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Recruiting Ma Sui is not a big deal for Gu Qing. In his eyes, Ma Sui and the two thousand soldiers under his command are just a civilian armed force with negligible combat power. The real gain is Ma Sui.

To be able to train a ragtag group of peasant refugees to this level within half a year, Ma Sui's general skills are actually very good, and his extraordinary ability can be seen from the layout of his ambush in the mountain stream and the construction of the fortress.

After being collected and surrendered, and giving Ma Sui a strong killing blow in front of the soldiers, Gu Qing ordered the troops to withdraw, taking away all the useful things in the fort, along with the surrendered soldiers, and returned to the Anxi Army Headquarters.

camp.

Ma Sui was still a little reluctant to surrender, and he was also a little unconvinced by Gu Qing. It didn't matter, Gu Qing would use his time to tell him what would happen if he was unconvinced by the commander of the First Army.

"Are there many local coalition troops in the southern states?"

On the way back to the camp, Gu Qing asked Ma Sui thoughtfully.

Ma Sui was beaten with a military stick, and his body was so painful that he could not ride on the horse. He gritted his teeth and stepped on the stirrups, half squatting and half standing, standing on the saddle with difficulty. Hearing this, he said: "After An Lushan rebelled, the states of the Tang Dynasty

Everyone is in danger. Before Chang'an was lost, the emperor issued an edict, allowing the governors of various states to form local unity troops to prepare for the enemy. Some governors and county magistrates followed the order and recruited local young men to form unity troops. The number could be thousands.

As few as hundreds..."

Gu Qing glanced at him and said, "Did you recruit your united soldiers by yourself or by the instructions of the Suizhou governor?"

"The governor of Suizhou recruited hundreds of Tuanjie soldiers according to the order. Later, he heard that the Anxi army had annihilated 100,000 foreign troops in Yingshui, and the Anlushan rebels did not dare to go south, so the Suizhou governor dismissed the Tuanjie soldiers. After all, the government supported Tuanjie.

The soldiers will have to spend a lot of money and food, so it is better to save this expenditure. I recruited the two thousand people under the general's command myself."

Gu Qing sighed and said: "Don't think about danger when you are in peace, and you will regret it when disaster strikes."

Ma Sui hesitated for a moment and said: "It is all thanks to the Lord and the Anxi Army that the southern part of the Tang Dynasty was not devastated by the war, and the officials and people could still live and work in peace and contentment without being abused by the rebels."

Gu Qing glanced at him again and said, "I heard that you spoke ill of me behind my back and said that I am a deceitful person?"

Ma Sui lowered his head and said: "The general did not know the inside story and talked nonsense. Only today did he realize his absurdity. Please forgive me, sir."

Gu Qing smiled and said: "If I were such a magnanimous person, I would still be running an army and fighting wars. Of course, those who say bad things about me will be brutally retaliated against. Otherwise, there will be more and more people saying bad things about me. General Ma, wait.

Bar."

Ma Sui looked at him in shock.

Is the rumored Mr. Gu actually this kind of person? He promised to love the soldiers like a son and run the army well? He doesn't play his cards according to the routine.

Ma Sui didn't say anything for a long time, but Gu Qing said: "Who gave you the shameless official position of 'General Zhengbei'?"

Ma Sui suddenly showed a look of astonishment: "The general will recruit the united troops, and plans to go north to fight against the rebels after becoming stronger. Naturally, he needs a legitimate official position. As the current situation is in turmoil, the general will appoint an official himself..."

"Hurry up and burn your broken flags. It's not enough to embarrass you. What's the name of 'General of the Northern Conquest'? The imperial court has never granted such an official position. I'll go over to His Highness the Crown Prince and give you a captaincy. If you are on the battlefield,

If you perform meritorious service, you will have the opportunity to be awarded the title of General. If you never mention the Great General of the Conquest of the North or anything like that in the future, it will make me unable to hold my head high, which is too embarrassing."

The words left Ma Sui bruised all over his body, and he lowered his head and said desolately: "...Yes."

Gu Qing sneered, he had gained a new famous general, but he should not be spoiled. In order for him to quickly integrate into the Anxi Army group, he must be constantly trained, beaten and retaliated against him. Otherwise, how can he feel the warmth of home?

When the march came out of Taibaiding, a horse on horseback came from the foot of the mountain.

The horse galloped in front of Gu Qing, and the knight immediately clasped his fists and said: "My lord, Mr. Duan from the Daying camp asked your lord to come back quickly. Mr. Duan said that there is an urgent military situation in Chang'an City."

Gu Qing's eyes narrowed. Could the urgent military situation in Chang'an City be related to Feng Yu?

"The whole army marches urgently, quickly!"

…………

Chang'an City.

After the rebels occupied Chang'an City, they did not do much damage to the former capital of the Tang Dynasty. After all, this was the place where An Lushan was about to proclaim himself emperor. It was already the rebels' own city, and they could not bear to destroy it.

Not only did the rebels not destroy the city, they also did not cause too much trouble to the scholars and people in the city. Chang'an City basically maintained its original appearance. Shops in the east and west cities still opened for business every day, and the traffickers and merchants were still running around for a living.

There is still an endless stream of barbarian caravans entering and exiting the city gate every day.

The difference is that due to the war, the prices of goods in Chang'an City have risen a lot, which has caused unrest among the people. An Lushan really regards the people of Chang'an City as his own subjects, and even issued a ban on food price increases.

ban, and publicly executed several unscrupulous businessmen who took advantage of the chaos to raise prices, temporarily suppressing food prices.

After occupying Chang'an City, An Lushan, who was in charge of his own affairs and had ambitions to become emperor, did issue several decrees that could be regarded as good governance.

Many of the rich and powerful mansions on both sides of Zhuque Street were empty. The powerful and powerful people fled in panic with Li Longji, leaving behind empty houses occupied by rebel generals. Ironically, more than 300 officials did not leave, or were

Before he could escape, he stayed in Chang'an City and immediately chose to defect to the enemy and became An Lushan's ministers, including Wang Wei.

So now An Lushan has both civil and military officers under his command. Every day when discussing affairs in Xingqing Palace, he sees the palace full of civil servants and military generals, respectfully reporting various military and people's livelihood matters in front of him. An Lushan gradually has a sense of

A sense of self-satisfied vanity.

With great power in his hands and life and death at his disposal, An Lushan's ambition grew wildly.

it's time.

The north has been occupied, Henan and Guanzhong are also in the middle, and half of the Tang Dynasty is in hand. The so-called emperor was beaten by himself and fled in panic. The only resistance in the entire Tang Dynasty was the prince of Lingzhou in Shuofang and Nanfang.

Anxi Army.

With destiny and the general trend tied together, are the remaining two resistance forces still important?

For An Lushan, what is important is the just and legitimate title, the orthodox royal way that obeys the destiny and governs all people, and the court with a king and ministers.

In May of the 15th year of Tianbao, the rebel general Shi Siming took the lead in going to Shu to persuade An Lushan to obey the destiny and become the emperor.

Shi Siming took the lead, and the other generals suddenly woke up from a dream, and hurriedly followed Shangshu to persuade him to advance, and invited An Lushan to ascend the throne.

An Lushan happily prepared to nod in agreement when his counselor Yan Zhuang and Gao Shang hurriedly grabbed him and told him seriously that the new king should not be so impatient when he takes the throne.

Please, and the new king said three words to show his humility, and finally agreed reluctantly. Never agree to anything when others persuade you. If it is spread, it will be the laughingstock of the ages.

An Lushan was very dissatisfied with this violation of rules, but since he had occupied the Central Plains, he had to act according to the rules of the Central Plains. So after his generals went to Shu to persuade him to join, An Lushan flatly refused and reprimanded Shi Siming and other generals with superb acting skills.

, it is rare that at this time, he can still remember his original intention when he rebelled, and reprimanded his generals, saying that he raised the army not to rebel, but to be on the side of the Qing emperor. He An Lushan's loyalty to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty can be seen from the sun, so how can he claim to be arrogant?

Emperor, he will bear eternal infamy.

After the reprimand, other rebel generals were doubtful, but Shi Siming was very clear about An Lushan's ambitions, so he continued to persuade An Lushan to advance unyieldingly.

When the generals saw that Shi Siming continued to persuade him to advance despite An Lushan's rebuke, they all suddenly understood and followed suit.

The second time he went to court, An Lushan once again refused sternly.

This was the third time that Shi Siming and other generals went to Shu to persuade him to join the army. This time Shi Siming hired a group of people from nowhere to serve as caretakers at a high price, and wrote a passionate letter in blood, pleading with An Lushan to comply with the destiny and become the emperor.

Not only that, he also contacted his generals and common people to kneel outside the gate of Xingqing Palace, begging An Lushan to ascend the throne. The momentum was quite spectacular.

This time, An Lushan did not refuse in a hurry. Instead, he sighed up to the sky and said with tears: "It is destiny, so what can I say? I hope the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty will forgive me. I am not a rebel, but it is destiny that people's hearts follow. I can't do it."

If you do not follow the will of heaven, you will temporarily ascend the throne as the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty at the request of your subjects..."

After speaking, An Lushan showed a stern look and said loudly: "If the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty returns to the capital, I will definitely abdicate the throne to him. Heaven and earth can prove it. I will never be greedy for power. I only have a heart for the great power."

Tang’s daring loyalty!”

In the Xingqing Palace, Shi Siming and the generals who persuaded him to enter looked at him speechlessly, watching An Lushan's lips opening and closing, saying these hypocritical and nauseating words, but An Lushan's words were automatically heard by everyone.

Translated into another meaning, "Everyone listen, I will fart for everyone, poof——"

After some hypocritical refusal, An Lushan, like a prostitute disguised as a chaste and martyr woman, coyly announced that she was going to ascend the throne and proclaim herself emperor with the door ajar.

The eunuch official stepped forward tremblingly and calculated the auspiciousness of the zodiac in front of An Lushan and the generals. After some calculations, he calculated that May 26 this year was an auspicious day, and it was appropriate to proclaim himself emperor and bury him with a coffin.

An Lushan did the math and found that this auspicious day was actually three days later, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Happiness comes so suddenly that you don't even have time to assume a submissive posture.

So An Lushan took action and decided that the enthronement ceremony would be held on May 26th. After calculations by his advisor Yan Zhuang and the eunuch officials, he requested that the new dynasty be named "Dayan" and the capital be Chang'an.

An Lushan happily agreed.

Civil and military officials knelt down and worshiped, and the monarch and his ministers were all in joy.

No one noticed that in the celebrating crowd, several pairs of spiteful eyes were staring coldly at the complacent An Lushan, with a strong murderous intent mixed in the jubilant atmosphere.

In the middle of the night.

In the mansion of An Lushan's second son, An Qingxu, several people gathered in a secret room. Under the dim and flickering candle shadow, several people were discussing in low voices.

Feng Yu, who was dressed in a crimson official robe, looked eerie in the candlelight: "Your Highness, the enthronement ceremony of Commander An Jie in three days is a good time to start an uprising. I ask Your Highness to make a quick decision and assassinate Commander An Jie during the enthronement ceremony.
Chapter completed!