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

Chapter 252 Taking orders in times of danger
East Palace.

When Li Yi entered the hall, he heard Li Jiancheng talking to Li Gang and others about He Panren's defeat and death.

"He Panren is, after all, just a Sogdian merchant. He is good at calculating, but he is not good at commanding troops and fighting. He was promoted to General of the Left Tunwei only because of his merit in welcoming the emperor." When Jiancheng talked about He Panren, he did not show any sympathy for a high-ranking official who died in battle, but instead mocked him.

"Zhanshi was formerly the Chief Secretary. What do you think of him?"

"Pan Ren is a thief. He always wants to kill people without restraint. I advise him to stop. I am his chief secretary, so I have no regrets."

At the end of Li Gang's Daye period, he lived in seclusion in Hu County. He Panrensi gathered a group of bandits in Zhuyuan and kidnapped Li Gang to be his chief secretary. Li Gang said that he had a clear conscience about that experience.

In fact, the words are still about construction.
Because this Minister of Rites was also the Prince's Secretary and was now the head of the Eastern Palace officials, Li Gang often advised the Prince, but the Prince would neither listen nor pay attention to nine out of ten of his advice.

The prince would not listen to what he, the prince's secretary, said, but instead listened to Wei Ting, Li Anyan, Ren Can, Tang Lin, Feng Li and others. Sometimes, even Li Yi's words were more acceptable to the prince than his.

"A thief is still a thief. A thief like He Panren shouldn't be allowed to hold a high position, much less be given an important position. How could a mere Hu merchant like him be qualified to hold the rank of a third-rank General of the Left Garrison Guard?"

"Hasn't the Chancellor of the Imperial Court once advised the sage that in ancient times, musicians were not ranked with scholars. Even virtuous people like Ziye and Shixiang were required to continue their profession for their entire lives.

What about the Hu merchants? "

Seeing that he kept calling him Zhanshi but never even teacher, Li Gang couldn't help but say, "However, He Panren was, after all, the General of the Left Garrison Guard of the imperial court. He died in battle suppressing bandits under imperial orders, sacrificing his life for his country. As the crown prince, Your Highness should be more reserved in your words, otherwise, if word gets out, it will chill people's hearts."

"People like He Panren who are just sitting there doing nothing are better off if they die," Jiancheng said bluntly.

Li Yi couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was indeed a bit cold-hearted. Even if He Panren was not his man, there was no need to be like this.

"How did He Panren die?" Li Yi was curious.

"How else could he die? He died of stupidity. This He Panren used to live near Sizhu Garden. Later, he entered Sizhu Garden to gather bandits. He knew the terrain there, so Your Majesty sent him to lead the troops. However, he was frivolous and arrogant, and led his troops on a hasty march to Sizhu Garden.
He launched an attack without rest, but was lured deep into the bamboo forest by Zhang Zihui, the leader of Zhu Haishan, who feigned defeat. There, he was ambushed, and He Panren's vanguard of several hundred cavalrymen was completely wiped out.

Having said that, Li Jiancheng couldn't help but curse a few more times.

Li Yi could only shake his head. He Panren made the same mistake as Pang Yu before, of underestimating the enemy.

But no one expected that he, a dignified third-rank official, would be killed directly.

A third-rank general died.
The emperor was also furious and immediately sent two cavalry generals, Zhao Qin and Wang Shaluo, to lead troops to fight.

Xiaoqi is the military horn of the left and right guards.

Zhao Qin and Wang Sala were both third-rank generals of the Left and Right Guards.

One died, and two more were sent out.

"Why did Zhu Shanhai rebel?" Li Yi asked again. Guanzhong is now relatively stable, much better than Guandong and Longyou. All the disaster victims outside are running to Guanzhong, and no Guanzhong people are running away. Yet, Zhu Shanhai and others can still gather more than a thousand people at once.
It is strange that they were even able to kill the government troops sent to encircle and suppress them.

"He is just a stubborn commoner in the mountains who refuses to obey the king. What other reason could it be?" Jiancheng said disdainfully. He didn't care to know why Zhu Shanhai rebelled. If he dared to rebel, he would be surrounded and killed.

After scolding He Panren for being stupid and incompetent for a while, Jiancheng began to discuss the issue of sending troops to Hexi. Li Gang advised that the situation in Hexi was very good now and there was no need for the prince to go there in person, nor was there a need to send 20,000 troops, which would be too drastic.

Li Jiancheng had his own plans for sending troops to Hexi, and he would not listen to Li Gang's repeated persuasion.

"The Chancellor is also the Minister of Rites of the Imperial Court. He must have a lot of things to do there. I won't keep the Chancellor here for long. Ren Can, please send the Chancellor off for me."

Li Gang had a dark face when he stood up and left.

After he left, Li Jiancheng said to everyone, "This old man is too old-fashioned. I really don't understand why Your Majesty appointed him as the Crown Prince's Secretary and also appointed him as the Minister of Rites. In my opinion, Li Gang is no more than He Panren."

He mocked Li Gang a few times,
Li Jiancheng pointed at the map and said, "Tomorrow we will inspect the troops at the main camp. The day after tomorrow we will officially break camp and march straight to Xiaoguan, Yuanzhou."

Xiaoguan, also known as Longshanguan, is located in the north of Yuanzhou, in the upper reaches of Qingshui River, a tributary of the Yellow River. The Liupan Mountains stretch across the northwest of Guanzhong. Xiaoguan is guarding the mountain pass where the Jinghe Valley enters Guanzhong.

As the saying goes, Guanzhong is a strategically important place surrounded by mountains and rivers, and Xiaoguan is the northwest gateway among the four passes.

It is a thousand miles away from Chang'an.

Li Jiancheng, however, demanded that the entire army of 20,000 men, including 6,000 auxiliary troops, also arrive within ten days.

"Your Highness, the army will be exhausted if they don't fight after marching a hundred miles," Tang Lin said.

Jiancheng said, "This expedition to Hexi is different from the last one to Guzhou. From Chang'an to Xiaoguan, the entire route is within the territory of the Great Tang, so it is safe and worry-free. There is no need to set up camp after only half a day's march each day. A simple camp will suffice, and a hundred miles a day will be no problem."

After we reach Xiaoguan, it won't be too late for the soldiers to rest."

Li Yi had also participated in two expeditions and knew the complexity and difficulty of marching a large army. He had to reorganize the troops while marching, otherwise it would be very easy to fall behind.

Walking thirty or forty miles a day is quite tiring. After all, you still have to set up camp. Walking a hundred miles a day and carrying baggage and food is definitely life-threatening.

What's more, this requires a continuous forced march of ten days, a long journey of a thousand miles.

Li Yi felt that Jiancheng was taking things for granted and was no different from He Panran.

Instead of aiming for a hundred miles a day, it is better to set out a few days in advance and add a few more days on the road. A thousand miles in ten days can be reduced to twenty days, and a march of fifty miles a day would be much easier.

Once they arrive in Yuanzhou, if there really is a war to be fought, the soldiers will still be able to fight.

Later,

Li Jiancheng announced that Li Yi would become the commander-in-chief of the central army, which made Wei Ting, Li Anyan and others look at Li Yi with complicated eyes.

"Your Highness, I know nothing about military affairs and am truly unqualified for such an important position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army."

"You were the one who achieved the most military success in the last Eastern Expedition. How can you say you don't know how to fight?"

At noon, Jiancheng invited Li Yi to have lunch in the East Palace, and continued to discuss the Western Expedition in the afternoon. Jiancheng's plan was quite long-term. If there was any unrest in Hexi, they would march out of Xiaoguan and directly attack Liangzhou. He even had the idea of leading the troops all the way to Dunhuang, the westernmost Shazhou.

As he spoke, Li Jiancheng even pointed to Yiwulu, which was separated by hundreds of miles of desert on the map, and said, "I heard that the Sui Dynasty sent General Xue Shixiong to attack Yiwulu and asked the Turkic Khan Qimin to send troops to assist. But when the appointed time came, Qimin Khan's troops did not show up.

Xue Shixiong led a lone army deep into the vast desert, overcoming countless hardships and dangers. Suddenly, a divine army descended from the sky at the gates of Yiwu City. The King of Yiwu was so horrified that he opened the city and surrendered.

Speaking of this, Li Jiancheng was still a little excited.

"In those days, Xue Shixiong led a lone army on a long expedition and conquered Yiwu. The Sui Dynasty established Yiwu County and later sent troops to stay there. However, when the Sui Dynasty fell into chaos, the county was lost to the Hu people again.

Now I hear that Yiwu has been occupied by the Sogdian Hu people and is paying tribute to the Turks."

Li Jiancheng looked at the distant Yiwu on the map, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "What do you think? If we follow the example of Xue Shixiong who crossed the desert to conquer Yiwu, how about we suddenly attack Yiwu and recapture it?"

No one responded to the construction.

Even his confidant Wei Ting thought it was a bit too unrealistic. Now, outside Xiaoguan, the entire Hexi region is still Li Gui's territory, and even several counties in Longyou still belong to Li Gui.

Even if Li Gui was captured, it would still take a long time to take actual control. The Tang army could not run all the way from Xiaoguan to Yiwulu, as there were still more than 3,000 miles to go. Especially after leaving Yumen Pass, there were still hundreds of miles of desert.

"Tang Lin, make a plan. If there is an opportunity, send troops to Yiwulu." Jiancheng ordered.

Tang Lin, the prince's proofreader, felt a little helpless, but he didn't want to spoil Jiancheng's fun, so he had to agree.

Take a break,
Li Yi went to release the water, and Chang He went with him.

"Who is that Tang Lin?"

"That is, the ninth-rank Prince's Schoolmaster. His grandfather was Tang Jin, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and was given the surname Yuwen."

"Never heard of it." Li Yi said frankly.

"You should have heard of him, Tang Lingze. He was once the left minister to the Sui Dynasty Crown Prince Yang Yong. Because he tried to curry favor with Yang Yong, he was convicted and executed."

Li Yi was greatly surprised when he heard this. Why did Li Yuan always choose strange people to assist Jiancheng? Li Gang was known as the prince killer. This Tang Lin, his father was a famous talent in the past. He inherited the family tradition of writing good articles and was also proficient in music. However, he had no moral integrity and blindly flattered and catered to Yang Yong at banquets and games, and was eventually killed.

However, Li Yuan chose him to serve Crown Prince Jiancheng.

"However, Tang Lin has a cousin, Tang Jiao, who is serving as a military officer in the Prince of Qin's Palace."

This was beyond Li Yi's expectation. The two cousins were officials in both the Eastern Palace and the Prince of Qin's Palace.

After releasing the water, I returned to the temple.
Just sat down,
Someone outside brought a shocking news.

The two brave cavalry generals who led the troops to attack the Sizhuyuan bandit Zhu Shanhai early this morning were both killed in battle.

Two more third-rank Yiwei generals are gone?
Even the prince was shocked.

"How come one idiot dies and another pair appears?"

Wei Ting stood up and said, "Your Highness, I think this group of Sizhuyuan bandits should not be underestimated. The fact that they have lost three generals of the third rank in a row is truly shocking.

They must be wiped out as soon as possible, otherwise it will cause panic among the people in the capital and will really damage the reputation of the court.

This time we must send out wise and brave generals who are good at fighting.
I recommend Li Yi, the Duke of Qianshui County. During the last Eastern Expedition, the Duke of Qianshui County was able to defeat nine fierce generals from Guandong, capture three forts and five strongholds, and recruit the surrender of nine generals with only a thousand new soldiers who were escorting food supplies.

With such ability, please ask the Lord of Qianshui County to take action, and he will surely succeed immediately."

Li Yi turned his head to look at Wei Ting, wanting to tear his mouth apart.

"I heard that Wei Piaoqi is also good at riding and shooting and is familiar with military tactics. Why not ask Wei Piaoqi to come out?" Li Yi snorted coldly.

Chang He and Li Junxian, two generals of the Eastern Palace, were quite moved by what they heard.

"Your Highness, we are willing to go!" the two generals said in unison.

Li Jiancheng glanced at the two of them and turned his head away.
"Wuyi, this is a great opportunity to make a contribution. I will personally ask the Saint for the military order for you. You will lead the 4,000 soldiers from the camp outside the city to capture Zhu Shanhai and Zhang Zihui and bring honor to me."

Li Yi really didn't want to go.
Three third-rank generals were killed in a row. There must be something fishy going on in Si Zhuyuan. Zhu Shanhai and Zhang Zihui are definitely not just ordinary people who gathered in the mountains. He doesn't want to suffer a setback.

But Wei Ting kept adding fuel to the fire, and Jiancheng really wanted to give Li Yi a chance to make a contribution.

Finally, Li Yi had no choice but to agree.
"I have a request."

"You said."

"I would like to continue to lead the Right Rear Army and borrow Generals Li Junxian and Chang He from Your Highness. It would be best if General Luo Shixin could be loaned to me for the trip as well."

"Okay," Li Jiancheng agreed readily and immediately took him to the palace to meet the emperor and request him to send troops.

Li Yuan had just finished his rage when, two days later, he lost three generals and thousands of soldiers. This was the capital, right under the emperor's nose, and he was completely embarrassed.

"Wu Yi is a lucky general, so he will be the commander-in-chief of the Black Water Road Army, Luo Shixin will be the deputy commander-in-chief, and Li Junxian and Chang He will be the deputy commanders-in-chief."

Li Yuan took Li Yi's hand and said, "He Panren and others underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, resulting in their own deaths and the loss of their army. You must be more cautious."

Jiancheng said, "Wuyi will lead the right rear army to suppress the bandits. I will select the central army to follow and support him. I promise that within three days, I will send the heads of Zhu and Zhang to Chang'an."

"Okay, but there's no need to rush. Seven days, I'll give you seven days."

(End of this chapter)