Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 991 – Tong Pass Is Lost, Your Majesty Run!
Tianbao 14th year, 11th month, 9th day, An Lushan, who was the Jiedushi of Fanyang, Pinglu and Hebei activated the Tang troops under him; he had a total of 150 thousand soldiers. In the name of protecting the country, he started an uprising in Fanyang.
The elite cavalry under him galloped thousands of miles, the rumbling shaking the earth.
They were peaceful for a long time, and the civilians had not seen war in a few generations. Hearing that there was an uprising in Fanyang, they were shocked. Hebei was under the jurisdiction of An Lushan, so the local counties either opened their gates or fled. The rebels quickly took control of Hebei.
11th month, 15th day, Tang Xuanzong appointed Anxi Jiedushi Feng Changping as the Fanyang and Pinglu Jiedushi to defend Louyang. He also appointed Rongwang Liwan as the commander and Gao Xianzhi as the deputy to go on an expedition in the east. At the same time, he sent Bi Sichen east toward Luoyang to recruit troops.
The elite border troops of the Tang Dynasty had not rushed back so the troops that Feng Changping and Gao Xianzhi recruited in Chang An and Luoyang were city kids that lacked combat experience and were untrained.
Although the An Lushan army faced obstruction along the way, it still managed to attack Luoyang on the 12th month, 12day.
Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi backed off into Tong Pass and were looking to defend it. Who knew that Tang Zongxian would listen to the words of the officials and execute them for losing discipline and causing troops to die?
Tianbao 15th year, 1st month, An Lushan announced the start of the Great Yan empire in Luoyang.
After Tang Xuanzong executed Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, he appointed Longshi Jiedushi Ge Shuhan, who was sick, as the deputy commander to lead 200 thousand troops to defend Tong Pass. Tong Pass was located at a great geographical location, and it was easy to defend but hard to attack. After Ge Shuhan entered Tong Pass, he immediately strengthened the defenses, deepening the moats and making the walls higher.
Tianbao 15th year, An Lushan appointed his son An Qingxu to lead troops to attack Tong Pass but was forced back by Ge Shuhan. The An army was blocked outside Tong Pass for numerous days and could not proceed west.
An Lushan, seeing that forcefully attacking was not a feasible plan, ordered Cui Ganyou to lead the weak and old soldiers to camp in Xia Prefecture while he led the elite forces to hide to draw Ge Shuhan out to battle.
5th month, when Tang Xuanzong got the news that Cui Ganyou’s troops were less than four thousand in number, he ordered Ge Shuhan to send troops to reclaim Xia Prefecture.
Ge Shuhan immediately sent a letter to Tang Xuanzong, “An Lushan is really experienced and starting a rebellion, he would obviously be prepared. He is definitely using his old and weak troops to tempt us. If we advance, we would be falling for his tricks. Furthermore, the rebels are on an expedition and their advantage lies in their speed. Our troops can use the Tong Pass and our advantage is in defense. The rebels are heartless, and they will lose the people’s sentiment. Very quickly, they will have internal chaos. It would not be too late to strike then.”
At the same time, Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi attacked Shi Siming in Hebei and won a few wars, proceeding really smoothly. Both of them similarly felt that they should defend Tong Pass and not strike out. They supported leading the troops north to take down Fanyang to cause the rebel army to collapse internally.
However, minister Yang Guozhong suspected that Ge Shuhan was plotting something, telling Tang Xuanzong, “Ge Shuhan not acting would make us lose the opportunity.”
Tang Xuanzong believed his words, and he did not bother about the plans of Guo and Li and sent letters to force Ge Shuhan to fight.
Ge Shuhan was helpless, and he was forced to do as said.
With what happened to Feng Changqing and Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan was forced to send troops out on the 6th month, 4th day. On the 7th, he met the forces of Cui Ganyou on the Lingbao West plains.
The south of Lingbao was lying on a mountain, the north was the Yellow River, and in the middle was a 70 mile narrow mountain path. Cui Ganyou placed his elite troops on the south mountain and led his troops to fight with the Tang Army on the 8th day.
The Tang army had 50 thousand men led by Wang Sili at the front, and 100 thousand led by Pang Zong at the back. The Tang Army also had 30 thousand troops that were sent to the north shore of the Yellow River to help.
As the two armies engaged, the Tang army saw that the rebels were not organized and were fleeing, so they chased for the victory, which led them into a valley. The rebel troops lying in wait threw down rolling stones and wood onto the Tang Army that had all gathered on the small mountain path, so most of the troops suffered casualties.
Ge Shuhan ordered the chariots to charge at the front to try to open a path. However, the rebels used flames to burn the straw chariots, blocking up the path. The Tang army was blinded by the smoke and randomly shot arrows until they ran out. Only then did they realized that they had fallen for a trap.
At that moment, Cui Ganyou ordered the Tongluo elite cavalry to attack from a canyon on the south side. The Tang army being pincered in from the front and the back was in chaos. Some abandoned their armor and fell into the valley, while some were squeezed into the Yellow River and drowned.
When the back troops saw that the front troops had lost, their morale was crushed before they even began fighting. The Tang army on the north shore of Yellow River also retreated upon noticing the bad situation. Out of the 200 thousand Tang army, only eight thousand fled back to Tong Pass.
9th day, Cui Ganyou attacked Tong Pass.
Ge Shuhan was forced by his men to surrender to An Lushan.
This battle was a typical ambush battle in Chinese war history. Tang Xuanzong misread the situation, rejecting the idea of defending the pass in a battle of attrition and instead chose to counterattack. In the end it was a lose-lose scenario that caused the rebellion situation to get worse.
Cui Ganyou tempted the Tang army out to battle by hiding their elites, hereby obtaining the victory.
Learning that Tong Pass had fallen, Chang An was in chaos. Only one to two people attended the assembly out of hundreds of officials. When Tang Xuanzong said that he wanted to personally lead troops, no one believed him.
In the end, he brought Guifei, the prince, his grandchildren, Yang Guozhong, Wei Fang Jing, and Chen Xuanli to escape toward the Shu Lands under the protection of his guards.
What happened next was the mutiny of Maweiyi.
The Battle of Tong Pass was a crucial turning point of the An Lushan Rebellion. If they were still at Tong Pass, Ouyang Shuo would have a 90% confidence in winning this war. If not, he would be facing a huge problem.
…
Outside of Chang An city, Ouyang Shuo met up with Feng Qiuhuang, and a System Notification sounded out.
“Battle Notification: An Lushan Rebellion, a total of eight Lords participating, overall 450 thousand troops. Two Lords in the Tang Dynasty camp, 150 thousand men; An Lushan Camp six Lords, 300 thousand men.”
…
“Battle Notification: Due to numerical disadvantage, based on Battle Map rules, Tang Dynasty camp obtains a 50% defense buff.”
…
As the Tang Dynasty camp had only half the number of the An Lushan camp, the Tang Dynasty camp received a sizeable buff.
“Battle Notification: Based on rank and merit points, Tang Dynasty player representative is Qiyue Wuyi, prince. Ah Lushan camp representative is Di Chen, 1st class Marquis.”
…
Although he had gained the merit talisman, Di Chen should be still a little bit away from the Duke rank. Who knows whether he would be able to reach it after the Battle Map ended or not.
If that happened, the China region would soon welcome its second dynasty.
Ouyang Shuo quashed his thoughts and found the military officer to register. Following which, he asked, “General, where are the rebels, do we still have Tong Pass?”
“Tong Pass has been lost. You two came just in time to assist us.” The reply astonished Ouyang Shuo and Feng Qiuhuang.
Feng Qiuhuang said half-jokingly, “Damn, we are going to lose to them this time. Why don’t we lead our troops into the mountains to tide out till the end of the battle.”
Hearing her words, Ouyang Shuo did not react. Instead, it was the general’s face that changed.
Ouyang Shuo smiled at the general, “Do not worry. Since we are here, we will not leave. Help me tell the palace that I’ll enter the palace to meet his majesty soon.”
“Yes!”
Seeing Feng Qiuhuang’s confused look, Ouyang Shuo smiled and said, “Let’s go to the tent to discuss.”
The timing of the battle was really unexpected. After Chang An fell, they did stop the rebellion, but that was years after.
The difference between the Battle Map and history was the existence of players.
An Lushan had 300 thousand Yanhuang Alliance troops. Would they be swallowed by the various Tang Dynasty Juedushi like in history? They might not.
With Di Chen there, An Lushan’s son An Qingxu trying to kill his dad and in turn causing chaos in the An Lushan camp would not happen.
The entire situation was really bad for the Tang Dynasty camp.
Returning to the tent, Ouyang Shuo said to Feng Qiuhuang, “Gaia would not arrange us a dead end. It seems impossible because we have not found the key to breaking the situation.”
“But Tong Pass has already fallen, and the enemy would reach Chang An soon. We do not have much time left.” Feng Qiuhuang was still pessimistic.
Ouyang Shuo smiled, “Do not worry, I will go see the legendary Tang Xuanzong, and we will see when I come back.”
“Okay.”
After Feng Qiuhuang left, Ouyang Shuo said to Pang Tong, “How we break this situation depends on you.”
During this trip, Ouyang Shuo did not bring Jia Xu along. Instead, he brought the newbie Pang Tong. Naturally, he wanted to give Pang Tong a chance to shine so that he could stand up in the Administrative Mentor Court.
Ouyang Shuo had understood how to use people.
“Do not worry my king, I will not fail you.” Pang Tong was filled with pride. Since he changed sides from Shu Han to Great Xia and entered the Administrative Mentor Court that was filled with strategists, he had naturally wanted to perform.
Within the Administrative Mentor Court, apart from Zhang Liang, Jia Xu, Jushou, and Chen Gong were all from the same era as him.
Before leaving, Pang Tong suddenly said, “My king, after you meet Xuanzong, find time to see the prince Li Xiang.”
Ouyang Shuo was stunned, and a smiled appeared at the corner of his mouth.
For Pang Tong to say that proved that in the three days of preparation time, he had done a lot of work for this battle. His loyalty was commendable, so Ouyang Shuo was naturally touched by it.
“Who knows whether I’ll be able to meet the legendary Yang Guifei or not?” Looking at the tall city walls, Ouyang Shuo exclaimed.
