The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 254 Dilemma
Guazhou.

Lumanchedon personally led the Tibetan army and marched northward, burning, killing and looting along the way. The army took all the property and women into the army. Any men who resisted were killed, and those who surrendered were made into slaves.

Lumancheton advanced all the way to the outskirts of Jinchang City and stationed troops forty miles away from the city.

On the silvery night, people were toasting each other in the Tubo tent, and the women on the sandbar had their clothes wet with tears.

In the main tent of the army, Lumanqidun was roasting charcoal and drinking wine. A sergeant brought a Han Chinese girl and said, "General, this is the most beautiful one. She was born into a rich family. She is a branch of the Suo family and she is still a maiden."

Upon hearing this, Zu Lumanqidun looked up at the woman. He saw that the woman was beautifully made up, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a pair of beautiful big eyes that were red and swollen from crying.

Lu Manqidun signaled the soldiers to go down first, stared at the Han woman for a long time, and said, "Are you afraid of me?"

The Han woman nodded timidly.

Lu Manqidun said: "You are lucky to be sent here. At least I can guarantee your survival."

The Han woman hurriedly said, "Thank you, General."

"You are a smart woman. I am willing to talk to you for a few more words." Lu Mancheton turned the charcoal fire. "Do you know who I am thinking of now?"

The Han woman looked at Lumanqidun and asked tentatively, "Your wife?"

"No." Lu Mancheton shook his head, "I'm thinking of a man."

The Han Chinese woman was a little surprised and said, "The general has unique preferences. I will keep the secret for you."

The woman obviously misunderstood what Zulu Mangqidun meant, but Zulu Mangqidun didn't care and said to himself, "He is the Shou Wang of your Tang Dynasty, Li Heng. Eight years ago, when he was just starting out, he defeated me in Xiaoboluo. In the past eight years, I have always remembered this humiliation, and I will definitely pay it back."

Lu Manqidun clenched his fists, his eyes determined, "Now the opportunity is right in front of us. I will take you with me and let you watch how I defeat him step by step."

The woman looked at Lu Mancheton and thought that Lu Mancheton was a psychopath who told her all these things for no reason.

Seeing that the woman was silent, Lu Manqidun asked, "You don't believe me?"

"I believe it. I do." The woman replied quickly.

"I know you don't believe it." Lu Mancheton looked at the fire and fell silent.

The woman didn't dare to speak, and stared blankly at Lumancheton.

Two hours later, the scout received the reward and was about to report it, but he saw a Han woman next to Lumanqidun, so he stopped.

Lumancheton said to the scout: "You say what you want."

"Yes." The scout replied, "Le Tinggui led the Mo Li army into Jinchang City and defended the city."

"I understand." Lu Manqidun nodded, and after the scouts left, he said to his guards, "Call General Lunjie Sandagong."

"Yes."

The guards took the order and left. Not long after, a general in his 35s or 36s with a full beard came in. This man was Lunjie Sang Dagong. Lu Mangqidun said, "General Dagong, send someone to send a letter of persuasion to Le Tinggui. If Le Tinggui does not surrender tomorrow at noon, we will attack him by force."

Sanda Gong was not optimistic that Le Tinggui would surrender, so he asked directly: "Should we use light armored soldiers or heavy armored soldiers as the vanguard?"

The lightly armored soldiers were mostly slave soldiers and "second-class soldiers" from surrounding tribes, while the heavily armored soldiers were the direct descendants of the Tibetan Ge Ru.

Sanda said: "As usual, we will use lightly armored troops to consume the enemy first, and then use heavy armored troops to attack the city. I will call all the generals to discuss the specific deployment later."

"Yes." Lunjie Sanda accepted the order and walked out.

……

Inside Jinchang City.

A soldier presented Tubo's letter of surrender to Le Tinggui. Le Tinggui took it, took a look at it, and slammed it on the table.

In the letter, Tubo told him all about his slave trade with Kang Yi and Mi Qian, their partnership in occupying the grain warehouse in Guazhou, and their usury to the people. Then he told him the consequences of being trapped in the isolated city, that if Tubo broke into the city, he would die, and if the Tang Dynasty rescued him successfully, he would be eliminated by Li Heng.

Le Tinggui said angrily: "I am confused! It must be Kang Yi and Mi Qian who betrayed me. Merchants value profit over morality. For the sake of profit, they can do anything. I should have killed them if I had known earlier."

The deputy military commander Shangguan Guiguan said, "Military commander, at this point, it seems that the only way to survive is to surrender to Tubo."

Le Tinggui was silent for a long time before he said quietly, "Does the Prince of Shou really not tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes?"

Shangguan Guiguan said: "According to the style of the Prince Shou, it is indeed true. The place with the most clean government in the Tang Dynasty is Qixi."

Le Tinggui said: "If the government is clean and honest, civil officials and military officers will not be able to make money, so will they listen to the orders of Prince Shou?"

"Yes." Shangguan Guiguan replied affirmatively, "Qixi has a clean government, and the military farming is flourishing. The people and the government are all wealthy. Although the civil officials and the generals cannot get money, the prince has never defaulted on their salaries and food. Clothes are issued on time twice a year. In addition, there are various allowances. Unlike us, we try every way to make money, but still can't make up for the gap in the court. When the soldiers are rich, they spend money without restraint, and when they are poor, they have no clothes to wear in the winter."

Le Tinggui said: "According to what you said, only by following the rules can things get better and better?"

"No." Shangguan Guiguan shook his head. "The reasons why Qixi has been able to develop like this are complicated. We can't just copy them."

"For example?" Letingkui asked.

Shangguan Guiguan said: "First, Qixi is far away from Chang'an, and Chang'an's control over Qixi is difficult. It is not convenient to transport food and heavy goods from Qixi to Chang'an, and they basically earn money for themselves. Secondly, the entire Qixi is under the control of Prince Shou. Prince Shou is very skilled and can deal with the right prime minister. It is difficult for other forces to intervene. Therefore, Prince Shou can enforce his orders and even resist the orders of the court. Take the example of the wealthy merchants who were confiscated by Prince Shou before. If they were in Hexi, there would be imperial forces behind these wealthy merchants, and it would not be so easy to kill them..."

Yue Tinggui interrupted, "According to what you said, the court could not gain any benefit from being in Qixi, so why did it allow Prince Shou to serve as the governor of Qixi for nearly ten years?"

"It's good." Shangguan Guiguan expressed a different opinion. "In terms of military and political affairs, Prince Shou sent troops to drive out Tubo in Xiaobolü and took Suiye City, pushing the actual control of the Tang Dynasty to the Ili River Valley, which is a rich land. Later, Prince Shou repelled the Arabs and made the Western Regions completely submit to the Tang Dynasty. The saint is ambitious and dedicated to expanding the territory. Prince Shou's achievements will naturally be favored by the saint."

"That's right." Letingkui agreed.

Shangguan Guiguan continued, "In terms of benefits, although Qixi didn't actually send much silk and grain to the court, the Western Regions countries have been paying tribute every year, offering all kinds of rare treasures every year. This is only secondary. What's more important is the Silk Road. Qixi is the bridgehead of the Silk Road. Only by stabilizing Qixi can we stabilize the Silk Road."

"That's right." Le Tinggui finally understood. After thinking for a while, he asked again, "But Prince Shou has been in Qixi for ten years. Logically, he should be transferred. Do you think he will be transferred?"

(End of this chapter)