After Li Longji's assessment, he ordered Geshu Han, Guo Ziyi, and Li Guangbi to lead thirty thousand northwest border troops north from Taiyuan, and then attack An Lushan's base in Youzhou from Datong.
He also sent Zhang Xun, who was full of wisdom, to be the guardian of Tongguan. He led 3,000 old soldiers and 15,000 new soldiers to rush to Tongguan day and night to replace the original guardian general.
At the same time, he also sent Lei Wanchun and Nan Jiyun, who were highly skilled in martial arts, to Zhang Xun's side as his assistants.
More than ten days later, An Lushan led 30,000 elite cavalry to Tongguan.
Zhang Xun played a big game.
He had been guarding for five consecutive days, and he had always used cold weapons. He had not shown his quaking thunders or flintlock. There were a few times when the elite rebel army had reached Tongguan, but Nan Jiyun had led a group of men to exchange their lives for the city.
An Lushan saw that the defenders on the city wall were weak and thought that Zhang Xun had no ability to fight back.
In the end, on the fifth night, Zhang Xun left the city and attacked An Lushan's main camp.
The five hundred strong men each held quaking thunders as they charged into the rebel army camp.
As the explosions continued, the rebel army had never seen such a weapon before. They thought that they had been punished by the gods and directly blew up the camp. Ten thousand flintlocks then charged into the enemy camp.
The elite rebels fell to the ground one after another.
Lei Wanchun and Nan Jiyun did not show mercy. They each led 500 elite cavalry and killed seven enemies in the rebel camp. They killed five of An Lushan's valiant generals. Even the bravest Sun Xiaozhe and Cui Qianyou were beheaded by Nan Jiyun. They also forced thousands of cavalrymen to surrender. Prince Li Heng was also captured by the rebels and disappeared.
An Lushan escaped from the chaotic army under the protection of thousands of Yeluohe. After daybreak, they had lost over ten thousand elite soldiers.
An Lushan was not convinced. After reorganizing the army, he once again arrived at Tongguan.
Then, both sides started a bloody battle at Tongguan.
An Lushan was shocked by the fight. He thought that he was a general who had experienced hundreds of battles and that it would be easy for him to deal with Zhang Xun, who was a scholar.
Who knew that Zhang Xun was full of schemes. Not only was he very good at defending the city, but he also occasionally came out of the city to attack at night, disturbing the rebel army.
Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun even led the cavalrymen who had surrendered to break out of the pass from time to time, charging back and forth among the rebel army.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed, but An Lushan still couldn't conquer Zhang Xun's Tongguan City.
He didn't know that Zhang Xun was a genius general who defended the city.
As long as Zhang Xun was given enough soldiers and food, he was confident that he could defend any city in the world. Moreover, Tongguan was a mighty pass that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
More than a month later, An Lushan heard a piece of bad news.
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi led 30,000 troops to Youzhou. Yan Gaoqing, the prefect of Zhending, responded and took Youzhou City in the blink of an eye. Shi Siming, who was in charge of guarding the rear, was also captured and killed by Yan Gaoqing when the city was broken.
The moment this news reached the rebel army, their morale plummeted.
An Lushan knew that something was wrong and immediately led his army back to Luoyang.
However, Zhang Xun had guessed An Lushan's next move from the rebel army's actions.
As soon as An Lushan led his army to retreat, Zhang Xun led all his troops out of the pass and chased after An Lushan.
The rebel soldiers wanted to fight back, but they were forced to flee by the flintlock gunner who had gained proficiency.
On the way, An Lushan set up three traps in a row, but Zhang Xun saw through all of them and won three battles.
In the end, An Lushan returned to Luoyang with less than two thousand cavalrymen.
However, Tian Chengsi, the general who stayed in Luoyang, raised the banner of the Tang army and locked An Lushan outside the city.
This almost angered An Lushan to death.
Just as An Lushan was about to escape to Hebei, he was caught up by the 500 elite cavalry led by Nan Jiyun.
After a bloody battle, Nan Jiyun captured An Lushan alive.
Then, with the momentum of the victory, the Tang army attacked from the north and south, forcing hundreds of thousands of rebels to surrender. In less than half a year, the rebels in the Tang territory were wiped out.
Just like how later generations reviewed the An Lushan rebellion, without Li Longji's series of tricks, such as appointing eunuchs and killing generals, the An Lushan rebellion could have been pacified within a year.
Just like this time, Li Longji, who had once again become wise and mighty, did not even use the elite soldiers of the Anxi Protectorate to quell this rebellion.
Although they had caused great losses to the Great Tang, they had not suffered any major injuries.
Li Longji also changed his habit of indulging in women and carefully governed the government.
The prosperous era of the Great Tang that he had created continued.
When Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing, and Li Siye arrived at Chang 'an, they happened to run into Nan Jiyun escorting An Lushan back to the city to present the prisoners.
Although the Anxi elite soldiers had made a wasted trip and did not make any military achievements, Li Longji still saw their loyalty.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Li Longji didn't dare to let Geshu Han and Gao Xianzhi continue to lead the army. He promoted Geshu Han and Gao Xianzhi to Duke Changqing, then stripped them of their military power and allowed them to retire in the capital.
At the same time, he sent Zhang Xun, who was skilled in both martial arts and martial arts, to Youzhou as the new provincial governor. Let Yan Gaoqing serve as Fanyang Jiedushi. Li Guangbi was appointed as the governor of Shuofang.
He also promoted Guo Ziyi to Anxi's military governor, Li Siye to be his deputy, and Lei Wanchun and Nan Jiyun, who had been in the limelight during the rebellion, to be his general. After resting for a while, he once again sent troops to Anxi.
As for the rebel generals who surrendered when they were at the end of their rope, except for a few who had committed heinous crimes and were executed by a thousand cuts together with An Lushan, Shi Siming, and Yan Zhuang, the rest had escaped the death penalty and were sent to the Anxi army to serve as the vanguard.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]