Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 609 Finding Clues

In history, Qiuci was destroyed by the Tang Dynasty in 648 AD, and the arrival of Gao Ming brought this time forward by 2 years.

"Rumble..."

With the roar of the copper cannons newly developed by the Ministry of Military Industry of the Tang Dynasty, the gate of the Xiongcheng City on the border of Kucha broke down.

As soon as the city gate was broken, the warriors of the Tang Dynasty with Mo Dao rushed forward, slaughtered all the guards at the city gate, and firmly controlled the city gate.

Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of cavalry from the Tang Dynasty rushed forward wielding spears more than one foot long, and quickly defeated the Kucha soldiers who were trying to snatch the city gate with a crushing posture.

Ashnadur charged at the front, and the spear in his hand actually pierced through three Kucha soldiers. One of them was still alive, and when Ashnadur picked him up in the air, he kept screaming.

"Uhhhhh..."

Seeing this terrifying scene, how could the Kucha soldiers in the rear dare to step forward?

Li Ji seized this opportunity decisively, and immediately ordered the infantry to follow up, and quickly occupied the tower to clear the crossbowmen on the tower.

At this point, the gate of Kucha was officially opened for Datang.

And everything that followed was logical, the cannons blasted the door, the Mo Dao soldiers guarded the gate, the cavalry rushed to kill, and the infantry occupied the building. In less than half a month, the Tang army went down several cities and pushed the soldiers directly under the royal city of Kucha. .

Now, no matter how stupid the King of Kucha was, he knew he was doomed. Unfortunately, before he had time to escape, he was tied up by his subordinate nobles and sent to Gao Ming.

Looking at the King of Kucha who was tied up in front of him, Gao Ming resisted the urge to step forward to kill him with a knife, gritted his teeth and slapped the table in front of him.

"Oh!"

The loud noise made King Qiuci tremble all over, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead in an instant.

"Big... sweaty..."

"shut up!"

Before he finished speaking, Gao Ming suddenly got up and walked directly in front of him.

"I'm not a big sweat, I'm the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time the chief general of the Tang Dynasty. This time, I came here specifically to fight against rebellion, and said, how did your 36 countries in the Western Regions collude with Yibi Shekui and Ashina Helu? The one who murdered my Emperor Tang?"

"what?"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, King Kucha, who was already trembling, suddenly went limp, fell to the ground with a "plop", and wailed loudly at the same time.

"You are wronged... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Datang, I am a small country in Kucha, and I have always looked up to Datang Tianwei. Even if you give me ten courages, I will not dare to go against Datang. You have wronged me, woo woo Woooo..."

Looking at King Qiuci who was crying on the ground with snot and tears streaming out, Gao Ming was startled for a moment, and then frowned.

"You said you didn't collude with Ashina Helu, so why did you close the city gate when you saw us coming? How should you explain this?"

"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, King Qiuci cried even harder. While wiping his tears, he spoke in a choking voice.

"Last month, the generals of the border army seized some salt tea and some silks and silks from Tang merchants without authorization. I thought you came for them, but I didn't want it to be a misunderstanding... woo woo woo... Yibi Shekui and Ashi Then He Lu has been wiped out by Datang, how could I collude with them, woo woo woo..."

"..."

Seeing the King of Kucha crying into tears, the corners of Gao Ming's mouth twitched twice, and at the same time his mind was in a mess.

At this time, there was only one question in his mind-since Datang was victorious and Yibi Shekui and Ashina Helu were wiped out, how could Li Shimin die?

Fortunately, Li Ji was by his side at this time, and after seeing Gao Ming's state, he immediately stepped forward to stop the crying King of Kucha.

"The current taxes in my Tang Dynasty are all paid by merchants. Merchants are the lifeblood of my Tang Dynasty. It is disrespectful to the country to seize their property without authorization. Now, what is the injustice? Come, take him down and wait for the prince. Your Highness, let me down!"

"promise!"

Hearing Li Ji's words, two soldiers standing at the door came in immediately and dragged the crying King of Kucha out.

After his crying gradually disappeared, Li Ji saluted Gao Ming who was frowning and thinking.

"His Royal Highness, just now you said that the 36 countries in the Western Regions colluded with Yibi Shekui and Ashina Helu to murder His Majesty. What is going on?"

Hearing Li Ji's question, and looking at Ashinasheer and Hou Junji who were showing puzzled looks at the same time, Gao Ming was silent for a while, and then slowly opened his mouth.

"During this period, the three of you are in the Wa Kingdom and the Liaodong Peninsula respectively. It is normal to not know about it. I kept it from you because I was worried about shaking the morale of the army, but now something seems wrong, so let me tell you about it!"

Speaking of this, Gao Ming organized the language, and then sent the news of Li Shimin's death with his troops back to Chang'an, and told Li Ji and others in detail.

After listening to Gao Ming's words, not only Li Ji, but also Hou Junji and Ashinadur frowned.

After a while, Li Ji bowed his hands to Gao Ming again.

"His Royal Highness, please forgive me for speaking bluntly, if His Majesty is defeated, then even if Longyou is not divided up by the 36 countries, it will definitely be occupied by the Turkic people.

But on the way, not only did we not see a single Turkic soldier, we didn’t even see a single deserter or a single corpse. In addition, what King Kucha said just now didn’t seem to be fake, so His Majesty may be… ..."

Li Ji didn't say the rest, but Gao Ming already understood, and he immediately showed a look of bewilderment.

"You mean...the old man cheated himself to death?"

Gao Ming dared to ask this question, but Li Ji didn't dare to answer it. He could only lower his head and express his acquiescence with this gesture.

Not only Li Ji, but Ashnadur and Hou Junji also bowed their heads, obviously their thoughts were the same as Li Ji's.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming carefully recalled what he had seen and heard on the road, and combined with Li Ji's words just now, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that what the other party said was right.

Feeling that his emotions were being played with, his face suddenly turned red and white, and then he slapped the table in front of him again with a "bang".

"Mo Dan, you dare to joke about this kind of thing, Li Lao Er, a stinky old man, is simply unreasonable, and he is afraid that he will not be eye-catching when he has a son..."

After scolding here, Gao Ming suddenly remembered that the scolding seems to have scolded himself, so he stopped the conversation quickly, and then took a few deep breaths to force himself to calm down before turning his head to look at Li Ji next to him.

"British Lord, what do you think should be done in this situation? Is it a retreat?"

"I'm afraid not!"

Hearing Gao Ming's question, Li Ji suddenly showed a wry smile.

"Now that the war is going well, the morale is booming, and the soldiers are all eager to make contributions. If they retreat, it may cause a lot of trouble. We can only make mistakes and take advantage of this momentum to advance westward in one fell swoop!"

"I understand, let's continue fighting!"

After listening to Li Ji's analysis, Gao Ming nodded again and waved his hand.

"We will divide into three groups and continue to advance westward. The British Duke and I will attack Yanqi, and Hou Junji and Ashnadur will attack Ruoqiang and Loulan respectively. Finally, we will be in Cheshi National Assembly Division. Let's go, finish the fight early and return early. Chang'an!"

"Yes, His Royal Highness!"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, the three agreed in unison.

After hearing what the three of them said, Gao Ming nodded again, then turned his head to look outside the tent, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Old man, you wait for me, this matter is endless!"

(End of this chapter)