People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1601: Taiwei, the Northwest Road Rebellion General
It was very cold at the end of November.

In Qugou, Changzhou, and on both sides of the Shazhuyu River, countless cavalrymen of the Right Guard galloped back and forth quickly.

To the west of Qugou City, dozens of Changzhou officials and soldiers of the Right Guard stood in solemn formation.

The leader looked towards the west with a serious expression.

However, the people behind him, with equally solemn expressions, couldn't help but show a hint of relief in their eyes.

The Eastern Tuyuhun rebellion was finally put down.

One month after Cheng Wuting was summoned back to Chang'an, the war in Eastern Tuyuhun was put down.

It's not just Eastern Tuyuhun, it's the same with Western Tuyuhun as well.

King Peng, who had just returned from the Western Regions, heard about the rebellion of Eastern and Western Tuyuhun, and he directly attacked Western Tuyuhun from Gaochang and Shanshan.

When the figure of the Black Heavenly King appeared in Western Tuyuhun again, all the people and soldiers of Western Tuyuhun knelt down and bowed their heads.

Anyone who dared to resist was crushed into powder under the black armor and iron hooves.

The black-armored cavalry quickly captured Delingha.

No, it was the Delingha garrison commander who surrendered directly.

Afterwards, King Peng easily broke into the capital of Eastern Tuyuhun, Fuxi City.

The Eastern Tuyuhun was defeated, and a large number of soldiers either died or surrendered.

Even the Tuyuhun King Murong Nuohebo and his son Murong Zhong became prisoners.

The Tuyuhun nation will be destroyed from today.

King Peng's actions were incredibly fast. While everyone in Changzhou was still confused, Li Xuan had already rushed from Fuqi City to Qugou.

However, at this time, the leading Changzhou Sima Cao Ling felt extremely heavy-hearted.

Cheng Wuting went back to the court, but Li Xuan came.

The former governor of Changzhou, the prefect of Changzhou, and the King of Peng, who enjoyed endless prestige in Changzhou, suddenly arrived in Changzhou.

If he comes here, will he just stay here?

……

Five thousand black-armored cavalrymen marched slowly on the grassland of the Tuyuhun Plateau.

A tall black banner stood in the front.

The herdsmen of Changzhou in the distance knelt down and kowtowed the moment they saw the big banner, chanting the "Black-robed Heavenly King Sutra" in unison.

Under the black banner, Li Xuan, dressed in black clothes and black armor, walked at the front with an expressionless face.

From time to time, cavalry arrived under the banner, quickly reported something, and then left quickly.

Some went towards Laixinghai, some went to Guide Jianzha, and some went to Dafeichuan.

Further southeast of Xinghai is Panzhou in Shuzhong.

To the east of Guide Jianzha is Hezhou and Taozhou.

The Dafei River flows southwards towards Fanzhou.

These cavalrymen all came and went like the wind, and their movements were incredibly agile.

It seemed that if you were a step late, something unexpected would happen.

Behind the 5,000 black-armored cavalry, there were countless Tuyuhun cavalry following closely.

Between the black-armored cavalry and the Tuyuhun cavalry were countless captured Tuyuhun nobles.

Among them was the family of Tuyuhun King Murong Nuohebo.

They originally wanted to take advantage of the fact that Cheng Wuting was suddenly recalled to Chang'an and the entire Changzhou was leaderless, and directly capture the entire Changzhou.

However, just as they were fighting fiercely with the Tang army around Chaka, Li Xuan suddenly appeared behind them as if from the sky.

Before they could react, Li Xuan had already conquered Delingha and captured Fuqi City.

After seeing the black banner, the cavalry of Eastern Tuyuhun all fled frantically as if they had seen a ghost.

In the end, even Murong Nuohebo was fleeing frantically.

But unfortunately, how could he escape from Li Xuan who was well prepared?

Afterwards, all members of the Murong clan became captives of Li Xuan.

Even though they were the family of the mother of Li Xuan's concubine Qu Dou'er, Li Xuan never showed any mercy to them.

If Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu had not forcibly stopped him, Li Xuan might have completely pacified Eastern Tuyuhun.

In the long team, surrounding Li Xuan were Xue Shao, Zhao Gong, Fan Yunxian and other members of the team that was heading to the Western Regions to announce the imperial decree.

However, they were tightly surrounded by countless black cavalrymen and had no way of communicating with others.

Behind the crowd were more than 10,000 Tuyuhun cavalrymen who had surrendered.

From a distance, it looks densely packed and stretches for more than ten miles.

The commander-in-chief who led them was Li Gu.

Before he knew it, Qu Gou had appeared on the front line.

Li Xuan handed over a handwritten warrant, and Chen Ziang quickly arranged for someone to deliver it.

Li Xuan raised his head and looked at Qugou approaching rapidly in the distance, and his expression became gentle.

This pearl on the Qinghai Plateau, which he had created with his own hands, and which he had intended to use as the seat of the entire Changzhou prefecture, is now finally returning to his hands.

……

The severe cold always comes earlier on the plateau than on the plains.

However, no matter how severe the cold was, it could not be as cold as the chill in the heart of Changzhou Sima Cao Ling.

Li Xuan rode his horse first and soon came in front of him.

However, he could only bow and salute. The five thousand black-armored cavalrymen behind Li Xuan gave him a huge sense of oppression.

Li Xuan was the first to dismount. Cao Ling, along with his generals and officials, saluted Li Xuan solemnly and said, "I am Cao Ling, the General of the Right Guard and the Inspector of Changzhou Sima, and I am honored to meet King Peng."

Li Xuan was about to return the gift politely, but he couldn't help but pause when he heard the words: "General of the Right Guard, Inspector of Changzhou Sima, what's going on?" The Right Guard was a military position, and the Sima of Changzhou was a local official position.

Few people can hold both positions at the same time.

Even if there are, they are usually military or local heads.

For example, Li Xuan was the General of the Right Guard, and concurrently the Pacifier of Luoshui Road, the Governor of Fanzhou, and the Governor of Fanzhou.

The real military and political leader.

This is the only way to hold military and local positions at the same time. However, when the Right Guard also has a general serving as the governor of Changzhou, how could there be a General of the Right Guard who was the Inspector of Changzhou?
It was Li Xuan. After he left, Shi Ling was in charge of military affairs in the Western Regions, while Zhang Da'an was in charge of civil affairs and military supplies.

Cao Ling smiled bitterly and said, "I was originally a general of the imperial guards. Later, the general was transferred to the position of general of the right guard. However, since the beginning of the year, the right guard has been in conflict with the local Tuyuhun Sima of Changzhou and the magistrate of Qugou County. Not long ago, the general returned to the court and ordered me to inspect the Sima of Changzhou."

Li Xuan nodded. The original Sima of Changzhou was Ren Enci, and the magistrate of Qugou County was Chi Hongzang.

After Li Xuan was transferred to Fanzhou, Li Jinxing took over as the governor of Changzhou. Because he had to appease the Tuyuhun tribe and the capital of Changzhou was in Xinghai, he never touched them.

It wasn't until the beginning of this year that Cheng Wuting took over, and things went wrong right from the start.

"If I remember correctly, the magistrate of Qugou County is not young anymore. I stayed in Qugou for a while at the beginning of the year. He was very obedient at that time. How come he had a dirty fight with the Changzhou governor as soon as I left? In the end, he was even assassinated in the street. What happened?"

Li Xuan frowned as he passed by Cao Ling and fell on the many Right Guards and Changzhou bureaucrats behind him.

Many of them were once Li Xuan's subordinates.

Hearing Li Xuan's question, everyone lowered their heads in embarrassment.

They couldn't say that Cheng Wuting had just arrived in Changzhou and was already eager to eliminate Li Xuan's influence in Changzhou.

The Tuyuhun people, who had close relations with Li Xuan, immediately became the target of establishing authority.

Cao Ling smiled bitterly and explained, "Your Highness, you don't know. We really don't know what happened to Magistrate Qu's death. Later, Sima Ren had a grudge against the general because of this incident, and finally he even resigned from his post and left."

"Oh, what's going on? Then I'm going to have a good talk with him." Li Xuan looked past Cao Ling and said to someone behind him, "General Han, you are still the General of Changzhou Law, right?"

Han Tai, the former Chief Justice of the Dali Temple, stood up and said, "Your humble servant Han Tai, the Law Officer of Changzhou, greets Prince Peng."

Li Xuan looked at him and shook his head, saying, "When I transferred you out of the Dali Temple, you were the Changzhou Law Officer. How come after all these years, you are still the Changzhou Law Officer?"

"It's my incompetence!" Han Tai lowered his head helplessly.

As a legal official, the only higher position he could move up to was Sima.

When Li Xuan and Li Jinxing were around, they all used benevolence and grace, so he had no chance at all.

At that time, Li Xuan wanted to transfer him to Luoshui Dao, but he disliked Fanzhou because it was even more desolate, so he did not go.

Otherwise, he might have been serving as Sima in a certain state in Lhasa Dao.

"Forget it, you should send someone to bring Ren Enci back now. He will be of great use to me." Li Xuan raised his head slightly.

"Yes!" Han Tai immediately bowed without even looking at Cao Ling.

Cao Ling's mouth twitched slightly, then he looked at Li Xuan carefully and asked, "Your Highness is passing through Changzhou this time. I wonder how long you will stay in Changzhou?"

Li Xuan immediately looked at Cao Ling with a half-smile, patted his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, I have no plans to stay in Qugou for long. I will take the Tuyuhun royal family away and send them to Chang'an to be presented as captives. As for the other Tuyuhun cavalry who surrendered, they will all be incorporated into the Right Army Guard."

"Incorporate all of them into the Right Army Guard?" Cao Ling was originally happy that Li Xuan only stayed in Qugou for one day, but when Li Xuan said that he wanted to incorporate all the Tuyuhun cavalry into the Right Army Guard, he felt something was wrong.

"What? Is there a problem?" Li Xuan looked at Cao Ling in surprise, then raised his eyebrows and said, "If you don't want to, then you can incorporate this Tuyuhun cavalry into the Right Guard. As the general of the Right Guard, I still have this authority."

"No, no, no, let's incorporate them into the Right Guard." Cao Ling waved his hands quickly. He didn't dare to leave 10,000 Right Guard cavalry in Changzhou.

Although there are only 5,000 Right Guard cavalrymen in Changzhou now, and it is a bit difficult to incorporate 10,000 Tuyuhun cavalrymen, it is better than letting these people form their own unit.

"Very good, then let's do this." Li Xuan turned sideways to look at Chen Ziang and said, "Bo Yu, you come and communicate with Cao Sima. We will need a lot of supplies to return to Chang'an. I hope Changzhou can be ready tonight."

"One night?" Cao Ling's eyes widened instantly.

Li Xuan smiled: "If General Cao is willing, we can stay for a while longer."

"Okay, just one night." Cao Ling agreed instantly.

……

To the north of Qugou City, five thousand Right Guard cavalrymen were gradually brought into the camp, and people from all parties were all settled in.

Li Xuan personally inspected various places and came to the courtyards of Zhao Gong, Xue Shao and Fan Yunxian. A team of people had just delivered water in.

Looking up and seeing Li Xuan, Zhao Gong stood up and walked to the gate of the courtyard. Two black-armored soldiers were about to stop him, but Li Xuan waved his hand lightly and the two men retreated immediately.

Zhao Gong walked forward and looked at Li Xuan with a frown: "Da Lang, you are not really going to leave Qugou tomorrow, are you?"

Li Xuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled calmly and said, "Uncle, if my nephew says he wants to leave, then he will leave naturally. After all, my nephew hopes to rush back to Chang'an at the end of the year to attend the New Year's Day ceremony. How can there be any delay?"

"Really?" Zhao Gong looked at Li Xuan in disbelief. Although he knew that Li Xuan put him, Xue Shao and Fan Yunxian under house arrest for his own good, he still felt uncomfortable.

Li Xuan was about to say something when Chen Ziang walked in quickly from outside, walked to Li Xuan's side, and said with a bow, "General, Sima Cao just sent someone to Lanzhou."

"Yes!" Li Xuan nodded solemnly and said, "Tell Li Zhu to send some people to follow and go to Lanzhou together."

"Yes!" Chen Ziang immediately turned around and left.

Li Xuan turned around and saw Zhao Gong looking at him in horror. He said in disbelief, "You want to take Lanzhou."

After Zhao Gong said this, Xue Shao and Fan Yunxian turned around in surprise.

Li Xuan fell silent.

Zhao Gong then stepped forward and asked, "What did the prince send you from Yangzhou?"

Li Xuan looked at Fan Yunxian in surprise, looking past Zhao Gong. Then he calmly shook his head and said, "An imperial edict says that the crown prince will soon ascend the throne, and will appoint my nephew as the Grand Commandant and the Chief of the Northwest Road to suppress rebellion."

"When will the prince ascend the throne?" Zhao Gong keenly grasped the key point.

"Tomorrow." Li Xuan nodded slightly, then turned and walked towards the four-story building in the center of the camp.

……

Early in the morning, five thousand black-armored cavalrymen slowly marched towards Shanzhou.

Standing in the north of Qugou City, Cao Ling finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he did not notice the strange looks in the eyes of countless people behind him.

(End of this chapter)