troops

The situation was as Li Longji worried that a 20,000-strong Guanzhong Army rapid force, led by General Deng Jingshan, entered Hanzhong from Ziwu Road and cut off the grain route of Gao Xianzhi's army in Xingdao County. All 30,000 stones of grain to be transported were intercepted.

Guo Yingyi, the prefect of Liangzhou and the queen of Hanzhong, was shocked when he heard the news. On the one hand, he organized civilians to defend Nanzheng City, and on the other hand, he urgently sent people to report to Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan.

Early in the morning, Gao Xianzhi hurried to Li Longji's imperial tent and said to several guards in front of the tent: "Please report to the emperor as soon as possible, I have something urgent to ask for my meeting."

Gao Xianzhi was extremely anxious. The Guanzhong army had occupied Xingdao County and cut off his food route. If Guo Ziyi spread this news to his army, and when the food crisis occurs, his army will be defeated miserably. There is no doubt.

At the beginning, he insisted on leaving 50,000 troops to defend the rear. They went north with a 100,000 army, and there was no need to divide the troops from both sides. However, Li Longji refused. He believed that 100,000 troops could not seize Chang'an, and insisted on going north to the entire army, leaving only thousands of people to operate the food and grass. Li Longji thought it was very simple. As long as he rushed out of the valley road and entered Guanzhong, there would be no problem of logistics support.

But in fact, their march was slow and they temporarily changed their marching route, resulting in the loss of initiative again and again. In the end, they were calmly arranged by the Chang'an army and turned the valley entrance into a wall like a iron wall. How could they rush out?

Gao Xianzhi understood that even if they rushed out of the valley, they were no other people's opponents. Li Qing'an's 70,000 Anxi Iron Cavalry was enough to sweep the Jiannan Army. The Jiannan Army was good at mountain combat and was definitely not a rival to the cavalry on the plains.

He only hopes that Li Longji can understand the serious situation in front of him and not lose the entire army for his own desires. By then, Li Longji will find it difficult to protect himself.

After a moment, the guard ran out and said, "Supervisor Gao, the Lord ordered you to go in!"

Gao Xianzhi quickly walked into Li Longji's tent. At this time, Li Longji was drinking a bowl of bird's nest porridge. Gao Xianzhi took two steps quickly and knelt down on one knee and said, "I am Gao Xianzhi, please see Your Majesty!"

Li Longji didn't even raise his eyelids and asked lightly: "What happened? Did you decide to continue attacking?"

"Your Majesty!" Gao Xianzhi said in a panic: "The news came from the prefect Guo of Nanzheng that 20,000 Guanzhong troops had already entered Hanzhong from Ziwu Road, our food route was cut off, and Hanzhong was in danger."

"Bang!" With a sound of "Bang!" Li Longji threw the porridge bowl to the ground heavily, and the porridge bowl cracked into pieces. He shouted loudly: "I have asked you to attack Luogu Pass repeatedly, just because you are worried that the food road will be cut off, but you refuse to do so, why are you waiting for the opportunity? What's the time? Where is the time? Is your time the way we have broken and there is no way to go?"

"Your Majesty! You're sorry for your anger!"

Gao Xianzhi was so scared that he knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, explaining desperately: "It's not that I refuse to do my best, but that the right time and place are very unfavorable to our army. Guo Ziyi's army is similar to our army. He guards the majestic pass, and only 5,000 bows and crossbows can shoot back our 30,000 troops. Even if I lead the army to seize the pass, it will lose more than half of the troops. When I arrive in Guanzhong, how can I resist Li Qing'an's 70,000 Anxi cavalry? Your Majesty, in fact, if you don't have 500,000 powerful soldiers, you can't defeat Guanzhong!"

Gao Xianzhi mentioned Li Qing'an, which made Li Longji think of Ge Shuhan at once. He felt even more hated. He had not fought a war so far, and he had to secretly interact with Li Qing'an. Gao Xianzhi was useful, so he had to deal with Ge Shuhan first. Thinking of this, Li Longji's face cleared a little and sighed, "Forget it, it's time for me to get angry, so what do you think should I do now? Should I fight or retreat?"

Seeing that he had finally convinced Li Longji, Gao Xianzhi felt relieved and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I think Guo Ziyi will not attack us before our food is over. Now our food can support us for five days. It will take three days to return to Hanzhong from here. We should withdraw our troops immediately and notify Geshuhan to withdraw. This is the best strategy. After your Majesty returns to Shuzhong, he will work hard to govern. Wait for me to train hundreds of thousands of powerful troops and then go out to Qishan to capture Guanzhong for Your Majesty."

Li Longji pondered for a moment, but there was no way. He had to nod and said, "Okay! I'll listen to you again."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a rumbling drum sound from afar, which scared Li Longji to stand up, "What's going on?"

A guard rushed over and shouted outside the tent: "Your Majesty, Guo Ziyi's army has evacuated Luogu Pass, and the flag of Luogu Pass has been lowered."

Li Longji was stunned at first, then was overjoyed, and hurriedly said, "General Gao, this is an opportunity! Guo Ziyi's army has actually retreated."

Gao Xianzhi sighed secretly, this is not an opportunity, this is Guo Ziyi's bait, why doesn't the emperor understand! He advised: "Your Majesty, the Guanzhong army occupied Xingdao County and cut off our food route. How could Guo Ziyi not know? He should be waiting for us to be in trouble now, but he withdrew his troops, which means that he was also worried that we would withdraw from Hanzhong, so he deliberately gave up Luogu Pass and lure us to continue north. Once we were deceived, we lost the opportunity to withdraw our troops, and the food and grass were not allowed to continue, that is the moment of our defeat. Your Majesty, you cannot be deceived by Guo Ziyi!"

Li Longji was full of joy, but was poured on a basin of cold water by Gao Xianzhi. His face suddenly sank and said in great displeasure: "General Gao, everything has all kinds of possibilities, you are just guessing. Besides, even if he is a trick to lure the enemy, don't we just want to enter Guanzhong? After entering Guanzhong, are we still worried about not having any food? If even Guo Ziyi can't beat him, what's the point of entering Guanzhong? I have decided not to rush to withdraw my troops, and go to Luoguguan to take a look first."

"His Majesty!"

"Don't say it again!" Li Longji interrupted Gao Xianzhi's words and said tactfully: "I have decided, do you want to contradict me again?"

Gao Xianzhi sighed and had no choice but to say helplessly: "I obey the order!"

This time, Li Longji made up his mind to ignore Gao Xianzhi's plea. He forced Gao Xianzhi's army to enter Luogu Pass.

An hour later, the Jiannan army entered Luogu Pass, which had been unable to capture for a long time. After entering Luogu Pass, it was not just about to reach Guanzhong. It had to continue walking north for 120 miles before reaching Zhanwu County. This was the case when entering Guanzhong. Guo Ziyi's army retreated north to Zhanwu County, leaving all the passes along the way out.

Perhaps it was God's will. On the day when the Jiannan Army entered Luogu Pass, the sky began to turn cloudy. Dark clouds were coming over the city. The north wind suddenly rose, and a heavy rain was about to come.

It is extremely dangerous to encounter heavy rain in the mountain road, and it is likely to encounter mountain torrents or mudslides, which will be a disaster for the army. Li Longji had no choice but to agree to the army to temporarily stay in Luogu Pass.

In the evening of that day, a heavy rain in late summer hit the Zhongnan Valley. Heavy rain poured down, washing away the cliffs and soil on both sides, and the mud and sand were wrapped in running water. The heavy rain fell all night and it was not until noon the next day that the rain gradually became smaller.

Li Longji was anxious. He had not slept all night and looked at the sky with his eyes. Although he was the emperor, God did not give his son any face. The rain was frightened, which made Li Longji very anxious.

But Gao Xianzhi was secretly happy. The arrival of heavy rain was a timely manner, which made God open his eyes and helped him a lot. In order to prevent Li Longji from heading north, he secretly sent his own soldiers to go to the steep mountain road ahead overnight in the heavy rain to carry out secret operations.

In the afternoon, the rain finally stopped, and a ray of sunlight shone out from the clouds, sprinkling the heat again into the Zhongnan Valley. The hot air steeped in, and the cool weather just now became stuffy again.

But Li Longji was in a good mood. He didn't even need to notify Gao Xianzhi, so he issued an order directly, "The whole army accelerated and arrived in Zhanwu County the next afternoon."

At this moment, Gao Xianzhi hurried over and reported, "Your Majesty, I have urgent information!"

"What's up?"

"The scout sent by me just came to report that a landslide occurred twenty miles ahead, and a large number of huge rocks and mud blocked the road, making it difficult for the army to move forward."

This news once again casts the clear mood of Li Longji's heart on the clouds, which makes him feel very depressed. After a while, he asked: "How much time does the road block have to be? How long does it take to clean it up?"

"Your Majesty, because the road is very narrow, it can only accommodate a hundred people for cleaning. According to the scouts, it will take a hundred people for three days to clean the road before it can open. It is not known whether there are similar muds and stones blocking the road ahead."

Li Longji pondered for a long time, then looked at Guo Ziyi suspiciously, and then said to Yang Guozhong behind him: "Since it's only twenty miles, my dear, let's go and take a look with me!"

Yang Guozhong quickly bowed and said, "Abide by the order, I will accompany Your Majesty."

Gao Xianzhi did not dare to delay and immediately arranged a team of thousands of soldiers to escort Li Longji and Yang Guozhong to inspect the disaster. The mountain road was slippery and difficult to walk. Li Longji got on the slide rod and asked the soldiers to carry him to the landslide. Yang Guozhong followed behind, walking deep and shallow, and he fell to the ground twice, covered in mud and water, and was in a mess. He cursed all the way. After walking for more than an hour, he finally arrived at the valley landslide. This was a narrow mountain passage, which could only accommodate three people in parallel. This narrow road was three miles long.

Just in the middle of the mountain road, there was indeed a large amount of mud filled the road. The road was more than twenty meters long. Hundreds of huge rocks rolled down from the top of the mountain and were blocking tightly in the mountain road. More than a hundred soldiers sent by Gao Xianzhi were cleaning it. Li Longji watched for a long time and the situation was even worse than what Gao Xianzhi said. This landslide might not be cleaned up for three days, not to mention that there might be mud and stones blocking the road ahead.

"Your Majesty, what should I do?" Yang Guozhong asked in a low voice.

Li Longji sighed and said, "So what can I do? Since God does not let me enter Guanzhong, I can only obey God's will. Go back!"

Because the grain road was cut off, the Jiannan Army's food and grass could only support it for another four days. Li Longji had no choice but to order the withdrawal of troops. That afternoon, more than 90,000 Jiannan Army retreated to Hanzhong.

On the same day that Li Longji withdrew his troops, Geshuhan's army on Baoxie Road also withdrew to the south, but their withdrawal seemed very sad. Many Longyou soldiers in the army cried loudly. This time they went south, I don't know when they would return to Longyou to reunite with their families.

The sadness shed tears, so that thousands of soldiers of the army escaped halfway and fled back to Longyou.

In early July of the first year of Zhenzhi, due to the Guanzhong army's surprise attack on Hanzhong, Li Longji's army was forced to retreat south, and the army returned to Hanzhong. Li Longji appointed Guo Yingyi, the prefect of Liangzhou, as the governor of Hanzhong, and led 20,000 troops to guard Hanzhong. He immediately led a large army into Bashu. In August, Li Longji arrived in Chengdu and officially established a new imperial court in Chengdu. He appointed Yang Guozhong as the right prime minister and the minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Chen Xilie was the minister of the left prime minister and the minister of war, Cui Yuan, the prefect of Yizhou, as the minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Yang Shenjin was the minister of justice, and Li Yi, the prefect of Shuzhou, as the minister of the Ministry of Rites. These five people were the minister of the same Zhongshu and formed the political affairs hall.

Gao Xianzhi was still the Prince of Annan County and the Jiedushi of Jiannan. He was also granted the title of Yitong Sansi of Kaifu. Geshuhan was renamed the title of Prince of Lianghu County and the Jiedushi of Jiangnan West Road. He was also granted the title of Yitong Sansi of Kaifu. In addition, Li Longji also granted the title of King Jing Li Mao as the Taiwei, and granted the title of King Wu Li Lin as the Taibao, and ordered the two to come to Sichuan to meet.
Chapter completed!