Tibet

Chapter 687: Dark Clouds Overcome the City
It turned out that the prince had arrived, and all the prime ministers stood up to salute. Li Yu nodded to the prime ministers. He quickly stepped forward, bowed and saluted the emperor Li Heng, "My son, I see you, the emperor!"

Li Heng waved his hand and asked hurriedly: "The prince just said that there is any way to solve the problem of raising money and food?"

"Reporting to my father, fellow ministers, I have just received a military report sent by Guo Ziyi. The 20 bandits attacking Yuanzhou and Qingzhou have confirmed their retreat. They are not pretending to retreat. They have already retreated to Jingzhou."

There was a sudden buzz in the meeting hall. Everyone knew that Li Ye had captured Chang'an, and An Lushan must have returned to save Chang'an. Li Dai's face was a little ugly, and he knew that his son was about to face huge pressure.

Li Heng nodded and said, "This shows that our plan to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao was successful, but what does this have to do with raising money and food?"

"Father, have you forgotten Guo Ziyi's suggestion before?"

Li Heng thought for a while and suddenly realized, "You mean, we evacuate Hanzhong?"

"Father, An's army is attacking Chang'an with an army of 20, and Li Ye only has [-] troops. Chang'an may not be able to hold it. Once Chang'an is lost again, and Li Ye retreats back to Xiangyang, An's army will definitely come back, and by then spring has already arrived. When the ice and snow in the Hexi Corridor melts, a hundred thousand Tubo troops will come to Lingwu. The two armies will attack. How can we withstand the tens of thousands of troops? So now that the rebel army has retreated, the Tubo army is blocked by heavy snow and cannot get out. This is our best opportunity to go south. As long as we reach Hanzhong, we have Bashu at our back. Are we still worried about not having money, food and soldiers?"

Prince Li Yu's advice was very weighty and sharp. If Li Ye could not hold Chang'an, the rebel army would definitely come back. Once spring started and the Tibetans came from Hexi, they would be completely finished.

Li Heng nodded and said to the ministers, "What do you think, dear friends?"

Wei Jiansu stood up and said: "Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince's suggestion is very timely and very pragmatic. It is the only way to solve the current predicament. I fully support it!"

Li Dai, the Prime Minister of the Left, also said: "Your Majesty, as the saying goes, if you move a tree to death, you will move a person to life. We are in trouble in Lingwu. Then we can only solve the problem by jumping out of Lingwu. We also support His Highness the Crown Prince's plan!"

Li Dai had another idea. If the emperor and the court left Lingwu, his son would no longer have to defend Chang'an and could evacuate Chang'an at any time.

Fang Guan, Pei Mian and Miao Jinqing also expressed their approval.

In fact, Li Heng didn't want to stay in this ghost place like Lingwu for a moment. He wanted money but no money, and he wanted people but no one. He immediately said happily: "Then it's decided, go back and pack immediately, and set off south in three days, ordering Guo Ziyi and Wang Sili’s army is on the way to pick him up!”

Three days later, Emperor Li Heng led thousands of people from the royal family, civil and military officials, etc., and left Lingwu southward under the escort of [-] troops. Guo Ziyi and Wang Sili's [-] troops met the emperor's team halfway. Together they turned to Weizhou, then southward into Chengzhou, and then along Lianyun West Road into Hanzhong.

This is actually a passage opened by Li Ye to connect Xiangyang and Longyou, and now it has become a life-saving road for the Tang Dynasty court.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The dull and thrilling sound of war drums echoed outside Chang'an City.

The black army could not be seen at a glance, and the war flags were fluttering like clouds flying above the troops.

The forest of war spears shimmered coldly in the weak sunlight, the pitch-black armor, and the fierce murderous aura shrouded the wilderness outside the city.

Fifty thousand Tang soldiers stood on the top of the city, calmly watching the murderous enemy troops. More than ten days of brutal training made every soldier feel like he was reborn.

Thanks to the Yan army arriving five or six days late, it gave the Tang army another five or six days to train.

The 20 troops rested outside the East City for half an hour. An Lushan made arrangements. The main army stationed [-] troops two miles outside the East City.

Li Guiren led [-] troops to the north, An Shouzhong stationed to the west, and Zhang Zhongzhi stationed to the south. They each stationed [-] troops to surround the city of Chang'an.

Outside the east city, there is a huge golden platform pulled by 36 horses. The entire platform is wrapped in gold foil and shines brightly in the sun. There is a large golden tent on it, and twelve warriors holding swords stand around it.

This golden platform is the dragon chariot of Anlu Mountain. After entering Guanzhong, he basically lived on this golden platform.At this time, two strong men pushed out a huge cradle with wheels from the big tent. An Lushan, who was like a mountain of meat, was half lying on the cradle. Of course, the cradle was hung with a thin gauze curtain. A soldier held up a yellow umbrella.

"Ugh-"

The low horn sounded, and the battlefield immediately became quiet. Countless pairs of eyes looked at Anlu Mountain. In the eyes of thousands of Yan army soldiers, Anlu Mountain was like thousands of worker ants looking at their fat queen. .

"Long live! Long live! Long live Your Majesty!"

Yan's 20-strong army raised their arms and shouted, their shouts reaching into the sky.

Amidst the cheers, An Lushan squinted and looked at the majestic Chang'an City. This was the second time he looked at Chang'an City seriously. The first time was decades ago, when he first arrived in Chang'an, and he was also fascinated by the magnificence of Chang'an. Shocked, the prosperity and wealth of Chang'an left an indelible impression on him and made him feel extremely inferior.

When he took a serious look at Chang'an City for the second time today, his mentality completely changed. He was like a child looking at his toy. The toy that once belonged to him was snatched away by another child, and he wanted to take it back today.

"Ah Hao!" An Lushan shouted.

Among the hundreds of generals on both sides of the golden platform, a general in his thirties said in response, "Here I am!"

This general is called Tian Qianzhen, one of An Lushan's adopted sons, nicknamed Ahao. He is also good at both civil and military affairs. After following Sun Xiaozhe to seize Chang'an, he temporarily served as Jing Zhaoyin and was familiar with Chang'an.

An Lushan said coldly: "You can lead an army of [-] to attack Dongcheng. I want to see the details of King Lu!"

"Humble post obeys orders!"

Although 20 troops were stationed in four cities, all the generals gathered in the east city to watch the Yan army's first trial attack and understand the details of the Tang army's defense.

"Woo! Woo!" The horn sounded continuously, and the [-]-strong army began to gather quickly.

There used to be many houses and shops outside the east city, but now they have all been demolished and razed to the ground. All the trees have been cut down, turning it into an empty wilderness.

"Has your Majesty seen Li Ye?" Gao Shang asked in a low voice.

An Lushan nodded, "I met him once five years ago. He was Li Linfu's grandson. At that time, I was still Fan Yang's military envoy. When I visited Li Linfu, he was standing next to me. I just felt that Li Linfu valued him very much, but He is just a young man, but I never imagined that in just five years, he would become my strong opponent, repeatedly defeating the prince's Luoyang army and driving me out of Chang'an. This person can be described as a monster."

An Qinghe, who was standing next to him, was a little unconvinced and said: "My father praised him too much. What can a 20-year-old young man do?"

An Lushan glared at him, "What do you know? If you had half of his potential, you would have been a prince long ago. He went to the Western Regions at the age of 16 and served as the military envoy in the middle of the river. He fought hundreds of battles in the Yellow Sands and opened up thousands of miles to the Tang Dynasty. Jiangshan, who dares to despise such a great talent and strategy? Otherwise, why would I withdraw 20 troops? Can't I withdraw half of the army?"

An Qinghe lowered his head and dared not say a word. An Lushan ignored him and ordered: "Beat the drum and go to war!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The huge war drums sounded, and the morale of the [-] Yan troops was high. They held their shields high and carried their siege ladders, and they attacked the east city overwhelmingly.

(End of this chapter)