Battle map, Luoyang.
Di Chen and the others arrived outside of Luoyang. Knowing that Tong Pass had been conquered by Cui Qianyou, Di Chen smiled and said to Lord Chunshen and the others, "This time, even Gaia is on our side. Let's see how that old fox will jump around."
"Haha ~ ~ ~"
Lord Chunshen and the others laughed heartily. Being able to beat Ouyang Shuo on the battle map meant a lot to them.
Di Chen said, "After we see An Lushan, we will lead our troops to Chang 'an. We won't give that old fox any chance."
"That's right!" Xiong Ba nodded.
With 300,000 soldiers to rely on, Di Chen and the others didn't even care about An Lushan. From the moment the Yan Huang Alliance's army arrived in Luoyang, An Lushan's camp's decisions were up to them.
Chang 'an, the eastern suburbs.
Ouyang Shuo didn't need to pass through Chang 'an to see Emperor Xuanzong. In fact, from the Spring Brightness Gate in the east, the first building on the right was Xingqing Palace.
Xingqing Palace was the residence of Emperor Xuanzong when he was a vassal king. After Emperor Xuanzong ascended to the throne, it expanded and became one of the three main palaces in Chang 'an. The other two palaces were Taiji Palace and Daming Palace.
During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao years, Xingqing Palace was the political center of the Tang Dynasty. It was also the long-term residence of Emperor Xuanzong and his beloved concubine, Yang Yuhuan. After the An-Shi Rebellion, Xingqing Palace lost its position as the political center and became the residence of the retired emperor or the empress dowager. Most of the time, it was the residence of the empress dowager and other harem members.
In Xingqing Palace, Ouyang Shuo met Emperor Xuanzong, Li Longji, and the prime minister, Yang Guozhong.
As the longest-reigning emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji was 72 years old. His hair was white, his skin sagged, his body was not as good as before, and he was mentally tired.
Time was a sharpening stone, silent and unhurried.
When Li Longji was young, his ambition to rebuild the country, conquer the world, and look down on the world had long been polished clean.
As the supreme emperor of a great country, Li Longji had worked tirelessly and diligently every day for twenty years after he ascended to the throne. He had managed the country, which was weak and difficult for the people, into one where the country was peaceful and the people were at peace, where the people lived and worked in peace, and where tens of thousands of countries had come to visit him. Which monarch under three generations could do this?
Even the great talents of the Qin Emperor, the great strategies of the Han Emperor, and the peerless heroes of the current dynasty, could not create such a flourishing scene. Thus, at the pinnacle of his life, Li Longji felt great satisfaction when he saw the long list of over 70 countries that came to pay their respects.
At the same time, Li Longji felt extremely tired.
As the saying went, it was rare to live to seventy, and it was even rarer for an emperor to live to seventy. After all, the affairs of the country were exhausting during the day, and the beauties were exhausting during the night. It would be a miracle if he didn't die after a few decades.
Li Longji had created a miracle. Before the age of fifty, although he had been working hard on national affairs day and night, he still took time out of his busy schedule to have thirty sons and twenty-nine daughters.
An Lushan's rebellion this time had hurt Li Longji a lot and made him mentally and physically exhausted.
Li Longji could be said to have pampered An Lushan very much. If he wanted an official position, he would give him money. If he wanted face, he would give him face.
Here were a few examples.
An Lushan moved to his new residence in Chang 'an and held a big banquet to celebrate. Li Longji had invited several prime ministers to the palace to play football, but in order to make An Lushan happy, he specially ordered the prime ministers to go to An Lushan's home to attend the banquet.
When An Lushan was in Chang 'an, every time Li Longji ate a delicious food or hunted a rare game, he would immediately send someone to deliver it to An Lushan.
To put it bluntly, Li Longji had never been so attentive to his father in his life.
What was even more incredible was that because An Lushan had recognized Imperial Concubine Yang as his godmother, he could enter the inner palace at will, have intimate contact with her, have dinner with her face to face, and sometimes even stay in the palace for a whole night.
It was rumored that there was an affair between his godmother and his godson, but his godfather didn't care at all. With such kindness and generosity, even a wild beast with wild ambitions should have developed feelings for him.
Yet, An Lushan still rebelled.
The loss of Tongguan completely destroyed Li Longji's psychological defense. Now, he just wanted to escape from Chang 'an and hide in Sichuan, where he could spend the rest of his life with wine and beauties.
Yang Guozhong was only in his forties and was in the prime of his life. His younger sister, Yang Yuhuan, was beautiful, and Yang Guozhong's appearance wasn't bad either. But at this moment, his face was full of panic.
According to history, this foreign prime minister, who had stepped on Li Linfu to ascend the throne, would soon reach the end of his life.
Objectively speaking, no matter how much Li Linfu used his power to harm the country, because of his extraordinary skill, regardless of whether it was the imperial court or the local government, whether it was civil officials or military generals, he could at least protect them, from top to bottom, making them all obedient.
This was somewhat similar to Yan Song, who had just entered Great Xia.
An Lushan was extremely favored by the emperor and didn't care about the civil and military officials in the imperial court, but he was respectful to Li Linfu. He was both submissive and afraid of him.
When he met Li Linfu, even in the cold season, An Lushan would sweat profusely and his clothes would be soaked.
Every time An Lushan's spies in the capital returned to Fan Yang to report, he was most concerned about Li Linfu's instructions. If the spies brought back good news about Li Linfu, An Lushan would dance with joy. If Li Linfu showed any dissatisfaction, An Lushan would slap the bed in annoyance and shout, "Oh no! I'm going to die! "
If Li Linfu hadn't died at this time, An Lushan wouldn't have the courage to rebel.
Moreover, as a more pragmatic prime minister who attached importance to the system, Li Linfu more or less did some proper work and implemented some beneficial measures. He wasn't completely without achievements.
But Prime Minister Yang, who had taken over Li Linfu's control of the imperial court, was not only lacking in skills, but also devoted himself to flattering, deceiving, scheming, and misusing power abroad. He was basically unwilling to do any proper work.
Therefore, although they were both prime ministers who had monopolized power for many years, in the history books, Li Linfu was gloriously ranked as a "treacherous official", while Yang Guozhong was at most a "distant relative".
Not to mention the distant past, the current Anshi Rebellion had developed to such a terrible state. Of course, Li Longji was muddle-headed, but Prime Minister Yang, whose mind was full of scheming, was even more to blame.
It wasn't without reason that Yang Guozhong was killed by the angry soldiers in Mawei.
Ouyang Shuo was now faced with such an old emperor and a prime minister who couldn't be seen in public. The reason he was able to meet with Li Longji this time was mostly due to the 150,000 troops outside the city.
Li Longji's first sentence made Ouyang Shuo choke with anger. "You came at the right time. I've already decided to temporarily hide in Sichuan. You can take the troops and accompany me."
"…"
Ouyang Shuo was speechless. Could he not be so cowardly?!
"Your Majesty, the 150,000 troops I brought are all elites. They can still fight." Of course, Ouyang Shuo didn't want to retreat from Chang 'an just like that. Wasn't that equivalent to surrendering?
"How dare you!"
A shout suddenly rang out in the main hall. Yang Guozhong stood out and pointed at Ouyang Shuo. "Everything is done with the safety of His Majesty in mind. Do you dare to defy the decree?"
Ouyang Shuo's eyes narrowed as he lightly glanced at Yang Guozhong.
As the supreme emperor of the Great Xia, it was usually difficult for a historical figure like Yang Guozhong to even see Ouyang Shuo. How would he dare to be presumptuous in front of him? Even on the battlefield, Ouyang Shuo didn't need to compromise.
"You …"
Yang Guozhong felt his heart palpitate when Ouyang Shuo glanced at him. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he had never felt that invisible emperor's aura in front of His Majesty.
"Cough, cough!!" Li Longji saw that the loyal prime minister couldn't back down and said, "You don't have to argue. We can't defend Chang 'an anymore. It's better to retreat to Sichuan for the time being and then think about it."
If it was ten or twenty years ago, Li Longji would also have the courage to use Chang 'an as a natural stronghold to fight against the rebel army with the 150,000 mutant troops.
Unfortunately, time waited for no man. Right now, he just wanted to leave this troublesome place.
Seeing this, Ouyang Shuo knew that Li Longji had already made up his mind and that there was no point in continuing to argue. He changed the subject and said, "Since Your Majesty insists, I can only accept the order. However, I have a small request that I hope Your Majesty can fulfill. "
"Speak!"
Li Longji was very happy to receive Ouyang Shuo's promise. With the 150,000 troops accompanying him, he didn't need to worry about anything. Now, even if Ouyang Shuo wanted a concubine in the palace, Li Longji would agree to it except for Yang Guifei.
Ouyang Shuo said, "In order to prevent the people's hearts from becoming unstable and causing chaos in the city, Your Majesty will definitely allow me to bring a group of bodyguards into the city to protect Your Majesty's safety."
In the battle of Tong Pass, Geshu Han had completely lost the troops stationed in Chang 'an, the Longyou battle zone, and the temporarily recruited troops from Chang' an and Luoyang.
The 200,000 troops that the empire had painstakingly gathered were all for naught.
At present, there were only 3,000 imperial guards left in Chang 'an. It was no wonder that Li Longji wanted to escape. If he didn't escape, he would be captured alive by An Lushan.
Hearing that Ouyang Shuo wanted to bring troops into the city to assist in the defense, Li Longji agreed without hesitation.
Seeing that Ouyang Shuo was so considerate, Li Longji naturally knew how to return the favor. He directly gave Ouyang Shuo a temporary title and a token. With this token, Ouyang Shuo could bring troops into the city at any time, and no one would dare to stop him.
Seeing this, Yang Guozhong originally wanted to play some politics, but he was stunned by Ouyang Shuo just now. At this moment, he still hadn't recovered from his shock and could only watch helplessly as this Dissimilated Man suddenly became His Majesty's favorite.
Instinctively, Yang Guozhong felt threatened, and his eyes were filled with jealousy.
What about Ouyang Shuo? From beginning to end, he didn't even look at Yang Guozhong. After receiving the token, he conveniently took his leave.
After Ouyang Shuo left, Yang Guozhong only dared to sow discord. "Isn't His Majesty too fond of that Dissimilated Man?"
"It doesn't matter. As long as we can smoothly return to Shu, dealing with that Dissimilated Man will be a piece of cake."
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Seeing that the emperor still favored him, Yang Guozhong hurriedly flattered.
… …
After leaving Xingqing Palace, Ouyang Shuo didn't return to the camp. Instead, he turned and walked towards the crown prince's residence.
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