Tang Dynasty Swordsman.

Xu Shuji, Dong Qin, Wang Sili and other armies arrived and defeated An Qingxu again at Chousigang. They beheaded 30,000 and captured more than 1,000. An Qingxu's main force was thus annihilated.

Li Tan concluded by saying, "Now that Guo Ziyi has besieged Xiangzhou, the rebel An can only hold out in a desperate situation; Li Guangbi's army will also arrive soon, and the day when the traitor is beheaded will probably not be far off."

Upon hearing this, Li Ji frowned slightly: "Are the rebels really that fragile?"

From Li Tan's description, it's clear that the eleven military governors didn't coordinate well with each other; it was basically Guo Ziyi's army fighting alone, yet they managed to win battle after battle and advance straight to Xiangzhou... Guo Ziyi is indeed formidable! But An Qingxu, having gathered his defeated troops, still had seventy or eighty thousand men, roughly the same as the combined forces of the eleven military governors. How could they have suffered such a crushing defeat in such a short time? Weren't all our previous worries in vain?

Li Tan laughed and said, "Heaven has taken away his will, and it cannot be restored. I heard that when An Qingxu first returned to Xiangzhou, he had abundant armor, weapons, and supplies..." All of these were looted by An Lushan over the years—"However, he did not personally attend to government affairs, but spent his days feasting and building pavilions and towers, attempting to maintain a long-term separatist regime in Hebei. Gao Shang, Zhang Tongru, and others were vying for power; Cai Xide was capable and resourceful, but he was slandered and killed by Zhang Tongru, and his subordinates deserted; he appointed Cui Qianyou as the military commissioner of the realm, in charge of both the central and foreign armies, but Qianyou was stubborn and bloodthirsty, and the soldiers did not support him..."

In short, An Qingxu's crushing defeat, and so swiftly, was entirely his own doing.

Li Ji asked, "What about Yan Zhuang and Zhou Zhi?"

Li Tan said, "I do not know Zhou Zhi, but as for Yan Zhuang, he surrendered long ago. Has Changwei not heard of this?"

Yan Zhuang was originally a confidant of An Lushan. It is said that he was already dissatisfied with An Qingxu's murder of his father and usurpation of the throne. Therefore, when An Qingxu abandoned Luoyang and fled, Yan Zhuang did not follow him across the Yellow River to the north. Instead, he turned back halfway and surrendered directly to the Tang Dynasty. Li Yu wanted to use this man as a "golden horse bone" to recruit other rebel generals, so he petitioned Li Heng to appoint him as Minister of Agriculture.

The Minister of Agriculture (司农卿) was the chief official of the Ministry of Agriculture (司农寺), a third-rank official with a highly prestigious position. Although he no longer held the power of the Grand Minister of Agriculture (大司农) of the Han Dynasty, he was still responsible for managing the imperial treasury, palaces, gardens, and providing officials' salaries and necessities for court assemblies and sacrifices, thus wielding considerable power. However, Yan Zhuang was ultimately a surrendered official. Knowing his sensitive status, he kept to himself and never engaged in private conversations except for official business. Few Tang Dynasty officials were willing to treat him well, and some even avoided mentioning him, ashamed to be associated with him. Therefore, although Li Ji had returned to Chang'an for several months, he had never heard of Yan Zhuang's surrender.

After digressing to say a few words about Yan Zhuang, Li Tan said to Li Ji, "This is Heaven's blessing upon our Tang Dynasty, bringing disaster upon the An family. Perhaps the war in Guandong is not as dangerous as we previously feared. If we capture Xiangzhou and kill An Qingxu, Hebei can be pacified. Having gained Longxi, why would we then covet Shu? The government troops will certainly not directly attack Youyan, but will confront Shi Siming for a period of time and plan slowly. Now, more than 100,000 troops are stationed outside. How can this last long? They will surely release some of the Western Army to return to their posts."

Li Tan's words were somewhat ambiguous, but Li Ji understood immediately. Why did Li Heng abolish the military campaign? Why didn't he let Guo Ziyi, who had the highest rank and reputation, command all the troops? Wasn't it because he feared that if the entire army was in the hands of one person, another An Lushan might be created?

However, although they are divided into eleven military governors, they are still together. Who knows what they will do? As long as An Qingxu is eliminated, Shi Siming will be left alone, and the biggest threat to the front will be eliminated. Li Heng will most likely transfer some of his troops back to guard other places—at least some of them should be assigned to Longyou.

Li Ji frowned and said, "Shi Siming... if he marches south and joins forces with An Qingxu, I'm afraid the war will be fraught with setbacks..."

Li Tan smiled and said, "I was also worried about this, but fortunately An Qingxu helped our Tang Dynasty resolve this problem."

Since Shi Siming had rebelled against the Tang Dynasty twice, he naturally wanted to join forces with An Qingxu to resist the enemy. However, when the envoy arrived in Xiangzhou, An Qingxu demanded that he return the counties he had previously seized. Shi Siming was furious and simply proclaimed himself "Great Sage King of Zhou," refusing to even nominally raise the banner of Yan.

Li Ji pondered for a moment, then couldn't help but speak up, reminding them: "If the two traitors join forces, they will be truly difficult to deal with; if they separate, they will be easier to handle. However, the traitors are not necessarily unaware of this. An Qingxu is a foolish fellow, while Shi Siming is extremely cunning. We must still guard against him quietly heading south..."

Li Tan wasn't completely blinded by the news of victory from Guandong. He immediately nodded, "That's indeed the case. I should report this to His Majesty..." Then, realizing his foolish father might not heed his advice, he changed his mind—"Write a letter to the Crown Prince, asking him to inform His Majesty and warn the generals at the front. However, we can't intervene in the Hebei campaign; we can only plan for Longyou. Just before Changwei arrived, I discussed this matter with Gongnan..."

In fact, as soon as Li Tan received news of the victory at Shancheng, he naturally had the idea of ​​abandoning the previous plan and no longer retreating. So he urgently summoned Yang Yan to discuss the matter. He knew very well that if he wanted to occupy Shancheng for a long time, food and supplies would be a big problem.

Yang Yan replied, "The grain reserves in Longyou are really insufficient, and Shancheng has almost no output... However, if we withdraw from Shancheng, how will we resettle the tens of thousands of people?"

In the past, many military towns in the west were destroyed, and a large number of soldiers and civilians fled back. For those who had joined the army, Li Tan naturally ordered them to rejoin the army and retrain them. Even if food and supplies were insufficient, with a great enemy at hand, they had to tighten their belts to supply the military first. As for the civilians, he ordered Yang Yan to plan and find a place to settle them.

Yang Yan also conscripted some of the able-bodied men into the army, while the remaining elderly, weak, women, and children were driven to the Guzang South Mountain area to build civilian settlements. Although Longyou Road was relatively sparsely populated, the Huangshui River Valley within Shanzhou was developed earlier, and most of the land was owned. As a member of the ruling class, Yang Gongnan could not possibly "seize the land from the local tyrants and distribute it to them."

However, reclaiming wasteland was hard work, and the common people were not necessarily willing to do it. Moreover, under normal circumstances, when the imperial court ordered people to reclaim wasteland, it would exempt them from rent and taxes for the first few years. Now, with the war urgent and resources scarce, Yang Yan was unwilling to do so. Therefore, he could only build civilian settlements and force the displaced people to work under military law. To put it bluntly, the settlement people lost their basic personal freedom, were forced to work, and most of the harvest went to the government, making them not much different from serfs in ancient times.

Yang Gongnan didn't care much about the suffering of the serfs. As an official with a certain sense of responsibility and conscience, he was satisfied as long as he ensured that most of the displaced people wouldn't freeze or starve to death and could survive for a few more years. He felt he had done right by the emperor and the military governor. However, he had to consider the initial investment: since he had ordered the reclamation and land clearing, he had to send people to their destinations first, provide them with food for the journey and for a considerable period after they settled down, and also procure farming tools and seeds... He was so busy that Yang Gongnan was exhausted, and his hair turned gray even in his prime.

In particular, he had limited manpower, and most of the officials in the shogunate were incompetent and incapable of doing their jobs, and they held a "non-violent non-cooperation" attitude; that's why Yang Yan suggested to Li Tan that if those bastards wanted to leave, let them leave, and I would go and recruit some suitable guests for His Highness.

Unfortunately, those he had placed high hopes on—such as Xue Yong from Hedong, Yuan Xiu from Xiangzhou, and Zhang Zhu from Fengxiang—as well as Du Fu, whom Li Tan had tried to recruit on a whim, were all still out of town and unable to arrive in time. The Battle of Shancheng was already over. With the war over, the coordination and transportation of supplies could be somewhat eased, but abandoning Shancheng would soon be on the agenda. Yang Yan thought to himself, "I haven't even managed to properly arrange the original tens of thousands of men yet, and if I get tens of thousands more… I'll really have to 'devote myself to the utmost until my dying breath'!"

Therefore, I earnestly request Li Tan that since the barbarian bandits have been repelled and they may not dare to come again next spring, could we postpone the abandonment of the city? At least the tens of thousands of people in the city can be relocated to the east in batches after a few months, so that I won't be too strapped for cash.

Li Tan frowned and said, "At most, it will be delayed until after the New Year... If the relocation of people cannot be completed before the spring, and the planting is delayed, are we going to let tens of thousands of people in Shancheng eat the government's grain without any benefit?"

Yang Yan sighed, "It's a pity about the fields outside Shancheng. If they could be cultivated again, not only Shancheng, but Shanzhou as a whole would be free from shortages!" After careful consideration, he suggested, "The people of Shancheng could first plant some vegetables, fruits, beans, and soybeans..."

Some vegetables are harvested in the summer, such as chives, which can be harvested in some form throughout the year, except for the cold winter. As for beans, although they mature in autumn, the tender leaves in summer—such as broad beans—can also be eaten as vegetables. In short, the summer is hot, so the foreign invaders generally do not launch large-scale attacks—besides, they are busy planting barley, so the harvest in the fields will not be given away or forced to be harvested prematurely.

"Your Highness, please consult the generals of Shancheng. Is it possible to confirm that the barbarian bandits will not return next spring?"

Now, Li Tan asked Li Ji the same question, and Li Ji cautiously replied, "It is not certain. However, after repeated discussions, we believe that the possibility of the barbarian bandits returning next spring is only one or two out of ten, and even if they do return, it will not be a large-scale attack."

Li Tan nodded and said, "There is no perfect solution in this world. Some risks must always be taken. As Gongnan said, if we abandon Shancheng, the people will have nowhere to go. If the generals can recover and defend the four passes of Shancheng, then the people will not have to grow vegetables and beans. They can grow wheat and barley. After the autumn harvest, the situation in Longyou will be very different..."

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Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Tibetan King

After Ma Chongying withdrew from Shancheng, he first ordered Shang Xidongzan to lead his troops south to attack Yaowu Army.

The Yaowu Army, located south of Chiling and deep within Tibetan territory, was established by Geshu Han in the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era, a mere four years ago. Therefore, the number of civilians within the army is small; about thirty percent of the garrison was ordered to reinforce the east. Even combining the military and civilians, the total force is less than five thousand.

In particular, the Tibetan army had already captured Zhenwei Army in the north last year, cutting off Yaowu Army's connection with the Tang Dynasty's homeland. With the enemy pressing in and no external aid available, some soldiers mutinied, killed their commander, and surrendered to Tibet. Shangxi Dongzan then demoted all the captured Tang people, both soldiers and civilians—including those who had surrendered—to serfs and distributed them among his generals.

The other Tibetan generals were deeply dissatisfied and requested Ma Chongying to continue south to attack the Shence Army—they also wanted a share of the credit and slaves. However, scouts found that Xicangzhou and Guang'en Town had been evacuated, and their soldiers and civilians had all retreated to Shence Army. Shence Army, along with Momen Army to its northeast and Lintan County, the capital of Taozhou Prefecture to the east, were all less than a hundred li apart. The three cities were strategically located, with a total of 5,000 soldiers and more than 20,000 civilians, making it truly difficult to conquer.

Moreover, it seems that many Tibetan soldiers have developed a psychological trauma from beating those who wear red headscarves...

This man's psychological bottom line is actually quite easy to cross. If he had successfully captured Shancheng, Ma Chongying might have become arrogant and not only continued to attack Shanzhou, but also divided his forces to sweep across Longyou. However, after suffering repeated defeats at Shancheng, and even personally covering the retreat and setting up an ambush, he not only failed to severely damage the Tang army, but was also forced to abandon his 500 elite ambush troops... Since he had already lost face, was it necessary to risk taking another Shence Army to try to salvage the situation? It was better not to overdo it.

Therefore, he rejected the generals' proposal, withdrew his troops, and returned to Lhasa. On the way, he secretly consulted with Shang Zanmo several times, and also wrote a letter to Shang Jiexi, who was left behind, earnestly requesting the two great masters to continue to support him. Only then did he dare to humble himself and personally go to the king to apologize.

The Tang dynasty's account of the then-Tibetan king, Sassilong Lazan, later known as Trisong Detsen, shows that he ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, making him only seventeen at the time. However, he was precocious and possessed remarkable talent, having plotted to eliminate the powerful minister Xiangzhong Bajie. Thus, he was hailed by his ministers as a peerless ruler, comparable to Songtsen Gampo. Therefore, Ma Chongying dared not deceive Trisong Detsen, concealing his defeat as a victory. He only hoped that the king would remember his past achievements, and that Shang Jiexi and Shang Zanmo would speak favorably of him, preventing him from being completely stripped of his power.

The details of the battle had already been reported to Lhasa in writing—Tibet also had its own written language, created by Songtsen Gampo in imitation of the Sanskrit script, Lanza script—Trisong Detsen probably knew all about it. Therefore, after Ma Chongying knelt and begged for forgiveness, he gently asked, "Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war, but, does Your Excellency understand why you were defeated this time?"

Ma Chongying said, "I was misled by the Tang people and divided my troops below Shancheng, attacking the city and Xiaoxia on two separate occasions, and thus arrived..."

Trisong Detsen shook his head: "These are all minor details. The key issue is—your assessment of the enemy is flawed!"

"Last year, taking advantage of the Tang army's eastward reinforcements to quell the rebellion in Longyou, Da Lun launched an attack on the armies of Shenwei and Jintian, sweeping all before him. Shanzhou dared not send troops to stop him, thus underestimating the enemy and thinking that since the Tang rebellion had not ended, this year's situation would be the same as last year. But before Da Lun launched his troops, he knew that the Tang emperor had newly appointed his third son, Li Tan, as the military governor of Longyou and Hexi. Did he first thoroughly investigate this man's character, abilities, and what kind of assistants he had under his command?"

"Guo Xin and Li Yuanzhong were both temporarily transferred from Hexi. But since Li Tan was ordered to control the two towns, it is reasonable for the generals to be transferred. Why did Da Lun not take precautions? It is said that there is a very brave Li Erlang in the Tang army. This man is not a general from Longyou or Hexi. He must have been brought by Li Tan from Chang'an. How come we did not find out about this man beforehand?"

"Although yaks are large, their ranks are loose, and the role of the lead yak is negligible; although wolves are small, if the alpha wolf is cunning and brave, it can make the whole pack fierce and uncontrollable. The Tang army in Longyou changed its commander and several generals, but the soldiers were still the same, yet their courage and cowardice were completely different. Does the Grand Master not understand this principle?"

"You underestimate the enemy and still expect to win battles—Great Lord, have these years of victories made you arrogant and no longer as calm and cautious as before?"

Ma Chongying, prostrate on the ground, broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, repeatedly saying, "Your Majesty is right, it is all my fault..."

Trisong Detsen comforted him, saying, "There's no need to dwell on the past. Although we didn't capture Shancheng this time, we did manage to break through several Tang military towns, and our main force wasn't severely damaged. At most, it was a waste of resources and no real achievement, so we can't say that you, Grand Master, are guilty. However, I'd like to know if you have any plans for dealing with the Tang people in the future?"

Ma Chongying replied, "I sent Qilibuzang to Chang'an to sue for peace, but I don't know if he will return safely... It would be better to take this opportunity to send more envoys eastward to find out the situation of the Tang rebellion. I dare not deceive the Zanpu; if the Tang rebellion can be quelled next year and the Longyou army returns westward, then there will probably be no other option but to sue for peace..."

Trisong Detsen shifted his gaze from Ma Chongying's back, looked up at the outside of the hall, and sighed, "What a pity, I don't have the ability to see a thousand miles, so I can't see the situation of the Tang Rebellion... Buddhas and Bodhisattvas must have such supernatural powers. If they could issue a decree based on our sincere offerings and prayers, that would be wonderful."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Tibet's national policy depends on the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty, as if its life is tied to the hands of others. It's really hard to accept."

Ma Chongying advised, “This is unavoidable. After all, Tibet is vast and sparsely populated, far inferior to the Tang Dynasty, which occupies the Central Plains. However, Tibet also has the advantage of its terrain. Even if we are outnumbered, as long as there is no internal turmoil, the Tang people will eventually find it difficult to reach the plateau, and self-preservation should not be difficult. But in order to expand the territory inherited from our ancestors and to block the Buddhist enemies from other lands, if the Tang Dynasty is in chaos, I will definitely lead troops to fight again and bring glory to the Zanpu!”

Trisong Detsen smiled and said, “During the time of the previous Zanpu, the Tang people crossed Menggu and Chiling, broke through Shibao, and marched towards the Western Sea. Then the previous Zanpu was killed, and everyone in Lhasa was in danger. However, soon after, the Tang Dynasty was thrown into turmoil, and troops from Longyou and Hexi were transferred eastward. It was as if a huge boulder was lifted off my shoulders, allowing me to breathe freely. Isn’t this the power and virtue of our ancestors? Isn’t this the protection of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas? Therefore, I am very confident that Tibet will eventually prosper. Even if it cannot surpass China, it will be able to stand on equal footing with it.”

He reached out and patted Ma Chongying on the shoulder: "I have great confidence in Da Lun. Da Lun, you must not be discouraged by temporary setbacks. As for sending envoys to Tang to investigate the war situation in the east, it is certainly necessary. In addition, we should also send more spies into Shanzhou to investigate the situation of Li Tan's government."

Ma Chongying nodded repeatedly.

Trisong Detsen then asked, "What strategy do you have for dealing with that Li Erlang?"

Ma Chongying hesitated for a moment before saying, "We can send brave warriors into Shancheng to assassinate him..."

Trisong Detsen laughed loudly: "Great Master is joking. He himself is an unparalleled warrior. What warrior could possibly assassinate him? However... could we find a way to transfer him away from Longyou? The Tang chaos is not yet over, and our Tibetan army has already retreated. Why should such a warrior not go to fight An Qingxu, but stay in Longyou for so long? Great Master, go and think of a good plan."

Ma Chongying hurriedly kowtowed and accepted the order.

----------

After confirming that the Tibetan army had withdrawn beyond the borders, Guo Xin and Li Yuanzhong immediately reported to Li Tan, requesting that troops be dispatched to recapture Linfan City, Xuanwei Army, and Suihe Garrison – which Li Tan granted.

He had already considered revising his previous proposal and not abandoning Shancheng for the time being, and the strategies of the generals at the front brought by Li Ji further boosted his confidence. Li Ji, however, was not overly optimistic and had originally planned to use the opportunity of his report to advise Li Tan—

A balance of tension and relaxation is essential in both civil and military affairs. We already took a risk by not abandoning Shancheng and forcefully resisting the barbarian invaders; from now on, caution is paramount. The key issue is that you've just arrived in Longyou, your troops are not yet fully organized, and your supplies are insufficient. If you rashly abandon Shancheng, morale will plummet, leading to a rout. Therefore, taking risks is necessary. However, now that the barbarian invaders have retreated, our army has achieved considerable success, you've reported back to the court, and the morale of the army and the people is gradually rising. Continuing to take risks would be inappropriate...

However, according to Li Tan, the soldiers could still be trained, but the problem of food and provisions was not easy to solve. Moreover, if Shancheng was abandoned, the people would have nowhere to go, putting them in a dilemma. Therefore, Li Ji's words of advice could only be touched upon briefly, and it was not appropriate to give him a long and earnest remonstrance.

Li Tan granted the request of the generals at the front, and Li Yuanzhong led 3,000 troops to attack Linfan City.

Linfan City was located at the westernmost end of the Shanzhou Valley, built against the mountain, making its terrain extremely strategic. However, this strategic advantage was only for the Tibetans who came from the west; the terrain to its east was relatively open and flat, making it not too difficult to capture. Because it was far from the core area of ​​the Tibetan Empire and supplies were difficult to transport, the Tibetan army only left 700 infantrymen to defend the city. Li Yuanzhong launched a fierce attack for five days and finally captured the city.

He then placed 1,300 cavalry and infantry in Linfan City. Li Yuanzhong was confident that even if Ma Chongying led a large army to invade again, it would be enough to hold off the enemy for half a month or even longer. In theory, the main force of Shanzhou would be able to come to the rescue after half a month.

The reasons for abandoning Linfan earlier were twofold: first, Guo Xin had only recently entered Shancheng, his troops were not yet fully prepared and might not be of much use, so they dared not go west to rescue him; second, to the west of Linfan, in a slightly wider section of the valley, lay Suirong City. The road between Linfan and Suirong was narrow and difficult to traverse, and the two cities were situated at opposite ends of this treacherous valley. Originally, Linfan was to be defended, while Suirong was to be attacked, thus supporting the Shenwei Army to the northwest and Dingrong City to the southwest. However, last year Ma Chongying had first conquered Shenwei and Dingrong, and because Gao Sheng did not send a single soldier to their aid, the Suirong troops could only watch helplessly as both places fell. This autumn, Ma Chongying returned, first conquering Suirong, then chasing the scattered Tang army directly to the walls of Linfan, and seizing the opportunity to capture it. At that time, Guo Xin was in Shancheng, and given the distance, he could not possibly reach Suirong, so he had no choice but to abandon Linfan as well.

Now, instead of continuing to pacify the Rong, we are only restoring Linfan, adopting a purely defensive posture. This should be enough to block the western end of the basin for quite some time, about half a month, which is sufficient to wait until most of the fields around Shancheng have completed their autumn harvest.

—Because a considerable number of Tibetans were farmers serving as soldiers, and the Tibetans still needed to harvest barley, they couldn't send a large army eastward too early.

Of course, given the crossroads-like terrain of Shancheng, simply blocking the western entrance was not enough. Therefore, after conquering Linfan, Li Yuanzhong turned north to attempt to recapture Xuanwei Army.

The barbarian army stationed in Xuanwei numbered over a thousand, with a large number of cavalry. They defended the strategic location with infantry while sending cavalry to harass the enemy. Li Yuanzhong fought for four days without achieving any success. Guo Xin then sent Shence cavalry to assist, but they could only manage to force the barbarian cavalry back into their fortifications. Soon after, the barbarian bandits from Anren and Baishui came to the rescue, forcing Li Yuanzhong to retreat.

If half of the troops in Shancheng were committed to a fierce attack, regardless of casualties, Xuanwei could probably be recaptured, but that would be a losing proposition. Subsequently, Li Yuanzhong went south again to try to capture Suihe Shouzhuo, but he also returned empty-handed. The key reason was that after a long battle, the Tang army was also very tired, while the Tibetan army was well-rested and relied on its natural defenses to gain a considerable advantage.

Since it was difficult to recover Xuanwei and Suihe, the only option was to settle for second best—Generals Guo and Li divided their troops to build fortifications and block the north and south valley routes. The new fortification on the north route was built at the foot of Tulou Mountain. The barbarian cavalry from Xuanwei came to harass them many times, but they were all successfully repelled by Chen Fu and Yi Tiechui leading the Shence Army. The new fortification on the south route was built at a place called Zongzhai between the valley entrance and the Suihe garrison.

According to the report, the fortress will be completed by January of next year at the latest. After the troops are stationed there, the people of Shancheng can return to their hometowns to sow seeds with peace of mind.

Li Ji did not participate in these battles. He was forced to stay in Shanzhou to assist Yang Yan in handling general affairs and storing grain and supplies. Since the shogunate was basically empty, even if he was forced into it, Li Changwei had to do his part. Fortunately, although he had no experience, he was enthusiastic and much more reliable than the deputy commander Gao Sheng, who completely abandoned his duties.

Then, before the new year, the newly hired staff members of the government arrived in Shanzhou one after another. Among the several people Yang Yan had placed his hopes on, Su Duan, who had only passed the imperial examination half a year ago, was already appointed as the county magistrate with a promising future, so he naturally refused to give up his official post to join the government. The others—Xue Yong, Zhang Zhu, and Yuan Xiu—all arrived. However, Su Duan dared not offend Li Tan, and also wanted to give Yang Yan an explanation, so he personally wrote a letter to persuade his old friend Du Fu to recommend Du Zimei to him.

The four arrived one after the other, and Li Tan immediately hosted a banquet to entertain them all. Yang Yan and Li Ji naturally had to accompany them. However, all those present were learned scholars who were new to the military headquarters and unfamiliar with the situation. They were not in a position to make rash plans, so they could only compose poems and essays to curry favor with the military commander. Li Ji, mixed in with them, could not get a word in edgewise and could only drink in silence, feeling quite bored.

He thought to himself that if he had known, he would have taken advantage of these guys' arrival to ask Li Tan for permission to return to Shancheng and drink with Guo Xin, Li Yuanzhong, and their gang of martial artists; that would have been much more comfortable...

Even worse, in his excitement, Li Tan ordered everyone to compose poems and play drinking games. Li Ji panicked and hurriedly said, "This humble official cannot compose poetry, but I can hold my sword and supervise the games..." Li Tan laughed loudly, "Combining poems is an elegant affair, why must you hold your sword and supervise? Besides, if the guards were holding swords by my side, I'm afraid even I would feel like I had thorns in my back, sweating profusely, how could I possibly compose a poem?"

But he also knew that Li Ji was not very learned, especially since he had never heard of the boy having written any poetry. Therefore, he made an exception for him and said, "Since Changwei is not good at poetry, he can propose the topic and set the rhyme. It doesn't have to be fancy, just neat and proper." I'm delegating the power to set the rules to you. You can choose what you can do.

Li Ji thought to himself, "I roughly know the rules of poetry, it's nothing more than level and oblique tones, but when it comes to putting them together, I really can't think of anything right now... Fine, I'll just copy it, you forced me to do this!"

Chapter Thirty: A Timeless Masterpiece

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Li Ji lowered his head and pondered for a long time, until everyone in the room grew impatient. Only then did he grit his teeth and slowly recite:

"Dust from the journey and wine stains on my clothes..."

Damn, this is really not easy. Copying poems is easy, but choosing the right one for the occasion is difficult. I don't know how the protagonists in those time-travel novels can pick out suitable poems from a vast collection of famous ones with just a frown and a blink of an eye... Especially since I have no literary reputation, if the copied sentences are too elegant or too romantic, I will definitely be questioned to my face and exposed on the spot.

Fortunately, after racking his brains, he finally came up with this sentence, which was both straightforward and easy to understand, and contained "battle clothes" and "wine stains," which corresponded to the war situation and the banquet scene. It sounded quite plausible—quite like something a warrior would come up with on the spot.