Ge Shuhan took the order and went to Tongguan, the last gate before Chang'an.
In Tongguan, there were the elite troops of the North and South Yamen that Gao Xianzhi had previously administered, as well as the troops supported by Hexi and Longyou, as well as the recruits recruited previously. Together, they had exceeded 200,000 troops, and with the rebels'
The troops are evenly matched.
Since An Lushan captured Luoyang, he was dazzled by the prosperity of the Eastern Capital, and was dazzled by the successive great victories, thinking that he was destined to return.
On the first day of the first lunar month of Tianbao's fifteenth year, An Lushan forcibly ordered Luoyang's senior monk Dao Quanjin to proclaim himself Emperor Xiongwu. His country was named Dayan, his capital was Luoyang, and his reign was named Shengwu.
After proclaiming himself emperor, An Lushan believed that Chang'an was within his grasp and ordered the army to stop advancing.
The generals and counselors under his command were also addicted to fighting for power and amassing money, and most of them had no intention of making progress.
At the beginning of the fifteenth year of Tianbao's reign, the war in the Guanzhong battlefield briefly subsided. The Tang army and the Yan army went into hibernation and entered a stage of strategic stalemate.
In Hebei, An Lushan's home base, a campaign to bring order to chaos is in full swing, under the auspices of the two Yan brothers.
As the county governor, Yan Zhenqing's Pingyuan County was the only one among the 24 counties in Hebei that was not occupied by the rebels.
Discussing the reasons, Pingyuan County is not the only way for Anlu Mountain to go south. Secondly, Yan Zhenqing was well prepared for Anlu Mountain's rebellion. Not only did he have 3,000 quiet soldiers as the elite, but he also raised 10,000 warriors day and night.
After training, the city walls were repeatedly reinforced, and a large amount of food was collected.
After Yan Zhenqing waited for Anlushan's army to enter Luoyang, he formally raised troops in Pingyuan County and sent a message to other counties in Hebei to attack Anlushan together.
Lu Quancheng, the governor of Raoyang, Li Sui, the governor of Jinan, Wang Huaizhong, the governor of Qinghe, Li Muwei, the Sima of Jingcheng, and Wang Tao, the governor of Yejun, all led their troops to join him. The imperial court also ordered Helan, the governor of Beihai, to march into the Ming Dynasty and lead five thousand elite soldiers to cross the river to assist.
After Pingyuan County raised troops, Yan Zhenqing's cousin, Yan Gaoqing, the governor of Changshan County, set up a banquet and lured An Lushan's adopted son Li Qin to come to the banquet.
When Li Qincuo and the rebel generals attending the banquet were drunk, Yan Gaoqing sent out soldiers to kill these people.
Taking advantage of the fact that the soldiers under Li Qincuo were unprepared, he sent troops to raid, defeated the rebels, recaptured Tumen Pass, and reopened the passage between Hebei and Shaanxi.
After Li Qin's death, the morale of officials in the twenty-four counties of Hebei Province who were devoted to the Tang Dynasty was greatly boosted.
Almost within one day, seventeen counties in Hebei surrendered to the imperial court, elected Yan Zhenqing as the leader of the alliance, and assembled about 200,000 troops.
An Lushan, who had not been emperor for many days in Luoyang, heard that there was a fire in his backyard. He was shocked and ordered Shi Siming to lead 3,000 cavalry from Fanyang, and General Cai Xide to lead 10,000 elite troops to set off from Hanoi and go to Hebei to suppress it.
At this point, Tang Yan's offensive and defensive situation changed again.
An Lushan's back road was blocked, rebellions broke out in his hometown, and the situation suddenly turned for the worst.
As for the imperial court, there are 200,000 elite soldiers in Tongguan, 200,000 government guards and rebels in Hebei, and 60,000 troops in Shuofang.
With three forces attacking, the rebels seem to be in danger.
Li Longji, who had recovered from his heartache, held a banquet in the palace to entertain the special envoys from Pingyuan County and a group of civil and military officials who had surrendered. He gave them countless treasures and granted them high-level titles, which was a great joy.
Yang Guozhong, who was originally low-key, now deliberately found many prisoners of the Yan army in order to cater to the saint, and made them falsely claim to be surrendering.
Li Longji believed it to be true and was very vain. He only felt that I was the destined emperor and that the Tang Dynasty had its own God to bless him.
Yang Guozhong was delighted to see Li Longji, so he took this opportunity, together with the ministers who showed their surnames in the court, to advise the emperor, saying that the rebels were gone, and the second army of Anbeiting came to Guanzhong again, which would inevitably complicate the situation. It was better to stay where they were and postpone their entry into Beijing.
.
Li Longji hesitated at first, thinking that the rebels were still occupying Luoyang, and Anbeiting's Second Army was very powerful. If they could join the battle, they could have a final say.
Yang Guozhong persuaded Li Longji again: "The disasters caused by the frontier troops are worse than those caused by tigers. Shouldn't your Majesty be wary of those who hold military power? What's more, that Zhou Lang had previously served under Wang Zhongsi.
, and Guo Ziyi of Shuofang Army and Ge Shuhan of Tongguan are both from the Northern Fan. If these people get together..."
When Li Longji heard this, he felt a drumbeat in his heart.
As his adopted son, Wang Zhongsi allowed Li Linfu to frame him back then, and Li Longji knew in his heart that what he did was not honest.
If those veterans of the Northern Fan said that they did not harbor resentment in their hearts, Li Longji would not believe it.
Out of fear and guilt, Beifan became a thorn in Li Longji's heart that could not be removed for a long time.
What's more, since he experienced An Lushan's betrayal, Li Longji had become a little suspicious about the border army. He naturally believed Yang Guozhong's words.
After some thought, Li Longji finally agreed to postpone Zhou Jun's return to the court.
In fact, before Yang Guozhong came forward, he had already discussed the matter of King Zhou Junqin with the ministers of prominent clans in the court.
When the rebels captured Hulao Pass, Luoyang was destined to fall, and Chang'an would face the rebels head-on. Ordering Zhou Jun to lead Anbeiting's Second Army Qin Wang was a last resort.
However, Pingyuan County raised troops and seventeen counties in Hebei Province surrendered to the imperial court. This gave Yang Guozhong and a group of Chang'an prominent tribesmen the hope of victory again.
Under such circumstances, if Zhou Jun led the Anbeiting Second Army to return to the DPRK, then the credit for suppressing the rebellion would most likely fall on this prince-in-law.
At that time, Zhou Jun returns to the court and joins the cabinet based on his merit, and Ge Shuhan holds the military power. The remaining old Beifan people, such as Guo Ziyi and others, will attach themselves to them and form gang members, and the court will change.
day.
Therefore, regarding Zhou Jun, the Guanzhong family headed by Yang Guozhong reached the following consensus:
First, try every means to eliminate those old people from the Northern Fan who may become Zhou Jun's party members.
Second, the current counterinsurgency situation is very good, and Zhou Jun cannot be allowed to come back to claim credit.
Third, try your best to reduce Zhou Jun's military power, and then transfer his generals.
After deciding on these three strategies, Yang Guozhong advised Li Longji, wrote an imperial edict, and quickly sent someone to give it to him.
At the end of December in the 14th year of Tianbao, Zhou Jun led the Anbeiting Second Army, with a total of 15,000 Tang soldiers in six compartments, and marched all the way to Guanzhong.
When we set off, it was the middle of winter, and the Daqi Commercial Road, as the southern route of the Silk Road, had a harsh environment and was impassable.
Therefore, the Anxi Allied Forces took the northern route through Tingzhou, Xizhou, Yizhou, and Guazhou.
It was snowing heavily and the road was difficult and dangerous.
Before departure, the Anxi Allied Forces prepared some cotton-padded clothes sewn from linen and cotton to keep out the cold. However, due to the scarcity of the quantity, they could only be given priority to the generals.
Many soldiers were injured by the bitter cold and were forced to march in a hurry due to military orders. As a result, there was a lot of attrition in the army.
After going through untold hardships, the army finally arrived outside Liangzhou City.
An Sishun, the former military governor of Hexi Province, was related to An Lushan. The court was worried that the two would be connected, so he was transferred to Chang'an to serve as the Minister of Household Affairs.
The current post of Hexi Jiedushi is concurrently held by Ge Shuhan.
Zhou Jun received a warm welcome as soon as he arrived in Liangzhou City.
Shang Zheng, the governor of Liangzhou, took Liangzhou officials ten miles out of the city to personally welcome the arrival of Zhou Jun and the Anxi coalition forces.
Zhou Jun got off his horse, shook off the snowflakes from his body, and asked Shang Zheng, "Have you prepared hot food?"
Shang Zheng quickly bowed and said, "Everything is ready."
Zhou Jun: "Let's rest here tonight, and we have to go on the road tomorrow. Please arrange the arrangements quickly."
Shang Zheng hesitated for a long time and then said to Zhou Jun: "My prince-in-law and all the generals, why not go to the middle tent first? Angels have come to the palace and have been waiting for a long time."
Zhou Jun was stunned: "Is there a decree in the palace?"
Li Guangbi, Duan Xiushi and other generals also gathered over at this time.
Zhou Jun frowned and said, "In that case, let's go to the middle tent first."
Walking into the middle tent, a chamberlain took out the imperial edict. Zhou Jun and other generals knelt down to listen to the edict.
The imperial edict stated that the Daqi Trade Road was the source of taxes and tribute for the imperial court and must not be missed. Zhou Jun was ordered to lead the Anxi and Beiting armies to garrison Liangzhou to help defend the Daqi Trade Road and ensure that the taxes and tributes entered the court.
Safety.
As long as a smart person listens to it, he will know that the so-called protection of Daqi Commercial Road in the imperial edict is just rhetoric.
The ultimate purpose of this imperial edict was to prevent Zhou Jun from returning his troops to the court.
Li Guangbi had an upright temper, stood up, and shouted angrily at the chamberlain: "I ask you, is this Yang Guozhong's idea?!"
Duan Xiushi, who was usually loyal to the Tang Dynasty, rarely showed an angry look: "In order to kill the enemy as soon as possible, the soldiers under his command traveled day and night in the cold winter, freezing to death, dying of exhaustion, and dying of illness in the hundreds...The bandit army was right in front of us.
But they don’t allow us to go into battle. Wouldn’t it chill the hearts of our sons and daughters to act like this?!”
When the chamberlain from the palace heard this, he didn't dare to say anything. In the end, he could only say goodbye to Zhou Jun and ran out of the central tent.
Zhou Jun glanced at the imperial edict in his hand, and then at the angry generals beside him. He sighed and said, "Send the order. The army is stationed outside Liangzhou City and must not move rashly."