jdhmnovel Chapter 880 The Turkic Army Sets Out
Chapter 880 The Turkic Army Sets Out
Late at night, after Ma Rong returned to the palace, Li Cunxi took him away from Taichu Palace again.
Not long after, in the Honglu Temple, Li Cunxi finally met Sun Xiangzhou from Khitan. On Li Cunxi's way back, Li Wanshan sent Sun Xiangzhou into the Great Zhou, all the way south to Luoyang.
The main purpose of this trip was to pay homage to the Zhou Emperor, Wu Zetian. When he arrived in Luoyang, Li Cunxi returned.
He also heard rumors in Luoyang that the emperor was about to abdicate the throne to Li Cunxi, so he could not leave.
During the day, he was among the envoys, and along with the civil and military officials, he kowtowed to Li Cunxi and congratulated Li Cunxi on rebuilding the Tang Dynasty.
"Foreign minister Sun Xiangzhou pays homage to Your Majesty!"
"Get up. The Great Khan asked you to come to the Tang Dynasty. What does he want to do?" Li Cunxi asked.
"I heard that the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks is about to begin. The Khan said that the Khitans can fight for the Tang Dynasty unconditionally." Sun Xiangzhou was extremely respectful. "We are more willing to fight for you."
Li Cunxi, with the special buff "Khitan Friendship" on his head, has now become a true god in Sun Xiangzhou's mind.
Li Cunxi was quite satisfied with Sun Xiangzhou's answer.
As expected, the real intention of this envoy from Khitan was not to pay homage.
"Please take a message from me to the Great Khan. Tell him that I miss the friendship we once had with the Khitans very much. I hope the Great Khan will not let me down."
"I will obey His Majesty's will!"
……
The situation on the border became increasingly tense, and the massacre in the south finally came to an end.
Throughout the 19 states of Jiangdong, the vast majority of the well-known and prominent families were slaughtered.
All the landlords and wealthy people who followed the aristocratic families in inviting Wu Sansi to enter the 19 states of Jiangdong and proclaim himself emperor were killed without a single survivor.
In just one month, the entire eastern part of Jiangnan was in a panic due to the killings. Almost all of the Jiangdong nobles who were once famous in the world were now dead and had no place to be buried.
Only a small number of Suzhou gentry who initially expressed their willingness to follow Li Cunxi survived, while the rest had no way to survive.
Fortunately, after killing most of the aristocratic families, the land of these aristocratic families and wealthy landlords was vacated. The two generals and the governor sent by the court discussed it and confiscated all the land, and then lent it to the farmers for cultivation.
Zhang Renyuan and Fang Zhe were not in a hurry to leave. They used the strength of the Zuo Weiwei and Zuo Longwuwei armies to suppress the entire Jiangnan Road.
The imperial court was also recruiting soldiers.
The Left and Right Yuqian Guards were beaten to the point where only a few remnants were left. Apart from the cavalry, the remaining 10,000 troops were temporarily left in Jiangdong by Fang Zhe and could not return in a short time, so they needed to be replenished, otherwise Li Kaigu and Song Wuji would be depressed to death.
There are less than 1,300 guards left under Li Yuanfang's command. The two generals, Qiao Tai and Chen Yiqu, are ignorant of military affairs, so more people need to be recruited, otherwise there will not be enough people to take turns on duty.
The most important ones are naturally the Left and Right Eagle Guards. When Dalha, Zhang Renyuan, Fang Zhe and others led the team to destroy the Left and Right Eagle Guards, they followed Li Cunxi's advice and left no one alive. Therefore, the two armies were directly wiped out, and now they are rebuilding the army.
The total number of people is less than a few hundred thousand. It will take at least five or six years for the five armies to be fully staffed.
On the second day after Sun Xiangzhou returned to Khitan in the north, Li Cunxi announced in the court his intention to retain the Internal Guard Office, but from then on, the duty of the Internal Guard Office became to be a spy deep behind enemy lines.
At least they saved their lives and all the members were promoted to a higher rank. Huang Shengyan, a third-rank official in the Inner Guard Palace, was overjoyed. He sent Yingzi with a part of the army to the northern border overnight and asked Yingzi and others to go deep into the Turks to gather intelligence.
Mo Ling was no exception. As the designated next leader of the Inner Guard Palace, Mo Ling was sent to the border between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo by Huang Shengyan to serve as a vanguard for Wang Xiaojie to lead his army to attack Tubo in the future.
During the peaceful days, Li Cunxi took three concubines at the same time: Wang Xiao, Wu Yuanhui and Xue Jin. When Wang Jinghui got married, he personally led civil and military officials to make trouble in Wang Jinghui's bridal chamber. He lived a comfortable life.
November 11th!
Tang Dynasty, Luoyang, Government Affairs Hall!
Li Gui hurried into the government hall with a copy of the newspaper and placed it on Wu Chengsi's desk.
"Urgent news from Chongzhou! A Turkic army of 200,000 is moving towards Chongzhou!"
Wu Chengsi, who was no longer as nonchalant as before, did not respond immediately. Instead, he took the newspaper in his hand, spread it out, read it carefully, and then began to frown.
"Two hundred thousand troops!"
"Shadow sacrificed the lives of three second-rate experts to deliver this information to Wang Xiaojie."
Di Renjie stroked his beard and asked, "Who is leading the troops?"
"The commander is the former Turkic Tiger Division General Qige."
"What are this person's abilities?"
Li Gui said, "Earlier, Duke Xin Daleha said that after he left, there would be no good generals in the Turkic territory. Qige's ability is average, and commanding 50,000 to 60,000 soldiers is already the limit. Commanding an army of 200,000 would be a bit difficult for him."
"I'm afraid that's not entirely true. Helu must have sufficient confidence to hand over 200,000 troops to him."
Wu Chengsi handed the Tangbao to Yao Chong and Yao Ting, who looked confused, and asked them to read it together.
As for himself, he began to analyze.
"Perhaps, this person has made great progress in the past few years."
"Gentlemen, please don't make the same mistake as Guan Yu. He might just be the next Lu Meng."
"I'm now worried that Wang Xiaojie and Daleha will join forces and underestimate the enemy and advance rashly."
Xue Qinglin stroked his beard and recalled the military tactics of Wang Xiaojie and Daleha in his mind.
Soon, he chuckled:
"Wang Xiaojie commands troops like fire, invades like the wind, and strikes like lightning. He is the foremost general of our dynasty."
"Daleha is a prudent military commander, prefers to advance step by step, and is good at identifying and filling gaps. The two of them working together will perfectly neutralize the situation!"
"In my opinion, the two will not underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. Instead, they will combine their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. I think this battle will not be difficult to win."
Di Renjie nodded in approval.
If the first and second best generals of this dynasty cannot defeat a mediocre person like Sieg together, then it would be a miracle.
You must know that the Tang Dynasty left hundreds of thousands of troops in the north and the Western Regions. No matter how powerful the Turks were, they could not be the opponent of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, if it were the original Tang Dynasty, there would be no need for hundreds of thousands of troops. Even a hundred thousand troops could have defeated the Turks four or five times.
"You seem to have forgotten," Wu Chengsi said solemnly, "the enemies of our Tang Dynasty have never been limited to the Turks!"
"None of us can guarantee that the tribal leaders of the Western Regions and the Tibetan king will remain indifferent when the Tang Dynasty faces the Turks!"
"I think we should go to see the emperor now. Also, have a general go and invite the Minister of Rites, Bhanna, who is taking a break today."
"Without Bukhara, our banner will always be missing when we fight against the Turks."