Chapter 104 Li Shimin will hunt Dingxiang (second watch)

Autumn is not only the harvest season for Chinese farmers, but also the wolves on the grassland have green eyes again, ready to invade in a big way. At this time, the horses are fat and strong, the autumn climate is dry and cool, there is little rain, and the water level of the river drops to the lowest point of the year.

Unless the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, the general seasonal river, the river water is reduced to the lowest water level, even if there is no sheepskin raft, even the longitudinal horse can wade through the river, it is the golden season to go south, the climate, the wind direction is so favorable, not to grab a ticket is simply unreasonable!

Once the harvest is completed, I am afraid that the granaries of Taiyuan and Bingzhou will be full, and the wheat, rice, and soybeans in those warehouses will have an irresistible attraction to the nomads, and they will no longer be able to hold back.

They couldn't hold it anymore, but in fact, Li Shimin couldn't hold it anymore. He voluntarily applied to come to Taiyuan to guard Taiyuan and serve as the governor of Bingzhou, naturally for the purpose of fighting. This battle is too important for Li Shimin, if he doesn't get a big victory that shocks the whole country, he will not have a chance to take the position of the East Palace.

Although he worked hard to help farmers farm and compost in Hedong, the common people would not be grateful to him, and this change was led by Li Jiancheng of Donggong. The inventor is Chen Ying, and the promoter is Li Jiancheng.

The Tang Dynasty has a population of more than 15 million, of which more than ninety percent are farmers, and more than 14 million farmers have benefited greatly because of Li Jiancheng's scientific farming methods, and they are all grateful to Li Jiancheng.

In just one month, Hedong alone has submitted more than one letter to Chang'an, all of which are to thank the emperor and Li Jiancheng.

Li Jiancheng only relied on Chen Ying's so-called scientific planting of farm products, which was enough to make tens of millions of people receive at least double the benefits, and Li Jiancheng could eat this credit for at least ten years. What's more, Chen Ying was not idle, he first defeated the Western Turks in Liangzhou, and drove the Western Turks to the west of the Yile River Valley, which is said to be thousands of miles away from Chang'an.

Wen Neng is gracious to the Quartet, Wu Neng is stable and stable, such a prince, even Li Yuan has no choice. Now, if Li Yuan dares to replace Li Jiancheng, I am afraid that there will not be a few people who pull the flag and rebel.

The common people never care about who is the emperor, but they only care about whether they can be warm and fed, and now Li Tang has Li Jiancheng, the prince, he is virtuous, and he actually let Chen Juma create a composting method, so that the most inconspicuous dead branches, rotten leaves and even weeds in the ground are turned into fertilizer, so that the acres of land can increase income. In just one year, the majority of the people have more than doubled their incomes than before, and even more so, nearly tripled.

If such a prince is replaced, it will be strange if the people are not in a hurry. There are even faint rumors among the people that the Tang Dynasty should let Li Jiancheng be the emperor.

Every time he heard this rumor, Li Shimin felt very uncomfortable in his heart. Why? His Shangshuling is an empty shell, just saying it nicely, without any real power. finally got an opportunity to accumulate military merits, but the Eastern Turks did not dare to fight, and Li Yuan did not agree to take the initiative.

Well, now, the Eastern Turks finally can't help it.

Like a gust of wind, Li Shimin rushed to the Taiyuan City and Prefecture Governor's Mansion. Without Li Shimin's order, the generals who saw the urgent news of the wolf smoke, such as Hou Junji, Duan Zhixuan, Lei Yongji, Qin Qiong, Cheng Zhijie, Niu Junda, Xie Yingdeng, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and other civil and military generals, all arrived.

The generals stared at the huge sand table with wolf-like eyes, chattering about where to start, cutting off a piece of meat on the Turks.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Eastern Turks have been a sharp sword hanging over the head of the Tang Dynasty. At the beginning, in the era of Shibi Khan, the Eastern Turks were relatively restrained, and they only supported Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, Li Liang, Xue Ju, Yang Kaidao and others against Li Tang.

In the past two years, Datang has killed several vicious dogs in captivity in the Eastern Turks, such as Xue Ju and Liu Wuzhou, but the Eastern Turks saw that their dogs were not good, so let's go on their own. For more than two years, they have been sporadically rushing to the Northland border states.

According to incomplete statistics, a total of 29 prefectures and hundreds of counties in Hedong, Hebei and Hexi were robbed by the Eastern Turks, killing and injuring no less than 100,000 people.

The blood feud between Li Tang and the Eastern Turks was great, and of course, the side of the couch would not allow others to snore. Even if the Eastern Turks did not rob the Tang Dynasty, it would be impossible for the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks to coexist.

Li Shimin looked at the generals and coughed, quieted everyone down, and said in a deep voice: "I know, everyone has been waiting for this battle for too long......"

Cheng Zhijie said excitedly: "That is, my old Cheng has been crazy for more than half a year, and I have dreamed of killing the Turks to the point of bleeding......

Qin Qiong muttered: "Kill thieves to defend the country, serve the court, and make meritorious contributions, my generation is not willing to be left behind!" ”

Li Shimin's hands pressed down and motioned for the generals to stop talking.

Li Shimin thought for a while and considered the words: "Since the fall of Xianbei, the Turks are our fierce enemies of the Tang Dynasty, from the former Sui to the Tang Dynasty, from Xihe to Hedong, Hebei, Youzhou, Liaodong, and we have been fighting for decades, not only did they completely defeat them, but made them stronger and stronger, this is a tough, cunning and terrible opponent, everyone must be cautious, our capital is not much, we can't withstand the toss!" ”

As soon as Li Shimin said this, the eager looks on the faces of the generals immediately disappeared and were replaced by prudence and seriousness.

The Turks replaced the Rouran people to unify the north and south of the desert, and they could become the fierce rivals of China, and they were entangled with the Sui and Tang dynasties of the Central Plains Dynasty for decades, how could they get along well?

Li Shimin nominally commanded an army of 100,000 at this time, and he seemed to be strong. However, the army of 100,000 was divided into three parts, and the left and right guards of the Middle Palace and the left and right divisions of the palace were a total of twenty (later expanded) Zhichong Mansion, and there were no more than 30,000 people when they were full. Xuanjia Iron Cavalry 21 Zhichong Mansion 32,000 men and horses. The others are all in the Ori Chong Prefecture. The garrisons of Zhechong Mansion can not be moved lightly now, you must know that most of the Turks are cavalry, coming and going like the wind, in case there is a Turkic suddenly around the east of the river, there is no force to defend, once a city is breached, Li Shimin can not bear it, this battle, Li Shimin did not lose again, once he is defeated, he will definitely have no chance with that position, so he must be cautious.

Li Shimin looked around at the generals, watched all the generals calm down, was quite satisfied, and said slowly: "This battle out of the pass, not to seek a big victory, a small victory is enough, and to be able to force the Turks to give up plundering the border area by attacking instead of defending, it is a victory!" ”

All the generals were in awe.

Fang Xuanling said: "According to the report of the spies who went deep into the grassland, due to the relatively little snow last winter, there was a black disaster on the grassland this year, and a large number of livestock died, and many tribes suffered greatly. If we can't grab enough food, those small tribes will not survive the next spring, so our army only needs to fight steadily, and there is no need to pursue a big victory, but only to crush their attempt to plunder the border passes. ”

Qin Qiong's face showed a deep sense of disappointment.

Cheng Zhijie muttered: "That's so boring! If we just want to stop them from plundering the border areas, we only need to defend the border wall, but the 24 states of the Governor's Mansion and the border line of more than 1,000 miles long, can we defend it? From my old Cheng's point of view, let's take offense instead of defense, directly attack Dingxiang City, and dig out the lair of Jieli Khan......"

Li Shimin said: "Old Cheng, why doesn't this king want to fight a decisive battle with the Turks?" It's just that our autumn harvest is not completed, and the Tang Dynasty is at war with the Tubo people in Liang, Gansu, Su, He, and Shazhou, and now the war situation in the West Sea is unclear, we can't fight on both sides, and the Turks have a decisive battle, and now is not the time! ”

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui's eyes touched in the air.

Fang Xuanling said: "His Royal Highness the King of Qin, the Turks are strong in their own force, once we passively defend, it is not difficult to defend the city, but the grain outside the city is not as good as the harvest, then all the Turks will be cheap!" ”

Li Shimin said loudly: "Lao Cheng, Lao Qin, Lao Niu, and Lao Xie each led five Zhechong Mansions and sent troops from Hengzhou (now Datong) and Weizhou (now Lingqiu) to Jianle River. Didn't the Turks boast of their strength and madness? The Thornle River is their most fertile pasture, and now we will burn the war to the Thornle River, and beat their altars and jars to a pulp, and see if they are still crazy! ”

Cheng Zhijie was overjoyed when he heard this: "Okay, my old Cheng will definitely live up to the trust of His Royal Highness King Qin." ”

Li Shimin looked at Duan Zhixuan again and said: "Duan Zhixuan, Xuanjia Iron Cavalry, you take away 10,000 horses, start from Shuozhou, along Alxa to the north, sweep all the way, the tribes of the Turks along the way, do not surrender and die, rob the cattle, sheep and horses of the tribes that are enemies of the Tang Dynasty along the way, burn the forage, and kill the cattle, sheep and horses that cannot be taken away." ”

Duan Zhixuan laughed and said: "I have done this work Lao Duan, but His Royal Highness the King of Qin, you transfer the Shuozhou army to me with another 10,000 horses, the officers and soldiers of the Shuozhou army are all experts in imperial horses, with them, the Turks can't even have a sheep left!" ”

Hou Junji was already gearing up and ready to move, seeing that Li Shimin had not yet assigned him a task, he suddenly became anxious: "His Royal Highness King Qin, what about the last general?" ”

Li Shimin said: "You and Lei Yongji, lead 20,000 Xuanjia iron horsemen under your command, do you dare to hunt Dingxiang with this king!" ”

Listening to Li Shimin's battle order, the eldest grandson Wuji was anxious: "His Royal Highness King Qin, is this too risky?" ”

Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Don't take risks, isn't General Chen the same as leading less than 20,000 soldiers and horses to hunt Huaiyuan?" This king is going to meet Jieli Khan to see if he has three heads and six arms! ”

With Li Shimin's order, the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty and the Prefecture Governor's Office began to mobilize. A detachment of troops began to assemble, distribute grain, dry food, and supplies, and then went out of the city from Taiyuan City.

A cavalry wearing black armor, a cavalry tall horse, and a broken saber slowly drove out of the city.

Although it is only a cavalry with less than 10,000 cavalry, it gives people a kind of pressure like Mount Tai.

Located in the north city of Taiyuan, on the teahouse near the street, a blonde businessman was lying on the window, looking at the army without blinking, his brows twisted into a pimple.

The equipment of this army is really weird!

Not long after, a harrier eagle flew in the backyard of the teahouse. The harrier eagle spreads its wings and soon disappears.