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

Chapter 434: One Li Jing is worth tens of thousands of troops (Part )
In the Liangyi Hall, candlelight is bright.

Eunuchs kept rushing in and out, bringing volumes of books into the hall from time to time.

On the huge sand table on the west side, the entire terrain of Tuyuhun is clearly displayed.

Minister of War Cui Dunli stood at the sand table and said to Li Chengqian: "Now in front of the Shanzhou army, there are 3,000 Left Guards, and later there are 2,000 Right Guards; in Lanzhou, there are 5,000 Left Guards and 3,000 Palace Guards.

In addition, 15,000 soldiers have already gathered from other nearby states; if the battle breaks out, another 10,000 soldiers from the rear will be able to arrive in time."

The Tang Dynasty had quietly deployed 38,000 soldiers around the entire trap with Shanzhou as the spearhead.

"Also, in Shazhou and Suzhou, the Duke of Wei has trained 5,000 cavalry capable of crossing the Qilian Mountains and attacking Tuyuhun. There are also 5,000 Right Garrison Guards ready to provide logistics." Cui Dunli pointed southwest and said, "Songzhou Prefecture currently has 5,000 soldiers in the front and 5,000 in ambush behind. In Yizhou, 15,000 cavalry reinforcements can be deployed at any time."

"Eighty-three thousand soldiers." Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "This way, even if Songtsen mobilizes an army of 100,000, the Tang Dynasty will be safe. If he mobilizes fewer troops, he will probably be prepared to be defeated and buried here."

"Yes!" Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Li Ji, Qiu Xinggong and others nodded in agreement.

"Alright." Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the imperial couch to sit down. He then said, "I'm not very familiar with military affairs, but I will try my best to deliver food and weapons to the army as quietly as possible to meet their needs."

"Your Majesty is wise." All the ministers bowed in unison. An emperor like Li Chengqian was what all the ministers had dreamed of.

"Also, be cautious in everything, especially now." Li Chengqian's expression grew serious. "Songtsen will become more cautious at this point. If he realizes that the Tang has deployed a large army beyond the ones he knows about, he'll be scared away."

"Haha!" The word "scared away" made the ministers couldn't help laughing.

Li Chengqian waved his hand and looked at Chang He: "Mr. Wushui County."

"I'm here!" Chang He stood up and bowed.

"I remember that the Tibetans have a Guang army. How is the investigation going?" Li Chengqian looked serious.

"Your Majesty, the Qianniu Guards have now discovered that this Guang army does exist, and its number is 20,000." Chang He said this, and all the ministers became solemn.

"continue."

"Yes!" Chang He bowed and said, "But this Guangjun army is the entire number of a special tribe under Songtsen. Half of them are suppressing the Tubo royal palace, and the other half is in the southeast of Tubo, where Songtsen started his career."

"If a war breaks out, how many people can he mobilize?" Li Chengqian asked the question he was most concerned about.

The Guang Army was the predecessor of the special forces of later generations, similar to the Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards of the Tang Dynasty, with extremely strong individual strength.

"If Songtsen comes with all his might, he might mobilize tens of thousands of troops, but if he has reservations, he might mobilize five to seven thousand, or even fewer." Chang He bowed.

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Half a year ago, Tubo began sending troops to India, most likely led by the Guang army. Furthermore, Songtsen's son died, leaving him with only one grandson, so he would have left enough men in Luoshui. Although he's launching an attack on the Tang this time, he has very little time to prepare. Therefore, the maximum number of troops he can send is 50,000, with 5,000 Guang troops."

After a brief pause, Li Chengqian looked at Li Ji and asked, "Duke Yingguo, I am considering the overall situation and public opinion. Do you think Songtsen will change?"

"I think it might be even less." Li Ji cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the Duke of Wei is in the northwest, which means Songtsen must be much more cautious."

One Li Jing is worth tens of thousands of troops.

"That's right." Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and others also nodded in agreement.

"Very good." Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Chang He and said, "Count of Wushui County, I permit you to draw 5,000 men from the Qianniu Guards and the Imperial Guards, send them to Lanzhou, and distribute them to various places below Shanzhou.

If the Guang army sneaks in, we will immediately engage in a life-or-death battle, and let Xi Junmai lead all the troops. This way, Songtsen will think that this is my special favor."

Xi Junmai was the General of the Left Thousand Oxen Guard and the Prince's attendant to Li Chengqian.

It is normal to have some Qianniu Guards around him.

Therefore, it is better to let Songtsen have some suspicion than let him know the truth about the northwest.

And sometimes, suspicion is better.

"Yes!" Chang He bowed.

"All that remains is to go to Luoyang." Li Chengqian smiled at the ministers and said, "We just need to let Songtsen know that most of the northwestern provincial governors are going to Luoyang to participate in the Fengshan ceremony. Then he will naturally relax."

"Yes!" The ministers nodded with a smile. Indeed, this was the most relaxing and most touching point.

At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded outside the hall.

The ministers looked back in surprise, it should have been curfew by now.

Qiu Xiaogong, the General of the Left Jinwu Guard, appeared outside the hall. Seeing Li Chengqian nod, he quickly stepped into the hall and bowed to Li Chengqian, saying, "Your Majesty, just now, the Chief Clerk of the Imperial College, Xu Shouyi, was arrested and then burned to death in his study."

Li Chengqian was stunned and asked subconsciously: "Who?"

"The current Imperial College Chief Clerk, Xu Shouyi," Fang Xuanling said, squinting his eyes. "The only son of the late Sima Xu Shimo, the King of Han."

"Xu Shimo, this name sounds so familiar!" Li Chengqian frowned.

"Xu Shimo was the Crown Prince's attendant to Crown Prince Li Jiancheng." Zhangsun Wuji stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, when Yang Wengan rebelled, Xu Shimo persuaded Crown Prince Li Jiancheng to seize control of Chang'an and then mutinied. Fortunately, others persuaded Crown Prince Li Jiancheng to go to Renzhi Palace to apologize, otherwise the outcome would have been very different." "So after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, although many of Crown Prince Li Jiancheng's former subordinates were given important positions, Xu Shimo was the only one who was transferred to the position of Sima of the Kings. Ten years later, he died of depression." Fang Xuanling sneered softly and said, "I didn't expect his son to suddenly appear at this time."

No matter what exactly happened, people like Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji definitely don't want to hear the name Xu Shimo.

Xu Shouyi is the son of Xu Shimo, which means his future attempts will never be successful.

Li Chengqian came back to his senses, looked at Qiu Xiaogong, and asked, "Qiu Qing, what exactly is going on?"

"Your Majesty!" Qiu Xiaogong bowed and said, "Tonight, the Left Golden Guard was on patrol in Shengping when they heard the sound of fighting. When they rushed over, they found the people dead. However, not far behind them, there was a freshly dug pit on the ground, and buried some cursed objects."

"Shengpingfang?" Li Chengqian turned to look at Li Anyan and asked, "The Duke of Nanchang's family is in Shengpingfang, right?"

"Yes!" Li Anyan bowed and said, "I just mentioned this to Your Majesty when I was settling the Duke of Nanchang a while ago."

Li Chengqian suddenly laughed and said, "Witchcraft and curses, the Duke of Nanchang, and the descendants of Prince Yin's party, this is interesting. Someone is trying to stir up trouble in Chang'an City!"

The ministers looked strange.

They were all ministers trusted by Li Chengqian and were deeply involved in the Tang Dynasty's preparations for war against Tubo. Of course, they knew that Li Junxian was not in the mansion at all, and he was not even in Chang'an, but had gone to Songzhou.

The person now in the Nanchang County Duke's Mansion is just a substitute arranged by the emperor.

Therefore, anything related to Prince Yin’s party and witchcraft and curses has nothing to do with Li Junxian.

"Your Majesty, this must be the work of Lu Dongzan." Li Anyan bowed and said, "I am investigating the matter of endangering the Supreme Emperor. Xu Shouyi is on the list of suspects, but he is at the bottom of the list. I will find him next month..."

"So, they silenced him." Li Chengqian sneered lightly. He saw through Lu Dongzan's plan at a glance.

"Yes!" Li Anyan bowed with a serious expression.

"Your Majesty!" Fang Xuanling bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the one who colluded with the Tibetans must have been Xu Shouyi. But now that Xu Shouyi is dead, without his testimony, Lu Dongzan will not be able to stay after the Fengshan ceremony next year. Once he leaves, the entire layout of the west will be in jeopardy."

Lu Dongzan was the prime minister of Tubo. If he was accused of framing the retired emperor Tian Khan and actual evidence was found, then the Tang Dynasty would inevitably take action against Tubo.

This is also the reason why Songtsen mobilized his troops in advance.

Lu Dongzan was not only the Prime Minister of Tubo, but he also had other plans at the end of the year. He would definitely find ways to ensure that when Songtsen led his troops to Shanzhou, the Tang Dynasty would be the most unprepared and its defenses would be the weakest.

In this way, they might even capture Shanzhou and Lanzhou in one fell swoop, enter Hezhou, Qizhou, and Longxi Prefecture, and even annex Tuyuhun in one fell swoop.

Anyone who sees this possibility will be tempted.

But if they could not accuse Lu Dongzan, Songzan would most likely not have launched the military operation.

……

"Lhasa has already started to move. Even if he wants to change now, it's probably too late. Moreover, from my perspective, he has no intention of changing at all. He just wants to make the Tang Dynasty more chaotic." Changsun Wuji stood up and bowed, his eyes sneering.

"Yes, although Li Junxian didn't participate in the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he, like me, went north to guard against the Turks. In recent years, he has fought for the Tang Dynasty in the south and the north." Li Ji stood up and bowed, saying with emotion, "Now that he has been exposed, Prince Yin and his followers will naturally take advantage of his misfortune. I didn't expect that someone would take advantage of him."

Although Lu Dongzan acted very cleverly, many people could tell at a glance that Xu Shouyi must have been silenced.

"He's trying to take the initiative." Li Chengqian's expression calmed down, and he sneered, "Does he think that silencing him will end the matter? I was just worried about my reputation and didn't want to use any tricks before. He really thinks I'm a kind person. An Yan, go now and put all the Xu family members in jail, and then investigate the people they often interact with bit by bit.

All the remaining followers of Prince Yin must be investigated, and their relationship with Lu Dongzan must also be fully investigated."

"Yes!" Li Anyan bowed solemnly.

"Don't worry." Li Chengqian added briefly, "On the first day of March next year, I will enthrone Xiang'er as the Crown Prince. Then, on the fifteenth day of March, my father and I will offer sacrifices to my mother, the Queen Mother, and ask her to allow Sister Wencheng to stay for two more months. Lu Dongzan should also be allowed to stay. If he insists on leaving, find someone to claim to have seen him and Xu Shouyi meet."

"Your Majesty!" The ministers looked up nervously.

Li Chengqian waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I'm not so unscrupulous as to resort to any means. All I need is someone to testify that Lu Dongzan and Xu Shouyi were seen together somewhere, and then I'll let him stay and cooperate.

As for the others, I think that as long as we leave Lu Dongzan behind, Songzan's troops will probably move before we even find any evidence.

At that time, we only need to let the Songzhou Dangxiang 'discover' the Tibetan army and report it. The crime will naturally fall on Lu Dongzan, and there will be no need for evidence. "

Even without framing someone, Li Chengqian could still kill people.

Especially now that they are trapped.

No one can escape.

……

"Also, Lu Dongzan's people have been active for too long. It's time to clean them all out!"

"Here!"

(End of this chapter)