The city exists, its people exist; the city is destroyed, its people are lost.

  Thanks for the reward from Brother Scarecrow!

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  The last time Yang Jie met in the Chang'an Wine House, Gao Shi was ordered by Ge Shuhan to enter Beijing to meet the emperor, carrying Ge Shuhan's handwritten memorial book to request Emperor Li Longji not to go out of Tongguan to fight, but should defend Tongguan.

  This was also the last time Geshu Han went to the imperial court to request an audience, asking to guard Tong Pass and sending his trusted subordinate Gao Shi to Chang'an to present the petition. However, the request was still rejected. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and chancellors Yang Guozhong and Wei Jian etc severely rebuked Geshu Han, ordering Gao Shi to relay the imperial court's command that Geshu Han must strictly follow the imperial court's orders, sending a large army out of Tong Pass to battle and annihilating all the rebel forces outside Tong Pass.

  On that day, Gao Shi was very indignant after leaving the palace, until he prepared to return to Tongguan and had a drink at the wine tower, where he heard Yang Hui's generous statement, feeling a bit better, and even felt a sense of understanding with Yang Hui, he wanted to have a good chat with Chen Yi.

  But due to the urgency of military affairs, he did not stay in Chang'an for long and directly returned to Tongguan with his soldiers through the post station's fast horse service to report to Ge Shuhan about the emperor's attitude towards him when he was summoned, as well as Yang Guozhong and Wei Jian's attitudes.

  Ge Shuhan was forced by the imperial court's order, and with tears in his eyes, he ordered his soldiers to go out of the pass and fight, ultimately leading to a great defeat.

  This is also an important reason why Gao Shi felt a sense of melancholy when he saw Yang Jie appear here.

  If the imperial court had really arranged it as Yang Hui said, the tragedy would not have occurred.

  After a few exchanges, Gao Shi already knew that the imperial court had sent a large army to rescue Tongguan. Yang Hui's troops were the vanguard, advancing quickly with two horses alternating mounts. Left Dragon Guard General Chen Xuanli would lead at least 50,000 soldiers to follow up. After hearing Yang Hui's brief introduction, Gao Shi slightly eased his mind, feeling that the possibility of holding Tongguan had increased, and his good impression of Yang Hui also grew.

  But he couldn't associate the stern-looking Yang Hui in front of him, who was full of terrifying aura, with the son of the treacherous Yang Guozhong.

  The Yang Hui in front of you should be a completely different kind of person from Yang Guozhong's son!

  Others who had similar feelings to Gao Shi were Wang Silie and other generals. When they found out that the army coming to their rescue was led by Yang Guozhong's son, they all showed a frightened expression, deeply afraid that the Emperor had sent Yang Guozhong's son to punish them. Only after they figured things out did they slightly relax, but still felt uneasy and fearful in their hearts.

  Later, Geshu Han's generals Lv Chongpei and Li Chengguang arrived one after another.

  After seeing that all the generals who needed to be summoned had arrived, Geshu Han stood up and looked around at the various generals below with a serious expression. In his loudest voice, he said: "Everyone, I led the army out of the pass and fought against the rebel army, but unfortunately fell into an ambush and suffered a great defeat. Now there are only over 10,000 soldiers in Tongguan City, and most of them are wounded or defeated generals. It's difficult to defend Tongguan City with these forces! Fortunately, the court sent Yang Guozhong to lead the army to reinforce us, which has already arrived at Tongguan and ordered a part of the troops to go out of the city to fight! However, this is not enough to cope with the threat of the rebel army, and it's unknown when the next batch of reinforcements from the court will arrive. What we need to do now is to try our best to block the rebel army below Tongguan City until the next batch of reinforcements from the court arrives! After the next batch of reinforcements from the court arrives, defending Tongguan with fresh forces will not be a problem! Today's discussion is about how to deploy our troops to defend Tongguan!"

  Ge Shuhan finished speaking, glanced at Yang Hui. Yang Hui nodded slightly and stepped forward to Ge Shuhan's side, then with a low but majestic voice that commanded attention from the other generals, said: "In order to maintain the speed of the rebel army's attack on the city, I have already ordered General Li Fude and General Pang Zhong to lead a contingent out of the city to set up an ambush. After completing their mission, they will retreat to defend Hantanguan City, doing everything possible to slow down the rebel army's advance and buy time for our reinforcements to arrive! The military situation is urgent, I hope all generals can put aside past grievances and unite against the enemy. Our only goal now is to find every way possible to hold onto Tongguan City and guard this gateway to Chang'an! As long as Tongguan does not fall, Chang'an will be safe!"

  "Ah?!" someone let out a soft sigh, it was those who didn't know that Yang Hui had made arrangements beforehand. They couldn't have imagined that Yang Hui had already ordered the troops under his command to set up an ambush outside the city. They also couldn't have imagined that Pang Zhong, this great general, would willingly obey orders after Yang Hui arrived.

  But these unclear situations left people's doubts unanswered, and then Geshu Han and Yang Hui began to describe the situation of Tongguan and ordered the generals to discuss how to defend it.

  When discussing military affairs, the generals can make any suggestions. Reasonable proposals are likely to be adopted by the commander or general and corresponding changes in plans will be made, but if no generals express their opinions, all decisions are made by the general.

  Before the discussion among the generals, Yang Guozhong reiterated his defensive concept in order to establish authority. He suggested that they should first utilize the dangerous terrain outside Tongguan City, including the narrow passes of Hangu Pass and Tongguan Pass, to slow down the rebel army's attack speed. This would allow the defending troops inside Tongguan City to deploy their defenses at leisure and delay until Chen Xuanli's main force arrived. Relying on the current military strength within Tongguan City was not enough to ultimately defend it, which Yang Guozhong also believed. His concept now was to defend the city at all costs until Chen Xuanli's main force arrived. Once Chen Xuanli's main force arrived, there would be no need to worry about the safety of Tongguan City anymore.

  Of course, we must find a way to speed up the removal of corpses from the moat, so that the moat can once again become a natural barrier against the rebels' attack on the city. This is also an important point that Yang Gui emphasized. As for how to deploy troops within Tongguan City with the current military strength, Yang Gui does not want to express his opinion yet, because he is not very familiar with the terrain and situation of Tongguan City. He wants to wait until Geshu Han and other generals have discussed it before expressing his own views.

  After listening to Yang Kai's explanation, the generals' attitude towards this young man who was inconsistent with his momentum and age changed again.

  Entering Tongguan City, the first thing to think about is how to defend against the enemy, rather than investigating the crimes of Geshu Han and his generals, eliminating the remnants, and having already sent a trusted general with troops out of the city to set up an ambush, using a moth-to-flame attitude to slow down the rebel army's advance.

  A man who can achieve this must be a great general with extraordinary vision and talent, how could he possibly be the son of that treacherous minister Yang Guozhong?

  Many generals are at a loss, even Gao Shuhan now doesn't have such momentum!

  Yang Kai finished speaking, and Wang Silie immediately stood up to express his own opinion. Of course, he was doing this to show his disapproval of Yang Kai and to prove that he had a longer vision than the other generals in the house who had differing opinions with him.

  It was in Wang Silie's detailed statement about how Tongguan should be defended that Yang Kai roughly understood the current terrain of Tongguan City and our military situation.

  The present Tongguan City was built in the Sui Dynasty. The Sui Tongguan City is located in a place called "Kengshouya Valley", with three sides surrounded by mountains and one side facing water: the east of the city is a cliff, and there is only a small piece of flat land outside the city; the south faces Jin Gou and Tongguan exit, the west is a high bank, and there is only one main road leading to Chang'an, the north Yellow River flows tightly below Tongguan City, with no way to pass through, the whole city is surrounded by mountains and water, and it is naturally formed.

  Now the Tongguan City they live in is built at the confluence of the Wei River and the Forbidden Gully, with the nearby Huangyuan Slope, Forbidden Gully, and Twelve-Linked City, as well as Mount Hua and the Yellow River forming a three-dimensional defensive fortress. The city gate is set up here to effectively control the Changluo Highway and the north-south passage of the Forbidden Gully and Tongguan Valley (Wei River), avoiding the disadvantage that the Han Dynasty's Tongguan City could not control the north-south passage, which is also the reason for the Sui Dynasty's relocation of Tongguan City. Closing the city gate of Tongguan can cut off both the east-west highway and the north-south passage, and it can be described as "one man holding the pass, ten thousand men cannot open" to describe the geographical location of Tongguan City.

  This was also the main reason why An Lushan's rebel army could not take Tongguan City after a half-year of bitter fighting.

  In fact, from the place name "Keng Shou Xi Gu" we can understand the degree of danger of the terrain.

  Of course, the road to Chang'an from this direction is not only Tongguan, but also other roads. For example, by ferrying back and forth across the Yellow River and Wei River, you can bypass the Tongguan Sky Hazard and head straight for Chang'an. However, it is now the peak flood season of the Yellow River and Wei River, there are no bridges on the Yellow River and Wei River, nor can temporary pontoon bridges be set up, making this idea as difficult to achieve as ascending to heaven.

  There is another road that can be taken from Tongguan in a southeasterly direction, but this would require crossing the high Qinling Mountains and at least several hundred miles of mountain roads, which are extremely difficult to traverse. This route was also guarded by soldiers. To prevent enemy forces from crossing the Qinling Mountains and bypassing Tongguan on their way to Chang'an, or from bypassing and attacking Tongguan, a series of fortifications were established along the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains at the border with Tongguan, including Xiyu Pass, Shance Pass, Taiyu Pass, Huohe Pass, Tonggu Pass, and Shuimen Pass.

  These passes all have garrisons stationed in them, forming the southeastern vanguard of Tongguan City and blending seamlessly with the Tongguan Fortress.

  When Geshu Han led the troops out of Tongguan to fight, the garrison troops in these places were not mobilized and were still ordered to defend the pass.

  These passes are must-defend places during wartime, and it is impossible to withdraw troops to guard Tongguan. Otherwise, the rebels will surely take advantage of the opportunity to occupy them. Moreover, these places are far away from Tongguan City, with the farthest being over 100 miles away. Even if the small number of defenders there were to rush to reinforce, it would be a case of "distant water not being able to quench present thirst".

  That is to say, the defenders at these passes did not make any moves after the defeat of Tongguan, and even if the rebels wanted to bypass Tongguan, it was impossible. Now the rebels can only take Chang'an by breaking through Tongguan. That is to say, as long as Tongguan does not fall, Chang'an will not be lost; once Tongguan falls, the gates of Chang'an will be wide open, and there will be no more danger to defend!

  This was also the reason why Li Longji originally escaped secretly after not hearing any news of peace from Tongguan in history.

  If Tongguan can be defended, Chang'an will be safe for the time being, and Li Longji may not necessarily flee to Shu.

  After the defeat and retreat to Tongguan City, Geshu Han's deployment was as follows: Wang Silie led 3,000 cavalry to guard the north gate, Huo Baren led 3,000 cavalry to defend the south gate, Li Chengguang and Gao Shi jointly led 3,000 cavalry to guard the east gate, and Pang Zhong led the remaining 2,000 cavalry to guard the west gate.

  After figuring out the current defense situation of Tongguan City, Yang Hui felt a strange feeling in his heart.

  Ge Shuhan sent Pang Zhong to lead 2,000 soldiers and horses to defend the west gate. Of course, it was not to prevent the rebels from attacking in this direction, nor could the rebels appear from this direction. What they were defending against was clear at a glance to those with discerning eyes.

  Of course, they were troops from Chang'an!