On the occasion of rebirth Zhou Sui

Chapter 310 All parties come to envoy

In order to prevent local officials from becoming powerful, the Sui Dynasty imposed many restrictions, such as not being allowed to be re-elected, and parents and children over the age of fifteen were not allowed to accompany them to prefectures and counties.

It stands to reason that Cui Qiji should stay in Daxing after his marriage, just like Li Min, Li Mi and others, and serve in the Forbidden Army.

But there are always exceptions to everything. Cui Che will be re-elected as the general manager of Youzhou in the future because of his bold words in Pingliao for five years.

However, Cui Qiji had his mother Yang Lihua take action and was exempted from restraint.

Yang Lihua's reason is simple, she hopes that Cui Qiji can stay with his father, accept Cui Che's words and deeds, and inherit his father's mantle and serve the court in the future.

With Dugu Jialuo helping to intercede, Yang Jian readily agreed.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month in the 19th year of Kaihuang's reign (AD 599), Cui Che and his son Cui Qiji abandoned the rest of their family members and rushed to Jixian County.

Preparations for the war had begun as early as last year. In order to supply the war effort, Cui Che ordered Shi Ligang, the head of the general administration, to purchase cattle and sheep on a large scale, and continued to recruit herdsmen among the Xi people.

Today, hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep are driven by herdsmen to graze in Yanzhou.

In order to protect the livestock, a huge army, including 5,000 Boling Jingqi and 80,000 cavalrymen from Fifty Towns in Liuzhou, is now stationed outside Yanzhou City.

Yanzhou is located east of Hengzhou and north of Youzhou, adjacent to the Monan Grassland.

Preparations for war on this scale naturally attracted neighbors to send envoys southward.

Now that the Eastern Turks are divided into three, it is okay for Tuli Khan and Dusu Liuye to protect them. They are all attached to the Sui Dynasty.

On the surface, King Xi Ahui Lusu was a loyal lackey of the Sui Dynasty.

They sent the envoy just to know what Cui Che's plan was.

But Dulan Khan was really scared.

Far away in Duluoshui, Mobei, when he heard the news, he quickly sent his son Yu Qincha south. When he learned that Cui Che had returned to the court to get married, Yu Qincha even waited in Youzhou City for more than two months.

Cui Che met these envoys one after another and did not hide it from them. Instead, he bluntly stated that he was following the emperor's order to send troops to retaliate against the Khitan.

In everything, a division must be famous. When the five Khitan tribes followed Goguryeo and besieged Yingzhou, it was the best excuse.

Cui Che rushed to Yanzhou with these envoys and held a grand military parade outside Yanzhou City. Looking at the more than 80,000 elite cavalry with high morale in the audience, Cui Che said to the envoys:

"I will mobilize 100,000 cavalry to march eastward against Khitan.

"If any of you feel that Youzhou is empty and can be plundered, feel free to give it a try.

"But the ugly words are ahead. When I lead a hundred thousand fine cavalry to slaughter your tribe, remember not to blame me for not cherishing our old friendship!"

No one cares whether Cui Che has 85,000 cavalry under his command, or whether he really has 100,000 elite cavalry as he said.

Everyone's focus is still on Cui Che's threats.

Kumoxi’s envoy was the first to say:

"Please rest assured, Mr. Yan, my king is loyal to the Sui Dynasty. If anyone dares to openly commit crimes against the Sui Dynasty, even though our Xi clan is a small country, we are still willing to be the pioneers of the Sui Dynasty and attack those who are not willing to do so!"

Tuli Khan and Dusu Liu's envoys all agreed.

Even Yu Qincha kept showing his loyalty.

The tribesmen of Tuli Khan all separated from Dulan Khan and joined the Sui Dynasty when the Sui Dynasty announced that it was going to invade the north. How could they dare to cause rebellion?

Not to mention the 30,000 Turkic soldiers in Dusu Liu, it was Cui Che who asked Yang Jian for instructions before sending them to him.

He was Cui Che's prisoner and was in awe of him.

Kumoxi didn't need to say more, but Dulan Khan was really frightened by Cui Che. When he heard that Cui Che was gathering troops at the border, he couldn't even sleep well, and he didn't dare to provoke Cui Che.

Moreover, Mobei is far away from Youzhou. If Yue Qincha had to cross Monan and the desert, return to Duluo River to report the news, and then Dulan Khan would lead his army southward, Cui Che would probably have already made a triumphant return.

Cui Che was very satisfied with the attitude of these envoys, so he did not keep them for a long time and let them go back that day.

Logically speaking, three of the eight Khitan tribes surrendered to the Sui Dynasty. Cui Che only needed to use troops against the remaining five tribes, and there was no need to mobilize all the cavalry in Youzhou.

But he was worried about Goguryeo's intervention, especially since Goguryeo also had a Mohe cavalry of more than 10,000 people.

Fortunately, the Mohe of today is not the Jurchen of later generations.

Just like the Song Dynasty's combat effectiveness cannot be equal to that of the Han Dynasty.

It's just that the Mohe people lived in barren mountains and rivers and made a living by fishing and hunting. No matter how bad they were, they couldn't be any worse. What's more, Goguryeo itself had a large army.

This made Cui Che dare not hold back. He would rather fight Goguryeo in the Khitan territory than go to Liaodong City to encounter difficulties.

He did not plan to use the Xi tribe's troops in this battle.

Ah Hui Lusu went to eat meat and soup with him, and Ku Moxi's strength developed greatly.

Even though Ahui Lusu was extremely submissive, he was worried that the Xi people would grow stronger and show their teeth at him.

Therefore, when Cui Che sent away the Xi tribe's envoy, he specifically asked him to tell Ah Hui Lusu that he had taken away Youzhou's elite soldiers, leaving only the old and weak to Li Gang to guard the city, feeling uneasy.

Therefore, Ahui Lusu needs to stay in Laohahe. If there are changes in Youzhou, he can rush to help as soon as possible.

On the 23rd of the first lunar month in the 19th year of Kaihuang's reign (AD 599), Cui Che gathered the three armies. Unlike before, it was not to boost morale.

But strict military discipline.

In the past, Cui Che led his troops out to plunder, grabbing a sum and then running away.

Now, if you want to conquer the Khitan, you have to be known as the teacher of benevolence and righteousness.

Not to mention that there is nothing wrong with ordinary herders, at least they cannot continue the previous style.

They slaughtered men, plundered women, children, and livestock, and acted like bandits crossing the border.

After all, according to Cui Che's plan, the Khitans had to be driven to fight Goguryeo.

Hearing that they should not act recklessly, the mood of the soldiers visibly dropped.

It wasn't until Cui Che promised that he would receive generous rewards after returning to the army that his morale was boosted again.

Yang Jian had previously ordered a large warehouse to be built outside Youzhou City. Now it was filled with money, cloth and grain, and the cavalrymen were not worried about Cui Che breaking his promise after the war.

That day, the cavalry, which was said to be one hundred thousand elite cavalry but actually only had 85,000 cavalry, headed northeast under the leadership of Cui Che.

Accompanying him were old generals such as Wang Dangwan and Mai Tiezhang, as well as newly promoted captains such as Dou Jiande and Liu Heitai who had made contributions in the battle of Xian'e River.

Li Jing is now the Sima of Zhaozhou, so naturally he is not on the list of expeditions.

However, Fang Xuanling was still taken by Cui Che. Due to his meritorious service in the battle of Xian'e River, he was promoted from the sixth-rank minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs to the fifth-rank minister of Tongzhi Sanqi.

Now that Cui Che was out of town in Youzhou, he was also transferred out and asked to be the governor of Youzhou.

The general manager usually also serves as the governor of the state where the general manager's office is located. For example, Cui Che once served as the governor of Qingzhou, and now he also serves as the governor of Youzhou.

Cui Che brought Cui Qiji and Mai Mengcai with him, and the army marched out of the fortress, followed by Xi Ren herdsmen driving livestock.

(End of chapter)