Chapter 98 Western Region
Yuwen Shu naturally did not come to provide assistance. After successfully approaching the Tuyuhun army, he launched a back-stabbing charge without hesitation.

The Tuyuhun side was almost unprepared, and its Khan was panicked. Worried about being attacked from both sides, he could only retreat westward in a hurry, but they had already engaged in close combat, and it was especially easy to evacuate.

After nightfall, Yuwen Shu ordered the troops to retreat, beheaded more than 3,000 people, captured more than 4,000 people, and captured more than 200 nobles of the Tuyuhun tribe.

The Khan only escaped with his personal guards, while most of the tribe's soldiers fled in all directions.

The imperial court successfully occupied the territory of Tuyuhun, which was 4,000 miles from east to west and 2,000 miles from north to south.

After reading it, Wang Yu nodded and said, "It is indeed good. With only a small price, the Western Turks and Tuyuhun were dealt with, and the Western Regions countries paid tribute. Your Majesty can be said to be a man of great talent and strategy."

The fact that Wang Long, a traitor, could say this shows how well Yang Guang did in this matter. However, Wang Long nodded at the end of the letter with a strange look on his face: "Why are you going on another tour to the west?"

If you count the days that the emperor has spent sitting peacefully in the capital since he ascended the throne, one can count them on one's fingers. He is on the road every year, either heading south or north. He has just returned from a visit to the Eastern Capital, and now he is going on a tour to the West.

Looking back at all the dynasties, there has never been such a diligent emperor.

Li Jiancheng shook his head and began to deal with official business. The first issue was naturally the corvée labor for repairing the Yongji Canal, but with the support of several major families in Zhuo County, this matter was not difficult.

In particular, Li Jiancheng had no intention of embezzling the meager money and grain from the conscripted laborers, and he even asked the county to squeeze out some money and grain for subsidies, so the project could be completed on schedule.

As for the laborers who would be injured by heavy labor, there was nothing to be done. Digging canals was the hardest job in the world, especially since the deadline set by the emperor was so short that they would inevitably be injured or die.

Wang Long was bored, so he sat there and stared at Li Jiancheng in a daze. He himself didn't expect that he could live to this day, and even be able to come out of the villa.

After a long while, Wang Long felt a little bored and tried to probe: "My dear, I have been grateful for your rescue and protection for several years. I have never repaid you. I was previously a doctor of the Imperial College and a military advisor. I am quite knowledgeable about military affairs. If you have any trivial matters, I can also help you."

Wang Lu's current identity is a staff member trained by the Li family. After all, the incident back then was handled quite cleanly. Most of those searching soldiers died in the battle when they followed Yang Su around the canyon to raid Zhao Ziyi's camp.

The remaining two or three were also transferred by Li Jiancheng to serve under his own family. Later, they all died gloriously on the battlefield, and their families received generous pensions.

Therefore, they are not afraid of being discovered. The world is so big that it is inevitable that there are a few people who look alike. Without real evidence, who would dare to file a complaint based on fabricated guesses?
Li Jiancheng simply put down his pen and made way: "That's what I really want, but I dare not ask for it."

To be honest, compared to being in the capital, being sent out to be a prefect is really a good job. There are fewer things to do and you don’t have to accompany the tiger. All tasks can be entrusted to trusted aides to handle.

The main reason is that the world is at peace now, and there are more trivial matters than major events in Zhuo County. After all, it only governs seven or eight counties.

After returning to the backyard and changing his clothes, he sent someone to deliver a letter, inviting the famous scholars of Zhuo County to a banquet, and to go out of the city hunting together in two days.

You don't have to work for me now, but it won't be an insult to anyone by getting to know you.

Thus, the four years of Daye passed in a flash. It was a little lonely for the young couple to spend the New Year away from home, but they also didn't have to greet or visit their in-laws and elders.

There was no one with a higher status than them in Zhuo County, so they only needed to wait in the prefectural governor's mansion for the representatives of the officials and noble families to come and pay a visit, which was a lot less work and trouble. ………

In the fifth year of Daye, Pei Yun, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, found that there were many omissions in the household registration of the people. Some people had reached adulthood but were still pretended to be young; some had not reached old age and were exempted from rent and taxes.

The emperor ordered a thorough investigation and even allowed the people to report on each other. Finally, the Ministry of Civil Affairs reported that "this year, there were 190 counties, 1,255 districts, and more than 8.9 million households in the country.

It is 9,300 miles from east to west and 14,815 miles from north to south. It can be said to be extremely prosperous!
However, because many people became bandits and pirates, an edict was issued that iron pitchforks, hooks, knives and the like were prohibited and could not be made without permission.

After finishing the trivial affairs, the emperor could finally lead his harem, relatives, civil and military officials, monks, Taoists, acrobatic artists, and 200,000 troops to tour the west.

Whenever the emperor moved, he would naturally be accompanied by thousands of cavalry and carriages, but the people in the capital had long been accustomed to it, as had the officials. No one tried to persuade the emperor not to go on tour anymore.

So he went west to the right of the Yellow River, passed through Imjin Pass, and went to Xiping to hold a hunting expedition in Bayan Mountain. More than 100,000 people participated in the hunting expedition, and the emperor also specially invited many nobles from various countries in the Western Regions to participate.

Their countries may not even have hundreds of thousands of people, let alone hundreds of thousands of troops hunting just for their own amusement. In their eyes, the handsome and majestic emperor is no different from a living god or Buddha.

As a result, the countries in the Western Regions led their armies to conquer the remnants of Tuyuhun and successfully besieged them in Fuyuanchuan.

The emperor ordered the Internal Secretary Yuanshou to station troops at Jinshan in the south, the Minister of War Duan Wenzhen to station troops at Xueshan in the north, the Minister of the Imperial Household Yang Yichen to station troops at Pipa Gorge in the east, and the General Zhang Shou to station troops at Niling in the west, to surround the Tuyuhun on all sides.

Logically speaking, they should have been surrounded and killed, but the emperor did not have the leisure to wait. One of the purposes of this trip was to completely eliminate Tuyuhun, but the more important purpose was to connect this newly conquered land with the Hexi Corridor and reopen the Silk Road.

So he ordered a violent attack, and the court paid the price with the lives of two third-rank officials. General Zhang Dinghe of the Left Tunwei and General Liang Mo were both killed by a hail of arrows.

But just as the Emperor wished, more than 100,000 Tuyuhun tribesmen surrendered, and the rest who refused to change were completely defeated.

The emperor established four new counties here, namely Heyuan County, Xihai County, Shanshan County and Qiemo County. For the first time, the Central Plains incorporated the entire Qinghai and the eastern part of Xinjiang into its territory.

In this regard, the emperor has made great contributions.

But the emperor had no time to celebrate or mourn; he had to open up the road and use his army to crush obstacles, so he continued his advance, crossing the towering Qilian Mountains.

Only Hu merchants had always walked on that narrow valley road, and there had never been such a large group of people breaking in, not to mention that among them was the emperor of the Central Plains.

Entering from the Dadouba Valley, this valley is eighty miles long from north to south. The narrowest parts are only wide enough for one person to pass through. Generals with stronger physiques had to smear wax on their bodies and then let the soldiers push them hard before they could barely pass through.

After the war, there were still more than 100,000 troops left, not to mention the monk Baiyi in the harem who held them back. Ultimately, they failed to pass through within the expected time. In the bitter wind and rain at night, the emperor and his concubines still had tents, but the low-ranking officials and soldiers could only endure the bone-chilling cold.

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

(End of this chapter)