Chastity Layman

  Chapter 712 Request

   Manna Hall.

It is located in the north of Liangyi Hall of Taiji Palace. The hall has been newly renovated. The north wall of the hall is full of bookshelves, full of books. There are not only the nine classics compiled by the prince of the East Palace, but also the righteousness compiled by the world's famous Confucian masters, as well as those compiled by the publishing house in recent years. There are hundreds of sets of carved board books, and even a set of Qin Lang's Taibai poetry collection, as well as the textbooks he compiled for the lectures of Habayashiro in the lecture hall, "On War", "On Strategy", "History of War", "Consultant", " Equipment and Logistics"·····

These were originally textbooks compiled by Qin Lang for the Habayashi boys in the martial arts hall according to the emperor's request, but Li Jing admired them very much, and Li Shimin also regarded them as treasures. For professional military books, these five books were also named Weigong Art of War by Li Shimin, and they are divided into volumes one to five.

  After the emperor returned to Beijing from Luoyang, he redecorated the Ganlu Palace, added bookshelves, and collected many books. In front of the shelves, there were special silver inkstones, blue tooth tubes, and silver letters to hold paper, and he also had Hanlin scholars as servants.

  Li Shimin now lives directly in the Ganlu Hall most of the time, which is not only used as a study, but also as a bedroom, and also as a place for discussion. The front hall is used as a study room, reading military books, learning Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, and listening to scholars' lectures. The apse is the sleeping palace, the front and back halls are connected, surrounded by corridors, and there are east and west pavilions on the left and right of the apse.

  The emperor liked Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, especially Ai Lanting's preface. He would observe and play with it for a while every day, and copied it when he was in a good mood. Today, after the emperor had dinner, he picked up the Lanting Preface as usual and was delighted. When he was happy, he asked someone to lay out paper and ink, and copied it again.

  Looking at the almost fake works, Li Shimin was very satisfied.

   "At home, the gentlemen are here!" The servant reported.

  Li Shimin nodded and asked the prime ministers to come in and prepare seats and tea.

  The monarchs and ministers sat down, Ma Zhou reported the military situation to the emperor, Hou Junji cut first and then played, and dispatched troops to conquer Siyehu Khan Ashina Suli.

   "Let's have a discussion!"

  The emperor obviously knew about it, and didn't have much reaction.

Changsun Wuji took the initiative and said, "Ashina's power has grown more and more arrogant. Now he doesn't follow the order of the Tang Dynasty, he doesn't respect His Majesty, he attacks the Qibi tribe without authorization, kills Mo Heduo Khan, and blocks the Silk Road. Threatening Gaochang, Qiuci, Yanqi, Shule and other countries, and even sending troops to Qiemo and Shanshan to loot, is it tolerable, what can't be tolerated?"

   "Xu Li is already a mad wolf. Facing the arrogant Hu Li, Datang must send troops."

  Li Shimin pondered, at the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, it had a very good relationship with the Western Turks. It was because the main goal of the Tang Dynasty was to unify the Central Plains, so it even asked the Eastern Turks for compensation and paid tribute. After four years of Wude, the overall situation in the Central Plains has been settled, and the Tang Dynasty can finally be tough with the Turks.

  From this time on, Datang and East Turks began to fight against each other, and Datang became more and more friendly to Western Turks. It coincided with the civil strife in West Turks at that time, so the two families maintained a friendly relationship for more than ten years.

After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he also devoted all his energy to destroying the Eastern Turks. Now the Eastern Turks have been destroyed for three years, and Tuyuhun also surrendered last year. Entering the Fengyu map, Datang is indeed looking down on the world now.

  After Tong Yehu was killed by Mo He Du, the Western Turks were in civil strife again. Li Shimin began to intervene in the Western Regions tentatively, but he was limited to sending envoys to confer Mo He Du and Si Ye Hu Khan to mediate between the two.

Later, seeing that the two sides fought fiercely, they intervened further, and Ge Leng also became a Khan, and Tuguluo Yehu and Kesa Yehu, the other divisions of the Western Turkic Khan, were also canonized. Khan.

   Adding fuel to the chaotic Western Regions for a while.

  But it was always limited to these small actions. No matter whether it was Mo Hedu or Si Yehu, he never directly intervened, and even remained friendly.

But last year, Datang surrendered Dangxiang and Tuyuhun successively, and got Yiwu city lord to lead seven cities to vote, newly established Xiyi Prefecture, and stationed troops. Countries in the Western Regions also came to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty.

   The situation is already changing.

  Now the frontier army of the Tang Dynasty has left Yumen, crossed the desert, set foot on the Western Regions, and established a foothold in Yiwu. And the powerful tribes such as Yugushe and Qibibu successively attached to Datang, which also allowed Li Shimin to get more and more bargaining chips in the Western Regions.

  With enough chips in hand, of course he is not willing to just be a spectator at the table.

  It is Li Shimin's dream to restore the territory of Qin and Han Dynasties. The Eastern Turks have been destroyed, and the next one will naturally be the turn of the Western Turks in the Western Regions.

  Si Yehu's arrogance just gave Li Shimin a reason to send troops, and the civil strife in Western Turks also gave Datang an opportunity to take advantage of.

  Li Shimin picked up Wang Xizhi's other treasure "Quick Snow and Sunny Stickers" on the table, looked at it carefully, and did not express his opinion in a hurry.

  Li Jing took the initiative to ask Ying to be in command.

   "Ashina Nishu was forced by Heli and fled to Yanqi. Heli was dispatching troops to attack Yanqi, capture and kill Nishi, and announced that he would execute Yanqi King Tulongqizhi who dared to take Nishi in."

"Nowadays, people in Yanqi are in a state of panic, and Nishu is even more precarious. At this time, when we send troops from the Tang Dynasty, we can not only save Nishu who is close to Tang Dynasty, but also protect the country of Yanqi. Wu, Dunhuang, and Tuyuhun Qiemo and Shan newly established by the imperial court."

   "Give the old minister 20,000 horses, and promise to capture Si Yehu alive, and present him as a prisoner to Chang'an Que."

   Li Shimin turned around and pulled out a book from the bookshelf. This book was placed next to Qin Lang's Art of War for Duke Wei. This book was written by Li Jing, called Li Jing's Art of War.

This military book is divided into three volumes. The first volume "General Wu Bingmou" mainly talks about general strategy, army management, and strategies for decisive victory. Methods, while the second volume "Offensive and Defensive Equipment" mainly discusses the construction and use of weapons, equipment and fortifications.

   Li Shimin also likes this military book very much. It is different from Qin Lang's Weigong Art of War, and it is a rare masterpiece of military art. In the Zhenguan Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty, there were many generals who could lead troops to fight, and countless were brave and capable of fighting, but there were not many generals who could stand alone. Li Jing was undoubtedly the best among them.

  In addition, Qin Qiong, Chai Shao, Qin Lang, Li Daozong, Su Dingfang, and Xue Wanche are all outstanding, but they can still write books and write a level book on the art of war, which is really rare.

In this dynasty, there are only Li Jing and Qin Lang, one old and one young. Although Qin Qiong also wrote a book, but that book can only be said to be at an intermediate level. , Qin Qiong's level is very good, but it is limited to this, and it is not good at a higher level.

   On the contrary, Qin Qiong edited with the assistance of Qin Lang, "Fu Bing Dian Dian" is very solid, and the training part is very good.

   "Is Dai Gong's foot disease better recently?" Li Shimin held "Li Jing's Art of War" and looked at Li Jing again.

   "The sage often gives medicines and dispatches doctors, and the minister's foot disease is much better. Although it is always painful in winter and spring, but now it is summer, and the minister is sure to defeat Si Yehu within three months!"

  Li Jing’s leg problem is considered a long-standing problem, but it’s actually not a big problem. It’s just that Li Jing is a more cautious person.

  He was born as a core general in Guanlong, and his uncle was Han Qinhu, one of the four founding commanders of the Sui Dynasty. According to folklore, Han Qinhu did not die of old age, but went to the underworld to take over as the king of Hades indirectly.

  The Li family itself is also a general of Guanlong. His grandfather Li Chongyi was the governor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and he was granted the title of Duke Yongkang. His father, Li Quan, was the prefect of Sui Zhao County. When Li Jing was very young, he was already very smart and outstanding. He was able to talk about military tactics with his uncle Han Qinhu when he was young, and even Han Qinhu praised him as a famous general in the future.

When he was a teenager, even Niu Hong, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, praised him, saying that he was Wang Zuozhi's talent, and Yang Su thought it was worth cultivating, so he was often called into Yang's house. The servant girl Hong Fu was abducted, and Yang Su didn't blame her. She still recommended him to be the meritorious officer of Chang'an County at the age of sixteen, and said that he would be a prime minister in the future.

   It was only during the reign of Emperor Kaihuang that the Sui Dynasty was prosperous and there were no major wars. The once powerful Turks were also divided and fought among the weak and strong under Yang Jianli. Li Jing has been working around the capital for a long time, step by step filling out qualifications and other vacancies.

  It was not until the end of the great cause that Li Jing, who was in his forties, was able to serve as Mayi Juncheng, assisting the prefect Wang Rengong to guard the Daibei border. But at this time, the Sui Dynasty was already in turmoil, with heroes everywhere and refugees everywhere. Li Yuan of Taiyuan was already planning to raise troops and raise righteousness.

At that time, Li Jing was still thinking about defending the imperial court and accusing Li Yuan and his son of treason. He pretended to be a criminal and asked the officials to **** him through Taiyuan to Chang'an. , but was trapped in Chang'an, and soon after Li Yuan captured Chang'an, he was about to kill Li Jing with one knife.

  Li Jing finally saw that the Sui Dynasty was over, so he asked Li Yuan to surrender, but Li Yuan didn't want to accept it, so it was Li Shimin's persuasion and intercession that saved him from death. After Li Jing was released, he worked as a staff officer in Li Shimin's Qin Palace for two years, without any position or power.

  Later, Li Shimin strongly recommended him, so he had the opportunity to go out to lead the army, and finally partnered with Li Xiaogong to pacify the southeast half of the country. In the eighth year of Wude, his old partner Li Xiaogong was arrested and sent to Beijing when he was the governor of the Metropolitan Government of Yangzhou. He was charged with treason and rebellion, which had a great impact on Li Jing.

  Although Li Xiaogong was proved innocent in the end, he was also deprived of military power and remained in the capital.

   Immediately following the Xuanwumen Incident in the ninth year of Wude, father and son violated taboos, brothers killed each other, and the power struggle was extremely fierce.

Li Jing was working in Lingzhou during Xuanwu Gate. Facing Li Shimin’s secret inquiry, Li Jing expressed his neutral attitude. After the incident, Li Jing also sat on the bench for two years. In the year of 1999, he made great achievements in defending against the Turks in the north, but as a result, the new emperor named him a hero, but he was ranked last, and all the guards of the Qin Palace were above him.

  Since then, Li Jing has become more cautious. During the Northern Expedition and the destruction of the Turks, Li Jing’s personal achievements were also the same for a while.

When the moon is full, it loses, and when the water is full, it overflows. After the Northern Expedition, he was accused of many crimes. The emperor's treatment made Li Jing feel like resigning. In the past few years, he closed the door to thank guests, and sometimes returned to Sanyuan Zhuangzi with Hong Funu to grow vegetables. Chicken, it's a good day.

  But as a military commander, after hearing about the battle in the Western Regions, he couldn't help but want to fight again.

  (end of this chapter)