The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 503 Laojun Mountain

The cold wind whistled past the foothills, covering up the laughter in the valley. When Di Renjie and Pei Xingjian walked into a tent, the camp was still very lively, and it stayed that way all night.

With sufficient food, wine and meat, people can have a great time here all night without feeling tired.

The next day, the weather returned to being clear. Today's sunshine was warmer than yesterday. There was a fire in the camp that had just been extinguished and smoke was rising.

The man from the Western Regions came out of the camp shivering, looking into the distance. His vision, which had been a little blurry after waking up, was slowly becoming clearer.

Finally, he saw the scenery in the distance clearly. It was a group of soldiers coming towards here.

The Western Regions man shouted in the unfamiliar Guanzhong dialect: "We have soldiers, we have soldiers!"

There were also Tang soldiers who had just come out of the tent, yawning and breathing out hot air. They looked up and saw the troops coming towards them.

After taking another look and confirming that it was the flag of the Tang general, the Tang soldier mounted his horse and went forward to inquire.

Several people from the Western Regions were still talking in low voices. They were speaking in the Western dialect. Di Renjie had been standing nearby, listening to their discussion. They were mostly talking about how this Tang army had a large number of people and would definitely go to Dayuan City to fight those Hu people.

The other party stopped in front of the camp gate, and Pei Xingjian said, "Greetings, General Gao."

Gao Kan smiled and said, "We parted in Chang'an in the past, and now we meet again."

In fact, Gao Kan was over 40 years old, with thick hair and beard, and a smiling face. He dismounted from his horse, shouted twice, and asked the team behind him to bring up food, fodder, wine and meat.

Li Mengchang got off his horse and first looked at the Tang army and the Western Regions people in the camp. He whispered, "General Pei?"

"The end will be here."

"There is also a Tibetan who came with me. Do you know him?"

Pei Xingjian looked up and saw a group of soldiers wearing Tibetan clothes, led by Qin Ling.

But he was only surprised for a moment, and Pei Xingjian smiled and said, "Haha, I didn't expect you Tibetans to come too."

Qin Ling shouted a few words in Tibetan to the Tibetan soldiers behind him, and a group of Tibetans planned to set up camp on the spot.

Following Gao Kan came 3,000 Tang troops and 2,000 Tibetan soldiers. Pei Xingjian counted the food and grass and frowned, "Where are the Bai people?"

Di Renjie said: "He left early in the morning. I don't know what he was doing."

While Gao Kan and Li Mengchang were still laughing and joking with General Liang Jianfang, Qin Ling and his Tibetan soldiers camped nearby. They did not speak to the people from the Western Regions and rarely interacted with the Tang army. After dividing the food and grass, these Tibetans guarded their own camp.

Compared with the Tang people or the people from the Western Regions, these Tibetans seemed very xenophobic.

Half a day later, when Bai Fang came back, he brought more than ten carts of food and a large flock of sheep, and even some wine. The people from the Western Regions here cheered.

As long as they were in the Tianshan area, Bai Fang could always bring enough food to the army to ensure that the soldiers would not go hungry.

The food and grass in the camp are enough for the troops to use for half a month. Including what they have brought now, Pei Xingjian looked at the food list and said, "The food and grass you sent is only enough for three days."

"Three days?" Bai Fang hesitated, "Only three days?"

Pei Xingjian closed the grain and grass and said, "Look at our soldiers. They ate until late at night yesterday. No matter how much food we had, it was not enough."

Bai Fang scratched his head, looking somewhat innocent, and leaned closer and said, "General Pei, you and I have known each other for so many years, how have I improved now?"

Ever since he followed General Zhang Shigui to the Western Regions, he had made friends with Bai Fang, who at that time was still a Western Regions monk from Kucha.

Afterwards, Bai Fang killed the Western Regions monk from Qiuci and became a prisoner. Later, he became the garrison general of the Western Regions.

When Your Majesty first ascended the throne, there was only one general amnesty, and even in that amnesty, only a few people were pardoned. Bai Fang and Xuanzang were two of those who were pardoned.

And now Xuanzang is nowhere to be found, and Bai Fang has become a general.

Therefore, it is clear how loyal Bai Fang is to the current Tian Khan.

Bai Fang often boasted that he was more loyal than the Turkic Ashina She'er.

Pei Xingjian was still busy with the matters at hand. The Tang army and the Tibetans did not fight each other, but the people of the Western Regions and the Tibetans did.

General Liang Jianfang was a general who only cared about bravery and not military affairs. Pei Xingjian, the deputy general in the army, felt a headache when facing the quarrel between the two sides.

Fortunately, there was a very kind General Gao Kan in the army. This general was friendly and amiable. Under his persuasion, the Tibetans kept their distance from the people of the Western Regions and became much more peaceful.

Pei Xingjian wrote down the situation here, wrote two volumes of documents and handed them to two messengers, and ordered: "Send them to Xizhou City and Suiye City as fast as possible."

"Here."

The neighing of war horses was heard, and the messengers rode out of the camp and left.

In Suiye City, the heavy snow almost swallowed up the city, and the city gates were blocked by the thick snow and could not be opened at all.

In front of Suiye City, a group of people climbed down from the city wall using ropes, skiing with wooden boards on their feet.

This is none other than the current crown prince, skiing and cheering.

Zhang Daan received the military report sent by Pei Xingjian, sat on the wall of Suiye City, looked at the soldiers playing below, and opened the paper. The wind was still strong today, listening to the noise in the city, Zhang Daan opened the paper, and the paper fluttered when the wind blew.

Zhang Daan had no choice but to hold the letter and read it with his back to the wind. He missed the parchment scroll a little in his heart, but he was not afraid that the parchment scroll would be blown away by the wind.

The news written in the military newspaper was also very simple. It was nothing more than that General Gao, General Li Mengchang, and Qin Ling of Tubo had arrived at the camp by Lake Issyk-Kul.

In the military report, Pei Xingjian also said that they had sufficient food and fodder, and asked whether Suiye City needed any.

After reading the letter, Zhang Da'an felt a little worried. Of course, there was no shortage of food and grass here, as there was enough food and grass in the city.

In Suiye City there is Cui Xuanwei, General Niu Jinda, and the current crown prince.

Generally speaking, all military affairs in Suiye City were under the charge of General Niu Jinda.

All affairs within the city were presided over by Cui Xuanwei and himself.

Niu Jinda, wearing a cloak, came over and asked, "Is there any military report?"

Zhang Daan handed over the letter and said, "Ask us if we are short of food."

Niu Jinda glanced at the letter, sat down first, put his hands on his knees, and asked, "Is the food and grass in the rear so abundant?"

Zhang Da'an nodded and drank his tea in silence.

“Hehehe…” Niu Jinda snorted coldly, “When the prince was coming to Suiye City, all the generals in the Western Regions rushed to send food to Suiye City. Now look what happens! The city is filled with food and there is more food than can be eaten!”

Listening to the general's complaints, Zhang Da'an chewed raisins and said, "I thought they were all worried that the Crown Prince would be hungry?"

There are many generals in the Western Regions, more than when Cheng Yaojin first came.

There are now seven major armies in the Western Regions, namely Liang Jianfang, Li Fengjie, Gao Kan, Li Mengchang, Xue Rengui, Pei Xingjian, and Niu Jinda.

If we count Wang Xuance and Wang Xiaojie of Tianzhu...and Murong Shun can also be considered an army.

However, due to the long march, these troops are now scattered.

Xizhou City, presided over by Liu Rengui, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture in the Western Region, is more prosperous than ever before.

Outside Xizhou City, Li Fengjie received Pei Xingjian's military report, so he hurriedly wrote a document to send back, and then wrote another document to have it sent to Chang'an City.

After finishing these things, Li Fengjie met Liu Rengui who was personally questioning the merchants in Xizhou.

Yan Zhaofu came over quickly and said with a smile, "It was like this when Liu Fuyin was in Chang'an."

Yan Zhaofu's father was Yan Qinli, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture in Chang'an City. Yan Qinli had worked with Liu Rengui for many years, and Yan Zhaofu was very familiar with Liu Rengui.

Li Feng warned: "I just don't like him bringing the rules of Guanzhong to the Western Regions."

Yan Zhaofu, a teacher teaching at Chongwen Hall, bowed and said, "Protector Li, Xizhou City is indeed more prosperous now."

Liu Rengui's governance of Xizhou City was indeed very effective, and everyone was convinced of this.

Li Fengjie also felt that if Zhang Da'an was in charge of the affairs of Xizhou City, it should not be too bad. It was a pity that Zhang Da'an went to Suiye City.

These were all arrangements made by the court. Li Fengjie could not make any arrangements except to complain. The Protector General of Anxi Protectorate was also constrained by the civil officials of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Ever since more and more volunteer teachers came to Xizhou, Li Fengjie felt that the number of people coming to Xizhou was increasing year by year.

When the report from the Western Regions was delivered to Chang'an City, it was already New Year's Day of the eleventh year of Qianqing's reign.

At the beginning of this year's new year, on the second day of the first lunar month, the emperor and his son, who had just finished the New Year's worship, sat in front of their own ancestral temple.

Behind the father and son is a portrait of the Taoist ancestor, and in front of them is the now renowned Taoist priest Li Chunfeng.

Li Chengqian originally thought that this Taoist priest would continue to build Qianling Mausoleum, but later he found out that he was overthinking. After this person found a site and confirmed the start of construction, he just left it alone. He really left it alone, and no one knew where this Taoist priest went afterwards.

Now I have suddenly returned to Chang'an City.

Little Sizi, wearing a blue Taoist robe and holding a scroll in his hand, said, "Brother, the Taoist priest wants to know when a large telescope will be built on Mount Laojun."

Li Chunfeng smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Laojun Mountain is often above the clouds. If you set up a telescope on the mountain, you will be able to see more stars."

Li Shimin laughed and said, "I also like Laojun Mountain very much."

First, he looked at his sister standing beside him, and then Li Chengqian said, "Then I will build a large telescope for you on the mountain, but there are some things I need to discuss with you first."

"Please speak, my royal brother. Mingda is listening." She said with a smile.

"No matter how big the telescope is, we may not be able to see the true appearance of the stars. The stars may appear brighter and more numerous, but even if we use all our current manpower, we cannot build a telescope that can see through the starry sky."

Little Sizi said: "Well, just as my brother said, the distance between us and the sky cannot be made up by a few pieces of glass mirrors."

Taking the paper and pen handed to him by the eunuch, Li Chengqian wrote down personally: Laojun Mountain Observatory.

(End of this chapter)