Chapter Eighty-Two: He Has the Confidence to Threaten Us Now

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Yang Xi stood by the window of the city gate tower, watching several massive ballistae shoot the letters he had written to An Qingxu and Cui Qianyou into the rebel camp.

As soon as the rebel soldiers discovered the letters tied to the arrows, they quickly picked them up. Someone took the letter and hurried off to report.

Seeing this, Yang Xi smiled and stepped away from the window. He joined generals Wang Sili, Pang Zhong, and several others who had just come in to report, standing together atop the city gate tower to observe any unusual movements in the rebel formations below.

Ge Shuhan was still resting. The old general, after all, was advanced in years and had endured the defeat at Lingbao, followed by a frantic retreat. The relentless exhaustion and the extremes of hardship had left him unable to carry on; his spirit was flagging. Yang Xi felt that Ge Shuhan was no longer of critical importance. His absence from the ramparts did not matter; Yang Xi instructed him to rest well and not to worry about anything, assuring him that all matters would be handled.

That night, the rebels only sent small mounted detachments to harass the city gates, making no major assault. But this did not mean the rebels were idle; their movements were considerable, and Yang Xi dared not relax his vigilance for a moment. At dawn, the rebels had already assembled in formation, preparing to storm the city. The arrows just fired from the ballistae had landed before the front ranks of their array.

Yesterday’s heavy rain had left a dense fog over Tong Pass again today, reducing visibility to less than a hundred paces. The thick mist delayed the rebel assault on the city.

This was An Qingxu’s order. He wished to wait for the fog to clear before attacking, lest his troops charge blindly into unknown terrain.

Yet this decision left Yang Xi and the other commanders atop the city walls puzzled. They could not fathom what trick An Qingxu was playing. Did he not realize that reinforcements from the Tang court were streaming steadily into Tong Pass, arriving one after another? The more An Qingxu delayed his attack, the worse the situation would become for the rebels!

Was An Qingxu planning to hold off until An Lushan’s force of 180,000 arrived before launching an all-out assault? No one could provide Yang Xi and the others with an answer.

The letters Yang Xi had ordered fired were delivered to An Qingxu’s hands just before he was about to issue the attack order.

As the soldiers brought Yang Xi’s letter, An Qingxu was meeting with his generals—Cui Qianyou, Tian Qianzhen, Li Guiren, An Shouzhong, and others—to discuss the military situation and arrange the day’s assault plan.

When a soldier reported that a letter had been shot down from the city wall, An Qingxu was startled, but immediately ordered it brought to him.

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Under the puzzled gaze of his assembled officers, An Qingxu opened Yang Xi’s letter.

After only a cursory glance, An Qingxu’s brows knit tightly, and soon anger surged across his face. With a loud bang, he struck the table in fury and hurled the letter to the ground.

“Your Highness, who sent this letter to you?” Seeing An Qingxu lose his temper, the officer An Shouzhong stepped forward and asked cautiously.

Cui Qianyou, standing at An Qingxu’s side, quickly retrieved the letter and examined it carefully.

At a glance, he too was shocked.

In the letter, Yang Xi informed An Qingxu that reinforcements had already arrived within Tong Pass. He declared he did not fear any rebel assault, and boasted that if the rebels persisted, the fields before Tong Pass would become their tomb. Yang Xi warned An Qingxu and his fellow rebel commanders that if they assessed the situation wisely, laid down their arms, and surrendered, he would petition the court on their behalf, pleading for their merits and seeking to absolve their crimes.

But if they continued to resist the Tang court, then with defeat would come their deaths.

Yang Xi concluded by warning that anyone who defied the Tang would ultimately meet ruin and decapitation; even the self-styled Emperor of Great Yan, An Lushan, would share this fate. He vowed to lead his army to capture Luoyang, then Fan Yang, and put down the rebellion. He urged the rebel soldiers to turn back before it was too late, surrendering to the defenders of Tong Pass to seek the court’s clemency.

No wonder An Qingxu was beside himself with rage. Even Cui Qianyou, after reading it, was furious; Yang Xi was unbearably arrogant.

“Who is this Yang Xi?” An Qingxu asked gloomily, pacing two steps before his officers.

They looked at each other in confusion; none could answer.

They had long been stationed on the northern frontier and knew little of court affairs. Yang Xi, as the youngest son of Yang Guozhong, had never made a name for himself in Chang’an. Aside from courtiers who were vaguely aware of his parentage, An Qingxu, Cui Qianyou, Tian Qianzhen, and the others had no idea who this self-proclaimed commander of tens of thousands at Tong Pass was!

“Who exactly is Yang Xi?” Seeing no one could answer, An Qingxu roared in anger, “None of you know who this new commander at Tong Pass is? What are you all good for, then?”

Having fought for days without even knowing the opposing commander’s name or character, An Qingxu, already simmering from losses without progress, could not help but vent his frustration on his staff.

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“Your Highness, could Yang Xi be Yang Guozhong’s son?” Cui Qianyou, the quickest to react, ventured carefully. While advancing on Han Tong Pass, his vanguard had been ambushed by Tang troops under the “Yang” banner. At the time, he had not thought much of it, preoccupied with the fierce fighting. Now, seeing the letter signed “Yang Xi,” and recalling the influential Yang Guozhong—whose elder sons were Yang Xuan and Yang Bo—he realized that Yang Xi, with the same radical in his name, might be another son of Yang Guozhong.

With this thought, he was almost certain: Yang Xi must be Yang Guozhong’s son. Otherwise, how could he have the authority to replace Ge Shuhan as commander of the Tong Pass forces?

But since they had never heard of Yang Xi before, Cui Qianyou could only offer his conjecture, unable to provide further useful information.

“Yang Guozhong’s son?” An Qingxu frowned again in disbelief. “That pedant Yang Guozhong could have such a formidable son? Impossible!”

Over the past days, their forces had suffered heavy setbacks before Tong Pass, losing men and gaining nothing. The only “success” was seizing Han Tong Pass, but that had been abandoned by the Tang on purpose, and they had paid dearly for an empty city—nothing to boast of.

Now, receiving Yang Xi’s letter of persuasion, it was clear to anyone that the commander directing the Tang defense these days was this new, unknown deputy commander, Yang Xi—a man not to be underestimated.

“Your Highness, I believe this is merely a Tang delaying tactic, meant to buy time for more reinforcements. We must not fall for it! We must attack at once and ignore this Yang Xi’s threats!” Tian Qianzhen stepped forward to advise.

“No!” An Qingxu firmly rejected Tian Qianzhen’s suggestion. “This is no delaying tactic. Some reinforcements have already arrived in Tong Pass, and not a few. That’s why Yang Xi dares to threaten us!”

“Then what should we do, Your Highness?” Tian Qianzhen pressed.

“Hold off the assault. We must first ascertain the situation before making our next move.”

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