"The imperial court regained Fan Yang so quickly?"

"The siege of the plains will be lifted soon, right?"

In this discussion, there are naturally some people who don't believe it, and some people who are half-convinced.

He Lan Jinming didn't believe it at all. He thought that An Lushan had been running Fan Yang for so long and had a deep foundation and popular support. Therefore, once he raised his troops, he would conquer Luoyang in more than thirty days and be invincible. Under such circumstances, how could there be a fire in the backyard?

The situation? It’s totally unreasonable!

Moreover, Xue Bai always loved lying. In order to deceive the soldiers that Luoyang was not lost, he denied the deaths of Li Xin, Lu Yi, and Jiang Qing, and buried the heads of loyal and loyal soldiers in mass graves at will, so that future generations could not pay tribute. One person said so

And for an untrustworthy person to announce such important news in such a sudden way, it must be false.

"Out of caution, there is no warning about this matter. Is it possible..."

"What kind of omen are you looking for? If An Lushan had noticed Jia Xun, Liu Kenu and others' loyalty to the imperial court, how could they have performed the righteous deeds they did today?!"

Xue Bai stopped the others' questioning with a tone that did not allow for criticism, and immediately moved on to the next agenda item.

"Presumably at this time, or even earlier, Shi Siming has already received the news. In this case, he must rush back to Fan Yang as soon as possible. This is also an opportunity for us to break out and concentrate our forces in Changshan."

This stimulated the morale of the army, and Xue Bai was willing to mention the breakout. He supplied the army rations and salt that were originally divided into many days to eat slowly to the soldiers normally, so that the soldiers could eat well.

Helan Jinming didn't believe Xue Bai's story at all, and believed that the situation must not be so gratifying. He immediately went to Li Zejiao to discuss, and believed that after breaking through, they must march separately, leaving Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing behind, in order to contain Shi Siming's main force

.

Li Zejiao then asked: "If Prefect Helan doesn't believe it, why not go and confirm with Prefect Xue?"

"What's the use? If I listen to his sweet words one more time, will I recognize him?"

However, cheers suddenly sounded from the top of the city.

Helan Jinming was startled and hurried to the city. After a closer look, he actually saw some rebels heading north in the distance.

"it turns out."

He murmured, feeling reluctant in every way, but he had to admit that what Xue Bai said was true.

Although Jia Xun's actions to bring order out of chaos were obviously unreasonable, after careful consideration, Helan Jinming still figured out the reason.

In the Tang Dynasty, it is true that the court was corrupt and the capital was empty, but it is also true that there were many officials from all over the world who still loved the Tang Dynasty.

In such a prosperous time, how come no one wants to protect it?

~~

At the same time, Xue Bai and Yan Gaoqing were sitting opposite each other in the tower, listening to the cheers on the top of the city.

"It's a pity that Jia Xun, Liu Kenu and others had their hearts set on the Tang Dynasty, but the situation still disappointed them."

Yan Gaoqing's face turned joyful and asked, "What do you mean?"

"My father-in-law, please take a look."

Xue Bai took out a letter stained with blood and handed it over.

Yan Gaoqing opened it quickly, glanced at it a few times, and sighed: "The great situation has plummeted. Jia Xun's passion has been wasted."

This letter was sent from Changshan County together with Jia Xun's message.

Yuan Luqian received the letter first and was so happy that he wrote a good news letter to Xue Bai. Before he had time to send it, the new news had arrived. It turned out that Jia Xun had already made an agreement with Fan Yang, deputy left-behind officer Xiang Runke.

Xiang Runke surrendered to the imperial court because he saw the counties in Hebei defecting to the imperial court, so he agreed to the matter. However, on the day of their rebellion, the news that An Lushan had captured Luoyang, the eastern capital, also spread back to Youzhou. Xiang Runke

Then he killed Jia Xun and returned to the rebel army.

"If Luoyang had been defended for another half month, the rebellion would have been over!" Yan Gaoqing said regretfully.

"I still say the same thing." Xue Bai said: "No matter how many right things a loyal minister does, they can't offset one wrong thing done by a foolish king."

He seemed a little tired, leaning back against the wall and rubbing his eyes.

"In order to stop this rebellion, I have done a lot, but it is all in vain. The root of the chaos is the land system and the tax system. It is difficult to change the system. One move can affect the whole body. The saint is old and does not want to worry about it. No matter what

Yu Wenrong and Li Linfu couldn't do it. Talking about the most basic thing, the saint wouldn't even listen to "diligence and frugality". Diligence and frugality lead by example and are the beginning of restructuring and rectification. If we don't start, we loyal ministers will be noisy at the branches all day long.

,If you can’t get to the root, what’s the use?”

Since the siege of the city, Yan Gaoqing has become accustomed to hearing these words of criticism against Chengyu. He was very calm when he heard the words and just sighed: "What's the use of complaining at this time? It's better to talk about something practical."

"Okay, I have two more letters here, which were brought by last night's messenger from Changshan County."

The paper used for the two letters was different. One of them was made of snow-white paper stuck on cloth. Xue Bai handed it over first.

"This is the secret decree from the imperial court to Helan Jinming. My father-in-law, please read this first."

Yan Gaoqing took it and saw that there was a top-secret seal on it, which said "Helan Jinming personally expresses his gratitude". Once torn, it could not be restored. He was stunned and looked at Xue Bai.

"this?"

"I opened it," Xue Bai said, "There is also a mailbox, which I threw away."

Yan Gaoqing opened it and took a look, and his expression changed again.

The secret decree actually appointed Helan Jinming as the envoy to Hebei, and ordered him to capture Xue Bai and take him to Chang'an.

"Is the will true?!"

"That's right." Xue Bai said: "Fortunately, Yuan Luqian did not demolish it, but sent people to Pingyuan County. Fortunately, Wang Jinlan handed it over to me last night instead of Helan Jinming."

"But why?"

"The saint is ignorant." Xue Bai said: "Do you believe me, father-in-law? If you don't kill all the capable ministers, or wait for the rebellion to overthrow the throne, the saint will not wake up and stop."

Yan Gaoqing still didn't believe it. He shook the secret decree in his hand and murmured: "But why is this? You guarded Tumen Pass, rescued Changshan County, and called on all the counties in Hebei. Why are you not rewarded for your merits, but are you suspected?"

"I belong to the prince. The saint suspects that the reason why the rebels are so loud is that the prince is bluffing for the rebels..."

"Nonsense!"

Yan Gaoqing slammed the table, her face flushed with anger, and she didn't know whether she was scolding Xue Bai or the saint.

The room was quiet for a while.

The sunlight filtered in through the small arrow window and shone on Xue Bai's face. He did not avoid it and looked directly at Yan Gaoqing in the sunlight.

"I was in Changshan County. When I attacked, I could call on the counties in Hebei to intercept the rebels; when I retreated, I could return to Taiyuan and return to King Qin of Beijing. But I led my troops to the plains because I really didn't expect that the situation would deteriorate so quickly, but I know the reason.

, and therefore have a plan.”

"What?"

"As I said before, I have a private army in Shouyang Mountain." Xue Bai said: "They should have ambushed the rebels and helped Gao Xianzhi defend Luoyang. Maybe if Luoyang held on for another half month, everything might be different, maybe...

...In short, this was the plan at the beginning, to defend Luoyang, occupy Hebei, and instigate a rebellion against Fan Yang. But Luoyang fell, and my private soldiers did not take action. Does my father-in-law know why?"

"Why?"

Xue Bai handed over the third letter he received last night.

This was passed from Shouyang Mountain to Changshan, and then from Changshan to his hand. It traveled many journeys.

Yan Gaoqing opened it and looked at it. At the same time, Xue Bai also gave the answer.

"The reason why Gao Xianzhi abandoned Luoyang was because he found that... the food in Hanjiacang was missing."

"How is that possible?"

Yan Gaoqing stared at the letter in his hand, in disbelief.

However, the content of the letter on this matter was very brief, with only one sentence: "Enter the city to see Xianzhi, saying that the warehouse was empty and Luoyang could not be defended, and Lushan had not passed Yanshi, so no ambush was set up."

He looked left and right, but couldn't see anything more. At the end, Fu Xu murmured: "As far as I know, Tianbao has eight years, and the world's grain reserves are 12 million stones, including Jiacang accounted for 583

How can there be no food in such a huge warehouse with thousands of stones? Impossible."

Xue Bai said: "Then I don't know. Maybe Gao Xianzhi didn't have the confidence to defend Luoyang and made an excuse."

Yan Gaoqing asked: "You just said that you have a plan from this?"

"good."

There seemed to be a mailbox in Xue Bai's arms, and he took out a small map and spread it out on the table.

Although this map is small, it covers a wide area, including all the Taoist regions of the Tang Dynasty.

"Now Luoyang is lost, and Tongguan is in danger. Here in Hebei, Shi Mingsi has returned to the army, and the rebel army has become more popular. The imperial court will not send troops to Hedong to support, but also wants to capture me and return to Chang'an. In this case, we broke through and returned to Changshan County, leading the army

How about the Hebei rebel army passing through Jingxing and passing through Hedong to King Qin in Guanzhong?"

"What is King Qin?"

"Support the crown prince and ask the saint to abdicate."

Yan Gaoqing suddenly changed his expression, stared at Xue Bai, shook his head and said, "You must not do this!"

Still the time hasn't come yet.

Xue Bai then said: "Then the second plan."

He raised his finger and pointed at the map, and said: "Suppose there really is not enough food in Hanjiacang. We want to put down the rebellion as soon as possible, and what we need to do is to cut off the rebels' food routes. But with Henan's situation like this, Dongdu

Those who stayed behind are dead, Gao Xianzhi has retreated to Tongguan, and the rebels have other ways to get food."
To be continued...