Chapter 67: Let's Prepare for the Next National War

Chang'an City, Taiji Palace Royal Inner Garden. The huge royal inner garden, at this time the snow is vast.

Li Jiancheng was dressed in heavy armor, holding a cold horse lance, carrying a thick marching sleeping bag, and hanging a water bottle, a scarf, and a bag of dry food around his waist.

Li Jiancheng stepped on the thick snow step by step, walked on the "Yin Mountain", and climbed to the top of Yin Mountain from the foot of the mountain, in fact, it was only more than 300 steps, and Li Jiancheng felt slightly struggling.

Li Jiancheng looked back at Li Anyan and said with a smile: "I have only walked less than a thousand steps, and I am a little unbearable. ”

Li Anyan smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, the soldiers will work harder!" ”

Don't look at Li Jiancheng is also fully armed, but the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army have to wear two pairs of boots and two sets of cotton clothes, and the actual weight far exceeds Li Jiancheng, in fact, it exceeds two-thirds of Li Jiancheng's weight, nearly eighty pounds.

Li Jiancheng stood at the top of the narrow slope, looking down at the snow-capped rolling hills.

Li Anyan looked left and right, then pointed to a place and said, "Your Majesty, that should be Baidao." ”

Li Jiancheng nodded.

Li Anyan turned around and pointed to another place and said: "Li Jing is now stationed in Dingxiang, according to the news of the Ministry of War, Dingxiang leads to Baidao, there is a big road, Jieli must send heavy troops to guard it." ”

Li Jiancheng said suspiciously: "Tang Jian is in the Jieli camp. ”

Li Anyan was stunned for a moment, and then nodded.

Li Jiancheng said: "There is a chance to gather the scattered tribes around him, and Jieli will not immediately retreat north." ”

Li Anyan smiled bitterly: "It depends on whether Li Jing can seize the fighter, it is easy to defeat the Turks again, but it is too difficult to catch Jieli." ”

Li Jiancheng said: "Do you still remember how Li Jing won Nanliang Xiao Milling during the Battle of Luoyang? ”

Li Anyan thought for a while and said: "Why don't you remember, at that time, the imperial court planned the Fourth Route Army to go south to crusade against Xiao Miao, and was going to destroy him in three months, but Li Jing persuaded Li Xiaogong to lead the army out of the Three Gorges while the Yangtze River was rising, and in less than a month, he conquered Jiangling and captured Xiao Miao. ”

Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "Xiao Mo prepared a fleet for escaping, but he didn't expect that Li Jing would rush under his nose so quickly." At that time, Li Jing was only Li Xiaogong's deputy. ”

Li Anyan smiled bitterly: "Jieli is not Xiao Milling, that is the overlord of the grassland, cunning, the old wolf with one eye still open when he sleeps, it is too difficult to capture him......"

Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "Yes, even if I am a relative to Mobei, I don't dare to pat my chest and say that I will definitely capture Jieli and annihilate most of the Turkic forces, which is enough to be worthy of the Tang Dynasty's forbearance over the years." ”

Li An said unconsciously moved: "Your Majesty ......"

Li Jiancheng smiled bitterly: "An Yan, am I too greedy?" I always thought that I would solve the great enemy of Mobei once and for all in a war, and that was the enemy that had threatened the Central Plains for hundreds of years. ”

Li Anyan sighed and did not answer.

The two monarchs and ministers stood motionless at the top of the slope for a long time.

Suddenly, Li Jiancheng looked at Li Anyan and said, "How many days ago did the military department receive the last news from General Chen?" ”

Li Anyan thought about it carefully and said, "Your Majesty, it should be a month ago, three days after Li Jing's army just set off!" ”

Li Jiancheng's heart suddenly moved, and his eyes roamed around the inner garden.

Li Jiancheng looked at Li Anyan and said, "You say, where will General Chen be?" ”

"This ...... A month ago, General Chen led the Lingzhou Dingyuan Army and the Lingwu Army, and suddenly went north, and since then he has disappeared......"

A long-lost smile appeared on Li Jiancheng's originally vague face: "I, it's really unfounded!" ”

Li Ang was stunned.

Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "With General Chen in Mobei, even if Jieli is a mouse, he can't escape!" ”

Li Anyan said suspiciously: "How did Your Majesty know that General Chen went to chase Jieli Khan?" ”

"If Chen Ying is so cautious that he waits for me to issue an edict before using troops, he will not be the great general Chen in the western region! If he uses troops, he will not give up the near and far to make a detour to Dingxiang, but will only unify himself and go northeast, cross the Yellow River, and copy Jieli's back road. ”

……

At night, Li Jiancheng slept very peacefully.

However, Li Zhi cried in the middle of the night, and Zheng Guanyin got up to check.

Li Jiancheng also sat up.

Zheng Guanyin came back after appeasing Li Zhi and found Li Jiancheng sitting on the bed in a daze.

Zheng Guanyin asked cautiously, "Zhi'er is arguing with you?" ”

Li Jiancheng shook his head and said; "I had a dream just now, and I dreamed that Jieli ran away."

Zheng Guanyin patted Li Jiancheng's arm soothingly, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, dreams are all reversed, Li Jing will definitely be able to catch Jieli." ”

Li Jiancheng didn't feel sleepy at this time, and got up and got out of bed.

Zheng Guanyin looked at Li Jiancheng's thin clothes, and hurriedly took a leather robe and draped it on Li Jiancheng.

Li Jiancheng's gaze was deep, as if he wanted to penetrate the sky and look at the northern frontier from afar.

……

On the Yin Mountain Goat's Road, tens of thousands of Tang Army soldiers led their horses and climbed the steep slopes with difficulty in the wind and snow.

From time to time, horses and soldiers fell off the cliffs.

However, apart from the rumbling sound, the soldiers and horses did not make a sound.

Li Jing followed the team, staggering and climbing, his face covered with frost.

If you look closely, you will definitely find that whether it is the soldiers of the Tang Army or the war horses, all of them are tied to the horses.

In order not to let the enemy find out, the horse's hooves were wrapped in cloth, and something was stuffed in the horse's mouth, so that the horse would not make a sound when it ran, and there was nothing in the mouth, and then pay attention to restraining the horse, so that you could quietly approach the enemy's camp. This is called a bundle of horse bits.

Finally, it was difficult to pass through the Yin Mountain Goat Pandao.

The soldiers and men of the Tang Army all jumped over the Yin Mountain, and there were still several miles away from the Baidao Jieli Tooth Tent at the foot of the mountain.

Xiao Nuo's face was full of coldness, he walked to Li Jing's side and bowed down and said, "General Qiqi, one hundred and seventy brothers have been lost, and there are ...... Twenty-five brothers were frostbitten. ”

Li Jing nodded, took out a small wooden stick from his mouth, and the small wooden stick was instantly frozen into a popsicle. Li Jing threw the popsicle on the ground and said warmly: "Everyone work hard, give orders, rest for an hour, and then, prepare for battle." ”

Xiao Nuo clasped his fists and saluted, and then ran out to give the order.

……

Mobei Baidao, in the camp of the Turks. Outside an inconspicuous tent, a few Turkic soldiers looked through the cracks in the tent to probe the movement inside.

In the small tent, Tang Jian and several Turkic nobles were sitting around the fire, talking and laughing.

Ashina Sheer walked over and kicked the soldier's ass.

The soldier hurriedly turned around and saluted Ashina Sheer.

Ashina Sheer nodded the big tent with his chin.

The soldier hurriedly replied, "The Tang envoy is drinking and chatting with the elders. ”

Ashina Sheer sneered and said, "Let them talk slowly, and when our people arrive, the Great Khan will naturally settle accounts one by one." ”

After Ashina Sheer finished speaking, he left the small tent triumphantly.

Inside the small tent, Tang Jian listened to the footsteps outside the tent, and a confident smile appeared on his face.

A Turkic elder held the mare's milk wine and asked cautiously in a broken Tang dialect: "Honorable Tang envoy, if our Turks surrender to the Tang Dynasty, can I go to Chang'an to stock!" ”

Tang Jian seemed to hear a joke and laughed.

After a long time, Tang Jian stopped laughing and said: "Elder Osman, there is no grass in Chang'an City, even if someone plants some flowers and plants in the garden, those flowers and plants are extremely precious, and a pot of flowers is much more expensive than a sheep. ”

Elder Osman asked, "If you don't herd sheep, what do you Tang people eat and drink?" ”

"We eat snow-white soft steamed buns, white glutinous rice, and golden millet!" Tang Jian said with a smile: "In the winter, drinking millet porridge with a plate of salted soybeans, the taste is so beautiful." ”

Osman asked again: "Even if it is a mountain of gold, there will be a day when it will be eaten up, what if there is no money?" ”

Tang Jian didn't directly answer Elder Osman's question, but instead asked, "Elder Osman, how many sheep, how many horses, and how much money do you have now?" ”

When Osman heard this, a smug look appeared on his face, and he thought for a moment and said, "I have ......"

As he spoke, Osman reached out for a hand, then another.

Tang Jian said: "Ten thousand sheep? ”

Elder Osman shook his head and said, "150,000 sheep, 8,000 cattle, and 15,000 war horses!" ”

Tang Jian didn't know how the brain circuits of the Turkic people were long, why a pair of hands and ten fingers would represent 150,000 sheep, 8,000 oxen, and more than 15,000 war horses! However, he still said seriously: "In Chang'an, a sheep can be sold for more than 200 yuan, 150,000 is 30,000 guan, a cow can be sold for 6 guan, 8,000 head is 48,000 guan, plus war horses, to say the least, it will cost 100,000 guan, you can deposit the money in Datang Tongli Money Village, save it for three years with a fixed interest, and you can get 500 guan of interest every year." Do you know how much grain you can buy for 500 guan? ”

Osman was puzzled and asked, "How much?" ”

Tang Jian said: "Five thousand stones!" ”

Osman exclaimed, "So many? ”

Tang Jian continued: "Actually, you don't have to go to Chang'an, go to Taiyuan, or Lingzhou, there are branches of Datang Tongli Qianzhuang, go there to sell the cattle and sheep directly, take the money and go to Chang'an to enjoy the blessings!" ”

After Tang Jian's flickering.

The elders finally knew that there was something called Qianzhuang in Datang Chang'an, even if they didn't know how to do business or herd sheep, as long as they deposited the money in Qianzhuang, they could eat and drink without worry.

Of course, Tang Jian didn't tell them about these elders.

An inconspicuous house in Chang'an City also has to start with thousands of runs, and the most ordinary three-entry courtyard, with more than a dozen houses, has to move tens of thousands.

For example, the 100,000 guan of the Ottoman elders can only barely buy a large mansion covering an area of more than ten acres in a remote workshop like Anhuafang or Qujiangfang in Chang'an City.

Of course, you also have to spend thousands of dollars to buy a smaller house.

However, in Chang'an, not only food is eaten, but meat is really expensive. The mutton they are used to eating now costs more than 20 yuan a catty, and as for beef, it costs more than 100 yuan a catty.

100,000 yuan sounds like a lot, and it really won't take long to spend it seriously.

Tang Jian felt that it was still unknown whether these Turkic elders would survive to go to Chang'an, and there was no need to tell them so much.

When it was almost dawn, Tang Jian was awakened by the screaming of horses and neighing from the people outside, wrapped in fur, and walked to the door of the tent to look.

Tang Jian asked, "What's wrong?" ”

The attendant who was looking at the door said blankly: "I don't know, it seems to be our people." ”

Tang Jian was dumbfounded and said, "How did they come here?" Didn't Jieli send tens of thousands of troops to guard the avenue? ”

The attendant shook his head excitedly and said, "Duke Tang, should we light a fire or not, remind our men and horses, don't accidentally hurt your own family." ”

Tang Jian gave the attendant a slap and roared, "Get out!" ”

The attendant covered his face with an aggrieved expression.

Tang Jian said again: "Hurry up and hide first, do you want to be chopped into meat by the Turks?" ”

The squire was at a loss.

Tang Jian hurriedly got into the tent, and then vigorously opened the fire pit.

The soil was extremely soft by the fire pit, and after a while, Tang Jian dug a big pit that could drill two people.

Then, Tang Jian dragged a horse over, and then stabbed the horse in the heart, and soon, the war horse stopped struggling. The corpse of this fallen war horse was just enough to cover the hole that had been dug.

Finally, under the stunned gaze of the attendant, Tang Jian lit the tent. The tent burned with a scorching glow, and Tang Jian and his attendants hid in the small dirt pit that had just been dug.

The attendant wrapped his mouth in a wet towel and asked, "Will we be burned to death?" ”

Tang Jian shook his head and said, "Resign yourself to fate!" ”

Gradually, the movement outside became smaller, until the killing shouts stopped, and Tang Jian quietly crawled out of the hole.

By this time, it was dawn and the battle was over. Burning tents, baggage, and vehicles plunged the entire white road into a white mist.

This battle was launched at a time when the Turks least expected it, and most of the Turks were routed troops gathered by Jieli, they had no intention of fighting, and as soon as they encountered Li Jing's raiding army, they immediately surrendered.

This raid battle went extremely well.

Under the leadership of Li Jing, the Tang army defeated more than 20,000 Turks and captured more than 16,000 of them at the cost of no more than 100 casualties, as well as a large number of baggage, cattle and sheep.

The Tang sergeant brought a Turkic elder over.

Tang Jian looked at it and shook his head.

Li Jing's face was dark and he didn't say a word.

The Tang sergeant brought in another Turkic elder.

Tang Jian shook his head again.

Du Fuwei said: "Tang Gong, you ask, see which of them knows the whereabouts of Jieli." ”

Tang Jian turned to face the Turkic elders and said, "Who of you knows Jieli's whereabouts? ”

The Turkic elders shook their heads.

Elder Osman said, "He has always been with Ashina Sheer. ”

Tang Jian said again: "Which of you has seen Ashina Sheer? ”

Xiao Nuo said: "He seems to have been injured and caught." ”

Tang Jian looked at Li Jing and said, "General, let's go and see those injured Turkic generals, Ashina Sheer is inside, he knows Jieli's whereabouts." ”

In the Provincial Government Hall under the gate of Chang'an City, several forbidden soldiers, accompanied by a Tang Army messenger, rushed into the government hall.

The ministers who were in a meeting to discuss stopped their work together.

The Forbidden Sergeant shouted excitedly, "Great victory! The king wins! ”

The soldiers were busy, and took the military newspaper from the exhausted messenger and handed it to Wei Zheng. Wei Zheng looked at the army report with three eyes, and immediately became excited, dancing with his hands.

Yu Wenshi snatched the military newspaper, and after reading it, he also laughed.

Fang Xuanling said: "Hurry up and inform Your Majesty." ”

One of the soldiers quickly turned and ran out.

In fact, without waiting for Li Jiancheng to be informed, Li Jiancheng had already received the news and rode towards the Provincial Government Hall under the door.

Li Jiancheng galloped in front, and a team of forbidden soldiers followed behind and ran desperately.

The officials and subordinates along the way were busy dodging and dodging.

The Janissary finally couldn't run anymore, squatting on the ground, gasping for air.

An official grabbed the janissary and said, "What's wrong?" Why is Your Majesty in the palace, riding a horse and galloping? ”

The non-commissioned officer of the forbidden army said with a look of joy: "Great victory! Mobei victory! ”

The surrounding officials and subordinates were suddenly overjoyed.

Li Jiancheng read the military report, and the joy on his face gradually faded.

Wei Zheng noticed the abnormality and asked, "Your Majesty, is there something wrong?" ”

Li Jiancheng sighed and said, "Jieli ran away!" ”

The prime ministers all stopped laughing and gathered around.

Li Jiancheng looked at everyone, and a wry smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "After all, you can't expect a battle to be decided." Everyone, let's continue to plan for the next national war! ”

。 Nine Heavenly God Emperors