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

Chapter 605 The Tang Emperor Changes His Mind

Changan.

Li Yuan gazed at the persimmon tree in the palace courtyard.

The persimmon leaves have turned yellow and are falling in the wind, while the persimmons on the tree have turned red one by one, like little red lanterns.

"Your Majesty, an urgent report from Hedong!" Palace Attendant Lu Kuan entered.

Li Yuan turned around abruptly, the movement so fast that his neck cracked.

"Your Majesty?" Lu Kuan stepped forward with some concern.

Li Yuan touched his neck, which was slightly twisted and sore. "It's nothing. What urgent report is this?"

After Li Yi and Shimin's two great victories, he sent Li Chen to negotiate peace with Jieli together with Zheng Yuanzhu, hoping to get the Turks to withdraw their troops as soon as possible so that he could free up his resources to quell the rebellion in Jiangnan and stabilize Longyou and Hexi.

They don't have many chips left.
Erlang had finally won back a little bit, and he couldn't wait to bet it all on the table.

"But Zheng Yuanzhu and Jieli have reached a peace agreement," Li Yuan asked expectantly.

Lu Kuan shook his head.

Li Yuan's face darkened as he rubbed his stiff neck. "Could things have gotten complicated again in Hedong?"

“It’s good news,” Lu Kuan said quickly. “It was sent by express courier. On the night of September 15th, Prince Wu’an, Li Yi, led generals including Li Daoxuan, Luo Shixin, Qin Shubao, Yuchi Gong, and Cheng Yaojin, with 5,000 elite cavalry. They traveled 160 li in one day and night to launch a surprise attack on the Jinci Jieli camp in Taiyuan, Bingzhou.”

Li Yuan's eyes widened.

"Who gave him permission to be so bold?"

Lu Kuan smiled wryly, "The Prince of Wu'an is indeed audacious, sending 5,000 cavalry on a 160-mile raid, directly charging into an enemy army of 100,000."

But Prince Wu'an won.

"You won?" Li Yuan asked in surprise. "What were the results?" His eyes were full of expectation, tinged with excitement.

"A great victory! Prince Wu'an has broken through Jieli's camp of 20,000 men and nearly captured Jieli Khan alive."
Jieli even discarded the wolf-head banner and the golden wolf armor.

More than a thousand were beheaded and over three thousand were captured.

Upon hearing that Jieli had run away, Li Yuan plopped back down, feeling quite regretful.

"The Prince of Wu'an captured the Turkic Khagan alive."

"Princess Yicheng of the Sui Dynasty?"

"That's right. However, after Yang was captured, she secretly hid a dagger and attempted to assassinate Li Yi, but was kicked to death by Yuchi Gong."

Li Yuan felt a little thirsty.

Quite a few big things have happened.

Princess Yicheng was a princess from the previous dynasty who was married off to the grasslands. Although she was only a member of the royal family and was granted a title for marriage, she still married four Khans in succession on the grasslands.

In recent years, the Turks have repeatedly invaded.
Princess Yicheng was quite the one stirring up trouble behind the scenes.

Being captured and then kicked to death actually brought Li Yuan some satisfaction.

After his in-law Lu Kuan finished recounting the great victory in Hedong, Li Yuan remained silent for a long time.

"Brother Sengnu, how about having a couple of drinks with me?"

Since the emperor's in-laws wanted to drink, Lu Dou naturally obliged.

So under the persimmon tree,

The emperor ordered his eunuch to bring him a jar of fine wine.

However, when the emperor saw that the wine delivered was Xinfeng wine, he was not satisfied. "Change to the persimmon wine from the Prince of Wu'an's family. Didn't they also send some excellent persimmon wine as tribute?"

Under the persimmon tree, we drank persimmon liquor brewed by the Prince of Wu'an and listened to the story of the Prince of Wu'an's great victory in Hedong.
Good.

Four cold dishes and four hot dishes, eight appetizers to accompany drinks.

The emperor and his minister drank together.

Li Yuan sipped his persimmon liquor, opening his mouth several times, only to swallow his words again in the end.

To be honest, the great victory at Jinci completely disrupted Li Yuan's plans.

He needs to reassess the current situation.

"Wu Yi is getting bolder and bolder. Last time, he instigated a rebellion in Mayi, and then ambushed Yuan Junzhang and Bu Lishe with 50,000 troops at Huanghualing, capturing more than 30,000 of them."

This time, even after I ordered a ceasefire and peace talks, they still made a 160-mile raid on Jieli's camp.

"What a pity, we failed to capture Jieli Khan."

Lu Kuan sat there quietly, not interrupting, but he truly admired Li Yi immensely.

However, he also believed that this surprise attack on Jieli was definitely not a decision made by Li Yi alone, but must have been supported by the King of Qin, or even planned by the King of Qin.

"I actually know that Erlang and Wuyi have always opposed peace talks, and many generals in the army also oppose them."
But I still decided to negotiate peace; I simply cannot afford to lose.

Li Yuan tapped the table lightly, and Lu Kuan poured him another full glass of wine.

"It's not that I don't know Jieli is untrustworthy, but I couldn't handle the situation for the time being, so I had to endure the humiliation. The Crown Prince and Pei Jian have always said that to fight external threats, we must first pacify the internal situation."

First, unify the Central Plains and allow the people to recuperate, then launch a campaign against the Turks.

That's actually not wrong, and it's even more stable.

Erlang Shen has always advocated for war, but given the recent chaos and the fact that the world is not yet unified, he has little chance of winning against Jieli at this time.
If we fail, the entire nation will be in danger.

Li Yuan took another sip of wine, savoring its strength.

"But now Wuyi and Erlang are winning one victory after another, which seems to prove that their claims are correct."

The Crown Prince's constant compromise and appeasement only resulted in Jieli's aggressive behavior.

Li Yuan ate one bite after another.
He drank several glasses of wine in no time.

His face was slightly flushed.
"Perhaps we should change our strategy. Maybe we can adopt the attitude of Erlang and the others."

"Jieli isn't as strong as he appears. Wuyi and Erlang have won one match after another against him and haven't lost a single one."

The Battle of Jinci further exposed that Jieli was far inferior to Shibi Khan and Chuluo Khan.

perhaps,

We are ready for a fight.

Lu Kuan remained quietly by his side, his presence seemingly serving only as a listener.

After finishing his drink, Li Yuan put down the cup and rubbed his face with both hands.

The emperor reeked of alcohol.

I'm still very conflicted.

The prevailing opinion in the court, including Pei Ji and the Crown Prince, was that internal stability should precede external defense. They believed this was the safest approach, and that a period of appeasement towards the Turks, enduring hardship and biding one's time, was necessary for ten years of recuperation and development.

Then we can definitely launch a northern expedition against the Turks, and the balance of power will shift.

Li Yuan also favored this policy, because merely shouting for war was useless; they had to actually defeat the Turks.

Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, had also considered ambush and inflict heavy losses on the Xiongnu at Mayi, but in the end, he himself was besieged at Baideng Mountain.
In the end, the only option was a peace treaty between the Han and the Xiongnu.
It wasn't until the reign of Emperor Wu of Han that a northern expedition against the Xiongnu was launched, and it took several decades to finally defeat them.

Don't rush into things; keep your eyes on the long term.

But this is indeed frustrating.

The Turks invaded time and time again, and the Tang Dynasty negotiated peace with them time and time again, sending them gold and silk time and time again, but the Turks still broke their promise and invaded again and again.

right now,

Erlang Shimin not only called for war against the Turks,
And they did indeed repeatedly defeat the Turks.

This gave Li Yuan hope of finally being able to hold his head high.

The Battle of Jinci

This allowed Li Yuan to see the Turks' outward strength but inner weakness, and to see Jieli's incompetence.

Should we really continue to make concessions to the Turks and the Jieli?

"When Wu Yi returned to the capital last time, he said something to me: 'A single punch can prevent a hundred punches.'"

Perhaps this time I can deliver a powerful punch.

The emperor put down his wine cup.

His gaze hardened.

"Monk, I need to go back and get some sleep first."

Lu Kuan quickly summoned a palace attendant to help the emperor to rest.

The next day,

News of the great victory at Jinci Temple had already spread throughout Chang'an, and the whole city was filled with jubilation.

However, many officials in the court were deeply worried about this, and quite a few even began to write memorials impeaching Li Yi, accusing him of crimes such as sending troops without authorization and disrupting peace negotiations.

Li Yuan went to bed very early yesterday.

I woke up early today and felt very energetic.

During the morning court session, Li Yuan personally announced the news of the great victory at Jinci in the Golden Hall and publicly praised Li Yi's achievements.

He personally ordered five thousand soldiers to fight this battle and win merits.

In addition to the normal rewards for meritorious service, the emperor also issued an edict to reward all soldiers with twenty bolts of silk, officers with fifty bolts of silk, and officers of the sixth rank and above with an additional quarterly salary.

The eight hundred soldiers who died in battle were also given generous compensation.

This statement is undoubtedly full of profound meaning.

After the morning court session,
The emperor held a court meeting in the Wude Hall, which was attended by the prime minister and other important officials.

In the Wude Hall,

The emperor changed into a purple robe to attend the meeting.

Because of the emperor's statement during the morning court session,
Minister of Works, Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Duke of Wei, Pei Ji, kept all the prepared words to himself.

Pei Ji had originally planned to join forces with some ministers to impeach Li Yi, and even the Prince of Qin. He thought it was a great opportunity, but who could have imagined that the emperor would make such a statement during the morning court session?

"My beloved ministers"
As you all witnessed, the Battle of Jinci was a brilliant victory. The King of Qin and the King of Wu'an cooperated exceptionally well, displaying remarkable teamwork. It was a beautifully fought battle.

Five thousand cavalry charged into a hundred thousand Turkic troops, routed a twenty-thousand-strong enemy camp, and utterly defeated Jieli, who fled in disarray, abandoning his armor and weapons. It was truly a triumphant moment.

"Now that the situation has changed drastically, do you, my esteemed ministers, think that the court should also adjust its plans?"

Li Yuan did not immediately declare that he would not negotiate peace and would fight. Instead, he first consulted his ministers, but then revealed his attitude through the morning court session in the Golden Hall.

Grand Secretary Feng Deyi was most adept at reading people's expressions.
By now, everyone had figured out the emperor's intentions.
So he stepped forward voluntarily.

"Your Majesty," I said, "I believe that since the advantage is in our hands, we should press our advantage and win a few more battles before negotiating peace with the Turks."
"Then the initiative will be entirely in our hands, and the Turks will no longer dare to extort us recklessly."

Right Minister Xiao Yu also supported this, continuing to expand the gains and gain more leverage for peace negotiations.

These prime ministers were all cunning old foxes; none of them were rigid or inflexible. If they had the opportunity, why wouldn't they seize it?

of course,

Most importantly, Li Shimin and Li Yi did fight well on the front lines, which is why they dared to have such ideas.

Otherwise, just like when the crown prince was in command, not a single prime minister would dare to say "fight."

Chancellors Chen Shuda and Yang Gongren also supported continuing the war and not rushing to negotiate peace, since they believed they had the upper hand.
Even if the gains cannot be expanded further,
This could also force Jieli to back down and make fewer demands.

Pei Ji, at this point, also changed his attitude, shifting to express his firm support for the emperor's wise decision.

Li Yuan smiled as he watched the prime ministers reach a consensus.

"Alright, let's press our advantage."

With the peace talks suspended, the previously agreed-upon arrangements—such as transferring Li Shimin to Jiangzhou as the commander-in-chief to quell the rebellion and sending Li Yi to Youzhou—are all null and void.

Li Shimin remained the Marshal of Hedong, responsible for the campaign against the Turks, while Li Yi remained the Deputy Marshal of Hedong, and also held positions such as Left Vice Minister of the Grand Secretariat of Shaanxi East Circuit, Grand General of Bingzhou, and General General of the Bingzhou Circuit.

Li Daoxuan no longer needed to go to Xizhou as governor, nor was he even governor of Daizhou anymore. Instead, he was reinstated as governor of Youzhou.

Li Shenfu was reassigned as the Grand Administrator of Dingzhou, while Li Yuan was appointed as the Grand Administrator of Xiangzhou.

Qin Wutong was promoted to Governor-General of Daizhou, and Zhang Lun was reinstated as Governor-General of Xizhou.

Not only was there a major reshuffle of personnel, but most importantly, the emperor finally gave the Hedong Expeditionary Army the order to fight freely.

We should fight to make peace; as long as we can win, we should fight as much as we can.

West Road

The emperor, however, summoned the crown prince back to court.

Li Yuan issued an edict to Li Daozong, the governor of Lingzhou, and Yuwen Xin, the governor of Hongzhou, instructing them to also take the initiative to attack.
They even dispatched Yang Shidao, the former governor of Lingzhou and son-in-law of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, as the commander-in-chief of the Shuofang Road Army, to lead troops to reinforce Li Daozong, together with Li Yi, the Prince of Yan and commander-in-chief of the Jingzhou Road Army.

The emperor wanted to press his advantage and pursue the victory.
Expand the gains

Finally, Jieli was forced to take the initiative to negotiate peace.

At that time, the initiative was in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, and the conditions were naturally different.

The ministers and chancellors in the hall were all secretly surprised that the Crown Prince had been recalled at this time, and that the young Prince of Rencheng, Li Daozong, and his son-in-law, Yang Shidao, had been put in charge of the western campaign.

What profound meaning lies behind summoning the crown prince back to court at this time?
Is it a lack of trust in the Crown Prince's military command ability, or dissatisfaction with the Crown Prince's consistent policy of prioritizing internal stability over external threats, and his attitude towards peace negotiations with the Turks?

(End of this chapter)