Chapter 355 Refusing to hand over power

Two days later, King Rong Li Wan led 40,000 Hedong Army to Qingzhou, so there were already 160,000 troops around Li Longji. At the same time, King Bian sent someone to send news that the Uighur army had retreated to the grassland north and the danger of Shuofang was officially lifted. After this news, Li Longji had no worries. He immediately ordered the entire army to go north to Lingzhou. In late April, the 160,000 army was heading towards Lingzhou, where the Shuofang Jiedushi was located.

Lingzhou is the location of Lingwu County, Ningxia today. It is close to the Yellow River. The Yellow River has a wide surface, many tributaries and fertile land. It is a famous grain-producing area north of Guanlong. Lingzhou City is also the largest city in northern Guanlong. It is precisely because of its rich resources and a large population that it has become the location of Shuofang Jiedushi.

The departure of the Uighurs did not bring any breath to An Sishun, the governor of Shuofang. On the contrary, a fear of the arrival of the doomsday made An Sishun anxious all day long. That afternoon, An Sishun received news that Li Longji had left Qingzhou and more than 100,000 troops were coming to his Lingzhou. The army would arrive in Lingzhou in the latest two days.

In a dim room, An Sishun stared blankly at the roof. He had been locked in the room for two hours. He was making an extremely difficult decision. Where should he go?

In fact, he had already made a decision, and now he needed to make up his mind. An Sishun was already in his early fifties. His decades of military career have developed his character of killing. He made countless major decisions in his life, including the interception of Li Qing'an back then. He made a decision in just one cup of tea. This is the limit for him to make a decision. He never made a decision more than a cup of tea, but he considered this decision for three days.

An Sishun never considered the idea that he had never thought about it, or even had never had. He had a force to be independent, which means that he would split the Tang Dynasty and would become a local emperor. There has never been such a precedent in the more than a hundred years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and An Sishun would take this first step.

After three days of thinking and two hours of contemplation, An Sishun had gradually made up his mind to take this step. In fact, he had no way out. If he did not stand on his own, he would undoubtedly die.

In front of An Sisun, there was a map of the Guanlong area. He had no sand table yet. He had sent someone to make it, but it had not been completed. In fact, he did not need sand tables. He was extremely familiar with every mountain and water in the Guanlong area. The one he was most familiar with was Hexi. He had been a military governor there for many years. At this time, his eyes fell on the Hexi Corridor of the map.

Like Li Qing'an, he also discovered the opportunity in Hexi. Geshuhan had already drained all the troops in Hexi. Hexi was empty and soldiers. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. An Sishun's eyes gradually became decisive. This was his emotional expression of determination. He looked out the window and smiled coldly, and said to himself: "Li Longji, this is what you forced me, don't regret it!"

"Masterman!" Gao Xiuyan's voice suddenly came from outside the door, with a slight panic.

"What's up?"

"I just received the news that a scout discovered that Guo Ziyi led his troops south from Jiuyuan and was almost at Anding County."

An Sishun was shocked and asked anxiously: "Is it east of the Yellow River or west of the Yellow River?"

"It's west of the Yellow River."

An Sishun suddenly became nervous. Has Guo Ziyi discovered his intention? It is very likely that Guo Ziyi would not need to come down from the west bank of the Yellow River. What should I do? An Sishun paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking about countermeasures quickly in his mind.

At this time, Gao Xiuyan said again: "Master, I have something to report to you."

"Come in!"

The door opened, Gao Xiuyan flashed into the room, An Sishun had already sat back on his seat, staring at him lightly, "Tell me! What's the matter?"

Logically, Gao Xiuyan is his confidant, and he should not be so cold, but in fact he has discovered that An Sishun is not so loyal to him. This person is selfish. Someone told him that Gao Xiuyan had secretly transferred his family property and his wife and children. Of course, An Sishun could understand his concerns. It was nothing that he transferred his wife and children. The key is that Gao Xiuyan did not report to him. Everything was done quietly while concealing himself. This shows that he was no longer optimistic about himself, which made An Sishun feel a little dissatisfied with him.

Gao Xiuyan did not realize An Sishun's coldness. He knew that An Sishun must be as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, and was in control because he had never seen An Sishun lock himself in the room for two hours.

He locked the door and stepped forward and whispered: "Master, have you thought of a way out?"

An Sishun's heart suddenly felt a little vigilant, and he sighed silently and said, "No, I really don't know where to go?"

"Master, I have a suggestion."

"Tell me quickly!" An Sishun immediately straightened his body and looked at him with expectation, and his expression seemed to have found a way out on the cliff.

Gao Xiuyan was excited and hurriedly said, "Master, I have thought about it over and over again. If Master wants to get through this level, there is only one way to go. I wonder if Master has thought of it?"

"I was wondering if I could surrender to my brother An Lushan, but I just couldn't make up this decision." An Sishun tempted him.

Gao Xiuyan smiled and raised his thumbs up and said, "Master, I mean this. I think the only way out for the Master is to surrender to the Prince of Dongping. In the world, the only person who can accept the Master is the Prince of Dongping."

"But I am also considering surrendering to Li Longji."

An Sishun continued to test him and said, "I think as long as I surrender voluntarily, although Li Longji will not let me take control of military power, at least he will not kill me. With my qualifications, he can still serve as the prefect of Yizhou, which is similar to surrendering to An Lushan."

"Have the Grand Marshal forgotten Wang Zhongsi's fate?" Gao Xiuyan was obviously anxious and advised him: "Wang Zhongsi disobeyed Li Longji's will because he refused to attack Shibao City, and was demoted to the prefect of Jiujiang. Although Li Longji did not kill him at that time, Wang Zhongsi died suddenly a year later. This must be Li Longji's move. He was the best at this. Are Wei Jian and Huangfu Weiming the same? Demote first, so that the world thinks he is kind. When everyone stops paying attention, he will take action. Don't these people die strangely in a year? If the Grand Marshal surrenders to him, he will definitely die in a year."

"This...let me think about it again."

"Master, don't think about it anymore. Prince Dongping is your clan brother, all of whom are the children of the An family. Only he can treat Master well and retain the Master's strength."

An Sishun glanced at him, and he sighed with a long sigh, "When did I, An Sishun, make a decision for such a long time? It's okay! Follow your plan and go to Fanyang to join my brother An Lushan. I'll write him a letter and send someone to deliver it."

An Sishun quickly wrote a letter, handed it to his personal soldiers in front of Gao Xiuyan and said, "You can send this letter for me immediately, and use 800 miles to quickly report. You must deliver it to Fanyang within two days. One day later, you will bring the heads to see me."

The personal soldiers received the letter and walked away quickly. Gao Xiuyan was secretly happy and said, "Master General, Li Longji's army is only two days away from here. If you wait for the reply from the Prince of Dongping before leaving, it may be too late. Why not let us set off immediately."

An Sishun nodded, "I plan to set off in the middle of the night today, so you can go back and prepare!"

"Then I will leave!"

Gao Xiuyan exited the room, An Sishun slowly walked to the window, staring at Gao Xiuyan's disappearing back in the courtyard, and smiled coldly, "So you are an An Lushan's dog!"

He waved to the personal soldiers in the courtyard, and the personal soldiers quickly walked to the window, "Please give me instructions!"

"Stay at Gao Xiuyan and pay attention to his every move. If he has any movement, he must report to me immediately!"

Gao Xiuyan lived in the west of the city. His wife and children had secretly sent someone to Luoyang. He was the only one living in the entire mansion. An Sishun guessed that he had indeed defected to An Lushan. He had chosen good trees to live in. He also needed to consider his future. Since An Sishun rejected Li Longji's will to step down, Gao Xiuyan knew that An Sishun could not live long, and Li Longji would definitely be the first to attack him. Guo Ziyi, who took over, had a bad relationship with him. If he came to power, he would not have a good life for him. At this moment, An Lushan sent someone to secretly find him. Gao Xiuyan fell into An Lushan's arms and was appointed by An Lushan as the envoy of Pingludu Military and Horses. However, An Lushan's appointment was conditional, that is, he had to persuade An Sishun to come to Fanyang. If An Sishun refused to come to Fanyang, then Gao Xiuyan's envoy of Pingludu Military and Horses was just a dream.

Hard work pays off. An Sishun was indeed persuaded by him and was willing to go to Fanyang. Gao Xiuyan couldn't help but rush back to the mansion immediately. He walked into the backyard. There was a pigeon cage in a corner with five pigeons inside. This was the pigeon that An Lushan ordered to send to him. Gao Xiuyan quickly wrote two same pigeon letters, telling An Lushan that An Sishun would raise his troops in the middle of the night and rush to Fanyang to make An Lushan ready to receive the troops.

He stuffed the pigeon letters into a tube, walked quickly to the pigeon cage, reached out and took out two strong pigeons, tied the two pigeon letters to their legs, and he carefully confirmed that they had been tied up and strong. He suddenly threw the two pigeons, and the two pigeons spread their wings in the air, and with Gao Xiuyan's dream of getting promoted and making money, he hovered towards the distant Fan Yang.

Late at night, drums suddenly sounded loudly in the camp of Shuofang Army, and more than 20,000 soldiers were awakened in their sleep. They were confused, holding weapons, putting on armor and running out of the camp tent.

"What happened?"

"I don't know, maybe the Uighur army is coming again!"

Various news spread among the soldiers, but no one explained the reasons to them, no one gave them a lecture, and there was no time to organize the team. Following the large army in panic, he ran towards the bank of the Yellow River.

Lingzhou City is close to the Yellow River, less than ten miles from the river bank. The Shuofang Army has more than 100 ferries on the Yellow River, which can send 20,000 people across the Yellow River at one time. At this time, An Sishun and more than a dozen confidant generals had arrived first. An Sishun looked at the dark river surface and pondered for a long time. He knew that the other side was Guo Ziyi's troops. If they passed like this, they would be intercepted by him before they got ashore. He would never cross the river from here.

An Sishun thought for a long time, and the soldiers were never tired of deceiving. It would be better to drag Guo Ziyi here, and he crossed the river from Huizhou. Thinking of this, he called a confidant general and whispered a few words to him. The general ordered him to leave. At this time, Gao Xiuyan chased him from behind. He was extremely frightened. Aren't An Sishun going to Fanyang? He should go east to Fanyang, so why should he cross the Yellow River to west?

"Master, you are not going..."

"Don't worry, I'm going to Fanyang!"

An Sishun patted his shoulder and comforted him with a smile, "If you go east, you will be intercepted by Li Longji's large army, so I have to go west first, then go south and go south before heading east instead. Do you understand?"

"But..." Gao Xiuyan wanted to say that he would go north to Fanyang faster, but An Sishun no longer gave him a chance to speak. He stopped him and said, "You get on the boat first, let's go south by boat!"

He gave a wink to the personal soldiers, and the personal soldiers immediately surrounded Gao Xiuyan and walked towards the big ship. After walking a few steps, Gao Xiuyan suddenly reacted, it was wrong! An Sishun was definitely not going to Fanyang.

"Ship An, what's going on?" Gao Xiuyan shouted. He wanted to break free from his personal soldiers, but unexpectedly, the few personal soldiers were extremely powerful and forced to drag his arms towards the ship.

"Come on!" Gao Xiuyan asked his personal soldiers for help. He just shouted, and a soldier smashed hard on the back of his head with the hilt of his knife. He fainted immediately.

The sword flashed, and the personal soldiers who came with him immediately disappeared into the darkness. An Sishun wanted three thousand subordinates of Gao Xiuyan. Otherwise, he would have killed the man who betrayed him, and he would have dared to secretly send a letter to An Lushan.

"Master General, the army has reached the shore, what should I do now?"

An Sishun looked at the other side coldly, and suddenly turned around and ordered: "Send the army to turn south and march towards Huizhou, and tell the soldiers that the Uighurs attack Hexi, and the emperor ordered us to go to Hexi for rescue."

In the night, 20,000 Shuofang troops turned south and marched towards Huizhou. At the same time, one hundred large ships also set off the shore, fifty sailed to the opposite shore, and the other fifty sailed north along the water. Guo Ziyi's army came from Jiuyuan to the north, and these fifty large ships headed against the direction of Jiuyuan.

In Youzhou City, Gao Xiuyan sent a pigeon letter to Youzhou the next night and was immediately sent to An Lushan's table. At this time, An Lushan was discussing the issue of sending troops with several of his generals and counselors. An Lushan had already decided to send troops. In the earliest plan, An Lushan planned to be low-key and to endure and strive to become Li Longji's last target of reducing the vassals. However, the situation changed drastically. He never expected that Li Longji would transfer the main force of the Hedong army to Guanlong, so that there were only a very small number of troops in the Hedong area to garrison, which made An Lushan feel moved.

It can be said that since a few years ago, An Lushan stared at Hedong. He tried his best to serve as the governor of Hedong, but he had never been able to get what he wanted. Just when he was almost desperate, the opportunity suddenly appeared in front of him: Hedong was empty.

"Dear generals, everyone has known my ideas. Now I want to ask everyone for their opinions. Should we take Hedong?"

There were seven people in the sand table room, all of whom were An Lushan’s confidants, Gao Shang, generals Shi Siming, Cai Xide, Tian Ganzhen, Li Guiren, Zhang Tongru and An Qingxu, the second son of An Lushan.

Attacking Hedong is a major event. An Lushan not only needs to listen to the advice of his advisers, but also the suggestions of his generals. These generals can stand alone and are all capable of fighting.

The adviser Gao Shangxian said: "According to the information we have obtained, the Hedong army has only more than 10,000 people, all of which are relatively scattered. Among them, the more concentrated area is the northern capital Taiyuan, with 5,000 troops, followed by Jingxing Pass, with 2,000 guards. It should be said that Hedong is within reach. The key is how we occupy it, whether to force the troops or find an excuse. I personally tend to find an excuse."

An Lushan nodded. He had the same idea. Seeing that several generals were silent, he said a little displeased: "You guys also say it, don't stand there and don't talk."

At this time, Shi Siming took a step forward and slowly said to everyone: "I personally think that whether it is forcibly occupying or making excuses to enter, these are not important. What is important is whether we can occupy Hedong for a long time in the future. What is also important is whether we can occupy Hedong for a long time. What will happen next after occupying Hedong? Also, whether Li Qingan occupied Hexi is not required, we just send troops directly."

The person Shi Siming paid the most attention to is Li Qing'an. Over the years, he has never been able to get rid of Li Qing'an's shadow. The shame many years ago has become a nightmare for his life. He will always touch Li Qing'an without realizing it. It has become a habit for him. Everyone knows his fault, and no one dares to laugh at him.

At this time, Cai Xide was about to speak, but An Lushan stopped him, "No need to say anything about Xide, I know your opinion."

Cai Xide is a man who cut off the murder. He decided on one thing and would do it immediately. No matter how difficult the matter was, he would never give up until he achieved his goal. Of course, An Lushan knew what he was going to say, and he would definitely say that he would send troops to seize Hedong overnight.

An Lushan looked at Tian Ganzhen again. This was a general with both civil and military skills. He has always been the most respected by An Lushan. Tian Ganzhen’s nickname is Ahao. He has a very good popularity in Fanyang. In addition to Shi Siming, Tian Ganzhen and Shi Siming also share the same grudge. An Lushan also knows this, so he tries not to arrange for the two of them to do things together.

"Ahao, tell me what do you think!"

Tian Ganzhen stepped forward and bowed and said, "Ship An, my idea is the same as Mr. Gao. Hedong must occupy it. The key is how to occupy it. I advocate making excuses so that I can become famous in this way. Unless An, has decided to show the world and replace the Li family, it is better to be cautious. As for the plan after occupying Hedong, I don't think it is important. The current situation is changing, just like the general who wanted to be low-key and forbearing a month ago, but now he has decided to send troops to Hedong, so the plan is not important. The important thing is to pay attention to the changes in the situation."

After saying that, he glanced at Shi Siming from the corner of his eyes and snorted softly in his heart. Shi Siming had a gloomy face and said nothing.

"Good statement!"

An Lushan nodded in praise, Tian Ganzhen analyzed that he was very fond of his appetite, and he looked at the other people again, Li Guiren, Zhang Tongru and An Qingxu all said that they should occupy Hedong and become the de facto governor of Hedong.

Now that entering Hedong has become a consensus, this is beyond doubt. The key is what kind of excuses to use? You can't learn from Li Qing'an, just use the excuse of suppressing bandits in Hedong! There are no bandits to suppress Hedong.

Just as everyone was thinking about the excuse, a personal soldier walked into the room and quietly handed an email to An Lushan, "Shuai An, it was sent by Gao Xiuyan."

An Lushan was stunned. He opened the letter and looked at it. An Sishun was indeed going to join Hebei. At this moment, An Lushan's mind suddenly flashed, and he thought of a wonderful excuse.

"Everyone, An Sishun wants to surrender to Hebei. We should help the emperor and go to Hedong to intercept An Sishun. What do you think of this excuse?"

Just as An Sishun evacuated Lingzhou, Li Longji's army had arrived at Qinggang Ridge, which was the junction of Yanzhou, Qingzhou and Lingzhou. The mountains were steep and the forests were dense. At this time, it started raining. The rain became heavier and heavier, making the army's progress extremely difficult. Li Longji was also wet by the rain. He had been soaked in the rain. These days, he was extremely weak and became ill. After being exposed to the rain, he soon became ill. Li Wan immediately ordered the three armies to camp on the spot and wait until the heavy rain stopped before moving forward.

A thin body appeared in the heavy rain. Li Wan held an oil-paper umbrella and slowly walked to his father's tent. A guard stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, Your Majesty is in poor health, so you can't disturb him."

"I know, I'll take a look."

Li Wan slowly walked to the door of the tent and stopped to listen. He heard the coughing sound of his father and hissing sound of breathing from time to time from time to time from time to time. Li Wan's heart was extremely heavy. He knew that his father would not live long, and it was probably unrealistic to let his father change his intention to become a crown prince again. Seeing that Changsun Li Yu was about to ascend the throne, Li Wan's heart was filled with loss.

Li Wan is the sixth son of Li Longji. He is known for his elegant style and has a very good reputation among famous gentry. He has always been indifferent to power. Before he became the governor of Hedong, Li Wan rarely wanted to compete for the throne. He always believed that the throne had no chance with him, but people's minds changed with the changes in the environment. When Li Wan became the governor of Hedong, he held real military power in his hand. He tasted the sweet taste of power for the first time, and the inner world underwent earth-shaking changes. He began to have a desire for the throne. Does he have hope? Originally, he had always come to Qingzhou with a glimmer of hope, but now, he saw his father's body decay day by day, and he knew that the possibility was not high. The father would not take the risk of the country's turmoil in any case and then change the crown prince.

Li Wan sighed secretly and turned around to leave the tent. At this moment, Li Longji's weak voice suddenly came from the tent.

"Is it Wan'er?"

"Yes! Father, it's me."

"You... come in!"

Li Wan walked into the tent and Li Longji lay on the couch. He was no longer surrounded by two newly-established women in Gyeongju, but Wu Xianyi who left Beijing with him. At this time, what he needed most was a woman who was familiar with him and could take care of his body.

"Father!" Li Wan knelt down.

Li Longji sat up with difficulty and said, "I happened to have something to look for you."

"Father, please tell me!"

"I have been thinking about it for a long time. The Shuofang Army is also my army. I don't want to have any war with the Shuofang Army, so I decided to give An Sishun another chance. If he is willing to surrender to me immediately, I can change him to the Henan Road Observer and will not kill him. What do you think?"

"Father is kind, this is An Sishun's last chance. If he refuses to change his past, God will not allow him."
Chapter completed!