Chastity Layman

  Chapter 583 The Old Princess

   "Thirty-four years!"

  Princess sighed, "It has been thirty-four years since my in-laws and I married in Tuyuhun in the sixteenth year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign."

  Qin Lang didn't have much affection for the former dynasty. He was not a legacy of the former dynasty, but he still sincerely admired this former princess who was married. Although the Sui Dynasty was strong for a while, ending the division of the Central Plains for hundreds of years and restoring unity, it still adopted the method of combining grace and power in the face of the barbarians on all sides.

  Marrying princesses was also an important foreign policy of the Sui Dynasty. Princesses were sent to Turkic and Tuyuhun successively for marriage.

  These princesses have made an indelible contribution to the peace of the people in the Central Plains with their youth and personal safety, which is worthy of admiration.

  Eldest Prince Murong Shun sat on the side, feeling a little embarrassed.

  He is the son of the princess and Fu Yun. When Fu Yun was still respectful to the Sui Dynasty, he was naturally registered as the prince of Tuyuhun. But later, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty wanted to control the Western Regions and restore the old frontiers of the Han Dynasty. The conflict between the Sui Dynasty and Tuyuhun intensified, so Yang Guang detained the prince Murong Shun who had paid tribute to Chang'an.

   This deduction is sixteen years.

Three years after Murong Shun was imprisoned, the army of the Sui Dynasty crusaded against Tuyuhun, and Fu Yun was defeated. Yang Guang established four prefectures in Tuyuhun, Xihai, Heyuan, Shanshan, and Qiemo. In order to rule this place, Yang Guang specially conferred Murong Shun He became Khan, and with the subordinate Tuyuhun Dabao King as the prime minister's assistant, he sent troops to send Murong Shun back to Fucheng.

  But this is actually just the Sui Dynasty's plan to use Murong Shun to fight against Fu Yun who is still at large, and make him a puppet. It's just that Murong Shun was sent halfway by the Sui army, and the attached Dabao King was killed by people sent by Fu Yun.

  After that, Murong Shun stayed in the Central Plains until the Jiangdu mutiny and Yang Guang was murdered. Murong Shun fled back to Chang'an and joined Li Yuan. Later, in order to crusade against Li Gui, the king of Hexi, Li Yuan joined forces with Fu Yun to attack Xiliang. After the incident was completed, he sent Murong Shun back.

   At this time, Murong Shun had been stranded in the Central Plains for sixteen years.

When he went back, he found that Fu Yun had already appointed his brother Zun Wang as the new prince. Although Fu Yun later named him King Daning and gave him the troops of the tribe, it was hard to hide his dissatisfaction. Murong Shun was named Tuyuhun Khan, and the relationship between father and son could not be restored.

  Having lived in the Central Plains for sixteen years, Murong Shun stayed in Yang Guang's court for a long time. When he saw Qin Lang, he felt a little cordial.

   "General, please sit down!" Qin Lang said.

  Murong Shun served as a general in the courts of the Sui and Tang dynasties, but it was only a light title without real power, but after all, he did serve as a general for many years.

  After sitting down, he felt complicated.

   "The general is considered half of the Han family, right?"

  Murong Shun nodded. In fact, he was very against the identity of this half of the Han family. Because of this identity, Fu Yun sent him to pay tribute to the Central Plains, but was detained.

  Because of this status, when he returned to Tuyuhun, the people of the country thought he was a Han general and refused to believe him.

   "I wonder if the general is willing to return to Tang?" Qin Lang asked.

   Murong Shun didn't know how to answer.

  Princess Gwanghwa, on the other hand, was calm and composed. She asked, "My elder sister, Princess Yicheng, was captured by Li Jing when the East Turkic Jieli Khan was defeated last year. Isn't Mr. Qin planning to do the same?"

   "If Mr. Qin wants to execute me, please give me a three-foot white silk and a whole body. I have another request, that is, I hope that my body can be brought back to Chang'an for burial, so that my soul can return to my hometown."

  The princess seemed to be talking about an extremely ordinary little thing.

  This composure, calmness, made Qin Lang feel more and more that the princess is not easy. In the thirty-four years in Tuyuhun, how many hardships have he experienced to make a princess so strong.

The princess married Shifu Khan back then, but soon Shifu died of civil strife, and was forced to marry Fuyun later. His son was sent to Chang'an when he was still young, and he was taken as a hostage. Being caught in the middle is even more difficult.

  The princess has experienced too much, and she has already looked down on everything.

   She could have escaped with Fu Yun yesterday, but she didn't. She would rather stay with her son, even if she was captured or killed.

   "Princess, Qin Lang has absolutely no intention of offending you. The princess has made contributions to the Han family. Now as long as the princess is willing to join the Tang Dynasty, I will send troops to **** the princess and General Murong back to Chang'an."

   As he spoke, he said to Murong again, "As long as the general is willing to surrender to Datang, Qin is willing to guarantee the general and protect the safety of the general's mother and child."

   Murong Shun looked at his mother, and Princess Guanghua said calmly, "We have no other choice."

   Murong Shun got up and saluted Qin Lang, "Shun wishes to return to the Tang Dynasty!"

   "Good!"

  Murong Shun's attachment made Qin Lang very satisfied, he sent someone to prepare a big tent for the princess and Murong Shun, and served their original guards and servants.

  Murong Shun also obeyed, according to Qin Lang's order, he went to persuade the captive leaders of Tuyuhun tribes to surrender, and some stubborn tribes in the valley saw Murong Shun come to persuade them to surrender, and finally gave up resistance and surrender.

  Qin Lang simply asked Murong Shun to lead the captured Tuyuhun people.

  Responsible for tracking Fu Yun's return from the ranger, Fu Yun fled westward, and burned the pasture along the way.

  Hearing the news, Qin Lang simply ordered to continue resting in Kushan.

  Three days later, Cheng Yaojin arrived with the forward of the Chinese army. It was a pity to hear that Fu Yun had escaped.

  The generals gathered again for discussion.

   Fu Yun ran away, what should be the next step.

   "The grass is all gone, how can I chase after it?" This is Chai Shao, who is in command of the rear army.

   Xue Wanche, who was brave and aggressive before, also hesitated at this time.

"Previously, Prime Minister Xuan had grasped Fu Yun's movements and knew his stronghold in Kushan, so we rushed on light horses and were able to win the battle. But now that Fu Yun is following westward and the sea of ​​grass is vast, we don't even know where Fu Yun has gone. I don’t know. Especially the farther to the northwest, the more inaccessible people are, and the less we understand the terrain, it’s hard to chase.”

Xue Wanjun, who came with Chai Shao, also expressed his opinion, "It is spring now, and the horse is at its thinnest after a winter, and it is difficult to support long-distance raids. Now Fu Yun has burned the grass that was not much along the way. It will be even harder for us to chase. Otherwise, we will withdraw our troops for now? When the autumn is high and the horses are fat, we will fight again?"

Cheng Yaojin said dissatisfiedly, "Chasing, we have been preparing for three months, and we have made sufficient preparations, and now we have won the first battle, beheading thousands and taking nearly 50,000 prisoners, not to mention we captured more than 300,000 The livestock and countless forages. Although Fu Yun burned the grass along the way, the grass we captured in Kushan alone is enough to support us. What's more, we have prepared a lot of forage ourselves. Even if we don't need supplementary If the soldiers bring fodder from Longyou again, we will have enough, why should we retreat now?"

"I have worked hard all the way here, I haven't even had a mouthful of soup, I'm the first to disagree. If you and the Xue family brothers are afraid, you can go back to guard the house now. My old Cheng is willing to play forward .”

Cheng Yaojin's attitude is firm, and he will fight until he wants to be defeated. Although it is a big victory now, for Tuyuhun, it is not considered to be defeated, at most it will hurt his vitality. Tuyuhun had to make a comeback again.

"There have always been only those who can be thieves for a thousand days, and there is no one who can guard against thieves for a thousand days. If we don't seize the opportunity to kill Tuyuhun, it will not be a long-term solution if we consume it for a long time. It’s time to cheer up.”

Chai Shao reminded Qin Lang and Cheng Yaojin that Kushan had seized a lot of grass, and Longyou had also prepared a lot of grass, but now that Fu Yun is fleeing to the west, no one knows how far he will flee, and how far the Longyou army will have to chase .

  If it is too far away, it is not only a question of whether the prepared food and grass are enough, but a question of whether the transportation can keep up.

   "Our previous preparations were limited to thousands of miles, and now Fu Yun is fleeing westward, which has exceeded expectations."

Horses in spring are at their thinnest, running thousands of miles, which is the limit for thin horses at this time. If they continue to pursue long distances, they need not only enough horse grass, but also enough fine fodder to supplement them, otherwise the horse will not be able to survive. live.

  The generals looked at Qin Lang.

  After listening to the opinions of the generals, Qin Lang just smiled slightly.

   "Everyone is fighting back and forth, the key is the forage problem, the horse is hard to move without grass, let alone catch up with Fu Yun. If we don't capture Fu Yun and defeat his main force, we can't claim all the credit."

"However, everyone has overlooked a problem. Fu Yun fled westward all the way, and the spring horse was weak in an instant, and he must not run fast. Second, Fu Yun fled west. Although the grass along the way was burned, there must be food and grass to meet it." Qin Lang tapped the map, "It doesn't matter if the grass on the road is burned, we have to keep an eye on Fu Yun, and we can get the fodder from the enemy."

  Qin Lang suggested that each man should have three horses, and the front cavalry army should continue to pursue. At the same time, he boldly appointed Murong Shun, and asked him to pick thousands of Tuyuhun captives as assisted troops and guides to strengthen the troops.

Chai Shao's rear army and Cheng Yaojin's central army formed one army, and left part of the food-transporting auxiliary troops in Kushan on the spot, where they built fortifications and camps, and stored the transported grain and grass here. , just in case.

  The other half of the auxiliary soldiers escorted the captured livestock and supplies, and some of the captives back to Longyou.

   As for the captives, some of them were brought back to Longyou, while the tribes under Murong Shun's command, as well as the soldiers and clansmen selected to accompany the army this time, were released from detention, and they were resettled nearby as nomads.

   "All generals listen to orders!"

"exist!"

"The soldiers are divided into two groups, and they will attack together." Qin Lang pointed to the map and issued a military order, "This commander personally commanded the troops of the North Road, and personally led 10,000 Tang cavalry, and Murong Shun's 10,000 Tuyuhun cavalry, cut off the ambush from the North Road. Allow the retreat route leading to Qilian Mountain, and make a detour to Fuqi City!"

   "Cheng Yaojin, Chai Shao, Xue Wanche, Xue Wanjun and other generals led the South Route Army to pursue the Tuyuhun Army."

   "Each soldier has three horses, carrying 100 days of food and grass, looking for the main force of Tuyuhun and annihilating it."

Qin Lang didn't arrange follow-up troops and horses, and there was no food and grass transfer supply. Only one man and three horses, one hundred days of food and grass, and two armies had to catch up with the main force of Tuyuhun. There is a danger of running out of food and army.

But in the face of Qin Lang's dangerous plan, Chai Shao, Xue Wanche, Duan Zhixuan, Zhang Shigui and other generals no longer objected at this time. With Kushan's first victory, everyone is full of confidence and wants to make persistent efforts to achieve greater success. .

  The two armies of the North and the South are not easy to go, but in order to succeed in the first battle, they can only grit their teeth.

"I hope we can surround Fu Yun as soon as possible, and don't let him escape into the desert." Although Chai Shao had some reservations, he didn't drag back in the end, but he was still a little worried that Qin Lang's north-south pincer attack might not be able to encircle him. Fu Yun.

   "Even if he fled into the desert, he must be chased to the end." Old Cheng was ruthless.

  Qin Lang saw that there was something wrong with the South Route Army before they left, so he thought for a while and said, "How about asking General Chai to join the North Route Army and take charge of the Murong Shun Army?"

   Chai Shao was stunned for a moment, looked at Cheng Yaojin, then at Qin Lang, and finally at Murong Shun, and snorted, "It's all right!"

  (end of this chapter)