The bloody battle of Juyongguan shocked the world.
When Li Keyong of Jinyang heard the news, he looked toward the north in a trance, and after a long while he exclaimed, "Brave!"
Upon receiving the news, Zhu Quanzhong of Bianzhou suddenly ordered an all-out attack on the Caizhou bandits, shouting: "General, you have a sword to wipe out the Di barbarians, why should we be afraid that we will not get rid of the bandits."
After listening to his subordinates' report, Yang Xingmi of Yangzhou suddenly stood up and shouted, "What a heroic hero! What a heroic Zhu Li!"
When the Tang court received the victory news, the whole hall was speechless. Many ministers and generals looked at Tian Lingzi with particularly unfriendly eyes. The bloody battle of Juyong demonstrated the spirit of the entire Chinese nation. As long as it could save the people from dire straits, all the soldiers in the city would rather die.
... ...
In this battle, nearly 40,000 Tang soldiers were killed and more than 70,000 Di people were annihilated. In seven days, more than 100,000 men from both sides were buried in the pass. It was hard not to attract attention.
After the war, for half a month, neither Di nor I made any rash moves, and we all licked our wounds in silence.
More than half of the 30,000 guards of the Zhenyuan Army were killed in the battle; the Qingyi Army was crippled, and the Weiwu Army stationed in Juyongguan was also crippled; the reinforcements from Shuozhou and the guards of Beikou suffered losses, comparable to those of the Zhenyuan Army.
On the city gate, Zhu Li stood on one side of the battlement and asked Yue Pengju beside him with a tired face: "In order to rescue more than 17,000 civilians, we paid the lives of nearly 40,000 elite soldiers. Is this right or wrong?"
Yue Pengju did not respond for a long time after hearing this. After a long while, he said, "If we only consider the number of lives, we may be wrong. We have exchanged more for less and suffered a great loss."
"But from the perspective of morality, duty, and obligation, as long as we can save one civilian, even if the entire army fights to the last soldier, we have no choice but to do it."
He spoke passionately and with extraordinary determination.
Zhang Guimou, who was standing next to him, no longer had the ease and yearning for war on his face. Instead, there was only a deep solemnity, which was a reverence for the unyielding heroic souls and mourning for his deceased brothers.
Zhu Li was in a depressed mood during this period and didn't want to care about many things. He was always obsessed with the sacrifice of 40,000 guards, and was wandering in self-blame and pain. Many things were taken care of by Zhang Guimou and Li Hanzhi.
At this time, he seemed to have thought of something, and took the opportunity of Zhu Li's opening words to interrupt and say: "General, Chang'an has sent an imperial edict. General Pengju and the Gao brothers defended Juyong Pass to the death, and made contributions to Lulong and the country."
"After the efforts of the court officials, the court not only rehabilitated us, but also ordered the general to be the general of Huaihua, the Marquis of Guanjun, and command the guards of Daishuo and Lulong to fight against the Di people and make sure they are kept out of the country."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Li showed no surprise at all. This was the way the court was at the end of the Tang Dynasty. When you were useful, you would be promoted. When you were useless, you would be thrown aside. It was not uncommon for your entire family to be exterminated if there was even a disagreement.
At present, Tian Lingzi's brother Chen Jing is busy resisting the attacks of Li Sigong and Yang Shili; Henan Xuanwu Jiedushi Zhu Quanzhong is concentrating on dealing with Caizhou thief Qin Zongquan; Hedong Li Keyong, with Han Jin as the commander, is attacking Meng Fangli with all his strength, and so on.
Looking around, in the entire Tang Dynasty, except for Zhu Li, who was called a rebel and led the army to resist the invasion of the Di people, everyone else seemed to be fighting among themselves.
At this time, Guo Qizuo and Guo Chongtao of Shuozhou wrote a letter to defend themselves, claiming that they had long seen that Li Sigong was an eagle and a wolf.
Gu knew that it would cause trouble to the local people sooner or later, so we had to capture Hetao as soon as possible to cut off its retreat.
Any discerning person can see that this self-defense is nonsense, but it cannot be ignored, because Li Sigong really rebelled and even joined forces with Yang Shili to attack Xichuan. This is irrefutable evidence.
When the Di people invaded, Zhu Li was the only one in the country who led his troops to reinforce. In the bloody battle of Juyongguan, more than 100,000 soldiers died in seven days. This is also ironclad evidence that Zhu Li was a loyal minister who cared about the country and did not care about his personal honor or disgrace.
At this time, even Tian Lingzi had nothing to say. You said that Zhu Li attacked other vassal states without authorization, and people admitted that it was because they had predicted that Li Sigong would definitely rebel, so they did so. This is called long-term vision.
Did Li Sigong rebel? He had already rebelled, and he beat Chen Jing so hard that he couldn't breathe. What else could Tian Lingzi say? Chen Jing was his own brother.
Zhu Li's label of traitor was finally removed after the bloody battle of Juyongguan.
But he couldn't be happy now. Forty thousand elite soldiers were lost in one battle, which was the battle with the greatest loss Zhu Li had ever experienced. Moreover, these people died under his call. He felt very guilty.
Seeing this expression, Yue Pengju and Zhang Guimou looked at each other helplessly, sad and heartbroken. This kind of emotion can only be overcome by one's own efforts. The advice of others can only be auxiliary and cannot play a leading role.
At this moment, a ghost guard, led by Li Hanzhi, hurried over. The "tram, tramp, tramp..." footsteps were very harsh and attracted the attention of the three people.
Zhu Li turned around and looked at Li Hanzhi. Li Hanzhi looked solemn and said, "General, this brother has important news to report. He insists on meeting you in person."
Zhu Li heard this and looked at the ghost guard. When the ghost guard saw Zhu Li looking at him, he immediately knelt on one knee and said, "My name is Xu Heitu. I am here to greet you, General. I have received an urgent secret report and must report it to you immediately."
After saying that, the ghost guard named Xu Heitu handed over a letter with both hands. Zhu Li took it in his hands puzzled, opened the seal, and started reading it on the spot.
After a while, his face turned a little blue, his voice turned cold, and he asked Yue Pengju: "In addition to the Zhenyuan Army and the Weiwu Army, does Tanzhou also have a palace guard called the Xiongwu Army?"
Upon hearing this, Yue Pengju looked suspicious and said, "General, the Xiongwu Army is not under the jurisdiction of Danzhou, but Jizhou. What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
"Who is the general of the Xiongwu Army?" Zhu Li did not respond, but asked anxiously.
Yue Pengju seemed to smell an ominous atmosphere and hurriedly said, "The Xiongwu Army is controlled by the Yan brothers. The Yan family is a big family in Jizhou. The eldest brother is named Yan Yun and the second brother is named Yan Xiao."
"Send a fast horse to inform the Yan brothers immediately and return to Fan Yang for support." Zhu Li looked anxious and did not allow any doubt.
Yue Pengju seemed to sense something was wrong, and hurriedly called over his trusted general, handed his seal to him, and asked him to take the seal to meet the Yan brothers and ask them to return to Fan Yang for help.
After doing all this, he turned around and looked at Zhu Li in confusion, asking, "General, what happened?"
Zhu Li's face was ugly, and he said in a hoarse voice: "With a powerful enemy at hand, these people don't think about defending their country, but are actually thinking about fighting for power and profit. I really don't know if they are still human."
As soon as these words came out,
Yue Pengju was stunned for a moment, and immediately asked anxiously: "General, could it be that Li Quanzhong is rebelling?"
Zhu Li heard this and said in a hoarse voice with an unpleasant expression, "After the battle, the Di people have not made any moves, but secretly, Xi commander Xia La Ge's troops have already quietly headed for Xifengkou. I don't know how he managed to convince Li Kuangwei after several days of negotiations."
"Li Kuangwei not only did not stop the Xi people from entering the pass, but led them straight to attack Fanyang. If my prediction is correct, I'm afraid they are about to enter Youzhou now."
He didn't understand why there were always traitors in the Chinese nation throughout the dynasties. What were these people thinking? Was it really true that the land and water nurtured millions of different kinds of people, and that there were all kinds of birds in the forest
These people are full of selfish desires and never consider the overall situation.
Where is the character and integrity of the Han people
At this moment, Zhu Li suddenly felt that many of his proud clan members seemed very strange. They were cold, cruel, and even scary.
Zhu Li's face was uncertain, and Yue Pengju said at the right time: "Since Li Kuangwei has made a move, we must immediately control the brothers Gao Siji and Gao Mian; in addition, we must immediately deal with the Di people outside the city before we can lead troops back to support."
Zhu Li narrowed his eyes and said, "Don't alert the enemy now. Block the news immediately. Tomorrow morning, I will lead my guards, together with brothers Gao Siji and Gao Mian, to integrate all the Yue cavalry and attack the enemy camp. I will take the opportunity to lead them north to Guishui. During this time, you must lead the bow guards and palace guards to set up an ambush in the Qingliang Valley area of Jundu Mountain. At that time, I will lead the pursuing Di people into the ambush. By then, it will be up to you to kill as many as you can."
Zhu Li had no good feelings towards these Di people and wished they would all die.
Upon hearing this, Yue Pengju's face changed and he immediately said, "General, why do you have to take the risk yourself? I can go ahead and lure the enemy. I dare not trouble you to take the risk yourself."
Zhu Li glanced at him and said solemnly, "There are several powerful generals among the Di people. I believe you will not lose to them in terms of force alone. However, if you are entangled by them, it is very likely that all of these 10,000 Yue cavalry will be buried outside the pass."
"Xiala Ge led his troops eastward and has entered the pass. The Di people outside the city are now less than 100,000 at most. I will not get entangled with them. I will run away as soon as I get close to them and take the opportunity to wreak havoc and set fire to them."
At this point, Zhu Li's expression became more solemn, and he continued, "To set up an ambush in Qingliang Valley, you must use a very short time to build a high platform at the end of the ambush site, with both sides allowing two horses to pass through."
"Our safety depends entirely on the platform. To avoid accidental injuries, I will lead the Yue cavalry to hide behind the platform and block the entrance. I will use arrows as a signal to notify you to be ready, and then you can shoot and kill with all your might."
Upon hearing this, Yue Pengju carefully took note of Zhu Li's instructions while looking at the other party helplessly.
Zhu Li was right. Attacking the camp was no joke. As long as the main commander was entangled, the army would most likely be delayed. With only tens of thousands of Yue cavalry facing over a hundred thousand enemy cavalry, their destruction was almost certain.
Therefore, the commander who attacks the camp and lures the enemy had better be highly skilled in martial arts, or at least not allow the enemy to entangle him. In Juyong Pass, there is really no better candidate than Zhu Li for such a person.