Sun Tonglin traveled from Hanzhong to Chang'an almost day and night.

In such a season, crossing the Qinling Mountains is definitely a matter of joking with one's life, even if the Liang army has set up checkpoints on the five main roads in the Qinling Mountains, but these so-called checkpoints are stationed in each place with no more than a few hundred people. Under the circumstance that Chang'an is already unable to protect itself, the supply companies in these checkpoints cannot be guaranteed by themselves, and the soldiers stationed inside can only shrink in the simple checkpoints, and never go out unless they have to, so as to minimize their own consumption.

Along the way, half of Sun Tonglin's dozens of guards died, which saved him from finally reappearing in Guanzhong, and finally seeing the tall city wall of Chang'an again.

He had only been gone for a month, but the situation in Chang'an City had already deteriorated a little bit compared to when he left. Outside the city, there were starving people everywhere, and inside the city, groups of people who were in shape and bones wandered numbly in the city. Sometimes, as they walked, someone fell to the ground with a thud and never got up again.

Every half a day, Chang'an County will organize some people to drag carts along the street to clean up the dead bodies on the road, in the lanes, and in the corners of the street, drag them out of the city, find a place, fall to the ground, and be done.

It's freezing and snowy, and the dead bodies are all frozen, and no one wants to spend any more effort on these dead bodies. The Huarenzhuang outside the city has long been out of business, and even the officials have become a problem to warm their homes, where is there still so much firewood and charcoal and other things to burn these corpses.

After years of fighting, Henan was lost, Luoyang was lost, and Cao Yun was cut off, and now the Tang army is approaching Chang'an, and Chang'an has already reached the end of the road.

Every day, a large number of people in the city are fleeing.

Wang Shu once suggested that Zhu Youzhen must stop such behavior, because the large-scale exodus will make the hearts of the people in Chang'an even more discouraged, but I don't know what considerations, Zhu Youzhen rejected Wang Shu's proposal. Those who want to escape are left to fend for themselves.

But even so, for a megacity with a population of more than a million, the majority of people stay in the city. These people don't know where to go? Don't know what's going on out there? In such weather, I don't know how long I can survive if I escape from the city.

At least there was a house in the city to shelter them from the wind and rain, and once they escaped from the city, they were completely resigned to their fate.

What's more, outside the city, in addition to these reasons, there are a lot of bandits. Not long ago, these bandits were also people in Chang'an City or on the outskirts of the city, but now, they have become extremely vicious bandits, some people have escaped from their hands, and the news brought back makes people shudder, those bandits are really eating people.

The embarrassed Sun Tonglin and his party met Hao Ren, who also returned from outside, at the city gate.

"Sun Chengzhi, what's wrong with you? I haven't seen you all this time, where have you been? How did it come to this? Hao Ren looked at Sun Tonglin and his party, whose hands and faces were full of chilblains and kept dripping yellow water, and was greatly surprised, jumped off the horse, and asked while bowing his hand.

"Don't mention it, it's already a fluke to be able to come back safely." Sun Tonglin looked at the army led by Hao Ren, many of whom were wounded, and Hao Ren's armor was also stained with blood, "What happened outside?" ”

Hao Ren grinned and said, "Sun Chengzhi, don't panic, the Tang Army is still far from here, we are going to suppress bandits." A group of bandits, emboldened, attacked our military station and robbed the military rations inside. Isn't this tired and crooked? ”

"Are the bandits so bold now? Even the military station dared to attack? Sun Tonglin was shocked.

Hao Ren looked around, lowered his voice and said, "People are hungry and crazy, why can't they do it?" Do you know what I saw when I found their lair? There are human bones everywhere, yes they are boiled in the pot, yes they are hung in the house, they are raised by bitches, I am bold enough, and it also makes my heart furious, and I didn't keep any of those people in the end, and they were all killed. Whoever eats people is not human! ”

Sun Tonglin shuddered, and a sense of urgency arose.

There can be no more hesitation, and His Majesty must make a decision as soon as possible.

He arched his hand at Hao Ren and said, "General Hao, I want to rush back to meet Your Majesty, so I won't disturb the general's business, and I will leave!" ”

"Sun Chengzhi, you go and get busy, you go and get busy!" Hao Ren smiled and returned the salute.

As the commander of the former division of the Great Liang Palace, Hao Ren's serious official position is higher than Sun Tonglin's commitment, but he is a celebrity next to the emperor and the grandfather of the concubine, so Hao Ren naturally wants to stammer.

Seeing Sun Tonglin and his party walking away, Hao Rencai turned his head and asked a soldier who walked to his side, "Did you inquire about anything?" ”

"Inquire about it!" The soldier smiled and said: "They are drilling out of the Qinling Mountains, and they are really desperate to drill the Qinling Mountains at this time!" ”

"Coming out of the Qinling Mountains?" Hao Ren nodded thoughtfully.

When he was talking with Sun Tonglin enthusiastically just now, his subordinates were not idle, originally, everyone was on an errand in front of the emperor, even if they didn't know each other, they could be familiar with each other, Sun Tonglin had a strict mouth, but these guards under his command were not so strict, and under the other party's intentional trick, they still revealed their whereabouts.

No matter how difficult the situation is, no matter how hard the people work, they will never suffer those real nobles.

The room was as warm as spring, so that Sun Tonglin, who was covered with frostbite, only felt extremely itchy, and the exquisite snacks placed on the table made him even more full of joy after eating dry food for more than ten days, but he finally suppressed these thoughts that made him extremely uncomfortable, just after drinking a cup of hot tea, he began to report to Zhu Youzhen the specific situation of his mission to Hanzhong this time.

"Your Majesty, this is Sheng Zhonghuai's last suggestion, he said with certainty that Chang'an cannot be defended, even in the current situation, it cannot be defended. Because Li Ze will definitely choose the right place to suffer a certain amount of losses in other places, and he will also defeat us first. Sun Tonglin sighed: "On the way of the minister, he also thought about it left and right, and felt that he was very reasonable, returning to Chang'an, seeing the decline of Chang'an now, and strengthening the minister's thoughts, Your Majesty, we need to make a decision as soon as possible, once Tongguan is breached, our room for maneuver will be smaller." ”

"Go to the emperor and claim to Guangzhou!" Zhu Youzhen repeated in distraction, "If we can fully control Yizhou, can't Sheng Zhonghuai transport Yizhou's money and grain to Chang'an through the Qinling Mountains?" In this way, won't Chang'an be able to turn the crisis into safety? ”

"That's what I said!" Sun Tonglin said: "Sheng Zhonghuai said, even so, then we must be able to survive this winter, now it is the middle of winter, even if he completely controls Yizhou, how can he transport money and grain to Chang'an through Qinling?" ”

"Can't we even carry this winter?" Zhu Youzhen asked rhetorically.

"Your Majesty, the minister doesn't understand military affairs, this, I have to ask Cao Xuan and Cao Bin." Sun Tonglin said in a low voice.

Zhu Youzhen lowered his head, in fact, where is the need to ask them, Zhu Youzhen himself is a great expert in the military, and now, how can he not know whether he can defend Chang'an?

Li Zefu Li Yan's coffin went all the way south, causing a sensation. Li Ze is telling his army with practical actions that Chang'an must be taken.

And his subordinates will also be desperate to achieve Li Ze's goal.

Sheng Zhonghuai is of course reasonable, and it is also the best way out for him now, but giving up everything at the moment, giving up the emperor throne that the Zhu family has worked hard for several generations, he can't make this determination for a while.

"I'm going to think about it, think about it!" He muttered.

Sun Tonglin naturally knew that this determination was difficult to make, so he stood up immediately: "Your Majesty, the old minister will leave first." ”

"Let's go see the concubine, she's pregnant, you're going to be a great-grandfather!" Zhu Youzhen said.

"Really?" Sun Tonglin was overjoyed, "Congratulations to Your Majesty, the old minister congratulates Your Majesty." ”

Zhu Youzhen and Mrs. Yuanbei have only one daughter, and later Zhu Youzhen's body was too badly injured and has not had any more children, and now the concubine is pregnant again, which is indeed an unexpected joy, not to mention, the concubine is still a woman of the Sun family, so Sun Tonglin can't help but be unhappy.

Zhu Youzhen smiled bitterly and nodded: "I really didn't expect it." I hope this happy event will bring us good luck. ”

This night, Zhu Youzhen couldn't sleep all night.

When Zhu Youzhen was lying on the bed tossing and turning, in another place in Chang'an City, in the home of Hao Ren, the commander of the front of the palace, he was sitting and drinking with a person.

And this person is the deputy commander of the Tang Dynasty's internal guard, Gao Xiangsheng.

Now Hao Ren no longer has to hide Gao Xiangsheng in the underground secret room, and now, no one will have the courage to break into his home to search for people.

"You mean Sun Tonglin came out of the Qinling Mountains?" Gao Xiangsheng said in surprise.

"They shouldn't be lying, looking at their embarrassed appearance, it should be the result of a long trek in the wild." Hao Ren said.

"Then Sun Tonglin can only go to one place, and that is Yizhou." Gao Xiangsheng slowly tasted the wine and said, "When I went to Yizhou at this time, did I go to ask for help?" Then Zhu Youqi wants to save Chang'an, he has already come, how can he wait until today? That guy just wants to be a grass king in Yizhou, so that he won't get involved in Chang'an. In my opinion, maybe Sun Tonglin went to the Qinling Mountains to explore the way, and Zhu Youzhen must have wanted to run. ”

"Want to run? At this time, drill the Qinling Mountains? The tall elephant shook his head repeatedly.

"So what?" Hao Ren said: "Drilling Qinling is indeed a life of nine deaths, but it is better than waiting for death here!" Besides, there is a road in Qinling after all. Moreover, the Liang army has always set up checkpoints in the Qinling Mountains. Otherwise, I really can't think of what Sun Tonglin is doing in Qinling! ”

Gao Xiangsheng drank the wine one after another, his brows furrowed.