Chapter 729: An Lushan crosses the river to break Chenliu
On November 21, Li Longji ordered An Lushan's eldest son An Qing Zong and Xishi to be cut in half, and the Rongyi Princess who had married An Qing Zong was put to death. An edict was issued to order Rong Wang Li Wan to be the emperor of the East.
Marshal of the Expedition, General Gao Xianzhi of Youyu Lin appointed Fan Yangping and Lu Jiedushi as deputy marshal of the Eastern Expedition. The emperor ordered people to open his inner treasury and use the money inside to recruit brave soldiers in Guanzhong. A total of 110,000 soldiers were recruited. This is called
The Heavenly Soldiers Army means that there are heavenly soldiers and generals who come down to earth to help fight against rebellion. But these people are just people from the market and have no fighting ability.
Another interesting thing here is that the emperor began to use his own sons to stir up important positions in the army. This has never happened before. Rong Wang Li Wan is still the most capable of Xuanzong's disciples, and he is good at writing.
He wrote running script, but he had never led an army in a war. The emperor appointed him as marshal, probably to put a tight spell on Gao Xianzhi.
On December 1, Gao Xianzhi led his flying cavalry, Guangqi and the capital's recruited troops, a total of more than 50,000 people, to set off from the capital, preparing to march to Xia County to fight the decisive battle with the rebels. The emperor also ordered his old partner, the gatekeeper general Bian Lingcheng, to
Serving as the supervisor of the army is another curse for Gao Xianzhi.
…
On December 2, An Lushan led his army to gather on the edge of the Yellow River, preparing to cross the river and occupy Lingchang. This was another good opportunity for the Tang army to block the enemy. However, shortly after the arrival of Henan Jiedushi Zhang Jieran, Lingchang County
Without soldiers and bravery, no one would stand guard at the Yellow River ports.
At this time, ice floes were frozen on the water of the Yellow River. An Lushan ordered the soldiers of the three armies to cut down trees, commandeered people's fishing boats, and built a pontoon bridge on the water. He crossed the river early the next morning and attacked Lingchang County. Because it was cold winter,
After the rebels entered the city, they seized people's houses, killed civilians at will, demolished people's houses and burned them for warmth. Lingchang City was suffering from hunger and cold.
The next target of the rebels' attack was Chenliu County. The new Henan Jiedushi Zhang Jieran gathered most of his troops in the city and led his troops to the city to prepare to defend it.
An Lushan personally led the army to assemble outside the city. Looking from the top of the city, the cavalry camps were lined up on both sides. Thousands of banners of the front army formation were loudly ringing in the cold wind. When the army arrived, iron hoofs and iron boots stamped on it.
The dust flew for ten miles, and the sound vibrated so that the city wall bricks buzzed and resonated. A densely packed number of soldiers wearing iron armor lined up as far as the eye could see. The rebel Fuyuan crossbows were aimed at the city with hundreds of crossbows, and six thousand crossbowmen.
Will the crossbow be opened? The dim blue arrows look like dense fangs, as if they are going to bite the city head a few times.
Most of the soldiers who defended the city were temporarily recruited soldiers. They couldn't fire a strong bow? They couldn't even hold a sword or a gun steadily? Seeing the rebels were so powerful, their legs and feet seemed weak. The mood of failure and surrender spread across the entire city in an instant.
The rebel general Zhang Tongru rushed forward and shouted to the city head: "Listen to me, everyone in the city. My lord is marching to the court to kill the traitor Yang Guozhong? You should surrender the city quickly? Don't stop me."
If there is anyone who dares to stand firm and refuses to surrender during the army's revolt, his three tribes will be killed after the city is broken!"
After hearing this, the soldiers guarding the city knelt down to Zhang Jieran one after another, begging him to abandon the defense of the city and lead the crowd in surrender. Zhang Jieran naturally refused, and ordered the two leading proposers to be beheaded to purify the military order.
Suddenly, a guard hurriedly climbed onto the city wall, knelt on one knee and crossed his hands in front of him to report: "Ambassador, the prefect Guo Na has opened the north gate to ask for surrender, and has led An Lushan's army into the city."
Zhang Jieran's heart suddenly became cold, he closed his eyes and his face turned pale, and threw the long sword in his hand to the ground. Seeing this, the soldiers on the left and right fell down and threw their flags out of the city, along with their weapons, under the city wall.
An Lushan entered through the North City Gate on horseback and an iron chariot. His son An Qingxu followed closely behind him on a white horse, and then Shi Siming, Cui Qianyou and other generals filed in.
Guo Na led many local officials to kneel at the city gate, while the 10,000 soldiers guarding the city had already taken off their armor, put down their swords and guns, and sat cross-legged in the cold wind, waiting to be surrendered.
Dr. An walked down from the chariot with high spirits. Wearing Mingguang armor, he stood in front of the surrender officials of Chenliu County with a bone stick in his hand. He was about to give a victory speech as a victor.
An Qingxu suddenly saw the yellow paper reward notice posted on the city wall. The portrait of An Lushan was painted on the top of the notice, which was very accurate and vivid. The official document below said: "Whoever gets the head of the rebel thief Lushan will be rewarded with ten thousand gold. The land is 1,400 acres, and the land is granted to Pingyang County, and the land is settled by 1,000 households. Those who can quell the An clan are granted 2,500 acres of land, and are granted the title of Yuyang County Duke, and the land is raised to 1,500 households. Today there are Zi'an Qingzhong has already cut off the city, and the rest must be killed by the heroes of the world and sent to the capital."
An Qingxu's eyes suddenly filled with tears. He stepped forward to take off the notice and ran towards his father in a staggering manner. He threw himself in front of the Anlushan railway carriage, knelt on the ground with a plop, his knees and the ground rubbed and drifted, and he slid forward. Three feet back, he cried loudly: "Father! Brother! Brother! He has been cut in half by the imperial court in Chang'an and abandoned!"
An Lushan stepped forward and snatched the notice from An Qingxu's hand. He stretched his hands and looked at it carefully. His fat body could not help but tremble.
"Oh! My son!"
An Lushan held the chariot and cried in tears: "What crime do I have? Why do you want to kill my son?"
All the generals stepped forward and crossed their hands to console him: "My lord, I am sorry and will accept the change. The eldest son is dead and cannot be resurrected. I hope my lord can cheer up."
"This is all caused by the treacherous Yang Guozhong who deceived Your Majesty! When I invade Chang'an in the future, I will definitely destroy the three Yang families!"
After An Lushan stopped crying, he turned around and stared at the soldiers and officials on the ground with fierce eyes. He said in a deep voice: "Since my son is dead and his innocent soul has returned to Jiuquan, you people must also go down to accompany him! Give me everything you can." Execute!"
Ashina Chengqing immediately waved his hand and ordered the crossbowmen to surround the surrendered soldiers and officials. Yan Zhuang quickly stepped forward to persuade: "Lord, don't kill the surrendered soldiers in vain. If the reputation of killing the surrendered soldiers spreads, all the states and counties in the world will definitely defend it." Failure to surrender will be detrimental to our lord’s great cause.”
An official in a dark crimson official robe straightened his clothes with both hands, walked up to An Lushan with eight-character steps, bowed slightly and crossed his hands and said: "Doctor An, before you dedicated the city, you promised not to disturb me when I entered the city. The common people are not good at killing and surrendering soldiers, so a man should keep his word and keep his promise. In the past, in the early Han Dynasty, Jibu's promise was worth a thousand gold, and Han Xin used a thousand gold to float his mother. I went to Su Dingfang to bail Duman out of faith, and Emperor Gaozong also fulfilled his faith. Today, the doctor has Raising troops to fight against evildoers and clearing the emperor's side, one must abide by one's trustworthiness, only then can he gain a good reputation and make those who want to surrender in the world no longer hesitate to move forward."
An Lushan smiled instead of being angry, pointed at him and asked others, "Who is this?"
"The lower official is Guo Na, the governor of Chenliu County. The reason why the official was able to enter Chenliu without spending a single soldier is because I opened the door and dedicated the city."
The rebel generals all looked at him with dead eyes. But An Lushan smiled and waved to him: "Prefect Guo, please come forward."
Guo Nacha stepped forward and said: "The doctor keeps his promise and keeps his word, and he will definitely become famous all over the United States."
Fatty An's face suddenly became fierce. He grabbed the bone stick at hand and swiped it at Guo Na's face, sending him flying more than three feet away. He pumped out six liters of blood from his mouth and fell to the ground, already lifeless.
"Kill me!"
Ashina Chengqing waved his hand, and thousands of crossbowmen fired arrows like locusts, shooting out all the arrows in their quivers. The officials who surrendered were shot down in a pool of blood, and in the blink of an eye, more than 10,000 people were slaughtered.
Almost exhausted.
The crossbowmen pulled out arrows from the corpses one by one. If anyone who was not dead screamed in pain, they drew their swords and killed them.
An official with pale beard and hair was tied up in front of An Lushan. An Lushan pointed and asked, "Who is this again?"
"Zhang Jieran, the military envoy to Henan Province sent by the emperor."
An Lushan waved his hand coldly: "Kill."
…
"The bandits captured Boling on November 19th, Changshan on the 21st, crossed the Yellow River and fell into Lingchang on December 2nd, and fell into Chenliu on the 5th. No one in the counties they passed dared to resist, except for Xingyang.
The city has also been broken, and all twenty-four counties in Hebei and Henan may have fallen into enemy hands."
Li Longji raised his palm and slapped it heavily on the armrest of the bed, and sighed sadly: "Is there not a single righteous man in the twenty-four counties?"
Wei Jiansu stepped forward with a wat board in hand and stated: "The above urgent reports are all sent by Pingyuan Governor Yan Zhenqing to Pingyuan Division soldier Li Ping yesterday. Yan Zhenqing knew that Anlu Mountain was rebelling, so he strengthened the walls and cleared the fields in advance, and dug deep trenches and moats to resist the attack.
The enemy, and contacted various ministries in Hebei to recruit rebels to fight against the An thieves."
The emperor was overjoyed and stroked his beard and praised: "It's a pity that I don't know what Yan Zhenqing looks like. This is the real righteous man! Why is such a righteous man just a small prefect of a county? Don't you notice?"
Yang Guozhong and his ministers hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, claiming that they were guilty of death.
"I have always treated Anlu Mountain well and treated the generals in Hebei well. Today he coerced the generals to rebel against me. This is an act of ungratefulness, disloyalty and filial piety. I wanted to lead the expedition in person, so I went to the front of the two armies to denounce the thieves and inspire them.
The soldiers of Hebei must beat the drums for the soldiers who attack and kill the thieves to save the world!"