Magistrate Zhang wisely gave up the county government office to Yu Chigong. Not only did he not complain at all, he was also very happy.
The Turks were raging in Weibei. As a county magistrate, he was scratching his head. He worried all day long that the Turkic army would break Sanyuan City.
Now that Yuchi Gong, the old black leader, has arrived with three thousand horses, Sanyuan City will be safe. Even if the city is really destroyed by then, it will be Lao Hei's responsibility.
"I had already seen that Erlang was extraordinary, but I never expected that he would rise to prominence so quickly." County Magistrate Zhang was filled with emotion towards Huaiyu. The last time they met, he was the county magistrate and Huaiyu was his money-catcher.
son.
But now, he is still the seventh-rank county magistrate, and Huaiyu is the founder of the country.
"I have always been grateful for how much Magistrate Zhang took care of me before." Huaiyu looked at Magistrate Zhang who had not seen him for a long time and had half a head of white hair. He was deeply moved. This man was originally a military commander in the Prince of Qin's palace.
, because I also read some books, so I became the county magistrate.
Now looking at this half head of white hair, it is not easy to be a county magistrate.
"I haven't paid back the money that County Magistrate Zhang caught for me before. I will pay it back later."
"Your housekeeper has paid four thousand in interest every month. It doesn't matter if the capital is paid back sooner or later."
Sanyuan County is not a big city. Because the Turks entered the country, many people hid in the city. Now thousands more people have arrived, which has even more crowded the small rammed earth city. There are people's escape shacks everywhere.
Many people had no source of livelihood for a while, and many of them didn't even have any savings. They hid in the city and had to rely on the court to give out one meal of porridge every day.
As a county magistrate, Lao Zhang is indeed very worried.
"When can we defeat the Turks?"
"It's almost time." Huaiyu comforted Lao Zhang.
After chatting with Lao Zhang for a while, Huaiyu went to visit his neighbors in Longqiaobao, which was located in a corner of the city. Those who had previously been hiding in Lijiazhuang also came with him.
There are more than 100 households of villagers in Longqiao Fort. Except for a few who went to Chang'an in advance, most of them are here. Yesterday, more than 30 young men died guarding the fort, and many women were taken captive. In the end, most of them were saved, but some were unbearable.
Died of humiliation.
An atmosphere of sadness permeated the air.
In the panic during the war, many families did not even have the conditions to bury their families. Those who died in the war were thrown directly into the Qinghe River by the Turks, and the bodies could not be found for a while.
Nowadays, in the county town, one can only wear sackcloth and mourning, and cry and offer sacrifices facing the direction of Longqiao Fort to the west.
The very enthusiastic Liu Cunzheng died under the arrows of the Turks.
Uncle Zhang next door was also killed with a spear.
Huaiyu got some food and gave it to each family of the villagers. The family whose husband, brother, or son died was as if the sky had fallen. In some families, their wives and daughters were humiliated, and they were both angry and painful. Some families were angry and painful.
There are even fewer women.
The crops that were about to mature were gone, the homes were gone, and the people were gone.
Li Sanniang brought her servants and also sent some food.
"I heard that Erlang was granted the title of County Prince, congratulations."
On the filthy dirt street, Li Sanniang said congratulations to Huaiyu. This Li Sanniang had also just returned from Huizhou.
Today Huaiyu went to Lijiazhuang to inform them to evacuate. Some people in the Li family were reluctant to leave. They thought that with Lijiazhuang's Wubao holding on, Li Sanniang made the decisive decision to move everyone to Sanyuan County.
Long time no see, Li Sanniang is a little haggard.
During this time, Huaiyu also heard a lot about Li Sanniang's feats at the border. He ran away from home and headed for the border. He hired a group of guys to protect him on the way. Not only could he defeat horse thieves when he encountered them, he even recruited them.
"Thanks to your elixir last time, my father and brother and many injured soldiers in Huining Pass were able to survive."
Huaiyu did not stay in Sanyuan County for long.
Li Shimin's reward came quickly. Yuchi conferred the title of Duke of Wu and the title of General of the Army. The happy guy became more and more excited.
Liang Jianfang and Gao Zhensheng, the two stewards who had been working under Jingde all these years, were also granted the title of baron. Their eyes were red with excitement and they were extremely grateful to Li Shimin.
On the contrary, Huaiyu, who was the founding son of the Jin Dynasty, was much calmer.
After returning from Longyou, he also made several meritorious deeds, and now his rank has been promoted to Tongzhilang, which is lower than the sixth rank. The speed of promotion is even worse than that of Ma Zhou.
After the emperor's envoy announced the reward decree, there was another decree for Wu Huaiyu to take the Shenji Camp back to Beijing.
"Jieli moved from Yunyang along the Jinghe River to the north bank of the Weihe River, and had already sent people to recall Tuli and other troops who had previously been divided. Judging from the posture, it seemed that he was going to attack Xianyang and Chang'an. The saint asked Wu Qianniu to quickly lead the army
The machine camp returns to Beijing."
After receiving this order, Huaiyu did not dare to neglect, and immediately returned with his troops.
For safety reasons, this time we did not go back to Chang'an via Jingyang, but headed east from Gaoling back to Chang'an. Li Sanniang also went back to Chang'an with her. Lao Wu originally wanted to stay, but Huaiyu forced him to go back.
Two hundred cavalry from the Shenji Battalion came this time, and a dozen of them were killed in a night attack. A few of them were seriously injured and remained in Sanyuan City. The casualties were relatively light.
They didn't encounter large groups of Turks on the road, but only a few small teams. Everyone in the Shenji camp was very angry. They chased them with a roar and killed several Turkic teams.
Everyone cut off their heads, tied them to horses and took them back to Chang'an City.
As soon as he entered Chang'an, Li Shimin summoned him to the East Palace.
Li Shimin seemed to be in a good mood. After meeting, he asked Huaiyu about the battle at Longqiao. There was nothing to describe, it was too simple a battle.
"Last time you told me to look for opportunities to kill one or two of his men. It would be better to cut off one of his ten fingers than to hurt him. Now Xieli really knows the pain, and Tuli also took the initiative to contact me,"
The outcome of the Battle of Longqiao was not as good as the Battle of Xianyang, nor as good as the Battle of Longyou Weizhou. However, in this stalemate situation, the Tang army, under the eyes of the Turkic Jieli army, forcibly killed 5,000 of their troops and beheaded 3,000 prisoners.
, it can be said that many Turkic nobles were shocked to the point of sweating.
Repeated defeats also made them start to panic.
Many Turkic nobles and even most Turkic herdsmen are keen to invade south, but only for robbery. They do not want the fields in Guanzhong, they just want to grab a handful and leave.
In this invasion, in terms of looting alone, they had already looted a lot of money. Before, Jieli confidently convinced everyone that they could take the opportunity to attack Chang'an City and force Li Shimin to pay tribute to the Turks in large amounts of money, silk, people, etc.
, everyone also thinks it’s worth a try.
But now the situation is not very optimistic. The Turkic nobles and herdsmen who have grabbed a lot of money have begun to miss their homes and want to return to their hometown on the grassland as soon as possible to enjoy this year's harvest.
They didn't want to stay in Guanzhong any longer, and they didn't want to be destroyed by those palm thunders in their sleep.
Tuli is Jieli's nephew, but he is also the young khan in charge of the east. His relationship with Jieli has never been good. During the battle to Jingzhou in the seventh year of Wude, it was Tuli who carried Jieli on his back.
He accepted a large amount of jewelry, money, and silk from Li Shimin, and he also bowed to Li Shimin, insisting that he return to the grassland for peace, so that Jieli finally had to accept the peace offer of the Tang Dynasty.
Now, after Tu Li met with Li Shimin's envoy Cui Dunli, he once again stated that instead of spending time like this every day, it would be better to return to the grassland as soon as possible.
As for the Turks, they have also won the support of many tribal leaders, especially the Black Turks. They are not the Turks themselves, but some tribes that were conquered by the Turks earlier. When they robbed, they were divided less, but when fighting,
Jie Li, however, likes to let them take the lead.
In the last battle of Xianyang, the 20,000 Zahu troops led by Kang Sumi were defeated and even Kang Sumi was made a prisoner.
"Tomorrow, I will meet with Tu Li at Bianqiao, and you and An Yuanshou will accompany you as guards."
This was a secret meeting, arranged on the south bank of the Wei River. The number of people meeting was as small as possible. The guards only chose two thousand cattle, Wu Huaiyu and An Yuanshou, and they were accompanied by Fang Xuanling, Prime Minister Gao Shilian, Du Ruhui, Minister of War, and
Duke Qin Qiong of Yi State and General Zhou Shaofan of the Forbidden Army.
"You fought well in the battle at Longqiao." Li Shimin stood up and patted his shoulder, expressing his appreciation.
When leaving the palace, Ma Zhou happened to be on duty with him.
"In this Turkic invasion, I don't know how many Longqiao Forts were destroyed in the war and trampled by the Turks' iron hoofs." Ma Zhou only went to Longqiao Fort once, and he only stayed there for one day, but he had a good impression of the place.
The village where people used to live and work in peace and contentment has now suffered dozens of deaths. Many women have been humiliated and are now forced to leave the village.
Huaiyu also felt heavy in his heart, "Hey."
This time Lao Wu also remembered that he was promoted to a higher rank, but the old man was not happy at all. "Muramasa and Lao Liu are recognized as good people,"
Lao Liu was also a member of the imperial army of the Yuan Dynasty, and he also won honors for killing enemies on the battlefield. He did not die in the series of wars that led to the founding of the country, but now he died in his own home.
In Chang'an City, the people in the neighborhoods are still spreading the word about the Great Victory of Miyuan.
Huaiyu and the others returned to Yongxingfang together. The newly moved family were very happy to see them return safely, but when they heard Lao Wu talk about the tragic situation of Longqiao Fort, and that all the familiar names had died,
Aunt Xu and other women were humiliated, and Mrs. Wu Liu, eldest sister, and Mrs. Wang couldn't help wiping away tears.
No one had any appetite for dinner.
Early the next morning, Huaiyu reported to the East Palace, and together with An Yuanshou and Li Shimin in casual clothes, they arrived at a remote ferry on the south bank of the Wei River.
Not long after waiting, Tuli came over in a boat with several guards.
A tent was set up on the bank of the river, and Li Shimin and Tu Li had a secret meeting in the tent. In the distance, hundreds of cavalry guards stood guard with bows and arrows.
In the tent, there were only two Qianniu, Huaiyu and An Yuanshou, carrying Qianniu swords and wearing armor as guards.
He looked at Tuli Khan. He was very young, several years younger than Li Shimin. He was only twenty-three years old at this time. He was the son of Shibi Khan and was in charge of the eastern Turkic, Khitan, Xi, and Mohe tribes.
All are under his jurisdiction.
Seven years ago, when Shibi Khan died, Shibobi, who was already sixteen years old, was not able to inherit the throne. Instead, he was succeeded by his uncle Chuluo. After Chuluo died, his uncle Jieli succeeded him.
Although Shibobi was granted the title of Little Khan, his title was still the Little Khan before his grandfather Qimin Khan became the Great Khan. However, the young Tuli, like Chuluo Ziyu Sheshe, was also full of ideas about the position of the Great Khan.
of.
Li Shimin and Tu Li embraced each other enthusiastically and were very affectionate.
It's like a pair of brothers reunited after a long separation.
Li Shimin held Tu Li's hand and sat together, talking about their sworn sworn relationship and the Tang Tu alliance. Then he asked Fang Xuanling to come up with a decree and named Tu Li the king of Beiping County and the general of Youwei. He also rewarded him with a large sum of money in silk and gold.
Silver treasures.
Tuli gladly accepted it, knelt down and accepted the decree, and was very happy.
This guy doesn't seem to have Jieli Dahan in his eyes at all.
"Is your wife okay?" Li Shimin suddenly asked.
"Yang's health has not been very good," Tu Li said with a smile.
His wife is Princess Yang of Huainan, a princess of the Sui Dynasty. When asked about Yang at this time, of course she does not care about her. Princesses of the Sui Dynasty and pro-Turkish people are all enemies of the friendly relations between Tang and Turks, such as Princess Yicheng.
Gao Shilian said at the side: "Your Majesty's cousin, King Li Shentong of Huai'an, has a county head in his family who is good at riding, shooting, playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and knows etiquette. He can marry the king of the county and we will always be married to the two families."
"Well, let's make the county lord Princess of Hejian and marry my younger brother Kun."
Cousin marries brother and becomes sworn brother.
Tu Li knelt down again and said, "Thank you, His Majesty, for the marriage."
Huaiyu watched silently from the side, Tuli was really without moral integrity, he had no interests of the Turkic Khanate in his eyes, only his own selfish interests.
However, the Tang Dynasty gave away clan daughters to marry and marry on the grassland, which made people feel aggrieved. Since the Han Dynasty, there have been constant wars on the grassland, but they often gave away daughters to marry. In this regard, they are not as good as the Ming Dynasty Zhu family, at least they are determined not to marry.
, at best they only trade with each other, and they often close the trade with each other, and they don’t even do business with those Hulu barbarians.
Li Shimin and Tu Li had a very happy chat with each other. Tu Li received a title, a large amount of gold, silver, and even a marriage from a clan leader, while Li Shimin received Tu Li's declaration of loyalty and would never follow him.
If Jieli goes all the way, he will draw a clear line with Jieli and maintain the abrupt alliance.
"Passing on the imperial meal, I want to have a few drinks with Kundi!" Li Shimin said.
