Chapter 3541 Before departure
Liaodong is three thousand miles away from Guanzhong, while Gongyue City is more than seven thousand miles away from Chang'an. Generally speaking, it is unnecessary for Fang Jun to rush back to the imperial court at this moment, because even though the road from Guanzhong to Liaodong is difficult to navigate due to the mountains and rivers, But after all, it is much closer. It is expected that the Eastern Expedition army will have returned to Guanzhong halfway.
What's more, the information from Chang'an about Liaodong was two months ago. Even if the army's departure team was bloated, it must be not far from Guanzhong at this moment.
But Fang Jun did not dare to place all his hopes on the Eastern Expedition army.
Otherwise, judging from the battle report sent from Chang'an, the Eastern Expedition army was really a bit strange. Hundreds of thousands of troops besieged Pingrang City but could not be defeated. His Majesty Li Er even fell off his horse in the army and became unconscious. Changsun Wuji broke away from the army and sneaked back to Guanzhong without authorization to preside over the mutiny... one after another, one after another, it was really weird.
No one knows what happened within the Eastern Expedition army. In case there are disputes among themselves, some people may even connect with each other to make Li Ji and others lean towards the King of Jin and deliberately slow down the march of the army, but they think that they will inevitably return. If Guanzhong supports the prince, isn't it a big deal?
No matter what, Fang Jun must personally lead his troops back to Chang'an to ensure nothing goes wrong.
……
Pei Xingjian wondered: "It's a long journey of thousands of miles. Even though it's freezing cold and it's rare to see travelers, it's hard to completely block the news on such a long journey."
After thinking about it, his eyes lit up and he suggested: "It is better to send a team of scouts, pretend to be the messengers of the Hanhai Protectorate, tell the remnants of Xue Yantuo that they are colluding with the Turks and intend to rebel, and go to Chang'an to ask for help..."
Fang Jun thought about it carefully and said, stroking his hands: "You must be extremely intelligent and resourceful to keep your promise!"
Now that the situation in Chang'an has reached a stalemate, it will be difficult for the two sides to break the deadlock without external intervention, and the confrontation will continue for a long time. At this time, if the Guanlong rebels learn that Fang Jun has led more than 10,000 elite troops to travel thousands of miles to aid Chang'an, they will definitely become the "external force" that breaks the deadlock. Although the Guanlong clan will find it difficult to capture the imperial city, if they use some vicious tactics It is entirely possible to use various methods to check and coerce Fang Jun.
Changsun Wuji was only greedy for power and had absolutely no moral bottom line.
If that were the case, Fang Jun would be passive even if he rushed back to Guanzhong. The best way is to remain invisible all the way, and by the time the Guanlong rebels notice it, it will be too late to react.
But the thousands of miles from Gongyue City to Chang'an were filled with shops and warehouses set up by Chinese and foreign merchants. Trying to completely hide it from everyone's eyes and sneak back to Chang'an without anyone noticing was simply a fantasy.
Since it was impossible to hide its whereabouts, as Pei Xingjian said, it gave the Guanlong rebels a wrong judgment. They mistakenly believed that the reason why the cavalry traveled all the way east was to reach Dingxiang Bing Chubai Road and rush to the Hanhai Protectorate to help suppress the rebellion of the remnants of Xue Yantuo. , you can probably hide it from the Guanlong rebels and make them slack off.
Fang Jun thought about it carefully, but found a loophole: "This is somewhat unreasonable. Since our cavalry can rush to support the Hanhai Protector's Mansion, they can naturally go all the way east to Guanzhong. With Changsun Wuji's caution, there is no way Just because the Hanhai Protectorate sent a request for help in advance, they took it for granted that we were only going to Mobei Hanhai, instead of secretly traveling to Chencang and going straight to Chang'an. "
Pei Xingjian was confident: "If we immediately send a battle report to Chang'an at this moment, saying that we have suffered heavy losses in the bloody battle with the enemy under the Tianshan Mountains, we have to retreat to Luntai City, abandon Gongyue City, Yili Valley and other places... and then we will attack the enemy." The troops returned to Beijing led by the commander all wore Hu tribe clothes and carried Hu tribe flags, which was enough to confuse the Guanlong rebels. "
Fang Jun thought this plan was very clever.
The victory of this battle cannot be known to Chang'an in a short time, otherwise Changsun Wuji will definitely prepare for Fang Jun's squadron to return to the court, and all plans here will be meaningless. Instead of reporting victory, he falsely conveyed the news of defeat, making Changsun Wuji paralyzed and careless, so that the plan could succeed.
In fact, defeat was more convincing to Chang'an than victory. After all, there was a huge disparity in military strength between the two sides. Since the Dashi army entered the Western Regions, the Tang army had been defeated and retreated step by step. It is reasonable that it was another big defeat at this moment.
In this way, it is not surprising that the entire army retreated to Luntai City and at the same time sent a Hu cavalry to Mobei for reinforcements. After all, Luntai City is surrounded by mountains on three sides and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The Tang army that retreated here dispatched some Hu tribesmen with low combat effectiveness. Cavalry, makes sense.
After thinking about it, there was no obvious loophole. Fang Jun made a decision immediately: "Just do it. You can write a letter of resignation and send the news of our army's defeat here to Chang'an. At the same time, send someone to Dingxiang and set off from Dingxiang." Then go to Chang'an, and send the forged Mobei request for help to Chang'an a day or two in the evening. At the same time, I immediately mobilized my troops and made preparations to return to Chang'an as soon as possible. "
Pei Xingjian stood up immediately: "Here!"
……
This battle was a complete victory, but the Tang army could not rest for a moment, and everything was moving quickly.
There was not much food and baggage in the enemy camp, and most of the weapons and weapons captured were of inferior quality. They could only be transported back to Guanzhong to be re-melted for iron-making. The camp tent was not bad, it was considered baggage for the Tang army, and it was usable anyway. Everything that can't be used will be transported back to Gongyue City, and not a brick, a tile, a knife, or a gun can be left behind.
In addition, Fang Jun gathered Pei Xingjian and Xue Rengui together to discuss how to mobilize elite soldiers and generals to support Chang'an, and specifically asked Wang Fangyi to participate in this discussion.
Wang Fangyi was extremely excited. This was the highest-level combat meeting of the Anxi Protectorate, which meant that he had been recognized by the Anxi Protectorate. Although his rank had not yet been promoted, his seniority and status were completely different from before.
However, he is also a well-behaved person. He did not raise his tail because of Fang Jun's appreciation, thinking that he was some unparalleled genius giving advice in front of an extremely powerful person. Instead, he honestly wrote and took notes by his side, and served tea and water...
Naturally, all the Youtun Guards followed Fang Jun back to Chang'an, but the 20,000 troops of the Youtun Guards were obviously not enough. Xue Rengui carefully selected some elite soldiers and generals from the Anxi Army, totaling seven or eight thousand men, and delivered them to Fang Jun. , to help him rush to Chang'an.
Fang Jun looked at the list of captains listed by Xue Rengui on the paper and frowned: "With so many people following me to help Chang'an, the strength of the Anxi Army will be too weak. Once the situation changes, what will you do to deal with it?" ?”
The number of the Anxi Army is only more than 40,000. The Western Region has such a vast territory that even a drop of water cannot be seen. Once something happens, it is inevitable to focus on one thing and lose another.
Xue Rengui was confident: "Commander, don't worry. For a long time to come, the task of the Anxi Army will be to defend important towns. As long as it survives this winter, the army can attack at any time, and there will be no problem in supporting each other. And sudden The Jue people are now facing a rebellion by the Huihe people, and the various tribes that rely on them in their territory are inevitably ready to take action. They have no time to take care of the Western Regions for a while. As long as Tumidu does not rebel, they will eventually have full confidence in stabilizing the situation. "
Does Tumidu dare to rebel?
Definitely not, and it's not just a matter of dare. Faced with the extremely high treatment given by the Tang Dynasty, only a fool would re-join the Turks.
Even if the Turks come to persuade them to surrender, they have already lost trust in each other, and it is impossible for Tumidu to turn back...
As long as Tu Midu does not rebel, even if he just stands by and watches when trouble occurs, Xue Rengui is confident in ensuring the stability of the Western Region. After this battle, the Anxi Army was quenched in a furnace and refined into steel. It has truly become a powerful army in the world, capable of guarding the Western Regions.
Seeing Xue Rengui so confident, Fang Jun nodded in approval without saying anything else.
He has always known people well and appointed them without doubt. He believed that with Xue Rengui's talent, ability and familiarity with the situation in the Western Regions, since there is absolutely no problem with such a categorical statement, then there will naturally be no problem.
The more soldiers and horses he brings back, the greater the certainty of defeating the Guanlong rebels. This is naturally a good thing. After all, the battle report states that the Guanlong rebels have gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and there is a steady stream of reserve troops that can be deployed at any time. battlefield. Having occupied Guanlong for more than a hundred years, created several dynasties single-handedly, and always stood at the center of power, the Guanlong clan has a profound heritage.
Such a huge alliance of clans and groups are intricately linked and powerful. Once they make up their mind to participate in the struggle for imperial power, the power they will unleash will be extremely astonishing. Although there were only more than 100,000 mobs gathered, how many soldiers from various places and Zhechong Prefecture were watching from behind? How many of them are actually peeping at the opportunity and planning to personally participate in it?
The critical situation in Chang'an is not just as simple as the crisis in the East Palace. If you are not careful, it will be a huge disaster that will affect the entire empire.
The glorious age is very likely to come to an abrupt end, and even the great empire of Nuo will decline and be unable to recover. The people who have just struggled from the war for only thirty years will once again be plunged into dire straits... (End of this chapter)