"The saint saved my life and gave me reuse, like a reborn parent; The concubine is kind, and does not laugh at me like other noble ladies, but treats me sincerely. Although my heart is hard, it is not made of stone, and I also want to repay the kindness of their husband and wife, and they are all loyal, but Yang Guozhong deceives people too much, and repeatedly forces me, which really makes me unbearable. Starting from the virtuous minister Zhang Jiuling back then, the officials of Chang'an and the generals scattered all over the country looked down on me, and now even the saints don't believe in me, if I don't rebel, I will die. I don't know how people from all over the world have a lot of thoughts, but whether this battle can be won or not, we have to fight to know! ”

An Lushan responded to a hundred calls, and the riders under his command were all elite, and everywhere they went, the smoke and dust were thousands of miles, and the noise shook the ground. Hebei is the territory of An Lushan, now the army crosses, all the cities are looking forward to the wind and collapse, its order or directly open the door to welcome, or abandon the city to flee, or captured by the army, no one dares to refuse.

The battle reports on the front line were sent to the Huaqing Palace, and after seeing the words and sentences of the fall of Hebei one after another, Li Longji finally determined that An Lushan was really reversed.

Xiao Jiangyuan immediately sent people to summon all the important ministers into the palace to discuss countermeasures, but when he looked back, he saw Li Longji holding the battle report in his hand and sitting on the throne weakly.

His body was slightly slumped, his back was a little rickety, and his hands were trembling slightly from excessive exertion. His eyes were hollow, and he didn't know where to look. He was silent, his face was not cold and solemn, but he had no expression.

Countless emotions filled his mind, choking his throat and clutching his chest, leaving him breathless and speechless.

He was angry and confused, he was terrified, he was at a loss, he was remorseful.

Xiao Jiangyuan knew that Li Longji must be in a big upset, so he didn't bother, and just stayed by his side quietly.

Yang Guozhong and others soon arrived. In the face of the rebels' momentum, all the officials were worried, but Yang Guozhong was not frightened, and his face was proud:

"The minister has long said that An Lushan will rebel, and the saint is always willing to believe in the minister now, right?"

The officials frowned, now is the time to say this?

Xiao Jiangyuan couldn't help but be stunned. She had always felt that in order to prove An Lushan's anti-will, Yang Guozhong was too eager for quick success. At first, she thought that Yang Guozhong finally had some responsibility and consciousness as the prime minister of a country, but she was a little anxious, but it turned out that he was deliberately forcing An Lushan to rebel, just to prove that he was right.

Seeing that Li Longji had been sitting silently, the officials looked at Xiao Jiangyuan one after another.

Xiao Jiangyuan glanced at Yang Guozhong lightly: "Since the right minister is so prescient, can he have a good strategy to defend against the enemy?" ”

Yang Guozhong said confidently: "The four seas have been peaceful for a long time, and the only person who really wants to rebel is An Lushan, whether it is the deputy generals and soldiers under his command, they must be loyal to the Tang Dynasty and will not be able to follow him for long." Within ten days, someone will send An Lushan's head to Chang'an! ”

Xiao Jiangyuan and the hundred officials were speechless, but Li Longji suddenly woke up, stared at Yang Guozhong, and said cautiously: "Really? ”

Without waiting for Yang Guozhong to speak, Xiao Jiangyuan spoke: "Even if it can really be as the right minister said, everyone should have some arrangements." ”

The next day, Chang Qing, the imperial historian and protector of Anxi, entered the pilgrimage as usual and took the initiative to ask for help: "The sage of enlightenment, the minister thinks that the Tang Dynasty has been peaceful for a long time, and the people are afraid to surrender or flee when they see the war, which is understandable." However, there must be adversity and good times in the world, and the situation may not be able to change, please go to the Eastern Capital immediately, open the treasury, recruit bravery, pick horses to cross the river, count the days to take the head of the rebel Hu, and dedicate it to the saint! ”

Listening to Feng Changqing's heroic words, Li Longji was finally able to raise some strength and make the next deployment. At the request of Feng Changqing, he appointed him as the envoy of Fanyang and Pinglu Jiedu, and asked him to go to the eastern capital to recruit troops, and at the same time, he took Weiweiqing Zhang Jieran as the envoy of Henan Jiedu, led Chen Liu and other thirteen counties, and set up a defense line in the east of the eastern capital; With Jiuyuan Taishou Guo Ziyi as the Lingwu Taishou, he stopped the rebels from advancing westward in Hedong; He also took Jing Zhaomu and Rongwang Li Wan as the marshal, and ordered Gao Xianzhi, the general of the right Yulin, to be the deputy marshal, and recruited soldiers in Chang'an, known as the Tianwu Army.

In the 14th year of Tianbao, on November 21, Li Longji led the crowd back to Chang'an.

The first thing Li Longji did when he returned to Chang'an was to order An Lushan's eldest son, An Qingzong, to be killed, and at the same time to give the county lord Rongyi to commit suicide. He wants to tell the people of the world that he does not recognize the name of An Lushan's so-called "Qingjun side", and An Lushan and Shi Siming's army are no different from complete rebels.

Ten days later, Feng Changqing recruited 60,000 troops in the eastern capital, and Gao Xianzhi raised 110,000 troops in Chang'an, plus soldiers from other regions, a total of 200,000. Li Longji finally breathed a sigh of relief, and when Gao Xianzhi's troops and horses were deployed, he also personally went to the government affairs headquarters to see him off.

However, the situation did not change from this.

Xiao Jiangyuan found that Li Longji was not the same as before.

At first, he just couldn't sleep all night long, sitting in the hall until dawn, and in the next few days, his patience became less and less, and he could only maintain a trace of calm when facing Yang Yuhuan. His temper is getting worse and worse, whether it is Yang Guozhong or even the ministers, or the palace people and eunuchs who serve around him, they have all been reprimanded by him, and the furnishings in the Nanxun Hall have to be changed from time to time.

Xiao Jiangyuan thought that Li Longji was just too anxious and anxious, after all, he had been comfortable for too long and had been smooth for many years. She could understand that he couldn't allow such an abrupt change in his rule, and he couldn't accept that his originally innocuous imperial career would end in such a sad and angry way. She also knew how anxious he was to change all this in front of him, so that this war could end as soon as possible, and become a worthless episode in his life, even if it was written in the history books, it was as few as the large and small wars on the border over the years, rather than a long one, depicting it as the greatest sin of his life.

But she didn't expect that the stimulation and impact of this war on Li Longji would be so great, almost destroying all his publicity and self-confidence.

He began to get suspicious. However, after a day or two of no war report, he could not sit still, finally fell asleep once, and had nightmares again. When Xiao Jiangyuan went to wake him up, he even grabbed Xiao Jiangyuan's wrist tightly with one hand, and with the other hand, a dagger poked out from under the pillow, almost cutting Xiao Jiangyuan's throat!

The blade stopped in front of Xiao Jiangyuan's neck, and Li Longji had already woken up. He immediately let go of his hand and tossed the dagger aside. He clearly wanted to take a closer look, but his eyes kept dodging: "You...... Are you okay? ”

"This sentence should be asked to everyone." Xiao Jiangyuan got up and picked up the dagger, and took out the scabbard from under Li Longji's pillow, "This thing is too dangerous, so I will keep it for everyone for the time being." ”

Li Longji sat on the couch with his head down, depressed and weak, and when Xiao Jiangyuan was about to walk out of the dormitory, he suddenly said, "Are they going to rebel too?" ”

Xiao Jiangyuan immediately stood still, turned around and stared at Li Longji for a long time, and then said in disbelief: "What are you asking...... Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing, Guo Ziyi and others? ”

"I know I shouldn't be like this, but I can't help myself." Li Longji did not deny it, "I have believed in An Lushan for 20 years...... At the beginning, Zhang Jiuling once said that he had a reverse face, I didn't believe it, and then no matter what you said, I didn't believe it either, I believed in him so much, why did he betray me? I saved his life back then, I gave him the opportunity to make meritorious contributions, and over the years, he has received more than the other generals combined, isn't it enough? ”

Xiao Jiangyuan put the dagger aside and walked in front of Li Longji, but when he saw him, he immediately stood up and walked to the hall and paced:

"I've been an emperor for forty-three years, and for twenty of those years, I've been using the wrong people?! I don't know if I used only one person in the wrong place, or if I used the wrong number of people...... It must be a lot of people, right? Who are they, and will they betray me like An Lushan? Do you feel the attitude of your subjects towards me today? Did you see the way the soldiers looked at me when the army marched out? I have not seen a war in Datang for a long time, and I can imagine how the people and defenders are in a hurry, and what kind of tragic situation will be for those cities that fall into the hands of the enemy...... It may be their hometown, or even their relatives, how much they fear and dislike the war, how much they blame me, blame me for believing in and reusing An Lushan, and make such a big mistake!

"But I wasn't like that! I have also set things right and worked hard to make the country right, and these decades of prosperity and comfort have been completed under my rule! I Taishan Feng Zen, Wenzhi martial arts, even if I am complacent, but I am just eager to be like a sage to do nothing, even so, I have never completely let go of the government! I am at fault, but is that mistake really enough to erase all my credit to Datang and the people? Could it be that I am so stupid that I am so angry with God that I am going to end my life by letting God play such a trick on me, but it has to give me a head start at this time?! ”

Li Longji began to speak incoherently, and his speed became faster and faster: "How much time do I have to live?" Can I still win? What will the people of the world think, and what about the history books? The generals are leading the troops outside, if they unite with An Lushan, they can attack Chang'an with their backhand, kill me, and destroy the Tang Dynasty! Can I still trust them? Who else can I trust? Will they all be disappointed in me? Do all the subjects of the world want to kill me? Am I a bright king, or a faint king? I ......"

"San Lang!" Seeing that Li Longji was becoming more and more flustered and almost collapsed, Xiao Jiangyuan hurriedly grabbed Li Longji's arms and didn't let him say any more.

As soon as the words came out, Xiao Jiangyuan was stunned, and Li Longji was also stunned.

Li Longji glanced at Xiao Jiangyuan steadily, and finally slowly calmed down.

Xiao Jiangyuan took a deep breath and smiled comfortingly: "If you are really uneasy in your heart, you can follow the old story and send a trusted eunuch as a supervisor." In the sixth year of Tianbao, when General Gao outwitted Xiao Bolu, didn't everyone send Bian Lingcheng as the supervisor? Nowadays, like Feng Shenwei, Wang Chengen, etc., everyone can send them out as long as they can be trusted. ”

At that time, Gao Xianzhi made great contributions and was hated by Shangfeng, and Bian Lingcheng once spoke out for him...... Will there be collusion between them? Li Longji hesitated for a moment, and then immediately refuted himself, "That's it, they have cooperated before, so there is no need to run in temporarily, or they can get twice the result with half the effort." ”

"Exactly." Realizing that Li Longji was deliberately resisting his suspicions, Xiao Jiangyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The next day, Bian Lingcheng was ordered to set off, and Xiao Jiangyuan personally sent it to Chang'an City: "The generals are outside, the king's order is still not subject to it, you are just a supervisor of the army, don't interfere too much in the affairs of the generals." ”

Bian Lingcheng knew that he was ordered to be in danger, and life and death were in this battle, and he had no time to care about himself and Xiao Jiangyuan's respective masters: "General Xiao rest assured, the lower officials have this experience." ”

Although the subjective problem has been temporarily solved, the objective problem still cannot be avoided that most of the soldiers and horses who were temporarily recruited were vagrants in the market, who had never received strict training, and although they were numerous, their morale was weak, their courage was small, and their combat effectiveness was even worse.

On December 2, An Lushan attacked Chenliu, and the defense line east of the eastern capital was broken. At this time, An Lushan had learned that his eldest son was dead, and when he was about to kill the 10,000 soldiers who surrendered to Chen Liu, he killed them on the spot, and then marched directly to the eastern capital!

On December 8, An Lushan attacked Wujiao Pass, the last checkpoint outside the Eastern Capital.

On December 12, An Lushan captured the eastern capital.

The two capitals of the Tang Dynasty have lost one of them so far.