A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1213 An Lushan Fucks the Queen

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the summer solstice will soon be here.

Dumplings on the Winter Solstice and noodles on the Summer Solstice. Eating noodles on the Summer Solstice is a custom in many places. Eating noodles on the Summer Solstice has a history. The Summer Solstice is also the time when new wheat is harvested every year.
Make noodles with the newly harvested wheat, taste the new wheat and celebrate the harvest.

"After eating the summer solstice noodles, the day becomes shorter by a thread."

In the morning, Wu Huaiyu looked at the noodles served by the cook. He was touched when he heard that today was the summer solstice. Last spring, he led his troops to the west, captured Yugushe, destroyed Gaochang, fought Helu, and then captured and destroyed Buzhen. In winter, he braved the snow to go to Suiyechuan to attack the Asijie tribe and destroyed the Shi Kingdom and replaced their king.

Throughout the winter and spring, they were busy encircling and suppressing the Ashjie tribe.

In late spring, he sent troops from Suiye, traveled a thousand miles along the Rehai Road, crossed the Lingshan Boda Ridge Ice Ladder Road, conquered Shule and destroyed Kepantuo and Zhujubo.

All have been victorious and have disbanded their troops,
Then, the Kucha Tutun Qulichu led the Kucha King and the Yanqi King in rebellion.

Time passed so quickly, but Wu Huaiyu did a lot of things after coming to the Western Regions. He fought so many battles, and each battle was amazing.

Father-in-law Lu Chengqing was also deeply moved while eating this bowl of summer solstice noodles.

We set out from Chang'an in February and arrived at Wu Huaiyu after the Dragon Boat Festival. In the blink of an eye, another half month had passed and it was almost July.

"It's time to leave after the wheat is harvested." Wu Huaiyu really likes the noodles made from the new wheat. They are very chewy.

A bowl of noodles may seem simple, but it is actually very complex. The key to a delicious dish is the mutton soup. First, boil the fresh mutton skeleton over high heat, then simmer over medium heat for an hour, add the spice bag, and continue to simmer for half an hour until the aroma comes out. Then add the large piece of mutton that has been soaked in clean water beforehand, and simmer over low heat for another three hours.
Finally, remove the floating oil, take out the mutton, add salt, and you will have a pot of delicious mutton soup.

Then grind the flour from the new wheat into dough sheets, put a small pot on the fire, pour in the previously prepared mutton soup, cook the noodles after the mutton soup boils, serve in a bowl, drizzle with sesame oil, sprinkle with coriander, and then dice or slice the previously cooked mutton and place in the bowl.
This is the summer solstice noodles that everyone will praise.

Lu Chengqing only knew that the noodles were delicious, but he had no idea that there were so many things to pay attention to when making a bowl of summer solstice noodles.

"The noodles in Dashicheng are much more delicious than those in other places. First, the water is good. Dashicheng used to be Wensu State. There is not only water from the melting snow of Tianshan Mountain, but also a lot of sweet underground spring water. The wheat grown here tastes especially fragrant.
The mutton here is very delicious, and the mutton soup is also very fresh. Good water makes good wheat, and good mutton soup makes a bowl of good noodles.
The most important thing in making mutton noodles in Dashicheng is patience. The mutton soup has to be stewed overnight, and the heat has to be adjusted constantly between high, medium and low.

"Today's Western Regions are like this bowl of mutton noodles. If you want it to be delicious, you must not only have enough ingredients, but also have more and better Anxi soldiers. Also, you must use a strong fire to stew the bones.

Our Anxi Army had to resort to swift tactics to first simmer down the so-called tough guys like Yugushe, Helu, Gaochang, Asijie, and Buzhen.
Then we can change to Zhonghuo, and treat other Turkic tribes and Tianshan countries, even Tocharistan, Transoxiana Sogdia, Khazars, etc., we can mainly win over and appease them.

Don’t use too high a fire, otherwise it will burn easily.”

Wu Huaiyu also told his father-in-law quite frankly, "I won't stay in the Western Regions for too long, so I have always wanted to make the situation in the Western Regions better before I leave, and sometimes I am a little too hasty.

In fact, if I hadn't forced him to do so, Su Fadi would not have been killed by Qu Lichu. If I hadn't asked Qu Lichu to withdraw from Qiuci directly, and had I not directly asked Xue Gu Wuren to be the governor of Qiuci and replaced Qiuci Tutun,

Qu Lichu will not do anything desperate."

Lu Chengqing could understand, “If someone else did this, I would definitely impeach him for being domineering and deliberately creating border conflicts, causing unrest in the Western Regions, and endangering the interests of the court.

But you are different. The current good situation in the Western Regions can be said to have completely exceeded the court's expectations, and all of this was achieved by you.

You are indeed a little anxious, but you have the ability to control the situation. You are now bearing some criticism, but you have done the job, which is not wrong. Some people may not understand you, but Your Majesty will definitely understand your good intentions. "

Lu Chengqing did not ask Wu Huaiyu why he felt that he would not stay in the Western Regions for long.
He was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the representative of the Fanyang Lu family among the Five Surnames and Seven Families in the court. How could he not understand the meaning of his words?

After Wu Huaiyu finished his western expedition, he petitioned the emperor to let his brother Wu Huaiyu replace Guo Xiaoke as the Protector General of Anxi, and he was willing to continue to go to Lingnan.

But in the end the emperor summoned Wu Huaiyi back to the court to serve as the general of the imperial guards, and let Wu Huaiyu stay in the Western Regions. He also upgraded the Anxi Protectorate to the Grand Protectorate, and retained Wu Huaiyu's title of prime minister.

At that time, the situation in the Western Regions was still unstable, and the emperor trusted Wu Huaiyu the most.

The facts were just as the emperor had expected. During the more than a year that Wu Huaiyu stayed in the Western Regions, he did a lot of things, perhaps even creating a good situation that others might not be able to achieve in ten years.

But because of this,

Wu Huaiyu has laid a good foundation.

It even exceeded the expectations of the emperor and the court.

The current Anxi Protectorate has a surprisingly large jurisdiction. Although the prefectures directly under it are the three prefectures of Yixiting in the east of Tianshan Mountain,

However, Wu Huaiyu had already completely conquered the two Khanates of the Western Turkic Khaganate in the north and south. The Ten Arrow Tribes on both sides of the Western Turkic Khaganate had also become obedient, and the two dishonest Asiqie tribes had been exterminated.

Wu Huaiyu replaced both the Khans in the north and south of the Western Regions. Duolu Khan of Beiting was replaced by Mishe, and Bobu Khan of Nanting also died suddenly and had to be replaced.

The previous Tocharian Yehudi State and Khazar Yehudi State were also upgraded to khanates by Wu Huaiyu, and the two Yehudi were promoted to khans.

Under the Anxi Protectorate, there are now five protectorates, namely Mengchi, Kunling, Hezhong, Khazar and Tokharistan, as well as countless military governorates, states and counties.

It can be said that Wu Huaiyu, with his own efforts, not only conquered the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains in just over a year, but also connected the borders of the Tang Dynasty with the Persian Sassanid Empire and the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire.

After this expedition, the area south of Tianshan Mountain has basically been completely controlled by the Tang Dynasty, including Shule Town, Qiuci Town, Yanqi Town, Congling Shouzhuo, Dashi Shouzhuo, Bohuan Shouzhuo...

Among the southern countries that have not yet made a move, the only slightly stronger one is Khotan. Given the current situation,
If Wu Huaiyu was not the prime minister, this would be enough for him to return to the court and be appointed as prime minister and enter the government affairs hall.

But now he is already the Minister of the Interior, the Co-Prime Minister of the Secretariat, the Grand Protector of Anxi, and also the Governor of Liangzhou.

No one could allow Wu Huaiyu to stay in the Western Regions any longer.

Not only that, the Anxi Protectorate must be split into two, or even three.

As the Minister of War, Lu Chengqing had actually prepared a similar memorial in his mind. His personal suggestion was to split the Anxi Protectorate into the Anxi and Beiting Protectorates.

It was divided into two protectorates, separated by the Tianshan Mountains.

The Beiting Protectorate could be governed in Tingzhou, or in Yili or Suiye.

The Anxi Protectorate could still be governed in Gaochang, Xizhou, or in Qiuci.

As for the three protectorates of Tocharistan, Transoxiana and Khazare, he felt that Tocharistan should belong to Anxi, while Transoxiana and Khazare could be assigned to Beiting.

Alternatively, the imperial court could set up another protectorate in addition to Anxi and Beiting to govern the three areas of Hezhong, Khazale, and Tokharistan.

The Anxi Protectorate was to be split up.
Then the Grand Protector Wu Huaiyu must return to the court. He cannot continue to serve as the Protector General of Anxi or the Protector General of Beiting. That would be a disguised demotion, which is absolutely inappropriate.

In addition to this reason, Wu Huaiyu had made great contributions and had a high prestige in the Western Regions. He had previously appointed several of his adopted sons and old subordinates to important positions such as military garrison commanders or guard commanders, and even appointed his adopted son to be the king of the Stone Kingdom. These things were a bit out of line.

Whether from the perspective of the imperial court, to nip the problem in the bud, or for Wu Huaiyu's sake, to protect meritorious officials, Wu Huaiyu could not be allowed to continue staying in the Western Regions.

When smart people speak, it’s sometimes very easy and everyone can understand what they are saying without having to put in so much effort.

"This year, winter wheat in the countries south of the Tianshan Mountains is reported to be growing well and will yield a good harvest."

"This is a good thing. The Anxi Army won't have to worry about food supplies anymore."

"Well, although the Anxi Army has planned many military settlements this year, they have not been able to open up much land yet, and the food is not enough for the military settlements to be self-sufficient. Fortunately, there is no need to transport food from the Central Plains," Wu Huaiyu said with a smile.

Lu Chengqing understood what Wu Huaiyu meant.
Under normal circumstances, the Anxi Army's military rations had to be transported from Hexi. If the food in Lianglan, Gansu and other states was not enough, they would have to transfer food from Longyou, Guanzhong and even Shuofang, Hetao and other places. It was possible that they would also have to transfer food from Chang'an or Shannan, Henan, Hedong and other places.
The cost of transporting grain over thousands of miles is too high. It requires a large number of laborers and consumes a lot of grain on the way.
But Wu Huaiyu was able to solve it himself in the Western Regions.

It's not about robbing.
It was the strength of the Anxi Army. He had won countless victories in the past year, destroyed nations and tribes, killed Khans, and captured countless amounts of grain and supplies.
Wu Huaiyu used part of the money to reward his officers and soldiers and the tribesmen who assisted him, and gave part of it to the emperor and the national treasury. He still had a lot left over for military expenses.

If there is sufficient military expenditure, one can directly purchase food from the Western Regions.

The great military achievements of this Prime Minister Wu made the various tribes and countries in the Western Regions pay taxes honestly. Even if their taxes were reduced by half, it was still a large sum after paying them truthfully.

The Anxi Army accumulated astonishing wealth in a short period of time. It can be said that it was a frontier army that did not rely on the court to allocate military funds or food.

Even in just over a year, it is still expanding rapidly.

After the New Year, another 20,000 infantry and cavalry were added to the four towns of Suiye, Shule, Qiuci, and Yanqi.
Together with the original Anxi troops, the Yiwu Army, the Tianshan Army, the Hanhai Army, and the Yili Army,

Wu Huaiyu now has 48,000 infantry and cavalry under his command, not counting the tribal soldiers from the city who are not officially included.

Even countries like Shiguo, Shule, and Qiuci still have some troops, but they are not included in the quota.

"Report!"

Before he finished his bowl of summer solstice mutton noodles, an urgent report came from his personal soldiers.

"Reporting to the Prime Minister, the news from Qiuci that General An Lushan, the governor of Yili, led his troops to Qiuci and captured more than ten cities along the way. When they arrived at the capital of Qiuci, the nobles and officials in the city refused to open the city gates. General An led his troops to attack the city and after three days of fierce fighting, they captured Qiuci City."

As soon as the victory report sent by An Lushan arrived, there was an impeachment letter sent by Han Wei, the new governor of Qiuci and former governor of Yizhou.

Han Wei impeached An Lushan for breaking into the capital of Kucha and letting his troops plunder. An Lushan even led his troops into the palace of Kucha himself. He not only looted the treasures of the palace, but also raped the princesses in the palace, not just one.
He slept with the Turkic queen and concubines of the previous king Sufadi, the Turkic queen and concubines of the previous king Helibushibi, and even the widow of the old king Sufaboyi.

Han Wei complained to Wu Huaiyu and demanded severe punishment for An Lushan, saying that the image of the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Army had been completely ruined by that idiot An Lushan.

Wu Huaiyu couldn't help but frown when he saw the report.

He anticipated that Qiuci would not surrender so honestly, so he specially asked An Lushan, the governor of Yili, to lead his troops. The King of Qiuci actually closed the city and refused to let An Lushan enter. What he did not expect was that An Lushan would forcefully take the city.

Moreover, after entering the city, they allowed their soldiers to plunder and even led their soldiers to rob the royal palace and raped several queens and princesses of the Bai royal family.

It really makes him proud, this An Zhuer.

After learning about this, Lu Chengqing, who was standing by, also looked serious. "I think this matter must be thoroughly investigated. If it is true, severe punishment must be imposed."

Wu Huaiyu said helplessly, "I'll have to trouble Minister Lu to investigate."

(End of this chapter)