A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1183 There is no one who can fight

Suiye is the birthplace of Li Bai, the immortal poet whose writings shocked Chang'an and whose poems made ghosts and gods weep.

Legend has it that Li Bai was the great-great-grandson of Li Jiancheng. After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, all of Li Jiancheng's sons were killed, but one of his grandsons escaped and was expelled from the family.

It has been fifteen years since the bloody palace rebellion with swords and spears. If Jiancheng really had a grandson who escaped, he should have grown up by now.

But he should not have come to the Western Regions yet.

Wu Huaiyu also didn't know whether another great poet would be born here in the future.

"What do you think of building a new city of Suiye on the south bank of Suiye River, imitating the layout of Chang'an City?"

Jiang Que, the general of Zuotunwei, was also known by his courtesy name Xingben. He had previously served as the chief craftsman and supervised the construction of the palace. Like Yan Liben's family, the Jiang family was also a family of architects. His father, Jiang Mo, the former governor of Minzhou, had also supervised the construction of the palace.

"Imitating Chang'an?"

"My plan is to enclose as much land as possible,"

“But there aren’t that many people.”

"Suiye is a must-pass route on the Silk Road, and it is also the intersection of the northern and southern routes of the Tianshan Mountains. It is also home to the fertile Suiye River. We will not only station troops and cultivate farmland here, but also move immigrants to settle on the border. This new city of Suiye must be planned for the long term."

Jiang Xingben understood Wu Huaiyu's meaning and said, "Then we should build it according to the specifications of a large provincial capital city, with 16 districts planned, and each district is divided into 16 small districts by large and small cross streets."

"Is the Fang based on the big Fang or the small Fang of Chang'an?"

Wu Huaiyu thought for a moment and said, "Let's make it according to the size of Pingkangfang."

Jiang Xingben knew Chang'an very well. "Pingkangfang is two miles long and one mile wide, covering nearly a thousand acres. The sixteen wards of the new Suiye city were all built based on Pingkangfang."

As he spoke, Jiang Xingben picked up a pen and began to sketch on paper.

The new Suiye City will be very neat and tidy. Like Chang'an City, it will be a neat rectangular city. The entire Suiye City will be divided into four major areas and sixteen wards by large and small cross streets.

Each block is divided into sixteen small blocks by large and small cross streets.

Each fang covers an area of ​​about 1,000 mu, and the entire Suiye City covers an area of ​​more than 10,000 mu. It is definitely a bit large now, but considering the long term, the population will definitely be large in the future.

This place is even planned to be an important commercial goods distribution center on the Silk Road north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

"Do you want to repair the wall?"

"Repair." Although Chang'an had begun to demolish the city walls and convert street-facing houses into shops long ago, Suiye was a frontier city after all, so safety had to be considered first.

The city walls were divided into small towns. When encountering an enemy, the gates were closed, which was equivalent to a closed inner city.

In addition, the walls and gates of the block seal off the block, which helps with curfew and facilitates public security management.

"There are sixteen wards. How about taking one ward in the north as the location of the government warehouse and other facilities, and taking one ward in the south as the market?"

"can."

Wu Huaiyu looked at the sketch of Suiye City and said, "Build another castle in the north of the city."

The castle in the north of the city was built for the garrison and turned into a war fortress. It was also a satellite city of Suiye. Although the new Suiye city was planned to be large, such a large city was difficult to defend during war.

Building a satellite city nearby will also be conducive to mutual assistance.

After Jiang Xingben determined the location, he painted the castle with a few strokes. The castle did not need to be too big.

Now the old Suiye City on the north bank will still be preserved and will be renovated and reinforced next year, but the focus in the future will definitely be on operating the new Suiye City on the south bank.

Wu Huaiyu also picked up a brush and drew Rehai, Qianquan Mountain, etc. on Jiang Xingben's sketch. He then drew a castle on Jiedan Mountain, a sacred mountain of the Turks, 40 miles north of Suiye River. "Let's build a castle here and station troops there."

Wu Huaiyu also drew a castle at the location where the Suiye River flows through the west bank of Rehai. A castle was also to be built there to station troops and cultivate farmland. This location is the only way to get from Tiannan Mountain to Lingshan Mountain, across Boda Ridge, and through Rehai to Suiye.
Whether you go to the north bank or the south bank of Rehai, you have to pass here and then follow the upper canyon of the Suiye River to reach Suiye City.

Because the south coast was the main road, Wu Huaiyu drew two more castles on the south coast of Atami, planning them as later projects.

The three castles can control the Ataka Road from the southern Tianshan Mountains to Suiye.

The locations of the three castles he chose are not only important transportation routes, but also arable land and grazing land. They can be used to station troops and settlers, and there is still potential for future development.

On the southwest side of Qianquan Mountain, the Tang army has also controlled Ashibulai City. This is the eastern pass of Qianquan Mountain. They will definitely not give up and will repair and reinforce it next year.

In the future, the Tang army will definitely control the cities of Kulan and Talas.

Don't take any action for now to avoid too much conflict between the Turks and Sogdians.

Step by step.

After the two major military towns of Shiguo and Suiye were established, the strongholds would be gradually expanded, and by connecting the points with lines and the lines with areas, the Anxi ruling circle could be constructed.

"We also need to build a new military town in the Yili River Valley to the west of Gongyue City. The name of the city is Yining."

The Gongyue Army moved to Yining City and renamed it Yili Town, and Gongyue City was renamed Gongyue Shouzhuo.

Wu Huaiyu planned to upgrade the level of Yili Town from 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. He would command Yili Town, Gongyue Shouzhuo, Cheling Shouzhuo, Wenquan Shouzhuo and Shuanghe Shouzhuo in Shuanghe Governor's Office.

Yili Town, Suiye Town, Dayuan Governor's Office,

Each commanded 5,000 soldiers.

These three places can be connected with the three states of Ting, Xi and Yi. In this way, the Tang Dynasty will be able to build a preliminary ruling chain over the north of the Tianshan Mountains.

From the east of Tianshan Mountain, it extends all the way to the central He area. Jiang Xingben was shocked when he saw the plan outlined by Wu Huaiyu. This was simply ambitious. He felt that the word "ambitious" was not appropriate here.

“Will it be too big a step?”

In fact, people are a bit shocked and do not quite support Wu Huaiyu's behavior of sending troops to attack and destroy the capital of Shi Kingdom, capturing the kings of Shi Kingdom, and even looting all the wealth of Shi Kingdom's palace and treasury.

When Wu Huaiyu wanted to let his adopted son be the King of Shi Kingdom, they dared not agree, as they felt that Wu Huaiyu was too bold.

Now looking at this picture, he finally understood Wu Huaiyu's ambition.
This showed that they did not take the two great khans of Western Turkestan seriously at all. They built an Yili town right under the nose of the Khan's court of Beiting and stationed 5,000 troops there.

Under the nose of Nanting Khan, a town called Suiye was built with a garrison of 5,000 troops. Even in Shi State, a Dayuan Governor's Office was set up with a garrison of 5,000 troops. The armies of Suiye and Dayuan directly sandwiched Qianquan Mountain where Nanting Khan was located from the north and south.

The two khans were now really protected by Wu Huaiyu's troops.

It's all close guardianship.

But thinking about the fact that Wu Huaiyu had led his troops into the Western Regions for only more than half a year, he had captured two khans and a prince, killed a khan and four shijins, and captured two great shijins and two kings.

With just one word, he wanted to exterminate the two powerful tribes of Asiqie, two of the ten arrows of the Western Turkic Khanate.

Such a ruthless person,

It is quite normal to have such a large-scale plan.

"Next year, let the Western Turkic tribes send their young and strong men to help build the Yili and Suiye military towns, as well as various castles, beacons, and post houses."

"Manager Jiang, please draw up the blueprints and ask them to help with the construction."

"I'll take care of this," he hesitated, then asked, "Does Prime Minister Wu really want to make General Shi the King of Shi? Should we report this matter to the court first and ask the Saint for instructions?"

"Also, we have already raided many winter pastures in Asijie, captured many people, and seized many cattle and sheep. As it is getting colder today, should we continue the raid?"

Wu Huaiyu looked at Jiang Xingben, who later died in the expedition to Liaodong and was shot dead under the city of Gaimu.

Tianshui Jiang family is also a famous family in Guanlong.
Like Wu Huaiyu, he also married into the royal family and became the emperor's relative, and his son also married Li Shimin's princess.

When Wu Huaiyu first joined the army, he served in Longyou. At that time, Jiang Xingben's father Jiang Mo was the governor of Minzhou. The old man also took care of Wu Huaiyu. The two families became friends after that. Wu Huaiyu has been promoted rapidly in recent years, and the Wu and Jiang families have also had a lot of cooperation in some industries.

Jiang Xingben was also considering Wu Huaiyu. After all, he also benefited from this time. He was rewarded for his merits and his title was promoted to Duke of Jincheng County because of his contributions to the Western Expedition. He even planned to take the initiative to marry into the Wu family.

I don't want Wu Huaiyu to make a mistake.

"What does Jiang Gong mean?"

"I think it's very cold today, and it's very hard for the soldiers to be out there. Besides, after this lesson, Asiji will definitely surrender and be honest.

Why don't you select two obedient nobles from the Asiqie tribe and ask the saint to appoint them as the two great shijins of the tribe, and then set up a governor's office in each of their territories, appoint them governors, and control them and rule them."

Wu Huaiyu shook his head.

"Lord Jiang, Asijie has been plotting treason and rebellion time and again. He must be severely punished. Otherwise, the prestige of the Tang Dynasty will be destroyed. How can we command the Western Regions again?

Besides, Asijie is the strongest among the ten arrows, and they themselves are the biggest potential threat we face, so we must seize the opportunity to destroy them.

Now, we can seize the opportunity to destroy Asiqiye and intimidate the Turkic tribes."

"Besides, if Asijie is not destroyed, how can Suiye Town be established? It is also impossible to establish the Dayuan Governor's Office."

In addition to these reasons, by destroying Asijie, the Anxi army soldiers could also obtain a lot of spoils and rewards, and the Anxi Protectorate could also obtain a large amount of livestock, money, and even slaves.
It can be said that the destruction of the two tribes of Asiqie was beneficial in every way to the Tang Dynasty, the Anxi Protectorate, the Anxi Army, and even to other Turkic tribes.

Then why are you being so polite?

"We are leading troops outside, thousands of miles away from Chang'an. It is impossible for us to report everything. It takes one or two months to go back and forth. The opportunity for war is fleeting. How can we wait? Besides, we are appointed as generals by the saint. If we ask the saint for instructions on everything, what are we going to do?"

Jiang Xingben was unable to refute. Whether it was fighting Helu or Asijie, or attacking Shiguo, it could be said that they could only win so easily by relying on surprise attacks.

"The Asikya tribe and the Asikya tribe must be eradicated. Not only that, next year, I will lead my troops through Rehe Road, across the Bodaling Mountains and over the Tianshan Mountains to destroy the three kingdoms of Shule, Zhujubo and Kepantu that followed Asikya in this rebellion."

Jiang Xingben felt that he could no longer keep up with Wu Huaiyu.
Here, Asiqie had not been pacified yet, and the affairs of the Shi Kingdom had just begun, so there were a lot of things to do. As a result, Wu Huaiyu had already planned to cross the Tianshan Mountains to conquer the three kingdoms including Shule south of the Tianshan Mountains.

This military minister is really busy all the time.
Is he going to lead his troops to conquer the entire Western Regions, north and south of the Tianshan Mountains?

"Prime Minister Wu, the three countries of Shule, Zhujubo, and Kepantuo were only bewitched and coerced by Asikya, and they have not yet sent troops to attack the Tang Dynasty. I think it would be better to send an envoy to the three countries. As long as they repent and admit their mistakes, there is no need to mobilize troops, right?"

"No, it is necessary. Anyone who dares to rebel and challenge the Tang Dynasty will be crushed by the Anxi Army with thunder and lightning."

With firearms in hand, Wu Huaiyu found it very easy to attack an oasis city-state like Shule. What was difficult were the long-distance marches, various dangerous terrains, and the issues of supply and post-war maintenance.

But Wu Huaiyu was very confident. As long as the Tang army fought quickly and fiercely, the logistical supply burden would not be too great. After conquering the city and destroying the country, they could still rely on the enemy for food or even on spoils of war, which would allow the Anxi Protectorate and the soldiers to make a fortune.

As for the issue of post-war occupation, Wu Huaiyu also has a plan.

The king and his confidants were captured and sent to Chang'an, and a military governor's office was established. Then a pro-Tang and obedient noble was supported to be the king and the governor-general. At the same time, the Anxi Army established a military town in the country and sent generals with troops to be stationed there for supervision. The garrison could also cultivate land, and then the host country would bear most of the military expenses.

Jiang Xingben really wanted to ask Wu Huaiyu, is it really a good thing to have many enemies?

But Wu Huaiyu looked down at the map in front of him with a grin on his face, but what he was thinking about in his mind were the countries in the Western Regions and the Turkic tribes, none of which could be fought.

The Anxi army can sweep them away.
Although there are many small countries in the Western Regions and the Turks are known as the Ten Arrow Tribes, their combined numbers are indeed large. But from the reactions of the various tribes after he attacked Yu Gushe and captured him alive, it is clear that the entire Western Regions is actually just a mess.

Nothing to fear!

(End of this chapter)