However, after holding so much power, his style of rejection and cronyism became more and more obvious. Ran Wen ?en'org

Let's not talk about other places, just in the appointment and dismissal of officials. has gone from having to agree with three agencies to be able to name an official in the past, to now he has the final say. Institutions like Menxia Province can only look at which officials are chosen, and they have no decision-making power at all.

In this case, those who want to be officials in the court, or those who want to be officials in their families, go to the Prime Minister's Office to give gifts. Every day, before the gate of the Prime Minister's Mansion is opened, the front of the Mansion is already full of gift-givers.

At the same time, Yang Guozhong let go of An Lushan's matter. He began to think that he had been promoted from a county lieutenant to the prime minister in less than a year, and there would definitely be gossip behind his back. So, he planned to salvage himself for some merit. With credit, even if someone questions him in the future, he will not have nothing to say.

After deciding to make some merits, Yang Guozhong's first thought was to fight abroad. After all, this is the fastest way to get merit.

After thinking about it for a long time, he discussed it with his group of staff for a day or two. He finally set his sights on Nanzhao. As for the reason, it is natural that Nanzhao's national strength is weak, and it is easier to make a record.

Unlike the powerful countries of Turkic and Tibetan. Even if a figure like the general of Zhenguo went to sit in the town, he could only defend the gate of the Tang Dynasty, but could not eliminate the other party.

After the decision, Yang Guozhong did not think too much about it, he immediately asked Tang Xuanzong for an order to attack Nanzhao, and let him be the commander of this operation, and he could transfer troops from several jiedu envoys near Nanzhao.

Tang Xuanzong, who also hoped that Yang Guozhong could make some achievements, naturally agreed very happily. and personally gave orders to several jiedu envoys in the south, asking them to hand over their troops to Yang Guozhong, so that Yang Guozhong could smoothly attack Nanzhao.

Although many local forces nowadays are disobedient to the holy decree. But after all, they still obey orders on the surface. Therefore, when Yang Guozhong came to the south, these jiedu envoys still handed over part of their troops to Yang Guozhong for use, of course, just for show, and did not give him too much.

Although the number of troops given to him by each section envoy was not very large, it added up to 40,000 people. Of course, among them, there were also seven or eight thousand people brought by Yang Guozhong from Chang'an City.

Yang Guozhong led the 40,000 army and marched to Nanzhao.

After receiving the news, Nanzhao immediately mobilized the whole country and organized troops to deploy troops at the junction of the two countries.

However, An Lushan, who knew nothing about marching and fighting, did not set any definite battle plan, nor did he confront the other party. When they came to the opponent's defense line, An Lushan saw that the opponent only had more than 10,000 people, and despite the opposition of the generals under his command, he directly ordered the army to rush up from the front.

However, at the time when the two sides were just in contact. Without warning, a Nanzhao army rushed out from the rear again, forming a flanking attack on Yang Guozhong's army.

Although there were many of them, after the opponent occupied a favorable position and formed a flanking attack. Their army of 40,000 was beaten by less than 20,000 opponents, and they were almost about to be defeated. Fortunately, at this critical juncture, the general who stayed in the camp led the only less than 5,000 soldiers in the camp to rush up from the rear to rescue, which rescued Yang Guozhong and them.

However, Yang Guozhong, who had escaped, not only did not learn his lesson, but continued to let the army attack the army of Nanzhao State stationed here. Fortunately, there are still some people in Yang Guozhong's staff who know a little combat experience. Under the strong suggestion of that person, An Lushan gave up and did not launch another strong attack.

Instead, he followed the man's advice, first sent 5,000 soldiers and horses, divided them into two parts, and quietly attacked the weakly defended city on both sides. As for the others, it is here that attracts the attention of Nanzhaoguo.

Sure enough, in just two or three days, these more than 5,000 people captured four cities one after another, although they were all small cities, but Yang Guozhong was already very happy.

And after learning the news, the main force of Nanzhao, which had been fighting against Yang Guozhong and them, had no choice but to send nearly one-third of its troops to prevent the other party from continuing to attack.

After getting this information, Yang Guozhong's face was immediately full of excitement, and he directly launched a second total, ignoring the opposition of those generals.

Therefore, the 35,600,000 army once again rushed to the opponent's defensive line. Because the opponent has already occupied all the favorable terrain, they are very disadvantaged when attacking. On the first day of the attack alone, more than five thousand people died, while the opposing side lost less than two thousand.

However, after seeing this casualty, Yang Guozhong did not order a retreat, but continued to urge the army to storm the opponent's defensive line.

In the end, after three days of fighting, Yang Guozhong's army repelled the army of Nanzhao at the cost of 25,000 soldiers and annihilated nearly 10,000 enemy troops.

For this record, Yang Guozhong is very happy. Wait until all the areas that have been ceded by Nanzhao are occupied. An Lushan immediately personally reported the results to Tang Xuanzong: his army captured a medium-sized city and four small cities in Nanzhao in just a few days, and annihilated nearly 10,000 enemies!

As for their own casualties, Yang Guozhong can be said to have said that he did not say a word.

Although it is only a small area, it is enough for Yang Guozhong. After all, he came this time just to make some achievements.

At the same time, after hearing that Yang Guozhong did not plan to continue the attack. The remaining fifteen-odd soldiers under his command were all secretly relieved in their hearts.

What a war this is! It's like giving the enemy a head!

After all, the army of Nanzhao Kingdom, whether it is the strength of the soldiers or the equipment, is far inferior to them. What's more, this time they still fought more and less, and their troops were two or three times that of the other party.

But it was in this case that their casualties were actually twice as large as those of the other side. And only five cities in this small area have been defeated. Thinking about this battle, the soldiers who survived, while being lucky, regarded it as a shame for their own lives. They have marched and fought for so many years, and they have never fought such a humiliating battle.

After completely controlling these five cities, Yang Guozhong left thousands of guards in the city. Then he asked the soldiers to go to their original forces. As for Yang Guozhong himself, he returned to the capital to find Tang Xuanzong to receive merit.

(To be continued.) )