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

Chapter 555 The Golden Wolf Tent

Soldiers who have rendered meritorious service and officers who have made contributions should be rewarded accordingly.

The merits of defeating the enemy varied in different grades. A great victory could bring honors to thousands of people, but the opportunities for official appointments and promotions were few and far between. After all, there was only one position available, and the position could only be filled when there was a vacancy.

Fortunately, Commander Li Yi was generous, awarding not only medals but also gifts, land, and silk.

One-third of the spoils of war were distributed to the soldiers as cash rewards, and the compensation for the wounded and injured was even more generous.

"We've captured quite a few horses this time. Would you like to eat some more?"

During breakfast, Li Yi asked Ru Lianhua.

"Does a slave have the right?"

"Those horses, the fine warhorses, will definitely be handed over to the imperial court in part, and then used to replenish part of the army. The others, the inferior ones and the ones that are injured, will be disposed of."

There are certainly people who almost got injured, but the exact number depends on the demand.

Li Yi wanted to reward his soldiers, but he couldn't rely on the imperial court or local authorities for money and silk; it would be best to sell the spoils he captured on the battlefield.

A good horse can fetch tens of thousands of coins in the Central Plains, and even more in the horse-scarce Jianghuai region. Last time, Li Yi sold the three thousand horses that the Sijie tribe had lost to several merchant caravans.

He then gave 1,500 of the best horses from the captured warhorses to Rulianhua, at a price equivalent to 5,000 shi of grain.

"If you want it, it's ten thousand coins per horse, and I can give you a thousand."

As Lianhua smiled, she said, "Thank you for your kindness, sir. Should this ten million be paid in grain, money, or silk?"

"Fold the silk, I will use it to reward the meritorious and to compensate the wounded and the injured."

A thousand warhorses in exchange for fifty thousand bolts of silk—Li Yi certainly made a great profit, and Ru Lianhua was definitely not at a loss either.

After all, these are all good horses. Even if they are transported back to Hebei, they can be sold immediately. If they are transported to Henan, Huainan, or even Jiangnan, they will be even more profitable.

"Can you produce that much silk? I need to pay for it in cash."

"Don't worry, it's just 50,000 bolts of silk. I have a thousand good horses, so I'm not afraid of not being able to get this much silk."

Lotus doesn't even need to find any partners; she can take all these horses on her own.

"Alang, you have captured more than 5,000 Turks and Sogdians this time. Should you sell them as slaves? If you should sell them, I would like to buy some as well."

Prisoners of war and slaves were also valuable, as they were all young and strong.

Li Yi shook his head. "These prisoners of war cannot be sold for the time being. They may need to be exchanged with Jieli after the war."

If the more than 5,000 prisoners were ransomed by Jieli, each person could be exchanged for two or three horses, which would be a good deal. However, after this Turkic invasion, the Tang army suffered heavy losses, lost cities and territories, and many soldiers and civilians were captured and abducted.

Exchanging prisoners should be a priority.

Beneath the walls of Yanmen City.

Jieli looked at the majestic city, which had been besieged for almost half a year, but still couldn't find a way to besiege it.

He summoned Gao Kaidao and unleashed a torrent of abuse, leaving Gao Kaidao visibly visibly furious. Yet, Gao Kaidao could only clench his fists and endure it, for he had become a homeless dog.

"Your siege equipment isn't finished yet, you bunch of useless trash!"

"Your Majesty, please grant me some more time."

Jieli gritted his teeth; he didn't have that much time.

Li Yi pressed forward step by step, first defeating Gao Kaidao at Pingxing Pass, leaving him a defeated fugitive. Not only did Gao Kaidao lose his last territories in Beiyan Prefecture and Wei Prefecture, but his remaining 30,000 men were also reduced to only 800 light cavalry who fled.

Following this, the Sijie tribe suffered a defeat at Pingxing Pass with 3,000 men, and then Awen even lost Fanzhi City. Not only did they lose thousands of soldiers, but they were also routed and fled north to the northern desert.

Now, Zhishiyan and Ashina Simo, with 20,000 men, have suffered another defeat, losing nearly 10,000 men in the process.

Ashide Jieli led 50,000 men, but they didn't even dare to approach Fanzhi City.

The left wing is in serious trouble.

Jieli must take Li Yi seriously.
Li Yi sent a messenger with a very impolite tone, demanding that he immediately abide by the peace treaty and withdraw his troops, or he would command a large army to surround and strike from all sides.

Jieli felt that the thunderous strike mentioned in the letter was intentionally targeted.

The defeated soldiers said that the Eternal Heaven was angry and sent down thunder and fire rain. Jieli did not believe it, but many people said so, which made Jieli secretly suspicious. Now Li Yixin specifically mentioned the thunderous strike, wasn't that intentional?

Yanmen City remained unconquered after a prolonged siege.
Sijie, Zhishi, and Sogdians suffered successive major defeats.

Jieli was confused.
The Turks were really bad at attacking cities.

Back then, his elder brother, Shibi Khan, led 200,000 cavalry in a surprise attack on Yang Guang, who was on a northern tour, and besieged him at Yanmen City.
Of the forty-one cities in Yanmen Commandery, they captured thirty-nine.
But in the end, they failed to capture Yanmen and had to retreat to the outside of the pass.

Last year, he led 100,000 troops to besiege Yanmen Pass, but Li Da'en held it for over a month without success. This year, he finally seized an opportunity and annihilated 20,000 of Li Da'en's troops outside Yanmen Pass.

Taking advantage of the situation, they besieged Yanmen again. They thought that with Li Da'en dead, Yanmen City would be within their grasp, but who knew that Liu Shirang was even better at defending it than Li Da'en.

The afternoon was hot and humid, and Jieli was extremely irritable.

The siege equipment for the high road is being built too slowly.
Especially the artillery pieces, which are still a long way from completion, and without cannons, or many cannons, this city gate will be very difficult to capture.

But now, the Tang army is no longer standing idly by; Li Yi is closing in step by step.

"Does anyone have a way to persuade Liu Shirang to surrender?"

No one answered when Jieli Khan spoke.

The attempts to persuade Liu Shirang to surrender never stopped, with all sorts of generous offers, from initially being granted the title of Special Envoy, to later being granted the title of Governor, and even later Jieli promised to make him the Khan of the South.

The Turks had promised this title of Southern Khan to several people, but it was the greatest reward the Turks could offer, yet Liu Shirang remained unmoved.

He had no interest in anything about being appointed as the Southern Khan or the King of Yanmen. Even if Liu Shirang were to be granted the titles of Southern Khan or King of Jin, he would not bother with them.

Every time we face attempts to persuade someone to surrender, we respond with one word: Fight!

Although many warlords in the Central Plains have submitted to the Turks and accepted the wolf-head banner and investiture over the years, Li Da'en and Liu Shirang are particularly stubborn.

Persuasion to surrender failed, and a direct assault was also unsuccessful.

There was nothing we could do.

Jieli had several Tang envoys invited over.
They even specially served a whole roasted lamb to entertain him.

He had previously reached a verbal peace agreement with Li Yuan, in which Li Yuan would send a princess to marry Jieli, the two countries would cease hostilities and become friendly, and Jieli Khan would become Li Yuan's son-in-law.

Of course, Li Yuan promised to bestow gold and silk as annual rewards. Chang'an insisted on using the word "rewards," while Jieli was more concerned with the quantity of gold and silk. He knew that people from the Central Plains valued face, but people from the grasslands valued practical benefits more.

Whether it's a reward or tribute, the wording doesn't matter; what matters is how much is given.

Li Yuan initially agreed to reward him with 100,000 bolts of silk each year, but Jieli demanded 300,000 bolts of silk and 100,000 strings of cash.

The final agreement was 200,000 bolts of silk and 3,000 taels of gold annually.

In addition, after the Tang Dynasty ceded the Fengsheng and Hetao prefectures to the Turks for horse breeding, it also ceded the Yunshuo and Yunshuo prefectures outside Yanmen Pass to the Turks.

Originally, Jieli wanted the Tang Dynasty to cede Weizhou and Beiyanzhou to the Turks.

The Turks handed over Yunshuo to Yuan Junzhang and Wei and Beiyan Prefecture to Gao Kaidao. These two separatist forces became vassals of the Turks, and even made them submit to Yang Zhengdao, the Prince of Sui. The two became the acting governors and princes of the later Sui Dynasty.

Together with Liang Shidu of Shuofang, they became the three watchdogs of the Turks.

However, with Li Yi in Weizhou, Li Yuan felt confident and refused to compromise on this issue.

In the end, they only agreed not to send troops north of Yanmen Pass.

Of course, this peace agreement was merely a delaying tactic by Jieli.
He genuinely wanted to marry a princess from the Tang Dynasty.

However, he did not intend to withdraw his troops immediately. He planned to capture Yanmen City, then lead his army to Bingzhou. If the opportunity arose, he would plunder Taiyuan, and even march south to Fen and Jin, looting extensively. At that time, he would force Li Yuan to sign a treaty under duress.

They paid tribute and even became vassals.

If there's no chance to capture Taiyuan, then it's not too late to plunder it before leaving. At that time, the area north of Taiyuan can be handed over to Yuan Junzhang, Gao Kaidao, and others.

"Everyone, please take a seat."

When the four Tang envoys entered, Jieli was unusually polite and smiled.

Xiangwu King Li Chen showed no kindness towards Jieli's smile. The court negotiated peace with the Turks, but not only was he detained by the Turks for nearly a year, but now they had even sent his sister, A Wu, to marry into the Turkic tribe.

Li Chen was firmly opposed, but unfortunately, no one asked for his opinion on this marriage alliance.

"I have reached a peace agreement with the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The Emperor has also agreed to my marriage request and has already bestowed the title of Princess Changping upon the younger sister of the Prince of Xiangwu, who will marry me."

"King Xiangwu, from now on you will be my brother-in-law, and we will be family."

Li Chen, with a cold face, was sent as an envoy to the Turks. He was detained by Jieli and suffered humiliation. He was forced to herd sheep and horses, sleep in the sheepfold, and was often taken to Jieli's banquets, where he was made to recite poems and dance, and was only given boiled sheep offal.

He still has the nerve to call him "brother" now.

"Didn't the Great Khan follow Turkic tradition and take Princess Yicheng, the Khatun, as his wife?"
Princess Yicheng was also a princess of the Central Plains. Although she had married Qimin Khan, the father of the Great Khan, and her brothers Shibi Khan and Chuluo Khan, this was her fourth marriage.
Princess Yicheng is still quite young; is the Khan planning to divorce her and remarry?

"Oh right, I forgot that before the Khan inherited the throne, he also married Ashide. Later, after becoming the Great Khan, he married Princess Yicheng as his Khatun and divorced his first wife."

"Now that you want to marry my Tang Dynasty princess, are you going to divorce this Sui Dynasty princess?"

A few words,

The smile on Jieli's face vanished.
Jieli picked up his wine cup and took a large gulp. "Levirate marriage is a tradition of our Turks. Princess Yicheng is the Khan's Khatun, and that will not change."

When the younger sister of King Xiangwu is sent to marry a prince to the grasslands, I will bestow upon her the title of Little Khatun.

Princess Yicheng was the Great Khan, and Princess Changping was the Lesser Khan. Princesses of both the Sui and Tang dynasties were all Khans' Khans.

"Hahaha."

These words,
The four Tang envoys looked displeased. If Jieli divorced Princess Yicheng and married a Tang princess as Khatun, the matter would be more respectable.

But if the Tang princess were to be sent to marry a foreign ruler as a concubine, wouldn't that be the same as becoming a concubine?

How could a Tang Dynasty princess become a concubine, or even a concubine of a Sui Dynasty princess?

“Brother, we are family now. Go and persuade Liu Shirang in Yanmen City to surrender.”

"If you do not surrender, after the city falls, I will massacre the entire city, leaving no one alive."

Li Chen slammed his fist on the table in anger, “Since the Khan has made peace with our Great Tang, why doesn’t he immediately withdraw his troops? Why does he still want to attack Yanmen City? Is this a breach of faith?”

Jieli revealed his ferocious nature.

"I did agree to the peace treaty with Li Yuan, but instead of sending a real princess for the marriage, he bestowed the title of princess upon his niece. This shows a lack of sincerity."

This Khan has decided that all six prefectures north of Taiyuan—Xin, Dai, Wei, Bei Yan, Yun, and Shuo—will be taken by this Khan. After all, of the forty-one cities in Xin and Dai, this Khan now occupies thirty-eight.

"Yunshuo and Weibei Yan have never belonged to your Great Tang."

"Tell Liu Shirang that my siege weapons are ready and that if we do not surrender, I will slaughter the entire city."

finished,

Jieli then turned to Zheng Yuanzhu and said,

"Zheng Gong, you poisoned and murdered my elder brother, Chuluo Khan. I would have torn you to pieces to vent my anger. But now that I, the Khan, have requested a marriage alliance with the Tang Dynasty and established friendly relations, I will forgive you."

Go to Fanzhi City and tell Li Yi for me to immediately withdraw from Fanzhi and Daizhou, and return all the captured Turkic people, along with their warhorses and weapons. Otherwise, after I, the Khan, conquer Yanmen, I will personally lead 200,000 cavalry to raze Fanzhi to the ground!

Jieli made a vicious threat.

"Report!"

A wolf rider from the imperial harem brought in a knight covered in dust.

"Report,"

"Reporting to the Great Khan, Tang generals Li Daoxuan and Wang Junkuo are leading 20,000 Youzhou troops and are attacking Yunzhong City in Yunzhou."

Tang generals Yun Shiduan and Liu Heisong are currently attacking Mayi City in Shuozhou.

Tang general Zhang Lun led his army out of Loufan Pass, attacked Shuozhou, and captured Xincheng.

"Yunshuo is in dire need of help! Grand Marshal Yuan requests the Great Khan to send troops to its aid immediately!"

Inside the Golden Wolf's tent,
Suddenly, there was complete silence.
You can hear the needle drop.

Jieli's chest heaved, his face changing color from green to white.

However, the four Tang envoys, Li Chen, Zheng Yuanzhu, Changsun Shunde, and Su Gui, all wore undisguised expressions of joy.

(End of this chapter)