Guozhong slowly got out of the carriage and walked listlessly towards the palace, he actually used to publicize him, what could he do? Is it difficult for him Yang Guozhong to put on armor and charge into battle?

"Yang Xiangguo stays!"

As soon as he walked through the palace gate, he heard someone behind him who seemed to be calling him, Yang Guozhong looked back, only to see a person jumping from another carriage, running towards him, and approaching, only then did he see clearly, it turned out to be the military department Shangshu Wei Jiansu, only to see that his eyes were bloodshot, his face was black, and he looked haggard.

Yang Guozhong's heart suddenly relaxed, it seems that with Wei Jiansu's hard work, his pressure is less than half, he is the secretary of the military department, the responsibility of transferring troops, who will bear it if he doesn't bear it?

"Huh! Was Wei Shangshu also summoned by the emperor? Yang Guozhong asked sympathetically, but his tone was a little gloating.

"Sangkook! Now that the enemy is present, we must unite as one to retreat from the enemy for the emperor's ideas, not like you.

Yang Guozhong's carelessness made Wei Jiansu a little angry, if he hadn't desperately instigated the emperor to let Ge Shuhan go out to meet the enemy, would it have become today's situation?

"What's wrong with me? Wei Shangshu, you have to make it clear! Yang Guozhong's voice immediately raised, and the true colors of the scoundrel were exposed again, he pointed at Wei Jiansu and scolded: "You are the secretary of the Ministry of War, of course the responsibility for Ge Shuhan's exit should be borne by you, the situation today is completely incompetent, isn't it for me Yang Guozhong to bear it?" ”

"You. . . He strode forward.

"Sure enough, I want the wicked to sue first, why are you going so fast!" Yang Guozhong still chased after him reluctantly, and he followed Wei Jiansu and said viciously: "If you don't go to sue, does Wei Shangshu want to take responsibility?" ”

Wei Jiansu strode forward with a gloomy face and didn't say a word, but Yang Guozhong became more and more energetic the more he spoke. He sneered and sarcastically: "I think Wei Shangshu wants to tell the old man to return to his hometown!" ”

"Enough!" Wei Shangshu finally couldn't bear it anymore, and he shouted angrily: "Yang Guozhong, do you still have a little bit of Xiangguo?" Please respect yourself! ”

His voice was loud. All the eunuchs and guards were stunned by Wei Jiansu's anger, which was less than twenty steps away from the imperial study. Such a loud sound. The emperor will hear it.

Really. Colliers poked his head out of the room and waved his hand to the two of them to silence them.

Wei Jiansu regretted it a little, he walked quickly to Gao Lishi and whispered to him: "Is it convenient for the emperor now?" ”

Colliers nodded slightly. "Come in together, both of you!"

Li Longji was lying on the dragon chair. His eyes stared blankly at the roof. Tongguan was lost, and the whereabouts of Geshuhan and the 300,000-strong army were unknown. Everything came so suddenly and unexpectedly, that Li Longji felt that he thought he was a poor little wither, casually blown and ravaged by the storm, his eyelashes jumped up and down, as if his eyes had fallen into the sand, his mouth was half open, there was no trace of blood on his pale face, his heart was flustered and frightened, he seemed to see countless hideous-looking rebels slaughtering into Chang'an and the palace, dragging him down from the dragon chair, and then sitting on the man who was as fat as a pig.

Then, Yang Yuhuan was dragged out of the inner palace. Huo Di sat up, obviously, Yang Yuhuan activated his life force.

"Your Majesty, Yang Xiangguo and Wei Shangshu are here!" Colliers reported to him at the right time.

"Let them in!" Li Longji sat up straight tiredly, what was the use of them coming?

"Your Majesty!"

"Minister Yang Guozhong see Your Majesty!" At this time, Yang Guozhong looked very low-key, standing behind Wei Jiansu, letting Wei Jiansu block the sight of Li Long's base.

Li Longji sneered, Yang Guozhongdi's little trick can be hidden from anyone, but at this time he has no intention of thinking about these details, he smiled bitterly, and said to them: "Ge Shuhan has the trust of me, but he lost Tongguan, and now it is useless to blame him, now I invite the two of you to discuss countermeasures, one of you is the right minister, and the other is the secretary of the military department, I hope that you two will not shirk it, and think of a foolproof plan for me." ”

Yang Guozhong heard that he had put the responsibility on Ge Shuhan, his nervous heart suddenly relaxed, he walked in front of Wei Jiansu in one step, and saluted Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the minister has been the governor of Yizhou, and he knows that the land of Bashu is fertile for thousands of miles, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. ”

"This. Li Longji was a little moved, he also had this idea, Yang Guozhong's suggestion said his thoughts, Yang Yuhuan is from Shu, if she goes back to her hometown to avoid the military disaster, she will definitely be willing to go, he turned his eyes and looked at Wei Jiansu with hope, as long as he also supports it, this matter can be decided.

"Your Majesty, no!" On the side, Wei Jiansu saw that Li Longji was a little moved, and in a hurry, he stepped out and said, "If Your Majesty leaves, what will happen to the millions of people in Chang'an?" What should I do with the mausoleums and temples of the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty? Your Majesty, you can't go! ”

"Wei Shangshu, what you say is so fallacious!" Yang Guozhong said coldly: "Guan Wubing, the rebels can kill Chang'an in just two days, do you want Your Majesty to defend the city in person?" ”

Wei Jiansu ignored him, he only said eagerly to Li Longji: "Anxi Jiedu made Li Qing still have tens of thousands of elite soldiers in Longyou, Your Majesty can edict to come to King Qin, now Chang'an still has 20,000 Yulin troops available, and then mobilize the people to defend the city, in fact, as long as you hold on for two days, the Anxi army can arrive, Your Majesty, An Lushan can not have many available soldiers, he wants to prevent the Hedong Army from going south, and he will definitely not pour troops to come, in this way, we may not have no chance, please think twice!" ”

"What if Li Qing refuses to come to King Qin?" Yang Guozhong at this time

Tolerate Li Qing to sit big, once Li Qing leads his troops to come, he is more phase than Ge Shuhan, he immediately retorted: "What Wei Shangshu said is based on assumptions, if Li Qing refuses to come, if An Lushan pours troops to come, once he surrounds Chang'an, it will be too late for His Majesty to leave, and also, these Yulin troops are pampered on weekdays, and it's okay to bluff the people, let them go to the city to fight, I'm afraid they will be spread when they see blood, and they will keep it for two days?" If you think about it, I don't think I can even hold an hour, Your Majesty, you can't take risks, thirty plans, go ahead. ”

"Your Majesty! We must focus on social welfare! ”

"That's it! Don't talk about it. Li Longji was extremely bored. He wanted to leave, but he didn't want to take the responsibility of discarding his ancestral business, so he waved his hand to them. "All of you go down!"

After the two of them retreated, Li Longji paced back and forth in the room irritably with his hands behind his back. Although Yang Guozhong persuaded him to run. But he was impressed. And Wei Jiansu also has some truth in what he said, but the risk is too great.

Suddenly, a thought arose in his heart, why didn't he set up too much first, and ordered him to guard Chang'an. What about going to Shu by yourself? Once Chang'an does not guard. He immediately announced his abdication. The responsibility for losing Chang'an is not on him, if Chang'an is not lost. Come back and continue to be kings.

Thinking of this, Li Longji's spirit was greatly lifted, he was just about to make an order, and suddenly hesitated, according to his original intention, he was to set up Li Yu as the prince, but there were too many people who opposed Li Yu, once he was appointed as the prince, not only did everyone disagree, but he also couldn't suppress the warlords in the original area, if it finally led to their respective separation, it would be a more serious problem.

Li Longji's head hurt again, and he couldn't make up his mind after thinking about it, so he had to put it aside in advance, and at this time, Gao Lishi whispered on the side: "If the emperor can't make up his mind, he might as well take a rest, and if he is in good spirits, he may be able to settle things." ”

—

Li Longji rubbed his eyes, turned around and asked him, "Inner servant, tell me, what should I do now?" To go or not to go? ”

Gao Lishi coughed lightly, and then said slowly: "The old slave thinks that His Majesty should prepare with both hands,"

"Tell me, I want to hear from you?"

Gao Lishi humbly lowered his head and said cautiously: "The old slave on Geshuhan's side is estimated to be more than lucky, even if he still has soldiers to rush back, he can't enter Tongguan, and now the rebels occupy Tongguan and don't immediately march to the ground, it may be that the battle on Geshuhan's side is not over, this is an opportunity, Your Majesty should immediately pack up your things and prepare to leave Beijing at any time, on the other hand, you should also send someone to edict Li Qing to enter King Qin, even if he can't catch up with the rebels to enter Chang'an, but at least he can escort His Majesty into Shu safely." ”

"Don't the chamberlains approve of me staying in Chang'an?" Li Longji's voice trembled a little, Gao Lishi has always been a person he trusts, if he also approves of his departure from Beijing, then there is really no need to stay in Chang'an.

Gao Lishi sighed and said: "Wei Shangshu's idea is a good place, but there is a little bit of scholarly spirit, the rebel soldiers are pointing out, who still has the heart to defend the city, as long as they capture thousands of people and kill them in public, and then say that those who surrender do not kill, then Chang'an will collapse, really just like Yang Xiangguo said, it would be good to be able to keep for an hour, so the old slave did not advocate staying in Chang'an for the sake of His Majesty's safety." ”

Gao Lishi's words made Li Longji finally make up his mind, and he immediately made an order: "Spread the will of the land, seal the Anxi Jiedu to make Li Qing the king of Anxi County, eat 5,000 households, and seal the Kaifu Yi and the three divisions, and all the generals under him will be promoted to one level, and he will be ordered to enter the king of Jingqin as soon as possible." ”

When the will was issued, Li Longji was much more relaxed, he turned around and smiled at Gao Lishi and said: "Sure enough, only the inner servant knows my heart, and the inner servant also has a family, I will give you two hours off, and you will take the old wife and children and grandchildren to the palace." ”

Seeing that there was no one on the left and right, he whispered: "Remember, it's Daming Palace, let's go from that side." ”

.

Gao Lishi got a leave of absence and hurried back to his house in a hurry, although he persuaded Li Longji to make preparations with both hands, in fact, he was also panicked, not all for himself, but for his own precious grandson, all his hopes were pinned on this smart and clever grandson, once An Lushan entered the city, how could he not retaliate against himself?

Along the way, I saw that Chang'an was in chaos, every household was opening the door to pack up things, Chunming Street was full of black and pressed carriages, on both sides of the carriage was more than a dozen people who helped the old and the young, each of them was frightened, carrying large bags and small bags on their shoulders, the crowd shouted anxiously from time to time, everyone tiptoed to the east to visit, this is the East City Horse Convoy has too many goods, and the Tonghua Gate is blocked.

At this time, the brothels and restaurants that were prosperous in the past were silent, and only Taibai Lou was barely open for business.

Gao Lishi's mansion is very close to Daming Palace, as long as the family is in the house, the time can catch up, his carriage just approached the gate, through the window, he suddenly saw more than a dozen horses bolted in front of the steps, all of them are military horses, and the horses are tall, slender legs, not the original horses, but a bit like the horse breed of the big food, Gao Lishi's heart moved, is it.

"Master, someone is looking for you at home!" The old butler handed a sticker to Colliers.

"I see."

Gao Lishi took the sticker and glanced at it, Duan Xiushi. Sure enough, it was Li Qing's general, "Let him wait for a while, I'll be there soon." ”

He immediately went into the inner house. found his wife and told him a few words, and saw that his family was there. That's when I was relieved. Then rush to the small room.

Duan Xiushi had been waiting for nearly half an hour. His 1,000 cavalry had already driven to Wugong County, at this time not only Chang'an City, but also Chang'an counties were also in chaos, except for the county order, the county Cheng a few main officials, other officials have abandoned the official and fled. No one cares about this army. The big disaster is at the head. All they think of is their own family.

The taxi hurried to the small room. But the pace slowed down. Li Qing: If you appear, will things take a turn for the better? In his heart, Li Qing is a person with great vision, and at this critical juncture, he should not be so slow to react and stay out of the situation. "He should do something!"

"Let General Duan wait for a long time!", I saw that he was not wearing a military uniform, but a robe. Wearing a gauze hat, although he was dressed as a Confucian student, there was a resolute color between his eyebrows and eyes, his waist was straight, and he stood there proudly.

"The last general will see Gao Weng!"

Duan Xiushi gave a salute to Chief Colliers, although the other party was a high-ranking person who had been in power for a while, he still bowed without humility or arrogance, and said solemnly: "The last general was entrusted by the general of my family, and there was a letter to be forwarded to Gao Weng. As he spoke, he took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Colliers with both hands.

Gao Lishi took it, he was not in a hurry to open it, only glanced at Duan Xiushi, and said with a faint smile: "Has General Duan brought troops here?" ”

"The last general only brought a small number of ground soldiers and stationed them in Wugong County."

"A small amount? How much is a small amount? Gao Lishi still asked relentlessly, as long as he asked Duan Xiushi how many troops he had brought, he could deduce Li Qingdi's strategy.

Duan Xiushi smiled apologetically: "Anxi's military discipline is strict, and generals are not allowed to leak military aircraft at will, so the general will not be able to answer." ”

Gao Lishi smiled, and didn't ask anymore, he opened the letter casually, and hurriedly browsed it, Li Qing did not reveal his plans, only reminded him of the matter of establishing a prince in the letter, "When the situation is critical, the emperor is likely to stand in the East Palace and prepare for the king of Chu as soon as possible." ’

There is no preface, and there is no conclusion, just said a few words simply, if ordinary people will feel inexplicable, I don't know what Li Qing means, but Gao Lishi understands, Li Qingdi means to take advantage of this defeat crisis to push Li Yu up, and this time to send Duan Xiushi is to find his own support. So he had a plan! He thought to himself.

"Please tell your general, I understand what he means, I can support him, but you have to tell him, you must leave three points of leeway in everything, and you must not do too much!" After Gao Lishi finished speaking, he turned around and left, ignoring Duan Xiushi no more.

.

The time gradually came to the evening, and suddenly, a news came from nowhere, Ge Shuhan was eager to seek merit, and an ambush in the mountains of An Lu, and 300,000 troops were wiped out near Shaanzhou.

At this time, Chang'an City was already full of soldiers, regardless of whether the news came from the government or not, but the vast majority of the people of Chang'an believed it, if it wasn't for this, how could An Lushan seize Tongguan.

At this time, Chang'an City fell into the anthill like a fire, and the nest exploded in an instant, and some people who were still watching could no longer care about whether their property could be preserved, so they hurriedly packed up some soft dry food, and joined the crowd of people fleeing with their families.

In order to prevent the situation from expanding, Mingde Gate, Tonghua Gate, Jinguang Gate, these main city gates have been closed, and the people are not allowed to go out of the city, but this has caused a deeper panic, only to see the people all over the street running desperately without a purpose, crying and shouting can be heard everywhere, An Lushan army shadow has not been seen, Chang'an City has been in a mess by itself.

At the beginning of the night, there began to be a smashing and robbery in the city of Chang'an City, starting from the grain shop and the salt shop, and slowly spread to the east and west markets, operating jewelry and jade shops, trading silk and satin shops were robbed by the chaotic people, not only shops, even the government-run cabinet shop was also impacted, the cabinet shop in the east market suffered first, the wall was knocked down, the underground treasury was opened, more than 200,000 copper coins and gold silk were looted cleanly, not even a copper coin left.

The mansions of various magnates are even more chaotic, if the rebels enter the city, they will bear the brunt of it, although the people who have positions in the place do not dare to run away without permission, but their local families can take the first step, in fact, as early as when Gao Xianzhi was defeated for the first time. Many shrewd and wealthy families have quietly given away their women and expensive possessions. Most of them went to Jiannan, and now the defeat is decided. The people who didn't go first regretted it and complained at the same time. While arranging a vehicle to send the family to escape.

But with their efforts. It didn't take long. The major city gates of Chang'an were reopened. Suddenly there was a huge crowd of refugees in Chang'an City.

Let's say that Yang Guozhong ran home and was busy packing his things, although the emperor was undecided. But he has already dared to assert that Li Longji is absolutely going to escape. Just one Yang Yuhuan would make him dare not risk staying.

Yang Guozhong did not serve as prime minister for a few years. But his money was piled up in several treasury. In the past, there were just too few of them. But now they complain about too many of them. Reluctant to leave it behind; And take it all. Without a few hundred wagons, it simply could not fit.

Just when Yang Guozhong was at a loss for this matter, news came from the palace that the emperor wanted to drive the imperial army in person, and personally led 20,000 imperial forest troops to meet An Lushan's troops, and now they have moved back to Daming Palace from Xingqing Palace.

"Not good! The emperor is running away! Yang Guozhong couldn't react to the matter of people's livelihood and government affairs. But he reacted very quickly to this kind of deception and falsification. The front and back of Xingqing Palace are streets. Li Longji's running from here will inevitably alarm the whole city, and the only way to run is to walk from behind the Daming Palace. so as not to be discovered.

"Leave the money alone, it's important to escape!" Yang Guozhong saw that his wife Pei Rou refused to come out in the treasury, so he hurriedly ordered a few children to pull her out, stuff her into the carriage and take a step forward, while he himself hurried to Daming Palace.

Daming Palace, Li Longji sat on the Hanyuan Hall with remembrance, he led the troops into the hall to kill Wei Houdi when he was a teenager The scene seems to be vivid, but now he is about to be driven out of Chang'an by the general he personally promoted.

He has been an emperor for more than forty years,

Every brick and tree had feelings for him, and he didn't want to go, but he had to go to An Lushan to persuade him to surrender, and attached a letter of surrender from Geshuhan, the 300,000 Tang army was wiped out, and his last bit of luck had been shattered.

On both sides of him stood dozens of children and grandchildren and important imperial relatives, Yongwang Li Luan, Yi Wang Li Pu, Guangwang Li, Yingwang Li Xuan, Sheng Wang Li Qi, Chu King Li Yu and their sons, in addition to several close relatives of the Yang family, such as Yang Huahua and so on, all of which were notified by Li Longji.

Tonight, he will leave Beijing from the back of the Daming Palace, at this time, he saw two people running into the hall from a distance, and one person behind him almost fell when he took the last step, looking at his clumsy appearance, needless to say, he knew that it was Yang Guozhong.

The person who ran at the front was Chen Xuanli, the general of the Yulin Army, I saw that he was sweating profusely, with a frightened face, he ran to Li Longji, knelt down and reported: "Your Majesty, the big thing is not good, most of the Yulin Army sent by the minister to defend the city in the morning has not returned." ”

Since the garrison of Chang'an Difu soldiers were all taken away by Ge Shuhan, Chang'an City was basically taken over by the Yulin Army, most of the Yulin Army came from Chang'an official eunuchs, or the family of the family, today they also went out to patrol as usual, but the sudden change made many people at a loss, as the situation became more and more serious, and the news came out of the palace, the emperor was very likely to ask them to go to fight with An Lushan Army, so the army was in turmoil, and when the troops were collected at night, they found that most of the soldiers did not come back, needless to say, they went to protect their families.

"How many soldiers are left?" Li Longji asked urgently with a gloomy face, he tried his best to maintain the demeanor of an emperor, but Gao Lishi, who was standing behind him, found that his back was trembling slightly.

"The minister has ordered, and there are more than 3,200 soldiers left."

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the princes next to him changed greatly, 20,000 Yulin troops, and now there are only more than 3,000 people left, is this still an army?

"Your Majesty, what the minister said is right! Relying on these useless things is simply not good," Yang Guozhong gloated a little, he only hated Wei Jiansu for not being here, otherwise he would have to humiliate him.

"That's it! Now is not the time to say that. Li Longji's face sank like water, and he turned around and asked a few of his sons: "Have you thought about it, who wants to stay as a prisoner and protect Chang'an?" ”

Now he still has a little hope, that is, Li Qing can arrive in Chang'an before the rebels will arrive in front of the future and guard the Zongmiao Palace for him, so there must be a prince left to preside over the overall situation and appease the hundred officials, but he did not mention Litai, but demoted one level and established the king, so that the people who stayed would not have the title of enthronement.

He glanced at the crowd, and when he saw that they all bowed their heads and remained silent, he first said to Li Ju, the king of light: "Son, you are the longest among them, how about you stay?" ”

Staying is death, where is Li Ju willing to stay, but he can't find a reason, and it took a long time to squeak and whine: "Father, the sons have always been lazy, and their talents and virtues are not enough to convince the public. ”

Usually think about a thousand things, but now he avoids thousands of miles, usually dare not say what he usually does, now he can only say it hard, at this time, Yongwang Li Lan saw that Li Xuan was desperately looking at himself, understood what he meant, he wanted to let himself come forward to recommend, as for the recommender, everyone knows it.

He nodded secretly, indicating that he knew, and at this time there was silence in the hall, and no one dared to speak, "Why, none of you want to stay?" Do you have to force me to name names? ”

Li Longji was a little annoyed, and at this time, Yongwang Li Lan stood up, he bowed down and said, "Father, the son has something to say." ”

"Oh! Does Lu'er intend to stay? ”

Li Lan hurriedly shook his head and said: "Erchen was thinking just now, my father's original intention to ask us to keep one person down was to worry that if Li Qing came, there would be no one in Chang'an to preside over the overall situation, and Erchen thought that the king of Chu had stayed in Anxi for a long time, and he had the closest relationship with the Anxi army, and it was most suitable for him to stay, so Erchen recommended that the king of Chu stay." ”

Li Longji shook his head unhappily, "Yu'er is too young, I'm afraid she can't afford this responsibility." ”

At this time, Li Ji, the king of Ying, and Li Qi, the king of Sheng, stood up together and said: "Father, the king of Chu is the eldest grandson of the emperor, and it is indeed the most suitable for him to stay." ”

"Grandpa Huang, the grandchildren all recommend the King of Chu, at this time the national crisis is at hand, he is the eldest grandson, and he should take on this responsibility with benevolence." There was a lot of noise in the hall, but all the meaning was the same, Li Yu stayed.

Li Longji saw that their targets were all directed at Li Yu, and his heart was also a little shaken, so he turned back to Li Yu and asked, "Yu'er, are you willing to share your worries for me?" ”

Li Yu's heart was sad for a while, the emperor said this, obviously he wanted to give up on himself, he nodded slowly and said, "My grandson is willing to stay!" ”

Although Li Longji hoped that he would refuse, when Li Yu agreed, his heart was suddenly relieved, and he finally settled a major matter, and he immediately said to Li Yu: "Then I will appoint you as the ambassador of Jingzhaomu and Hebei Province, and temporarily supervise the position of the country." ”

Li Yu knelt down slowly, kowtowed to Li Longji three times, and responded with tears: "Grandson sends the imperial grandfather off for his journey!" ”

Li Longji sighed, took one last look at the night sky outside the main hall, and said melancholy: "The time has come, go and inform the concubine, let's go!" ”

.

On the tenth day of the twelfth month of Tianbao, Li Longji quietly left Chang'an at night under the pretext of driving his own expedition, at this time, Cui Qianyou of Tongguan also received an order from An Lushan to send troops, he personally led 30,000 iron horsemen, left Tongguan and marched to Chang'an overnight, and at the second watch, Cui Qianyou arrived in Huayin County.