Chapter 91: Scaring the Monkey and Chicken

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  Yang Kai ordered the removal of the highest alert status on the city walls only after confirming that the rebels had completely retreated, and instructed the officers to take turns resting.

  Intelligence that came later showed that the rebels had retreated on all fronts. They did not hold onto Hantanguan City, but instead directly retreated to Shaan County.

  This gave Yang Jie a sense of relief and a great sense of accomplishment.

  Tongguan was finally turned into a safe haven, this is the achievement he achieved under his command. With only over 10,000 remaining defeated soldiers and generals, he did not allow the rebel army to attack successfully, which is extremely valuable. He felt a great sense of accomplishment, relying on his own intelligence and the efforts of his generals, finally resolving the crisis, after heavily defeating the rebel army, forcing them to retreat from Tongguan City.

  He single-handedly saved the Tang Dynasty from its perilous situation, what a glorious and proud achievement!

  Yang Gui immediately sent a report of the battle to Chang'an with an urgent message of 600 li, in which he described the course of events and requested rewards for all his generals.

  At the same time, he also wrote a letter to his father Yang Guozhong, telling him about the situation in Tongguan and Chen Xuanli's reaction after arriving.

  After settling everything, it was already dinner time. After finishing dinner, he convened an emergency military meeting with all officers above Zhonglang Jiang.

  Although Geshu Han was relieved of all his duties by the imperial court and served in the army as a commoner, Yang Hui still arranged for him to be seated in the first seat, showing respect.

  After reporting the battle situation of today and these days to all the generals present, Yang Hui also announced the next arrangement.

  His arrangement was that while the rebel army retreated, all soldiers concentrated on rest and reorganization, resolutely refusing to pursue the rebel army beyond the pass.

  After a good rest and recovery of the soldiers' physical strength, large-scale military training will begin.

  Inside Tongguan City, the military quality of these soldiers is uneven, and their organization and discipline are far from satisfactory. He is very dissatisfied and must intensify training to make the 600,000-700,000 troops in Tongguan a crack force with excellent combat effectiveness, organization, and discipline.

  "Advance and retreat in order, obey commands strictly, ride well!" This is Yang's goal.

  Yang Kai also publicly announced the new organizational arrangement of Tongguan's troops: all reinforcements arriving in Tongguan would be reorganized and reassigned to various generals.

  There are still 10,000 infantrymen who have not arrived at Tongguan. According to Yang Guozhong's secret report, the next 30,000 troops reorganized by the court are on their way to Tongguan. After these troops arrive, they will also be reorganized and assigned to various generals for command.

  He publicly announced the new appointment of Tongguan commanders hastily transmitted from the imperial court: Gao Shi as the military affairs administrator, Wang Silie as the cavalry commander, Pang Zhong as the infantry commander, Tian Liangqiu as the right wing commander of the cavalry, Lü Chongbin as the left wing commander of the cavalry, Li Fude as the left wing commander of the infantry, Li Chengguang as the right wing commander, and Liu Guangting as the vanguard commander under the command of the marshal. Other generals were appointed to various deputy commanders.

  This appointment was suggested by Yang Jie and after being reported to the imperial court, it received approval from Emperor Li Longji.

  With Yang Guozhong's old man around, Yang Hui felt that many things were easy to accomplish.

  Yang Kai also had another goal that was not publicly announced, which was to train an elite special operations team under his personal command, selection and training, ready to execute emergency and special tasks.

  He is an "expert" in this area, and as long as he is given time, he believes that he can train a special small team with outstanding individual combat capabilities and overall combat capabilities that will make the enemy tremble with fear.

  Yang Jishi's strategy was to focus on rest and training for a period of time, not to take the initiative to attack the rebels outside the pass. This approach gained the support of most generals, but there were still many who were eager for quick results and wanted to launch a preemptive strike.

  When Chen Xuanli led the relief troops to arrive at Tongguan, due to Chen Xuanli's dissatisfaction with Yang Hui, and the new arrangement only gave him a position as Right Wuwei General and Deputy Commander of Infantry, Fan Zhicheng stood up after Yang Hui announced the next arrangements and appointments. He expressed his opinion to Yang Hui and Ge Shuhan: "General Yang, General Ge, I think our army should take advantage of the rebels' chaotic retreat and pursue them closely, striking down the rebels as soon as possible! I think what General Yang is doing is too timid. The rebels are hastily retreating, unlike their previous orderly withdrawal, when they could make careful arrangements to ambush our troops. This time they are fleeing in disarray, and we should not give up the pursuit. If we take advantage of the chaos to pursue and kill them, it's possible that we can defeat the enemy in one battle!"

  After listening to Fan Zhi Cheng's words, Yang Hui's expression on his face did not change at all, and he asked faintly: "General Fan, have you sent someone to investigate the situation clearly and confirm that the rebels have not set up an ambush along the way?"

  "This... doesn't exist!" Yang Xi couldn't believe he would ask such a thing, and Fan Zhi Cheng's face was a bit embarrassed, but he still shook his head honestly.

  "Aren't you afraid of the tragedy of Lingbao happening again?" Yang Hui's expression turned cold, "My father thought the same way as you back then, thinking that the rebel army would not gain any advantage under the city of Tongguan and would retreat in defeat. The garrison of Tongguan should have taken the initiative to fight outside the pass, but instead suffered a disastrous defeat. Aren't you afraid of repeating the same mistake? If the 600,000 to 700,000 troops in Tongguan are defeated again, the imperial court will not be able to send another relief army to save Tongguan!"

  "What Commander Yang said is reasonable, the same mistake cannot be made twice!" Geshu Han bluntly followed Yang Hui in criticizing Fan Zhencheng, "General Fan, in the Battle of Lingbao, our army suffered a disastrous defeat and was severely damaged. If it weren't for Commander Yang leading his troops to rescue Tongguan urgently, Tongguan would have fallen into the hands of the rebels by now! I insist on supporting Commander Yang's decision to hold out and not fight!"

  Ge Shuhan also said so, and Yang Jie didn't say anything more on this matter. But tonight, he had to deal with one thing that he had to bring up, following Fan Zhicheng's lead!

  "Gentlemen, I have received a report that during this expedition to reinforce Tongguan, some generals, due to the instigation of certain individuals, intentionally slowed down the march. Is there any truth to this? Yang Hui asked, his eyes fixed on Fan Zhencheng, who still looked somewhat indignant but also slightly startled by what he had just heard. "General Fan, as General Chen's deputy commander, can you tell me who advised General Chen in such a manner?"

  When Yang Hui asked so directly, Fan Zhi Cheng was a bit stunned and couldn't react for a moment.

  He didn't expect Yang Jie to find out so quickly and confront him in public.

  After seeing Fan Zhiheng step out, he didn't dare to answer. Yang Jie's face showed a surge of anger, and he shouted: "Fan Zhiheng, the commander has received reports that you repeatedly misled General Chen not to advance at full speed, wanting to take advantage of the situation to make the commander suffer defeat, so as to shift the blame to my father! My father's actions are not for me to judge right or wrong, but with the country in crisis and Tongguan in urgent danger, intentionally delaying the rescue speed is a great crime, equivalent to treason, and cannot be excused!"

  Yang Kai said, looking coldly at the various generals on the scene, in a very majestic voice: "The commander will absolutely not tolerate this situation. In the army, orders must be obeyed, but the commander does not want to kill anyone today and does not want another general to be killed under the precious sword bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor. However, those who have committed crimes cannot go unpunished! Come, give Fan Zhi Cheng thirty military lashes as a warning!"

  Yang Hui knew that in this matter, Chen Xuanli's intention was just like this. If Chen Xuanli didn't have this intention, no matter what Fan Zhicheng said, it wouldn't have much effect.

  But he couldn't hold Chen Xuanli accountable at this time, who had already left Tongguan. Of course, he had to take action against his trusted followers who stayed in Tongguan, let them learn a lesson and not disobey his orders again. This is called "killing the monkey to scare the chickens"!

  "Yes!" With a few shouts of command, several burly soldiers rushed into the house and dragged out the bewildered Fan Zhi Cheng.