LFHYB -Chapter 168 The Current State of the World

After assigning three capable generals under their command, Li Shimin continued with Li Xuanba to analyze the state of the realm.

The Longyou Circuit lay in the northwest of the Sui Dynasty, covering what later became Gansu, parts of Qinghai, and the entire Western Regions. The terrain was complex, with only the Xitai Plain (later the Ningxia Plain) producing significant grain; the rest was harsh land.

However, when Li Xuanba first arrived in Zhangye, he allied with the Western Turks to reopen the Silk Road. Combined with the fertile pastures along the right bank of the river, Li Shimin treated his cavalry like the Turks would their horses, managing to simultaneously revive civilian life and maintain his troops.

To the east of Longyou Circuit was the loess plateau at the center of the Yellow River’s “bend.” This region was almost entirely under Liang Shidu’s control.

Liang Shidu was a strongman from Shuofang, formerly a Yingyang Lang general under the Sui.

Although Li Shimin’s surprise attack on the Eastern Turks was hugely successful, his small force couldn’t eliminate much of the Turks’ living strength; the Turks were simply too fast on the steppe. When Qieli Khan secured the Eastern Turkic khanate, he quickly regrouped the steppe tribes and regained strength.

Liang Shidu submitted to Qieli Khan, just as he would have in the original timeline to Shibi Khan, adopting the title of Great Dadu Pi Jia Khan. In alliance with the Turks, he seized the prefectures of Diaoyin (Yulin), Honghua (Qingyang), and Yan’an, declaring himself Emperor of Great Liang.

Below Liang Shidu’s territory lay Guanzhong, home to the Sui Western Capital, Daxing City.

The garrison of the Western Capital was Wei Xuan, but he had already handed over authority to Li Shimin and Li Xuanba’s teacher, Gao Jiong.

Here, the history of this timeline diverged from what Li Xuanba knew.

In the original history, Daxing had Wei Xuan as the garrison commander, with Yin Shishi as deputy, and the Qutu Tong tribe stationed nearby. The Eastern Capital, Luoyang, was under Wang Shichong’s control.

In this timeline, the deposed crown prince Yang You and Duke of Tang Li Yuan quickly defeated Yang Xuangan, preventing Wang Shichong from reaching Luoyang from Jiangdu in time.

Yang Guang, on his way back to the Eastern Capital, was attacked by righteous forces and had to summon Sui troops from all over to escort him. Naturally, Qutu Tong moved from the Western Capital to Luoyang.

Now Luoyang was garrisoned by Qutu Tong, with Yin Shishi as deputy—both loyal to Yang Guang. The Western Capital, neglected by Yang Guang, was thus thinly defended.

Because Qutu Tong and Yin Shishi held Luoyang, Yang Xuangan and the righteous forces under Zhai Rang struggled to advance, making the city hard to capture.

West of Guanzhong lay Hedong Commandery. With only Yao Junsu present, Li Yuan’s westward crossing of the Yellow River toward the Western Capital and eastward toward the Eastern Capital was blocked. But Li Yuan managed to hold off Yao Junsu, preventing him from sending reinforcements to Luoyang.

Although the Western Capital’s defenses were insufficient, Yao Junsu tying up Li Yuan and the stalemate at Luoyang meant the Western Capital could barely hold amid intermittent bandit troubles in Guanzhong.

Further east, Lu Zhun, the Tiger General, commanded You and Ying prefectures from Zhuo Commandery.

In the original timeline, he called himself the governor of Youzhou but never emperor. In this timeline, perhaps because Yang Guang was dead and the “emperor aura” vanished, Luo Yi even claimed the title of Great Yan Emperor.

Hebei’s Dou Jiande developed rapidly as in the original timeline. Upon learning of Yang Guang’s death, he shifted from being a rebel leader who attacked Yang Guang to a loyalist of the Sui, raising a banner to punish Wang Bo and Yuwen Huaji, aiming to annex Wang Bo’s territory in Qi Commandery.

However, his efforts weren’t as smooth as in the original timeline.

Wang Bo had killed Yang Guang. Though the gentry feared him, the common people revered him.

Standing against Wang Bo, Dou Jiande’s advance was resisted by the Qi Commandery populace, who had benefited from Wang Bo’s rule.

After Li Yixiong and Zhang Jincheng returned to Qi Commandery, though they didn’t fully trust each other, they cooperated defensively, unlike what Wang Bo had expected. They resisted Dou Jiande’s attacks while sending envoys to pledge allegiance to Li Shimin, requesting if Mr. Wei could be returned.

When these two returned to Qi Commandery, they had already sent envoys to Longyou, arriving around the same time as Li Shimin and Li Xuanba.

Li Shimin, “helpless,” had to send Wei Zheng and Xue Shou out again, this time with Luo Shixin accompanying them.

Before Wei Zheng could meet the lord’s subordinates, he hurriedly left to recruit the Qi Commandery righteous forces.

As he departed, Wei Zheng scolded Li Xuanba: “Qi Commandery is half a Sui away! Does it help if I recruit them? Can you provide support?”

Li Xuanba: “You’re scolding Second Brother.”

Wei Zheng: “I’m scolding you! You’re the lord’s strategist, so this plan is obviously yours! The lord merely favors you—you’re the culprit!”

Li Xuanba: “Oh. Goodbye then.”

Li Xuanba waved them off, leaving Wei Zheng fuming.

Xue Shou and Luo Shixin dragged Wei Zheng onto the carriage, one on each side, smiling wryly at the scene.

This plan was indeed devised by Li Xuanba, but he never intended to make things difficult for Wei Zheng.

The reason was that Zhang Xutuo—the only threat in Qijun—had died in battle.

When Yang Xuangan besieged Luoyang again, Zhang Xutuo would naturally come to its rescue.

However, Zhai Rang arrived and launched a surprise attack from the rear. Though it was a different battlefield, this veteran still died as a loyal minister of the Sui dynasty at the hands of the Wagang rebel army.

Originally, Zhang Xutuo was supposed to be appointed the governor of Xingyang in the previous year (the 12th year of the Daye era). But after Li Mi joined Zhai Rang, he advised Wagang to capture Xingyang, and Zhang Xutuo was killed in the battle.

Li Xuanba, having been stranded in Wagang, became Zhai Rang’s strategist for a while. He also lent Luo Shixin and Li Zhiyun to Zhai Rang, helping Wagang transition from a chaotic rebel force into a more organized military power.

Even before Zhang Xutuo could be officially appointed governor of Xingyang by Yang Guang, the Wagang rebels had already taken the city, and Yang Qing, the prefect of Xingyang, fled back to Luoyang.

Li Xuanba had previously established numerous charitable military settlements in Henan and Hedong. After arriving at Wagang and with Zhai Rang’s strong support, he ensured that the young and able men he had trained in those settlements were integrated into Wagang and hidden there.

Zhang Xutuo had once considered attacking Xingyang when Zhai Rang left, only to find that the city had suddenly gained many skilled craftsmen capable of building sophisticated defensive machinery. The garrison was well-trained, comparable to the Sui army, which immediately led him to suspect that there were capable people assisting from within.

Gao Baoren, who had been sent by his junior brother to act as a “civilian bandit” in Xingyang, complained bitterly to himself: I, a Duke of Bohai in the Great Sui, have now become the second-in-command of Wagang? Li Erlang and Li Sanlang, my two junior brothers, are truly unreasonable.

After a prolonged but unsuccessful siege of Xingyang, and with the rebel forces in the Central Plains growing both numerous and strong, Zhang Xutuo had no choice but to retreat.

Yet fate is unpredictable. He did not die at Xingyang but fell instead to Zhai Rang’s blade while going to support Yang Xuangan.

However, this time his body was collected by Gao Baoren. Because Gao Baoren treated Zhang Xutuo’s body with respect, Zhang’s former subordinates did not harbor deep resentment toward Wagang. Most of them surrendered to Wagang, strengthening it once again.

With Zhang Xutuo—the only threat in Qijun—dead, and Wagang under Gao Baoren’s control, Wei Zheng, after consolidating Wang Bo’s former forces, was in a mutually advantageous position with Wagang, so much so that even Dou Jiande could not challenge him.

As for whether Wang Bo’s former followers might cause trouble for Li Shimin in the future, that was absolutely impossible.

When Wang Bo and Sun Xuanya crushed Yang Guang to dust, they had already emphasized that it was solely the action of the couple, unrelated to anyone else. They had disbanded their personal troops.

Moreover, “bandit leaders” only unite today and betray tomorrow; there were no firm chains of loyalty. Li Yixiong and Zhang Jincheng had not declared themselves kings or emperors, and no faction in the world would consider them remnants of Wang Bo.

As for Wei Zheng, Wang Bo, in order to extract him, had emphasized that many of his close aides in the force disagreed with the killing of Yang Guang and thus left. But for the sake of Qijun and the people of the realm, Yang Guang had to be killed.

As a strategist who worked behind the scenes, Wei Zheng never appeared on the battlefield, so outsiders had little impression of him.

This was normal. Before the rebel forces had achieved success, strategists who did not go to the battlefield naturally had low visibility.

Scholars: How could there possibly be a strategist among mere bandits?!

“Gao Sanxiong is in Hedong; Wei Xuancheng, Xue Bobao, and Luo Shixin are in Qilu. We can intervene in the Central Plains at any time,” Li Shimin said. “Regardless of who wins the Battle of Luoyang, the next step is to attack Yuwen Huaji. As for Jiangnan, we can wait until they have sorted out the situation before making a move. The southern and Qian regions are occupied by southern tribes and can be left alone for now.”

By “southern and Qian regions,” he meant Yunnan and Guizhou. Though partially developed during the Han and Later Han periods, the chaos of the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties had returned these areas to autonomous control by southwestern tribes. Sui rule there lasted only about thirty years; Emperor Wen of Sui focused on unifying the empire, while Yang Guang was busy fighting Goguryeo, neglecting the southwestern tribes.

Li Shimin did not ignore the vast lands of Yunnan and Guizhou; he simply planned to wait until other regions were secured before gradually consolidating and developing the southwest.

Similarly, later territories like Guangzhou and Fujian, like the southwestern tribes, would only be developed after the Central Plains were stable.

After clarifying this, Li Shimin’s subsequent strategy became very clear.

They would first take Liang Shidu and bring the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River completely under control. At the same time, Changsun Wuji would head south to recruit Shu.

If successful, they would control half of the Sui empire, in regions naturally defensible and difficult for the central authority to intervene in.

Even if Li Yuan later went mad and tried to seize their power, anyone he sent to Longyou or Shu could not control the local situation.

Having half of the Sui empire would give Li Shimin enough operational flexibility, whether he advanced eastward with cavalry along the normal route or took an alternative path from Shu via the Yangtze to strike Jiangnan first.

“Unfortunately, during Emperor Wen’s reign, an earthquake disrupted the waterways connecting Bashu and Guanzhong. Otherwise, with Bashu and Guanzhong under our control, we wouldn’t have worried about transporting provisions,” Li Xuanba sighed. “Chancellor Zhuge attempted to replicate Emperor Gaozu’s path to the Central Plains but failed because of that waterway.”

Changsun Wuji and the others were surprised: “Huh? What earthquake? What waterway?”

Li Shimin said sternly: “You all need to study the geography records more.”

He felt secretly pleased.

Previously, when A-Xuan had lamented this to him, he had been completely confused. How could an earthquake during Emperor Wen’s reign be related to Zhuge Wuhou’s northern campaigns? After being shocked by his younger brother’s “You didn’t know this?!” Li Shimin remembered it well and developed a habit of collecting geographical records from all over.

Now he could finally laugh at others.

After pretending to advise Changsun Wuji, Pei Xingyan, and others to study the geography records, this strategic meeting ended.

However, the first thing Li Shimin did after the meeting was not to rush to Shuofang—it was to kill.

Most of the forces recruited by Li Zhao were disorderly. Although Li Zhao emphasized not disturbing civilians, the unruly forces lacked discipline. Later recruits like Shi Wanbao and other noble sons were arrogant and did not respect the female commander.

Time was limited, and even with her skills, Li Zhao could only train about ten thousand soldiers to reliably follow orders. She took five thousand elite troops to Longyou, leaving the remaining five thousand under Li Shou, Ma Sanbao, and Shi Wanbao.

When Li Shimin arrived in Guanzhong, the first thing he did was train the army.

It’s not the number of soldiers that matters, but their quality. A disorderly mob, no matter how large, will only cause chaos.

Li Shimin had repeatedly used elite squads to defeat barbarian armies, so he knew well that if the troops became unruly, even he, with his elite soldiers, could be scattered by his own men.

He stationed half the troops in the fields for farming and kept about forty thousand soldiers under his command. He had Shi Wanbao and Ma Sanbao under Li Zhao, along with the generals he had brought, each lead their own forces.

The military orders had been issued for some time. Li Shimin looked coldly at the disorder within the army, repeatedly emphasizing the orders without taking action. Now that it was nearly time to march, it was finally time to settle accounts.

Following the military code, Li Shimin executed hundreds of soldiers who plundered the civilians or refused orders, and awarded hundreds of soldiers who had trained exceptionally with heavy rewards. He also slaughtered sheep, pigs, and other livestock, letting the rest of the troops enjoy a hearty meat meal as a morale booster.

The army’s discipline was immediately restored.

Li Shou, Shi Wanbao, Ma Sanbao, and others were astonished. Where did Li Shimin get so much money, grain, and livestock?

Fang Qiao and Du Ruhui, whose hair was thinning day by day, quietly took credit without drawing attention.

Li Shou followed Changsun Wuji south to Shu with a thousand soldiers; Ma Sanbao stayed in Guanzhong with Pei Xingyan to farm the fields.

Li Shimin only brought Shi Wanbao with him.

Li Xuanba gave Shi Wanbao a glance, and then another glance.