Chapter 279 Su Dingfang: There Are Actors

"What about me?"

Li Shi𪟝 felt that he had listened to the story with great excitement but in vain.

The battle to destroy Xueyantuo was mentioned briefly, and the expedition to Goguryeo was only mentioned in a few words.

I thought this was the beginning of my role, but I didn't expect it to end directly?

"Why worry about great achievements?"

It was Li Jing who comforted Li Shi𪟝, but looking at the old general, and thinking that the old general was also one of the three war gods in the early Tang Dynasty.

For a moment, Li Shi𪟝 couldn't help but feel sad.

Instead, he was even sadder.

Su Lie felt fortunate at this moment.

In Kuangdaofu, Su Lie felt like he was getting old after only staying there for three years.

Thirty years... I couldn't imagine how boring this kind of life would be.

The inspections in Kuangdaofu in the past three years were not as thrilling as the night attack on Yinshan Mountain with General Li Jing.

A good man should be like this!

A mixed feeling of gratitude and relief rose from Su Lie's heart.

If it weren't for what the junior said, it would be difficult for Su Lie to stand here.

Sweeping the streets is of course just a joke, but in Kuangdaofu, if you don't sweep the streets, it seems that it is really difficult to find something to do.

"Dingfang should take advantage of his good years to establish an unprecedented achievement!"

Su Lie turned his head, and this encouragement came from Li Shimin.

Nodding vigorously, Su Lie didn't want to ask why Chang'an had been idle for 30 years.

He only knew that now the opportunity had come, and he must take advantage of it!

After encouraging Su Lie, Li Shimin was a little complicated:

"Turkic thieves, why are you so frivolous and cunning!"

He was proud of being able to suppress this gang of thieves!

And he was furious that the suppression didn't seem to last long.

But he quickly made up for it:

"Those who rebel are all thieves, and there are also good men among the Turks!"

[Before Xiao Lu took action, his rebellion plan was sent to Li Zhi's desk by the governor of Tingzhou.

Li Zhi acted decisively. Before Xiao Lu rebelled, he tricked Xiao Lu's legitimate son to Chang'an.

After holding the hostage, Li Zhi was much more confident and sent an envoy to have friendly contact with Xiao Lu. In the end, Xiao Lu gave up his plan.

This unsuccessful rebellion should have ended here. Xiao Lu's son should have received education to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty in the Tang Dynasty, and eventually took over the power when Xiao Lu was old, fighting for the interests of the Tang Dynasty and shedding the blood of the Turks.

But I don't know what Li Zhi considered. After only a few years, Xiao Lu's son, the hostage in hand, was released. It can be said that it was very irrational.

Xiao Lu's son had seen the prosperity of Chang'an and thought that rashly rebelling against the Tang Dynasty would only lead to his own death. He urged his father to attack the Western Turks to the west.

This matter went very smoothly. As the general of the left guard of the Tang Dynasty and a commander-in-chief, Xiao Lu had no reservations about the tactics and weapons of the Tang army.

With the help of the two, Xiao Lu beat his fellow countrymen to a pulp. In less than a year, he annexed the Western Turks and called himself Shaboluo Khan.

It can be said that it was a roundabout rebellion, or that the son grew up and didn't want to call him father anymore.

In short, the Western Turks once again became a roadblock to the Tang army's westward advance, and they were more proactive.

Xiao Lu, who called himself Khan, wanted to control his own destiny, and took the initiative to show his fangs to the Tang Dynasty, and then was slapped dumbfounded by Li Zhi:

In 652, Liang Jianfang and Qibi Heli led 30,000 Tang troops and recruited another 50,000 Huihe cavalry, totaling 80,000 troops.

The Tang army won a small victory, chasing the enemy for 500 miles, beheading 6,000 people, beheading 60 enemy generals, and returning to the court.

In 655, Li Zhi, who was satisfied with visiting the nunnery, chose to take the initiative to attack the Western Turks. Cheng Zhijie was appointed as the general manager of the Congshan Road, Wang Wendu as his deputy, and Su Dingfang led the front army to attack the Western Turks.

After the Tang army entered the Western Turkic region, it won the first battle soon. After a long chase, the two sides fought in Yingsuochuan. The 20,000 elite cavalry of the Turkic army and the Tang army fought hard here.

For the Turkic army, there are still 20,000 elite cavalry on the way to support. As long as they hold on until the reinforcements arrive, the victory will belong to the Turkic army!

But unfortunately, Su Dingfang was resting not far from the battlefield. The two sides fought too fiercely and he was noticed first.

The battlefield changed rapidly, and Su Dingfang made a bold plan in an instant:

Use 500 elite cavalry to quietly go around and attack the rear of the Turkic army, and attack the Tang army from both sides, and you will definitely win a big victory!

The plan went quite smoothly. The Turkic army was defeated, and the baggage and armor were abandoned all over the mountains. Su Dingfang led his army to chase and kill for 20 miles, beheading 1,500 people.

From this time on, this war became very strange for Su Dingfang.

In the case of a great victory and pursuit, the order to return to the army to form a formation was passed to Su Dingfang.

After returning with a lot of questions, Wang Wendu stood up and said that the emperor had issued an edict, Cheng Zhijie relied on his courage to underestimate the enemy, and the Western Expedition Army would be commanded by Wang Wendu from this moment on.

With Cheng Zhijie's tacit consent, the transfer of power went smoothly, and then Wang Wendu's order made Su Dingfang even more difficult to understand.

In the case of a great victory, Wang Wendu ordered the Tang army to form a square formation and advance slowly, and strictly ordered the Tang army not to go deep into the heart of the Western Turks.

After arriving at Hengdu City, many Hu people were frightened by the military power of the Tang Dynasty and took the initiative to surrender.

Wang Wendu ordered that the Hu people were ambitious and would definitely rebel again.

Then he ordered all the surrendered Hu people to be killed and their money to be kept privately.

Su Dingfang was dumbfounded after hearing the order, and he resolutely refused to obey. In the end, he could only watch Cheng Zhijie and Wang Wendu kill all the Hu people who surrendered voluntarily and put the money into his pocket.

In the end, this battle ended in failure when Su Dingfang won a great victory with 500 cavalry entering the battle.

Wang Wendu was sentenced to death for forging an imperial edict, but was eventually stripped of his title and became a commoner.

Cheng Zhijie was sentenced to death according to the law for failing to pursue the enemy, but he was spared and dismissed from office because he was an old minister. 】

"This is letting the enemy go!"

Seeing the angry look on his majesty's face, Changsun Wuji immediately spoke first.

Then he thought:

"The two marching generals acted so strangely... there may be changes in the court."

Changsun Wuji always felt that he smelled a familiar smell from it.

"No matter how the court changes, the lives of soldiers cannot be joked!"

Li Shimin's face was cold:

"And no matter how the changes are, the state affairs should be the most important, how can you not understand?"

Su Lie nodded fiercely.

For a moment, he felt that his luck was a little too bad.

After sweeping the streets of Chang'an for 30 years, this happened?

The commander-in-chief and the adjutant didn't want to win, so he was the only one who fought seriously?

Du Ruhui read the copied text twice and finally found a suspicious point:

"The prince governs... a nunnery?"

Fang Xuanling leaned over to look for a while and finally shook his head, not quite understanding:

"Maybe it was because Master Xuanzang returned to the country at that time, and the whole Tang Dynasty worshipped Buddhism, and the prince's governance was also influenced by it."

Du Ruhui glanced at Fang Xuanling. The two had not finished talking, but the meaning was very clear:

If you are interested in Buddhism, you should go to the temple. How can you go to the nunnery?

Li Shimin was just angrily questioning, not a political idiot. He thought about it for a while and snorted:

"Cheng Yaojin is a man who knows how to protect himself."

He obeyed and handed over power without verifying the authenticity of the imperial edict, and calmly killed and hid the money to be charged. Li Shimin understood this operation too well.

Is Cheng Zhijie short of money? I'm afraid no one in the Tang Dynasty would believe this. Since the defeat of the Wagang Army and surrendered to Wang Shichong, Cheng Zhijie has never failed.

He was brave as a vanguard and knew when to advance and retreat when leading the army. It can be said that money and fame were like floating clouds to Cheng Zhijie.

For a duke of the Tang Dynasty to rob a poor Hu people, there was no other possibility except that he took the initiative to give him a handle.

"Zhijie was already sixty-seven years old at that time, and he might have been unable to do it."

Qin Qiong didn't think much about it and chose to speak for his old friend.

Yaojin was Cheng Zhijie's old name. His Majesty took the initiative to call him by this name, which showed that he had a lot of opinions.

Li Shimin sighed as he looked at the battlefield that was obviously full of momentum at the beginning but ended in failure.

Prince Zhi was just out of his cradle now, and he didn't know what kind of personality he had.

Zhijie was already honored and favored under him, and fame and money were floating clouds, but perhaps this was also a bad signal for Prince Zhi.

But... having a guess does not mean that there is no knot in his heart.

So Li Shimin snorted again:

"After all, I was already in power at that time, and I couldn't control you."

So the ministers hurriedly bowed their hands and confessed their guilt.

[Why Cheng Zhijie and Wang Wendu played these tricks is still unclear.

But if we connect it to the court at that time, we may be able to make a rather bold guess.

In 655, when Cheng Zhijie and Su Dingfang went to the army, a major event happened in the court: Wang was deposed and Wu was established.

Comrade Li Zhi, under great pressure from the court, deposed Queen Wang and established Wu Zetian as the queen.

At that time, the discussion in the court was as turbulent as a tide, so going to the Western Turks can be seen as a way for Li Zhi and Empress Wu to divert the attention of the court.

And if you check the origin, you will find that Queen Wang was born in the Wang family of Qi County, Shanxi.

So it's a coincidence, isn't it? Wang Wendu, who forged the edict, was also born in the Wang family of Qi County.

Moreover, looking at this matter, why did Wang Wendu forge the imperial edict? Just to waste the food and grass of the Tang Dynasty, to make trouble for Cheng Zhijie, and to get himself beheaded?

The most amazing thing is that Wang Wendu should be beheaded according to the law, but he was only punished as a commoner, and he was reinstated in just two years, appointed as the governor of Xiongjin, guarding Baekje, and his career was even further advanced.

Therefore, can we make a bold guess:

Wang Wendu was instructed by someone to make trouble for Li Zhi and Wu Zetian?

Then who was Wu Zetian's opponent? Zhangsun Wuji.

And Wang Wendu's final experience also vaguely corresponds to Zhangsun Wuji.

In 659, someone presented a memorial to Li Zhi, claiming that Zhangsun Wuji was treasonous.

Li Zhi did not confront Zhangsun Wuji, but directly stripped him of his official position and fiefdom, exiled him to Qianzhou, and ordered the government soldiers along the way to "escort" him.

In July of the same year, the secretary of the Central Secretariat personally rushed to Qianzhou and forced Zhangsun Wuji to hang himself.

Just one year later, in 660, Wang Wendu died suddenly in Baekje.

The testimony was signed by a local of Baekje, saying that Wang Wendu suddenly fell ill and died on the spot.

In this matter, Cheng Zhijie should have just gone with the flow, because he really wanted to retire and return home.

Cheng Zhijie retired with this incident, and died ten years later after enjoying the happiness of family life at home, and was buried in Zhaoling. 】

The Ganlu Palace was suddenly in chaos.