Twenty-Nine Li's Decision (Part 1)

  The soldier was holding xuan paper, which was more valuable than gold in the Tang Dynasty at that time. It took about a year to produce one sheet of xuan paper from start to finish, and the production cost was so high that the selling price was naturally expensive. Unless it was something important, people generally wouldn't use such a luxury item as xuan paper. Even Emperor Li rarely used such luxuries, and actually, silk was not as valuable as xuan paper.

  But this paper is Xuan paper, Li Er's heart beats fast, hearing such news, he can't help but feel extremely surprised and delighted. However, such a huge victory makes Li Er somewhat unbelievable, to say the least, still a bit unconfident. The shame of four years ago made him unforgettable, he certainly doesn't want to become that despicable Liu Bang, waiting for his great-grandson to clear his name. The matter of clearing his name must be done by himself!

  But can the weak national strength of the Tang Dynasty really achieve this? With a population of less than 10 million, a shortage of money and grain, after being hit by locust plagues and droughts, mobilizing an army of over 100,000 to fight is already the limit of the Tang Dynasty at present. This time it was also with the idea of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat, and fighting a decisive battle. Who would have thought that this time it really succeeded? And it's a great victory! Captured Qibi Khan!

  Li's trembling hands unfolded the rice paper, first searching for the signature, the signature is the most important! The signature is... Li Jing! Li Jing! This is true! This is true!

  Li the Second closed his eyes, but the smile on his face couldn't be hidden. He tried his best to maintain his dignity in front of his ministers, but the joy from his soul made it impossible for him to control his movements and facial expressions. After a long while, he opened his eyes, looked at the excited faces of his ministers, took a deep breath, and said: "The medicine master did not disappoint our high hopes, my ministers, we... have won."

  As soon as he finished speaking, Li Er felt a sudden sense of relief and lightness throughout his body, and the weight that had been hanging in his heart was finally lifted. The officials in the hall were overjoyed and rushed to congratulate Li Er, taking the opportunity to flatter him: "Your Majesty's good fortune is boundless! The Tang Dynasty will last forever! We congratulate Your Majesty! We congratulate the Tang Dynasty!" What better opportunity to flatter than this? It's a common disease of emperors, a common disease of people - who doesn't like to hear praise?

  Listening to the flattering words, Emperor Li couldn't stop smiling and handed the imperial edict to the eunuch beside him: "You read it! Read it out loud for everyone to hear, let's see how General Li won this battle! Hahaha!"

  Minister Li Jing and Li Shiming report to Your Majesty: Since the campaign against Xueyantuo ended, we have been preparing to attack Yingshan. We aim to complete this task in one battle. However, we are concerned that our troops are too few to match the 30,000 iron cavalry of the enemy. To be cautious, on the eve of sending out the army, I ordered the commander of the vanguard, Su Lie, and the chief historian of the campaign against Xueyantuo, Sun Chong, to lead a vanguard force of 500 iron cavalry to scout out the enemy's situation in Yingshan. The vanguard arrived at Yingshan on the third night after setting out. That night, a strong wind suddenly arose, and Su Lie devised a plan to use fire to attack the enemy. He ordered the 500 iron cavalry to shoot fire arrows and set fire to the Turkic army camp. With the wind assisting the flames, it seemed as if the entire camp was on fire.

  Su Ning led five hundred iron cavalry to attack the Turks, defeated them greatly, and Su Ning captured the Turkic leader Yeli Kehan. Su Lie captured the former Sui dynasty's Empress Xiao, and Longsun Chong captured the former Sui dynasty's Princess Yicheng. Over a thousand of Yeli's 30,000 soldiers were captured alive, while the rest either died in battle or were burned to death; their numbers cannot be counted. The Turks' livestock and cattle were all captured by Su Lie. Now, under the watchful eyes of our great army, no one dares to make a move. Princess Yicheng refused to surrender, so we executed her. The former Sui dynasty's lost imperial jade seal was also obtained by our army. This battle is truly the greatest victory since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and I hope Your Majesty will reward us according to our merits. We bow our heads in respect.

  The eunuch finished reading the war report, looked up and saw that all the officials had their mouths agape and eyes wide with wonder. Just as he found this strange, he was suddenly pushed open by Li Er and fell to the ground with a cry of "Ah!" Of course, he wasn't a beauty, so no one came to help him up. The war report in his hand was seized by Li Er, who examined it carefully from top to bottom, scrutinizing every single character. Then he looked up and asked the soldier who had delivered the message: "Are there any other letters?"

  The soldier took out a letter from his bosom: "To report to Your Majesty, this is the letter that General Li ordered me to hand over to you personally."

  The Emperor Li hastily took over, quickly pulled out the letter, his face changing from cloudy to clear, and after a long time, he put down the letter, sat back on the dragon chair, and remained silent for a long time, as if considering something.

  Changsun Wuji was over the moon, having achieved a great feat that even 500 men breaking through 30,000 had not accomplished. According to Li Jing's words, Changsun Chong had fortunately become one of the three greatest contributors! His own methods were correct! This Su Ning was indeed a genius, and it wasn't just his bravery in using 500 men to confront 30,000 that was impressive - even his luck was extremely good. How did he manage to stir up such a big storm as soon as he encountered him?

  Chang Sun Wuji felt extremely delighted, first because Chang Sun Chong had achieved great merit, and secondly because it seemed that the relationship between Chang Sun Chong and Su Ning was not bad, otherwise Su Ning would not have brought Chang Sun Chong together to achieve great merit. Su Ning was indeed a young man with a bright future ahead of him, and it seemed that Chang Sun Chong would have a good assistant in the future! So, did he also need to promote this young man? Was this young man worth it? Thinking about it again and again, Chang Sun Wuji couldn't help but hesitate for a while...

  Fang Xuanling was the first to come back to his senses, looking at Li's worried expression, sometimes smiling and sometimes silent. He then asked boldly: "May I ask Your Majesty, what did the letter from Li Da Zongguan say? If Your Majesty has any troubles, please let us share your worries."

  When Fang Xuanling said this, the ministers in the hall also came to their senses. They were all Li Shimin's most trusted ministers who could enter the Taiji Hall with Li Shimin to discuss national affairs. The Taiji Hall can be said to be the real center of power in the Tang Dynasty. Only Li Shimin's most trusted ministers could enter here to discuss important matters, and the grand meeting at the Taiji Hall was just a matter of bringing out the things discussed inside the Taiji Hall and rehashing them, with no change in tone.

  Wei Zheng also chimed in: "Your Majesty, the great army's victory is a joyful event. However, what General Li said has left me somewhat astonished. Su Ning is Your Majesty's newly appointed Count of San Yuan, which we are all aware of. Nevertheless, this achievement is truly hard to believe. Please, Your Majesty, enlighten us!"

  Li Er shook his head: "The medicine master will not deceive us with military affairs, this is true. Su Ning was bold and resourceful, well-versed in military strategy, and dared to defeat the 30,000-strong army of Yeli with just 500 cavalrymen, capturing almost all of their livestock and destroying their country. If the medicine master had not spoken clearly, I would not have believed it either. But this is true: Su Ning took advantage of a strong wind to burn down the entire Yin Mountain, and if it hadn't been for the heavy snowfall on the second day, Yin Mountain would no longer exist."

  The Turks were not defeated by the 500 cavalry, but by the great fire. Su Ning took advantage of the great fire to capture all of them, including Jiali. The remaining Turkish soldiers and people were like a dragon without a head, and they surrendered in an instant. The 500 men captured so many tens of thousands of people. Daring, decisive, and ruthless, Medicine Master said that Su Ning trampled on Jiali's dignity in front of all the captured Turks, humiliating him to the point where he no longer existed.

  All the ministers were shocked, even Changsun Wuji was shocked awake. These big shots all had a new view of Su Ning, such a strategy to destroy one's heart would ruin an entire nation's confidence!

  Actually, Suning did this and worked so hard for a reason. It's not uncommon for 500 people to capture 100,000 people. It's just embarrassing to say it out loud because in history, the 100,000 were us and the 500 were the enemy. The Jin army marched south, the Yuan army marched south, and the Qing army marched south too. A single barbarian would shout loudly with a knife in hand, and hundreds of young men would immediately kneel down to beg for mercy. The Song Dynasty's strategy of abandoning military affairs and focusing on literature has had endless poisonous effects, and the Chinese tradition of revering martial arts is almost extinct...

  So Sui Ning wants to leave a spiritual legacy for future generations, to fight for the original history, to humiliate and crush the Turkic Khan, to destroy the Turkic people's spirit, to slaughter the Turkic people mercilessly, making them tremble with fear. In this way, everything will fall into place...

  Li Er felt a sense of emotion: "What kind of master can teach such a disciple? He's only 14 years old! Yet he's so decisive and ruthless. The Turkic people didn't want to kneel, but Su Ning kicked Ashina Helu to the ground and trampled on his head. Then he killed a Turkic noble with one sword, saying that if one person doesn't kneel, ten will be executed. Yao Shi used one word to describe Su Ning, thinking it was fitting, but also said it wasn't quite fitting."

  Wei Zheng asked: "May I ask your majesty, who is this person?"

  Emperor Li II said: "The former Han Dynasty's Huo Qubing." At this point, Emperor Li II felt a bit melancholy. He was delighted to have obtained such a talented young general as Li Er, who had no foundation and was so young. This kind of young general was exactly what he liked, and he wanted to cultivate him into his own loyal follower, so that later on, he could replace these gradually aging old generals and restrict their power.

  However, Huo Qubing killed only barbarians. After the Five Barbarians' invasion of China, the bloodline of Emperor Taizong's family was no longer purely Han Chinese. The reason why the aristocratic families in Shandong looked down on Emperor Taizong was also because of his barbarian ancestry.

  Emperor Taizong of Tang had ancestors who were both pure Han Chinese and pure Hu people. Although his social status, noble rank, and official position were high and respected, Emperor Taizong was also born into a noble family. However, this kind of neither-Hu-nor-Han aristocracy was extremely detested by the orthodox Han Chinese aristocratic families. Therefore, the Shandong aristocratic families would rather form marital alliances with people like Cheng Zhijie, who were considered barbarians, than with Emperor Taizong. This is an extreme mockery and disrespect towards Emperor Taizong...

  Talking about Huo Qubing, it's inevitable to have some disrespect for Li Er, the actual ancestor of Emperor Taizong. Although they claimed Laozi as their ancestor, in reality, whether this is true or not, insightful people probably all know that in this era where ancestry was emphasized, those with the same surname could basically be used to pad the numbers. The Great Tang didn't have Guangjun County; in the first year of the Zhenguan reign, Emperor Taizong abolished Guangjun County and merged it into Xincheng County, so naturally there was no Marquis of Guangjun either.

  However, the Tang Dynasty absolutely regarded itself as a Han Chinese dynasty. If it were a non-Han Chinese dynasty, such as the Qing and Yuan Dynasties, similar to the derogatory term "barbarian" used by the Han people towards other ethnic groups, it would not have appeared in official records. But the Tang Dynasty was not like that. After hundreds of years of conflict between the Hu and Han peoples during the Five Barbarians' invasion of China, the Han people had a deep-seated hatred for the Hu people. Therefore, if the Tang Dynasty were a non-Han Chinese dynasty, it would have been impossible for there to be so many articles and poems condemning and cursing the Hu people, such as "Don't let the barbarian horses cross the Yin Mountains".

  However, the Tang Dynasty was not. The Tang Dynasty was the most open dynasty in Chinese history, or it can be said that Emperor Taizong of Tang had barbarian blood, but he was definitely a Han emperor who identified himself as a Han person. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the national sentiment of the Han people and the Great Wall between the Hu and Han peoples made Emperor Taizong somewhat inferior. He was not a pure Han person, so he could not use open and honest means to deal with the contempt of the poetic families.

  Guangjun County is not only the fiefdom of Huo Qubing, a hero who killed Huns, but also a sacred place for Han people for many years. It was once the capital of the Great Chu State established by Zhu Can, an enemy of the Tang Dynasty, so it was abolished, which is reasonable. This also destined that the Tang Dynasty would not have Guangjun County, would not have Marquis Guangjun, and would not have such a hero...

  Of course, there are exceptions to everything.