The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 802 The war begins

"But the court has no such intention. If that's the case, then there's nothing to worry about. As the court keeps its promise, Yinan won't dare to do anything to me. If you go with me, it will be meaningless."

"You usually say in the East Palace that you have a lot of talent but no place to display it. Now you can see that my father has arranged a marriage for me and given Princess Ashina Yun to me. The Tuli tribe is now our own."

At this point, Li Yan lowered his voice and said, "Now, Princess Ashina Yun is pregnant with my blood. If you stay, you can protect the princess. Secondly, you can also get the opportunity to lead troops to fight and gain practical experience."

"And the Tuli tribe will sooner or later become my power. If no one controls it, I'm afraid it will eventually get out of control."

"My real intention of keeping you here is to make you blend in with them, let them accept you, and control them imperceptibly. With Tuli's 50,000 cavalry, we can do great things."

When everyone heard Li Yan talking about this kind of thing, they became excited.

It's finally here, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has finally moved. When they think that there will be 50,000 to 60,000 cavalry waiting for everyone to command, and that each person will be allocated 6,000 to 7,000 cavalry on average, everyone is ready to go, and immediately forget about protecting Li Yan.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. We will take good care of the military power for Your Highness."

Li Yan nodded silently and instructed: "Once Jie Li is defeated, his soldiers will definitely flee north on a large scale. Many tribes are under the influence of the Ashina clan. When the time comes, you should persuade Tuli Khan to gather up the remaining soldiers and generals in the name of the second Khan and expand his strength."

"Don't worry, I will return safely."

"But by then, I hope that you will no longer be tutors who look up to the East Camp for protection, but generals who can lead thousands of troops. Only in this way can you give me the greatest support."

Finally, after much persuasion, Li Yan convinced everyone to stay.

He told Ashina Yun that he would return to the Xueyantuo tribe with Yinan. Not long after, Yinan and Biheli moved their camps south, crossed the Yellow River, and went straight to the Dingxiang front to confront the Tang army.

In the winter in the north, the cold wind howls, and the dry grass and trees appear devastated. At a glance, the whole earth is devastated and silent.

In the northern part of Guannei Road in the Tang Dynasty, there was a section of the Great Wall built to defend against the southward migration of northern nomadic peoples. It started from Yinchuan Lingwu in the west, passed through Yanzhou Wuyuan to Sufang Xiazhou, and finally intersected with Suizhou Hedong, forming a line of defense against the Turks.

Among them, the Hunshui River, a tributary of the Yellow River, runs from west to east, forming a natural barrier in front of the Great Wall.

Along the entire Great Wall, there were 600,000 to 700,000 soldiers from the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. The Turks led by Jie Li had more than 300,000 cavalry camped on the north bank of the Hunshui River, while the Tang army of more than 300,000 was stationed in the cities along the Great Wall on the south bank of the Hunshui River, confronting them.

This was the largest battle between the Tang Dynasty and the northern Turks since the founding of the country. Both sides mobilized their greatest forces, striving to defeat the other in one battle and gain control of the entire north.

In addition to the Great Khan Jie Li who personally took the position, the Turkic side also mobilized capable and battle-hardened generals such as Zhishisili, Ashina Simo, Yarqin, and Misua.

The Tang Dynasty even mobilized its first famous general, Li Jing, the Duke of Weiguo, as the marching marshal, Cheng Yaojin, the marching commander of Dingxiang Road, as the deputy marshal, Chai Shao, the marching commander of Jinhe Road, Gao Zongsheng, the governor of Minzhou, Li Ji, Zhang Baoxiang and other famous generals.

More than a dozen Turkic tribes secretly set up camps along the north bank of the Hunshui River. Among them, a part of the Xueyantuo, according to Jie Li's instructions, was stationed on the left side of the Dejing line, while the Biheli stayed close to the front line in Changze area to defend the right side of Jie Li's main force.

Originally, Jie Li wanted to sow discord between Yi Nan and Biheli before the war in order to strike at the second Khan Tuli.

However, this time Tuli sternly rejected Jie Li's request to send troops and did not march south.

Jie Li believed that without Tuli's restraint and Yi Nan being his dog, the Xibi tribe alone would not be able to support the whole army and he could easily control them. He temporarily suppressed the conflict between the Xibi tribe and the Xueyantuo tribe and tried to defeat Li Tang first.

Jie Li believed that once he defeated the Tang Dynasty, he would be able to easily defeat Tuli with the momentum of the great victory.

The not very obedient Bi Heli was arranged by Jie Li to be stationed in Changze, close to the battlefield, in order to borrow the Tang Dynasty's army and consume its strength.

In the Qiwu Mountain area of ​​Dejing, more than 30,000 Xueyantuo troops were stationed here, and densely packed felt tents were scattered all over the valley.

Not far from the Xueyantuo general's tent, a luxurious tent stood out.

The entire tent was no worse than the general tent of Xueyantuo leader Yinan. It was wrapped in two thick layers of cowhide and the floor was covered with a white wool blanket. The tent was equipped with all kinds of daily necessities. On the sandy ground in the middle, there was fruit wood charcoal, and a fresh lamb was roasted.

It was icy and snowy outside, and the biting cold wind mixed with large flakes of snow swept towards the ground, but inside the tent there was singing and dancing of birds, and it was warm as spring.

Three people were sitting on the ground around a roasted whole lamb, eating meat and drinking wine.

There were tall and graceful Persian beauties dancing to the music of horse-head fiddle and huqie to entertain them. From time to time, a young maid would cut slices of roasted lamb with a knife, put them on a plate, and serve them in front of the three people.

Several people used knives and forks to pick up the tender and delicious meat slices, dipped them in Western spices and fine salt, and put them into their mouths. The aroma immediately filled their noses and made their mouths water. They talked and laughed from time to time, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

After everyone had been drinking for a while, one of the older young men with a short beard clapped his hands, the music slowly stopped, and all the servants stood up, bowed and left, leaving the space in the tent for the three people who were talking.

"Your Highness, I toast to you!"

Yi Nan held up the mare's milk and said with a smile on his face, "The conditions on the grassland are harsh, not as prosperous as Chang'an. Your Highness has been a guest in the Xueyantuo tribe for some time. I really wronged Your Highness."

"Because I want to deceive Jie Li, I often have to serve in Jie Li's tent to monitor and inquire about military information. I don't have time to come and pay my respects to Your Highness often. I hope Your Highness will forgive me if I am not entertaining you well enough."

It has been three months since Li Yan came to the Xueyantuo tribe, from the mid-autumn season to the bitter winter, and finally the great war is approaching.

These three months were not wasted. Li Yan understood the Turkic language and learned a lot about the nomadic people's lifestyle and experience. He grew a short beard on his lips, put on a sheepskin coat of the Hu people, covered with a felt hat commonly worn by herdsmen, and wore cowhide boots.

At first glance, he looks like a grassland man.

"What are you talking about, young leader?"

Li Yan raised his cup and smiled kindly, "Although the young leader has been away for the past few months, I have been provided with the best felt tent, and two Persian beauties to serve me. Every meal is lamb and wine. I can see that I am treated the best in the entire tribe."

"Young leader has already treated Cheng Qian with the utmost sincerity. If Cheng Qian still finds fault with this, he would be a bad guest."

"The most important thing now is that our families must unite to defeat Jie Li and bring freedom and happiness to the people of the grassland. Everything else is secondary."

"Young leader, does Jie Li have any recent plans?"

As soon as this question was asked, Xue Rengui, who was wearing shepherd's leather armor, also looked at it intently.

After Xue Rengui followed Cheng Yaojin to the Dingxiang front, he stayed in the general's tent for a month and then asked to join the frontline scout team to gain experience on the battlefield. After half a year, he was promoted to the scout team leader and led a scout team of 50 people to fight against the Turkic scouts.

After six months of actual combat on the battlefield, Xue Rengui has grown into a qualified soldier, calm and composed.

After learning that Li Yan had arrived at the Xueyantuo tribe, Xue Rengui, representing the Tang Dynasty, was entrusted by Cheng Zhijie, the commander-in-chief of the Dingxiang Road, to come and contact the Xueyantuo and the Xibi tribe so that the two sides could exchange information and keep abreast of battlefield developments at all times.

"Yes, young leader. Currently, scouts from both sides are constantly fighting each other, and clashes are happening frequently. The death rate is ten times higher than before."

Xue Rengui said worriedly: "Both sides want to obtain the details of the other side's military deployment, but we lack core information. We need the young leader to provide more latest movements of the Jie Li army, determine the main attack direction of Jie Li, and prepare in advance."

"What are the arrangements on your side?" Yi Nan rolled his eyes and did not answer. Instead, he asked about the Tang Dynasty's arrangements first.

Xue Rengui frowned slightly and looked at Li Yan.

Seeing Li Yan nodded, Xue Rengui said, "Your Majesty has appointed Duke of Weiguo Li Jing as the marching marshal in charge of the Dingxiang battle two days ago, but it will take a few days for Duke of Weiguo to come with the army."

"But Jie Li's Zhishisili tribe has been building ships and bridges upstream of the Hun River since yesterday. Deputy Commander General Cheng believes that Jie Li is likely to cross the river from here and lead an attack on Xiazhou City in order to tear open the Dingxiang defense line of our Great Tang before General Li arrives."

Yi Nan thought for a moment and said solemnly, "Yes, judging from the various information I got from Jie Li's tent, Jie Li's main attack direction is also here, so please make sure to advise General Cheng to deploy the main force in Xiazhou and try to block Zhishisili from crossing the river."

Xue Rengui was stunned and looked at Li Yan inquiringly.

Li Yan smiled slightly. He knew that Yi Nan deliberately concealed the news of Jie Li's attack on Eyangling in order to make both the Tang Dynasty and Jie Li suffer heavy losses.

But he did not expose the truth at this time, but asked another question: "Young leader, I heard that the most powerful general on the grassland is Ge Lun's younger brother, Ashina Simo. I wonder when he will arrive?"

Yinan's heart trembled. It seemed that this dandy prince had not been idle in the past few months and had found out a lot of information about the grassland.

"How can we miss him in such a big battle?"

Yi Nan said calmly, "To be honest with you, Your Highness, General Ashina Simo has arrived at Jie Li's tent this afternoon. Jie Li has sent away all the leaders tonight and specially prepared a banquet for Ashina Simo, so I have time to return to the camp tonight."

(End of this chapter)