"Brother Xian, you see, Shi Siming is already determined to defend Chang'an, relying on such a city defense, let alone hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, there are only tens of thousands of troops, and they can defend it for several years. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoAs long as the supplies and food and grass are sufficient. A strong offensive strategy is never advisable. Gao Xianzhi rode his horse beside him and said in a deep voice.

Wang Yuan smiled and said: "However, ten months ago, Chang'an City changed hands in a few days, so it can be seen that the solidity of the city is not the reason for everything, the key is the people who defend the city." The city defense of the small city on the plains is much worse than here, hasn't Yan Zhenqing been defending it for nine months? The solidity of the city defense can be broken, and the solidity of the people's hearts is more unbreakable than the solidity of the city defense. ”

"That's what Brother Xian said. However, at present, Shi Siming is guarding the city, which cannot be underestimated. This man has been through a hundred battles, and he is in a desperate situation, and he will defend the city to the death. ”

"Yes, that's why we can't storm the city, I don't want to send all the 110,000 Divine Troops here." Wang Yuan nodded.

"That's nature, what we have to do is to trap Shi Siming. In the other three directions, I sent troops and horses to monitor the rebels from leaving the city to disturb the surrounding areas that I had reclaimed. I set up improvised camps in all three directions. But when they showed signs of movement out of the city from other directions, they informed us with a beacon fire. I will send cavalry to annihilate them at once. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said: "This is not a concern, even if they make changes from other directions, it is just a nuisance of a small group of soldiers and horses, and they will not be able to gain a foothold in the climate." No matter how stupid Shi Siming is, he will not be so stupid that the soldiers and horses will go out of the city to attack the surrounding cities, even if we leave it in other directions without defense, he will never easily leave Chang'an. Because of the blessing of Chang'an City, he is killing himself. The only thing that needs to be guarded against is the grain road leading to Jinzhou in the south city, which needs to be guarded by heavy troops, and he can't be speculated and cut off the grain road, which is the life and death line of my army. As long as the grain route is unblocked, we can firmly lock him in Chang'an City. ”

"What Brother Xian said is very true. But winter is coming, and it's a great test for the army. I would like to ask the virtuous brother to return to Chengdu this time to allocate a large number of cotton clothes and charcoal salaries to be transported. Although it is late autumn at this time, it is too late not to prepare at this moment. Gao Xianzhi said.

"I will, so this time I have to go back to Chengdu, in order to ensure the adequate supply of materials, I must personally supervise, I am not at ease with others' fake hands. By the way, for the enemy army in the direction of Tongguan, I don't know what my brother thinks. My brother has thought about it, if the enemy in Tongguan is dispatched and the rebels in Chang'an are flanked by our army, it will not pose a threat. It is said that the number of Tongguan defenders is as high as more than 80,000, which is a large number. ”

Gao Xianzhi said with a smile: "Brother Xian, don't worry too much, in fact, if we attack Tongguan, I'm afraid we would have already gone down Tongguan." Attacking Tongguan from west to east is as easy as digging for something, but I don't want to do that. After capturing Tongguan, our army will not be able to advance eastward, because once we advance eastward, we will not be able to restrain Shi Siming's soldiers and horses. If Shi Siming advances into Longyou and Shudi, we will have to return to help. To tell you the truth, I hope to keep the soldiers and horses in Tongguan so that they can take risks to attack us. Then we can have a great battle with them in the wilderness. Although with 110,000 against nearly 200,000 rebels, it seems that they are inferior in terms of strength, but the foolish brother thinks that we will not scare them at all. With the combat strength of our army, I have absolute certainty that I will win the battle. It's a pity that the enemy of Tongguan didn't dare to attack at all, it's not that I underestimated them, before I ordered people to show off their strength in the west of Tongguan to lure them into battle, and the defenders of Tongguan didn't even dare to take a head, and they all became turtles with shrunken heads. ”

Wang Yuan laughed and said: "Hearing my brother say this, I am also looking forward to this decisive battle, but unfortunately the rebels in Tongguan may not have such courage." If they don't attack, Shi Siming will only dare to be a turtle with a shrunken head. It seems that my brother has a clear understanding of the situation at a glance, and he has already made a decision, which shows that my brother is a hundred times smarter than me. I think I'm going to take care of the logistics and the people's winter, that's what I'm supposed to do. ”

Gao Xianzhi smiled and said, "What you have to do is much more important and difficult than what I have here." ”

After inspecting the camp and having an in-depth exchange with Gao Xianzhi, Wang Yuan was completely relieved. The current situation is that they have the initiative, and although the rebels seem to have many soldiers, they are actually unable to move. It's just that their own side can't attack for the time being, and the two sides can only confront each other here, waiting for a chance to break the game. Wang Yuan didn't know when the time would come to break the situation, but if he wanted to follow Xuanzong's order to attack Chang'an, Wang Yuan would never agree.

After resting for half a day, in the early morning of the next day, Wang Yuan led the Feng kings, Li Heng, Yan Zhenqing, and several wives to Chengdu under the escort of 500 personal guard cavalry. Departing early in the morning, in the evening it has passed through the territory of Golden State and entered the mountains. In order to facilitate the transportation of materials, grain and grass, the mountain road leading to Jiannan has been renovated for the past two months, and the mountain road has been much better. The road is full of convoys of escorting grain and grass materials, and it is a busy scene.

The scenery in the mountains is also extremely beautiful, and in late autumn, the mountains are golden and fiery red, as if a fire has been lit all over the mountains. The golden wind is sassy, and the autumn clouds are light, which makes people feel refreshed. After the nightmarish experience before, the journey in the mountains in the past few days has brought some peace and comfort to everyone's minds. In such an autumn mood, Wang Yuan's originally restless mood slowly calmed down, and his mind became much clearer. As for how to deal with Xuanzong after arriving in Chengdu, Wang Yuan basically had some preparations.

On the way, Wang Yuan also spent a lot of time communicating with Li Heng and Yan Zhenqing. Regarding Yan Zhenqing, Wang Yuan frankly told him that he would recommend him to hold an important position in the court this time, and even revealed that he wanted to be virtuous. Yan Zhenqing hurriedly excused himself, saying that he would never accept Wang Yuan's move to recommend him as Xiangguo, and said that if Wang Yuan insisted on doing so, he would no longer go to Chengdu, but would return to Beihai County to fight the enemy with Helan Jinming. Wang Yuan observed the words and found that what Yan Zhenqing said was sincere, and he no longer persecuted. But Yan Zhenqing does have a talent for governance, originally Wang Yuan planned to recommend him as the head of the household department to manage the people and the financial affairs of the court, which Yan Zhenqing is good at. However, when he learned that Xuanzong had appointed Li Guangbi as the head of the household department, this idea could only be abandoned, and he could only recommend other positions.

For Li Heng, Wang Yuan talked more with him. Wang Yuan has decided to recommend Li Heng to the throne, not because Li Heng is a suitable candidate for the emperor, but because he is a suitable candidate for Wang Yuan. Although Li Heng has no talent, at least along the way, he doesn't have much out of the ordinary. and followed his birth to death, and also experienced a lot of dangers, which can be regarded as having withstood the test. What's more, he has a lot of respect for himself, which is exactly what Wang Yuan values. If Li Heng can ascend to the throne, he will obey his words, which is the primary condition for Wang Yuan's choice. It's just that Wang Yuan knows that it may not be easy to recommend Li Heng to the throne, the competition for the position of the crown prince is fierce, and the relationship between himself and Xuanzong is getting worse and worse, I am afraid that the candidate he recommended Xuanzong will be disgusted. But in Wang Yuan's opinion, if Xuanzong still wanted to use himself to work for him, he might not dare to completely ignore his own opinions.

Thinking of everything he was about to face, Wang Yuan was both annoyed and a little excited. I haven't experienced intrigue for several years, and Wang Yuan has lived a comfortable life for a few years after coming to Jiannan. But for Wang Yuan, everything is not unfamiliar, and Wang Yuan is never afraid to use any means to achieve his goals. As the saying goes, fighting with others is endless, and this is exactly the truth.

……

Outside the east gate of Chengdu, the afternoon sun is warm and pleasant, and the people who shine are drowsy. On the suspension bridge outside the city, dozens of officials such as Wei Jiansu and Li Mi were standing there waiting. The news of Wang Yuan's return to Chengdu had been delivered to Chengdu a few days ago, and today was the day Wang Yuan arrived in Chengdu, so Wei Jiansu, Li Mi and dozens of officials came to the city gate to greet him. However, the faces of these people are not very good, and the officials who know the inside story are all worried about their hearts, and this time Wang Xiangguo's return to Chengdu may be related to the recent events in the DPRK. Think about the time when Wang Xiangguo suddenly returned to Chengdu a few months ago, which set off a huge storm in Chengdu, and it was at that time that Xiangguo Fang Xuan was killed by His Majesty's order, and even Li Mao, the king of longevity, was implicated and reprimanded. So what kind of storm will Wang Xiangguo's sudden return set off this time?

After Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi arrived in Chengdu two months ago, His Majesty was very fond of these two, and there were rumors in private that Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi said a lot of things that should not be said in front of His Majesty. And the day after the two came back, they went to visit Shouwang Li Mao, and they met almost every day for the next few days, and the relationship was very close. Soon after this, His Majesty conferred official positions on the two and allowed them to return to Shuofang and Hedong to gather soldiers and horses to form another counterinsurgency army. It is said that in order to raise military salaries for these two people, His Majesty paid out of his own pockets, and also ordered the royal nobles to hemorrhage to raise a lot of money and goods, which shows that he has high hopes for the two.

However, His Majesty's move was obviously to provoke disputes, and anyone with a discerning eye knew that Fang Xuan's death seemed to be due to the private use of Wang Yuan's army's food. But in fact, everyone knew that it was not a matter of food and salary at all, but Fang Xuan's intention to rebuild the forbidden army angered Wang Yuan. And now, His Majesty's move is clearly a follow-up to that incident.

Of course, Xuanzong's move is beyond reproach. As the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, his appointment is reasonable and legitimate, and he has this power. But everyone knows in their hearts that at this time in the Tang Dynasty, Wang Yuan's family is dominant, and they have heavy troops, which is the hope of the Tang Dynasty to suppress the rebellion. His Majesty's doing this at this time would obviously cause Wang Yuan's dissatisfaction. In everyone's impression, although Wang Yuan doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary. But after the incident of Fang Xuan, the words of coercing the Son of Heaven to order the princes became an imprint in everyone's hearts, and they could not be erased. His Majesty also seems to feel that he is controlled by Wang Yuan, so he is eager to break the situation to balance Wang Yuan, so he has such a move. But for the bigger picture, it seems unwise that this could lead to instability.

Many people expressed their understanding of Xuanzong's behavior, and if the court has the power to sit down, how can His Majesty be stable. But more people are very disappointed with Xuanzong's behavior, His Majesty's move is really out of place, at the juncture of counterinsurgency, His Majesty's move will cause unknown turmoil, which is irresponsible to the Tang Dynasty. Datang has reached the point where it is now, and His Majesty can't forbear it for the sake of the overall situation, I'm afraid it will be difficult to be called the king of the Holy Ming. And all kinds of signs show that although Wang Yuan is powerful, there is not much out of the ordinary in this person's actions, and he has not seen any disobedience. From Ma Weipo's timely rescue to the current settlement of the imperial court and the reversal of the situation of rebellion, it is all the credit of Wang Yuan. If it weren't for Wang Yuan's efforts to turn the tide, the Tang Dynasty would have been shattered at this time, and His Majesty and the ministers would have fled to the small countries in the Western Regions, and they would be in an embarrassing situation.

For a man who has made such a great contribution to the imperial court, and who has not done anything out of the ordinary, His Majesty's suspicion is inevitably too strong, and his actions are inevitably too inconsiderate.

Therefore, since learning the news that Wang Yuan was going to return to Chengdu, the officials of the court were a little worried. They were worried that this time Wang Yuan's return would set off a huge storm, and it might even destroy the imperial court completely. Your Majesty is already arrogant, if Wang Yuan is angry with His Majesty's actions, what will happen is really unpredictable.

In the afternoon sun, the smoke and dust rising in the distance shimmered like gold powder. Beneath the dust, the sound of hooves rumbled. A group of hundreds of horsemen from far and near appeared in the field of vision of the officials.

"Here we are, haha." The old general Li Mi shouted with a loud laugh.

Except for the heartfelt happiness on his face, the muscles on the faces of the other officials trembled. Wang Yuan is here, and the unknown storm is finally coming.

Wang Yuan was dressed as a dark horse, the golden armor on his body was eye-catching and dazzling, and the black velvet cloak was flying in the air. The big black horse rushed straight to the suspension bridge a few steps before standing with its head held high, and sloppily screamed to stop. The dust fascinated everyone's eyes, and by the time they could see the scene clearly, Wang Yuan was already smiling and standing in front of them.

"Wei Zuoxiang, General Li Mi, colleagues, don't come unharmed." Wang Yuan smiled with a smile.

All the officials bowed their hands and saluted, shouting: "The lower officials and others welcome the return of Xiangguo." ”

Wang Yuan lifted his cloak and waved it back in a chic manner, and said with a smile: "How dare you wait here?" Won't it be a waste of your precious time? ”

Wei Jiansu hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile: "Where did Xiangguo say that, Xiangguo worked hard in front to quell the rebellion, and finally came back for a trip, and I will come to greet him no matter what." Not only are we here, but His Majesty has entrusted His Royal Highness King Shou to greet him instead. ”

Wei Jiansu pointed to the suspension bridge behind him, and Wang Yuan saw Shouwang Li Mao standing at the back of the crowd, looking at him expressionlessly. Seeing Wei Jiansu's guidance, Li Mao squeezed out a smile on his face and stepped forward and arched his hand: "This king came to welcome the return of Wang Xiangguo on the order of his father. ”

Wang Yuan smiled and saluted: "Your Majesty has a heart, and the prince has worked." ”

Li Mao said in a deep voice: "Yes, Wang Xiangguo has worked hard and made great achievements, and it should be so." ”

Wang Yuan smiled and nodded, and Li Mi's shouts beside him had already sounded: "Aren't you Yan Taishou, who has been alone in Plains City for nine months?" ”

When everyone heard the sound, they saw Li Mi staring at a middle-aged man in his forties. Many of the courtiers knew Yan Zhenqing, but Yan Zhenqing had been away from Beijing for a few years, and after several months of hard work, he was no longer the original plump and slightly chubby appearance, but at this moment he was already an old man with a thin face and a weathered face, but after a closer look, he immediately recognized it.

"This one is General Li Mi Li, who has admired his name for a long time. During this time, I listened to Xiangguo talk about the deeds of General Li Lao when he pacified the Southern Zhao and fought against Tibet, and Yan was very admired. Today I finally saw the truth. Yan Zhenqing smiled and arched his hand.

"It's really Yan Taishou, hahaha, amazing. Defending Plains City for nine months is remarkable. Let's ask for advice another day and listen to the story of Yan Taishou. Li Mi smiled with a smile.

Yan Zhenqing smiled and said: "I'm ashamed, if it weren't for Xiangguo leading the army to rescue, Yan would have died in Pingyuan City." I didn't expect this matter to spread to Chengdu so quickly, and the news spread really fast. ”

"Do you need to talk about that? The deeds of Wang Xiangguo's 3,000 cavalry sweeping through the hinterland of the rebels have long been spread all over the country, and the city of Chengdu has known more than 20 days ago. It's really incredible. Yan is too guarded and polite. Wei Jiansu smiled and stepped forward to salute.

All the officials also stepped forward to salute, they already knew about Yan Zhenqing's deeds, and everyone admired them in their hearts. Wang Yuan watched coldly, Shouwang Li Mao did not move, or Yan Zhenqing stepped forward to salute, and he returned the salute slightly.

Everyone saluted Li Heng, the king of Feng, and was busy in a hurry. It was rare for Li Heng to encounter such courtesy, he couldn't close his mouth with a smile, and kept returning the salute, and his demeanor was very proud. Because he has personally experienced all the things that the ministers admired, and they are all part of it, he naturally feels the pride of success.

Li Mao watched coldly, and it wasn't until Li Hui came to him triumphantly to salute that he said lightly: "Twenty-sixth brother, you are beautiful this time, I heard that you have done a lot of great things this time, right?" ”

"I saw Brother Eighteen, but I didn't do anything, I just followed Marshal Wang from birth to death, and went around the hinterland of the rebels under the siege and interception of 100,000 rebels. It's much better than sitting idle here in Chengdu and thinking about useless things every day. At least I killed dozens of traitors with my own hands and did my best for my Datang. ”

Li Heng had a thorn in his words, Li Maoyan couldn't hear it, this was obviously sarcasm that he had nothing to do and calculated others every day. Li Mao's face suddenly became gloomy.

Li Heng didn't care about his feelings, and still said triumphantly: "There are a lot of interesting things that have happened, I will tell you in detail when I get together with the eighteenth brother and the brothers another day." Hey, that's wonderful. By the way, is my father okay? ”

Li Mao said lightly: "Father Emperor Long is healthy, you are about to see him, don't you know when you meet?" ”

Li Heng nodded and smiled: "That's right, my father can't wait to see me, I'm afraid I'll be summoned in a while." Hehe, I'm going to give his old man a few kowtows to make up for my failure to fulfill my filial piety in the past few months. ”

"That's as it should be, my father must be happy to see you." Li Mao said coldly.