A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1197 Wuzi Town Anxi

The spring breeze turns the earth green, and everything is full of vitality.
The wild apricot blossoms all over the mountains are truly the most beautiful April in the world.

Wu Huaiyu stood on the city wall of the new city of Suiye on the south bank of the Suiye River. Thanks to the hard work of countless prisoners of war and slaves from the Asijie tribe, the new city had already taken shape.

Behind him are his four adopted sons, now the four great generals of Anxi.

The newly appointed governors were An Lushan, Li Keyong, and Shi Shouxin, the governor of Dayuan, and Yuwen Chengdu, the governor of Luntai, who had accompanied the deputy protector-general Liu Demin to Hexi Liangzhou to suppress the Qibi's rebellion last year.

"Yan Zhang, you will be the inspector of the Qianquan Commandery."

Among the six governorates of Nanting, Qianquan Governorate was set up in the area directly under Khan Bobu. Now that Bobu is dead, Wu Huaiyu temporarily took over the post of Mengchi Protector and took charge of Nanting. He gave the post of Qianquan Governor to his adopted son Pang Yanzhang.

Now, Wu Huaiyu's five adopted sons all united the troops in the town.

Luntai Town, Yili Town, Suiye Town, Qianquan Town, and Dayuan Town all have 5,000 soldiers under their command.

"Thank you, foster father, for your cultivation," Pang Yanzhang knelt down excitedly to express his gratitude.

"Qianquan has been a small Khan's garrison since the time of Choro Khan. It is the key to guarding Yili and governing Transoxiana Sogdia. Now that Bobu is dead and Shiguo is also guarded by Shitou, we cannot ignore Qianquan, this important place.

The Qianquan Army has 5,000 soldiers, but I can only give you 3,000 Anxi Han soldiers. The other 2,000 must be recruited from the Turks and Sogdians, or from the sons of the Hu tribes."

"Please rest assured, foster father. I will definitely guard Qianquan well."

"I will soon send troops to the south of Tianshan Mountain to attack Shule and other three kingdoms. All five of you will stay in your towns to defend. I will select 1,000 soldiers from each of your five towns to go on the expedition."

The Anxi Army has expanded from 32,000 people when it was first established to 48,000 people.

In addition to the five garrison commanders of the five towns who were his five adopted sons, there were also the Tianshan Army, the Yiwulu Army, his Ya Army, and some garrison troops guarding the city and other places.

It can be said that the army is strong and the number of Hu people has increased from the original 3,000 to the current 12,000.

The spring snow melts, the glaciers thaw,
It is time to use the army.

Although it is not the best season to use troops, Wu Huaiyu has been planning to attack the three kingdoms of Shule for a long time, so it will not be too difficult and a quick victory can still be achieved.

"Let us conquer the three kingdoms of Shule on behalf of Aye. Why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken? Why bother Aye to do it personally?" An Lushan said, patting his chest.

This adopted son was asked to lose weight, but after a winter and spring, he did not lose any weight and seemed to have gained some weight. The cattle and horses would have lost most of their fat after a winter, but he had gained a lot of weight.

Yuwen Chengdu also requested that he be the one to attack.

Last year, we fought against Qibi.
Yuwen Chengdu arranged his infantry with his back to the river, and 5,000 of them raised their spears and faced the repeated charges of the Qibi light cavalry, which were several times their number. However, they were not driven into the river, but instead the Qibi light cavalry were killed and wounded everywhere.

Finally, Guo Xiaoke and Liu Demin led the cavalry to attack and conquer the battlefield. They fought a classic battle that even the emperor applauded afterwards.

The emperor directly awarded Yuwen Chengdu the titles of Marquis of Wuwei, Shang Zhuguo, and General Zuo Wuhou.

His name was already on the screen in the emperor's study.

"I will go to Shannan in person. This time I will dispatch 12,000 Anxi troops and recruit more than 20,000 Turkic tribal soldiers.

Then they dispatched Yanqi and Qiuci to attack from the north, and sent Tocharian and Sogdian troops to attack from the Pamir Mountains.
This time we will attack from three directions and end it quickly."

Wu Huaiyu was very confident that he could destroy the three kingdoms of Shule. Even though the Kingdom of Kepantuo was located in the Pamir Mountains, a place as far away and dangerous as Tashkurgan in later generations, such a small country could not withstand the dimensionality reduction attack.

Wu Huaiyu wanted to lead the troops personally to rebuild the order in Shannan. The Tang Dynasty wanted to formally establish its rule there and even set up a military town.

In his plan, he would conquer these three kingdoms in half a year, wipe out the upper echelons, and then re-enthrone the locals as new kings, or directly replace the upper echelons with Tang officials.
Anyway, this kind of thing is not uncommon. For example, the Turks replaced the kings of Shi and An with their own people. Other countries also placed Turkish nobles as Tutun, who led troops to supervise and collect taxes, and even married the Turkic Khan's daughters to the kings of various countries to strengthen their control over them.

The earlier Yanda, Kushan and other dynasties also often did the same.

The Shule State will then establish the Shule Military Town, and Kepantuo can set up the Pamir Guard to guard the dangerous Pamir Mountains.

These matters were not simply about fighting a war, and had to be presided over by him as the Grand Protector General and Prime Minister.

"After I leave, you must guard the house well, especially keep an eye on the Turkic Ten Arrows Tribe."

Although the Turkic tribes are now submissive and obedient, the Anxi Army's recent pace has been somewhat rapid, and has begun to cause panic and worry among many Turkic nobles, and even secret dissatisfaction.

Bobu Khan is a good example.

His non-cooperation was by no means an isolated case. As the Tang army gradually advanced into the Western Regions, the conflict of interests between the Tang and the Western Turks accumulated and intensified.

Sooner or later it will explode.
So we must be on guard against them.

The Anxi Army should have been more moderate, but Wu Huaiyu estimated that he would not stay in the Western Regions for too long, and he did not want to miss this great opportunity, so he acted more radically.
Try to reshape the entire Western Region before leaving.

Once he has dealt with the countries south of the Tianshan Mountains, he can return to the court.

An Lushan heard this and chuckled, "If the Turkic tribes dare to have other intentions, I will uproot them, even more cruelly than I dealt with Asijie, and I will not let them die as easily as Bobu."

Wu Huaiyu glared at him.
Everyone knew that Bobu died under Wu Huaiyu's arrangement, but it couldn't be said openly. "Shitou, keep an eye on the Sogdian states in Central Asia, especially Kangguo and Anguo. The current king of Anguo is from the Huluwu tribe,"

The Kang State was very powerful. During the Han Dynasty, it dominated Hezhong with a population of 120,000 households, 600,000 people, and 120,000 soldiers.

Although Kang State had collapsed during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the remaining Kang State was far weaker than it used to be, it was still the most powerful Sogdian state in Transoxiana.

The Western Turks also had strong infiltration and control over Kangguo.

"Yan Zhang, you stay in Qianquan and keep an eye on the people in Nanting, especially the Ashina disciples of Nishu."

"Feiyaer, you are in charge of Suiye, and you should keep an eye on the two tribes of Geshu. They are very powerful. If the two tribes unite, it will be very troublesome. You should also repair the castles, beacons, and posthouses on the two routes from Suiye to Talas and Shitou, and from Suiye to Bodaling."

"Zhu'er, you stay in Yili and repair the town of Yili as soon as possible, and keep a close eye on the Turks."

·····
Wu Huaiyu gave instructions to his five adopted sons one by one, leaving 4,000 soldiers to each of them. They were told to quickly build a garrison system to guard Zhuofengsui while the Turkic tribes were still relatively obedient. With this system, even if the tribes rebelled, the various towns of the Anxi Army would be able to hold their ground, and other reinforcements of the Anxi Army would be able to quickly arrive to encircle and suppress them.

In the next few days,
Wu Huaiyu held a grand funeral for Bo Bu in Suiye.

He even carried the coffin for Bobu Khan himself.
Wu Huaiyu and his five adopted sons, as well as Beiting Khan Mishe, Tocharian Khan Wushibo, and Khazar Khan Moheduo, eight people carried the coffin.
It can be regarded as giving enough face to the Turks.

Finally, the hearse was sent to the Khan's court at Qianquan Mountain for burial. Wu Huaiyu also wrote the epitaph himself and asked military craftsmen to choose a good stone to carve it into a stele in three languages: Chinese, Turkic and Su.

The epitaph also glorifies the thin cloth a lot.

The coffin is closed and the body is buried in peace.

Continuing this Khan title has made this line of Ni Shu extinct.

Send away the thin cloth hearse,

The command platform built by Asiqie prisoners of war and slaves outside the city of Suiye was also completed. It was a large high platform made of piled earth. The date of the expedition was set, and the number of troops to be sent by each tribe was also decided.

The Anxi army sent out 12,000 troops.

The Ten Arrow Tribes of the Turkic Khanate each sent out 3,000 soldiers, 2,000 of whom were combat soldiers and 1,000 were auxiliary soldiers for transporting food, fodder and equipment. Some other tribes such as the Qarluk Khanate also sent out 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers each.

This is the main force in the middle of the expedition.
Kucha and Yanqi were the northern army, while Tokharistan and Zhaowu Sogdia were the southern army.

Although the Khazar Khanate had sent 40,000 troops to help Heraclius fight Persia, the journey was too long and it was impossible to transfer troops at once. Wu Huaiyu did not let them come either.
Khazar Khan Ashina Mohedu brought some of his sons and guards to follow Wu Huaiyu's army to observe the military appearance and consult with the army. Mohedu took the initiative to donate a considerable amount of gold and silver to meet military supplies.

Wu Huaiyu specifically requested the Khans, Lesser Khans, Yehu, Dajigin, Dachue and others of the Western Turkic Khanate to join the expedition, saying that they were to observe the army and participate in military affairs. In reality, he wanted them to see the elite of the Anxi Army and also to prevent them from having the opportunity to cause trouble in the rear.

Besides, it can also serve as a warning to others. When killing the chicken, the monkey must be present for it to be effective.

The reviewing platform was built by Jiang Xingben, the former Junior Supervisor of the Military Works. It must be said that those Asijie slaves were very efficient under the supervision of whips, and the quality of the platform they built was also very good.

"Prime Minister Wu is only leading 12,000 Anxi Army soldiers to the battle. Isn't that too few?"

"Why do we need so many soldiers to fight the three kingdoms of Shule?" Wu Huaiyu stood on the high platform. "If it weren't for the purpose of shocking the north and south of Tianshan Mountains, we wouldn't even need to bring the Turks, Sogdians, Tocharians, etc. with us this time."

The three armies, totaling 70,000 to 80,000 people, are too many to be honest.

But from the perspective of deterrence, such dispatch of troops is very necessary.

In this campaign against the three states of Shule, Wu Huaiyu ordered 12,000 Anxi troops, but he had no intention of sending them to the battlefield. When attacking the city, he sent the Turkic and other tribes to take turns.

This is actually a compliance test.
To tame the Turkic tribes and countries in the Western Regions, it is like taming a wild horse, and that unruly nature must be completely defeated.

The captain of the guards went up to the stage and said, "Report to the Prime Minister, the commander of the Chishan garrison, Zhuoxiong Kuohai, has returned. He said he brought the king and queen of Shule with him and a group of more than a hundred people."

"King of Shule?"

Jiang Xingben was confused as he listened nearby, "Xiong Kuohai brought the King and his wife of Shule to Suiye, what does that mean? Could it be that he led his 25-man Chishan Garrison, crossed Lingshan Mountain, traveled thousands of miles, ran to the capital of Shule Kingdom, and captured the King of Shule?" He was joking.

"Xiong Kuohai said that they met the King and his wife of Shule after they crossed Lingshan Mountain. The King of Shule, Pei Shi, said that he came to Suiye to meet the envoy, so he brought them here."

"What does the King of Shule mean by coming here to ask for forgiveness and surrender?"

"We have already set up the general platform and assembled the troops, and the Shule Kingdom wants to surrender?" Jiang Xingben was even a little unhappy.

Wu Huaiyu stood on the stage,
"Let Xiong Kuohuo bring the King of Shule here,"

Jiang Xingben asked, "If he really surrenders, will we still send troops?"

Wu Huaiyu laughed a few times, "Whether the King of Shule comes here to surrender or not, it will not change the established plan of sending troops this time."

"Still fighting after surrendering?"

"If he really surrenders, then we will send troops to take over Shule!"

(End of this chapter)