Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"I'm afraid it's not that simple!" Princess Pu'an's expression became serious, she waved her hand, and all the servants and maids in the room retreated, leaving only the two of them and the sisters.

"I also heard from people who came back from Anxi Army Town that although the Tubo people are barbarians, they are quite different from the Turks and Tie Le: first, the armor is strong and sharp, which is no less than that of China; Long spears but contemptible bows and crossbows; the third general is talented, brave, and disciplined. How can such a powerful enemy be intimidated by a few false words? Besides, there were only three or four thousand tents who followed your husband and wife to Liangzhou? The Tubo people really handed over the pasture land, can you let the Tuyuhun people obey your orders after you go back? Don’t ask the emperor to send troops to protect you at that time!"

"My sister said this as if our husband and wife have dragged Datang down!" Princess Xiping said angrily, "Don't forget, the reason I married Tuyuhun was for Datang, otherwise, who would want to go to a place like Hehuang? Among our sisters who were really favored by the late emperor, Gaoyang, Xiangcheng, and Changle were all married to the children of meritorious officials and stayed in Chang'an. To be honest, if I follow my heart, I would like to stay in Chang'an forever like you now, even in Liangzhou. When our husband and wife return to the land of Hehuang, Datang will have an extra layer of barriers, otherwise In a few years, the Tubo people will have another fine cavalry, and I am not the one who is upset in the end!"

Princess Pu'an was stunned by Princess Xiping's words, and she was speechless for a while. It turned out that Tang Taizong Li Shimin had many children, but he did not hold the attitude of "one bowl of water is flat" for all children. Generally speaking, Li Shimin showed a rare royal warmth to the children of the eldest grandson empress, such as Li Zhi, Li Tai, Li Chengqian, Princess Changle, Princess Xincheng, etc., while he was relatively indifferent to other children born to the concubine There are too many, and the treatment of Princess Pu'an and Princess Xiping is relatively low among concubine daughters, and they are both used as tools for political marriage.Princess Pu'an is better. She has stayed in Chang'an for most of these years. Princess Xiping is miserable. She is more than one round younger than Princess Pu'an, but it seems that Princess Pu'an is much younger than her. Obviously, this is all due to the wind and sand in the northwest.

Just as Princess Xiping said, she repeatedly asked Datang to send troops to take back Hehuang's pasture and Tuyuhun tribe for her husband, not just for their husband and wife.Due to the shortness of the horses on the plateau, the combat effectiveness of the Tibetan cavalry is mediocre, and the formidable ones are the stoic and brave heavy armored infantry. Therefore, whenever the Tibetans defeat a certain nomad, they will include them under their command as servants.If Datang sat idly by, the cavalry strength would definitely grow rapidly when Tubo finished recruiting the local Tuyuhun people in Hehuang. In the end, it was Datang himself who was unlucky.

"It makes sense for you to say so, so how about it! Tomorrow I will enter the palace to congratulate the emperor, you can go with me then, how about we sisters talk to the emperor together?"

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In the afternoon of the next day, Tai Chi Palace, Ganlu Hall.

""Now the widow's sleep is not as good as before! Li Zhi yawned, with a sleepy look on his face: "When I was a child, I played all night with my brothers, and the next day I was still full of energy. It's not like now. Last night I went to bed late last night, and it's like this now." "While speaking, Li Zhi's eyelids drooped, as if he was about to fall asleep again.

Li Zhi, Princess Pu'an, and Princess Xiping sat in the pavilion, and the maids brought out pancakes, buttermilk, soup cakes, mutton soup, pickled garlic, and boiled eggs: "There was a report two days ago, Henan With the flood, more than ten counties have lost their summer grain harvest, so the widow's meal is simplified!"

"Your Majesty always cherishes the heart of parents and treats the common people like children, and my younger sister admires them!" Princess Pu'an hurriedly said.

"My family doesn't have to be so polite!" Li Zhi said with a smile: "Jiumei, Shiqimei, you should eat some together too!"

The two princesses responded, and Princess Pu'an reached out to pick up an egg, peeled the egg and smiled, "Your Majesty, my little sister dreamed about the late Emperor last night, and I was so dazed in the dream that I couldn't remember it when I woke up." I dreamed of something, I just remember that the late emperor was very happy!"

"Oh?" Li Zhi laughed with great interest: "Yes, after the first emperor withdrew from Goguryeo, he often regretted it. If he knew it underground, he must be very happy!"

"Now that Goguryeo has been destroyed, the eastern border of the Tang Dynasty will be stable, right?" Princess Xiping interrupted, unable to hold back her temper.

"It can't be said to be stable, but there are indeed a lot of things missing!" Li Zhi stroked his beard, and his eyes stayed on Princess Xiping: "Sister Seventeen, how did you mention this?"

"Sister Seventeen is also the daughter of the late emperor. It's not unusual to think of this!" Princess Pu'an murmured inwardly. He knew that although his brother, the emperor, was kind and gentle on the outside, inwardly he tabooed the clan's meddling in the government. Every two or three years, there will be one or two cases of rebellion, and there will always be a few descendants of the Tian family involved. In fact, there are so many unscrupulous clans who want to rebel. They periodically eliminate outstanding talents who have attracted suspicion in the clan.

"Ninth Sister, I am asking Seventeenth Sister, you don't have to answer for her!" Li Zhi's voice was as gentle as usual, but Princess Pu'an felt a chill running down her spine, she lowered her head and dared not speak out.

"Ninth Sister, don't worry about me!" Princess Xiping was not afraid: "Your Majesty, I still have the same old thing. Now that Goguryeo is gone, the east side of the Tang Dynasty can be free, and when can we send troops to send us and my wife back to Hehuang. In fact, I am not for my own family. After all, Tuyuhun is in the hands of our husband and wife, and it is also the shield of Anxi Army Town in Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, if this delay continues, the Tubo people will gain a firm foothold in Hehuang, and those Tuyuhun people will become slaves. Datang's hawks and dogs have become Tubo outposts!"

Li Zhi picked up an egg and tapped it on the table twice. There were cracks in the shell of the boiled egg. He peeled the egg shell to reveal the smooth white inside.After a while, he put the peeled egg on the table: "Jiumei, for the sake of the late emperor, let's forget about today's affairs. From now on, you must be cautious in your words and deeds, and be a model for the clan!"

"Yes, yes!" Hearing Li Zhi's words, Princess Pu'an, as if she had received an amnesty, hurriedly bowed down and bowed down: "From now on, I will definitely stay behind closed doors, and I will devote myself to thinking about it and live up to Your Majesty's painstaking efforts! "

Li Zhi nodded: "Both of you go back!"

Princess Pu'an hurriedly kowtowed again, and then dragged Princess Xiping to bow twice before exiting the hall.After leaving the Ganlu Hall, she let out a long breath and complained to Princess Xiping: "Seventeenth sister, why are you bothering? Talking like this in front of His Majesty, if you and I were not women, I would have lost a hundred lives today! "

"Hmph, you are afraid of death but I am not afraid of death!"

"Is this a matter of being afraid of death?" Princess Pu'an sighed: "Forget it, it's because I didn't think carefully, but you have heard what His Majesty said just now. This is for me to hear, and it is also for me. Listen, from now on you and I must be cautious in our words and deeds, otherwise Gao Yang and the others will be a lesson for us!"

In the Ganlu Hall, Li Zhi was sitting at the table, the egg that had been peeled just now was still on the table, a layer of white fat had solidified on the mutton soup beside it, and it did not move, and the maids on both sides did not dare to show their anger. After taking a sip, I didn't dare to go forward to clean it up, I just breathed and concentrated, lest I make a little noise and cause unexpected disasters.

In fact, Li Zhi was not irritated by Princess Xiping, his action just now was not so much a punishment as a beating.He knew very well that Princess Xiping was telling the truth: Tuyuhun and the Ganqing region where it was located played a vital role in the game between the two empires of Tubo and Tang.A very important reason why the Tubo Dynasty was able to compete with the Tang Dynasty for more than 200 years, almost at the same time as the Tang Dynasty, is the geographical location of the Tubo Dynasty.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the Tubo Dynasty arose, is an extremely closed geographical unit, with the Himalayas to the southwest, the Kunlun Mountains and the Pamirs to the northwest, the Tanggula Mountains to the north, the Hengduan Mountains to the east, and the Gaoligong and Nu Mountains. The East Tibet plateau canyon area is composed of a series of mountains and valleys that gradually turn from east to west to north-south, such as the Nujiang River, the Lancang River, and the Jinsha River.

It is not difficult to see that it is extremely difficult for the Tang army to enter the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau no matter from the Guanzhong Plain, Sichuan or the Western Regions. But on the other hand, it is also very difficult for the Tubo people to project military power outward. A relatively convenient way out is the northeast direction - first cross the valley between the Tanggula Mountains and Hengduan Mountains, enter the Hehuang Valley, and conquer Tuyuhun.

Then the Tubo people have a lot of choices: go west to compete with the Tang army for the Western Regions, go northeast to cut off the Hexi Corridor, join forces with the Turks and Uyghurs on the grasslands to attack Tang’s Beiting, and go east to directly attack the Guanzhong Plain. The heartland area of ​​the Tang Empire.Therefore, Tuyuhun and the Hehuang Valley where it is located are very important to this war. If the Tubo people can gain a firm foothold in Hehuang, the Tang army will have to fortify on three sides, and they will not care about each other; Datang's loyalty, no matter how powerful the Tubo people are, it is only a minor problem on the border.

At the beginning when Tang Taizong ordered Li Jing to lead the army to defeat Tuyuhun, but married his daughter to Udi Yeba Qindou Khan who was born in Tuyuhun. The two children he gave birth also married the Tang Jincheng County Lord and Jinming County Lord respectively. The marriage tied the Tuyuhun people to the chariot of the Tang Empire and became the loyal pawns of the Tang Dynasty.Although Princess Xiping was rude in words and deeds just now, she is worthy of being the good daughter of Emperor Taizong, and she dedicated her whole life to the Tang Dynasty.

In the third year of Longshuo (AD 663), when Wang Wenzuo was beating the Baekje rebels and the Japanese allied forces in Baekje, the Tubo people sent troops to defeat the Tuyuhun people and occupied the land of Hehuang. Princess Xiping and his wife led thousands of people to flee back. Liangzhou of the Tang Dynasty (now Wuwei, Gansu Province) was protected by the Tang Dynasty, and the remaining Tuyuhun tribes were scattered all over the place.At that time, Li Zhi was concentrating on dealing with the Tie Le rebellion and the war in Liaodong, so he couldn't bring out many troops.

He had no choice but to send people to send cattle, horses and utensils to his younger sister and son-in-law who had fled back to his own side, and set aside cultivated land and pastures to keep the tribe from wandering.Naturally, the Tubo people will not be intimidated by Datang's weak accusation, and time is passing in the constant tug-of-war between the two sides.The Tubo people are concentrating on recruiting troops, arranging immigrants, building fortresses, and turning it into their new expedition base; while Datang is collecting information, hoarding food, and training the army, while planning to destroy Goguryeo, preparing to finally "show you ".Both sides think that it is not the time to go to war, and they are restraining their subordinates, so these five years have been the quietest five years in the local area.

"Xiping is right. It is indeed time to give the Tubo people some color!" Li Zhi stood up and walked to the window: "It's just who should the general choose?"

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Pyongyang.

"According to the court's decree, one person must be left as the Protector of the Protectorate of Andong to rule over the former land of Goguryeo!" Li Ji said in a deep voice. Compared to a few months ago, he was surprisingly old, and his gray hair was all white now. Now, the flabby cheeks looked a little scary. This old man reminded Wang Wenzuo of a candle that was about to burn out.

"British Duke really is running out of time!" Xue Rengui's voice came from the side: "I'm afraid it will be difficult to enter Chang'an City again!"

Wang Wenzuo turned his head helplessly, pretending that he didn't hear it. He has understood what kind of person Xue Rengui is these days.That's right, Li Ji is indeed getting old and out of shape these days, but as a subordinate, is it appropriate to openly talk about his boss like this?

"Sanlang, who do you think will be the Protector of Anton? Is it you, me, or Governor Gao?" Xue Rengui didn't seem to notice Wang Wenzuo's estrangement, and asked directly: "I think we should choose from the three of us. Although Bi He Li is older than us, he is too old. He probably will return to Chang'an to retire after this battle. Originally, I was fighting with Governor Gao, but this time, San Lang, you have made too much contribution and are qualified! "

Wang Wenzuo was disturbed by Xue Rengui's ramblings. He was thinking about how to shut up the other party, but he heard Li Ji say on it: "The imperial court ordered General Xue to return to Beijing overnight, and the imperial court has other orders. !"

"The last general obeys the order!" Xue Rengui stood up, Wang Wenzuo was taken aback, he did not expect Xue Rengui to go back so soon.Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly said that Li Ji started to cough violently. Li Jingye who was at the side hurriedly called the doctor, but he couldn't stop coughing after dealing with it for a long time, so he had to help him to the side to rest first.As soon as Li Ji left, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became lively, and someone smiled at Xue Rengui: "General Xue, the urgent call from the court must be of great use, congratulations!"