After Qu Wenhe was executed for his rebellion, the king of Gaochang, Qu Wentai, entrusted the affairs of the country to General Zhang Xiong. On the surface, it seemed calm and quiet, but in fact, there were secret disturbances.
In the Tang army's camp, Su Lie was crouching down and writing furiously.
'Your Majesty, Su Lie, wishes to greet you. I have been stationed in Gaochang for some years under your Majesty's order. I wonder whether your Majesty is well or not. I am deeply concerned about him. I only hope that one day I can return to Chang'an and accompany you in front of you.
You are the pioneer.
All matters in Gaochang, no matter how big or small, are mostly local disputes. A few days ago, the royal family Qu Wenhe Goulian Shiluo Duizhi wanted to overthrow the government of Gaochang and replaced him with Qu Wentai. In accordance with your Majesty's decree, I will protect the safety of Qu Wentai.
, Duizhi was afraid of the military power of the Tang Dynasty and retreated without fighting, so Qu Wentai survived. Nowadays, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Gaochang is General Zhang Xiong, who was originally...
From what I can see, Zhang Xiong will form a domineering government in the near future and become the number one person in Gaochang. I dare to tell His Majesty the Emperor, do I need to continue to win over his people?
In addition, Qu Wenhe, on the other hand, although he has his own desires, he also has the intention of serving Gaochang. In every word and every word he regards our Tang Dynasty as a flood and ferocious beast, I don’t know what Qu Wentai is thinking...'
After writing the letter, Su Lie sealed it and handed it to his bodyguard.
"I have two horses and will travel day and night. I must present it to His Majesty the Emperor as soon as possible."
"As you command!"
Horse hooves galloped, and a group of Tang cavalry faced the wind and sand and gradually disappeared into the night. They passed through Yinzhou, Guazhou, Suzhou, Ganzhou, rested for a while in Liangzhou, entered Huizhou, and headed for Guanzhong.
In mid-March, he arrived in Chang'an and handed the letter to Emperor Li Zhiyun.
After reading Su Lie's letter, Li Zhiyun learned that a moderate coup had taken place in Gaochang.
Not long after, the six ministers of the Political Affairs Hall were summoned to discuss the matter.
Du Ruhui said: "It doesn't matter how Gaochang changes. No matter whether the king is loyal to our dynasty or not, as long as General Su can maintain his deterrence against Gaochang, there will be no serious problems. I believe that Gaochang is no more than a small country, and it can be controlled even if it goes back and forth.
Comparatively speaking, I care more about Tuyuhun. If Tuyuhun can be destroyed, Gaochang can fall without a fight."
"That makes sense." Xue Shu said: "The country of Gaochang is small and the people are not united. It is difficult to defeat our dynasty. If we take Gaochang now, there will be no buffer between our dynasty and the Western Turks. It is inappropriate."
Yang Gongren retorted: "If we take Tuyuhun, won't we also be bordered by the Western Turks?"
"It's different." Xue Fang explained with a smile, "Tuyuhun is a land with many mountains and forests. It has always been isolated from the Western Regions. If it weren't for my merchants, most of the people would have gone to Tuyuhun. The land is harsh, the mountains are steep, and it is difficult to farm and travel.
.Turks are nomadic. For Western Turks, the most important thing in Tuyuhun is not gold and silver, but people and animals. Nowadays, Western Turks are in civil strife and various tribes in the country are fighting. How can they risk their troops to go deep into Tuyuhun?
In the future, we will take Tuyuhun. Although it borders the Western Turks, it will be isolated from the inside and outside. In other words, taking Tuyuhun will put completely different pressure on the Western Turks than taking Gaochang.
Gaochang is the gateway to the Western Region. If the gateway is suddenly lost, the Western Turks will be on guard."
Yang Gongren was thoughtful.
Wen Yanbo thought: "We don't need to take Gaochang now. As the letter said, Zhang Xiong may be a chess piece to help us control Gaochang."
"That's right." Du Ruhui said with approval: "If this person could be controlled by our dynasty, Gaochang would have fallen into our hands."
During the brief discussion among the prime ministers, Li Zhiyun finally made the decision to support Zhang Xiong in controlling Gaochang and destroy Tuyuhun first.
In the former, Li Zhiyun has ordered Su Lie to start following up, but in the latter, he has to wait until the autumn harvest to start.
However, before that, the reorganization and training of soldiers and horses can be put on the agenda. Spring plowing is the busy time of farming, and the guards' troops rotate. Some people return to their hometowns to work on farming, while some stay in the camp to continue training.
At present, the Zhechong Mansion in the pass has been reduced, but the number is still maintained at more than a hundred. They strive to suddenly raise troops and support 300,000 troops.
It is said that it is three hundred thousand, but it is just a proxy. As long as Li Zhiyun is willing, he can mobilize all the troops in the pass and the Central Plains to attack the government, which is enough to lead a Vietnamese army of one million.
However, due to the disaster, Li Zhiyun took the opportunity to adopt the route of elite soldiers. He kept the military registration list of the young and strong, and released the old and young to return home and farm. At present, the standing army gathered around Chang'an is about 200,000, and the full force can be increased to 50
Ten thousand.
These do not include the border troops.
The number of real elites now exceeds 100,000.
To deal with Tuyuhun, there was no need for an army of 100,000. Since the death of the Turks, there was no other force in the surrounding area that could allow the Tang Dynasty to start a national war.
Beidaying.
"drink!"
"ha!"
The training officer stood at the front of the square formation, with an upright posture, issuing training orders. The training of the Tang army was all-encompassing. Soldiers specializing in scouts needed excellent riding skills and eyesight. The infantry formation needed to be able to understand the horns, beats and beats.
Drum and war orders. Also, recognize the front and rear clearly, and know that the sword, shield and arrow are out of sync.
Compared with the infantry, the training of the cavalry is more demanding and more strenuous. They need to cooperate well with their horses, and they also need to be able to do archery on horseback, etc.
These are just standing elites, and the real elites of the plate armor army are trained in another place.
The emperor took Li Jing, Qin Qiong and others to inspect Beida Camp.
"Your Majesty, these people have the experience of going to the grasslands to fight, and they are not afraid of death." Qin Qiong introduced: "In addition, in accordance with your Majesty's orders, those who are willing to take the initiative to learn culture will be given certain preferential treatment in promotion. In addition,
Anyone who withholds military pay and abuses his fellow soldiers has his head hanging in public."
Soldiers are fierce!
It not only refers to their danger, but also refers to the danger of them exploding after suppressing their emotions.
Over the years, Li Zhiyun has also made many changes in the military. One of them is to establish the position of missionary officer. After the soldiers are trained, he can tell them stories, tell them the biographies of loyal ministers, and tell them about the wise and mighty Emperor.
.
In addition, people were ordered to perform "military drama".
The so-called military drama is similar to a stage play. It is all dialogue and has no singing. When the excitement is high, the orchestra will play exciting and passionate music.
For the boring military life, His Majesty the Emperor's changes have won the hearts of the soldiers. This is one of their few pastimes, only slightly worse than doing that.
In addition, there are quite a lot of rules in the military. Since he started to adopt the elite soldier route, Li Zhiyun has listed the corresponding rules and strives to make every soldier recite them and abide by them.
However, the welfare is not bad. Needless to say, there is no need to talk about the land. More importantly, those whose children in the family are in the army can borrow cattle, farm tools and other things from the local government, or the local government can help with farming.
Of course, the prerequisite for helping is that the situation at home is poor.
After visiting the Peking Camp, Li Zhiyun rode back to the capital, talking to the generals about the soldiers along the way.
"My requirements are not high. I want all the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty to have the courage to fight and not to be timid."
"Please remember this, general." Yuchi Gong handed over his hand.
Although the emperor's requirements were very low, Yuchi Gong would not really think that the emperor's requirements were low. This was just a way of saying that he understood that the emperor wanted elites.
Cheng Yaojin asked carelessly: "Your Majesty, are we going to fight Tuyuhun this year?"
"What do you think of Yi Zhen?" Li Zhiyun asked.
"I think I need to fight!" After saying that, Cheng Yaojin said embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, can you let me go out and stretch my muscles? I think I can still fight!"
Li Zhiyun laughed and asked, "Which of you can't fight?"
"We are willing to charge into battle for Your Majesty!" the generals roared.
Li Zhiyun smiled with satisfaction and led everyone to mount their horses and whip their whips.