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Chapter 1186 The Emperor's Unexpected Response

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the first year of the Kaiyuan period in the Tang Dynasty was the annual Lantern Festival. The court announced the news of a great victory in Hebei. After being embellished and polished by several court officials, the people of Chang'an were excited.

The annihilation of 200,000 Turkic cavalry in one battle was indeed a great victory.

In the winter of the third year of Zhenguan, Li Jing led the Tang army to defeat Jie Li in Dingxiang, but only killed tens of thousands of Hu people, and most of the Turks fled. After Jie Li suffered a great defeat, the Turks withdrew from the Hetao area and fell into civil strife for power.

The Tang Dynasty also gained more than ten years of peace.

Now the new Turkic Khan Shiluodi has led his troops to invade Hebei again. The 300,000 people have suffered a direct loss of 200,000. Adding to the previous losses, it is estimated that there are only tens of thousands of people left, fleeing everywhere. It may not be long before everything is completely calm.

The people no longer paid attention to the war in Hebei. The Tang Dynasty was now very powerful. As long as the Right Wise King did not invade the south, they had nothing to fear. Everyone spent the New Year peacefully, not caring about the losses of the Tang army and the safety of the two Dukes and generals.

It wasn't mentioned in the notice, and they didn't take it seriously.

The Lantern Festival is the second most important festival for family reunions after the Spring Festival. The main roads in Chang'an City are very lively. All the merchants are out in force, and colorful lanterns of various shapes are hung in front of the store doors and on the streets. Various stalls also sell a wide variety of goods.

Coupled with the snow-white sky and earth, it is quite romantic.

The Lantern Festival lasts for three days, starting on the 13th day of the first lunar month and ending on the 15th day when it reaches its peak.

The festival for the common people is the busiest day for the government. Both the Jingzhao Yin and the imperial guards are mobilized to maintain law and order on the streets every day to ensure that the ladies and girls from all families can watch the lantern festival with peace of mind.

However, this year's Lantern Festival, apart from the ignorant common people who were enjoying themselves, the aristocratic families in Chang'an were all locked up and refused to go out. A kind of oppressive depression and sadness enveloped the city of Chang'an, making people feel suffocated.

The officials in the court all knew that in order to stabilize people's hearts, although a great victory was announced to the outside world, the people were allowed to continue celebrating the festival in order to maintain the dignity of the court and the prosperity and peace in the first year of the new dynasty.

In fact, this victory is quite frustrating.

The core force of the Guanlong clan, 200,000 Longxi cavalry, were all killed in Hebei and perished together with the Turks.

Among the twenty or thirty core aristocratic families in Guanlong, almost every family was in mourning, and every household had direct descendants who died in the war.

Under such circumstances, the Guanlong clan, the most powerful force in the world, was like a wounded tiger, licking its wounds silently. They were in pain, and other officials would naturally not be too happy at this time, so as not to cause bad luck.

The happiness in the market and the deserted atmosphere in the mansions formed a sharp contrast.

Not only did the Taiji Palace not have any intention of celebrating this year, even the Empress Dowager Zhangsun Wugou of the Daming Palace prayed in the Buddhist temple in the palace for the 200,000 Tang soldiers who died in the battle in Hebei. Many of Li Shimin's concubines were also women from various aristocratic families.

They also had relatives who died on the battlefield, so they were naturally immersed in grief.

"Your Majesty, 200,000 cavalrymen died in the battle, including many sons of noble families."

The newly appointed Minister of the Imperial Court, Xu Jinzhong, was reporting to Li Yan in the imperial study the "rumors" he had received: "According to what I have heard, these so-called "mounted infantrymen" are actually the core strength of the Guanlong nobles. They are extremely powerful and are elite cavalrymen who have been trained for many years."

"This time they entered Hebei under the guise of ordinary border soldiers."

"In fact, it was because the Turkic people's action of 'dividing the land' touched upon the core interests of the noble families. So they took action at the request of the Hebei noble families. They wanted to eliminate this group of Turks without anyone noticing, and to suppress the momentum that could shake the foundation of the noble families."

"For this reason, the nobles joined forces with the ministers in the court to conceal the truth and disguise this elite force as an ordinary border army. They also created the illusion that the Turkic people's strength was greatly weakened in front of the emperor in advance, just to smoothly 'retire after success' and continue to hide."

"So as not to attract the attention of the court and the emperor."

"Others are eager to exaggerate their achievements, but they wish no one would pay attention to them. Something must be wrong when things are out of the ordinary."

At this point, Xu Jinzhong's face revealed undisguised shock. Even he had not expected that the Guanlong clan would be so powerful.

what is this?
These are private soldiers. No wonder they could easily change the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, no wonder they could firmly suppress the Hebei and Jiangnan nobles and firmly sit on the throne of the world's largest power. Even the replacement of the old and new emperors depends on their faces.

If they don't agree, the emperor will never be able to ascend the throne smoothly.

Xu Jinzhong was from Jiangnan, but he was hanging around in the north. He did not belong to any group, so he did not care about the loss of the Guanlong clans.

Instead, he said with some gloating: "But they never expected that this group of Turks would be so rampant and brave, and the Turkic Khan was also a heroic figure. He fought two encounters with them without any evasion, and both sides suffered heavy losses."

Xu Jinzhong had been suppressed by the nobles in the court for his whole life. Now that he was appointed by the emperor, he naturally cared about the emperor's interests. The nobles suffered losses, and the emperor's power became stronger. As a close minister, he also rose with the tide. Li Yan sat behind the imperial desk, frowning slightly. This time, the Longxi Flying Cavalry was completely annihilated, and the Guanlong nobles were panicked and could no longer cover up. Apart from other things, the mourning and condolences of every household could not be hidden from those who were interested.

Xu Jinzhong was also an old man who had lived through the Sui Dynasty, so naturally he had a very wide network of relationships.

After seeing this situation, and then going to inquire about it, they naturally got the truth. If the war in Hebei went smoothly, the Longxi Flying Cavalry would quietly wipe out the Turks, and then push the credit to the government soldiers around Hebei.

Those people would be happy to take the credit for nothing, and the matter would go perfectly smoothly.

But now the whole army was annihilated, causing the whole world to be shocked, so naturally it was impossible to hide it anymore. Li Yan actually didn't want to play his cards openly, but it was because he hid in the dark that he got such a big advantage. Now everything was exposed, even Xu Jinzhong knew about it.

Then I can't play dumb anymore. If I pretend to be ignorant, it will only make people suspicious.

The Guanlong clan lost 200,000 cavalrymen in the battle. Who knows if there are any more behind them? Besides, even if there is no military power, the Guanlong clan's official strength and its strong economic power cannot be ignored.

The Tang Dynasty had three pillars. Now that the military power of the Guanlong clans has been defeated, the best that can be done is to balance the power of the three major clan circles so that there is no one dominating the others.

Oneself is to be weakened, not completely destroyed.

Therefore, after the Hebei Campaign, the Guanlong nobles probably knew that they would learn about their "raising private soldiers". What was their attitude towards this? Would they take advantage of their weakest moment to add insult to injury and deal them a fatal blow?

During this period, officials from Guanlong were extremely low-key, even cautious.

The fight is over, now it's time to appease them. Aren't the Turks acting as bad guys just to make themselves good guys?

We must continue to strike back and not allow people to relax or take a break.

After calming people down and stabilizing their sentiments, we can then launch the next strike. This is not a contradiction or conflict.

"Alas, I didn't expect things to turn out like this."

Li Yan sighed with regret: "Many sons of the noble families have served as grassroots generals in the border towns in the northern part of the Tang Dynasty and the various prefectures and roads. Even the generals of the Sixteen Guards have a close relationship with them."

"I didn't expect that, in addition to this, they would also raise private soldiers. I am really disappointed."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I never thought that the nobles would be so audacious. They really deserve to be killed."

Xu Jinzhong advised: "In this war in Hebei, the Turks and the nobles suffered heavy losses. When the snipe and the clam quarrel, the fisherman gains. They didn't gain any advantage. In the end, our court is the biggest beneficiary."

"Your Majesty, I think you can use this incident to strike back at the aristocratic families. I have three strategies for you."

"Be loyal, this is wrong!"

Before Xu Jinzhong could finish his words, Li Yan waved his hand coldly: "I heard a saying in the Book of Songs, brothers quarrel within the walls, but defend against external insults. In any case, the nobles may be a little domineering at ordinary times, but they can stand up bravely when facing the invasion of the Turks."

"They would rather collude with the officials in the court and hide it from me than to destroy the Turks. Just for this reason, they are loyal to our Tang Dynasty."

"But, Your Majesty, they..."

Xu Jinzhong's face turned anxious. He was about to persuade the emperor not to be too narrow-minded and to kill him while he was ill. He should immediately take advantage of this opportunity to take back the military power, consolidate the imperial power, and become a true emperor, rather than a puppet controlled by the nobles.

"I know that it is wrong for them to keep private soldiers."

Li Yan said calmly: "But when the enemy invaded, they were not afraid of being exposed and wanted to resist the enemy. I cannot ignore this noble act. Moreover, they sacrificed so many of their clan members for this."

"Two hundred thousand young men from Guanzhong died in battle, and they died for our Tang Dynasty. They did not betray me, and I will never betray them."

Seeing the emperor's resolute face, Xu Jinzhong fell silent. He didn't know whether to despise the emperor's stubbornness and pedantry, or to admire the emperor's kindness and generosity. He had heard that Li Chengqian was an honest man before, and today he saw it with his own eyes.

At this moment, the emperor seemed to have a kind of human brilliance that people could not look directly at, and he looked particularly majestic, which made Xu Jinzhong look a little dirty and mean. This made Xu Jinzhong's face turn red and white, and he was very embarrassed. He didn't know how to respond for a while.

This was completely different from the situation he had expected before he came here.

(End of this chapter)