Zhao Ziliang nodded, and immediately said to Ma Lan and Fugu Huaien: "Ma Lan took 10,000 Hexi Army, and Fugu Huaien led Wang's rare 10,000 Longyou Army to Taiyuan to reinforce Li Guangbi, with Ma Lan as the main general and Fugu Huaien as the deputy!" Tomorrow when the ugly time is to make a fire, set off on time, rush to Taiyuan as soon as possible, and after arriving in Taiyuan, you will be under the control of Li Guangbi! ”

Ma Lan and Fugu Huaien were overjoyed, and immediately stood up and hugged their fists and said: "The last general will wait for the order!" ”

Zhao Ziliang explained: "After arriving near Taiyuan, whether to get in touch with Li Guangbi first or find an opportunity to attack the rebels, and then contact Li Guangbi after repelling the rebels, this requires you to judge for yourself according to the situation, the military situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, and the fighter plane is fleeting, and you can't hesitate, so everything depends on your own on-the-spot decision, and others can't give you advice, understand?" ”

"The last general understands!"

Chen Xuanli said at this time: "Dashuai, Shi Siming and Cai Xide have 300,000 horses, can they only send 20,000 horses?" Isn't the number of troops a little too small? ”

20,000 people facing the rebels are indeed too thin, Zhao Ziliang walked to the map and stared at it for a long time, suddenly turned around and walked to the desk and sat down, spread out a piece of stationery, picked up a brush and dipped it in some ink and thought about it, and immediately worked hard to write, and it didn't take long to finish writing the letter, and then folded it and put it in the envelope, sealed it with fire, and shouted: "Wang Can!" ”

Wang Can immediately stood up and said, "The end will be!" ”

Zhao Ziliang beckoned, Wang Can stepped forward and came over, Zhao Ziliang whispered a few words in his ear, Wang Can then stood up and hugged his fists and said: "The last general understands!" ”

In the early morning of the next day, the sky was still dark, Ma Ling and Fugu Huaien set off for Taiyuan with 20,000 soldiers and horses, because the army camp was too close to Tongguan, in order to prevent the army from moving to be found abnormal by the Tongguan defenders, so Zhao Ziliang asked Ma Lan and Fugu Huaien to set off in the early morning, and at dawn the army of 20,000 reinforcements to Taiyuan had arrived at Feng Ling, and the Tongguan defenders could not know that there were 20,000 horses missing in the Tang army camp. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

September 15, Chang'an, Daming Palace.

Xuanzong walked to the throne and sat down under the worship of the ministers chanting long live, and asked, "Fang Xuan, you are in charge of the relocation of refugees and refugees, how are the refugees and refugees moving now?" ”

Fang Xuan stood up and arched his hand: "Back to Your Majesty, after the dispatch and mobilization in the past month, now the three million refugees and displaced people have all received food and set off, and the roads in Guanzhong are full of displaced people and refugees heading west!" According to the government along the way, the first batch of refugees who walked in the forefront have now arrived at the border of Guazhou! ”

Xuanzong was quite satisfied, nodded and said, "Okay, Fang Xuan has done a good job in this matter!" ”

Fang Xuan arched his hand and said humbly: "It's all Your Majesty's planning, and Weichen doesn't dare to take credit!" ”

Xuanzong smiled and asked again, "Has the envoy Yan Zhenqing set off?" ”

Prime Minister Wei Jiansu stood up and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, Yan Zhenqing has already led the delegation to set off in the direction of Tubo ten days ago, according to the itinerary, it should have arrived at the border of Lanzhou by now!" In addition, the imperial envoy who gave the edict to the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate had already set off five days ago! ”

Xuanzong said: "Very good! Households, how is the autumn tax collected? ”

Yang Yan, the head of the household, stood up and reported: "Your Majesty, the taxes from the Guanzhong region and Shu have been sent over, and the other regions are a little farther away, so they have not been sent over for the time being!" ”

Xuanzong said: "The household department will send someone to urge, and if it is not escorted over in ten days, it will also send someone to investigate!" Nowadays, some local officials see that the rebels are powerful, and they think that the court can't stand it, so they disobey the imperial court decrees, and punish one of such people if they find one, and they will not tolerate it! ”

Yang Yan hurriedly said: "Obey!" ”

At this time, Wei Jiansu glanced at an official, who hesitated for a moment, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Yao Chong, the chief eunuch, has something to play!" ”

Xuanzong asked, "What's the matter with you?" ”

Yao Chong said: "Your Majesty, in the past few months, the Eastern Expeditionary Army has continued to extract weapons and armaments from our craftsman supervisor, and now all the weapons and armaments of the craftsman supervisor have been extracted, with a total of nearly 200,000 sets, and the military stationed in Chang'an is still urging my craftsman supervisor to take out 100,000 sets of deliveries as soon as possible. ”

Xuanzong looked at Yang Yan and asked, "Yang Shilang, why didn't the household department allocate the payment to the craftsman's supervisor?" ”

Yang Yan almost wanted to hit the wall, so he had to say: "Your Majesty, Weichen can't help it, all the yamen of the imperial court have to use money everywhere, and now even if all the autumn taxes are collected, there is still a huge gap that cannot be filled, these are all necessary!" ”

Immediately, someone stood up and said: "Your Majesty, even counting the soldiers and horses in the training, the total number of soldiers and horses in the Eastern Expedition is less than 200,000, and they have won a few battles, and there is always a little capture, right?" Why did you keep asking the court for armaments and food? In Weichen's view, now the Eastern Expeditionary Army has been under Tongguan City for nearly two months, but still has not launched an attack on Tongguan, but it costs a lot every day, even if I am rich in the Tang Dynasty, I can't withstand such consumption, Weichen suggested that the imperial court immediately ordered Zhao Ziliang to launch an attack on Tongguan, in order to reduce the huge burden of the imperial court on armaments and food, otherwise if it goes on like this, the yamen of the imperial court will only be paralyzed! ”

As soon as this person finished speaking, another person stood up to support: "Your Majesty, Tongguan is a strategic place, and it cannot be occupied by the rebels for a long time. Please think twice, Your Majesty! ”

Later, several ministers stood up and said that they wanted to urge Zhao Ziliang to wave his army to attack Tongguan, and Xuanzong was a little irritated when he heard it.

Wei Jiansu also stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the imperial court and Your Majesty have appointed Zhao Ziliang to be solely responsible for the affairs of the rebels, but they are not ignoring him and the army in front, nor can they let him do his own thing, otherwise, how can the imperial court control the army in front?" The imperial court spent a huge amount of military spending and materials, it is for them to go to war, not to let them confront the rebels all the time, now seeing the stalemate between Taiyuan and the eastern surrender city, the war in Nanyang is also in a state of stalemate, if you can't open the situation on the front line of Tongguan, for a long time, our dynasty will definitely fall into passivity, and the people of the world will gradually lose confidence in the court and the saint! ”

Prime Minister Fang Xuan stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Wechen thinks that Zhao Dashuai has not waved his troops to attack Tongguan now, there must be his reasons, we don't know anything about military affairs, but here we are talking about the battle situation ahead, Wechen thinks it is really inappropriate, if Your Majesty has doubts, you can invite Zhao Dashuai back to Beijing to ask one or two!"

After Fang Xuan said that, the court was as noisy as a vegetable market, and Xuanzong had a headache when he heard it, so he stood up and dropped a sentence: "I only have to worry about this matter, retreat from the court!" Then he left.

On the way back to the Zichen Palace, Xuanzong sat on the imperial chariot and asked Gao Lishi, who was walking next to him: "Gao Lishi, you also heard the advice of the courtiers just now, do you think I should now give an order for Zhao Ziliang to wave his troops to attack Tongguan?" ”

Gao Lishi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, the old slave is just a eunuch, how dare the old slave talk nonsense about such a national event?" ”

Gao Lishi knows very well what Xuanzong is thinking, the pressure on Xuanzong is too great, the last time he fled from Chang'an in a panic, so that he was ravaged by the rebels entering Chang'an, Chang'an has not recovered until now, and he can't take out a penny in the treasury, how can he make the yamen of the imperial court run without money? This is the most fatal thing, and although the army of the Eastern Crusade does not have many troops, the daily consumption is too great, especially during the confrontation with the rebels, the cost is much greater than usual! And in the overall strategy, the imperial court is still at a disadvantage, if you want to change the situation and make the situation favorable to the imperial court, the only way is to capture Tongguan, only by seizing Tongguan, the imperial court can move from a strategic passive situation to a strategic initiative, but he also knows that it is not an easy thing to take Tongguan.

On the one hand, Xuanzong was worried that if it dragged on like this, the situation would become more and more unfavorable to the imperial court, and he wanted to give Zhao Ziliang an order to let Zhao Ziliang wave his troops to attack Tongguan, even if the losses were greater, as long as Tongguan was captured, Chang'an would be completely safe, and the battle situation would become favorable to the imperial court, but he was worried that he did not understand the situation ahead, so he suddenly issued an order to Zhao Ziliang and let him attack Tongguan, which would lead to the same ending as Ge Shuhan's defeat of Lingbao, and at the same time, Wei Jiansu's words were always hovering in his mind, The imperial court is not ignorant of Zhao Ziliang and the rebel army, nor can it let Zhao Ziliang and the rebel army do their own thing, the imperial court should have the highest command of the counterinsurgency army, Xuanzong always has a trace of worry in his heart, worried that Zhao Ziliang will be difficult to control and threaten the rule of the Li dynasty, which is a problem that no king can avoid!

At this time, a little eunuch was out of breath and caught up with the royal priest and reported: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Wei Jiansu said that he would like to see him alone!" ”

Xuanzong thought for a while, and said, "Stop!" ”

The imperial chariot stopped, and Xuanzong stepped down from the imperial chariot and said to the little eunuch: "Pass him over!" ”

"Yes!"

Xuanzong walked to the edge of the flower garden and watched the blooming chrysanthemums, and waved his hand to Gao Lishi and others.

Wei Jiansu quickly rushed over to meet Xuanzong: "The old minister meets Your Majesty!" ”

"Flatten! Wei Qing, what do you see about me? ”

Wei Jiansu didn't get up, and said: "Your Majesty, the old minister risked his life to admonish, the old minister is not in the court to deliberately embarrass Zhao Ziliang, nor is he jealous of his outstanding military achievements, the old minister is really for the sake of the Tang Dynasty!" Your Majesty, please think about it, now most of the soldiers and horses that can be mobilized in our dynasty are in the hands of Zhao Ziliang, which is extremely dangerous in peacetime, but now that the rebels are rampant, it is really helpless to let Zhao Ziliang command so many soldiers and horses, but we can't completely ignore him! ”

Xuanzong frowned and said, "Isn't King Rong in the army?" ”

"Oh, my majesty, what role can King Rong play in the army? He has never led troops, and the generals and colonels under Zhao Ziliang are all cronies! In addition, Your Majesty, please think about it, Li Guangbi and Guo Ziyi are all students of Zhao Ziliang, even Lu Jiong of Nanyang was brought out by Ge Shuhan, and Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun under the command of Zhang Xun of Yongqiu are all students of Zhao Ziliang, so to speak, almost all the soldiers and horses in the world are controlled by Zhao Ziliang! ”

Wei Jiansu's words were like a bolt of lightning struck Xuanzong's mind, Xuanzong's mind was in chaos, and a feeling of horror rose from the bottom of Xuanzong's heart.

Wei Jiansu said again: "Your Majesty, give an order to Zhao Ziliang and let him wave his troops to attack Tongguan, on the one hand, it is to relieve the pressure on the imperial court, and on the other hand, it is to test Zhao Ziliang, if he is still loyal to His Majesty, he will inevitably wave his troops to attack at all costs, if he hesitates, it can be seen that his loyalty to His Majesty and the court will be greatly reduced, even if it is not so, it can also show that he is pampered and arrogant, and supports the army and self-respect!" ”

Xuanzong was silent for a long time, waved his hand and said to Wei Jiansu: "You stand down, I have my own opinions on this matter!" (To be continued.) )