Battle of Changshan

Ezio, my friend! How may I be of service? This article has a lot of room for expansion. Please improve it with additional information in accordance with the Manual of Style

Solving that little mystery is exactly why we collected these pages. This article contains an excess of information lacking citations or in need of having them updated. Please ensure that all content are appropriately sourced per the wiki's guidelines.

Where are the paintings? This article is in need of more images and/or better quality pictures from Assassin's Creed: Dynasty in order to achieve a higher status. You can help the Assassin's Creed Wiki by uploading better images on this page.

I wanted to ask you something. Which is... what's your name? This article title is conjecture. Although the article subject is canon, no official name for it has been given.

The Battle of Changshan in February 756 was a punitive attack during the An Lushan Rebellion on the Tang loyalist city of Changshan by General Shi Siming of the Lulong Army. Changshan, governed by Grand Protector Yan Gaoqing, had nominally submitted to the forces of An Lushan like the other commanderies of Hebei Circuit when the jiedushi rebelled against the Tang on 16 December 755 from his base at Fanyang. In reality, Gaoqing had been covertly orchestrating a counter-rebellion across Hebei, with the aim of striking Lushan's main army from the rear flank while he campaigned along the Yellow River.

Secret communications had been sent to the Army of Heavenly Warriors, the Tang forces defending Tong Pass from Lushan, to coordinate this strategy. Because it required opening a channel through Taiyuan to enable the two forces to link up, the Changshan militia staged a surprise attack on Tumen Pass on 28 December 755, in the process making known their resistance against Lushan. That operation had been a critical success, for it resulted in the deaths of the three Yeluohe commanding officers Gao Miao, Li Qincou, and He Qiannian, but they now had to contend with Shi Siming, who guarded Hebei for Lushan with his Lulong Army. Well aware that they would not be able to withstand Siming's retaliation, Changshan's hope lay in reinforcements from Tong Pass.

These reinforcements never arrived because Wang Chengye, the Tang general dispatched to meet with Changshan's agent Li E in Taiyuan, was a mole for the Golden Turtles. This secret organization manipulated the imperial court for their own ends and decided to sabotage Tang resistance efforts, leading to Li E's capture, the execution of the Army of Heavenly Warriors' commanders, and the abandonment of Changshan.

Changshan came under assault by the Lulong Army on 10 February 756. With no help forthcoming, the defence collapsed after a four-day siege. Gaoqing was captured by Shi Siming while his son, Yan Jiming, was initially among a group of six survivors fleeing the battle. Unwilling to abandon his father, however, Jiming returned to confront Siming alone and was taken prisoner as well after losing a duel. The two would eventually be sent to Luoyang, the capital of the new imperial state of Yan proclaimed by Lushan, to be executed. Seeking to avenge them, the group of six Jiming had been with would go on to join Li E as Assassins alongside Jiming's widow He Hong'er and play an instrumental role in both the Mawei Station mutiny that purged the Golden Turtles and the assassination of An Lushan.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Dynasty