A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 548 Good News Awakens the Emperor's Dream

Li Shimin is the emperor on horseback.

He used to be invincible in all battles from east to west, and even often charged at the front. Now that the frontier is fighting, he can only wait for news from the front line in Chang'an Taiji Palace thousands of miles away.

Conquer the world immediately, but cannot rule the world immediately.

It has been almost three years since he became emperor, but Li Shimin still has not fully adapted to the role of emperor. Sitting on the throne in the palace and dealing with military affairs is more complicated than commanding the front line.

The army pays attention to military orders like mountains, but whether it is government affairs or personnel affairs in the court, they can't be so straightforward, sometimes they have to go back and forth.

As the new year approaches, affairs between the DPRK and China become even more busy.

Not only do they have to prepare for the affairs of the New Year’s Zhengdan Grand Court Meeting, but they also have to meet in batches with the local governors and governors who have entered the Beijing court every day, and even have to find time to meet foreign envoys.
For example, Silla, Baekje, and Goguryeo, the three peninsula countries in Haidong, have come to Chang'an every year to file a lawsuit in the past few years. Silla and Baekje have united to say that Goguryeo blocked their tribute roads and sent troops to attack and invade them. Then this year Baekje and Silla broke up again, fighting each other,

The three countries are all vassal states canonized by Emperor Wude of the Tang Dynasty, and the kings are also canonized by the Tang Dynasty.

Although Li Tang is now unable to send troops to the Korean peninsula, after all, the three kingdoms are all vassals of the Tang Dynasty, and Goguryeo is a hidden danger in the Central Plains. Naturally, he cannot sit back and watch him take the opportunity to bully Baekje and Silla. It will become more and more difficult to control.

Don't worry about it, it's too late, Datang is also very careful to maintain restraint, and doesn't want to tear up the superficial peace maintained with Goguryeo since the founding of the country, otherwise, once the war breaks out, Datang may fall into the quagmire of Liaodong again, and even the Turks will return. If you haven't packed it up, how can you rush to fight Goguryeo.

Li Shimin, who is an excellent military commander, knows very well that he cannot fight on two fronts, so he can only take more time to meet with the envoys of the Three Kingdoms and try to mediate peacefully.
But the Goguryeo envoy was very rebellious, which made Li Shimin almost unable to suppress his anger several times.

The folks only think that the four directions come to court, the eight directions come to congratulate, and the surrounding countries all surrender, such as Goguryeo, who has been conquered by the Sui Dynasty without success, has always been submissive, but in fact it is just the common people thought.

In fact, Tang and Goguryeo have always been careful to maintain a balance. Neither side dared to offend each other easily, for fear of provoking another war.

Although Goguryeo paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty, Gao Jianwu was also canonized by the Tang Dynasty as the king of Shangzhu, Liaodong County, and Koryo.

This is much higher than the official rank of the king of Silla. Jin Baijing, the king of Jinping in Silla, was only conferred by Li Yuan as Zhuguo, Duke of Lelang, and King of Silla at the beginning, which was a grade lower than Goguryeo.

Silla Shinpyeong King Kim Baekjeong is fair or not Li Shimin doesn't know, but he is really annoying and incompetent. He has been in power for 50 years. Began to be crowned king in
That year, Yu Wenyun, the Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty who had five queens side by side, abdicated the throne to the seven-year-old prince because of his laziness in governing, and became the emperor himself.

And this year, Silla's Zhenzhi King Jinsaraun, who once paid tribute to Chen in the Southern Dynasty of the Central Plains and defeated the invasion of Baekje, was deposed by the Hebai Council on the grounds of political chaos and debauchery, and he was appointed as the king. Jin Baijing, the son of the eldest brother Tonglun Prince, is the new king.

Then this Jin Baijing became the king for 50 years in a flash,

Jin Baijing is old now, but has no children. In the early years of the Sui Dynasty, Jin Baijing paid tribute to the Central Plains. He used the opportunity of the Sui to attack Goguryeo and sent troops to attack Goguryeo many times. He even counterattacked Baekje and seized a lot of land. , both Goguryeo and Silla counterattacked Silla one after another, and even the Wa Kingdom crossed the sea to attack,
Silla has been suffering unspeakably in the past few years. Fortresses have been built all over the vicinity of the capital, Jincheng, for fear that someone will accidentally invade the capital.

Silla is now not only at a disadvantage in the competition with Baekje, but also retreated steadily due to the fierce attack of Goguryeo, losing a large area of ​​territory.

In the eighth year of Wude, the Tang Dynasty sent Zhu Zishe to the peninsula to mediate the conflict between the three countries, which gave Silla a chance to breathe. This year, Silla took the opportunity to launch a counterattack against Baekje and defeated the Baekje that surrounded the city of Kuzen. The army, and even the generals Kim Yongchun, Kim Shuxuan, and Kim Yuxin and their sons led the army to surround Goguryeo's Niangbi City.
However, Silla's move also made Goguryeo begin to unite with Baekje, intending to form an alliance between the two. Originally, the kings of Goguryeo and Buyeo were both countries established by the princes of the ancient King Fuyu who went south. The Mahan tribe, but after all, the king was born in Buyeo, and now the No. 30 Baekje king Fuyuzhang is called King Wu, and that is also the surname Buyeo.

Of the three countries on the peninsula, Goguryeo was originally the strongest, and Silla and Baekje should unite against Goguryeo, but in fact, the three countries often fought in chaos, and Silla dared to declare war against Baekje, Goguryeo, and even Wa.

But even though they were hard-headed, they didn't take a beating. Every year, they would come to Chang'an to ask Datang for mediation, and even wanted Datang to send troops for help.

The Silla people who were beaten wanted to send Princess Kinderman to Chang'an to warm the feet of the Emperor Datang in exchange for Tang's assistance.

But Li Shimin ignored them at all, let alone a princess from a small peninsula country, even if he sent a dozen princesses, it is impossible for Li Shimin to go to war with Baekje and Goguryeo for the sake of Silla.

perfunctory
Li Shimin not only asked Honglu Temple officials to come forward to reconcile the three families, but even planned to send an official to the peninsula to mediate after the next year, hoping that they would calm down a bit.

The emperor is now paying more attention to Youzhou and Yehuling.

Li Shimin hasn't slept since the [-]-mile horse in Youzhou urgently reported that Jieli Khan Ashina Duobi was about to enter the stronghold, and Wu Huaiyu hurriedly led the Youzhou army to the Yehuling fortress to defend against the enemy from outside the country. sleep well.

Although he had already supported Li Jing's suggestion in front of the prime ministers, delegated power to Wu Huaiyu, believed in Wu Huaiyu, and let Wu Huaiyu command the battle, he also ordered Wu Huaiyu to focus on defense and try not to fight if he could.

But my heart is always not at ease.

Wu Huaiyu has indeed made a lot of contributions in the past two years, but Li Shimin is worried that Wu Huaiyu has too little experience after all, and the current season and climate are not conducive to combat, and he is going out to fight. In case the supplies cannot keep up, or the field battle fails , what shall we do then?
Li Shimin has been waiting for news, but the news has been delayed.

"Your Majesty, this is the ginseng soup that the concubine made for His Majesty. Your Majesty should drink it while it is hot, and then catch up on sleep."

Li Shimin took the ginseng soup and was very grateful to his wife.

"Your Majesty is still waiting for news from Youzhou?"

"Well, it's a pity that there has been no news. I don't know how the frontier battle is going. Is there a fight and how is it going? I am really anxious to wait."

Empress Changsun walked behind her husband, kneaded his shoulders, and relaxed her husband, "Actually, my concubine thinks that no news is the best news."

"Oh?"

"Although Youzhou is more than 2000 miles away, it can be reached in a few days. If the situation is really corrupt, Wu Huaiyu will not dare to hide anything. There has been no news so far. I can only say that the biggest possibility is that there is no war. ,"

"The Queen thinks Jieli has withdrawn?"

"Maybe it's still a confrontation,"

"Perhaps it was because of the heavy snowstorm that delayed the transmission of information," Li Shimin said.

"Your Majesty, let's drink ginseng soup first, and leave the affairs of the front line to the generals. Your Majesty has given Wu Huaiyu full command of the front line, and also arranged for Li Ji of Bingzhou, Zhang Gongjin of Daizhou, and Shuangshiluo of Xiangzhou to support them. Nothing will happen. of."

The queen massaged the emperor's shoulders, "Perhaps Duke Yi can give His Majesty another surprise. I always feel that this disciple of Yinxian can always surprise people."

Li Shimin smiled, "Since I met him, it's true, hahaha, let's borrow the Queen's words and wait for the good news."

However, Li Shimin still didn't have much expectations in his heart.
It would be the best result to be able to keep the enemy out of the country and prevent Jieli from taking advantage of the opportunity to invade Youyun. He never thought that Wu Huaiyu could fight against the enemy in a hurry in the cold winter months with only Youzhou soldiers and horses. It is impossible for Jieli's army of more than [-] to be severely damaged in a field battle outside the Great Wall.

Even if it were him, there might not be a good solution in this haste.

"Yang Gongren, the governor of Luozhou, entered the court in Beijing and was summoned yesterday. He claimed to be old and sick, and asked to be appointed. I intend to allow him to return home to recuperate. As the governor of Luoyang, I want to transfer a warrior to take over. What does the queen think?"

"This military country's government affairs, how can a concubine and a harem woman be able to do politics." The queen did not intend to intervene in political affairs, even if the emperor took the initiative to ask.

However, Li Shimin still said, "The samurai Xun was appointed governor of Luozhou mainly because of his management of civil affairs, especially the economy. He has served in Yangzhou, Liangzhou, and Jingzhou, and he was also a minister of the Ministry of Industry in the court. , I have managed finances before, and I have both experience and talent in this area.

Yang Gongren succeeded Qu Tutong as governor of Luoyang. Both of them were very stable and contributed to the stability of the place. However, as Wu Huaiyu wrote to me before, the two were too conservative and restrained business and industry too much, which led to the decline of Luoyang's business and economy, and Luoyang was about to become a city. It's a dead city, it really doesn't work. "

"How about letting your elder brother go to Jingzhou to be the governor, replacing the warrior Xun?" the emperor asked suddenly.

Empress Changsun paused her hands for a moment, and continued to knead, "I heard that brother has been in poor health in recent years. Duke Yi once diagnosed him as suffering from diabetes and shortness of breath. You should take care of it calmly. I beg Your Majesty to let you Elder brother rests well in Beijing, don't go back and forth, wait for him to recuperate, then it won't be too late to do things for His Majesty."

It is true that Changsun Wuji's health is not very good, but the queen just used this reason to object to letting him be the governor of Jingzhou.

"Duke Zhou is indeed very experienced in administration and economics, but please consider your majesty. The governor of Jingzhou is the governor of the upper governor, and the governor of Luozhou is the governor of the middle governor. If he has meritorious service, he will be demoted. This is not in line with rewards and punishments."

"Well, maidservant Guanyin, you are right in reminding me that the samurai is loyal and well-governed. He has been granted special advancement, and Weizhou has sealed [-] households. There are [-] households in total before passing through."

"Yuanjing, the king of Zhao, was renamed Jingwang, and he led the governor of Jingzhou, the governor of Kuizhou, the Duke of Guoguo, Huang Junhan, and the governor of Jingzhou's governor's office,"

"Li Junxian moved to the governor of Kuizhou, Guo Xiaoke joined the general of Zuo Xiaowei..."

At the end of each year, the imperial court routinely adjusted a large number of senior civil and military officials. The queen helped her husband rub his shoulders and only urged him to drink ginseng soup, but she did not make any speeches about these important appointments.

Under the queen's urging, Li Shimin finally drank the ginseng soup.

"Heh," Li Shimin yawned, feeling sleepy.

"Your Majesty, lie down and rest first."

"Okay, I'm really sleepy, so let's take a nap first."

Li Shimin lay down and started snoring soon.

Empress Changsun covered her husband with a brocade quilt and sat on the side to protect her from being disturbed.

The internal guard Zhang Anan came in, and the queen reminded him to keep quiet.

"His Royal Highness, this is an urgent report from Youzhou." Zhang Anan said in a low voice, "Your Majesty has a decree. If there is news from Youzhou, report it immediately without any delay."

Empress Changsun glanced at her husband who had just fallen asleep, called Ananda to a corner of the hall, and asked softly, "What's the news?"

Zhang Anan said a little excitedly, "Wu Huaiyu, governor of Youzhou, rushed to Lubu to report victory, lured Jieli to attack the mountain at Yehuling, wiped out more than [-] Jieli's troops in a day and night, and our Tang army suffered less than one-tenth of the casualties. !"

Empress Changsun couldn't help being surprised when she heard this.

This sound woke up Li Shimin, he sat up, his eyes were red, "I heard about Wu Huaiyu's victory in Youzhou, but I was dreaming?"

"Your Majesty, it's not a dream. Youzhou's victory came to Beijing. Wuhuai Yuyehuling severely injured Jieli and wiped out more than [-] people. Congratulations, Your Majesty."

Li Shimin sat there, dazed in a daze, and patted his head after a long time,
"Hahaha, this Wu Huaiyu can really surprise me, hahaha."

(End of this chapter)