Chapter 38: Li Er Driven to Madness, I Shall Lead the Campaign Myself!
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Even some scholars who knew nothing of military strategy understood what an army of one hundred and fifty thousand meant.
And Li Longji had actually handed it over just like that? Had all the brains in his head gone missing?
What was more, he had given away strategic strongholds, provisions, troops, and money—everything necessary for rebellion. Every condition was in place.
If An Lushan did not rebel after this, then something truly supernatural must be going on!
…
During the Kaiyuan era of the Great Tang.
By now, even a fool like Li Longji knew that Yang Yuhuan and An Lushan were up to no good.
And they had not returned for an entire night!
Connecting everything that had happened recently, Li Longji wanted nothing more than to curse himself. The two of them had joined forces to deceive him.
They had deceived him so thoroughly!
He stared coldly at Yang Yuhuan beside him. Looking again at that peerlessly beautiful face, he could not help thinking of that swine, An Lushan.
The more he looked, the more disgusted he felt!
Yang Yuhuan tugged at the hem of Li Longji’s robe and sobbed, “Your Majesty… Your Majesty, you must believe me! How could I possibly have anything to do with An Lushan?”
“I am his imperial mother, after all!”
Li Longji let out a cold laugh. “Imperial mother? Do you know that those foreign tribesmen even marry their own mothers?”
“I have no time to deal with this matter now. Once I capture An Lushan, the truth will come to light.”
He turned to the eunuch beside him and ordered, “Send an eight-hundred-li emergency dispatch. Command An Lushan to surrender his military authority and return to Chang’an at once!”
The young eunuch grimaced. “Your Majesty… Now that the heavenly projection has exposed everything, how could a traitor like An Lushan willingly submit?”
Li Longji glared at him. “I told you to do it, so go and do it. Why are you talking so much?”
At that moment, he still could not believe that An Lushan would truly dare to rebel against him.
…
Meanwhile, the moment An Lushan saw the heavenly projection reveal his affair with Yang Yuhuan, as well as the coming An Lushan Rebellion, he began gathering his forces and preparing to revolt!
The military camp was now packed with men. A murderous air permeated the entire camp, and beside the great banner hung the heads of two imperial envoys.
Damn it! Yang Guozhong would not let him live, and now Li Longji had come to make trouble as well. Fine, then—let them fight!
If he was not allowed to live, then no one else would live either!
He had not only assembled the forces of the three military commands, totaling one hundred and eighty-five thousand men, but his deputy, Shi Siming, had also allied with the Khitans and other foreign tribes. They publicly claimed to command an army of two hundred thousand.
Standing before the army, An Lushan spoke in a deep voice, “All of you should be able to see the decay hidden beneath the Great Tang’s prosperity these past years. It is all because those petty villains in the imperial court have deceived His Majesty!”
“I, An Lushan, have received a secret edict from His Majesty and am acting under imperial orders to suppress the traitors! Follow me in purging the Emperor’s court and executing Yang Guozhong!”
Beside him, Deputy General Shi Siming wore an expression of righteous indignation, as though deeply concerned for the nation and its people. “Kill! Kill the villains! Purge the Emperor’s court!”
The two of them had been plotting the An Lushan Rebellion for a long time. Now, it had merely erupted ahead of schedule.
Since they had been exposed and could no longer survive, they might as well fight to the bitter end!
…
Far away in Chang’an, Li Longji was still thinking about how to reclaim military authority and what to do with An Lushan.
At that moment, the images on the heavenly projection began changing rapidly.
Clearly, they were scenes from the An Lushan Rebellion.
Because the Great Tang was enjoying an age of prosperity, the nation had fallen into the dangerous state of forgetting that neglecting war invited calamity. Leading his Wolf Fang Legion, An Lushan swept forward with unstoppable momentum, advancing straight toward Luoyang.
Smoke from burning beacons rose everywhere. The people fled in all directions, dragging their families behind them. Cries, shouts, and the thunder of hooves intertwined in utter chaos.
Mounted on a tall horse, An Lushan’s eyes blazed with ambition and madness. Wherever his army passed, nothing was left but devastation.
Beneath the heavenly projection—
The Great Tang.
When Li Er saw the scene, his heart bled.
The glory of the prosperous age that had appeared moments earlier was now buried beneath a living hell. He was consumed by fury.
“An Lushan! I swear I will exterminate your entire clan!”
…
“Feng Changqing recruited troops in Luoyang to resist An Lushan’s rebel army. Because his forces were vastly outnumbered and his soldiers were untrained, he suffered defeat after defeat and was forced to abandon Luoyang.”
“Gao Xianzhi originally stationed his troops in Shaanjun. After joining forces with Feng Changqing, he analyzed the situation and decided to retreat to Tong Pass.”
“The supervising eunuch Bian Lingcheng had repeatedly interfered in military affairs and demanded bribes from Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing. After they refused him, he harbored a grudge.”
“When he returned to court to report on the situation, he falsely accused Feng Changqing of exaggerating the strength of the rebels and undermining military morale. He also claimed that Gao Xianzhi had abandoned hundreds of miles of territory and stolen from the soldiers’ provisions, wages, and rewards.”
“Emperor Xuanzong of Tang believed Bian Lingcheng’s slander. In January of 756, he sent Bian Lingcheng to the army to execute the two men.”
“Before his death, Feng Changqing submitted a memorial stating that he had failed to suppress the rebellion and would accept death without complaint. He hoped only that Emperor Xuanzong would not underestimate the enemy.”
“Gao Xianzhi, meanwhile, loudly protested his innocence. He admitted that retreating his troops was a crime, but insisted that he had never stolen military provisions or imperial rewards. In the end, he was beheaded together with Feng Changqing.”
“Two renowned generals of the Great Tang died unjustly because of Li Longji’s interference. Li Longji was the true culprit behind the An Lushan Rebellion!”
The images on the heavenly projection continued.
An Lushan’s forces breached Luoyang, burning, killing, looting, and committing every imaginable atrocity.
Luoyang was reduced to ruins. Its former splendor vanished without a trace.
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When Li Er saw this, he could restrain himself no longer.
With a resounding crash, he slammed his fist onto the table.
“Guards! Bring me my bow! Bring me my armor!” Li Er roared, his eyes bloodshot.
“I will personally lead the campaign!”
The ministers around him immediately fell to their knees and tried to dissuade him.
“Your Majesty, you must not! You are now the Son of Heaven. How could you personally place yourself in danger again?”
Li Er glared at them, the veins in his neck bulging.
“You expect me to sit here and watch that An Lushan ravage this magnificent realm, watching the people suffer? How could I possibly remain seated?”
“I conquered this Great Tang with my own hands back then. I can certainly destroy this rebel now!”
Then his thoughts entered the group chat.
Li Er of the Great Tang: “Li Longji, you unfilial descendant! Get out here and face me!”
The Profoundly Mysterious Li Longji: “Emperor Taizong… An Lushan has rebelled!”
The First Emperor of Great Qin: “You only realize it now? Tell me, how can you be so hopelessly stupid?”
A Broken Bowl: “It serves you right that he rebelled! You are a complete and utter fool. With a great war about to begin, you executed your own generals!”
The Yongle Emperor: “What a tragedy—the twin stars of the Great Tang’s military did not die at the hands of their enemies on the battlefield, but at the hands of their own countrymen!”
The emperors of the various dynasties were all enraged by Li Longji’s astonishing blunders.
One after another, they cursed him furiously. The more they had admired him during the prosperous age shown earlier, the more they hated him now.
Li Er of the Great Tang: “Gather every available soldier at once. When this video finishes playing, I will descend personally. I will show you what it means to be the Supreme General of Heavenly Strategy!”
The Profoundly Mysterious Li Longji: “Understood… I will certainly handle this properly, Emperor Taizong… Please save the Great Tang!”
During the Kaiyuan era of the Great Tang.
Li Longji finally felt somewhat reassured. Before his eight-hundred-li emergency dispatch had even been sent, he received a secret report that An Lushan had rebelled.
At that moment, he felt as though the sky had collapsed.
But now everything was fine. Emperor Taizong was coming in person. A mere An Lushan would be dealt with effortlessly.
“Guards! Mobilize every available force in the Great Tang and concentrate them in Luoyang!”
“I want Luoyang fortified like an impregnable fortress!”
…
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