Chapter Eighty-One A Plan Born in the Heart

  "The rebels have stopped attacking! Order the soldiers to take a break immediately!"

  Yang Kai on the city wall also decisively issued a new order, letting the soldiers take turns resting and rejuvenating.

  "Has the rebel army really stopped attacking?" Wang Silie ran to Yang Jie's side with a look of astonishment, and after inquiring about Yang Jie's new orders again, he said incredulously: "What kind of trick are An Qingxu and Cui Qianyou playing? Don't they care about the lives of their soldiers?"

  Looking at the torchlight reflecting a puzzled Wang Silie and several other generals who had gathered around, Yang Hui chuckled twice before saying: "It's possible that yesterday and today's bloody battles have left the rebels with lingering fear, they don't dare to launch a desperate attack. They probably want to wait until dawn to understand the situation clearly before deciding on their next move! This is good news, our soldiers are all very tired, as long as the rebels stop their large-scale attacks, we'll let them rest immediately to recover their strength!"

  Under the premise that the trench is still a hazard, it's more convenient for the rebels to attack during the day than at night when they can't see their feet. Launching a large-scale assault without being able to see the situation on the ground would definitely result in many rebel soldiers falling into the trench. Without considering reinforcements, even if Yang Gui commanded the rebels, he would choose to attack during the day and only adopt tactics to exhaust the enemy at night, unless they wanted to fill the trench with their soldiers' corpses again!

  Of course, Yang Guozhong and other generals under his command did not expect the rebel army to stop attacking so quickly. An Qingxu was too "decisive"!

  It's a foregone conclusion for him about the rebel military operation tonight. Yang Hui just can't be sure if the rebels will continue to take action after nightfall, but whether or not the rebels have follow-up actions, soldiers must get rest, otherwise they won't have the strength to fight again.

  The twelve connected cities were originally a good vanguard position, which could observe the enemy's situation one step ahead. There were no other roads around Tongguan that could be taken, so the rebels could only attack through these few passes. As long as the soldiers on the twelve connected cities' walls kept watchful eyes, it was impossible for the rebels to sneak up quietly to the city wall. Small-scale rebel actions did not pose a threat, and large-scale actions would be quickly discovered, so Yang Hui didn't worry about unexpected situations suddenly arising and immediately ordered his soldiers to rest.

  Yang Kai's order was quickly passed down, and after arranging everything properly, each general also went to rest.

  But most of the generals and soldiers were resting on the city walls, so that they could respond in time when the rebels launched a large-scale action.

  The situation that night was beyond the expectations of all on the city wall. After entering the night, the rebels did not take large-scale attack actions, but only occasionally sent out small teams to make a show of force, but their show of force was all recognized and attacked by the soldiers on the 12th line of the city, and each harassment ended with heavy casualties. The Tang army on the city wall mostly got some rest.

  Soldiers who were extremely exhausted would fall asleep as soon as they sat down, and even the sound of killing wouldn't wake them up unless it was very loud.

  Yang Qi also slept a not very sound but very effective sleep.

  The rebels did not take advantage of the night to launch a continuous attack on the city, which made him feel at ease and even more convinced that the situation was developing in a direction favorable to the Tang army.

  The rebels did not continue to attack the city at night, which was quite unexpected. What's more unexpected is that at dawn, another 15,000 reinforcements arrived in Tongguan. This was one of the troops led by Chen Xuanli himself, but the commander was Zheng Ang, a trusted follower of Yang Guozhong.

  After inquiring about Zheng Ang, Yang Jie finally understood the situation.

  It was only after receiving another imperial order to hasten their advance that Zheng Ang led his troops away from Chen Xuanli's, taking advantage of the cool and clear weather on a moonlit night following rain to speed up their march, arriving at Tong Pass by dawn.

  According to Zheng Ang's statement, Chen Xuanyi personally led his troops and would arrive in Tongguan at noon.

  After listening to Zheng Ang's account of their journey, Yang Jie was completely clear that Chen Xuanli was intentionally delaying and not rushing to rescue Tongguan at full speed.

  If he hadn't repeatedly petitioned the imperial court for reinforcements, the imperial court wouldn't have dispatched envoys to order Chen Yuan and his troops to hasten their advance, and Zheng Ang's troops wouldn't have been able to reach Tongguan by dawn.

  Yang Hui naturally understood the purpose of Chen Xuanli's actions, which was to see Yang Guozhong's youngest son suffer a defeat at Tongguan, damaging his reputation, and ultimately benefiting from it, with even more ulterior motives.

  Understood the matter, Yang Hui was furious, and after settling down in Zheng Ang's department, he immediately wrote two letters again. One is a memorial to Emperor Li Longji, and the other is an urgent letter to his own father Yang Guozhong, asking soldiers to send it quickly to Chang'an through the post station's fast horse.

  He had previously sent similar memorials and secret letters to Chang'an, now further clarifying the situation of subsequent reinforcements, his expression became even more direct in his indignation.

  Yang Kai did not want the Tongguan garrison to have internal conflicts. He had already won over most of his officers through his efforts and good performance, and he wanted to maintain the current peaceful and united situation, and would not allow anyone to destroy it.

  Whether it was Chen Xuanli or his deputy Fan Zhicheng, he would not allow them to use their methods on him. He had a very favored father of the emperor, Yang Guozhong, who would help him eliminate all troubles.

  "General Yang, I'm afraid that after General Chen arrives at Tongguan, he won't listen to your command!" After settling the soldiers, Zheng Ang requested a private audience with Yang and immediately expressed his concerns.

  When he arrived at Tongguan with his army, Yang Hui was leading a large group of generals to welcome him outside the city. With many people around and some confidential matters not convenient to discuss, Zheng Ang could only speak to Yang Hui alone after settling the soldiers. As Yang Guozhong's confidant, he was worried that Yang Hui might not be able to subdue Chen Xuanli, who was also a trusted general of the emperor and had participated in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Most of the soldiers in the army were Chen Xuanli's loyal generals.

  If those more than 40,000 horses did not listen to Yang's command, the Tongguan city would be in chaos.

  Yang Kai naturally saw Zheng Ang's worry, but he didn't have any worries at all. Instead, with a confident smile on his face, he said to Zheng Ang, "General Zheng, don't worry, I have my own plan. You go rest first, the rebels will probably attack the city soon and it'll be an extremely tough battle for the whole day!"

  "Yes, Marshal, then I will go rest first!"

  Hearing Yang Hui's confident words, Zheng Ang was no longer worried and after a military salute, he went to rest.

  After Zheng Ang left, Yang Hui stood by the window and looked at the mountain ranges outside, which were full of mist. He was thinking about something. He wasn't worried about the threat that Chen Xuanli would bring when he arrived, as he believed his father Yang Guozhong would help him resolve these troubles. He was thinking about how to eliminate the military threat from Tongguan as soon as possible. After a while, he suddenly had an idea and walked over to the desk, picked up his pen and wrote several drafts. Then he called in Yang Dong, the head of his personal guards.

  "Have several copies of this proclamation shot into the rebel army's camp!" Yang Jie handed over the draft on his desk to Yang Dong, who had come in response to the order. "Use a bed crossbow to shoot out these several proclamations, and be sure to let An Qingxu and Cui Qianyou see them, and let more rebel soldiers see them!"

  "Yes, Fourth Master!" Yang Dong replied, took over the manuscript from Yang Hui's hand and hastily walked out.