened and unprepared. After a while, the rebels ambushed their troops, occupied the high ground, and attacked the officers and soldiers with rolling wood and stones, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties. And because the roads are narrow, the soldiers are crowded, and the swords and guns cannot be extended.

Goshuhan sent the horse-drawn felt cart as the front team to attack the rebels. After noon, the east wind suddenly rose, and Cui Qian stuffed dozens of grass carts in front of the felt carts and set them on fire. Suddenly the fire was raging, the smoke covered the sky, the officers and soldiers could not open their eyes, the enemy did not distinguish between me, they rushed to kill each other, thinking that the rebels were in the fireworks, so they called archers and crossbowmen to shoot.

It lasted until dark, when the arrows had been fired, and it was known that there were no rebels.

At this time, Cui Gan sent the elite cavalry with Luo to cross the Nanshan Mountain and launched an attack from behind the official army. Some threw away their armor and fled into the valley, while others crowded each other and were pushed into the Yellow River and drowned. The officers and soldiers behind the officers and soldiers also fled one after another when they saw the defeat of the front army, and the troops on the north bank of the Yellow River also fled backwards when they saw it. Ge Shuhan and his few hundred cavalry were able to escape, crossing the Yellow River from the west of Shouyang Mountain and entering Tongguan.

Outside the city of Tongguan before digging three deep ditches, are two zhang wide, one zhang deep, the people and horses who passed the pass fell into the ditch, soon filled the ditch, the people behind them stepped on them to pass, the remnants of the soldiers fled into the pass only more than 8,000 people.

Xin Mao (the ninth day of the first month), Cui Qian led his troops to capture Tongguan.

Ge Shuhan arrived at the Guanxi Post Station and posted a notice to collect the escaped soldiers, wanting to re-guard Tongguan.

At this time, the Tibetan general Huoba Guiren and others led more than 100 cavalry to surround the post station, went in and said to Geshuhan: "The rebels are coming, please hurry up and get on your horse." ”