The next day, in Xiangzhou City, An Qingxu suddenly summoned all the generals and soldiers.
Everyone thought that he was going to surrender to Shi Siming and give up the throne. But when An Qingxu saw that everyone had arrived, he cried loudly: "I have shared the joys and sorrows with you through the shadow of the late emperor, and now I am defeated."
At this point, I only asked Shi Siming for support, but I didn’t expect that he did not remember the kindness of the late emperor and wanted to seize Dayan’s foundation. If he succeeds, he will kill me and you, so that I can feel at ease!"
As soon as this statement came out, Zhang Tongru, Ping Lie and others did not think that they would die, but An Qingxu's more than 3,000 soldiers believed it and were deeply frightened.
An Qingxu was pleasantly surprised to see that his words were useful. He wanted to shout a few more slogans to boost morale, but his brother Shu Han behind him coughed twice and urged him to continue.
He was a little scared and reluctantly looked back, meeting Ge Shuhan's stern eyes, so he had to take a few steps forward and kneel to the ground in front of everyone.
"saint?!"
The officers and soldiers of Dayan did not dare to accept this great gift, so they all knelt down and said, "A saint cannot do this."
An Qingxu burst into tears and cried: "I cannot commit suicide to protect the legacy of the late emperor. I only hope that you can behead me in order to gain wealth, and you don't have to die with me... Just do it!"
He said the last three words with trembling teeth. Ge Shuhan was very sure beforehand that the soldiers would not kill him, but he didn't think so. He felt that there were too many people in the city who wanted to join Shi Siming.
Anyone who comes out will probably kill him.
At this time, the words were spoken, and An Qingxu could even feel that there were officials in the crowd who were about to make a move.
Fortunately, he had made arrangements in advance and deployed people among his loyal soldiers. He said loudly: "Sage, don't be discouraged. We and our soldiers can still fight. If things don't work, we can still fight."
, we will live and die together with the saint!"
These arranged bold words still inspired some soldiers and responded one after another.
An Qingxu felt happy in his heart and quickly wiped away his tears and said: "If you don't abandon me because of the loss of the army, how can I let you down? I am willing to sever my oath with all the generals and become brothers!"
"How can we be so virtuous..."
An Qingxu refused to give up and insisted on sworn sworn sworn relationship with the generals. After this, his morale was different from before.
An Qingxu was very satisfied with this situation and thought it was enough, but Ge Shuhan still looked at him with strict eyes. Strangely enough, An Qingxu refused to accept anyone, but since Ge Shuhan agreed to assist him, he couldn't bear it.
I want to obey Ge Shuhan's advice.
So, he had no choice but to issue an order to take out all his belongings, and also collected the properties of the rich families in the city, and rewarded the generals. For a while, everyone cheered.
Ashina Chengqing, An Shouzhong and others had already decided to seek refuge with Shi Siming from the beginning. Although An Qingxu's coy behavior could not impress them, it also impressed them. At this moment, An Qingxu looked at them.
Come over, call your uncles, and ask them to help organize the army and build city defenses.
Although they wanted to refuse, seeing the high morale of the soldiers around them, they had no choice but to agree.
Seeing Xiangzhou City making preparations for the war, Ge Shuhan couldn't help but think of the time when he fought against the enemy in Longyou...
~~
Weizhou.
Shi Siming originally thought that An Qingxu was cowardly. Now that he was at the end of his rope, he had no other choice but to obediently give up the throne of Dayan.
Unexpectedly, after sending the envoy, An Qingxu not only did not go out of the city to greet him, but instead closed the city to resist.
Zhou Zhi was very suspicious of this and asked Yan Zhuang: "Mr. Yan is conceited about his talent. How come he could not persuade An Qingxu to fulfill his promise, but instead forced him to rebel? Could he be planning for the Tang court?"
"What's the use of planning for the Tang court?" Yan Zhuang replied calmly, "Anqing Xu is mediocre and weak. He is trapped in a small town with no more than 10,000 soldiers. The king can be destroyed easily. He can defeat Xiangzhou and proclaim himself emperor in a few days. On the other hand, Tang Dynasty
In the court, brothers are fighting against each other, father and son are at odds, monarch and ministers are suspicious of each other, can it be saved?"
Zhou Zhi was unable to refute and said: "Then why is An Qingxu stubbornly resisting?"
Yan Zhuang then apologized to Shi Siming and said: "I have a grudge against An Qingxu. I angered him as soon as we met and missed important events."
"It's not my fault, Mr. Yan."
Shi Siming waved his hand calmly, saying that he didn't have to work hard to defeat An Qingxu and didn't care much about it. Instead, now was the time to use Yan Zhuang.
He then made a serious face and said: "An Qingxu was born as a human son, and he killed his father to seize the throne. The crime is unforgivable. I want to attack him to sacrifice the soul of the late emperor in heaven. Mr. Yan is willing to write a letter of apology for An Qingxu's crime."
?”
"I hope you can use your little strength!"
Soon, Shi Siming organized his troops to go on an expedition, but this time he did not go south to cross the Yellow River, but captured Xiangzhou.
When the army arrived outside the city of Xiangzhou, Shi Siming first sent his general Du Yuanliang to the city gate to read out a solemn proclamation, declaring that it was An Qingxu who had planned to blow up the captured An Lushan, and angrily scolded him for killing his father and king, which was not tolerated by heaven and earth.
Unexpectedly, a general came out of Xiangzhou City, and it was Huo Ba Guiren who led Ge Shuhan to surrender to the Yan army in the Battle of Tongguan.
Huo Ba Guiren was definitely disloyal to the Tang court, and he was even less loyal to An Qingxu. He was only loyal to Ge Shuhan. Therefore, when An Qingxu retreated from Luoyang and rushed back to Hebei in embarrassment, he would not contribute.
, just protect Ge Shuhan.
Now that Ge Shuhan had decided to serve An Qingxu, Huo Ba Guiren refused to give in and was willing to be the vanguard. He raised his sword and went out of the city to challenge Du Yuanliang.
The two then fought in front of Xiangzhou City, driving their horses back and forth to kill each other.
At this time, Shi Siming's army was pressing on the city, densely packed. An Qingxu was frightened and had no confidence at all when he saw it on the top of the city. People in Xiangzhou City were panicked, and many people had decided to defect to Shi Siming.
However.
"puff."
On the battlefield outside the city, when the two fighting generals passed by each other, Huo Ba Quyen slashed with his sword and chopped off Du Yuanliang's head.
Suddenly, everyone inside and outside the city was shocked.
Lieutenant General Shi Siming quickly sent his knights to kill Huoba Quiren. Arrows rained down on him, but Huoba Quiren showed no fear and calmly turned his horse back to Xiangzhou City.
That night, Ge Shuhan saw that the morale of the rebels had dropped. Taking advantage of their unstable foothold, he sent An Qingxu's soldiers out of the city to make a sneak attack. He also deliberately made their shouts shake the ground, causing Shi Siming's army to be confused and afraid to fight. An Qingxu's soldiers
They took the opportunity to rob cattle and sheep, and returned to the city with grain and grass.
Shi Siming had to admit that he had underestimated the enemy. If he wanted to capture An Qingxu, he would definitely need to spend more time.
~~
"Your Majesty, don't you think Yan Zhuang is suspicious?"
Zhou Zhi finally couldn't help but reminded Shi Siming again and analyzed: "Initially, An Qingxu had expressed his willingness to give up the throne. When Yan Zhuang came, he joined forces with Ge Shuhan to resist. If it weren't for the arrangement of the Tang court, it would have been too much.
What a coincidence."
"Why can't I see it?" Shi Siming said, "Yan Zhuang is indeed suspected, but if he is killed now, wouldn't he deny his testimony?"
Zhou Zhi couldn't answer and fell into deep thought.
Shi Siming felt confident and said: "I have strong soldiers and horses, and I will be able to defeat Xiangzhou City sooner or later. If I kill Yan Zhuang without any reason, it will make the generals in the city think that I am incompetent and provoke them to resist even more."
"But just in case, Yan Zhuang is really an internal agent sent by the Tang court." Zhou Zhi said: "I may have endangered the king's life."
This is not unreasonable. Shi Siming said: "Then you can show evidence and make assumptions out of thin air. What's the use?"
"yes."
Zhou Zhi thought about it and finally came up with a plan, saying: "A few days ago, Cai Xide sent Tang general Cheng Ang. The king appointed Cheng Ang an official position, but he acted against it. Why not use Cheng Ang to test his dignity?"
Shi Siming thought it made sense, so he summoned Yanzhuang to discuss matters and ordered him to return to Weizhou for official business.
Yan Zhuang received the military order and rushed back to Weizhou that day. After handling the affairs, he stayed at the post house to rest.
Because Shi Siming's army has left, Weizhou City has become deserted, and all defenses have been relaxed. If Yan Zhuang wants to join forces with Wu Cheng'en to deal with Shi Siming, now is the best time.
But he didn't do that. Instead, he was thinking about something alone in the inn and planned to go to bed early.
That night, when he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard a knock on the door. His eyes looked suspicious, so he first opened the window and looked down.
He lived in a two-story building, with a study below and a bedroom above. He was the only one in the courtyard tonight. At this time, the person knocking on the door downstairs was a fat woman.
Yan Zhuang thought for a while, then went downstairs with the candlestick and opened the door. As soon as the door opened, the woman stepped inside and blocked the door with her backhand.
When the candlestick shines the light, half of her rough and ugly face can be seen, with pores so large that they are difficult to ignore in the dim light. Perhaps she is self-aware and is afraid of disturbing the eyes of others, so she covers the lower half of her face with a mask.
She was a little lame. When she entered the house, she looked around first, then climbed upstairs and looked around again.
"There is no one else." Yan Zhuang followed and said, "Who are you?"
"I."
The strong woman spoke with a man's hoarse voice, lifted the mask on her face, revealing the unshaven face underneath, and said: "Cheng Ang! Shi, the governor of Shangdang County, General You Jinwu."
Back in the Western Regions, Cheng Ang even mocked Gao Xianzhi as a sissy because of his handsome face. At that time, he never imagined that one day he would put on women's clothing himself.
Yan Zhuang raised his eyebrows and looked at Cheng Ang, but did not speak.
Seeing Yan Zhuang didn't answer, Cheng Ang couldn't help but become anxious and said: "Aren't you an envoy sent by the imperial court?"
"I am."
"Great! I dressed up like this just to see you." Cheng Ang said: "If you return to Chang'an, you must tell the court that I am not surrendering, but want to become an internal agent and help the court put down the rebellion."
Yan Zhuang frowned and was about to speak, but there was suspicion in his eyes, and he said lightly: "You don't want to think about Gao Xianzhi's fate."
"Gao Xianzhi, he..."
"However, I don't want to live, but I would like to bow down to the palace, express my heart to Your Majesty, describe the plans of the country, defeat the schemes of tigers and wolves, and repay the grace of ten thousand deaths, in order to repay Your Majesty's lifelong favor."
Just as Cheng Ang was about to say something about Gao Xianzhi, Yan Zhuang slowly read out Gao Xianzhi's memorial at that time and said: "Gao Xianzhi has not yet surrendered, but he was still executed. Now that General Cheng has surrendered, do you still expect the court to understand you?"
"
"Can……"
Cheng Ang hesitated to speak and looked at Yan Zhuang again, his original trust turning into a bit suspicious.
He thought to himself: "It seems that Yan Zhuang doesn't know that King Yong saved Gao Xianzhi. Does King Yong trust him? Could he have rebelled against the court again?"
Yan Zhuang asked: "How did you know that the imperial court sent an envoy?"
"That's what my guard said."
??????????.??????
Yan Zhuang sneered slightly and said: "Now that the king has strong troops and horses, he will soon ascend the throne as the Emperor of Yan and conquer the world. I advise you to think clearly and don't make a mistake."
"you?"
"That's right." Yan Zhuang straightened his sleeves and said proudly, "I just took advantage of the opportunity of my mission to defect to the king."
Cheng Ang's expression suddenly changed, his eyes became ferocious, and his murderous intent was revealed.
Yan Zhuang realized the danger, so he persuaded him kindly: "General Cheng, please go back and think about your future. I will pretend that what happened tonight never happened, so that you can be aware of it in the future... Please go ahead."
He raised his hand and wanted to send Cheng Ang out.
However, Cheng Ang had already rushed forward, punched Yan Zhuang hard on the chest, and yelled loudly at the same time.
"I'll kill you, you repetitive villain!"
Yan Zhuang was beaten so hard that his head was pounding and his chest was in severe pain. He still wanted to hide, but Cheng Ang threw him to the ground, and his neck was pinched hard by a pair of big hands like iron pliers.
The two were wrestling on the ground, and Cheng Ang sat on Yan Zhuang, facing the bed.
A candle also fell to the ground and was quickly extinguished.
A feeling of suffocation came, and Yan Zhuang realized that he would really die in Cheng Ang's hands. While he could still speak, he hurriedly said: "Listen to me...listen to me..."
He had planned to reveal all his painstaking efforts, and he wanted to tell Cheng Ang that he was indeed Xue Bai's man.
"Die!"
With a loud shout, Cheng Ang cut off Yan Zhuang's words and even covered his mouth and nose with one hand, not wanting to listen to this capricious villain's quibbles anymore.
At this time, something unexpected happened. Two people jumped out from under the bed and rushed towards Cheng Ang, desperately saving Yan Zhuang.
"You bastard!" Cheng Ang was furious and cursed: "You ambush me? I'll kill you!"
"Quick, hold him down."
The two men hiding under the bed were also brave men. They tried their best to finally hold down the injured Cheng Ang and took out the ropes prepared to tie him up.
Until Cheng Ang was taken away, he was still unwilling to accept it and kept yelling: "You bastard, are you ambushing me?"
"Huh...huh..."
Amidst the heavy breathing, Yan Zhuang lay there curled up, panting constantly, staring at the two men escorting Cheng Ang out, his eyes full of vigilance and fear.
He didn't know there was someone hiding under his bed.
The reason why he didn't dare to tell the truth to Cheng Ang just now was because he had always been hostile and sarcastic towards the Tang Dynasty. From the bottom of his heart, he didn't trust the people of the Tang Dynasty, nor did he trust Cheng Ang. He was worried that Cheng Ang was sent by Shi Siming to test.
own.
And he, Yan Zhuang, was Xue Bai's man. The reason why he did not choose to join Shi Siming was because he was afraid of being beaten by Xue Bai. Xue Bai had a terrible ability to "turn the impossible into possible".
An Lushan was destroyed all the time, and became an unforgettable shadow in his life. When the thought of surrendering to Shi Siming came up again, he thought of what would happen if he was captured by Xue Bai again, so he still chose to fulfill his mission.
He did not hand over the secret decree to Wu Cheng'en because he believed that it would not be possible if it was not kept secret. At that time, Shi Siming was about to become emperor and his morale was high. Once Wu Chengen got the secret decree, he would contact the generals and leak the information. Moreover, Xue Bai
He was reluctant to appoint Wu Cheng'en as Fan Yang's military envoy. Instead, he was more concerned about delaying Shi Siming. Therefore, Yan Zhuang regarded delaying Shi Siming's pace and weakening his strength as his first priority. He would only wait until Shi Siming showed signs of decline.
Pushed by everyone.
Cheng Ang suddenly came to visit tonight, and Yan Zhuang almost gave up.
Looking back now, Cheng Ang seemed to have seen the person under the bed when he was pinching him. The moment the candlestick fell to the ground, Cheng Ang held his mouth to prevent him from telling the truth.
"If the king is not secret, his ministers will lose their virginity; if the secret is not secret, it will cause harm. Therefore, a gentleman is careful and does not leave."
Yan Zhuang murmured in his heart, constantly reflecting on himself.
After a long time, he felt that the crisis was over, and then he dared to stand up, looked up at the moon outside the window, and said to himself: "I have tried my best. King Yong should have prepared a response for Shi Siming going south earlier."
~~
That same night, in Shu County, thousands of miles away, Xue Bai's envoys rushed to Yan Wu's army.
The one who came was Jiang Hai. As the person around Xue Bai who was the most "rebellious" to the imperial court, Jiang Hai's arrival obviously represented a certain attitude of Xue Bai.
When he urged Yan Wu, he also appeared very forceful.
"This time, the imperial court will never allow the rebels to cross the Yellow River, and the Eastern Capital will never fall again. King Yong is determined to do his best in one battle and pacify Shi Siming. To achieve this, how can he still let the Supreme Emperor arbitrarily announce some unfavorable things in Shu County?
What’s the overall purpose?”
At this point, Jiang Hai flashed a fierce look in his eyes and said: "Even if he is tied up, we will kidnap the Supreme Emperor back!"
Yan Wu said: "This matter is not that simple."
"What's going on?" Jiang Hai said: "If you don't dare to invite the Supreme Emperor back, I will!"
"Tubo has invaded." Yan Wu said, "I have written down this matter in detail and sent a horse to report to King Yong. After calculating the time, the messenger has arrived in Chang'an."
~~
Chang'an.
Late at night, Yan Zhenqing was still working at his desk under the candlelight, when he suddenly heard a family member say: "Alang, my son-in-law is here."
"So late?"
Yan Zhenqing just raised his head and saw Xue Bai walking in.
In private, the two never commensurate with their official positions. They always spoke like teachers and students, and son-in-law.
"You came late at night, but something big happened?" Yan Zhenqing asked, "Luoyang?"
"Don't worry, father-in-law, Shi Siming has not gone south yet." Xue Bai said: "This time, Yan Zhuang did a good job and held off the rebels by himself."
"If you want to fend off the enemy, you still have to invite the Supreme Emperor back as soon as possible." Yan Zhenqing said, "If you want to control the world, you must first control the hearts of the people."
"Something happened to the west." Xue Bai said: "Tubo invaded. Before that, they sent troops to capture Weirong, Shenwei, Dingrong, Xuanwei, Zhisheng, Jintian, and Tiancheng in Longyou. Now they have captured the stone fort and Baiba
Valley, Diaohu and Three Cities.”
More than that, he said, taking out the map and newspaper from his sleeve and placing them in front of Yan Zhenqing.
"In the direction of Jiannan, Zhezhou, Jingzhou, Minzhou and other places were also threatened by the Tubo army. Nanzhao seemed to have also revolted, and Nanzhao people followed the Tubo army to attack Wenchuan, Fangwei, Qionglai and other places."
"It rains all night long when the house leaks." Yan Zhenqing sighed.
Xue Bai said: "But on the other hand, the imperial court clearly received the certificate of credence from Tubo and asked us to send troops to put down the rebellion for us."
Yan Zhenqing stroked his beard and said, "It must be to make Datang relax its vigilance."
Xue Bai said: "After my father-in-law came back from Longyou, he immediately encountered the rebellion of An Lushan. I didn't have time to talk to my father-in-law about the Tubo incident at that time."
Yan Zhenqing nodded and spoke slowly.
"You also know something about this matter. The Subi tribe was unwilling to be conquered by Tubo and contacted Geshuhan to submit to the Tang Dynasty. We then used this to contact Langmeise and Modongzebu among the nine ministers of Tubo. They were in Ya
Chubeicha assassinated Chidaizhudan."
Xue Bai said as expected: "In other words, around the same time as the Anlushan rebellion, Tubo also had a rebellion."
"Yes." Yan Zhenqing said, "But judging from the news from the Subi tribe a while ago, Tubo pacified the rebels much faster than us. The Tubo general Dazalugong was a capable man. He killed Lang Meise, and finally
Dongzebu, when we were resisting Anlu Mountain, he also put down the rebellion in Supi and established Trisong Detsen, who was only ten years old."
"Is that because he doesn't have a supreme emperor, and the loyal king is holding him back?" Xue Bai said.
Yan Zhenqing did not reply to such criticism of Chengyu, but said worriedly: "Dazha Lugong should not be underestimated. He has seen the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty and he has already coveted us. From now on, the situation in the west may not be peaceful.
"
"What's even more troublesome is that our Supreme Emperor used the Tubo invasion to the east and ennobled Jiedushi envoys without any intention of delegating power."
Xue Bai was obviously very angry with Li Longji. Although he tried his best to suppress it, his anger still showed up from time to time.
He spread out the map, pointed at it, and patiently told Yan Zhenqing the recent decrees of Shu County.
"First, in order to prevent us from obtaining grain and grass through Languan Road, he issued an order to remove Lu Jiong, the governor of Nanyang, and appointed Yongwang Li Lin as the envoy of the four roads of Shannan East Road, Lingnan, Qianzhong, and Jiangnan West Road, and the governor of Jiangling County. With that,
Helan Jinming, Du Mian, Li Baoyu, Bai Yuanguang, Guo Yingyi and others blockaded Guanzhong in Liangzhou, Shangzhou, Xuzhou, Songzhou, Xuzhou and other places. Afterwards, they promoted officials on a large scale and conscripted men from Shu in the name of fighting against Tubo.
,What is this for?”
Yan Zhenqing looked at the map and fell silent, knowing that the Supreme Emperor really wanted to seize power by force.
He can actually understand this.
Li Longji had already made a decree to pass the throne to Li Heng, and denied Xue Bai's name as the emperor's grandson, and reprimanded Li Cong. Although Li Heng surrendered, Li Longji did not want to lose face, or perhaps it was to protect the Tang clan from disgrace.
If it falls into the hands of outsiders, it will be a tense situation.
"There are two things here. One is Tubo's invasion of the south; the other is the Supreme Emperor's determination to seize power."
After a long time, Yan Zhenqing finally spoke, pointed at the map, and sighed: "I'll take care of this one."
What he pointed at was the location of Tubo on the map.
Xue Bai then asked: "My father-in-law, what can I do?"
"Let's give it a try." Yan Zhenqing said: "This matter may still fall on the Tibetan princess who was captured by you back then."
"Na Lanzhen?"
Yan Zhenqing said: "When I sent her back to Tubo, I often talked about the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Every time Tubo invaded the east, they claimed to have tens of thousands of horses, but often the Tang Dynasty's thousands of soldiers and horses could behead tens of thousands.
Why?"
Xue Bai also heard Wang Zhongsi talk about this and said: "There are tens of thousands of cavalry, it's just that the Tibetan army drives the herdsmen to fight every time."
"Yes, the people in the frontier are suffering the most." Yan Zhenqing said: "When Tubo generals Kilixu and Cui Xiyi formed an alliance, it was because many people in Tubo did not want to go to war with the Tang Dynasty. Nalanzhen did not believe that Da
Zha Lugong may be able to put some obstacles in his way, but in the final analysis, it can only be delayed a little. After all, we have to wait until the rebellion is put down and the army can resist the Tibetans."
Xue Bai nodded, knowing that Yan Zhenqing still did not want to get involved in dealing with Li Longji.
Then, it would be up to him to think of a way to bring back Li Longji.
He thought for a while, and after returning home, he wrote many letters, all of which were sent to the generals who stayed in Nanzhao and Jiannan after the Nanzhao rebellion was put down.
There are Zheng Hui who was kidnapped to Nanzhao, Wang Tianyun who led his army across Cangshan Mountain, Li Fei Yuanli who was both wise and brave, and Cui Guangyuan who was appointed as the governor of Yunnan...