The Tang Dynasty started from saving Empress Changsun

Chapter 431

Because the matter was so important, the imperial messenger rushed to Xue Yantuo at a speed of [-] miles, and it only took half a month to go back and forth for a thousand miles.

The messenger brought back two messages:
The first news is: Qibi Heli was coerced into rebellion. In order to show his loyalty to the court, he cut off one of his ears.

Hearing this news, all the previous insults against him turned into praise.

Generals and officials of foreign races are proud, Ashina's association rate is just an example, and Qibi Heli is the representative of our group.

Li Shimin was also moved and wept in public, and vowed to get Qibi Heli back.

The second piece of news made the emperor and ministers of the Tang Dynasty full of righteous indignation: Yi Nan saw that Qibi Heli could not be persuaded to surrender, so he took him as a hostage and begged to marry the princess of the Tang Dynasty.

"Jing Ke, you guessed everything right." Li Shimin said appreciatively.

On the contrary, Chen Jingke didn't take the credit: "It's actually not difficult to guess, it's just that you don't want to talk about it because of various concerns."

Many people here have smiles on their lips. In fact, this result is also in their guess.

But no one dared to bet on the possibility of the eventuality, no one wanted to be Sima Qian, all this speculation was just hidden in the heart and did not say it to the outside world.

Li Shimin naturally understood this truth, so he didn't say anything more, and instead said:

"The problem now is how to rescue General Qibi. Now all countries are paying attention to this matter. If it is not handled properly, it may become a laughing stock."

The officials were silent again, not because they had no choice but because they dared not speak.

There are only two ways to handle this:

As soon as he agreed to make a marriage, what he did was tantamount to acknowledging Xue Yantuo's right to rule in Mobei.

No one wants to be a historical sinner for raising tigers.

The most important thing is that a group of generals are staring at each other, and their eyes are green when they want to make meritorious deeds.

Whoever dares to propose marriage, they dare to fight desperately.

If you don't get married, you can only fight, but Qibi Heli is still in the hands of others, what if Yi Nan kills him?
Once this kind of thing happens, whoever proposed to fight will also be held accountable.

The current situation is that Datang must rescue Qibi Heli safely, otherwise he will lose face.

If you can't even keep such a loyal minister, who will dare to work for you in the future?
Especially the large group of foreign ministers and generals, they all waited for the court's attitude.

Chen Jingke was the most impatient to engage in such scheming, so he said directly: "There is no need to hesitate, hit."

Li Shimin shook his head and said, "It's easy to fight, but General Qibi is still in Xue Yantuo's hands, so let's be cautious."

Chen Jingke said: "Didn't you say it? Tell Yi Nan that if you dare to kill General Qibi, you will destroy his entire clan."

"And we have to fight this battle, otherwise, what if all the countries follow suit in the future?"

Wei Zheng finally opened his mouth and said, "I also agree with what the real man said. Xue Yantuo dared to take in the traitors of the Tang Dynasty, and even used his loyal ministers as a pledge to force the princess. This move is tantamount to openly rebelling against the Tang Dynasty."

"If we can't give it a head-on blow, lest other countries follow suit, it will be too late."

"So we have to fight this battle, let everyone see my attitude of Datang, and warn the latecomers."

Li Jing, who had retreated to the second line after fighting Tuyuhun and hadn't asked about the government for a long time, finally spoke:

"Xue Yantuo has actually ruled Mobei for more than ten years, and there are more than [-] people who control strings, half of the strength of Eastern Turks back then."

"Yi Nan's ambitions also swelled accordingly. He wanted to be the real lord of the grassland, and wanted to be on an equal footing with Datang."

"If my Tang Dynasty agrees to his marriage, the grassland will no longer be owned by the Central Plains in ten years."

Seeing him open his mouth, Li Shimin was overjoyed, and quickly asked, "Does Duke Wei have a good strategy?"

Li Jing said: "I agree with Chen Zhenren's opinion, this battle must be fought."

"But for the safety of General Qibi, the intensity of the war must be controlled."

"I want to hurt him, but I can't push Yi Nan into a hurry, and do the act of breaking the boat."

Li Shimin thinks so, but in fact this is also his attitude, fighting is necessary, the question is to what extent.

In fact, even if there was no such thing, Datang would still go to war with Xue Yantuo, and he was even ready to destroy his country.

It's just that because of this incident, I had to change my plan and beat him up instead.

So, Yi Nan saved his life by mistake.

The military naturally agreed with this new plan.

Regardless of whether the country can be destroyed or not, there is a battle before we talk about it.

The question now is who to send to fight this battle.

There are many generals who can defeat Xue Yantuo, but it is not easy to control the intensity of the war just right.

Li Shimin pondered for a while, and said to Li Jing, "Would the Duke of Wei be willing to be in command?"

Li Jing shook his head and said: "Although I have this heart, I am afraid that I will not be able to experience the wind and frost of the grassland when I am old."

In fact, Li Shimin just asked symbolically, and did not actually dispatch him, so he didn't say anything more after hearing the words.

After scanning around, his eyes finally settled on Li Ji: "Mao Gong, you are the only one to go on this trip."

Li Ji stood up and said, "Here, I will live up to the trust of the sage."

Later, Hou Junji and Ashinasheer were appointed as deputy generals, and seven or eight generals were drawn from the rear of each army to accompany them.

Then a total of 5000 people from thirteen Zhechong prefectures were transferred to the grassland.

At the same time, the envoy of Datang set off to Xue Yantuo again, conveying the will of Li Shimin, the sage of Tian Khan and Datang.

Either hand over the traitor and send Qibi Heli back, or see the truth on the battlefield.

If he dared to harm General Qibi's family, he would take the lives of the three Yinan clansmen, and if he harmed General Qibi, he would be buried with the whole Yinan clan.

Hearing this news, most people in Xue Yantuo were filled with righteous indignation and demanded to kill the envoy and Qibi Heli's family one after another.

Most of these people are the younger generation who have risen in the past ten years, and have not experienced the Tang Dynasty's war against the Eastern Turks more than ten years ago.

I don't know much about Datang's combat effectiveness.

There are also a small number of people who are worried. It is best not to provoke Tang Dynasty if he is too strong.

Even if you really want to fight this battle, don't do it to the extreme, it won't be too late to deal with Qibi after the war is over.

The underlying meaning is that if we agree to everything, we can talk about it, and if we lose, we still have a bargaining chip.

Most of these are old people, and many of them even participated in the battle to destroy the Eastern Turks as an attached army. They know better than anyone else the fear of the Tang army's combat effectiveness.

The Tang army is less than ten thousand and invincible.

Behind this sentence are countless real achievements, otherwise how could it be spread so widely.

The Tang army has always fought with one against ten, ten to one is evenly matched, five to one is superior, and one to one is abuse.

Yi Nan didn't expect that Datang would take such a violent approach, and felt a little regretful in his heart.

However, he is also the hero of the first generation, and he quickly drove out these negative emotions, feeling a little excited deep in his heart.

He experienced the rule of East Turkic Jieli Khan, and later took the lead in opposing Jieli's joining the Tang camp, and gradually developed Xue Yantuo into the current Lord of Mobei.

But Mo Bei couldn't hold his ambition anymore, he wanted more.

Monan is the next step of his strategic goal, so that he can sit on the entire grassland and desert and become the second East Turkic.

But he knew very well that if he wanted to do this, he had to fight Tang Jun.

If you win, you will have follow-up, if you lose, you will lose everything, so he has been cautious before.

Now that Qibi Heli is in hand, he can give it a try, even if he loses, he can still use him as a bargaining chip.

What?You said that with a general as a hostage, you can write about the entire Tang Dynasty?
Isn't this nonsense.

But Yi Nan believed in Li Shimin, aside from leaving the scene, he admired and trusted Li Shimin very much.

This man will not abandon his ministers who are loyal to him.

What's more, the atmosphere has been enhanced to such a degree, even if it's for the sake of face, Qibi Heli must be rescued.

Let's have a fight then, he thought excitedly.

After that, he made the final decision and hit.

"But the battlefield can't be placed in Mobei, it will have too much impact on the people of Xue Yantuo."

"We took the initiative to cross the buffer zone and enter Monan, placing the battlefield on the border of the Turks."

"If we win, we can also take Dingxiang City and complete the unification of Mobei and Monan."

"Before the arrival of the Tang army, we will take an important piece of land in Monan and use it as a base to fight against the Tang army."

Hearing these words, Xue Yantuo's tribe screamed excitedly.

Afterwards, Yinan dispatched troops and generals, mobilizing [-] troops to go south to Monan.

On the other hand, the East Turkic people also knew that Datang and Xue Yantuo were about to go to war, and the first thing Li Simo, the Khan, was to pack up his belongings and prepare to run away.

He not only cleans up by himself, but also lets the tribe directly under him clean up.

His subordinates were puzzled, and said: "Khan, if we escape, I'm afraid it will upset Khan."

Li Simo said: "You don't understand, the grassland and desert environment is harsh, I was not willing to let the tribes come here to suffer, but God Khan ordered me to follow."

"Now this is a good opportunity to move the tribe to the south of the Yellow River by avoiding Xue Yantuo."

"When the war is over, I will go to Chang'an and cry, begging Tian Khan to let us stay in the south of the Yellow River."

The subordinate suddenly realized, and said in admiration, "Khan is brilliant."

Li Simo was not happy, but said seriously: "It's useless to just cry and complain, and you have to have credit."

"So only the common people can evacuate, and all the empty-handed people stay to fight together."

"Whether our clansmen can stay in the south of the Yellow River depends on whether everyone is brave enough to fight."

All the subordinates took orders solemnly, and said: "Please rest assured, Khan, the subordinates will fight to the death."

Li Simo was very pleased.

At this time, someone hesitated and said, "Do you want to inform other tribes?"

Li Simo didn't answer, but another person said: "It's impossible for Tian Khan to let all the tribes stay in Monan."

Everyone understands the underlying meaning, and they may come back together in the end.

As the saying goes, dead friends don't die poor people, so let's talk about it if you want to take care of yourself.

Li Simo didn't answer, which is actually what he meant.

His Eastern Turkic Khan was appointed by Li Shimin and was not recognized by the ministries.

The reason is simple, his blond hair and blue eyes look exactly like those of the barbarians, and he is too different among a group of black-haired and black-eyed people.

At that time, some people had suspected that he was born by his mother in an affair with a barbarian.

It's just that there is no evidence, and no one can draw conclusions.

But his father didn't like him very much, he didn't give him any power at all, he just made him a civil servant in charge of logistics.

After his father died, he was assigned a tribe according to the grassland rules, and he officially owned his own tribe.

But even so, he was a marginal figure in the East Turkic system.

Because of this, he was the first to belong to Li Tang, and was also named the king of Huaihua County.

However, he is also worthy of this title and has made great achievements for Datang.

I belong to the kind of people who are very confident and dare to fight to the death.

Last year, Li Shimin moved the rest of the Eastern Turks to Monan and appointed him as Turkic Khan.

It's just that the other ministries still don't like him very much, and he, the khan, can't speak loudly enough.

It is precisely because of this that at critical moments, he only needs to consider the tribe directly under him, and other tribes can do whatever they want.

Even if they were all dead, if he lived in Chang'an, he would still be the respected king of Huaihua County.

However, Li Simo was not such a villain after all. At the critical moment, he still notified the other ministries to beware of Xue Yantuo's surprise attack.

The move did save quite a few appointments.

But in the buffer zone of Monan and Mobei, looking at the empty market, recalling the excitement here before, Li Xiaoyi jumped up angrily.

"My blood, hateful Xue Yantuo, I will destroy it."

Wang Fangyi laughed and said: "This battle is inevitable, this market must be evacuated, you should have been mentally prepared."

Li Xiaoyi said: "If you are prepared, you are prepared, but it should be uncomfortable, you don't understand this feeling."

Wang Fangyi said: "Okay, stop the ink, it's time for us to act."

Li Xiaoyi nodded, jumped on the horse and said, "I didn't expect the opportunity to imitate Duke Wei to come so soon."

Wang Fangyi nodded and asked, "Is the news reliable?"

Li Xiaoyi said: "Really, I went to Dingxiang City, intercepted two waves of envoys, and asked them clearly about the location of King Xue Yantuo's tent and General Qibi."

"The guides who lead the way have also been found. They are all businessmen who often travel to and from Mobei, and they are very familiar with the terrain there."

Wang Fangyi said happily: "That's good, our discussion is not in vain, if this matter can be achieved, it will be no problem for you and me to be named Marquis and Prime Minister."

Yes, they don't engage in the market to make money, or to say that making money is just incidental.

The real function is to inquire about Xue Yantuo's news through the forum.

A few months was enough for them to get a clear picture of Xue Yantuo's situation.

Not only that, but also bought many Xue Yantuo people to be the leading party.

It's all about preparing for this day.

Huo Qubing ran thousands of miles to attack, and Duke Wei attacked King Jieli's tent at night.

Today, I, Wang Fangyi and Li Xiaoyi, will lead a thousand riders to raid Xue Yantuo's tent and rescue General Qibi, a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty.

However, Wang Fangyi had more concerns and asked, "Does the British Association agree with our plan?"

Li Xiaoyi smiled and said: "What are you worried about, the sage gave us some advice back then."

Wang Fangyi hesitated: "But this self-professional persuasion was given at the last station, and the form is different now."

Li Xiaoyi said: "The problem is, the saint didn't take back his full strength, did he? I know what you are worried about, don't worry, nothing will happen."

Then he lowered his voice and said, "I'll tell you some top-secret news. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has also come to the front line. With him here, what are you worried about?"

(End of this chapter)