Chapter 360 Good News

In October of the ninth year of Tianbao, when Wang Zhongsi led his troops deep into Nanzhao, there was also a war going on in the northeastern part of the Tang Dynasty.

An Lushan commanded 60,000 troops in Fanyang and Pinglu towns, claiming that 150,000 troops were sent to attack the Khitan. The reason why he raised the army was not only because he had boasted about Haikou in front of the saints at the imperial banquet of Shangyuan Dynasty, but also because he had been trapped and killed many times.

Khitan chiefs and plundered their tribesmen, exacerbating the conflict between the two sides and leading to a fight to the death sooner or later.

With two thousand Xi people as guides, he traveled more than a thousand miles north from Pinglu to Beihuang River, which is also known as the "Tuhu Zhen River". According to reliable information, the big tent of Khitan King Li Huaixiu is to the north.

An Lushan held a military meeting overnight, but did not give the generals a chance to talk. He sat there with his big belly in his hands and arbitrarily said, "The way to destroy the Khitans is very simple. Let's march over quickly and kill them all when they are not prepared."

Can."

Brother Xie, the Turkic Zuo Xian Wang who had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, was stunned when he heard this and couldn't help asking: "Jie Shuai, this place is at least three hundred miles away from the Khitan tent. After marching there, the warriors and horses are very tired."

Gejie is a member of the tribe of Turkic leader Absi, and he was transferred from Shuofang at the beginning of the year.

That year, Wang Zhongsi defeated DTZ, and Abusi led his troops to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. He was named the King of Faith, named Li Xianzhong, and was appointed deputy envoy of the Shuofang Army. But obviously, the Tang Dynasty did not fully trust Abusi, so at the beginning of the year

Ask Absi to move his people to Fanyang.

Why Fan Yang? Because the saint most trusted was An Lushan.

In short, due to these reasons, Ge Jie was transferred to An Lushan's command. Usually they just dislike each other. Today, Ge Jie thought that if An Lushan's reckless attack style was followed, the soldiers would be exhausted.

It would be very dangerous to fight again.

"Tired?" An Lushan suddenly got angry for no reason and shouted: "I walk around with such a heavy belly every day. Aren't I tired? I'm not even tired. What grievances do you have?!"

Ge Jie disagreed in his heart. But Fan Yang and Lieutenant General Pinglu Army were all An Lushan's confidants. Whenever anything happened, An Lushan would tell the truth. No matter how many reasons he had, it was useless, so he simply shut up.

"Although the journey is long, the only way to defeat the Khitan is to fight here." An Lushan's anger came and went as quickly as it came, and he smiled and said: "Let each soldier bring a rope and tie the Khitan prisoners to Chang'an to offer them as prisoners!

"

"Ha ha ha ha."

The phrase "rope" was actually a joke told by An Lushan that was not funny. Everyone in the army laughed. Brother Xie felt depressed, but he had to laugh along with him and secretly cursed the fat pig.

The next day, before dawn, the Tang army began to march. From day to night, it rained heavily on the grassland. An Lushan ordered that they continue marching at night and must reach the Khitan camp before dawn.

An Qingxu, the second son of An Lushan, was riding in the middle of the army. After listening to the generals' feedback, he rushed to An Lushan and loudly reported: "Master, the arms and strings of the bow will be soaked by the rain."

broken!"

An Lushan was riding a tall horse, and many servants including Li Zhuer beside him were trying hard to hold up the chariot to protect him from the rain.

"Great!" An Lushan said: "Tell the soldiers that the Khitan people are good at riding and shooting, and their bows and arrows will become weak when it rains. This is God helping us!"

"Here."

Encountering such a strong commander, the soldiers had no choice but to grit their teeth and continue marching.

Finally, they traveled more than 300 miles day and night and arrived at Tianmen Ridge before dawn.

This is a mountain ridge on the grassland. A river named "Laoha River" flows north from Tianmen Ridge and merges into the Xilamulun River. There are many Khitan tribes scattered along the Laoha River, and the Xilamulun River is

The birthplace of the Khitan people, Li Huaixiu's royal tent was there.

Before the small Khitan tribe noticed, the Tang army quickly attacked, kicked into tents one after another, hacked and killed the men, pushed the women into the tents, and tied them up with ropes.

The heavy rain was still pouring down, and among the cries, blood formed and flowed into the Laoha River.

The war progressed smoothly. The Tang army advanced with great success, annihilating the small tribes along the river one by one, and rushed to the west of the Lamulun River together with the water of the Laoha River.

"Woo——"

When the bugle sounded, Khitan King Li Huaixiu reacted and quickly summoned the tribes to fight.

On the north bank of the Xilamulun River, the two armies faced off against each other. Due to the heavy rain, the bows and arrows on both sides were not easy to use. From the beginning of the war, it was a brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The Tang army was very fierce at first, but they attacked for more than 300 miles day and night, with the purpose of sneak attack and victory when the Khitan people were unprepared. Once the battle reached a stalemate, their physical disadvantage became more and more obvious.

An Lushan had a huge advantage in military strength and was determined to sweep across the Khitan with his force. He ordered General He Side to lead his troops in a detour to attack the Khitan flank.

He Side did not realize a problem. The bows and arrows carried by the Tang army on the road were damaged by the rain and difficult to use, but the Khitan people's bows and arrows were always hidden in their tents for safekeeping.

When he led his troops towards the main force of the Khitan, the heavy rain had already stopped, and the sun had just emerged from the clouds and shone on the grass. There was a "swish" sound, and a bloody arrow was nailed to the grass.

"Swish swish swish."

Arrows came, and the Tang troops running in front were shot to the ground. He Side was also hit by an arrow in the face. He reined in his horse in panic, but was knocked to the ground. Soon, another burst of arrows came.

.

"An Lushan was shot!"

The Khitan army burst out with overwhelming shouts and quickly spread the news to the entire army.

It should be noted that An Lushan has been trapping, killing and plundering over the years, and the Khitan people have hated him to the core. When they first heard that he was shot to death, the joy was very inspiring, and the morale of the Khitan army was greatly boosted.

Li Huaixiu was fighting in person.

His real name was "Di Nian Zuli". In the 23rd year of Kaiyuan, after Zhang Shougui planned to provoke civil strife in Khitan, Li Huaixiu attached himself to the Tang Dynasty, worshiped the governor of Songmo, granted the title of King Chongshun, and married Princess Jingle.

Half a year later, he couldn't bear the plundering of Anlu Mountain, so he made an appointment with King Xi Li Yanchong to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. He personally killed Princess Jingle and proclaimed himself the "Zhangwu Khan".

At this time, Li Huaixiu rushed to the front of the formation and saw two thousand Xi people's cavalry among the Tang army. He knew at a glance that they were the Xi people who had been captured by An Lushan, so he shouted in Xi language.

"Xi people! I am Zuwu Khan and the brother of King Xi! An Lushan has been shot by me. Let's counterattack the Tang army together!"

The Khitan people then shouted and encouraged the two thousand Xi people to guide them.

"Counterattack the Tang army!"

"kill!"

The Tang army was severely defeated.

Once they are defeated after attacking for more than three hundred miles, they will be completely defeated.

Shi Siming, the pinglu military commander of the Tang Army, originally wanted to persuade An Lushan to withdraw his troops temporarily, but he did not expect that the defeat would come so suddenly. Even the well-trained soldiers under his command were in chaos and trampled on each other, let alone others?

Shi Siming had no choice but to lead his Qingqi to withdraw from the main army, hide in the valley, and collect the defeated troops.

Over there, An Lushan was stared at and charged by Li Huaixiu, and he was even more embarrassed. He was fat and attracted attention, and he was tired after getting off the horse. Li Huaixiu caught up with his horse and shot off his helmet with an arrow.

An Lushan was so frightened that he shouted "Save me". Upon seeing this, An Qingxu quickly grabbed An Lushan, pulled An Lushan's reins with all his strength, and led him out of the battlefield.

They didn't know how long they ran. It wasn't until nightfall that they finally couldn't hear the Khitan people's terrifying shouts of killing behind them. An Lushan looked around and saw that the only ones following him were An Qingxu, Li Zhuer and others.

I couldn't help but burst into tears.

Amid the cries, more than 20 horsemen came rushing towards him. An Lushan was startled and tried hard to shrink his fat body in the night. However, he saw that it was his subordinate general Sun Xiaozhe who arrived on horseback under the moonlight.

When Li Zhuer saw that it was Sun Xiaozhe who was coming, he couldn't help but lower his head, his eyes flickered, and he guessed what Sun Xiaozhe would do.

The reason for his speculation was that Sun Xiaozhe was actually a Khitan and was captured like him. In addition, although Sun Xiaozhe's mother was older, she was quite coquettish and got together with An Lushan.

Therefore, Li Zhuer wondered whether Sun Xiaozhe would take this opportunity to kill An Lushan and return to Khitan with this fat head.

"Fu Jun!"

However, to Li Zhuer's expectation, Sun Xiaozhe fell to his knees when he saw An Lushan from a distance, crawled over, and cried bitterly: "The end is too late, let the prince suffer!"

"Is my Azhe here?"

An Lushan stood up with difficulty, spread out his hands, hugged Sun Xiaozhe, and cried: "I knew you were the most reliable, Azhe, as reliable as my son."

An Qingxu felt disdainful after hearing this.

He thought that he performed extremely well this time and saved his father's life. In the future, the position of Prince Dongping, or some other position, should be given to him.

~~

After a big defeat, An Lushan went straight to Pinglu City. It was difficult for him to carry a fat belly, but it did not affect his flexibility at all, and he galloped all the way without any delay.

In the next few days, various generals collected their defeated troops and came back, counted the number of people, and found that more than half were casualties and escapees. An Lushan could not help but worry that this defeat would affect his prestige in the army.

Zuo Xian Wang Ge Xie has been complaining everywhere since he returned to Shizhou, saying that he had reminded An Lushan to cherish the physical strength of the soldiers. When the news came back to Pinglu, An Lushan was furious. He put the responsibility for the defeat on Ge Xie.

He went up and chopped off his head with a knife.

Shi Siming heard about this and wanted to rush to dissuade him. When he arrived at the Pinglu Governor's Mansion, he saw that Ge Jie's head had been hung on the door.

"Why is the prince doing this?" Shi Siming asked: "Do you really intend to report the truth to the court, saying that this time the battle was defeated?"

"Of course we don't plan to do that." An Lushan responded matter-of-factly. "Of course we should report the victory and go back to capture some prisoners and send them to Chang'an."

"In this case, why do you still want to kill Brother Jie?"

"I get angry too easily!" An Lushan slapped his thigh, his fat face trembling, and shouted: "When anger comes up, I can't control it. I'm always furious! Furious!"

Shi Siming was an old acquaintance of An Lushan and knew that he had not been like this before. Over the years, as his official position got higher, his body became fatter and his temper became worse and worse.

"Okay, I'll kill them all. But Mr. Fu, have you ever thought about it, Ge Jie is a Turk inside, and if you kill him for no reason, Abu Si won't let it go."

"It's so annoying!" An Lushan cursed, his eyes rolled again, and he said: "Yes, Abbs has long disliked me, and now that I have killed his people, he and I are even more incompatible."

He was so angry that he rolled his eyes back and forth, but he still thought of a way.

"Yes, I am reporting to the court that we have won a great victory against the Khitan. Unfortunately, we do not have enough troops to destroy the country in one fell swoop. Please ask the sage to transfer Abu Si to Fan Yang to serve as the Deputy Envoy of Jiedu. When he arrives, we will kill him first!"

"
To be continued...