The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 247 Making a feint to the east and attacking in the west
"If Tubo really dares to come, we will fight with them. If they don't dare to come, the merchants from various countries in Hexi should also know whose territory Hexi belongs to. In the territory of the Tang Dynasty, they can do business with confidence." Li Ying explained.

For Li Heng, dealing with the looting of Tubo was as important as stabilizing the hearts of the people in Hexi.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Cang Ci governed Hexi. In order to optimize the business environment, he posted a notice that if caravans from the Western Regions wanted to go to Luoyang to do business, the government would provide travel subsidies. If they did business in Dunhuang, they would trade at a set price. At the same time, officials and civilians would be sent to escort the caravans.

Pei Ju of the Sui Dynasty learned from Cang Ci's experience, built post stations, and reduced commercial taxes. After the trade routes prospered, he took action against Tuyuhun to stabilize the trade routes.

Now part of the Tuyuhun tribe has been incorporated into the Tang Dynasty, and part has defected to Tubo, so what Li Heng is worried about is not only the looting by Tubo, but also the loss of the Tuyuhun people's support.

Based on this concern, Li Ying not only wanted to launch a military strike, but also to use political intimidation.

Moreover, in addition to this, Li Heng also had other more important intentions.

Liang Zai agreed with Li Heng's proposal, thought about it, and raised a new question, saying: "If we want to hold a grand event in Yanzhi Mountain, we must have the cooperation of the governors of Liangzhou and Ganzhou. However, the governor of Liangzhou, Wang..."

What Liang Zai meant was that Li Heng was investigating Wang Daqing again. At this time, how to get Wang Daqing to cooperate.

"As Censor Yan said, the issues of fictitious population and hidden households cannot be sorted out overnight. We cannot put aside everything else for this matter."

Li Heng explained, found Wang Daqing, told him that he was going to hold a grand event in Yanzhi Mountain, and hoped that Wang Daqing would help him.

After hearing this, Wang Daqing felt somewhat confused, because this meant that Li Heng would not make things difficult for him in the short term.

But as long as Li Heng didn't make things difficult for him, it would be the best news for him, so Wang Daqing happily agreed.

Yan Zhenqing, who was standing by, was suspicious of Li Ying because he felt that Li Ying's current behavior was completely irrelevant and had no focus.

Li Heng didn't care about their inner thoughts. After making all the arrangements, he told everyone to stay in Tianbao County for one night and return to Liangzhou the next day.

The next day, everyone returned to Liangzhou and went back to their homes.

In Wang Daqing's mansion.

"Alang, the people we sent out have not returned, and Kang Yi and Mi Qian have fled westward." Wang Daqing's housekeeper reported truthfully.

"To the west?" Wang Daqing pondered, and said, "Going west out of Hexi, it is Qixi. Now that Prince Shou is in charge of Qixi, if they flee to Qixi, isn't that courting death?"

The housekeeper said: "It is also possible that he took a detour from the west and fled to Tibet."

"That's right!" Wang Daqing stood up and analyzed, "Since Prince Shou took charge of Qixi, he has developed Qixi very well, and Tubo has never plundered Qixi again, but this does not mean that Tubo has never had any intentions on Qixi."

The housekeeper asked, "Alang, do you think that Tubo does not want to plunder Hexi this time, or does it want to plunder Qixi?"

"It's very likely." Wang Daqing nodded. "They deliberately created a disturbance in Hexi, kept Prince Shou in Hexi, and then attacked Qixi."

At this point, Wang Daqing understood why the two Tibetan scouts risked their lives to sneak into his tavern.

The two Tibetan scouts went to so much trouble and sacrificed themselves just to create momentum and stir up conflict between him and Li Heng.

Wang Daqing thought about this and sighed, "The Tubo have such sinister intentions. They know that Prince Shou hates evil, so they take advantage of this. Prince Shou is conceited and smart, but I'm afraid he will be in trouble this time."

"It seems...it seems not necessarily." The butler gave a different answer.

"Why?" Wang Daqing asked puzzledly.

The housekeeper said, "As soon as Alang and Prince Shou left for Tianbao County, Aqisi took Li Ling back overnight."

"Is this true?" Wang Daqing was very surprised. He paused and asked, "What about Yang Zhao?"

"Still in prison." The housekeeper replied, "Helong herdsman Li Yuan came to Liangzhou and beat Yang Zhao. At the same time, in order to thank Prince Shou for rescuing Li Jiuniang, he also gave Li Ling a few good horses." When Wang Daqing heard this, he thought of something and said, "Let's go and pay a visit to Prince Shou."

After saying this, he went out and headed straight for the inn where Li Heng was staying.

When he arrived at the inn, Wang Daqing did not see Li Heng, but only saw Qibi Zhong.

Wang Daqing asked hurriedly: "Where is His Highness?"

"Where are you going, Your Highness? Do you need to report to Governor Wang?" Qibi Zhong asked back, and then said, "Governor Wang only needs to follow Your Highness' instructions and properly organize the Yanzhi Mountain event."

Although Qibi Zhong didn't say it, Wang Daqing knew that Li Heng had already returned.

Wang Daqing now understood completely that Li Heng had never thought of dealing with him in the first place.

With Li Heng's methods, if he really wanted to deal with him, he would not have needed to replace the original with a fake one when he knew that he wanted to frame Zhang Guangsheng.

Wang Daqing said secretly: "We have all been deceived by Prince Shou."

……

On the other hand, Li Heng pretended to return to Liangzhou, but actually rushed back to Beiting Xizhou at night.

When they arrived at Shanshan County, Xizhou, Yang Yuhuan and some civil and military officials from Xixi had been waiting for a long time.

Yang Yuhuan hadn't seen Li Heng for a long time. When she saw him, she hurried over to greet him and said with a smile, "My dear, you are back."

"Yeah." Li Ying smiled slightly and hugged Yang Yuhuan in front of the civil and military officials of Qixi.

Yang Yuhuan was both happy and shy. After enjoying Li Heng's embrace for a while, she took Li Ling's hand and left with Aqisi and He Jin.

Li Ying greeted the civil and military officials of Qixi, and then asked Li Siye, "How is the situation in Anxi?"

Li Siye said, "Your Highness, Tubo has been secretly instigating the Kucha royal family to rebel. Let General Bai report the specific situation in person."

As Li Siye finished speaking, a general in his thirties stood up from behind.

This man's name was Bai Xiaode, and he was a descendant of the royal family of Kucha.

Bai Xiaode said: "I followed the instructions of Your Highness and General Gao, pretended to accept the bribe from Tubo, and waited for an opportunity to start a rebellion. Half a month ago, Tubo sent a message that they would invade Qixi in a month, and asked me to cooperate at that time."

Li Siye said, "I think they are lying to us. Now that Xiaoboluo and Tang are on good terms, if Tubo wants to invade Qixi, there is only one way, which is to enter Yutian from Daboluo. But from Daboluo to Yutian to Qiuci, it takes 6,000 miles. How can they be a match for our army after such a long march? Isn't this courting death?"

Li Heng said: "Otherwise, there is another way. They can invade from Shazhou and Guazhou, and then go north to Qixi."

Li Siye said: "The Tuyuhun tribes gather in the southern part of Guazhou and Shazhou. If they can get the Tuyuhun tribes to work together, it is possible."

Li Heng nodded.

Historically, when Tuyuhun was at its peak, its territory stretched from southern Gansu and northwestern Sichuan in the east to southern Qinghai in the south, to Ruoqiang and Qiemo in Xinjiang in the west, and was connected to the Hexi Corridor across the Qilian Mountains in the north.

Shanshan, which was occupied by Li Heng, was once controlled by Tuyuhun. It was the battle in the west by Emperor Yang of Sui with his 100,000-strong army that drove the Tuyuhun tribe in Shanshan to Guazhou and Shazhou.

The Tuyuhun tribe now entrenched in Guazhou Shazhou has not forgotten the great achievements of their Murong family and has long harbored rebellious intentions.

　I was getting ready to go home yesterday and had dinner with my colleagues. I drank too much and didn’t have time to write. I was late for a day and I’m very sorry.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)