Chapter 542: Entering Luoyang

Ji Guangchen had a dream. In it, he became the governor of Jingzhou and led thousands of warships, their sails covering the sky as they marched mightily from the Han River toward Chang’an. Suddenly, dark clouds covered the sun, fierce winds blew, and towering waves surged. His warships tossed violently in the river, on the verge of capsizing…

Ji Guangchen jolted awake from the dream. Several of his personal guards were shaking him desperately. “General, it’s terrible! The Anxi army is attacking!”

Still dazed, Ji Guangchen asked, “With such fierce winds and waves, where could the Anxi army come from?”

By then, the sounds of battle had reached outside the tent. His guards, in panic, lifted him and ran out of the tent. Outside, flames soared into the sky; countless tents had caught fire, turning the entire sky red. Teams of Anxi cavalry galloped through the camp, their swords gleaming, their shouts echoing through the air. Most of his soldiers were barefoot, without armor or weapons. Some knelt and begged for mercy, while others scattered in all directions. Chaos reigned in the camp. Some soldiers, unwilling to die, fought back against the Anxi cavalry, but they were no match for them. The Anxi cavalry were ferocious, like packs of tigers descending from the mountains. With each slash of their swords, heads rolled to the ground.

Ji Guangchen was now fully awake. The brutal scene inside the camp stunned him so much that he didn’t resist even as his guards carried him away. His mind was blank. Where did they come from? Wasn’t Li Guangbi in Luoyang? Li Qing’an had led his army to Huazhou—how could the Anxi army appear out of nowhere?

Finally, Ji Guangchen came to his senses. He struggled to get down. “Put me down quickly!”

His guards couldn’t care less about his resistance. They quickly fitted him in a soldier’s armor and pushed him onto a warhorse. The horse carried Ji Guangchen toward the north gate of the camp. But as soon as they reached the gate, a shout was heard, and hundreds of Anxi cavalry surrounded them from all sides. They drew their bows, their spears sharp, with arrows and spears aimed at him. Then, Li Guangbi appeared before him, smiling faintly. “General Ji, do you really think you can escape?”

Ji Guangchen turned his horse around. Hundreds of Anxi cavalry surrounded him completely. His dozen or so personal guards roared, ready to charge and break through. But Ji Guangchen stopped them. “None of you may move!”

He tore off the soldier’s armor and bowed to Li Guangbi. “My death is nothing to worry about. Please, General Li, spare my soldiers.”

Li Guangbi nodded. Although Ji Guangchen was more of a theorist, his compassion for his soldiers was rare. He said, “Alright. Have your soldiers surrender completely, and I will spare them!”
Ji Guangchen turned his horse around and shouted loudly, “Soldiers, listen! Surrender all! Follow my orders—surrender now!”
As Ji Guangchen kept shouting, the camp gradually fell silent. Many soldiers who had been ready to fight to the death stood frozen, at a loss. With a clatter, someone dropped his sword, and more and more soldiers laid down their weapons. A group of Anxi cavalry rushed past them, shouting, “Those who surrender, raise your hands above your heads and gather at the south gate!”
Soon, groups of soldiers raised their hands and headed toward the south gate. Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground, Ji Guangchen sighed and said to Li Guangbi, “It’s done. You may do as you will with me. I am willing to die.”
With that, he closed his eyes and stretched his neck. But Li Guangbi ignored him and coldly ordered the surrounding soldiers, “Take him away and hand him over to the general for punishment!”
A group of cavalry led Ji Guangchen away. Li Guangbi stepped forward slowly, looking at the chaotic camp, and felt a sense of relief. Thankfully, most of them had been captured alive, allowing him to report to the general.
The battle in the camp ended quickly. Ji Guangchen’s 30,000 troops were caught off guard by a night attack and had little chance to resist. The terrified soldiers surrendered one after another. Aside from over 2,000 who fought to the death, the remaining 27,000, including the patrol soldiers outside the north camp, all surrendered. The commander Ji Guangchen was captured alive, and not a single soldier from the 30,000-strong force escaped. Li Guangbi had waged a brilliant annihilating battle.
That night, Li Guangbi ordered someone to send good news to Li Qingan, while he led his army to the large granary in Xingyang.
…
In Luoyang, surrounded by tens of thousands of troops, Li Qingan entered the city for the first time. Although he had passed through Luoyang on his way to Yangzhou and as the governor of Henan Province, he had been in a hurry both times and never entered the city.
Although his military records still listed him as a native of Luoyang, in reality, this was his first time in Luoyang during the Tang Dynasty.
Luoyang was by no means a strange city to Li Qingan. 1,300 years later, he was born in this city. But ten years after arriving in the Tang Dynasty, memories of his past life had long faded, as if it had been just a long dream in which he returned 1,300 years later…

The Luoyang before him was so familiar yet so strange. The towering city walls and massive city gates—through the dim city passages—he saw another great metropolis just like Chang’an, with neatly arranged residential areas, like orderly vegetable plots, lining both banks of the Luo River. This was a mighty city; not a trace of decline from later times could be seen in it. And in later Luoyang, there was no longer any trace of its ancestral glory.

Li Qing’an was deeply moved. But as soon as he entered Luoyang, the memories of his past life gradually faded away amid the enthusiastic welcome from the local people.

Li Qing’an entered the city through Dingding Gate. Despite no prior arrangements, nearly 300,000 people from Luoyang came out spontaneously to welcome the Anxi Army.

The 50,000-strong Anxi Army marched into the city in grand style. Li Qing’an’s carriage was among the troops, guarded by 500 personal soldiers who kept a vigilant eye on their surroundings. Some of them remembered that Li Qing’an had once been assassinated in Weishi County, Bianzhou.

The atmosphere along the roads was extremely enthusiastic. Many people played drums and gongs, sang and danced, with cheers rising one after another, as if the Anxi Army were returning from a victorious campaign. And for the people of Luoyang, it indeed was like that. The Anxi Army had expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty, defeated the Great Arab Empire, and crushed Tubo, earning great military honors for the Tang. They had never had the chance to express their gratitude to the Anxi soldiers. Now that they had finally arrived in Luoyang, how could the people not pay tribute to this army they regarded as heroes?

Sitting in the carriage, Li Qing’an looked at the people lining the roads to welcome him, at their excited and joyful faces. A strange sense of emotion welled up in his heart. He knew that during the An Lushan Rebellion, Luoyang had suffered greatly, especially when the Uyghurs plundered women there. Terrified women fled to the White Horse Temple, only to be burned to death by the Uyghurs, resulting in the tragic incident at the White Horse Temple in history.

History had changed because of his arrival. The Uyghurs could no longer invade the Tang Dynasty, nor would there be any more foolish actions by Ge Shu Han at Tongguan. But what about Luoyang? Would it still be captured by An Lushan and used to establish the Great Yan Dynasty?

Li Qing’an hoped not, but many things did not change according to his wishes. All he could do was strive to prevent historical tragedies from repeating.

At that moment, shouts like a tsunami came from outside the carriage window: “King Zhao—show yourself!”
“King Zhao—show yourself!”

Li Qing’an was startled. He gently pulled back a corner of the curtain and saw countless young people from Luoyang running alongside his carriage, shouting, “King Zhao—show yourself!”

Li Qing’an suddenly remembered the evaluations of him by some old farmers in Xin’an County, who described him as a devil. Xin’an County was close to Luoyang, so his own image probably wasn’t much better. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly; it seemed these people following his carriage just wanted to see what he looked like.

Li Qing’an lowered the carriage curtain, only to hear his personal guard commander Zhang Yongqing shout to the crowd, “Distinguished elders and fellow villagers, Prince Zhao was wounded by an arrow while in Anxi. He has endured great hardships on his journey here, and his wound has flared up again. He is currently resting in his carriage to recover and cannot meet with you all. Once he has recovered slightly, he will surely come to see everyone!”

Zhang Yongqing’s speech had an effect—those thousands of young people stopped chasing the carriage. Li Qing’an shook his head with a smile. These guys were becoming increasingly cunning. But thinking of his arrow wound, he touched his left shoulder again. The wound he suffered in Khwarezm had been a year old, yet it still hurt slightly on rainy days. Moreover, he could no longer draw his seven-stone bow, which filled him with disappointment. Perhaps this was fate, pushing him further away from the battlefield.

The army from Anxi continued forward. Ahead lay the Luo River, which divided Luoyang into two parts. The south side was mainly residential areas, while the north side housed the imperial palace, the palace complex, and some residential areas. There were three large bridges across the Luo River, connecting the north and south of Luoyang. In the river just south of the Zhengnan Gate of the imperial palace, there were two artificial islands, built from soil in the shape of half-moons, connected to the banks by bridges.

The army from Anxi kept moving until they reached the imperial palace, where they stopped. Inside Luoyang’s imperial palace, there were the same three departments and six ministries as in Chang’an. Wu Zetian had once lived in Luoyang for a long time, and at that time, Luoyang was the political center of the Tang Dynasty. Yet nearly fifty years later, there were few officials left in Luoyang’s imperial palace. Huge buildings stood in the Yingtian Gate Square, somewhat dilapidated. Occasionally, the clear sound of wind chimes could be heard, as if telling the story of historical changes in the wind.

Fifty thousand soldiers stood in formation in front of Yingtian Gate, presenting a majestic sight. From among the officials of the Ministry of State Affairs, a group stepped forward, walking quickly and nervously through the fifty thousand soldiers toward Li Qing’an’s carriage. Leading them was Yang Shenyu, the governor of the Eastern Capital, followed by Pei Yi, the prefect of Henan Prefecture, Miao Jinqing, the chief administrator of the capital region, and Ji Wen, the magistrate of Luoyang, along with more than a dozen other officials.

It could be said that Dongdu Luoyang was a place where officials were demoted. Miao Jinqing used to be the Minister of Rites under Li Hen. After Li Hen fled south, Miao Jinqing did not follow him and was immediately demoted by the government to the position of governor of the capital region. The same happened to Ji Wen, who was demoted from vice minister of the Ministry of War to the magistrate of Luoyang County due to his close relationship with An Lushan.

Li Qingan slowly stepped out of the carriage and smiled at officials such as Yang Shenyu. Yang Shenyu and the others stepped forward, bowed, and said, “Officials of Dongdu pay their respects to Prince Zhao. We were unable to come out of the city to welcome you; please forgive us, Your Highness!”

“My lords, there’s no need for formalities. I’m just passing through Luoyang today and will stay for one night before heading to Huazhou tomorrow.”

Pei Yi stepped forward and said with a smile, “This must be Your Highness’s first time entering Luoyang City! We should do our best as hosts and show you around the city’s sights.”

Li Qingan had met Pei Yi a few days before departing and didn’t expect him to return to Luoyang so quickly. Li Qingan smiled, nodded, and looked around. In the southwest corner, he saw a huge building that resembled the shape of the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Chang’an. Pointing at it, he asked Pei Yi with a smile, “That must be the Imperial Ancestral Temple!”

“That’s indeed the Luoyang Imperial Ancestral Temple!”

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said, “Since I belong to the imperial family, how could I fail to pay respects to my ancestors upon arriving at the temple?”