A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1208 The mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows behind
In the fifteenth year of Zhenguan,
The fifth day of May is Dragon Boat Festival.

Anxi, Wensuzhou, Dashicheng, East Gate.

The sun is shining and it's another good day.

At the city gate stood a group of Anxi soldiers, wearing iron armor inside and robes outside, holding lances and standing in the shade of the city gate, guarding the city gate and checking the goods of passing merchants, but they were all a little absent-minded, looking down the mountain from time to time.

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival. The Anxi Yabing in the city, together with the merchants and guilds of Dashi City, held a Dragon Boat Festival event, including polo, horse racing, archery, sheep catching, wrestling and many other competitions. The guild raised a sum of money as a bonus.

And Prime Minister Wu also took out a large sum of money as a reward.
Early in the morning, almost everyone in the city had run out of the city and went down the mountain to the grassland on the Hulu River beach.

Go early and you can get a good seat.
Although Dashicheng now belongs to the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, it has been annexed by Qiuci for a long time. Dashicheng has long had the same customs as Qiuci, worshipping Buddhism and loving dance and music, as well as drinking, and also liking bullfighting and horsefighting.

The custom in Qiuci is that on New Year's Day, people fight sheep, horses and camels for seven days to see who wins.

On New Year's Day, people all over Kucha participate in sheep, horse and camel fighting. The event lasts for seven days. The people of Kucha not only actively participate in the event, but also place bets on the outcome.

This custom is deeply rooted in all parts of Qiuci. Even if it is not New Year's Day, there will be festivals, weddings or other auspicious days, and sheep, horses, cattle and camels will still be fought.

Camel bells rang.
On the road outside the East Gate, a camel caravan came.
At this time, there were already more than a dozen camel caravans lined up in front of the East Gate, waiting to be inspected and enter the city.

For several consecutive days, many caravans arrived at Dashi City every day. Some came from Suiye via the Rehe Road, some came from Khotan and Shule, and of course more came from Qiuci and Yanqi in the east.

A soldier from the Anxi army stationed at the city gate stood in front of the east gate, holding a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, and watched expressionlessly as the Anxi soldiers checked the customs documents and goods one by one.

According to the previous practice of Dashicheng in Kucha, all goods passing through needed a customs document from Kucha and a cargo list, and Dashicheng would levy taxes based on the estimated value of the goods.

"Where are they from, where are they going, and what goods are they?"

"We are coming from the Yiluolu City in Qiuci and heading to the Suiye City. We have traded some swords, axes, plows, hoes, etc. We heard that the Anxi army is building a new city and setting up military settlements in Suiye, so we think we will definitely need these things." The leader of the caravan wore a Qiuci robe with a lapel, a front opening and narrow sleeves, tight trousers, black leather boots, a pearl belt around his waist, and a Tang Dynasty sword.

Under the turban is a haircut that is cut evenly to the neck.

He was about 40 years old. He smiled and stepped forward to answer the question, then presented the ultimatum and the list of goods.
The officer scanned the seal, which was issued from the city of Kucha. There were also seals from the cities of Kubera and Asiyan, where the caravan had passed.
The merchant's name was Anfule, and he might be a Sogdian who had been assimilated into the Kucha culture. His caravan had fifteen men and carried fifteen camels of goods, which were indeed farm tools such as swords, plows, and hoes.

The members of this caravan were all young and strong, and they also hired ten additional Turkic guards.

Anfule explained that he had hired ten Turkic guards because he heard that there was a war going on recently and was worried that the road was not safe. He also planned to ship this batch of goods to Suiye and sell them, and then go to Hezhong to purchase Persian carpets, Persian princesses and famous horses from Dayuan.

It sounds reasonable.
The soldier said that the cargo should be carefully inspected, especially the swords.

Anfule approached, put a small purse into the soldier's hand, and whispered, "Twenty coins for a bottle of wine, sir. The goods have been packed and unloaded for inspection. They will have to be packed again and loaded again, which is very troublesome. There are so many people queuing up behind us waiting to enter the city."

The soldier frowned, "It's against the rules. The swords must be checked and verified."

Anfule stuffed another small purse into the bag, "General, please be merciful. We have come all the way from Qiuci, traveling a thousand miles. We want to get into the city early to find a place to settle down, and then go to the river beach to watch the bullfighting, horse fighting and alpaca fighting."

It seems difficult to join the army.

At this time, the brigade commander Luo Cheng came over and said, "General Zhao, there are still many people queuing up behind us, hurry up."

So General Zhao picked up a pen and wrote a line in the book, levying taxes directly according to the estimated value of the goods on the bill of lading, and asked An Fule to take the tax bill to the side to pay the tax, and the caravan could then enter the city.

"Thank you, sir," Anfule saw that the young officer was so easy to talk to, so he hurried forward to thank him, and also tactfully stuffed a small purse with twenty cents in it.

"The next caravan, hurry up, line up at the back, and prepare the ultimatum and manifest in advance..."

Anfule took the tax bill to the side and paid the tax. He had no objection to the valuation of the goods and was very happy to pay the tax. He paid directly with imitation Persian silver coins. Not only did he not pay a penny less, he also stuffed ten silver coins into the pocket of the Anxi soldier who collected the money.

After paying the tax, Anfule entered the city with his caravan of fifteen camels, twenty-five people and twenty-five horses.

all of these,
On the top of the East Gate, everyone is in sight.

Soon, someone on the top of the city wall ran down the city, and then someone received the order and quietly followed Anfule's team.

Dashicheng has three gates.
The Anxi Army guarding today looked no different from usual, with the same number of soldiers and not too strict inspections.

There were no additional patrols or sentries on the city streets.

But while everything seems normal on the surface, there are actually many things hidden in the dark that outsiders cannot see.

For example, in the houses at the three city gates, there were ambushers of the Anxi army, wearing armor and holding sharp weapons. They had even loaded their three-barreled guns with gunpowder and lead bullets, and had pulled the strings of their bows and crossbows.

There were even ambushes hidden in the streets and alleys of the city, not to mention the City Lord's Mansion which was Wu Huaiyu's temporary residence.

Wu Huaiyu was in the city lord's mansion at this time. Although his ceremonial procession had left the city early in the morning, it was only a personal soldier with a similar build to him who changed into his clothes and rode out of the city in a carriage.

"Report,"

"The Kucha caravan that just entered the city just passed the cross street and went to the west city."

In front of Wu Huaiyu was a map. A soldier planted a small flag in the west city. "Prime Minister Wu, many caravans have gathered in the west city in the past few days."

"Can you confirm that there is something wrong with this caravan?"

"Fifteen camels of goods, the merchant brought fifteen men with him, and he also brought ten guards, and those ten men were all young and strong, and they all wore swords, and there were also swords in the cargo list."

"Pretty obvious."

Wu Huaiyu glanced at the notebook in his hand, which recorded the abnormalities found during the preliminary investigation, and the camel caravan that had just been discovered by An Fule was also recorded.

"Did you find anything deeper?"

Wu Huaiyu already had a preliminary judgment in his mind at this time, but he still asked the soldiers first.

The young soldier who had just planted the flag immediately replied, "Prime Minister, based on the intelligence we have now and further speculation, we have come to the conclusion that someone is planning to launch a rebellion in Dashi City."

Wu Huaiyu nodded, "But these people alone are not enough, right?"

"Indeed, the foreign caravans we suspect are problematic only have about 200 to 300 people in total, but we have also discovered that some of the local residents, merchants, and craftsmen in Dashi City are also problematic."

Wu Huaiyu asked him to continue.

The soldier said excitedly, "We believe that these people are going to start a rebellion, but they are not the main force behind the rebellion. At most, they are the insiders arranged by someone. The real enemy force should not be in Dashi City, and they should be near Dashi City and will arrive soon."

"Based on these clues, you were able to infer these results. That's great. You made bold predictions and carefully verified them. You did a great job and should be credited." Wu Huaiyu praised his soldiers.
"So who do you think is the real mastermind behind this, and where is he now?"

The military officer pointed to the west on the map and said, "We all agree that the only one who dares to cause trouble at this time and has the ability to do so is Kucha Tutun, and he is also the most motivated.

The Prime Minister set up a military garrison in Qiuci and sent General Xue Gu to serve as the garrison commander. He also dispatched 5,000 Anxi troops to Qiuci and asked Qiuci Tutun Qulichu to hand over the troops within a certain period of time. Then, they would move north to Yingsuochuan or Suiyechuan. If they stayed, they would be registered as ordinary citizens.
Qu Lichu promised the prime minister in person in Dashicheng, but I am afraid he may not be willing to do so, so he is most likely to go crazy and rebel. "

Wu Huaiyu encouraged him to continue.

"If our speculation is correct, and Kucha Tutun Qulichu is really planning a rebellion, then General Xue Gu may be in danger,"

"Qu Lichu should be on his way here right now. He should be not far from here. He will appear outside Dashi City in one or two days. He will most likely attack Dashi City at night. By then, the people arranged in the city will cooperate with us from inside and outside. If we are careless, something bad may happen."

"Prime Minister, I request that we immediately launch a surprise arrest of those suspected traitors in the city, and then immediately interrogate them. This way, we can verify our speculation and know the truth of the matter."

"Also, send out multiple messengers immediately to summon reinforcements,"

"Or, before the enemy arrives, the Prime Minister should immediately retreat northward. As long as we cross Lingshan Mountain, we can return to Suiye and the enemy will not be able to catch up."

Wu Huaiyu shook his head,
"I'm not going to run away just because I heard the news,"

"As for arresting the traitors in the city, it's too early. That would alert the enemy. Of course, send someone to pretend to create some friction with one or two targets, and then fight. In this way, the guards will have a reason to capture the people first, and then conduct a surprise interrogation to verify your guess and see if Qu Lichu is going to rebel and attack."

Wu Huaiyu was not careless about sending someone to ask for help.
We should quietly send people to Shule and Suiye to ask for reinforcements, even though it is very likely that it will be too late.

Of course, if Wu Huaiyu only planned to defend Dashi City, he would definitely be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

But Wu Huaiyu was never afraid. Even if it was really Qu Lichu who attacked, they were already on guard and would not be ambushed by an internal or external attack. Then the 1,000 Anxi soldiers he brought with him were guarding Dashicheng, a city that was easy to defend but difficult to attack. In fact, they were as stable as Mount Tai.

Wu Huaiyu is now basically certain that it was Qu Lichu who defected. Apart from him, no one else has the motive and ability at this time and place.

"You can take some time to study the plan of advancing into the King's City of Kucha in the near future."

"Oh, and if you have time, you can also come up with a plan to move the Anxi Protectorate to the Kucha Royal City."

The soldiers were all stunned.

Shouldn't we first consider who is plotting the rebellion and how to repel the enemy?
Why are they starting to discuss the destruction of Kucha and even moving the Protectorate to the Kucha Royal City?
Prime Minister Wu really doesn't take the enemy seriously at all!

(End of this chapter)