Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 35 Xue Rengui's Plan
The red sun sets in the west, the north wind grows colder, and dusk slowly falls.

The carriage was moving slowly on the wide street, heading towards the imperial city in the north. Wang Fusheng and Zhang Duohai were driving the carriage, and Xue Rengui was riding beside it.

Wu Meiniang and Li Zhi sat in the car together, and Wu Meiniang told Li Zhi everything she had learned.

Li Zhi pondered for a moment and said, "Their conditions aren't excessive, but the choice of this general is difficult to make."

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Why not let General Xue go?"

Xue Rengui, who was outside the car, felt a tightness in his heart when he heard this.

Li Zhi said: "Let me think about it again."

He was not worried about Xue Rengui's ability, but was worried that he would be in danger after going there.

The pro-Tubo forces in Tuyuhun were so strong that even the previous Tuyuhun king was assassinated, not to mention outsiders.

However, there is also an advantage in sending Xue Rengui there.

According to the course of history, more than ten years later, the Battle of Dachuanfei took place, which was also Xue Rengui's most brutal battle.

There are many reasons for Xue Rengui's failure, one of which may be altitude sickness. When the Tang army was dealing with Tubo, the biggest problem was altitude sickness.

Whenever the Tang army entered the Tubo area to fight, it would easily be defeated. Conversely, when Tubo attacked the Tang Dynasty, it would also suffer more defeats than victories.

Therefore, letting Xue Rengui adapt to plateau warfare in advance will help him fight in the future when he enters Tubo’s homeland.

The next day, after Li Zhi finished dealing with the official documents, he called Xue Rengui into the hall and told him about the matter.

After listening to this, Xue Rengui bowed and said, "I am willing to go to Tuyuhun to fight." After a pause, he said, "Your Majesty, I have a suggestion."

Li Zhi said, "You say."

Xue Rengui said, "I hope you won't tell Tuyuhun that we are sending troops to aid them."

Li Zhi was stunned and asked, "You mean we shouldn't send troops?"

Xue Rengui said, "I want them to think we are not sending troops."

Li Zhi suddenly realized and said, "I understand. You want to appear unexpectedly on the battlefield and catch Tubo off guard!"

Xue Rengui said, "That's right. There are too many Tibetan spies in Tuyuhun. If they knew we were sending troops, it would be the same as telling the Tibetans themselves!"

Li Zhi nodded and pondered, "But if we don't let them know, won't they misunderstand us when we enter Tuyuhun?"

Xue Rengui said, "We can tell the Eastern Women's Kingdom about this. Our army will first enter the territory of the Eastern Women's Kingdom, disguised as Eastern Women's soldiers, and work with them to support Tuyuhun!"

The Kingdom of Eastern Women was located in the northwest of Sichuan, adjacent to Maozhou of the Tang Dynasty.

The Tang Dynasty had a large number of troops stationed in Songzhou. By directly transferring the Songzhou troops to Xue Rengui, he could first go to Maozhou, then enter the territory of Dongnu Kingdom, and then go north to aid Tuyuhun without anyone noticing.

Li Zhi said: "This idea is feasible, but how can we solve the problem of military rations? How can we supply them with food if we don't let Tuyuhun know that we are sending troops?"

Xue Rengui said, "We can discuss this with the Queen of Dongnu and have her ask Tuyuhun to make a condition. Only if Tuyuhun gives them a batch of military rations will they be willing to send troops. I believe Tuyuhun will not refuse."

Li Zhi said, "Very good. I will do as you say. After the Queen replies to Princess Honghua, you will go to see the Queen of Dongnu."

That night, Wu Meiniang invited Princess Honghua into the palace and said that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had agreed to her request and agreed to send a general.

Princess Honghua was delighted and requested the Tang Dynasty to send someone to summon envoys from the Dongnu Qiang and Dangxiang Qiang, presided over by Tang Dynasty generals, so that the three countries could sit together and discuss the plan to resist Spitfire.

Li Zhi first sent someone to invite Li Ji over and told him the battle plan.

Li Ji was quite surprised to hear that the emperor wanted to deal with Tubo, but since his country did not need to send too many troops, he did not object.

Li Zhi asked him to recommend a general. Now that Xue Rengui could not show up, another general was needed to represent the Tang Dynasty in command.

Li Ji recommended Cheng Wuting, the Right General of the Guard.

Cheng Wuting was the son of Cheng Mingzhen, and was less than 30 years old. Li Zhi thought he was too young and was afraid that he would make mistakes.

Li Ji smiled and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry. Cheng Wuting is mature beyond his years and has inherited his father's style. Moreover, his youth makes it easier for him to mislead the Tibetans and lead them to underestimate the enemy. There's no need to tell him about General Xue, so there won't be any delays."

Li Zhi then agreed and ordered someone to call Cheng Wuting over.

Cheng Wuting is a typical Tang Dynasty warrior. He has been following Cheng Mingzhen since he was a child and grew up on the border. He is strong and sturdy, and full of masculinity.

When he heard Li Zhi ask him to lead the Qiang people to fight against Tubo, he hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, how many local soldiers and horses do I have under my command?"

Li Zhi said: "No, you are only responsible for commanding the Qiang people."

Cheng Wuting waved his hands hastily, saying, "That won't do, that won't do. Barbarians only accept fists, not reason. How can they listen to me when I don't have a single soldier with me?" Li Ji glared at him and said, "How dare you bargain with His Majesty? His Majesty has issued an edict, and you should obey it. Why are you talking so much nonsense!"

Cheng Wuting muttered a few words, then bowed and said, "I will obey your orders."

Li Zhi was quite fond of his straightforward nature and said with a smile, "Just treat this as a training exercise. I will assign you fifty thousand-cow guards to protect your safety. Tuyuhun has many Tibetan spies, so you must be careful."

Cheng Wuting smiled and said, "Then I will give it a try."

The next day, under Li Ji's arrangement, Cheng Wuting invited Murong Xin, the Queen of Dongnu, and the Dangxiang envoys to a garden in the suburbs to discuss the alliance.

The three were unhappy to see that the Tang Dynasty sent a young boy, but they did not dare to say anything.

Following Li Ji's instructions, Cheng Wuting only regarded himself as a middleman to contact the three countries and let Murong Xin preside over the alliance. He just listened.

Murong Xin was not polite and assigned tasks immediately.

He asked the Dangxiang Qiang to contact the small Qiang tribes in the southeast of Qinghai Lake, raise the banner of the Tang Dynasty, and win them over to join the alliance.

At that time, they will be led by the Dangxiang Qiang as the northern army to support Bailan City.

The Dongnu Qiang wooed the small tribes in the Jinshan area and formed the southern army to support Bailan City in the north.

After everyone agreed, Queen Bin returned to a small courtyard in the south of Chang'an City, which was her temporary residence.

As soon as she passed the gate, the female guard left behind told her that someone was visiting and was waiting in the lobby. It was an acquaintance she knew.

Queen Binjiu entered the hall and saw a middle-aged man sitting in the hall waiting. He was the Tang Dynasty warrior who defeated Dubu that day.

Queen Binjiu was half surprised and half astonished, and said with a smile, "Are you here to see me on the orders of your master?"

Xue Rengui bowed and said, "General of the Thousand Oxen Guards of the Great Tang Dynasty, I greet Her Majesty the Queen."

Queen Bin was greatly surprised and said in astonishment: "You, you are the General of the Thousand Oxen Guards? Then, then who is your master..."

Xue Rengui bowed towards the north and said, "The man who met the Queen that day was none other than the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty!"

Queen Binjiu was stunned for a long while before she came to her senses and murmured, "No wonder he always calls himself the master. It turns out he is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

Thinking that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty treated him so kindly and respectfully, he felt both happy and flattered.

Xue Rengui said, "Your Majesty, I, under the command of the Saint, have an important matter to discuss with you."

The Queen's expression straightened, and she said, "The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is so sincere. Although I am a humble girl, I am willing to follow his lead and serve him. General, please speak frankly."

Xue Rengui then told him the plan.

After hearing this, Queen Bin was even more delighted. She felt that the Tang people's strategy was very brilliant and readily agreed.

Xue Rengui returned to the palace and reported to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi thought that the expedition to Tuyuhun must wait until after the first month of next year.

Right now he needs to pay attention to another thing, military rations.

There was not much food in Chang'an, and Cheng Zhijie's army was constantly consuming it. Since he had no intention of going to Luoyang, he had to solve the food transportation problem as soon as possible.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to produce a large amount of gunpowder and blow up the Sanmenxia reefs.

Recently, some ministers have noticed that he has transferred a large amount of sulfur and xiaoshi from the Imperial Medical Bureau.

These ministers did not know that he was developing gunpowder. They just thought that the emperor, despite his young age, had a tendency to become obsessed with alchemy, so they gave him subtle advice several times.

As time goes by, the matter of the tiger circle will sooner or later be known to all the civil and military officials in the court. By then, there will definitely be more ministers who will give advice and remonstrations, and their advice will be more direct.

To avoid trouble, he decided to make the matter of gunpowder public to his ministers and gain their support, which required a public test explosion.

In addition, this test explosion was not only for the ministers to see, but also to verify the power of gunpowder and whether it could break through the reefs in Shanmen Gorge!
Therefore, we need to wait a while until Lu Chengqing and Yan Liben return from their exploration of Sanmenxia and let them participate in the test explosion before we can verify this matter.

On the third day of waiting, Li Zhi received a memorial from the censor impeaching Chu Suiliang, saying that he had violated regulations by building his mansion on the wall of the city block.

The person who impeached was a censor, and it was not known whether it was Wu Meiniang who instructed him or Wang Fusheng who reminded him.

In short, Li Zhi had been waiting for this memorial.

He immediately approved the memorial and ordered the Chu Mansion to demolish the gate within three days.

This was also to tell the civil and military officials in the court that he had made up his mind not to recall Chu Suiliang.

(End of this chapter)