Chastity Layman

  Chapter 138 Marriage

  Li Shimin looked at Qin Lang with a smile, "But it's okay to say, don't worry about it, as a regular servant of Sanqi, it is your duty to serve as an advisor."

"Your Majesty, I was young and ignorant, so I dared to say it outright. I thought that since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Shangshuling had only given this post to Your Majesty. Since Your Majesty has held this post, my subjects should avoid it. King Zhongshan In the end, he was still too young to be suitable. I think that as a prime minister, as a general of Tiance, it is okay to give his title in vain. Such a ministerial order is a special post, and the case should not be given lightly..."

  Actually, what Qin Lang said about the emperor’s post, if the courtiers want to avoid taboos, it’s all nonsense. After all, Li Shimin not only served as Minister of the Book, but also as the Minister of Zhongshu, Yongzhou Shepherd, General, etc.? If you want to avoid taboos, then everyone in the court should not be an official.

  Of course, this is also the reason for talking about the past.

  On the grounds that Shang Shu Ling is very special, it is reasonable to no longer confer this position on the courtiers, just like Li Shimin's other position Tiance Admiral and Li Yuan's former prime minister.

   Wei Ting expressed his agreement, thinking that Shang Shuling is indeed of high quality and weight.

   "Then how to manage the affairs of Shangshu Province?"

   "Shang Shuling is a special post, and the order is not lightly granted. The Shang Shu Province can be headed by Zuo Pushe." Wei Ting suggested.

  Li Shimin stroked his beard and pondered for a moment, then turned his head and asked Xiao Yu, "What does Prime Minister Xiao think?"

  Things suddenly changed to this direction, Xiao Yu didn't expect that, when faced with the emperor's question, how could he fail to understand the meaning behind the words, so he had no choice but to bow down and answer, "I have no objection!"

   "Since Xiao Xiang also agrees, then I think the rank of the left and right servants can be raised to the second rank." Li Shimin said.

In this way, Shangshu ordered this senior official of Shangshu to no longer teach others. Although the master and servant She is a senior official of Shangshu, there is still a right servant She after all. The left is the chief officer, but compared with the original Shang Shuling's authority, it has dropped a lot.

  Even if he is promoted to the second rank, which is one level higher than Zhongshuling and Shizhong, Li Shimin's goal of cutting down the prime minister has been achieved.

  Today, he first added the titles of seven people to be ginseng zhizhengshi, but now he is empty of the ministerial decree. In fact, it is his ruthless move to deprive the power of the prime minister, especially the power of the prime minister.

There were originally three prime ministers, but now there are thirteen prime ministers, and the prime minister has actually been abolished and changed to the system of group phases and wheel phases. Good way to sleep more peacefully.

  The matter was agreed upon, and the smile on Li Shimin's face increased a lot.

  The emperor clapped his hands, and several eunuchs brought a pair of screens with Doulu Bandao, the supervisor in the palace. On the screen, there was a map of Guanzhong, with mountains, rivers, rivers and cities on it.

   "Okay, now let's talk about the Xieli invasion."

Li Shimin didn't show too much fear on his face. For this young emperor, dealing with tedious government affairs often made him a little irritated, but when facing military affairs, he was always full of confidence, and he had fought even the most difficult battles. , Command strategy is his forte.

   "Shu Bao returned to the capital. From then on, the defense command of the capital will be handed over to Shu Bao, who will take over the wounded Daozong. Shu Bao, what do you think of this battle?" Li Shimin asked.

Qin Qiong walked up to the screen, pointed to the map on it and said, "At present, everything is proceeding according to His Majesty's layout. Although the Turks seem to be powerful, and even Liangshi has a total of 300,000 troops going south, in fact they are still there. The strategic support points that have never captured the outer edge of Guanzhong, the Ling, Yan, Liang, Qin, and Jing prefectures are all in the hands of the imperial court at this moment, they can go to Chang'an, but we let them enter the pass."

   "Tactically speaking, the Turks seem to have taken the lead, but strategically speaking, we have already won for a while."

  Li Shimin nodded in satisfaction.

"Yeah, everything is still going according to our plan. Jieli is very arrogant. He is not satisfied with the small robbery at the border. He dares to go deep into the Guanzhong and go straight to the city of Chang'an. This is looking for death. I have already laid a sky net Big Net, just wait for him to drill in, unexpectedly he actually sneaked in. Shubao, tell everyone, what are our chances of winning these Turkic wolf cubs under the city of Chang'an this time?"

"According to the information received by the minister, it is speculated and analyzed that this time the Turks went south in a large scale, and their southward route was not the Jinghe River Valley in the past, because Lingliangjing is in the hands of our army, and the Turks can't break through the northwestern gate of Chang'an. Guan, the southward route they chose this time is to go south along the Ziwu Straight Road of the Qin Dynasty, coming from between Ting and Qing."

Ziwuling Qinzhi Road is an important road built by Qin Shihuang to consolidate the Hetao area. It starts from Xianyang in Guanzhong in the south and ends at Wuyuan in Hetao in the north, with a total length of 1800 miles. The most amazing thing about this road is that his road is not Walking at the foot of the mountain, but on the mountain, a road leading to the north is opened on the mountain, so that it can avoid the thousands of ravines on the Loess Plateau and go straight to the north, which not only reduces the distance, but also avoids the need to fill the valley shelf. It is difficult to cross the river with a bridge, not to mention that the straight road has to cross many Gobi and loess wastelands. Choosing to build the road on the ridge ensures that the road is always on the watershed, and it is not far from the water source.

  The average width of this road is ten feet, and the widest can be twenty feet. The most commendable point is that because the road is built on the ridge, it will not be washed away by water.

The terrain of the mountain ridge is flat, easy to repair, and not easy to break. It can be said that this was a groundbreaking and magical design at the time. If you go northwest to Lingwu along the Jing River Valley, and then go to Wuyuan along the North of the Yellow River, the distance will at least double. The road was even more difficult, especially since the northwest border was not safe at that time, and it was easy to be robbed by the barbarians, but Zhidao didn't have to worry about these.

  If you go east along the Yellow River, the countless gullies on the Loess Plateau are even more natural. In fact, it was not until very late in later generations that China built a Shanxi-Shanxi road along the Yellow River. At that time, it did not have the ability.

  However, the national policy of the Han Dynasty later focused on opening up the Hexi Corridor and operating the Western Regions, so the status of the Qinziwuling Straight Road declined and was even abandoned. However, this road still exists, but it is not as lively as it was in Qin Dynasty.

  This time, the Turks broke through Yulin and went southward, first attacking Yanzhou, and after attacking Yanzhou, they followed the Qin Zhidao and went straight southward, heading straight for the city of Chang'an.

  This straight road is easy to walk, but one problem is that there is a lack of rich cities and villages on the side of the straight road. They are mainly barren walls and wastelands. It is not until the Ziwu Ridge arrives at Xianyang that it can be regarded as a place that can be supplemented.

  This means that the Turkic army is indeed a lone army that is deeply encircled.

  However, the 300,000 solitary army is actually not solitary anymore. Maybe they can occupy the dove's nest, come to vacate the cage and change the bird, and turn the guest into the master to seize the pass.

"Your Majesty, my lords, the Turkic army is now divided into two groups, one of which is assembled in Gaoling, Jingyang, and Xianyang. About 200,000 horses and another 100,000 horses are sent to the Wugong area in the west of Beijing. It depends on their intentions. Besiege Chang'an with 200,000 people, and then let the 100,000 soldiers and horses sweep the capital, plunder and collect food and grass on the spot, and block the Qin King's reinforcements from the west of the Longyou River along the Wei River."

"I analyze that Xieli may divide his troops to attack Huazhou and Tongzhou in the next step. He will not only collect food and grass, but also seize the control of Tongguan and Pujin Bridge, so as to isolate the soldiers and horses of King Qin in the Guandong. In this way, Xieli will block the east and west gates. , you can besiege Chang'an City with all your strength!"

  Li Shimin nodded, agreeing with this analysis.

It is true that Jieli's army going straight is a killer move, but it also makes him lack back support, and has no food and grass support. Now he can only make a quick decision and take Chang'an as soon as possible, otherwise, once King Qin's army surrounds him on all sides, Xieli It is bound to be difficult to ride a tiger.

  However, as the capital city, Chang'an is not easy to attack, so Jieli will try to block the two sides of Chang'an as Qin Shubao said, and first block King Qin's reinforcements from the pass to buy him more time.

"Shubao, King Qin's army is coming one after another. At present, you are the first reinforcements to arrive. Including the defenders of the capital, we have about 100,000 horses in our hands. The number is still far inferior to that of the Turks, especially the cavalry. Quantity. But we have cities to defend and food to sustain.”

"It's just that if it lasts longer, the entire Guanzhong will be ruined by these 300,000 wolf cubs. Guanzhong is the foundation of our Tang Dynasty. I will never allow it and dare not allow it to be ruined. Many generals suggested that we should concentrate our forces and find a way Fight a few battles with Jieli at the foot of Chang'an City, take advantage of Jieli's unstable foothold, consume some of his strength, and also dampen his spirit, we must not let them be arrogant, let him come and go freely in Guanzhong, and easily **** food and grass." Li Shimin He clenched his fist and said.

  Qin Qiong is still very clear about the current strength of Chang'an.

"Your Majesty, there are only 100,000 soldiers in Chang'an, of which there are only about 40,000 cavalry. Facing the 300,000 Jieli and Liang Shidu coalition forces, this battle is not easy to fight. There are too many opponents, and several legions can be formed easily. There can be tens of thousands of soldiers along the way, and we want to find opportunities to defeat them one by one, which is difficult, but if we want to directly fight directly, there is no chance."

  Qin Qiong smiled wryly twice, "Your Majesty, in fact, we have already lost this battle before we even fought it."

"And I just inquired about it. Although there are 100,000 soldiers gathered in Chang'an City, the reserves of money and food are not sufficient, not to mention that these 100,000 soldiers are already the elite seeds of our Tang Dynasty soldiers. If we fight recklessly, we will lose our vitality. This kind of battle should not be fought. If we want to fight, we have to fight in northern Saibei. We choose the battlefield and find the time and place. It is not like this, fighting in our capital , If you continue to fight like that, you will only break the pass, and nothing will be left in the end."

   Talking about losing before the battle, Li Shimin did not expect that his new chief commander of the Chang'an Defense War would have such an attitude.

   "Don't fight anymore?" Li Shimin was a little unhappy.

"Your Majesty, the 100,000 soldiers and horses are the core of our Tang army, and the 40,000 cavalry are our sharpest swords. They must not be wasted here. If we fight with Xieli here, After winning this time, it is hard to expect that he can truly annihilate the 300,000 troops. He can still flee back to Mobei with more than half of the soldiers and horses, and he will be able to recover his strength in three to five years. And if we take these The elite government soldiers and cavalry are exhausted here, and I am afraid that they will not be able to recover in ten years, let alone smash the entire pass."

   Li Shimin was silent.

  Qin Qiong, as the number one general under his command, had never been afraid of any kind of fierce battle when they fought together in the north and south, but now Qin Qiong said that he couldn't fight.

   "Shubao, if you don't fight, should you make peace?" Li Shimin asked.

  The left servant shot Xiao Yu and said, "Your Majesty, actually what Shu Bao said is right, it would be best if we can reconcile now."

   "How to reconcile? Jeliken and?"

   "It's really not possible, you can choose a princess to marry." Xiao Yu said.

  This remark made Li Shimin very dissatisfied, "Marry the princess?"

Qin Qiong hurriedly answered, "Your Majesty, it's not enough to be with the princess. I think that we must fight, but we can't hope that we can successfully annihilate Jieli's 300,000 troops in one battle. We have to prepare our hearts early to promote the war." And, find a way to win a few battles with Xieli, and then force Xieli to sit down, as long as a covenant can be reached and let him retreat, then even if Datang loses face and money this time, it is worth bearing the burden of humiliation."

   "Shubao, we have been fighting together for seven years. We have fought many fierce battles and never flinched." Li Shimin looked at Qin Qiong and said.

"Since Your Majesty entrusts you with the important task of defending Chang'an, you can no longer just look at the current situation from the perspective of a general. You have to consider other things. You can't live up to Your Majesty's trust. You must think carefully. You are not afraid of war. But Datang really can't afford to fight this decisive battle! If you want to fight, you can only fight small, and then negotiate a peace, with a moment of patience, in exchange for Japan's counterattack and revenge!" Qin Qiong said through gritted teeth.

  (end of this chapter)