A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1118: Sleepless Night

When the generals received the order, they could not wait to gather their troops and set out without hesitation, not even taking a night's rest.

"It's not too late to rest when the mission is accomplished," Old Cheng jumped on his horse. The Gongyue City in the north was already in his pocket.

Wu Huaiyu reminded Cheng Yaojin, "Don't underestimate the enemy. If the enemy resists, let the Shenji Camp take action."

"Don't worry, I will go ahead and open Gongyue City for the chief steward, slaughter cattle and cook sheep, and prepare the bed to welcome you."

"Okay, I set out yesterday morning. Also, maintain military discipline, do not kill prisoners, do not plunder, and do not rape."

Old Cheng patted his chest and promised, then he kicked his horse's belly, shouted loudly, and led his army off.

He sent Cheng Yaojin to attack Gongyue City, and sent Su Dingfang to attack the Tuqishi Alishi tribe in Jieshan.
Then my father-in-law Fan Xing led his troops to the Tuqishi Suogemohe tribe in the upper reaches of the Yili River.
When the troops set out in a mighty force,
Dou Dan also packed up. He led a hundred cavalrymen and headed to Shuiqianquan in Suiye to personally meet the Khan of Nanting of the Western Turkic Khanate, Shaboluoyehu Khan, and Ashina Bobu.

"I wish you a safe journey, Mr. Dou."

"Well, with General Su leading the way in front, I should have no obstacles on this trip," Prince Consort Dou was very courageous. It took a lot of courage to lead more than a hundred riders through the territory of the Turks.

The Beiting Ranch in the west of Mount Dianhe suddenly became deserted.

The troops were dispatched in four directions.

Cheng Yaojin went to Gongyue City to find the Gongyue tribe, Niu Jinda went to Shuanghe Chishi tribe, Su Dingfang went to Jieshan to find the Turkic Alishi tribe, and Fan Xing went to the upper reaches of the Yili River to find the Turkic Suogemohe tribe.

The four generals each led 3,000 Tang cavalry and a varying number of surrendered Western Turkic soldiers.

At this time, there were still 4,000 Tang cavalry in the Khan's court.

As well as the old, weak, women and children, and young and strong Turkic people in the Khan's court have been recruited to serve as four generals.

Make a pot of tea.

Sitting on the grass outside the golden tent,
Looking at the snow-capped peaks in the distance,
Looking at the cattle and sheep on the green grassland, the herdsmen's tents, and the old herdsmen, their wives, and children who stayed behind, they were undisturbed and still repeating their daily lives.

An Lushan, who was as fat as a bear, came over.

"Father, are you feeling bored? I'll go to the back and find some beauties from Yugu to drink with you."

Wu Huaiyu criticized him, "I think you are the one who is bored and wants to test the law?"

"I dare not, but I just asked Yu Gushe, and he said that many tribes on the grassland have the tradition of entertaining guests with their wives and daughters. Yu Gushe also has many wives, concubines, maids and daughters. He is willing to entertain the foster father with the highest etiquette of the tribe. His wives, concubines and daughters are up to the foster father to choose, and he can keep whoever he likes as his companion."

"Yu Gushe, isn't it painful after your broken bones?" Wu Huaiyu said disdainfully.

After being scolded for a few times, An Lushan did not take it seriously. "We may be the most disciplined army. In fact, I think it is totally unnecessary. We are facing the Turks and Sogdians, a group of foreign races. Why should we be so polite to them?"

"My foster father is so strict, the soldiers in the army are dissatisfied."

Wu Huaiyu knew that An Lushan had been in the northern border for many years. This guy was no longer the shepherd boy from Lingzhou. He was not so honest as he led troops to garrison in the northern border.

"Do you think I enforce strict military discipline for my own reputation?" He snorted coldly, "Don't be blinded by the temporary victory in front of you. We are still alone deep behind enemy lines, surrounded by enemies on all sides.

If we relax military discipline now, do you know what the consequences will be?

It's easy to lose morale. How can we fight then? One wrong move and the whole game is lost. Do you want to die here?"

Strict military discipline is to make the expeditionary force keep their guard up, while being lenient to the surrendered soldiers is also to undermine their will to resist. Although the Turkic nomads are warlike, these nomadic warriors have another characteristic: they do not like to fight to the death.

This may be related to their nomadic habits. They do not have a fixed city residence and live by following water and grass. Although they are warlike, if they encounter a strong enemy and cannot defeat it, they will leave and find another opportunity to fight back.

They don't even mind submitting to the strong.

Anyway, people on the grassland have always depended on whoever was stronger.

This is especially true during the chaotic wars in Western Turkestan in recent years. With so many Khans, each tribe has to obey whoever is stronger.

Wu Huaiyu raided Yugu and set up Beiting, and captured him alive.

When Yu Gushe surrendered, the soldiers under his command also surrendered happily. The Tang army treated them well and accepted their surrender. Then they joined the Tang army without hesitation and turned themselves into vassal troops.

Especially after the Tang army attacked the Khan's court, they neither killed prisoners, nor looted, nor raped. This made the herdsmen warriors both awed and grateful to the Tang army, and they were willing to become its vassal troops.

Anyway, fighting is common to them.

"Don't forget the original intention, and don't forget the purpose of our trip."

The Tang army traveled thousands of miles to the west, not to rob, but to conquer.

An Lushan, like most of the generals, thought that since they had defeated the enemy, everything would be considered spoils of war, whether it was people, livestock or money. But now Wu Huaiyu ordered that none of the Turkic people's property or livestock should be touched.
It still makes many people don’t understand.

"Take a long-term view. Once we conquer those rebels, the entire Western Region will belong to our Tang Dynasty. Why would we need to plunder? Isn't it better to collect taxes and tribute directly?"

An Lushan chuckled twice and said, "Taxes and tributes are all for the court, not for the soldiers."

"Why rush? Once the situation is stable, I won't treat you unfairly."

"Foster father, Yu Gushe volunteered to entertain us with his wives and daughters, and this is their tradition. I've seen that his wives and concubines are all very young and beautiful. Why don't you accept them?"

"Also, Yu Gushe told me that he was grateful to his adoptive father for not killing him, and especially grateful to his adoptive father for saving him. He was willing to give all his gold, silver, treasures, livestock and slaves to his adoptive father."

At this point, An Lushan lowered his voice and said a series of numbers. It was a huge fortune.

Among them, there was a lot of gold, a lot of spices, and a lot of livestock and slaves. He was indeed the most powerful monarch in the Western Regions.

Such wealth could make any general excited, but it still failed to impress Wu Huaiyu.

"Let Yu Gushe stop having these wild thoughts and rest and recover from his injuries. When the Western Expedition is over, I will take him back to Chang'an. As long as he pledges allegiance to the Tang Dynasty, he might even be able to inherit his father Jie Li Khan's title of King Guiyi. It would be nice to be a distinguished and idle prince in Chang'an."

Yu Gushe is trying to curry favor with Wu Huaiyu because, firstly, he is worried that Wu Huaiyu will kill him, and secondly, this guy must still have some ambitions and hopes to stay in the Western Regions by bribing Wu Huaiyu.

He even received support from the Tang Dynasty and became the real Khan of Western Turkestan.

But Wu Huaiyu would never do as he wished.
The imperial court had given Yu Gu opportunities and even strongly supported him, but he became arrogant, which led to the current Western Expedition.
Now that the Tang army has taken action,

Since Yu Gushe was also captured, it would be impossible to let the tiger return to the mountains.

The best outcome for Yu Gushe would be to be escorted to Chang'an like his father Jie Li. If he was obedient, he could be given a nominal title and an official position and live as a residing official in Chang'an.

If you don't obey, you will die.

It is impossible to let him be the Khan again.

After An Lushan left, Wu Huaiyu closed his eyes and reviewed the situation in his mind again.

The first step of this Western Expedition was very successful.

He rushed for thousands of miles, captured the thief and the leader, and took down Yugushe in one fell swoop.

But it is not enough to just capture Yu Gushe. After careful investigation, he found that there are many people with real power under Yu Gushe in Beiting.

For example, the five great sips of Wudulu,
In addition to these five great guards, there are four more leaf guards that Wu Huaiyu needs to be vigilant about.

The first of these four Yehus is Zhenzhu Yehu, the son of Yugushe. He is not in the Khanate but in the Chumukun tribe. The Chumukun is one of the five Dulu tribes, nomadic to the west of Jinshan, probably in the Junggar Basin.

Under Zhenzhu Yehu was Shaboluo Yehu, who was Ashina Helu, Yugushe's confidant, and the fifth-generation grandson of Midianshi Khan. He was a nomad in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River, Doros River, and ruled over the Chuyue Chumi Geshu Geluo tribes.

Now, following Yugushe's order, he leads his troops to station in Khan Futu City, north of Gaochang, and is a powerful faction.

In addition to the pearl leaf guard and the shabolu leaf guard,

Yu Gushe also has two Yehu under his command.
They are also the fifth-generation descendants of the Secret Room, namely Moheduoyehu Ashina Mishe, and Duluyehu Ashina Buzhen, and they are cousins.

During the chaos in Western Turkic Khaganate, Mishe was nominated as Khan by various tribes, but he refused. Later, the Tang Dynasty even appointed him as Xilibi Duolu Khan. His cousin Buzhen was very ambitious and wanted to establish himself as Khan, so he murdered more than 20 of Mishe's brothers and nephews, thus turning the brothers into enemies.

The two of them kept attacking each other.

It was precisely because of this that Yu Gushe had the opportunity to take advantage of later.

After Yugushe became the leader of the Wudulu tribe, he also deliberately suppressed the brothers Mishe and Buzhen. For example, he handed over the Chuyue and Chumi tribes that were originally under the command of Mishe to Helu.
He handed over the Chumukun and other tribes led by Buzhen to his son Zhenzhu Yehu.

However, Mishe and Buzhen still have high prestige among the Turkic tribes, and they are both good at fighting. If it weren't for Buzhen's ambition that caused the brothers to turn against each other, if they united, there would be no place for outsiders like Yugushe.

Now Yu Gushe has become Wu Huaiyu's captive.

But the four great Yehus and the five great Chues were still outside, each with a powerful army.

I hope next,
The four armies can flourish everywhere.
This night,
Wu Huaiyu slept in the big tent set up by Yugu, and he was not unaccustomed to it. He was not so picky when he was on a campaign.
The days of marching also made him very tired, and after relaxing, he fell asleep quickly.

Yugu stayed in a tent not far away and had a sleepless night.
He spent the night thinking about it.
He offered his wealth and wives and concubines, but Wu Huaiyu ignored him, which made him very disappointed. He felt that his dream of becoming the Great Khan was shattered, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape the same fate as his father.

He was escorted to Chang'an, presented as a captive to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and placed under house arrest in Chang'an. He became the dancing clown who accompanied the emperor in the Tang Dynasty's court banquets.

But he had no ability to resist.

night,
North of Khan Court,

Bow Moon City,
In the night, Gongyue City, an important town on the Silk Road, which had been closed, suddenly heard several thunderclaps, and then flames shot up into the sky.

Suddenly, several gaps appeared in Gongyue City in the dark night, as if it had been bitten by a giant beast hidden in the darkness.

Before the people in Gongyue City could figure out what was happening, shouts of killing rang out in the darkness outside the city.
Countless soldiers rushed into the city through the gap.

Fires are everywhere,

The sound of killing shook the sky.

The leader of the Chuyue in the city shouted loudly, ordered the horn to be blown, and asked everyone to take up arms to resist.

outside the city,

Cheng Yaojin listened to the shouts and felt the stubborn resistance of the Gongyue tribe in the city.
"Drum roll,"

"Mobilize all the 3,000 Turkic auxiliary troops and have them enter the city to clear out the enemy. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"

After Cheng Yaojin gave this order, he added, "Withdraw our people."

"Stay outside the city,"

"Encircle three and leave one."

(End of this chapter)