Chapter 89: Do you want to send tens of thousands of soldiers at Tongguan Pass to their deaths?

  Thanks for the rewards from SN 逍遥 and morning rain xiaofeng book friends!

  "Chui Gan-yu can only retreat!" Looking at the smoke and flames rising in all directions, the chaotic scene before Tongguan City, Yang Huan finally cracked a smile. With an easy tone, he said to Geshu Han standing beside him: "General Geshu, the defensive battle of Tongguan will ultimately end in our victory. If An Qingxu is wise, he'll choose to retreat and defend Shan Prefecture!"

  "General Yang is absolutely right!" Geshu Han smiled and nodded, took a deep breath, then turned his head to look at Yang Hui: "The fact that Tongguan Pass can be defended is all thanks to General Yang's efforts. Otherwise, the Tongguan City would have been occupied by An Lushan's rebel army by now!"

  Just as Yang Jie and Ge Shuhan were sympathizing with each other, Wang Silie, who had charged for a while, led his army to retreat. The drawbridge at the south gate was lowered again, and after taking back the three thousand cavalry with little loss, it was raised again.

  "General Yang, why don't you launch a full counterattack?" Chen Xuanli asked with furrowed brows as he watched Wang Silie's troops retreat. "Now that the rebel army in front of Tongguan City is in great disorder, if we launch a full counterattack, we can definitely defeat them and achieve complete victory in one battle!"

  "Has General Chen forgotten the defeat at Lingbao a few days ago?" Yang Hui frowned and asked Chen Xuanyi, "At the court meeting, didn't General Chen mock my father, Commander Geshu, for nearly losing the Tang Dynasty when he went out to battle? Why are you suggesting the same thing today as my father did back then? Do you also want to see our army repeat the mistake of Lingbao after winning the defensive battle?"

  "Chen Xuanli was furious, pointing at Yang Hui with one hand, his face red with rage, but he finally restrained himself and didn't say the angry words that were on the tip of his tongue."

  Now Tongguan City is Yang Hui's call, the tens of thousands of people he brought have been taken over by Yang Hui's generals, and the war in front of Tongguan City is still going on. If he severely reprimands Yang Hui at this time, the consequences will be very serious. He can only keep silent, but his increasingly dark face still undoubtedly expresses the anger and dissatisfaction in his heart.

  Yang Jie did not want to quarrel with Chen Xuanli in Tongguan, so he withdrew his gaze from Chen Xuanli and looked straight at the rebel army in front of Tongguan City, which was in a state of chaos. He explained softly: "General Chen, you must have seen that although the rebels suffered heavy losses, their rear army did not collapse. An Qingxu and Tian Qianzhen's troops are nearby, they have the ability to counterattack, and what they want to see most is our army coming out of the city to fight! If we launch a full-scale attack, it will fall into the rebels' trap. Who knows, we might be ambushed or surrounded again, and we won't be able to retreat back into Tongguan City! What we need to do now is not to defeat the rebels outside the city, but to defend Tongguan City, defend the last gate of Chang'an! In the past six months, Commander Gesu has been doing just that. Can't General Chen understand this reason?"

  Chen Xuanli didn't like what he heard and wanted to retort, but before he could speak, his brother Geshu Han followed Yang Gui in scolding him.

  "General Chen, what Commander Yang said is not wrong. The situation at Tong Pass is still critical. What we need to do now is to think of ways to defend the city and not let the rebel army take over the city head. An Qingxu's 150,000 troops and An Lushan's 180,000-strong army will also arrive at Tong Pass soon. If our army launches a full-scale attack, it may repeat the tragedy of Lingbao! When I led the army out of the pass to fight that day, the situation was similar to today's. The rebel army attacked the city below Tong Pass for several months without success and had to abandon tens of thousands of corpses and leave! Not to mention that General Chen questioned Commander Yang, which is a rude move beyond his authority, but even if it were you who came up with this idea, it would be enough to be punished for stirring up the military. I ask you, do you want to put the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers at Tong Pass in danger?"

  Yang Gui led the soldiers to repel the rebels' second attack on the city, and took advantage of the situation to send troops out of the city to deal another blow to Cui Jianyu, achieving a brilliant victory. However, Chen Xuanli still spoke out in criticism, which made Geshu Han very dissatisfied. But his mental state had been cultivated quite well, so although he followed Yang Gui in reprimanding Chen Xuanli, he didn't speak rudely, only the last sentence was said a bit heavily.

  Geshu Han's accusation dealt another blow to Chen Xuanli, his face alternated between red and green, but he couldn't utter a word in refutation.

  Take a step back and think, what Yang Gui and Ge Shuhan said was actually not bad. On that day in the imperial court, many people saw that the situation was very beneficial to the imperial court, so they strongly demanded that Tongguan Town's Ge Shuhan lead his troops out of the pass to fight, ultimately leading to the tragic events at Lingbao.

  He certainly didn't want to put the tens of thousands of soldiers at Tongguan Pass in a desperate situation, but after seeing the rebel army attacking the city in disarray, he suddenly felt an impulse and even wanted to lead the troops to charge into battle personally.

  Yang Jie did not take advantage of the rebels' defeat to launch a full-scale attack, which made Chen Xuanli feel very unhappy. In his subconscious mind, Yang Jie was just an underage kid, and as someone who was grandfatherly in age compared to Yang Jie, he didn't think much of saying a few harsh words, but unexpectedly even Geshu Han also criticized him.

  What made him even more depressed was that Yang Qi spoke up again to refute his point of view.

  "General Chen, currently inside Tongguan City are the remnants of Lingbao's defeated troops and the reinforcements you brought. These reinforcements are also exhausted, and all personnel need rest, but the rebels' continuous siege has left our troops with no chance to rest, greatly reducing their strength. It's already impressive that we can hold the city; don't even think about achieving a complete victory in one battle or defeating the rebels. If more loyalist troops arrive and surround the rebels, we can consider fighting outside the city. For now, our priority is to defend Tongguan and hold out against the rebels. Even if an imperial edict arrives ordering me to lead the army into battle, I will disobey it!"

  Yang Kai's words are of course the truth, now Tang Jun is most afraid of confronting the rebels at Tongguan, as long as they continue to confront each other, the ones who will ultimately suffer a loss are definitely the rebels.

  The Tang army inside Tongguan City only needs to defend the pass, and subsequent supplies can be transported continuously. Food and military equipment are not a concern at all. However, the rebel army outside Tongguan City cannot do so. The road from Luoyang to Tongguan is far away, especially from Shanzhou to Tongguan, which is mostly narrow and difficult mountain roads. The grain and supplies for tens of thousands of rebels are not small in number, making it very difficult to replenish them. As the standoff time lengthens, the rebel army will eventually retreat due to lack of support.

  Chen Xuanli nodded in agreement with Yang Hui and Ge Shuhan, but his face was a bit embarrassed. Seeing that the rebel army's attack on the city had been repelled, he knew that Tongguan was temporarily safe for now. He was also worried about the emperor's urgent order to return to Chang'an, so he didn't have the heart to stay any longer. He bowed to Yang Hui and Ge Shuhan and said: "General Ge, General Yang, the rebel army's attack has been repelled, and I am not capable of helping further. The Emperor has also ordered me to return to the capital urgently, I dare not delay, so I will take my leave now!"

  Before Yang Kai and Ge Shuhan could respond, he bowed and strode away.

  Yang Ke didn't retain him, and after watching Chen Xuanli leave, he turned his head to instruct the other generals who came with Chen Xuanli: "The rebel army temporarily doesn't have the ability to attack the city again. Everyone go rest now, tonight, I will convene all the generals to discuss military affairs, hoping that everyone won't be late!"

  "Your orders, Commander-in-Chief!"

  Yang Kai's momentum made the various generals dare not disobey him, and they immediately followed the leading school lieutenant down from the city gate tower, each going to rest.

  After all the generals left, Geshu Han said quietly: "General Yang, aren't you worried that General Chen will speak ill of you in front of the Emperor when he returns to the court?"

  "What's the use of worrying? Let it be, now what we need to do is defend Tongguan well. If Your Majesty has any blame, I will personally go to the capital to explain, thank you for General Gesu's concern!"

  Geshu Han took a look at Yang Hui and didn't say anything else.