Li Chengqian of the Tang Dynasty: Please say long live His Majesty

Chapter 270: See what the Crown Prince can achieve this time (Part )
"At the same time, send a message to Yan Lide to take Beisha City as soon as possible, and then work with Li Daozon to attack Anshi City from the north and south." Li Shimin still gritted his teeth when he mentioned Anshi City.

This city has blocked his way for too long.

"Yes!" Li Ji bowed seriously.

Li Shimin raised his head again, looking towards Liaodong City before him, and said, "Tell Su Dingfang that in half a month, he will lead his troops to attack the city. I want him to take Liaodong City in one fell swoop."

"Yes!" Li Ji bowed again.

Changsun Wuji, Cen Wenben, Liu Li and others listened silently.

In this battle, although all the generals fought hard, the two who emerged victorious were Su Dingfang and Xue Rengui...

"Gee..." A burst of rapid horse hoofbeats sounded from behind, and then two Qianniu Guards came galloping over, dismounted in front of dozens of generals, knelt on the ground, and handed over the yellow bag while saying, "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has an urgent report."

The prince is not Chang'an.

Li Shimin took the package, opened it, took out the memorial and read it carefully.

With a snap, Li Shimin closed the memorial again, glanced at Zhangsun Wuji, and then said to the generals: "Everyone, continue to attack the city. Don't let the soldiers on the city rest. Everyone else, follow me back to the camp."

"Here!" Everyone raised their hands in unison.

The emperor returned to the military camp, but the sounds of fighting rang out again in Liaodong City.

However, despite the flying stones and countless crossbow arrows, the actual scale of the Tang army's siege was not large. Each time they attacked the city briefly, as if they were testing the flaws in the city.

……

Only Li Shimin and Zhangsun Wuji were left in the central military tent.

Li Shimin handed the memorial to Zhangsun Wuji and said, "We've found out. It's the Right Jinwu Guards General of the Household, Xindu County Duke Tian Renhui."

"Tian Renhui, how could it be him?" When Changsun Wuji took the memorial, a kind-looking face flashed through his mind.

"The Tian family of Jizhou." Li Shimin looked at Zhangsun Wuji and said, "Wuji, do you still remember Qi Zhixuan, the son of Qi Yu, the governor of Guangzhou?"

"The Yifeng Qi family?" Zhangsun Wuji was slightly stunned after saying this, and his face immediately darkened. "The Tian family and the Qi family."

Since Tian Qi replaced Jiang, the population of the Jiang family in the world has become much smaller, and many people with the surname Qi changed their surname to Tian after the fall of Qi.

This situation is not uncommon.

For example, the "Feng", "Tong" and "Sima" of Shanxi all regard Sima Qian as their common ancestor and do not marry each other.

The same is true for the three surnames "Dai", "Zhuang" and "Yan" in Henan.

Yifeng is actually in Dingzhou, which is actually under the jurisdiction of the Jizhou Grand Marshal's Office.

There is absolutely no problem in mentioning the Qi family of Jizhou.

Tian Renhui, the General of the Right Jinwu Guard, and Qi Yu, the Governor of Guangzhou, were from the same family.

"Wuji, they are all from Hebei!" Li Shimin's words pointed out the core issue.

Changsun Wuji nodded, looked at the contents of the memorial, and said, "The Crown Prince's idea is to use Xiazhou as a trap. Once the Xueyantuo people get wind of this, they will surely rush directly to Xiazhou before reinforcements arrive, only to be surrounded by the reinforcements."

"Yes!" Li Shimin nodded and said, "This should be Zuo Kuangzheng's suggestion. It is very feasible. Moreover, since Zuo Kuangzheng is personally in front of the army, there will be no problem."

"The Crown Prince is also on guard against Tian Renhui's actions in Lingzhou." Changsun Wuji handed the memorial back to the emperor and said, "Xi Junmai and Zheng Rentai are our backups. At a critical moment, we can also mobilize Xue Wanbei. Your Majesty, the Crown Prince's strategic skills are quite good!"

"But he's not sure about Tian Renhui." Li Shimin shook his head and said, "If I were in Chang'an, I would have arrested him directly."

"If Your Majesty were in Chang'an, there would naturally be no room for the Crown Prince to display his talents." Changsun Wuji smiled and said, "Let's wait and see what kind of achievements the Crown Prince can make this time."

"Send a message, telling Cheng Zhijie and Xue Wanjun to be on high alert. I didn't leave them in Hebei to just stand by and watch." Li Shimin snorted coldly, then opened the memorial again and said, "And there's the matter of the Turks..."

……

Under the night sky, the East Palace of Chang'an.

Li Chengqian looked at Zhang Xuan in disbelief and said, "Tian Ren will send a message to Xueyantuo, saying that Chang'an has provided support to Xiazhou with 1,000 cavalrymen, and Lingzhou and Yanzhou have 2,000 each. He then asks Xueyantuo to attack Xiazhou, and that his support from Lingzhou will be delayed for two days."

This number is completely opposite to the actual number.

"Yes, Your Highness, it's confirmed." Zhang Xuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "Your Highness, in my opinion, although Tian Renhui has connections with the Xueyantuo, he does not intend to betray the Tang Dynasty. Instead, he intends to use this opportunity to severely undermine the Xueyantuo."

Li Chengqian nodded slowly, his face still full of disbelief.

Originally, he thought it was Tian Renhui, the inside player of Xueyantuo. In fact, there was no trust between him and Xueyantuo at all. He actually sold out Xueyantuo in the blink of an eye.

If Xueyantuo really attacked Xiazhou as he said, Li Dejian would teach Xueyantuo a lesson.

Li Chengqian bowed his head slightly, then spoke decisively, "Tell Li Dejian that the 1,000 cavalrymen in Qingzhou are ready to assault Xiazhou at any moment." After a brief pause, Li Chengqian added, "Send a message to Qian Jiulong, the governor of Lingzhou, and tell him to send troops to encircle the Xueyantuo's retreat route one day after the battle in Xiazhou begins. Before doing so, he must thoroughly investigate the movements of the Xueyantuo's main force to prevent this from being another trap."

Now Li Chengqian is extremely wary of Tian Renhui.

This person betrays this person today and that person tomorrow. No matter what he does, it seems unpredictable.

……

The oasis is prosperous and the desert is wild.

Dunhuang, the originally quiet city, suddenly turned into a battlefield of bloodshed.

Not many people expected that the Xueyantuo people would suddenly appear at the gates of Dunhuang. If Li Xiyu had not always been on guard, Dunhuang would have fallen into the hands of the Xueyantuo people in an instant.

After a night of fighting, the city walls were filled with the smell of blood and fire.

On the city wall, Li Xiyu, dressed in black, looked toward the distant Xueyantuo tent. He then turned to look at Sima beside him and asked, "Are you sure? It's Yemang, the eldest son of Xueyantuo Zhenzhu Khan?"

"Yes, Commander-in-Chief. This time, it was Yimang who led 20,000 cavalrymen in the invasion. He sent 5,000 cavalrymen from Lingzhou and another 5,000 to Xiazhou, entangled the forces of both sides, and finally attacked as far as Shazhou." Sima bowed to Li Xiyu and said, "The Crown Prince made a casual move. I originally thought it was useless, but I didn't expect someone to actually take the bait."

Li Xiyu chuckled softly, then said, "In recent years, the Xueyantuo have suffered repeated defeats against the Tang Dynasty. They are uneasy and naturally dare not launch a strong attack in Lingzhou and Xiazhou. So when Shazhou transferred 2,000 cavalry to Anxi, they naturally thought their opportunity had come and forced their way across the desert to attack."

"They think Shazhou is easy to fight." Sima bowed with a smile.

"Hmm!" Li Xiyu nodded slightly and said, "If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince hadn't known what was going on, I'm afraid it would be really difficult for us at this moment."

"Yes!" Sima's expression became restrained.

Li Xiyu looked up and asked, "Where did Xijun buy it?"

"According to the time, we are fifteen miles east of the city." After a brief pause, Sima said, "Three thousand palace soldiers, and five thousand Tuyuhun cavalry."

"The Tuyuhun were the most ferocious when fighting alongside the Tang." Li Xiyu smiled with satisfaction. Turning to Sima, he said, "In a quarter of an hour, the cavalry will attack."

"Yes!" Sima bowed solemnly, his eyes slightly looking inside the city wall. A thousand cavalrymen were already standing in the long street, ready to charge at any time.

If they disrupted the Xueyantuo camp, Xi Junmai would immediately come to kill them, and after one battle, the Xueyantuo's 10,000 cavalry would be completely destroyed.

Time passed bit by bit, and Li Xiyu suddenly looked up and said, "Attack!"

"Open the city gate!" Sima turned around and shouted coldly. The next moment, the city gate creaked open and thousands of cavalrymen rushed directly towards the Xueyantuo army camp outside the city.

The Xueyantuo people in the military camp in the distance were a little confused when they saw this scene. It was not yet late at night, so why did the cavalry in the city rush out to attack?

Many people jumped on their horses at the first opportunity.

However, none of the Xueyantuo people noticed that the earthquake on the ground was much more violent than it should have been.

A thousand cavalrymen fearlessly rushed into the Xueyantuo camp and set it on fire.

Tonight was not a good night with dark winds. Although the thousand cavalrymen caused a lot of chaos, that was all. Tens of thousands of Xueyantuo cavalrymen quickly reacted, turned around and surrounded the thousand Tang cavalrymen.

However, just as they were sharpening their swords, more thunderous sounds of horse hooves came from the east.

The next moment, Xi Junmai, the Sima of Lanzhou, dressed in black clothes and black armor, was already charging directly under the moonlight, leading 8,000 cavalrymen.

In an instant, the sound of killing shook the sky.

……

A warhorse galloped swiftly down the central road, then charged frantically into Chang'an, shouting, "Great victory, great victory, great victory at Dunhuang! Tens of thousands of Xueyantuo cavalry have been routed, and over three thousand have been beheaded. Li Xiyu, the governor of Shazhou, and Xi Junmai, the military governor of Lanzhou, are pursuing the Xueyantuo northwards."

With a loud "boom", the entire Chang'an city seemed to explode almost instantly.

Countless people couldn't help but shout loudly.

When the emperor marched eastward, Xueyantuo took advantage of the situation to attack the border, but suddenly they were completely defeated.

Even though the people didn't know what was going on, they could hardly suppress the excitement and excitement in their hearts.

……

In the Wude Hall, the ministers stood on both sides. Li Chengqian glanced at Fang Xuanling and Yuchi Jingde, and the two bowed respectfully.

Li Chengqian said, "Order the Governor of Lingzhou, Qian Jiulong; the Lieutenant General of the Right Jinwu Guard, Tian Renhui; the General of the Left Jinwu Guard, Zuo Kuangzheng; the General of the Right Tunwei, Chai Zhewei; and the Chief Clerk of Xiazhou, Li Dejian. Immediately charge out of the Great Wall. I will completely destroy the 20,000 Xueyantuo cavalrymen."

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)