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

Chapter 599 You're just scared.
At the foot of Taiyuan City,

Khagan Jieli was shocked and furious upon receiving news of his repeated defeats.

When Jieli first received the news that Li Yi had suddenly marched north to Fenjie, beheaded Yili Dagan and Song Xiena Sijin, and annihilated two tribes of eight thousand men, he was furious and prepared to personally march south to annihilate the brat Li Yi.

Li Yi's repeated defeats of his Turkic tribes were truly hateful, and he was determined to annihilate them.

Troops are being assembled.
Suddenly, news of another defeat arrived. This time, it was Li Shimin who led his army north, and Huludagan Tuyuhunxie's entire army was wiped out in Jinzhou. All twelve thousand men were killed, and even Tuyuhunxie himself was taken prisoner.

Jieli was both angry and shocked.

What was shocking was that Li Shimin annihilated 12,000 of his men while suffering only a hundred or so casualties himself.

Inside the Golden Wolf's tent,
Jieli couldn't help but think of the old dog, Tuyuhun Xie, who was his mother's dowry brought from Tuyuhun to the grasslands and was extremely loyal.

After Jieli was born, he was raised and cared for by Tuyuhun Xie.
Throughout his childhood, adolescence, and even his youth, and now into his prime, Jieli has been inseparable from this old dog.

When he was very young, I rode on his shoulders; when he was a little older, Tuyuhunxie carried him as he rode a lamb; and when he was even older, he helped him ride a pony.
When he was seven or eight years old,
Tuyuhun Xie pressed down on the horse's head and helped him onto the warhorse.

When he was a child, Tuyuhun Xie wove all sorts of toys for him from straw. When he got older, he took him to shoot rabbits and hunt marmots. He was a close and loyal old dog.

Qimin Khan, the father, had many women and sons, so he couldn't take care of Jieli at all. In many ways, it was Tuyuhun Xie who played the role of his father and accompanied him as he grew up.

Now, Tuyuhun Xie has actually been captured by Li Shimin.

I wonder if that old dog was injured, whether it had food to eat after being captured, and whether it had clothes to wear now that it's getting cold.

Princess Khedun Yicheng entered.

"Great Khan, when will you go south?"

Jieli looked up at the woman, a noble princess from the Sui Dynasty in the Central Plains, who had been married to the grasslands for many years. She was once her father's Khatun, and later her elder brother Shibi Khatun and Chuluo Khatun. Now she was his Khatun.

Jieli both respected and feared this woman.

She helped him ascend to the throne of Khan.

He and she were allies; together they poisoned Chuluo Khan. After becoming Khan, he followed Turkic tradition and took her as his successor as Qatun.

He had always felt a certain fear of this woman.

After all, how many women have the ability to come to the grasslands before they are even twenty years old, and stay there for so many years, having been all alone and helpless, yet daring to poison the Khan and then install a new Khan?

Women on the grasslands may appear robust and fierce, but no one can match their madness and ruthlessness.

His father, Qimin Khan, had actually married two princesses from the Sui Dynasty in the Central Plains. However, the first princess couldn't adapt to life on the grasslands and died of illness before a year had passed. So the Sui Dynasty sent another princess to them.
I never expected that Princess Yicheng would be so formidable.

"Khatun, the autumn wind is blowing, the grass and trees are withering, I am preparing to withdraw my troops and return to the border."

Princess Yicheng raised an eyebrow, her gaze fixed on Jieli like two knives.

"Is the Khan afraid?" she said coldly, her tone laced with sarcasm.

Jieli Khan calmly said, "This expedition has yielded fruitful results, and we have avenged ourselves. We can withdraw our troops now."

"The Khan is afraid. I am not afraid, so why should the Khan be afraid?"
Li Shimin and Li Yi were both young men in their early twenties, yet the Khan was so afraid of them.
The Li Tang dynasty broke its promise and negotiated peace with us. After we withdrew our troops, Li Daoxuan attacked Yunzhong, and Li Yi even sent troops out of Yanmen again.
They captured Mayi and ambushed and killed more than 30,000 of our soldiers at Huanghualing.

The Tutun who died in Mayi City was the son of your own brother, Bulishe. Among the more than 30,000 people captured and killed at Huanghualing, there were also several thousand people from the Turkic Khaganate.

As the Great Khan of the Turks, you must lead your troops south and teach the Tang Dynasty a lesson.

Jieli looked up at Princess Yicheng, who was no longer young and beautiful, and said, "I sent troops and taught the Tang Kingdom a lesson."

Two hundred and fifty thousand troops were dispatched from the east and west routes.
They not only recaptured Mayi and Yingzhou, but also breached Yanmen City for the first time.
Most of the area east of the river was trampled and ravaged by the iron cavalry of my Turkic tribes. The tribes avenged their grievances and also seized a great deal of spoils of war.

Withdrawing troops now is not a problem.

“From now on, the area outside Yanmen Pass will still belong to the Turks. The Tang Dynasty will still have to pay tribute every year, and the princess will still have to be sent here for marriage.”

"You're just scared." The Khatun's face was frosty.

Jieli rose and invited Princess Yicheng to sit down. "There's an old saying in the Central Plains: know when to stop. This time, our southward campaign has already yielded fruitful results."

With the weather turning cold, we can't wait for snow. Let's head back now, laden with our spoils, and move on to new habitats for the winter.

We can come again next early summer.

"Qatun, we Turks have our own way of fighting."

Princess Yicheng did not sit.

"I disagree with withdrawing troops now. Tuyuhun has already won a series of victories in Longyou and captured several border prefectures from the Tang Dynasty."

The combined forces of Yusheshe and Shaboluoshe, with their vanguard breaking through Dazhen Pass.

Now, Fu Gongshi and others in Jiangnan have rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and occupied most of the region. The Tang army has been unable to quell the rebellion for a long time, which presents us with a golden opportunity.

If we don't fight now, does the Khan intend to give them a chance to quell the rebellion in Jiangnan, defeat the Tuyuhun, and then march north to counterattack us?

Li Yuan, the usurper, is currently in a weakened state; we must not give him a chance to recover.

"I will not give them a chance to breathe. From last winter to this spring and autumn, we have launched three major offensives in succession."
We can continue like this next year.
The areas east of the Yellow River and north of the Yellow River, including Shuofang and Longyou, are all pastures for our Turks.

"You're just scared."

No matter what Jieli said, Princess Yicheng only said, "Are you afraid?" which greatly angered Jieli. "Tang envoys Li Chen and Zheng Yuanzhu are on their way to negotiate peace. I will reach a peace agreement with them, and then I will get Li Yuan to double the annual tribute, at least five thousand taels of gold and five hundred thousand bolts of silk per year."
They also need to buy at least 10,000 of my Turkic horses every year and open up border markets…”

"You're just scared."

Jieli could no longer continue talking to this crazy woman.

"Dubi, don't forget, you promised me that you would support my Yang family in restoring the Sui Dynasty, conquering Bingzhou, and making Taiyuan the northern capital of the Sui Dynasty!"

Jieli's expression darkened.

"Of course I won't forget what I promised you. Isn't Yang Zhengdao now the King of Sui in Dingxiang? Didn't I also hand over tens of thousands of Han people in the border regions to him for command?"

But moving the capital to Taiyuan now seems too hasty.

Look at Taiyuan City, how big, how tall, how well-fortified it is.

It took us countless battles to capture Yanmen City, and it was only after Li Jiancheng abandoned it.

Even with hundreds of thousands of troops, without siege equipment, how can we attack?

Princess Yicheng said disdainfully, "Just because Taiyuan is a big city doesn't mean it can't be taken? Didn't Liu Wuzhou take Taiyuan a few years ago?"
How many soldiers does Liu Wuzhou have? And how many soldiers do you, Khan, have?

"That's different. When Liu Wuzhou captured Taiyuan, it was the local powerful families in Taiyuan who took the initiative to open the city gates and surrender. Can you ask the powerful families in Taiyuan to open the city gates and surrender again now?" Jieli said angrily.

Jieli stormed off to go hunting, not wanting to spend a moment longer with this crazy woman.

He wouldn't risk his life for this crazy woman's dream of restoring her kingdom.

For Jieli, she did help him ascend to the Khan's throne, but so what?

The southern barbarians broke the alliance, left Yanmen Pass, seized Mayi, and ambushed Huanghualing. Jieli must send troops, otherwise how can vassals like Yuan Junzhang and Liang Shidu continue to follow the Turks?

If he doesn't send troops...
The various Turkic tribes would also question him.

Therefore, he had to send troops and could not delay, so the war that ended in June was over, and he returned to fight again in August.

If it weren't for the defeat of Tuyuhun Xie, Yili, and Song Xie,
This southward campaign will be a resounding success, with both the eastern and western routes inflicting heavy losses on the Tang army, and each unit plundering vast amounts of spoils.
Everyone, from top to bottom, will be very satisfied, and his personal prestige as Khan Jieli will also be further enhanced.

He never intended to capture Taiyuan in the first place.
He never even considered taking Yanmen.

They planned to plunder and then retreat, but who could have imagined that Li Tang would withdraw the capable Li Yi and the courageous Li Daoxuan, and even kill the tough Liu Shirang?

Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, along with Li Yi, Li Gaoqian, and others, was stationed in Daibei. However, they retreated step by step, which allowed him to gain many advantages.

The tribal leaders were momentarily smug, clamoring to continue their southward advance and plunder. Even Khagan Jieli became somewhat arrogant and overconfident.
He agreed, which led to him leading 100,000 troops to Taiyuan, while the remaining 50,000 troops scattered like stars in the sky. Tuyuhun Xie led 12,000 men directly to Jinzhou, 700 li away from Taiyuan.

Yi Li and Song Xie Na also entered Fen and Jie, along with several tribal leaders, leading about 30,000 troops in several routes to plunder Shi Xi and Ze Lu.

Jieli hadn't expected that Li Yuan would actually transfer that coward Li Jiancheng away again and send out Li Shimin and Li Yi instead, and that these two would come to kill him so quickly.

It caught him completely off guard; it was a real blow.

But after Jieli's initial anger subsided,
Now that he has calmed down, even though his adoptive father, Tuyuhun Xie, has been captured, he no longer thinks about immediately leading his troops south.

No need.

Or, as that madwoman Khatun said, he was indeed somewhat afraid.

Twenty thousand people, just like that, gone.

That old dog Tuyuhun Xie is quite capable, Jieli knows very well. His horsemanship and archery skills, and even his ability to lead troops into battle, were mostly taught to him by Tuyuhun Xie.

Li Shimin annihilated 12,000 of his men, but lost 72 soldiers.

How could Jieli not be afraid?

Li Yi was also someone that Jieli dared not underestimate. The battles of Fanzhi and Huanghualing had already proven that the young man was as capable as Li Shimin.

There's no need to fight them to the death.

If Li Yuan wants to negotiate peace, then let him negotiate peace. He should know when to stop while he's ahead. If he loses, his prestige will be greatly diminished, and he might even lose all the benefits that were agreed upon in the previous peace negotiations.

"We need to quickly withdraw all the troops that have marched south to Zelu and Shixi. If they are surrounded and annihilated by Li Shimin and Li Yi again, we'll be at a disadvantage at the negotiating table," he thought to himself.

Although 20,000 troops were lost this time, the main force was not lost. Since Li Yuan is eager to stop the war and seek peace, it means that Li Yuan cannot afford to lose. He can raise the conditions during the peace talks.

They released Tuyuhun Xie and more than 14,000 captured Turkic tribesmen.

The annual gift will be increased from the original 3,000 taels of gold and 200,000 bolts of silk to at least 5,000 taels of gold and 500,000 bolts of silk.

Well, we must immediately compensate the Turkic soldiers who died in this battle with three thousand taels of gold and three hundred thousand bolts of silk.

The three prefectures of Xin, Dai, and Wei north of Shiling Pass in Taiyuan, as well as the Northern Yan Prefecture outside Jundu Pass in Youzhou, all had to be ceded by Li Yuan to the Turks, just like the two prefectures of Feng and Sheng in the Hetao region were ceded before. In addition, Li Yuan had to promise not to attack Yuan Junzhang and Liang Shidu.

Jieli strolled through the camp, thinking about the conditions he would propose when the Tang envoy arrived.

He would withdraw his troops immediately if the Tang Dynasty agreed to these conditions.

As for the princess wanting him to attack Taiyuan, humph, how could that be possible?

(End of this chapter)