News of the fall of Taiyuan Prefecture spread to Chang'an, causing shock in the court.
Yang Guozhong no longer dared to say that he would see An Lushan's head within ten days.
When Li Longji heard the bad news, he felt stuffy in his chest and lay in bed for most of the day before he got better.
After An Lushan's army captured Taiyuan, they attacked Lingchang without rest day and night.
At this time, Li Longji gave up his original plan of persuading peace and ordered all the state capitals to fight to the death against the enemy.
In addition, he issued several orders:
1. For the crime of conspiracy, An Qingzong, the son of An Lushan who was a hostage in Chang'an, was executed.
Second, the Henan Jiedushi was newly established, and Wei Weiqing Zhang Jieran was appointed as the first Jiedushi. He rushed to Chenliu (now Kaifeng) to recruit new soldiers and resist the rebels.
Third, take out the gold, silver and jewels from the inner treasury and recruit troops near Chang'an, known as the Tianwu Army, to defend the capital.
Fourth, he appointed Prince Rong Li Wan (brother of Prince Li Heng) as marshal, General You Jinwu Gao Xianzhi as deputy marshal, commanded 50,000 troops, and quickly went to Shaanxi County to garrison (today's Sanmenxia, Henan Province).
None of these four orders have anything to do with the border troops.
The Longyou Army, Hexi Army, Beiting Army and Anxi Army were ordered to remain stationary.
On November 5, An Lushan personally led five thousand elite cavalry, crossed the Yellow River from Liyangjin near Lingchang, and landed on the south bank.
After the cavalry disembarked, they took only a few days' dry food and a small amount of supplies, detached most of them, and rushed to Chenliu at full speed.
Zhang Jieran, the newly appointed military governor of Henan Province, had only arrived in Chenliu for a few days. He raised 10,000 young men and distributed weapons, and then he met the elite cavalry of Anlu Mountain's vanguard army.
Chen Liuzhong's palace guards, as well as the 10,000 young men he had recruited, had not encountered a war for a long time, and they only resisted for half a day before they collapsed.
An Lushan also sent people to clamor outside the city. If they did not surrender, the city would be destroyed and no chickens or dogs would be left behind.
Zhang Jieran once served as a county guard in Hexi and Longyou. Although he had never fought in a war, he was loyal and upright. Not only was he not afraid of the threat from Anlu Mountain, he took the lead and led his men to defend the city.
However, the governor of Chenliu, Guo Na, was greedy for life and afraid of death. Seeing the disparity in strength, he secretly opened the city gate and surrendered to Anlu Mountain.
As a result, Zhang Jieran fought bravely against the enemy on the top of the city, but he heard the cry of killing behind him. Looking back, he found that An Lushan's army had actually been put into the city.
At this point, Chenliu City has been destroyed, and the first hurdle leading to Luoyang has been opened.
After capturing Chenliu, An Lushan rode on his horse and looked at the Tang troops who were bowing their heads on both sides of the road. He shook his fat body and laughed loudly: "I have never encountered a decent resistance. In less than a month, it was so easy."
I have conquered a country thousands of miles away, God bless me!"
An Lushan has a confidant under his command named Yanzhuang.
This man walked near Anlu Mountain and said, "Your Majesty Chengtian has reincarnated the world, and no one can threaten you anymore."
Hearing this, An Lushan first smiled, then frowned and said, "When you said this, I remembered that there really is such a person that I can't figure out."
Yan Zhuang: "Who is the king referring to?"
An Lushan: "Zhou Jun."
Yan Zhuang was stunned: "Zhou Jun? Zhou's Prince Consort?"
An Lushan nodded slightly.
Yan Zhuang wondered: "Zhou Jun is just a small official, but he is lucky enough to have Princess Shang as his wife. Why does the king value him so much?"
An Lushan touched his belly, and while thinking, he whispered: "Let me think about who I heard this from... Ah, by the way, it's Li Linfu."
Yan Zhuang was even more confused as to how this matter had anything to do with Li Linfu.
An Lushan explained: "In the early years, when I was the imperial censor, I often went to the Prime Minister's Mansion to find Li Linfu on official business. Li Linfu was very wise and good at figuring out people's hearts. Sometimes, he would guess what I wanted to say before I opened my mouth.
What he said. Once, I and Li Linfu were talking in the courtyard. When talking about the ministers of the court, Li Linfu talked about the ministers' thoughts, and they were accurate. The king asked him if there was anything in the court that he could not see through.
When Li Linfu heard this, his expression changed several times, and finally he said solemnly, there was only one person in the court, but he couldn't see through it, and that person was none other than Zhou Jun."
Yan Zhuang was surprised when he heard this and said nothing for a long time.
An Lushan: "Li Linfu said to me at that time that looking at Zhou Jun's actions, he was doing everything step by step, and he couldn't even see a wrong move... It was like two people playing chess, and one of the chess players seemed to have known the whole thing for a long time.
He knew the direction of the chess game, and even before it started, he already knew where all the black and white pieces were."
Yan Zhuang: "The king's decision to start an uprising in Fan Yang in advance is also related to Zhou Jun?"
An Lushan: "Part of the reason is indeed him... I heard that the palace plans to recruit Zhou Jun to return to the court this year. Assuming that he set off from Qiuci without any delays on the way, he would arrive in Chang'an in about mid-November.
.The king has set the time for raising the army at the beginning of October. Even if Zhou Jun returns to the court and leads the army again according to the order, it will not appear until the end of December."
Yan Zhuang still didn't understand: "Your Majesty, in the Tang Dynasty, people such as Ge Shuhan, Gao Xianzhi, Cheng Qianli, Guo Ziyi and others are all famous generals. Maybe they will lead the army, then we...?"
When An Lushan heard this, he burst out laughing: "Brother Shuhan is greedy for drinking, and now he has a stroke; Gao Xianzhi is greedy for money, and the palace is wary of him; Cheng Qianli is just an old man, so there is nothing to fear; and Guo Ziyi is far away in Shuofang
, I have my own way to deal with him..."
Before he finished speaking, a fast horse came from outside the city. The knight walked to the city gate. He fell off his horse in panic and was in a panic.
"Retribution! There is retribution in Chang'an!"
An Lushan looked at the knight kneeling in front of him, with a vague premonition in his heart, and asked in a deep voice: "Chang'an... How is Chang'an?"
The knight rested his forehead on the ground, his voice trembling: "An Taipu...An Taipu him..."
An Lushan's body trembled and his eyes widened: "My son...how is my son Qingzong?"
The knight cried out in a mournful voice: "The palace has decreed that Taipu An be executed for conspiracy to commit rebellion!"
When An Lushan heard this, he screamed, his feet were unsteady, and he fell directly onto the tower.
Just as everyone was helping An Lushan, Zhang Jieran's loud laughter came from below the city tower: "Hahaha! Good! A good death! The traitors and traitors will be punished by everyone!"
When An Lushan heard this, his eyes were red. He struggled to get up, pointed at Zhang Jieran who was tied up under the city, and shouted loudly: "Tie the head and limbs of this beast that has been killed by a thousand cuts, and cut it into pieces by five horses!"
Seeing that An Lushan was angry, his subordinates hurriedly walked down the tower. First, they stuffed Zhang Jieran's mouth with linen cloth, then used sharp tools to cut open the skin and fascia of the latter's joints, and finally tied his head and limbs with knots and hung them on the wall.
After the horse.
With the sound of a whip, the horse's hooves rumbled, Zhang Jieran's head was missing, and the school ground was stained with blood.
Seeing this, An Lushan was still furious. He pointed at the nearly 10,000 Tang army prisoners kneeling beside the road and shouted sternly: "Kill! Kill them all!"
There is a counselor under his command who wants to come forward to persuade him that it is unlucky to kill the prisoner.
Seeing An Lushan acting crazy, everyone looked at each other, but no one dared to dissuade him.
The swords rose and fell, and nearly ten thousand Tang soldiers were captured. Their screams resounded throughout the world, and their blood pooled into rivers.
On the way to kill the prisoners, it rained heavily.
At Chenliu City Gate, corpses piled up like mountains, and their flesh and blood mixed with the rain and turned into blood and mud.
Looking around, the mountains and rivers are all bright red.