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

Chapter 607 The Emperor Stands Up Straight

"That old man Jieli sent someone to deliver a challenge."

In Taiyuan, Luo Shixin returned from his patrol and threw a sheepskin-covered letter of challenge in front of Li Yi.

Li Yi didn't even glance at it.
Jieli's so-called challenge was merely an attempt to save face, but he currently lacked the courage to actually take on the challenge.

He sent out challenges every day, but at the same time he withdrew his troops to the three passes north of Taiyuan. Although they were nomadic cavalry from the grasslands, they also defended the strategic passes.

They dared not come to the walls of Taiyuan again.

He could understand Jieli's current predicament—a mixture of anger and fear.

He wanted to regain his dignity and save face, but lacked the confidence to do so, so he could only bark wildly from afar. The fiercer he barked, the more it revealed his fear.

"Wu Yi, let's fight him! Let's bring our troops outside the city and fight them out!" Luo Shixin picked up his teacup and drank several cups in one go.

"The King of Qin means that we should let Jieli wait and see."

Li Shimin was still reinforcing his troops in the Taiyuan area, transferring troops from Hebei and Henan. If Jieli wanted to fight, he would have plenty of opportunities to fight alongside him.

Once the Tang army has amassed at least 100,000 troops in the Taiyuan area, Jieli will be ready to fight however he wishes.

“I still want to fight. Even if we don’t have a decisive battle, we can still have a few skirmishes,” Luo Shixin said. “Give me some cavalry, and I’ll go out and look for some opportunities.”

Li Yi shook his head and poured him another glass of water.

"What opportunity is there? Jieli is all talk and no action, sending a challenge letter every day, but now his troops have all retreated to Xinzhou, guarding the three passes north of Taiyuan."

The Turkic troops that had raided the Shixi and Zelu borders to the south had all withdrawn.

South of the three passes, there are only some Turkic scouts and cavalry; those who used to forage for grain are all gone. You, the dignified governor of Jinzhou, are going to capture these scouts? Wouldn't that be like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

Let our scouts play with them.

There will definitely be another battle between the two sides.
Otherwise, Jieli would not be willing to make peace so easily. He would need the Tang Dynasty to slap him hard again and teach him a lesson before he would obediently negotiate peace.

But it's not so easy to slap Jieli into submission.

Li Shimin did not underestimate his enemy, and Li Yi was also very cautious.
Last time it was a sneak attack, but this time Jieli is smarter. He retreated to Xinzhou and even learned from the Han people to guard the pass, making it difficult to launch another sneak attack.

Jieli has now amassed approximately 130,000 to 140,000 troops, making him a formidable opponent.

Li Shimin assembled an army of 100,000 men, also seeking a safer course of action.

In this battle, Li Shimin was determined to secure the position of crown prince for himself.

Both sides are gathering strength, and a major battle could break out at any moment.

Li Yi had a good attitude. As long as the court didn't hold him back, he wasn't afraid at all. Partnering with Li Shimin, why should he be afraid of that old bastard Jieli?
When will the King of Qin come to Taiyuan?

"Once preparations are nearly complete, the King of Qin will naturally arrive."

Gathering 100,000 troops is no easy task, and winning a battle involving 200,000 to 300,000 people requires even more extensive preparations.

Time passed day by day.

Taiyuan, on the other hand, is quite peaceful.

But Li Yi knew that this was just the calm before the storm, and Taiyuan was the eye of the storm.

It's October.
Time is running out for Jieli. He can't keep hundreds of thousands of people south of the Great Wall indefinitely. They should be evacuated before the first snow falls.

He definitely wants to win a game now.
Even a small victory would provide a way to back down and negotiate peace with the Tang army.

But now Li Yi is in Taiyuan, and Li Shimin is in Taigu.

The Tang army was stationed in these fortified cities and strongholds, and Jieli had no way to deal with them. He wanted to besiege the cities and attack the reinforcements, but he had not yet recovered from his defeat.

These challenges are merely attempts to save face, or even a way to get the Tang army to leave major cities like Taiyuan and attack the three passes they are defending.

Or leave the city and fight them in the open field.

Jieli originally had another opportunity, which was on the right wing.

His uncle, Shaboloshe Ashina Sunishi, and his nephew, Ushshe Ashina Momo, surprisingly achieved a remarkable record on the right flank this time.

First, they marched down the Longshan Mountains, launched a surprise attack and captured Dazhen Pass, then entered Longzhou and the Guanzhong Plain. Next, they found a weak point in the defenses, crossed the Longshan Mountains via Tanzheng Gorge, and then entered Jingzhou along the Rui River valley, capturing Linjing and circling around to the rear of Xiaoguan.

If the Tang army on the western route cannot hold out like this...

Then Xiaoguan Pass, the gateway to the city, could be opened up from both sides. At that time, the 100,000-strong allied army of Yusheshe and Shaboluoshe could advance straight into Chang'an along the Jing River Valley, which would be the real threat to Chang'an.

Fortunately, Li Yuan lived up to his reputation as the founding emperor.
Following the victory at Jinci, Li Yuan did not punish Li Yi and Li Shimin for their unauthorized attack, nor did he accuse them of violating the peace agreement.
Instead, they quickly adjusted their strategy, straightened their backs, and sent people to commend the soldiers, giving the two men a sense of reassurance.

Let them fight, let them fight freely.

This is extremely rare, and it's exactly what Li Yi and his team need right now.

This decree to open up the war was more effective than the emperor giving them 100,000 elite troops.

Li Yuan was indeed adept at assessing the situation and seizing opportunities.

He used to be flexible and adaptable, able to call Li Mi the leader of the alliance and Li Gui his brother, but he would also be ruthless in cutting off their heads.

Now that they see that Jieli has fallen behind, they don't hesitate to take drastic measures.

Li Jiancheng is far inferior to Li Jiancheng in terms of the ease with which he can adapt to such changes.

At this point, Li Yuan preferred to have generals like Li Daozong, Li Yi, Yang Shidao, Yuwen Xin, and Li Youliang join forces to resist Shaboluoshe and his forces, rather than let Li Jiancheng remain in the northwest to oversee the situation. It seems that Jiancheng's previous actions had truly hurt Li Yuan's feelings.

Especially regarding the matter of Liu Shirang, Li Gongxin reluctantly helped him maintain the dignity of the crown prince, even at the cost of unjustly killing Liu Shirang.

However, the crown prince ultimately failed to control the situation, especially allowing the Turks to advance unimpeded, while Jiancheng could only flee south.

This was undoubtedly something Li Yuan could no longer tolerate.
Cut your losses in time, replace the King of Qin and Li Yi with them, and even remove Jiancheng from the Northwest. Now is not the time to protect the Crown Prince's reputation, or even to give him military merits.
Now that the fate of the Tang Dynasty is at stake, there's no time to worry about the Crown Prince.

He had previously privately promised Li Shimin that he would make the prince the crown prince, and now, in order to boost Li Shimin's morale, he had recalled the prince to court.
This allowed Li Shimin to act without any worries.

However, Li Yi did not think that Li Yuan had given up on the crown prince. Changing the heir was not a simple matter, but this time it had indeed stirred up a corner.

The crown prince's position has become precarious.

In the days leading up to the decisive battle in Taiyuan, Li Yi, amidst his busy schedule, was also considering matters after the war.

If Li Yuan refuses to honor his promise to make Li Shimin the crown prince, he will definitely try to sideline Li Shimin again, or even suppress the Qin Prince faction even more. Li Yijing will then be completely labeled as a confidant of the Qin Prince, and will definitely be the first to be affected.

There's no turning back now.

We must find a way to help the King of Qin get on his horse as soon as possible. If Li Yuan refuses to give it to him, then we'll just have to take it from him.

We can't wait a few more years. The Xuanwu Gate Incident in the ninth year of the Wude era was already extremely dangerous, a desperate gamble.

Although it was successful, it was too dangerous, and there's no need to do it again.

Moreover, Li Yi didn't want to wait a few more years. If he really waited until the ninth year of Wude, it would mean that the next four years would be very difficult.

Moreover, even if Jieli were to lose this time, he would surely return with renewed vigor. In the following years, the Turkic invasions became increasingly severe.
The Tang army suffered increasingly heavy losses. For example, in the seventh year of the Wude era, Jieli and Tuli led an army of 100,000 men into Wulongban, south of Binzhou, and directly threatened Chang'an.

In the Battle of Taigu in Hedong in the eighth year of Wude, Zhang Jin's 70,000-strong Tang army was almost completely wiped out. Even Wen Yanbo, the chief clerk of the army and the vice minister of the Secretariat, was captured and forced to herd sheep on the grasslands. Only Li Jing's army was spared.

In the ninth year of the Wude era, Jieli once again invaded Guanzhong, even drinking from the Wei River and besieging Chang'an.

If things continue to follow the course of history, it would be too frustrating.

In the later years of the Wude era, the Tang Dynasty's strategy towards the Turks was a failure, especially in terms of the use of generals. If Li Yuan had truly given Li Shimin free rein, Jieli would certainly not have been allowed to become so arrogant.

When Li Yi first arrived in the Tang Dynasty, he thought that as long as he aligned himself with Li Shimin in advance, he wouldn't have to do anything else and could just wait.

But now he's too deeply involved.
If he had simply waited like that, Li Shimin might have survived until the ninth year of the Wude era, but he might not have.

Many generals, including Liu Wenjing, Li Zhongwen, and Liu Shirang, were executed on charges of treason, but none of them were actually treasonous.

The struggle for the throne is a battle for supreme power; one wrong move and you could be killed or your entire clan wiped out.

He and Li Shimin are now in a relationship where their fates are intertwined, sharing both prosperity and adversity.

"Zhang Liang pays his respects to the Minister of Works."

Li Yi gestured for Zhang Liang to sit down, and while making him tea, he said with a smile, "I heard from Lian Niang that you've gotten together with her cousin?"

Zhang Liang chuckled somewhat sheepishly.

Li Yi also admired Zhang Liang, who seemed to have a special obsession with women from prominent families. He had previously taken a liking to Ru Lianhua, but Ru Lianhua didn't reciprocate his feelings at all.

But who knew that this guy would end up with a widow from the Li family of Zhao County? However, this woman is far inferior to Lianhua. She is over thirty years old and not as beautiful as Lianhua. Most importantly, her reputation is much worse.

Even Lianhua said that her cousin was no good, but Zhang Liang was already very satisfied to be able to woo the Li family woman of Zhao County and didn't care about those things at all.

"You've been working hard lately."

Li Yi had given Zhang Liang a few pointers, but he wouldn't listen, so Li Yi stopped trying. Although Zhang Liang had some issues with his thinking in this area, he was generally quite capable in his work, especially in his role overseeing civil affairs logistics.

He was someone Li Yi had promoted all the way up from Henan, and was considered one of his confidants, already bearing Li Yi's label.

"It's Your Majesty who's doing the hard work; I'm just doing odd jobs," Zhang Liang said with a smile.

"Go to Taigu to see the King of Qin again tomorrow. Zhang Gongjin will go with you. The two of you can stay with the King of Qin for the time being to help with logistics."

Zhang Liang had also been to Taigu once before on Li Yi's orders, and he knew that Li Yi had recommended him to the King of Qin.
This allowed him to join the King of Qin's cause, for which Zhang Liang was very grateful.

Born into a peasant family, if he wanted to rise in rank, it wouldn't be enough to just fawn over the dissolute widows of the Li family of Zhao County. He needed a stronger backer, such as Sikong Li Yi, or Prince Qin Li Shimin.

When Li Shimin met Prince Qin in Taigu last time, he had a fairly good impression of him.

We were chatting.

Senior Brother Wei Zheng has arrived.

This secretary of the Tian Ce Mansion and the Right Vice Minister of the Grand Secretariat had just arrived in Taiyuan from the Prince of Qin in Taigu.

"Minister, I have just received news from Chang'an that Li Daozong, the governor of Lingzhou, Yuwen Xin, the governor of Hongzhou, Quan Shitong, the governor of Jiaozhou, and Yang Shidao, the general commander of the army, defeated Yu Sheshe at Sanguan Mountain and beheaded more than a thousand people."

Immediately afterwards, Yuwen Xin ambushed the Turks at Chonggang, beheading more than a thousand more.

Ushshesa had already withdrawn his troops and returned north, and Shabolosa had also withdrawn his troops.

Wei Zheng was overjoyed, "The 100,000 Turkic troops on the western route have withdrawn, and Jieli's 100,000 troops on the eastern side will certainly have to withdraw as well."

Li Yi breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the news.

With the west secured, they can now focus more on attacking Jieli here.

(End of this chapter)