Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 606 There is everything in the dream

Where to go next?

Gao Xianzhi had no idea in his mind, but Zhang Guangsheng had already made up his mind.

"General Gao, you were once a subordinate of General Fang Jie, why don't you lead your troops to Bianzhou?

Returning to Chang'an now would be tantamount to seeking death!"

Zhang Guangsheng tried to persuade him.

Of course, he said this out of his own selfish motives.

If he just wanted to escape, he would have been in Bianzhou a few months ago. However, Zhang Guangsheng felt that if he went to Bianzhou suddenly without any confidants around him, wouldn't he have to start from scratch if he joined Fang Chongyong?
Zhang Guangsheng was unwilling to be an unknown younger brother, and he wanted to take a letter of allegiance back with him.

So Zhang Guangsheng lay dormant in Chang'an for several months waiting for an opportunity, but he never got a good opportunity until the Konghe Army mutinied in Chang'an!
Only then did Zhang Guangsheng realize that it would be a great achievement if he could persuade Gao Xianzhi's troops to go to Bianzhou together.

In this case, even if Fang Zhongyong doesn't say anything, he will definitely remember my kindness in his heart.

By then, won’t the road be wider?
However, although Zhang Guangsheng's idea was good, Gao Xianzhi and others obviously had other concerns.

"Thank you, Zhang Zhuangshi, for coming to remind us. We, the Anxi soldiers, all owe you a favor. But the matter of surrendering to Bianzhou is not just Gao's business, nor is it the business of all the generals in this military camp.

At this moment, Gao cannot make a decision, so I can only say sorry to Zhang Zhuangshi."

Although Gao Xianzhi did not say what he wanted to do, his intention to reject Zhang Guangsheng was clear. How could they be fooled by the other party and rashly go to Bianzhou?
"In that case, Zhang will take his leave now."

Zhang Guangsheng bowed deeply to Gao Xianzhi and the generals in the military tent, then turned and left without any hesitation.

Since I can't persuade Gao Xianzhi and others, I'd better inform Fang Chongyong in advance.

Zhang Guangsheng sighed, left Gao Xianzhi's camp, mounted his horse, and left alone.

After he left, Gao Xianzhi looked around at the generals and asked, "What do you think of what Zhang Guangsheng said?"

Going to Bianzhou?
The generals looked at each other, feeling a little excited but also a little tired.

Most of the soldiers had left their hometown in Anxi Beiting for a long time, and their families were also there. They didn't know how their families were doing, and the soldiers missed their homes very much.

But from a realistic point of view, the troops of Anxi Beiting, at least the generals, must not be completely separated from the Central Plains.

Over time, they will be regarded as "foreigners", which is a very realistic problem.

Whether it is Anxi Beiting or Hexi, neither can completely sever its ties with the Central Plains, otherwise it will decline in a very short time.

These places all prospered because of trade, and they would also decline with the decline of the Tang Dynasty. The rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty was closely related to them.

"The soldiers are eager to return home, since the Konghe Army is still rebellious in Chang'an and Li Baochen is eyeing them covetously in Luoyang.

We are an isolated army that came from Anxi Beiting, with countless casualties and exhausted both physically and mentally. Are we going to join the Xuanwu Army and continue to fight for power and profit?"

Li Siye asked back.

Everyone was silent, no one spoke. Fang Chongyong was indeed their old superior, and he had led them to maneuver in the Western Regions.

But that's all in the past.

The Tang Dynasty was at its peak back then, and they were loyal to it. They fought for it and to protect the Silk Road in the Western Regions, not for Fang Chongyong himself!

The world is falling apart now. Although many powerful people have not said anything or shouted anything loudly, anyone with a discerning eye can see what they are doing or about to do.

"Old Li is right. The soldiers are tired and homesick. We can't drag them into a meaningless battle."

Gao Xianzhi nodded slightly and agreed with what Li Siye said.

"How about this: those who are willing to make achievements can stay in Bianzhou this time. Those who miss home can follow me back to Anxi. How about that?

The new soldiers recruited by the army are all local people in Guanzhong and will not follow us to the Western Regions."

"That's great. Then Li will take these people and stay here."

Li Siye said in a deep voice, which surprised everyone in the military tent.

Because of what he said before, it was obvious that he wanted to go back to Anxi, but I didn't expect that he would express his intention to stay in the end.

As if he noticed that everyone didn't quite understand his choice, Li Siye explained, "Anxi Beiting is not safe because of the powerful enemies surrounding it. I can't say for sure what will happen in the future. I have some thoughts about staying in the Central Plains, and I still remember Anxi Beiting. If I am no longer in the Central Plains, who will be willing to lead troops to rescue you when you are in trouble in the Western Regions in the future?"

Li Siye raised a very realistic issue. If everyone went back, then to these Central Plains forces, they would be equivalent to "foreigners".

Suppose that Tubo invades the Western Regions in the future, who will they turn to for help, and who will be willing to rescue them?
Li Siye didn't want to stay, but he had no choice!
The Western Regions are surrounded by powerful enemies. The Tang Dynasty is now weak and there will definitely be hungry wolves pouncing on it.

It is indeed a relief for Gao Xianzhi and his men to return to Anxi Beiting now, but where can they find reinforcements if they encounter danger in the future?
Li Siye felt that if he stayed in the Central Plains, there would be someone here to speak for Gao Xianzhi and his men. If something happened, he could always stand up and persuade the superiors to send troops to rescue.

It is better to be prepared than to be caught unprepared. Who can be sure of such things? Isn't this better than returning to the Western Regions together?
"What do you think?"

Gao Xianzhi looked around at the generals and asked.

"So good."

Cheng Qianli nodded and said.

The connection between the Central Plains and the Western Regions cannot be cut off, otherwise they will not be safe after returning.

In fact, what everyone thought in their hearts but never said was: In the current situation, both Liangzhou and Anxi Beiting are essentially independent from the Tang Dynasty. They no longer pay taxes, no longer provide soldiers and troops, and no longer accept the appointment of officials from the Tang court.

After Gao Xianzhi and his men returned to the Western Regions, only the Hexi army led by Li Guangbi remained in the Central Plains.

The road ahead for these people will surely be darker and more cruel than they can imagine at this moment.

“There is not much food and fodder left, so I will inform the army and then divide the troops.

The Anxi Beiting soldiers then headed west, and the rest of the people followed Li and continued eastward, hiding during the day and coming out at night to enter Bianzhou. "

Li Siye said to the generals in the military tent that this behavior, to some extent, could be regarded as "cutting off the rear."

His fearless spirit of sacrifice was indeed admirable, but no one in the military tent asked to go to Bianzhou with him. The wars in the past few years had gained almost nothing. Moreover, the court in Guanzhong was in constant trouble. Everyone was tired and did not want to make any more unnecessary sacrifices.

However, when Li Siye took Gao Xianzhi's military order to the army to pass on the message, those new soldiers who had just joined the army and were recruited locally in Guanzhong were completely unwilling to do it!
They don't want to go to Bianzhou at all!

Many of these people were from the same hometown. After sharing the news, they took their weapons and went to Gao Xianzhi to argue. However, the old soldiers from the Western Regions disarmed these mutinous soldiers without much effort.

Gao Xianzhi had no choice but to stand up and speak to these people. Those who were willing to stay in the army could go to Bianzhou with Li Siye, and those who were unwilling to stay could take off their military uniforms, leave their weapons behind, and leave on their own.

What Gao Xianzhi never expected was that the new recruits didn't even give him any face and more than half of them wanted to leave!

Not even one in ten people were willing to go to Bianzhou with Li Siye.

To be honest, even among the old soldiers in Anxi, there were more than this number who were willing to follow Li Siye!

After all, it was because these generals took things for granted. When considering issues, they treated grassroots soldiers as commodities and never cared about what those people thought.

In desperation, Li Siye selected fifty recruits from those who were willing to follow him to "achieve great achievements", equipped them with fifty horses, and left the military camp to the east.

Gao Xianzhi returned to Tongguan with the others. He took the old troops of Anxi Beiting Army with him and left a general named Ma Lin to guard Tongguan with the rest of the people. This man was also a native of Guanzhong. For Gao Xianzhi, it was great that Ma Lin was willing to take over this mess.

……

Chenguan Pass is known as the first of the eight passes in Taihang Mountains.

The starting point of this road is Tieshaguan, where the southern Emei Mountain and Zijin Mountain meet in Houma, not far from Puzhou. It goes southeast through the Yuanqu Basin between Wangwu Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain, and ends at Jiyuan City in Hanoi.

It is obvious from the geographical conditions that this route is extremely dangerous to march on, and the road is narrow and rugged.

But it has one most obvious advantage, which is that it is close!
No matter how bad it is, it is still close. This is the road from Puzhou to Heyang Sancheng, which is almost as close as a straight line. It is also the closest road between the two places.

Moreover, this road was formed in the Spring and Autumn Period. Over the past thousands of years, the route has been very mature and stable, and there are few geological disasters.

After a long journey, Li Guangbi led 10,000 Hexi troops to Jiyuan City, the exit of the Chenguan Road. There were only 1,000 old and weak soldiers under Li Baochen guarding the city.

It took less than an hour for Li Guangbi's men to capture the place easily.

And found out the enemy's troop deployment ahead.

An Shouzhong led 10,000 troops and stationed them in three cities in Heyang as the vanguard. Their specific distribution was unclear.

The city of Jiyuan in the north was merely an outpost for early warning, and there was almost nothing in the city's treasury.

In addition, Li Baochen also left tens of thousands of troops in Luoyang as backup.

To put it simply, Marshal Baochen was on high alert and his defense was impenetrable, giving Li Guangbi no chance at all.

For a moment, Li Guangbi also felt that the current battle situation was somewhat tricky.

That day, he stood on the city wall of Jiyuan City and looked at Beizhong City in the distance. At the end of his vision, he could only see a very small black dot.

The mood became irritable.

"Where is the Crane Control Army now?"

Li Guangbi asked Hao Tingyu who was beside him.

According to the plan, the Tongguan troops commanded by Gao Xianzhi would alternately provide cover with the Konghe Army to besiege the city and attack its reinforcements on the south bank of the Yellow River.

If they had continued at normal pace, they should have reached the city of Luoyang.

So under normal circumstances, the troops of the three cities in Heyang should be gathered together, leaving Beizhong City to facilitate the reinforcement of troops from Luoyang.

The government troops will attack at multiple points and attack the reinforcements at the same time.

Li Baochen had to divide his troops into three groups to fight, which invisibly diluted his forces, leaving loopholes everywhere.

Logically, it should be possible to detect the frequent movements of enemy forces.

But it seems that, at the moment, Li Baochen... can still sit still?

Li Guangbi was worried that the battle situation was far different from what he had expected.

Shouldn't the government troops on the south bank have launched a frenzy of offensive by now?

"Marshal, is there something wrong with the current situation?"

Hao Tingyu asked in a low voice without answering Li Guangbi's question.

They sent out scouts to investigate along both sides of the Yellow River, and the result surprised Li Guangbi!
They didn't see any government troops at all, but they found that the Xuanwu Army of Bianzhou had built a huge camp with strict defenses to the west of Xingyang.

Be it Gao Xianzhi or Li Huaiguang, their followers didn't even see a ghost.

"Based on our speed, we should be the slowest troop. Why have we captured Jiyuan but not the two troops on the other side of the river?

We are just a small army."

Li Guangbi muttered to himself, having a bad feeling in his heart.

Their food supply was difficult to maintain, so the plan was to quickly take over the three cities of Heyang, and then use the food supply route on the south bank to alleviate their own food shortage.

But now it seems that they have become a "lone army"!
Moreover, the remaining food and grass are not enough to support them to return to Puzhou!

"General, Minister Yan is here! He said he has something important to tell you!"

A personal soldier reported behind Li Guangbi.

Minister Yan?
Li Guangbi pondered for a long time before he remembered that the so-called "Minister Yan" was Yan Zhenqing's cousin, the Minister of War Yan Gaoqing!

"I will go now, you can come with me."

Li Guangbi gave an order to Hao Tingyu, and the two hurried to the county government office of Jiyuan County, where they saw Yan Gaoqing, who was wearing thin cloth clothes and looked as shabby as a beggar!

If Li Guangbi had not met Yan Gaoqing, he would have suspected that this person was an imposter.

"I am afraid of complications, so I disguise myself."

Without waiting for Li Guangbi to ask, Yan Gaoqing waved his hand awkwardly and said.

"Minister Yan, please speak directly. This is the county government office, but it is also a military camp."

Li Guangbi spoke bluntly and looked at Yan Gaoqing with a serious expression.

"The Konghe Army rebelled, the emperor died in the chaos, and Chang'an fell into chaos. That's probably what happened."

Yan Gaoqing sighed deeply and shook his head as he spoke.

"Aren't you trying to trick us?"

Hao Tingyu stepped forward and grabbed Yan Gaoqing by the collar, but when he saw Li Guangbi staring at him without changing his expression, he slowly let go of his hand.

"The Konghe Army has become a rebel army. Gao Xianzhi's troops probably won't come to Luoyang, so we are now isolated, right?"

Li Guangbi asked in a deep voice.

If this is the case, then all the unreasonable phenomena observed before make perfect sense.

Yan Gaoqing nodded and said nothing. Perhaps there was no need to say anything.

"Then, now the only way out is Bianzhou, but it's not that easy."

Li Guangbi pointed to the map on the table and said to Hao Tingyu: "We need to head east to Heyin County and cross the Yellow River here. Who can guarantee that Li Baochen will not lead his troops to pursue us?"

Yan Gaoqing was speechless, as Li Guangbi was far more perceptive about the war situation than Yan Gaoqing. Without Yan Gaoqing even having to speak, Li Guangbi asked directly, "How can we get to Bianzhou?"

Instead of nonsense like whether or not to go to Bianzhou, or where to go.

In fact, in Li Guangbi's opinion, except for Bianzhou, the surrounding areas are all dead ends, so where else can there be any other way to survive!

Li Huaiguang is such a jerk and he deserves to die!

Li Guangbi cursed in his heart that this man was more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything!

"General, without support, we will surely be surrounded and annihilated by Li Baochen. I suggest sending someone to contact General Fang Jie and ask him to send troops to help us cross the river."

Hao Tingyu clasped his fists and bowed to Li Guangbi, completely treating Yan Gaoqing as a transparent person.

When the generals heard the news of the mutiny of the Konghe Army, the fall of Chang'an and the death of the emperor, they made their own judgments. It was not the turn of Yan Gaoqing, the Minister of War, to make irresponsible remarks or give them instructions.

Not to mention following arrangements and commands.

The world has changed, and there's no going back.

Yan Gaoqing couldn't help but sigh in his heart as he watched Li Guangbi calmly issuing various military orders to his subordinates and leaving him aside.

The era of military generals has finally arrived.

(End of this chapter)