When Yang Ming was away from the capital, Yang Yue assisted Yang Rui, the king of Zuo Hedong, and presided over the court meeting, with Yang Xiong assisting him.
In fact, Yang Rui dozed off most of the time during the court meeting.
He wanted to play, but his mother-in-law pinned her down on the seat and could not move. At first, Yang Rui was not used to it and even cried. It was not good for Yang Yinjiang in front of so many ministers. He will be punished, but afterwards, he will warn his son not to run around in the court meeting, otherwise he will tell his father.
Yang Ruixu was stunned when he heard Yang Ming.
So he simply slept. Gradually, he found that this was a good idea. Every time he woke up, he was on his way home.
Eyes closed and opened, hey, I'm home.
But today, Yang Rui was suddenly awakened by a burst of noise in the palace. When he opened his eyes, he found that the bearded ministers had all stood up and were looking towards the outside of the palace.
There seemed to be some noise outside, quite loud, and the sound was getting closer.
"Great victory in Hexi!"
"Great victory in Hexi!"
...
An orderly guard rushed into the hall, knelt down towards Yang Rui, and said loudly:
"Report! A great victory in Hexi. King Qin attacked Fuqi City and Murong Fuyun was beheaded in the battle."
There was an uproar in the palace, and all the ministers congratulated Princess Yang Yinjiang and Crown Prince Yang Rui one after another. The atmosphere was very warm.
Yang Yue was overjoyed and immediately walked down from above, pointing at the messenger and saying:
"What's going on? How come it's so fast? Didn't King Qin just go to Hejin County in the last military report?"
The guard said: "Report to the Secretary, six days ago, the main force of our army fought a decisive battle with Murong Fuyun's main force of 100,000 in the area of Jishi Town, Shudun City, and Chishui City. They were severely defeated. Taiping Gong attacked Fuqi City, and the King of Qin came from Hejin County. We are on the way to Fuqi City, I think we have arrived by now."
Next, without Yang Yue asking any more questions, the guards ordered the entire battle to be narrated in the court.
"Four months, less than four months," Yang Yue said enthusiastically, stroking his hands and laughing, "Murong kid despises our heavenly dynasty, so kill him well."
Then, Yang Yue saluted his grandniece and said, "The princess needs to write a congratulatory note in the name of the crown prince and send it to Jiangdu immediately."
Yang Yinjiang nodded: "As it should be, let Yang Zhongshu draft it."
"Yes," Yang Yue smiled and nodded.
Yang Yinjiang just wanted to delegate power to her uncle in front of so many people.
Originally, the court meeting was about to break up, but now none of the ministers wanted to leave, so they continued to stay and started chatting about the Western Expedition in the main hall.
It is only the end of July now, and King Qin has already invaded Tuguhun King's City less than four months after leaving the capital. This is a great good thing for everyone.
Because they are also carrying burdens.
The initial decision was that after the army from the front captured Fuqi City, the capital would have to arrange for people to take it over. After all, the emperor's intention was to completely occupy the original territory of Guhun, establish counties, and completely merge it into the Sui Dynasty. territory.
Not only did the six ministries have to go, but the future positions of counties and counties and the candidates for the chief officials had to be determined early.
Only those with a headache would want to go to that place. Yang Yue also knows this. Don’t you want to go? Just in time, my people are going.
Although Yang Ming has only occupied one-fifth of Tuguhun's territory at the moment, in fact, the entire center of Tuguhun is here. Taking this place is equivalent to taking over Tuguhun.
So now, we can start to negotiate the division of counties.
Because everyone knows in their hearts that even if Tiele comes, the King of Qin will not give up an inch of land. Therefore, the Ministry of Civil Affairs cannot slack off on the logistics support matters, because there may be conflicts ahead. Of course, the possibility is not big.
The place for the decisive battle is Chishui City and Shudun City. Because it is the source of the Yellow River, it is tentatively planned to be Heyuan County. The territory extends to Bayan Har Mountain in the west, Animaqing Mountain in the south, Xihai in the north, and Chuhe County in the east. , Lintao County.
The area where the royal city Fuqi City is located is Xihai County, and the remaining vast area in the west is Qiemo County in the west, Shanshan County in the northwest, and Yinwu County in the north.
The establishment of five new counties had to be decided by the emperor in the end, but Yang Yue knew that the emperor would agree because the names of these five counties had been discussed between Pei Ju and the emperor long ago.
So who should go among the five county governors and the following county magistrates?
The decision-making power lies with the emperor, and Yang Yue and others have the right to recommend.
Yang Yue directly recommended Feng Deyi as the prefect of Heyuan County, and his native Yang Wenhui as the prefect of Xihai. These are the two best places.
He thought that others would not rob him, but who knew that many people would rob him.
Because everyone knows that this is a key location in the Hexi Corridor. Trade with the Western Regions will be rich in the future, and it is also a good place to earn military exploits. Although it is a bit bitter, it is not that you will stay there all your life. If you earn enough merits, you will not be transferred back. That’s it?
There were people arguing, but Yang Yue was not afraid, because the final list submitted to the emperor for final decision received the nod from Hedong King Yang Rui.
You can't step over someone just because they are a three-year-old child. Even if they are still in their infancy, they can still make this decision. Who makes them the eldest grandson of the emperor, who is currently guarding the capital.
The only person who can make Yang Rui nod is Princess Yang Yinjiang.
...
Fuqi City, the royal city of Tuguhun, sounds intimidating, but in fact, its size is similar to that of Hedong County, and the permanent population in the city is only 40,000.
After all, the entire Tuguhun is still dominated by nomadic herders, and the only commercial and trade area is Fuqi City.
All armies were stationed in the river valley outside the city, forming a horn-like posture to defend the royal city.
At this time, Yang Ming was in Tuguhun's palace, discussing matters with the generals.
Pei Ju wrote a letter, hoping that Yang Ming would allocate 5,000 men to him after negotiating with Tiele. He would use these 5,000 men to take over Dunhuang County.
Dunhuang County is northwest of Zhangye County. During the Kaihuang period, Guazhou was established. This place was where the royal city of Tuguhun was located more than a hundred years ago. After the river changed its course, the royal city moved south to Fuqi City.
It was nominally the territory of the Sui Dynasty, but in fact it was the buffer zone between the Sui Dynasty and Tuguhun. This place was a mixed area of Hu and Han people, and it belonged to the "Three No Matters" zone.
Now that Tuguhun has been destroyed, Pei Ju plans to take over this place.
Gao Jiong said: "These places will not be easy to govern in the future. When it comes to appointing officials, it is best to select some young people from the local area who are familiar with Chinese culture. Of course, the chief officials must be Han Chinese."
Tuguhun was originally the regime of the Murong clan of Xianbei. There were many people who were proficient in Chinese, and there were even those who had read Confucian classics. Using Qiang to control Qiang was the best way.
Yang Ming nodded and said: "We need to set up a governor's palace here to station troops to maintain regional security and protect our trade routes in the western Sui Dynasty. Fuqi City is undoubtedly the best place, as is the number of soldiers. I don't know how many. should?"
"Of course, before that, we need to contact the leaders of each tribe and re-divide the pasture waters for them to control the Qiang people of various tribes. Whoever is obedient will occupy the best pasture waters. If there is a disturbance in the future, we can also recruit various tribes Go out and fight.”
"Good idea," Gao Qiao smiled and nodded: "As I said before, using Qiang to control Qiang, the conflict of interests between their tribes is nothing more than competing for the best pasture. If we take this power back to the Governor's Mansion, we can improve it. To control them well, from this point of view, five thousand permanent soldiers are enough."
Changsun Cheng smiled and said: "Are you afraid that these places can't even raise five thousand soldiers?"
"It's not just here," Gao Jiong said: "After the establishment of prefectures and counties, this will be the western barrier of Xiping County, Lintao County, Chuihe County and Jincheng County. These four counties will also have to support the Dudu Mansion."
At this time, Yang Ming waved to Wang Shuo, motioning him to move forward.
"You have done a good job in Qilian City. If I let you serve as the Governor of the Governor's Mansion, you won't think that I am neglecting you, right?"
Wang Shuo hurriedly said: "I would never dare to have such an idea in my humble position. It is my honor to be valued by His Highness."
Yang Ming smiled: "That's why I didn't ask you to follow Xuanting west to chase the enemy. You really have a heavy responsibility entrusted to you. Work for a few years and make some achievements, and I will plan your future."
"Thank you for your great kindness, Your Highness," Wang Shuo hurriedly knelt down.
He was originally a "party member" of Duke He Ruobi of the Song Dynasty. He was not implicated and executed at first, but he was protected by the King of Qin. Although he was now placed in such an inhospitable place, he did not complain at all. Instead, he believed that the King of Qin intended to support him.
Yang Ming didn't mean this. He just felt that his opponent was very good at defending the city. As for his talk of working for a few years, it was not an empty talk. The military commander in the border land couldn't let him work for a long time. It is necessary to change it once, otherwise if it is used for too long, it will become too big and it will be difficult to move.
Next, in addition to appeasing the residents in the city, he sent people to contact the tribes scattered around, promising them benefits and asking them to come to Fuqi City to meet Yang Ming.
Tie Le Khan Qibi Ge Leng personally led an army of 50,000, marched thousands of miles, and headed straight for Fuqi City.
On the way, he met Murong Zheyun's tribe who was fleeing to the west. The latter surrendered to Qibige Leng. Qibige Leng accepted him and incorporated him into his command.
Yang Xuanting and Xiao Mohe, who were responsible for the pursuit, negotiated with the opponent to no avail, so they urgently sent people to report to the King of Qin, and they were responsible for blocking the Tiele people in the Tuosu Lake area.
Tuosu Lake is less than three hundred miles away from the Royal City.
"As expected," Gao Jiong said with a solemn face after receiving the news: "Qibige looked stunned and wanted to seize the territory. We must take a tough stance. We can attack with small groups, but it is not appropriate to trigger a war. This scale is not suitable. Easy to control.”
After Yang Ming pondered for a while, he said:
"I don't think they dare to fight. The Western Turks are eyeing the tiger in the north. If Qibige dares to fight with me, Chuluo will definitely kill me. The two families are feuding, and the Xue Yantuo tribe, the second largest in Tiele, In the northeast, there is no Xue Yantuo. He would not dare to fight me just because of Qi Bige. He is just here to carve up the territory."
"What if there's a fight?" Shi Wansui asked from the side.
After Yang Ming was silent for a long time, he said in a deep voice: "Then fight!"
After saying that, Yang Ming looked at the generals and said: "Shi Wansui, Zhang Dinghe, Chang Suncheng, and Mai Tiezhang, follow me and lead the Chinese army's 60,000 elite cavalry to go straight to Tuosu Lake."
This time, no one persuaded Yang Ming not to fight in person.
Because only Yang Ming can negotiate with Qibige Leng, and no one else dares to make the decision.
As for the current Sui army, after annihilating Murong Fuyun, they captured more than 40,000 war horses in total. With the addition of Xiao Mohe and Yang Xuanting's troops, they could equip more than 80,000 cavalry troops.
】
Gao Jiong, Qu Tutong, and Zhou Fashang stayed behind in Fuqi City.
