A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 182 The King of Qin Asks for a Way Out

winter solstice.

One of the most important festivals of the year,

Early in the morning, Shi Niang got up to help Li Yi change his clothes. Last night, Ji Sujun had already prepared the black crown dress for the sacrifice, ironing it and burning incense.

There were twenty-two sacrifices in the Tang Dynasty's national ceremonies each year, and the winter solstice sacrifice to heaven was ranked first among the twenty-two sacrifices.

This was the most important sacrifice, presided over by the emperor himself.

After Emperor Li Yuan ascended the throne, he established a rule that every year on the winter solstice, the Lord of Heaven should be worshipped at the Circular Mound, with Emperor Jing as his partner.

Emperor Jing of Tang, Li Hu, was temple-named Taizu. Li Jing was honored with the Heavenly Emperor because the Tang dynasty's name was first bestowed upon him. While the Li family's ancestors were descendants of the emperor of the Western Liang Kingdom, the true culprit for the Li family's rise to prominence in recent generations was Li Hu, a native of Wuchuan Town. He, along with Yuwen Tai and others, established the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties, becoming one of the Eight Pillars of State.

"Alang looks truly majestic and solemn in this black crown."

Jin Yusu helped to tidy up his robe, and looked at Li Yi in the formal suit with admiration in her eyes.

Clothes make the man, saddles make the horse.
Li Yi didn't like the dress very much. It was too grand and complicated. The crown on his head had five strings of tassels in front and back, which blocked his vision. When he moved his head, it shook, as if there was a curtain in front of him.

In addition, this dress must be paired with a gold-decorated sword, an ivory sceptre, and a jade pendant.

The color is better than the scarlet robe, the black crown is green, green is the color of the East, composed of blue and green.

It is actually quite painful to go to the outskirts of the city to worship the sky in the middle of winter.

However, ordinary people are not qualified to participate in the sacrifice.

As soon as it was light, Li Yi went out.

Du Shiniang and others were sent to the second gate.
"Yu Shu, go back and have some sleep. I asked the kitchen to make you some Tremella and Bird's Nest Soup."

Yu Shu blushed and stammered, "Slave, slave,"

"What's wrong? If you feel uncomfortable somewhere, call a doctor immediately. Don't be careless."

"My Lord, I just had my period."

Du Shiniang was stunned for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Go get a doctor right away. I heard you have to be very careful when you're pregnant. Spotting means the fetus is disturbed, so you need to protect it right away."

"My period has come,"

Du Shiniang was stunned again.

"Haven't you always been on time? Your period should have come a long time ago. If it hasn't come yet, shouldn't you be pregnant?"

Yu Shu blushed, "I was indeed accurate before. This time it was delayed for several days, and I thought I was pregnant. Who knew, it came again suddenly."

Ji listened from the side and was relatively calm. "Let's quickly ask a doctor to come and take your pulse. Don't make any mistakes."

"Yes, yes, yes, call a doctor quickly." Du Shiniang came back to her senses.

Although Yu Shu was sure that her menstrual period was late, they still quickly sent someone to call a doctor.

Li Yi went out and didn't know any of this.

The sacrifice was held in the southern suburbs, two miles east of Mingde Gate in the south of the city. The Circular Mound is also called the Temple of Heaven.
All the officials gathered outside Mingde Gate.

Participate in this lively and grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heavens,
Li Yi felt that everything was very lively, except that his official position and title were not high, so he was ranked very far behind.

You really don't know how many officials there are until you visit Chang'an.

It seemed that there were not so many officials at ordinary times, but when offering sacrifices to heaven, all the dukes, ministers, and princes came. The officials who had no duties at ordinary times, the officials with honors, the officials with titles, the civil officials and the military generals all changed into crowns and robes and participated in the sacrifice.

The ceremony is quite complicated.
But the Tang Dynasty still respected the Lord of Heaven very much. At that time, the Li Tang Dynasty did not respect Laozi that much and did not give him the title of emperor.

It was not until the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang that Laozi was officially conferred the title of Taishang Xuanyuan Emperor and recognized as the ancestor of the country.

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang gave Laozi the title of Great Saint Ancestor Xuanyuan Emperor, and later gave him the title of Saint Ancestor Da Dao Xuanyuan Emperor. The third title was given to him as Great Saint Ancestor Gaoshang Da Dao Jinque Xuanyuan Tianhuang Emperor, and he ordered the establishment of Xuanyuan Emperor temples in all provinces of the world.

Li Yi saw Li Shimin coming back from Changchun Palace in Tongzhou.

When His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin took action, the Puzhou defender Yao Junsu died.

Yao Junsu died at the hands of his generals Xue Zong and Li Chuke.
The two men led hundreds of men to attack Yao Junsu at night, beheaded him, and captured Puban City. They sent someone to send Yao Junsu's head to Changchun Palace and submitted a letter of surrender.

Li Shimin was also overjoyed when he saw Yao Junsu's head in Changchun Palace.

He immediately reported the good news to Chang'an, and in accordance with the previous imperial edict, appointed Xue Zong as the governor of Puzhou and Li Chuke as the general of cavalry.

He also sent a message to Dugu Huai'en to go to Puban to take over.
Who knew that when Dugu Huai'en arrived, he only saw the heads of Xue Zong and Li Chuke hanging on the top of Puban City, which had already returned to the Tang Dynasty.
Outside the city gate, there stands a small Jingguan.

Those were the hundreds of troops who followed the two men to kill Yao Junsu.

Dugu Huai'en was completely confused until a man stood on the top of the city wall, and then he understood.

It turned out that Yao Junsu had a fierce general under his command, Wang Xingben, a native of Jie County, who was as brave and skilled in fighting as Yao Junsu and was awarded the title of Imperial Doctor.

Previously, Li Yuan's son-in-law Zhao Cijing led his troops to attack Puban, but fell into an ambush by Wang Xingben. He was defeated and captured, and his head was beheaded and hung on the city wall of Puban.

Although Puban City was under siege, Yao Junsu still had Wang Xingben stationed at a fort outside the city with 700 elite soldiers to provide remote support. Xue Zong and his men suddenly mutinied, killed Yao Junsu, and then sent people to persuade Wang Xingben to surrender.

Wang Xingben was furious when he learned that Yao had been killed, but he pretended to agree to surrender. Then he returned to Puban City with 700 elite soldiers.

After entering the city, he directly beheaded Xue Zong and Li Chuke, and then led his troops to execute hundreds of their subordinates. Then he hung the Sui flag on the top of the city again and threw away the Tang flag.

Dugu Huai'en thought he could easily take over Puzhou City, but he didn't know that the Sui flag was raised on the top of the city wall.
In anger, they launched an attack on the city.

Unexpectedly, Wang Xingben was as brave as Yao Junsu. Dugu Huai'en attacked fiercely for several days, but Puban City remained as solid as a rock, causing Dugu Huai'en to suffer heavy losses.
They had no choice but to retreat.

When Li Shimin of Changchun Palace learned about it, he was very dissatisfied with his uncle and sent people to reprimand him for attacking the city recklessly. When the news reached Chang'an, Li Yuan was also very angry with his uncle's son, because he had lost a good son-in-law and many of his soldiers.

He had been fighting for such a long time in Puban City but to no avail.

It is said that the emperor was so angry that he wanted to deprive Dugu Huai'en of his official position and title and demote him to a commoner.

This time when Li Shimin returned to Beijing to offer sacrifices to heaven, he must have met with disaster.

There are still several good news.

First, Yao Junsu of Puban finally surrendered, and second, the Minister of Rites Zheng Yuanjin defeated Zhu Can in Shangzhou, Shannan, and Zhu Can fled to Huaixi.

Choro Khan of the Western Turkic Khaganate had been serving Yang Guang. He recently separated from Yu Wenzhi and was sent back to Chang'an by Xu Shiji. Choro Khan presented a large pearl to the emperor, who named the former Khan of the Western Turkic Khaganate the King of Guiyi.

Deng Hao, the governor of Xiangping, surrendered the two counties of Liucheng and Beiping.
Zhang Daoyuan, the Hebei pacification envoy and the Duke of Fanyang, successfully recruited Luo Yi of Zhuo County. Zhuo County, Shanggu County and Yuyang County all surrendered. Luo Yi sent his chief secretary Wen Yanbo to the court to submit a memorial. The emperor promoted Luo Yi as the governor of Youzhou, and appointed his general Xue Wanjun as the Shang Zhuguo and the Duke of Yong'an County, and Xue Wanche as the General of Chariots and Cavalry and the Duke of Wu'an County.

Wen Yanbo was kept in the court by the emperor and appointed as the Minister of the Secretariat. His brother Wen Daya was the emperor's confidant and was now the Minister of the Imperial Household. Now the two brothers shared the same secrets.

After offering sacrifices to heaven,

There was also a grand court meeting on the winter solstice, so Li Yi went home first to change into court clothes.

Li Shimin sent someone to summon him.
"Take my carriage and go back to the city together."

Also in the carriage were Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, his right-hand men.

After chatting for a few minutes in the car, Li Yi realized that Li Shimin was indeed punished because of the incident in Puzhou City.

It turned out that as the Grand Chancellor of the Eastern Shaanxi Road, all the troops east of Tongguan were under his control, including Hedong, Henan, Hebei, Shannan and other places.

But now, the emperor has changed,

The titles of Grand Commandant, Minister of Chancellery, Governor of Yongzhou, General of the Right Wuhou, Envoy with Special Envoys, and Minister of Chancellery of the Eastern Shaanxi Circuit remained unchanged.

However, the jurisdiction of the Shaanxi East Road Daxingtai was changed to Puzhou and the military forces of various prefectures in Hebei, and they were all under the command of the Jiedu.

Henan, Shannan, Huainan and other places are no longer under his jurisdiction. Even the Hebei actually refers to the area north of the Yellow River in Hedong, and the Hebei east of Taihang is not under his jurisdiction.

In fact, the Li family only occupies half of Hedong now.

There is Liu Wuzhou outside Yanmen Pass, and even in Puzhou there is a Puyang City that has not been captured.

"Liu Wuzhou has been very active recently, and has received strong support from the Turks. He may march south at any time. Also in Hebei, Dou Jiande has already conquered Jizhou, and with his army of 100,000, he is pressing on Youzhou."

Luo Yi had no choice but to submit his surrender to the Tang Dynasty at this time. He had Gao Kaidao to the north and Dou Jiande to the south.

Both of them wanted to surrender him, but Luo Yi was unwilling to submit to these two bandit-born heroes. However, Dou Jiande had already defeated and incorporated Wei Daoer's forces.

Wang Xuba's forces, which had been active in the Taihang Mountains west of Youzhou, were very powerful. After Wei Dao'er's death, Zhen Zhai'er led his troops, but was unable to defeat Dou Jiande, so he had to lead his troops to surrender.

This put Luo Yi in a situation where he was surrounded on all sides.

He could only make friends with distant countries and attack nearby ones, and pledge allegiance to Li Yuan in the hope of gaining some support, but this did not necessarily mean that he was truly loyal.

But this is still a good thing for the Tang Dynasty.

Now many counties and cities in Henan, Shandong and Hebei have surrendered, but they lack a strong command and are intertwined with several powerful forces, making them very unstable.

"Wang Shichong sent 30,000 troops to besiege Guzhou, and the governor Ren Gui asked for help." Li Shimin sighed. Facing such a complicated situation in Guandong, Li Shimin was about to show his skills.
But at this time, the emperor restricted him, the governor of Shaanxi East Road, to Hedong.

Li Shentong, the Shandong Dao appeasement ambassador, instead gained real power over the entire Henan and Hebei regions. The emperor even intended to build a Hebei Dao Xingtai and appoint Li Shentong as the Xingtai Zuo Pushe.

A new Henan Daoxingtai was established, with Li Xiaoji as the left servant.

Li Yi listened to these words,
He was still a little surprised, not at the topic itself, but at the fact that Li Shimin specially called him to ride in the same car and told him these things.

In their words and deeds, they have expressed their dissatisfaction with the emperor and the prince. They think that it is the emperor and the prince, and even Pei Ji, who are deliberately suppressing the Qin King who made great contributions in destroying the Xue family in Longyou.

Previously, he couldn't wait to transfer the King of Qin from Longyou, and promoted him to the title of Taiwei and the Grand Chancellor of the East Shaanxi Road. The King of Qin was forced to spit out all the gains he had made in the battle of Longyou.

Only two thousand black armored cavalry were captured.

But not long after he left Changchun Palace, he took advantage of the defeat in Puban City to reduce the King of Qin's military power.

From the entire area east of Tongguan and north of the Yangtze River, it is now just Hedong.

"Wuyi, you have always been quick-witted, far-sighted, and have a good sense of the overall situation. Can you help me analyze the current situation and what should I do?" Li Shimin asked him seriously.

(End of this chapter)