In two days, the chaos in Chengdu gradually subsided. In two days, apart from the more than 100 officials who left Chengdu for the sake of their future, only about 30,000 people also left Chengdu. Wang Yuan did not do anything to dissuade him, because it was unnecessary.

Although the chaos subsided, the news in the city was even more chaotic. The topic changed from the enthronement of the new emperor to the discussion of the legitimacy of the new emperor's throne. News circulated on the streets from nowhere, saying that Li Mao's imperial throne was not approved by the Emperor Taishang, but that Li Mao had rebelled against his father and stood on his own. said that the emperor did not want civil strife within the Tang Dynasty at this time, so he could only swallow his anger and announce his abdication. In this way, Li Mao immediately became the object of people's secret scolding, although Xuanzong's prestige was greatly reduced, but Li Mao's move was a big taboo, betraying his father, and taking advantage of the chaos of the Tang Dynasty to seize the throne is obviously an extremely despicable act.

These rumors were naturally deliberately spread by the princes, and not only the people circulated these rumors, but even the emperor's relatives and officials began to discuss them in private. There was no warning before Li Mao ascended the throne. Linked to His Majesty's actions on the day Li Mao ascended the throne, this kind of news was quickly recognized by everyone as the truth of the facts. The speed at which the rumors spread was staggering, and within a few days, Shudi, Hexi, Longyou and other places had already been promoted. Even Emperor Li Longji, who lived in deep seclusion after his abdication, heard such news. It's just that he is already the emperor, and he can't do anything about it, so he only summoned all the princes and relatives of the emperor for an internal clarification on the same day. But such clarifications pale in comparison.

In the midst of the scarlet city, another holy decree of Li Mao arrived in Chengdu. In this holy decree, there was no change in the personnel of the various institutions of the old dynasty in Chengdu, but in order to appease the officials and settle for government affairs, asking them not to rush to Lingzhou to meet the driver, and waiting for the imperial decree. In other words, the officials of the six departments of the political hall in Chengdu have not been replaced, so Wang Yuan is still Xiangguo, and all other officials are also in their original positions. This came as a surprise to many officials. After all, when the new emperor ascends the throne, the officials will definitely change, but I don't know why Li Mao didn't do it.

Wang Yuan understood it in his heart. At this moment, Li Mao is preparing to capture Chang'an, and before Chang'an is taken, he will not make adjustments to the appointment and dismissal of officials in the imperial court. First, he had no time to think about this, and secondly, it was also to stabilize people's hearts. Especially himself, with heavy troops in his hands, no matter how much Li Mao wants to remove him from the post of prime minister at this moment, he also has to consider whether he will have an overreaction because of this. But if he takes Chang'an and everything is stable, he will not hesitate to replace the officials of the old dynasty. And only by winning Chang'an can he sit firmly on the throne and truly become the master of Datang. Chang'an is the capital, and the Chang'an he recovered will regain the hearts of the people, and things will be much easier at that time.

Wang Yuan ignored these disturbances, and in the past two days, he hastened to make some arrangements, focusing on the implementation of iron ore mining in the Kapok Mountains, and he hoped more than ever to mine enough iron ingots as soon as possible and cast a large number of iron cannons. These things are the guarantee of future rush. At the same time, in view of the fact that the mining of the salt lake has almost dried up, Wang Yuan also quickly made arrangements.

A month ago, when Wang Yuan learned that the salt lake in Bison City was about to run out, he immediately ordered the defenders of Bison City to send manpower to find a replacement within a radius of hundreds of miles from Bison City. Finally, a small salt lake was discovered in Tibet, outside the jurisdiction of Bison City. Although the reserves are not large, less than one-third of the original salt lake, it is enough to solve the immediate needs.

However, the salt lake belongs to the territory of the Tibetan state, and it is impossible to forcibly mine it. Wang Yuan ordered people to negotiate with the Tibetans and allow the salt lake to be mined. The Tubo people experienced the drastic changes of being beaten all over the territory by the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses a few years ago, and almost came to the city of Luo. After that, the prime minister Yixiang Yele and Wang Yuan reached a peace agreement, and assisted Xinzanpu Chide Songtsen to ascend the throne. He also gathered the strength of the whole country to quell the rebellion of the king of Subi, Wulingzan. This toss made the originally powerful Tubo Kingdom extremely weak. In the past few years, we are recuperating and recovering our national strength. If in the past, the civil strife in Datang was their perfect opportunity, and they would definitely not stand idly by. But now they simply don't have the energy to get involved. Not only that, but every year they have to pay Datang an indemnity of 3 million yuan according to the peace agreement, which is also an extremely heavy burden for them.

When Wang Yuan, the general of the Shence Army of Bison City, proposed to return the small salt lake to the Tang Dynasty for mining, Yixiang Yele keenly felt that this salt lake must be very important to Wang Yuan. Now Wang Yuan is already the Tang Xiangguo, and he has the right to make some decisions, so Yixiang Yele put forward the conditions for reducing the compensation on this ground.

At first, Wang Yuan scoffed, and ignored Tubo's extortion. But now the situation has changed drastically, and after Li Mao ascended the throne, Wang Yuan can no longer manage so much. Even if the reduction of the three million yuan compensation harms the interests of Datang, Wang Yuan will not care. And now that Wang Yuan has received full funding from Mrs. Qin Guo and Yang Yuhuan, he has gotten rid of financial constraints, so he naturally doesn't care about this mere three million yuan.

Therefore, Wang Yuan summoned the Tibetan envoy in Chengdu in these two days, and quickly signed an agreement with him to reduce the compensation in exchange for the right to exploit the small salt lake northwest of Bison City. Wang Yuan ordered the guards of Bison City to lead the soldiers and civilians who were mining the salt lake to immediately start mining the small salt lake. It can guarantee the refining of the first class, and it is also the guarantee of combat power.

The large amount of wealth donated by Mrs. Qin Guo was at the right time, although in Chengdu, money was far less important than food and materials, and even money might not be able to buy food and materials. But treasures are treasures, and once the situation stabilizes and the natural disaster is over, these are large sums of money in supplies and military salaries. Moreover, in the southeast, in areas where the situation is stable, these treasures are still worth a lot of money, and can be exchanged for a large number of urgently needed supplies.

Of course, Wang Yuan would not shirk the finances donated by Mrs. Qin Guo and Yang Yuhuan, and he ordered Liu Xun to take part of the finances to the southeast to sell them in exchange for urgently needed materials to alleviate the gradual shortage of various materials. There are many places to spend money in the back, building cannons, as well as the development and equipment of the first need a large amount of money, Wang Yuan's money on hand is almost exhausted, this is a large amount of charcoal donation.

Another thing is that Wang Yuan promised permission and support for Li Heng and others to recruit troops in the name of counterinsurgency. In order not to make this matter too big, Wang Yuan asked Li Heng and the others to stay away from Jiannan and go to Hexi Road and Longyou Road to do this matter. Hexi Province and Longyou Province have also resettled hundreds of thousands of refugees, and the supply of soldiers is not a problem. Moreover, there are several military camps in the remote Gobi Desert, which can be used as training places for soldiers and horses.

On 21 November, Li Heng, Li Pu, and others led 3,000 soldiers and horses to escort the 300,000 stones, grain, grass, and a large amount of ordnance and materials allocated to them by Wang Yuan to leave Chengdu and go all the way to the remote Gobi Desert in the northwest of Hexi, Xi, and Longyou. They were to recruit soldiers and horses there to train them as bargaining chips for the throne in the future.

After the matter was basically arranged, Wang Yuan, Gao Xianzhi and Liu Jun and others prepared to go to the army, because the battle of Li Mao's attack on Chang'an was about to begin. Wang Yuan didn't want to miss this good show.

On November 23, in the early morning of the fifth day after Gao Xianzhi returned to Chengdu, Wang Yuan left Chengdu with 1,000 personal cavalry, Gao Xianzhi and Liu Jun and others for Jinzhou.

……

Puzhou City, ninety miles north of Chang'an City. More than ten days ago, this gateway city to the north of Chang'an was crowded with 160,000 Hui troops from Lingzhou and the ** coalition army. Fortunately, a few months ago, the Shence Army had recaptured Puzhou from the rebels, and carried out simple repairs to the city, and there were several large military camps in the city, so they barely settled all the soldiers and horses here to rest.

After arriving in Puzhou, Li Mao couldn't wait to discuss with Li Guangbi to storm Chang'an. However, the days of arrival were not beautiful, there were several days of cold wind, and the weather was gloomy with a few hailstorms, and the siege was absolutely impossible in this weather, so it could only be postponed and waited for the good weather of Yunkai sunrise. This made Li Mao very unhappy.

But for Li Guangbi, this kind of postponement is necessary, even if the weather is fine, the attack on Chang'an does not mean that it will be attacked, but a lot of preparations must be made. The fortification of Chang'an City was strong and needed a large number of siege equipment to help, and the self-made soldiers and horses of Li Guangbi and the Hui soldiers and horses who relied on cavalry to fight were simply unable to forcibly attack the city. Therefore, it was necessary to improvise a large number of siege engines before the war. Catapults, ballistas, ladders, siege vehicles, these are the necessary equipment for siege, the better. So during this time, the army threw itself into the vigorous logging of wood. The timber on several hills near Puzhou was cut down, and the craftsmen led the craftsmen to make the equipment.

However, the Hui soldiers and horses will never participate in the action, and these things have fallen on the 60,000 **. The 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Hui Dynasty hid in the camp and ate and drank and slept heavily, not even stretching out the tip of a finger. Li Guangbi had asked the leading general of the 100,000 Hui soldiers, Qi Zhanali, to send troops to assist. Qi Zhanali's answer almost made Li Guangbi tilt his nose in anger.

"We are here to fight, not to do hard labor. We're not going to do that. My soldiers and horses must be recharged. Besides, there's a for making these. Siege the city, swarm to the city, rush to the city, take the ladder to attack the city, occupy the city, do these things have a bird use. ”

Li Guangbi rolled his eyes and thought: These Hui people can only ride horses, charge, shoot arrows and slash and kill, where they have experienced the battle of attacking the big city? There were no so-called castles in the grasslands to the north, but castle walls made of simple wood and stone, and there were dwellings with felt tents and straw huts. Although they can fight on horseback, they don't know how strong the Tang Dynasty city is. If they could see how high the walls of Chang'an City were and how deep the moat was, he would understand that things were not as simple as they imagined.

Li Guangbi didn't want to rub shoulders with him, they didn't want to pull it down if they didn't want to do it, anyway, 60,000 ** people were enough to make equipment. Most of these 60,000 soldiers and horses are newly recruited, and less than half of them can fight, and the main force of the siege still depends on the Hui people.

However, these idle and non-working Hui people are still restless, bored and run to the construction site to provoke **, insult and ridicule** soldiers. The soldiers were angry, and there were a few turmoil, and the two sides also fought a few fights on a small scale, and hundreds of ** soldiers died. As a result, the soldiers demanded that the troublemakers be severely punished, which caused great resentment. Things have reached such a point that Li Guangbi will stop doing it. So Li Mao summoned Qi Zhanali and reprimanded him very unceremoniously. Although Qizanali is arrogant, he also knows that he can't make too much trouble, otherwise he will break the agreement between the two parties, and Guli Peiluo will not spare himself. Qi Zhanali tied up several Uighur soldiers led by him and cut off his head in public before the matter was calmed down.

The manufacture of the equipment is quite smooth, 60,000 ** work together, and hundreds of instruments are formed a day. Although crooked melons and cracked dates are generally not very good-looking, this kind of thing is originally used temporarily, and I don't care about appearance. Taking advantage of the gap in preparing siege equipment, Li Guangbi personally went to the vicinity of Chang'an to conduct a field reconnaissance.

This is not the first time that Li Guangbi has reconnoitred the rebels' entrenched Chang'an city defenses, a few months ago, after Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi were rescued from Fengzhou by Wang Yuan's soldiers and horses and arrived in the Puzhou Shence army camp, Li Guangbi personally went to Chang'an to check the rebels' city defenses. That's why Li Guangbi was so cautious about attacking Chang'an, because he saw that Chang'an City was strong and difficult to break under the management of the rebels. However, after this reconnaissance, Li Guangbi was even more stunned. A few months have passed, and the city defenses of Chang'an City are stronger than they were a few months ago. The walls were several feet high, and there were countless towers on the walls. The moat was also widened a few feet. The open ground outside the city is littered with pitfalls and traps that are visible to the naked eye. The entire city of Chang'an was armed to the teeth like a monster.

Li Guangbi's heart is cold, if he wants to capture Chang'an, I am afraid it will be an extremely difficult thing. With these 100,000 soldiers and horses and 60,000 weak combat power, I'm afraid this is an impossible task. It is no wonder that with Wang Yuan's ability to win a hundred battles, he did not dare to attack Chang'an easily, I am afraid that he is also worried that his reputation will be ruined here.

After scouting the city defenses, the worried Li Guangbi immediately returned to Puzhou, and that night, Li Guangbi met Li Mao at Li Mao's bed, and reported the situation of Chang'an City to Li Mao.

Under the shining giant candle, Li Mao sat on the soft couch in gorgeous clothes and listened to Li Guangbi describe the city defense situation of Chang'an City. The more he listened to Li Guangbi's narration, the more solemn the expression on Li Mao's face became, and he heard a hint of timidity in Li Guangbi's tone.

"Li Guangbi, what are you talking to me about? Now that the army is ready to fly, you told me that Chang'an is impregnable and difficult to overcome. Do you want to suggest that I give up attacking Chang'an? Li Mao finally couldn't help frowning, interrupting Li Guangbi's endless talk.

Li Guangbi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the minister didn't mean that, the minister just told His Majesty the true situation." I am afraid that this attack on Chang'an will have to pay a great price. With the strong city defense and Shi Siming's hundreds of thousands of rebel soldiers and horses in the city, this siege is afraid that it will be a hard battle. The minister just wanted to explore with His Majesty, if you pay huge casualties, is it worth attacking Chang'an? ”

Li Mao said abruptly: "Now at this time, you are retreating? Even if Chang'an City is cast in iron and copper, this time the capital must be recovered. You should know what it means to recover Chang'an, not only to greatly boost my prestige, but also to make the subjects of the world turn to me. The reason why I want to borrow troops and take Chang'an before Wang Yuanmingchun attacks the city is because of its importance. Don't you understand? ”

Li Guangbi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is angry, of course the minister understands, the minister didn't say to withdraw the army, the minister just hopes to have a better strategy." ”

"What's the strategy? Tell me about it. Li Mao asked in a deep voice.

Li Guangbi said: "The minister is thinking, if the siege consumes a large number of my soldiers and horses, wouldn't it be for Wang Yuan to reap the benefits of the fisherman." We've had too many deaths, and that's not a good thing. It is better for His Majesty to issue an order to order Wang Yuan's Shence army to assist in the siege of the city, and make it the vanguard of the siege, so that the city can be captured and the casualties of our army can be avoided. ”

Li Mao frowned and said, "Do you think Wang Yuan will agree to send troops to help me capture Chang'an?" ”

Li Guangbi said: "The minister thinks you can give it a try." If His Majesty disobeys his will, it will be the fault of his king. If he agrees, if he doesn't, he will be charged with one more crime in the future. The world knows his wolf ambitions. ”

Li Mao thought about it and shook her head and said, "No." If I make an order, if Wang Yuan does not obey the order, it will be a big blow to my prestige. I don't want to take this luck, because I have just ascended the throne, and I don't want to be despised by the world before I have a firm foothold. Have you forgotten? His father once gave Wang Yuan the right to dictate military affairs, but if he did not send troops, he was justified and responsible. Unless I decree that he was robbed of his position as generalissimo for counterinsurgency, and that he was given the right to be self-dictator in military affairs. Otherwise, if he does not send troops, he will have no reason to accuse him. But to do so would be to incur his immediate displeasure. I don't want to turn my face with him before I get a foothold, do you think that will be beneficial to me? ”

Li Guangbi was silent, and had to admit that Li Mao's words were reasonable. Before, he suggested that Li Mao should not make a big move and fall out with Wang Yuan, and stabilize the situation first. Therefore, there is a decree that everything that goes to Chengdu will be comforted as usual. And now, if the opposite suggestion is made again, I am afraid that even Li Mao will think that he has gone back on his word and will be unhappy with himself.

"I can't let Wang Yuan send troops to help me, this