Li Ji rushed to greet him and said congratulations, but he looked left and right but could not find Jie Li.
"Has Duke Yi beheaded Jie Li?"
"Jie Li ran away and was not caught." Wu Huaiyu said truthfully.
"Ran?"
Li Ji looked at the Youzhou knights who were covered with snow and whose beards were covered with ice. He couldn't believe it. Jieli could run like that. How could a mere hundred light cavalry escape from under the eyes of Youzhou Jingqi?
"I suspect that Jieli fled to Mobei."
Li Ji was stunned for a while, and after confirming that Wu Huaiyu had not lied to him, he had to admire Jie Li's ability to escape. He fled from Dingxiang to Baidao, and was able to escape from the assault of Youzhou heavy cavalry on the Baicheng battlefield.
Flee from Heicheng to Nuozhenshui, Nuozhenshui to Tieshan, Tieshan to Gaoqueguan,
I still don’t know where I escaped.
"Just run away. After this battle with Jie Li, we have already taken the blame for Monan. Even if he escapes to Mobei, he will not be able to survive for a few days." Li Ji said.
Having said that, we failed to win Jie Li. This battle was not perfect after all.
After a day of rest in Tieshan, Wu Huaiyu and Li Ji became more and more reluctant to think about it.
So I put it all together and realized that even though I had planned to come, I couldn’t come in vain. This has not been the case since ancient times.
"If you kill a snake if you kill it, there will be endless troubles. The imperial court has been sharpening a sword for three years. How can it be returned without drinking blood after taking it out of the scabbard? Come on, sweep the surrounding area thoroughly," Li Ji gritted his teeth.
As the saying goes, those who have a grudge must take revenge, and those who have an injustice must avenge an injustice.
Since Li Tang started his business, he has always been annoyed by the Turks. At first he bought horses and borrowed troops from them, and later even paid tribute. Within two years, conflicts between the two sides accumulated and broke out, and the Turks invaded many times.
Bingzhou, which Li Ji was guarding, was once invaded by the Turks into Taiyuan City. The entire Hedong area was once invaded by the Turks as if they were in an uninhabited land, and they entered and plundered at will. Outside Yanmen Pass, the Turks had long controlled it.
How many soldiers from Bingzhou suffered from disaster in their hometowns, and how many soldiers from Bingzhou had hatred between their country and their family against the Turks.
The situation in Youzhou is slightly better, but it has also suffered many Turkic invasions.
Now Jieli has escaped and the Turks have been defeated.
If one goes by the usual attitude of the civil servants in the court, they would naturally convince people with virtue and treat the Turkic herdsmen kindly.
But why?
Was it possible that only Jieli and his nobles were the ones who invaded the Tang Dynasty, and the following tribal herdsmen did not participate?
Now that Jieli has been defeated and the main Turkic force has been defeated, it is even more important to take the opportunity to retaliate.
It's cold, the ground is freezing, the wind is blowing and the snow is heavy, so it can't be in vain.
The two general managers discussed and sent soldiers and horses to sweep around. When they saw the Turkic tribes, they led horses, robbed cattle, sheep, and camels. The tribesmen, men, women, and children were captured, and all they took back were trophies.
The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty prepared their own clothes and food for the expedition, which was not easy in this cold winter month. Everyone who took back a piece of it would not be in vain.
And it is even more necessary to take this opportunity to severely weaken the Turkic strength.
If it happens, hunting rabbits in the grass and finding out the profits, it won't be more profitable.
To the north of Yinshan Mountain, there are actually some conditions for farming, but it has always been dominated by nomadic pastoralists. The herdsmen will occasionally sow some crop seeds and harvest some grain in autumn.
The further north you go, the drier and barren you get, then the Gobi Desert, and after passing through the vast desert, you reach the Mobei Grassland.
The Yinshan Mountains divide Monan into two major areas. The south of the Yinshan Mountains, especially the Hetao area, is the most fertile and rich. It is the best pasture. The Xiongnu, Rouran, Xianbei, Turks, etc. all competed with China repeatedly to seize this rich land.
In this land, the grassland tribes can truly unify the grasslands and establish a powerful nomadic khanate. On the contrary, they can only surrender to the Central Plains.
To the north of Yinshan Mountain, the closer to Yinshan Mountain, the better the pasture.
On the grasslands, strength is valued, and only powerful tribes can occupy the best pastures. Jieli's Khan Court occupies the plain south of Yinshan Mountain, which was called Chilechuan in ancient times, which is the back end of Hetao.
According to Turkic tradition, the eldest son of the previous Great Khan was accustomed to be enfeoffed in Henan, that is, the Qiantao and Fengzhou areas.
The front and rear sleeves are also called dong sleeves,
In contrast, Xitao mainly refers to the Lingzhou Hetao Plain.
The second khan is generally entrusted in the eastern part of Monan, mainly in the Bashang area in the north of Yanshan Mountain, and is also in charge of Xi and Khitan tributaries.
The other several projects were to entrust the lands north of Hexi and Mobei.
Anyway, the further away from the Khan Court, the worse the natural conditions and the lower the status.
In the northern part of Yinshan Mountain, which is only separated from the Jieli Houtao Khan Court, the tribes here are most of the Blue Turks, or the Black Turks led by the Blue Turks.
The population is large and the strength is good.
But just like Jie Li had hundreds of thousands of people in Dingxiang, but when faced with Yuchi Gong's thousands of people had to run away, Jie Li's ability was indeed too poor. From the beginning to the end with Qimin, he had to deal with these khans.
In comparison, the difference is not even a little bit worse. When he succeeded to the throne, he clearly had a powerful Turkic Khanate.
But in just ten years, the Turkic Khanate has been reduced to this.
The Tang Dynasty, in the hands of Li Shimin, had risen strongly in just over three years.
The difference is huge.
You Bian and the two armies joined forces and 20,000 horses swept through the north of Yinshan Mountain. For a time, in the cold wind and heavy snow, the Turkic tribes who spent the winter were also in trouble. Originally, there were early frosts and heavy snow this year, and the pastures died early. The livestock lacked fodder and the fertilizers for the winter.
No fat has grown yet,
As a result, there were heavy snows one after another in the winter, one after another without end. The herdsmen had to slaughter a large number of livestock. There was no way, otherwise the prime minister would either starve to death or freeze to death. In the end, nothing could be harvested. It was better to slaughter them in advance, and at least there would be some meat.
It can also save some fodder.
But there are not only natural disasters.
When the Tang army came to attack, Jieli Khan fired a golden wolf command arrow on his left and a golden wolf command arrow on his right. He continuously mobilized and recruited tribal warriors to go out for the battle. It was so cold that he had to ride on a thin horse and carry cheese and dried meat on his back to fight.
Many young and strong warriors did not return to the tribe. The tribesmen who stayed behind in the wind and snow had a hard time. As a result, the Tang army came over again.
Facing the heavily armed Tang Cavalry, the herdsmen tribes scattered in winter camps were no match.
Those who resist die,
There were fighting everywhere, or in other words, after a group of resisters were cut down, they could only surrender and become prisoners.
The cattle and sheep were kidnapped and the survivors became slaves.
In the past, they went south to plunder again and again, laden with looted money, food, cloth, and Han slaves. Now, it's the other way around.
Only a few tribes heard the news and fled with their livestock in the wind and snow. Some of them succeeded and fled further north.
Many others were overtaken and captured while escaping.
Black city.
Wuchuan Town, once one of the six towns of the Northern Wei Dynasty, established the Guanlong Group of the Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it was from Wuchuan that the Guanlong Group was established.
Yu Wentai, Li Hu, Yang Zhong, Dugu Xin, Zhao Gui, Hou Mo, Chen Chong and other people all came out from this time. In the turbulent late years of the Northern Wei Dynasty, they fought hard and finally succeeded in starting their own business.
However, although those people later established several dynasties, since the fall of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and from the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Wuchuan has been controlled by the Turks.
And today,
Tang troops gathered in Wuchuan Town, but Turkic prisoner camps were set up outside the city.
The commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, Li Jing, the general manager of the Dingxiang Road camp on the middle road, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, Wu Huaiyu, the general manager of the camp on Hengan Road, the east road, Li Ji, the general manager of the march on Tongmo Road,
There were also deputy generals from the middle route, Zhang Gongjin, deputy generals from the east route, Su Lie, and deputy generals from Li Ji, Dou Jing, etc. also came.
Three of the six armies gathered here.
When the generals met, they were all in great spirits.
The results of this attack were substantial enough, and there were enough reasons to be happy. Although they had a good run, it could be said that the backbone of the East Turks was broken this time.
"Beheading more than 13,000 people,"
“More than 200,000 Turkic men and women were captured,
Hundreds of thousands of miscellaneous animals were seized,"
After Zhang Gongjin, the contemporary governor of the state, announced the latest statistics of the war results to everyone, everyone laughed together.
Li Jing has been running in the wind and snow these days, his face is peeling from the cold, and he seems to be haggard and old for many years, but the old man is very excited.
He took the lead in high-fiving,
Everyone high-fived and celebrated together.
After a long while, the applause stopped,
Li Jing said, "Jie Li disappeared and was not captured alive. It is a bit regretful, but this Northern Expedition is still a great victory!"
An undisputed victory,
Datang was finally proud and proud.
As Jieli was defeated and fled, the north and south of Yinshan were repeatedly raided by three Tang armies, and more than 200,000 people were captured.
These were the leaders of other tribes who were the first to ask for surrender and surrender to the Tang Dynasty. Li Shimin of Chang'an sent flying cavalry to convey the order to those surrendering tribes to accept the surrender and not to attack again.
For example, Yu Sheshe, who controls the Qiantao area of Fengzhou, has 50,000 troops and is very powerful. He is very aware of current affairs and directly requests his troops to join him. He offers land and surrender to express separation from Jieli.
boundary.
Shaboluohan Sunishi in the north of the Hexi Corridor also requested surrender from the Tang Dynasty. He also had 50,000 tents.
In addition to the young Khan Tuli who had surrendered long ago,
At present, it can be said that there is no decent resistance force in the Turkic Monanland. At least the Great Khan's headquarters has collapsed.
Under the leadership of Zhilosi Sili, even the Zhihui tribe has surrendered.
In addition, elders of several Turkic dynasties such as Ashina Simo also joined.
Cui Dunli, Tang Jian, Pang Xiaotai, An Xiuren and other members of the mission who were previously sent as envoys to the Turks and were detained by Jie Li have all been rescued now.
The four chief and deputy mission representatives were also sitting in the military conference hall in Heicheng, Wuchuan Town.
Cui Dunli, the Minister of War, was a bit thin. He was sent by Jieli to herd sheep. He had been herding sheep under Yinshan Mountain for almost a year. Life was very difficult, but this guy was quite tough. Even if he was herding sheep, he would not bow to Jieli. In comparison, he
The deputy envoy, Zhonglang General Pang Xiaotai, was even more unlucky and was sent directly to Tieshan to mine and forge iron.
Fortunately for Tang Jian and An Xiuren, they were detained not long ago when they were in Dingxiang. Although they could not escape when Yuchi Gong attacked and were starved by Jieli for several days, fortunately Jieli was defeated quickly.
They were rescued halfway.
Looking back now, the four envoys all felt as if they had been in a dream.
"New Year is coming soon, and the soldiers are working very hard. The saint has sent envoys to reward the three armies,"
The Turkic tribes surrendered one after another, and the Tang army did not need to send out any more troops. They temporarily stopped fighting and rested their troops. The next step had to wait for the emperor's decree.
If Li Ji and Wu Huaiyu were to follow the two murderous gods, they should take advantage of his illness to kill him and ruthlessly overthrow the Turkic tribes.
However, when the emperor accepts the surrender of various tribes, it is natural that the emperor also considers it. The decree has been issued, and the generals must obey the order.
But no one from Li Jing, Wu Huaiyu, or even Li Ji, including their respective lieutenants and six generals, mentioned the withdrawal of troops.
They all knew in their hearts that it was not yet time to withdraw their troops.
