After Yanzhou succeeded, Gele Khan divided four armies to plunder property and food in the northern prefectures of Guanlong. When the supply was sufficient, and there was no sign of sending troops in Anxi, the Uighur army would launch a large-scale invasion south. Among them, the Uighur army that attacked Xiazhou was the Sijie tribe of the nine Uighur tribes, and the leader was Sijiewen Khan.

There was originally a military residence in Xiazhou. When the troops of the government were gradually destroyed, the military administration of Xiazhou gradually became an empty camp. Only hundreds of rural brave men recruited by the prefect of Xiazhou to maintain public order. However, there were a large number of Dangxiang people living in Xiazhou. Among them, the Tuoba tribe, the largest tribe of Dangxiang, was distributed in Xiazhou and Yinzhou. When the Uighur army suddenly came, Tuoba Xiong, the chief of Tuoba tribe, happened to discuss the issue of borrowing grain with the prefect of Xiazhou in Xiazhou City. Tuoba Xiong only brought three thousand guards, unable to resist the attack of the Uighurs, so he had to retreat to Xiazhou City and send people back to Yinzhou to seek help.

Tuoba Xiong's wife Yingke was Fang Dangluo's daughter, and she hurriedly wrote a letter to her father and brothers for help. Fortunately, the Uighur army's methods of siege were really poor. They had no ladders and could only use hardwood to hit the city gate. Therefore, the battle for the city gate became the focus of fierce battle between the two sides.

There are moats on all sides of Xiazhou. Suspension bridges are pulled up on the river, but the East Gate Suspension Bridge cannot be lifted due to disrepair. This place has become the main attack point for the Uighurs' attack. Tens of thousands of Uighur cavalry are arranged in densely in the wilderness outside the East City. They are extremely excited, and their eyes are filled with wild wolf-like desires. As long as they attack the city, the property and women in the city will be all their belongings.

But their attack did not go smoothly. Xiazhou was not a weak lamb waiting to be slaughtered like Yanzhou. Xiazhou actually had defenders, but the defenders could not stop the violent desire of the Uighur army. Hundreds of Uighur men held a huge tree five feet long and shouted, and rushed towards the gate. The stones on the top of the city were smashed like raindrops, and people were constantly smashed to the ground. The Uighur army behind them shot thousands of arrows and shot towards the top of the city. Although the Uighur bows and arrows were far inferior to the Tang army, they were numerous, and the dense rain of arrows still pushed the Dangxiang people on the top of the city to the point of lifting their heads.

"Boom!" There was a loud noise from the ground, and the giant tree hit the city gate, and the city wall trembled. The city gate shook violently without being washed away.

"Crash again!" Sijiewen shouted with a stern wave of his whip.

Hundreds of people retreated quickly. At this time, the Uighur army's arrows slowed down slightly. The stones on the top of the city were smashed down again, and dozens of people were smashed into the moat.

"Damn it, it's not Tang Jun on the city tower."

Sijiewen Khan suddenly saw clearly that there were some white-clothed Dangxiang people on the top of the city. No wonder they were not as sharp as Tang Jun's bows and arrows. He suddenly became excited and shouted: "The first person to rush into the city can pick a hundred women."

His words caused a roar of Uighur soldiers, and thousands of people rushed up. They held up shields to escort the soldiers who were slamming the wood. Thousands of large shields protected the giant wood tightly, like a hundred-legged giant insect with scales.

The bumping wood hit the city gate again and rushed towards the city gate. The stones on the city were no longer as effective as before. They hit the shield. At this time, the Uighur army under the city shot ten thousand arrows again, dozens of people could not dodge, and were shot by the arrows. They screamed and fell from the top of the city. Another earth-shaking impact. The city gate shook violently, just like an old man who had been in the long run, was about to fall down with a bang. The last moment was just the last moment.

The prefect Luo Xiyan on the top of the city seemed to know that the situation was about to go. He slowly drew out his sword and looked at the locust-like Uighurs. He sighed and raised his sword to wipe it towards his neck. Tuoba Xiong behind him hugged him and shouted: "Prefect Luo must not, my cavalry will protect you from leaving safely."

Luo Xiyan shook his head and said with a solemn expression: "I am the official of my parents. I should live and die with the city. How can I leave the elders of the city and escape privately!"

At this time, the third collision of the Uighur army had already been launched. The collision of wood retreated a hundred steps away. They accumulated energy and rushed towards them shouting. This collision would determine the tragic fate of Xiazhou.

At this moment, there was a chaos behind the Uighur army. From a distance, I could see yellow dust rolling. It seemed that an army was coming. In an instant, it rushed into the Uighur army that was eager to enter the city. The army was extremely sharp and rushed to the Uighur cavalry formation. The people of Dangxiang on the city were so excited that they screamed wildly. Tuoba Xiong also saw clearly that a powerful general was extremely majestic. He held a big copper rod in his hand and beat the Uighur army to the point of flesh and blood, his brain burst, and in a moment, he killed dozens of Uighur cavalry.

Tuoba Xiong grabbed Luo Xiyan's arm and roared, "Look, that's my brother-in-law. Our reinforcements are here. Brothers, go out of the city to kill the enemy!"

The Uighurs' siege also stopped. They turned their horses to fight back, but at this time, the gate of the back was wide open, and three thousand Dangxiang cavalry rushed out. They were very morale and attacked inside and outside, killing 10,000 Uighurs' troops, and fled, throwing their armor and killing them, and being killed by Dangxiang people.

The great victory in Xiazhou became the turning point of the Uighur invasion in the south, greatly encouraging the morale of the anti-Rong troops in various places. The Han people, Dangxiang people, and Tuyuhun people organized to resist the Uighur cavalry. In early April, Uighur Gele Khan realized that the Tang people were in a humiliation, so he had to give up the plunder of the northern part of Guanlong, withdrew his troops and returned to Jiuyuan, and gave up the siege of Lingzhou. At this time, the Uighurs returned to their original strategy and sent envoys to Chang'an to negotiate with the court to withdraw the troops.

As the Uighur army retreated north, Lingzhou City was finally relieved. An Sishun breathed a sigh of relief. However, as soon as the crisis passed, the crisis came again. As soon as the Uighur army left, Li Longji's order entered the city. Because An Sishun was defeated in Dingyuan City, he was relieved of his position as the governor of Shuofang and ordered him to be the governor of Lingzhou temporarily, and then he returned to Beijing to report his duties.

After seeing off the envoy, An Sishun was furious and tore the imperial edict to pieces. He pointed to Chang'an and cursed: "Victory and defeat are common in military affairs. Ge Shuhan lost his troops and was instead appointed as king. An Lushan was defeated by the Khitan instead of surrendering but promoted. Yang Guozhong was defeated by Nanzhao but was prime minister. I was defeated for a while and wanted to remove my post. Where is the law of heaven?"

At this time, his beloved general Gao Xiuyan advised him: "Master, this is just an excuse for the emperor to seize power. Passers-by know that I am worried that once the general enters the capital, it will be in danger. In order to protect the King of Bian, the emperor will definitely kill the general, just like killing Wang Zhongsi Baoge Shuhan back then, the general must make a decision early!"

An Sishun was furious and said ruthlessly: "You are right. He first failed to deal with Li Qing'an, so he turned around to deal with us, the governors who were close to him. Unfortunately, I didn't have much troops in my hands, otherwise I would have turned against him!"

"Have the general forgotten the Prince of Dongping?"

Gao Xiuyan smiled yinly and said, "Although the general has not many troops, the prince of Dongping has many soldiers and a wide range of generals. You might as well ask him to put pressure on Hebei and force the emperor to give up the act of reducing the vassal."

An Sishun pondered for a moment, as if there was no effective way other than that, so he nodded slowly and said, "That's right!"

An Sishun immediately wrote a letter and ordered 100,000 people to send it to An Lushan. At the same time, he replied to Li Longji, pointing out that the current situation in Shuofang is unstable and his resignation will seriously affect the morale of the army and be taken advantage of by the Uighurs, so he will not resign as the governor for the time being and make a decision after the Uighurs retreats. This is obviously rejecting Li Longji's intention to dismiss Li Longji.

In Shancheng County, Longyou, Geshuhan had just sent away the former prince Li Heng who was secretly visiting. He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. On his desk, the decree of Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty was ordered to hand over the military power of Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Hezhou, Taozhou, Guzhou and the military forts around Qinghai. That is, to hand over the troops from these places to King Li of Xiliang, Li Qi, who brought them to support Shuofang, and at the same time left him a way out and became the Minister of Works in the DPRK.

Li Yu was the governor of Shanzhou and had 30,000 troops. If he obtained these troops, it meant that he would have 70,000 troops, almost the elite of the entire Longyou and Hexi army, and his brother Shuhan would become a military governor who was not in line with his name.

This is obviously taking away his brother Shuhan's military power. It seems that Li Qing'an underestimated Li Longji's ambitions. He not only wanted to seize An Sishun's power, but also took away his military power. What if he didn't hand over the power? What would the consequences? Ge Shuhan was shuddered when he thought of Wang Zhongsi's sudden death. He knew that if he had hesitated for a little, Li Longji would definitely kill him without hesitation.

But Li Heng advised him not to hand over power, and advised him to be loyal to the crown prince, which opened another door to his brother Shuhan. The East Palace Party, is his brother Shuhan going to join the East Palace Party? Following in Li Qing'an's footsteps, or becoming a green leaf that supports Li Qing'an.

Geshuhan shook his head, but he was still a little unwilling to be labeled with the seal of the Eastern Palace Party. On one side was Li Longji's coercion to hand over power, and after handing over power, he was appointed as the Minister of Works and let him enter the court as prime minister; on the other side was the temptation and summoning of the crown prince Li Yu, who was loyal to the crown prince, and his descendants would all be protected.

Where to go? Geshu Han was really unsure of his idea, and his confidant Gao Shi was sent to Chang'an by him, and no one gave him an idea.

Geshuhan was irritated. He pulled out his sword and danced in the room. The blade was shining and the strong wind was clamoring. He couldn't help but whisper: But let Geshu in Longcheng be there, and he would not teach the Uighurs to cross Yinshan.

He slashed on the wooden pillar with a knife and sighed: "I am stupid now, and I have let Shu Zi be the general!"

At this moment, his slave rushed in with his left car and reported urgently: "Master, is there any change in the army?"

"What?" Ge Shuhan was shocked and asked hurriedly: "What happened?"

"Yang Jinghui, the envoy of Xuanwei Army, and Wang, the envoy of Heyuan Army, rarely led his army to leave the garrison and headed towards Shanzhou."

"Dang!"

Geshuhan landed on his sword, and the news shocked him. Of course he knew what had happened. It must be Li Longji's secret order to instigate Yang Jinghui and Wang Yan. Their army had more than 10,000 people, and they were elites from Longyou. Geshuhan felt heartbroken, and Li Longji actually attacked him behind his back.

"Mr. Gao is here!" Suddenly, the personal soldiers' report came from outside the tent.

Geshuhan was overjoyed. Gao Shi came back too soon. "Hurry! Please come in!" He quickly greeted him. When the door opened, Gao Shi came in from outside in a dusty way.

"Sir, finally, I'm back. I'm in a life-and-death crisis. Please teach me." Geshuhan gave a tribute to Gao Shichang.

Gao Shi waved his hand and said, "Mr. Marshal, you have to be polite. I just came back from Chang'an for this matter. Let's talk about it slowly."

"Okay! Sir, please sit down."

Geshuhan asked Gao Shi to sit down, poured him a cup of tea with his own hands. Gao Shi took a sip of hot tea, and then he said with a long and tired breath: "I heard some rumors on the road that the emperor was about to sign the commander-in-chief of the Ministry of Works?"

"The rumors are correct. As long as you want to hand over the power, he really promised to grant me the Minister of Works."

Geshuhan handed the imperial edict to Gao Shi, and sighed, "He is so vicious. I just got the news that Yang Jinghui and Wang rarely led their troops to surrender to Li Yu. Li Yu was still stinky. Of course, he did not have such great ability to instigate them. It must be that the emperor secretly gave them secret edicts. Now I am extremely passive!"

After reading the order, Gao Shi smiled and said, "Didn't the crown prince come to find the Grand Marshal?"

Brother Shuhan was stunned, "How did you know sir?"

"I heard that someone saw the traces of the former prince in Lanzhou, so I guessed that he must have come to the Grand Marshal on behalf of the crown prince."

Geshuhan nodded, "Indeed, he has come to me and left not long ago. He hopes that I will be loyal to the crown prince and not hand over the army to Li Yu. One is the current emperor and the other is the future crown prince. I am in a dilemma!"

"That's why I'm rushing back!"

Gao Shi winked at Geshuhan outside the door, and Geshuhan immediately ordered the personal soldiers outside the door: "No one is allowed to come in!"

He closed the door and walked back to his seat and said anxiously: "Sir, please teach me!"

Gao Shi lowered his voice and said, "I spent a thousand guan to buy a message from the imperial doctor next to the emperor, saying that the emperor may not be able to survive this year!"

"Is it that serious?" Geshuhan was a little disbelieved.

“The problem is indeed serious!”

Gao Shi sneered and said, "The imperial doctor also told me that the emperor has been taking an aphrodisiac for almost three years, and this medicine was actually presented by An Lushan."

Geshuhan took a breath of air conditioning, "Mr. I mean, this medicine is actually...."

"Who knows? But one thing is certain, after taking this medicine, the emperor's body has declined day by day, and he is as old as about eighty people, and his back is hunched. Of course, the fundamental reason is that he has excessive indulgence, but it is this medicine that makes his desires prosper. It can be said that he is indirectly destroying this medicine."

Ge Shuhan sighed long, no wonder he was so stupid, it turned out that he had given the spirit to the woman. He lowered his head and pondered for a while before saying, "I understand what Mr. I mean. Mr. wants me to surrender to the crown prince, but the crown prince already has Li Qing'an as the pillar and beam. I will be unwilling to accept it if I follow Li Qing'an behind me!"

"Who said that the Grand Marshal must be following Li Qing'an?"

Gao Shi smiled slightly and said, "The Grand Marshal is in Longyou, Li Qing'an is in Anxi. Who is closer and far away?"

Geshuhan suddenly realized that at this moment, he finally made up his decision and punched him with a fist and palm: "Don't! That's it. I just said that Tubo has signs of counterattack, and I want to lead the troops westward!"

The next morning, Geshuhan immediately ordered the mobilization of troops from all over the country, and ordered 10,000 heavy troops stationed in Liangzhou to retreat to Hehuang from Dadoubagu south. At the same time, he sent Gao Shi to Shanzhou to stabilize Li Yu, saying that the army would be officially handed over to him after the army gathered together.
Chapter completed!