The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 827 Jie Li's Worries

Shi Luodie himself was of mediocre talent, and there was nothing much in his mind.

In his impression, fighting a war depends on a fearless and ruthless spirit, and most of the battles on the grasslands were cavalry charges followed by a bloody fight.

Whoever has the most people left at the end wins.

After arriving in the Central Plains, Shi Luodie used the same tactics. The small city in front had low walls and few defensive forces. The 150,000-strong Turkic army surrounded them in an endless stream, and they were already frightened and most of them surrendered directly.

There were a few stubborn ones, but after just a few rounds of volleys, the soldiers defending the city could no longer resist.

Liaodong City was the core city of Goguryeo's northern defense line. It had experience in resisting the million-strong army of the former Sui Dynasty and looked down on more than 100,000 Turkic cavalry. It not only beheaded Shi Luodie's envoy who came to persuade him to surrender, but also humiliated Shi Luodie.

They said that he was a waste on the grassland, and that he had his current status only because of his two fathers, one was Khan Jie Li, and the other was Right Wise King Li Yan. They mocked Shi Luodie to the utmost, which made Shi Luodie so angry that he didn't even have time to rest and started to attack the city directly.

Today, they organized the largest-scale offensive yet, but they were still unable to shake the city in front of them.

This was a heavy blow to Shi Luodie, who had always been lucky. Looking unwillingly at the impregnable city in front of him, Shi Luodie felt an indescribable sense of frustration in his heart. He remembered that it was easy for him to watch King Youxian fight battles in the past.
He just needs to sit in the commander's tent, give a few orders, and the men below will charge forward. It won't be long before news of a great victory comes from the front.

This gave Shi Luodie a misunderstanding that fighting seemed not difficult.

The previous smooth advancement made Shi Luodie begin to underestimate Li Yan and became a little too proud of himself. He thought that it was because his father Khan had always prevented him from commanding the troops independently, otherwise, he would have become a famous brave general on the grassland.

But the Liaodong City in front of him and the corpses of countless Turkic soldiers under the city dealt a heavy blow to Shi Luodie. Seeing that the generals around him were all trying to persuade him, and some were even getting anxious, Shi Luodie knew that he could not fight any more.

Looking up at the setting sun that was about to sink into the distant mountains, he reluctantly gave the order to retreat.

Amid the piercing sound of gongs and the cheers of the defenders on the city walls, the dejected Turkic soldiers began to slowly retreat.

On the north bank of the Liao River, a hundred miles away from Liaodong City, there is a temporary watchtower.

Jie Li and Li Yan were standing here, looking at Yingzhou City on the south bank. In order to guard against possible invasion by the Turks, the Tang army opposite had also mobilized a large number of troops and built countless camps on the south bank to guard the north bank.

Jie Li looked at the big Tang flag flying over the opposite city and felt infinite regret in his heart. After the defeat of Dingxiang, the Tang army grew stronger, while the Turks split into two and completely lost the strength to restrain Li Tang. He was afraid that he would never see the day when he defeated the Tang army in his lifetime.

"Report, Great Khan, after ten days of hard fighting, the Crown Prince successfully captured Liaodong City yesterday evening." A messenger came running over and handed over a military report.

Jie Li took it and looked at it, a look of joy appeared on his face, and he ordered: "Go tell Shi Luodie that the army attacking the city will rest for three days, and let him personally lead the rest of the troops to cross Liaodong City, strike while the iron is hot, and continue to advance southward."

"Liaodong City has just been lost, and the cities behind it have no time to prepare. This is the weakest time. Now is the time to expand the fruits of victory. We must not give Goguryeo any chance to breathe."

"Yes, Khan!" The messenger left quickly.
Jie Li turned around and said to Li Yan with some complacency: "This kid is not bad. I thought it would take a while to take Liaodong City, but I didn't expect it to be conquered in ten days."

"Haha, it's all thanks to the Khan's reputation that the prince is growing very fast." Li Yan complimented.

Jie Li was happy for a while, but when he turned around, he saw the densely packed military camps in Yingzhou across the river.

His mood became depressed again and Jie Li sighed.

Turning to look at Li Yan, he asked worriedly, "Right Wise King, do you think the Tang army will send troops to stop us from attacking Goguryeo?"

"If the Tang Dynasty does not send troops, we can completely conquer Goguryeo, Silla and Baekje in half a year at most with just these small forces. But if the Tang Dynasty sends troops to attack our rear from the south or north of the desert, I am afraid that our operation will be abandoned halfway."

Li Yan had known about this for a long time, and he looked confident: "Don't worry, Khan, the Tang Dynasty will never send troops in the short term."

"You mean, there is a possibility of sending troops to intervene later?" Jie Li was a smart man and he keenly understood the meaning of Li Yan's words.

"Yes, the Three Kingdoms of Korea are located in the elbow of the Tang Dynasty. There is a saying in the Central Plains: How can you allow others to sleep soundly beside your bed? Goguryeo and Silla Baekje are small forces, and the Tang Dynasty can turn a blind eye to them, but our Turkic nation is a big country, and the Tang Dynasty will never tolerate us extending our hands here."

Jie Li didn't quite understand the proverbs of the Central Plains, but he could understand what Li Yan meant. His expression froze, "Then why has the Tang Dynasty still not made any move after we've been at war for a month?"

"Khan, you don't know that the people of the Tang Dynasty are very cunning."

Li Yan's eyes gleamed with wisdom, and he said confidently: "As the saying goes, when two tigers fight, one will be injured. Whether it is us Turks or Goguryeo, they are both foreign enemies to the Tang Dynasty. No matter who is hurt, it is beneficial to them." "Now we have just started the war and have not been dragged into the water. If the Tang Dynasty sends troops, it will be equivalent to diverting the disaster to the south. The war that originally belonged to Goguryeo has been brought to their heads. They will not accept this."

"But Goguryeo is not a grassland. It is a place with mountains, cities and waterways."

"Such a special geographical environment means it is not easy to conquer. Even if there are no interferences from other forces, it will take us at least half a year to completely conquer this place."

"What's more, Goguryeo is located between the two major forces of the north and the south, but it is in a corner, not in the middle of the battlefields like the south of the desert, the east of the north and the east of the river, and the Guannei Road. As a result, no matter which of the two major forces of the north and the south wants to attack it, it will be constrained by the other side and cannot deal with it wholeheartedly."

Although Jie Li had guessed this a long time ago, he was still a little disappointed when he heard that Li Yan also had the same opinion and said, "So, this time we can only plunder?"

Jie Li was obviously unwilling to accept this. Now, except for his own Turks, all other areas in the northern grasslands were territories of Li Tang. Even Jie Biheli and the Tuli tribe were under the protection of Li Tang and could not make any progress.

The Turks are now completely trapped by the power of Li Tang, and the only remaining small countries are Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje in the southeast.

Territory and money are trivial matters. The key is that the achievement of destroying a country is very important to Shiluodie, as it is related to the ownership of the Turkic Khanate he left behind.

Li Yan in front of him is from the Central Plains and his mind is not on the grassland.

This can be seen from the fact that after the last unification of the eastern part of the grassland, Li Yan handed over the power of 200,000 troops to himself without hesitation, which shows that he is not interested in the grassland.

This time, he urged me to fight against Goguryeo, and he fully cooperated with Shi Luodie, without any dissatisfaction or any intention of secretly hindering him. From this, we can also analyze that Li Yan did not covet the position of Khan of the grassland.

This is consistent with Jie Li's long-standing judgment, and it is also the reason why Jie Li did not take it seriously when he heard the rumor on the grassland that Li Yan wanted to compete for the position of Khan. Instead, he betrothed his daughter to Li Yan to reassure him.

"Li Yan, you are not an outsider. You know what I am thinking."

Jie Li said frankly: "I am old and will not live long. What I am most worried about is the current Turkic Khanate. You have a very high prestige in the Khanate, and now you are my son-in-law. If you can take over the Khanate, then I will be relieved."

When Li Yan heard Jie Li say this, he shook his head decisively.

At the same time, I felt speechless. The older people get, the more suspicious they become. Jie Li must be so worried about me that he even married his daughter to me, yet he kept testing me.

All the way south, I would give him some advice from time to time.

If I really waver a little, I'm afraid all his energy in the future will be used to deal with me.

"Khan, you know that I am a descendant of the Li family and will be the emperor of the Tang Dynasty in the future."

Li Yan was very firm and rejected Jie Li's proposal again: "The grassland is just a passing visitor to me. Even the position of Right Wise King was taken up by me reluctantly at your strong request in order to stabilize the Khanate."

"If you let me be the Khan of the Turks now, I will never be able to return to the Tang Dynasty. The people of the grasslands will never accept a Tang man as their Khan; and the people of the Tang Dynasty will never accept a grassland Khan as their emperor."

"So I absolutely cannot agree to your request. If you have such an idea again, I will have to resign in advance."

Without waiting for Jie Li to persuade him again, Li Yan said, "The Crown Prince has grown up slowly now, and his military strength is not weak. It's just that Khan, you are not as good as the generals of the older generation, but this is also unfair to the Crown Prince."

"If the attack on the Three Kingdoms of Korea goes smoothly this time, the Crown Prince will have the merit of destroying the country."

"Even the enemies that the Sui and Tang dynasties could not deal with were defeated by the prince. Who on the grassland would not obey the prince? When the prince succeeds to the throne, I will help him well. The prince will surely be able to sit firmly on the throne. When that time comes, I will return to the Central Plains."

"By then, I will be in the Central Plains, and the prince will be in the grasslands. The Central Plains and grasslands tribes will live in peace. What else do you have to worry about?"

Jie Li looked at Li Yan with sparkling eyes, and he breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little indignant.

In the five years since I met Li Yan, Li Yan has never shown any greed for the position of Khan, or the slightest attachment to the status of the grassland.

At every moment, what he thought about was returning to the Central Plains to become emperor.

This is similar to the southerners that Jie Li knew. They have a very high opinion of themselves and regard the four directions outside the Central Plains as barbarian lands. It can be said that they would rather have a handful of soil in their hometown than ten thousand taels of gold from other countries.

If one can make a name for himself in the south, who would be willing to come to the bitter and cold north?
(End of this chapter)