The year 821 was destined to be a troubled period for the Holy Tang Dynasty.
Just after the Spring Festival, bad news came one after another, reaching the heart of the imperial capital.
The first was the incident in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang. The two countries of Loulan and Shule suddenly rebelled. The scale was far greater than the small riots in various parts of Western Xinjiang a year ago. The rebels were said to have 200,000 troops, and they quickly raided the surrounding areas. With vassal states and military towns, the peaceful western region suddenly fell into chaos;
Not long after, He Jingming, Shengtang's meritorious general, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fierce Blade Legion and the Chief Protector of the Zhenjiang Protectorate, encountered a sudden attack within Shengtang's own territory. The general fell, and the government and the public were shocked.
Soon after, the heaviest blow finally came - the Zhenjiang Protectorate and the Fierce Blade Legion, a total of 120,000 troops, were completely wiped out in the battle of Crescent Bay!
At this point, there is no longer any main force of the Shengtang Army to the west of Zijin Pass, and the entire Western Xinjiang Ghost Conspiracy has been wiped out by the rebels.
According to the latest battle report sent back from the west, just five days ago, a Turkic army of 50,000 people appeared outside Zijin Pass, known as the western barrier of Shengtang. They camped near the pass and completely blocked the road to the west.
With Liangzhou's current military strength, it is already very difficult to barely keep Zijin Pass intact. There is no need to even think about a western expedition to quell the rebellion. Memorials requesting the imperial court to send troops to reinforce the defense were scattered like snowflakes in front of Emperor Li Chengwu's Dragon Case.
And below the dragon case, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty were noisily arguing.
"Master Xie, as the Shangzhu State in charge of the military affairs of the imperial court, you are really to blame for the current situation!" Zhongshu ordered Liu Shiming to stop and beat his chest, pointing at Xie Guang's nose and reprimanded.
Faced with such accusations from the civil servant group, Xie Guang naturally sneered and couldn't help but snorted: "What a joke, I have just taken up my new post in Shangzhu State. Previously, I only commanded the Xuanjia Army and was separated from the troops in Western Xinjiang. They belong to different systems, how can they take the blame?"
Wang Jie, the censor Zhongcheng, was from Liu Shiming, so of course he had to speak for the civil service department. He smiled conspiratorially and said: "Then Master He's death has nothing to do with you? Isn't Xu Youchang the vanguard of your Xuanjia Legion? General?"
"Xu Youchang is indeed serving under me," Xie Guang obviously didn't care much about Wang Jie's difficulty and retorted calmly: "But, Mr. Wang, what evidence does he have to show that it was Xu Youchang and the Xuanjia Army's vanguard battalion who attacked He Jingming?"
Liu Shiming said angrily: "It's not him? It's not him, then why did he take his men and flee to Western Xinjiang?"
Xie Guang rolled his eyes at him: "Why did Xu Youchang leave Western Xinjiang? According to my opinion, it is probably because he was worried about being framed by villains for no reason, so he had no choice but to escape."
Wang Huan, the commander of the Royal Forest Army, retorted after hearing this: "Shangzhu Kingdom, even if Xu Youchang is really grievances, he should return to the imperial capital to distinguish right from wrong. Whether it is the Sanfa Division or the Governor's Mansion, they have their own ways to get to the bottom of the case. Like now. Leading his troops to flee to the Western Border without authorization is clearly a rebellion! As the chief officer of Shangzhu Kingdom, I'm afraid you can't just push them away."
"Commander Wang, what do you mean by this?" Lu Yaofeng, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, was Xie Guang's disciple. Seeing this, he quickly came to Xie Guang's rescue and said: "The whole matter has not been understood yet, so let's give it to Xuan Jia first. What are the intentions of the people in the army who labeled them as rebels? Anyway, our Ministry of War has never issued an order for the Liangzhou Prefecture soldiers and the Fierce Blade Army to join forces to besiege and detain the Xuanjia Army's vanguard camp for no reason. Who is it? He planned all this behind the scenes and forcefully forced Xu Youchang to leave. We really should investigate him carefully."
"Man surnamed Lu, please explain clearly to me what you mean by intention? Who are you trying to say who planned this?"
"Who knows who did it! Anyway, I can't do that kind of thing of throwing dirty water on others."
"asshole!"
"You're the bastard, the big bastard!"
"Master Lu, it is really an insult to politeness to utter dirty words in the court hall! It is an insult to politeness!..."
"Bah, you gentle scum!"
With a snap, Li Chengwu picked up the white jade paperweight on the Long Case and slammed it to the ground, shattering it into pieces.
The ministers were all shocked and hurriedly bowed down to plead guilty.
"Noisy, noisy! The noise makes my head hurt! Let's put the matter of He Jingming and Xu Youchang aside for now! Zhao'er and others are here to talk about important matters. What should we do over there in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang?!... ...Get up! Everyone, stand up and answer me!"
Lu Yaofeng was in charge of the Ministry of War. After hearing this, he cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, the current plan is to send troops to counterattack. On the one hand, we must suppress the rebellion in Western Xinjiang and on the other hand, we can expel the Turkic foreign enemies. Fortunately, Shangzhu Kingdom had previously suggested that this year's The school military test was held together with the Tianzi Sixth Army drill, so a large number of main troops are currently gathered near the imperial capital. The Qilin Corps is 80,000, the Xuanjia Corps is 60,000, and the Long Sword Corps is on its way here, about 100,000. Plus The soldiers sent by the Zhechong Prefecture and the Duhu Prefecture of each state to participate in the competition exercise totaled nearly 300,000 troops, and they are fully capable of resolving this crisis in Western Xinjiang."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Governor Xiao Chen agreed: "Now that the cold winter is about to pass, the spring is warm, the flowers are blooming, and the snow is melting. The roads are clear. It is the right time to use troops. Moreover, the food, grass and military supplies in the national treasury are all available, so We should send out troops immediately to avoid long nights and endless dreams."
Lu Yaofeng and Xiao Chen are in charge of military affairs and are the most familiar with Shengtang's combat strength. Moreover, what they said is well-founded. Even if other ministers usually disagree with their political views, they can't find any better reasons at this moment. refute.
When Li Chengwu saw that no one in the court was speaking, he couldn't help but agree a little bit in his heart, so he then asked: "Since the soldiers, food and grass are all ready, who will lead the army on the expedition?"
This question made the court even more silent. For a moment, no one responded to this sensitive topic.
Li Chengwu was slightly startled, then raised his eyes to look at the general on the right, Chao Ban, and couldn't help but feel a little worried.
The most prominent position in the front row originally belonged to the veteran general Xu Lie, the commander of the Qilin Legion. Mr. Xu is a veteran of three dynasties, with great military exploits, and has always played a decisive role in the Shengtang military. However, today's court meeting involves his grandson Xu Youchang, so the old man took sick leave to express his avoidance. Moreover, Xu Lie is old and not in good health after all. Even if he is here, it is impossible for him to take on the important task of going to Western Xinjiang.
Looking further back, Li Chengtan, the general of the auxiliary state, is tall and powerful in appearance. He is the cousin of Emperor Li Chengwu. The two of them grew up together. Of course, Li Chengwu knew better than anyone else: Li Chengtan is not good at studying and practicing martial arts since he was a child. He ranks first in eating, drinking and having fun. It's okay for you to ask him to shoot a bird. Let him shoot a bird. There is definitely a problem with that;
Commander Xiao Chen, although he held a military position, was a civil servant. He was able to plan war strategies in the court, but it was a pity that he had no strength and had no experience in leading troops to fight. He led hundreds of thousands of troops into battle. , I am afraid that most of them will have diarrhea on the spot;
Shence General Ma Hongyi is a rare and powerful general, but unfortunately he fell seriously ill two months ago. The doctor said that he seems to be normal now, but he never knows when he will suddenly relapse and burp. Therefore, Lao Ma now has to take a doctor with him to save his life when he goes out. If this is a critical moment in front of the two armies, if his small physique does something good again, it doesn't matter if Ma Hongyi dies or not, the whole army will be in trouble.
As for Chen, the garrison general next to Ma Hongyi, what is Chen? Why don't you have any impression of him? Alas, if he got so messed up that even the emperor couldn't remember him, he probably wouldn't have much future.
Look at the other generals in the court squad. Each one of them is either a wine bag or a rice bag. They are a little good, but they generally lack the qualifications to command a large army.
After picking and choosing, there were only two candidates left, Xie Guang and Wang Huan.
Li Chengwu secretly thought that Wang Huan was his trusted general. He had been the head of the palace guards since he became the prince, and now he was shouldering the heavy responsibility of guarding the imperial city, so he could never leave. In this case, we can only use Xie Guang...
At this moment, Pan Yukang, the Shaofu Supervisor, suddenly said loudly: "Your Majesty, I recommend that Shangzhu Kingdom lead troops to go out to quell the chaos in Western Xinjiang."
After hearing what he said, many ministers who were close to Xie Guang spoke quickly and expressed their agreement.
Li Chengwu couldn't help being slightly stunned when he saw this, and then thought of something in his mind. A few days ago, Shi Chenlie, the director of Nilin, asked Fenyang's Prince Consort to send an urgent report to Liangzhou. "Western Xinjiang is in urgent need of fear of internal changes. The top priority in Gyeonggi Province is to stabilize the morale of the military." Although it was only a few words, it suddenly became clear. This made Li Chengwu wary. At this moment, the emperor felt even more hesitant: If he decided now to appoint Xie Guang as the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition, as soon as he released the military symbols, all the 300,000 troops would fall into his hands at once.
If Xie Guang really has an agenda, he only needs to pick out those troops that do not belong to his direct line and send them far away to the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang, while he leads his trusted men and horses back to the imperial capital to play a trick of "Qing Jun's Side" , when the time comes, Wang Huan’s 20,000 Yulin Army alone may not even be enough to fill the gaps in Xie Guang’s teeth.
What should we do?
Liu Ce, the young master of the prince, was thoughtful and well aware of the emperor's fear of Xie Guang. He saw that the emperor was in a dilemma, so he raised his hand and said, "Your Majesty, I think that the selection of generals for the Western Expedition should be discussed in the long term. "
"Oh? Zhang Aiqing, tell me what you think." Li Chengwu's eyes lit up and he asked quickly.
Liu Ce glanced slightly at Xie Guang, who was standing not far away. Although the Shangzhuguo of the Holy Tang Dynasty still looked as usual, it was not difficult to find that Xie Guang's face was covered with a faint smile. Frost. Liu Ce didn't care much and continued to say calmly: "Although the current situation in Western Xinjiang is critical, as the saying goes, illness comes like a mountain falling, and illness goes away like a thread. There is no need to rush for such a major matter. At present, We know almost nothing about the specific situation of the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang. If we dispatch the army rashly, who can guarantee that a second Crescent Bay will not appear again?"
Xie Guang smiled faintly when he heard this and asked: "According to Master Young Master's wishes, the Zijin Pass, which is in danger, is just left alone?"
"It's not that we don't care." Faced with Xie Guang's doubts, Liu Ce responded calmly: "Zijinguan is the western border gate of our Holy Tang Dynasty, and there is absolutely no room for failure. Therefore, the imperial court can first dispatch the Xuanjia Legion under the Shangzhu Kingdom to urgently Rush to the aid of Zijin Pass and try to stabilize the situation there. At the same time, the court will discuss carefully and formulate a proper response strategy before dispatching the army."
As soon as these words came out, Xie Guang was suddenly a little stunned. What he was most worried about was that the emperor sent out the Xuanjia Army as Liu Ce said. In that case, the most valuable bargaining chip in his hand would be directly discarded. Therefore, Xie Guang rolled his eyes, raised his hands to Li Chengwu and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I think this plan is absolutely impossible. Master Liu's proposal is more than prudent, but not aggressive enough. Moreover, he himself is not familiar with military affairs, so It is impossible to examine the current situation from the perspective of the battlefield. If we do what he said, it will definitely delay the war opportunity and cause serious trouble."
At this point, Xie Guang glanced at Liu Ce, and without waiting for the other party to refute, he continued: "In the beginning of the chaos in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang, although Shengtang took the lead first, whether it was the rebels from the vassal state or the people who suddenly appeared there, The Turks have not yet gained a stable foothold, but our people in Western Xinjiang have not lost their hearts. At this moment, it is the best opportunity for the imperial court to send troops to regain the lost territory. It is said that rescuing troops is like putting out fires. If we face a sudden invasion by a powerful enemy, we will hesitate Being undecided and only making the minimum division of troops for defense is tantamount to allowing the fire to spread, watching helplessly as the fire grows from small to large, and eventually becomes a prairie fire. Once the opponent gains a foothold in Western Xinjiang, by that time Even if we deploy the entire nation’s troops, we don’t dare to claim victory. Your Majesty, please think again!”
The ministers of Xie Guang's line in the court also raised their hands and said, "Your Majesty, please think again!"
Xie Guang's eloquent discussion immediately made Li Chengwu feel in a dilemma.
Liu Ce's idea was originally very much in line with his wishes; but after all, Xie Guang was one of the most famous generals in the Holy Tang Dynasty. When it came to fighting skills, except for the late He Jingming, there were really few civil and military figures in the Manchu Dynasty who could match him. Moreover, Xie Guangzhi's words are also reasonable and reasonable. From the perspective of the country and the country, it cannot be rejected hastily.
At this time, Li Chengwu felt a little helpless. Neither the left nor the right was right. It was really difficult to make an immediate decision, so he had to resort to his magic weapon - the "drag" formula. He weakly hummed: "What the two beloved ladies said are all right." It makes sense. Regarding the Western Expedition, let me think about it carefully and discuss it in court tomorrow morning."
