Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

"Wow..."

A crisp baby cry sounded from the delivery room, and the maids who were anxiously waiting outside all breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.

Not long after, a female doctor came out of the room, looked at the maids and said: "Quickly inform the master, the princess gave birth smoothly, and there is another boy in the family, both mother and child are safe!"

At this time, in the hall of Shangyang Palace, Li Tai and his parents were anxiously waiting in the hall. When the maid entered the hall and reported with a smile that the mother and child were safe, Li Tai immediately stood up from the seat, and Li Xiao also smiled and waved his hand and said: "Go quickly, go and comfort the new bride, and add another child to my family, it is really congratulations!"

After hearing this, Li Tai bowed slightly, and then quickly walked to the delivery room. The maids and servants along the way all smiled and congratulated him, and he also nodded in response with a smile on his face.

"Father, father, mother is hiding in the room and the child is making noise inside, but she won't let me in!"

In the outer hall where the delivery room is located, Jiang Lingle, who can already walk steadily, is wearing a tiger-head hat, a sleeveless crotch, and the suspenders on his pants are hanging on his arms. When he sees his father rushing from outside the hall, his face wrinkles and he walks forward and says aggrievedly.

Li Tai leans over and picks up the child and shakes him in his arms, then immediately sends him to the arms of the maid beside him, saying with a smile: "Silly child, your mother has given you another little brother, who will play with you in the future. But now your mother is very tired, don't go into the room to make noise, and go to your grandfather to tell him the good news!"

While speaking, Li Tai signaled the maid to send the boy to his father Li Xiao for care, while he took off his outer robe in the outer hall, and then walked into the room.

The other maids who helped with the birth of the child in the room had all left. Only Miss Yao and a maid were still in front of the bed, looking after Miaoyin who had just given birth. As for the newborn child, the midwife took her to another room to clean the amniotic fluid and deal with the navel.

When Li Tai came in, Miss Yao stood up and asked him to look at the bedside. Before Li Tai came in, he saw Miaoyin's face was a little pale and her hair was still wet with sweat and stuck to her face. He couldn't help but feel pity. He came forward and held the slightly cold wrist of the lady, and said in a warm voice: "Thank you for your hard work, lady!"

Miaoyin was still a little dazed at the moment. After hearing her husband's words, her slightly scattered vision gradually became focused. After seeing her husband's concerned eyes, she pursed her lips, pinched Li Tai's fingers with her backhand and said angrily: "This child is more annoying than his brother. It hurts!"

"I'll avenge you later, and I'll beat him up when he comes!"

Li Tai knew that his wife had a hard time giving birth, so he smiled and comforted her. After hearing this, the wife also nodded softly, but when the midwife brought the child wrapped in a soft quilt, the resentment on her face suddenly disappeared. She took the initiative to prop up her upper body and held the child in her arms. Looking at the child's red and wrinkled face, she couldn't help but complain softly: "What an ugly baby!"

Newborns are of course not very eye-catching, and they will become cute after a few days of growth. When the eldest son was born, Li Tai was still fighting outside. This time, he returned to Shangyang Palace at full speed and concentrated on waiting for the birth of the second child at home.

He also came forward, pointed at the child's face and said with a smile: "How can it be ugly? This child's eyes are like his mother's, and his mouth and nose are like mine, very pretty!"

"How can you tell that!"

Although she complained, she felt that the hard work of pregnancy and childbirth was valued when she heard her husband praising the child. She squinted her eyes and smiled happily. When the wet nurse took the child away to feed him, she snuggled in her husband's arms and closed her eyes to rest.

The addition of another son to the Tang family naturally made people happy inside and outside. Although Li Tai did not let anyone deliberately publicize it, the civil and military officials from Tongzhou and Chang'an came to Shangyang Palace to congratulate.

Although Li Tai himself was very happy, he did not want to make a big move for this small thing in the family. He just asked his family to entertain the relatives and friends who came to congratulate him. As for other congratulations and gifts that were too extensive, he declined them all.

He stayed in Shangyang Palace for two more days to accompany his still somewhat weak wife, and then went straight to Chang'an. In addition to the family matter of his wife giving birth to a child, he had another important matter to deal with when he returned quickly from northern Shaanxi this time, that is, the victory of this expedition to Tuyuhun, and the triumphant expeditionary army was about to return to Beijing.

As the actual person in charge of the military and political affairs of the Western Wei Dynasty, Li Tai must of course go to Chang'an to welcome the heroes back to the country and preside over the ceremony of offering captives and offering sacrifices to the sky.

After Li Tai arrived in Chang'an, the heroes of this Western Expedition also returned soon. Since the autumn and winter defenses had to be arranged in the future to deal with the counterattack of Tuyuhun, only 10,000 of the 20,000 soldiers sent to Longyou this time returned, and the 10,000 divisions and brigades originally in Longyou also took advantage of the victory to receive rewards and came to Guanzhong to recuperate.

On the day when the heroes returned to the capital, Li Tai led the civil and military masses in the capital to the west avenue of Chang'an to welcome them. When the army's front road appeared in sight, the city immediately sounded the exciting and magnificent military music.

"I am fortunate to have fulfilled my mission. This time, we have defeated Tuyuhun and captured Shudun, Hezhen, Fuqi and other cities. We have killed, wounded and captured tens of thousands of bandits. We have also obtained a large amount of cattle, horses, money, grain, gold and jade. All the spoils have been transported back to the country to present the victory to the master. Please review it!"

Shi Ning, the governor of Liangzhou, personally led his troops to the court to present the victory. When the team approached, he quickly turned over and dismounted, then walked forward, bowed in front of Li Tai, and reported loudly with a proud face.

Li Tai also stepped forward and personally helped Shi Ning up, then took his hand and faced the soldiers behind him and laughed loudly: "My family and country are fortunate to have loyal and brave kings, and I am also lucky to have your service, so I won the victory." Boast the power of the four barbarians and call them strong in the world! This is a great victory for all the kings. The imperial court will reward the meritorious service with gifts. The countryside is also proud to have such strong men. Please treat me well in the future. You all will be honored in this world and come home with great achievements!”

"Tang Gong is very righteous, and the rest of us are willing to serve you even if we die!"

When all the soldiers heard Tang Gong's praise and promise, they were immediately excited, and they all raised their arms and shouted in response.

At this time, the city fortress in the west of Chang'an to house the warriors and captives had already been prepared. The mutton and other kinds of food cooked in large pots in the camps were already fragrant. After the warriors entered the camp, they immediately Then you can have a hearty meal to comfort your hunger and fatigue.

At the same time, a sumptuous banquet had been prepared in the imperial city to comfort Shi Ning and other governors who had won the victory. Han Guo, Liang Tai and others who were sent to Longyou during the previous expedition are still temporarily stationed in Longyou to deal with the post-Autumn war. Shi Ning, Hezhou governor Xin Wei and others from Longyou originally returned together, as well as Liang Shiyan and others. towards.

In addition to the soldiers of the Western Wei Dynasty, there were also Meng Yehu and a special agent from the Turks who returned to the court this time. Of course, special services are not the kind of public servants who perform special duties in later generations, but a type of Turkic official position, which is often held by the descendants of the same clan of the Khan.

Because the Turks also sent men and horses to attack Tuyuhun this time, they also sent representatives to the DPRK to report their victory and receive rewards.

During the subsequent banquet in the imperial city, Li Tai couldn't help but ask Shi Ning and others about the details of the expedition. Although relevant reports have been sent to junior high schools before, how can a simple description in words compare to the first-hand account of the experience?

Shi Ning and others then talked about the process of this expedition. They gathered in Shanzhou in the Huangshui River Basin, and then entered the Qinghai area via Chiling, which was later known as Riyue Mountain. Chiling is also an important dividing line between the plateau and Longyou. From here, the altitude rises suddenly as it goes westward, and later Tang Dynasty and Tubo used this as the boundary.

When the Western Wei army entered the Qinghai area, Tuyuhun also became aware of it. Kua Lu, the leader of Tuyuhun who claimed to be Khan, gathered heavy troops in Shudun and Hezhen cities to wait for the Wei army. Shudun City is located in the southeast of Qinghai. It was also the old capital of Tuyuhun. Later, after Kua Lu came to power, the situation in Longyou became more and more severe, so his capital was moved to Fuqi City in the west of Qinghai.

After Shi Ning and others led the army to Shudun City, they did not choose to directly attack the heavily defended city of Tuyuhun. Instead, they led their troops to pretend to go west, pretending to attack Fuqi City directly, while the Shudun City defenders Unable to hold on any longer, he went out of the city and prepared to attack the Wei army's retreat. However, the Wei army set up an ambush on the way and killed a carbine. In one battle, he defeated the Shudun defenders and captured the city, gaining a foothold in Qinghai.

After Kua Lu learned that Shudun City had been lost, he was naturally shocked, so he gathered his troops in Hezhen City, preparing to stop the Wei army here. Shi Ning led his army to encircle Hezhen City. At the same time, he sent a group of elite cavalry and Turkic auxiliary troops, nearly ten thousand people, to directly attack Fuqi City. Even Kua Lu's wife who stayed in Fuqi City was captured.

Seeing that he was defeated, Kua Lu led his troops to break through the encirclement and rush westward, passing through Dafeichuan and heading straight to Wuhai. From then on, this attack on Tuyuhun was a complete victory. Because the weather had already entered autumn at this time, and the battle on the plateau also made the soldiers deeply uncomfortable, so Shi Ning did not order to continue the attack, but took the captured After looting the personnel and supplies in the three major cities of Tuyuhun, they led their troops back to Longyou, leaving only a few troops in Chiling to deal with subsequent offensive and defensive operations.

The battle process is simple to say, but it is not easy to achieve. Especially during the rapid transition to battle, non-combat attrition was even greater than the number of dead soldiers. The combat environment on the plateau still had considerable limitations for the Wei army, making it difficult to advance and retreat as freely as in plain combat.

Although the cost of this battle was not small, the sacrifices were well worth it in terms of results. Both the new and old capitals of Tuyuhun were defeated. The results even exceeded Li Tai's previous expectations.

If there is any regret, it is that this battle failed to completely consolidate the settlement. Due to various factors such as material supply, plateau environment and climate, it is currently difficult to build a solid and stable stronghold in the core area of ​​​​Tuyuhun.