Chapter 338: Conquering Changshan
The news that Li Heng had been deposed, Yang Guozhong was dead, and Li Ying was appointed crown prince and regent spread throughout the Tang Dynasty in an instant.

All forces were in an uproar.

Among them, the most shocked was An Lushan.

An Lushan was already afraid of Li Heng, and after Yang Guozhong's death, he lost his excuse to purge the court.

In Luoyang, An Lushan was scolding Yan Zhuang and others, saying, "You were the ones who encouraged me to purge the emperor's court. Now our army is blocked at Tongguan and has been unable to break through for months. Our way back north is also threatened by the Tang army. The Tang army is gathering, and we only occupy a few states such as Bianzhou and Zhengzhou. How can we win? I think we should not fight this battle. We should retreat to Fanyang and stay in a corner. There is still a chance of survival."

Tian Qianzhen said hurriedly: "Since ancient times, all great undertakings have had their ups and downs. How can one accomplish everything in one fell swoop? Although the Tang army is now powerful, it is internally divided. How can it stop our elite troops? If you give up Luoyang now, the army will lose its morale and will not fight. You will be in danger!"

Yan Zhuang followed up and said, "Since Yang Guozhong is dead, the commander-in-chief does not need to purge the emperor's court, but should follow the will of heaven and ascend the throne to become emperor."

Others also came out to advise.

An Lushan listened to what everyone said, thoughtfully.

In fact, what An Lushan is most worried about now is their own internal division.

He started a rebellion and did not fully trust the Han Chinese civil and military officials under his command. Historically, after the Han Chinese general Cui Qianyou captured Tongguan, he quickly replaced Cui Qianyou with the Hu general Sun Xiaozhe.

Sun Xiaozhe was a Khitan. His mother had an affair with An Lushan and was quite trusted by An Lushan.

On the surface, An Lushan's death was the result of a conspiracy between An Qingxu and Yan Zhuang. However, after An Lushan's death, An Qingxu indulged in pleasure, ignored state affairs, and the Han generals became dominant. The fundamental reason was most likely the result of the internal struggle between the Hu and Han peoples in the rebel army.

But now, due to the tremendous pressure Li Heng put on the rebels, the rebels were temporarily united.

An Lushan pondered for a while, nodded, and said: "Since you all strongly request, I should also follow the will of heaven and the will of the people and ascend the throne to become emperor."

The rebel generals said in unison: "Your Majesty is wise!"

……

Taiyuan, in the main tent of the Tang army.

The Shuofang generals had different expressions when they received the imperial edict.

Li Guangbi was the most straightforward, and he had worked under Li Heng before, so he said, "It was not a wise move for us to go south to Hedong, which led to the loss of the opportunity to fight. Now that the court has issued an order, we should obey it and march out of Jingxingkou immediately to take Changshan."

Guo Ziyi was quite smooth in handling political affairs. He just looked at everyone and didn't say anything.

The vanguard envoy Pu Gu Huai En pondered for a moment and continued, "Even if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has other reasons for being the regent, the overall situation has been decided. If we continue to move south now, it would be treason, abandoning our country and our families, and abandoning the people of the world. Moreover, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince previously controlled the four towns in Longyou Road and commanded more than 200,000 troops. We have no chance of winning if we go against him. It is better for us to follow his orders and march into Hebei to make great contributions to suppressing the rebellion."

Cui Yi, the judge of Shuofang Jiedu, said: "The court did not send military supervisors to interfere in the war, but instead sent food and fodder, which shows that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has full trust in the Shuofang Army."

Li Guangbi said: "I used to work for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince always trusts people he employs and never employs people he doubts. Now the court has not yet cleared out the old forces of the deposed Crown Prince, which shows that as long as we make achievements, we still have a chance to keep our wealth and honor."

Upon hearing this, the other generals echoed it.

Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Guo Ziyi said, "Since that's the case, we will march out of Jingxing Pass and capture Changshan County."

"Yes." The generals obeyed the order.

……

Li Guangbi led the Shuofang Army, the Yunzhong rebels, and newly recruited soldiers, totaling 10,000 people, from Taiyuan, marched hundreds of miles, crossed the Taihang Mountains, and went out of Jingxing Pass to raid Zhending City, the capital of Changshan County, which was defended by only 3,000 rebels, and captured the rebel general An Siyi. After Li Guangbi took Changshan, he rested on the spot, trained soldiers every day, provided relief to the people, and treated the captives well. Those who were willing to stay and participate in the rebellion were allowed to stay, and those who were unwilling to stay were given travel expenses and allowed to go home.

The rebel general An Siyi was deeply moved and defected to Li Guangbi, telling Li Guangbi everything he knew about the rebels.

This included the fact that he had already asked Shi Siming for help, and Shi Siming would soon return to attack Changshan, but most of Shi Siming's troops were cavalry, with fewer infantry.

Li Guangbi believed in An Siyi and actively prepared for war.

Two days later.

Shi Siming led an army of 30,000 to the east of Zhending City in Changshan.

Li Guangbi led 3,000 elite infantrymen and lined up outside the east gate with their backs against the city wall, waiting.

Shi Siming laughed when he saw that Li Guangbi dared to go out of the city to fight. He said, "Li Guangbi is quite courageous, but how can you defend a city like this?"

After saying that, he ordered the cavalry to charge.

Li Guangbi led the infantry phalanx to fight and retreat, leaving behind a large amount of property to attract the rebels.

The rebels advanced step by step and soon reached the city wall.

The next step is for the infantry to enter the city.

But at this time, the five thousand crossbows on the city wall appeared.

Li Guangbi ordered 5,000 heavy crossbows to fire ten rounds in a volley. More than a thousand rebel infantrymen preparing to attack the city were killed in an instant, and their formation was in chaos.

As the rebel formation was in disarray, Li Guangbi led 3,000 infantrymen to counterattack and killed more than a thousand rebel infantrymen.

Shi Siming was shocked, but he did not panic. Instead, he replaced his cavalry and tried to completely wipe out Li Guangbi's 3,000 men.

But Li Guangbi was well prepared. As soon as Shi Siming changed his formation, two thousand archers rushed out of the city and used bows and arrows to cover the retreat of the infantry.

The cavalry was unable to attack the city, and Shi Siming had few infantry to begin with. After this battle, Shi Siming knew that he could not advance further, so he temporarily withdrew his troops and prepared to transfer infantry from the rear that had captured Raoyang and other places to attack Zhending City.

Li Guangbi won the first battle and the soldiers celebrated, but Li Guangbi was not very happy because he knew that with the current garrison strength of Changshan, it would be difficult to defend Zhending City if Shi Siming dispatched a large number of infantry.

So, after letting the soldiers celebrate for a night, Li Guangbi summoned all the generals to discuss matters.

Li Guangbi said: "Zhending City is extremely important. The rebels will not give up easily. I predict that Shi Siming will recruit infantry to attack the city again."

An Siyi said: "The rebels' elite infantry closest to Zhending City is in Raoyang. Shi Siming is very likely to transfer the infantry from Raoyang to attack the city."

Li Guangbi pondered for a while and said, "Leading troops in battle requires flexibility. Now it is better to attack than to defend. We should take the initiative and ambush the infantry dispatched by Shi Siming."

The generals seconded the motion.

So Li Guangbi sent out 2,000 infantry and cavalry, led by judges Cui Yi and An Siyi, to lower their flags and sneak out of Zhending City, cross the Hushui River, and reach Fengbi, where they met the rebel reinforcements who were cooking.

Cui Yi and An Siyi immediately launched an attack, won a great victory, and destroyed the rebel siege equipment.

(End of this chapter)