Chapter 12: The Critical Frontline of Tongguan

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  Yang Hui, now dressed in light armor, arrived on horseback with Yang Guozhong to the troops that Yang Guozhong claimed were the most elite remaining within Chang'an, preparing to give them instructions before leading them out.

  The Fu family had three hundred men, who were also gathered nearby under the command of Yang Guozhong, waiting for orders to escort Yang Hui out.

  These are the private soldiers of the imperial court, belonging to Yang Guozhong personally. They were all loyal and dedicated men led by Yang Dong, the head of the Imperial Guard.

  These three hundred people are usually the claws of the government, guarding the house and yard, acting as thugs. They can be said to be extremely evil, having fought in brawls, killed people, and done many things that cannot be seen. Their usual training and treatment are better than those of ordinary soldiers.

  Yang Guozhong's mansion had more than 400 guards, most of whom were handed over to Yang Hui this time, which also shows Yang Guozhong's love and importance attached to this action. Everyone knows that at critical moments, the ones who can save their master's life are mostly their own private soldiers. It can be said that Yang Guozhong entrusted Yang Hui's life to his own private soldiers, and repeatedly ordered them that no matter what situation they were in, they could not let Yang Hui make any mistakes.

  Yang Guozhong rode his horse to the front of the 3,000 troops lined up in formation and gave them a pep talk. He told Li Defu and Liu Guangting, the two generals, as well as their soldiers, that this time Yang Hui, his fourth son, would lead the army, rushing to Tongguan to rescue it from its precarious situation, and ordered the soldiers to strictly follow Yang Hui's orders without fail.

  Yang Guozhong finished his reprimand, and Yang Hui stepped forward. Standing proudly on horseback, he gazed coldly at the neatly lined-up soldiers and bellowed in a majestic voice: "Brothers, Tongguan is in urgent danger and needs our immediate rescue. The army commander has nothing more to say except one thing: strictly follow the army commander's orders, fight to the death, and if anyone shows cowardice or disobeys orders, they will be killed without pardon!"

  "With a 'clang' sound, he drew out the sword that had just been worn at his waist and cut off the flag in the hand of a small school beside him with extremely fast movements. Without any sideways glance, he swung his sword back into its scabbard and roared again: "Pass on the military order to all troops, set off immediately!"

  Yang Hui's words inadvertently revealed a natural murderous aura, which made Li Fude and Liu Guangting, two of Yang Guozhong's confidants standing beside him, feel a chill run down their spines. Yang Guozhong, who was standing next to Yang Hui, also sensed this and was shocked.

  When did this son of mine ever show such an aura? But now is not the time to explore that. Yang Jie's display of such an aura reassured Yang Guozhong, with this decisive and ruthless performance, after heading to Tongguan, Yang Guozhong was no longer worried about whether his young son could command the generals or not, as long as Yang Jie wasn't intentionally pretending.

  As Yang Kai's order was issued, Li Defu and Liu Guangting had already rushed past on horseback to urge the soldiers to set off after their promise, and they galloped away first. For a time, outside the imperial palace, on the big street towards Tonghua Gate, the sound of urgent horseshoes echoed.

  Watching the soldiers depart one after another, Yang Jie turned his horse's head and bowed to Yang Guozhong beside him: "Father, please return. I also need to set off. I will not disappoint Your Majesty's expectations, nor bring shame to my father. I will arrive at Tongguan with the fastest speed, block the rebel army outside Tongguan City, make up for Father's loss of face, eliminate the impending disaster for our Great Tang, and eliminate the great calamity that is about to befall our Yang family!"

  Yang Guozhong looked a bit tearful, gazing at Yang Hui with deep affection and said in a choked voice: "Hui'er, be careful about everything! If the situation at Tongguan becomes urgent, you must ensure your own safety! Your mother still doesn't know that you're going to Tongguan, if she knew, who knows how worried she would be!"

  "Father, please be at ease and wait for the good news that I will bring back!" Yang Hui bowed again, then turned his horse's head and shouted "Drive!" as he chased after the soldier who had already gone halfway. The three hundred family generals led by Yang Dong also quickly followed up!

  Yang Guozhong's mouth said elite soldiers, all aspects of performance are indeed different from ordinary people.

  It was the height of summer, and they set out at the hottest time of day, with the scorching sun beating down on them. The ground temperature was extremely high. However, in such a suffocating weather condition, three thousand soldiers still strictly followed orders, advancing eastward at the fastest speed, without anyone daring to slack off.

  From Chang'an to sunset, it took about three hours, and the large army had already arrived near Weinan, roughly estimating that they had walked nearly a hundred miles. Under the scorching weather, the speed of the troops was quite good, with only a few soldiers unable to withstand the heat and falling down, and not many horses were lost, which made Yang Hui feel relieved. Weinan is still about 160 miles away from Tongguan, and it's nighttime now. Although the marching speed at night can't compare to daytime, the coolness of the night will reduce the discomfort of the troops somewhat. With one night's march, covering 160 miles should be manageable.

  Yang Kai ordered a temporary rest, replenishing a batch of war horses from Weinan to replace the exhausted horses. The soldiers did not stop and continued to set off, with food and water being supplemented on horseback. This made Li Defu and Liu Guangting two generals puzzled and somewhat complaining.

  But under Yang Jie's explanation and strict orders, they did not dare to disobey the order, directing the soldiers to continue advancing.

  After nightfall, on the official road from Weinan to Tongguan, a long dragon with lit torches can be seen moving quickly.

  On his way, Yang Hui had encountered several urgent express horses from Tongguan to Chang'an to ask for help.

  This made Yang Guozhong feel a bit more at ease, and he sent an urgent message to Chang'an for help. Since they didn't encounter any defeated soldiers on the way, it meant that Tongguan was still under Geshu Han's control and hadn't been occupied by the rebels, which was a great fortune. If Tongguan had fallen into the hands of the rebels, it would have been too difficult for him to retake it with his three thousand troops. Unless the rebels didn't strengthen their defenses after occupying Tongguan, due to excitement, giving him an opportunity to launch a surprise attack!

  "I hope heaven will help me reach there before Tongguan falls!" This was Yang's frequent prayer on his way.

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  The sky was almost dawn, and the top of Tongguan City still had a bright light, with soldiers patrolling back and forth continuously.

  Geshu Han ordered the remnants to strengthen their defense and not be lax in any way, strictly preventing An Lushan's rebel army from taking advantage of the situation to attack the city.

  At the same time, he repeatedly sent envoys to request that the imperial court send a large army to rescue him. He had already dispatched six batches of troops to request the imperial court's rescue.

  Gao Shuhan knew that if the imperial court did not immediately dispatch troops to rescue him, relying solely on his less-than-10,000-strong defeated soldiers and generals to defend Tongguan would be no different from a fool's dream, as difficult as ascending to heaven. However, Gao Shuhan was after all a seasoned general who had experienced many battles throughout his life. He knew that placing all hope in the imperial court's rescue troops was not very realistic; often one had to rely on oneself. Even if the imperial court immediately dispatched troops to reinforce Tongguan upon receiving his urgent request for help, it would take at least two days for them to arrive. After the rebels achieved a great victory, they would certainly press their advantage and attack the city. Before the imperial court's rescue troops arrived at Tongguan, how to defend the city was a matter that tested one's abilities, and also something he had to arrange properly; otherwise, the consequences would be unbearable.

  Gao Shuhan knew the importance of Tongguan to Chang'an, which was why he insisted on defending the pass and not engaging in battle outside the city. Blocking the rebel army outside Tongguan City and waging a war of attrition with them, waiting for the arrival of the imperial troops, and not allowing the rebels to enter Chang'an - this was the most important thing that could be done at present, and it was also the most correct course of action. However, those short-sighted people in the court who were eager for quick success and personal gain, especially Prime Minister Yang Guozhong, repeatedly deceived the Emperor, ordering him to lead his troops out of the pass to do battle. The lessons of Gao Xianzhi's and Fan Shanxi's failures served as a warning to him, but after three petitions to the throne were rejected, when the imperial order to engage in battle outside the pass was transmitted for the fourth time, he was forced to lead the majority of his troops out of the city to do battle with the main force of the rebels.

  Although he was forced to fight, he was still cautious and divided his nearly 200,000 troops into several sections to advance, in order to prevent ambushes.

  But man's plan is inferior to heaven's plan. Despite being so careful and cautious, they were still ambushed by the rebel army in the narrow pass.

  Because of the previous forecast, Gesu Han also took countermeasures immediately, ordering the felt car to open the way and preparing to break through the pass by force, circling around the rebel army's rear with superior forces to defeat the rebel army. However, the rebel army adopted a fire attack, and the entire valley was sealed off by the large fires ignited by the grass, and the vanguard could no longer withstand the fire attack and the arrows, long wood, and stones from above, quickly collapsing. And the retreat route had only one way, that is to escape along the road they came from.

  Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers fled to the rear, also throwing into chaos the hundreds of thousands of men and horses behind them. The rebel forces launched wave after wave of attacks against the defeated imperial army, and Geshu Han was unable to control the situation. In the end, he retreated under the protection of several hundred horsemen who were his most trusted followers, crossing the Yellow River west of Mount Suoyang and then returning to Tong Pass via a circuitous route.

  Fortunately, he left 3,000 troops in Tongguan, and with the support of these 3,000 troops, Tongguan was not abandoned.

  After a preliminary count, among the 200,000 troops who escaped from the pass, less than 80,000 retreated back to Tongguan.

  Outside Tongguan City, the deep moat that was originally used to repel enemies and was several meters deep was filled up by the Tang army. Many soldiers who were lucky enough to escape back to Tongguan had to tread on the corpses of their comrades in the moat before they could return to the city.

  Two hundred thousand men and horses collapsed in one day, making Geshu Han almost desperate.

  But he still did not give up and wanted to rely on the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers to defend against the natural danger of Baoji, while sending people in all directions to gather the lost defeated soldiers.

  Geshu Han believed that as long as the imperial relief troops arrived in time, Tongguan could still be defended.

  But now the moat was filled with the corpses of the retreating Tang soldiers, which gave Geshu Han a headache.

  The natural terrain of the river could originally be used to block the enemy, making it impossible for them to approach Tongguan City. However, now that the river has been filled with corpses, the rebels can trample over the bodies and reach the city walls, launching a siege. With only over 10,000 defeated soldiers inside the city, how can we defend Tongguan?

  Geshu Han had ordered a group of soldiers to clear the bodies in the moat overnight and sent people to gather nearby fleeing soldiers, preparing to counterattack the rebels' attack on the city at dawn. The task was already arranged, Geshu Han was very tired and sleepy, but he didn't have any sleepiness, still thinking hard about the strategy to defend against the enemy.

  He was originally going back to the capital to recover from his illness, the injuries he had accumulated over years of fighting made him miserable. Today's chaos and frantic escape back had injured him again. To conserve his strength, he lay on his side on the couch, eyes closed in thought.

  Just then, there was a commotion outside the door, along with loud voices, as if a group of people were approaching, and it seemed that some soldiers were shouting in terror. Geshu Han frowned in displeasure, thinking to loudly scold the soldiers guarding outside, but before the enemy had even arrived, how could they be so panicked!

  "Marshal, you're the last general!"

  With a responding voice, a general wearing armor and with a sturdy build flashed into the house, followed by several generals and soldiers. This was one of the ten generals of Longyou promoted by Geshu Han, Special Advance, Huojian State Governor, Yanshan County King Huo Jiren. Huo Jiren was one of the generals who had escaped back an hour before Geshu Han returned to Tongguan. Several hours ago, Geshu Han assigned him a task and let him defend the South City.

  "Prince of Yanshan, what is it that you want to report to me?" At this time, Huo Boren had abandoned his post and was not in his own position leading the army's defense, which made Ge Shuhan very displeased. He immediately sat up straight and glared fiercely at Huo Boren.

  Hu Ba Gui Ren stepped forward and made a bow, saying: "Commander-in-Chief, due to the incompetence of those officials in the imperial court, our army suffered a great defeat. Two hundred thousand soldiers were lost, and we no longer have the strength to confront the rebel forces. I have come today to request something of you, Commander-in-Chief!"

  "What's wrong?" Geshu Han's eyebrows furrowed even tighter!

  "General, we can no longer resist the rebels. Tongguan will definitely not be able to hold out. If Tongguan falls, Chang'an will inevitably fall too. It is inevitable that An Lushan will conquer the world. Even if the current court cannot withstand the rebels, it would be better for us to abandon our dark ways and surrender to Great Yan, begging for mercy from the Emperor of Great Yan. That way, we can continue to enjoy wealth and honor." Huo Bao Gui Ren respectfully requested of Ge Shu Han.

  "What?" Geshu Han was shocked and suddenly got up from his bed!