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

Chapter 700 I Want to Personally Lead the Army
"I intend to personally lead an expedition against Liang Shidu and fight the final battle for unification."

On the dragon bed, Li Yi and the emperor lay together, feet touching.

Lying on the emperor's dragon bed wasn't much different. Both of them had drunk quite a bit of wine and couldn't fall asleep for a while, so they continued their conversation.

With the death of his wife, Princess Pingyang, Chai Shao was no longer able to lead troops into battle.

Li Shimin was not entirely comfortable letting Changsun Wuji take charge of the situation alone, and even considered personally leading the expedition.

"Your Majesty, you are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Liang Shidu is putting up a stubborn resistance, but he is only prolonging his life. Everyone knows that his days are numbered, and his subordinates are constantly deserting to our army."

Any one of their generals could easily defeat Liang Shidu.

Li Shimin made no mention of sending Li Yi to lead troops to quell Liang Shidu, the last rebel king, neither before nor now.
Li Yi never volunteered for battle.

The ruler and his ministers had a very good understanding.

Li Yijun's military achievements are high enough that there's no need for Liang Shidu, that dead tiger, to take action now; let the credit go to someone else.

He was able to achieve the feat of destroying a country again, yet his merits were too great to be rewarded.

"Let Guan Zong, the general manager of Lingzhou, be the commander-in-chief, Duan Decao, the general manager of Yanzhou, be the deputy commander-in-chief, the Duke of Qi be the chief clerk of the army, and let Yuchi Gong be the military advisor. That will be enough to wipe out Liang Shidu."

Li Shimin said on the other end, "Liang Shidu has been managing Shuofang for ten years. I am worried that Prince Rencheng is still inexperienced in this war of annihilation."

"I would like to recommend another person."

"Who?"

"Li Yaoshi, the chief administrator of Daizhou and the Duke of Yongkang County, was skilled in military strategy and adept at using troops. He assisted the Prince of Zhao in conquering Jingzhou and Xiangyang and then Jianghuai. He led troops to inspect and pacify Lingnan, and the southeastern half of the country was gradually pacified."

Moreover, Li Jing had previously served as the Prefect of Mayi County and was familiar with the northern troops.

"Isn't Li Jing too old?"

"He is still quite healthy."

Li Shimin also spoke frankly, "I want to select a great general so that after defeating Liang Shidu, we can continue to fight against Tuyuhun."

The Sui Dynasty once conquered the Tuyuhun and established four prefectures in its territory.

However, Murong Fuyun was only defeated and fled, and was not captured or killed. After the Sui army withdrew, he made a comeback and took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty to restore his country.

These few years,
They frequently plundered Longyou and Hexi.
The Tang Dynasty also loathed the Tuyuhun to the extreme, but it had the formidable enemy of the Turks ahead, and various separatist forces in the Central Plains had not yet been pacified.

The imperial court could only try its best to appease them.

They fought and made peace repeatedly, but they kept enduring it.

but now,
The Eastern Turkic Khaganate was destroyed, while the Western Turkic Khaganate, though geographically distant, remained allied.
After defeating Liang Shidu, they will definitely have to deal with Tuyuhun.

"The Tuyuhun must be defeated, and the defeat must be decisive and permanent."

"However, Tuyuhun's territory spans two thousand miles, and it will not be easy to annihilate its main force and capture and kill Khan Fuyun."

When it comes to warfare, that was Li Shimin's forte. He learned from the Sui Dynasty's failure to conquer Tuyuhun and believed that it was necessary to capture the king to defeat the enemy.

It would be best to capture and destroy Khan Fuyun, just like we did with Jieli before.

Decapitation strike tactics.

Li Shimin very much wanted to personally lead the expedition.
The attack on Liang Shidu was just a warm-up; the key was to destroy Tuyuhun.

But Li Yi poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"Your Majesty, whether it is attacking Liang Shidu or Tuyuhun, there is no need for the Emperor to personally lead the expedition."

The emperor's personal involvement in the campaign would do more harm than good; it was truly unnecessary.

"The court officials will not agree to Your Majesty personally leading the expedition; choosing a general will suffice."

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

Li Shimin turned over.
"Then you shall take command."

"Your Majesty, I am not good at military affairs, especially offensive ones. I would recommend Li Jing as commander, and Li Daozong, Li Daoxuan, Li Yi, Xue Wanche, Li Shiji, Li Daliang, Qin Shubao, Cheng Yaojin and others can all be generals of one route."

Li Shimin remained silent.

Li Jing assisted Li Xiaogong in conquering half of the southern territory for the Tang Dynasty, but these battles in the south did not involve many major battles.

Even when they fought against Duke Tu's rebellion, it took them almost half a year to win.

The strength of nomadic tribes like the Turks and Tuyuhun was definitely far superior to that of the separatist forces in the south.

Li Shimin didn't entirely trust Li Jing either.

He felt that Li Jing lacked a real battle to test his abilities.

Why do you trust Li Jing so much?

"In my opinion, Li Jing's military skills are second only to Your Majesty's."

"Oh, you think so highly of him? How does he compare to Li Shiji?"

"Li Shiji still lacks experience."

Li Shiji has really nothing to show for himself these days; he's a perpetual loser with far more defeats than wins.

"How do Qin Shubao, Yuchi Gong, Cheng Yaojin, Luo Shixin, and other generals compare to them?"

"These men are all fierce generals capable of taking on ten thousand men, and no one can rival them in charging into battle. However, when it comes to commanding troops and holding down a single position, they are still somewhat lacking."

In Li Yi's view, Qin Qiong and his men were great generals.

But in terms of leadership, one must be a commander, a leader.

Li Jing and Li Shiji were undoubtedly both brilliant military commanders, and Li Shimin was even more so.

Li Shiji is not yet ready to be fully developed, but Li Jing has already achieved great things.

Historically, during the Zhenguan era, those who could be called commanders were Xue Wanche, Li Daozong, and Hou Junji. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, there was also Su Dingfang.

now,

Xue Wanche, Li Daozong, Hou Junji, Su Dingfang, and Liu Heita are all too young and lack sufficient experience.
He is not qualified to be the commander who destroys a country.

Prince Yan, Li Yi, could lead a region on his own, but the emperor did not trust him, as did Prince Peng, Wang Junkuo, who was not treated as a favor by the new emperor.

The imperial court has no shortage of generals.
What's lacking is leadership. And even more so, there's a shortage of people who are both capable and have prestige and experience.

Li Yi's achievements, qualifications, and status are sufficient.

But the emperor didn't really want him to go, and Li Yi himself didn't want to go either.

"If Your Majesty still has doubts about Li Jing, then let him lead the troops to destroy Liang Shidu and see how he performs."

Since you admire Li Jing so much

Then I appoint Li Jing as the Commander-in-Chief of the Shuofang Road Army, Wuji as the Chief Clerk, and Yuchi Gong as the Deputy Commander-in-Chief.

Ren Chengwang Daozong was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Yanzhou Circuit, and Duan Decao was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Yinzhou Circuit.

"Then, as originally planned, Tuli Khan will lead his Turkic troops to assist in the campaign."

"If Li Jing performs well in this battle..."
"By the end of that year or next year, let Li Jing lead the expedition against Tuyuhun."

···
July nights,
It wasn't too hot.

The emperor was just talking too much after drinking today.

They kept rambling on and on without sleeping, so Li Yi could only respond with half-hearted words.

When Li Shimin spoke of conquering Tuyuhun, he said that once the country was prosperous and strong, he would definitely conquer Goguryeo again to avenge the Chinese people and recover the lost lands of Liaodong.

The discussion then turned to the governance of the Turks.
Li Yi also mentioned the need to develop maritime trade, and said that in addition to the large island of Zhuyai in the southeast coastal area, there is another large island in the sea northeast of Guangzhou, which is even larger than Zhuyai Island.

However, it is quite far from the mainland, more than two hundred miles away.

Li Shimin said he knew about this island, called Liuqiu Island, and that during the Daye era of the Sui Dynasty, he had sent troops across the sea to conquer it, capturing their kings and chieftains, and also taking back tens of thousands of island barbarians as prisoners.

Li Yi also said that during the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu also sent troops across the sea, intending to cultivate land on Liuqiu Island.

The two talked for a long time about Liuqiu Island. Li Yi said that Liuqiu had great potential and was worth developing. Li Shimin, however, only said that Jian'an County, which was opposite Liuqiu, was a remote and desolate area with eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland, making it difficult to access.

Not to mention the development of Liuchiu Island, which is more than 200 miles away by the strait.

Li Yi said that Liuchiu Island has more development potential than Zhuya Island because of its climate, the many plains along its western coast, and the primitive and backward nature of the island's indigenous people.

Li Shimin asked him if his master, Li Zhenren, had visited the island before.

The emperor was not interested in a large island that could be divided into several states.

If the imperial court truly had that spare capacity,
We can directly develop Jian'an County, or we can develop Lingnan, or we can develop the central and southern parts of Guizhou, or even western Jiannan, as well as the Hetao and Hehuang regions, and so on.
Which place isn't better than that overseas place, which is more than 200 miles away across the strait?
This year,
Not to mention south of the Five Ridges,

Take the Jingxiang region in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle and upper reaches of the Han River, for example; those are vast areas that are still undeveloped.

There are still many indigenous tribes in the Dabie Mountains.

The reason why Zhuyai Island could be developed during the Qin and Han dynasties was because the Zhuyai Strait was only thirty or forty miles wide.

It's fairly convenient to travel back and forth.

But the Ryuki Strait is far too wide.

The emperor was not interested in Liuqiu. He was not Yang Guang, who sent troops to conquer Liuqiu and Linyi, hoping to exert his power throughout the world and have all sides pay tribute.

The Tang people were still quite afraid of the sea.
Even Emperor Li Shimin was no exception; they were unfamiliar with and fearful of the ocean.

Changing mindsets is difficult.

Li Shimin was more interested in the Turks and the grasslands beyond the Great Wall, and they posed a greater threat.

The greatest threat to the Central Plains dynasties has always been from the north, not the south, and certainly not from the sea.

Even the emperor snores when he's asleep.

The snoring was still very loud.

Fortunately, the emperor's feet didn't smell.
Otherwise, sleeping side by side would be very agonizing.

Sometime later, Li Yi fell into a deep sleep.

When he woke up,
It's daybreak.

On the dragon bed,
Emperor Li Shimin is no longer alive.
Hearing the commotion, a eunuch led a palace maid in to help her change her clothes.

"His Majesty got up at the crack of dawn and specifically instructed that Situ not be disturbed from his sleep."

After rinsing your mouth,
The eunuch even prepared a new set of clothes for him.
Then I took him to have breakfast.

Li Yi originally wanted to leave directly, but the eunuch said that this was an order from the emperor.

Breakfast includes pan-fried venison chops, Zhuque soup, steamed corn, and mashed potatoes.

After Li Yi had eaten and drunk his fill, he was led by a young eunuch to see the emperor.

Outside Xiande Hall,

The emperor was practicing archery with his guards.
"The invasions and raids of the Rong and Di tribes have existed since ancient times. When the borders are relatively peaceful, the rulers become complacent and forget about war, making it difficult to resist when the enemy invades."

Now I will not let you go through the pond and build a garden, and specialize in bow and arrow training.

Whenever I have free time, I will personally teach you archery.

If foreign enemies invade our borders, you will lead your troops to defend our nation's gates, achieving great deeds and establishing yourselves, so that the people of the world can enjoy peaceful days.

The guards on duty at the Eastern Palace,
Li Shimin personally taught these soldiers archery, instructing them on their movements, imparting techniques, and evaluating their performance.
Those who hit the bullseye most often will be rewarded with a bow, sword, and silk made by the emperor.

Even the military officers leading their respective units would receive different rewards and punishments based on the performance of their soldiers.

The courtyard outside the hall,

The soldiers were training with great enthusiasm.
The emperor himself was instructing the soldiers on the movements and teaching them the techniques. Which soldier wouldn't be excited and wouldn't train with enthusiasm?

Li Yi watched from the sidelines as the emperor easily mingled with the soldiers, showing no airs whatsoever—something neither Li Yuan nor Jiancheng could do.

"Wu Yi, get up! Come and shoot a few arrows!" The emperor smiled and beckoned to him.

The soldiers who could enter the palace guards were already elite, and now that the emperor, a master archer, was personally instructing and training them, their archery skills would surely improve greatly. More importantly, Li Yi believed that this group of soldiers, personally trained by the emperor,

That would add the added layer of identity of a disciple of the emperor, a member of the emperor's personal guard.
Their future careers will certainly be smoother, and they will become loyal backbone members of the Tang army.

(End of this chapter)