Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 351: The War in Shulong

"Om-"

In the Xianning Palace, one could hear a pin drop, but when Tian Yun saw the time had come, he immediately struck a chime to remind everyone that it was 16: p.m.

The sound of chimes echoed in the hall. Li Yi, who was on the golden platform, slowly put down the memorial in his hand and looked at Lu Yan and the other two in the hall with a slightly puzzled and scrutinizing look.

"Liu Jilong has the nerve to ask me for a reward. Has he forgotten where Liangzhou came from?"

Li Yi threw the memorial in his hand to the ground. Tian Yun bent down to pick it up and took the opportunity to read the contents at a glance.

In the memorial, Liu Jilian reported that Duokang's tribe had harassed Songzhou and cut off the official roads between Songzhou and Longzhou and Fuzhou.

When Liu Jilian learned the news, he immediately led his troops south to attack. At the same time, he claimed that he had defeated nearly 10,000 foreign bandits in Mochanchuan and asked the court to reward the army.

The rest of the content is mostly compliments and is not worth reading.

After reading the contents of the memorial, Tian Yun understood why the emperor was so angry.

He put the memorial back on the table. At the same time, the three ministers in the hall also expressed their opinions one after another.

"Your Majesty..." Gao Qu walked out and bowed:

"Liu Jilong did not mention the siege of Weizhou and Yizhou in his memorial, let alone the dispatch of troops to help the court."

"I believe that Liu Jilong's previous actions were all a scheme to deceive people's minds."

"He avoided the issue of Xichuan being invaded by foreign bandits in his memorial. I'm afraid he didn't want to have a conflict with them. This is contrary to his character."

"I suspect that the reason why the foreign bandits and barbarians were able to join forces to invade was because of Liu Jilong's instigation!"

"Prime Minister Gao, please don't exaggerate!" Lu Yan had known that Gao Qu would bring up this matter, so he interrupted Gao Qu as soon as he finished speaking and bowed to Li Yi:
"Your Majesty, I believe that Liu Jilong's move is intended to show that he has no intention of interfering in the affairs of the court, and has no ambition to be disloyal."

"If the foreign bandits and barbarians were driven into aggression by Liu Jilong, then Liu Jilong would certainly actively participate in it and then encroach on the land of Xichuan."

"But Liu Jilong's current actions do not conform to Prime Minister Gao's speculation..."

Lu Yan still gave his reasoning, but Gao Qu also said the same thing: "Your Majesty, I think if you want to use this to test Liu Jilong, it would be better to let him go south and fight the bandits and barbarian troops in Xichuan."

"If Liu Jilong were to fight the foreign bandits and barbarian troops, he would certainly have no intention of conquering the south, and the imperial court could also take this opportunity to weaken Liu Jilong's strength."

"Ridiculous!" Lu Yan continued to interrupt him and said to Li Yi solemnly:

"Your Majesty, even if Liu Jilong has no intention of conquering the south, if the court transfers him to Xichuan, given the richness of Xichuan, even if Liu Jilong wants to control him, he will not be able to stop his people."

"If their people plunder Xichuan, wouldn't that destroy our retreat route of hiding our wealth in Shu since the Tianbao period?"

Lu Yan's words calmed down Li Yi, who was originally somewhat tempted.

Although he did not think Liu Jilian was that honest, it was a fact that the military discipline of the vassal soldiers was poor.

What's more, if Liu Jilian was really interested in Bashu, and he transferred him to Xichuan to suppress the bandits, wouldn't that be inviting a wolf into the house?
Thinking of this, Li Yi looked at Gao Qu with a slightly unfriendly look, and Gao Qu, sensing his gaze, immediately explained;
"Your Majesty, I know that transferring Liu Jilong to Xichuan is like inviting a wolf into the house, but Your Majesty must not forget that our dynasty has no shortage of troops in Sanchuan."

"Even though Cui Xuan's 50,000 troops were held back by the bandits and southern barbarians, Dongchuan Gao Pian's 30,000 elite troops were not held back, and Shannan West Road had nearly 10,000 troops that had not yet been mobilized."

"With these 40,000 troops, if Liu Jilong really makes any unusual moves, we can then dispatch Gao Pian to fight him, and then gather the troops from the eight garrisons in the northwest of Beijing to directly attack Longyou, recapture Helong, and eliminate this powerful vassal!"

Gao Qu stated his intention. He was not worried about the safety of Xichuan at all. He wanted to take this opportunity to test Liu Jilian and then deal with Longyou according to the situation.

His plan made Li Yi's heart suddenly excited, but before he could get excited, Lu Yan poured a basin of cold water on him.

"It's a good plan, Prime Minister Gao, but I want to ask you... Given the current situation of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Finance, if Liu Jilong really takes the opportunity to cause chaos, where will the court get the money and food to fight against the thieves?"

As soon as he finished speaking, without waiting for Gao Qu's reply, he bowed to Li Yi slowly and said:

"Your Majesty, ever since the loss of Helong, the emperors of all dynasties have wanted to recover Helong, but they have always been unable to do so due to insufficient money and food."

"When the previous emperor was in power, the Guiyi Army first recovered Hexi, and then sent Liu Jilong to recover Longyou, thus isolating Tubo."

"Afterwards, the late emperor used some means to split Helong, and finally split the Guiyi Army into the Longyou Guiyi Army and the Hexi Guiyi Army."

"At present, Zhang Huaishen in Hexi has agreed to break up with Liu Jilong. From now on, Liu Jilong will be alone and even if he has great ambitions, it will be difficult for him to harm Guanzhong."

"But if the imperial court takes the initiative to invite them to enter Shu, if something goes wrong, the imperial court's only escape route will be the Northern Capital."

Lu Yan did not mention the southern capital Jiangling and the eastern capital Luoyang, because if the government army was really defeated by Liu Jilian, the Shu land would inevitably be lost. Liu Jilian could build ships and sail down the river to advance to Jiangling.

If Liu Jilian went north to attack Guanzhong, the eastern capital Luoyang, which was very close to Guanzhong, would find it difficult to stop Liu Jilian's troops, and he would have to retreat to the northern capital Taiyuan.

With just a few words, Lu Yan extinguished Li Yi's growing enthusiasm.

Li Yi had already accepted his fate, so it would be very difficult to boost his self-confidence.

Gao Qu saw his expression and felt very anxious, so he stepped forward and bowed, saying:

"Your Majesty, the court has decided to increase taxes. At least by the autumn harvest, the court will be able to pay off last year's debts and have a surplus of 2 million guan."

"Two million strings of cash is enough for the eight garrisons in the northwest of Beijing and the troops of Sanchuan to attack Liu Jilong!"

Gao Qu did not mention the Shence Army, because the Shence Army was the treasure of the Northern Secretariat and a sharp weapon for them to suck blood from the imperial court.

Of course, Gao Qu had never counted on the Shence Army, because everyone in the court and the country knew exactly what the Shence Army was like now.

What Gao Qu really relied on were Cui Xuan, Gao Pian and the more than 100,000 elite troops from the eight towns northwest of Beijing.

Although the eight garrisons in the northwest of Beijing performed disappointingly during Wang Shouwen's rebellion, as long as Gao Pian could contain Liu Jilian's main force heading south, with nearly 100,000 troops from the eight garrisons, there would be no fear of not being able to take control of the depleted Longyou.

Gao Qu persuaded Li Yi again. This time, Li Yi did not wait for Lu Yan to pour cold water on him. Instead, he looked at Xu Shang with a questioning look.

After all, Xu Shang had served as the governor of Shannan East Road, and also as the Minister of War and the co-prime minister, so Li Yi wanted to hear his opinion.

Facing Li Yi's gaze, Xu Shang thought for a moment and then said, "Your Majesty, I don't think this matter is urgent."

"At the moment, we cannot be sure whether the barbarians were driven by Liu Jilong. If they were really driven by Liu Jilong, then even if we bring Liu Jilong to Xichuan, the Xichuan troops will definitely not be able to resist the chaos caused by the southern barbarians, the barbarians, and Liu Jilong."

"Now, Xichuan Military Supervisor Yang Fuguang has led 5,000 troops to rush to Weizhou. Even if Weizhou is captured, there is still Gutaoguan Pass in the rear."

"If the foreign bandits are unable to break through Gutao Pass, the court can wait and see Liu Jilong's attitude before making any arrangements."

"If Liu Jilong was the one who ordered the bandits to invade, he would have certainly tried every possible means to get them to attack elsewhere, and then he would have raised an uprising and occupied the land of Xichuan in the name of recovering lost territory for the imperial court."

"If that's the case..." Xu Shang paused, and then seemed to have made some extraordinary decision.

"If this is the case, the court can only protect the gateway to Xichuan by defeating Liu Jilong."

"Otherwise, if we sit back and watch Liu Jilong invade and occupy the gate to Xichuan, the gate to Xichuan will be wide open, and in the future, Shu will become Liu Jilong's possession, rather than a way out for the court."

Facing Xu Shang's remarks, Li Yi thought about it again and again, and finally nodded:

"If Liu Jilong really uses the excuse of recovering lost territory to invade the imperial court's West Sichuan gate, the imperial court will certainly raise troops."

"But before that, how much money and grain can the court have to deal with this so-called situation?"

"In addition, if we really want to mobilize troops, Shu still has Cui Xuan and Gao Pian in charge, but who should command the eight garrisons in the northwest of Beijing?"

"Your Majesty..." Gao Qu bowed and said:

"I suggest that Wang Shi and Wang Xiaonian be transferred to the capital to report on their duties, and depending on the situation, they be appointed to command the troops of the eight garrisons in the northwest of the capital."

"Yes!" Li Yi nodded with satisfaction. Deep down, he still trusted Wang Shi more.

However, Wang Shi has been transferred away. So who should be responsible for dealing with Wang Xianzhi, Pang Xun and others who have not yet been defeated?

Thinking of this, Li Yi asked, "With Wang Shi in Beijing, the post of Huainan Jiedushi is vacant. Who should be assigned to defeat Lushan Pangxun and Dabieshan Wang Xianzhi?"

"Your Majesty..." Lu Yan stood up and said respectfully, "Kang Chengxun, the governor of Yiwu Army, can serve as the governor of Huainan and lead the Huainan troops to continue the encirclement and suppression of Pang Xun in Lushan."

"Wang Xianzhi in Dabie Mountain has not made any movement for several months. We can continue to send troops from Shannan East Road and Jiangxi and other towns to surround and block it."

"Good!" When Li Yi saw that a candidate had been chosen, he immediately nodded in approval and ended the regular court session.

The imperial edict was quickly sent to various provinces, and at the same time, Xichuan was also in danger...

"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

On April 30th of the sixth year of Xiantong, twenty days had passed since the Duokang Tubo and Dali armies invaded Xichuan.

Xiaofeng, Tonghua, Xuecheng, Shibai, Yishui, and Weishan counties were captured. The Tianbao, Chirong, and Xitang armies of Xichuan, which had not seen battles for a long time, were suddenly attacked. Except for a few elite cavalry who managed to break through, most of the others were captured, and nearly half died. Duokang Tubo's troops soon arrived in Maozhou, and Shang Moyan personally led 30,000 troops to attack Gutao Pass, one of the three passes in the western border of Xichuan.

"Boom bang bang-"

Fifty catapults roared in unison, and stones weighing a hundred pounds flew over a distance of seventy steps and slammed heavily into Gutao Pass.

The parapet was broken and stones were flying. Even if you were wearing armor, being hit by fist-sized stones would not be a pleasant experience.

"Once you have taken Gutao Pass, the rich land of Xichuan and Chengdu will be right before your eyes. Don't be afraid of arrows, and don't forget your armor!!"

More than 20,000 foreign troops formed a battle array and looked towards Gutao Pass, with thousands of them operating catapults to attack the city walls in front of the battle array.

Behind them, Wei Gongluolu stood on the drum cart, beating the drum to cheer them on.

Shang Moyan sat in the tent that had just been built with the curtains open. He could clearly see Gutao Pass in the distance being attacked by catapults.

"Dad, you're in a hurry to get me back to Jincheng from Songzhou, is it because of this?"

Inside the tent, a young man in his early twenties dressed as Han Chinese stood behind Shang Moyan and asked him questions.

Shang Moyan said without even turning his head: "All the officials in the country want to invade Xichuan, don't you want to?"

Facing Shang Moyan's words, the young man walked up to him and then knelt down directly: "I want to!"

"But I know better what will happen if you don't obey the orders of the Elephant King."

The young man's words made many generals outside the tent look at him with dissatisfaction. Shang Moyan said coldly: "I sent you to Songzhou to study, not for you to say discouraging words."

"I'm not saying discouraging words..." The young man looked up and made eye contact with Shang Moyan.

Both the father and the son look like traditional We-Tsang men, with thick eyebrows, high noses, deep eyes and healthy dark skin, as if they were cast from the same mold.

"Tenzeng, behind Gutao Pass is the prosperous Chengdu. Even if I don't attack, they will attack."

Shang Moyan's tone softened as he looked at the child who had gone to Songzhou to study for more than two years and was recalled to the army by him in time.

Unlike his father and himself, this child did not continue to be called "Shang", but changed his name back to "Mei Lu".

He was Molu Danzeng, the future ruler of Dokang Tubo.

What Shang Moyan had to do was to pave the way for this child and fulfill his promise to his father, to make the Meilu family a major Tibetan family again.

"Father, without the support of the military commander, what would it matter even if you conquer Gutao Pass and enter Chengdu?"

"In recent years, Weixi has been getting colder and colder, and barley can't grow in many fields."

"I learned in my textbooks at Songzhou School that the colder the climate, the less food you can produce."

"It's not 200 years ago now. The Snow Region cannot support another Tubo..."

"Nonsense!" Shang Moyan seemed to be irritated. He stared at Mei Ludanzeng:

"I think those people in Songzhou have bad intentions and deliberately taught you these things to mislead you."

Faced with his questioning, Lu Danzeng said nothing, but just looked at Shang Moyan calmly.

After a while, the stalemate between father and son continued, but Wei Gong Luolu appeared outside the tent.

He walked to the curtain and sensed the strange atmosphere inside the tent. He did not choose to go in, but saluted at the door and said:

"Da Lun, there are suddenly more flags at Gu Tao Pass, the Tang army has sent reinforcements."

Upon hearing this, Shang Moyan looked solemn, but Lu Danzeng said calmly: "Dad, what I just said has come true."

"Humph!" Shang Moyan refused to admit that he was not as far-sighted as his own son. He said stubbornly:

"We still have catapults, 20,000 elite soldiers and nearly 10,000 troops. I don't believe we can't take Gutao Pass!"

"Wei Gongluo, I will take Gutaoguan in half a month!"

"Yes..." Wei Gongluo replied, but his tone sounded a little guilty.

Not only him, but many generals felt guilty for unknown reasons after learning that the Tang army was rushing to support Gu Taoguan.

They knew very well what the current situation in Xichuan was, and they also knew that they had to fight quickly and decisively.

If it drags on too long, not only will they fail to plunder the wealth of Xichuan, but they will also have to face the wrath of Liu Jilong.

Thinking of this, many people looked at Shang Moyan, wanting to say something but stopping themselves.

Before they could speak, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance, and dozens of cavalrymen came galloping over, presenting an expedited letter sealed with wax to Shang Moyan.

Shang Moyan frowned and opened the urgent report. The content was not long, only eight simple words.

[Guanzhong reinforcements will arrive in a few months]

Shang Moyan's expression changed slightly when he saw this. He knew that this was the information sent by Liu Jilong, which also contained Liu Jilong's impatience and threat.

Thinking of this, he immediately threw the letter in his hand into the brazier beside him and burned it. Then he stood up and said, "Leave 3,000 armored soldiers behind, and the rest of the troops will move camp to Wenshan and Shiquan."

"Send a message to Gar Zanlu to immediately dispatch troops from Songzhou to attack Fuzhou and Wenzhou. I will capture Maozhou soon and join him in Longzhou!"

"Yes!!"

The generals did not know what was written in the urgent letter, but it must be something extremely important that made Shang Moyan so anxious.

At present, the Tang army is rushing to support Gutao Pass. Even if they intend to attack Gutao Pass, they have to think about whether they can capture one of the three passes before the arrival of the second support force of the Tang army.

If it is impossible to take it, it would be better to take Longzhou by a detour, and then attack the hinterland of Chengdu through Longzhou and Jiangyou.

While he was thinking, the 30,000 foreign soldiers outside Taoguan stopped attacking the city and the entire army began to move out of camp.

Their actions were exposed to the defenders of Taoguan. Yang Fugong, who led 5,000 armored soldiers from Chengdu to rush to the rescue, was exhausted and climbed up the city wall without even taking a rest.

He leaned against the parapet and watched the movements of the foreign troops outside the city. After a while, he said:
"I led the reinforcements here. They probably saw the sudden increase in the number of flags in the city, so they chose to withdraw."

"But they actually fought here, which means they can come and go freely in Maozhou. Wenshan and Duanyuan counties are in danger..."

Yang Fuguang's eyes flickered. After a brief thought, he looked at the general beside him and said, "Quickly send fast horses to report the news of the fall of Weizhou, Yizhou, and Maozhou back to Chengdu and Chang'an, and pass it to the envoys and prime ministers, asking them to send more troops to garrison Mianzhou, Longzhou, and Hanzhou."

"I obey your command!" Upon receiving the military order, they would immediately send fast horses to deliver the message.

In just three days, the news had reached Chengdu. However, Chengdu only had two thousand provincial soldiers at that time, which was insufficient to defend the city, let alone send more troops.

As for Cui Xuan who led his troops to Lizhou, even if he divided his troops and marched north, he would not have enough time to garrison in various states.

Officials in Chengdu had no choice but to send fast horses north to ask for help from the troops sent by Fengxiang and Shannan West Road.

Two days later, Wenshan and Duanyuan counties fell. Before the fall, all carrier pigeons were released to convey the news of the city's fall to Chengdu.

At the same time, Fuzhou and Wenzhou were successively in danger, and the last Shiquan County of Maozhou was also under pressure from the Duokang Tubo army.

When the news reached Wuzhou, Liu Jilong, who was reviewing the military training, nodded in satisfaction and said, "He is quite knowledgeable."

The "he" he was referring to was naturally Shang Moyan.

Chen Ying stood beside him and whispered, "That being said, if we continue to let him grow in power, I'm afraid he will backfire one day."

"Raising a tiger will bring disaster, it has always been like this." Liu Jilong said in a calm tone. He was not worried at all that Shang Moyan would retaliate.

The weather has been getting colder in recent years, and winter is coming earlier and earlier.

For the Han people living below the plateau, such a climate environment is not pleasant enough, let alone Dokang above the plateau.

By controlling tea and grain, Liu Jilong had more than a dozen ways to kill Shang Moyan.

But before that, he still needed to deal with the issue of Tubo breaking out from Songzhou to Fuzhou.

He put the information in his arms and ordered Chen Ying without thinking:
"The news came out that Shang Moyan personally led a large army to plunder Songzhou, but was repelled by my army heading south. The main force withdrew to Yizhou, and the defeated soldiers fled to Fuzhou."

"Send another group of light cavalry to Linzhou and have Gao Changshi deliver the heads and broken armor that our army captured from Tuyuhun to Chang'an to ask for a reward."

"Yes……"

(End of this chapter)