The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 119 Strategic Control Tactical Freedom
Anxi, Qiuci.

The imperial court agreed to Li Heng's support for Mohedagan, and the documents to retrieve Suiye City were sent to Li Heng after traveling thousands of miles.

After Li Heng received the document, he immediately summoned the civil and military officials of Anxi to arrange related matters.

Li Heng said to everyone: "The court has agreed to my proposal, and Mohe Dagan has also promised to give us Suiye City. What do you think, when is the best time to send troops?"

Gao Xianzhi stepped forward and said, "The military rations and supplies from the imperial court have also arrived. I think we can send out the troops now."

"Now?" Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "It's only the beginning of March and the spring plowing is not yet finished. I think we should wait another month until the spring plowing is finished and then send out the troops in April."

Conquering Yecheng is different from conquering Xiaoboluo in that the climate and environment have little impact on the conquest, so the marching time is not strict and the conquest can be carried out at any time.

In this situation, Li Heng was able to take into account the busy farming season. Li Shimin did the same thing back then. When he could take into account the busy farming season, he would try his best.

Everyone agreed with Li Heng's intention of caring about the people and basically had no objections.

Wang Zhihuan, Meng Haoran and other people who were wholeheartedly working for the people, after listening to Li Heng's arrangements, felt that they had followed the right person.

At the same time, they were silently comparing Li Longji's behavior in the past two years with Li Heng, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

After confirming the time, Li Heng said, "This time, Gao Xianzhi will be the commander-in-chief, An Sishun will be the deputy commander, and we will send 10,000 troops. I will stay in Qiuci to prevent the Arabs from taking the opportunity to harass Shule."

Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun were very happy to hear that Li Heng was going to send them to fight alone. They stepped forward and said in unison: "We will obey your orders."

After arranging the march, everyone dispersed.

But Gao Xianzhi stayed.

Seeing that Gao Xianzhi had not left, Li Heng asked, "General Gao, what's the matter? Are you still worried that General An will not obey you in the front?"

Through the last expedition, An Sishun had witnessed Gao Xianzhi's ability in commanding the army and was convinced by Gao Xianzhi.

Gao Xianzhi smiled and said, "I am not worried about General An, but I just want to ask Your Highness, do you have any good ideas for this expedition?"

Li Heng couldn't help but smile after hearing what Gao Xianzhi said.

If it was a fight against Tubo, Gao Xianzhi might have asked the question sincerely, but fighting a half-dead Turkic was a piece of cake for Gao Xianzhi and his generals with their talents.

Therefore, Gao Xianzhi's question was, on the surface, to ask Li Heng if he had any plan, but in fact it was to test whether Li Heng had any intention of micromanipulation.

What generals fighting outside fear most is the suspicion and micro-manipulation of those in the rear.

Many battles that were sure to be won were lost because of suspicion and micromanagement in the rear.

Li Heng guessed Gao Xianzhi's thoughts and said with a smile: "Since I have appointed General Gao as the commander-in-chief at the front, the specific combat and personnel deployment will be decided by General Gao."

"Yes." Gao Xianzhi felt relieved when he saw that Li Heng had no intention of interfering with him.

"However, I do have a few things to explain." Li Ying added.

Gao Xianzhi was startled and said, "Please give your orders, Your Highness." Li Heng said, "This time we are fighting together with Mohedagan. The reason why I stayed in Qiuci is, first, to guard against the Arabs, and second, to stay in the rear so that Mohedagan will not dare to defect. But I think this is not enough, so I want Mohedagan to send his son here as a hostage."

Gao Xianzhi said, "I have the same idea and was just about to report it to Your Highness."

"Also," Li Heng thought, "after taking over Suiye City, if we capture Dumozhi and Sulu's son Yehu, General Gao must not kill them. If we want to kill these two people, let Mohedagan do it."

"This..." Gao Xianzhi now has outstanding military capabilities, but his political capabilities are still insufficient. He asked in confusion: "Your Highness, since we have all decided to support Mohedagan, what does it matter whether we kill Dumozhi and Yehu?"

Li Heng patiently explained, "In name, we are only helping Moheda Gan to quell the civil unrest, so whether to kill Dumozhi and Yehu should not be decided by us. If we kill these two people, the people of Turgesh will focus their hatred on us. Our alliance with Moheda Gan is only temporary. If the situation changes, we can still support others. Not having us kill these two people ourselves is also to leave a way for other alliances."

Gao Xianzhi suddenly realized and said, "I understand now."

"But," Li Heng changed the subject, "General Gao must not spread this matter."

"Why is this?" Gao Xianzhi wondered.

Li Heng said, "When marching and fighting, victory should be the main goal. My original intention was that if Dumozhi and Yehu are captured alive, our people should not kill them. If they are in the process of fighting, there is no need to consider it at all. Otherwise, it would be giving them a golden ticket of immunity from death and disrupting our army's morale. I didn't tell the other generals just now because I was afraid that they would misunderstand my meaning or leak it to the soldiers."

Any order from Li Heng would have a significant impact on this march, and the instructions he issued had to be carried out with extreme caution to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

Just like this order that he did not want the Tang army to kill Dumozhi and Yehu, if he told others, it would spread from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, and in the end, the soldiers would probably not dare to take action when they met Dumozhi and Yehu.

In this case, what's the point of fighting a war?

Gao Xianzhi understood what Li Heng meant, and he also knew that this was Li Heng's great trust and expectation in him.

Gao Xianzhi was quite touched and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I will act according to the circumstances."

"Okay." Li Heng nodded, "Also, pay attention to military discipline. Suiye City was once the territory of our Great Tang, and there are many people who are close to our Great Tang. I hope that our army will be a benevolent and righteous army, and not be like the Tubo, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of evil wherever they go."

"I understand." Gao Xianzhi replied respectfully, "I will enforce strict military discipline."

"That's great." Li Heng took Gao Xianzhi's hand and said solemnly, "I'll have to trouble General Gao with this expedition. We'll wait for General Gao to return triumphantly."

Gao Xianzhi said: "I will do my best and will never fail in my mission!"

After they finished talking, they went out.

Feng Changqing had been waiting at the corner outside the door for a long time. When he saw Gao Xianzhi, he asked hurriedly, "General, what did His Highness say?"

Gao Xianzhi's face was full of excitement, and he said, "Your Highness will not interfere in the specifics of how the battle is fought."

"Oh?" Feng Changqing was a little surprised and said, "Your Highness is a young genius and well versed in military affairs. I thought Your Highness asked the general to be the commander of this expedition because he wanted to try his luck in winning a battle thousands of miles away. I didn't expect that he really believed in us."

"Not only that." Gao Xianzhi sighed, "Your Highness not only did not interfere with how to fight, but also taught me carefully in terms of strategy and political affairs. It is a blessing in my life to meet such a wise master. I will repay him with my death."

"That's right." Feng Changqing echoed.

(End of this chapter)