An Sishun's reply to the court was delayed and sent to Chang'an, but the letter of help he sent to An Lushan was urgent and sent to Hebei four days later.

Like Li Qing'an's Anxi, An Lushan also dominated the Fan Yang Jingliu Supervisor's Field Army. He not only controlled the military power, but also controlled the local financial power, which gave him huge financial and material resources to expand his troops. When he attacked the Khitan the year before yesterday, he sent 60,000 troops, but he returned home in a defeat. More than half of the 60,000 troops were lost, but An Lushan used his financial resources to quickly replenish his troops.

Compared with Anxi, Hebei has a large population and strong financial resources. An Lushan has far stronger resources than Li Qing'an. Moreover, he has a lot of talents under his command, and famous scholars and staff are like crucian carp crossing the river. This made An Lushan the most powerful vassal of the Tang Dynasty, named second and actually the number one.

Although An Lushan was strong, he himself was very low-key. He liked to hold banquets. He always told everyone at the banquet that Anxi was vast and had many troops. Li Qing'an was the most powerful vassal of the Tang Dynasty. Not only did he say at the banquet, he also sent people to Chang'an and Luoyang and other places to promote the strength of Anxi, in an attempt to turn everyone's attention to Anxi.

He knew that he was not like Li Qing, the high emperor of Anshan, and it was difficult for Li Longji to control him. He was close to the Central Plains, and there were many local officials. If he had any slight changes, he would hear Li Longji's ears. Therefore, he showed his loyalty to Li Longji everywhere, searching for rare treasures everywhere and sending them to Yang Guifei and Li Longji. After Yang Guifei was neglected, he flattered Wu Xianyi and even Wu Xianyi's personal maid secretly received a thousand bribe from An Lushan. In this way, the favored Wu Xianyi naturally blew the breeze of Li Longji, making Li Longji trust An Lushan. Not only did he withdrew his eunuchs and military commanders everywhere, but there was no An Lushan.

Although he gained the trust of Li Longji, An Lushan did not rest assured. He was still making preparations in secret. Last year, he ordered a fire to the center of the center, destroying the 300,000 weapons accumulated by the Tang Dynasty for decades. In addition, he obtained the power of minting, so he minted inferior silver coins, collected money from the people, and sent people to Bohai to cook salt, sold a large amount of private salt in the Central Plains, and learned from Li Qing'an's group to implement the joint fort system in Fanyang and Pinglu areas, concentrating the people in the fortress, and usually trained a large number of reserve soldiers. In this way, his secret strength quickly expanded. In his name, he only had 140,000 troops in two towns, but in fact, he could mobilize 200,000 troops.

The tide of vassal cutting began at the end of last year inevitably hit Fan Yang. An Lushan was extremely nervous. He knew very well that his Fan Yang would be targeted by Li Longji sooner or later. Li Longji trusted him, but he could not trust his son. The Tang Dynasty was surnamed Li, not An. In order to deal with the crisis, he ordered Chang'an liaison officer Liu Luogu to pay attention to the trends of the court at all times and bribe the close attendants in the palace to grasp Li Longji's every move.

Immediately afterwards, the Uighurs invasion broke out, and Li Longji took advantage of this incident to officially reduce the vassal states. An Lushan knew that there was not much time left and he could no longer care about the possibility of revealing his ambitions, so he immediately ordered the gathering of militias in Pinglu, which was called spring training, but in fact it turned them into regular troops.

That night, An Sishun's letter of help was sent to the Prince's Mansion of Dongping County in An Lushan.

Although An Lushan was shallow in his literary talent, his study was extremely expensive and there was no style. He could just pile up all kinds of precious things in the room. The paintings of Wu Daozi and Yan Liben, the cursive scripts of Zhang Xu, the poems of Li Bai and Wang Wei, and various original works were hung in the room at will. As for various Buddhist scriptures and Taoist books and Confucian classics, there were countless, piled up three rooms.

But An Lushan never looked down on these famous calligraphy and paintings and books. The only thing he was interested in was a sand table map. This was learned from Li Qing'an. Three hundred craftsmen spent a year shaping the mountains, rivers, terrain, urban population, bridges and soldiers in Hebei, Hedong, Henan, and Guanzhong and other places with clay. It was very intuitive and realistic. This sand table was also An Lushan's favorite thing. Once a maid accidentally knocked a cup of tea on the sand table, which caused him to be furious and drew his sword and stabbed the maid to death. From then on, no servants were allowed to enter the room where he placed the sand table.

The sand tray was placed in a separate house, with no windows in the house. Ten night pearls as big as grapefruit were hung in the corners, making the room as bright as day.

An Lushan stood quietly in front of the sand table, staring at the plump land in Guanzhong for a long time, or he didn't care about Guanzhong. He only had a small dot as big as a needle in Guanzhong, which was what he was really interested in.

An Lushan's ambition was not born. Six years ago, he was still thinking about how to keep his position as a governor, but since he accidentally saw the gorgeous imperial concubine, his heart changed subtly. If he wanted to get Yang Guifei, he could only take Li Longji and replace him. Although An Lushan thought about Yang Guifei day and night, ten years ago, he only wanted to have troops to become the veritable lord of Hebei.

He truly had the ambition to seize the Tang Dynasty, but after Li Linfu faded out of the power center of the Tang Dynasty due to illness, he was no longer threatened by Li Linfu, and it was like a chain tied to An Lushan's neck was removed. Yang Guozhong, who had always looked down upon, controlled the prime minister's power in the Tang Dynasty. At this time, land annexes in various parts of the Tang Dynasty became increasingly serious, the people were in distress, the military system was corrupt, the Central Plains were empty, and the people were resentful, and the people were boiling. An Lushan finally had the ambition to seize the Li family and establish the An family dynasty.

Behind An Lushan, his adviser Gao Shang sat on a bamboo couch, looking at An Sishun's request for help calmly, and occasionally taking a sip of tea with a steaming tea cup.

Today's situation was long as noble expectations. He knew that if Li Longji didn't move Ge Shuhan first, he would definitely deal with An Sishun. Ge Shuhan was close to Chang'an, so he was eager to take action, while An Sishun was because he was the weakest among the major military governors and was the most likely place to reduce the vassal states. It was like a soft persimmon, so it was not surprising that Li Longji dealt with him first.

However, Li Longji actually wanted to cut the two major military governors Shu Han and An Sishun at the same time, which was indeed beyond noble expectations.

"Sir, do I help or not?"

An Lushan finally spoke. His voice was a little hoarse, and his anxious eyes made him worried. An Sishun was his brother. They had always had letters and had unusual friendships. At this time, An Sishun wrote a letter to ask for help. Although he didn't want to be troubled, his affection made him unable to save his face, and he was in great difficulty.

Gao Shang took another sip of tea and said with a smile: "I just want to ask Dashang if he wants to help him?"

An Lushan shook his head, "To be honest, I don't want to help. It's not the time to turn against Li Longji. It's not a good thing to help him now."

"That's right. Since the general knows that there are no benefits, why should he help?"

Speaking of this, his noble expression became solemn, and he said, "Master, I am forgiving me, although you are as close as brothers, at this moment when it is related to your personal future and destiny, you not only cannot help him, but also destroy his relatives for justice. Show Li Longji that you support his attitude of deposing An Sishun, and do not let the fire of vassal cuts burn on you. This is not a self-protection, but a great commander needs time to prepare. Don't be the first to be a leader at this time."

An Lushan's eyes were still staring at the small dot as big as a needle in Guanzhong. He sighed softly and said, "Sir, you are right! To be honest, I dream of ascending to that throne and dominate the world. I wonder when my dream will become reality?"

"Mr. Don't be anxious. As long as you follow my words, you will be able to become the 95th Lord within three to five years. But at present, the Marshal must endure, not only tolerate it, but also to take action. I have five strategies, and I hope the Marshal can implement it accordingly."

An Lushan also sat down and said, "Sir, please tell me, I will follow it."

Gao Shang likes An Lushan the most. He obeys his own will. As a strategist, he can obey his own loyalty, and then his career will be half successful. Then he helps his lord to a high position, and he will gradually embark on the road of high positions. Gao Shang's ranking among An Lushan's aides was originally after Yan Zhuang, but after Yan Zhuang left, Gao Shang became the leader of the staff, and he also got a little news that Yan Zhuang might be a strategist in Li Qing'an. Regarding this news, Gao Shang has always concealed An Lushan. He was not afraid that Yan Zhuang would come back to compete with him for the throne, but he was worried that An Lushan would suspect that he would also climb a higher point, thereby reducing his trust in him.

Gao Shang gently stroked his goatee, squinted his little eyes and smiled: "What I just said about writing to Li Longji, supporting him to dismiss An Sishun is the first strategy, so I won't say much. Let's talk about the second one, that is, heavy bribery of Yang Guozhong."

"Yang Guozhong?" An Lushan interrupted Gao Shang's words and said disdainfully: "Is that idiot still necessary to curry favor with him? I spent so much money on him before, so what compensation did I get? Besides, the imperial concubine has lost power, how long can he be a prime minister? It's not certain?"

"Master!" Gao Shang emphasized his tone and said, "No matter whether Yang Guozhong will fall in the future, at least he is still the right prime minister in front of him, with a great influence in the court, and the matter of reducing the vassal state will be completed within one or two years. During this period, Yang Guozhong will not continue. Isn't this what An Shuai is concerned about?"

An Lushan nodded reluctantly and said, "That's right, then I'll condescend and bribe him again. When I come to the stage, I will let the Yang family spit it out with all their interests."

An Lushan suddenly saw Yang Guifei's unparalleled appearance in his mind. He was stunned and murmured: "And she, she also belongs to me."

Seeing that he seemed to be distracted, Gao Shang couldn't help but cough heavily. An Lushan woke up and laughed dryly and said, "Sir, please continue, what is the third strategy?"

"The third strategy is that the general must take the initiative to ask the prince to take charge of Fanyang."

"This...this is a bit over!"

Although An Lushan obeyed Gao Shangyan, he was a little unacceptable to this strategy. His face changed and he said a little displeased: "Sir, other strategies are easy to talk about. If the prince comes to Fanyang, I might as well give the military power out. If others know, wouldn't I laugh at me as an idiot?"

"Master, please be calm!"

Gao Shang smiled slightly and said, "Our purpose is to make others think that the commander is out of reach, so that they will not be wary."

"But... I still feel it's inappropriate."

"I'll ask the Grand Marshal, if Li Longjizhen sends the prince to take charge of Fan Yang, can the Grand Marshal stop it?"

"This... maybe not."

"That's right. Whether to send a prince to Fanyang or not, the decision is with Li Longji, but with the Grand Marshal. If he wants to send a prince to Fanyang, he will still be able to send him without the Grand Marshal's request. If he doesn't want to send a prince to Fanyang, even if the Grand Marshal kneels down and begs him, he will not send him."

An Lushan seemed to understand a little, and hesitated and asked: "Sir, I'm just making a gesture."

"That's right!" Gao Shang saw that An Lushan finally understood, and couldn't help but smile with relief: "Actually, what the Grand Marshal is doing now is a gesture, including supporting the removal of An Sishun, is just a gesture. Of course, Li Longji will not cut off the military power of the Grand Marshal because of his good attitude. He will still cut off the power, but what we ask for is not this. What we want is time, so that he will consider cutting the power of the Grand Marshal at the latest, so that we will achieve our goal. Maybe it will be left alone in the end. Does the Grand Marshal understand?"

"I understand, okay! I will adopt your third strategy, and I will ask you to talk about the fourth strategy."

Gao Shang continued: "These four strategies are also substantial measures, which is to place the son of the commander as a magistrate in Chang'an and ask for a princess for him. This is actually a temptation. As long as Li Longji agrees to recruit him as a princess, it means that he does not want to cut off the power of the commander for the time being, and we still have room for anything. If he refuses it, it means that he is about to attack the commander, and we must take urgent measures."

"But what if he deliberately recruited my son as his son-in-law to numb me?" An Lushan thought of another possibility.

"Of course there is such a possibility, but the Grand Marshal should not forget that Li Longji is no longer the Li Longji a few years ago. Judging from his repeated attempts in the past few months, this possibility is not great. Besides, as long as the Grand Marshal insists on not entering Beijing, it will not be so easy for him to touch the Grand Marshal."

An Lushan also smiled proudly and said, "He is not as good as before. After taking that kind of medicine, he will die sooner or later on a woman's belly, but he has been with it for three years, which is beyond my expectations."

An Lushan took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "I have accepted this fourth point, sir, please tell me the fifth strategy."

Seeing that An Lushan had accepted all the first four points, Gao Shang was extremely pleased, and he smiled happily: "The key is the first four strategies, and the fifth one is just a supplement. The general can send people to Chang'an to promote it everywhere, whether it is Gao Xianzhi or Li Qing'an, in short, everyone must believe that they have the intention of rebellion, and everyone talks about it. After saying too much, everyone gradually believed it, so that they were always at the forefront of public opinion. We kept a low profile and prepared for war. In short, we only had one purpose, that is, to buy time as much as possible."
Chapter completed!