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

Chapter 424 Prime Minister Pei's Paper Talk

Changan.

In the Taiji Palace, after reading the victory report sent by the Crown Prince, Li Yuan felt no joy whatsoever; instead, his face was ashen.

"Your Majesty?" Pei Ji called softly from the side.

The emperor sighed and handed the news of victory to his old friend.

Pei Ji took it and examined it closely. After reading it, his expression became somewhat strange.

"I wonder who taught the Crown Prince to be so bad," Li Yuan sighed, shifting the blame to someone else first.

"Indeed, it was a terrible strategy, but after this battle, the Ji Hu of Weibei will no longer be able to cause trouble." Pei Ji felt that it was not others who had corrupted the Crown Prince, but rather that the idea of ​​this deceitful and treacherous act originated from the Crown Prince himself.

Previously, the Crown Prince had carried out a massacre of refugees in Nanshan, Zhouzhi.

"The Crown Prince is probably eager to win and wants to quell the rebellion as soon as possible," Pei Ji said, putting in a good word for the Crown Prince.

Li Yuan sighed, "He is the crown prince, the heir apparent of the Tang Dynasty. How can he get involved in such matters?"

A prince who breaks his word is a huge stain on his reputation, and it's not worth it to tarnish it so much just to quell a few barbarians.

"Let Dalang entrust the task of pacifying the remaining Ji Hu to Yu Yun," Li Yuan thought for a moment, "and appoint Guo Zihe as the governor of Fuzhou."

"An imperial edict was issued ordering Zhang Changxun, the governor of Fengzhou, to come to the capital. The soldiers and civilians of Fengzhou were to move south to Lingzhou, and Fengzhou was temporarily abolished."

The peace talks between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks were intermittent and never reached a real agreement.

Although Jieli Khan was busy consolidating his throne, his attitude toward the Tang Dynasty was the same as that of his two elder brothers, Shibi Khan and Chuluo Khan, and he even revealed greater ambitions.

The Tang Dynasty has agreed to allow Yuan Junzhang to continue governing Shuo and Yun, north of Yanmen Pass, and even Lanzhou, which was taken back, will not be touched by the Tang Dynasty for the time being.

Khagan Jieli was not satisfied. He demanded that the Tang Dynasty retreat to the northern border of the first year of the Wude era. He even claimed that Zhang Changxun, Guo Zihe, and Liang Shidu of Shuofang had all been enfeoffed by the Turks and were their subjects, and that their territories were Turkic lands.
Now that the Tang Dynasty has occupied so much land, it must withdraw completely.

The implication is that the area north of Chang'an should be bounded by the Great Wall, and the areas outside the Great Wall, such as Shuofang and Hetao, should belong to the Turks.

The area north of the capital of the Tang Dynasty could only be divided by Baiyu Mountain and the Great Wall, with Lingzhou and Yanzhou to the west and east respectively becoming the frontier.

The Turks needed Lan, Xin, and Dai, the three prefectures south of the Great Wall within Yanmen Pass, as well as Shuo, Yun, and Wei, the three prefectures north of Yanmen Pass and within the outer Great Wall.

The two sides have been talking for so long,
They are all testing each other's limits.

Li Yuan's bottom line was that Lanzhou had been lost and could be temporarily left alone, but the Tang army had already recovered Xinzhou, and Daizhou had Li Da'en and Weizhou had Li Kaidao, both of whom had been granted surnames and titles of kings.

The Tang Dynasty would naturally not send Dai and Wei back.
With the help of the Turks, Yuan Junzhang has been sending troops to fight for Daizhou and even Weizhou during this period, but the scale of the war is not large and it is under control.

The fighting was back and forth, with Princes Li Da'en and Li Kaidao holding the line in front, and the Tang army providing support from behind, so they were able to hold on for the time being.

Li Yuan did not want to give up Xin Daiwei.
After much deliberation, I decided to simply give up on Fengzhou.

He didn't give up either. Although Zhang Changxun had long since submitted to the Tang Dynasty and been appointed as the governor of Fengzhou, he had always maintained a good relationship with the Turks. He and the current Khan, Jieli, had even become sworn brothers. Jieli used to be stationed north of Fengzhou, and the Hetao region was like his backyard, allowing him to come and go as he pleased.

The Li Tang dynasty never had the opportunity to truly control the Hetao region.

The Tang Dynasty had always been focused on developing Lingzhou, while to the east was Yanzhou, which guarded the Great Wall. Beyond the Great Wall was Liang Shidu, supported by the Turks, and further north, the Hetao region was a pastureland for the Turks.

The Tang Dynasty dared not easily venture north to the Hetao region for business, as it was easy to lose everything.

Pei Ji had always supported ceding the Hetao and Fengsheng prefectures to the Turks to appease them, since neither of them were under his actual control. There was no need for the two nominally allied military leaders to fight to the death. It would be more practical to exchange Zhang Changxun's territory for a ceasefire from the Turks.

The Tang Dynasty could also gain access to the population and military strength of Feng and Sheng prefectures.

Guo Zihe could no longer stay in Yulin and had withdrawn his troops to the old city of Yanzhou. The imperial court's Yanzhou General Administration Office had replenished its population and soldiers considerably.

There's no need for Fengzhou to insist on going to court. Letting Zhang Changxun go to the capital and withdrawing Fengzhou's population and troops to Lingwu will strengthen Lingzhou's defenses and tax revenue.

Previously, the imperial court had always wanted Zhang Changxun to enter the court, but he had territory and men, and was backed by Jieli, so he refused to enter the court.

This time, Li Yuan planned to take advantage of the Crown Prince's northern expedition against Tudiqi to force Zhang Changxun to come to court.

"Zhang Changxun was enfeoffed as Duke of Xi, promoted to Governor-General of Kuizhou and Right Martial General, and was bestowed with a thousand bolts of colored silk and ten palace maids."

"An imperial edict was issued ordering the Crown Prince to lead Sang Xianhe and others to inspect the Great Wall and Lingzhou with troops."

Li Yuan believed Zhang Changxun to be a clever man. When he received the imperial summons to court and learned of the Crown Prince's imperial edict ordering him to lead troops to inspect the Great Wall at Lingzhou, he was deeply impressed.
Then he'll know how to choose.

If he doesn't go to court, then the Crown Prince will lead his troops north to attack Fengzhou. He can lead his troops south to Lingzhou to join the Crown Prince, and then go to court with the Crown Prince. That would be perfect. After he comes to Chang'an to pay his respects to the Emperor, he can go to Kuizhou to replace Li Xiaogong as the commander-in-chief. Li Xiaogong, the commander-in-chief of the Jingxiang Road Army and the Left Minister of the Xiangzhou Road Army, can also focus on fighting Xiao Xian and managing Shannan.

The Crown Prince's inspection tour of the Great Wall to Lingwu served both to intimidate Zhang Changxun and force him to come to court, and also to allow him to quickly leave that cesspool of the Ji Hu.

Yu Yun's decision to stay behind to continue suppressing the Ji Hu also meant that he would take the blame for the Crown Prince's lack of integrity.

This time, the Crown Prince was ordered to lead the troops to attack the Qi Hu.
It wasn't that there were no capable generals in the court, but rather that the emperor wanted to give Jiancheng more opportunities to hone his skills and enhance his military abilities, especially by awarding him more military merits.
After all, Erlang had made great military achievements and was now leading troops to conquer Hebei.

Using Erlang was a last resort, but the Crown Prince's military achievements also needed to be strengthened to achieve some balance.

Erlang,

Thinking of the victory report that the King of Qin had sent back from Hebei, Li Yuan's tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little.

Li Shimin launched his campaign in March, crossing the Yellow River in late March. He briefly regrouped in Huojia City, Huaizhou, where he finally assembled his troops from Guanzhong, Henan, Hedong, and Hebei before heading north to Weizhou. After entering Weizhou, the Prince of Qin proceeded with great caution.
However, Dou Jiande did not seem to intend to launch a proactive attack. Instead, he sent some light cavalry to scout and probe the area.

They actually voluntarily abandoned Xiangzhou City, north of Weizhou.
The Xia army abandoned Xiangzhou and retreated north, while simultaneously strengthening the walls and clearing the country.

Li Shimin recaptured Xiangzhou City without a fight in early April.

The Xia army abandoned Xiangzhou City and gathered its forces in Ye City, north of Xiangzhou City, where it set up several large camps.

The Tang and Xia armies were locked in a standoff.

The two armies faced off in this seemingly calm standoff, but undercurrents were surging beneath the surface.

Li Shimin did not rush to attack, nor did Dou Jiande.

"Why do you think Dou Jiande would voluntarily abandon Xiangzhou City, yet set up a camp in Ye City, not far away, to defend it?" Li Yuan asked.

Pei Ji was not skilled in military affairs, but he still answered, "Ye City is on the south bank of the Zhang River. If you go north along the Zhang River, you can reach the vicinity of Dou Jiande's capital, Mingzhou."

Your subject believes that Dou Jiande abandoned Xiangzhou and chose to defend Yecheng, possibly to hold the Zhang River, or perhaps to lengthen our supply lines while they could shorten them.”

Li Yuan felt that this guess was not very reliable.

He wanted to issue an edict urging Li Shimin to advance quickly, but he was worried about disrupting his plans, so he could only hold back.

Faced with the stagnant situation in the Hebei campaign,

Li Yuan then turned his attention to Henan, where two-thirds of the twenty-three prefectures and five general administrations east of the Grand Canal had suddenly rebelled.

Fortunately, Li Yi never disappointed him. While the rebels were breaking out on one side, Li Yi easily quelled the rebellions in Hua and Cao prefectures.

Without losing a single soldier, the royal army was not even wounded.

“Li Yi’s military skills are getting better and better, but during this major battle, he suddenly brought 50,000 troops. Could there be another accident?” Pei Ji said. “Also, the severance pay for bringing these troops is a bit too much.”

Li Yuan, however, felt that reducing the army at this time was a brilliant and decisive move.

"If we keep these 50,000 to 60,000 troops after recovering the eight prefectures of Hua and Cao, the imperial court will have to support them in the future, which will cost even more."

These soldiers are numerous but useless; it's better to dismiss them, give them a sum of money and rations, and save the military expenditure of fifty to sixty thousand men in the future.

In any case, Li Yi did not use the national treasury's money to do things, and he did not even use the money from Luoyang. Instead, he used the money from the eight prefectures including Caohua.

Meng Haigong and Han Hong have been executed.
The next targets are Xu Yuanlang, Zhang Qingte, Fu De, Zang Junxiang, and others.

The emperor looked at the map for a while,
It felt utterly boring. Li Yi's military campaigns were always like this—uninteresting. Even in post-battle reviews, there were no highlights.

They pacified the eight prefectures of Hua and Cao without a sound, and now a new Hua Prefecture General Administration has been established, merging them into four prefectures, and 50,000 troops have been disbanded.

Li Yi's actions were simple and unpretentious, yet the results spoke for themselves: the recapture of eight prefectures and the quelling of the rebellion.

Sixty to seventy thousand people were laid down their arms just like that.

Li Yuan didn't think that Xu Yuanlang and the others could cause any more trouble. They would probably break down under Li Yi's unassuming yet relentless approach.

Perhaps Li Yi will then try to persuade or force Xu Yuanlang's generals to defect, or for powerful local families to rise up, kill Xu Yuanlang, and surrender, or even open the city gates to act as an inside agent.

"It was actually the right thing to leave Wuyi in Henan."

Li Yuan couldn't help but turn his gaze back to Hebei.

"Since Erlang and Dou Jiande are locked in a standoff in Yecheng, could we summon Prince Yan Li Yi and Tudi Ji to the north to lead their troops south?"
This way, attacking Dou Jiande from both the north and south would make things easier for Erlang (Dou Jiande's son).

Pei Ji also perked up, looking at the sand table, "Your Majesty, I think it would be appropriate to order Prince Li Kaidao of Beiping to lead troops out of Duxing and march south together with Prince Yan."

He ordered Prince Li Da'en of Dingxiang to lead his troops out of Feihu Pass and attack the two prefectures of Yi and Ding.

He ordered Liu Shi of Bingzhou to cede Jingxing and then attacked Hengzhou and Zhaozhou.

This will surely keep Dou Jiande busy. Pei Ji became more and more excited as he spoke; it felt so good to be able to talk about war on paper and give orders on the battlefield.

All the armies marched out simultaneously, advancing in separate directions, and finally converged at the walls of Mingzhou. Just like last year when they attacked Wang Shichong in Luoyang, they first dispatched troops to sweep through the outer perimeter.
The final battle took place beneath the walls of Luoyang.

In one fell swoop, the city was breached, and the kingpin was captured!

Li Yuan looked at the sand table and burst into laughter.

"That's right. Let Shimin hold off Dou Jiande's main force in Ye City, and then let various armies sweep through the surrounding areas. Not only the Prince of Yan, the Prince of Beiping, and the Prince of Dingxiang, but also Liu Shimin and his men..."

After suppressing the rebellion of Xu Yuanlang and others in Henan, Li Yi could also cross the river and head north to capture the prefectures east of the Grand Canal in Hebei, including Weibo, Beiji, Dezhou, Dizhou, Cangzhou, Yingzhou, and Shenzhou, just as he had swept through Shannan and Henan last year.

Looking at Hebei on the sand table,

Li Yuan and Pei Ji both felt that this was just like the battle in Henan last year, and that the Tang army would win easily.

"Your Majesty, within three months, we will be able to completely recover Hebei and quell Dou Jiande's rebellion."

"Haha, Pei Ji, let's go boating on Beihai Lake and play the pipa." In high spirits, Li Yuan took Pei Ji's hand, wanting to relax.

(End of this chapter)