The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 168 Mutiny
After "borrowing money" from the He family, Li Heng submitted a memorial to the court, requesting that the money collected from Hexi and Jiannan be transferred to Longyou. Then he arranged the matters in Hexi before setting out for Longyou.

The capital of Longyou was Shanzhou, but Li Heng did not rush to Shanzhou as his first stop, but went to Lanzhou.

Lanzhou’s military strategic position is not as good as Shanzhou’s, but Lanzhou is an important transit station on the Silk Road and has a very important economic position. It is the rear base of the entire Longyou.

Therefore, Li Heng decided to go to Lanzhou first, stabilize the rear, and then go to Shanzhou.

Unlike his trip to Hexi, Li Heng chose to make a big splash when he went to Lanzhou, so as soon as he arrived at the city gate of Lanzhou, he saw Lanzhou's civil and military officials lining up to greet him.

The leading Lanzhou governor was named Li Qin, a native of Lintan, Taozhou. Behind him stood a fourteen-year-old boy.

After Li Heng exchanged polite greetings with Li Qin and the others, he looked at the young man behind Li Qin and said to him, "He must be your son Li Sheng, right?"

Li Qin was previously the right general of Longyou and was highly appreciated by Wang Zhongsi.

When Li Heng arrived in Lanzhou for the first time, he had some unpleasantness with the then governor of Lanzhou. The governor was transferred away before he had served for a year. After that, Wang Zhongsi recommended Li Qin.

Therefore, Li Qin and Wang Zhongsi had a close relationship.

Li Qin and Li Heng were originally close, but later their relationship became awkward because Wang Zhongsi recommended Li Heng as the crown prince and Li Heng had just killed General Lu who was recommended by Wang Zhongsi.

Now Li Qin didn't know what Li Heng's attitude towards him would be.

So when Li Qin heard Li Heng suddenly mention his son, he was not sure whether Heng wanted to show his closeness to him or to remind him that his family was in Lanzhou and he'd better be honest.

Li Qin was stunned for a moment, and said respectfully, "Your Highness, thank you for your concern. This kid is none other than my son Li Sheng."

"A good father will have a good son." Li Ying smiled slightly and turned to look at Zhang Guangsheng behind him.

Historically, Zhang Guangsheng's death was somewhat related to Li Sheng. Li Ying just asked about it when he saw Li Sheng and thought of these things. He had no other intention at all.

Li Qin and others welcomed Li Heng into the city and prepared a welcoming banquet for him.

The restaurant where the welcoming banquet was held was the same one that Li Heng visited when he first arrived in Lanzhou.

At the banquet, Li Qin took the initiative to say: "I just exchanged letters with General Wang Zhongsi a few days ago. General Wang Zhongsi was happy and worried when he learned that Your Highness was also the governor of Helong."

What Li Qin wanted to express was that although Wang Zhongsi recommended Li Heng as the crown prince, he was also very concerned about Li Ying.

Li Ying asked, "Why are you happy and sad at the same time?"

Li Qin said: "I am happy that Your Highness is being valued, but I am worried about the war with Tubo. General Wang told me that he could not take Shibao City with a small number of sacrifices."

Regarding Li Heng's plan to attack Tubo, people in the world now have two attitudes.

One attitude is that Li Heng cannot take it, while the other attitude is that although Li Heng can take it, it must be at the cost of the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. Even if he succeeds, he will be subjected to overwhelming abuse.

In other words, including Wang Zhongsi, basically no one was optimistic about Li Heng.

"I see." Li Heng smiled slightly. "Shibao City is indeed difficult to conquer, but it is related to the safety of the Tang Dynasty's border. I can only grit my teeth and go ahead. However, I still need Governor Li's support in dispatching military supplies in the rear."

"I will do my best to cooperate with Your Highness." Li Qin responded quickly, with a sincere attitude and a respectful look.

After accepting the offer, he changed his tone and whispered, "I have heard gossip from others. The Saint has issued an oral order asking the Crown Prince to support Your Highness more."

"Oh?" This was the first time Li Heng had heard this news. He was shocked and asked casually, "Who told you this, Li?"

As soon as Li Heng said this, he immediately realized that he shouldn't ask this question.

Because Li Qin told him this news, there are three meanings. The first is to hint to him that Li Heng will not hinder him in this war.

On the second level, Li Qin used the phrase “listening to other people’s gossip” at the beginning to indicate that this news was not told to him by Li Heng and that he was not Li Heng’s man.

The third layer, Li Qin did not specify who it was, was someone who did not want to betray Li Heng.

Li Qin wanted to show Li Heng that he would fully support Li Heng's war, but at the same time he did not want to offend Li Heng.

After hearing Li Heng's question, Li Qin was indeed hesitant and didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Seeing Li Qin's embarrassment, Li Heng drank a sip of wine with Li Qin before laughing and saying, "The person who spread this news is really boring. Father asked my third brother to support me. It was just some common talk, teaching us brothers to live in harmony, but these people spread it as something with ulterior motives."

"Yes, that's right." Li Qin breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Heng said, "Sun Tzu said that war is a matter of great importance to a country, a matter of life and death, a matter of survival or destruction. I am concurrently serving as the governor of Helong in order to deal with Tubo, which is a matter of great importance to the country. For such an important matter, all the people of the Tang Dynasty should unite as one. My third brother, as the crown prince, has always been kind and righteous, and we have a deep relationship, so he will naturally give his full support."

"That's right." Li Qin immediately echoed, "As an official of the Tang Dynasty, I should set an example and fully cooperate with Your Highness."

"Then I'll have to trouble Governor Li." Li Heng smiled slightly, picked up the wine glass, and drank with Li Qin again.

Li Qin drank it all in one gulp, cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Li Heng felt relaxed.

As Li Qin guessed, if Li Qin did not take the initiative to start a conversation, or even reveal some information to express that he would fully cooperate with Li Heng, then his tenure as governor would be over.

The outcomes of most wars are determined before they begin.

Therefore, in order to win this battle, Li Heng would never allow any problems to occur in his rear. The importance of Lanzhou to the Longyou front was enough for Li Heng to dismiss or even kill a governor on the pretext of something.

But now everything that needs to be said has been said, and Li Qin is quite capable. As long as he performs his duties conscientiously and does what he is supposed to do, Li Heng will not force himself to make things difficult for him.

After the banquet, Li Heng rested for a night. The next day, he reconvened the civil and military officials of Lanzhou to learn about the situation in Lanzhou. He spent another two days to investigate the situation on the ground before setting off for Shanzhou.

As soon as they arrived in Shanzhou, Li Heng and his colleagues heard shocking news.

The Anren Army mutinied.

Zhou Xin, the deputy general of the Anren Army, killed the general of the Anren Army, occupied Suirong City, and surrendered to Tubo.

Three miles west of Shibao City is Dingrong City, and thirty miles northwest of Dingrong City is Suirong City.

When Emperor Yang of Sui went on a western expedition to conquer Tuyuhun, he invested heavily in building Dingrong City and Suirong City. Dingrong City served as a supplement to Shibao City, and Suirong City was second.

After Tubo captured Shibao City, it controlled Dingrong City, so Suirong City became a bridgehead facing Tubo.

The Tang Dynasty set up the Anren Army in Suirong City, and the Anren Army became the vanguard soldiers facing Tubo.

Now that the Anren army has mutinied and Dingrong City has been lost, the bridgehead has become the Linfan City behind it.

Linfan City is in the middle, 250 miles away from Shanzhou and 50 miles away from Suirong City.

In other words, if Tubo sent troops from Suirong City, which is only three hundred miles away, or six hundred miles in an expedited manner, they would arrive in half a day.

(End of this chapter)