Early on the next morning, before the other gates of Chang'an City were opened, the gate heading towards Baqiao had already been opened unexpectedly. In the quiet darkness before dawn, horses' hooves were galloping past on the streets of Chang'an City. The sound still woke up the people in the various squares passing by, and also made other people in the square who got up early to stop what they were doing and listen attentively to the neat sound of horse hooves.
In the palace, Wu Mei, who was standing at the door of Xuanzheng Hall as if she had not left all night, watched the long cavalry leave Chang'an City quickly and orderly. Wang Lou slowly walked behind him and whispered: "Queen, bow!" Seventeen people in the crossbow guard got into a fight yesterday after being drunk for some unknown reason, and ten of them died."
"Oh? What about the other seven people?" Wu Mei raised her eyebrows. The unfilial son was clever in his methods, but he seemed unclean.
"Going back to the queen, the other seven people were discovered by Dr. Li Qiao of Yushitai because of their drunkenness. Today they were sent to Liaodong with His Highness the Crown Prince." Wang Lou couldn't understand why His Highness still wanted to go to Liaodong since these people were aliens. Take it with you if you are adventurous.
Hearing Wang Lou's last words, Wu Mei's expression suddenly turned cold, her sharp eyes pointed deep into Wang Lou's heart, and she said coldly: "Are you sure he was taken away by Li Hong?"
"Back to the queen, it's absolutely true, she was indeed taken away by His Highness the Crown Prince." Wang Lou's heartstrings tightened violently, and he didn't dare to ask questions because of the words deep in his heart.
However, Wu Mei's tone softened again: "This Li Hong really doesn't know the importance of things. Are you really afraid that something will happen to your mother?"
Hearing the Queen's words, Wang Lou was even more filled with doubts. His Highness the Prince's taking away the seven people had indeed solved the hidden danger in the palace, but what did it have to do with the Queen's safety
Wu Mei turned her head, watched the torch gradually go away, looked up to the sky and sighed, and asked: "Are you very confused as to why His Highness the Crown Prince brought those seven people with him?"
"Back to the Queen, I am really confused. Since His Highness the Crown Prince knows that they are dangerous, why does he have to take them with him? Doesn't this put His Highness himself in danger?" Seeing the Queen asking, Wang Lou had to force himself. Speak out the doubts in your heart.
"Yes, he is blatantly telling people who are interested that this matter is what he, Li Hong, said and has nothing to do with me. He does not want to put me in danger just because he and His Majesty are not in Chang'an." Wu Mei He shook his head with a wry smile.
What Li Hong did was blatantly telling Li Xian that I killed your people. If you have the ability, come to me. It has nothing to do with the Queen Mother.
But Wu Mei could also imagine that the seven people who survived might have only two ways left to go. Either they were accidentally drowned on the waterway to Youzhou, or they died on the battlefield in Liaodong. .
Taking the waterway from Luoyang to Youzhou has been the battle route for the Eastern Expedition to Liaodong during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After all, compared with the land march, the cost of the waterway is much cheaper, and you can go straight down to Youzhou along the Yongji Canal. .
Youzhou is located between the Taihang Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains. It has always been an important place in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The gap between the two mountain ranges is the shortest natural channel between the farming civilization of the Central Plains and the nomadic people.
Similarly, the two mountain ranges are also the natural dividing line between the farming civilization of the Central Plains and the nomadic peoples.
Strictly speaking, the dividing line between agriculture and animal husbandry in the Yanshan Mountains is drawn from the Northern Mountains outside the Taihang Mountains, starting from the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau and continuing to Shanhaiguan in the east, stretching for thousands of kilometers. The mountains completely separate the nomadic peoples from the farming civilization of the Central Plains.
From this we can see the importance of the undulating Great Wall built on the Yanshan Mountains for the Central Plains people to resist the nomads.
Youzhou was an important military town during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, guarding the gateway for nomadic peoples to enter the Central Plains unimpeded. It was also extremely important to the Tang Dynasty. In the subsequent history, Youzhou will be equally important.
Whether it was the former Sui Dynasty or the Tang Dynasty, the real gathering of troops began from here when the troops were used to conquer the Liaodong area.
It's just that as the wheel of history rolled, Li Dan's third son and Li Zhi's grandson, Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, encountered An Lushan's rebellion when he later appointed An Lushan, who was of mixed Hu and Han descent, to guard Youzhou.
As the military envoy of Fan Yang, Pinglu and Hedong, An Lushan had a large number of elite cavalry, together with the troops of Shi Wei and Mo He, thus kicking off the turbulent period of the Tang Dynasty. Also because of the Anshi Rebellion, From then on, the Tang Dynasty entered a situation of separatist vassals and towns, and never recovered the glory of the first half of Taizong, Gaozong, and Xuanzong.
From a historical perspective, if the Anshi Rebellion was a wake-up call to the Han people to warn the Tang Dynasty about the importance of Youzhou to the Central Plains, then this alarm bell did not sound for a long time and did not attract people's attention to Youzhou.
As the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms entered, Shi Jingtang, who claimed to be the son emperor in front of the Khitan, gave away the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and the Khitan. From this, the Song Dynasty had to start its two hundred years of groveling. national destiny.
And Shi Jingtang's move became the most serious mistake in the history of the Chinese nation's frontiers. He handed over his gate to others to take care of it. The "benefits" he got were something that the emperor of the Song Dynasty knew best.
After setting off from Chang'an and arriving in Luoyang, Li Hong just rested for the night. At dawn the next day, he took a boat east and headed for Youzhou with three thousand soldiers and horses.
Lou Shide looked at the sailing shadow in the distance and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. He immediately ordered someone to draft a document and send it to the three provinces of Chang'an, as well as Dali Temple and Yushitai.
The two place names Youzhou and Fanyang have existed with each other, and today Fanyang is also equivalent to Youzhou. All jurisdictions only change with the changes of the times, and the names are also changed back and forth.
The reason why the Fan Yang Lu family can become a wealthy family, one of the five surnames and seven families, is not unrelated to the fact that they live in Youzhou and live in a dangerous place.
Four days later, Lu Zhaolin, the governor of Fanyang, led a hundred officials to greet His Royal Highness Li Hong at the side of Yongji Canal. All the marching equipment, food and grass, etc. that His Highness the Crown Prince had given him had already been prepared.
After several days of rapid march, Li Hong was not surprised, but what surprised him the most was Lu Zhaolin and others. Among the three thousand unarmored soldiers behind His Royal Highness, none of them looked pale and looked tired!
This surprised them. Logically speaking, even in a waterway like Yongji Canal, as people from Guanzhong, how could they not get seasick
But the fact was that it was beyond their expectations. These people got off the boat and changed their horses. Everyone's footsteps were firm and strong, and there was no stumbling or stumbling.
The army rested for the night again, and on the next day they began to rush to Yuguan without stopping. Yuguan was built in the third year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty. Its purpose was, needless to say, to guard against the nomadic people outside the pass. Eyeing the Central Plains with eager eyes.
In the 19th year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty conquered Korea. He also gathered troops from Youzhou and set off from Yuguan to Liaodong. As the only choke point, this road is definitely the most important military town in the Tang Dynasty today.
After leaving Yuguan, Li Hong began to order the three thousand soldiers behind him to put on their armor. The road with solid black soil along the way was relatively flat, which was enough for the relatively sophisticated food and grass baggage to pass smoothly.
Li Hong originally wanted to mobilize grain and grass from the Yunzhong Protectorate, but because of a decree from his father Long on the way, he had to start transporting grain and grass from Liyangcang. The entire three thousand soldiers and horses could transport tens of thousands of people. The wasted food and fodder also suddenly slowed down the marching speed.
In seven days, Li Hong still followed the march plan and left two thousand people to escort the grain and grass. He took the lead in leading a thousand people to the Songmo Governor's Mansion. When he arrived at the Songmo Governor's Mansion, he was already close to Li Hong. The front line understood in the heart.
But what he didn't expect was that Father Long's martial arts training was not in vain. He didn't expect that Father Long, with Songmo Governor's Mansion as the rear area, actually captured Baiyan, Beisha, More than ten cities including Maigu, Yinshan, Houhuang, etc., and not only captured these cities, but also moved their people to Songmo Dudu's Mansion, Juyan Dudu's Mansion, Dingxiang Dudu's Mansion and other places.
But it seemed that it was predestined. After asking the governor of Songmo Governor's Mansion, I found out that Father Long had been attacking Anshi City for the past twenty days, but he encountered the stubborn resistance of Goguryeo. For more than 20 days, more than 200,000 troops were assembled, but they were still unable to win.
The topographic map of the Liaodong area had long been engraved in Li Hong's mind. Coupled with the research he had done on the road during this period, he was very puzzled. With explosives, an invincible treasure, how could he not break the city of Anshi?
Although Anshi City is the only way to enter the Korean Peninsula, and there are three cities of Nansu, Mudi, and Cangyan behind it, but with the explosives in hand, in more than twenty days, it is It's time for the bombing to level this city of Anshi.
The Governor of the Songmo Governor's Mansion walked in quickly from outside and came before anyone else arrived: "Brother Li Ku, I am here to see His Highness the Crown Prince."
Li Hong turned his head and saw no one. Before he could speak, he saw a person trotting in in a hurry.
Interesting, did you learn this trick from him or did he learn from his own? Anyway, I like to bow before anyone even sees me.
The governor of the Songmo Governor's Mansion was appointed by the Dahe clan of the largest Khitan tribe in the Tang Dynasty. To put it bluntly, the place where they are now is the Khitan land.
Brother Li Ku's original name was Brother Chang Ku, but he was changed to Brother Li Ku after being given his surname by Emperor Li Zhi of the Tang Dynasty. Now he is the governor of the Songmo Governor's Mansion, but with Li Hong's reform of the six ministries, and the Tang Dynasty's official system based on the four towns of Anxi in recent years.
Then they began to slowly establish a governor's office headed by officials from the Tang Dynasty. The position of governor, which was held by Khitan and other tribes, became more and more like an honorary position, but it seemed that they still attached great importance to it, which was very beautiful. .
(End of chapter)