Chapter 175 Three Generals (2)

These are all trivial matters. In the 15th year of Zhenguan, Li Er went to Mount Tai to meditate. Xueyantuo took the opportunity to attack Li Simo's army and defeated him.

Li Simo retreated to the inside of the Great Wall. After returning to Chang'an, he immediately sent someone to send an urgent report to Li Er. Li Er then ordered Li Li to lead his army to attack Xueyantuo.

Li Li led a few thousand soldiers to fight against Xueyantuo's 200,000 troops. In the first battle, Li Li did not gain any advantage.

The 3,000 Turkic cavalry under Li Li were defeated and retreated. Dadushe took advantage of the victory to pursue them. He met the 3,000 Tang cavalry who came and many of their horses were shot dead by Xueyantuo.

Li Yu had no choice but to order his soldiers to dismount and charge with long spears, thus defeating the Xueyantuo army.

The battle ended with the Tang army winning a brilliant victory and Dadushe escaping alone.

Seeing that the main generals had fled, many Xueyantuo were demoralized and had no intention of continuing to fight the Tang Dynasty, so they had to choose to surrender, and the rest of them scattered and fled back to the northern desert.

The result of this battle was that the Tang army killed more than 3,000 heads and captured more than 50,000 people, and Dadushe escaped alone.

"I called you three to the East Palace this time because I am worried that Xueyantuo will take advantage of my father's Eastern Expedition to invade the territory of our Great Tang."

"I hope the three generals can do their best for the country, crush Xueyantuo's conspiracy, and jointly resist foreign enemies to protect the territory of our Great Tang." Li Chengqian said.

"Your Highness! Is there any war report from the front? How many troops did Xueyantuo send out?" Li Daozong asked.

"No battle report!" Li Chengqian shook his head and said, "These are all my guesses, but with Bazhuo's hatred for our Tang Dynasty, he will not miss this great opportunity to invade after he succeeds to the throne, and we have to be on guard."

"The Xueyantuo's strength has increased in recent years. I dare not say how many there are, but there are still 100,000 armored soldiers."

As a time traveler, these are naturally not Li Chengqian's guesses, but major events that really happened in history, and they were also the fuse for the Tang Dynasty to destroy the Xueyantuo later.

If Bazhuo had not led 100,000 Xueyantuo troops to invade the territory of the Tang Dynasty, Li Er would not have made up his mind to destroy the Xueyantuo.

In fact, before the Eastern Expedition, Li Er sent the chief of the Turkic Zhishi Tribe, Shishisi, to lead the Turks to garrison the Jinshan Road north of Xiazhou.

He joined forces with Tian Ren, the General of the Left Guard, who was stationed in Xiazhou, to block the Xueyantuo army.

The Xueyantuo army was lured into a trap by Zhishili, and was defeated. He pursued the Xueyantuo army for more than 600 miles, and returned triumphantly after showing off his power in the north of the desert.

Bazhuo, who had suffered a defeat, naturally would not accept it, so he made a comeback. At this time, Li Er, who had already received the news of the Xueyantuo invasion, had Li Daozong, Ashina She'er, Xue Guwu and others dispatched troops to resist the Xueyantuo army.

Li Er hurriedly withdrew from Goguryeo, and in the 20th year of Zhenguan, he united with the Uighurs, Pugu and other tribes to launch a war to destroy the cruel Bazhuo. The three looked at

each other. This conclusion based on conjecture was somewhat untenable. They couldn't just do something to Xueyantuo based on the prince's conjecture! What if Xueyantuo was not as the prince guessed? That would be a big bummer, and the three of them would not look good. More importantly, if they wanted to resist the invasion of Xueyantuo, they had to mobilize a large number of troops. Without the emperor's will, they dared not make decisions on their own. Moreover, without the emperor's edict and the military token issued by the Ministry of War, no one would obey the orders of Li Daozon and others. Although Li Chengqian was the prince and now the regent, he still had many restrictions on mobilizing troops. Moreover, as the regent prince, Li Chengqian was limited in the number of troops he could mobilize, no more than 10,000 at most. "Your Highness! Please forgive me for speaking frankly! Without the order of His Majesty and the military token issued by the Ministry of War, even if what you said is true, Prince." "I'm afraid the three of us can't help Your Highness! We don't have the right to mobilize the army." Li Daozon said in embarrassment. According to the system of mobilizing fubing soldiers for battle, one must have a copper fish token and an imperial edict issued by the court (collectively known as the fish book), which must be reviewed by the governor and the commander of the Zhechongfu before they can be dispatched. Generally, when a war breaks out, the court will temporarily appoint ministers to lead the troops with the fish book, and return the fish book after the war is over. Li Daozon and his two men didn't have the fish book in their hands, so they couldn't mobilize the army at all. Even if they believed Li Chengqian's words, he could do nothing to help. What's more, they were skeptical about Li Chengqian's words, or even didn't believe them at all. Now Xueyantuo has just gone through internal turmoil, and Bazhuo has just come to power. He has not had time to sit firmly on the position of Khan, and has not yet stabilized the internal situation of Xueyantuo. Li Daozon and the other two calculated that it would take at least three to five years for Bazhuo to sit firmly on the position of Khan. Therefore, what Li Chengqian guessed was not possible for the three of them. But Li Chengqian could not say it clearly. "Your Highness! Why not report this matter to His Majesty! See what His Majesty means. If His Majesty supports Your Highness, he will definitely give you a letter of approval." Xue Guwu, who had not spoken a word, said. Since the prince cannot decide this matter, then let the emperor decide how to treat the relationship with Xueyantuo. "General Xue is right! Such a big thing naturally requires the judgment of His Majesty!" Li Daozon echoed. Although Ashina She'er said nothing, his expression showed that he also supported Xue Guwu's suggestion. "Then let's do it this way! I will personally write a secret letter to your majesty, and the matter will be handed over to your majesty for judgment." "You three go back first and wait for your majesty's good news." Li Chengqian said. Xueyantuo will definitely take advantage of Li Er's absence from the Central Plains to launch a large-scale invasion. Fortunately, Li Er also made preparations, so Xueyantuo's conspiracy did not succeed. "Yes!" Li Daozon and the other two bowed and left. Li Chengqian ordered someone to bring the four treasures of the study, wrote a letter about the concept of Xueyantuo's invasion, and asked someone to rush to deliver it to Li Er. After some consideration, Li Chengqian decided to go to Xiazhou in person. Go and see what the new Khan of Xueyantuo, Bazhuo, looks like. If he could defeat Bazhuo himself, it would be of great significance to the crown prince Li Chengqian. Just when Li Chengqian was about to leave Beijing for Xiazhou, a meeting had just been held in the court of the Xueyantuo king. This was also the first military meeting presided over by Bazhuo after he ascended the throne. At the meeting, Bazhuo strongly encouraged everyone to send troops and take advantage of Li Er's attack on Goguryeo to plunder wealth.

Although many people here do not agree with Bazhuo's point of view, believing that going against the Tang Dynasty is a dead end and there is no need to do so.

Bazhuo naturally does not agree with these people's views and still insists on sending troops to attack the Tang Dynasty.

Bazhuo's first target is Xiazhou, because Xiazhou is closest to him.