The Great Tang General

Everyone knows that Li Xuan, the crown prince, is just a transition.

He could take another step forward and become the emperor of the Tang Dynasty at any time.

The ministers are also preparing for this day to come.

For ministers such as Li Xian and Pei Zunqing, only when Li Xuan became emperor would a new era begin.

Just a few days after Li Xuan became the crown prince, some ministers had already asked Li Longji to abdicate and become the emperor emeritus to live out his retirement.

Li Xuan is now the crown prince and has lost his title of Prince of Qin, but he still holds the positions of Shangshu Ling and Tiance General.

Li Xuan is already trying to find ways to reform these two departments.

Even if he becomes emperor, he will hold multiple positions concurrently and have imperial power.

In particular, Li Xuan planned to use the Tiance Mansion as the "headquarters" of future generations, which would include staff, logistics, weapons, ideology, and military academies.

A purely military institution.

The Ministry of War was responsible for duties such as exemption, conscription, training of new soldiers, military pay, pensions, retirement, and reserve service.

For a powerful country, the most advanced thing is not its population or area, but its system.

This epoch-making military system is enough to crush any army of the same size.

The country needs to change from top to bottom.

When Li Xuan was in charge of the Council of State, the outside debate gradually calmed down.

Li Xuan became the Crown Prince, and the matter was settled. Even if old officials like Miao Jinqing, Pei Mian, and Fang Guan wanted to cause trouble, they were powerless.

Chang'an, run by Li Xuan, is like an iron barrel, and not even a needle can get in.

After the ceremony of being sworn in as the crown prince, the princes were invited back to Xingqing Palace.

The only ones who can harm Li Xuan are the locals, and they use some shameful means.

The news of his appointment of a crown prince would soon spread throughout the world.

In Hexi, Longyou, Guanzhong, Henan, Hebei, Shannan, Hedong and other places, Li Xuan repeatedly appointed and dismissed his confidants and ministers whom he believed to be honest and capable, and there would be no open voices against him.

But in some remote areas, it is too easy to carry out some sneaky tricks.

Even if the Ten Military Governorates in the South were established, it would be impossible to have troops in every county.

In the fifteenth year of Tianbao, Li Xuan hoped for stability and ascended to the throne of emperor.

And complete the establishment of all military governorates and the recruitment of soldiers next year.

The logistical supply of horses, weapons and armor must also be completed.

On the second day after Li Xuan became the crown prince, he issued an edict to appoint Pei Lingxi as the crown princess.

Jiang Yueyao and Changli were named Liangdi, and Shuang'er was named Liangyuan.

According to the system, there can only be two Liangdi, and Li Xuan was too lazy to go to the trouble of changing the system, so he let Shuang'er be a Liangyuan of the fifth rank first.

At Li Xian's suggestion, Li Xuan's father Li Shizhi was named King of Song.

Since Li Xuan was the crown prince, it would not be appropriate for Li Shizhi to be a prince.

At the same time, Li Xuan's grandfather Li Xiang was posthumously named King of Zhao.

Li Xuan's biological mother will be posthumously honored.

Li Xuan's eldest son, Li Yi, was named Prince of Puyang.

The second son, Li Song, was named Prince of Langya.

The eldest daughter is still Princess Jincheng.

After the day of enthronement, Li Xuan began to work on the reform of the new Changping law, as well as the Ciyutang, Jishengtang and other things that Li Xuan had implemented when he was the prime minister.

Li Xuan needs to complete these before next year.

The new Changping Law still charged an interest rate of 10%, but added many restrictions on the powerful families.

When the people borrowed grain from the Changping granary, they needed the village head's certificate and guarantee, and the officials had to investigate, in order to prevent the malicious borrowing of grain that happened in the eighth year of Tianbao from happening again.

At the same time, establish a constant position.

Changping Granary and Changping Salt Warehouse are just types of Changping Warehouses.

In the next ten years, local governments had to supply not only grain and salt, but also cloth, cotton, daily necessities and other general merchandise.

Every county must have large warehouses to store general merchandise.

The prerequisite for the implementation of the policy is to have better transportation across the country.

Therefore, Li Xuan believed that it would take at least ten years. If Changping Department Store wanted to get better and better, it would take twenty or even thirty years to build roads and bridges.

……

Let’s go back to early November.

The Tubo Kingdom was ready and divided its army into two routes to attack Baihai and Xichuan.

Among them, the attack on Xichuan was just to attract the attention of the Tang Dynasty.

The real purpose is to recover Baihai, Qinghai, Jiuqu and attack Longyou!
Now they have officially started fighting against the Tang army in Xichuan.

Due to the lack of information, Mashang Zhongbajie and Enlan Dazhalugong were not aware that the Tang army had already put down An Lushan's rebellion.

What's more, when Tubo sent troops, Li Xuan was still far from the time for a decisive battle with An Lushan.

Mashang Zhongbajie also thought that the Uighurs had already moved south to attack the Hexi Corridor.

They had been demanding heavy tributes from the Tang Dynasty for years, and faced with threats, it was impossible for them to easily give up this opportunity.

Mashang Zhongbajie tried to contact the Uighurs, but the long journey cut off the way and the scouts he sent out were simply unable to get through.

Not to mention there is the Hexi Corridor blocking the way.

During the critical period, Hexi Longyou closely monitored anyone who tried to break through.

Whether they are common people, merchants, or officials, they must show their credentials.

Even if the Tibetan spies were lucky enough to cross the mountains and reach the Hexi Corridor, it would be difficult for them to meet the Uighurs.

Fearing of losing the opportunity and confident in his own troops, Mashang Zhongbajie took the initiative to attack.

Little did he know that the Uighurs would become cowardly before the battle even began, and in the end could only hold a military exercise at Yu Dujun Mountain.

When the Uighur envoys went to the Tang Dynasty, Li Xuan had already returned to Chang'an and the rebellion was truly put down.

The Uighurs lost the opportunity to seize the Hexi Corridor.

But they were also glad that they did not attack the Hexi Corridor, not to mention that the outcome was still unknown.

The suppression of An Lushan meant that General Tian could transfer hundreds of thousands of cavalry to fight against the Uighurs.

Originally, Mo Yanchu was just an exploratory mission.

After the envoy ran back to the Uighurs, Moyanchuo hurriedly paid tribute according to the original amount, and presented gold, silver and jewelry again, and sent Crown Prince Yehu to officially visit the Tang Dynasty to express congratulations.

Mo Yanchuo knew that after Li Xuan seized power, it would be his era.

The fear of Li Xuan shrouded Yanchu for half his life. In the end, he found that Li Xuan was less than 30 years old and in the prime of his life.

His health was deteriorating day by day.

The Huihe still needs to keep a low profile and accumulate strength.

But Mo Yanchue may not live to see that day!
On the second day of November, Tubo took the lead in launching a surprise attack on the garrison west of Jiaochuan County (Songzhou).

The current governor of Shu County is Cui Yuan. In order to win over Yang Guozhong's followers in Jiannan, Li Xuan appointed him as the governor of Shu County and put him in charge of the original Jiannan Army.

Cui Yuan's ability was average, and in history he did not provide support or engage in battle, and even simply abandoned the city and fled out of fear.

The Jiannan Army under his command was very loose.

In addition, a part of the Jiannan Army went out of Sichuan to quell the rebellion. Now there are only more than 10,000 troops in the Jiannan area, and with the county troops, there are only more than 20,000 troops.

In addition, there had been no battles with Tubo for many years and the defense was lax, resulting in the frequent loss of garrisons in the west of Jiaochuan County within just two days.

There were no border troops defending the dangerous mountainous areas.

The 20,000-strong Tibetan army marched straight into Jiaochuan.

The entire Jiaochuan County had only more than a thousand households and more than four thousand people.

He had no choice but to flee to the county town. The prefect closed the county town and asked Cui Yuan for help.

However, the Tibetans were numerous and powerful, and they came for revenge. They launched a fierce attack on Jiacheng, the capital of Songzhou County. In just one day, the city was captured and the prefect of Jiaochuan was captured.

Not only that, the Tibetan army that entered Xichuan also had a team of 15,000 people who attacked the west of Gonghua County.

Pingrong City, standing in Gonghua County, was first captured by the fierce Tibetan soldiers, and then the county seat Heishui City was captured.

Immediately, the Tubo army was unstoppable and successively captured Pengshan County, Jiangyuan County, Jingchuan County, Guicheng County, Yunshan County, and Weichuan County.

These may seem to be counties, but in reality the largest county has a population of no more than 6,700 people and is small in area.

The Tibetan army that had previously captured Jiaochuan went south along Songzhou and attacked Linyi County.

Because there are too many mountains, Linyi County, like Jiaochuan County, has a large area but a population of only more than 3,000 people.

After the Tubo entered, it was like entering a deserted place.

But Tubo’s target was not these barren counties.

The goal of the Tubo Western Marshal was to first capture Tonghua County south of Linyi County.

Then, using Tonghua County as a springboard, he directly attacked Mengyang County, which was guarding Shu County.

In Jiannan, Mengyang County has more than 55,000 households and a population of more than 350,000.

Shu County was even more prosperous, with more than 160,000 households and a population of over 930,000. Its agriculture, textile industry, and handicraft industry were highly developed.

Among all the counties in the country, its population ranks second, only after Wei County.

However, its wealth and prosperity were far higher than that of Wei County, and second only to Chang'an and Luoyang.

This is also the reason why Li Xuan wanted to control Shu County.

The entire Jiannan Road, with a registered population alone, is over four million.

The news of the Tubo invasion had already alarmed Cui Yuan in Shu County.

He immediately dispatched a trusted general to lead an army of 10,000 stationed in Shu County to quell the rebellion.

At the same time, Cui Yuan recruited soldiers in Shu County.

These new recruits were sent to Tang'an County to the west of Shu County and Mengyang County to the north. These two populous counties served as the last line of defense for Shu County.

Cui Yuan had his own little plans in mind and was stubborn and self-righteous. He wanted to quell the invasion of Tubo and increase his own prestige.

Therefore, Cui Yuan ordered the rebellion-suppression troops to take the initiative to attack and wipe out Tubo.

As a result, the army made a serious mistake and divided its originally limited forces into two groups to deal with the two Tibetan armies.

The result was obvious. In mid-November, the Shu County army was defeated in Wenchuan and Wenshan counties of Tonghua County.

The defeated troops were unable to escape all the way to Mengyang.

Cui Yuan was horrified and only then did he think of asking the court for help.

He mobilized the people of Mengyang, Tang'an and Shujun, organized new soldiers, established the Mengyang Defense Line and the Tang'an Defense Line, and held the cities, not daring to fight again.

The population of the three counties ranks among the top three in Shu County, exceeding 1.6 million, and the people are eager to protect their families.

There are also local big families and wealthy people to assist.

Tubo had no logistics, and it was extremely difficult for them to attack Shu County with only 30,000 people.

Because the counties occupied by Tubo were all the outermost mountainous and poor counties.

But Tubo's purpose was only to attract the attention of the Tang army and establish a stronghold in Xichuan.

Once they take over Helong, the wealthy "Three Counties of Yizhou" will be within their reach.

However, Cui Yuan did not think so. He believed that Tubo was aiming at Shu County and was frightened and worried all day long.

He was even more afraid that Crown Prince Li Xuan would question him. …

His worries were not unfounded, Li Xuan had always wanted to arrest Cui Yuan.

After the old man was appointed as the governor of Shu County by Li Xuan, he not only interfered in the political affairs of Shu County, but also interfered in the political affairs of the entire Jiannan Province, and influenced the court's appointment and dismissal of the prefect of Jiannan Road.

Yang Guozhong was from Jiannan and served in the army in Xichuan when he was young. His old boss Zhang Chou Jianqiong was the governor of Jiannan, and his confidant Xianyu Zhongtong was also the governor of Jiannan.

Even though Xianyu Zhongtong was dismissed because of the "Battle of Nanzhao", Yang Guozhong promoted Li Mi and Cui Yuan.

At the same time, there are many powerful people and big families in Jiannan Road.

These made it difficult for Li Xuan to get started.

In addition, Cui Yuan "abandoned darkness and joined the light" and brought Jiannan under Li Xuan's command.

Li Xuan could not dismiss or remove Cui Yuan without reason, otherwise it would be like getting rid of him and affecting Li Xuan's prestige.

Now Li Xuan sees the opportunity.

"The Shu army was defeated and asked the court for help. What does Cui Yuan do for a living?"

In late November, in Chang'an, Li Xuan summoned civil and military officials to the meeting room of the Secretariat, placed Cui Yuan's letter of request for help in front of them, and said angrily.

"Shu County is the core of Jiannan, with a large population, and we cannot afford to lose it. No matter how incompetent Cui Yuan is, Your Highness should immediately dispatch a large army to support him."

Shang Shu You Pushe Li Xian bowed to Li Xuan.

Even though he knew that Cui Yuan was not capable of taking on important tasks, preserving Shu County was the most important thing at the moment.

As long as the Tubo could be driven away, the imperial court could easily take over the power of Shu County.

"It is inevitable to send troops to Shu. We must not allow the barbarians to harm the people recklessly."

Li Xuan nodded and said to Zhang Xing, the Minister of War: "Minister Zhang, there are 5,000 Jiannan soldiers in Chang'an. I will send another 5,000 Tiancewei cavalry to accompany you into Shu."

No minister would stop sending troops into Sichuan.

Li Xuan's 5,000 Jiannan soldiers in Chang'an had been prepared for a long time.

Although their hometown is Jiannan, they have a new look after following Wang Nandi in a great battle.

In the future, it will be the new Shu County Military Governor's Office.

"The minister obeys the order!"

Zhang Xing stood up and accepted the order.

When facing the crown prince, civil and military officials can address themselves as "ministers".

"Cui Yuan was negligent and caused the army to be defeated. Shu County was in danger. He was dismissed from his post as the governor of Shu County and recalled to Chang'an. Lai Chen, who was stationed in Yichang County, was appointed as the governor of Shu County, granted the title of Zhuguo, and conferred the title of Duke of Langzhong County. He was asked to lead his troops and enter Shu from Jiange."

Ten thousand soldiers were definitely not enough, and Li Xuan had been prepared for this.

Yichang County belonged to Shannan West Road, bordered Jiannan Road, and was close to Jiange, the strategic pass leading into Sichuan.

And now in Shannan West Road, there is also Zhang Shouyu stationed in Hanzhong.

Li Xuan’s meaning was very clear, the governor of Hanzhong Military Governor’s Office was Zhang Shouyu.

There is no Yichang Military Governor's Office.

The purpose of Lai Zhen's stationing in Yichang was to allow him to lead his troops into Shu at any time and take over the post of governor of Shu County.

In Li Xuan's opinion, Lai Zhen is both civil and military, and acts decisively, making him the most suitable candidate to command the army in Shu.

Only after Lai Zhen took over as the governor of Shu County was the structure of twenty-four governors complete.

"Your Highness, Tubo has been treacherous and has not only failed to pay tribute this year, but has also invaded our Tang Dynasty's Western Sichuan. We should remove the title of Tubo's Huai En Zamp, treat him as a traitor, and list his crimes."

Wei Jiansu, the Minister of Rites, said to Li Xuan.

The Tang Dynasty must punish Tubo on the basis of morality.

"Approved! It was drafted by Minister Wei."

Li Xuan nodded.

"Your Highness, since the barbarians have taken the initiative to attack Shu, they will definitely head north to Baihai County, but the journey is long and the news has not yet reached us. We should immediately send troops to support the Baihai area, just in case."

Feng Changqing suggested to Li Xuan.

The ministers already knew Yan Zhuang's plan. Tubo wanted Hexi and Longyou.

Having been exploited by the Tang Dynasty, they are hostile to it and will not miss any opportunity to cause unrest in it.

"The Anxi Army and the Beiting Army should have arrived in Longyou. Order Ma Lin to lead the Beiting Army to support Bai Hai."

Li Xuan knew that Tubo must be attacking Baihai.

Li Siye's Anxi military supplies should return quickly to stabilize the Anxi Protectorate.

After all, Li Xuan also had to consider the Black Caliphate, who had a deep hatred for the Tang Dynasty. Abu Jalfar Abbas was the "Li Shimin" in the history of the Caliphate, and he was unwilling to watch the Persian Kingdom ride on his head.

Beiting is different.

They mainly guarded against the Qarluk, Shatuo and Jiankun.

The Qarluk Khanate was supported by Li Xuan and used to control the Uighurs.

The Shatuo were still young and did not dare to even look at the Tang Dynasty, so they offered treasures to Li Xuan many times.

Jiankun's ambition had not risen, and he had always been resisting the tyrannical Huihe.

At present, the Jiankun Governor's Office is still within the Tang Dynasty's system, paying tribute and attending court every year.

In addition, with the establishment of the Dunhuang Military Governor's Office, which controls the Xizhou area, it can provide support to the Western Regions and Beiting at any time.

Even if the Beiting Army returned a year or two later, there would be no changes.

After finishing the meeting with the ministers, Li Xuan began to look for candidates for the prefect of Shu County.

The military and politics are separated, and Li Xuanlei cannot be shaken.

As long as Shu County is well governed, it will drive the prosperity of Shu.

Li Xian and Pei Zunqing successively recommended capable officials to Li Xuan to replace the prefects of Mengyang, Tang'an and other major counties in Shu. However, Li Xuan was not very satisfied with the prefects of Shu counties they recommended.

At this time, Li Xuan thought of a poem: I wish I had thousands of spacious houses to shelter all the poor people in the world and make them happy, and to be as stable as a mountain and unmoved by wind and rain!

In addition to being upright, Du Fu also had outstanding abilities as can be seen from his essays.

Moreover, Du Fu has friends everywhere, which shows that he has good emotional intelligence.

The key is that Du Fu is honest and selfless, and is suitable for local governance.

When Li Xuan was appointed crown prince, Du Fu unexpectedly did not oppose Li Xuan.

Li Xuan had also read Du Fu's new poems, which were still sweeping in style and unparalleled in the world.

He wrote the popular "Spring Thoughts" this year. During the three months of war, a letter from home was worth ten thousand pieces of gold. It was published in the second issue of the Tang Monthly. Just like what Li Xuan wrote in Tongguan, "When a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer", it moved people all over the world.

The overall style of Du Fu's poetry has undergone a qualitative change.

Perhaps many classics will no longer exist, but Li Xuan hopes that Du Fu will remain as great as history.

The current governor is currently serving as Langzhong of the Ministry of Works.

Li Xuan planned to summon Du Fu for a talk after the war in Shu was settled.

……

At the same time as the Tibetan army's western route entered Xichuan, Enlan Dazhalugong led an army of 100,000 into the Bayankala Mountains, preparing to attack Baihai.

Then use Baihai as a springboard to enter Jishi, Qinghai and Jiuqu.

This Tibetan expedition delayed the time by at least one month, and it dispatched 100,000 fewer troops.

Because when Mashang Zhongbajie and Enlan Dazhalugong were full of confidence, the old king returned with Zhudan.

Chidai Zhudan ruled Tubo for more than 40 years. Although he brought Tubo into a desperate situation, he still had some prestige.

After he came back, some old aristocratic forces saw hope. They had been oppressed by Mashang Zhongbajie and now wanted to rely on Chidai Zhudan to regain power.

And when Chidai Zhudan saw his son turned into a puppet, how could he bear it?

He prepared to convene a meeting to try to become the king again.

As a result, he was placed under house arrest by Mashang Zhongbajie and followed in the footsteps of Li Longji.

This led to the old aristocratic forces and some Shang clans not fully supporting Mashang Zhongbajie's "Northern Expedition".

In history, Mashang Zhongbajie was controlled by Trisong Detsen because Chidai Zhudan was killed in a coup in the 14th year of Tianbao.

At that time, all the forces in Tubo were powerful, especially the Shang clan, which was at its peak.

But in this time and space, Mashang Zhongbajie had already seized power in the sixth year of Tianbao, and when Tubo was at its lowest point, there was almost no voice of resistance.

As a result, the young Trisong Detsen was completely reduced to a puppet.

The old nobles used "Buddhism" to support Trisong Detsen, but were far from able to shake Mashang Zhongbajie and Enlan Dazalugong, two devout Bon believers.

Even though the return of Chidai Zhudan caused a split in the Tubo system that Mashang Zhongbajie had worked hard to build for ten years, he was unwilling to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

While guarding against counterattacks from the old nobles and the Shang clan, we should mobilize troops to attack to the greatest extent possible.

Mashang Zhongbajie had his own plan. He would first take over Baihai County, open the door to the snowy plateau, re-conquer the Subi, Tongjia, Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, Bailang Qiang, Nuci, Xiqiang and other tribes, and then free the hundreds of thousands of Tibetan people enslaved by the Tang Dynasty and release the Tibetan slaves. Then he would have enough troops to conquer Helong.

Mashang Zhongbajie now shares weal and woe with Enlan Dazhalugong and prospers together.

Therefore, there are two people, one inside and one outside.

Mashang Zhongbajie was stationed in Lhasa, and Enlan Dazhalugong led the troops to fight.

The Tibetans were best at fighting in freezing weather.

"Have you discovered the Tang army's deployment in Baihai County?"

Fifty miles away from the Bayankala Pass, the Tubo people were stationed in the snow.

Inside the central army camp, Enlan Dazhalugong asked the scout general who was specifically responsible for gathering information.

Whenever he heard the words "send the tribute to Baihai County", Enlan Dazhalugong felt ashamed.

Baihai was clearly a horse-grazing place for the Tibetans, but the Tang Dynasty established a county here.

This time, he took advantage of the Tang Dynasty's rebellion and headed north, vowing to avenge his previous humiliation.

"To answer your question, the Tang army's garrisons are all built in dangerous mountains with a wide field of vision, so it is easy for them to find us. We cannot detect the specific number of Tang army troops. At the Bayankala Pass, they have two to three thousand troops deployed every day. When they go out of the mountains for inspection, they come in groups, which seems to indicate that the Tang army has a large number of troops."

The scout general replied helplessly.

The Tang army's blockade of the Bayankala Mountains was even stricter than it had been a few years ago.

The Tang Dynasty designed the Shen Ce, Ding Rong and Sui Rong armies in Baihai County, which were located right on top of all the main roads in order to block the way Tubo used to transmit messages.

Now that Tubo has lost Dabolü and Xiaobolü, it is impossible to inquire about the Western Regions.

They could only face Nanzhao and Tianzhu.

Or when the defense of Xichuan in the Tang Dynasty was loose, he could enter the Tang Dynasty from Xichuan to gather information.

"Li Xuan rebelled, and the Longyou Army will definitely be drawn by him."

Enlan Dazhalugong frowned. Could it be that Li Xuan had been on guard against him for a long time?
"Da Lun, could it be that the Tang army is bluffing? Are they deliberately trying to scare our army?"

General Shang Qiemo said to Enlan Dazhalugong: "It is also possible that the Tang army recruited the Subi and Tongjia troops."

"Look carefully again and make sure they are the Tang border troops!"

Enlan Dazhalugong felt that Shangqiemo's words made sense and he wanted to investigate further.

A day later, the scout commander came back and reported: "Da Lun, most of the Tang army scouts and those present at the Bayankala Pass are Subi and Tongjia people, with almost no Han people."

"The Tang army is indeed bluffing! How could An Lushan tie down Li Xuan's army of hundreds of thousands, and display a large number of troops?"

Enlan Dazhalugong was overjoyed and immediately ordered the army to get ready to attack the Bayankala Pass, head straight to Baihai, and capture Baihai City.

(End of this chapter)