Li Mu pondered for a moment and said to Wusman: "Fei Ge sent a letter to inform the king of Hejian County and invite him to come to Qiuci to discuss matters.
Usman took the order and left, and Moham was even more surprised. He originally thought that Li Mu's status was below that of the Hejian County King, but now it seems that he is above him. It seems that this Marquis is not only
It's not that simple.
Li Xiaogong was on his way back, not far from Kucha. He set off immediately after receiving the letter from the flying pigeon and arrived at dusk the next day.
Li Mu welcomed him into the hall and asked directly without any greetings: "What's the next step? What's the prince's advice?"
Li Xiaogong was mentally prepared for Li Mu to ask this question. He pursed his lips and hesitated for a long time before saying, "I think...well, I think it's better to forget it."
"Tong'e has already escaped from Dark Sun. If we turn around and chase her now, we may not be able to catch up. The terrain in the depths of the grassland is complex and the climate is changeable. We are not familiar with it. There are too many uncontrollable factors to pursue in a hurry. I'm afraid
It’s hard to achieve results!”
"The Turks have been living in such an environment for generations, and we cannot be entangled with them for a long time. If we chase them back and forth until the end, we may even be eaten by them!"
Li Mu nodded and didn't speak. He just looked at Li Xiaogong. Li Xiaogong was a little embarrassed by his look and avoided his eyes and said: "Look at what I did. This is the truth. Can I still trick you?"
Li Mu was silent for a while and then said: "This is a deadly feud. If Tong'e is given a chance to breathe, he will definitely come back. Moreover, we can't be happy too early. Although the Turks' vitality has been greatly damaged this time, they still have
A certain force is still the overlord among the countries in the Western Region. If he is determined to interfere with the Silk Road, this trade route may be ruined."
"It's nothing to make a small fuss, it's just to send troops again." Liu Li Xiaogong said nonchalantly: "Isn't that what the imperial court set up the Xiangdu Protectorate to do? If they really killed all the Turks, it would not be a good thing for us in the Tang Dynasty.
This is a good thing. The countries in the Western Region are no longer in crisis and will be less dependent on us. Over time, we may become disloyal."
"that's it?"
Li Xiaogong felt guilty and his voice became louder in vain: "That's it, what else can there be? Of course that's it!"
Li Mu smiled and said, "Uncle, why do you need to hide it from me? In your heart, are you not worried about your superiority?"
Li Xiaogong's face turned ugly, but Li Mu turned a blind eye and simply pointed it out: "This great defeat of the Turks is an unprecedented victory since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. His Majesty's Eastern Expedition has not achieved any results so far. Comparing the two
, your merits are highlighted. If you take advantage of the victory to pursue and annihilate the Western Turks at this time, coupled with your previous martial arts, you will be compared with His Majesty. You are worried about pursuing the Turks and winning a big victory, which will be even more unexplainable.
.”
Li Mu looked at Li Xiaogong and said, "You are worried that you will not be able to protect yourself!"
Li Xiaogong became angry and said: "I'm worried that I'm wrong? Li Mu, you kid, don't think you're smart! Why can't I think of the things you can think of? What you said is absolutely right. I'm just worried. What's wrong with me? What's wrong with people?
It's normal, I don't want to rebel, I just want to spend my old age in peace, is this wrong? You have this leisure, but you still worry about yourself! Your Majesty is a sage monarch, who deserves more credit for this battle, you or me, he glanced at it
You can see it!”
"I'm not afraid!" Li Mu said nonchalantly: "If there are too many lice and they don't bite, I don't care."
"You don't care?" Li Xiaogong laughed angrily: "Okay, if you don't care, then I don't care either, so let's chase him! After one battle, I will be successful, and I will be happy to leave my name in history!"
"No!" Unexpectedly, Li Mu looked at Li Xiaogong and said, "You can't go."
"Huh?" Li Xiaogong was puzzled: "If you don't let me go, who will go? You will go?" He smiled: "It's a thousand miles to Mobei. If you want to be a wolf and live in Xu, you must have that ability!"
"I'll go." Li Mu ignored Li Xiaogong's sarcasm and said, "The order your Majesty gave you is to guard Dingxiang. The order you gave me is to deal with the invading enemy. What's more, the prince is in Dingxiang, you
The crown prince must be protected. The pursuit can only be left to me. Uncle, please rest assured that I have been planning this battle for a long time and have already made a plan. Now that I have won the first battle and my morale is high, it is time to march forward and take advantage of the victory to pursue. Furthermore,
Tong'e was newly defeated. Now there are only 40,000 to 50,000 defeated troops left, and they are thousands of miles away from their base in Mobei. It is a good time to annihilate them all. If this disaster can be eliminated, the Tang Dynasty will be able to complete the control of the Western Regions in one step.
, at least within three to five generations, there will be no more disasters in the Western Region."
Li Xiaogong understood that Li Mu wanted to take the trouble of being "superior to the master" on his shoulders, so that he would be liberated and the leader would be shot. Even if Li Shimin targeted him, he would not target him. But for Li Mu,
, it is indeed a dead end. If he loses, the thousands of miles of yellow sand will be his burial place. If he wins, I am afraid that the king who fights again will not be able to tolerate him.
Li Xiaogong sighed: "Why are you doing this? Whether you go or not, it won't be good for you. It's best if you don't go. This battle is not guaranteed to win, there are risks!"
"No war is guaranteed to win, but in pursuit at this time, the victory is far greater than the loss. Now our army's strength and morale far exceed that of the enemy's army. The enemy has become frightened. Now they themselves do not believe that they can win, let alone their combat effectiveness.
.If we miss this good opportunity, I don’t know what the next time will be.”
"I have made up my mind. You can lead 10,000 people back to Dingxiang to defend the city, and give me 30,000 cavalry. I will take the heads of Tong'e and completely annihilate the Western Turks!"
Li Xiaogong looked at Li Mu and hesitated to speak. But in the end, he still didn't say anything. In his opinion, Li Mu's city strategy was far superior to his. He would have naturally thought of everything he could think of, no matter how much he said.
, and it’s all nonsense.
"I will listen to you, I will listen to you. You are the minister, you are the hussar general, and the last general only needs to take orders!"
…
Li Mu led an army to conquer the Western Turks, and every move affected the hearts of the Tang Dynasty. Because of the existence of flying pigeons, the news was transmitted quickly. On the fourth day of the Qiuci relief, Chang'an City received the news, and on the seventh day
, Li Shimin, who was far away in Liaodong, had also received a secret report from Dongchang Fanzi.
The news of guarding Kucha City made Li Shimin breathe a long sigh of relief. At the same time, he was even more looking forward to the twenty Tiger Cannons sent by Li Mu. The Tiger Cannons were not flying pigeons and could not fly over. They had to be transported honestly.
Counting the days, it would be there in seven or eight days. Li Shimin sent people to urge him every day, and he was eager to bring the artillery over the next moment and bombard the wall of Liaodong City so that he could return to the court immediately and support the northwest war.
In order to boost morale and at the same time scare Xiao Xiao, Li Tai published this news in Datang Daily. When the people of Chang'an City heard that the army had won the victory, they all cheered excitedly. Originally, they were worried that Li Mu was young and would not be able to fight this battle well.
.Now that the news has come back, it is a reassurance.
And from the most realistic point of view, if Li Mu cannot defend the enemy from outside, then after the Turks break through Dingxiang, they will directly attack the city of Chang'an like Jieli did back then. Now the emperor and the prince are not in court, and they can't even get a
No one has any ideas, so the fate of Chang'an City can be imagined. At that time, all the people in the city will suffer...
But fortunately, the Marquis is the Marquis, and the gods are the gods. They are worthy of their reputation. They have defended Qiuci, not only to protect the enemy from the outside, but also from the outside and inside. It is still hundreds of miles away from Dingxiang, and the city of Chang'an is worry-free.
.
Before they were happy enough, an even happier news came back. Li Xiaogong, the king of Hejian County, sent out a surprise army to set up an ambush with the Tam River, and actually blocked most of the Western Turks who wanted to bypass the Tam River to attack Dingxiang.
They were given a half-crossing attack. Most of the people could not understand the term "half-crossing and attack", but they could understand the results of the battle. In this battle, the 150,000 Turkic army annihilated 50,000 prisoners.
They had more than 10,000 soldiers and captured countless war horses and food. The Turks were left with only 40,000 to 50,000 defeated soldiers and fled to their home base.
No one could have imagined such a magical plot. At first, the people talked a lot, thinking that it was a plan used by the regent Li Tai to calm the people. Those were Turkic cavalry, the biggest enemy of the Tang Dynasty. How could they be defeated so easily?
Li Tai didn't believe it either, and sent dozens of pigeons to inquire, but the reply he got was that this was the truth. Even after tallying the results, the results were even more exaggerated than the previous report.
The people of Chang'an City are excited!
God bless the Tang Dynasty, the Turks are still defeated! There is no need to worry about the safety of Chang'an City. Relieve your anger! Boost your energy! I am greatly relieved! Li Xiaogong's reputation immediately spread throughout Chang'an City. Many young people did not know him. At this time
Then some older people began to popularize science for them. When Li Xiaogong was young, how did he conquer Jiangnan? Li Jing was once his general.
Li Xiaogong was so praised that he was the military god of the Tang Dynasty, and his title was immediately transferred from Li Jing's head to Li Xiaogong's head.
Come to think of it, a few decades ago, Li Jing was still the leading soldier under Li Xiaogong. How can he compare?
The people in the capital were extremely happy and went to the shops to buy wine and meat, preparing to celebrate. Many shops even provided wine and meat for free to celebrate the king's victory. As a result, just at noon that day, the wine and meat in the capital were sold out. Let's go back.
On the way home, someone was sent to buy wine. Fang Xuanling was planning to have a drink in the evening, but he didn't buy a drop of wine.
Being out of wine was a trivial matter, but Fang Xuanling was the best at seeing the subtle things, and immediately realized that there seemed to be something wrong behind this. He hurriedly ordered people to get off the sedan chair, and paid a private visit in person incognito to understand the sentiments of the people.
Fang Xuanling was walking on the street, and all he heard was how the King of Hejian County loved his soldiers as much as his son, how he was brave and good at fighting, how he took the lead, how he made clever calculations and strategized... He counted secretly, walked a hundred steps, and heard eight things.
Hejian County King eleven times, and all of them have good words, not a single slander!
This made Fang Xuanling's hair stand on end. He suddenly thought that the prince was in Dingxiang now. If Li Xiaogong was dissatisfied because of what the Emperor and His Majesty did to him back then, and kidnapped the prince to order the princes... the world would immediately be in chaos.
!
"No, enter the palace!" Fang Xuanling was forced to make a decision at this time, turned around, got on the carriage, and headed for the imperial city.
Li Tai was the regent, not the prince. He did not dare to live in the East Palace, so he lived in the Lizheng Hall of his mother, Empress Changsun. He met with hundreds of officials every day in the Lizheng Hall. When he encountered something, he could not make a decision.
He would ask his mother, and he would suddenly become enlightened every time.
Just after answering all the officials, Li Taizheng was talking to Empress Changsun. Seeing Fang Xuanling leaving and coming back, he was confused. Before he could speak, he heard Fang Xuanling say: "No, no, no, no, something big has happened!"
"
Li Tai respected Fang Xuanling very much. When he saw this, he hurriedly said: "Ms. Fang, don't be anxious. If something big happens, please tell me slowly!"
"Oops!" Fang Xuanling stamped her feet anxiously and told the story of the incident. After saying that, Li Tai and Empress Changsun also looked a little ugly.
Fang Xuanling sighed and said: "Now the prestige of Hejian County Prince among the people is unparalleled. The people worship him as a military god!" After a pause, Fang Xuanling said again: "The whole street is talking about him.
You are so powerful, but no one praises Your Majesty! Your Majesty has not opened up the situation. If this continues, the common people may only know that there is the King of Hejian County, and not know that there is an emperor!"
"No." Queen Changsun was a virtuous person after all. She shook her head and said, "I think I know a thing or two about the temperament of Prince Hejian. He is not a rebellious person. Now he is leading the army on the front line to protect the country and kill the enemy.
, we can't be suspicious of him like this, it will chill the hearts of the meritorious soldiers." He said with an emphasis on Fang Xuanling, as if he was emphasizing to Fang Xuanling, and also as if he was emphasizing to himself: "Although we have gained a lot of news now, the news that has been sent back is still there.
I also said that there are at least more than 50,000 Turks, which is actually about the same strength as our army. If they are repaired and come back to fight for their lives, the outcome of the next battle is still uncertain. The war is not over yet, but they still have to unite sincerely to ensure everything is done.
The overall situation is the most important thing.”
Li Tai also nodded and said: "What the Queen Mother said is absolutely true. You are worrying too much."
Fang Xuanling stamped her feet anxiously: "Is this old minister the kind of person who doesn't care about the overall situation?" He whispered: "What the queen said is not bad at all, but she has thought too little. Prince!"
Seeing that the two of them had not yet reacted, Fang Xuanling said loudly: "Li Mu!"
"Prince? Li Mu?" Empress Changsun was extremely smart and instantly understood what Fang Xuanling meant. She waved her hand and stepped back, asking: "What does Fang Xuanling mean...?"
"Queen, I have had a lot of dealings with the King of Hejian County. The King of Hejian County only has one thing for stability when it comes to his military use. When it comes to surprising troops, it's not that I look down on him. He doesn't have that ability. In this great victory, his military use was treacherous.
, it must not have been the work of the king. Queen, think about it, who could have done this?"
"You mean... Li Mu?"
Fang Xuanling nodded and said: "Think about it again, Li Mu sent troops this time. He could have left the prince in Chang'an, but why did he change his mind and take the prince away? It's scary to think about the causes and consequences!"
Empress Changsun frowned and said: "It's scary to think about it carefully, how can you be so scared to think about it carefully? Could it be that the prime minister suspected that Li Mu took the prince away deliberately, and had another purpose?"