Chapter 188: Ding Yang Khan
"We have to go back to Chang'an." Li Jiancheng first confirmed their statement, then pointed to the north and said: "But I want to resist the Turks first. The Turks will go south to graze their horses, which will surely cause great suffering to the people. This is our responsibility."

Everyone's eyes were focused on Li Jiancheng's face. This trip to Chang'an was to formally raise the flag and declare himself king and emperor. No matter who it was, they would be eager to travel day and night.

But Li Jiancheng could still hold back and wanted to fight the Turks personally. What a heroic lord! It was not that they did not expect the Turks to invade. After all, the Turks’ ambitions were not concealed at all.

But compared with fighting for the world, the Turks can send a general to resist, and it will not be too late to deal with it after the world is pacified. Although it will inevitably cause suffering to the people in the northern border, there is nothing that can be done about it.

In today's world, people are suffering everywhere. For example, Zhang Jincheng and others are more brutal than the Turks.

Wang Hu suddenly said, "My lord, you should resist the Turks first. This is the righteous cause. We will not persuade you any more. But the more urgent matter is the issue of succession. The mourning period for the old lady has passed. My lord, you should bring the young lady here."

The others immediately agreed. This was indeed a huge event. Duke Tang occupied Chang'an, but he had not yet established a system or changed the reign title. Instead, he was waiting for his husband. This showed that the Li family had already made a decision.

If he really succeeded in establishing a dynasty and becoming emperor, then Li Jiancheng would be the founding emperor and Li Yuan would be the retired emperor according to the example of the previous Han Dynasty.

The clear position of sovereignty was the reason why they came without hesitation to join the army. Everywhere in the world was vying for power, but only the Li family was a clean one with the potential to rule the world.

Li Jiancheng smiled and said, "I have sent someone to do it."

"Alas, my dear, such a big event as welcoming the mistress should be done with great fanfare, why did you do it so quietly?"

After chatting and laughing for a while, everyone began to talk about matters related to the Turks. The counties of Mayi, Loufan, Dingxiang, Yulin and others to the north of Taiyuan County, and Shuofang and Lingwu to the west, had all been infiltrated by the Turks.

Li Jiancheng sent envoys to various counties, hoping to integrate forces to help each other and jointly resist the Turks, and to eliminate the generals and officials who were supported by the Turks in various counties.

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In Chang'an, Qin Shubao led a thousand cavalrymen to Chang'an. After successfully entering the city, he paid a visit to Li Yuan. Soon Xiao Cong also arrived. Both of them were somewhat dissatisfied when they heard that Li Jiancheng would not return to Chang'an for the time being.

But they couldn't force Li Jiancheng to do anything now, otherwise it would only cause some elders who had just calmed down to make trouble again. Not everyone supported Li Jiancheng as the leader.

In other words, they did not support him to surpass Li Yuan. After all, there was the principle of filial piety. If Li Yuan had not insisted on it, this matter would have taken a long time.

There are differences in closeness and distance between people, and Li Yuan has a wide range of friends, so naturally there are many people who want to speak for him.

After asking Qin Shubao's purpose of coming, Xiao Cong's face immediately showed joy. It would be better to send his confidant to pick him up than to send him himself.

He had also heard of Qin Shubao's abilities, which were no less than those of Shi Wansui and Yang Xuangan in the past. Only such a person was worthy of protecting the future empress who would rule the country.

The Li and Xiao families did not delay and immediately arranged for hundreds of slaves, including those who served people, those who cooked medicinal food to nourish the body, and those who were world-renowned doctors who nurtured fetuses and delivered babies.

In addition, there were several hundred cavalrymen, all of whom were descendants of nobles from various aristocratic families in Chang'an. All of them had to serve under Li Jiancheng, and this was something the Li family had to accept.

Logically speaking, he should have several concubines, but the Xiao family was the most important ally of the Li family after all. Therefore, although Li Yuan had arranged marriages with several other families, he still had to wait until Xiao gave birth to his eldest son before he could marry into the family.

Li Yuan specifically told Qin Shubao: "If you encounter danger along the way, you must protect your wife, and you can abandon the rest."

"Yes!" Xiao Chanyan, who had already received the news, listened to her mother's teachings on how to have sex and flatter, as well as how to control her husband. There was no displeasure on her face.

The next day, she left Chang'an under the attention of the whole city, escorted by more than a thousand armored cavalrymen. When she came back, she would become the queen of Chang'an.

Qin Shubao was very cautious along the way, and even the young and strong rangers who came specially to join the pursuit were arranged to follow him ten miles away, so as not to give any ulterior motives any chance at all.

The alliance between the Li and Xiao clans was largely due to Xiao Chanyan. Although the Xiao family had other noble ladies waiting to be married, Duke Liang Xiao Cong only had this one daughter.

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Just as Li Jiancheng expected, just a few days later, the Turks raided Mayi. Mayi prefect Wang Rengong fought bravely but was betrayed by his own Yingyang captain Liu Wuzhou and died heroically in battle.

After Mayi fell, Liu Wuzhou, with the support of Shibi Khan, opened the granaries to provide relief to the poor. He issued an edict throughout the territory and obtained more than 20,000 soldiers. He took advantage of the situation to join forces with the Turks to attack Loufan County.

After Li Jiancheng received the news, he immediately informed Chen Xiaoyi, the prefect of Yanmen County, to be on guard, and sent Zhang Huli with 50,000 troops to provide support.

Winter is coming soon, and this battle will not last too long. The highlight will be after the snow and wind next year.

With the timely support of Zhang Huli, Loufan County was saved, Liu Wuzhou withdrew his troops, Shibi Khan bought horse bones for a thousand gold coins, appointed Liu Wuzhou as Dingyang Khan, and presented him with a wolf-head banner.

Liu Wuzhou immediately expressed his loyalty to Shibi Khan: "I will march to Jinyang for the Great Khan and head south to fight for the world!"

Under the example of Liu Wuzhou, several major counties adjacent to the Turks began to thoroughly investigate the generals who had colluded with the Turks. It is better for people to be in panic than to be stabbed in the back.

Shuofang successfully eliminated the Turkic spies, but this also implicated innocent people, causing the people to rebel. The local bandit leader Liang Shidu took the opportunity to raise an army, killed the Shuofang county magistrate, and established himself as Emperor Shizong of Tang.

He was very afraid that Li Jiancheng would raise an army to attack him, so he took the initiative to contact Shibi Khan. Shibi Khan gladly presented him with a wolf-head flag and conferred him the title of Datubiljia Khan.

As a result, Diaoyin, Honghua, Yan'an and other counties felt in danger and no longer cared about waiting for a price. They all surrendered to Li Jiancheng, and the county governors personally rushed to Taiyuan to pay them a visit.

When Shibi Khan learned of this, he immediately changed Liu Wuzhou's title to Emperor Dingyang and Liang Shidu's title to Emperor Jieshi.

Li Jiancheng ignored Shibi Khan's disgusting little tricks. He appeased and promised the county governors who came, and then sent them back to Chang'an. He ordered his subordinates to take over those counties and prepare for war.

It was impossible to destroy the Turks now, and Li Jiancheng could not mobilize a large army to conquer the grassland. But if he could inflict a heavy blow on Shibi Khan and cause the hidden contradictions within them to erupt, he would have no choice but to withdraw his troops.

Li Jiancheng also wrote a letter to ask about Shibi Khan's health and asked him to send Ashina Anar back, but he only received a string of dirty words from the Turkic envoy.

It was obvious that Shi Bi was very dissatisfied with Li Jiancheng for harming him in this way.

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(End of this chapter)