Chapter 1103 Fourteen Years of Zhenguan
The winter of the fourteenth year of Zhenguan.
Vuan Prefecture, Guangnan Province, Shenlong Island, Halong Bay, Wulong Prefecture. Legend has it that a dragon descended here, so it is called Halong Bay, and when the dragon descended, it became the largest island in the bay.
Qin Lang pushed open the window, and the sea breeze with a slight fishy smell rushed towards his face.
"I heard that it's snowing again in Luoyang. Sister Yuxiao said that the snow was as big as a big goose."
"Hahaha." Qin Lang couldn't help laughing at Yu Xuanji's description of Luoyang's snow as a big goose, how heavy the snow is. However, although he stayed in Guangnan for three years, he still kept an eye on the Central Plains. Even Chengqian, the prince of Luoyang, had been sending him residence reports here, and he often asked about important military and political events. .
The snow in Luoyang is really heavy this year. In fact, it is snowing heavily in the whole of the north. It is a bit exaggerated to say that there is a big goose, but it is much heavier than the ordinary heavy snow. Many places have actually suffered from snow disasters. Overwhelmed and overwhelmed, many places closed mountains and roads. Fortunately, the imperial court has prepared for it. These years, the world has been peaceful, and the harvest has been bumper every year. The imperial court has sufficient money and food reserves. The money and food were pulled out in time for relief, but the people were not harmed by the heavy snow. .
"There is no snow in Lingnan. There was only snow in Guangzhou a few years ago. In the blink of an eye, there has been no snow in these years."
In the past few years, the emperor has gotten used to staying in Chang'an. From the 11th year of Zhenguan to the end of the 14th year of Zhenguan, except for celebrating the New Year in Luoyang every year, holding the Zhengdan Dynasty, meeting with envoys from various countries, etc., he basically stayed in Chang'an and usually lived in Daming. In the summer, I went to Jiucheng Palace in Qizhou, and occasionally went to Zhaoling to stay for a while to accompany Empress Wende.
He spends most of his time on raising King Jin, Princess Jinyang, and the emperor's grandson Li Xiang. As for the military and state affairs, he is really relieved to hand them over to Prince Chengqian.
With the assistance of several prime ministers such as Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Ma Zhou, Wei Zheng, Li Daliang, the prince performed well, in short, it was a scene of prosperity.
Although in the past few years, from time to time, there will be some rebellions against the Qiang people in Taozhou, the mountain rebellion in Mingzhou, the mountain rebellion in Junzhou and Bizhou, the mountain rebellion in the two states of Luodou in Lingnan, etc., but basically they are reformed. Under the general trend of Tuguiliu, some small barbarian chieftains who don't know the current affairs are just overreaching their capabilities with pebbles and stones, and the governors and governors from all over the country easily calmed down.
It was just a small episode. After the rebellion was quickly quelled, reforming the land and returning to the local people would be able to advance more smoothly.
In addition, in the past few years, there have been two incidents of rebellion by guards around the emperor. One is that the Turkic aristocrat Ashina formed an association to lead the rebellion. During the night attack, three palace gates were taken along the way.
This guy was originally the son of Shibi and the younger brother of Tuli Khan. He was attached to the Tang Dynasty with Tuli Khan and was awarded the position of Zhonglang General. He rebelled and wanted to replace him. After finding out, he was despised and hated by Li Shimin. After Tuli died of illness, this guy wanted to succeed his elder brother's title, and the imperial court finally awarded Tuli's young son He Luohu the title of Prince of Peiping.
Ashina had always been dissatisfied, and secretly hooked up with the people of Xue Yantuo in Mobei, and boldly launched an attack on the emperor of Jiucheng Palace. When he went to Turkic, he embraced his nephew as a great sweat, united with Xue Yantuo, and restored Turkic.
Repelled by Zhechong General Sun Wukai, escaped from the Weishui River, and was intercepted and killed by the Zhenfu Division. He Luohu was exiled to Wu'an Prefecture in Guangnan.
Following the facts afterwards, many of Xue Yantuo's secret spies and dead soldiers were captured in Chang'an. This incident also aroused the anger of the Tang Dynasty, and the imperial court immediately sent envoys to question Xue Yantuo.
At the same time, the imperial court also began a round of purges of the Turks who were attached to the inner court. Many Turkic nobles who were awarded high-ranking positions after surrendering to the inner court were also deprived of their titles and official positions this time, and even the imperial court officially canceled the Eastern Turks. The Turkic Khanate is no longer retained.
Qin Guozhong also took the initiative to submit a form to the court, requesting the removal of the title of Tilibi Khan.
The Eastern Turks were completely subjugated, and they no longer even had titles. All the Turkic tribes in Monan were also included in the governor's mansions and prefectures, and the imperial court fully implemented the Zhengzhouization of all prefectures.
It is precisely because of this that the Xue Yantuo people who turned against Datang declared to the outside world that the rebellion incident led by the association was completely a conspiracy planned by Datang himself. They used this to destroy the Eastern Turks, and then blamed the Xueyantuo Khanate to further cleanse the Turks. etc.
Anyway, it’s just talking.
Then Datang unceremoniously sent Prime Ministers Li Daliang and Prime Minister Li Ji to launch a surprise attack on Xue Yantuo with Li Simo, Qin Guozhong, Li Sili, Zhang Shigui, and Li Xiyu.
In this battle, the two prime ministers took the lead, and each united an elite Qingqi team, and defeated Xue Yantuo in a surprise attack at Qikou. Fleeing in defeat, one hundred thousand troops collapsed, three thousand were beheaded, and tens of thousands were captured.
Yinan was forced to sue Datang for peace. Li Daliang and Yinan met in Nuozhenshui.
This conflict is considered to be temporarily over.
Qin Lang, who was far away in the south of the Lingnan, knew some inside information about this incident even though he was not there. It is true that Ashina led more than 40 Turkic people to attack Jiucheng Palace at night and broke three palace gates, but in fact he has always been on the blacklist of the imperial court, and he has been able to be Zhonglang all these years Yes, it is just a long-term fishing for big fish.
Since he communicated, the emperor has completely controlled his every move. More than forty of them smashed three palace gates in a row that day. In fact, it was only the emperor's intention to let him in.
Following the trend, the imperial court wiped out some of the spies, spies, dead soldiers and so on that Xue Yantuo had worked so hard to install in Chang'an and Luoyang for many years, and then used this to declare that Xue Yantuo colluded with associations to lead the assassination and rebellion.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the imperial court canceled the Eastern Turkic Khanate, reorganized and cleaned it to belong to the Turkic nobles, and even reorganized and resettled the Turkic tribes in Monan. It can be said that this is what the imperial court has already started to do. After all Time has changed and the situation has changed. When the Eastern Turks were first destroyed, the power is still there, so it is stable.
But now ten years have passed, and the fruit of East Turks has almost been digested. Under the various methods of the court, East Turks can no longer make any waves, so of course there is no need to keep it.
Association rate is just a pawn, and you don't know it until you die.
Xue Yantuo just hugged the grass and beat the rabbit, and beat him up by the way.
Datang used troops against Xue Yantuo at this time, but they only received him at the first blow. In fact, it is very mysterious. Although the Tang Dynasty has been very stable in the past few years, after destroying the two countries of Gaochang and Tuyuhun, it beat Yugushe and Tubo again, but it did not expand any more aggressively after that.
It's not that Datang doesn't want to fight anymore, and it's not that he has no opponents, there are still opponents.
In fact, after the First World War in Gaochang, the Luoyang court began to plan to destroy Xue Yantuo and Goguryeo. After repeated discussions and consultations with the emperor, the final strategy of the court was to destroy Goguryeo first, restore the four counties of Liaodong in the Han Dynasty, and then sweep the desert. North Xue Yantuo.
After all, Mobei is a place that cannot be managed even if it is defeated, so use Huihe, Khitan, etc. to restrain them, so as not to let them scream too fiercely. As for Goguryeo, it is much more threatening than Gaochang. It has been developed for seven hundred years, half farming and half pastoral, and it is extremely threatening.
Before attacking Goguryeo, they first hit Xue Yantuo to make him more honest, so Er Li sent out elite Qingqi, but only 20,000 cavalry, just to fight a small-scale war that can be controlled.
Next year, the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, the Son of Heaven will return to the Luoyang court, and the first thing the Son of Heaven has to do when he returns to Luoyang is to seal Mount Tai. The merits are not high enough, the Tang Dynasty is not stable enough, and the world is not prosperous enough. What face do you have to report to the sky, the emperor?
It has been ten years since the delay, and now it will be the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, and Tang Wenzhi and martial arts are already very good. At this time, the emperor officially returns to the court, and at the same time, he enshrines Zen and Taishan. No one can object to that.
Next year, the emperor will enshrine Mount Tai, and the various ministries will start to take action in advance. In these actions, they are actually covering up the preparations for the eastward expedition to Goguryeo. Anyway, after Li Shimin enshrines Mount Tai next year, he will not return to Luoyang for the time being, but will directly send troops to Liaodong.
Through the preparation of Feng Chan, secretly dispatched troops and generals, just to catch Goguryeo by surprise. The emperor's plan was to divide the war into several steps. The first step was to surprise Goguryeo first. He planned to remove several key cities along the Liaohe River.
Liaodong City, Fuyu City, Anshi City, etc. have long been on the demolition list.
After the first wave of offensive, after taking these important cities, the Tang army entered the next step plan, occupying the key points of several fortified cities, and sweeping the surrounding areas. In fact, it was to build the defense line of the Great Wall of Liaodong that Goguryeo has devoted all its efforts in the past few years. I dismantled it for him, and removed seven or eight holes.
Datang turned against customers, operating these cities as forward strongholds, sweeping the surrounding areas, and then the emperor withdrew to Luoyang for the New Year.
Wait until spring goes to summer, when the Tang army will come back to launch a second wave of offensive.
Anyway, Li Shimin drew lessons from Yang Guangzheng's Liao Dynasty. He didn't intend to try his best to flatten out. Let alone the defense line of the Great Wall, we must establish a foothold in Liaodong.
Wait until the cold winter is over, and then work again. At that time, land and water will advance together, and the two armies will attack.
In this way, the logistical supply pressure, etc., should be much smaller. If Yang Guang dispatched millions of troops to conquer Liao at one time, he would be a prodigal, a person who doesn't understand soldiers at all, and the broken place in Liaodong cannot support such a large army at all. On-the-spot supply depends entirely on the Central Plains to transfer supplies. This logistical pressure is unbearable even at the time of the Sui Dynasty at its strongest.
For strategists like Li Shimin, soldiers are more expensive than elites, and the most important thing is to grasp and mobilize the entire battle situation. If the soldiers are used well, one hundred thousand troops is better than one million troops.
Anyway, he planned to divide it into three or five steps. He didn't plan to destroy Goguryeo in one or two years. It would take at least three to five years, and even be prepared to fight for ten years.
Of course, ten years is not Yang Guang's prodigal style of play, it has to be based on Liaodong's style of play, except for the first and second waves of attacks, the follow-up has to be supported by war, supply on the spot, and even make some money. , You can’t carry too much burden, otherwise, if you fight the national war for ten years, you will rely on supplies from the Central Plains, and even the current Datang will not be able to support it.
Qin Lang is so clear about these strategies of the emperor, it is also because the emperor pulled a special line to Guangnan, and there was a special rider from Dianqiansi to travel back and forth for the pen pals of Qin Lang and the emperor. After running six times, the emperor and his ministers discussed the military strategy against Goguryeo countless times.
"Saburo really won't go back to Luoyang Chaoji?"
"Well, the big goose in Luoyang, how can it be better than Xialong Bay, you see it is sunny, windy and rainy, well, I won't chat with you, I went surfing."
Qin Lang slapped Yu Xuanji's **** with a slap, smiled and picked up the coconut she sent and walked out. This beach, this bay, this blue sky, and surrounded by beauties, Qin Lang really couldn't think of leaving.
Although the three-year filial piety period has passed, he rejected the imperial court's restoration edict several times, so he stayed in the fief and refused to return.
(end of this chapter)