Feng Changqing, a famous general in the northwest, is known for his strict management of the army, and he has made many military exploits in his life, and he is fully qualified to despise An Lushan. Therefore, when he boasted in front of Emperor Tang Xuanzong that "the first level of An Lushan can be taken by counting the day", the court was in a state of mind. However, what kind of situation will it be when he leads his troops into a real hand-to-hand encounter with the rebels?
With the grace of Tang Xuanzong, Feng Changqing was ordered to guard Luoyang in danger. Due to the long-term peaceful environment, Chang'an was in short supply, and he failed to bring a single soldier, so he relied on his temporary recruitment in Luoyang. So, Feng Changqing had no choice but to go alone, and once he arrived in Luoyang, he didn't care about the hard work all the way, so he hurriedly opened the door of the mansion to recruit troops.
However, the results disappointed him. People's consciousness is weak, and there are too few people who volunteer to apply, even if they have money in hand, they can't recruit them, and it took half a month to recruit 60,000 people.
Moreover, almost all of the soldiers recruited are local market children in Luoyang, to be honest, these people can play ball for entertainment, can they fight? However, if the number of people is small, we can continue to recruit to increase it, and no matter how poor the quality is, we can also strengthen military training to improve it, and this will undoubtedly require enough time to rectify and improve.
However, the rebels were advancing just too fast and too fast. An Lushan not only served as the envoy of the three towns of Pinglu, Hedong and Fanyang, but also served as the interview and disposal envoy of Hebei Province, and held all the promotion, appointment and dismissal rights of Hebei Province.
It is precisely for this reason that when he raised troops in Fanyang (present-day Beijing) and went all the way south through Hebei, because the ** garrisoned by him were all appointed by him, he almost never encountered resistance.
According to the record of "Zizhi Tongjian": An Lushan led the rebels all the way over, and those county guards and county commanders in Hebei either opened the door to greet them or abandoned the city and fled, and those who did not have time to run were all hacked to death. It can be said that his army did not meet with real resistance, and it was all the way through Hebei.
Then, when it comes to Henan, which is not under its jurisdiction, An Lushan's rebels should be met with stubborn resistance. Who would have thought that since the disintegration of the government military system, the Central Plains region has been without soldiers and weapons. The soldiers opened the armory and saw that the guns were broken with a single poke, and the weapons were rotten.
In desperation, the soldiers could only pick up sticks to fight, and the results can be imagined. According to the "Zizhi Tongjian", when the rebels attacked Xingyang, the defenders of Xingyang climbed the city wall to resist. However, the soldiers, who had never experienced war, were so frightened that they rained down from the city walls when they heard the enemy's war drums beating loudly.
How could such a soldier, such a strength of resistance, be able to withstand the iron hooves of the rebels. An Lushan raised troops in Fanyang, and the rebels were like bamboos, and they were almost in Luoyang in less than a month. It would normally take a month to walk, but a month during the war, how fast it is!
Besides, the Luoyang guard Feng Changqing led the 60,000 soldiers he had just recruited to set up camp in Wujiaoguan, more than 100 miles east of Luoyang, intending to rely on Wujiaoguan to protect Luoyang. This is a very steep pass, with Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, behind it, and the geographical location is quite important.
So, Feng Changqing led the 60,000 infantry that had just been put together to deal with An Lushan's 150,000 elite divisions dominated by cavalry, could he defeat the strong with the weak and win this battle?