Chapter 148: Too Much Bullying (4k)
Anagui now understood why these Rouran tribes retreated!
The Gaoche people were the old enemies of the Rouran people for hundreds of years, and they knew the Rouran people’s weaknesses best!
The Rouran tribes knew very well that, given their scattered state, they could only rob tribes far away from the towns, and could only take detours to the six sturdy towns. The border residents of the six towns far away from the towns were all poor, and the benefits of robbing them would be limited.
They knew very well that robbery was just a way to make a living, and it would be a loss if their lair was destroyed.
After receiving the news that Gaoche had sent troops to attack Rouran, the Rouran cavalry that had invaded the northern border began to retreat in tribal units. By the time Anagui received the news, it was already rumored on the grassland that the Gaoche people were not far from the Rouran royal court.
Now Anagui also became anxious. He stood up and said, "No, I have to go find the general! Ask him to escort me back north immediately!"
The subordinate hurriedly said, "Khan! If you return north now, the thieves will definitely harm you!"
Anagui naturally understood this principle. If he returned north before dealing with Su Ze, once the army was mobilized, it would not be as safe as setting up camp.
When they were camping, he lived next to General Li Chong's tent every day. No matter how brave Su Ze was, he didn't dare to send anyone to assassinate him.
However, once the army is on the move, Li Chong will have to command the battle. There will be many loopholes during the march. As the most powerful military leader in the Yulin Army, Su Ze will have many opportunities to harm him.
Now the gossip about Su Ze and Princess Shouyang is spreading throughout the military camp. The most outrageous rumor is that the princess is pregnant with Su Ze's child.
Anagui had endured until today. Li Chong's attitude had softened and he was ready to remove Su Ze's military power, but he did not expect that Gaoche would suddenly send troops.
Anagui paced back and forth and said, "Go and ask Li Shaoqing to come over to discuss matters!"
Li Shaoqing is Li Shizhe. Recently, Li Shizhe has been pleading for Anagui when he received benefits from Anagui, and speaking for Su Ze when he received benefits from Su Ze. Li Chong is very disgusted by his wavering attitude, so he simply drives him to the outskirts of the military camp and keeps him away from his tent.
It was also because of this that Su Dao was able to steal his chariot.
Li Shizhe's attitude was the same as Su Ze had expected. This guy didn't dare to tell Li Chong about the loss of the imperial token, but secretly blocked the news and prepared to return to Luoyang to find a solution.
These days, Anagui has stepped up his efforts to win over Li Shizhe, and Li Shizhe soon rushed to Anagui's tent.
"Shaoqing, save me!"
Seeing Li Shizhe, Anagui knelt down with a cry, pulled Li Shizhe and said:
"Shaoqing, save me!"
Li Shizhe had never seen such a play before. He quickly helped Anagui up and said, "Khan, this is unacceptable! Li is not worthy of it!"
"Isn't my father ready to escort the Khan back to the royal court? Why is the Khan doing this?"
Anagui felt contempt in his heart. He didn't expect that Li Chong would dislike his son Li Shizhe to such an extent that he didn't even tell him about military intelligence.
But that's true. If he had given birth to such a stupid son, Li Chong would have been doing his best to be kind to him by simply giving him three horses and driving him out of the tribe.
However, Li Chong was old and could not toughen his attitude towards his son, so although Li Chong was driven to the outskirts of the military camp, Anagui knew that he still had influence on Li Chong.
Anagui cried and said, "The Gaoche people took the opportunity to attack our Rouran, and now the Gaoche army is about to reach the Rouran royal court!"
"what!"
Li Shizhe asked quickly: "Why would the Gaoche people attack you Rouran people? Aren't you allies?"
Anagui was almost crying because of this guy's stupidity. He could only patiently tell the love-hate relationship between the two tribes, and then said: "I heard that the army is about to set out, but Su Ze, that villain, is eyeing me covetously. I'm afraid he will harm me on the way. I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to return to my homeland!"
After saying this, Anagui started to cry. Li Shizhe panicked and said, "What should we do? If something happens to the king, won't it implicate my father?"
When Anagui saw Li Shizhe's expression, he knew that the fool had taken the bait. He immediately said, "I beg the general to transfer the prisoners captured by the Su bandits last time. My Rouran cavalry will come to protect me. As long as we can reach the Rouran royal court, the general and the junior minister will have completed the court's mission! The rest is up to us Rouran people and Gaoche people!"
This is the plan that Anagui has been thinking about!
This royal cavalry belonged to the Rouran royal family, but they were actually the private soldiers of Yujiulu Brahmin.
Anagui was also aware of his cousin's ambitions, but when he heard that Yujiulu Brahmin was seriously injured, he felt confident that he could bribe and control this cavalry as long as Li Chong was willing to give these prisoners to him.
After all, no matter how distant they were from him, with Yujiulu Brahmin severely injured by Su Ze and his comrades slaughtered by Su Ze, these Rouran cavalry would support him as the orthodox Rouran Khan, right?
As long as he had an army, he would have room to deal with Su Ze. After returning to the grassland, even if the Gaoche people captured the royal court, Anagui could use this army to integrate the other Rouran tribes, and then use the banner of the Northern Wei Dynasty to call for the unity of the Rouran. At that time, even if he did not have a royal court, he would be the real Rouran king!
To some extent, if things can be accomplished, Anagui should be grateful to the Gaoche people for giving him this excellent opportunity.
Li Shizhe said without thinking: "I understand, I will explain the pros and cons to my father!"
Hearing Li Shizhe's "purity", even Anagui felt a little embarrassed, and quickly asked his attendants to give him more gifts and send Li Shizhe away.
Li Shizhe returned to the tent and spent half a day mustering up the courage to ask for an audience with his father, General Li Chong.
-
The Brahmin Yujiulü was lying on the couch with lifeless eyes, and beside him was the naked Feng.
Although he was seriously injured on the battlefield that day, fortunately they were all external injuries, and the injuries were only to unimportant parts such as the limbs. After treatment by the [Blind Pharmacist], his injuries are now almost healed.
Yujiulü Brahmin could no longer remember how he got involved with the female official serving as Princess Shouyang's assistant.
Was it when Princess Shouyang assigned her to take care of herself?
Or when the other person climbs onto your bed one night?
What made Yujiulu Brahmin even more puzzled was that the other person was obviously older than him and had an ordinary appearance, so how could he experience happiness he had never experienced before and be deeply addicted to it?
You people from the Central Plains, do you have some kind of witchcraft?
"My dear, it's time to take medicine."
At some point, Madam Feng had brought the medicine. Yujiulü Brahmin had already gotten used to being taken care of by her, so he opened his mouth obediently.
After feeding the medicine, Madam Feng said, "Today, I heard news that the Gaoche people are attacking your Rouran royal court."
"what!"
Yujiulu Brahmin immediately sat up and said with a struggle: "I want to go back to the grassland!"
Madam Feng held him down and said, "My dear, are you stupid? You are now a prisoner of the Wei Dynasty. Can the general let you return to the grassland?"
Yujiulü Brahmin lowered his head, blaming himself for having such a good time these days that he had forgotten his identity as a prisoner. If this continued, Yujiulü Brahmin would even forget his own identity.
After all, this feeling is too nostalgic. Madam Feng continued, "In this case, the general should escort the King of Rourun back to the grassland, but when the King of Rourun returns to the grassland, will my lord and I still have a chance to meet?"
Yujiulü Brahmin quickly raised his head. He had a delicate relationship with Anagui. As the current powerful figure commanding troops within the Rouran royal family, Anagui would definitely deal with him first once he came to power.
Moreover, Madam Feng was a lady-in-waiting of Princess Shouyang, and she was also part of Princess Shouyang's dowry, so she might have to serve Anagui.
No! can not be like this!
Yujiulu Brahmin propped himself up and sat up. He said with a grim look, "What should we do?"
Madam Feng saw that the mood was right, so she whispered in Yujiulu Brahmin's ear: "I have a plan, would you like to listen to it, my lord?"
After these days of contact, Yujiulü Brahmin had already discovered that this Han female official was extraordinary and knew a lot of knowledge that he himself did not understand. He quickly pretended to listen attentively.
"So, like this."
-
The army hesitated for more than a month, and General Li Chong finally gave the order.
Su Ze was the vanguard with 3,000 men under his command. They went to intercept the Gaoche people and prevent them from attacking the Rouran royal court with Li Chong's orders.
Li Chong himself led the army to escort the Rouran King Anagui and Princess Shouyang to the Rouran royal court to complete the marriage ceremony.
Li Chong, in his capacity as the governor of Pingcheng and the acting governor of the General of the Northern Expedition, ordered the Six Garrisons to drive out the Rouran people from their territory and restore peace in the Six Garrisons as soon as possible.
After seeing Li Chong's army marching away, Yuwen Gong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he was not the one who led the burning of Wuchuan Zhencang, the Yuwen family, as one of the Wuchuan heroes, was naturally involved.
Although Li Chong did not hold anyone accountable for the matter of Zhencang, he forced the Wuchuan heroes to "donate" a batch of grain. This could be considered a political tacit understanding. Li Chong turned a blind eye and suppressed the matter of Zhencang, but the Wuchuan heroes' families also had to contribute a little to supplement the supply of military supplies for the army.
Before the army set out, the generals of Wuchuan were severely beaten by Li Chong and forced to donate a large amount of military rations.
Now that Li Chong was finally sent away, Yuwen Gong felt exhausted both physically and mentally, and he returned home and fell asleep.
The third son, Yuwen Luosheng, stood on the city wall, watching the army go away, and excitedly said to his younger brother, Yuwen Tai: "I heard that General Li was called the Crouching Tiger by the Southern Dynasty! Will this trip be a great victory?"
Yuwen Tai shook his head and said, "I don't think so. General Li is not here to fight, and the court doesn't want General Li to start a war in the northern border. I'm afraid he will go to the grassland mainly for mediation, and then return after completing the marriage."
Hearing his younger brother say this, Yuwen Luosheng lowered his head. His two elder brothers were much older than Yuwen Tai and didn't understand him. They always felt that this younger brother didn't look like a military family's son and he always said things that they couldn't understand, so they were not close to Yuwen Tai.
However, as the third elder brother, Yuwen Luosheng had spent the longest time with his youngest brother. He was well aware of Yuwen Tai's talents and trusted his judgment.
Yuwen Luosheng said again: "Oh, Captain Su!"
"Captain Su is so brave. He was able to defeat the Rouran elite in Pingcheng last time. Can he also achieve great success on the grassland this time?"
Yuwen Tai shook his head again and said, "Captain Su may have been abandoned by General Li."
"what?"
"It is said that the Gaoche army attacking the Rouran royal court has more than 10,000 cavalry. This time, Pingcheng does not have the geographical advantage. With such a large grassland, General Li only gave Captain Su 3,000 soldiers. With such a small number of people on the grassland, I am afraid they can't even find the route of the Gaoche army's advance."
"If we want to defeat the enemy with fewer troops, the only way is to launch a surprise attack. However, this is Captain Su's first time going to the grassland, and he has no support from the local tribes. How can we track the whereabouts of the Gaoche people in such a vast grassland?"
"If we don't launch a surprise attack, isn't it wishful thinking to expect the Rouran and Gaoche to stop fighting with such a small number of people?"
"Perhaps General Li asked Captain Su to lead the army, waiting for the Gaoche people to attack the Rouran royal court, and then let Captain Su take the blame. Then he would punish Captain Su to appease the Rouran king."
"Then we will find a place on the grassland and enthrone the Rouran King as the successor of the Rouran Khan. After completing the marriage ceremony, we will lead the troops back. By then, no matter how the Rouran and Gaoche people fight, it will have nothing to do with our Great Wei."
The gossip in the army had already spread to Wuchuan City, and even the young boy Yuwen Tai had heard about it.
Yuwen Luosheng's face became even uglier. Su Ze had made such great contributions in pacifying the city and was a genuine military general of the imperial court, but he just gave up like that.
However, Yuwen Tai also understood that a kind person is not suitable for commanding an army. Such an outcome was most beneficial to the Northern Wei Dynasty and to Li Chong himself. Only Su Ze, who had no foundation in the court, became a victim.
Yuwen Tai added: "And I heard that General Li also handed over the 3,000 Rouran cavalrymen captured last time to the Rouran King. This is obviously a trick to make friends with the Rouran King and to support the Rouran King in his fight against the Gaoche people."
Hearing this, Yuwen Luosheng said angrily: "This group of Rouran people burned, killed and looted in the six towns! The officials in the court actually wanted to keep things quiet? Now they want to release the soldiers that Captain Su captured with great difficulty?"
"I think Captain Su didn't kill enough people back then! He should have chopped off the heads of all the Rouran people and piled them up into a Jingguan!"
"Moreover, the imperial court was so polite to the Rouran people, but so harsh to us six townspeople! The town commander asked the Pingcheng governor for food relief, but the Pingcheng governor refused and even asked us to provide food to feed the army!"
"This army of support is to go to the grassland to support the Rouran people?"
Yuwen Luosheng was extremely angry. The people of the Six Garrisons had a very simple idea. Since Su Ze killed the Rouran people, he was the benefactor of the Six Garrisons. Since Chaotang and Li Chong helped the Rouran people, they were the enemies of the Six Garrisons.
Yuwen Tai sighed and said, "General Li has had a hard time. If it were someone else, he would have taken Captain Su to curry favor with the Rouran King and would not have given him this opportunity."
"What the court needs is a peaceful northern border. A six-garrison that is too weak to make a sound and a Rouran Khan that is seriously injured are exactly in line with the interests of the court. In a sense, General Li has conquered the enemy without fighting, which is also the highest level of military tactics."
"only."
"Just what?"
Yuwen Tai suddenly said angrily: "It's just that using this military strategy on one's own people is too much!"
4k update, 6k completed today.
I will try to restore the status tomorrow and see if I can update to 8k.
Start paying off debts the day after tomorrow!
(End of this chapter)