Chapter 769 Please enter the urn
Chapter 769 Please enter the urn
"Pei Xiangguo, please speak!"
Pei Ju sorted out his thoughts and said slowly: "The late emperor has been building the Great Wall in the north since the fifth year of Kaihuang, but facts have proved that the Great Wall can't stop the Turkic army from advancing southward. We can't always be passive like this. I suggest that once we unify the world and stabilize it, we should consider the Northern Expedition."
Xiao Xia nodded, "Building the Great Wall is indeed very passive. I agree to take the initiative and push the defense line to the Yinshan line. Now I am considering whether the Turks will launch a large-scale attack this year."
Pei Ju smiled and shook his head, "Your Majesty, please rest assured that the Turks will not attack this year."
"Why?"
"Your Majesty, the Turkic troops did not send out an order from the Khan. Everyone had to send out troops. They had to negotiate when to send out troops, how many troops each family would send, or how to distribute them, etc. It would take at least a few months to finalize these. Then at the agreed time, the envoys took the Wolf Head Order and rushed to each tribe to inform everyone to send out troops. Everyone came from all directions. The cavalry of the farthest tribe was thousands of miles away. It would take at least half a year for the army to gather together. Therefore, the Turkic people usually negotiated in the fall of this year and sent out troops in the spring of next year. It is now July, and the grassland will enter winter in a few months, so it is impossible to send troops this year."
"That means the Turks will launch a massive attack next spring?"
"Not necessarily. It depends on how they negotiate. It's hard to coordinate interests. For example, they negotiated for several years before finally reaching an agreement. But we also have to prepare for the worst and make full preparations to be prepared."
Xiao Xia nodded, "I understand. After the war is over this year, we will discuss the Turkic issue in detail."
"I'm leaving now!"
Liu Wenjing and Pei Ju said goodbye and left.
Xiao Xia paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. At present, Li Yuan's army still had about 100,000 people. The last time he sold the land, he got more than 10 million strings of cash, which was enough to maintain the army's salaries for several years. He was not short of money. What he lacked was food and salt. If the Guangtong Warehouse was cut off, or all the food in the Guangtong Warehouse was transported away, Li Yuan would not be able to feed the 100,000 troops. If the salt was cut off, Li Yuan would have no choice but to surrender.
At this time, the attendant reported outside the door, "Your Majesty, Li Jing has urgent news!"
"Give it to me quickly!"
The guard came in and presented a copy of the eagle letter. Xiao Xia opened the eagle letter and took a closer look. He was overjoyed. Xu Min, the governor of Dunhuang County, had led 20,000 troops to capture Zhangye County.
Xu Min and Cao Taiyue were the first two confidants to follow him. Cao Taiyue was appointed as the governor and commander of the army of Ruoqiang County, and Xu Min was appointed as the governor and commander of the army of Dunhuang County. Although Li Gui occupied Hexi, Dunhuang was out of reach, so he did not take it into consideration and gave himself a surprise at the last moment.
But Xiao Xia was a little puzzled. Dunhuang County only had 5,000 garrisons. Where did Xu Min get 20,000 troops? But Xiao Xia immediately understood that he must have borrowed troops from the Western Regions.
Xiao Xia looked down again, and the last piece of news also made Xiao Xia overjoyed. Qu Tutong led thousands of remaining troops to surrender to the Sui army.
This was the most capable and brave general under Li Yuan. Without this capable and brave general, no matter how powerful Li Shimin was, it would be useless. Although there was still a Yuwen Chengdu, Yuwen Chengdu was only good at martial arts, but not at leading troops in battle.
Xiao Xia was now completely devastated. Li Yuan was destroying his own Great Wall. It would be against the will of heaven if he did not decline.
Xiao Xia immediately issued an edict, conferring Xu Min the title of General of the Left Guard, the title of Duke of Zhangye, and appointing him as the governor of Hexi Road. At the same time, he conferred Qu Tutong the title of General of the Right Guard, the title of Duke of Longxi, and appointed him as the governor of Lingwu County and the deputy governor of Shuofang Road. Qu Tutong was also heartbroken by Li Yuan. In fact, the defeat was not his fault, but Liu Hongji's improper handling, coupled with the surrender of his deputy Lin Xingcan, led to the Hexi army's rapid advance and the capture of Longxi County in one fell swoop. The responsibility should be these two.
The Western Army lost its logistics and was attacked from all sides. The entire army was in a panic and morale was low. In addition, Li Shimin withdrew half of his troops. How could Qu Tutong not be defeated when he led an army of 50,000 with collapsed morale to fight against an army of 80,000?
However, the King of Tang only glossed over the real reason in his handling report and put the blame on himself, dismissing him from his post and title, and almost imprisoning him for investigation. This was also because he was not in Chang'an. If he were in Chang'an, he would definitely be arrested and interrogated.
Thinking of his brother Qu Tugai's death, which was not even mentioned in the handling report, Qu Tugai became completely disheartened and did not want to work for the Li family anymore.
He led the remaining troops to retreat to Liangchuan County, Huining County. Coincidentally, at this time, Li Jing led 50,000 troops southward, preparing to cross the Yellow River in Liangchuan County. The two armies met, and Li Jing extended an olive branch to Qu Tutong, who immediately led his troops to surrender to Li Jing.
The two armies merged into one, and Li Jing appointed Qu Tutong as his deputy general. The army continued to march westward. Just as they arrived at Huining County, news came from Hexi that Xu Min, the governor of Dunhuang County, had led 20,000 troops to occupy Zhangye County.
This situation was very sudden, and Li Jing immediately ordered to set up camp.
In the big tent, Qu Tutong suggested to Li Jing: "The families of the soldiers of Hexi Army are all in Wuwei County and Zhangye County. Once Li Gui gets the news, he will definitely withdraw his troops quickly. Why don't we send someone to pretend to be an official of Wuwei County to inform Li Gui that Xu Min led 5,000 troops to occupy Zhangye County and ask him to withdraw quickly. We will wait for him here and attack him from both sides. Li Gui will definitely be defeated."
Li Jing nodded. "There is a very powerful Xiliang cavalry in Li Gui's army, consisting of 5,000 Qiang people. But it doesn't matter. We have arrows and mines specially designed to deal with cavalry. We can defeat them in one fell swoop!"
Although Li Gui conquered Longxi, he had an agreement with Xue Ju. After they cooperated to defeat the Tang King's army, Longxi County and Tianshui County belonged to Xue Ju, while Jincheng County and Huining County belonged to him.
Li Gui had been in Jincheng County for less than ten days when he suddenly received news that Xu Min, the governor of Dunhuang County, had led 5,000 troops to capture Zhangye County. Weiwu County was also in danger, and they begged him to return immediately.
This news shocked Li Gui. You know, he and Xu Min had reached a compromise. He would not interfere in Dunhuang County, and Xu Min also recognized him as the governor of Hexi and his occupation of the two Hexi counties.
The two sides had been living in peace. He led his army to war, and Zhangye County and Weiwu County were empty. Xu Min did not react at all. He had just put his mind at ease and led his army across the Yellow River when Xu Min suddenly took action.
Li Gui was both resentful and angry. He hated Xu Min for breaking his promise and he was angry at himself for actually believing Xu Min's promise.
In fact, it was also Li Gui's fault that he didn't know Xu Min's background. If he knew that Xu Min was Xiao Xia's confidant left in Hexi, he would not be so careless.
Li Gui immediately appointed Li Yi as the governor of Jincheng County, commanding the 20,000 surrendered troops, and he himself led 30,000 troops back to Hexi.
At this time, Li Gui was thinking of the treacherous Xu Min and wished to tear him into pieces. He had no idea that a Sui army of 50,000 men had already come from Shuofang.
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[The name of the person in the chapter yesterday afternoon was wrong. Yin Shishi died a long time ago. I have corrected it. Sometimes I forget the previous part when writing the latter part.]
(End of this chapter)