Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 350: Get to Long and Watch Shu
"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

On the tenth day of April in the sixth year of Xiantong, as stones from catapults hit the city walls, Xichuan, which had been peaceful for nearly two years, was once again set ablaze with war.

Emperor You Shilong of the Dali Dynasty personally led 5,000 elite cavalry, 30,000 armored soldiers and 70,000 barbarians to raid the Dadu River. Tongwang County of Lizhou was besieged by the army. The Tang army in the city sent elite cavalry to break out and seek help.

Shang Moyan, who called himself the Great Tubo Minister, led 30,000 elite soldiers and 50,000 followers to invade the states in the western border...

"Your Highness Cui Xuan respectfully reports to the Heaven that Chief Long led an army of 100,000 to attack Lizhou, while the Tibetan leader Shang Moyan led an army of 80,000 to attack Weizhou, Songzhou, and Yizhou. Your Highness..."

All the officials gathered in the Purple Palace. Even Li Yi, who had not been seen for half a year, appeared on the golden stage, but his expression was particularly ugly.

Inside the hall, there was no other sound except the voice of the Minister of the Ministry of Rites reading out the contents of the urgent report from Xichuan.

You Shilong invaded and surrounded Tongwang County in Lizhou, but there were only 10,000 officers and soldiers in Lizhou, and only 5,000 soldiers were stationed in Tongwang.

When Cui Xuan learned of this, he hurriedly led 20,000 elite troops from Jiazhou to rescue Lizhou.

Before he entered Lizhou, urgent reports came one after another from various states in the western border.

Weizhou and Yizhou were invaded, and the Tangqi from Fuzhou and Longzhou even discovered that there were traces of foreign cavalry in Songzhou under the jurisdiction of Longyou Protectorate.

Cui Xuan had no choice but to order Yang Fuguang to lead 5,000 troops from Chengdu to rush to Weizhou for assistance, while also asking the court for help.

When all the officials heard the news, they frowned, and Zhang Yichao in the team felt something was wrong.

"How could Shang Moyan have the guts to break with Mu Zhi and invade Songzhou?"

Zhang Yichao immediately noticed something was wrong. After pondering for a moment, his brows gradually relaxed as he had figured out the key point.

"Your Majesty, the most urgent task right now is to dispatch troops to help Xichuan. We cannot afford to lose any of the states!"

"Your Majesty, I impeach the Grand Protector of Longyou, Liu Jilong, for nurturing the bandits. Now that the bandits are causing chaos, Liu Jilong should lead the troops to suppress them!"

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal..."

In the temple, dozens of ministers stood up and made statements one after another, but except for Xu Shang, who was the prime minister and concurrently the Minister of War, who proposed sending troops to provide assistance, the other ministers blamed Liu Jilian for Shang Moyan's rise to power and hoped that Liu Jilian would send troops to suppress the bandits.

"Confused!"

Gao Qu shouted, then took a few steps, turned around and confronted the dozen or so ministers:

"If Wei and Yi states are lost, and the imperial court orders Liu Jilong to go south to suppress the bandits, wouldn't that mean handing over the two states to Liu Jilong?"

As soon as the words fell, without waiting for anyone to refute, Gao Qu turned around and bowed to the emperor on the golden platform and said: "Your Majesty, I request that the troops from Shannan West Road rush to Xichuan to help!"

"Your Majesty, I, the Minister of War Zheng Ting, have something to report!"

In the team, an official in his forties took the initiative to step forward and bow.

Li Yi was annoyed when he heard this. He couldn't remember who this so-called Zheng Ting was. But when he saw him take the initiative to step forward, he nodded and said, "Approved."

"Your Majesty, I believe that Shang Moyan's self-determination was deliberately done by Liu Jilong!"

After Zheng Ting said this, all the ministers in the hall shut their mouths, and Zhang Yichao couldn't help but look at Zheng Ting.

"Why do you think?" Li Yi frowned, but still asked.

Facing the emperor's questioning, Zheng Ting did not panic, but continued: "Although Liu Jilong and Shang Moyan have fought, the number of heads they have surrendered so far is only over a thousand."

"Secondly, Liu Jilong sent troops to sweep across Mochanchuan. Shangmoyan should have been severely damaged. Why did he join forces with the Nanman to send troops?"

"I think the Nanman may have formed an alliance with Tubo. This invasion is probably the result of years of planning, and Liu Jilong may have instigated it!"

When Zheng Ting finished speaking, Lu Yan, one of the three ministers, couldn't help but shook his head and said:

"Minister Zheng's words make sense, but the southern barbarians are so powerful, how can they listen to Liu Jilong's words?"

"Furthermore, the foreign bandits invaded various states, including Songzhou."

"Songzhou was governed by Liu Muzhi, and its population reached tens of thousands. It was the place that attacked the gateway to Xichuan in the future."

"If Songzhou falls, Liu Jilong will no longer have a way to enter Xichuan, and Shang Moyan will surely become too powerful to be controlled."

"What's more, Liu Jilong trades grain with the imperial court. If he wants to drive Shang Moyan into aggression, why should he sell grain to the imperial court at a low price?"

After Lu Yan finished speaking, he immediately looked at Li Yi and bowed: "Your Majesty, I think that we should dispatch troops from Shannan West Road to rush to support Xichuan, and also find out whether Dongchuan, Qianzhong, Lingxi, Annan and other places have been invaded by the southern barbarians. If so, we should dispatch troops from various towns to rush to support them."

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal..."

Lu Yan served as prime minister for only a year, but as Jiang Shen, Pei Xiu and Bi Zhen resigned or died of illness one after another, he became the most senior of the three prime ministers.

Many officials had already privately sided with him through donations and other means, so when he spoke, many officials agreed.

"Your Majesty, I accuse Lu Yan, the co-prime minister, of accepting bribes privately and prompting officials to donate to him!!"

When Zheng Ting saw that Lu Yan actually refuted him, he immediately lost his temper and exposed the matter of Lu Yan and the donations made by the officials.

"absurd!"

"Minister Zheng may have failed to gain any support and is slandering Prime Minister Lu in order to gain a reputation for being upright!"

"I didn't expect that Minister Zheng would also seek fame for his integrity..."

Many officials quickly accused and ridiculed Zheng Ting, but Lu Yan, who was pointed out by Zheng Ting, remained calm.

Li Yi frowned and looked at Zheng Ting: "What evidence do you have?"

"All the ministers in the hall are witnesses!" Zheng Ting held the tablet and glanced at all the officials in the hall, but no one stood up to support him.

Seeing that no one in the court supported Zheng Ting, Li Yi immediately waved his hand and asked, "Do you have any other evidence?"

"Your Majesty..." Zheng Ting tightly grasped the tablet, not knowing what to say. Li Yi's eyes gradually turned into annoyance as he looked at him.

Seeing that Zheng Ting couldn't produce any evidence for a long time, Li Yi immediately waved his hand and said:

"Let's get over the fabricated stuff. I just want to know where to send troops to help Xichuan. Are the troops in Shannan West Road too few?"

Gao Qu saw that Zheng Ting failed to produce any substantial evidence, and disappointment flashed in his eyes. Then, when he heard the emperor's question, Gao Qu stood up and bowed.
"Lu, the envoy of Shannan West Road, has reported the troops of Shannan West Road. In my opinion, at least 5,000 troops can be dispatched to help Xichuan."

"I'm afraid this amount of troops is not enough." Xu Shang was silent for a long time, and now he interrupted and said:
"It would be better to transfer 5,000 Fengxiang troops to Xichuan. If we are defeated, we can transfer troops from Jingyuan, Bining and other towns to help us."

"I second the motion!" When Lu Yan saw Xu Shang's supplement, he did not fight for credit but firmly seconded the motion.

Seeing this, Li Yi glanced around the hall, then his eyes fell on Lu Yan:
"Whether Longyou fought with Shang Moyan or not, this needs to be verified."

"Also, although the grain transport is now open, it will not be able to support both capitals for a while, so the transportation of grain and fodder in Longyou must not be stopped."

"I obey your order!" Lu Yan responded respectfully. Seeing this, Li Yi also stood up and walked down the golden platform.

“Dismiss the court!!”

"Tens of millions of years old..."

The Minister of the Honglu Temple read the ceremony and all officials bowed and presented gifts.

As the court meeting came to an end, countless fast horses rushed out of Chang'an City in the next few hours and galloped towards the towns in the south.

A few days later, Fengxiang Town and Shannan West Road dispatched troops to march south into Sichuan, and the spies ambushed in various towns in Longyou released carrier pigeons at all costs.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

At the end of April, there was shouting and fighting in the military camp of Wuzhou Town. Countless soldiers were training in armor, and civilians were constantly transporting food and fodder out of the camp at the camp gate.

"General Jie! There's news from the east!"

Chen Ying trotted to the school platform, and Liu Jilong, who was wearing armor and a robe, turned around and looked.

When Chen Ying ran to his side and handed him the copied paper, Liu Jilong could see the contents.

"The imperial court should have only dispatched troops from Fengxiang Town and Shannan West Road to the south. No news has come from the other towns in the northwest of Beijing."

"In addition, according to our investigation, the number of troops sent by the two towns to the south will not exceed 10,000, which is consistent with the number reported by the Chang'an Jinzouyuan."

"General, when are we going to march south?!"

After Chen Ying reported the contents, Li Ji and others beside him could not wait to bow to Liu Jilong and ask for orders, the excitement in their voices being difficult to conceal.

"Is there any news from Songzhou?"

Liu Jilong did not respond to Li Ji, but continued to ask Chen Ying. Chen Ying nodded and said, "Shang Moyan led 30,000 elite soldiers and 50,000 troops to invade in three directions."

"One part surrounded Songzhou and made a show for the Tangqi troops in Maozhou and Longzhou." "The other two parts attacked Weizhou and Yizhou respectively, and now they have captured Shibai, Xiaofeng, Xuecheng, and Weishan counties."

"As long as we capture Yishui, Wenshan, Tonghua, Duanyuan and Gutaoguan, Duokang's cavalry can join forces to attack the Chengdu Plain."

At this point, Chen Ying warned, "General, if Shang Moyan disobeys orders and fails to capture the entire six states, and then attacks Chengdu, then the two states of Wen and Fu..."

"Don't worry." Liu Jilong comforted him, "I also want to take this opportunity to see if Shang Moyan has the courage to betray me."

"If he doesn't obey the order, he will be defeated after this battle."

"As for the troops from Fengxiang Town and Shannan West Road, you can send people to warn the spies in the counties along the way to see how well-armored they are and how many of them are elite."

"In addition, tell Shang Moyan about this and ask him to speed up the siege. We must capture Wei, Mao, and Yi states before the troops from the two towns enter Xichuan."

“Once he has taken the three states, he will only be allowed to send 10,000 elite cavalry to attack Chengdu Prefecture, and the rest of the troops will be divided to attack the three states of Long, Fu, and Wen.”

"Yes!" Chen Ying bowed in response, and Liu Jilong then looked at Li Ji, Ma Cheng, Shang Duoluo and others.

"Send a message to Hu Siguang, asking him to supervise Shang Moyan's troops. If the foreign soldiers who cut off the official roads between Songzhou, Longzhou and Fuzhou do not attack the two states after receiving the order, he is allowed to send troops to attack these foreign soldiers!"

"I obey your orders!" Li Ji responded quickly, and Liu Jilong turned his gaze back to Chen Ying: "You can send an urgent letter to Chang'an."

"Yes!" Chen Ying nodded in response, turned around and left the school platform.

After he left, Liu Jilong turned his attention back to the soldiers on the parade ground.

These 20,000 soldiers were transferred from Fuqi City to the south. In addition, Liu Jilian also deployed 5,000 soldiers in Fujin, Pandi and Huaidao counties respectively, for a total of 15,000 soldiers.

These 15,000 men were a standing army stationed in Longnan all year round. They were one of Liu Jilong's backup plans to prevent the 20,000 soldiers in Jiangli County from suffering from acclimatization problems and ending up with no available troops at hand.

While thinking, Liu Jilong stood on the school platform like an iron tower, and the fast horses sent by Chen Ying only took a few days to reach Chang'an.

After receiving this urgent memorial, Dou Yun of the Chang'an Jinzouyuan immediately put on his official uniform and ordered the soldiers in the courtyard to prepare the carriage.

However, before setting off, he handed the letter brought by Huang Zhou to the cavalry in the courtyard.

"This letter is from an old friend of General Chen. There is no need to rush it. You can rest for two days and then deliver the letter to General Chen in two days."

"Yes!"

The leader of the light cavalry took the letter and then, under Dou Yun's arrangement, went to the guest room in Jinzouyuan to rest.

Dou Yun walked out of the Jinzouyuan and before he got on the carriage, he saw a man with ordinary looks and a strong build walking towards him.

Several soldiers in battle jackets stopped him, and the captain guarding the gate bowed and said, "Ya Ya, this is General Chen's old friend."

"Yes, I recognized him." Dou Yun nodded. He was also one of the ten soldiers who came with Chen Ying to deliver the letter.

Although times have changed, he still knows Huang Zhou, but the two have never communicated.

"You are the servant next to Mr. Huang, right? I recognize you."

Dou Yun stepped forward and waved his hand to signal the soldiers to let them pass.

"Huang Zhou, a servant of the Huang family, has come to seek help from General Chen on the orders of my master."

Huang Zhou bowed quickly, and Dou Yun nodded when he heard it: "I have read the letter, but General Chen followed the army south to Songzhou to fight against the bandits."

"The letter will be delivered to Songzhou in two days, but with the army on the march, it's hard to say whether the letter can be delivered safely."

"If you don't mind, you can take this handwritten letter back to Yuanju County. I think he is a county magistrate with no connections and he won't dare to embarrass you."

"If General Chen replies, I will send someone to deliver it to Yuanju County in Caozhou. Then the county magistrate will not dare to become an enemy of your family."

Dou Yun took out a letter with an official seal on it. Huang Zhou quickly stretched out his hands to take it, and said with excitement: "Thank you, Dou Yaya! Thank you, Dou Yaya!"

"No problem. Mr. Huang also invited me to have a drink before. It's just a small favor."

Dou Yun said, and then looked at the green-robed official beside him: "Cui Wulang, take ten strings of money and my horse in the courtyard and give them to this young man, so that he can return to Caozhou as soon as possible and resolve this matter."

"Yes!" The young official bowed in response, and Huang Zhou naturally thanked him quickly.

Dou Yun nodded without saying anything, turned around, walked into the carriage and sat down.

Soon, the carriage drove towards the Southern Court under the escort of several soldiers, and Cui Wulang also brought people to get ten strings of money and a strong Longyou horse.

Although it was called a horse, its size was no less than that of a military horse. Huang Zhou thanked him repeatedly, and Cui Wulang naturally kept him and treated him to a banquet.

Half an hour later, Dou Yun arrived at the Southern Yamen and was brought into the yamen and into the main hall.

Inside the hall, Lu Yan, Xu Shang, Gao Qu and more than a dozen officials of the fifth rank and above had already taken their seats.

When Dou Yun walked into the hall, he bowed and said, "I am Dou Yun, the military officer of Longyou Protectorate. I am honored to meet you three gentlemen. I am honored to meet you all!"

"Military assistant?" After all, Xu Shang had only been in office as prime minister for a short time, so he did not know that the official sent by Longyou to the Chang'an Jinzouyuan was only a military assistant of the eighth rank.

But even so, he did not look down on Dou Yun. After all, Dou Yun represented the Longyou Protectorate and Liu Jilian.

"I have already read the memorial submitted by Dou Ya Ya."

After all, Xu Shang was also the Minister of War, so it would be best for him to speak first. Therefore, Lu Yan and Gao Qu just accompanied him and did not speak first.

"Although this memorial states that Liu Duhu led his army south to try to relieve Songzhou, it does not mention the troops. I wonder if Dou Yaya knew about this?"

Liu Jilong deliberately did not let Chen Ying specify the troops so that Xu Shang would ask on his own initiative.

However, in the letter to Dou Bin, Chen Ying also told Dou Bin what he could say and what he couldn't say, so Dou Bin frowned when he heard it, but finally said with difficulty:

"I cannot tell you the number of troops led by the general, but it is no less than 10,000."

Xu Shang nodded when he heard this. Although the Tang Dynasty had not sent troops to the vicinity of Songzhou for a long time, the official road in Songzhou was indeed difficult to travel. Even if Liu Jilian had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, he could not bring too many people with him.

"I will report this matter to Your Majesty. In addition, please ask Dou Yaya to send someone to ask Liu Duhu whether the grain and fodder trade with the court will be stopped because of this war."

It is no wonder that the court was worried about this matter. It was true that Liu Jilian had suddenly interrupted the grain and fodder trade last year because of a breakup and war with the monk Moyan.

Although the price of grain in Chang'an has fallen somewhat, it is still around 200 coins per dou of rice.

If we want to reduce the price back to 100 coins per dou of rice or even lower, Longyou will need to make more efforts.

"I will certainly write to the commander in chief about this matter."

"Okay!" Xu Shang nodded, and then ordered: "Prepare the carriage, I need to go to the palace."

Seeing the servant at the door agree, Xu Shang looked at Dou Yun and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Dou. The three of us will go to the palace right away and report this matter to His Majesty."

"I am deeply grateful to the three of you for your hard work..."

Dou Bin bowed respectfully and then took his leave.

After he left, Gao Yu looked at Xu Shang and said, "Liu Jilong only mentioned in his memorial that the foreign troops had harassed Songzhou and demanded money and food from the court. He did not mention the siege of Weizhou and Yizhou at all, let alone sending troops to help the court."

Although the various vassal states were now at odds with the imperial court, they at least maintained their duties as subjects on the surface. For example, during the rebellion of Pang Xun and Wang Xianzhi, even He Hongjing of Weizhou Town pretended to request to help the imperial court fight against the rebels, but Liu Jilian did not.

"Isn't this good?" Lu Yan asked Gao Qu:
"Liu Jilong's move shows that he doesn't want to care about the affairs of the court, nor does he intend to interfere in the affairs of Xichuan. He only wants to stay in Longyou and has no intention of being disloyal."

"Humph, I can also say that Liu Jilong had no intention of fighting Shang Moyan, and deliberately allowed Shang Moyan to invade Xichuan and cause chaos!"

When Gao Qu saw that Lu Yan was singing a different tune from him, he immediately told him about Liu Jilian's instigation of Shang Moyan to invade Xichuan.

Xu Shang also frowned after hearing this: "Liu Jilong is a vindictive person. Although he has no intention of Xichuan, Shang Moyan betrayed his master and turned against him. Why didn't Liu Jilong send troops to harass him?"

Gao Qu nodded his head and said, "That's why I think he is very suspicious."

"If we can instigate a confrontation between him and Shang Moyan in Xichuan, perhaps we can clarify the truth of this matter..."

"Prime Minister Gao is playing with fire and inviting a wolf into the house." Lu Yan took the opportunity to attack Gao Qiu's suggestions, but this time Xu Shang did not stand on his side.

Facing Gao Qu's words, Xu Shang nodded and said, "We can give it a try, but before that we need to report it to the Supreme and let the Supreme decide whether this strategy is feasible."

"Of course!" Gao Qu nodded, and Lu Yan snorted and urged: "The carriage is ready, please follow me to Xianning Palace as soon as possible."

"Hmph!" Gao Qu snorted coldly and walked away.

Xu Shang was much calmer. He did not get angry with Lu Yan. He just walked out in silence.

After they walked out, Lu Yan walked out.

The three of them boarded the carriage one after another, and soon arrived at Jianfu Gate, and walked to the Xianning Palace in the palace...

(End of this chapter)