He did not want to be promoted, but he had to be promoted.

Under the contradictory mentality, Li Longji had to choose to be promoted to Gu Qing's title against his will.

After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, very few people in the court promoted titles. The emperor was rich and did not frown regardless of anything he gave. Only the title was the one that the emperor was most reluctant to give.

To grant one more title means that the court has to use taxes of more than a few hundred households to support him for three generations in vain. Not only that, too many titles are also an invisible threat to the emperor's power. It will not be lost after several generations, and it will be even more difficult for the court to remove it.

However, since the Anxi Army led by Gu Qing entered Yumen Pass to quell the rebellion, it has won several battles, annihilated the rebels and recovered the city, giving the tough battle to combat the rebellion. When the victory was reported to the capital, all the subjects were happy. Li Longji had to reward such great achievements. Otherwise, no matter whether the rebellion was defeated or lost, Li Longji would be criticized by his subjects for being mean and ruthless, and his prestige was also a blow to the emperor.

In short, Gu Qing had to be promoted, and Li Longji would be promoted no matter how reluctant he was. This is no longer something that could be decided by his personal likes and dislikes, but that Gu Qing now has prestige in the hearts of Chang'an subjects.

How could Li Longji not be rewarded as a good general and a mainstay of the country?

The imperial edict for the award was written by the shepherd. After Li Longji sealed the jade seal, the shepherd hurriedly sent the imperial edict to the Secretariat Province. After verification by the prime ministers, Yang Guozhong and others would issue it to the Anxi Army.

Sitting in the hall, Li Longji's smile remained unchanged, and his mood was still extremely bright.

Originally, he had no hope for Gu Qing to recover Luoyang. The original military order was just a warning to Gu Qing, demonstrating the authority of the emperor. Li Longji thought that after the Anxi Army arrived outside Luoyang City, he would retreat rationally after wandering around. Unexpectedly, the Anxi Army actually captured Luoyang City.

The eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty was regained, and its encouragement and excitement to the subjects was extraordinary. Luoyang City was second only to Chang'an in terms of geographical, political, economic and cultural status, and it was the second largest city in the Tang Dynasty.

The second largest city was recovered, which was a strong light that pierced the darkness before dawn.

If you are promoted, you should be promoted. Gu Qing’s contribution is indeed worthy of promotion. On the other hand, Yang Guozhong relied on Yang Guifei’s brotherhood and had not made any contributions back then, Li Longji also named him the “Duke of Wei”. Gu Qing led the soldiers of the Anxi Army to fight bloody battles on the front line battlefield, and only gained a county duke with his life. Gu Qing was wronged.

Seeing that Li Longji was in a good mood, Gao Lishi took advantage of the situation and said, "Your Majesty, in addition to reporting the victory in Gu Qing's memorial, he also asked the court to allocate food, grass, war horses and weapons. He also asked for money..."

When he was in a good mood, Li Longji was always generous. He laughed and said, "Give it to him, give it to him, let him fight a few more battles for me. I will give you whatever Anxi Army wants."

Gao Lishi smiled and said, "It's said that Gu Qing's military management is quite regular. Old slave heard that Gu Qing's Anxi Army's central army was very strict. When he was in the process, Gu Qing issued a military order in public, not trampling on farmland, plundering and harassing the people, not harming women, etc. Those who violated the orders were beheaded. However, Gu Qing was very generous to the soldiers who fought bravely to kill the enemy. It is said that the soldiers who killed the enemy's head can receive a reward of 50 cents, and the officers of the enemy camp can receive a hundred cents. I guess this is the reason why the soldiers of the Anxi Army won several battles."

Li Longji nodded and said, "Yes, you should really have clear rewards and punishments to govern the army. Only soldiers are willing to work hard and life. I have led soldiers in my early years and know that the soldiers need motivation. Gu Qing did a good job, but... he was too generous to take action. One head of the enemy is fifty cents. Haha, fortunately, my Tang Dynasty treasury is worthy of it."

He was in a good mood and liked everything. In the past, Gu Qing's bad deeds of resisting orders seemed to have been forgotten by Li Longji, and he praised Gu Qing's military management method.

The excitement gradually faded after a long time, and Li Longji's face became solemn.

"Can there be any war reports coming from Tongguan?"

"No, Geshuhan has replaced Gao Xianzhi as the guard of Tongguan for less than half a month. He is probably working together the soldiers and boosting the morale of the army."

Li Longji snorted and said, "Ge Shuhan is old, no longer as brave as the 'eternal victory general' back then. The future of the Tang Dynasty still depends on those younger civil and military officials. Look at Gu Qing's Anxi Army, and then look at Ge Shuhan. Compared with the two sides, you can see the difference immediately. Gu Qing is much more competitive than him."

Gao Lishi smiled and said, "Yes, Gu Qing is only in his twenties this year and has been named a county duke with his military achievements. His future is limitless."

Li Longji pondered for a while and said slowly: "Since the Anxi Army has recovered Luoyang, the Ministry of Culture will send officials to take over the Luoyang government office. After the Anxi Army leaves behind two thousand defenders, Gu Qing can lead the Anxi Army to Tongguan. This time, Gu Qing will not disappoint me."

Gao Lishi said carefully: "Your Majesty, Luoyang has been recovered. Does Your Majesty still have the intention of leaving Beijing for a tour?"

Li Longji thought for a long time with a serious expression and said in a deep voice: "Let's go for a tour. Although Luoyang has been recovered, Tongguan is still in danger. If Tongguan is broken, the rebels can reach the city of Chang'an in a moment. I cannot take this risk."

Gao Lishi dared not give any advice to such a major event, so he responded only and said, "Then I will order the palace to clean up the precious and detailed materials, and the guards are wearing armor and stand by, ready to leave the capital at any time."

Li Longji nodded lightly and suddenly asked again: "What are the prince doing recently?"

Gao Lishi whispered: "Your Highness the Prince has only studied in the Eastern Palace recently. He occasionally summoned the counselors of the Eastern Palace to discuss the matter of suppressing rebellion. According to the Eastern Palace's eyewitness, the Prince seemed to intend to stay in Guanzhong to fight the enemy, saying that he would be filial to His Majesty and loyal to the country."

Li Longji pulled the corner of his mouth and showed a sneer: "Faith filial piety and loyalty... He clearly wanted to take advantage of the chaos and cultivate his wings in Guanzhong. Oh, his wings are hard."

Gao Lishi was shocked and said softly: "Your Majesty means..."

Li Longji said lightly: "Let him stay in Guanzhong. If I visit, Guanzhong will indeed have to leave a worthy prince of the Tian family to appease the people. However, if he thinks that staying in Guanzhong to fight the enemy can establish the prestige among the people, it would be too naive. No matter how high the prestige among the people, he can only wait for me to take the initiative to pass the throne, otherwise he will always be the crown prince."

…………

The Pegasus entered the camp, and the three armies were jubilant.

Outside the gate of the Anxi Army camp, Gu Qing led a group of generals to kneel down to receive the imperial edict. When the reward orders were read out from the Sheren, the soldiers gradually became restless. Until the Sheren read out "...I am Gu Qingcheng County Duke of Jin", the soldiers of the entire army suddenly burst out with a shocking cheer, interrupting the Sheren's declaration.

The Sheren was startled by the sudden cheers of the soldiers. The soldiers had been through the battle formation for a long time, and even the cheers seemed to have a bit of murderous aura. The Sheren's face turned pale, and her knees couldn't help but become weak, trying to maintain decentness. After reading the imperial edict word by word, he repeatedly rejected Gu Qing and the generals' warm reception, and hurriedly said goodbye.

After the servants who announced the edict left, the soldiers no longer had to suppress them, and bursts of cheerful roars suddenly burst out.

Chang Zhong, Li Siye, Chen Tian and other generals were overjoyed, bowed to Gu Qing, and shouted in unison: "Congratulations to Mr. Gu for his promotion, and the king and the king will support the country for a hundred generations!"

The soldiers behind them all bowed their fists and agreed in unison: "Mr. Master, help the country, and the princes and princes for generations!"

The roar shook the sky, shocking a group of swallows and birds perched on the branches.

Gu Qing smiled, holding the bright yellow imperial decree yellow silk in his hand, stroked the concave patterns on the back of the yellow silk with his fingertips, and then smiled and said, "The kindness of heaven is so great, we must fight to fight the enemy even more to repay the kindness of heaven. The robes have seen it with their own eyes. As long as they fight for their lives, they will be rewarded."

The generals saluted one after another: "Try to fight the enemy bravely!"

"kill--!"

The joy of Jin Jue was only a short moment. When the soldiers of the entire army were jubilant, Gu Qing suddenly raised his face and said, "The generals followed me to discuss matters. According to the emperor's will, the Anxi Army will set sail to Tongguan tomorrow. This battle is the first time that we have fought head-on with the main force of the rebels. We must show the might of the Anxi Army. Don't be confused by the rewards. The rebels have not been destroyed, so you must not slacken off!"

"yes!"

…………

Outside Tongguan, the rebel camp.

Two corpses were carried out of An Lushan's commanding tent. All the generals in the tent gathered. An Lushan sat in the main seat with a gloomy face. As the first general beside An Lushan, Shi Siming looked pale and looked at the two corpses being carried out with trembling.

The two corpses were Shi Siming's generals. An Lushan just killed two Shi Siming's generals in front of the generals in the commander's tent.

The reason for killing the two was very simple. Because Hangu Pass was defeated, the 50,000 rebels who rushed to Luoyang failed to pass Hangu Pass, and were beaten by the Anxi Army and lost more than 20,000. Not only did they fail to support Luoyang, but they instead caused Gao Shang to lose Luoyang City. The rebel food route north of the Yellow River was completely cut off by the Anxi Army.

If the ambush outside Qingzhou City was just a small defeat, the battle between Hangu Pass of the Anxi Army was really a disaster, and the losses were huge. Not only did the rebel soldiers be damaged, but the important thing was that the food supply was cut off. From then on, the logistics of the north and south could not be smooth, and Luoyang, an important city, fell into Gu Qing's hands.

For An Lushan, this was his most tragic failure since Fan Yang's rebellion.

At the beginning, the good situation was defeated and was completely eliminated by the battle of Hangu Pass. Now An Lushan is really anxious. The grain road was intercepted. The only choice at this time was to capture Chang'an City, open up the supply line between Jiangnan Road and Chang'an City, and open up a new grain road for the rebels.

The two generals of the troops just now were killed for Shi Siming. An Lushan, who was originally furious, planned to slash Shi Siming with one knife. After all, Shi Siming was the main general of the 50,000 rebels, and he suffered such a crushing defeat because of his underestimation of the enemy. However, Shi Siming was the number one general under An Lushan. It was the time to use people, and it was unlucky to kill the generals in front of the formation. An Lushan had to kill two generals of Shi Siming, which was considered as a warning to the monkey.

"Gu Qing! It's Gu Qing again!" An Lushan gasped and dragged his fat body to pace back and forth in the handsome tent, like a wild boar that was caught in an arrow, clumsy and crazy.
Chapter completed!