The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 255: Merits and Demerits
"No." Shangguan Guiguan shook his head and lowered his voice. "Prince Shou is not just an ordinary general, he is also a prince, and the prince of Concubine Wu Huifei. He is originally a favorable candidate for the position of crown prince. In addition, with such achievements, if he had not been ill, I am afraid he would have already..."

Shangguan Guiguan didn't finish his words, and changed his topic: "Under such circumstances, it would be best for Prince Shou to stay in the farthest place. The farthest place in the Tang Dynasty is Qixi."

Le Tinggui said: "Yes, the appointment of Prince Shou as the Hexi Promotion and Demotion Envoy can be regarded as a special reward from the Saint."

"I guess so." Shangguan Guiguan nodded, "But it's also because Tubo is so powerful. The Tang Dynasty and Tubo have been fighting for many years, and Prince Shou is the best among them."

Le Tinggui said: "In that case, I can't dodge this knife."

Le Tingkui asked so many questions, and his ultimate purpose was to find out whether he could survive Li Heng's reckoning.

Shangguan Guiguan said: "Military Envoy, then do we surrender?"

Le Tinggui stood up and paced back and forth, thinking for a while, and said, "I can do anything, but I absolutely cannot rebel against the Tang Dynasty! The letter of persuasion must not be leaked."

"It's too late." Shangguan Guiguan shook his head. "The Tubo used arrows to shoot the letter of surrender into the city. Now everyone in the city knows about it."

Le Tinggui was shocked and said, "Take some people to retrieve it and stabilize the morale of the army."

"Yes." Shangguan Guiguan accepted the order and immediately took people to do it.

Letinggui sat on the chair in a daze, looking confused.

……

The next day.

Lumanchedon personally led the army to besiege the city of Jinchang.

The Roman Empire nominally had an army of 60,000, but more than 20,000 of them were logistics soldiers, more than 20,000 were second-class soldiers and slave soldiers from other tribes, and there were only more than 10,000 truly elite heavy cavalry and heavy armor.

The Tuyuhun tribe of Molichuan led more than 10,000 soldiers.

Under the command of Lumanqidun, elite slave soldiers were sent to attack Jinchang City. Le Tinggui personally led the army to fight. The battle lasted for two hours. More than 6,000 Tubo slave soldiers were killed or wounded, and more than 1,000 Tang Dynasty Moli soldiers were killed or wounded. 60% of the rolling stones, rolling logs, hot oil, bows and arrows were consumed, and the two armies were in a stalemate.

Under the city, Lunjie Sandagong advised: "General, we are only here to plunder. There is no need to capture the fortified city. It is better to besiege the city and advance deeper."

The subordinate Lu Mangqidun said: "The Tang Dynasty's granaries, wealthy merchants and people are all in the city. What can we get by just looting the periphery? We should exchange heavy armored troops to attack the city."

"Yes." Lunjie Sanda Gong accepted the order and personally led his elite troops to attack the city.

The pressure from the Tibetan heavy armored soldiers was incomparable to that of the slave soldiers, and their equipment was much better than that of the slave soldiers. Many of them attacked the city walls, but the Tang army's Moli soldiers were not weak either. Under the leadership of Le Tinggui, they killed all the Tibetan soldiers who climbed onto the city walls.

When the battle was in full swing, a soldier at the gate suddenly came to report, saying, "Military envoy, Deputy Military Envoy Shangguan Guiguan opened the city gate and let the Tibetan army in."

"What?" Le Tinggui was shocked. He ordered Sima Jiuyue'er to lead his men to defend the city tower, while he led his men to rush to the city gate.

At this time, Lunjie Sanda Gong had already led his men into the city. Le Tinggui did not say anything and led his own personal guards to rush up and start to kill the Tubo soldiers crazily.

In a short while, he was covered in blood, and he couldn't tell whether it was his own blood or the enemy's blood.

Seeing Le Tinggui being so brave, Sanda Gong shouted, "Governor Le, even if you defend the city, you will not survive. Why are you fighting so hard!" "My life or death is not up to you. Don't say anything more!" Le Tinggui replied while hacking and killing.

The city gate was narrow and there were moats inside and outside the gate. Therefore, under Le Tinggui's fearless attack, he managed to repel Lunjie Sanda Gong and raised the city gate again.

It was already dusk. Looking at the nearly captured Jinchang City, Lumanqidun sighed, "What a brave general the Tang Dynasty has! A governor with a tainted military envoy can be so brave."

Conclusion: Sanda Gong said: "The border troops of the Tang Dynasty are corrupt and often commit crimes, but their combat effectiveness is not weak. It would be best to disintegrate them from within."

"That's right." Lu Manqidun nodded and turned to Shangguan Guiguan who had surrendered and said, "General Shangguan, please talk to Le Tinggui and persuade him to surrender."

"Yes." Shangguan Guiguan accepted the order, rode forward, and said loudly: "Governor Le, only by surrendering to Tubo can we survive. You should surrender. You have treated me well over the years. Why don't you surrender to Tubo with me and share the glory and wealth."

On the tower, Le Tinggui was already injured, blood was constantly flowing down his arm. Sima Jiuyue'er, who was standing beside him, had red eyes and said, "Military envoy, please call the military doctor first."

"No hurry." Le Tinggui held Sima Jiuyue'er, "We can't let Tubo know that I'm injured."

After Le Tinggui finished speaking, he stood up with all his strength, pretending to be fine, and shouted to Shangguan Guiguan: "Deputy Envoy Shangguan, the Tang Dynasty treated you well, but you betrayed the Tang Dynasty, which is disloyalty. I treated you like a brother and always regarded you as a close friend, but you stabbed me in the back at the critical moment, which is unjust. Your parents are in the city, but you abandoned them. How dare Tubo use such a disloyal, unjust and unfilial person? Can General Shulu Mangqidun really trust you?"

Shangguan Guiguan was shocked when he heard this. He secretly glanced at his subordinate Lumanqidun behind him and replied: "A good bird chooses a tree to roost in, a good minister chooses a master to serve, a saint is not a good master. It is not me who betrayed the Tang Dynasty, it is the Tang Dynasty that betrayed us!"

Le Tinggui said no more, drew his bow and shot an arrow at Shangguan Guiguan.

However, due to his injury, his arrow did not go far.

Le Tinggui pretended to be calm and said, "I will not shoot you with this arrow. Our friendship is severed from this arrow. From now on, when we meet, it will be either you or me who dies."

After Le Tinggui finished speaking, he turned and left, but as soon as he walked out of the sight of Tubo and others, he stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

Sima Jiuyue, who was standing beside him, quickly supported Le Tinggui and said, "Military Envoy, are you okay?"

Le Tinggui said: "Don't make any noise, help me back to the house first."

"Yes."

Jiu Yue'er helped Le Tingkui back into the house and quickly arranged for someone to find a military doctor.

Le Tinggui sat on the chair, covered his wound, and said weakly: "Jiu Sima, you are not Han Chinese, you are Tuyuhun."

"Yes." Jiu Yue'er did not deny it and explained: "My grandfather came to Guazhou in the third year of Longshuo. After entering Shazhou, my grandfather joined the Tang Dynasty Moli Army. I can be said to be following in his father's footsteps."

Le Tinggui said: "I don't doubt your loyalty to the Tang Dynasty. If something happens to me, the Moli Army will be under your command. You can hold out as long as you can."

"Military Envoy!" Jiu Yue'er's eyes were filled with tears. Just as he was about to say something else, the military doctor came hurriedly.

As Le Tinggui let the military doctor operate on his wounds, he said, "I, Le Tinggui, have made big mistakes in my life. I have killed people I shouldn't have killed and taken wealth I shouldn't have. The Tuyuhun tribe in Molichuan rebelled partly because of my oppression. But I have also worked diligently for decades and never rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. I don't expect to leave a good reputation in future history books. I just hope that a few people can understand how difficult it was for me and speak a few words for me."

(End of this chapter)