Under the city of Chang'an, the 140,000 soldiers of the Shence Army have been under the city for nearly half a month.

After the battle of Tongzhou, Gao Xianzhi led 50,000 soldiers and horses to Tongzhou and Wang Yuansuo led the main force to join the division, and after more than ten days of rest, the army went out of the east of Tongzhou and went straight to Jinzhou. It took the Golden State almost without much effort.

Subsequently, the Shence army marched north through the mountain passage of Zhongnan Mountain and entered the area west of Chang'an. The soldiers and horses in the cities east of Chang'an, such as Pizhou, also heard the wind and left, and all withdrew to Chang'an City to hold on. After the cavalry of the Shence Army carried out a sweep of various prefectures and counties in the southwest and north of Chang'an City, they then stationed troops outside the Yanping Gate of Jinguang Gate in the west of the city, and set up a siege posture.

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In Chang'an City, the atmosphere is becoming more and more tense day by day. Although nearly 2,670,000 soldiers and horses had been concentrated in the city. But panic was still inevitable in Li Mao's ministers and Chang'an City. Although Li Mao, Zheng Qiushan and others cheered up the civil and military officials every day, saying that 'relying on the solidity of Chang'an's city defense, the more than 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Shence Army are not enough to conquer Chang'an. The day of the attack on Chang'an was the time when the Shence army was defeated. ’。 Arguments like these are calloused, but they are unconvincing. Because there is simply no convincing reason at all.

In the past month or so, in fact, the most difficult person in Chang'an City is none other than Li Guangbi, who returned from defeat in Tongzhou. An army of 300,000 soldiers and horses attacked Tongzhou, and finally the remaining soldiers and horses of the whole army were less than 40,000, and they fled back to Jinzhou in a hurry. Li Mao's 200,000 soldiers and horses had to evacuate Shu, bringing an embarrassing end to a huge crusade. Obviously, Li Guangbi is responsible for his mistakes.

Li Guangbi did not shirk his responsibility, when Li Mao and Zheng Qiushan withdrew to Chang'an, he knelt in the snow outside Jinguangmen City to greet him, admitted his guilt, and asked Li Mao to be punished heavily. The angry Li Mao rode past without even looking at him, Zheng Qiushan of course refused to miss this opportunity to ridicule him, and deliberately sneered and rode his horse past the sewage pit beside him, letting the war horse trample on the sewage, splashing Li Guangbi's head and face.

There were two opinions in the imperial court on the responsibility for Li Guangbi's defeat. One is that although Li Guangbi was defeated, it was not because of improper command, but because the combat strength of the soldiers and horses was not strong. And the Shence Army surpassed the soldiers and horses of the imperial court in terms of combat strength and weapons, and the defeat was understandable. This means in layman's terms: It's not that Li Guangbi doesn't work hard, but that Wang Yuan is too powerful.

Of course, this kind of statement cannot be accepted by Li Mao, wouldn't this increase the morale of the enemy army and destroy his own prestige. Even if that's the case, it can't be said. Otherwise, how will the battle be fought in the future? In order to punish crimes, we must not find reasons from strength and combat strength, but from people. To put it bluntly, it is necessary to find a scapegoat, and to tell the people of the world that it is not that the soldiers and horses are not strong, but that people are negligent.

In this case, the second opinion has the upper hand, that is, a group of officials headed by Zheng Qiushan said that Li Guangbi is very happy with his achievements, his ambition is great and his talent is sparse, and he has no ability, but he looks like he has a pearl of wisdom in his hands. In fact, he is only talking on paper, and he is incapable of misleading the country. It was a good situation that completely dominated the upper hand, but it was buried by this incompetent person. This is entirely the responsibility of Li Guangbi's leadership, and has nothing to do with other factors such as soldiers, horses, and equipment.

Although many people understand that the reasons for winning or losing a war are complex, and it is not necessarily the responsibility of the commander. But at this time, it seems that it is better to put all the blame on Li Guangbi's head. After all, people are needed to take responsibility for the defeat, give an explanation to the imperial court, and stabilize the sloppy military and popular hearts. In this way, Li Guangbi seems to be unable to escape heavy responsibility.

Li Guangbi has been silent, although Li Mao refused to see him, although the whole city was talking about pointing at him. He remained calm. In addition to pleading guilty and asking Li Mao to punish him severely, he spent the rest of his time doing one thing, that is, strengthening the city defenses of the four cities.

Since the punishment of the imperial court has not yet come down, and he is still the generalissimo of the prime minister and the generalissimo of the soldiers and horses, he still has to perform his duties. At a time when everyone was emotionally out of control and was either panicking or confused, Li Guangbi's mind was undoubtedly clear. He knew that the attack of the Shence Army was coming soon, the weather was freezing and the snow could not stop Wang Yuan's pace, and he would definitely not give Li Mao and himself a chance to breathe. Chang'an City will be the last battlefield, whether or not to hold Chang'an City is the key to the survival of the imperial court, he must do this immediately, he can't be bound by the current predicament, he can't let Wang Yuan easily take Chang'an, he also has to fight with Wang Yuan in Chang'an City.

More than 100,000 soldiers and horses and civilians were defeated, and Li Guangbi drove the city, and the already strong city defense of Chang'an was once again reinforced. The walls were widened and raised several feet with sandbags. The fortifications at the edge of the city walls have been greatly strengthened, and hundreds of arrow towers have been built.

These are not enough, bows and arrows, bed crossbows, catapults, rolling wood and stones, fire oil, these things to defend the city must be prepared with all their might, the more the better. At the same time, he also learned and sold, and put into practice the defensive method of the mace pendulum used by Wang Yuan during the siege of Tongzhou City, and installed these mechanism doorways on the outer edge of the city wall.

The moat outside the city was also dredged and widened, widening the width of the zhang to an astonishing twenty zhang wide. Although it seems like a superfluous move, Li Guangbi understands that even a little increase in the difficulty of the siege of the other party is very likely to affect the success or failure of the war. Lee Kwang-pil has learned from the defeat the truth of prudence and practicality, and never blindly optimistic.

This is still not enough. Li Guangbi also ordered the establishment of a second line of defense with the Yong'an Canal in Xicheng as the boundary. The Yong'an Canal is 50 steps wide, running through Jingyao Gate in the north and Anhua Gate in the south city. It's a natural barrier, and there's no reason not to use it. To the east of the Yong'an Canal, the wall of the thirteen squares along the river is connected, which is another city wall. A little reinforcement on this basis can be used as another line of defense.

In short, Li Guangbi made up his mind that no matter what, he would fight to the death with Wang Yuan in Chang'an City, even after the city was broken, he would be dragged into a street battle, and take advantage of Chang'an Fang City to drag down the Shence army.

In the face of Li Guangbi's actions, there is one person who is very unhappy, and that is Zheng Qiushan. He was very dissatisfied with Li Guangbi, and after suffering such a big defeat, he still insisted on not resigning from the post of prime minister himself, and did not take the initiative to resign from the post of generalissimo, but continued to stay in his position with a shy face like no one. This man's skin is too thick.

Zheng Qiushan kept blowing wind in Li Mao's ears, asking Li Mao to surrender to Li Guangbi and take all his positions and put him in prison. At the same time, he advised Li Mao to prepare to move the capital to Luoyang, Chang'an was too dangerous. Once the Shence Army arrives, it will be impossible to leave if you want to.

Li Mao is also in a contradictory situation. On the one hand, Li Guangbi really made him angry, and he was defeated so completely that Li Mao was eager to vent his anger at the beginning of getting the news. But after returning to Chang'an and calming down, Li Mao realized that it seemed unfair to blame Li Guangbi for everything. Moreover, along the way, it is Li Guangbi's full assistance and the planning of big and small things that have led to the current situation. It can be said that without Li Guangbi, I am afraid that I will be helpless. Even at such a time, Li Mao saw that Li Guangbi was still actively preparing for war and actively defending Chang'an. I really can't bear to treat Li Guangbi's crime.

In addition, the great enemy is coming, and at this time, there needs to be someone who can shoulder the responsibility to preside over the scene. He thinks that he doesn't have this ability, Zheng Qiushan may not be able to do it, even if he has this ability, Li Mao thinks that he can't take this risk. The gains and losses of Chang'an City are the key to the continuation of the imperial court, and at this time, Li Mao is still inclined to let Li Guangbi preside over the overall situation in order to be stable. Moreover, Zheng Qiushan proposed to move the capital to Luoyang by himself at this time, which is simply ridiculous. If Chang'an can't hold it, how can Luoyang keep it? It can be said that in fact, Chang'an is his bottom line, and if he loses Chang'an, everything will be over.

With this ambivalence, Li Mao was slow to make the decision to punish Li Guangbi. The more Zheng Qiushan blew the wind in his ears, and even let Zheng Guifei blow the wind on the pillow, it didn't make Li Mao make up his mind. On the contrary, on the night when he learned the news that the Shence army had conquered Jinzhou, Li Mao summoned Li Guangbi.

The two talked for a night in the warm pavilion of the Wanchun Palace, and when Li Guangbi left early in the morning, someone saw Li Guangbi's hands wrapped in cloth towels, with faint blood stains. They don't know what's going on.

It was Li Guangbi who broke his finger for Li Mao again. The last time Li Guangbi borrowed Hui soldiers and horses to attack Chang'an, he quarreled with Qi Zhana, who commanded the Hui soldiers and horses, and gave in with Qi Zhana, who was forced to cut off one finger. And this time, Li Guangbi swore to Li Mao again that he would desperately defend Chang'an City. It was Li Guangbi's finger severance that reminded Li Mao of Li Guangbi's finger severance that time, and finally successfully won Chang'an. also made Li Mao regain confidence in Li Guangbi. He decided to give Li Guangbi another chance and put him in full charge of the battle to defend the city of Chang'an.

Zheng Qiushan was extremely concerned about this summons, but unfortunately he couldn't be there, so he could only send someone to stare at the lights in the Wanchun Hall that had been lit up all night, but he couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't until Li Mao went to court and issued an edict to take the main responsibility for the Battle of Tongzhou on himself, and when the palace cut off a strand of hair with a knife to punish his actions, Zheng Qiushan understood that Li Guangbi was like a stinky and hard stone in front of him, and he really couldn't move it.

Li Mao's self-condemnation and hair cutting and substitution also shocked the Manchu civil and military. Cutting his hair is like cutting his head, Li Mao's move is obviously to tell the civil and military ministers that he still supports Li Guangbi. How could the ministers not understand what it meant? Everyone thought that Li Guangbi was going to be finished, so he was also slacking off in his words and deeds. When Li Guangbi issued these orders to strengthen the city wall and build fortifications, many officials also responded passively and even disobeyed. But at this time, these people regretted it. They know Li Guangbi, he is not a merciful person, he was unlucky before, so he didn't have a seizure, but now that he has regained power, I am afraid that he will have to settle accounts after the autumn.

However, Li Guangbi did not start to retaliate as they expected, and in the palace, Li Guangbi said something from the bottom of his heart, to the effect that the imperial court has reached the most critical time, and at this time it is necessary to unite as one. Any behavior that is not conducive to unity and to the defense of the enemy must not be done again, otherwise it will really be doomed. Therefore, he Li Guangbi does not care about the attitude of everyone before, and will not retaliate, he is grateful for His Majesty's trust, and he also hates his own incompetence. But from now on, I hope that all officials and the court will unite as one to deal with the current crisis, and the past will be written off.

The words were sincere and impassioned, and they also cleared everyone's minds. Yes, the Shence Army is about to come to the city, so why are you thinking about other messy things now? Only by defending the city with all our strength can there be a way to survive. Most of these people have betrayed the Emperor, and it is impossible to rebel back at this time. Chang'an City is broken, and everyone is dead, so what are you still thinking about?

Li Guangbi rebuked Zheng Qiushan's proposal to move the capital to Luoyang without naming him, and he told Li Mao and his ministers that at this moment, there is only a strong face and no compromise. If Your Majesty goes to Luoyang, the hearts of the people and the army of Chang'an will be scattered, and Chang'an will not be able to hold it, how can Luoyang be held? Rather than this, it is better to fight Chang'an to the death. The soldiers and horses in Chang'an City have plenty of food and grass, the city wall is strong, and although the enemy army is strong, Chang'an City must be the place where they break their halberds.

Li Guangbi's words to a certain extent made Li Mao's heart once again inspire, in a dark cloud, Li Guangbi's sobriety and calmness and the momentum displayed were like a strong wind blowing away the haze. What's more, Li Guangbi came up with specific defensive measures, specific to the defense of one square and one city, and the layout of one palace and one street. The terrain of Chang'an City was used to make a very reasonable arrangement, and the bright sunshine rose in the sky where the haze was gone.

After that, the whole city went into action, and everyone threw themselves into this big plan of defense. Almost the whole city was mobilized to strengthen the fortifications, carry the materials, and build layers of fortifications between the streets and alleys. Several Miyagi cities also began to strengthen their walls. The whole city was in a state of madness.

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Wang Yuan and Gao Xianzhi's army arrived outside the western city of Chang'an in late October. The army set up camp in the wilderness outside the western city, but they were not in a hurry to attack the city.

There were many reasons for not rushing to storm the city, and one was that the replenishment of ammunition was not yet complete. In just over a month, only 30 tiger squat cannons have been added, and there are only a few hundred explosive shells, which is completely unable to cope with the fortified city of Chang'an. Grenade. There are only a few hundred ammunition and other materials, and although the arsenal has worked overtime to catch up with the work, after all, the production capacity and efficiency are there, and they cannot meet the needs.

Another reason is that Wang Yuan does not want to attack. After arriving at Chang'an City, Wang Yuan was quite surprised when he saw the scale of Chang'an City's defense. In just over a month, the walls of Chang'an City have been much higher, and the arrow towers have increased a lot. The walls are so thick and high that they are almost not a castle anymore, like a tall castle. If you force an attack, you don't know how many people you will have to die to get in.

Wang Yuan didn't want to die too many people, not because of the kindness of women, but because he had seen too many deaths. If hundreds of thousands of people die in this war, I don't know how many years the post-war recovery will be delayed. Today's Tang Dynasty, after the An Lushan rebellion and civil war, the number of casualties is likely to be in the millions. A large number of young and middle-aged people are injured or killed in battle, which is extremely detrimental to the country and the family.

When Wang Yuan learned of a riot in Yangzhou City, the people killed the Cui brothers and Shen Zifang, and sent the heads of the three to themselves. The idea that we can't let the people die too much is getting stronger. Wang Yuan also knew that this kind of thinking was wrong, but when he thought that most of the soldiers and horses in Chang'an City were ordinary people who had been forcibly conscripted into the army, this kind of demon lingered and he couldn't let go. It also forced him to think positively about how he could complete this final blow with minimal death.

Although the four cities of Chang'an City were closed and the passages in and out had long been cut off, Wang Yuan still got some news from the city. There are 10,000 ways to get the word out in the city, which is not difficult for the scouts. From this, Wang Yuan also knew some of the situations in Chang'an City where people united to defend the city.

Wang Yuan was surprised that Li Guangbi was still presiding over the overall situation after the defeat of Tongzhou, and Li Mao actually did not treat him for his crimes, which is simply incredible. Gao Xianzhi and other generals who heard the news also expressed surprise, in their thoughts, how could Li Guangbi still be in control of the overall situation.

This is not good news for the Divine Army. After the Battle of Tongzhou, Wang Yuan analyzed the reasons at an internal meeting. He believed that although Li Guangbi made mistakes in this battle, he still had to deal with it properly, because the means of the Shence army were too strong, and the quality of Li Guangbi's soldiers and horses was really worrying, otherwise Li Guangbi would not have suffered such a miserable defeat. Wang Yuan decided to fight quickly, and the reason why he was unwilling to delay too long was that he did not want to make those recruits adapt to the cruelty of the battlefield in a few days of fierce fighting. Sometimes a single battle can make a recruit mentally mature, which is enough in a duel with a superior number of people. The fact that Lee was able to come up with that kind of circular defensive formation is enough to show that he is not a general. It's a pity that he has an artifact like a tiger squat cannon. Wang Yuan asked himself, if he hadn't crossed over and hadn't found a way to open up, he would definitely not be Li Guangbi's opponent.

So now, Li Guangbi is still presiding over the overall situation in the city, and inspiring the morale of the city to defend the city to the death, Li Mao still trusts him in this situation, which shows the importance of Li Guangbi's position in Li Mao's court. It can even be said that the reason why there is such a positive attitude in Chang'an City until now is entirely the role of Li Guangbi alone. he