Chapter 55: Recruiting Gao Shi
Caught a cold again, writing with tears and snot all over the place, it's unbearable! Once again asking book friends for recommendation votes!
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Yang Qi slept very effectively.
This period of time was not very long, at most only two hours, but it was enough for him to recover his energy.
When she woke up, the sky was still pitch black. Yang Hui couldn't help but worry about the situation outside and got out of bed to prepare for a patrol around the city.
Later in the process of sleeping, Yang Kai was not woken up by anyone, that is to say, there were no major incidents after that.
If something big happens, his personal guards will definitely wake him up.
More than 300 guards around him also took turns sleeping.
Last night, they marched all night without anyone having a chance to sleep. A whole day passed in tension, although many people felt very sleepy, but had no opportunity to rest. If this continues with no sleep or rest, everyone's mental and physical strength will be greatly reduced, including Yang Hui.
Yang Kai himself needed to recharge his spirit, so he let the guards around him take turns sleeping in batches for a few hours each to recover their strength.
Yang Hui got up and prepared to go on patrol, without waking up the sleeping guards. Yang Dong led more than 100 guards who were on duty to follow him. If Yang Dong had dared to show hesitation towards Yang Hui's orders before arriving at Tongguan, he could have even used Yang Guozhong or Pei Rou's commands to resist Yang Hui's demands. But after following Yang Hui for a day and night, he no longer dared to do anything that went against the wishes of this fourth young master. Such a decisive and ruthless master, if his followers showed any disrespect, who knows what punishment they would receive.
Although he hoped Yang Hui could sleep a little longer, Yang Hui had to go on patrol, and Yang Dong did not dare to hesitate or say anything to dissuade him, so he obediently led more than 100 men to escort Yang Hui to the city head.
On the city wall, many lanterns and torches were lit, and fully armed soldiers kept patrolling back and forth. Except for the sound of footsteps on the city wall when the soldiers were patrolling, there was no other sound. Even the usual sounds of insects chirping and birds singing could not be heard. This silence made people feel very peaceful, as if this place was not a battlefield, but an ordinary city, where all the civilians had fallen asleep, very peacefully.
But Yang knew that after a while, when the sky brightened, probably in the morning or at most noon, there would be an extremely fierce battle of city defense here, and countless soldiers would lose their lives on the city walls. Many of the soldiers patrolling on the city walls now may also have lost their lives after a period of time. Under the city of Hantanguan, hundreds and thousands of people had already died, and soon the corpses there would rot, filling the entire city with a foul smell.
Nowadays, inside and outside Tongguan City, the smell is extremely unpleasant. There's a smoky smell, a strange smell after burning corpses, and a foul stench of rotting corpses. The mixed smells make people feel uncomfortable.
It's just as well that the wind was strong at night, blowing away many of the foul smells; otherwise it would have been even more nauseating.
But tomorrow and in the following days, these unpleasant smells will continue to be smelled.
As he watched the neatly lined soldiers salute and ask for orders in front of him, and then continue their patrol at his signal, Yang Hui felt a deep sense of emotion. A few months ago, both sides had the same name - they were all armies of the Tang Empire, but now the two teams had become sworn enemies, with one side still being the soldiers of the Tang Empire, while the other had become the army of Yan.
In the same room, you die and I live. This is the sorrow of the Tang Dynasty, and also the sorrow of the people all over the world.
Yang Hui knew that the Anshi Rebellion in history lasted for more than a decade, and the emperor of the Tang Dynasty also changed three times during this period, namely Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Emperor Suzong of Tang, and Emperor Daizong of Tang. It wasn't until the time of Emperor Daizong Li Yu that the rebellion was completely pacified. By then, countless soldiers and civilians had lost their lives in the turmoil, and the prosperous atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty had been completely destroyed, from which it began to decline and never recovered.
Yang Hui hoped that with his arrival as a time-traveler, all of history would change because of him.
But change must start from holding Tongguan Pass, avoiding the fall of Chang'an and preventing Emperor Li Longji from fleeing to Shu.
If it were not for his appearance, the rebels would have been successfully stopped outside Tongguan City, and if they had suffered heavy losses, the course of history would have been disrupted very quickly, and the subsequent history would not have developed as it originally did.
Thinking that his actions were changing history, a sense of mission and honor arose in Yang Hui's heart.
No matter what, we must go all out to defend Tongguan and not let it fall into the hands of the enemy. With this ambition and sense of mission, Yang Hui's footsteps were very light as he patrolled the city, and he even naturally walked up to the soldiers guarding the gate tower, patted their shoulders affectionately, and comforted them.
Yang Kai was entrusted with the command of the vanguard, and every soldier knew that this young man had rightfully taken charge of the military affairs at Tongguan. Moreover, Yang Kai's impressive performance during the day had earned him the respect and admiration of many soldiers, who felt a sense of awe towards him. Seeing their commander-in-chief approach them with such familiarity and encouragement, the soldiers who were fortunate enough to be patted on the shoulder were moved to tears. Just a day ago, they were still fugitive soldiers, worried about being punished, but now they had not only been spared punishment but also received the commander's warm encouragement - how could they not be emotional? In this era, social hierarchy was very distinct.
Just as Yang Jie was intentionally or unintentionally acting out a play to comfort the soldiers, another group of people came from the front. After shouting loudly, they found out that it was Gao Shi who had woken up from his sleep and led a group of soldiers on patrol along the southeast corner of the city wall.
As soon as he knew that the opposite side was Yang Gui leading his personal guards on a city patrol, Gao Shi immediately brought two deputies to run over, saluted and loudly reported: "Report to General Yang, this general is patrolling with soldiers!"
Yang Hui returned the courtesy and said: "General Gao has worked hard!"
"Marshal, our army's divine treasure suffered a disastrous defeat, with nearly two hundred thousand troops annihilated. Tongguan is in imminent danger, and I, the last general, dare not slacken or speak of hardship."
Gao Shi did not participate in the Lingbao War, but as a senior staff member of Ge Shuhan, if the imperial court punished him, he would also be punished.
It's not just him, all the generals under Gao Shuhan are like this. Many people, like Gao Shi, hope to use their own efforts to reduce the guilt they carry on their backs, and even redeem themselves through merit.
Gao Shi, who originally had the idea of killing enemies and making achievements in order to gain promotion through military merit, made even more efforts in this regard.
This was not only noticed by Ge Shuhan, but also caught the attention of Yang Kai, who had just arrived in Tongguan to take charge of military affairs.
They had a good impression of each other, and Yang Jie also knew the great name of Gao Shi in history. He had long had the intention of recruiting him under his own name. Hearing Gao Shi's words, he followed the momentum and said: "General Gao's talent is astonishing, General Gao's ability to do things is also very admirable. Now, being only a supervising censor and holding the position of Sima is not compatible with General Gao's talents at all. The commander will certainly report to the emperor and promote you to a position in the imperial court! From today on, you will follow the commander and handle military affairs, execute the duties of the military Sima! The commander will immediately report to the court and ask for your appointment!"
Gao Shi was taken aback, standing there in a daze, but he only stood there for a moment before respectfully bowing and expressing his gratitude: "Thank you, General Yang, for your kindness. I, the humble general, will definitely not betray your trust and will not disappoint your expectations!"
