A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 932 A long sigh

Jiucheng Palace, Paddock.

The emperor galloped on horseback, holding a three-eyed gun on the horse and aiming at a running stag.

With a bang, the stag fell down,

The King of Jiangxia praised loudly from behind, "Fifty steps away, Your Majesty hit the running deer with a bludgeon from his galloping horse. His skill with the blunderbuss is even greater than that of the fire blunderbussmen from the Shenji Camp on the left and right."

The emperor stopped his horse and walked slowly to the deer.
The shot hit the stag right on the head. The shot was loaded with lead bullets, and even though it was fired from fifty paces away, the shot still killed the deer directly.

Xue Wanche, the general of the Zuotun Guard and the commander-in-chief of the Prince Consort, laughed and said, "Your Majesty is already good at shooting. In the past, when he built the Tiance Mansion, his arc arrows were twice as long as usual, and his shots were always on target. The door to the shooting cave was closed."

General Zuo Xiaowei and Duke Fan Duan Zhixuan said, "The arrow pierced seven thorns and the bow pierced six junctures. I think back then, in the thirteenth year of the Great Cause, Wei Dao'er invaded Taiyuan. The Supreme Emperor led his troops to fight with him and was trapped in the formation. Seeing that the situation was critical, Your Majesty broke through the encirclement with his light cavalry and shot at them. They were invincible in all directions and lifted the Supreme Emperor out of the crowd."

Chai Shao, the Duke of Qiao, who was given the title of General of the Zhenjun Xingyou and General of Xiaowei, also said, "Back then, Your Majesty and Song Jingang had a stalemate at Baibi. Once they were surrounded by enemy troops. Your Majesty shot him with a Biyu arrow. If you are a brave general, the thieves will retreat."

Then Li Jing, the third division commander of the Kaifu Yi and the crown prince Taibao Guogong, rode up. Hearing what they said, he also said, "In the third year of Wude, your Majesty led an army to besiege Luoyang. He was attacked by the enemy general Shan Xiongxin in Cijian. He almost died. He was defeated. Your Majesty shot them from left and right, and all of them fell down, and among the thousands of troops, his general Yan Shuo was captured!"

"Although this three-eyed gun has many shortcomings, it also has many merits. This lead is really powerful within thirty or fifty steps."

But the three-eyed blunderbuss is very simple. It is mainly a three-piece iron pipe. As long as there are craftsmen with materials, it can be made continuously without a long cycle.

After Li Jing resigned from the prime ministership, he was now occasionally called upon to accompany the emperor on hunting or drinking. The rest of the time he spent at home writing his military books.
Firearms such as the three-eyed gun are also very important to this military god. After all, he is a master of military use. The innovation of any new weapon will inevitably bring about the innovation of tactics. This cannot be ignored. "The veteran thinks the three-eyed gun is the most powerful. The place should be the same as the crossbow. It does not require young people to be strong and strong, nor does it require long-term training. Even if the elderly and children hold the three-eyed gun, as long as there is a certain number, the three-stage shooting can still produce amazing damage. force,"

The archers in the Tang army were all the strongest men, tall and strong, and they had to train for many years.

But the accuracy of the three-eyed gun is indeed poor, and the range is also poor. As a monarch who is good at shooting, Li Shimin also practiced for a long time before he was able to kill a running deer with one gun at fifty steps.
But again, although the three-eyed gun has many shortcomings, it also has advantages. It is easy to use and can be fired three times. If it is a three-stage salvo, there is basically no need to consider the range and accuracy, but its huge sound , the sharp killing is still very impressive.

Even in terms of manufacturing, the three-eyed gun is actually very simple. Compared with the production of a bow, the time is shorter and the cost is lower. The production cycle of a war bow is very long, and its various materials are neither easy to obtain nor low cost.

On the hunting ground,

The lead wire used is produced in large quantities and the cost is continuously reduced.

"Hahaha, all heroes are gone regardless of how brave they were back then!"

He is also good at riding and shooting, and likes to charge and break formations.

The light cavalry of the Bei Ya Imperial Guard galloped around chasing the prey,
All of them are extremely brave,

An excellent archer can be trained not only by one of the best, but it is indeed not easy.

Li Shimin dismounted and looked at the fallen deer,

Nowadays, the eight battalions of the emperor's Beiya are basically equipped with three-eyed muskets.
Duan Zhixuan chuckled and said, "The cavalry equipment of these things is really good. They can fire three rounds in a duel. When fighting hand-to-hand, they can also be used as iron bones. It is rough but easy to use. After training, our cavalry can adapt to this." gunshot,
But the enemy has never seen this before. When we attacked the camp, this thing was even more powerful."

Li Jing said, "The three-eyed gun has been on trial for several years. Although it cannot replace the crossbow, it is still a good weapon in the army and can be used by both cavalry and infantry."

Li Shimin has been practicing archery since he was a child, and he is not only good at archery, but his bow and arrows are stronger than others. He can draw a strong bow with big arrows,

"It will definitely work if you beat Tuyuhun!" Duan Zhixuan said.

Like the archers in the army, Li Shimin also had long and powerful hands. In addition to being good at shooting with a bow, he was also good at using a broadsword. After shooting and swinging his sword, he is a fierce man who can chop the enemy's horsemen and horses into pieces.

Li Shimin laughed loudly when he heard the ministers talking about these past events.

The emperor looked at these extremely elite soldiers with confidence in his eyes.
In the past two years, except for being in Chang'an at the beginning and end of the year, Li Shimin spent most of the other half of the year in Jiucheng Palace. While recuperating with the queen here, he personally trained the imperial troops here.

Speaking of archery, the current Emperor Zhenguan is indeed one of the rare kings in ancient times who is good at archery. In other words, Li Shimin's archery skills can actually be regarded as a family tradition. The Supreme Emperor Li Yuan is a marksman. When he was suppressing bandits in Hedong, he once Shooting more than seventy arrows in a row is like mowing grass with an unparalleled weapon.

He also transferred officers from various armies to take turns training.
In the name of hunting, the emperor was actually training his troops.

Not only training troops but also training generals, the emperor had long used Tuyuhun as a training target, and a group of generals conducted simulations on the sand table to formulate sets of tactics for the western expedition to Tuyuhun.

Destroying Tuyuhun has long been in the emperor's plan.

Yang Guang once conquered Tuyuhun, and after destroying Tuyuhun, he established four counties including Xihai. As the Heavenly Khan, Li Shimin was certainly no worse than Yang Guang.

Not only had the Zhenguan military been focused on destroying Tuyuhun, but Li Shimin had also long planned to destroy Tuyuhun. However, Li Shimin was not in a hurry.
Preparations have been made.

Conquering Tuyuhun was a challenge for Datang, but everyone was confident. After all, Yang Guang had done it before.

Yang Guang’s experience is the experience of the Tang Dynasty.

The difficulties in destroying Tuyuhun are, first, altitude sickness, second, difficulty in maintaining food and grass, and third, if the enemy is defeated, they will flee to remote areas and cannot be pursued, and they will come back after withdrawing.

At that time, Yang Guang ostensibly destroyed Tuyuhun and established four counties, but in fact, although Fu Yun was defeated, he did not die. He ran south to the snowy mountains. After the Sui army left, Fu Yun made a comeback.

Speaking of which, Tuyuhun was also a nomadic tribe, and the Tang army had rich experience in fighting Turks.
"Tuyuhun is four thousand miles from east to west and two thousand miles from north to south. The territory is vast and sparsely populated. If Tuyuhun avoids fighting, they may even burn grass and build up walls to clear out the wilderness."

At this time, Li Jing once again put forward his idea,
"Your Majesty, we have been preparing for the attack on Tuyuhun for a long time, and the time has almost arrived. Although there are still many difficulties, the old minister advises to simply lead the elite and a small amount of food and grass deep into the enemy's territory. This is to catch Tuyuhun by surprise and use good generals and soldiers before he is in danger. , If you advance with great speed, you will be able to succeed if you don't worry about me."

Chai Shao was also a general who was very familiar with Tuyuhun and agreed, "I also support Duke Wei's policy. If we send out a large army, the enemy will flee far away, and the mountain obstacles will make it difficult to defeat them." Their plan is actually It's still the same style that hit Jieli back then.

Capture the thief and capture the king,

Unexpectedly, he went straight to the royal court,
The war with the nomads cannot be the same as in the Central Plains. Fighting for one city and one land is meaningless. The only way to win is to find their main force and annihilate the viable forces.

The more troops are dispatched, the less likely it is to be caught unawares, and the more troops and horses there are, the more difficult it is to provide logistics.

Therefore, we can only dispatch elite cavalry, carrying a small amount of food and grass, and make a surprise attack that is unfavorable, and go straight into the Khan's court. Fortunately, Fu Yun's Khan Court was right by Qinghai Lake. Although it was dangerous for the Tang army, it was not too far away.

Of course, there are also people who don’t support Li Jing, Chai Shao and their main line.

"What if Fu Yun cannot be captured in one fell swoop and Tuyuhun burns the weeds to clear the country and flees into a remote area? Our army is short of soldiers and horses, has no food and grass, and no weeds. This battle will be impossible." Li Daozong was more cautious.

Li Jing's answer was, "We sent out two troops to outflank Fu Yun. The troops moved very quickly, plowing the courtyard and sweeping out the holes."

While talking, Li Jing also took out a three-eyed gun.

"When the time comes, each of the cavalry will be equipped with two three-eyed blunderbuss, as well as some palm thunders and rockets. When encountering the enemy in Tuyuhun, they will attack with firearms. They are not allowed to be reluctant to fight and go straight to the Khan's Court!"

"As long as we can surround Fu Yun, we can capture Fu Yun before the Tuyuhun soldiers and horses encircle him, annihilate the elites of his Khan Court, and then use his livestock fodder as food, and then defeat all the Tuyuhun tribes one by one!"

Li Jing asked for a tassel, "I would like to lead the army to attack Tuyuhun!"

Chai Shao, Xue Wanche, Duan Zhixuan, Li Daozong, Qibi He Li and others all asked for battle.

Li Shimin pondered for a moment. The crusade against Tuyuhun has been brewing for several years. Various tactics have been studied. Li Jing and his colleagues have also discussed many times their strategy of attacking elite troops directly to the royal court. Li Shimin is also inclined towards this.
"Okay, then Li Jing will lead the Northern Route Army, and Xue Wanche, Li Junxian, Fan Xing, and Qibi Heli will be the deputy generals,"

"Li Daozong led the Southern Route Army, with Duan Zhixuan, Niu Jinda, Xue Wanjun and Hou Junji as deputy generals."

The task of the North Route Army was to plow the court and sweep the caves, fight with the main force of Tuyuhun led by King Tianzhu, and attack the Tuyuhun King's city.

The task of the South Route Army was to outflank and intercept King Fu Yun and prevent him from escaping to Dangxiang in the south.

The monarchs and ministers were discussing in full swing, their faces glowing red,

Zhang Ananda, the chamberlain supervisor, came in.

"Your Majesty, Chang'an is reporting urgently. The Huang and Huai floods have flooded thirty states."

When Li Shimin heard the news, he was stunned.
After a long time, I let out a long sigh and no longer had the energy to discuss the battle between the North and the South to destroy Tuyuhun.
"The expedition to Tuyuhun is suspended."

Li Jing and others could only sigh deeply in their hearts. Before going outside, they must first settle down at home.

With the Huanghuai Flood, it was naturally not suitable for the imperial court to launch a war to destroy the country at this time.

"Get ready, we will return to Chang'an tomorrow." Li Shimin waved his hand. Last year there was a flood in the Huanghuai River, and this year there was another flood. Thirty or forty states were affected by the flood. Even if the imperial court had some savings now, it could not withstand such a disaster.

The next day,

Li Shimin hurriedly began to return to Beijing.
In front of Jiucheng Palace,
The emperor got on his horse and was about to set off.
There is another urgent report from Chang'an.

Li Shimin frowned, took it, opened it and read it, but the more he read, the happier he became.

"Hahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

The emperor's sudden laughter puzzled everyone, but the emperor rode towards the queen's carriage.

"Guanyin Maid, come out quickly, there is good news,"

Empress Changsun opened the curtain and said, "Your Majesty, have the Huanghuai floods been controlled?"

"It's not this, it's Cheng Qian,"

"What's wrong with Dalang?"

"Prince Zhaoxun is pregnant. He is going to be the crown prince. We are going to be grandparents."

Han Yingsu's child is not only the first child of Prince Cheng Qian, but also the first grandchild of Li Shimin and his wife.

Li Shimin, who is only in his thirties, is about to become a grandfather. This joy dilutes the bad news brought by the Huanghuai flood.

"Send someone to Chang'an to convey the decree, and Jin and Han Zhaoxun will serve as the emblem."

Zhaoxun, the prince's concubine, is the seventh rank. Cheng Hui is also the prince's concubine. She is already in the fifth rank, ranking under Liang Di and Liang Yuan.

(End of this chapter)