Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 406: The Important Town of Beidu
The road from Daizhou to Taiyuan is not easy. An Lushan, who has been a soldier all his life, now has boils and can no longer ride for a long time, so he rests temporarily in Xinzhou.

He didn't know how many people under his command expected him to raise troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, but he grunted every day, asking if things had ended well and not to make the court suspicious of him.

On this day, the doctor was cleaning his abscess. An Qingxu came over to report the matter and stood by. An Lushan suddenly asked.

"I heard that one of Han Xiulin's subordinates joined the army and escaped. Have you been hiding this from me?"

An Qingxu was surprised that An Lushan was so well-informed. He quickly glanced at Li Zhuer next to him and said, "I don't dare to hide it from my grandpa. This is not a big deal and will not affect the overall situation. Pinghe has already sent someone to deal with it. "

"He is a famous person. If he shouts outside, everyone in the world will accuse me of rebelling against him."

"It's Cui Hao." An Qingxu is a young man who can do things well. He has a sense of everything and responds fluently. He said: "I have investigated this matter carefully. The reason Cui Hao was able to escape from Daizhou was because of Fan Yang. Someone in the army protected him, and I came here today just to report it, how could I hide it from my grandpa?"

"Who?"

"Wang Weigu." An Qingxu said: "Cui Hao has a poem called "Gift to Wang Weigu", which contains sentences such as 'Zalu invades Youyan', 'Long drive saves the Northeast', which should refer to the Khitan during the Kaiyuan period. The incident of joining the invaders shows that Cui Hao and Wang Weigu have known each other for a long time."

"That's a veteran under my command. How dare he betray me?" An Lushan was very angry when he heard this. He slapped the case and shouted: "Pei Yushu is like this and Wang Weigu is like this. For a few bad poems, he protected someone who deserved to be killed." people."

Wang Weigu looked at An Qingxu with a depressed look. In fact, he did this very secretly. Unexpectedly, he was suspected by An Qingxu because of a poem he wrote back then. He could no longer hide it, so he had to respond in a dull voice. :"yes."

"How about peeling off Xue Bai's skin and giving it to you as a gift?" An Qingxu asked with a smile.

"I dare not offend Mr. Fu. I really like Cui Hao's poems."

"What? He's more presumptuous than I expected?"

After a while, they came forward with a tray containing Wang Weigu's head. Their expressions were frightened and scrawled, and they finally stopped being arty.

As An Qingxu spoke, his eyes fell on the lines of the words, and he felt a sense of humility and flattery. He seemed to see Yang Guanghui kneeling in front of him and talking.

Immediately, a group of soldiers came forward, held down Wang Weigu, who was still a little confused, and dragged him down.

"Huh?" An Qingxu didn't quite believe this possibility and said, "Yang Guozhong's trash is determined to go against us?"

An Qingxu's face was spattered with saliva, and he could still smell the fishy smell. He endured his disgust and said, "Just because he is a veteran, please handle it personally."

"Is poetry that good? Is it more important than your head?!"

He had never interacted with Xue Bai, but he only knew that the destruction of his noble appearance was related to the other party, which was quite interesting. At this time, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, with a subtle smile of watching the fun.

Sure enough, when Gao Shang heard that Xue Bai had arrived in Taiyuan, his whole temperament changed, as if he had encountered a powerful beast, so he bristled and prepared to attack a hyena.

"Why?"

Not long after, a veteran general was tied up and escorted up, it was Wang Weigu.

Wang Weigu suddenly heard such violent shouting and didn't understand why An Lushan was so angry. He responded frankly: "Poetry is of course good. It is the ambition in the heart, and the speech is poetry. Poetry is what we think..."

"Bring him up." An Lushan roared angrily, grinning because the sores on his body were so painful.

Gao Shang was looking forward to this gift, but he still showed a very vigilant attitude towards Xue Bai's arrival and asked, "How do Erlang think we should deal with Xue Bai?"

"Erlang, let's take a look."

"It's possible that Taiyuan Yin Yang Guanghui met Cui Hao and detained our people."

This touched An Lushan's deep self-esteem. He hated poetry, Li Bai, Cui Hao, and Xue Bai.

Seeing this scene, An Qingxu could sense the surging will to rebel in An Lushan's heart. It was this determination to break through the hypocrisy of the Tang Dynasty that made the men of Hebei willing to follow him.

An Qingxu felt that Grandpa was like a pig trying to hide his fat body in the fence, but how could he hide it? The best way was to break through the fence.

"Kill him!" An Lushan shouted.

"Here."

"Warn us?"

"Did you see it? Wang Weigu's head."

"What does it mean?"

"Go and call Gao Shang." An Qingxu ordered him immediately when he saw the word Xue Bai.

"I heard that you let Cui Hao go, but is it true?"

Sooner or later, he wants the world to know that the so-called "bastard" is nobler than everyone else!
If he didn't rebel, he would naturally enjoy a lifetime of prosperity, wealth and stability, so why should he endure the pain and work hard. It is precisely because of such inferiority and unwillingness.

However, when the violent breathing in the hall gradually subsided, An Lushan snorted twice and said: "Clean up and don't let the court know."

Ping'an and An Qingxu looked at each other, both looking like they were facing a formidable enemy. After that, Ping'an opened the letter first, glanced at it twice, showed a complicated expression, and handed the letter to An Qingxu.

"Yes." Ping Yan said, "There is bad news... The people I sent to Taiyuan did not come back, and they have lost contact with the people outside the city."

Pingli had never met Yang Guanghui, but had only heard about his various reputations. He felt that Yang Guanghui's reaction was inconsistent with the reputation, and he felt a little worried, saying, "I'm just afraid that he is not as useless as we thought."

At this time, someone under Ping'an came back to report, "A letter from Taiyuan Yin Yang Guanghui has arrived."

He left the lobby and quickly went to find Ping Li.

"Pei Yushu said the same thing," An Lushan scolded, "He likes Li Bai's poems. What about you? Do you want to use this reason to fiddle with me too?"

"It's just the loyalty of friends." Wang Weigu said, "I am loyal to the emperor, but Cui Hao has been my good friend for many years."

It is said that Fan Yang's envoy was accidentally killed by Xue Bai. As Taiyuan Yin, he was deeply disturbed because he was unable to restrain him. However, Xue Baiguan's appointment as the prefect of Changshan was not under the jurisdiction of Hedong Road. This was a matter of Hebei Road and had nothing to do with him.

An Lushan was furious when he heard this. He made a show of himself in front of Li Longji and showed off his ugly face. However, the generals under his command were all arty and pretended to like poetry, as if they were superior to others.

Hearing this, An Qingxu's eyes became more solemn and he began to look directly at Yang Guanghui.

"Simple, threaten Yang Guanghui to hand over Xue Bai."

"No, Erlang underestimated him." Gao Shang said, "If you do this, I believe Yang Guanghui will die in Xue Bai's hands in the end."

"As you see it?"

"Send a team of brave cavalry into Taiyuan."

"This is no different from raising troops directly." An Qingxu said, "I don't want to raise troops yet."

"No." Gao Shang's eyes became sharper and he said, "For the sake of 'little uncle', Mr. Fu will make up his mind."

He immediately went to see An Lushan.

Just half a day later, He Qianqian received the military order and led his troops towards Taiyuan, with the purpose of killing Xue Bai, intimidating Yang Guanghui, and controlling Taiyuan Prefecture.

~~
Taiyuan, as the northern capital of the Tang Dynasty, has always been a military center in the north.

As the saying goes, "The north gate of the country is where the king's career begins." Therefore, military officers with military talents must be selected to serve as officials to gain insight into military affairs. When Wang Zhongsi was appointed as the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, his official position was that of Taiyuan Yin, Beidu left guard, and also conducted camp recruitment and other envoys.

Unexpectedly, after he left office, Han Xiulin, a post-resident of the Hedong Festival and the governor of Daizhou, did not concurrently serve as Taiyuan Yin. Instead, he waited for a chief official like Yang Guanghui who had never been involved in the military.

Just looking at the number of troops on the surface, Hedong Jiedushi had 55,000 troops, 14,000 horses, 1.26 million pieces of clothing, and 500,000 dan of military rations. His administrative office was in Taiyuan Prefecture, with 30,000 soldiers and 5,500 horses in charge.

In other words, Taiyuan Prefecture has extremely powerful military strength, which is more than half of the total military strength of Hedong Road, and far more than other important military towns in the world.

This kind of force has just been handed over to Yang Guanghui, and Anlu Mountain is in Xinzhou, more than a hundred miles away to the north.

"Fu Yin, this is the military register."

"Oh? Give it to me quickly."

Yang Guanghui took over the military register, and the beautiful maid beside him immediately lit the candle for him. He squinted his old eyes, and at a glance, there were names on the military register, as if there were really 30,000 people.

Of course, if you just look at it this way, you can't tell anything, so you have to ask.

He quickly asked: "Is it enough?"

Standing in front of him was Bingzhou Governor Shi and Heavenly Soldiers Envoy Zhang Xian. He replied: "Looking at all the armies in the world, which army is full? The Heavenly Soldiers Army is more abundant than the others."

With that said, he handed a list in front of Yang Guanghui.

Yang Guanghui immediately put down his military register, got closer, and looked at it carefully. After a while, he said: "Not enough, not enough."

"This……"

Yang Guanghui said: "The right prime minister is taking care of the affairs of the palace for the saint, and he is worried day and night. I trust you, and as an official, how can I not share my worries for him?"

"Yes, yes." Zhang Xian immediately became embarrassed. After thinking for a long time, he reluctantly said, "Will you find a way to add another 20% to the heavenly army?"

"I heard that corruption is very serious among the Heavenly Soldiers?"

"What do you mean by the governor?" Zhang Xian said, "The saint attaches great importance to correcting corruption in the army. In the eleventh year of Kaiyuan, Zhang Jiazhen, the envoy of the Heavenly Soldiers, was demoted because of his brother's corruption case."

He spoke seriously, as if he was under strict supervision. If you think about it carefully, it has been thirty years since the eleventh year of Kaiyuan.

Yang Guanghui is a mature character and cannot be fooled so easily, with a look of disdain on his face.

When Zhang Xian saw it, he was quite frightened and had to say: "The governor didn't know something. The previous king was Wang Zhongsi. That man was always serious. It wasn't until he left Hedong two years ago that the last general took office. It was really... savings. limited."

Yang Guanghui was too lazy to talk to him. He picked up his pen, wrote down a number, and handed the order back with a smile.

Zhang Xian's face turned pale when he saw it. He thought to himself that this new governor was really amazing. He could give such an accurate number. He had no choice but to show his filial piety, as if he was sharing the worries of the right minister and the saint.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Yang Guanghui suddenly thought of something, frowned slightly and asked, "By the way, how do you feel about fighting?"

"Don't worry, Yin." Zhang Xian said, "The last general is very good at fighting!"

After leaving the Taiyuan Prefecture, Zhang Xian kept thinking about the peace and quiet in the world. Who does the Prefect want to fight?
He was puzzled, and when he returned to his house, he saw one of his confidants, Ganliu, walking anxiously back and forth in the front yard of his house.

"Why are you here?" Zhang Xian was very puzzled. He looked at the steward at home, but he didn't see him coming to tell Gan Liu what gift he had brought.

"General." Gan Liu stepped forward quickly and whispered: "A group of Fan Yang troops have arrived in front of Shiling Pass and want us to open the switch and let them enter Taiyuan Mansion."

Shiling Pass is located in the north of Taiyuan, adjacent to Xiaowutai in the east and Guanmao Mountain in the west. The ridges run east and west, and the roads run north and south. The mountains are steep and the passes are majestic. It is the main road from Taiyuan to the north.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, in the eighth year of Wude, the Turkic cavalry had crossed the Shiling Pass and entered the Kou Bing Prefecture. This pass has never been invaded again. During the time of peace, Shiling Pass certainly allowed merchants and common people to pass through. Zhang Xian sent his confidants to guard the pass in order to collect some business taxes.

In this case, if Fan Yang's soldiers and horses were stopped, it would probably be because there were a lot of people coming.

"how many people?"

"Three hundred men, seven to eight hundred horses."

"So many!" Zhang Xian's expression changed in shock, and he said, "Why are so many people coming?"

"We thought it was An Lushan who also served as the governor of Hedong." Gan Liu said: "They said he escorted An Lushan to Chang'an to become prime minister."

Zhang Xian said: "Then let them go."

"The captain said that he heard that Khitan invaders were coming from the north a while ago. Commander Han Jie ordered to strengthen the security and asked me to ask the general."

"Do you have anything to ask?" Zhang Xian couldn't afford to offend An Lushan and said decisively, "Just let them cross the border."

~~
Shiling Pass.

Because the mountain roads in this area are steep and winding, the Guancheng gate is also narrow and dark, and guarded by officers and soldiers. After He Qianqian arrived with his troops, he did not knock on the gate immediately, waiting for the defenders to let him enter.

This time, he got a lot of instructions.

An Lushan had been coveting the post of Hedong Jiedushi for a long time. Unfortunately, several plans failed to succeed. Among them, Xue Bai also blocked it many times. It just so happened that while killing Xue Bai, he cleverly captured Taiyuan Mansion. Once successful, he would have no worries about raising troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty.

He Qianqian didn't want anything to go wrong, so he gave the Shiling Pass defenders great patience. If the captain wanted to report it, just report it.

Finally, a flag waved on Guancheng.

"General." A knight rushed back to He Qianqian and reported, "Let us enter Taiyuan."

"Okay, enter the customs."

Due to the narrow gate of Guancheng, Fan Yang's soldiers rode two parallel horses and formed a long queue to enter the city.

When the soldiers from both sides met, the Taiyuan Prefecture Heavenly Soldiers guarding Shiling Pass looked thin and skinny. They had not experienced battles for many years and had no murderous intent on their bodies. In contrast, Fan Yang's army entered the city on horseback and looked very tough. many.

The world always likes to compare Anlushan with many famous generals of the Tang Dynasty, thinking that Anlushan's military exploits are not outstanding. In this way, it is easy to forget that Fan Yangjun actually fought against the Khitan and Xi people for many years. As for Wang Zhongsi, since he served as the Jiedushi of the Four Towns, he spent most of his time fighting Tubo in Longyou and did not dare to easily mobilize the heavenly troops stationed in Beidu.

Fan Yang's soldiers, who had passed the border first, stood guard by the road.

He Qianqian rode his horse through the doorway and reached the territory of Taiyuan Mansion. A smile immediately appeared on his lips, as if he saw that Hedong had become a piece of meat on the plate of Anlu Mountain.

"Close the city gate!"

Suddenly a shout came from the south, and at the same time there was dust and smoke rising from the winding mountain road.

There were more than ten riders coming. Before they arrived, they had already started shouting: "Fan Yang's army is not allowed to enter Beidu without any reason. We order you to leave immediately, otherwise it will be regarded as rebellion and you will be punished!"

"Close the city gate!"

Of course, He Qianqian would not retreat. On the contrary, he immediately ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle. If the defenders don't know what to do and insist on driving them away, he will use force to enter Taiyuan.

Of course, if we do this, three hundred people will not be enough. But it doesn't matter, An Lushan's army is not far to the north.

"We are not here for no reason, but to escort Prince Dongping to Chang'an!" He Qianqian shouted.

After a while, the opponent's dozen or so cavalry also arrived. They didn't look like the Taiyuan Heavenly Soldiers. Although they were also wearing armor, they couldn't tell which army they were.

The leader was a soldier who looked like an ordinary old farmer. He did not deliberately put on a ferocious expression, but showed a murderous look. He shouted: "The sage has decreed that An Lushan will stay in Fan Yang. There is no need to go to the capital. How dare you find me?" An excuse to enter Beidu!"

A strong Liangzhou accent hit his face.

He Qianqian frowned and glanced at the dozen or so riders from a distance. Feeling the battle-hardened momentum, he intuitively believed that these people were all Long Youjun.

Only the Longyou Army can have such murderous intent.

The imperial court did not transfer the Longyou Army to Hedong at all. In other words, these soldiers were private soldiers brought by someone.

So, who can use Longyou's elite soldiers as private soldiers?
He Qianqian immediately thought of an answer.

He raised his head and looked around, and sure enough he saw several people riding up the hillside not far away, occupying a high place to observe the situation here.

"It must be Xue Bai, he is here."

He Qianqian thought of the noble entrustment and knew that once Xue Bai arrived, he would definitely not be able to successfully capture Taiyuan, so it was better to act decisively.

He then raised his sword without hesitation and shouted: "Kill him!"

While shouting, the knife in his hand was already slashing at the defender who was standing by. The defender thought that everyone was a Tang army and did not expect that he would suddenly switch sides. He was immediately thrown to the ground with his eyes staring. Revealing resentment.

Suddenly, Fan Yang's soldiers followed suit.

"An Lushan has rebelled! Meet the enemy!"

More than ten cavalry sent by Xue Bai shouted to fight, but in fact they knew that they were outnumbered, so they immediately reined in their horses and retreated, shouting for the heavenly soldiers to meet the enemy.

"An Lushan has rebelled and wants to seize Hedong. Hold it!"

Soon, the beacon on Shiling Gate was lit.

He Qianqian looked up and immediately ordered his soldiers to tell An Lushan that the plan to outwit Taiyuan had been exposed by Xue Bai. Now he had to seize it by force with lightning speed, and An Lushan needed to lead the army.

The two sides fought, and the defenders at Shiling Pass who only collected business taxes were quickly killed to pieces, and blood flowed everywhere.

However, one of the bases of the Heavenly Soldiers was not far away, and soon after seeing the smoke, a general arrived with more soldiers and horses.

What was originally a small matter of escorting An Lushan back to Beijing to serve as prime minister gradually brewed into a war.

~~
When Zhang Xian rushed there on horseback, he saw a bloody conflict that had not occurred in Taiyuan Prefecture for a hundred years.

The narrow terrain of Shiling Pass made it impossible for the Heavenly Soldiers to set up their positions and use their numerical advantage. Coupled with the absence of the general and the hasty attack, the situation has become passive.

The most direct result is that Guancheng may be lost.

"what happened?!"

As the commander-in-chief of an army, Zhang Xian didn't understand what was going on, and shouted: "Stop fighting! They are all soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, who allows you to kill each other!"

He drove his horse into the formation, whipped at the soldiers who were still waving flags and blowing trumpets, and cursed endlessly.

"Calm down, general. Who allowed you to incite civil strife?! Put out the smoke for me. It's Fan Yang's Paoze who's coming!"

In this way, completely opposite situations formed on both sides of the battlefield. At the foot of Shiling Pass, Fan Yang Xiaoqi was mercilessly charging at the Heavenly Soldiers. The Heavenly Soldiers who rushed to fight struggled to support themselves and asked for more reinforcements; behind them, across the twists and turns, On the narrow mountain road, the soldiers of the Heavenly Soldiers who had already arrived were ordered by the general to cease fighting immediately.

Defeat or surrender was already foreseeable.

"Who allowed you to incite civil unrest?!" Zhang Xian was still shouting.

He got the answer, followed the direction pointed by the soldiers, and looked up at the hilltop ahead. After that, he narrowed his eyes in surprise and raised his hand to rub it.

The riding crop fell to the ground, temporarily preventing him from whipping the soldiers.

He saw a flag being erected. The words on it were very familiar, but it felt like it had been missing for a long time.

Faintly visible on the fluttering flag, it reads "Hedong Jiedu Envoy of the Tang Dynasty".

"Who dares?!"

Zhang Xian cursed angrily and led his close soldiers to drive towards the hilltop. The road was not easy to walk, and it was a test of his riding skills, but he did not brag to Yang Guangfeng. He did have a rich military career and could control the horse to climb the steep road.

"Prefect Xue!"

Zhang Xian first saw Xue Bai. The annoying young man was indeed involved in this matter.

He immediately started shouting and scolding.

"Due to a personal grudge between Lord An and Lord Xue, Governor Xue instigated soldiers from the two sides to fight with each other. Do you know that you have committed a serious crime?!"

Hearing this, Xue Bai put down a cylinder he was holding, turned around, took a look, and shouted: "Take it!"

Several people around him immediately rushed towards Zhang Xian.

"Be bold!"

The soldiers beside Zhang Xian immediately drew their swords in front of them and shouted angrily: "Where are you servants from, get lost..."

"Swish swish."

Before he finished speaking, several crossbow arrows were shot out mercilessly, penetrating the bodies of the soldiers, but accurately not injuring Zhang Xian. At the same time, Xue Bai's thugs had rushed to Zhang Xian's vicinity, using their swords in hand to chop melons and vegetables, killing the remaining soldiers to pieces.

All this was done in front of hundreds of soldiers who came near Shiling Mountain.

"Xue Bai! Are you rebelling?!"

Zhang Xian was frightened and angry, but two Mo knives were placed on his neck. He was being held hostage forward, so he could only shout with all his strength: "You know the consequences of rebellion..."

"Cough cough cough."

His shouting was interrupted by a cough. The cough was not loud, but its timbre made him feel very familiar. He looked intently and his eyes fell on the banner of "Datang Hedong Jiedu Envoy", and he saw a tall figure standing there looking at Shiling Pass.

For a moment, Zhang Xian shuddered involuntarily, and couldn't help shouting: "Jie, Jie, Jie Shuai?"

The man standing under the flagpole turned his head.

This man's originally majestic figure was now only supported by his skeleton, his cheeks were thin, and he had a deeply sick look, but his aura was still there.

He once commanded the frontier fortress and used his troops to destroy the Turks.

He spoke slowly and said word by word: "The Heavenly Soldiers obey orders... to suppress the rebellion."

The horn sounded, and the banner of the Hedong Jiedushi was waved again.

(End of this chapter)