Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Of the more than two thousand Goguryeo men and women captured during Niu Jinda's expedition, some will be taken to the military camp first, and the rest will be sold in the market.

Many potential buyers are eyeing these newly captured male and female slaves.

Seeing the bustling trading scene in the city, Cheng Zhijie couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "It's been a while since I've been here, and Youzhou City has become so lively!"

Niu Jinda said, "Isn't it almost Chinese New Year? Shouldn't people stock up on more things?"

"That's true. It's a pity we won't be able to get back to Chang'an this year. I wonder if Pharmacist Li will be able to make it through the year."

"Alas, Pharmacist Li was such a hero back then, but now he's aged beyond recognition. The last time I visited him, he could barely walk and it took him a lot of effort to recognize me."

Li Yaoshi was the courtesy name of Li Jing, a famous general of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Jing's illness has been intermittent, and it has shown signs of worsening this year.

The two chatted idly as they rode their horses around a bend, only to find a large shop on the street ahead with a long queue stretching all the way to the side of the street.

"What does this store sell?"

"Huimin Bank? Does that mean it sells silver?"

The two were a little confused, so they asked Li Ke, who was standing next to them. But the latter didn't know what the shop was about either.

"Old Qiu, go in and ask."

"promise!"

After a while, Qiu Shiheng came out of the shop and reported to the bigwigs.

"The shopkeeper said they were in the business of withdrawing copper coins. Most of these people were merchants from the city. They would deposit their earnings, get a draft, and then withdraw the money in another place."

Cheng Zhijie was quite puzzled after hearing this: "Deposit it, then withdraw it, what's the point of doing something like that?"

Like Cheng Zhijie, Niu Jinda was also puzzled, wondering why the merchants were doing this.

Li Ke pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up: "General, Duke Lu, the owner of this shop is truly a genius. In our Great Tang Dynasty, copper coins are the currency. When merchants do business, they often have to carry several thousand strings of cash. These copper coins are not only heavy, but they are also easy to be robbed. Now that there is a shop like this, merchants don't need to carry cash anymore. They only need to carry a draft to travel the world."

After Li Ke's explanation, Niu Jinda and Cheng Zhijie finally understood.

Having understood the underlying principle, the three paid little attention to the newly opened "bank" and rode back to the military camp.

Niu Jinda, together with the chief clerk, wrote a detailed account of the battle in a memorial to the throne and sent it to Chang'an by fast horse.

As for what to do next, that depends on the emperor's decision.

Meanwhile, inside the Youzhou military camp, there was another group of people, namely Yan Hongliang and his companions who worked as laborers.

Because Tang soldiers were watching him closely, Yan Hongliang's range of movement within the military camp was limited, so he couldn't obtain much intelligence.

However, Yan Hongliang still witnessed the large contingent of troops returning to camp.

This indicates that the Tang Dynasty's military operations in Goguryeo this year have come to a temporary end.

Niu Jinda's raids on Goguryeo along the way can only be regarded as minor skirmishes.

At this time, large-scale campaigns were taking place in the west, on the vast grasslands of the northwest.

In the autumn of the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan era, the most ferocious generals and the most capable troops of the Tang Empire gathered in the southern grasslands, contacting various grassland tribes to launch a final reckoning against the Xueyantuo.

The Xueyantuo have been causing trouble in the north for quite some time now.

From the previous Xueyantuo Khan Yinan to the current Xueyantuo Khan Bazhuo, they have always been scheming against the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin had always been keeping a close watch on Xueyantuo and had not let his guard down.

The Khan of Yinan was quite clever, so he didn't make any big moves, and Chang'an turned a blind eye.

But Yinan's son, Bazhuo Khan, was much more arrogant.

He not only dared to attack the Tang Dynasty, but also killed many chieftains of the grassland tribes, provoking widespread anger.

Emperor Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty immediately realized that this year was the perfect opportunity to completely eliminate the Xueyantuo.

Since his plan to personally lead an expedition against Goguryeo had fallen through, he decided to first suppress the Xueyantuo and then consider other matters.

The Tang Dynasty had a standing army of 600,000, of which about 300,000 were field troops with relatively strong combat capabilities.

However, in every large-scale campaign, especially those far from the border and with logistical difficulties, not all 300,000 troops could be deployed; only about 100,000 could be sent to participate.

This is the limitation of national strength and mobilization capacity.

But these 100,000 Tang soldiers, after more than 20 years of conquest and fighting, had already left an exceptionally deep impression on the people of the various tribes on the grasslands.

At this time, the once-vast Eastern Turkic Empire had been completely subjugated by the Tang army. A group of Turkic generals, represented by Ashina Duer and Zhishi Sili, transformed into loyal Tang soldiers to the Heavenly Khan.

Ashina Duer, Zhishi Sili, and others participated in this major battle against Xueyantuo.

Besides the Turkic servants who joined the army, there were also generals such as Li Daozong, the Prince of Jiangxia, Xue Wanche, the governor of Daizhou, Zhang Jian, the governor of Yingzhou, and Qibi Heli, the Right General of the Valiant Guard, who participated in the battle. It can be said that the army was full of brilliant generals.

The renowned general, Duke of Ying, Li Ji, served as the commander-in-chief, commanding the entire army and coordinating the actions of all units.

Crown Prince Li Tai also accompanied the army on the expedition, staying by Li Ji's side to learn the famous general's military command skills.

In such a major battle, Li Ji, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, was extremely busy and had little energy to spare for instructing the crown prince.

However, since the prince was the crown prince, Li Ji had to show his respect, so he instructed his trusted general Su Dingfang to serve as Li Tai's military instructor.

Knowing his own shortcomings in military affairs, Li Tai became a disciple of Su Dingfang and humbly sought his advice.

The problem was that Su Dingfang disliked the task assigned to him by the commander-in-chief; he was still looking forward to fighting on the battlefield and earning military merits.

However, Li Tai's attitude towards learning was very sincere, and military orders were hard to disobey, so Su Dingfang reluctantly began to teach him.

Although Li Tai was not knowledgeable in military affairs, he was quick-witted and had another advantage—he was well-versed in geography.

As the chief editor of the Tang Dynasty geographical work "Kuodi Zhi", Li Tai was definitely an expert in this field.

Military campaigns are closely linked to mountains and rivers.

In the process of teaching Li Tai, Su Dingfang also learned a lot.

The two complemented each other perfectly and gradually became acquainted.

In this expedition, the Tang army followed its usual logic: first, it sent out envoys to contact many grassland tribes that had grudges against Xueyantuo, so that they could jointly participate in the encirclement and suppression of Xueyantuo.

Because of this, Li Tai encountered many grassland tribes that joined him along the way. Their clothing and languages ​​varied, and some of the warriors had blood still on their swords, clearly indicating that they had just come from the battlefield.

As he looked around, Li Tai had a new question.

"Brother Su, why do the nomadic tribes prefer to use curved swords instead of the straight swords of our Tang army?"

"A curved sword is not easy to break and can make longer and deeper cuts on a person."

"Then why don't we use curved swords?"

"Why should our Great Tang army learn the ways of barbarians?"