Chapter 82 He has the nerve to threaten us now

  The year is almost over, starting from Sunday, I will resume posting three times a day!

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  Yang Jie stood in front of the window of the city gate tower, watching several thick crossbows shoot the letters he wrote to An Qingxu and Cui Qianyou into the rebel army.

  The rebel soldiers picked it up as soon as they found the letter tied to the arrow, and someone took the letter and ran to report.

  Seeing this, Yang Kai smiled and left the window, standing with Wang Silie, Pang Zhong and several other generals who had just come in to report on the situation, on the city gate tower, observing the unusual movements in the rebel army's formation.

  Ge Shuhan was still resting, and the old general had grown older after experiencing the defeat of Lingbao and the subsequent chaotic escape. The continuous hardships and the stimulation of the extreme cold and heat had taken a toll on him, and he was no longer spirited. Yang Hui felt that Ge Shuhan was not as important now, and it didn't matter if he didn't appear on the city wall. He instructed him to rest well and not worry about anything, saying that he would take care of everything.

  That night, the rebels only harassed in small numbers with horses in the direction of each city gate, without sending a large army to attack the city, but this does not mean that the rebels did not have other actions. The rebel's action was still considerable, and Yang Hui dared not slack off at all. Just as the sky was just brightening, the rebels had already gathered in formation, preparing for the attack, and the arrows shot out by the bed crossbow earlier fell in front of the soldiers in the front row of the formation.

  Yesterday it rained heavily, and today the area around Tongguan is shrouded in fog again. The fog is quite thick, with visibility of less than 100 paces. Due to this considerable fog, the rebel army's attack on Tongguan City has been delayed for some time.

  This was An Qingxu's order. He wanted to wait until the fog had dispersed before starting the attack, so that the charging soldiers could see the situation around the city clearly.

  However, An Qingxu's arrangement once again made Yang Hui and other generals on the city wall puzzled, unable to understand what trick An Qingxu was playing. They were perplexed, didn't An Qingxu know that the Tang Dynasty's reinforcements had been coming to Tongguan continuously, arriving one after another? The longer An Qingxu delayed the start of the attack, the more unfavorable the situation would be for the rebels!

  Was An Qingxu waiting for the arrival of An Lushan's 180,000-strong army before launching a full-scale attack on the city? No one could provide Yang Hui and others with an answer.

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  Yang Gui's letter was delivered into An Qingxu's hands before he could issue the order to attack.

  When the soldier handed Yang Jue's letter to his hand, An Qingxu was gathering his generals Cui Gan Yu, Tian Gan Zhen, Li Gui Ren and An Shou Zhong to discuss military affairs and deploy today's city attack plan.

  When the soldier reported that a letter had been shot down from the city wall, An Qingxu was startled, but he immediately ordered the soldier to present the letter.

  Under the gaze of the generals' puzzled eyes, An Qingxu opened the letter written by Yang Hui.

  An Qingxu frowned tightly after glancing at it, and a look of anger surged onto his face. With a loud "bang", he forcefully slammed the desk, and then threw the letter to the ground with a snarl.

  "Your Highness, who sent the message to you?" Seeing An Qingxu getting angry, his general An Shouzhen cautiously asked.

  Chui Kien-yu, who was standing beside An Qingxu, hastily picked up the letter and examined it carefully.

  He was also shocked and lost his color at this sight.

  Yang Jie told An Qingxu in the letter that the reinforcement troops inside Tongguan City had arrived, and he was not afraid of any siege action by the rebel army. He also made a boastful statement, saying that as long as the rebels continued to attack the city, the area below Tongguan City would be the tomb where the rebels would be buried. Yang Jie told An Qingxu and other rebel generals in the letter that if they surrendered at the right time, put down their weapons and surrendered to him, he would definitely petition the court on their behalf, report their merits to the emperor, and clear them of their crimes.

  But if they continued to confront the court of the Tang Dynasty, when their army was defeated, it would be the time of their own death.

  Yang Jiao finally told An Qingxu and his generals that whoever resisted the Tang court would ultimately end up with a bad reputation, beheaded and their bodies torn apart. The fake Emperor of Yan, An Lushan, would also meet this fate. He would certainly lead his army to attack Luoyang and eventually capture Fanyang, putting down the rebellion. He urged the rebel soldiers to rein in their horses and surrender to the garrison at Tong Pass, seeking leniency from the court.

  No wonder An Qingxu was furious after reading it, and even Cui Gan you looked at it with great indignation. Yang Hui is too arrogant.

  "Who is this Yang Jie?" An Qingxu asked in a low voice after pacing back and forth, asking the generals under his account.

  Many of you look at me, I look at you, but no one can answer An Qingxu's question.

  They have been stationed on the northern border, and not many people in Chang'an know about their affairs. Yang Jiao, as the youngest son of Yang Guozhong, had never made a big name for himself in Chang'an before. Except for some officials who knew that Yang Jiao was Yang Guozhong's youngest son, An Qingxu, Cui Gan, and Tian Qianzhen did not know who Marshal Yang Jiao, who claimed to be the commander of tens of thousands of soldiers at Tong Pass, was!

  "Who is Yang Jie, anyway?" Seeing that none of the generals could answer his question, An Qingxu roared in anger: "Not one of you knows who the new commander-in-chief of Tongguan is? What are you all living on?"

  After fighting for several days, An Qingxu didn't even know the name of the enemy commander or what kind of person he was. Having suffered heavy casualties and losses, An Qingxu's mood was naturally gloomy, and he couldn't help but bellow at his generals.

  "Your Highness, could Yang Hui be the son of Yang Guozhong?" Cui Gan-yu cautiously asked. When they were marching towards Hantong Pass, his vanguard was ambushed by the Tang army and suffered some losses. At that time, the Tang army was flying a banner with the character "Yang", but as the battle intensified, he didn't notice this detail. Today, when he saw the signature on the letter was "Yang Hui", he immediately thought of Yang Guozhong, who held an important position in the court, and his sons Yang Quan and Yang Xiong, and wondered if Yang Hui could also be Yang Guozhong's son because their names all had the character "" (day) on the left side.

  With this thought in mind, he almost immediately determined that Yang Hui was the son of Yang Guozhong, otherwise it would not be possible to have such great power to replace Geshu Han as the commander of the Tongguan army.

  But Yang Jie's name they had never heard of before, and Cui Gan You could only say his own speculation, but couldn't say other useful information.

  "Yang Guozhong's son?" An Qingxu furrowed his brow again, saying in puzzlement: "Yang Guozhong is an unlearned man, how could he have such a formidable son? Impossible!"

  These past few days, their troops suffered a major setback in front of Tongguan Castle. Despite suffering heavy casualties and losses, they failed to make any progress. The only thing they could show for it was the occupation of Hantonguan Castle, but that was because the Tang army had abandoned it voluntarily. In order to occupy an empty city promised by the Tang army, they paid such a great price, with nothing to be proud of.

  Now that Yang Jie's letter of surrender has been received, anyone can understand that the one who directed the battle in the past few days was this suddenly emerging new deputy commander-in-chief of the Tang army, Yang Jie. This Yang Jie is absolutely not a simple character.

  "Your Highness, I think this is just a delaying tactic by the Tang army. Their goal is to slow down our attack on the city and buy time for their reinforcements to arrive. We can't fall into their trap. We must attack the city as soon as possible and ignore this Yang Gui's threat!" Tian Qianzhen stepped forward and advised.

  "No!" An Qingxu flatly rejected Tian Gan's suggestion, "Yang Gui is not stalling for time, some of the Tang army reinforcements in Tongguan must have arrived, and there won't be just a few, he has the confidence to threaten us now!"

  "Your Highness, what shall we do?" Tian Gan Zhen asked in pursuit.

  "Postpone the siege, let's investigate the situation clearly before making the next decision!"