Capital Datang

After Li Zhi and his fleet left, they arrived in Shanghai three days later. In two days, it will be the Lantern Festival. In addition, Li Chengqian and Li Ke are here, so Li Zhi and Sizi will live here for three days. God, wait until the festival is over before leaving.

Speaking of which, the time for Li Zhi and the others to return to the voyage was also carefully arranged. For example, celebrating the Lantern Festival in Shanghai was specially requested by Li Ke and Li Chengqian. After all, Li Zhi and Si Zi stayed in Taiwan for nearly a year, but they didn’t have time to visit Look at their two brothers, that's why the two of them asked for it.

This is the second time for Li Zhi and the others to celebrate the Lantern Festival in a place other than Chang'an. The last time they just arrived in Taiwan, they ended up spending the new year with Li Yin's family in Keelung. Although compared with Chang'an, Keelung's population is really small The size of the city is not comparable, but Keelung is far overseas, and there are various cultural exchanges in the city, so the New Year there also has a special charm.The only thing that made Li Zhi and Sizi feel a little uncomfortable was that the winter in Keelung was too warm. Not only did it not snow, but even if the quilt was too thick at night, it would feel a little hot.

Compared with Keelung, the winter in Shanghai is much colder, especially a thin layer of light snow fell a few days ago. Although it melted into snow in a short period of time, it also brought a lot of coldness to the winter in Shanghai. It's a bit cold, and it also adds a bit of New Year's flavor.

Shanghai is a new city, and it is also a seaport. There are quite a few businessmen in the city, all of whom are wealthy. In order to welcome the Lantern Festival, they collectively funded to decorate the entire Shanghai into a sea of ​​lights, filled with colorful lights. The shapes of the streets and lights are also strange, and many of them are said to be mythical figures or legends from overseas countries, which adds an overseas flavor to the traditional Lantern Festival.Capital Datang 556

It was the Lantern Festival that day.Li Zhi, Cai'er, and Hu Yuyi traveled together, but they brought a lot of guards.But it still couldn't stop the enthusiasm of those young men and women in Shanghai. Not only did many men take the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Cai'er and Hu Yuyi.Even Li Zhi himself received many teasers from seaside girls, and in the end it was Cai'er and Hu Yuyi who held Li Zhi's hand, which made the number of people who came forward to harass a lot less.

Three days passed in a flash. After spending an unforgettable Lantern Festival in Shanghai, Li Zhi and Caier finally set sail again, but this time they did not stop on the road, not even in Dengzhou. Go, directly enter the Yellow River from the Bohai Sea, and then go west along the river.It will soon arrive in Chang'an via Luoyang.

In order to welcome the return of his son who had been away for a year and a half, Li Shimin specially sent someone to greet him, but Cai'er and Sizi quietly returned to the city through another gate. After all, they were women, and they used other names when they went out. , Naturally, he couldn't go back to the city with Li Zhi this time.

The first thing Li Zhi did when he returned to Chang'an was to greet Li Shimin, and told about the experience of the past year and a half, especially the development of overseas Taiwan and other places.It is the key point that Li Shimin wants to know.And Li Zhi also had a lot to say to his father, especially his feelings over the past year. He was eager to find someone to confide in, and Li Shimin was undoubtedly an excellent one.

The father and son chatted endlessly in the study in Liangyi Hall.Even the meals were delivered to the study, and at night, neither of the two felt sleepy at all.In the end, it was Empress Changsun who rushed there in person after getting the news.Only then did the father and son go back to rest separately.

But in the next few days, as long as Li Shimin is free.He would call Li Zhi and ask him to tell himself about his experience and thoughts over the past year.In fact, it is through his son's eyes and mouth that Li Shimin understands all aspects of the Tang Dynasty and Taiwan, so as to find out the gains and losses in his administration.

Through Li Zhi's narration, Li Shimin also knew about Li Min's overseas situation. Li Shimin was also a little shocked that Taiwan could develop so rapidly in just a few years, even surpassing Tang Dynasty in some places.Especially when Li Zhi mentioned at the end that President Hu chose to stay in Taiwan instead of returning to Datang, Li Shimin was also silent for a long time after hearing this.

"Father, although I have only stayed in Taiwan for a year, I do feel that compared with Tang Dynasty, there is less oppression, but a little more freedom and prosperity. I have also thought about this a lot. I found out that this situation is not only due to the different policies of the Tang Dynasty and Taiwan, but also related to the interests of all parties, I really can't think of any way to build the Tang Dynasty into the same way as Taiwan?" Li Ji finally sighed.

After hearing this, Li Shimin patted Li Zhi on the shoulder and said: "Although Taiwan was separated from the Tang Dynasty, the two are fundamentally different. Leaving aside other aspects, our Tang Dynasty was founded on agriculture. It is also the founding idea of ​​the Central Plains Dynasty for thousands of years. Although the Tang Dynasty has developed rapidly in the past few years, in terms of policies in all aspects, it is still based on agriculture, and there are still certain restrictions on industry and commerce."

Li Shimin paused here, and then continued: "But your sixth brother thinks completely differently. He is very disapproving of the idea of ​​establishing a country through agriculture. It can also be seen from his actions in Taiwan and other places in the past few years that he What they pursue is to build a country based on business, and they are full of interest in overseas development, which makes Taiwan and our Tang Dynasty take a completely different path. As for who is right and who is wrong in the future, even a father can’t tell.”

Li Zhi's heart moved after hearing this, and he said immediately: "Father, what do you mean, Taiwan and our Tang Dynasty have their own characteristics, so there is no need to pursue perfection?"

Li Shimin nodded in relief, and said with a smile on his face: "Yes, you did not go in vain this time, pheasant slave. Taiwan has the advantages of Taiwan, and our Tang Dynasty also has the advantages of Datang, but this time you can see the differences between Datang and Taiwan. The gap is not a small improvement!"

Hearing his father's praise, although Li Zhi spoke modestly, he was also very happy in the center.But then Li Zhi thought of another thing, and asked immediately: "Father, when I was in Taiwan, I heard that you were going to use troops against the Western Turks. Although I saw some battle situations in the newspapers, it was not very accurate." , what is the situation now?"

When Li Shimin heard his son ask about this matter, he showed a very excited expression, and then talked about the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Turks.

It turned out that just a few months ago, the countries of the Western Regions who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty sent elite troops, a total of [-] troops, under the command of Guo Xiaoke and Qibi Heli, respectively, to attack the North Court of the West Turks from both sides. , Tie Le's various ministries, Tuyuhun, etc. also formed a hundred thousand fine cavalry, commanded by Ashinasheer, to attack from the front.

Datang has always believed in the policy of elite soldiers in the Western Regions. After all, it is too far away from the Central Plains to supply too many supplies, so the general expedition will not exceed 20. But this time, in order to wipe out the Western Turks in one fell swoop, they mobilized [-] troops at once. , although most of this army is composed of foreign races, and its combat power is weaker than that of the Tang army, but it is an irresistible force for the Beiting of Western Turks.

The battle officially started four months ago. Yipidulu Khan of Beiting personally led a hundred thousand cavalry to fight against Ashinasheer in the east of Mount Juhor. , but still tied, but at this time the other two armies commanded by Guo Xiaoke and Qibi Heli bypassed the battlefield and rushed thousands of miles to attack the headquarters of Beiting, which is the Yazhang of Beiting to the west of Mt. The Beiting Yazhang, which was not defended by soldiers, was attacked by [-] troops, causing smoke to billow in the back of the Beiting, and countless Turkic tribes were wiped out.

Yipidulu Khan, who was fighting Ashinasheer in the front, heard the news of the attack in the rear. Although he was terrified to death, he ordered the news to be blocked in the army so as not to shake the morale of the army. At this opportunity, Ashinasheer, who also received the news, immediately spread the news, which caused the soldiers of the Beiting camp to fluctuate.

And taking advantage of this opportunity, Ashinasheer broke through the camp of the Beiting Army in one fell swoop. He originally wanted to capture Yipidulu Khan alive, but unfortunately the opponent was extremely cunning. The confidants fled westward.Moreover, while escaping, he collected the defeated army, coupled with the joining of some tribes, and finally allowed him to gather tens of thousands of troops again, and escaped the joint pursuit of Guo Xiaoke and Qibi Heli, and fled all the way west to the country of Mi territory.Capital Datang 556

The United States is also the territory of Uzbekistan in the later generations, and it is close to the Aral Sea in the later generations. Originally, the United States was also a vassal state of Western Turks, but it belongs to the sphere of influence of the Southern Court. The strength of the United States is not strong, and it is far away from the Tang Dynasty, so they can't resist the attack of Yipidulu Khan's tens of thousands of troops. Finally, when the Tang army arrived, the United States has been controlled by Yipidulu Khan.

Originally, at this time Ashinasheer and other three armies were already exhausted after more than a month of continuous fighting, so although they knew that Yipidulu Khan was in the country of America, they were powerless to attack at this time, so they could only send The people first besieged the country of America, and it would not be too late to attack after the army had recuperated for a period of time.

However, what no one expected was that shortly after Yipidulu Khan occupied the country of America, civil strife broke out in Beiting. The reason is also very simple. The Turkic army is composed of tribes. Yipidulu Khan himself has his own troops, and others are his own troops. After breaking through the United States, they captured a large amount of people and supplies, but Yipidulu Khan, who was seriously injured, However, he wanted to vomit these population and supplies alone, which caused dissatisfaction among the generals.

First, a general named Nishu Chui swallowed up some captives privately, but was killed by Yipidulu Khan. He was captured alive and sent to Ashinasheer's army, and the rest of them surrendered, and the Beiting of the Western Turks perished. (to be continued...)