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

Chapter 453: His Majesty replied: Got it! (First update)
The cold wind howled, and the scattered snow was as cold as iron.

When it hits someone's face, it causes waves of pain.

Li Junxian stood in the wind and snow, gazing at the mountains in the distance.

A black star appeared in the nameless mountain pass. The next moment, countless cavalrymen rushed out frantically and killed directly in the direction of Li Junxian.

But when it reached him, it suddenly stopped.

A moment later, an expressionless old general rode his horse in front of Li Junxian, followed closely by a dark-skinned general.

"Commander!"

Li Junxian fell to his knees with a plop.

Li Jing pulled the reins, looked at Li Junxian, and said calmly: "Duke of Nanchang, a hundred thousand troops fought back and forth, but in the end, you got to reap the rewards. You really have good luck!"

"Reporting, Commander." Li Junxian looked up at Li Jing and said seriously, "This general's trip was actually arranged by His Majesty. Because His Majesty knew that I had a great grudge against Songtsen, he ordered me to kill him at Tongtian River."

"Did the Tibetans spread the news that the Tang Dynasty lasted for three generations and that a female warrior would replace the Tang?" Li Jing frowned and asked, "Are you so careless?"

The prophecy that "Tang will last for three generations and will be replaced by a female warrior" has been circulating in Chang'an for more than ten years, but it has never been targeted at anyone, and no one has ever contacted Li Junxian, but suddenly, things broke out.

Li Jing keenly grasped the problem here.

"Perhaps." Li Junxian shook his head, looking at the corpse lying on the side, covered with a white cloth, and said, "I was just following the rules and being an official, but inexplicably a bucket of dirty water was poured on my head. Fortunately, Your Majesty trusts me, otherwise I would probably have my property confiscated and my family exterminated."

Li Jing nodded. The emperor had recuperated in Cuiwei Palace and Wenquan Palace several times, and it was Li Junxian who led the troops to guard the mountain.

At that time, Li Jing was still in Chang'an, but when the Li Junxian incident broke out, Li Jing had already gone to the northwest.

"All of this is their plan." Li Junxian's face suddenly turned fierce. Looking at Songtsen's body, he gritted his teeth and said, "The Tibetan king's only son is dead, leaving only a grandson who is less than a century old. They are afraid that Your Majesty will take advantage of this opportunity to attack them, so they want to disrupt the Tang Dynasty. They want to destroy everyone..."

Li Jing watched Li Junxian vent quietly, then turned and looked aside.

A guard dismounted from his horse, stepped forward, and directly lifted the white cloth in front of Li Junxian.

Then, a figure wearing Tibetan king's clothes and a black mask appeared in front of everyone.

A bloody hole appeared in the throat of the corpse.

It was Li Junxian's fatal blow.

Li Jing looked up and said, "Take off the mask and confirm your identity."

"Here!" The guard immediately reached out and took off the black mask. Then, an old face with gray hair on the temples, who looked to be in his fifties, appeared in front of Li Jing, Li Junxian and others.

"This man is Songtsen. He's not that old, right?" Li Jing frowned immediately.

Li Junxian looked at the strange old man in front of him and shuddered all over. He then looked at Li Jing and bowed, saying, "General, since I sealed off Tongtian River, only this group of people have arrived here. No other..."

Li Jing waved his hand at Li Junxian and said calmly, "Don't worry, I know the situation myself."

Looking at the corpse on the ground, Li Jing finally got off his horse.

Standing beside the body, Li Jing said, "Check to see if this person has any talismans or anything like the Tibetan king's seal. Send people to search both sides of the mountain path for any signs of escape. Finally, call the Duke of Guo, the Lanzhou Governor, and Xi Junmai to come and identify the person."

Li Junxian looked up in astonishment: "Marshal!"

Li Jing looked at the bodies on the ground and said, "The army came quickly from Fuqi City. When they reached Dayechuan, Songtsen was already moving his troops down from the Sea of ​​Bitterness, and Su Hegui's last cavalry was also gathering. He had no intention of fleeing."

Li Junxian's expression gradually became serious.

"Also, the route from the Bitter Sea to the Tongtian River appears to be open east-west, but in reality, to the east lie the Dangxiang lands, Songzhou, and the Tang territory, and to the west lies an endless swamp. Coupled with the changing seasons, it's a dead end. Mountains stretch in front and behind, leaving only a single path through the mountain pass." Li Jing said calmly, "If Songtsen really did escape by using a body double, he would either be stopped or dead, but either way, he would have left traces behind."

"Yes!" Li Junxian bowed solemnly, but his expression became complicated as he lowered his head. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

Although it was confirmed that he did not let Songtsen escape, his credit for killing the enemy chief was lost.

……

"Gee!" Hundreds of war horses galloped towards us from the direction of the mountain pass.

Li Jing stood calmly around the corpses. More than 5,000 cavalrymen had gathered on both sides of the front and back, and further behind, cavalrymen who had cleared out the remaining enemies gradually arrived.

Behind Li Jing is the Tongtian River, and across the Tongtian River is Subi, which was a vassal state of Tubo.

As long as they crossed the Tongtian River and destroyed Subi, they could march towards the Tubo capital, Lhasa, and exterminate Tubo.

Zhang Shigui, Qian Jiulong, Du Fengju, Qu Fang, Xi Junmai, Xue Wanbei, Xin Liaoer, Li Dejian, Duan Baoxuan and others all rushed over.

Liu Rengui fell behind the crowd.

The Tubo Zamp died at the hands of Li Junxian, and the news had already spread.

Li Jing had a plan, and everyone rushed over immediately to confirm the news, and then send a message to Chang'an to report the victory to the emperor.

When they arrived in front of Li Jing, everyone dismounted neatly and swiftly, then all bowed and said, "General!"

Li Jing nodded, looked at Du Fengju and asked, "Envoy Du, when the princess got married, you were there. Come and see if this man is Songtsen?"

"Here!" Du Fengju bowed in surprise. He seemed to smell something wrong.

The white cloth was lifted, and a pale, fifty-year-old corpse with gray hair appeared before Du Fengju's eyes. After death, the facial features would be distorted to a certain extent.

However, there was no need to look closely. Du Fengju looked up in astonishment and said to Li Jing, "General, this is not Songzan!"

"Yeah!" Li Jing nodded calmly, then turned and looked at the generals.

Almost everyone couldn't help but shudder when they heard Du Fengju say that this was not Songtsen.

If Songtsen is fine, it means that this war is far from over.

So are there any traps around here? Will countless Tibetan troops come to attack us in the next moment?

Everyone subconsciously looked around, but...

There was silence all around, and no enemies came to attack.

Everything between heaven and earth was as quiet as usual.

"The army has searched every possible location in all directions. There are no enemies, nor any traces of escape." Li Jing looked down at the body on the ground and said, "It's him. He's the one who escaped all the way from Dafeichuan. He was even the one commanding everything in Dafeichuan. Various talismans were also found on his body."

"General!" Everyone looked at Li Jing in astonishment. That is to say, the Tibetan king, whom they had always thought was the enemy, did not come at all in this battle?
Li Jing glanced at everyone and looked at Zhang Shigui, saying, "Duke Guo, you don't seem that surprised by this?"

The ministers immediately turned and looked at Zhang Shigui.

Zhang Shigui smiled wryly and bowed, saying, "General, I've noticed that the number of Tibetan cavalrymen, whether at the gates of Lanzhou, Shanzhou, or even at Dafeichuan, is much smaller than expected. While this contributed to the smooth victory, I still feel something is amiss."

"Indeed, Your Majesty anticipated this battle based on an estimated force of 60,000 Tibetan cavalry, 40,000 Tuyuhun cavalry, and 20,000 Tangut cavalry, totaling a total of 120,000." Li Jing nodded and said, "But in reality, the total number of Tibetan cavalry arriving from Tuyuhun, including those from Songzhou, was only 40,000. The Tuyuhun cavalry mobilized 30,000, and the Tanguts only 10,000."

Everyone subconsciously looked at Li Junxian. Li Junxian nodded and said, "Songzhou only has 15,000 cavalrymen. I defeated the enemy all the way and fought my way to Tongtian River. The King of Jiangxia is now in Songzhou to pacify the local people."

"Who else wants to say something?" Li Jing's eyes swept over everyone's face and saw Liu Rengui, who looked pensive and eager to try.

"Does the Inspector have anything to say?" Li Jing asked, and everyone looked at Liu Rengui.

"General!" Liu Rengui bowed, took a step forward, and said, "The four thousand shadow troops heading towards Lanzhou are fierce, but far from fierce enough. It's not like the Tibetan king personally supervised the battle and commanded the troops... I have already reported this to His Majesty, and His Majesty replied: Got it!"

The generals immediately looked up in surprise, for it turned out that the emperor already knew about their suspicions.

So what should we do next?
……

Li Jing waited until everyone calmed down, then raised his head slightly and said, "Everyone!"

"I am here!" Everyone bowed in unison.

"First of all, this matter must be reported to His Majesty immediately. I, the Duke of Guo, and Envoy Liu will sign it together." Li Jing looked at Zhang Shigui and Liu Rengui.

Zhang Shigui and Liu Rengui immediately stood up and bowed: "Generals, we obey your orders."

"Secondly, let me report the victory." Li Jing looked at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces and said calmly, "The fact that we defeated 80,000 enemy troops in this battle is true. The military achievements of the generals and soldiers cannot be erased. Therefore, after counting the troops, I will report the victory to Chang'an and finally add that the army is pursuing the Tibetan King Songtsen... Let's see what Your Majesty means."

Everyone immediately understood that in this battle, a great victory was a fact. As for the final matter of Songtsen, it depended on what the emperor said.

The person who led this battle is dead after all, so it may not be wrong to say that he is the Tubo King Songtsen.

At least we can publicize it this way internally.

"Yes!" Everyone bowed again.

"Finally!" Li Jing said solemnly, "All units must immediately clean up the battlefield and eliminate the remaining bandits. At the same time, organize the local areas and identify areas suitable for establishing prefectures and counties!"

Everyone spoke up immediately, looking at Li Jing in surprise and delight.

"Yes, establish a prefecture and a county. Your Majesty wants to establish a prefecture and a county east of Tuyuhun." Li Jing smiled softly and said, "So everyone, this time we have the merit of defeating the enemy in a major battle and expanding the territory."

"Thank you, Marshal, and thank you, Your Majesty!" The generals bowed excitedly.

Li Jing smiled. The emperor was eager to annex Tuyuhun, but there were many voices of opposition in the court.

It used to be Fang Xuanling, and now it is Zhangsun Wuji.

Anyway, no matter who was the Shangshu Zuo Pushe, he would be the most opposed to this matter, because after the annexation of Tuyuhun, the huge population could not be handled.

But now the emperor has to do it.

However, what he wanted to annex was not the entire Tuyuhun, but the Tuyuhun Su and Gui tribes who were most opposed to the Tang Dynasty and even sent troops to Shanzhou.

"Okay, go do it..." Li Jing didn't finish his words when his eyes suddenly caught sight of the sentry in the distance.

The black police whistle sounded violently at this moment.

Li Jing suddenly turned around and looked at the Tongtian River behind him and the distant other side of the Tongtian River.

A black dot appeared at the mountain pass far away from Tongtian River, then quickly enlarged, and hundreds of Tibetan cavalry appeared soon after.

Li Jing waved his hand, and all the soldiers mounted their horses at the same time, then lined up in a row and blocked Li Jing.

At the same time, more cavalry began to form up in the rear.

In a very short period of time, more than 5,000 elite Tang cavalry were ready to attack.

(End of this chapter)