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

Chapter 230 Angry Young Man Li Shimin
The New Year is over,
The world was still in chaos. Guanzhong was relatively stable, but there was endless war outside the pass.

On the bank of Shenheyuan,

Construction of Changning Palace resumed, but the warlike Prince of Qin, Li Shimin, could only squat on the construction site to supervise the work. He wanted to lead the troops and go on expeditions, but unfortunately, the emperor ignored his several letters.

"Li Shentong has betrayed the country and deserves to be put to death."

On the banks of the Heshui River, Li Shimin cursed the magical powers of King Huai'an. His actions during the attack on Liaocheng had been reported to Chang'an by Wei Zheng and Cui Mingan.

Liaocheng could have been captured, but because he was unwilling to let Zhao Junde and other old Li Mi's subordinates share the reward for their merits, he withdrew his troops when the city was broken, resulting in a missed opportunity.

In the end, Liaocheng was captured by Dou Jiande, which led to many of Li Mi's former subordinates in Hebei and Shandong becoming disappointed with the Tang Dynasty and turning to Dou Jiande.

"Dou Jiande attacked and captured Liaocheng, and his army became even more powerful. All the prefectures and counties in Shandong followed his lead and surrendered to Jiande. Shentong's men suffered heavy casualties and had already lost Weizhou. They retreated to Liyang and attached themselves to Li Shiji.

Yuwen Shiji and Feng Deyi abandoned Jizhou and fled, and the Xia army won without a fight. Dou Jiande then attacked Xingzhou, and our general Chen Junbin was captured.

Fang Xuanling shook his head, "Dou Jiande's army is now strong and he has almost taken over half of Hebei. After taking Jizhou, he has successively seized Bei, De, Bo, Wei, and Xingzhou.

Although Li Shentong has retreated to Liyang and attached himself to Li Shiji, Li Shiji is in a precarious position with Wang Shichong to the south and Dou Jiande to the north. I'm afraid it will be difficult to hold on."

The entire situation in Hebei has completely deteriorated.

After Li Mi was defeated and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty took advantage of the situation to accept Li Mi's former subordinates in Shandong and obtained hundreds of cities in one go.

Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty failed to integrate these territories and unify these troops.

Li Shentong, who was highly expected by Li Yuan, even played a negative role and pushed many of Li Mi's former subordinates who had defected to the Tang Dynasty to Dou Jiande's side.

Li Shimin was furious, "If I had pacified Shandong, how could the situation be like this?"

Li Yi looked at Li Shimin's angry and anxious expression and could only comfort him: "Your Majesty, the time is not right yet. There is no point in being anxious. Wait. Be patient."

"But Shandong is in ruins."

"That's fine. Without destruction, there is no construction. Destruction is the key to construction. Li Mi was so powerful back then, but he could never take Luoyang. It was because he swallowed too much at the beginning and never chewed it thoroughly.

Although they have a large number of soldiers and horses, they are just a motley crowd. They can fight a favorable battle, but they will completely fall apart if they suffer a major defeat.

Although Dou Jiande is also very powerful now, his problem is the same as Li Mi's. He has many followers, but most of them are local tyrants and bandits, as well as some surrendered officers and soldiers. It is a very mixed group.

If they suffered a major defeat, they would collapse just like Li Mi did."

The mess in Shandong,
There are countless military leaders, big and small, and no one can integrate them well in a short period of time. They can only unite reluctantly, but this kind of union is very uncertain.

Very unstable.

Although Li Shentong's actions in Liaocheng were extremely excessive and stupid, in fact, even if he did not do these operations, he could have successfully taken Liaocheng.
He was no match for Dou Jiande, who was in the ascendancy.
Li Shentong doesn't have the ability to fight Dou Jiande with a haphazard team.

Li Shiji didn't have that ability.
"Does Wuyi think Li Shiji can hold on to Liyang?"

Li Yi shook his head.

"Can't hold it?"

"It's definitely not possible to hold it. When Yu Wenhuaji attacked Liyang before, Li Mi tried his best to rescue it, but it was because Yu Wenhuaji cut off the food supply that forced Yu Wenhuaji to retreat.

But now Dou Jiande has more troops than Yu Wenhuaji, stronger morale, and no shortage of food and grass, but Li Shiji has no backup. So how can Li Shiji defend Liyang?

Just relying on the grain in Liyang warehouse?
He certainly has no shortage of food, but he does lack soldiers. I dare say that he will soon receive news of Li Shiji's defeat.

"Is there no way to save it?" Li Shimin was unwilling to accept it.

"Dou Jiande was born in the countryside and was known for his benevolence and righteousness. Now, in the name of revenge for Yang Guang, he attacked cities and plundered land everywhere. But he was different from other bandits. Every time he captured a city and won a battle, he distributed all the supplies and spoils to his soldiers as rewards, and did not keep any for himself.
He didn't even eat meat, only vegetables. His wife, Cao, didn't wear silk. He only had about ten maids and concubines.

He treated all captured Sui officials well, and if they were willing to surrender, they would be given important positions according to their abilities. Those officers and soldiers who were unwilling to surrender were also given money and food to send back home.
Other powerful military leaders were robbing money and grain everywhere, and exploiting the people's wealth, but Dou Jiande was in his own territory, encouraging people to grow mulberry trees and cultivate crops, suppressing bandits, and even building water conservancy projects, reducing taxes and labor service.

Your Majesty, you said that a man like Dou Jiande would naturally win the support of the army and the people. His foundation is just not deep now, but if he is given enough time, he will still be very formidable.

"Is there no other way?"

"The imperial court has no spare energy to send too many troops to Guandong now. It can only try its best to appease the generals who have surrendered in Shandong and let them support it with all their strength.

The focus of the court still needs to be advanced step by step."

"First, we must pacify Li Gui, then Liu Wuzhou, and then Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande. We must first secure Guanzhong and Hedong. These are the foundation of our Great Tang. Then we can fight for Guandong. Once the north is pacified, Shannan, Jianghuai, Lingnan, and other areas will naturally be conquered."

Li Shimin was always dissatisfied with Li Yi's opinion.

Speaking of Hexi, Li Shimin also had complaints. Li Gui of Hexi was now in the midst of famine and civil strife. The brothers An Xinggui and An Xiuren had united with the Hu people of Hexi and some of Xue Ju's former subordinates to Li Gui, and openly rebelled against Li Gui.
Li Gui was unable to cope with it.
The great Emperor of Daliang was besieged by a rebellion led by An Xinggui and other ministers. Not only could he not send troops to quell the rebellion, but he could only defend the city.

But no one came to rescue the king.

What is most shocking is that when the An Xinggui brothers rebelled, they only had a thousand men under their command.

When Li Gui went out of the city to fight, he only had a thousand infantry and cavalry. After being defeated, he fled back to the city to defend it, but no reinforcements came for a long time.

The situation in Hexi can be said to be beyond everyone's expectations.

Although An Xinggui said that he alone could persuade Li Gui to surrender when he left Chang'an, no one expected that if Li Gui refused to surrender, An Xinggui would dare to kill Li Gui directly.

It can be so smooth.

"I met with Your Majesty yesterday and told him that the overall situation in Hexi has been decided. There is no need to let the prince lead tens of thousands of troops there, which would be a waste of money and food. We should transfer the precious troops and experienced generals to Hedong to strengthen the defense of Taiyuan. But Your Majesty did not adopt this idea. Liu Wuzhou may lead the Turks south at any time, and I am extremely worried." Li Shimin sighed.

Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and others could also see that there was something wrong with the emperor's arrangement.

You can see the crisis approaching,

But the emperor refused to listen and insisted on his own way. Even when Li Shimin talked too much, he felt that Li Shimin wanted to use this opportunity to take back the military power, and he became even more unwilling to listen.

Li Shimin could do nothing.
They could only watch as Hebei's promising situation was ruined by Li Shentong.
Hedong, the birthplace of the Chinese nation, was about to fall.

But the emperor still played the pipa with Pei Ji in the palace every day.

"Pei Ji is titled as prime minister, but what achievements has he made? What qualifications does he have to continue sitting in that position? The country is in such danger, but he turns a blind eye." Li Shimin scolded Pei Ji, saying that he was not worthy of being prime minister except to flatter the emperor and accompany him in eating, drinking and having fun.

"In terms of merit and ability, Liu Wenjing is much stronger than Pei Ji."

"In terms of talent and ability, Xuanling and Keming are far superior to Pei Ji. Even Wuyi's knowledge and strategy surpass that old man!"

"Your Majesty, be careful with your words. Be careful of the ears!" Li Yi quickly reminded Li Shimin.

Even if everyone knows something, they cannot say it out loud, otherwise it will be reported to the emperor and become evidence of guilt.

In history, Liu Wenjing was killed because he had a dispute with Pei Ji, and he was also Li Shimin's subordinate. The evidence of his crime was that Liu Wenjing and his brother Liu Wenqi were drinking at home, cursing Pei Ji together, and after getting drunk, they took a knife to chop a pillar, saying that they must chop Pei Ji to death. Someone exaggerated the matter and reported it to the emperor, which became ironclad evidence of treason. In addition, Liu Wenjing had always had a good relationship with the Turks, and he was also Li Mi's brother-in-law.

Li Mi rebelled, and later his uncle Li Zhongwen also defected to the Turks and rebelled, which made it even more difficult for Liu Wenjing to survive.

Looking at the frozen Hehe River,
Li Shimin sighed, "I want to do something, but there's nothing I can do. I can only watch the situation deteriorate day by day. I'm extremely worried."

"Your Majesty, the situation is not yet out of control. The corruption in Guandong is not a big deal. It was originally the territory of Li Mi's former subordinates.
As for Hedong, even if it suffers a temporary setback, the king will be able to turn the tide when he returns. Furthermore, Hexi and Shannan are now being incorporated into the empire, and the Tang Dynasty is growing stronger and stronger.”

"When will you go to war with the camp?" Li Shimin asked.

"I haven't received any notification yet, but it should be soon." Li Yi felt that this trip to Yuanzhou was probably just a waste of money and food, just as Li Shimin said.
There is no war in Hexi.
Just look at the current Emperor Li Gui of Liang. He used to claim to have 100,000 elite soldiers, but now he can only defend the city with a thousand men. The rebels led by the An Xinggui brothers only have a few thousand people.

The Xiliang officials and generals from other counties were all watching the show. They could predict that once the An brothers captured Li Gui and sent him to Chang'an, all the counties in Hexi would surely surrender.

They don’t even dare to fight against the thousands of troops of the An brothers, so how dare they deal with the Tang Dynasty?

Of course, Li Jiancheng's personal presence and the presence of tens of thousands of Tang troops at the border of Liang State certainly had an effect. It could have intimidated the local officials, powerful people, and Hu tribes, forcing them to accept the officials sent by the Tang Dynasty and even allow the Tang army to enter.

But in fact, this kind of thing would be the same if any general like Chai Shao or Dou Gui led a few thousand troops.

"I calculated that I might fall off my horse in a few days, and it would probably be difficult for me to stay with the camp," said Li Yi.

Li Shimin laughed and patted his shoulder, "No need, just go with the prince. No matter whether there will be a battle or not, even if you don't get any credit, you will still have worked hard.

Besides, since the Crown Prince appreciates you so much, why don't you stay in the East Palace?"

Du Ruhui said, "The king's trust in you will not change. As the saying goes, 'Your Majesty, even if you are in Cao's camp, your heart is with Han.'"

Li Yi was stunned. What does that mean?
Am I an undercover agent?
Fang Xuanling lowered his voice and said, "Only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you fight a hundred battles without danger."

(End of this chapter)