Chapter 132 Eyes Severed by Sorrow (II)

　　He said:　　Beneath Yugutai the clear river runs; how many travelers’ tears lie between?　　Gazing northwest toward Chang’an, pity the countless hills.　　Green hills cannot hide it — still it flows east.　　At dusk the river saddens me; deep in the mountains I hear the partridge’s cry.　　After that, Yan Zhenqing had seen in court that the treacherous chancellor Yang Guozhong and An Lushan were two sides of the same coin and that the state apparatus was decaying day by day. He therefore often sat late with Prince of Langya Li Chenghao in the study, candles between them, mapping the country’s fate. Li Chenghao recalled how Wang Zhongsi once taught him the defense of Tongguan, advocating “hold the strong ground, make the weary break themselves” — tactics then only theoretical, yet now, with calamity rising from within, those words had become prophecy.　　Yan Zhenqing was upright but also meticulous. Acting on his own judgment, he secretly built ramparts on the heights of Pingyuan Commandery, dug deep moats, and under the pretense of guarding against theft during rainy days, conscripted and trained ablebodied men, stocked granaries, and prepared hardened crossbows.　　As predicted, An Lushan took Yan’s careless reading of Yan Zhenqing — a bookish man lingering over steles and poems — for weakness. When the drums from Yuyang rolled across the ground and the rebel cavalry streamed south, Hebei’s counties melted away before them; many magistrates fled or surrendered, standards were replaced.　　An Lushan, confident his power reached to the seas, presumed Pingyuan’s tiny territory would comply. He therefore summoned Yan Zhenqing, ordering him to take command of local defenses at Hejin — in truth to seize his military authority.　　Yan Zhenqing received the writ without betraying emotion; he pretended compliance while sending trusted officers disguised as merchants across the counties at night carrying forged documents and arranging secretly with local commanders to raise the righteous banner and rally loyal troops. He also threw open the public granary and posted notices recruiting soldiers. The men of Pingyuan,