[Lightscreen]
[After Tang Suzong ascended the throne, there were two civil officials he relied on most.
One was the fake Zhuge—Fang Guan.
The other was the real one—Li Bi.
The fate of loyal ministers under Emperor Xuanzong followed a depressingly consistent pattern, and Li Bi was no exception.
When Zhang Jiuling served as chancellor, he deeply appreciated Li Bi's talent.
When Yang Guozhong took power, he found Li Bi unbearable.
So, much like Yan Zhenqing, Li Bi was promptly kicked out of Chang'an by Yang Guozhong.
Li Bi, however, had a temper.
Fine. I quit.
After Suzong established himself at Lingwu, he invited Li Bi back out of retirement.
Li Bi accepted—and proved himself astonishingly responsible.
Drafting imperial edicts.
Managing promotions of generals and ministers.
Handling military strategy.
Coordinating alliances across the realm.
Li Bi did everything.
Historians would later describe him with a single phrase:
"Authority exceeding that of a chancellor."
Suzong's Lingwu court—consisting of little more than a handful of officials—was, in truth, held together almost entirely by Li Bi alone.
Unfortunately, Li Bi wanted to be Zhuge Liang.
Suzong, however, was not Liu Xuande.
The disastrous defeat at Chen Tao Slope was the result of Suzong's own obstinacy.
Fang Guan marched out with fifty thousand elite frontier troops—
—and limped back with just over four thousand survivors.
Worse still, Fang Guan brought back two even more catastrophic pieces of news:
First: Prince Yong, Li Lin, had rebelled.
Second: All of Hebei had fallen.
Prince Yong's rebellion was, frankly, simple.
It perfectly embodied the finest traditions of the Li imperial clan:
If you can do it, why can't I?
Hebei's collapse was even simpler.
Suzong's enthronement forced Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi to abandon Hebei and rush south to "pay homage."
Failing to do so might have earned them the label of traitors.
Once Guo and Li left, Shi Siming—who had previously been beaten half to death—suddenly felt rejuvenated.
Wait… I'm back in the game?
With only county troops under his command, Yan Zhenqing could no longer hold the region alone and was forced to withdraw from Hebei.
As the situation steadily unraveled, Li Bi offered Suzong the following strategy:
Li Guangbi should hold Taiyuan.
Guo Ziyi should advance into Fengyi.
This would split the rebel forces into northern and southern halves, preventing mutual support.
Then, deliberately open Huayin, forcing the rebels into an impossible dilemma:
Defend Fanyang in the north
Rescue Chang'an in the west
Running back and forth across a thousand li, exhausting themselves.
Only then should Tang concentrate superior forces, systematically cutting away rebel wings—
—and finally annihilate them in one decisive blow.
Li Bi's strategic thinking closely resembled the later guerrilla warfare doctrine:
First, compress the battlefield.
Then apply the sixteen-character principle:
Enemy advances—we retreat.
Enemy camps—we harass.
Enemy tires—we strike.
Enemy retreats—we pursue.
In the end, focus strength and destroy the enemy's living force.
But as for Suzong Li Heng?
After taking medicine for two days and feeling his condition stabilize, he decided—
This medicine is too bitter.
The New Book of Tang records it with brutal simplicity:
"The Emperor did not listen."
Faced with Prince Yong's ambition and chaos in Hebei, Li Heng chose instead to forcefully retake the Two Capitals using the Shuofang Army and Hedong Army.
To ensure success, he made two decisions:
First—he ordered his son Li Yu (later Emperor Daizong) to swear brotherhood with the Uyghur crown prince Yabghu.
Second—he reached an agreement with the Uyghurs:
"Upon capturing the city:"Upon capturing the city:
land and populace return to Tang;land and populace return to Tang;
gold, silk, and women—all go to the Uyghurs."
Thus—
The Uyghurs entered the war.]
"Is the Son of Heaven a bandit???!"
"The Son of Heaven is a bandit!!!!"
Li Shimin's roar echoed through Ganlu Hall.
The palace eunuchs fled as far as humanly possible, terrified of being caught in the blast radius.
Inside the hall, Wei Zheng felt a spray of spit hit the back of his head—
—but he had no time to care.
Everyone present felt the same crushing shame.
Gold, silk, and women—all to the Uyghurs.
How dare Li Heng make such a decision?!
Even if Chang'an were retaken—
What face would Li Heng have to sit upon the throne of Taiji Hall and call himself emperor?!
They had followed Li Shimin through blood and steel, pacifying chaos and ending an age of war—
Not so some later emperor could sell their children!
At that moment, Li Shimin suddenly remembered Zhao Yishen, who had died guarding the frontier at Gaochang.
He remembered how later generations would call their dynasty a feudal society, and claim that its essence was eating people.
Li Shimin had always rejected that accusation.
But now—
He could no longer refute it.
"A foolish emperor wastes the nation—sons die in vain."
"A mediocre ruler sells the country—children handed over."
"I am ashamed."
Wei Zheng ground his teeth:
"Even if Chang'an is reclaimed—what then?"
"Barbarians plunder the people.
The people will remember.
History will record it."
"Just as thirteen hundred years later—
the world still remembers."
Li Jing fell silent.
He suddenly thought of Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing.
One—a general who, even after the bloody defeat at Talas, still sought to regroup and fight to the death.
The other—a man risen from refugee ranks, who bore responsibility even when court nobles dared not speak.
Even had they lived to see this moment—
They would not have lived long after.
The later-generation summaries of guerrilla warfare sounded profound—
—but compared to them, Suzong's decision was simply pitiful.
"This is… the utmost disgrace."
Li Jing could hardly imagine what would happen if Chang'an's people learned of this agreement in advance.
In the end—
Who were the real rebels?
Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui suddenly lost all interest in chronicling events.
They stared blankly at the historical records displayed upon the light-screen.
Both were masters of the classics.
They had read of similar disasters in earlier dynasties—
—but when it happened to their own descendants, the weight was unbearable.
Du Ruhui glanced at the devastated Fang Xuanling, and a dangerous thought surfaced:
When the ruler lacks benevolence, disaster spreads across the realm.
Then—
Should the selection and education of heirs…
Should the responsibility of ministers…
No—no.
Later dynasties would surely take Tang's catastrophe as warning.
Perhaps they should first see how later ages resolved such problems?
Du Ruhui sank into conflicted silence.
Under Sun Simiao's counsel, Li Shimin finally calmed.
In the end, it was simply—
Another death of hope.
Slumped against the couch, Li Shimin laughed bitterly:
"I thought Li Heng's misdeeds might at least yield results."
"Seems I overestimated him."
"If so… I might as well support that rebel Prince Yong."
It was a thought born of despair.
As the light-screen shifted, Li Shimin had no choice but to witness—
What he considered the ultimate humiliation:
The battle to retake Chang'an.
[Lightscreen]
[The Battle for Chang'an—also known as the Battle of Xiangji Temple.
In September, Deputy Commander of All Armies Guo Ziyi led the remaining forces of Hedong, Shuofang, and Hexi, along with contingents from Khotan and the Uyghurs.
Total strength: one hundred fifty thousand,
plus four thousand elite Uyghur cavalry,
claimed as two hundred thousand.
They advanced from Fengxiang toward Chang'an.
Tang deployment:
Li Siye commanded the vanguard.
Guo Ziyi led the center.
Wang Sili commanded the rear.
They met one hundred thousand rebel troops north of Xiangji Temple.
The rebel army was now a chaotic mixture:
Veteran frontier troops from Fanyang and Pinglu.
Elite captives from Tong Pass and Chen Tao Slope.
And the six Hu prefectures' tribes who had defected to An Lushan.
In essence—
This was Tang frontier troops vs Tang frontier troops.
Elite against elite.
Thus the battle was brutally simple:
No tricks.
No maneuvers.
Only killing.
Rebel general Li Guiren challenged first—and was repelled.
Tang forces pressed forward.
Rebels counterattacked with full force.
Tang's vanguard faltered.
Rebel cavalry attempted to punch through the front lines.
The Tang formation wavered.
At that moment, Li Siye, famed as the "Divine Might General," roared:
"If I do not offer myself as bait today—
none of us will survive!"
He tore off his armor, bare-chested, gripping his modao, and charged.
Facing charging cavalry, he roared and swung
Horse and rider shattered together.
He slew dozens in succession.
Li Siye's valor stabilized the line.
The modao infantry reformed behind him, advancing like a moving wall.
"Whoever met Li Siye's blade—horse and man alike were destroyed."
The Anxi Army surged forward.
Guo Ziyi pressed with the Shuofang Army.
The rebels began to collapse.
Rebel commander An Shouzhong ordered the elite Yeluohe cavalry, hidden behind Tang lines, to strike the rear.
But Pugu Huai'en, leading Uyghur cavalry on the outer flank, spotted them—
—and charged their rear instead.
Rebel cavalry broke again.
Li Siye and Pugu Huai'en struck the rebel flank, coordinating with Guo Ziyi's center.
Cornered, An Shouzhong and Li Guiren led desperate counterattacks.
From dawn to dusk—
Neither side retreated.
At last, the rebels broke and fled back into Chang'an—
—beginning an all-night looting spree.
Tang casualties: seventy thousand dead.
Rebel casualties: sixty thousand slain, twenty thousand captured.
Chang'an was reclaimed the next day.
Xiangji Temple lay buried beneath corpses—
A Buddhist hell on earth.
In cold-weapon warfare, elite units can endure 15% losses before collapse.
This battle?
Rebel losses: 60% in a single day.
Tang losses: nearly 50%.
Both armies ranked among the world's finest.
This force could have defeated the Abbasids or Byzantium.
Instead—
Outside Chang'an, it annihilated itself.]
The ministers of Zhenguan felt pain deep in their bones.
They had sensed it before—when the light-screen spoke of Talas.
Tang had once stood at a crossroads, close enough to touch the world's summit.
Instead—
The empire they built together stepped into the abyss.
Li Shimin closed his eyes.
These were elite soldiers meant to guard borders, protect people—
Dead without meaning, south of Chang'an.
What followed?
Li Heng would honor the agreement.
Uyghur cavalry would plunder the capital.
Among the fallen—
How many had mothers and sisters in Chang'an?
They died believing they were saving them.
Did they know of the pact?
How had Tang become so ugly?
So contemptible?
Li Shimin could not accept it.
"Such a disaster—
must never be repeated."