Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 255: Different Paths, Different Plans

Li Tai is absolutely right.

Zhenzhu Khan also participated in his several conspiracies against Li Ming.

For example, in the Jiucheng Palace incident, Xueyantuo also sent people to join the rebellious team led by Ashina Jieshe.

The Tiele people were also present in the subsequent operation to silence the remnants of the association.

After Li Ming returned to Chang'an from Liaodong, the assassination attempt on Li Ming was carried out directly by Zhenzhu Khan's trusted assassin.

Among the Turkic private soldiers that Li Tai had kept for a long time in the Prince of Wei's Palace in Luoyang and who came to intercept Li Ming on the night of the Suzaku Gate Incident, the Xueyantuo forces accounted for more than half.

Even when Goguryeo was plotting to take over Pingzhou, Xueyantuo provided support as an off-site guest using the communication tool "Goshawk".

It can be said that Zhenzhu Khan, who had been flirting with Li Tai for a long time, also achieved the achievement of "you are involved in every conspiracy."

And to Zhenzhu Khan Yinan, Li Ming, this unkillable little bastard, can be regarded as the most familiar stranger.

"We must seize the opportunity this time and kill the little lamb and his servants!"

Zhenzhu Khan's face was gloomy, and he squeezed out each word viciously from between his rough teeth.

His hatred for Li Ming is no less than that for Li Tai.

If it weren't for that little lamb interfering, Li Shimin would have been in Jiucheng Palace long ago...

No, earlier.

Li Shimin and that Ladybug Prince Li Xiaogong were poisoned to death by realgar wine!
The Tang Dynasty had already fallen into greater chaos, the greatest threat from the grassland had long been eliminated, the good minister Li Tai had long usurped the throne of the orthodox Chinese nation, and his Tiele tribe had long since moved south to start their own war!

Why did it become like this now, with so many complications, causing him and Li Tai to spend so much energy and time, and resulting in the death of so many tribal warriors?

But the results achieved are far below expectations?

Li Tai, who paid tribute to the Xueyantuo, did not sit on the throne as he wished, because there was a small stubborn stone, "Li Zhi", stuck on the throne, which was also smelly and hard.

Although Li Zhi is currently turning a blind eye to the chaos in Hebei, who knows what the scheming young man will do after he sits firmly on the throne.

But in the final analysis, the conspiracy between Zhenzhu Khan and Li Tai finally allowed Li Zhi to reap the benefits, all because of Li Ming!
Before leaving, he transferred power to his younger brother Li Zhi, which brought out that boy's ambition!

How can you do things so disgustingly!
It's even more disgusting than not flushing the toilet!

"Kill...must kill him!"

Zhenzhu Khan repeated it over and over again, with his fists clenched as if he was pinching Li Ming's little neck in his hands.

"Put Li Ming's matter aside for now."

Li Tai brought the topic back:
"My father's whereabouts are still unknown. I think we should withdraw our main forces to Shuobei and intensify the search."

Thanks to Li Ming, Li Shimin is still alive.

Many tribesmen claimed that they had witnessed a team resembling that of Li Shimin on the snowfield.

With the help of Jing Tang Qibi Heli, he broke away from the Xueyantuo army and fled with his tribe.

Combining this information, it is not difficult to infer that Li Shimin is still alive and well in this snowy and icy place.

The information that "Father is not dead" was like a big hammer, always hanging over Li Tai's heart.

If Li Shimin returns as king, Li Tai will be finished.

Therefore, compared with his younger brother Li Ming, his biological father Li Shimin was his main conflict. He repeatedly urged Zhenzhu Khan to return to Shuobei and search for the missing Tang Emperor.

However, the organization of nomadic tribes was far less strong than that of the unified agricultural civilization. The scattered independent tribes could hardly form a dense encirclement network to capture or kill Li Shimin.

Although scattered tribes sent sporadic reports of sightings, its exact location could not be determined.

That was Li Shimin, the best emperor at fighting and the best general at governing the country.

Under his personal command, his troops were like ghosts, wandering between unknown valleys.

The Tiele people could only rely on their numerical advantage and the defense of the Great Wall to barely block Li Shimin from entering the country and prevent him from returning to his loyal Tang Dynasty.

It is a bit of black humor to say that the nomadic people used the Great Wall to resist the emperor of the Central Plains.

"Tsk, are you teaching me how to do things?"

Zhenzhu Khan Yinan smacked his lips and glared at Li Tai impatiently.

Li Tai immediately lowered his head respectfully.

"All the time he's Li Shimin, Li Shimin, look how scared he is of you." Yi Nan said with disdain:
"Can he be so powerful? What can a man who has separated from his own people do? A gust of northwest wind might freeze him to death!"

Li Tai chuckled with a fake smile: "I hope so..."

"Let's stick to the old plan and send all the warriors of the tribe to Hebei." Yi Nan interrupted him unhappily:

"We must break the lamb's spine, rush into Pingzhou, and chop off his dog's head to eat with wine!"

The Khan of Xueyantuo became more and more excited as he spoke, and finally jumped up from his stool.

It’s so infuriating. That bastard Li Ming is so infuriating.

Li Shimin would not let him break down like that, because he was originally a Heavenly Khan who emerged from mountains of swords and seas of blood, and the nomadic peoples were in awe of such a hero.

But Li Ming is different.

A child whose hair hasn't even grown out yet played him around time and time again.

Does he, the Zhenzhu Khan, have any respect?
If we don't cook that brat in the frying pan, how will he manage the many tribes under his jurisdiction in the future?
Facing the furious Zhenzhu Khan, Li Tai could say nothing more.

The Yi men have more soldiers, so we have to listen to him.

"Then... I will let my soldiers start preparing." Li Tai said, sighing helplessly:

"Most of my soldiers are from the Weizhou Governor's Office. I have to transfer them elsewhere to avoid causing trouble if they stay here for too long."

Like a guest, he bowed to the host, Yi Nan, and backed out of the room.

There were already many people waiting for him outside the door.

They were all wealthy and powerful families from various states in Hebei, including the Cui family of Boling, the Lu family of Fanyang, the Li family of Zhaojun, and so on.

At this level, war naturally cannot affect them.

Therefore, these prominent families do not need to pack up and run away in a hurry like other small families.

They will continue to stay in the local area and do business with the Tiele people.

"Has the Great Khan decided to return to Shuobei?" They surrounded Li Tai and asked anxiously.

In the past, these Hebei clans would not have been so enthusiastic towards a vassal king from Guanzhong.

But today is different.

This vassal king brought the northern barbarians as support.

The barbarians don’t care about your “Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats” or “feudal ethics”. If you make them unhappy, they will use their fists to speak.

They had no choice but to humble themselves and try their best to curry favor with the traitor Li Tai.

As soon as Lady Li shouted "The Khan is in Weizhou", they rushed over from all over the place to pay homage to him.

"Alas." Li Tai sighed exaggeratedly:

"Even with my eloquence, I can't persuade the Khan. The Tiele people will have to stay in Hebei for a while, at least until the beginning of next spring when the grass turns green."

This bad news was like a bolt from the blue to the big landlords.

The barbarians are looting all day long, when will this end?
Although they got in touch with Zhenzhu Khan through Li Tai, they could not be robbed.

But the common people were forced to leave, which had a huge impact on them.

"How can this be possible? If they stay any longer, the people will flee.

"The herders can wait for the grass to grow, but if all the people flee, who will help us farm next spring?"

Although they usually looked down on the peasants, when the population began to migrate on a large scale and the labor shortage became visibly apparent, the wealthy families gradually became unable to sit still.

Li Tai looked at these landlords who were digging for food in the soil with disdain and said:
"Tie Le Khan will stay at least until the remaining Red Turban bandits in Liaodong are wiped out."

After hearing this, everyone's heavy hearts finally lightened up a little.

Fortunately, Uncle Tiele’s trip was not in vain, and he was still able to do some good things.

To them, the threat posed by the Liaodong Red Turban bandits was much greater than that posed by the Xueyantuo.

The nomadic barbarians only have minor diseases such as scabies.

But those red-turbaned bandits who want to confiscate land at every turn are actually digging up their roots!

As long as it can help eliminate the remaining influence of Li Ming, some short-term costs are not unbearable.

Anyway, it wasn't them who were forced to leave their homes.

"Of course, the Tiele army has to go on a long expedition, and military pay and food are a big problem."

Li Tai added lightly.

The corners of the mouths of several big landowners twitched.

These nomads were eating their fill in the rich Hebei region, so how could they be short of food? They suspected that Li Tai was using the name of the Tiele people to make money and expand his own army.

But they have no evidence.

After all, it was impossible for them to question Tiele Khan face to face to verify the situation.

First of all, they don’t speak Turkic.

…………

"Humph, cunning Han Chinese."

Zhenzhu Khan sat back on the stool and snorted at Li Tai's disappearing back.

The anger just now disappeared, and his eyes flashed with calculation and shrewdness.

Both parties in the alliance have their own ulterior motives and plans.

Li Tai wanted to send the Tiele tribe away so that he could take control of Hebei and confront Li Zhi. The beads of this abacus were smashed to Yinan's forehead.

And Yi Nan also has his own strategic goals.

He has just stated this goal, which is to eliminate Li Ming and his followers.

Although what he said was very rude at the time, it seemed to be caused by momentary anger.

But these are appearances.

Who among those who can be the top leader is not an actor?

After rational thinking, it is not difficult to find that the strategy of "eliminating Li Ming first" is in line with the best interests of the Xueyantuo Khanate.

If Li Ming is not eliminated, Yinan always feels a chill on his back.

He was afraid that while he was singing and robbing in the Central Plains, he would suddenly be cut off by a man in a red headscarf rushing down the mountain.

Liaodong is like a fishbone stuck in the throat between the desert and the Central Plains.

Once the Xueyantuo marched south with all their might, this thorn in their side would suddenly stretch out from east to west and sting them hard.

It's not fatal, but it's really troublesome.

Things follow their owners. Liaodong is exactly the same as Li Ming, small, smelly and hard.

The dealings with the Red Turban Army in the past few days have left the Tiele people with psychological trauma. They can't even sleep well at night and are no longer interested in robbing gold, silver and treasures.

Even abusing women cannot comfort their wounded hearts.

In order to establish his authority as Khan and gather the scattered tribes, he also had to wipe out Li Ming's forces.

As for the yesterday's Li Shimin, Yinan was not very afraid of him.

Tian Khan's unfilial sons divided up all his inheritance in a grassland style.

Once you've put the fat in your mouth, how can you spit it out?

Therefore, in Yinan's view, although the lonely Tian Khan was still alive, his political life was over.

Therefore, Yi Nan and Li Tai had fundamentally different strategic goals.

Li Tai wanted Hebei and his father's life, while Xueyantuo wanted Liaodong and Li Ming's life.

The Xueyantuo people are numerous and powerful, so they listen to him.

"Someone is coming."

The servant came running in, grunting: "Great Khan?"

"Pass my orders to the various departments."

Yi Nan's voice was low, his eyes full of bloodthirsty fire.

"Tell them to stop focusing on stealing money, food and women and get some real work done!
"Don't run to the south, transfer the soldiers back to the north and chase the people from Liaodong and beat their asses!
"Kill as many as you can and drive them northwest to Yunzhou. Don't let them go east and escape back to Yanshan via Youzhou!"

The reason why Liaodong is small, smelly and hard (he believes) is the barrier of Yanshan Mountain.

Yanshan is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and only a small number of troops are needed to stop the attack from the west.

Now this group of Liaodong people are trying to be heroes and rashly rushing out of Yanshan, which gives him a perfect opportunity to catch them all in one fell swoop!

As long as their manpower is eliminated in Hebei, the Xueyantuo can pass through the Yanshan defense line unhindered, march straight in, and burn Pingzhou and Yingzhou to ashes!
To fight a war of annihilation, the Red Turban Army must first be driven to the northwest, away from Liaodong, to cut off their escape route to the east to return to their lair.

Driving people to the designated location is a piece of cake for the Tiele people who are good at grazing!
"After this battle, we can go south whenever we want, without any worries!"

Yi Nan inserted the dagger into the map on the table.

The sharp blade of the dagger was pointing at the northwest end of the Hebei region.

That is, Yunzhou.

…………

"Don't come over here!"

On the banks of the Hutuo River, a group of refugees were targeted by the Tiele people.

“Hehehe, you can scream even if you scream your throat out, but no one will come to save you.”

The Tiele people grinned, drew their bows and arrows, licked their lips and aimed at the refugees who were fleeing frantically.

Whoosh!
"Uh!"

There was a muffled groan, and it was the Tiele man who fell off his horse.

There was an arrow stuck in his lung. He twitched a few times and soon died.

Suddenly, a group of warriors wearing red turbans, armor and holding sharp weapons appeared in the Gouzhu Mountain on the north bank of the Hutuo River. They were like a tiger descending from the mountain, walking on flat ground.

"Red Turban Bandit! Run! It's the Red Turban Bandit!"

The other Tiele people scattered in a hurry.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir!" The common people who were spared from the disaster kowtowed to the Red Turban Army.

Xue Rengui waved to the people:

"Let's go, this place is still far from Liaodong! Go east along the river all the way to the sea, and then north to Pingzhou!"

"Take care, sir!"

The refugees left with many thanks.

Su Dingfang rode a horse, shoulder to shoulder with Xue Rengui.

"This is the upper reaches of the Hutuo River, nearly a thousand miles away from Liaodong."

Xue Rengui looked at the river winding eastward among the mountains and said with emotion:

“We went quite far west…

"Senior, do you have a feeling that the Tiele people are deliberately driving us to the northwest and forcing us to stay away from the rear of Liaodong?"

"Isn't this exactly what we want?" Su Dingfang smiled easily.

"If they don't come along, it will be difficult to deal with."

Xue Rengui lacked the composure of an old military strategist and said seriously:

“They concentrated their main forces, and they must have planned to trap our troops and kill them in the sparsely populated and difficult-to-supply mountains.

"The Tiele people are preparing to annihilate our army."

"What a coincidence. We also want to annihilate them all."

As a pioneer who followed His Majesty to defeat the Turks, Su Dingfang had the confidence unique to that generation and pointed to the mountains behind him.

"Look!"

Between the steep mountains, the Great Wall stretches east and west along the ridge, like the back of a giant dragon.

In the valley between the two peaks lies a majestic and steep pass.

Yanmen Pass.

"Go north through Yanmen Pass and you will reach Yunzhou."

Su Dingfang said:

"To the north of Yunzhou is Mount Heng. His Highness Li Ming is scheduled to bury all the enemies there."

"Can we hold the enemy back?" Xue Rengui hesitated.

Anyone would be nervous.

There are more than 300,000 enemies!
"Oh, what's three hundred thousand? As long as we enter the Northern Peak Hengshan, three million people won't be able to make a sound!"

Su Dingfang was full of confidence:
"Young man, follow closely! Exit!"

(End of this chapter)