Chapter 216 Tong Ye Hu

"My brother has appointed me as the commander-in-chief. Yuanji, do you dare to disobey his order?"

Li Yuanji sneered: "I am the governor of Bingzhou, responsible for guarding against the Turks. I have already fought with the Turks and have a chance of winning. You come here and want to take away my military power and change the strategy without saying a word. I agree, but my soldiers will not agree."

This statement was extremely problematic, as it seemed like disobedience to the Emperor's order, but the person who said this was the King of Qi. Even the Emperor would not do anything to his own brother because of this.

Therefore, Li Mi, Xue Ju and others who came with Li Shimin had no intention of saying anything, as they really could not afford to get involved in the disputes among the royal family.

Qin Shubao Shan Xiongxin, who had enough experience, just wanted to be a loyal minister to the emperor. He also did not want to get involved in the dispute between the two kings of Qin and Qi, so as not to be misunderstood by His Majesty.

Li Shimin was furious, but he had no way to deal with Li Yuanji. The military power of Bingzhou was in Li Yuanji's hands. If a big dispute arose now, wouldn't it give the Turks an opportunity to take advantage?

So he could only suppress his anger and said, "Gao Manzheng is still defending Mayi County City. Li Gaoqian took away 4,000 elite soldiers. He does not have enough soldiers and generals, so he can't hold out for much longer.

If the county city of Mayi is occupied by the Turks, it will be extremely difficult to recapture it. But now, while the county city has not been captured yet, we only need to break through the Turkish blockade and send some troops to support the county city. The Turks will not be able to completely occupy Mayi and will have to retreat.

Li Yuanji retorted: "There has been no news from Gao Manzheng for three days. It is very likely that Mayi County has been captured. We should hold on in Gangcheng and wait for the troops from Youzhou and Shuofang to arrive before we can recapture Mayi."

As the two princes refused to give in to each other, the two armies could not join forces to fight against the Turks. On the contrary, it would be more likely for something to go wrong if they acted together.

Li Shimin understood this point very well. Even if he took over the military power by force with the imperial edict, as long as Li Yuanji was determined to obstruct him, the army would easily reveal flaws at a critical moment.

So after Li Shimin angrily rebuked Li Yuanji, he led the troops he brought from Luoyang to fight. Shan Xiongxin, Qin Shubao, Li Mi and others naturally followed the Qin King who had issued an order.

After leaving Li Yuanji's camp, Li Mi said, "Your Highness, Prince of Qin, I think what the Prince of Qi said may not be unreasonable. If there is no news for three days, anything can happen. A general should consider the worst possibility first."

Li Shimin mounted his horse and said, "After Li Gaoqian fled, Gao Manzheng could have surrendered the city directly, but he did not. Instead, he stubbornly resisted for more than ten days. This is great loyalty and courage. As long as there is half a hope, I will not give up such a loyal minister.

Besides, the Turks are not good at attacking cities. As long as we march now, we still have a chance!"

After Li Shimin left, Li Yuanji's face was not looking good. His confidant advised: "Your Highness, the King of Qin came here by imperial decree after all. If His Majesty knew..."

"Humph, I didn't force him to leave. Does that mean I don't even have the right to speak once the King of Qin arrives?"

The confidants sighed and said, "Then Your Highness should write to His Majesty as soon as possible. If you let the King of Qin rescue you, then the blame will be all on you."

.........

Soon Li Jiancheng received separate memorials from his two younger brothers, each of whom insisted on his own opinion and blamed the other for the fault. Especially Li Yuanji, he never mentioned that he had disobeyed the order, but only said that Li Shimin angrily abandoned the Bingzhou army and left when there was a slight argument, showing no responsibility as a commander.

Seeing that the two of them were still so incompatible, Li Jiancheng was quite relieved. If these two brothers who held military power had a good relationship, he would not be able to sleep.

However, the problems between these two people also need to be solved. First of all, let’s not talk about whose decision is more correct. Since he has already ordered the King of Qin to take command, the King of Qi should obey the order and hand over the military power to the King of Qin.

There are countless officials and generals in the court who have grudges against each other, and it is never just the two brothers. Could they possibly make things difficult for each other and hinder important matters of the court?

The emperor immediately issued an edict to reprimand the King of Qi, dismissing him from his position as the General of the Right Guard, and ordering the Protector General of Bingzhou to take over the military power immediately and obey the orders of the King of Qin. If anyone in Bingzhou dared to disobey the order in public, their entire family would be punished! At this time, someone in the court suddenly proposed to move the capital, believing that the reason why the Turks wanted to attack Guanzhong was because the wealth and population were concentrated in Chang'an. If Chang'an was burned down and no longer used as the capital, the Turkic attack would stop.

These words shocked Li Jiancheng. He couldn't understand why there was such a person in his court. But when he looked closer, he found that he was actually his cousin.

"Then where do you want me to move the capital to after burning Chang'an?"

The duke thought he had finally found his chance and said impatiently, "Xiangyang, I think Xiangyang is the most suitable."

Without Li Jiancheng saying anything, all the officials in Guanlong, including members of the royal family, had already joined together to scold that man.

"The barbarians have been a nuisance since ancient times. Your Majesty has risen to power with the power of sage and martial arts. You have brought glory to the Central Plains and have a million elite soldiers. You are invincible wherever you go. How can you move the capital to avoid the barbarians who are disturbing the border?"

"You little brat, do you want to bring shame upon the emperor and make him a laughing stock for generations to come? Get out of here!"

Li Jiancheng had thought about moving the capital. As the capital, although the population was declining, Chang'an was still prosperous and bustling.

The Weinan Plain alone is no longer able to feed such a large population, and has to rely on food supplies from the south.

In addition, Chang'an is located in a basin, which is not conducive to controlling the entire country. Moving the capital can not only solve the above problems, but also break the influence of Guanlong on the court.

But this was obviously inappropriate at this time, not to mention that he could not burn down Chang'an no matter what. If he did so, he might not even be able to bear the posthumous title of Yang after his death.

He did not punish the cousin either. After all, since he was making a remonstrance, he should not be punished too much so as not to block the channels of communication.

Du Ruhui said, "Your Majesty, the envoy of the Western Turkic Khanate of Tongyehu is still waiting for your response?"

They said they came to marry the princess, but in fact they came to unite forces to fight against the Dong Turks. Of course, the princess still really wanted to marry him.

Li Jiancheng asked Zuo Pushe: "Western Turks are far away and cannot help us in times of emergency. Now they want to marry a princess and join forces. What do you think, Prime Minister?
Pei Ji replied: "Now the northern invaders are strong. For the current situation, we should make friends with those far away and attack those near. I think we should agree to their marriage, and then the Turks will be pacified.

Tongyehu was not as powerful as Shibi, but he was also known to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command, and his martial arts surpassed those of previous Khans.

According to the reports from the Western Regions, Tongyehu incorporated the kings of the Western Regions into the military administrative system, granted them the official title of Jie Libao, and sent another Tutun to station there to monitor and supervise the collection of taxes.

Being powerful and wealthy, he is indeed a good candidate for marriage.

Li Jiancheng himself did not have a princess, and his sisters were all married. There was one widow, but there were also many noble ladies of the royal family who were of marriageable age.

When asked about the opinion of the envoy of Tongyehu, they expressed that they would rather let the emperor of the Central Plains's younger sister, the extremely noble Princess, become the Qaghadun of their Khan.

As for having been married before, this was nothing on the grassland, and it made their Khan love her even more.

………………

(End of this chapter)