At the same time that Gao Xianzhi led an army of 150,000 to the east, a vigorous recruitment operation was being set off in the eastern capital of Luoyang. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Feng Changqing and the eastern capital stayed behind, and Li Cheng raced against time to start a large-scale conscription in Luoyang City.

As a large number of refugees poured into Luoyang from the lost state capital in the east, the city was almost overcrowded, and the streets and alleys were crowded with ragged and panicked refugees. While putting tremendous pressure on the government, it has to be said that the influx of a large number of refugees has created good conditions for recruitment.

Although Lu Yi set up more than 100 porridge pots in Xicheng Square in the imperial history, the number of refugees was too large, and most of them could only receive a bowl of gruel every day. The resulting looting, fighting, and riots have also emerged one after another. For several days in a row, hundreds of corpses came in the streets and alleys overnight. Either starve to death, freeze to death, or be killed by desperate thugs.

Many refugees dare to take risks in order to get a bite to eat. Under such circumstances, it is extremely attractive to join the army and have a full meal. Between starving to death if you don't have food and maybe dying in battle if you join the army, many people choose the former. Joining the military is risky, but the risk of starvation is even greater. It is possible to die in battle but also to live when you join the army, but if you don't have anything to eat, you will definitely die.

As a result, when the recruitment notice was posted, the crowds in front of the major recruitment stations were bustling, and the number of people joining the army skyrocketed. Even in order to be selected into the army, many people did not hesitate to kneel on the ground and beg for help, and some people made a lot of noise because they were not selected because of their age and physique.

This situation was something Feng Changqing didn't expect, he knew how difficult it was to recruit soldiers. After the Battle of Tubo, the Anxi Army and the Hexi Army suffered heavy losses. Like the Longyou Dao of Jiannan Dao, the Anxi and Hexi armies under Gao Xianzhi's jurisdiction have also experienced large-scale recruitment. It's just that Gao Xianzhi is not as versatile as Wang Yuan, and he doesn't have so much financial resources to attract people to join the army, so his recruitment progress is extremely slow. Feng Changqing went through those processes, he knew how reluctant the people were to join the army, and even in the end, Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing had to take tough measures, and it took more than a year to make up for the number of troops in the two provinces.

And now, Luoyang City's recruitment operation is simply easy, if it weren't for the limited weapons and armor, Feng Changqing estimated that it would be possible to raise 100,000 soldiers and horses. In just nine days, Luoyang City's recruitment operation was completed. In more than nine days, Feng Changqing recruited 65,000 recruits in Luoyang City, and put the 65,000 sets of armor and weapons in stock to use. 65,000 soldiers and horses, plus 30,000 original soldiers and horses in Luoyang City, plus the remnants of the defeated generals gathered from the rout of the state capital, 7788 integration, Luoyang City actually miraculously has 100,000 troops.

Ten days ago, I was still worried about the lack of soldiers in Luoyang, but ten days later, there were 100,000 troops in Luoyang City, which was like a dream. When Feng Changqing delivered the news Pegasus to the capital, the court was jubilant. Yang Guozhong said hello to Xuanzong happily, and Xuanzong also smiled and let out a long sigh. 100,000 soldiers and horses defend Luoyang, and An Lushan is afraid that he will not want to capture Luoyang. That's 100,000 soldiers, if you don't have three or five times the number of troops, don't even think about it. As long as it is delayed for another half a month to 20 days, Gao Xianzhi's 150,000 soldiers and horses will rush to Luoyang, and then the 250,000 imperial army will be able to fight the rebels in one fell swoop.

That night, Xuanzong finally had a good night's sleep and had a good dream, dreaming that the rebels were exterminated and An Lushan was captured, and he tied a rope around his neck and ordered him to dance the Hu Xuan Dance. An Lushan's chubby body jumped out of breath, and he laughed, and then Xuanzong woke up laughing, only to find that it was Nan Ke's dream.

After the recruitment was completed, Feng Changqing immediately began to arrange his troops, because he received a report that the vanguard of the rebels had captured Yezhou, Chenliu, Lingchang and Weizhou, which were only more than 100 miles away from Luoyang. Feng Changqing is worthy of being a battle-hardened general who has been baptized by the fire of the Northwest War, bold and brave, in this case, he did not defend Luoyang, but mobilized 40,000 soldiers and horses out of Luoyang fifty miles east of Luoyang, stationed in the Tiger Pass. The Tiger Prison Pass is the first line of defense in the east of Luoyang City.

This move aroused strong opposition from Yin Da Xixun in Henan, who believed that at this time, only the whole army refused to defend Luoyang. At this time, it is simply a stupid and even death act to divide troops to guard the tiger prison. However, Feng Changqing ignored his opposition and personally led 40,000 soldiers and horses out of the city to rush to the Tiger Prison Pass.

Da Xixun was furious, and wrote a song to Beijing overnight, going through several Feng Changqing's misdeeds, claiming that Feng Changqing was ignoring the trust of the imperial court and putting Luoyang in danger, which could ruin Luoyang.

After Feng Changqing, who had no distractions, led his troops to arrive at the Tiger Prison Pass, in the short gap before the arrival of the rebel forward, he ordered the city defense of the Tiger Prison Pass to be reinforced, and was ready to meet the rebels. Two days later, the rebel vanguard generals Tian Chengsi, An Zhongzhi, and Zhang Xiao. The vanguard army of 50,000 rebels loyally approached the Tiger Prison Pass with the threat of several cities.

As the vanguard army, these three people have already killed red eyes along the way, because they have not encountered decent resistance, these three people have been extremely inflated, and they think that they can quickly take the tiger prison pass. Open the gateway to Luoyang City and get even greater credit. But apparently they were too anxious and committed the taboo of soldiers, that is, they made the 50,000 soldiers and horses disconnected from the main force of the rebels in the rear for a hundred miles. And this hundred miles of travel took two days to make up, which also allowed Feng Changqing to use this gap to fight with them in an almost equal battle.

On the 5th day of December, the weather cleared, and the sun rose and shone on the white snow in front of the Tiger Prison. Tian Chengsi, An Zhongzhi, Zhang Xiao. Zhong Sanren led 50,000 soldiers and horses to attack the Tiger Prison Pass, and when they watched countless soldiers swarming towards the Tiger Prison Pass wall, all three of them thought that the Tiger Prison Pass in front of them would be breached as quickly as the prefecture and county cities they had broken all the way to without effort. However, to their surprise, they encountered a strong counterattack from the soldiers and horses of the imperial court in the Tiger Prison. More than a dozen consecutive attacks failed to break through the gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, and several attacks on the city were repelled by the Tang army's fearless counterattack. The three of them were all amazed, this was the first time they had encountered such a fierce act of resistance along the way.

Seeing that the soldiers had suffered heavy casualties, nearly 10,000 people had been killed and wounded in half a day, and from the morning attack to the early afternoon, more than a dozen successive sieges had already exhausted the soldiers and horses who had been marching in a hurry, and their morale was gradually declining. Tian Chengji had to advise the other two rebels to suspend the siege and rest for the night before resuming the attack tomorrow. An Zhongzhi and Zhang Xiao. Tadashi agreed, and they saw that they would not be able to take the tiger prison in one go, so they ordered to camp in the snow outside the city to rest.

However, just as they were dying, the door of the Tiger Prison was suddenly opened. Countless Tang cavalry and infantry following them poured out from the gate of the Tiger Prison Pass, countless in number, and rushed towards the rebels who were camping.

Tian Chengsi and the others were surprised and hurriedly ordered to meet them, but the number of Tang troops was beyond their expectations, and it was on par with their strength. Moreover, after a day of siege and hard fighting, the rebel soldiers who had not eaten at noon were already extremely tired, and it was difficult to resist under the charge of the wolf-like Tang army.

The fighting between the two sides never lasted until the rising of the new moon. In the cold snow, 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers and horses engaged in a brutal melee, until the rebels finally could not resist and retreated, and this melee that lasted for more than two hours came to an end.

Tian Chengsi, An Zhongzhi, Zhang Xiao. The three Zhong retreated in defeat and fled until they were thirty miles away, and found that the Tang army was not in full pursuit, so they gasped and stopped. It was as if all three of them were in a nightmare, and they didn't know why they had suffered this strange defeat. After counting the soldiers and horses, the three were dumbfounded. The 50,000 forward army suffered almost no casualties in the battle in the seven or eight state capitals in the rear, but in the battle in front of the Tiger Prison Pass, it actually lost nearly 30,000 people, and only the 20,000 remnants of the army who shivered in the cold wind of the night were defeated.

The three of them were stunned and speechless, as if someone else had slapped them on the head when they were in high spirits, and it was like someone had poured a scoop of ice water, and all the previous swelling and pride were all gone. The three of them discussed a few words with white faces, led the remnants of the soldiers to retreat thirty miles again, and then camped and waited for the arrival of the rear brigade of soldiers and horses. They no longer have the courage to rush forward.

The first battle of Hugao Pass was the first victory of the Tang army since An Lushan rebelled, and when the news came, the whole city of Luoyang thundered with joy. Everyone was happily talking about the news, but only one person was sullen, and that was Da Xixun. He regretted a little that he had written the letter, and he had just written the letter and went to Beijing, and he was immediately slapped in the face by Feng Changqing, and the court would definitely be dissatisfied with him.

The news of the victory of the Tiger Prison Pass was also quickly delivered to the capital, and Xuanzong and the ministers of civil and military affairs all celebrated and smiled. Xuanzong personally planned to reward the generals who guarded the pass in Feng Changqing and the Tiger Prison, and laughed in front of the ministers: "An Lushan is not Erer, I really looked down on him before, and I thought that no one could guard the northeast border town for me except him." Now look at it, a Feng Changqing will call him disgraced. He destroyed 30,000 enemies in a war, and his 300,000 soldiers and horses only needed ten battles to be wiped out. Tell Feng Changqing to make persistent efforts and win a few more battles, and An Lushan will come to kowtow to me and beg for mercy. ”

Everyone was in high spirits, but Feng Changqing kept a clear head. He knew that this battle was actually a surprise. Moreover, of the 40,000 soldiers and horses he brought to guard the Tiger Prison, 30,000 were regular soldiers, and only 10,000 were recruited recruits. While defending the city, he witnessed the fearful and even wounded his own soldiers, and the final battle had it not been for the 30,000 veterans who were experienced and brave enough to withstand the pressure. You can imagine what it would be like if all the recruits were replaced.

These newly recruited soldiers will be a huge hidden danger, they have no time to train, they can only pray for God's blessing, so that they can quickly mature and become usable soldiers.

……

Sixty miles west of Luoyang, in the main camp of An Lushan.

Although it was already the third watch, An Lushan's big tent was still brightly lit. An Lushan sat behind the desk like a fat hill, with a huge belly resting on the handsome case, and a big fluffy hand was caressing his stomach.

Under the Shuai case, Tian Chengsi and other three generals of the defeated army were crying about the battle of Tiger Pass, and the three of them were full of grievances and tried their best to justify, attributing the defeat of this battle to the sudden and unpredictable attack of the Tang army and the huge number of soldiers and horses that emerged from there.

The muscles on An Lushan's face trembled, and finally he got impatient, interrupted the chatter of the three of them, waved his hand and shouted: "Come on, drag these three fools out and behead them." Sent me to the first humiliating defeat since the army, and the face is here to justify himself. My 30,000 elite soldiers were buried by you like this, and it also boosted the morale of the soldiers and horses of the court in vain, what should I leave you to do? ”

Tian Chengsi and the other three were so frightened that they kowtowed like pounding garlic, lying on the ground and begging bitterly. Several guards rushed in and wanted to drag people out to behead, and the dozen or so generals in the tent were trembling, but no one dared to plead and speak.

The military Yan Yan on the side hurriedly drank the guards, smiled and arched his hand towards An Lushan: "An Shuai, the generals are unknown in battle, and victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, but it is just an inconsequential battle to lose, and Fan Bu killed the three of them." The three generals were the vanguard of our army before, and they conquered the city all the way, and the terrain was like a bamboo, and the credit was not small. The commander must allow them to make amends for their mistakes. ”

An Lushan scolded angrily: "I don't blame them for losing the battle, I'm annoyed that they didn't know how to lose when they lost, and they tried to find a reason." And the loss of 30,000 of my elite soldiers made me really heartbroken. ”

Yan Zhuang said with a smile: "Soldiers can be called again, but good generals may not be there again, An Shuai calms his anger, and allows the three of them to make meritorious contributions." ”

An Lushan didn't plan to really kill these three people, but there must be punishment after the defeat, these three people are his loyal generals, otherwise how could he be qualified to be the general of the vanguard army.

"Well, if it weren't for Mr. Yan's intercession for you, you would have been beheaded for public today. The death penalty may be forgiven, but you must be given a long memory. Come on, drag down one person with twenty military sticks, and beat me hard. ”

The guards stepped forward and dragged the three out, and soon there was the sound of spanking and the sound of the three of them crying wolf. In the tent, An Lushan frowned and said to Yan Zhuang in the sound of ghosts crying wolves: "Mr. Yan, I don't understand, where did so many Tang troops come from the Tiger Prison, do you know what is going on?" ”