jdhmnovel Chapter 1124 Lu Dongzan's Oath
Chapter 1124 Lu Dongzan's Oath
In the spring of the 17th year of Zhenguan, General Li Jing, who had been resting in Songzhou for several months and was about to take action against Tuyuhun, suddenly welcomed an unexpected guest.
"My name is Lu Dongzan, nice to meet you, Duke Weiguo." In the lobby of the City Lord's Mansion in Songzhou City, after greeting Li Jing, Lu Dongzan smiled and said, "I am here on the orders of His Royal Highness the King of Chu to discuss matters related to the attack on Tuyuhun."
"Hmm?" Before Li Jing could speak, the captain of the personal guard standing beside him, the unlucky Fang Yiai, was the first to exclaim: "Did I hear correctly? How come there is something about Kuan Ge'er in this?!"
"Fang Yiai, get out!" If Li Jing hadn't been doing this for Fang Xuanling's sake, he would have severely punished the other party's unruly little son: "Guard the door for me, and don't let anyone in."
"Yes..." Fang Yiai bowed and accepted the order, then left the hall with a puzzled look on his face.
"Prime Minister..." After Li Jing and the others left, he said to Lu Dongzan in a gentle tone: "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you..."
"Duke Weiguo, your words make me a little nervous." Lu Dongzan shook his head and said seriously, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu said that you are his elder, and you are far better than him in military tactics, so I will continue to follow your command on how to fight against Tuyuhun."
"Alas..." Li Jing smiled bitterly and shook his head upon hearing this: "This brat... Prime Minister, I want to know what exactly caused you to change your stance and join the King of Chu?"
"Uh..." Li Jing's question was actually very presumptuous, but Lu Dongzan thought about it and answered: "A few months ago, His Royal Highness the King of Chu led his retainers and guards to attack Luoshui City. We were defeated and finally chose to surrender.
Later, His Royal Highness the King of Chu showed his benevolence and wisdom as a wise king. After exempting the people from taxes, he also promised to find a way to solve the food shortage crisis in Tubo this summer. To this end, he even chose to lead his army over the snow-capped mountains in the cold winter and headed to Tianzhu..."
According to Lu Dongzan's narration, the glory of King Chu rose to the level of "wise and benevolent monarch".
And Li Jing...
Li Jing was stunned!
He knew that His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu had been insane before, but he really didn't know that His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu could be so insane!
It would be fine if you went to Tubo to fight for your daughter, but you were fine, why did you suddenly risk your life?
Crossing the Great Snow Mountain in winter?! If anything went wrong, the consequences... Li Jing didn't even dare to think about it!
"Has His Royal Highness the King of Chu arrived in India now?" Li Jing asked this question almost subconsciously.
“I don’t know.” Lu Dongzan shook his head and said, “But according to my analysis, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu should have arrived at his destination by now.
After all, the retainers around him...are all very powerful..."
"What is your relationship with His Royal Highness the King of Chu now?" Li Jing suddenly had a bad feeling when he heard this.
"Ahem..." Lu Dongzan rarely showed any reserve: "I am now a retainer of His Majesty the King of Chu..."
"Well..." Li Jing sighed after hearing this: "After I defeat Tuyuhun this time, I will move directly to Qiongzhou - if I stay in Chang'an any longer, I'm worried that Your Majesty will be scared!"
"Uh..." Lu Dongzan hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "But Duke Weiguo, if you move to Qiongzhou... wouldn't His Majesty be even more afraid?"
"But I don't have to worry about it." Li Jing looked at Lu Dongzan as if he was a fool and said, "Do you think it's fun to leave the door open every day?"
“……”He really didn’t know how to respond to Lu Dongzan this time.
"How many troops are you going to send to attack Tuyuhun this time?" Seeing that the topic had become dull, Li Jing simply asked the key question: "Let me make it clear to you, I know very well what kind of character His Royal Highness the King of Chu is, so after we conquer Tuyuhun, I can decide to distribute some of the captured grain to you.
But other than that, don’t even think about the treasures and beauties in the Tuyuhun palace—it’s not that I don’t want to give them to you, but it’s hard to explain this matter.”
"Duke Weiguo, we are ready to dispatch 50,000 troops to attack Tuyuhun this time." Lu Dongzan did not respond after hearing this, but only expressed the strength of his support.
"The treasures in the palace cannot be moved. The nobles and gentry in the royal capital should be quite wealthy." Li Jing stroked his beard lightly when he heard this and sighed in his heart: Your Highness the King of Chu, I can only help you up to this point.
"Duke Weiguo, 50,000 is the number His Royal Highness the King of Chu said." Lu Dongzan didn't expect Li Jing to be so generous, so he added: "But after consultation with several other ministers, Tubo can send 80,000 troops to attack Tuyuhun this time!"
"..." Li Jing looked at Lu Dongzan with a complicated expression on his face.
“Duke Weiguo…” Lu Dongzan felt a little uncomfortable being stared at, so he asked tentatively: “Do you think it’s too little? But we really can’t spare any more manpower…”
"No, fifty thousand is enough. There is no need for you to send more troops." Li Jing waved his hand, then pursed his lips and finally couldn't help but speak out his true feelings: "Prime Minister, you were not like this before..."
"..." Lu Dongzan understood what was meant by this, and after a long silence, he said hesitantly, "Isn't this... that he has surrendered to the King of Chu..."
"It's really easy to scold." Li Jing nodded and stopped talking.
Lu Dongzan just smiled faintly, and then he said: "Duke Weiguo, before we discuss the subsequent battle plan, I will give you a gift."
"Oh? What gift?" Li Jing raised his eyebrows when he heard that. He didn't expect the other party to be so polite.
"This gift is a person." Lu Dongzan had long wanted to throw away the hot potato of Songtsen Gampo: "This person once wanted to become a relative of His Royal Highness the King of Chu, but ended up falling from a great king to a prisoner. Now, I hand this person over to you. I hope you can arrange for someone to take him to Chang'an and hand him over to the great Khan of Heaven for disposal.
In addition, please explain one thing to the Khan of Heaven. "When Lu Dongzan said this, he stood up from his position, bowed to Li Jing, and said to him the oath he had repeated countless times in his mind: "From now on, Tubo voluntarily joins the territory of the Tang Dynasty. I hope that the great Khan of Heaven can open his broad mind and accept us, the people who were once lost on the plateau. For this, we will use our blood and lives to guard the border of the Tang Dynasty from generation to generation to prove our loyalty!"
(The first day of the month is considered a break.)