A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1264 A new generation replaces the old one
It is more than 2,000 miles from Dingxiang to Chang'an.

Li Ji's victory report was delivered to the capital in just five days.

When the knight, exhausted and dusty, delivered the victory report, the emperor read it and laughed heartily, stroking his short beard.

"Hahaha, good, great, Lord Ying fought this battle with great pleasure,"

More than 8,000 people were killed in the battle and more than 50,000 were captured.

In the Battle of Zihe, the Tang army had 12,000 soldiers and the Eastern Turks had 30,000 soldiers facing the 80,000 Xueyantuo army. After the 30,000 Turkish cavalry led by Li Simo were defeated, Li Ji, facing the Xueyantuo army who were taking advantage of the victory to attack, actually followed their example and also dismounted and fought on foot.

Defeated the enemy.

Wu Huaiyu, who was playing chess with the emperor, was not surprised to hear the emperor's words. Although many people were not optimistic about Li Ji and said that he often lost generals, Wu Huaiyu still knew that in history, Li Ji often lost in Wude and was suppressed in Bingzhou in the early and middle period of Zhenguan. Li Ji really made his mark during the Gaozong period.

Among the famous generals of the Tang Dynasty in the early period, Li Ji has a place.

This guy was not only one of the twenty-four heroes in the Lingyan Pavilion, but was also buried with Emperor Gaozong in Zhaoling Mausoleum. He was also granted the title of Taiwei and the posthumous title of Zhenwu.
He served in the army for more than sixty years and was later selected as one of the Ten Sages of the Temple of Martial Arts.

When talking about famous generals in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Jing comes first, followed by Li Ji, and the two Lis are ranked equally.

For such a talented person, leading troops to fight against the Xueyantuo is like using a sledgehammer to kill a chicken. It would be strange if he didn't win.

Li Shimin saw through Li Ji very well, so he kept him in Bingzhou for more than ten years without letting him move, and Li Ji stayed in Bingzhou obediently.

The emperor was a little surprised when he saw Wu Huaiyu's calm appearance.

He didn't expect that Wu Huaiyu was not surprised at all.

"Huaiyu, aren't you surprised at all by this great victory?" Li Shimin asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, Lord Ying has been in the army for more than 30 years and has a wealth of experience. In particular, he has been stationed in Bingzhou for 16 years, studying military tactics and training soldiers. He has also studied the Xueyantuo opponent thoroughly.

In this Zihe battle, although the Xueyantuo had the advantage in numbers, they fought well at the beginning. Simo made the mistake of underestimating the enemy, which was why he used 30,000 light cavalry to charge the 60,000-plus infantry formation after the Xueyantuo dismounted and formed an infantry formation, and was finally defeated.

On the other hand, when Ying Gong's 12,000 cavalrymen were surrounded by the Xueyantuo who were taking advantage of their victory and counterattacking, he neither chose to retreat nor to fight directly on horseback. Instead, he decisively and quickly ordered the cavalrymen to dismount, form a foot formation, and defeat the enemy with long spears and firearms.
Quickly turn defeat into victory..."

"Hahaha!" Li Shimin was in a good mood, "Great minds think alike."

Wu Huaiyu looked at the knight who had brought the letter and said, "You are the Duke of Yingguo, Erlang. Your name is Siwen, right?"

The knight who delivered the message had been standing nearby since he handed over the victory report. He did not expect Wu Huaiyu to recognize him. He said excitedly, "I am Li Siwen, the second son of Lord Ying."

Li Shimin really didn't recognize that this dusty young man was Li Ji's second son.

"Mr. Ying actually asked you to make this trip in person. Thank you for your hard work."

We ran more than 2,000 miles in five days, and it was definitely not an easy journey.

Li Shimin was more familiar with Li Ji's eldest son Li Zhen. Li Zhen started out as a Qianniu and was just promoted to a sixth-rank city gate officer this year. The second son, Li Siwen, was still only a ninth-rank military officer in the Prince's Mansion.

From this, we can actually see that Li Ji was suppressed quite severely by Li Shimin in recent years. At the beginning of Wude, Li Ji led the remaining Wagang troops to return to Tang. At that time, not only was he given the surname of the emperor, but he also gave Li Ji and his father the title of Duke of the state, and even wanted to make him a king, but Li Ji refused.

However, precisely because of this, Li Tang did not trust Li Ji, and his attitude towards him was completely different from that towards Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin and others. At that time, Li Ji was classified as a separatist leader like Luo Yi, Du Fu, Wei, Gao Kaidao and so on.

These people were first given titles of king and surname to win them over, and then slowly eliminated.

Li Ji was relatively smart and cautious, so he was the only one who was crowned king in the early Tang Dynasty but had not been eliminated.

In some ways, Li Ji's constant defeats during the Wude reign might have something to do with this, and he did it on purpose. Du Fuwei and Luo Yi were both good fighters, but they were both killed.

Cheng Yaojin's sons all became governors, and Wu Huaiyu's sons all became fifth-rank county magistrates.

Li Ji's eldest son had only been a Qianniu before. After Li Ji entered the court as prime minister, he was promoted to a sixth-rank city gate officer this year. As for the second son, he was also promoted to a ninth-rank military officer this year.

This time when Li Ji went on the northern expedition, he deliberately brought his second son with him.

Then after winning a great victory, he specially arranged for his son to run more than 2,000 miles in five days to report the victory, just to let his son show up in front of the emperor.

Wu Huaiyu could guess what Li Ji was thinking, and at this time he didn't mind being carried in a fancy sedan chair.

"What is Jilang's current position?"

"The Crown Prince's Right Guard is in charge of military affairs." Li Siwen replied.

"Oh, when I started my career, I was the Prince's Right Guard and participated in military affairs. That was seventeen years ago. We are quite destined to be together, haha." Huaiyu said with a smile.
This made Li Siwen, who was originally very nervous, feel a little more relaxed.

Li Siwen is actually quite young.

Even though Li Ji had served in the army for thirty years, he was only a few years older than the emperor and was only in his forties this year, not yet fifty.

Li Ji was a bohemian boy, but now he is strict with his son. Li Siwen had the opportunity to become an official a few years ago, but Li Ji kept suppressing him. It was not until he entered the court as prime minister that he began to allow Li Siwen to become an official.

Li Shimin asked Li Siwen some questions and was quite satisfied with his answers. He also learned more details about the battle of Zihe from him. At that time, the battle was a bit dangerous. The old dog Li Simo almost got into trouble. Fortunately, Li Ji and Duan Zhixuan turned the tide at the critical moment.

"I promote you to the position of assistant general of the warehouse department of the Crown Prince's Right Guard, and grant you the title of assistant official of the Ministry of Works."

The emperor promoted him four levels at once. Not only was his position promoted four levels, but his official rank was also promoted four levels, all in one step.

Although the difference between the Right Guard Commander and the Right Guard Commander is only two characters, one is from the ninth rank and the other is from the eighth rank, a difference of four levels. The emperor also rewarded Li Siwen with an imperial horse.

"Huaiyu, the battle at Zihe has put my mind at ease."

200,000 Xueyantuo troops marched south, and 80,000 crossed Yinshan Mountain, but were almost completely annihilated at Zihe. Even though 140,000 of them retreated to Mobei,

But even for such a great overlord of Mobei, this injury was serious.

It also gave Li Shimin peace of mind. The Yi man had been clamoring for so many years, but in fact he was just a paper tiger and a silver-coated wax spear head.

A piece of stuff that looks good but is not practical.

Next, the Tang army set out in all directions and marched northward to take advantage of the victory. The Xueyantuo were bound to be destroyed this time.

Li Shimin sighed that he had been right about Li Ji all these years. This guy hid himself very deeply, but still could not escape his eyes.

This time, Li Ji finally showed his potential, which allowed Li Shimin to let Wu Huaiyu retreat to the second line with confidence.

Talented people emerge in every generation.

There will be no shortage of generals who can stand alone.

After Li Jing there was Wu Huaiyu, and now after Wu Huaiyu there is Li Ji.

If Hou Junji and Xue Wanche had not been useless and had not ungratefully taken the opportunity, Li Shimin would have actually planned to let Li Ji continue to hold power for a few more years. Even if he returned to the court, he would not have used him so highly all of a sudden, but would have left him for the crown prince.

Li Ji was a few years older than him. By the time the crown prince succeeded to the throne in ten or twenty years, Li Ji would be almost seventy years old. Even if he assisted in the government for a few years, there would be no need to worry too much.

It was just the right time to help the prince onto his horse and send him on his way.

But Wu Huaiyu put too much pressure on him, especially after the assassination in Luoyang, Li Shimin had to let Li Ji take over in advance.

Fortunately, Li Ji's performance lived up to expectations.

"Su Dingfang can be asked to speed up. It's time to capture Beisha Mountain City, Qingnipu, and Shimajin."

The Xueyantuo had not yet been conquered, but in Li Shimin's eyes, the destruction of the Xueyantuo was no longer a suspense, and he could now start preparing to conquer Goguryeo and recover Liaodong and Korea.

This is the old territory of the Han Dynasty, and he must take it back.

Then, with his great military achievements in destroying Xueyantuo and conquering Goguryeo, he climbed Mount Tai, the highest of the Five Mountains.
Dengfeng reported to heaven, and descended to Zen to eliminate the earth.

To change one's surname and become king and bring peace, one must enshrine oneself on Mount Tai, abdicate to Liangfu, and be king as appointed by Heaven. One must govern all living things, report peace to Heaven, and repay the gods for their contributions.

He wanted to hold a grand Fengshan ceremony to prove to the world and future generations that he was the emperor by divine right and how outstanding he was as an emperor.

"As long as Su Dingfang can successfully capture Beisha City, he can then send troops to capture Jili City at any time, and then threaten Jian'an City and Anshi City, the important cities in the lower reaches of the Liao River."

Li Shimin was very excited when he talked about this.
There is no doubt that the emperor listened to Wu Huaiyu's previous strategy of using southern Liaoning as a breakthrough point.

Attacking the Liaohe River from western Liaoning was a frontal attack. There were already many important cities there. Over the past decade, the Goguryeo people had spent countless manpower and resources to connect these cities and towns to form a thousand-mile Great Wall in Liaodong.

A frontal breakthrough would be like chopping at a large shield.

The effort is not thankless.

But crossing the sea from Denglai and taking southern Liaoning along the flank of the Miaodao Islands would be completely different.

This is a new idea. Although the Sui Dynasty also had naval and land attacks before, its idea was completely different from Wu Huaiyu's and had a different focus.

"Once we take over Beisha City, we will directly set up a Jian'an Prefecture Governor's Office, which will govern Beisha Prefecture, Jili Prefecture, and Jian'an Prefecture.

Huaiyu, who do you think is suitable to be the governor of Jian'an Prefecture?"

Wu Huaiyu has a number of suitable candidates in mind.
But he held back.

"There are many brave generals in the Tang Dynasty, and Your Majesty can choose from them."

Li Shimin was very satisfied with this answer.

He stroked his short beard and said, "Call Dao Zong back and ask him to help Su Dingfang capture Beisha City first. Liaonan will be handed over to him in the future. If he performs well in the attack on Beisha, then he will be able to atone for his sins. Let him first inspect the governor of Jian'an Prefecture."

Wu Huaiyu certainly would not have any objection to this.

Although Li Daozon was probably still on his way to exile in Suiye, Li Shimin knew that Li Daozon had not actually rebelled, but was implicated in the rebellion by Zhangsun Wuji.

The emperor took advantage of this case to give Li Daozon a warning, and at the same time made an example of him to scare the royal family, relatives, and ministers.

"Why not just recall Zhishi Sili as well?"

A cousin and a brother-in-law were called back after being warned, which showed the great grace of God. Of course, one of them was a Confucian general and the other was a fierce general, and they were indeed rare military talents.

Another point is that these two people are not from Wu Huaiyu's faction, and they have just been convicted and exiled by Changsun Wuji. Of course, it is impossible for them to get together with Changsun Wuji after they come back.

Wu Huaiyu also admired Li Shimin very much. He was also a flying general who started charging into battle at the age of sixteen. He was a straightforward man, but now he had cultivated a wise mind.

(End of this chapter)