Chang'an was besieged, and the situation was tight, but in Tongguan, which was the barrier of Luoyang, it was also full of crises at this time.

An Lushan's general Cai Xide led a large army to surround here, and Ge Shuzhen returned from Huifu Qianli to help, temporarily stabilizing the situation in Tokyo City, but what made him very unannoyed was that the emperor's order was to refuse to fight.

Ge Shuhan was originally a brave general, so aggrieved in Tongguan, relying on natural dangers, he felt that his face was gloomy, but Prime Minister Yang Guozhong ignored his emotions and repeatedly ordered him not to attack easily, afraid of other people's ambush plans.

In this way, Ge Shuhan watched Shi Siming lead the army to recover the prefectures and counties along the Yellow River one by one, and the grain and grass piled up like a mountain, gradually isolating himself.

However, at such a time, he received an order from Li Longji to return from Chang'an, and transferred 80,000 people back to Chang'an, Xijing, to rescue the driver.

Obediently, the Tongguan garrison originally only had 100,000, and later with the support of the imperial court, it was only 1230,000, but now it is extremely embarrassing for him to transfer 80,000 people at once, where is it enough.

Since being caught up by Shi Siming and defeating the battle, he knew that An Lushan's power was huge, and it could really be said that he could not resist, if he had more than 100,000 troops in his hands, he would still have the bottom in his heart, but now that he was evacuated, it made him panic.

However, the emperor's order cannot be violated, besides, he felt Li Longji's kindness, and he repaid him with death, and never thought about refusing to obey the order, so although he was very unwilling, he still obeyed Li Longji's order, handed over the 80,000 army to Guo Ziyi, and asked him to take it back to Chang'an for emergency relief.

At this time, a spy of An Lushan's army had already reported the news to Cai Xilie.

This is a very powerful person, Cai Xilie as a feudal town in the later five generations, has its own advantages, these more than ten days of siege, has gradually figured out the situation in Tongguan, knowing that most of the defenders of Tongguan are brought by Ge Shuhan from the frontier, and they are not satisfied with the water and soil, and the run-in between the original army and the new army is not perfect, so there is a lot of discomfort, and they do not attack, but only spy on the military situation.

With Cai Xilie's shrewdness, he didn't want to storm Tongguan, after all, in that case, the loss would be too great, and it was very likely that it would be useless at all, which would frustrate his own spirit.

However, when Cai Xilie heard the news that Guo Ziyi had taken away the 80,000 troops from Tongguan, he was overjoyed and thought that the opportunity had come.

That night, he ordered his army to prepare ladders and other things, and only after midnight did he order the siege of the city.

He wanted to take advantage of the fact that the strength of the brother army was greatly reduced to attack the city, and during this time, he had also found out that although Tongguan was dangerous, but entering the hinterland from the crossing of the Yellow River, it could attack the front of Tongguan, which would be much easier to break.

That night, Brother Shuhan, the general of Tongguan, said to his subordinate deputy general Liu Bao: "The imperial court has just mobilized troops from me, Cai Xilie will definitely take advantage of the weakness to attack me, but set up heavy troops in front of Tongguan to defeat it, and then set up elite troops in the dangerous road of Tongguan, and it will be defeated." ”

At three drums that night, Cai Xilie really led a large army to attack, wanting to capture Tongguan by surprise.

That night, when the moon was dark and the wind was high, and after the drum of the third watch was beaten, one of Cai Xilie's elite troops had quietly sneaked into the valley west of Tongguan.

But at this time, the torches were bright, the feather arrows of the narrow mountain road were flying, and countless shouts came, it turned out to be Ge Shuhan's ambush soldiers.

As soon as Cai Jiajun saw that the other party had been prepared, he panicked first, and was caught off guard by being killed, and was immediately defeated.

At the same time, the army attacking Tongguan also encountered the attack of Geshuhan's army, and was killed to the point of abandoning its armor and fleeing in embarrassment.

Fortunately, Cai Xilie had already calculated, so he only lost the vanguard troops, and all the brigades were not affected. But that is the case, and it is already the biggest setback that An Lushan has suffered since he entered the army.

Shi Siming, who was far away in Hebei Province, heard the news and personally returned to the army to preside over the siege of the city.

By this time, Tongguan could already be said to be an isolated city, even Xuzhou had been occupied by Tian Chenghe, and the northern part of Luoyang was empty.

At that time, Li Zhongguo, who stayed in Luoyang, was an incompetent person, although he had tens of thousands of troops in his hands, he did not know how to plan, and he was counting on Ge Shuhan to resist the attack of the An army.

Moreover, although Luoyang has the risk of Heluo, but after all, it is not the official capital of the Tang Dynasty, and it can only be regarded as the nature of a companion capital, so it is not a strong city defense, and Tongguan is broken, which is worse than Chang'an after Yangping Pass is broken.

After this battle, An Lushan's army was shaken, and at this time, An Lushan also personally led 100,000 troops to arrive, plus the original 150,000 troops, a total of 250,000, approaching Tongguan in a mighty way, and crossing the Yellow River, forming an iron bucket formation.

With the current strength of Tongguan, there are only less than 50,000 people, and most of them are old and weak soldiers, how can they resist An Lushan, and resisting to fight to the death is almost the only way out.

In the next ten days, the two sides fought three battles, but dozens of small battles, but to An Lushan's disappointment, Tongguan was not yet captured.

The topography of Tongguan is indeed a place where soldiers through the ages must fight, holding the fortress, and actually blocking An Lushan's hundreds of thousands of troops for nearly a month, which makes An Lushan anxious, he knows that the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it is for himself.

However, not to mention the difficulties and dangers of Tongguan, there are countless grains, grasses and weapons in the city, which have been prepared well decades ago.

However, it was said that An Lushan was in the army, and he was deeply troubled by Tongguan, and he wanted to abandon Tongguan and take Luoyang directly.

As soon as these words came out, the military advisor Liu Ru hurriedly shook his hand: "It's not proper!" Once our army penetrates into Luoyang, it will be attacked by the enemy, making us in a dilemma. If you capture Luoyang, there is still a place to live, but once you don't stay for a long time, it is very dangerous, this is a taboo for soldiers, and we can't help but guard against it. ”

Shi Siming also persuaded: "Your Majesty, this matter must not be done, but it is to put yourself in a desperate situation but have no interests, it is better to send an army to take Chang'an from afar, then the Tongguan army will definitely intercept along the road, and Ge Shuhan will be captured by us at that time." ”

Hua Mingqing also said when he heard it: "Your Majesty, General Shi's plan is very good, I think Li Longji is as important as a mountain to Ge Shuhan, once Chang'an is in an emergency again, you must ask Ge Shuhan for support, at that time, even if Tongguan sends another 20,000 defenders, we will have a very high chance of attacking, and Ge Shuhan's bravery, once we withdraw the army to the west, maybe we will be able to call for help, and when the time comes, our opportunity will come." ”

Tian Chengsi continued: "Hua Keqing's words are very appropriate, I think that brother Shuhan only knows how to be strong, and when he was in the northwest, he was mostly the first to fight, and now he is cowering in the city for nearly a month, and his heart is definitely depressed, why don't I set up an ambush and wait for this guy to come and fall by himself?" ”

Although An Lushan was anxious, he was a master of the realm after all, and he was still calm, thinking that it was really unwise to storm Tongguan, and this could indeed deter Li Longji, besides, Tanma reported that the Tang Dynasty was now attacking Chang'an very urgently, and although the soldiers of King Qin were recruiting, they were far from having combat effectiveness, and it could be said that it was an excellent time for them to enter the army.

In An Lushan's heart, only taking Chang'an is the most important. His heart now has a deep grudge against the Tang Dynasty: Lao Tzu attracted the main force of the Tang army in Tongguan, but you picked a ready-made advantage behind your back, this time the army returned to Chang'an, inside and outside the attack, see how you protect yourself, but I can take the opportunity to capture Chang'an, when the time comes, Chang'an is broken, Ge Shuhan still sticks to Tongguan, but it has lost its meaning.

The idea was certain, An Lushan immediately ordered Shi Siming to take 100,000 troops to besiege Tongguan, but he personally led an elite 150,000 army to cross the Yellow River westward, from Zhengzhou and Xuzhou to Shaanxi, plundering along the way, and capturing Dinglafu everywhere, the army gradually grew to 200,000 people, falsely claiming to be 500,000, and went to Yangping Pass.

The Yangping guard general has already received the news, and has already scavenged the grain and grass in the nearby prefectures and counties, deep ditches and high bases, and waited for the arrival of An Lushan's army.

Zhuan Xin had already received the orders of the Tang Dynasty, and the soldiers of Fang An had passed the test.

An Lushan army of 200,000, day and night, not more than ten days, has arrived at the Yangping Pass thirty miles in front of the place, the sentinel to Yangping Pass has been occupied by the Tang Dynasty first, and immediately sent his general Gao Yue to carry a letter of the Great Yan State, to call the door outside the Yangping Pass.

Seeing that it was a messenger, he immediately opened the city and put it in.

At this time, although An Lushan has not yet established himself as the emperor, but the army has already been commensurate with the emperor, and An Lushan is unsuspected, and the heart of rebellion is already well known.

Gao Yue explained his intention and presented the credentials. The book is slightly said: Emperor An Lushan of Dayan, to the book in the mighty Ping sentence of the general Tang Dynasty, read the friendship of the alliance, the virtuous brother is not good to capture Chang'an, the imperial brother is willing to help, together with the siege of Chang'an, in order to solve the crisis, now has led the army of 500,000 hunting in Yangping, but not to switch the reward. But refusing to let go? When the national letter arrives, I hope to remember the friendship of the alliance and switch it off.

After reading it, I thought, how can I be the master of such a big matter, or send someone to Chang'an to ask Tang Dashuai, and then make a decision. At the moment, good words comforted Gao Yue, and entertained him in the hotel, and he could get a reply from the Tang Dynasty in just half a day.

The Tang Dynasty had been trapped in Chang'an for a long time, and the fine work was densely packed in the city, and wanted to contact Li Yu and others, but it could not succeed for a while, and he heard that Guo Ziyi brought back an army of 80,000 from Tongguan, and wanted to attack the Shence army inside and outside the city to relieve the siege of Chang'an, thinking that Guo's army would arrive soon, and he was very anxious.