Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

The battle between Tang and Tibet was the most brutal battle fought in the Northern Tang Dynasty since its establishment.

The 80,000 Tang troops deployed by Guo Ziyi in Longyou were almost wiped out. After that, Chang'an was besieged by a Tibetan army of 200,000 troops. The defenders suffered numerous casualties, including Gao Shi, the Prime Minister of the Left, who died on the battlefield; the final battle of Changshou Temple

In the middle, General Guo Xin led the Anxi and Beiting reinforcements and held a decisive battle with the Tibetan army. More than half of the 65,000 Tang army was lost.

As for the Tibetan army, the losses were even more heavy.

Almost all of the 200,000 elite Tibetan troops in our Six Wings died on the Chang'an battlefield.

On the plateau, in the homes of hundreds of tribes, after this battle, no boys returned. Some tribes were even annexed by other tribes because of the lack of men.

In the Tubo Golden Tent, hundreds of nobles, including the Second Prime Minister Dun Renzeng, were not spared. They either died due to internal strife or died in the battle of Changming Temple.

The entire Tubo Kingdom will not be able to recover for at least ten years because of this great defeat.

On the contrary, Tubo talked about Sang Chiruo and asked a guard to pretend to be himself to attract the attention of the Tang army.

But Sang Chiruo himself, with a few confidants, found some equipment and armor of the Tang army, pretended to be the Tang army, and finally escaped.

The time has come to the end of the fifth year of the New Year.

At this time of year in Liangzhou City, according to custom, every household should be preparing for the New Year.

However, this year is different.

The imperial court issued a document and the people in the city canceled all entertainment activities. Every city wall and every street was hung with white flags.

Inside and outside the imperial city, officials all put on black funeral robes, and even the government hall was decorated with mourning lapels.

Left Prime Minister Gao Shi died in battle in Chang'an, and Emperor Zhou Jun insisted on giving him a state funeral. All the standards were the same as those of royal relatives.

The funeral lasted for seven days and seven nights.

After Gao Shi was buried, the emperor held a court meeting in the Yizheng Hall. Firstly, it was to reward the soldiers for their merits in the battle of Chang'an, and secondly, it was to arrange the next strategy.

Zhou Jun sat in the upper seat, and beside him stood the prince Zhou Xiao who was in charge of the government.

Zhou Jun glanced at the eunuch Fan Jinian. The latter bowed and shouted, "The distinguished general of the Tang Army is here to see you."

Guo Xin led a group of Tang army generals to the political meeting hall, then walked to the main hall, knelt down on the ground, and shouted long live the mountain.

The emperor spoke out and ordered all the soldiers to be freed.

When everyone stood up, Zhou Jun said: "In the battle at Changshou Temple, the entire Tibetan army was wiped out, and Guo Aiqing was indispensable."

Guo Xin kowtowed: "Your Majesty, I don't dare to claim credit. The victory of this battle was all due to the fact that the generals fought to the death and Kong Zhongcheng made suggestions. Only then did the Tubo lectures escape in the end. It was really Guo's fault."

inability."

Zhou Jun: "I have also read the battle report. When the Tubo army collapsed, there were still 40,000 people. However, the Tang army was exhausted and was unable to intercept all the fleeing enemies. It is reasonable."

Hearing this, Guo Xin breathed a sigh of relief and kowtowed again.

Zhou Jun nodded to Fan Jinian, who took out the imperial edict and read out the reward for Guo Xin in public.

Guo Xin was promoted to be the regular attendant of the inspection school You Sanqi, led the Longyou Jiedu envoy, was granted the title of Prince of Fufeng County, and his own son was the Duke of Yin County.

Hearing these rewards, the officials in the court were quite surprised.

Guo Xin, who was originally just the deputy envoy of Beiting, moved several levels in succession and was directly promoted to a high position in the court.

The emperor's reward for Guo Xin can be described as rare preferential treatment, even a little too high.

After Guo Xin heard the imperial edict, he quickly excused himself and said: "Your Majesty, how can I be so virtuous and capable..."

Zhou Jun waved his hand and said: "Once Chang'an is lost, all battles in the Central Plains will be lost. If you can overcome all difficulties and defeat the Tibetan army, no matter how great the reward is, it will not be an exaggeration."

Guo Xin could only accept the order and thank him.

After talking about Guo Xin's reward, Zhou Jun turned his attention to Kong You behind him.

According to the ranking of merits, Kong You, as a counselor, was responsible for the strategies of several ambushes, so he certainly deserved a lot of credit.

Fan Jinian glanced back at Zhou Jun, then turned around and sang: "Please come forward, Kong Zhongcheng."

Hearing this, Kong You got up from the ground, bowed and walked forward.

Fan Jinian opened the imperial edict and was about to read out the reward in public when a censor suddenly walked out of the queue and said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, I have a memorial."

At this stall, someone suddenly said that there was something wrong that he wanted to report. Zhou Jun was stunned for a moment, and then looked at it intently.

The person who came out was Zhu Lu, the imperial censor in the palace. Although he was a public official, he usually acted in a low-key manner and had a low sense of presence.

Zhou Jun frowned and allowed Zhu Lu to go up.

Zhu Lu presented the memorial with both hands and said in a trembling voice: "I am only submitting this memorial to rectify the lawlessness of Kong Zhongcheng."

Zhou Jun took the memorial, put it aside without even reading it, and asked: "What's illegal?"

Zhu Lu: "Kong Zhongcheng acted recklessly, killed prisoners of war, insulted the king's master, and violated the law and discipline."

Zhou Jun stared at Zhu Lu, who lowered his head and did not dare to raise his head. He just said: "In the battle of Jingchuan, Kong Zhongcheng ordered the killing of four thousand prisoners of war. In the battle of Fengxiang Pass, he ordered the burial of 20,000 prisoners alive...Such violence

"Sui, I have looked through the history of the Tang Dynasty and I have never seen anything like this before. It is really an insult to the style of the Tang Dynasty!"

Zhou Jun glanced at Zhu Lu, then shifted his gaze to the civil and military ministers on both sides of the court.

Some of the ministers were surprised, some were angry, and some were confused.

When Zhou Jun saw Jinyi Weinan Town Fusi Governor Gao Zai, the latter forced himself to remain calm, but there was a hint of panic in his micro-expression.

Seeing that His Majesty did not speak, Zhu Lu became more courageous and continued: "The Tang Dynasty looked down upon the world. It was by virtue of its fairness and kingly style that all nations came to court... This time, the Tang army buried 24,000 people alive.

Once word spreads about the thousands of Tubo soldiers, it will probably damage the image of the Tang Dynasty King, make the surrounding small countries uneasy, and be detrimental to the stability of the border..."

Before Zhu Lu could finish speaking, Guo Xin hurriedly stepped out of the queue and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."

Zhou Jun nodded.

Guo Xin: "When our army arrived in Jingzhou, there were only 10,000 forwards. After the two battles at Jingchuan and Fengxiang Pass, there were 24,000 prisoners of war. The number of soldiers used to guard them alone would take up four jings.

Moreover, the Tibetan army came down from the plateau and marched eastward along the way, searching and plundering food. As a result, the surrounding prefectures and counties of Jingzhou Prefecture were already short of food and grass. Whether they detained these Tibetan soldiers in place or escorted them to the surrounding areas

Going to prefectures and counties is a huge logistical hassle."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Moreover, our military used the plan to kill prisoners, which created a gap between the Tubo nobles and the Tubo debate, which in turn triggered internal strife among the enemy. The Tubo nobles were attracted by themselves

He was killed by others, and the troops under his command also lost their fighting spirit. Because of this, our army was able to seize the opportunity in the battle of Changming Temple and defeat the Tibetan front army and two wings!"

Zhu Lu frowned and said disparagingly: "If the twenty-four thousand prisoners of war are escorted separately, the surrounding prefectures and counties can naturally arrange it. Besides, there should be many other ways to trigger internal strife among the Tubo people. Why must we do this?"

Kill prisoners?!"

Guo Xin's face turned red with anger: "Shu Zi doesn't know anything about military affairs, but he dares to talk nonsense here!"

After scolding Zhu Lu, Guo Xin quickly took two steps forward, knelt in front of Zhou Jun, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, I am the commander in chief of the Battle of Chang'an. When it comes to killing prisoners, Kong Zhongcheng is only responsible for making suggestions, and I am the final executioner.

.If the court wants to punish me, the main responsibility should be mine!"

At this time, the generals who had participated in the Tang-Tibet War stood up one after another and began to defend Kong You's actions.

At this time, Censor Zhu Lu also gave up completely and began to elaborate on the benevolence and righteousness of the Tang Dynasty, which also won the support of many officials.

At this juncture of the quarrel, Kong You stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and said loudly: "I have a fault in killing prisoners."

After hearing Kong You's speech, the court gradually became quiet.

Kong You: "At that time, I was the one who made the main request to kill the prisoners, and had nothing to do with other generals... Thinking about it now, if the prisoners of war were divided into camps, and then volunteers were trained from among the people, and they cooperated with the local guards and kept strict supervision, maybe there would be no need to kill them.

Killing in underground pits, in the final analysis, is still a wrong decision."

Hearing this, Guo Xin turned around and said in surprise: "Zhong Cheng!"

Kong You shook his head at Guo Xin.

When Guo Xin saw this, he hesitated to speak, but finally gave up.

Zhou Jun looked around at the officials in the court and said, "As for Kong Zhongcheng's reward, it will be announced later. Let's discuss other matters first."