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

Chapter 610 Your Highness, please strike first.
"Your Majesty, General An Xinggui of the Left Army defeated the Turks in Ganzhou, beheading more than 500 of them."

"General Sang Xianhe, the Right Martial General, defeated the Turks in Longzhou, beheading a thousand."

"Khan Jieli's troops have withdrawn north of Yanmen Pass and sent Ashina Simo with more than 10,000 cavalry to assist Yuan Junzhang in guarding Mayi."

"Qizhou Prefect Chai Shao, Minzhou General Li Changqing, Yizhou Circuit Right Vice Minister Dou Gui, and others defeated the Tuyuhun army in Minzhou and lifted the siege of Minzhou."

·····
A series of good news,

In this winter, the gloom is swept away and sunshine arrives.

"Has Khagan Jieli really withdrawn his troops?"

"Of the 150,000 troops that invaded Hedong, more than 26,000 were captured, and the rest have retreated to the north of Yanmen Pass. About 10,000 remained to guard Yunshuo, while the rest returned to the grasslands."

Li Yuan let out a long breath.

His face was flushed.

Jieli launched two major invasions this year, especially the second one, which involved both eastern and western routes that penetrated deep into the heart of the territory, shaking Chang'an.

Fortunately, at the crucial moment, the King of Qin sent troops, and they finally defeated the Turks.

Li Yuan rose and paced back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back.

"Send envoys to Taiyuan immediately to comfort the soldiers of the Qin King, the Wu'an King, and other officers and soldiers, and convey an imperial edict to Zheng Yuanzhu, ordering him to go on a mission to the Dingxiang Khanate."

Li Yuan felt he still needed to appease Jieli, so he gave Zheng Yuanzhu a thousand taels of gold, ten thousand bolts of various silk fabrics, and four female prostitutes.

"Let the Duke of Xin and Khan Jieli have a good talk and establish an alliance."

Pei Ji immediately voiced his approval and proposed that the agreement reached in June should be maintained, with plans to send Princess Changping to marry a Tibetan king, purchase Turkic horses with gold and silk, and open border markets.

Right Minister Xiao Yu immediately stood up to object, “Your Majesty, I believe that it is indeed necessary to resume peace talks after this battle, but times have changed. Our army has won a great victory, so how can we still negotiate under the original conditions?”

Now that Princess Yicheng is dead, the court can send Princess Changping to the grasslands to marry Jieli, but the other conditions must be changed.

The annual tribute of three thousand taels of gold and two hundred thousand bolts of silk should be reduced, or the tribute should be used to exchange for Turkic horses. The price should also be reduced from forty bolts of silk per horse to twenty bolts of silk per horse. All the horses sent must be selected by us, and only the good horses will be accepted…”

Yang Gongren, the Grand Secretary, believed that this opportunity should be seized to propose to the Turks the return of Mayi.

Mayi and Shuozhou were returned to the Tang Dynasty.
Yunzhou can be temporarily left to Yuan Junzhang.

"Since our Great Tang has won such a great victory, how can we leave empty-handed?" Yang Gongren said frankly.

Pei Ji said, "This victory was only a minor one. The Turks were not seriously injured. We should not push them too far, otherwise the Turks will surely come back next year with even greater retaliation."

They should also appease him, grant him a marriage alliance, annual gifts, and border markets, and immediately summon the King of Qin to return to the capital.

To repel external aggression, one must first secure internal stability.

This was Pei Jian's consistent stance: since Jieli had withdrawn his troops, they should take the opportunity to negotiate peace.

The imperial army's elite troops were transferred to the south to quell the rebellions of Zhang Shan'an and Fu Gongshi.

"I believe that the suppression of the rebellion in Jiangnan has reached a stalemate and made no progress for a long time. It is necessary for the Prince of Qin to go south and take command."

The rebellion in Jiangnan has been deadlocked for a long time, and the situation is unfavorable.

Huangzhou Governor Zhou Faming, under imperial orders, led troops to quell the rebellion and clashed with Zhang Shan'an at Xiakou. Zhou Faming's army was stationed at Jingkou, and he boarded a warship to drink. As a result, Zhang Shan'an sent an assassin disguised as a fisherman who easily approached Zhou Faming's warship, boarded the ship, assassinated him, and then calmly left.

However, Zhang Dazhi, a native of Fuling, rebelled, and the governor abandoned the city and fled.

The Liao people of Qiongzhou in Shu (Sichuan) rebelled again.

Fu Gongshi dispatched his general Xu Shaozong to attack Haizhou, and Chen Zhengtong attacked Shouyang. The flames of war had already spread to the banks of the Huai River.

The entire Yangtze River basin is in chaos right now.

The reasons for this situation are quite complex.

The Tang Dynasty had swiftly eliminated the various forces that had previously dominated the Jiangnan region, but it had not yet fully assimilated them.

Secondly, Li Yuan was somewhat impatient, for example, by killing Du Fuwei in Chang'an.

After Du Fuwei entered the capital, he was left in Chang'an. His good brother, Fu Gongshi, rebelled in Jiangnan. At this time, Du Fuwei should not have been killed.

Even if Du Fuwei wasn't allowed to return to quell the rebellion, as long as he remained on the court's side, the Jianghuai army would still be internally divided and unstable. Yet, Li Yuan deliberately allowed Du Fuwei to die suddenly in Chang'an.
This actually united the Jianghuai Army.

The rebellion of Zhang Shan'an in Jiangxi was actually related to the court's hasty actions. Zhang Shan'an had already surrendered with five prefectures and was appointed as the governor of Hongzhou. He was very powerful, and the court had to take a gradual approach to reorganize his troops and take over his territory.

Furthermore, the imperial army's elite forces were all engaged in dealing with the Turks in the north, while the troops in the south were mostly local armies that had been incorporated into the army, and their combat strength was not yet strong.

It was already quite good that Li Xiaogong, Li Jing, Li Shiji, and Li Daliang were able to control the situation and prevent the rebellion from spreading further.

Anyone with eyes can see that...
If the rebels' offensive is controlled in the early stages, then the rebels will definitely not be able to defeat the imperial court in the future.

The situation in Jiangnan is quite good, and it may even get better.

However, Pei Ji described the situation in Jiangnan as being on the verge of collapse and extremely critical, with the aim of summoning Li Shimin back to the capital and appointing him as the Marshal of the Jiangzhou Road Camp.

After the Jiangnan region was pacified, Pei Ji and others even made arrangements, such as appointing the Prince of Qin as the Grand Governor of Yangzhou or the Governor of Yuezhou.

Keep him away from the central government.

Next, the Qin Prince's loyal civil and military officials were divided up, either recruited to the Eastern Palace or sent to various places.

Li Yuan paced back and forth in the hall.
After a long silence, he said, "Since the Turks have withdrawn their troops, then summon the King of Qin to return to the capital."

The Hedong Military Camp was disbanded on the spot.

The troops will return to the Twelve Guards and their respective military headquarters.

Li Yi, Grand General of Bingzhou; Li Daoxuan, Grand General of Youzhou; Li Shenfu, Grand General of Dingzhou; Qin Wutong, General General of Daizhou; Li Yuanji, General General of Xizhou; Luo Shixin, General General of Jinzhou; and Huang Junhan, General General of Luzhou.

Yang Shidao, Sang Xian, and other generals of the western route also returned to the capital.

Prince Chang Le, Li Youliang, was appointed as the General Administrator of Liangzhou, and Prince Yan, Li Yi, was appointed as the General Administrator of Jingzhou, each guarding their respective regions.

The court meeting concluded.

Li Yuan was full of worries.

Having repelled the Turks, a great burden was finally lifted from my heart.

Next, the Turks will be appeased, and the border will be temporarily at peace, allowing the court to focus all its efforts on dealing with the rebellion in the south. But what about the promise Erlang made to him before he set out with his troops?
The situation was urgent; the Turks could invade Guanzhong at any moment, and Li Yuan had no one else to rely on, so he had no choice but to let Erlang take command.

Erlang claimed to be ill, so he had no choice but to agree to establish a crown prince.

But now that we've defeated the Turks, should we really make Erlang the crown prince?

Li Yuan couldn't help but feel a headache. To be honest, Erlang was good in every way, but Dalang was also quite good.

The eldest son is the legitimate heir and has not committed any major offenses, so how could the eldest son be deposed and a younger son established in his place?

When Erlang returns, let him go south to quell the rebellion first.

At that time, perhaps, as Pei Ji suggested, Erlang will remain in Yangzhou as the Grand Administrator, or even be appointed as the Administrator of Yuezhou or even the Administrator of Guangzhou.

"Your Majesty, Consort Yang has given birth to a prince."

The eunuch came forward to announce the good news.

Li Yuan stroked his beard and laughed heartily upon hearing this.

Just a few days ago, Consort Zhang gave birth to a prince for him, and now Consort Yang has given birth to another prince.

These are his thirteenth and fourteenth sons.

This is truly a double blessing.

When they arrived at Yang Meiren's place, they saw the newborn fourteenth prince, who was fair-skinned and chubby, with features somewhat resembling his father, Old Li, in his youthful handsomeness.

Unlike Yuanji's ugly appearance, Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He has been emperor for five years.
He was already over fifty years old, but after becoming emperor, princes and princesses were born every year. Before becoming emperor, he only had five sons, but in just five years after becoming emperor, he had already had nine more sons.

This means he's in good health.

There's no need to rush into changing the heir apparent. Erlang is excellent, and Dalang is alright too. They're both in good health, so there's no rush.

Look again.

With his physical condition, he should be able to live for another ten or twenty years.

Holding his newborn fourteenth son, Li Yuan felt as if he had become much younger.

East Palace,

When Crown Prince Li Jiancheng heard that his father had another son, he didn't react much.

Before his father raised an army, he had only five sons: four legitimate sons and one illegitimate son. His third brother, Xuanba, had died young, and he didn't have many daughters either.

At that time, my father was often away serving as an official, and he and my mother, Empress Dou Mu, had a very good relationship, having given birth to four sons and one daughter.

However, after entering Chang'an, his father's harem continued to grow, and children were born one after another.

In just five years, she gave birth to nine sons and eleven daughters.

And judging from the looks of it, they'll continue to have many more.

However, Li Jiancheng didn't care about his younger brothers and sisters; they were too young to affect him.

The only one who could threaten him was Li Shimin, the Second Prince.

The Turkic Khaganate, Jieli Khan, withdrew his troops.

The entire city of Chang'an was overjoyed, but Li Jiancheng remained silent for a long time after hearing the news.

When he was the Marshal of Hedong, it took him half a month to retreat from Mayi to Puzhou, a retreat of a thousand miles. The Turkic army advanced rapidly and fought all the way to Jinzhou.

When Shimin succeeded him as Marshal of Hedong, he defeated the Turks twice in just half a month, annihilating 20,000 of their southward-bound troops. He then cooperated with Li Yi to launch an astonishing long-distance raid, causing the Khagan of Jieli to flee in disarray.

In less than two months, they drove the Turkic army all the way to outside Yanmen Pass.

There is no harm without comparison.

The comparison between him and Li Shimin completely overshadowed him, even making him appear timid and incompetent.

While he was stationed in the Northwest, he failed to achieve any victories. Instead, the Turks broke into Longzhou through Tanzheng Gorge, then circled around to Jingzhou behind him and captured Linjing County.

When he was summoned back to court,

Li Daozong, Yang Shidao, Yuwen Xin, Quan Shitong, and others actually won two great victories in Sanguanshan and Chonggang Town, beheading more than two thousand people and capturing many warhorses, livestock, and other animals.

But none of this concerned him.

Even Sang Xianhe won a battle, beheading hundreds, and Li Yi and his men also recovered Linjing.

All of this happened after he was recalled.

It feels like I'm constantly going against everyone.

"Your Highness, Zheng Zuo Shuzi has arrived."

Zheng Shanguo looked hurried, his brow furrowed with worry.

"The King of Qin is about to return to the capital in triumph. What are Your Highness's thoughts?"

Li Jiancheng wore a bitter expression and could only sigh.

"I didn't expect that Khan Jieli was just all bark and no bite. If I had personally been stationed at Yanmen Pass earlier, perhaps none of this would have happened."

Zheng Shanguo said, "Your Highness, what's the use of saying all this now? Let's talk about the present. The King of Qin's achievements are growing daily; he is no ordinary man. Currently, he has fierce generals like Li Yi, Li Daoxuan, Qin Shubao, and Yuchi Gong in the military, and renowned scholars like Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Wei Zheng in the civil service."
The conflict between Your Highness and the King of Qin is now unsolvable.

To avoid repeating the mistakes of the previous dynasty's deposed Crown Prince Yang Yong, Your Highness is urged to strike first and find a way to eliminate the Prince of Qin!

The words "eliminate the King of Qin" fell like a thunderbolt.
This left Li Jiancheng stunned and speechless.

For a moment, Zheng Shanguo's words, "Strike first and eliminate the King of Qin," kept echoing in his mind.

"If we send the King of Qin south to quell the rebellion, after the war he will be appointed Grand General of Yangzhou and remain in Jiangnan, what do you think?"

"Your Highness, you mustn't!"

(End of this chapter)