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

Chapter 615 Snowstorm and Khan's Court
Khan's Court in heavy snow

Like a silvery-white world,

Thousands of miles are frozen, and thousands of miles are snow drifting.

Magnificent yet tranquil.

The Turkic herders are also hibernating.

It has been snowing for several days, accumulating into a thick layer. The beautiful snowflakes have now become dangerous; if it continues to snow like this, it will become a white disaster that terrifies the herders.

The people of the Central Plains feared floods, droughts, and locust plagues the most, while the herders on the grasslands feared white disasters, black disasters, and yellow disasters.

White disasters are snow disasters, and snow disasters are more harmful on the grasslands than in the Central Plains. Heavy snow can freeze livestock to death and damage the livelihoods of herders.

This year, they raided south twice, and many tribal herders returned home laden with spoils.

However, many herders were killed or captured in battle. If you really look at it, the Turks actually suffered losses, especially those tribes attacked by the Tang army.

After being attacked at Jinci Temple in Taiyuan and losing even the Golden Wolf Banner, Jieli failed to retaliate and eventually withdrew his troops under the pretext of cold weather, which greatly damaged his prestige.

Inside the large tent, several braziers were burning, making the spacious tent very warm.

Jieli listened to the reports from his group of Dagans.

With Princess Yicheng, that madwoman, no longer in the Khan's court, Jieli felt much more at ease.

The reports from the officials only added to his frustration.

Khagan Jieli favored people from non-Han ethnic groups. His dozens of Dagans assisted him in handling the affairs of the Khanate and managing the vast Turkic Khaganate. The Dagans, who were of Sogdian, Tuyuhun, and Tiele origins, were more valued by him than the native Turks.

It wasn't that Jieli insisted on using non-Han people and disregarded his own relatives; it was simply that the Turkic Khaganate itself was a tribal confederation, and the khanate was relatively loose. Even the Great Khan did not have the same power as the emperors of the Central Plains.

Each tribe does its own thing.
Jieli himself seized power by killing his brother Chuluo Khan with Princess Yicheng, the Khatun, and therefore he was even more wary of the Turks, especially the royal family.

Not only were the officials of the Khan's court mainly Hu people, but even the Imperial Guards were mostly Hu people. Warriors from the Tuyuhun, Sogdian, Xi, Khitan, Xi, and Shiwei tribes were highly trusted by him.

"Tell me, why did you fail twice this year when you went south?" Jieli wore a golden crown, and his long braids were tied with jewels.

The narrow-sleeved fur coat was tied at the waist with a belt adorned with thirteen jade rings and a golden wolf-head hook.

Kang Sumi and other Hu people and Dagans offered their opinions one after another.

After listening for a while, Jieli concluded that their opinions were roughly threefold. First, as the supreme ruler of the Turkic Khaganate, Jieli Khan needed to strengthen his authority and, like the Han Chinese empires of the Central Plains, centralize power.

It cannot be reproduced in such a loose manner.

"This year, the Great Khan went south twice, but Ashina Shibobi, the Tuli Khan in the east, refused to send troops under the Great Khan's golden command and made excuses to refuse."

However, as far as I know, the reason why Tuli Khan has not sent troops south is entirely because he is currently engaged in private trade with the south, controlling numerous trades such as sugar, tea, salt, cloth, porcelain, and ironware, and even monopolizing some of these trades.
Every year, a large number of cattle, sheep, camels, and horses are sold to the south.
He made so much money trading that he had no desire to plunder southwards, nor did he want to damage relations with the southerners.

Kang Sumi directly attacked Tuli Xiao Khan.

Kangsumi was a Sogdian, and behind him were many Sogdian tribes and merchants within the Turkic Khanate. Now, Tuli, the young Khan, was trading extensively with the Tang people and even monopolizing the distribution of many in-demand Han goods on the grasslands, which greatly infringed upon the interests of the Sogdian merchant group.

Now that we've seized the opportunity, we should naturally attack Tuli.

Kang Sumi took the lead in proposing to strengthen central authority and emulate the Han Chinese states in the south, requiring all the Turkic minor khans, she, and tribal chiefs, such as Jielifa, Sijin, and chieftains, to completely submit to the Khan's court.

In the territories of the various minor khans, she, jielifa, and sijin, officials such as Tutun should be established to supervise and collect taxes.

Jieli held the wine glass,

“Go on,”

"Great Khan, the reason why our Turks are so powerful is because of our cavalry. And the strength of our cavalry depends on our excellent warhorses."

The Tang people lacked horses, and therefore lacked elite cavalry.

If we want to suppress the Tang people, we must first control the superior horses. No tribe should trade horses with the Tang people privately, especially good horses that can be used as warhorses.

Secondly, cavalry is the foundation of our Khanate; therefore, the Khan must select and appoint generals to lead and command them.

Originally, the entire Turkic people were soldiers. When war broke out, each tribe would conscript young men to fight with bows, swords, and other weapons.

The leaders of each department, both large and small, were directly equivalent to junior officers in the army.

And now,
Kang Sumi and other Dagans actually proposed separating the military and the government.

The leaders of each tribe usually govern their own tribe and herdsmen, but the command of troops is determined by a general appointed by the Khan.

This general is not necessarily the leader of each department.

More likely, they were generals of various ranks appointed by the Khan from the Khan's court.

These generals only obeyed the orders of the Khan and the Khan's court.

For example, the Tuli Khan in the east governed the eastern region of the Khanate and even had control over several vassal tribes, including the Xi, Khitan, and Xi.

Now, the Turkic tribes and vassal states such as the Xiqi in the east, along with their troops, are all under the command of Tuli. This year, Tuli has found an excuse not to participate in the war.

If military power is unified

In the eastern territory of the Tuli, troops were organized and commanded by generals dispatched from the Khan's court. In peacetime, they were responsible for monitoring the Tuli and collecting taxes, and also for organizing and training the army. In times of war, they commanded troops under the unified command and dispatch of the Khan's court.

Jieli liked the suggestion very much.

"Furthermore, our Turkic Khaganate must establish a sound tax system, whereby not only the tribal leaders must pay tribute to the Khan,
All tribal herders should also pay taxes to the Khan.

A unified tax system will increase the Khanate's fiscal revenue.
This is the only way to better rule the Turks, train soldiers, and manufacture weapons.

Kang Sumi proposed that Turkic herders should not only pay taxes but also perform labor services, and should learn from the Han Chinese state model in the Central Plains.

He had even drafted some tax items, such as livestock tax, gold and silver tax, commercial tax, customs duty, and grass tax.

The livestock tax, also known as the cattle leg tax, was levied on herders who paid one-quarter of the tax for each cow they owned; the same applied to other livestock. "We need to conduct a thorough inventory of the population and accounts of each Turkic tribe, then establish military governments, dividing the Turkic Khaganate into five major military regions: east, west, south, north, and central. Each military region will then be further divided into four myriarchies (units of ten thousand households each), and each myriarchy will be further divided into ten chiliarchies (units of ten thousand households each)."

In this way, we will have five military regions, 200,000-household prefectures, and 200 thousand-household prefectures, possessing an elite army of 200,000 men.

"The Great Khan can unify command by assigning generals to positions such as military region commanders, commanders of ten thousand households, and commanders of a thousand households."

This was a power grab from those minor khans, She, Jielifa, Sijin, and others, but Jielifa was very tempted.

The generals appointed by oneself are certainly easier to command than those minor khans and officials who are granted fiefdoms.

Several Dagans believed that in order to improve the central government of the Khanate, it was also necessary to emulate the Han Chinese states of the Central Plains and establish a central institution similar to the Three Departments and Six Ministries to assist the Great Khan in managing the entire Khanate.

Centralized power, unified taxation, and unified military command.

Jieli listened with great excitement.

If he could truly achieve these three things, then he would be the supreme Khan.

Jieli planned to start by targeting his nephew, Tuli the Little Khan. This fellow was making a fortune through secret trade with the Tang people, yet he never paid any tribute. Moreover, he had made various excuses to avoid the two southern expeditions this year, and he hadn't even sent many of his own tribal troops, instead sending only some Xi and Khitan vassal tribes.

Jieli has been unhappy for a long time.

Now that they have suffered a defeat and their authority has been damaged, it would be a good opportunity to establish their prestige by taking advantage of Tuli.

“Choose a Dagan, take my golden arrow and go to the east to summon Tuli to the Khan’s court in Dingxiang.”

"Make him take the taxes he is owed."

Kang Sumi seized the opportunity to suggest, "In the future, the Khanate will establish unified border markets and appoint special officials to be in charge of foreign trade. No tribe may engage in private trade; otherwise, it will be considered treason, and once discovered, it will be severely punished."

“Yes, we should establish unified border markets, with officials appointed by the Khanate in charge, and the various tribes should not engage in private trade.” The other Dagans also agreed.

Jieli drank the wine in his cup in one gulp and was very happy.

Then some of the Dagans proposed that after establishing five major military regions, 200,000-household prefectures, and 200 thousand-household garrisons, the Khan's court should select generals to command the troops in each region.

The various tribal minor khans, she, jielifa, sijin, etc., without the khan's golden token and the seals of the generals, cannot mobilize troops, much less leave their jurisdictions…”

Jieli was already fantasizing that once his reforms were complete, the Khanate's strength would greatly increase, and then he could march south to attack the Tang Dynasty.
It will no longer be a chaotic mess of everyone fighting their own battles as before.
There were even cases like the Sijie tribe, where they secretly made peace with Tang generals and withdrew their troops.

Jieli always felt that although the Turkic soldiers were numerous and their cavalry was powerful, they had never been able to exert their full potential.

The tribes were only concerned with looting, and when they encountered a formidable enemy, they were only concerned with running away.

Even worse were people like Tuli, who completely disobeyed orders and only cared about trading with the Han people, making a fortune in silence.

The north wind is howling outside.

Snowflakes are falling.

Jieli held his wine cup, thinking that next summer, when his warhorses were well-fed, he would once again send troops south to avenge his previous defeat.

Even if Li Yuan pleads for peace, he will not agree.

"Report!"

The tent flap was lifted, and a biting wind carrying snowflakes rushed in.

One of the attached wolf guards had a face that was red from the cold, and his beard and eyebrows were covered in ice.

"Reporting to the Great Khan, the Tang army, Tang general Li Yi crossed Yanmen Pass, and Yuan Junzhang of Mayi surrendered to the Tang. They cooperated from within and without, and annihilated all 10,000 of our Turkic tribes stationed in Mayi!"

"Jiabiteqin Ashina Simo and others were also captured!"

"The Tang army! The Tang army has captured all of Yunshuo!"

"They, their vanguard cavalry, have already crossed the Great Wall and are heading straight for the Dingxiang Khanate!"

The cup in Jieli Khan's hand fell to the ground.
The wine spilled onto the expensive Persian carpet.

Jieli felt a tightness in his chest and a slight difficulty breathing.

His mind went blank, and he even forgot to think for a moment.

"Sweat!"

After being called out by Kangsumi and other Dagans, Jieli finally came to his senses.
"How many soldiers are in the Tang army's vanguard? And is Li Yi leading them?" Jieli asked sharply.

"We have discovered that the Tang army has the banners of Yuchi, Qin, Luo, and Cheng, but we have not seen Li Yi's banner."

Jieli muttered, "Yuchi, Qin, Luo, Cheng... that must be Yuchi Gong, Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin, and Cheng Yaojin."

He took a deep breath, and many unpleasant memories surfaced in his mind.

Taiyuan, Jinci
In the darkness by the Nanlao Spring,
It was Li Yi who led these fierce generals and five thousand elite cavalry on a 160-mile raid, causing them to lose their armor and flee in disarray.

Damn Tang people, are they going to do this again?

They grew increasingly audacious, even planning a surprise attack on the Khan's court in Dingxiang.

It's over 400 li from Mayi to here.

This is the court of the Turkic Khanate!

How dare they!

"Send me the Golden Wolf Command Arrow!" Jieli's voice trembled. "Immediately summon all tribes to assemble at the Dingxiang Khanate!"

"I, the Khan, will ensure they never return; not a single one will go back!"

(End of this chapter)