A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1105: Meeting with the Chief Manager
Imperial City, the Yamen of the Ministry of War.

Rumors spread throughout the city that Hou Junji was about to take command of the Western Expedition, sending an army of 200,000 infantry and cavalry. But at this time, the real commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, Wu Huaiyu, was formally meeting with the generals of his Western Expedition team in the Yamen of the Ministry of War.

"Tong Zhongshu Menxia Ping Zhangshi, Minister of the Ministry of War, and General Manager of Jiaohe Road Wu Huaiyu!"

When Wu Huaiyu walked into the hall, a group of generals had already gathered together.

Today, Wu Huaiyu also specially wore some silk armor dresses, which looked very powerful but also very comfortable.

He walked up to the middle and sat down.
All the generals got up and signed up one after another.

"General Zuo Yulin and Deputy General Manager of Jiaohe Road, Cheng Zhijie, pay homage to the General Manager." Old Cheng is in good spirits and does not look like he was drunk yesterday. This guy has great recovery power. Wu Huaiyu still has a little headache now. .

"The Governor of Yaozhou, General You Xiaowei, and Su Dingfang, the general manager of the forward, pay their respects to the general manager."

Senior brother Su Dingfang was also in high spirits, and it was obvious that he was lying under the desk after being forced to do so yesterday.

"Wu Huaiyi, the general of the right prison gate and the commander-in-chief of the Chinese army,"

"General of the Zuo Tun Guard and General Manager of the Right Front Army Qiu Xinggong,"

"General Wuhou on the left and Li Xiuxing, general manager of the rear army on the right,"

"Fan Xing, the general of the Zuojianmen and the commander-in-chief of the Zuojun of the Zuochao,"

"General Youwuwei, General Manager Niu Jinda of Youxiang Youjun,"

"General Zuo Xiaowei and Liu Lancheng, the commander-in-chief of Zuo Yuhou Army,"

"Greetings to the Chief Steward!"

Except for Guo Xiaoke, the Protector of Anxi who was still in Yizhou in the Western Region and the commander-in-chief of Youyuhou Army, the rest of the generals for the Western Expedition were basically here.

Brothers Wu Huaiyu and Wu Huaiyi went into battle together,
Moreover, his four adopted sons, Huaishuo Town General Yuwen Chengdu, Wuchuan Town General An Lushan, Prince Zuowei led Yifu Zhonglang General Pang Xiaotai, Prince Youwei led Yifu Zhonglang General Shi Shouxin, all were named four this time. Participated as the vanguard general manager of the Xiang Army.

The lineup is luxurious and can be called an all-star lineup.

Especially since these people are all members of Wu Huaiyu, the outside world may even give them a martial arts status, so there is no need to worry about command this time.

This was Wu Huaiyu's special request when he had a private confrontation with the emperor. Only after the emperor agreed did he dare to say in public in the Golden Palace that only eight thousand fine cavalry could capture Yugu and destroy Gaochang, and he even dared to issue a military order.
His confidence did not come from Yiwu Dao, nor from Yiwu City, nor from the eight thousand elite cavalry of the Forbidden Army promised by the emperor.
The real confidence came from the emperor's willingness to let him form this luxurious team of generals for the Western Expedition.

Any of these guys, picked out at random, are all figures who can dominate the Tang Dynasty's borderlands.

Let's talk about Su Dingfang. In history, one man destroyed three kingdoms and captured three kings.

Needless to say, Cheng Yaojin, a fierce general who founded the country through hundreds of battles, also commanded the conquest of the Western Turks in history.

Fan Xing, Qiu Xinggong, Li Xiuxing, etc. are all veterans of battles and have made outstanding achievements.
The generals here, in addition to being such-and-such governor, such-and-such general, and generals, most of them are also princes and county princes.
Either the honors of Shangzhu Kingdom or the honors of Zhuguo are hung on his body.

An Lushan and the others were juniors, but they had been guarding northern Xinjiang for more than ten years and were well-known young generals. They also had the title of Zhuguo.

So luxurious.

"Shi Douxi, the marching commander of Jiaohe Road, paid homage to the chief steward,"

"Sima Gao, who is marching to Jiaohe Road, pays homage to the general manager,"

Two purple-robed civil servants were more conspicuous among the silk-armored generals, one old and one young. Dou Dan was the emperor's consort, the emperor's brother-in-law, and Zong Zhengqing.

Gao Luxing is the emperor's son-in-law, the eldest son of Gao Shilian, the Right Prime Minister, and the current Minister of the Imperial Guards.

These two consorts went out with the army and held civilian positions. In fact, they must have had some sense of supervising the army.

Wu Huaiyu didn't care and nodded politely to the two of them.

"Gentlemen, please sit down."

Wu Huaiyu asked someone to fetch a map of the Western Regions.
Today is the meeting after the formal formation of the Western Expedition team, and it is also the first military meeting.

Now it is said that they will send troops after autumn and only attack Gaochang, but in fact Wu Huaiyu and the others will send troops quietly soon, cross the moraine in early summer, and launch a sudden attack, and the first sword will be to kill Yugushe.

Wu Huaiyu showed a fish charm to everyone.
The two halves of the fish talisman have merged into one.

This is a complete military leadership talisman, and there is also a seal from the general manager of the Jiaohe Road march.

There was also a ring-headed sword bestowed upon him by the emperor.

And the military drum and drum.

"Deputy General Manager Cheng Zhijie came forward,"

Lao Cheng stood up and strode forward.

Lu Chengqing and Yang Hongli, the ministers of the Ministry of War, also came over. One of them took out a military order, and the other took out a talisman.

"On behalf of the Emperor and the imperial court, I grant you the talisman."

Lao Cheng took it solemnly,

One by one, the generals awarded the talisman.

With the talisman in hand, they are the real marching commanders and can control their own soldiers.

This time the troops are dispatched, the Seventh Army will still be the system.

The four armies on the front, rear, left and right, plus the armies of the Marquis of Yu on the left and right, and the central army. Originally, a complete main battle corps should have 20,000 troops, 4,000 in the center, 2,800 in the left and right armies of the Marquis of Yu, and 2,060 in each of the four armies on the left and right.

There will also be a certain number of auxiliary troops.

But this time Wu Huaiyu only wanted eight thousand, and the emperor gave an additional eight thousand.

Sixteen thousand elite cavalry were mobilized from the four armies of Bei Yafu in Chang'an, and then eight thousand elite cavalry from Nan Yafu soldiers were transferred to Longyou Shuofang, Hexi Province.

On the Yiwu side, there will be 4,000 Yiwu troops, Sogdian Hu soldiers, etc. as auxiliary troops to assist.

Therefore, after Wu Huaiyu arrived in Yiwu, the actual number was 20,000.

Although the number of soldiers and horses in this expedition is not large, these 16,000 elite cavalry are actually quite impressive. Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there has been no shortage of pastures and war horses, especially now, there are 6.7 million in the country. In addition to the hundreds of thousands of imperial soldiers and frontier soldiers, there are more than 800,000 war horses in stock.
The Song Dynasty could only weep silently in envy at the number of war horses.

Below the seven military commanders, there are three sub-generals each.

Consort Dou gave him a list of 2,000 horses drawn from the four armies of Bei Ya by the emperor. Each man was equipped with three horses, which was extremely luxurious.

Looking at Dou's consort, Wu Huaiyu felt a little nostalgic for Dou Lu Huairang, who was still in Lingnan at this time. That consort had a better relationship with him.

It's a pity that I didn't have the opportunity to participate in the Western Expedition this time.

Wu Huaiyu glanced around and saw that the emperor was very supportive of him this time, saying that if there were eight thousand elite cavalry, there would be no moisture.

The Imperial Guards from Yulin and Longwu Army were already elite.

The prince-in-law handed over another list, which was the weapons and equipment Wu Huaiyu had previously applied to the emperor. They were mainly the divine machine firearms from the divine machine workshop, various palm thunders, sky-shattering thunders, and a batch of three-eyed fire blunderbuss. , explosive packs, and also applied for a large amount of black powder.

These are his trump cards to destroy Yugushe and destroy Gaochang Kingdom.

Gao's consort was Wei Qing, who was in charge of the weapons and equipment of the Tang Dynasty. As a marching Sima, he did not hide anything for himself. Wu Huaiyu gave him whatever he wanted. Not only did he not discount it, he basically gave him a lot more, and even took out some money. A batch of firearms that are still being tested,
As the son-in-law of the emperor and the son of the prime minister, the Consort Gao also wanted to make a difference. After finally winning the post of Sima of the Western Expedition this time, he must also want to contribute and get some credit.

"We have Lao Dou, Chief Shi, and Gao Sima."

Gao was very satisfied that Wu Huaiyu called him Gao Sima instead of Gao Consort, "I am also a member of the Western Expeditionary Army, so I naturally have to contribute. It just so happens that I am Wei Weiqing in charge of military equipment. I must find some convenience for ourselves."

Everyone laughed together.

Gao Jixi's words were supported by Cheng Yaojin and other generals, who immediately regarded the emperor's son-in-law as one of their own.

The military symbols and seals are in place, and the soldiers, horses and weapons are all in place.
The most important thing now is to formulate a combat plan and select a date for dispatching troops.

"Plan? There is no need for any plan at all, and there is no need to choose an auspicious day to make a big splash. What we want is to catch them by surprise.

Therefore, the sooner the troops are dispatched, the better, and they have to be silent. As for the battle plan, after crossing the moraine, eight thousand riders will fight all the way to Yugu and set up the Khan Court. "

Wu Huaiyu's words not only did not make the fierce generals such as Old Cheng Fanxing frown and object, but they were also very popular with them.

No one felt that Wu Huaiyu was underestimating the enemy, but they all felt that this was how the war should be fought.

It's just a Yugushe. Regardless of how he dominated the Western Regions, the Tang Dynasty did not recognize him as Yibidulu Khan, and did not call him Ashina's name. It just called him when he was guarding Mobei for DTZ. Official position.

Yugushe couldn't even defeat Xue Yantuo Yinan. He couldn't survive in Mobei, so he lost his position and ran to the Western Regions. He took advantage of the chaos and gained the name of Khan.
Do you really think you are so great?
Lao Cheng even thought that if he took eight thousand Jingqi, he could destroy Yu Gushe.

"The key to dispatching troops this time is speed and stealth."

"If we do these two things, we will win."

Consort Dou smiled at the side and said, "We have all the troops, horses, weapons and so on. I saw that the day after tomorrow will be an auspicious day and the weather will be good."

"It just so happens that His Majesty plans to go hunting in Longzhou and has chosen to leave the day after tomorrow."

Wu Huaiyu understood the meaning of these words.
Li Shimin pretended that he was going to Longzhou for hunting, but in fact he was covering for them and brought eight thousand elite cavalry of the Forbidden Army to Longguan.
At that time, these accompanying imperial troops will be able to immediately go to the front line of the Western Region without anyone noticing.

"The most important thing in sending troops this time is speed, so I have a request."

Wu Huaiyu looked around at the generals,
"I know that when soldiers of the Tang Dynasty go to war, it is customary to bring their children to volunteer for the war. This is also an opportunity for their children to perform meritorious service, but this time the situation is different,"

"What we want this time is stealth and speed, so our disciples cannot accompany the camp, and we cannot bring more troops with us,"

"If you really want to lead the disciples, you can, but they have to set up a separate camp and are not allowed to operate together with the main camp. They can follow later. After we raid the Yugu Khan Court,

In the follow-up battle to destroy Gaochang, these tribes' Qudi camp can join forces with the Tibetan cavalry,"

It is very common for the Tang army to have their brothers join the expedition, and sometimes these irregular volunteers are even more numerous than the main force. The Tang army also likes to use a large number of Tibetan tribesmen in foreign wars. This style of play is generally very good.

But this time, Wu Huaiyu wanted to be quick and secretive, so he didn't take them with him if he could. But he also knew this tradition, so he asked them to form another camp and follow them later. They would still be able to catch up with Gaochang and fight in the same way. It can also make meritorious deeds.

Lao Cheng immediately laughed, patted his chest and said, "I support the general manager. Each general manager can lead up to twenty elite troops this time, and the sub-general can lead up to ten. As for the captains, brigade commanders, and team commanders below the sub-general, If you have a leader, you can lead six, four, and two elite troops respectively. They must be good at riding and shooting, and they must have good war horses that can keep up."

Lao Cheng's words seemed to be in agreement with Wu Huaiyu, but in fact they were just another small opening.

The so-called elite Buqu can actually be his own children, just use the name Buqu, but he also specifically added a limit.

This not only takes care of the selfishness of the generals, but also does not affect the march.

Wu Huaiyu understood, but nodded, agreeing.

"Then get ready and go hunting with His Majesty Longzhou the day after tomorrow."

"One thing is that everyone must keep it strictly confidential. Anyone who leaks any information will be dealt with according to military law."

(End of this chapter)