On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month of the first year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Li Longji of the Tang Dynasty sent Shuofang Jiedu envoy Wang Zhongsi to mention Shuofang, Hedong and Longyou on the grounds that Li Yanchong, king of Huaihua, the chief of the Xi tribe, had not sent envoys to the court for several years to pay tribute to the court. A total of 100,000 cavalrymen from the four towns in Hexi left Yanmen Pass in the north to attack the Xi tribe. Li Yanchong was frightened when he heard the news, and quickly asked for help from the Khitan Nuji tribe, who were related to him. The two tribes immediately summoned the young and strong men of the tribe. All the ministries had no choice but to join the battle. As a result, the Xi and Khitan troops stationed 200,000 troops on the banks of the Sanggan River, looking as if they were preparing to fight to the death with the Tang army.
In Shuofang, which had been peaceful for several years, the war machine began to slowly turn again. Military martial law has been imposed in the entire Lingzhou area. Food, grass, and weapons mobilized from various places in Shuofang and Chang'an were quickly transported outside the customs. . In Lingwu City, many ordinary people ran to the streets to watch the excitement. Groups of armored Tang troops with grain and grass weapons passed by on the street, which made them very excited. Shuofang had been peaceful for many years. The former Jiedu Commander Wei Guangcheng He has always only wanted to protect himself, not to attack the enemy, but fortunately the Northern Yi did not take any big actions during his tenure, which led to the people of Shuofang almost forgetting about the threat from the Northern Yi. However, many ancestors have passed down rumors about the ferocity of the Northern Yi. Once they go south, they will kill people and massacre the city. The men will be treated as slaves, and the women will be taken into the military camps as prostitutes. All the young and old will be killed. This These rumors caused Beiyi to leave a terrifying impression in the hearts of countless people. Therefore, the Northern Expedition received strong support from the people. Many young people even volunteered to join the convoys transporting food. The entire Shuofang was Started actively preparing for the war.
But declaring war is one thing, but when to fight is another. Outside Lingwu City, 80,000 cavalry from Longyou and Hedong and Hexi are slowly gathering. Because of the long distance, only the cavalry from Hedong arrived first, and those from the other two towns have not yet arrived. The leader is Han, the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu. Xiulin, he was Wang Zhongsi's old subordinate when he was the envoy to Hedong. He was quite marginalized after Tian Renwan took over as the envoy to Hedong, so Tian Renwan sent him here during this troop transfer.
In fact, this time the troops were mobilized, the Jiedu envoys in other towns were quite dissatisfied and dissatisfied. There was an unknown rule at the border, that is, borrowing troops and generals will not return them. Once the troops are borrowed, the generals will be given to other Jiedu. Even so, after the battle, there will always be one or another excuse to detain these people and not return them. It is an unknown rule, and it is the same for everyone. Therefore, each Jiedushi will not borrow the most elite, but they will not send old, weak and remnant soldiers to send you away. But this time it is different, because they are going out of Yanmen Pass to attack the nomads, so Li Longji specially issued an order to mobilize the troops. They were all cavalry. Even if the most elite warriors were not seconded, there would be no bots to replace the horses, which made the other Jiedu envoys heartbroken.
Tian Renwan was okay. After all, Wang Zhongsi had taken root in Hedong for several years and had won the hearts of the military. He had just taken over and was unable to dampen the enthusiasm of the soldiers. He quickly mobilized troops and sent Han Xiulin, who he didn't like. However, Longyou Jiedu envoy Huangfu Weiming and Hexi Jiedu envoy Fu Meng Lingcha were not so cooperative. One of them had a rift with Wang Zhongsi, and the other was stingy. Seeing that the troops they sent were slow to arrive, Wang Zhongsi became angry. Three military orders were issued in a row. Li Longji learned from the supervisor that they were neglecting military affairs and was furious. Fei Ge sent a letter to the two of them and then slowly launched troops.
In fact, it stands to reason that it is the duty of the current Military Envoy of Fan Yang to attack Xi Qi. However, the current Military Envoy of Fan Yang is Pei Kuan. He has always been at odds with An Lushan, the military envoy of Youzhou. The whole of Fan Yang is actually An Lushan's influence. Li Longji knew this very well. He originally intended to promote An Lushan to be the military governor, but his qualifications were not high, which aroused the opposition of many people, so he could only wait for a while. Let’s talk next year. It would be unwise to mobilize Fan Yang's troops under such circumstances. In addition, if Fan Yang sent troops, the rear would be empty, and the enemy would be able to sneak attack and the gains would outweigh the losses. So after careful consideration, he decided not to mobilize Fan Yang's troops, but instead The troops from Longyou west of Hedong and Longyou were transferred to Shuofang, and were led by Wang Zhongsi, the Jiedushi envoy of Shuofang, to the north from Yanmen. The name is to attack the Xi tribe, but in fact it is not just the Xi tribe. Many small border countries or tribes have not paid tribute or paid court for many years. They have not been beaten. This time, the troops are actually going to attack the Khitans. It's not the Xi clan, and fighting the Xi clan is just a cover.
Since Wu Zetian failed to attack the Khitan, the Tang Dynasty has sent troops to attack the Khitan five times, but all failed. It has become a fact that the Khitan has gradually become more powerful. Although on the surface it is still attached to the Tang Dynasty and vassal to the Tang Dynasty, in fact it has already become independent. Although Xi's ambition is not to that extent, they and the Khitan are originally from the same kinship. If the Khitan can stand on its own, the Xi clan will not be able to avoid it. Li Longji had long had the idea of attacking the Khitans, but because the Tibetan offensive was fierce during the Kaiyuan period, he had no time to visit the north. It was not until now that he had changed his age to Tianbao that he finally remembered the Khitans, a serious problem in his heart, and made up his mind to give them a good fight.
However, he has been unable to decide on the commander-in-chief position. Among the many Jiedu envoys in the border areas, many are capable of fighting, but they are not convinced by each other. He has to choose someone who can win the war and is loyal to him to assume the commander-in-chief position. Needless to say, this Naturally, the person can only be Wang Zhongsi. Sure enough, before the battle started, I heard that Huangfu Weiming and Fumeng Lingcha had not sent troops for a long time. Fortunately, he had already anticipated this situation and had issued instructions to the supervisors at each Jiedu station in advance. Now the cavalrymen at each Jiedu They should all be on their way.
Logically speaking, if a tribe like Xiqi is faced with a large army, it will be very frightened, and then send envoys to the court to prove how loyal it is, and delay sending troops. They must have a backstage behind them, but who is this backstage? He could only think of the Turks, but now that the Turks were in decline, whether they would be willing to send troops to offend the prosperous Tang Dynasty for their two tribes was another matter.
It is to take advantage of this opportunity to wipe out the two dissatisfied tribes in one fell swoop, beat them until they are afraid, and beat them into willing surrender. Only in this way can the goal be achieved.
Under this complicated situation, Wang Zhongsi took over the leadership position and started the first battle of Tianbao's early years. The affairs of Ye Qingcheng and the three of them were quickly forgotten by him.
