Zhenguan Wenzong System

Chapter 269

After experiencing such a small episode, the army arrived [-] miles away from Shuo County just as the sun was setting after a quick march.It happened that this was a flat wilderness, so Li Jing set up guard posts all around and sent out scouts outside, so he ordered the whole army to set up camp.

Through the interrogation of the three Turkic captives, Li Jing got a rather shocking news.Xieli still has a considerable advantage in the disputes among the various tribes.And Tuli, who had been at odds with him all the time, was suppressed by Xieli to the point of being out of breath.

For the Datang army, this is not good news.It was originally planned to send troops in one fell swoop while the two families are fighting to the death, but now it seems that they can only give up.As the coach, Li Jing is under a lot of pressure at the moment.Xu Shiji, Chai Shao, and Li Daozong's soldiers and horses are almost at the deployed positions.If the delay continues, not to mention the impact on the morale of the army, the supply of food and grass will be a problem.

Fortunately, the Sixth Route Army is distributed on the four marching roads in Hebei, Henan, and Guannei, otherwise the army would have to retreat before the Chinese New Year.

What is more worrying than this news is that the further north they march, the more snow will fall.Along the way, due to the cold weather, more than 500 people were lost, which is not a small proportion of the 3 people.

After Li Jing raised his account as usual, dozens of generals under his command began to complain.

"Commander, the soldiers under his command have come to report these days, and the charcoal fire is obviously insufficient. Seeing that the weather is getting colder and colder, it will inevitably waste our troops."

"The bright and dark whistle on duty also came to report, saying that they were unable to stay on duty for an hour in this kind of weather. Although there were charcoal fires outside, it was still not as cold as the night."

"The scouts requested a ration of spirits and a large amount of dried ginger. Unlike the sentries, if the scouts want to patrol the designated area, they can't complete it for more than an hour. The lack of supplies will cause a large number of attrition."

"..."

"All right, all right, these things are dealt with one by one. The supplies of the scouts are given priority, and the sentry posts are replaced by shifts every half an hour. As for charcoal and grain, I have led the collection of Shuo County and surrounding counties. According to reports from various places yesterday , [-] catties of charcoal and [-] stones of grain and grass have been collected. No matter what, try to ensure the combat capability of the elite troops.” As the coach, these issues have been considered long ago.Hearing what the generals said at this moment, he immediately gave the answer.

After a series of instructions, Li Jing was about to let the generals go back, when suddenly he heard an urgent report from a soldier outside the tent: "Commander, the scout team has something important to report."

"Come in."

The felt curtains of the big tent parted, and a gust of cold wind blew in.Immediately, a scout in felt clothes stepped in quickly, bowed to Li Jing, and said, "I tell the commander, I was patrolling fifty miles due north of Shuo County, and I encountered a Turkic man who was dressed gorgeously and did not look like a commoner. I need to find the commander-in-chief. I didn't dare to neglect, so I brought this person back."

According to the scout's description, everyone knows that this is definitely a Turkic nobleman.The nobles of various Turkic tribes are mostly respected by wearing silk and speaking Chinese.Since this person has both.Moreover, there is a posture of not seeing the coach in his words, and his identity must be absolutely extraordinary.

"Let him in."

The Turkic people the scouts were talking about had already been taken out of the tent, Li Jing was invited in by the guards as soon as Li Jing finished speaking.

Seeing Li Jing sitting in the main seat, this person cupped his hands and bowed when he arrived in the tent: "Tuli Khan's tent, Ashinaqi, has arrived to meet the commander in chief. Now I am here because of the entrustment of my prince. Report the matter to the Commander-in-Chief." After speaking, he glanced around, and then looked at Li Jing squarely, waiting for his reply.

Just by hearing the person's name, those who are familiar with Turks will know that their status is definitely not low.The Ashina family is the royal family of the Eastern Turks, so it is no wonder that this person is proficient in Chinese and is dressed in silk.The generals were even more delighted when they heard his identity. In connection with the internal disputes in Turkic that they had known before, they thought that Turkic was going to join forces with the Tang army to launch an attack on Jieli.

If this is the case, although it is somewhat different from the strategic goal established before, with the help of Turkic insiders, it will not be easy to eliminate Xieli.

The person's demeanor was full of Han family atmosphere, Li Jing also knew what he meant, waved his hand, and told the generals to retreat.

Just as Luo Yan turned to go out, he suddenly heard Li Jing say: "Deputy Manager Zhang and General Luo stay here." Luo Yan was stunned for a moment, but he soon recovered.Since Li Jing asked him to stay, it's better to stay as a bystander.Thinking about what Li Jing meant, he wanted the two of them to be present as witnesses. Even if someone used this to criticize him for having an affair with Turks, he could still ask Zhang Gongjin and himself to testify.

Li Jing and the others were the only three left in the account, Ashina Qizhi was still a little worried, staring at Li Jing, but he didn't say a word.

"Your envoy can rest assured that this is Zhang Gongjin, the deputy chief of the Xingjun Road. You must be familiar with his name. This is Luo Yan, a close minister of the emperor. He once accompanied His Majesty to negotiate with Xieli Xiaoer on the banks of the Weishui River. He will never leak any secrets. What's the matter, your envoy can just say it." Knowing that this person is worried about Luo Yan and the two of them, Li Jing introduced their identities.

Only then did Ashinaqi put down Xinlai, and bowed to Li Jing: "Commander, please forgive me for being stupid. It really has a lot to do with it, so I have to be careful."

Seeing Li Jing nodding, he said: "I think the Commander has heard that since the year before last, my family's Khan made it easy for Xie Li to compete for power in the clan. Recently, due to the declining state of the country, this kind of fighting has become more intense. In the past, a large number of nobles took refuge in our Khan because they couldn’t stand Xieli’s harsh treatment. It’s just that recently Xieli bought people’s hearts and made the tribes who had originally joined them defect. If it continues, I’m afraid Xieli’s snake-hearted guy It’s going to be bad for my Khan. After thinking about it, my Khan wants to lead the six tribes under his tent to join the Tang Dynasty, and ask the commander-in-chief to pass on the news to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.”

"What?" Don't say it's Luo Yan and other juniors who can't raise their energy well, so they immediately exclaimed when they heard this.Even Zhang Gongjin and Li Jing changed their expressions.Unexpectedly, the struggle between the two sides has become so intense. The three of them looked at each other and asked anxiously, "Is what your envoy said true?"

"That's right, Jieli wants to invade the south with all his heart. But my Khan has been educated by the Han family since he was a child, and even married the princess of the previous dynasty. Considering that the border wars often result in casualties, and there are enshrined by the Tang Dynasty every year, there is no need to continue Use force. The two sides disagreed, and Jieli saw that our Khan was powerful, and wanted to get rid of it to consolidate his position. Under the struggle, our Khan was powerless. If he did not think about it, he would be killed by Najieli The balance was severe, and finally decided to surrender to Datang, with the kindness of all in-laws."

Due to Tuli's background and family relationship, Ashinaqi even deliberately downplayed Tuli's decline in the struggle as much as possible.In this way, in other people's ears, it was Tuli who joined Datang out of righteousness.It wasn't that he had contradicted his language, it was to gain the trust of Li Jing and the others as much as possible before, but later he saw that he had gained the trust, and there was hope for Tuli's surrender to Tang, so he found a high-sounding reason for his master.

Even a person like Luo Yan, who often insists on words, admires Ashina Qizhi's words.

"Since this is the case, can your envoy wait until I send a fast horse to deliver the report to Chang'an, and leave it to His Majesty to decide. I think it will take eight hundred miles to speed up the report, but there will be a reply within six or seven days."

"That's great, I'll wait for a few days to give my Khan an accurate answer."

"Since this is the case, please don't dislike the hardships in the army and stay here for a few days. Come and clear out my big tent and hand it over to your envoy." After finishing speaking, he said to Ashina Qizhi: " Let the envoy rest for a while, and I will hold a banquet to entertain the envoy later. Before I go again, I will write the Tang newspaper and send it out."

"This is a big matter, and everything will be arranged by the commander in chief." Ashinaqi was not polite at all, and went down to rest with the small school that came in.

When the three of them were left in the tent, Li Jing looked at Zhang Gongjin, then at Luo Yan, and asked, "I don't know if this matter is true or not, should we play it immediately?"

"Although Ashina Qizhi's identity has yet to be verified, I'd rather believe it or not." After all, the benefits of this kind of thing are too great, even Zhang Gongjin, who is so cautious, would rather believe the truth of the matter at this moment .

"That's right, I just need to report the whole story to His Majesty in detail. I think the court will make its own decision. Then I will send envoys to Turkic with Ashinaqi. If the matter is true, Tuli will send us back when he arrives." This is the messenger." Luo Yan knew that it was true that Tuli had descended to Tang, but just to be on the safe side, he also gave advice to Li Jing.

After thinking for a while, Li Jing patted the table: "Okay, let's do it like this. Deputy Manager Zhang, General Luo, you two come forward. The three of us will have to carefully study how to write this pond newspaper."

In just an hour, under Li Jing's leadership, a Tang newspaper was published.After writing his name, Li Jing looked at Zhang Gongjin and Luo Yan.Luo Yan couldn't help smiling wryly.Li Jing was too careful, perhaps, this was the reason why he was able to live until Gaozong's time.

What this understands is that the responsibility is shared and the credit is shared.Luo Yan smiled, and after Zhang Gongjin signed his name, he also put his own name behind Zhang Gongjin.

As if a big stone had been put down in his heart, he baked the pond newspaper on the fire for a while, and when the ink stains were all dry, Li Jing put it in an envelope, sealed it with wax paint, and called his confidants to come and order him to send it to the capital quickly.

After finishing all these, Li Jing set up a banquet to entertain Ashinaqi who came from afar.Just now the two parties had already negotiated in the account, but the matter was still undecided at this time, and it was only announced to the public that Tuli had lost the wind in the struggle, and wanted to borrow some food and armor from Datang.As for the real purpose, it is buried in the hearts of both parties.

(End of this chapter)