Chapter 1381: Sending Envoys to Goryeo

Chapter 1381: Sending Envoys to Goryeo

Everything in this world is in various shapes and forms, some are rising, some are falling, some are full of vitality, and some are dying.

The Tang Empire, which had completed the great cause of unifying the north and the south and had a growing national power, naturally belonged to the former. Especially after the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty led an army to patrol the west and defeated the Western Turks, establishing hegemony in the Western Regions in one fell swoop, the country became increasingly unstoppable.

The exact opposite of the situation in the Tang Dynasty was the remnant forces of the Northern Qi Dynasty that retreated to Liaodong after losing Hebei, Jinyang and other places.

This group of Northern Qi troops, led by Hu Luguang, broke out when Jinyang fell and fled all the way to the Liaodong area. They supported Gao Huan's twelfth son Gao Ji as emperor and continued to inherit the Northern Qi Kingdom Zuo.

The Tang Dynasty had been busy with affairs elsewhere and did not have time to fully pursue the remaining forces of the Northern Qi Dynasty. In addition, Hu Luguang and other subjugated ministers worked hard to maintain the situation, which allowed this small Qi court to continue to exist in the Liaodong region.

Previously, General Yang Zhong was based in Youzhou and presided over the pursuit of the remaining enemies, causing this part of the enemy to retreat to the territories of the Donghu tribes such as Kumoxi and Khitan. However, as most of the Tang army withdrew, Can Qi invaded south again. Under the confrontation of the local garrison, the territory of both sides was basically located north of Huanglong in Yingzhou.

After Jinyang was defeated and fled to Liaodong, Hu Luguang dreamed all the time of being able to fight back to the south of Lulongsai, regain the lost land, and revive the country. Therefore, he spent most of the year wandering around the Yanshan Mountains north of Lulongsai, waiting for opportunities to return to Hebei. The rear affairs were mainly managed by his younger brother Hu Luxian.

On this day, Hu Luguang was planning to leave the camp to the south and build several offensive beacon forts at selected locations. Suddenly, a messenger from the rear came to report that there was a conflict between the troops in the rear and the Khitan and that troops would be sent to attack the Khitan.

After Hu Luguang learned about this, he was also shocked. He did not bother to build the beacon anymore and hurriedly led his troops back to the base camp in the rear.

If it were the early Northern Qi Dynasty, Hu Luguang would naturally not have to take the Khitan, a mere Donghu tribe, in his eyes. Even the governor of Youzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty could attack the Khitan at will.

But now the situation is different from the past. They fled to Liaodong after their country was subjugated. Now they are based in the territory between the Khitan and Kumoxi. The two tribes are also happy to accommodate them in the south to resist the expansion of the Tang army. pace. If there is a conflict between them, it will directly affect the stability of the rear, let alone launch a counterattack.

At first, when this group of people fled from Jinyang, they were as panicked as a lost dog and had no fixed place to live. However, as the situation gradually stabilized, they could not remain homeless forever. And after all, they have established political power in China, and they cannot let their emperor remain like this.

In particular, seeing that it was difficult to regain the territory in a short period of time, a city-state palace was built at the eastern foot of Yanshan Mountain in the past few years. It is now the seat of the Qi court, and this palace was named Yanshan Xing. Garden. From this name, it seems that they, the survivors of the Northern Qi Dynasty, still dreamed of one day ending their hunting trip and returning to Jinyang and Yedu.

Over the past few years, Yanshan Xingyuan has developed into a large-scale city, with more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians inside and outside. In addition to the Jinyang soldiers who were led by Hu Luguang to break out from Jinyang at the beginning, there were also some remnants of the homeland who were gradually gathered and recruited. Of course, they also robbed Hebei or annexed the Donghu tribes. population.

Although he was defeated in the battle with the Tang Dynasty, Hu Luguang was still a well-deserved first-class military talent in the world. In particular, he also had an elite Jinyang military brigade under his command. He was also a very powerful and terrifying force in today's Liaodong region. existence, few opponents can resist.

It's just that although Hu Luguang is strong in the military, he is poor in administrative management of people's livelihood, and there are few such talents among the people he brought from Jinyang. Therefore, although there are many people gathered around the Hangyuan, However, there was little order. In addition to joining the army and receiving rewards, the people could only engage in the most basic tasks such as woodcutting and firewood to obtain supplies and survive. Every year in winter and early spring, people starve to death in the mountains and fields.

However, these are not the focus of Hu Luguang. The only thing he cares about is to strengthen his troops, take action when the time comes, and revive the country.

When Hu Luguang returned to Xingyuan, an armed force of thousands of people had already assembled outside Xingyuan, and several generals wearing armor were clamoring to urge them to go to war.

"What happened?"

Seeing Hu Luguang returning, the scene became quiet for a while. Hu Luguang turned his eyes and walked straight towards his brother Hu Luguang. He asked in a deep voice: "Don't you know that I will join forces with the Khitan and others to attack the Tang Dynasty? How can you still do it?" Do you condone your subordinates’ personal revenge?”

After hearing this, Hu Luxian immediately said with a bitter look on his face: "It's just that this time the Khitan went too far. They forced their way into our pasture in the north of the mountain, killed hundreds of herdsmen, and took away thousands of cattle and horses. It was just to compensate for the previous attack on them." The loss was great. Dozens of royal horses were taken away, all of which were rare Hexi breeds. The Supreme Being was furious and ordered a crowd to attack the Khitans..."

Hearing what Hu Lvxian said, Hu Luguang's expression became a little gloomy again.

On the way back, he had already understood the whole story of this conflict, and the cause of the incident had to be told from the second half of last year. Knowing that the Tang Emperor Li Boshan was about to lead an army to patrol the west of Hexi, Hu Luguang felt that this was an opportunity and wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was patrolling the west and there was no one in the Tang Dynasty to take charge of the overall situation, to launch a counterattack and prepare to fight back to Hebei.

For this reason, he also sent people across the sea to contact some Northern Qi survivors in Guangzhou and other places, and agreed that once the army invaded Lulongsai, these people would also meet in their respective territories to respond, striving to set off a wave of resistance throughout the entire Northern Qi homeland.

To achieve this goal, his own troops alone were obviously not enough, and even the attack on Lulongsai was somewhat beyond his capabilities. In order to further strengthen his momentum, Hu Luguang invited the Khitan, Kumoxi and other tribes to join him, and agreed that once they entered Hebei, everything they captured in battle would belong to them. When the time comes, the Tang army from all sides will have their own Qi army to resist, and these Donghu tribes can free their hands and feet to loot and plunder among the states in Hebei.

This was undoubtedly a great temptation for the Donghu tribes, so the two sides hit it off immediately and agreed to send troops to attack Lulongsai together in the autumn.

However, before they had time to send troops here, Youzhou took action first. Tang general Wang Lin led a group of troops to cross Yanshan Mountain and go straight into the Khitan territory. They set fire to hundreds of miles of grassland and burned a large number of people. The pasture that had not yet been harvested was burned, and many herdsmen, cattle and sheep were burned to death.

Although the two sides are constantly attacking each other, most of the time it is just regular fighting and plundering. In the Tang army, Wang Lin was the only one who used all kinds of despicable methods. Setting fire to the Khitan grassland and killing the herdsmen was just one of his methods.

Due to its heavy losses, the Khitan asked Northern Qi to compensate for its losses. Naturally, Hu Luguang could not agree to this. First of all, this was because he was not careful enough and was taken advantage of by the enemy. Secondly, he could not afford to compensate for such a huge loss. Therefore, he only replied that as long as the Khitan invaded Hebei, he could allocate more to them. Several percent of the loot as compensation.

The Khitan naturally refused to agree to this. They just gritted their teeth and insisted that only if Northern Qi compensated them first would they cooperate to send troops again. Otherwise, the dispatch of troops would be abandoned.

The two sides have been arguing with each other, and some things happened here in Northern Qi, which delayed the plan to send troops. There was still no activity until the spring of this year. The Khitan side was increasingly scarce in material supplies after surviving the cold winter, so it was more urgent to demand them. This time, it directly sent troops to attack the pastures of Northern Qi, which triggered the current dispute.

Hearing that it was Emperor Gao Ji who wanted to send troops to retaliate against the Khitan, Hu Luguang felt more and more headache. After thinking for a while, he said to Hu Lvxian in a deep voice: "I will advise you, your Majesty, restrain the soldiers first, don't use them." Come out lightly!”

After saying this, he hurriedly walked into the garden.

Yanshan Xingyuan is built in a similar pattern to Jinyang Palace, but it is far inferior to Jinyang Palace in terms of overall layout size and architectural decoration. The pine wood used to build the main hall even has large pieces of bark left, and the entire hall is also decorated inside and outside. They were all filled with a pungent smell of rosin, so Emperor Gao Ji was not happy to live in the palace, but lived in a high stone pavilion in the garden.

When Hu Luguang returned to Xingyuan, Qi Lord Gao Ji had already seen him in the pavilion. When Hu Luguang came into the pavilion to ask for an audience, he said with a smile: "King Xianyang returned in time to lead the troops to attack the thief Hu." "The little Khitan dares to be so arrogant and offensive, so he should be severely punished so that he will not dare to disobey again!"

"This matter is just a trivial matter, and it is really not worth going to war over. Besides, there is still an alliance between our country and the Khitan, and we have agreed to attack the Tang State together in the future. If we fight against each other because of some disagreement, it will be even more difficult to please the barbarians and gather together. All your strength. I ask your majesty to put the overall situation first and refrain from attacking them with troops."

After Hu Luguang entered the pavilion, he bowed to Gao Ji and said.

After hearing this, Gao Ji's face suddenly darkened, and his tone became stiff: "How can there be any big things besides life and death? If a bastard in the desert today dares to offend my majesty, how can he talk about confronting the Tang State? ? If this thief is not punished, how can he control the envoys? Is it because I am making a fuss about this?"

"Your Majesty wants to punish the Khitan, and this is reasonable and reasonable. However, the soldiers are very dangerous and should be used with caution. Moreover, the Tang State is expecting me to make enemies with the various barbarians in this area and continue to attack. I am following the enemy's will by sending troops now. There is no need to punish the Khitan. Use swords and weapons, I ask you to go and teach him so that he will not dare to act recklessly again, your majesty will just wait in peace in the garden!"

After hearing what Hu Luguang said, Gao Ji was silent for a while, and after a while he said in a deep voice: "Then, as the king said, remember not to spare the evil thief chief lightly!"

When Hu Luguang resigned, a eunuch in the pavilion could not help but murmured in a low voice: "The king of Xianyang refuted his superior intention with just one word. Now he is in charge of major affairs alone, and all the common affairs are in Fengle. The supreme king can only do business in his leisure time." Garden…”

"Isn't it good to just sit around and do nothing? If not for the loyal and diligent service of King Xianyang, I would have been sent to Chang'an for the Tang Dynasty, so why would I be able to sit here leisurely? I still need to be grateful to the king, but you and other unscrupulous slaves must not take it lightly. Talk about what’s wrong with King Xianyang!”

After Gao Ji heard this, his face immediately darkened, he stared at the eunuch and said in a deep voice, but his eyebrows were somewhat lonely and desolate.

After appeasing Qi Lord Gao Ji, Hu Luguang came to the outside of Xingyuan to disperse the assembled armored soldiers, and then led hundreds of close disciples directly to the Khitan territory.

Today's Khitan is mainly distributed among the pine deserts of western Liaoning to the north of Yanshan Mountain. Its territory is not small, but it is quite scattered. Its internal organization is relatively loose, and its power is not even as powerful as that of Kumoxi, who lives next door.

The leader of the Khitan tribe was named the Lord of Humiliation. After learning that Hu Luguang was coming to see him, he did not dare to neglect him and hurried to the north of Yanshan Mountain to meet him. When Hu Luguang explained his intention in a stern voice, the Lord of Humiliation quickly shook his head and said : "I really don't know about this matter. Maybe it was done by some tough men in my tribe. I really deserve to be brave! I will be investigated and punished severely when I return, so that I don't need to do it again!"

He was trying to evade the matter with a haha, and pretending to be sincere, he dismounted and offered his mount to Hu Luguang as compensation.

Hu Luguang couldn't tell that the Khitan master was trying to evade, and that he came here not mainly to seek an explanation for this, but to urge the Khitan to send troops, so he frowned and said in a deep voice: "Today's two Fangmeng will work together, one We can ignore these small things. However, our Qi State Division is thirsty for battle and urgently needs to send troops. Now that the Hebei Prefecture Army has been disbanded and each has returned to his hometown to farm, it is a good opportunity to attack. Moreover, the Tang Lord has not yet returned. At this time, we can attack. The easiest to get!”

"Don't you know, King Xianyang? The Lord of the Tang Dynasty has completed his western tour and is about to return to his country. This time he also defeated the Turks and returned with the Turks' great and small khans!"

In the eastern part of the Khitan land where the grassland is connected, there are some herdsmen migrating back and forth, and there are also merchants wandering there, so the information is relatively well-informed. When he heard that Hu Luguang still wanted to send troops to the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan humiliated He Lord quickly asked.

To be honest, it was because he heard about the Tang Dynasty's majestic deeds west of Jinshan Mountain that he muttered in his heart that he did not want to get involved with these remnants of Qi forces anymore, so as not to endanger the great country. Not to mention the Tang Dynasty, even the Turks who have been completely conquered by the Tang Dynasty are not the ones that the Khitan can provoke!

"Is this happening?"

After Hu Luguang heard this, his expression suddenly changed. After he led his troops to retreat to Liaodong, the channels for communication with the outside world were sharply reduced, and his ears and eyes were quite blocked. In addition, he has been lingering in Liaodong since last year. In the Yanshan Mountain Valley, if you want to invade, you really don't know much about the latest changes in the situation.

After hearing the Khitan humiliating Lord He talk about the Tang army's powerful deeds in the Western Regions, Hu Luguang's face became even more ugly, and he did not care about the pasture being robbed anymore. After severely reprimanding the Khitan for humiliating Lord He, this Then he returned to Yanshan Xingyuan with a lot of worries.

After returning to Xingyuan, Hu Luguang summoned a group of subordinates and talked about the latest news. After listening to it, everyone felt heavier and heavier. Feng Xiaoyan, who was born in the Feng family of Bohai, said: "In front of the Tang Dynasty, If you don't attack me, it's not because you are weak. But there is no time to withdraw. Now that everything in the west is settled, we must pay attention to the affairs in the northeast. Now we must quickly gather strong reinforcements and rely on each other to resist the attack of the Tang army. The king should send envoys to Goguryeo. Make an alliance with his king!"

After hearing this, Hu Luguang nodded slowly. Although he was a little reluctant, he had to admit that the Tang Dynasty was becoming more and more powerful, and it was far beyond what the remaining Qi forces like them could match.