In March of the twelfth year of Bao, Gao Xianzhi beheaded Cheng to show the public with the side of the army to loot the warehouse and confiscate his private property, and at the same time was killed and the general Feng Changqing, Li Longji immediately appointed Wang Sili as the deputy marshal of Tongguan, temporarily taking the responsibility of Tongguan defense.

In March, Li Longji appointed Li Guangbi, the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, as the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, and ordered him to lead Shuofang's army east out of the well to attack Taiyuan, and appointed Guo Yi as the envoy of Fanyang Jiedu, first went to Hexi and Longyou, collected nearly 150,000 troops from the two places, and entered the pass to prepare for war, since then, the Guantang army has increased to 300,000, and at the end of March, 2 million stone rice from Jiannan was transported into the pass, and the situation in the pass was slightly solved.

The sky is not yet bright, Chang'an City is dark and dreary, suddenly the rumbling drum sound in Chang'an Fang, suddenly the entire Chang'an is awake, the citizens are stunned at first, and then recall that how many years ago, there will be the same drum beating every day, this is the drum of the ministers, after being silent for several years, it sounded again.

Horse-drawn carriages began to appear on the street, and orange-red lanterns drifted in the cold night wind, gradually converging into a thin trickle towards the Danfeng Gate of Daming Palace.

The Great Dynasty, which had been broken for many years, has been opened again today, which is the Tang Dynasty's dynasty system that has begun to get back on track after facing a deep political crisis.

The magnificent and spacious Hanyuan Hall is solemn and silent, the courtiers above the fifth grade are arranged in turn, all of them are silent, this is a very special court meeting, extremely sensitive, the person who speaks first will decide the content of the discussion of this court meeting, and even decide the direction of the Tang Dynasty, many ministers hope that His Majesty the Emperor is the first to speak, if it starts with him, it must be an edict to apologize to the people of the world, then, the Tang Dynasty will enter a new beginning.

But Mr. Li remained silent. His face was gloomy, and it was impossible for him to issue an edict to commit crimes, and the purpose of his court meeting was also to get the advice of the ministers on the current situation, a good strategy for exterminating the An Lushan rebellion, and a clever way to alleviate the financial crisis of the imperial court.

The 300,000 army gathered at the pass, which was his last straw, this army could not afford to miss the slightest, but the left was empty. The savings are only 200,000 yuan, where does the monthly military salary of one million yuan come from? Last year, there was a major drought. Nearly half of the land has not been harvested, and it is now in the midst of a green crop. According to the usual practice, the imperial court needed rice to close the position, but the grain depot in Shaanzhou was burned, and although there were nearly three million stones of grain in storage, it was under the premise of ensuring that the military grain was the first. It is impossible for him to carry out another rice bailout.

In addition, most of the troops of Longyou and Hexi were transferred to the pass, and the defense of Tibet was also a major matter, and these were all things that had to be solved in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, the minister has a play!" Yang Guozhong finally broke the silence in the court, he stepped out of the court, bowed down and saluted, "Please allow Your Majesty." ”

Li Longji nodded slightly. "Please say it!"

"Your Majesty. Our Tang army was defeated in Shaanzhou. 300,000 soldiers were almost wiped out, although Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing had been beheaded. But they are only deputies, but the main general is at large, and has not been dealt with at all, and the ministers are deeply unhappy for the 300,000 Tang army. ”

Speaking of this, he raised his voice, held a book high above his head, and said loudly: "This is the signed list of three hundred and twenty important ministers of the imperial court, I hope Your Majesty can understand the loyalty of our group of ministers to the Tang Society." ”

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense, and the eunuch on duty came down and handed Yang Guozhong's hand to Li Longji, Li Longji flipped over, the first one was Yang Guozhong, the second was Ge Shuhan, the third was Wei Jiansu, and the following were Zhang Yi and Xian Yu Zhongtong. The ministers all signed it, of course, some land was intimidated by Yang Guozhong's power, and it may not be sincere, but this thick book did put a lot of pressure on Li Longji, and even more than thirty-three royal family members.

Li Longji didn't have the slightest expression on his face, he put the fold on the table, and explained to Yang Guozhong: "I understand Xiangguo's heart to defend the community, but the king of Chu fell ill in Tongguan at that time and could not go to the front enemy to command, and this defeat has nothing to do with him. ”

Li Longji's voice was not loud, and people from a distance couldn't hear it at all, but Yang Guozhong, who was standing on the steps, didn't miss a word, he didn't stop because of the emperor's explanation, on the contrary, he said unrelentingly: "Your Majesty, although the King of Chu did not participate in the war, he handed over the power of the commander to Gao Xianzhi without the consent of the imperial court, is this something that should be held responsible!" ”

The temper of the people is connived up, this is not false at all on Yang Guozhongdi, he colluded with Li Cong to force the palace to rebel, he can pass such a big crime without damage, and Li Longji in order to appease him, and even married Princess Wanchun to him, so generous and virtuous, it made Yang Guozhong become more and more arrogant, knowing that this court meeting was to discuss how to deal with An Lushan's rebellion, but he wanted to use Li Yu to make trouble, and even more clearly put out the minister's private series of things to Li Longji showdown.

He has already figured out the weakness of Li Longji's base, as long as there is a noble concubine, he is not afraid of offending Li Longji, he is also a tough-speaking Xiangguo, Zhang Ling is insisting on state affairs, but he Yang Guozhong is out of his own selfishness.

Li Longji was a little annoyed by his unforgiveness, he endured it, and said in a long tone of displeasure: "Xiangguo, the matter of the King of Chu will not be discussed for the time being, and we will discuss whether he is guilty after the An Lushan Rebellion is pacified, and today we will discuss the finances and how to quell the chaos." ”

Although it was not explicitly stated, this was actually a compromise on the part of Li Longji, which meant that Li Yu could not be appointed as the prince until the An Lushan Rebellion subsided, and he had to make concessions under the pressure of strong opposition.

"Your Majesty has a decree, whether the king of Chu is guilty of defeat or not, we will discuss it after the chaos is quelled, and today we will only discuss the finances and how to quell the chaos!" The high-pitched voice of the eunuch on duty went straight out of the main hall, and this was settled, and no one was allowed to talk about it again.

Although he didn't get the most satisfactory answer, after all, the emperor had already given in, even if he Yang Guozhong was victorious, Yang Guozhong secretly smiled proudly, but he didn't go back, took out the second fold, and said to Li Longji: "Since Your Majesty wants to discuss quelling the chaos, the minister also has a suggestion." ”

Li Longji finally became a little interested now, and said with a smile: "Xiangguo, please continue!" ”

"After all, it is not a long-term thing for the former enemy to have no commander, and it must be appointed as soon as possible, and the minister thinks that the new commander must not only serve the border army, but also have a lofty position, so that the troops of the Guan can be convinced, so that the command can be effective. Therefore, the minister recommended Zuo Xiang's brother Shuhan as the generalissimo of soldiers and horses to lead the army to quell the rebellion. ”

Frankly speaking, Yang Guozhong's suggestion is indeed reasonable, there are still 300,000 troops in Guan, half of the border army and the government army, and the border army is mainly from Hexi and Longyou, this is Ge Shuhan's old department, it is not a problem to command them, and Ge Shuhan is now the left minister and has a high status. This can also suppress the snobbish government soldiers, and then as the king of Geshu Han Xiping County. It seems that only he can match An Lushan.

But Yang Guozhong's this

But he hides a deep selfishness, and he has reached a secret agreement with the eternal king Li Xuan. In order to achieve this goal, the best way is to obtain military power, Yang Guozhong has thought twice. It was decided to recommend Ge Shuhan as the coach of the three armies.

Li Longji's original intention was to use Guo Yi as the commander, but he thought about it carefully, Guo Yi was just a deputy envoy of Jiedu, not to mention commanding the arrogant government army, even the border army could not be suppressed, this point. He couldn't even compare to Gao Xianzhi.

The first is whether or not you can lead the troops. The second is to fight wars and strategize. After getting a lesson from Gao Xianzhi, Li Longji also came to his senses. Yang Guozhong's suggestion was undoubtedly timely and moved Li Longji, but the only doubt was whether Ge Shuhan could grasp the military power, he was easy to cut off Ge Shuhan's power of the Jiedu Envoy, and now he gave him the troops of Hexi and Longyou, is it a bit ironic?

"Your Majesty, the minister opposes Yang Xiangguo's proposal!" A minister stood up from Zuoban, but it was Pei Kuan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, he was the only one who did not sign against Li Yuli Chudi Shangshu, he originally also supported Yongwang as the prince, that was because he didn't like Li Heng's meanness and widowhood, and he also looked down on Li Congdi's hypocrisy and viciousness, and he couldn't look down on other emperors, but as time went by, he slowly saw through Li Luan, who was actually a raccoon dog, hypocritical and mean, if he was too much, it would be the misfortune of the Tang Dynasty, just as Li Qing looked at Li Yu at a glance, Pei Kuan also liked this benevolent and filial piety and generous emperor grandson very much, He resolutely supported Li Yu as the prince.

He was an old man, and he saw the evil intentions contained in Yang Guozhong's petition, and immediately spoke out against it.

"Your Majesty, although Geshu Xiangguo is brave and good at fighting, but as the left minister, he is also the secretary of the household department, and he has every opportunity, if he leads the troops to the battle, I am afraid it will affect the government affairs of the court, so the minister does not approve!"

—

The implication is that he is also reminding Li Longji that since it was easy to exchange Zuo Xiang and Hubu Shangshu for Ge Shuhan's concession, is it a bit too risky to return the military power to him now.

Li Longji heard what he meant, so he smiled faintly and said, "Then Pei Shangshu has any good people to recommend?" ”

Pei Kuan smiled slightly, he gestured two fingers, "Your Majesty!" There are two people I can recommend. ”

"You say!" Li Longji leaned forward slightly, looking very interested.

"The first minister recommended Li Qing, the envoy of Anxi Jiedu, he gave His Majesty the three strategies of the thief, the minister was very much in favor, especially the mobilization of the people of the world to fight against the thief, the minister thought that this was a blow to the soft underbelly of the thief, and those who went against the will of the people would be subverted by the people, since Li Qing could see this, it was enough to see his cleverness, so let him be the commander-in-chief, and he could match An Lushan."

"What about the second person?"

"The second person in the land is Wang Chengye, the general of the Yulin Army, he is highly respected, enjoys high prestige in the army, and has guarded His Majesty for many years, his loyalty can be learned, the old minister has been with him in Taiyuan for many years, knowing that he is cautious with his troops, marching steadily and steadily, and using him as the commander, which is in line with the current situation."

Pei Kuan proposed these two people, Li Longji was a little hesitant, Li Qing's three strategies for leveling thieves are good, but he himself is a little less qualified, I am afraid he will not be able to convince the public; On the contrary, Wang Chengye is too old, not so much that he is cautious in his use of soldiers, but rather timid and full of twilight.

Just when Li Longji was silent, Yang Guozhong and Ge Shuhan quickly exchanged a look, and Yang Guozhong immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has a better suggestion for Li Qing's arrangement!" ”

"What advice?" Li Longji glanced at it, and there was a hint of vigilance in his heart.

Yang Guozhong sighed slightly, and said with great concern: "Your Majesty, what the minister is most worried about now are two things, one is the thief plotting rebellion, and the other is Tubo Koubian. ”

As soon as he said this, it immediately caused a sound of stealing in the main hall, Yang Guozhong's words cut the disadvantages of the times, and the imperial court pulled all the sides of Hexi and Longyou to pass, and the border air defense was weak, and once the Tubo Kou was on the side, the consequences were unimaginable.

Li Longji nodded, this is also what he is most worried about, but once Shaanzhou is defeated, he no longer believes in the weak government soldiers, so he can only draw the fighting border army from Longyou and Hexi to fight against An Lushan's iron cavalry.

Preventing the Tibetan border is also a major topic today. Seeing Yang Guozhong mention it, Li Longji hurriedly asked, "Then what good suggestions does Xiangguo have?" ”

Yang Guozhong smiled, "The minister has been thinking about this matter for a long time, the Western Regions is now only left with Li Qing's two armies in Anxi and Beiting, and now there is nothing to do on the Western Front, and one of its armies can be transferred to supplement the lack of Hexi and Longyou, and Shibao City is in our hands, although the attack on Tubo is insufficient, but the defense is not a problem, so the minister Bao promoted Li Mao, the king of Shou, as the observer of Longyoudao." However, King Shou lacked experience in leading troops, so the minister promoted Li Qing as his deputy envoy. Responsible for the overall defense of Tibet. ”

Datang is divided into ten provinces, and the area of Longyou Road is the most extensive. From the west of Longyou to the western border of the Tang Dynasty, it is under its jurisdiction, but this is only a geographical division, since the founding of the country, no one has ever been in charge of such a vast territory.

Yang Guozhong got the news from Yang Guifei. Li Longji was already thinking about sending Zhushi to take charge of the world, so his staff gave him this idea to divide Li Qing's power.

On the surface, this strategy is extremely clever, and it can be described as killing two birds with one stone, which can prevent Tibet. It can also cut Li Qing's power. But anything is a double-edged sword. Li Longji's thoughts are deeper than Yang Guozhong's, and he is extremely worried that Shouwang Li Mao will grow up in the deep palace. I'm afraid that he is not Li Qing's opponent, not only will he not play a role, but he will let Li Qing's forces take the opportunity to extend into Hexi and Longyou, so that he can sit big, but he can change to other emperors, in fact, it is the same.

"That's it, even if there is no Mao'er, can he drive straight in? Since he can come up with three strategies to level the thief, it means that he is still loyal to my Datang, and give it a try! ”

Li Longji couldn't think of a more secure plan, so he immediately agreed: "Quasi-play!" Spread the will of the land, Feng Shou Wang Mao as the Longyou Dao observation envoy, Li Qing as the deputy envoy, fully responsible for the defense of Tibet! ”

This is the only decision made so far by the court meeting, with this decision as the basis, the rest of the things Li Longji will be easier to make up his mind, Yang Guozhong saw Li Longji's performance, his heart was overjoyed, he hurriedly gave Ge Shuhan, meaning: 'It depends on your land below. ’

At this time, Ge Shuhan came out of class, and he stood at the foot of the jade steps and said impassionedly: "Your Majesty, the minister is shallow and can't afford to be a marshal, and the minister is willing to resign from the position of the left minister, rush to the battlefield as an old pawn, and personally cut off the head of the dog thief in An Lushan to calm His Majesty's anger." ”

His statement was extremely timely, at this time Li Longji was open-minded, so he no longer taboo Ge Shuhan to lead the troops, moreover, there was Bian Lingcheng as the supervisor of the army, and he was not afraid that he would have different intentions, Li Longji immediately said: "Aiqing has the heart to kill thieves for me, why don't I fulfill you, pass on my will, and seal the left minister Ge Shuhan as the generalissimo of the world's soldiers and horses, and seal the right servant of Shangshu to shoot, and lead the army to Tongguan to meet the enemy!" ”

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In April of the twelfth year, Ge Shuhan arrived at Tongguan with an army of 300,000 troops, but he did not build city walls, trained his soldiers, and prepared for a protracted battle with An Lushan.

In April, Li Longji named Guo Yi as the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, led the Shuofang army headquarters to attack Changshan, Li Guangbi's army attacked Taiyuan, at the end of April, Guo Yi's army recovered Changshan, and Li Guangbi adopted the strategy of besieging the city to send reinforcements, with the cooperation of Guo Yi, defeated Shi Siming's army in the north to rescue the place, and recovered Taiyuan, and then he even made surprise troops, three battles and three victories, breaking Shi Siming, Cai Xide, Yin Qi three generals, beheading more than 10,000 people, 4,000 prisoners, Shi Siming was exposed, and fled to Boling alone.

Since then, the whole territory of Hedong has been recovered, Li Longji immediately ordered Wang Chengye to be Taiyuan Yin, in charge of Hedong government affairs, at the same time, under the leadership of Yan Zhenqing and Yan Qing's brothers, the rebels in Hebei have risen up one after another, forming hundreds of militia groups of all sizes to defend their homeland spontaneously, Li Longji named Yan Zhenqing as the household servant, Yan Qing as the Shaoqing of Taiwei Temple, and all the rebellious people were named righteous men in recognition of their merits.

In Henan, some magistrates also recruited soldiers, built fortified cities, responded to the call of the imperial court, and prevented An Lushan from going south to the east.

At the beginning of May, Li Longji accepted Yang Guozhong's suggestion and ordered to issue a large amount of money throughout the country, with one large amount of money worth 50 Kaiyuan Tongbao to raise military expenses.

.

Entering May, it is already early summer, the sky is gradually getting hotter, the land of Longyou is already full of green, wheat golden, and it seems that it is about to be harvested.

On the official road north of the state. It is about two miles away from the Yellow River, the wind carries the fishy smell of the river, and you can see the turbid and boundless Yellow River from afar when you climb the majority.

On this day, a huge army appeared on the horizon, this army was about 20,000 people, and the black pressure could not be seen at a glance, they were the Anxi army who came from afar, and in front of them were 5,000 cavalry, followed by 5,000 crossbowmen. And the last one to be in battle was the 10,000 Mo Sword Army that was famous in the world.

More than 20,000 people rode on horseback. It took only ten days for the army to reach Longyou. Just as Li Longji was worried, as soon as Li Qing was appointed as the deputy envoy of Longyou Dao Observation, Li Qing immediately led his troops into Hexi, and he appointed Duan Xiushi as the deputy envoy of Anxi Jiedu. He was fully responsible for the military and political affairs of Shazhou, and transferred part of the Beiting Army to be stationed in various parts of Anxi, under the unified command of Changshi Zhang Xun, and the army recruited in Shazhou was responsible for guarding all parts of Hexi, and he himself personally led more than 20,000 Anxi elites to Longyou to fill the gap after the Longyou Army was withdrawn.

"General. In front of it is the state town. A junior colonel pointed to a black city and told Li Qing.

Li Qing smiled and nodded. Of course he does. At that time, he served as the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu under Huangfu Weiming for a period of time, and he was stationed in the state. And today he has become the deputy envoy of Longyou Dao Observation, and went to visit Li Mao, the envoy of Shouwang, but things have changed, and he is no longer the governor of Shazhou who was at the mercy of others.

"Pass my orders, and the army will be stationed on the spot!" As soon as he gave the order, the 20,000 Anxi troops immediately got busy, they set up camp tents, pulled up wooden fences, built watchtowers, and in just one hour, a camp that stretched for several miles appeared on the west bank of the Yellow River.

Immediately, more than 1,000 personal soldiers escorted Li Qing to gallop in the direction of the state city, and Li Mao, the king of Shou, got the news early, and he went out of the city to greet him with anxiety.

Shouwang Li Mao is the eighteenth of Li Long's base, that is, Yang Guifei's ex-husband, he is a very talented person, handsome, gentle and elegant, when his mother Wu Huifei was favored, he was very liked by Li Longji, and even once expected to win the throne, but after the death of Wu Huifei, as Yang Yuhuan was taken away by his father, he completely fell into a trough in his life.

This time, his father took him as the beginning, let him leave Beijing, and ordered him to lead the Longyou Dao Observation Envoy, whose original intention was to seize Li Qing's power, but Li Longji did not have many troops to allocate to him, and only sent 500 Imperial Forest Army to escort him to Longyou, plus more than 2,000 officers and soldiers guarding Shibao City, Li Mao's men could use less than 3,000 people, where could they compete with Li Qingdi's more than 20,000 people.

If he wants to seize Li Qing's power, his own strength must first surpass Li Qing, which is an iron law since ancient times.

"His Royal Highness King Shou, farewell to Chang'an, I haven't seen him for nearly seven years, His Royal Highness's demeanor is better than yesterday, congratulations!"

Although the words were polite, Li Qing did not get off the horse to make a big salute to his subordinates, he only bowed his hand on the horse, and it was considered a salute.

Li Mao secretly screamed in his heart that it was not good, he only brought more than 300 horsemen to meet Li Qing, and wanted to take the opportunity to force him to give power to himself, but the other party actually brought more than 1,000 people, without command, they had already been distributed around, cutting off all his back roads.

He smiled reluctantly and said: "The general has worked hard all the way, please follow me into the city to rest, as for the matter of defense, we will talk about it another day." ”

Li Qing didn't move, he owed a debt on the horse, and said with a slight smile: "Your Highness, on the way to Longyou, I heard that the Tubo army has moved, and the deployment of defense cannot be postponed. ”

After that, he looked at Li Mao coldly, waiting for his reply, Li Mao secretly screamed in his heart that it was not good, he laughed dryly and said: "Li Mao is a person, he doesn't know how to soldier, and the general has his own idea about the deployment of defense, so I won't go." ”

After speaking, he turned around and was about to leave, but he heard Li Qinglang smile: "Since His Royal Highness has come, follow me to meet the generals of Anxidi, His Royal Highness is the observation envoy of Longyoudao, that is, their ground boss, how can the boss not see the reason of his subordinates!" ”

He waved his hand lightly, and more than a thousand people gradually surrounded him, surrounding them, Li Mao was afraid, but he couldn't bow his head to show weakness, he suddenly shouted: "Li Qing, what are you going to do, do you want to forcibly kidnap this king?" ”

"Where do your subordinates dare to force Your Highness, it's just that these soldiers of mine are all people who crawled out of the pile of dead, if Your Highness doesn't give them faces, I'm afraid my subordinates won't be able to control them, Your Highness will consider it yourself! To go or not, Li Qing will never be reluctant. ”

After that, he turned his horse, as if he was about to leave, Li Mao saw that the soldiers were all in good shape, with fierce faces, and their hands were on the handle of the knife, he suddenly panicked, and then ignored the face of the royal family, and hurriedly said: "Li Qing, you have to promise not to hurt this king!" ”

Li Qing smiled faintly and said: "Your Highness is my guest, whoever dares to touch half a hair of His Highness, I will kill him!" ”

He immediately waved his hand and said very sincerely: "Your Highness, please!" ”