Chapter 439: Northern Expedition

Chapter 439: Northern Expedition

  Chapter 439 Northern Expedition

  Chang'an.

  The infrastructure of the Daming Palace has been completed, and a new palace has taken shape.

  Supreme Emperor Li Yuan has been going to Daming Palace to supervise the palace every day recently. Although Qin Lang is not in Beijing, he has already made sufficient arrangements before, and all departments are working together in an orderly manner.

Seeing the new palace changing every day, Li Yuan was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth from ear to ear, his face became more wrinkled when he smiled, but when he was happy, his body also improved a lot, his face became red again, and he was in a cheerful mood I am no longer depressed, and even my appetite has increased.

  Before, the Supreme Emperor, who was already tired of beauties and didn't even want to touch them, suddenly rejuvenated the old tree with new branches, and more than a dozen beauties came to the harem again. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the imperial doctor told the emperor that five more beauties in the empress palace were pregnant.

   Li Shimin listened helplessly.

   has already abdicated, and he is still adding younger brothers and sisters to him. He, a young emperor, is actually not as good as the emperor in terms of having children.

  The emperor's harem has been quiet for a long time.

  But Li Shimin really didn't have the energy to visit his concubines during this time, let alone those court ladies who were secretly looking forward to it.

  The emperor's attention is now on the north.

   The Northern Expedition, which has been planned and prepared for a year, is about to start.

  The overall situation in the north is very favorable to the Tang Dynasty. The Western Turks in the Western Regions are still in the chaotic situation of the war between the two Khans, and there is no time to care about them.

   On the Eastern Turkic side, after being conferred by Li Shimin, the little Tuli Khan became more courageous, openly playing the banner of the Great Khan in the east, and turned against his uncle Jieli.

  The Khitan, Kumoxi, Shiwei, and Baiyu ministries, at the behest of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, expressed their support to Tuli to be the Great Khan.

  So Tuli Khan became more and more determined to oppose Xieli.

On the other side of Mobei, the young leader of the Xue Yan tribe, Yi Nan, also received various promises from the Emperor of Tang Dynasty, accepted the canonization of Zhenzhu Khan, established the Xue Yantuo Khanate in Mobei, and received the support of several Tiele tribes , 70,000 accounts in the headquarters, plus other ministries, Xue Yantuo claimed to have 400,000 accounts at one time.

  The expansion of Mobei and the establishment of Yugu, it is difficult to command Tiele's tribes for a while, and it is difficult to protect themselves.

   It was under such circumstances that Datang had completely cut off Xieli's wings.

  Everything is ready, the east wind has risen!

  In the Hall of Liangyi.

  Changsun Wuji shouted loudly, please order the Northern Expedition, Your Majesty!

  Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui also requested to order the Northern Expedition.

  In the past year, although Li Shimin let Li Jing sit in the clouds and prepare for the Northern Expedition, in fact, he has been planning to conquer the north of the Great Wall by himself, and the emperor's heart of conquest has never been broken.

  It's a pity that neither the eldest brother-in-law, the eldest grandson Wuji, nor the right-hand man Fang Xuanling Du Ruhui refused to agree, let alone the big sprayer Wei Zhengna, who sprayed saliva on the emperor's face time and time again.

   Want to conscript personally, no way.

  After Qin Lang went south, Dai Zhou was the only person in charge of logistics and transportation, but he was still the country's planner, responsible for finance and taxation, and he had no skills at all.

  In the end, seeing that the decisive battle was getting closer and closer, Li Shimin had no hope of conquering himself, so he had no choice but to go to the Duke of Qi’s mansion in person, and asked Sikong Qin Qiong to go out again.

Li Shimin also drew Qin Qiong 12,000 elite troops from the Sixth Army of the North Yam, and another 12,000 highlanders from the Twelve Guards of the Nanya Army to form a general reserve team of 24,000 elites. Give Qin Qiong the command, just in case.

  The war has not yet started, but everyone in the court knows that Jieli will lose this time.

  According to news, Xieli had already been a little restless. He first took the risk of sending troops to attack Tuli in July, but Tuli was caught off guard and lost the first battle.

  Tuli hurriedly asked Cheng Yaojin in Youzhou for help, and at the same time sent people to call the Khitan, Xi, and Qi tribes for rescue.

At the end of July, Tuli gathered his men and horses and ambushed at Qikou on the way back to the west of Jieli. The two sides fought a big battle. The Tuli people defeated Jieli, beheaded more than 8,000 riders, and captured tens of thousands of his cattle and horses. , followed by half a month of long-distance pursuit.

   Jieli fled westward in panic, losing more than 5,000 people along the way, and even thousands of people turned around and joined Tuli halfway.

  When he returned to Baidao Khan Court, Jieli couldn't help but wept bitterly. Not only did he not subdue Tuli who claimed to be a great Khan, but he suffered heavy losses.

  The last prestige of Jieli Khan was also lost.

  Although he wiped away his tears, gathered the soldiers and horses of the Khan Court, and led the troops to attack Tuli who was chasing him from afar in the middle of the night, beat the arrogant Tuli to shame, beheaded thousands of his men and horses, and forced Tuli to turn around and flee eastward in a hurry.

   But in the end, Xieli still suffered a big loss.

  Packing up the defeated soldiers and returning to Khan Court, Jieli hurriedly sent envoys to send horses to Chang'an, and Jieli asked the Emperor of Tang Dynasty to take care of Tuli.

   Ask Datang to make the decision for him. How can a Turk have two sweats? Tian Khan should uphold justice for him and order Su Ling to remove the Khan.

  However, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty even detained the two Jieli generals Zhisiluoli and Ashina Simo, so how could he let his canonized Tuli remove Khan?

  Datang took away Jieli's horse and gold, but then only sent a green-robed official from Honglu Temple to deal with them.

   Seeing that the situation is not good, Jieli has no choice but to scold Li Shimin for being heartless and ungrateful.

  Times have changed and things have changed, and now the Tang people have been crushed on them.

Jieli wanted to move to Mobei to escape, but Yu Gushe told him that Mobei Tie Le tribes had turned against each other, and now they could not stand in Mobei, and wanted to move to Monan. Jieli passed by this time, Isn't it courting death?

   Neither is Jie Liliu, nor is it retreating.

   A few more people were sent to Chang'an, and they admitted their mistakes in various ways, trying to pretend to be dead dogs to escape this wave.

   "Your Majesty, let's fight. Now the autumn is high and the weather is cool in Saibei, and the horses are fat and strong. The soldiers have been preparing for a long time, and they can't wait to fight. Everything is ready, let's fight!"

"let's hit!"

  Li Shimin is helpless, he really wants to conscript himself, but unfortunately no one is willing to support it.

   "Call Li Jing, fight!"

   "At the same time, send an order to the other generals, send troops to six groups, and attack the Northern Expedition!"

  Finally, the general offensive order for the Northern Expedition was issued. Li Shimin had been waiting for this day for more than ten years. Thinking back when the Li family raised troops in Taiyuan, they had to ask the Turks for help, borrow their soldiers to buy their horses, and paid the price of being a vassal and paying tribute.

  Li Shimin endured and endured until the Li family finally entered Chang'an and established the Tang Dynasty, but Li Yuan told him that he had to endure and not turn his face.

  So he continued to endure until Xue Ju and his son in Longyou in the backyard were wiped out, and Li Gui in Hexi was demoted.

   Li Yuan said that we have to endure, but now we can no longer submit to the Turks, we are equal.

  Li Shimin continued to endure until he led his troops to defeat Liu Wuzhou and recapture Hedong, and then launched the Central Plains War. Three thousand in Hulao defeated Hebei Dou Jiande by one hundred thousand, and Wang Shichong of Luoyang was trapped to death.

   At this time, Li Yuan finally had the confidence to say no to the unreasonable demands of the Turks, and Li Shimin was finally able to lead his troops to fight back with swords against the Turkic people who went south to rob.

  But when the fight started, the result was not as simple as imagined.

From the sixth year of Wude to the eighth year of Wude, the Tang army and the Turks fought one after another, but they did not win the expected victory once, and each time they were victorious. The border is still a hunting ground for the Turks. Come and leave whenever you want .

  Emperor Li Yuan even had to consider moving the capital to Shannan and abandoning Guanzhong Chang'an.

  Li Shimin was not reconciled, and resolutely opposed moving the capital. He was willing to continue fighting the Turks.

   In the ninth year of Wude, the Turks invaded again. Before sending troops this time, Li Shimin was forced to launch the Xuanwumen Soldier. He killed his brother and put his father under house arrest. He seized the highest power in the Tang Dynasty and became the new prince.

  Ke Jieli Khan took 300,000 riders straight to the north bank of the Weihe River in a blink of an eye, and killed Chang'an City.

  That time was when Li Shimin was most aggrieved.

  The ministers dissuaded him, don't fight with Xieli, don't fight with Xieli, no one agrees that he should fight with Xieli.

  In the end, he could only form an alliance with Jieli Weiqiao, and was forced to form an alliance under the city.

  Although Xieli did not benefit from the merits of Qin Qiong, Yu Chigong, and Qin Lang that time, but in terms of face and national dignity, Tang suffered a lot of humiliation that time.

   Another two years have passed, and Datang can finally feel proud.

  At this moment, the emperor suddenly wanted to drink a few cups, but unfortunately that guy Qin Lang was still in Lingnan, if he was there, he would definitely be able to have a good drink with him.

  This clever little slicker, everything went as he expected, and he endured humiliation for several years, and finally it was time to settle with Xieli.

  Xieli, Xieli, you also have today?

   Li Shimin was suddenly looking forward to seeing Jieli in distress. He still couldn't get rid of Jieli's ugly face on the Weiqiao.

   "Add a sentence to Li Jing's imperial edict that Jieli must be captured alive and brought back to Chang'an. I think it would be nice to let Jieli dance for me when the palace feasts in the future."

  The emperor's sudden words surprised the prime minister and his ministers.

  Changsun Wuji said, "Your Majesty, in the Northern Expedition, the lion fought the rabbit with all their strength, how could they be so considerate? If Xieli is released, wouldn't there be endless troubles?"

"I don't care about these things. I believe that Li Jing has that ability. I want a living Jieli, not a dead body. Let Li Jing find a way to do it for me. I let Li Jing lead the Northern Expedition because I believe in his ability. I believe he can do it!"

  The emperor’s only request to Li Jing was to capture Jieli alive and send him back to Chang’an, and let Li Jing play the rest, instead of remotely interfering with his command in Chang’an.

   "If Li Jing thinks he can't do this, then let him abdicate and let the virtuous, and I will let Shubao take command!"

  The emperor is so willful, Changsun Wuji and others have nothing to say.

   After thinking for a while, Li Shimin named his eldest grandson Wuji again.

"Auxiliary machine, you will go to Daibei for me and explain clearly to Li Jing." The emperor asked Li Jing to go to Daibei to do something, and brought Yang Guang's Empress Xiao and his grandson Yang Zhengdao back to Chang'an with Jieli .

  Changsun Wuji looked at his brother-in-law in surprise, Empress Xiao is over sixty, what about the emperor's cousin, the emperor has such a strong taste?

Seeing his expression, Li Shimin glared at him immediately, "My Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty was orthodox, and the Yang family is also my relative of the Li family. Empress Xiao and Yang Zhengdao took them back to Chang'an to take care of them."

   Empress Xiao is not only Li Yuan's cousin, she is also the biological mother of Li Shimin Yang Shufei, his old mother-in-law, and the grandmother of Li Tai and Li Yin.

   Li Shimin took back Empress Xiao and Yang Zhengdao, both public and private.

  Changsun Wuji smiled awkwardly, but he thought about it for a while, so he nodded in agreement.

  (end of this chapter)