Chapter 938: Tiger

Chapter 938: Tiger

  Chapter 938 The Tiger's Dominance

   In the ninth year of Zhenguan, when the emperor was in power for ten years, it seemed a little unusual at the beginning.

   An eventful season.

  The sporadic barbarians in south of the Five Ridges have not yet been put down, and the barbarians in Yunnan and central Guizhou raised their rebel flags again, and the war with Goguryeo and Xue Yantuo in the north is imminent.

  Tuyuhun actually reversed again.

   For this reason, rumors began to appear in Chang'an City.

   Li Shimin suddenly felt stressed, and couldn't sleep all night.

  This time, Taibao Qin Qiong once again put on armor and held a mace to stand guard for the emperor at night, but it didn't have much effect.

   "Where is Saburo?"

   Li Shimin, who couldn't sleep, decided not to sleep at all, and asked the servant to bring some stewed beef jerky and other side dishes, and then made a pot of tea, chatting with Qin Qiong.

"According to the time, we should arrive at Xiangyang almost. The new Meiguan road in Dayuling has been built, which makes the journey back to Beijing much easier, but after all, it is thousands of miles away." Qin Qiong is getting old, and some can't stay up all night, sitting there always A little sleepy, answering one or the other.

   "Old man, are you dissatisfied with the fact that I have kept you in Beijing?" Li Shimin took a sip of milk tea and looked at himself as an old man. When they wanted to meet each other, it was four years in Wude, which was already fifteen years ago. At that time, he was still a little immature, and it was not long before the defeat of Qianshuiyuan.

   But Qin Qiong was at the time of the year, followed several generals such as Lai Huer, Zhang Xutuo, and Pei Renji, and became famous in Wagangzhai, Luoyang Wang Shichong, etc. When he met Qin Qiong, Li Shimin was even more powerful.

  Defeated Song Jingang, demoted Wei Chigong, defeated Wang Shichong, flattened Dou Jiande, they were invincible and invincible. At that time, Qin Qiong, the real **** of war, came to the world, and took the head of a general among millions of troops, just like picking something out of a bag.

  Ten years ago, on the day of the Xuanwumen Incident, he took the risk of leading 800 dead soldiers to make a risky move. At the critical moment, Qin Qiong led the Northern Expeditionary Army from the Weibei Camp to arrive in time, and sealed the victory with the final word.

  The former Qin Qiong, how big and domineering.

  Now, his hair is gray and his body is stooped.

"I am a soldier. Compared with my countless fellow soldiers, I am lucky enough. I fought in troubled times, but I was able to live in peace and see this chaste and prosperous age. It's just that in this life, I have gone through thousands of years. In the battle, there are countless wounds all over the body, and the blood that has flowed is countless, although the destiny is not known now, but the body is indeed not as good as before."

"However, I think that if your majesty calls for it, I can still mount a spear and kill thieves for the Tang Dynasty. It's just that the capital is prosperous, but my minister is useless. Now that the southwestern border is restless, I want to go back soon. Guard for the saints."

Li Shimin said with emotion, "I also know that Shubao is plagued by old injuries, so I want you to stay in Chang'an to recuperate. The capital has the best famous doctors and the best medicinal materials. You are my fierce general, and even more so." My blessed general, I still can’t do without you. If you cut off the flesh on my body and put the blood on my body to heal you, I will never frown.”

  Qin Qiong was very moved.

   "Chen Wei has nothing to repay."

   "Shubao, you don't have to worry too much about Xinanyi, after all, you are just a clown. Even if Tuyuhun is making trouble at this juncture, I don't really take it too seriously, I just feel a little disgusted."

  Qin Qiong took the opportunity to speak again, reminding the emperor of Tubo on the plateau.

"This time there is a civil strife in Tuyuhun, and there are shadows of Tubo everywhere, so we must guard against it. Last year, Tubo used troops against Su Pi several times, and Su Pi was forced to submit to Tubo again. Qi Zongnong has made Su Pi the fifth Tubo statue , compiled the Subi people into several Dongdai."

  On the plateau, since Songtsan Gampo succeeded to the throne, he quelled the rebellion, trained troops and horses, and continued to reform the system after the victory. He divided the Tubo land into five divisions, which are similar to military regions.

  Every example is below, and there are left and right, which are called Zhiru, and there are several Dongdai as follows.

  Up to now, the first four are divided into left and right, a total of eight branches, plus the newly established Su Piru, because it has not been divided into left and right, so there are five major and nine branches, and a total of sixty-one Dongdai.

  These Dongdai are similar to a thousand households, which is equivalent to the Zhechong Military Mansion in the Tang Dynasty.

   It not only commands the army, but also manages the people, and implements a system where almost all the people are soldiers.

  One Dongdai has a thousand Tubo army, and there are more than a thousand households under it. This thousand households are equivalent to a military division, responsible for supplying this Dongdai, grazing and farming at ordinary times, and recruiting to join the army in case of war.

  Tubo’s soil is cold and bitter, and its products are poor. Although there are Uizang River Valley Plains, which are suitable for farming, the area is too small to accommodate the population. More areas are high-altitude snow-covered plateaus, which are only suitable for nomads.

  In many areas, except for snow and ice, even a tree cannot grow. Such an environment made the young Tubo monarch, who is now gradually dominating, look beyond the plateau.

  In the four directions of southeast, southeast and northwest, only the expansion to the north is condescending, and the north is flat, which is the most suitable for expansion. The other three directions are very difficult.

  The reform of Tubo also absorbed some systems of the Central Plains, such as the Sixty-one Dongdai system, which is similar to the Fubing system.

  Li Shimin still didn't take it seriously.

   "Sixty-one Dongdai, at most no more than 61,000 troops, not to be feared."

  The soldiers of the Zhechong government in the Tang Dynasty had 600,000 to 700,000 troops, and there were also the Beiya Imperial Army.

"Your Majesty, when Tubo used troops against Subi last year, it assembled an army of 120,000 at its peak, and the secret agents sent by the ministers reported that its army was quite strong. Each of them had Ruben, marshal, deputy general, etc. , Dongdai also has a thousand commanders, a centurion commander and so on.

  These armies from Dongdai are all composed of people from the same tribe. They are familiar with each other, cooperate with each other tacitly, are very united, and take care of each other.

Among the five armies, each army horse is composed of horses of the same color, and the flags are also different. As long as you see the horses and flags, you can tell which army it is, which is very beneficial for marching and commanding. .

  According to Qin Qiong, the reforms in Tubo are similar to the reforms of Yuwentai in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and they are quite in-depth. Five as sixty-one Dongdai, very similar to the twenty-four Kaifu of the twelve generals of the Eight Pillar Kingdom in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Those Dongdai soldiers were called Gui.

  Gui belongs to the high-level subjects of Tubo, and is engaged in military-related affairs, that is, has military membership, similar to the soldiers in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and has a high status.

  Slaves and others are included in this class.

Guishou provided men for Tubo, joined the army during the war, and paid for the weapons, horses, and food needed for the war by himself. It was almost the same as the Fubing in the Fubing system since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and the rewards and promotions he received were also very generous. .

  The labor and taxes borne by Gui are also much lighter than that of ordinary households. Even Songtsen Gampo directly legislated to prohibit peasant households from turning into military households.

  Songtsan Gampo also established a reward and punishment mechanism, such as giving tiger and leopard skin clothing to brave fighters, and hanging fox tails directly on their heads for those who are timid.

  And their war mode still retains the mechanism of the nomadic tribes, mainly looting, and the loot is divided into accounts. The land belongs to Tubo, and the rest of the floating wealth belongs to the sergeants.

   And those mediocre servants are low-status servants, or even plundered slaves, and their treatment is very low.

   This set of system reforms has made today's Tubo army more and more fierce and brave, fearless of death, and bloodthirsty.

Their supply mechanism is also very special. Each ministry recruits to go to the front line, bring their own weapons, horses, food and grass, and then the servants of each ministry will serve as servants to transport food, grass and herd cattle and horses. .

  Gui fought on the front line, Yong transported grain and grass behind, and Gui's family, old and young, drove cattle and sheep to graze behind.

Although this mode is very backward, the Tubo people are strong and not afraid of death. They are completely stud style of play. Way back.

   Therefore, the Tubo people are not afraid of death every time they go to war.

In the fatal blow to Supi's rebellion, Songtsan Gampo personally led the troops into battle, and assembled a total of 120,000 troops. These troops basically came from sixty-one military households in Dongdai. Two or three men, plus the private soldiers of the nobles, etc., a total of 120,000 troops, not counting the servants and the family members of Guihu grazing behind.

  It can be said that this is a campaign with the power of the whole country, and it also shattered Su Pi's last resistance heart in one fell swoop. Su Pi was defeated and surrendered again.

Although the Tubo people still used the model of nomadic tribes to fight, the Tubo court, especially Zanpu, had far more control over the army than those nomadic tribes. A truly centralized dynasty now.

This enabled Tubo to begin to have the ability to integrate the power of the whole country. Compared with the nomadic khanates such as Turks and Tuyuhun, although they could recruit more soldiers and horses, their soldiers and horses were all pieced together from various ministries. , Once encountering setbacks, it is often easy to collapse, or each has its own calculations, and the Great Khan sometimes cannot really command these troops.

  Just like during the Weishui alliance, Xieli led hundreds of thousands of cavalry to the city of Chang'an, but in the end Tuli reached a deal with Li Shimin first, so that Xieli could not invade Chang'an.

  Qin Qiong has been staring at Tubo, collecting their intelligence, and analyzing their system, so he deeply understands that Tubo is becoming stronger day by day, and the threat to Datang is also growing.

  Only in the battle where they conquered Subi, the strength of the 120,000 army was amazing enough.

  Although there were 600,000 to 700,000 government soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, there were only tens of thousands in the Longyou area of ​​Jiannan.

  A national war, in fact, usually has a scale of about 100,000 people, which means that Tubo now indeed has the strength to attack Datang.

   "Your Majesty, we failed to rescue Subi, and let Tubo annex Subi again, and their strength has greatly increased. They are ready to deal with Domi next, and the next step is Bai Lanqiang and Dangxiang."

  Subi is located in the north of the Tanggula Mountains, which is the junction of Qinghai and Tibet in later generations. It belongs to the Qamdo and other areas in northern Tibet and southern Qinghai, while Domi is in the Yak River (Tongtian River) basin and Yushu area.

  When the Domi Kingdom came, it was the Zishan Mountain recorded in the Tang Dynasty, and it was also the Bayan Har Mountain in later generations. The other side of the mountain is the source of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and it is also the nomadic land of Bailanqiang.

   To the north of Bailan Qiang is Jishi Mountain, the holy place of Dangxiang Qiang.

  Following the Yellow River to the east, there are Songpan and Aba Plateaus. To the southeast is Songzhou and Weizhou in Jiannan, and to the northeast is Diezhou and Taozhou in Longyou.

  The Tubo people are expanding step by step, and their power is very fierce.

Subi was originally a large plateau country. During the Sui Dynasty, it paid tribute to the Central Plains. It was called the country of women, because the country was originally ruled by queens and queens, and there were hundreds of thousands of households in the country. On this occasion, he sent troops to Su Pi, but then he simply did not leave.

After Songtsan Gampo's father was poisoned, Prince Supi returned to his homeland and began to contact the old nobles to restore the country. Qin Qiong originally suggested that Datang should seize this opportunity and actively enter the plateau to assist Supi in restoring the country. To fight against Tubo, use Subi as a buffer zone.

   As a result, Li Shimin was not very interested in this proposal, thinking it was completely unnecessary, Supi was too far away, and Tubo was even further away.

   As a result, although Qin Qiong was also in contact with the Qiangs, in the end Songtsan Gampo led an army of 120,000 and conquered Supi in one fell swoop.

  The next step, they are already preparing to conquer Domi, the next one is Bailan, and then Dangxiang. At that time, Datang will officially meet Tubo.

  As soon as Tubo captured Subi, it had already extended its tentacles to Qinghai, inciting the king to kill brothers and rebel against the Tang Dynasty, and made various promises of alliances, which actually contained evil intentions.

  Qin Qiong was eager to return to Songzhou as soon as possible, but Li Shimin insisted on keeping Qin Qiong in Beijing.

   It’s been two years since I stayed here.

  He still has the titles of Jiannan Road Xuanfu Jinglue envoy and Songzhou governor, but he has been kept in the capital. He handed out his speeches and memorials on the threat of Tubo over and over again, but neither the Zhengshitang nor the Imperial Study Room responded.

"Shubao, I really don't know the wolfish ambitions of Tubo. However, although the Tang Dynasty is big, it can't do whatever it wants. There are thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, vast borders, and the four sides are not peaceful. Everything has priorities. I can't ignore the present. But he wanted to send Hu Ben to the snowy plateau to fight against Tubo. When Qin Lang was in Longyou, he kept shouting that he should attack Tuyuhun first, but I never agreed. Later, he brutally killed Tuyuhun first and then played. In fact, that time was very dangerous , It's just that this kid is more capable and luckier, and he actually won."

  Li Shimin added half a cup of tea to Qin Qiong, "That boy from Tubo can gather the soldiers of the whole country to attack Subi, Qin Lang dares to attack Tuyuhun with a Longyou army, they dare, I dare not."

"It's not that I'm getting old and afraid, it's that I have to consider not just one corner, but the overall situation. Just like Qin Lang's continuous use of troops in Lingnan in the past two years, I have never sent a single soldier to Lingnan, and even before Take 20,000 soldiers from Lingnan, why do you think? Compared with Gein, the threat from Lingnan is not big after all. Although the Tang Dynasty has destroyed the Eastern Turks, subdued the Western Turks, and broken the Tuyuhun, it is not safe. Ah, Xue Yantuo in Mobei, Goguryeo in Liaodong, and even Khitan and Xi in the north of Yanshan Mountain have grown up, although they are still submissive now, but these people have to guard against them."

   "Once the Tang Dynasty does not have enough deterrent power, the forces in the northern border will start a war again. Once the flames of war ignite, it will not be comparable to the chaos of the barbarians in the south."

  Li Shimin confessed to Qin Qiong.

"About Tubo, I and all of you still have the same attitude. Don't pay attention to him, just keep an eye on him. If he really wants to be capable, he will fight to the border of the Tang Dynasty. Then we will give him a head-on blow at the door of our house. Yes. However, Datang will not go all the way to the snow-covered plateau to actively attack them now."

"Tuyuhun is already a wounded tiger with cramped muscles and bones. It doesn't make much trouble, and it's nothing to be afraid of. Now, during the national mourning period, let Hou Junji go over to calm him down. If he doesn't know the current affairs, he will clean up when the time comes. yes."

  (end of this chapter)