At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 817
In September of the third year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, the westerly wind was strong and the wind was deserted. A majestic Tang army marched along the Weishui River from west to east, and came straight to Chang'an. The team stretched for more than ten miles.I saw the flags unfurling, covering the sky and the sun, and the swords and guns like forests, reflecting the coldness of the sun. From the cold and firm eyes of the soldiers, and the strong murderous aura emanating from their bodies, we can know that this is a powerful army that is invincible across the battlefield. Iron-Blooded Master.

Under the flying flag of handsome, Li Shimin is dressed all over his body, riding on a magnificent white horse, with a waist knife on his left side and a pair of bows and arrows on his right side. The short beards under his jaw are like steel needles. Standing upright, his face is cold and hard, his eyes are radiant, and he is not angry, and his whole body seems to have a smell of iron and blood.

At the beginning of this year, Qin Wang Li Shimin, who had only been married to the Turkic princess Ashina Hemin for three months, was ordered to conquer Xiliang Ligui and regain his military power.

At the beginning of February, Li Shimin led an army of [-] from Chang'an, first to Tianshui County, then north to Jincheng (Lanzhou), and sent troops to attack Xiping County. Li Gui's younger brother Li Mao led an army of [-] to fight, including [-] Xiliang cavalry .

Li Shimin fought hard for more than a month, and over ten battles, big and small, finally defeated Li Limao, occupied Xiping County, captured more than [-] enemies, and captured more than a thousand horses.Li Mao was defeated and fled to Wuwei County, and Li Shimin took advantage of the momentum to take Xihai County, and his army was greatly shocked.

After losing two counties in a row, Li Gui was a little panicked. In addition, it happened to be a famine year, and the people under his rule fluctuated, and there was even a tragedy of cannibalism. Fighting fiercely with the Tang army in Wuwei County, the two sides won each other and were deadlocked.

Li Shimin's expedition is very long and the supply line is very long. If he can't fight for a long time, it will be extremely unfavorable to him. Moreover, the environment in the Hexi area is harsh. If it drags on to the cold winter, there is no need to fight. It is better to go back to the court directly.

But just when Li Shimin and his soldiers were feeling troubled, an official named An Xinggui recommended himself and offered a plan to Li Shimin. After hearing this, Li Shimin was overjoyed and immediately adopted this person's plan.

It is said that this An Xinggui is a barbarian who worked as a small official in Chang'an. Since he was born in Hexi and is very familiar with the local area, Fang Xuanling suggested that Li Shimin bring this person with him, but he did not expect it to come in handy.

This An Xinggui has an elder brother named An Xiuren, who happens to be an official under Li Gui's command, and his official position is not low.During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Hexi region connected the Western Regions and the Turks, and there were many Hu people living here. Liang Shuo, Li Gui’s mastermind, saw the hidden dangers and reminded Li Gui to beware of the Hu people, after all, they were not my race. His heart must be different.

Liang Shuo also offended the Hu people's elite group headed by An Xiuren, so An Xinggui suggested that Li Shimin use this to provoke the Hu people under Li Gui's rule to rebel, and An Xinggui even volunteered to contact his Brother An Xiuren.

Let’s say that after An Xinggui ran to Liangzhou (Zhangye), he found his elder brother An Xiuren in the name of seeking refuge. An Xiuren recommended An Xinggui to Li Gui, and the latter actually appointed An Xinggui. It can be seen that This person's eloquence is indeed quite good, and he actually tricked Li Gui into appointing him.

After An Xinggui became an official under Li Gui's command, it became more convenient for him to act. First, he conspired with his elder brother An Xiuren to overthrow Li Gui's mastermind, Liang Shuo. killed.

After An Xinggui succeeded in getting rid of Liang Shuo, he started to provoke the barbarians in the army to rebel, while Li Shimin took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, and finally defeated the Xiliang army and took Wuwei County. Turkic, however, was caught by the An brothers and turned to Li Shimin's seat.

In this way, it took Li Shimin only a few months to pacify the Hexi area, and another month to control the five Hexi counties. However, he was still not satisfied, and led the Tang army to continue westward, taking down Dunhuang County, Iraq Wu County, Shanshan County, and Qiemo County expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty by thousands of miles.

After the news spread back to Chang'an, the whole city of Chang'an was in a state of flux, and the prestige of Qin Wang Li Shimin was even more powerful, not only overshadowing the crown prince Li Jiancheng, but even the emperor Li Yuan was overshadowed by it.

Having such a capable son, Li Yuan was both happy and had a headache. Alas, at the beginning, he was worried that his second son Li Shimin was too capable, made too much contribution, and had too high a prestige. He would eventually threaten the status of the prince and cause the tragedy of brotherly cannibalism. He planned to hide Li Shimin in the snow, but Gao Qi was too strong and suppressed Li Tang everywhere, making Li Yuan sleepless. In desperation, he had no choice but to adopt Li Shimin's strategy and attack Li Gui westward to solve the problem of the shortage of war horses.

Sure enough, Li Shimin lived up to expectations, not only pacified Li Gui, but also overfulfilled the task, won the four counties of the Western Regions, and expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty by thousands of miles.
So Li Yuan was very entangled, the reward was too low, and he was afraid that the second son Li Shimin and his soldiers would be upset, and the reward was too high, and he was afraid that the crown prince Li Jiancheng would have ideas.

Li Yuan thought about it, and finally appointed Li Shimin as Tiance Admiral, with a rank of first rank, the highest rank among generals, even above the three lords and the three orphans. In this way, the Tiance Mansion, which is famous in history, was born , and Li Shimin also gained the capital to be on an equal footing with Prince Li Jiancheng.

For a time, two factions formed in the Tang Dynasty, one was the princeling party headed by Prince Li Jian, and the other was the Tiance Mansion headed by Qin King Li Shimin, and hidden dangers were laid.

Li Yuan was originally a clever emperor, but he was not decisive enough after all. His palms and backs were full of flesh, and he couldn't bear to hurt anyone. In the end, he planted the fuse of fratricide, and he had to taste the bitter fruit in his later years!

Let’s say that Li Shimin led the victorious army to return triumphantly and walked near the west gate of Chang’an City, but there were crowds of people on both sides of the road, and everyone stretched their necks to watch. When Li Shimin passed by, these proud people even fell to their knees and shouted: "King Qin is a thousand years old!"

Looking at the countless people kneeling on the ground, Li Shimin couldn't help feeling proud. He smiled and waved his hands, and the people at the scene became even more excited.

Hou Junji, Liu Hongji, Shi Danei, Yin Kaishan, Qu Tutong and other generals held their heads high and proudly proud.Only Fang Xuanling and Changsun Shunde looked calm, and there was a trace of hidden worry in the former's eyebrows.

"Brother, look at Li Shimin's complacency, I'm afraid he already regards himself as the emperor!" Li Yuanji looked at him coldly, and whispered indignantly.

Li Jiancheng frowned and reprimanded in a low voice: "Yuan Ji, don't talk nonsense!"

Li Yuanji snorted slightly, with an unhappy expression on his face. He didn't want to go out of the city to meet Li Shimin, but he was dragged here by his elder brother Li Jiancheng. Now he is annoyed seeing Li Shimin's happy appearance.

Li Jiancheng said in a deep voice: "Yuan Ji, don't start conflicts when you see Shimin later, he is also your elder brother after all."

Li Yuanji curled his lips and said: "He is a bastard, not my elder brother, my only elder brother is you!"

"Yuanji!" Anger appeared in Li Jiancheng's eyes, and Li Yuanji snorted when he saw this: "Okay, I just don't quarrel with Li Shimin, who knows that he is now the general of Tiance, and he has a lot of talents under him. If you offend him, you may be offended one day." He was hacked to death by his arrogant soldiers!"

Li Jiancheng frowned, his heart trembling slightly, but at this time Li Shimin had fallen off his horse and strode towards this side, Li Yuanji immediately shut up, pretending that I was here to make soy sauce.

"Shimin has met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" Li Shimin walked up to him, bowed his fists and saluted.

Li Jiancheng looked at his second younger brother, who was full of spirits and was not angry and pretentious. He was undoubtedly in a complicated mood. He smiled and said, "Shimin has worked hard. Congratulations on the victory. You have opened up the territory for my Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin hurriedly said: "It all depends on the emperor's strategizing, the prince's benevolence, and the soldiers fighting bravely with their lives. The people of the world dare to take credit for it!"

Li Yuanji curled his lips, and thought to himself: "Hypocrisy!"

Li Jiancheng held Li Shimin's hand, hugged him vigorously, and said with a smile: "Shimin is humble, father is still waiting in the palace, let's go, let's go into the city."

"Okay!" Li Shimin nodded, his eyes swept over Li Yuanji like lightning, the latter couldn't help but feel a little shudder, and was frightened by the former's eyes, subconsciously stood up straight, and put away his cynical look.

A trace of sarcasm flashed in Li Shimin's eyes, and he and his elder brother Li Jiancheng walked towards the city gate with arms. He and Li Yuanji were already in conflict.

Li Yuanji's face turned red immediately, and he was startled and angry, angry and ashamed, grandma, Li Yuanji, Li Yuanji, you really are getting better and better, and Li Shimin's eyes frightened you. Afraid of his ball ah.

Li Yuanji comforted himself in his heart, but in the end he didn't dare to speak rudely, but he hated it even more in his heart, and secretly became vigilant. Now that he and Li Shimin have such a quarrel, if Li Shimin takes the throne in the future, he will still have a good life ?
Thinking of this, Li Yuanji sweated in his heart, and his gaze towards Li Shimin's back naturally showed a bit of sternness.Fang Xuanling and Changsun Shunde looked at each other and frowned at the same time, obviously they both caught the murderous intent in Li Yuanji's eyes.

In addition, after Li Shimin entered the city, he visited his father Li Yuan in the advanced palace, reported the situation of the expedition, and offered the captive Li Gui.Li Yuan was overjoyed and ordered someone to push Li Gui outside the Meridian Gate and behead him. He then held a banquet for his son and the generals to wash away the dust.

After the banquet, Li Shimin returned to the Qin Palace, and his pregnant wife He Min went out to greet him.Seeing his wife with a big belly and a smiling face like a flower, Li Shimin couldn't help feeling a little dazed, thinking, if Wugou hadn't been snatched away by Gao Changqing, it would be Wugou who went out to greet him triumphantly at this moment, how wonderful it would be!

Thinking of this, Li Shimin couldn't help feeling pain in his heart, and secretly clenched his fists.

(End of this chapter)