Chapter 48: Yang Guozhong's Request

  Chen Xuanli's attitude of sitting and collecting the benefits of the fishing old man is all because Yang Guozhong has been excluding dissidents on the court for years, holding power and causing chaos in the imperial court. It can be said that there are not a few people on the court who hold hostile views towards Yang Guozhong, even wanting to put him to death, but many people are intimidated by Yang Guozhong's tyranny and the emperor's favor, so they dare not speak out. There are also some people who take an attitude of "it doesn't concern me", if Yang Guozhong has not persecuted them or has not conflicted with them, then they will not confront him head-on, treating him as an outsider.

  Just like Chen Xuanli, in the imperial court, because he and Yang Guozhong didn't have much to do with each other, there wasn't a direct conflict of interest. Normally, he wouldn't oppose Yang Guozhong at court meetings. However, when the country was in crisis due to Yang Guozhong's wrong decisions leading to the defeat at Tong Pass, his pent-up anger finally erupted. He publicly criticized Yang Guozhong and later, when Yang Hui led troops to rescue Tong Pass, the Emperor ordered him to lead a relief army to provide urgent reinforcements. Instead, he intentionally delayed, even wanting to "watch the tigers fight from a safe distance" and let Yang Hui suffer a great defeat.

  If Yang Guifei was not in Tongguan without achievements, then Yang Guozhong would definitely be punished by the emperor and the Yang family would slowly decline.

  Yang Guozhong had a bit of an idea about Chen Xuanli's thoughts, or rather he guessed that Chen Xuanli would intentionally drag his feet, so he repeatedly requested Li Longji to issue an imperial edict ordering Chen Xuanli to speed up his progress. Yang Guozhong knew that at this time, any order or request from him was far less effective than the emperor's command, at least when it came to Chen Xuanli.

  Fortunately, the emperor also listened to his opinion and issued several edicts ordering Chen Xuanli to speed up his advance.

  Yang Guozhong also knew that if Chen Xuanli led the army to Tongguan, he would not listen to Yang Hui's orders, and might even make Yang Hui obey his orders, which was something Yang Guozhong could not tolerate. Therefore, after Chen Xuanli led the follow-up reinforcements to depart, he immediately went to see Emperor Li Longji again.

  He wants to request a higher position for Yang Hui!

  Before seeking an audience with Emperor Li Longji, he also went to find Consort Yang Yuhuan and her sister, as well as Gao Guifei, the emperor's shared concubine, telling them his intentions and asking them to plead his case before the emperor.

  After Yang Guifei and her sister agreed, Yang Guozhong entered the palace to see the emperor.

  Due to the defeat of the Lingbao War, Tongguan became a city in danger. Li Longji was so anxious that he couldn't sleep or eat, and often summoned Yang Guozhong, Wei Zhen, and other ministers to discuss military affairs and countermeasures. Whenever Yang Guozhong asked for an audience, he would be granted one immediately. When Yang Guozhong came to see him, Empress Yang Yuhuan, who looked a bit pale in her plain white dress, was gently massaging Li Longji's back as he lay on the couch with his eyes closed. Yang Guozhong entered without avoiding them.

  Yang Guozhong stepped forward and saluted Li Longji, "Your Majesty, the Left Dragon-Tiger Army General Chen Xuanli led his troops to reinforce, but intentionally delayed, taking several hours to advance only a few dozen miles. I fear that at this pace, we will miss the opportunity to rescue Tong Pass. I implore Your Majesty to issue another edict, ordering the army to hasten its march and strive to arrive at Tong Pass as soon as possible, lest something untoward happens!"

  "Hmm, I understand," Li Longji nodded slightly and immediately ordered, "Quickly transmit my imperial decree, ordering Chen Xuanli to speed up his advance, he must arrive at Tongguan before nightfall tomorrow, no mistakes are allowed! If Chen Xuanli deliberately delays, I will definitely punish him severely!"

  "Yes, Your Majesty!" The guard on horseback beside him relayed Li Longji's order downward.

  After Gao Lishi conveyed the order, Li Longji also opened his half-closed eyes and stared at Yang Guozhong, who was standing respectfully in front of him. He showed a hint of bitter smile and sighed before saying: "Guozhong, I didn't expect that with the country in crisis, your underage son would have to take charge of military affairs! I'm also delighted that Fourth Son is so brave and has grasped control of Tongguan, heavily defeating the rebel army and slowing down their attack on Tongguan! You having such an excellent son makes me very pleased!"

  "Your Majesty has overpraised me," Yang Guozhong hastily made a bow to show humility, "My son dared to be so bold and reckless, it's all because I was too indulgent towards him, which led to his lawlessness! Fortunately, his lawlessness happened to hit the mark, and he won several battles! Your Majesty, I'm also surprised that my son has such ability, hoping he will make more astonishing achievements in the subsequent defense of the city, and ultimately block the rebel army at Tongguan City!"

  At this time, Yang Yuhuan, who had been silent and carefully massaging Li Longji's back, spoke up: "Your Majesty, I've said it before, our Yang family has never lacked talent. Guo Ziyi is capable, and the Fourth Son is even more outstanding, surpassing his father at a young age and leading troops in battle! It's truly astonishing! As the saying goes, 'Ambition knows no age', the Fourth Son will surely have even more surprising performances, Your Majesty should reward him generously!"

  "Hmm, Yuexian is right, the Fourth Prince is indeed capable. I will definitely reward him heavily!" As he spoke, Li Longji's mouth curled up slightly with a hint of emotion and said: "Guo Zhong, the Fourth Prince has successively beheaded Huo Baozhen and Bian Licheng in the army, this is called decisive action. I know that he did this to show his determination and gain the support of the other generals. Now it seems that he has succeeded! I predict that his future actions will be even more astonishing! I am now fully relying on him to command the Tongguan generals and block the rebel army outside the city!"

  "Your Majesty, I also hope he can do better, to stop the rebels outside Tongguan City, and even defeat them," Yang Guozhong echoed Li Longji's words and immediately stated the purpose of his visit: "However, I still have concerns! The Fourth Prince is after all young, it's hard for him to control generals like Geshu Han, Li Sheng, Wang Siyi, etc. Now they temporarily listen to the Fourth Prince's command, this should be related to Geshu Han losing his troops. If Geshu Han still had a large number of troops in his hands, he and his subordinates would not have listened to the Fourth Prince's command! I am worried that the Fourth Prince cannot control so many generals, let alone lead tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to rush to Tongguan to support General Chen Xuanli!"

  "Oh?" Li Longji responded softly, with a non-committal expression, his eyes fixed on Yang Guozhong, wanting him to continue speaking.

  Yang Guozhong immediately spoke out: "Your Majesty has already issued an edict dismissing Geshu Han as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the army, and now there is no commander-in-chief on the front line at Tongguan. Whether it's Geshu Han or Chen Xuanli, even Wang Silie and Li Chengguang, their military positions are not lower than those of the Fourth Prince. I think we should respectfully request that Your Majesty grant the Fourth Prince the position of Deputy Commander-in-Chief, so that he can command and deploy the various armies as a commander-in-chief, and there will be no situation where military orders cannot be effectively executed!" Yang Guozhong finished speaking and looked at Li Longji with great tension, while secretly making eye contact with Yang Yuhuan.

  Yang Yuhuan nodded slightly and was about to say something else while Li Longji hesitated.