Chapter 97: Chu Luo
There are currently about forty-four countries in the Western Regions, which are either subservient to the Western Turks or dependent on Tuyuhun. In Yang Guang's eyes, he, the emperor, is the only one in the world who is qualified to be worshipped by all the kings.

Who the hell is the Western Turkic Tuyuhun? They actually dared to challenge the authority of the emperor. They are an existence that must be subdued just like Goguryeo.

Originally, the emperor was ready to send troops to attack the Western Turks first. After Dahan Khan was defeated, Nijue Choro Khan became the supreme ruler of the Western Turks.

This man was extremely brave. It was rumored that he was chased by forty or fifty riders for three days and three nights in his early years, but in the end he was the only one who returned covered in blood.

But compared with his bravery, his ability to control his subordinates as a Khan was very poor. He was greedy and stingy, liked to collect heavy taxes from the tribes, and did not trust anyone.

In the first year of Daye, he sent troops to attack the Tiele tribes and looted their property. He also suspected that the Xueyantuo tribe had rebelled and killed hundreds of their chiefs. This made the tribes deeply hate him and they rebelled continuously.

In such a situation, as long as the imperial court sent a general, even if the outcome could not be decided in one battle, if the war dragged on for too long, the enemy would inevitably collapse due to internal strife.

But he was stopped by Pei Ju, the Yellow Gate Minister. In addition to his bravery, Choro Khan was also commendable for his filial piety.

His biological mother, Xiang, was stranded in the capital when she accompanied Khan Positqin to meet the late emperor at the end of the Kaihuang period due to civil strife among the Turks.

Pei Ju suggested that they could send an envoy to try first. If Choluo Khan could surrender and surrender without fighting, that would naturally be the best thing.

The emperor had never noticed that the mother of the Khan of Western Turkic Khan was actually in his hands, so he ordered the imperial envoy Cui Junsu to go to Western Turkic Khan to comfort him.

After Cui Junsu arrived at the tent of the Western Turkic Khan, although he was a little scared, he still pretended to be arrogant and asked Choro Khan to kneel down to receive the imperial edict.

Choro Khan snorted coldly, and the tall and strong Hu man behind him immediately drew his sword and walked in front of Cui Junsu, ready to chop off his head with a nonchalant attitude.

Cui Junsu laughed and said, "It is easy for the Khan to kill me. I only sigh that Madam Xiang will be buried in Chang'an and her head will be sent to the enemy court. Our Great Sui will also use the people of the Eastern Kingdom to attack the Khan. Your country will be destroyed and you will be annihilated soon!"

Upon hearing the news about his mother, Choro Khan called out to the Hu man, with the blade just inches away from Cui Junsu's neck.

"If anything happens to my mother, she will lead a million troops south to the Central Plains."

"Haha." Cui Junsu pushed the Hu man away and said, "Qimin led millions of people from his tribe to humble themselves and serve the emperor. Why is that?

It is precisely because I hate the Khan so much that I cannot rule on my own that I want to borrow troops from a big country to destroy the Khan together!
We, the Great Sui, do not need to get entangled with you. As long as the emperor gives an order, the Eastern Turks will send troops to attack. As far as I know, Erxi is in constant trouble. I wonder how to resist it then?"

Although Chuluo was brave but not wise, he had been Khan for several years after all. He naturally knew that although what he said was exaggerated, he did have many problems on his side.

Seeing that he was wavering, Cui Junsu took advantage of the situation and attacked him: "Khan, you have violated the etiquette of two bows, disobeyed the order of your loving mother, and only said a word to surrender, thus destroying the country. Is this what a king should do?"

In the end, Choro Khan knelt down in front of his many subordinates and accepted the will of the Saint Khan, the Emperor of Central Plains.

.........

After meeting several talented people, Li Jiancheng directly assigned them some official duties and asked them to find a house in the prefectural government to work in so that he could ask questions or discuss matters at any time.

Wang Long, who had cut his beard short and looked a lot fatter, came out from behind the screen and said, "Congratulations, young master, on taking charge of Zhuo County." Li Jiancheng shook his head and said, "I am a governor appointed by the court. There is nothing to celebrate about taking charge of my own jurisdiction.

Besides, although these few are not bad, they are worse than I expected. "

Wang Xiong smiled and said, "If they are willing to be obedient, Your Majesty will be willing to use them. Now, due to your power, it is good enough that you can send some outstanding young men to show your sincerity."

As long as the most outstanding sons and daughters of these families do not have the opportunity to become high-ranking officials, they would rather let these people waste their lives in the family than let them go out to serve as officials.

The Lu family of Fanyang sent over the clan leader's second son, who was talented and educated. Not only was he an aide, he was more than qualified to be a county magistrate. After a few years of training, he could even become a prefect.

But Li Jiancheng had heard from a friend of the Hedong Pei family that the Lu family had a talent who could assist the king in this generation. Of course, that person also said that the Qinghe Cui family also had a talent who could assist the king.

These prominent families passed down from the Qin and Han dynasties monopolized educational resources. Those in power could take away their land and suppress their official positions, but the accumulation and inheritance of family traditions, knowledge, and cultural classics could not be taken away.

Not only was this the case in the past, but during the Li Tang period in history, the Longxi Li family had ten prime ministers; the Zhaojun Li family had seventeen prime ministers; the Boling Cui family had fifteen people who served as prime ministers; the Xingyang Zheng family had eight people who served as prime ministers; and the Fanyang Lu family also had eight people who served as prime ministers.

These are just statistics of five families, and only the prime ministers who are at the highest position in the country. What about the middle-level and grassroots officials below? Of course, most of them are from these aristocratic families. Their influence on the country can be imagined.

Li Jiancheng knew that this was the greatest sincerity that the Lu family had shown him. Unless the emperor personally summoned him, the hidden talent who could assist the king would rather sit at home all his life than kowtow to the Guanlong nobles.

Moreover, the emperor had already begun to reveal his intention in this regard. Going south to build the Eastern Capital was originally intended to break free from the constraints of opening Guanlong and to promote the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and Shandong.

Without thinking about it any more, Li Jiancheng handed the family letter on the desk to Wang Long: "After the Western Turks surrendered, Tuyuhun was also defeated and fled. More than 30 countries in the Western Regions came to pay tribute to Your Majesty. This battle was really beautiful."

The letter was written by Li Yuan. There were no warm words between father and son. It mainly talked about important affairs of the court, so that his son would not miss any information and make mistakes while away.

The emperor tasted success after defeating the Western Turks without fighting. After rewarding Cui Junsu handsomely, he wanted to use the same method to deal with Tuyuhun.

Fortunately, he woke up in time. The mother of Tuyuhun Khan was not in his hands. Even if she was, he was not heard to be a filial son like Chu Luo.

But the emperor wisely decided to use Tiele to attack Tuyuhun first, because the Tiele tribe was like wolves and could not be tamed.

Moreover, Tuyuhun had already surrendered to the Sui Dynasty on the surface, so it would not be good to start a war without a legitimate reason.

So Pei Ju went on a personal mission to Tiele. The Tiele tribe invaded the Qaidam Basin from Qiemo. Tuyuhun was caught off guard and could not hold on, so they quickly fled eastward to Xiping.

Then he quickly asked for help from the Sui Dynasty. The emperor readily agreed and sent Yuwen Shu to lead a large army to provide support.

...............

(End of this chapter)