A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 349 Returning to Chang'an

Li Yi saw through Chuluo Khan's sinister intentions at a glance; this was a scheme to sow discord.

"Someone, please invite Lord Yuwen here."

Although this special cavalry force only led a light cavalry, they entered Taiyuan City openly under the banner of the Turks. Now, they met with Li Yi alone and even took out the wolf-head banner and the imperial edict bestowed upon them by Chuluo Khan.

insidious.

Who would have thought that Chuluo Khan would abandon his archery skills and resort to stratagem instead?

He recalled Nibushe's warning; perhaps this was the work of that madwoman, Princess Yicheng.

Soon, Yuwen Shiji was invited over.

After entering, the man first glanced at the Turkic Hot-Han Special Forces that Li Yi had left in the hall, then clasped his hands in a gesture of respect to Li Yi: "What are your orders, Grand Steward?"

Li Yi pointed to the heat and cold.

"This man claims to be an envoy of Chuluo Khan, Teqin Ashina Rehan. He brought a large banner with a wolf's head on it and said that Chuluo Khan wanted to bestow upon me the title of Southern Turkic She. Isn't that ridiculous?"

Yuwen Shiji was taken aback; this was no joke.

Li Yi took in his expression. This man had given his sister to his cousin, the emperor. The emperor treated this cousin well. Although he had been sidelined for a while, he was now a fourth-rank general.

Knowing that his wife, Princess Nanyang of the Sui Dynasty, had become a nun in Hebei and that his eldest son, Yuwen Chanshi, had been killed, he specially married his cousin, Princess Shouguang, to him and restored his old title, Duke of Xincheng County.

He came to pacify Hedong, and being a close confidant of the emperor, he may well have been carrying out a military supervision mission.

The Hot and Cold Special Operations Unit didn't expect Li Yi to make this public so directly.

Generally speaking, a general leading troops in the field, even if receiving an official title from Chuluo Khan might not stir up ambition, would probably be hesitant to make a big fuss for fear of not being able to explain himself.

Chuluo Khan instructed him that upon arriving in Taiyuan, he should first openly enter the city, and then only tell Li Yi that he was to be granted the wolf-head banner and the fiefdom to the south.
Then, when Li Yi hesitates to make it public, the news will be leaked, and then Li Yi will be in serious trouble.

Not speaking could eliminate Li Yi, but the emperor would inevitably become suspicious.

But why didn't Li Yi act as Chuluo Khan and Qatun had predicted?
“Lord Yuwen, the Turks are wolves in sheep’s clothing, they’re really wicked. They’re trying to smear me. I have to take this guy to the capital immediately.”

"The affairs here in Bingzhou will temporarily be handled by Deputy Chief Administrator Li Zhongwen, Commander Zhang Zhiang, and Pacification Commissioner Yuwen."

Yuwen Shiji felt that Li Yi's reaction was a bit excessive, but he could understand it.
"Grand Steward, His Majesty will surely trust your loyalty. The current situation in Bingzhou cannot be separated from you, Grand Steward."

The Grand Eunuch can simply submit a memorial to His Majesty explaining the situation; there's no need for him to personally travel to the capital.

"I must return to the capital in person to explain this to the Emperor."

Li Yi's attitude was firm.

The mudslinging by Chuluo Khan gave Li Yi a reason to retreat from the torrent.

The overall situation is basically settled now, and Liu Wuzhou won't be able to cause trouble for much longer.

The time for settlement was fast approaching, and Li Yili's contributions were indeed quite significant, so much so that the emperor had previously bestowed upon him the title of king.

He kept declining the title of prince from the emperor, but the emperor never granted his request.

Regarding the matter of being granted the title of prince, although his maternal uncle Zhang Daoyuan had also mentioned that Li Xiaochang's status was special, listed in the imperial clan register, and belonged to the imperial family, though not a close branch, he was still a distant branch. Furthermore, there was the precedent of Li Xiaochang being granted the title of prince.

It is reasonable for Li Xiaochang's nephew to be granted the title of king.

Moreover, the royal family has already conferred titles on twenty-seven kings in two years, so one more wouldn't make a difference.

But Li Yi always felt that he was not a true member of the imperial family. Now that the emperor had granted him the title so readily, he might end up on a blacklist and be viewed with suspicion and distrust.

He's so young; that position will probably be tough for him in the future.

In any case, the princes of the Tang Dynasty could not be granted fiefdoms or establish their own kingdoms, so there was not much difference between a prince and a duke.

It's still more comfortable and safer to be a Duke.

He had originally planned to return home after Liu Wuzhou was defeated, but now that Chuluo had done this, he could return to the capital ahead of schedule.

Plan ahead and retreat gracefully when things are going well.

Yuwen Shiji was surprised by Li Yi's resolute attitude, finding the young man to be so clear-headed and without the slightest hint of arrogance.

"I still suggest that the Grand Steward first submit a letter to His Majesty, and then wait for His Majesty's arrangements."

"I will take the special forces of the Hot and Cold Regions back to the capital first. It just so happens that the court also needs to have a good talk with the Turks, turn hostility into friendship, and clear up some misunderstandings."

Rehan didn't want to go to Chang'an.
His mission was to come to Taiyuan to deliver the wolf-head banner and bestow titles upon the southern region, stir up some trouble, and then return.

But Li Yi wouldn't let him leave; he practically forcibly controlled him and his group.

The next day, Li Yi took him directly back to the capital.

Li Yi brought along ten fellow villagers from Luojiabao, including Luo Wu, and also called upon his thirty-six retainers.

Finally, Sima Zhang Zhiang assigned him three hundred infantry and cavalry to escort him.

The special forces members refused to leave, so Li Yi tilted his head at Liu Heizi, who chuckled and pulled out a crossbow.
With a whoosh, a crossbow bolt struck one of Rehan's attendants. The man was hit in the instep and screamed as he jumped around.

"Grand Steward, please forgive my mistake." Liu Heizi apologized for the mistake while continuing to load the food.

Seeing that his life was being so blatantly threatened, Rehan lowered his voice considerably.

"Special duty officer for hot and cold weather, I sincerely invite you to come to Chang'an to meet the Emperor," Li Yi said with a smile.

Ashina Rehan reluctantly agreed, believing that this young Li Yi was truly capable of shooting him dead here.

On the same day,

Li Yi then led the Special Forces of Hot and Cold from Taiyuan south to Chang'an.

Since Jinzhou had not yet been recovered, Li Yi went south through the former Haozhou (now renamed Fenzhou) and Xizhou to Longmen to cross the river back to Guanzhong.

Before he set off, Yuwen Shiji immediately wrote an urgent secret memorial to the emperor in Chang'an, explaining the matter in detail.

Li Yi patted his behind and left, leaving Yuwen Shiji helpless in the face of such a huge mess.

···
Henan, Huazhou.

Cao Dan led 50,000 troops from Hebei southward, crossed the Yellow River, and set up camp in Huazhou.

Cao Dan ordered the former generals of Li Mi who had surrendered in Henan to lead their troops to gather together, and ordered them to supply the army with provisions.

Xu Shiji and Li Wenxiang were both ordered to send 3,000 troops and be supplied with provisions.

Cao Dan was Dou Jiande's brother-in-law. As a member of Dou Jiande's inner circle, he looked down on the fickle generals of Henan, cursing them for their bandit origins and indecisiveness.

Upon arriving in Henan, he was extremely harsh on the various rebel armies, demanding money and criticizing them for not having elite troops or providing enough or good food.

His subordinates also treated the surrendered leaders and their troops differently. They gave the worst rations and even less than the required amount. However, each unit had brought a lot of rations with them when they came, but Cao Dan sent people to take them all away, and now they were being embezzled in various ways.

The generals in Henan were full of complaints.

Li Wenxiang was furious when he received millet mixed with sand and mold, so he whipped the quartermaster. As a result, Cao Dan arrested him and whipped him twenty times in public.

When Lady Huo pleaded for her son's life, Cao Dan even wanted to arrest her and have her stripped naked and whipped. Only after the generals of Henan intervened and pleaded for her life did Cao Dan relent.

That evening, Xu Shiji came to visit Li Wenxiang.

Looking at her son's battered back, tears streaming down her face, Madam Huo said to her adopted son, Xu Shiji, "Cao Dan is deliberately trying to incite our discontent so he can find a reason to punish us."
These people don't consider us one of their own. They openly say they're here to attack Meng Haigong, but I think they just want to wipe out all of us who surrendered.

Today he beat Wen Xiang to death, who knows what excuse he will use to punish us tomorrow?
When we attack Meng Haigong, I'm afraid we'll be forced to fill in the moats and scale the city walls!

"Mother, don't worry. Just bear with it a little longer. Dou Jiande will soon head south. Then we'll settle all our scores, old and new, and cut off his head to avenge Minister Wen."

Even after Xu Shiji returned to camp, Huo Shi still could not control her anger.

Today, Cao Dan actually wanted to whip her naked. Fortunately, all the generals pleaded for her, otherwise she would have been humiliated.

But when she saw the way Cao Dan looked at her today, she knew she was being watched.

"Although the Duke of Donghai has agreed to join forces to deal with this villain, Cao Dan has gone too far in humiliating us and is pressing us relentlessly. We simply don't have that much time."

"Times may change, and we cannot wait for Dou Jiande to arrive. It is better to act quickly, first kill Cao Dan and destroy his camp, then cross the river north and head north to attack Dou Jiande."

Li Wenxiang also felt deeply ashamed and humiliated today.

He could endure being whipped twenty times, but Cao Dan actually wanted to strip his mother of her clothes, which was absolutely intolerable.

After the mother and son discussed it,
They immediately decided to strike first.

Li Wenxiang then sent his personal guards to Cao Dan's camp to tell him that he had been reckless and rude today and had offended General Cao.

Now, a banquet has been prepared to apologize to Cao Dan.

He invited Cao Dan and his generals to a banquet, and said that he had sent someone to Huazhou City to buy sheep and wine, and had also invited singing girls and dancing girls, and asked General Cao to do him the honor of attending.

Upon receiving the invitation,
Cao Dan was examining the map.

"Hmph, wasn't Li Shanghu quite arrogant during the day? If it weren't for Xu Shiji and the others, we would have killed him today."

A lieutenant laughed, "Yes, it's all because of Xu Shiji and the others' meddling. Otherwise, we would have seen what the famous female general, Chief Steward Huo, looks like with her clothes off today."
The woman's son was already in his twenties, but she looked only in her early twenties. Wearing armor, she looked exceptionally dashing, tall and slender, possessing a heroic spirit that most women lacked. Her long legs...

She'd look really good without her clothes on.

Another person laughed and said, "Let her escape this time. We'll find another excuse to kill Li Shanghu and take this woman as a slave. Then we can send her to the brothel and have a taste of what it's like."

A group of people burst into laughter.

Cao Dan laughed and cursed: "I would never send such a woman to the brothel for thousands to ride and thousands to enjoy. I would keep her as my mistress."

"General, aren't you afraid you won't be able to handle her in bed?"

The group laughed for a while.
"This merchant Li has invited me to a banquet to apologize. General, you might have a chance tonight."

Cao Dan shook his head: "The way that woman glared at me today was as if she wanted to turn her gaze into a sharp arrow and kill me. You guys go ahead, I won't go. I still have to write a memorial to King Xia to report the situation here later."

"Have fun. Once all the troops have gathered, we'll be heading to the battlefield. Then there won't be any chance to relax."

Night falls.

Li Wenxiang's camp

Finally, twenty-three officers and soldiers under Cao Dan arrived, each with their own retinue. Li Wenxiang, despite his injuries, greeted them at the camp gate and invited the twenty-three men into the camp. Their personal guards and entourage were also invited to another side for hospitality.

"Is General Cao still blaming me for not coming?"

"The General has important business to attend to tonight and has no other intentions," one of them said.

Li Wenxiang was greatly disappointed upon hearing this, but the die was cast.

Huo said to her son, "Then kill these people first, and then kill Cao Dan."

Roasted meat, sashimi, and various other dishes were served one by one. Huo Shi, accompanied by a group of female soldiers, personally offered toasts to the generals.

Everyone was quickly made drunk.
A man from Hebei, who was being plied with alcohol and became extremely drunk, couldn't resist reaching out to put his arm around Huo's waist.

"Is it easy to touch?"

"Not bad, very slim waist, haha..."

The man's laughter stopped abruptly. Huo slashed his neck with a dagger, and blood spurted out.

"Do it!" Huo snorted coldly, picked up a cup from the table, and smashed it on the ground.

The axemen who had been lying in ambush rushed in, and Li Wenxiang also grabbed an axe and started hacking wildly.

moment,

Twenty-three Hebei generals were slaughtered while drunk.

They also joined in, getting the 23 men and their more than 300 followers drunk before slaughtering them.

One of the guards happened to have a stomachache and went to the toilet halfway through drinking. He unexpectedly escaped a disaster. When he realized something was wrong, he immediately stole a horse and fled the camp, running all the way back to the main camp to report to Cao Dan.

Li Wenxiang then sent boats across the Yellow River to the north bank, falsely claiming to be acting on Cao Dan's orders to ferry them across. He transported three hundred cavalrymen in four boats. When they reached the middle of the river, they were suddenly attacked by archers. The three hundred elite cavalrymen, unarmored and crammed into the enclosed cabins, were caught completely off guard by the sudden attack from their allies.

They were all shot dead in the four cabins.

Li Wenxiang wanted to continue the attack, but at this time Cao Dan's camp had already started to sound the alarm, quickly closed the camp gates, and sent cavalry on patrol.

Li Wenxiang was surprised that his plan had been exposed, so he had no choice but to send someone to inform Xu Shiji, his sworn brother who was camped with Cao Dan, and he also beat drums and horns to gather his troops and attack Cao Dan's camp.

In Xu Shiji's camp,
Guo Xiaoke, clad in armor and wielding a spear, loudly urged, "General, Li Wenxiang and his mother have already launched their attack; we must respond immediately."

Xu Shiji observed that Cao Dan's camp was heavily guarded.

He shook his head helplessly: "It happened suddenly, Cao Dan was already prepared, we had no chance at all."

"Steward, shall we take a gamble?"

Xu Shiji shook his head: "Knowing it's impossible and still doing it, what's the difference between that and suicide? Let's run."

"Where?"

"There is nowhere for us to stay here. Let's save our lives first and then head back to Chang'an."

Without further hesitation, Xu Shiji immediately led several dozen of his personal guards out of the camp and fled westward without looking back.

He didn't even go to Li Wenxiang's camp; he simply sent a personal guard to find Li Wenxiang and tell them to retreat immediately.

Li Wenxiang led his troops to Cao Dan's camp. Seeing that the camp was heavily fortified and impregnable, he took advantage of the darkness to turn west. They had boats, so they immediately used them to transport three thousand soldiers across the Yellow River to the north bank.

Clad in armor, Huo rode ahead on horseback, escorted by a group of female cavalry, and was the first to charge into the camp of Cao Dan's generals Gao Yaxian and Ruan Junming on the north bank.

Ruan Quanming was awakened from his sleep by his personal guards, and he didn't even know who the enemy was.

Without warning, Huo broke through the camp fence and stormed into the camp. Ruan Junming had just mounted his horse when he bumped into Huo.

Huo fired an arrow from afar, striking Ruan Junming squarely in the face, killing him instantly.

With their commander dead, Nguyen Quan Minh's camp was thrown into complete chaos, and the soldiers scattered.

After defeating Nguyen Quan Minh's camp, Huo joined forces with his son Li Wenxiang and charged towards Gao Yaxian's camp.

Go Ah-hyun didn't know who attacked her.

In the darkness, he rallied his troops and retreated, and Li Wenxiang could not catch up with them.

"Don't chase after him, Wenxiang," Huo called out as she caught up with her son.

"Mother, what do we do now?"

Huo originally planned to hold a banquet to kill Cao Dan and his generals, then launch a surprise attack on Cao Dan's camp. At that time, Xu Shiji and others would then launch a joint attack. With the enemy losing their commanders, they would surely collapse.

But who would have thought it would turn out like this?

After thinking for a moment, Huo said, "Shiji has already abandoned the camp and headed to Chang'an. We cannot abandon these brothers, but we cannot stay here any longer. Let's retreat to Zhongtan City in Heyang first. It's a pity we couldn't kill Cao Cao!"

(End of this chapter)