Chapter 572 Operation Falcon (I)

An Lushan brought 3,000 people to watch while watching the gunpowder test. These 3,000 people were his personal guards, but there were differences. Among them, 500 were called inner guards and his personal guards. They could definitely trust them and could be guards by his side when they were sleeping. The other 2,500 people were called outer guards, which could only be relatively trustworthy. When he went on patrol, he could guard in front of and behind his carriage, but the distance from him must be fifty steps away.

It was noon after returning from the gunpowder test site. Taking a nap is an habit of An Lushan's thunder. It usually takes an hour and a half to sleep. Even if he discovers such a major incident as the secret of the sky thunder, it cannot stop An Lushan's desire to take a nap. The place to make gunpowder and select gunpowder craftsmen were handed over to Shi Siming to do these things. On the way back, he snored in the carriage. When the carriage returned to Youzhou City, he stopped in front of his military yamen. Dozens of personal soldiers carried An Lushan who was sleeping in the mansion with a rattan bed.

An Lushan took a nap. Except for his five hundred private guards who had to stand guard around the bedroom, the rest of the private soldiers went back to the military camp to have lunch and rest. An Lushan's military rules were also very strict. Soldiers only had one day off every half month, and it was strictly prohibited to leave the military camp at night. There was no task during the day and they were not allowed to go out of the military camp. Otherwise, they would be severely punished by military rules.

But the treatment of officers is slightly better. Although they are not allowed to leave the barracks at night, they can make excuses to go out during the day, especially officers above the lieutenant. As long as it is not during the war, they can basically go out for an hour at noon and evening to drink and go shopping in brothels. As long as they don’t cause trouble, An Lushan will generally acquiesce.

When An Lushan's external guard returned to the military camp, several officers above the lieutenant made an appointment to go out for a drink. One of them was a lieutenant named Chen Zhiming, but he said he had a stomachache and did not go with him. When the other officers left, Chen Zhiming used the excuse to go out to find a doctor to buy medicine and go out to the camp.

Youzhou City is today Beijing. In the Tang Dynasty, it was once the location of the Andong Protectorate and the military yamen of the French governor of Fanyang. After years of operation in An Lushan, the city of Youzhou has become very prosperous and lively, especially the treatment of the Hu people. A large number of Hu people flocked into Youzhou City, making half of Youzhou City Hu people.

There is a medicine shop in the north of Youzhou City, called Miaoshou Huichun Hall, which contains several very powerful old doctors. Therefore, the business of the medicine shop is very prosperous, but in fact it is the base of Li Qing'an Neiwei in Youzhou.

Li Qing'an's inner guard was a new organization that was just established this year. In fact, it was the former intelligence agency, but now it has expanded. He drew 10,000 elite troops from various troops and merged with the intelligence agencies to establish a new inner guard, with a total of 15,000 people. Nan Jiyun also served as the nominal general of the inner guard, but in fact he was directly responsible to Li Qing'an. There were two in charge, and the left general Hu Peiyun was responsible for the intelligence hall, with 5,000 subordinates, distributed throughout the country. In fact, the original broken Ye Han and Tang Association. Now the Han and Tang Association has disappeared. The branches distributed throughout the country have now been changed to the Inner Guard Intelligence Division.

Right General Qin Haiyang is responsible for the inner guards, with 10,000 subordinates. This ten thousand troops can be regarded as the most elite gathering of all the troops directly under Li Qing'an. They mainly cooperate with the Intelligence Hall to carry out various special tasks.

The Information Hall in Youzhou is a first-level branch, with more than a dozen branches and is distributed in Hebei Road. It has more than 400 members, most of which are based on business. It has all kinds of religions and all its headquarters is the Miaoshou Huichun Hall.

Miaoshou Huichuntang has a history of 20 years in Youzhou and is a well-known old brand. Many years ago, even An Lushan had seen them for medical treatment, and Li Qing'an's rise lasted only seven or eight years, so no matter what, people cannot connect Miaoshou Huichuntang and Li Qing'an.

At noon, there were crowds in the Miaoshou Huichun Hall, and people who came to see the doctor were lined up in a long queue from the morning. By noon, not only did the number of people not decrease, but the number increased. Several pharmacies carried porridge buckets and baskets filled with steamed buns and began to distribute lunch to those who were waiting for the doctor. Each person had a bowl of porridge and two steamed buns. This is the rule of the Miaoshou Huichun Hall. As long as people who came to see the doctor would take care of a meal at noon. Even if a beggar came in to collect the meal, they didn't care and just regarded it as a gift.

The captain Chen Zhiming hurried over with his stomach covering his stomach. He did not line up, but slipped in through the small door next to him, attracting a lot of curses.

Chen Zhiming entered the pharmacy lobby and gave a wink to the shopkeeper Zhang who was greeting the patient. Zhang Manager Zhang immediately put down what he was doing and walked towards the inner hall. Zhang Manager Zhang is named Zhang Yue, who is over 50 years old this year. At first, he was the head of the Hebei Road Branch of the Han and Tang Dynasties Association. Now he is the head of the Hebei Road Branch of the Anxi Army Inner Guard Intelligence Hall. Zhang Yue is also a member of the Yinlong Association. He only recognizes Li Qing'an as the Young Master of Yinlong, and is the hope for realizing the Yinlong plan. As for whether it is the Han and Tang Dynasties Association or the Inner Guard, it is not important to him.

Chen Zhiming is also a member of the Han and Tang Association. He joined the Han and Tang Association ten years ago. The Han and Tang Association did not develop very well in Fan Yang's army. Because An Lushan valued the Hu people and rejected the Han people, there were only less than 200 members in the army. Chen Zhiming is the leader of the Han and Tang Association in the army. However, few people know that the Han and Tang Association has been transformed into an inner guard. Only a few core figures know about the Han and Tang Association members in Hebei Road, and Chen Zhiming is also one of them.

The two walked into a quiet room in the inner hall and sat down. Chen Zhiming said, "There is an extremely important information that we must report to Chang'an immediately."

"What's the matter?"

"An Lushan has also made thunder. This morning, I saw them experiment with them in Lingyun Valley in the northern suburbs. It was very powerful. The two-meter-high wooden frame was blown to pieces. An Lushan was ecstatic."

Chen Zhiming took another piece of white paper, and simply drew the sketch of the sky thunder he saw, and handed it to Zhang Yue and said, "It's probably just like this. I stood far away and didn't see it very clearly."

Zhang Yue took the sketch and frowned, "How could this happen?"

Of course he knew what An Lushan successfully developed the Tianle Thunder meant to the Anxi Army, and he asked anxiously: "Who successfully developed the Tianle Thunder?"

"It's a group of Taoist priests. I heard that they are from a Taoist temple in Zhaozhou. There are more than a dozen Taoist priests. They have been regarded as guests of honor by An Lushan and have been strictly protected. Shi Siming will form a Tianlei Camp to specialize in the Tianlei."

Zhang Yue pondered for a moment and said, "I will report this to Chang'an immediately, but I hope our people can enter the Tianlei Camp, no matter how much it costs, they must do it."

"I understand. I'll go get some medicine. I'll go back and find a way to arrange it. I'll tell you how much it will cost."

Chen Zhiming went out, and Zhang Yue immediately took out the silk paper that specialized in writing information, and took out a small notebook from his arms. This was the codebook for Anxijun. He used a fine pen to compare the codebook and wrote down two copies of information that no one could understand. When the handwriting was dry, he carefully rolled it up and stuffed it into two small red message tubes. He got up and walked quickly towards the backyard.

There is a cage of pigeons in the backyard. Youzhou City has strict control over pigeons and is not allowed to be raised by ordinary people. Only when An Lushan’s special approval is obtained can they be allowed to raise pigeons. Because Miaoshou Huichuntang is a time-honored brand and has a good relationship with Fan Yangjun, because Miaoshou Huichuntang needs to use pigeons to buy medicine to treat diseases, they received An Lushan’s special approval, allowing them to raise pigeons.

Zhang Yue took out two strong carrier pigeons from the pigeon cage and carefully held the carrier tube on the pigeon's legs. He suddenly threw the carrier pigeon into the sky. The two carrier pigeons flew blankly and hovered towards the west.

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Chang'an City was the sixth day of the 10th month. Li Siye's Anxi army returned to Xianyang the day before yesterday. Li Qing'an gave them ten days, but they took Hanzhong in eight days, including the six days on the road, with more than 1,500 casualties, but more than 4,000 enemy troops were killed and 20,000 were captured alive.

In this glorious battle, Li Qing'an did not blockade news and specially ordered people to promote it. This battle immediately caused a sensation in Chang'an. Many Chang'an people didn't even know that the 40,000 Anxi Army stationed in Xianyang went to Hanzhong. In eight days, they took Hanzhong. This was simply incredible, but it happened again. Suddenly, all kinds of praise flew overwhelmingly towards the Anxi Army and Li Siye, the world's number one army, the flying general, the invincible brave army, etc.

At the suggestion of Li Qing'an, the Political Affairs Hall issued a special order to reward 40,000 Anxi Army with a reward of 800,000 guan and 200,000 pieces of silk. It was given heavy armor to the fallen soldiers and promoted 36 meritorious generals. Among them, Li Siye was named the champion general, the guardian army, Gaochang County Duke, and tens of thousands of pieces of silk. Zhao Chongjie was named General Yunhui, the Jinchang County Bo, and the purple goldfish bag, and the silk was awarded 3,000 pieces.

Li Qing'an also specially ordered all the soldiers of the Anxi Army to take three days off and allow them to enter Chang'an for entertainment. For a time, Chang'an City became a lively and joyful ocean.

That afternoon, Li Qing'an handled military affairs in the military camp outside the city as usual. He had just received news that due to the loss of Hanzhong, Li Heng had ordered the withdrawal of troops from Jingzhou. The 200,000 Jiannan Army was already on the way back to Bashu, but this did not mean that Li Heng would counterattack Hanzhong. Li Qing'an knew Li Heng very well. He would never dare to fight on both sides before he annexed Li Mao, and declared war on Chang'an.

These days he has been considering using troops against An Lushan. Li Qing'an knew that An Lushan's rebellion was a historical necessity. Even if he killed An Lushan, his generals would take over his rank and become Zhang Lushan, Shi Lushan and the like. However, the middle Tang Dynasty changed the direction of history because of his arrival, and there would be no more defeat in Tongguan and the tragedy of the fall of Chang'an. But he was not only satisfied with this. He wanted to suppress An Lushan's rebellion within Hebei Dao as much as possible, and also minimize casualties of ordinary people. In this way, when the An Lushan Rebellion was extinguished, Hebei Dao could be restored as soon as possible, and it would not become a turning point in the prosperity and decline of the Tang Dynasty like the Anshi Rebellion in history.

For this reason, he launched a large-scale immigration and tried his best to move the people from Hebei Road. More than 400,000 households have been moved so far. Although it is less than half of the household registration in Hebei Road, it has greatly reduced the losses caused by An Lushan's rebellion.

It is October now, and by the end of November, the Yellow River will freeze. At that time, the threat from An Lushan's army to Henan Road will be greatly strengthened. Therefore, Li Qing'an was considering increasing troops on Henan Road.

At this time, a report from a personal soldier came from outside the tent, "Report, General Hu of the Inner Guard urgently asked for a meeting!"

Hu Peiyun's urgent request for a meeting must have happened. He put away his official duties and ordered him: "Let him come in!"

After a moment, Hu Peiyun hurried in, knelt down on one knee and saluted and reported: "I have urgent information to report to the general."

"Get up and talk!"

Hu Peiyun stood up and said, "I just received emergency information from Youzhou, and An Lushan has developed the thunder."

Li Qingan was shocked, "Is this news accurate?"

Hu Peiyun nodded, "It should be true. Some of us have witnessed An Lushan's thunder test with our own eyes."

As he said that, he handed over a translated piece of information to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an took the information with a serious expression. This was actually what he was most worried about. An Lushan would also use gunpowder. Gunpowder was not invented by him. It was invented by alchemists as early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, for a long time, people did not think of using it for military purposes. It was not until the end of the Tang Dynasty that it was finally used for military purposes. Li Qing'an just used gunpowder in advance, but this was like opening a door. No matter how tight it was, it could not stop the flow of air. As long as An Lushan was willing, he would sooner or later find that the sky thunder of the Anxi army was gunpowder. In fact, An Lushan did have it. He publicly offered a reward of tens of thousands of yuan to crack the secret of heavenly thunder. With a heavy reward, someone would definitely raise the possibility of gunpowder.

Li Qingan's plan was to kill An Lushan before he discovered gunpowder, but man's calculations were not as good as heaven's calculations. An Lushan still discovered the secret of gunpowder at a critical moment.

Li Qingan opened the information and browsed it quickly. From the description of the information and the firecrackers, he immediately judged that An Lushan's gunpowder development was only in the early stage. Without two or three years of technical accumulation, they would not have developed a super weapon like Zhentian Lei.

He pondered for a moment, and then said to Hu Peiyun: "You ordered you to go to Hebei and ordered the people in the Hebei branch to find out the detailed information on the development of the enemy's gunpowder, especially those Taoist priests, who must find out their old background."

Hu Peiyun understood Li Qing'an's intention. He wanted to kill the Taoist priests, so he said carefully: "General, I am worried that the Taoist priest's recipe must have been taught to An Lushan's military. Killing them may be useless."

"No! You don't understand."

Li Qingan sneered and said, "Actually, the formula is very simple, and it is all in the alchemy books. The key is the understanding and perception of gunpowder, as well as technical accumulation. I believe that since these Taoists are for money, they will not easily express their technical accumulation and perception of gunpowder. This is very important, even exceeding the formula. Killing these Taoists can at least greatly delay An Lushan's development of gunpowder technology."

"Then I will order the Hebei Branch to start."

Li Qingan still shook his head, "No need to do it, I will send my First Falcon Camp to let the Hebei Branch get detailed information as soon as possible. In addition, they must also find out how many Taoist temples are good at alchemy in Hebei. This is also very important. Go and execute my orders."

"Yes! I'm humble in my duties."

Hu Peiyun hurriedly left, and at this time, Li Qing'an ordered again: "Appoint Qin Haiyang to come and see me quickly."

Qin Haiyang is the leader of the Anxi scouts. He is currently the right general of the inner guard and is in charge of the 10,000 inner guards. The barracks are located in Baqiao east of Chang'an. He received an emergency order from Li Qing'an and hurried to the barracks.

He walked into the tent and saluted, "After the last general Qin Haiyang, see the general."

"General Qin, I have a task for you, it is of great importance. I hope you can go there in person."

Qin Haiyang knew that if Li Qingan asked him to take action himself, it would mean that the task would be extraordinary, but he said without hesitation: "Please give orders to the general!"

Li Qing'an nodded and said, "You can lead my First Falcon Camp to Youzhou, your mission is in this letter."

Li Qing'an handed a handwritten letter to Qin Haiyang. Qin Haiyang took the envelope and put it away, and said, "Please give it a name to the general!"

This is the practice of the Anxi Army. Any special military operation will have a name. Li Qing'an pondered for a moment and said, "This operation is called Operation Falcon!"

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Chapter completed!