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Chapter 19: The city is there, the people are there, the city is broken, and the people are dead

(Thanks to Brother Scarecrow for your reward!)

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When Yang Xi met in a Chang'an restaurant last time, Gao Shi was ordered by Geshuhan to meet the saint, and brought Geshuhan's personal writing to Emperor Li Longji to ask not to go out to fight, but to guard Tongguan.

This was also the last time Geshuhan submitted a petition to submit the court, requesting to be defended by Tongguan, and sent his confidant Gao Shi to Chang'an to submit it, but the request was still rejected. Emperor Li Longji, Prime Minister Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu and others mercilessly refuted Geshuhan and ordered Gao Shi to transfer to the court's orders, asking Geshuhan to strictly abide by the court's orders, send a large army out of Tongguan to fight, and annihilate all the rebels outside Tongguan City in one fell swoop.

Gao Shi was very sad and angry after leaving the palace that day. He was about to return to Tongguan and fill his stomach in the restaurant before returning to Tongguan. He felt better after listening to Yang Xi's generous statement. He even felt like a close friend of Yang Xi. He wanted to have a good chat with Chen Yi.

However, due to the urgent military situation, I did not stay in Chang'an for much time. I directly returned to Tongguan with my subordinates through the post station and reported to Geshuhan in person. When I met the emperor, the emperor, Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu and others, I was in person.

Under the orders of the court, Geshuhan ordered his soldiers to come out of the customs to fight, which eventually led to a great defeat.

This is also an important reason why Gao Shi felt no reason when he saw Yang Xi appear here.

If the court really arranged the same arrangement as Yang Xi said, the tragedy would not have happened!

After a few words of exchange, Gao Shi already knew that the court had sent a large army to rescue Tongguan. Yang Xi was led by the troops and arrived quickly by two cavalry transfer. General Chen Xuanli, the general of Zuolongwu, led at least 50,000 troops to arrive later. After hearing Yang Xi's brief introduction, Gao Shi put a little snack and felt that the possibility of defending Tongguan increased, and his favor for Yang Xi also increased.

But he could not tie Yang Xi, who looked majestic and terrifying, with the son of the treacherous prime minister Yang Guozhong.

Should Yang Xi in front of him be two completely different types of people from Yang Guozhong’s son?

Wang Sili and other generals also had similar feelings to Gao Shi. After they knew that the leader was Yang Guozhong's son, they all showed a look of panic. They were afraid that the emperor sent Yang Guozhong's son to punish them. After they figured out the matter, they felt a little relieved, but they were still scared and panic!

Then the generals under Ge Shuhan, Lu Chongben, Li Chengguang and others arrived one after another.

After seeing that all the generals who needed to be summoned arrived, Geshuhan stood up and looked at the generals in the hall in a stern manner. He said with the loudest voice he could make: "Everyone, I led my army out of the pass to fight against the rebels. Unfortunately, I was ambushed by the enemy and returned home. Now there are only more than 10,000 soldiers in Tongguan City, and most of them are defeated. It is difficult to defend Tongguan City with these forces! Fortunately, the court sent Yang military envoys to lead the army to rescue, and had arrived at Tongguan, and had ordered a group of soldiers to go out of the city to fight! But this is not enough to deal with the threat of the rebels, and the court's subsequent army will not know when it will arrive. What we need to do now is to block the rebels under the city of Tongguan until the court's subsequent rescue personnel arrive! After the court's subsequent rescue personnel arrive, it is no problem to defend Tongguan with new forces! What we want to discuss today is how to defend Tongguan!"

After saying that, Geshuhan looked at Yang Xi. Yang Xi nodded slightly, stepped forward and walked to Geshuhan. His gaze at the generals, in his low but majestic voice, said: "In order to continue the speed of the rebels' siege, I have ordered General Li Fude and General Pang Zhong to lead a group of troops out of the city to set up an ambush, and retreat to defend Han Tongguan City after completing the task, and continue the speed of the rebels' siege as much as possible, and buy time for the arrival of my subsequent reinforcements! The military situation is urgent, and I hope that all the generals can abandon their past grudges and focus on defending the enemy. The only thing we have to do now is to try our best to defend Tongguan City and hold this gateway to Chang'an! As long as Tongguan is not lost, Chang'an will be worry-free!"

"Ah?!" Someone sighed. This was from the person who didn't know that Yang Xi had arranged it first. They didn't expect that Yang Xi had ordered the troops he led to leave the city to set up an ambush. They also expected that Pang Zhong, the general, would be willing to obey the orders after Yang Xi arrived.

However, no one can answer the doubts in these unknown situations. Next, Geshuhan and Yang Xi have begun to explain the situation in Tongguan and ask the generals to discuss how to defend.

When discussing military information, the generals can make any suggestions. A reasonable proposal may be adopted by the head coach or the head general, and corresponding plans will be made. However, if no general makes any suggestions, all decisions will be made by the head general.

Before ordering the generals to discuss, Yang Xi, in order to establish authority, once again stated his defensive concept, that is, to first use the dangerous terrain outside Tongguan City, including the Hantongguan City Pass, to block the rebels' attack speed, so that the defenders in Tongguan City can calmly deploy defenses and delay the arrival of the army led by Chen Xuanli. Relying on the current troops in Tongguan City, it is impossible to finally defend Tongguan. Yang Xi also believes that the idea he stated now is to defend the city at any cost until Chen Xuanli's subsequent army arrives. As long as Chen Xuanli's subsequent army arrives, don't worry about the safety of Tongguan City.

Of course, finding ways to speed up the cleaning of the bodies in the ban ditches and make the ban ditches again a natural barrier for defending the rebels' siege. Yang Xi paid great attention to the point that Yang Xi said. As for how to deploy the existing troops in Tongguan City according to its existing forces, Yang Xi still doesn't want to express his opinion because he is not very clear about the terrain and situation of Tongguan City. He wants to wait for Geshuhan and other generals to discuss it before expressing his opinions.

After listening to Yang Xi's previous explanation, the generals' attitude towards this young man whose momentum and age were not very consistent with his age changed again.

When entering Tongguan City, the first thing that came to mind was how to defend against the enemy, rather than tracing the guilt of Geshuhan and his generals, clearing away the stranger, and sending his personal troops out of the city to set up an ambush, blocking the rebels' speed of progress in a manner like a moth throwing into fire.

How could a person who can do such a person be so brave and has a general with such a vision? How could he be the son of Yang Guozhong, the treacherous minister?

Many generals were puzzled, and even Geshuhan now did not have such momentum!

After Yang Xi finished his statement, Wang Sili immediately stood up and expressed his opinions. Of course, he did this to express his dissatisfaction with Yang Xi and to prove that he looked at the long-term perspective than several generals in the house who had opinions with him.

In Wang Sili's detailed statement on how to deploy defense in Tongguan, Yang Xi roughly understood the current terrain of Tongguan City and the situation of our army.

Today's Tongguan City was built in the Sui Dynasty! The Sui Tongguan City is located in a place called "Keng Beast Sill Valley". It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and one facing water: the east of the city is a cliff, and there is only a small piece of land outside the city that produces flat land; the south of the city is facing the Jingou, the exit of Tonggu, and the west of the city is a high bank. There is only one road leading to Chang'an. The Yellow River flows closely under the city of Tongguan. There is no way to pass. The entire city is surrounded by water and the natural barrier is made of.

The Sui Tongguan city where they live is now built at the intersection of Tongshui and Jingou. The city pass plus the nearby Huangxiangban, Jingou, Twelve Liancheng, Huashan, and the Yellow River form a three-dimensional defensive fortress. The city pass is located here to effectively control Changluo Avenue, and Jingou and Tongluo Valley (Tongshui) north-south passage, avoiding the problem that Tongguan City cannot control the north-south passage of Han Tongguan City. This is also the reason why the Sui Dynasty moved Tongguan City. By closing the Tongguan City gate, you can cross the east-west avenue and north-south passage. You can completely describe the terrain of Tongguan City by "one man is the pass, ten thousand men cannot open" to describe the terrain of Tongguan City.

This is also the main reason why An Lushan's rebels still could not conquer Tongguan City after half a year of hard fighting.

In fact, you can understand the danger of the terrain of this place from the place name "Tree Beast Sill Valley".

Of course, from this direction to Chang'an, not only Tongguan, but also roads in other directions, such as crossing the Yellow River and Wei River back and forth, you can bypass the natural danger of Tongguan and head straight to Chang'an. But now is the main flood season for the Yellow River and Wei River. There are no bridges on the Yellow River and Wei River, and there is no way to temporarily build a floating bridge. This idea is difficult to reach the sky.

There is another road that can be bypassed from the southeast of Tongguan, but it is necessary to cross the tall Qinling Mountains and at least a few hundred miles of mountain roads, which is very difficult to walk, and this road is not without defense. In order to prevent the enemy from crossing the Qinling Mountains and taking a detour to Chang'an, or breaking through Tongguan, Xiyuguan, Shanche Pass, Taiyuguan, Haocha Yuguan, Tonggu Pass, Shuimen Pass and other passes were set up from east to west at the boundary of Tongguan on the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains.

All of these passes were guarded by garrisons, becoming frontier checkpoints in the southeast of Tongguan City, and integrating them with the Tongguan Fortress.

When Geshuhan led the troops from Tongguan out of the pass to fight, the defenders in these places did not use them and still allowed them to defend the pass.

These passes are all places that must be defended during wars. It is impossible to draw troops to protect Tongguan, otherwise they will definitely be occupied by the rebels. Moreover, these places are far away from Tongguan City, with the farthest being more than a hundred miles. Even if there are few defenders there to rush for assistance, they will not be able to relieve their near thirst.

In other words, the defenders at these passes did not make any moves after the defeat of Tongguan, and even if the rebels wanted to detour Tongguan, it would be impossible for them to do so. Nowadays, only by breaking through Tongguan can the rebels take Chang'an. That is to say, if Tongguan is not lost, Chang'an will not be lost; once Tongguan is lost, Chang'an's door will be opened and there will be no danger to defend!

This is also the reason why Li Longji quietly escaped after hearing the news of peace coming from Tongguan in history.

If Tongguan could be defended, Chang'an would not be worry-free for the time being, and Li Longji might not have fled west to Sichuan!

After retreating to Tongguan City, Geshuhan's arrangements were as follows: Wang Sili led 3,000 troops to guard the north gate, Huoba Guiren led 3,000 troops to defend the south gate, Li Chengguang and Gao Shi led 3,000 troops to guard the east gate, and Pang Zhong led the remaining more than 2,000 troops to guard the west gate.

After figuring out the current defense situation in Tongguan City, Yang Xi felt something strange in his heart.

Geshuhan sent Pang Zhong to lead two thousand men to defend Ximen. Of course, it was not a defense against the rebels in this direction, and the rebels could not appear from this direction. What was being defended by a discerning person would know at once.

Of course, it is to guard against people coming from Chang'an!
Chapter completed!
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