Northern Dynasties

Chapter 1319 Lord of the World

The post horse communication system between Shannan and Chang'an has been strengthened in recent years and has become very smooth, especially in wartime. The war changes that occurred in the south of the Yangtze River could be delivered to Chang'an in a few days through the transmission of fast horses.

In Chang'an, when Li Tai saw the battle report sent by his cousin Li Xun, he was a little stunned for a moment.

In his impression, Wang Lin was a typical corrupt and chaotic tyrant who enjoyed the misfortunes of troubled times, and he also lacked moral standards, and his overall impression was quite negative. This time, he suddenly led his troops out of the control of the Tang army, which showed that he was active and hard to guard against, so Li Tai also wanted to take this opportunity to completely eliminate Wang Lin.

After all, the north has been unified now, and the goal of unifying the world will be put on the agenda. Whatever plans the south has, the Tang Dynasty can take direct action. As for Wang Lin as a tool, his role is not too big, and there is no point in keeping him any longer.

Wang Lin went through so much trouble, but in the end he just surrendered. This was more or less beyond Li Tai's expectations.

Nowadays, he is busy with all kinds of affairs, and a large amount of military and political affairs pile up on his desk every day. He does not have as comprehensive and thorough understanding of some personnel matters as before. His first reaction to hearing the news was that Wang Lin might be cheating again. After all, this guy is used to being fickle. He will bend when facing a strong force and become chaotic when encountering changes. He is no different from Hou Jing and his ilk.

Therefore, he was inclined to eliminate the matter directly, and even felt that it was a bit too cumbersome for Li Xun to consult the court on this matter. However, when he saw the surrender letter presented by Wang Lin and the views expressed in Li Xun's memorial, his thoughts changed a little.

Although he was the leader of the Bafu before, he was at best just a local tyrant. There were also people in this world who were as powerful as him, so his thinking towards people and things was always from the perspective of confrontation, weakening or even destroying the opponent, so as to achieve the ultimate victory.

But now he is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and he is gearing up to become the master of the world. Therefore, his mindset must change from the confrontation mode of local powerful people to the broad-minded tolerance of the master of the world.

The so-called tolerance does not mean harboring filth without bottom line and principle, but a mentality that regards everything in the world as part of oneself. People and things in the world, whether good or bad, are all part of the king's cause. All land under heaven belongs to the king, whether it is fertile plains or cold and barren wilderness, and all people in the world are the king's subjects, whether they are benevolent and talented or shameless bandits.

With such a mentality, you will have a different feeling when looking at goodness and evil. It is no longer just based on your own likes and dislikes, but also a sense of responsibility as the master of the world.

There was a sentence in Li Xun's memorial that touched Li Tai's heart. Although Wang Lin was a stubborn and unrepentant person, the world had been divided for many years, and the customs, laws, and moral education were very different. There were also many people and things that were contrary to the Tang Dynasty's education laws and regulations in terms of cognition, words and deeds. Should the court maintain a tough attitude of purging this series of people and things, or should it adopt an attitude of tolerance and education?

"Yilin is not worth pitying, but Tiannan is about to be converted. What is the will of heaven? It may be revealed here. The wind and thunder contain the hidden power. Everyone looks up to it. Therefore, I dare not make a private decision on this matter. I have ordered my troops to Nanchuan to wait for the emperor's edict."

After reading the memorial, Li Tai thought about the problem from a different angle, and thus came up with a new idea.

Wang Lin was a controversial yet well-known figure in the Southern Dynasties. On the eve of the Tang Dynasty's taking over Jiangdong, accepting such a surrendered person indeed reflected the Tang Dynasty's inclusiveness.

Although we cannot completely rely on these united front means to conquer Jiangdong, military conquest is still the most important method, but showing enough inclusiveness can also reduce the resistance of Jiangdong's people and prevent them from being led to extremes by those with ulterior motives and choosing to resist stubbornly, thereby increasing the overall cost of unification.

Although Wang Lin was greedy, chaotic, and capricious, it cannot be said that he had no merits. The Southern Liang had been destroyed for so long, but he was still able to maintain the cohesion of his troops and exert strong combat effectiveness. This person's military talent was indeed good, not to mention that in the original history, he even once achieved a brilliant record of almost wiping out Chen Baxian's founding meritorious group.

Li Tai also tried to put himself in Wang Lin's shoes and could probably understand Wang Lin's psychology. He probably wanted to take advantage of Wang Lin's eagerness to unify the north and the south to surrender and actively play the role of a guide, so as to win a future for himself and his subordinates.

Li Tai recognized Wang Lin's ability, but he also knew that to control such a person, he had to guard against his backlash at all times. In fact, the Tang Dynasty was not short of military talents, which was one of the reasons why he did not consider accepting Wang Lin at the beginning. He had the energy to guard against Wang Lin, so he might as well be more attentive to his own talent pool. However, now Wang Lin has some value in the market, so it is not a bad idea to accept him, but Li Tai does not intend to keep him in Jiangdong. The future integration of Jiangdong will inevitably go through a process, and there will inevitably be twists and turns. Keeping Wang Lin, a greedy and chaotic person, in a familiar environment is tantamount to encouraging him to make trouble.

While thinking about where to place Wang Lin and his subordinates, Li Tai's eyes swept across another memorial on the table, so he took it out and read it again.

This memorial was sent to the court by Li He, the governor of Youzhou. It told the story of the remnant bandits of the Northern Qi in Yingzhou, Liaoxi. Hulugu and other remnant bandits of the Northern Qi recruited the Kumo Xi and other Donghu tribes to cross the Yanshan Mountains to attack Youzhou.

Before Yang Zhong returned to the court, he once led the Youzhou army to attack Yingzhou in the east. At that time, Hulugu and others did not dare to fight, but led their troops to withdraw from Yingzhou and head towards the Hu territories such as Kumo Xi in the northeast.

Since the imperial court had adjusted its strategy at that time and did not have a plan to attack Liaoxi, Yang Zhong led his troops back after a sweep. Later, Li He became the governor of Youzhou and built a defense line along the Jieshi Mountain near the sea to prevent the remaining bandits of Northern Qi from harassing Hebei along the Liaoxi Corridor.

However, in addition to the Liaoxi Corridor along the Bohai Sea, there are also a series of mountain passes in the Yanshan Mountains in the north to enter and exit Hebei. In the early years when the Northern Qi ruled Hebei, the Kumo Xi, Turkic and other tribes often used this passage to disturb Youzhou, and the Northern Qi army also attacked the various Hu tribes through this passage.

Now that the Tang Dynasty has become the new ruler of Hebei, the offensive and defensive situations have changed, and the situation has become that the remaining bandits of the Northern Qi, such as Hulugu, frequently enter and exit through the Yanshan Pass to disturb Youzhou.

Hulugu's younger brother Huluxian served as the governor of Youzhou before the fall of Northern Qi. Many of his troops were from Youzhou. They were familiar with the geography and personnel of Youzhou, so they always gained something whenever they plundered.

For the sake of his own survival and growth, Hulugu was also actively contacting the Donghu tribe, which he had previously looked down upon, and pulling them into his team to restore his country. As the army withdrew from Youzhou, they soon developed into a major scourge in the northeast.

Although Li He, Gao Lin and other garrison generals were also actively responding, the Tang Dynasty had controlled Youzhou for a relatively short time after all. Especially when it did not have sufficient military forces to mobilize, it was already a rare achievement to ensure the overall control of Youzhou and prevent the remaining bandits of the Northern Qi from invading and causing chaos. There was really no extra force to completely prevent such disturbances.

In the few months since Li He took office as the governor of Youzhou, the number of households in Youzhou that had been harassed and looted by bandits had reached more than 3,000. Li He submitted a petition to complain and plead guilty. The bandits were too rampant and he was at a loss as to what to do.

Li Tai did not want to pursue Li He's apology too much. Even if someone else went there, if he was not given a large number of troops to guard the place, he might not do as well as Li He.

As for continuing to send more troops to the northeast, it is not in line with the overall strategy of the court at the moment. The former Northern Qi territory is still mainly for integration and recuperation. Once the army stays in the northeast for a long time, the supplies needed, whether raised nearby or transported over long distances, will cause a sudden increase in pressure on Hebei. If the pressure continues to be unrelieved, it will breed public resentment.

Now there are new personnel changes in Jiangnan, the Tang Dynasty has sent troops to intervene, and sufficient forces must be reserved to deal with the situation that may continue to expand. The military operations in the north also need to be controlled as much as possible. Under such circumstances, temporarily controlling the unrest in Youzhou is also an option that conforms to the national conditions.

Under such circumstances, it would be a good choice to relocate Wang Lin and his people to the north of Youzhou to prevent the remaining bandits of Northern Qi and the invasion of the Donghu tribe from the south. Although the geographical span from Jiangnan to Hebei is not small, Wang Lin must have known that even if the Tang Dynasty accepted his surrender, it would not be possible to relocate him to the heart of Guanzhong.

As for the differences in transportation and combat situations between southern ships and northern horses, they are actually not as big as imagined. The Nanchuan area where Wang Lin has been active in recent years is actually the Poyang Lake Plain and the hilly area on the western foot of Wuyi Mountain to its south. Most of the battles are on land to attack cities and capture strongholds. As for the Yangtze River line, most of it has already been locked by the Tang army. In addition to the Tang army's warships and large ships, there are various cargo ships.

Of course, no matter what, Hulugu is a first-rate general in the north. Now as a remnant of a fallen country, he is quite vicious. Once Wang Lin, an equally vicious remnant of the Southern Liang Dynasty, leads his troops north, he will directly bear the military pressure exerted by Hulugu, which will be a severe test for him.