The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 200 Arrogant Li Lin

King Cuan Gui of the Cuan clan, Cuan Chongdao and the two Cuan tribes rose up in arms and killed all the Tang generals and soldiers in the Yuanjiang River basin. Zhu Lingqian, the Tang Dynasty's envoy for building Anning City, was also killed.

Cuan Chongdao led his men to occupy Anning City, and divided his troops to advance westward to Yaozhou (now Chuxiong, Yunnan) and northward to Rongzhou Zhuti (now Zhaotong, Yunnan).

The news soon spread to the Tang Dynasty.

When the Cuan clan rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, some people were happy while others were sad.

Those who were happy included Nanzhao, Tubo, and Li Lin. Those who were sad included the people of eastern Yunnan and the soldiers of Jiannan, among whom Zhangchou Jianqiong was the most worried.

Zhangchou Jianqiong was the governor of Jiannan and a native of Rencheng County, Lu County, which is today's Shandong Province.

As a military governor of a town, Zhangchou Jianqiong governed Shu and implemented many benevolent policies.

But since Li Lin came to Jiannan, everything has changed.

In name, his actual power was greater than Li Lin's, but Li Lin was a prince, the crown prince's confidant, and also the person in charge of promoting and demoting officials.

The official in charge of demotion and promotion does not have much real power, but he can be supervised.

In addition, he himself was not a strong character, and even tended to curry favor with the powerful, so he just let Li Lin do what he wanted.

Now that something had happened and the Cuan family had occupied all of eastern Yunnan, when Zhang Chou Jianqiong received the news, he went to find Li Lin immediately.

"Your Highness Prince Yong, something terrible has happened. The Cuan family has rebelled!" Zhang Chou Jianqiong said in a panic.

Li Lin already knew about this. Seeing Zhangchou Jianqiong so panicked, he felt quite disdainful and thought, "As the governor of Jiannan, you are so restless. How can you govern Jiannan?"

Li Lin complained in his heart, but still had a smile on his face, saying: "General Zhangchoujie, don't worry. If the Cuan family rebels, we can just send troops to suppress them. Can the Cuan family really turn the world upside down?"

"Uh..." Zhang Chou Jianqiong was stunned, his expression shocked.

Zhang Chou Jianqiong thought that Li Lin did this for some foolproof plan, but after hearing what Li Lin said, he realized that Li Lin looked down on the Cuan family.

Since you look down on others, how can you think of countermeasures in advance?

The Tang Dynasty had won so much over the years, so much that everyone believed that as long as the Tang army attacked, it would be invincible.

Zhang Chou Jianqiong was stunned for a moment, and said, "Your Highness, where should we send the troops to suppress it?"

Li Lin said: "With 30,000 soldiers in Jiannan, don't they have the troops to suppress them? There are 20,000 soldiers in Yizhou."

Zhang Chou Jianqiong said: "Yizhou's troops are mainly used to resist Tubo. If a large number of troops are withdrawn to attack, Fuzhou, Songzhou, Dangzhou, Zhezhou, Gongzhou and other places in the north will be attacked by Tubo. By then, we will not have time to rescue them, and these lands will probably fall into Tubo's hands."

"Then how did the Tang Dynasty help Nanzhao to pacify the other five Zhaos?" Li Lin asked.

Zhang Chou Jianqiong said: "Helping Nanzhao to pacify the other five Zhaos is actually a strategy of using barbarians to attack barbarians. We only send a small number of troops. If the Tang Dynasty can pacify the five Zhaos on its own, it will not support Nanzhao."

Zhang Chou Jianqiong's words were already quite explicit.

Li Lin still didn't care and said, "Can our army launch a surprise attack with a light force and win a quick victory? Once Tubo sends out its troops, we can return."

Zhang Chou Jianqiong said: "Eastern Yunnan is mountainous, the roads are rugged and difficult to travel, the marching speed is not fast, and..."

"And what?" Li Lin asked. Zhang Chou Jianqiong said, "The Cuan family has lived in eastern Yunnan for a long time, and their soldiers are good at mountain warfare. Our Jiannan soldiers have lived in the plains for a long time and have little experience in mountain warfare."

"The men of our Tang Dynasty are brave and valiant on the plains, and they are not weak in the mountains. General Zhangchoujie should not let others' prestige destroy your own ambition." Li Lin was still confident, "General Zhangchoujie can transfer 10,000 troops to me, and I will lead the army to attack personally."

"This..." Zhangchou Jianqiong was startled again. He wanted to stop it, but if he stopped Li Lin, the court would investigate and he would not be able to report to the emperor. He could only say, "Your Highness is wise and brave. If you can lead the troops to the battle personally, it will naturally boost morale and bring us a great victory. I will obey your orders."

"Thank you, General Zhang Choujie!" Li Lin said politely, looking at the map and imagining the scene of himself returning with a great victory.

Zhang Chou Jianqiong saw Li Lin's expression, sighed silently, and said: "Your Highness, I have two pieces of advice."

Li Lin looked down on Zhang Chou Jianqiong, who was "cowardly", but he didn't want to reject his kindness, so he patiently said, "You go ahead."

Zhang Chou Jianqiong said: "The Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao have a close relationship. We can send an envoy to ask Nanzhao to send troops to attack eastern Yunnan from the north and south with the Tang Dynasty. Yaozhou is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The rebels will not be able to take it for a while. We can send a general to take over. This will not only stabilize the morale of the Yaozhou army, but also control Yaozhou."

"That makes sense." Li Lin nodded and said, "I will adopt it."

Zhang Chou Jianqiong bowed to Li Lin and said, "I'll leave the affairs of the south to you, Your Highness. After I transfer the troops to Your Highness, I will also need to deploy defenses in the north to prevent the Tubo from taking advantage of the situation and invading."

"Okay, Marshal Zhang Choujie, please take care."

Li Lin sent Zhang Chou Jianqiong away, and the joy on his face could not be suppressed.

He was still happy for a while before he asked, "Who do you think should go to Nanzhao to order Nanzhao to send out troops?"

Yang Guozhong, who was standing by, knew that Wei Zichun had always looked down on him, so he wanted to take the opportunity to set a trap for Wei Zichun, and said, "Your Highness, Mr. Wei is well-educated and eloquent. If he goes to Nanzhao, he will definitely make Nanzhao send troops immediately. I recommend Mr. Wei."

Wei Zichun was startled and said, "I am willing to go, but I am not familiar with the language and customs of Nanzhao, and I am afraid I can't do this job well."

Li Lin thought about it calmly and said, "Although I am ordering them to go to Nanzhao this time, I am asking for help after all. We need to find someone who is familiar with the language and customs of Nanzhao. Yang Canjun will recommend someone else."

Yang Guozhong failed to set a trap, so he wanted to recommend someone close to him to make merit, so he said: "If you want someone who is familiar with the language and customs of Nanzhao, I know one."

"Who?" Li Lin asked hurriedly.

Yang Guozhong said, "Zhang Qiantuo. He is the deputy governor of Yunnan and often deals with Nanzhao."

"I have heard of this man, so let him go." Li Lin agreed and asked, "Who should be sent to Yaozhou?"

Li Lin's confidants looked at each other and said nothing.

Li Lin's confidants were all brought from Chang'an. They had no idea who in Jiannan was both capable of great use and loyal to Li Lin.

Li Lin himself grew up in Chang'an and did not have the foresight of Li Ying, so he could only turn his attention to the local Yang Guozhong.

This time, Yang Guozhong did not recommend him immediately because he was sure that Li Lin and others were not clear about Jiannan's situation and would definitely ask him.

He waited until Li Lin asked before speaking, which both showed his importance and implied that he had no choice but to speak and had no other thoughts.

Yang Guozhong pretended to think for a while before saying, "I recommend Xian Yu Zhongtong. He was a Jinshi in the 20th year of Kaiyuan. He has made many military achievements in Jiannan over the years."

Xianyu Zhongtong was familiar with Li Lin. He was the interview historian of Jiannan and was highly appreciated by Zhang Chou Jianqiong. After Li Lin came, he visited Li Lin several times.

(End of this chapter)