One thousand men contending against three thousand were naturally at a disadvantage, and moreover, those men were skilled at mounted archery, making Li Gui’s side even more hopeless. He could only fight while retreating, wanting to withdraw back to Wuwei City. During the battle, he had already secretly sent people to the border to report.
After the city gates closed, Li Gui thought he could breathe a sigh of relief, but unexpectedly, a shout from An Xinggui outside the city made his situation increasingly dire.
“I am dispatched by His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Tang to come here and execute Li Gui! Those who surrender now will be pardoned for past offenses, otherwise your entire clans will be exterminated!”
The generals and soldiers who previously didn’t understand why the An brothers had suddenly rebelled now finally understood—it was the Great Tang’s will. The Western Liang territory, apart from having more horses, had no capital to oppose the Great Tang, and moreover… Li Gui’s treatment of them was not particularly generous, so there was really no need to fight desperately for Li Gui. Under such thoughts, soldiers continuously slipped out of the city to surrender. Soon, Li Gui became a lone commander, no longer possessing his former ambition to contend for the realm.
At the end of Wude’s third year, Li Gui was escorted to Chang’an. Li Yuan showed no mercy toward this so-called cousin, and merely three days later, ordered the execution of Li Gui and his wife.
While Li Yuan was dealing with Li Gui, Yunyi gave birth to a male infant at Mingyue Convent, but she didn’t even have time to hold him personally before he was taken away by the midwife. Despite Ruyi’s kneeling pleas, they would not stay a moment longer.
Fortunately, Zhangsun Shi was kind-hearted, and several days later, secretly sent word through someone that the child was already being raised under her care, and Li Shimin had named him Li Kuan, allowing Yunyi to be at ease. Before Yunyi, Zhangsun Shi had also given birth to a son, named Li Chengqian.
Additionally, Zhangsun Shi had that person bring a portrait of the child—in the painting, the infant wore swaddling clothes decorated with golden fish playing among lotus flowers, sleeping peacefully, utterly adorable.
This portrait became Yunyi’s only connection to her child. She would take it out to look at for long periods every day, often moved to tears.
In the days that followed, every month someone would take the opportunity of coming to the convent to offer incense and worship Buddha to secretly contact Yunyi, either bringing her letters or paintings, or helping her take back infant belly bands she had made or safety talismans she had obtained.
Though mother and son could not meet, and sisters could not reunite, at least contact was not completely severed, making Yunyi’s days at the temple more bearable.
In the side room, Yunyi, without a single ornament on her person, closed her eyes and quietly fingered Buddhist prayer beads. Under the azure lamp and Buddha statue, except for her uncut black hair, she looked no different from a truly devoted Buddhist nun.
Only Yunyi knew in her heart that she never belonged here, and sooner or later, she would walk out of this place!
The pacification of Western Liang was another great victory after Western Qin, meaning the Tang Dynasty’s rear was basically stabilized. When dispatching troops in the future, there would be no need to worry about attacks from behind.
However, in this chaotic world, peace was always so difficult. Before the first month of Wude’s fourth year had passed, urgent reports came from Taiyuan—Liu Wuzhou was leading a large army to surround Jinyang.
This Liu Wuzhou had colluded with the Turks and was determined to seize the realm. Now that the Turks had given him command of part of their army, for Liu Wuzhou, this was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity he would not let pass.
He planned to follow Li Yuan’s example—first capture Taiyuan, then use Taiyuan as a base to attack Chang’an and replace Li Yuan. As soon as Li Yuan received this news, he immediately assembled troops and ordered Li Yuanji to lead forces into battle, determined to protect Jinyang.
First, Taiyuan was the foundation of the Li Tang imperial house; second, Taiyuan was the gateway to Chang’an—once Taiyuan fell, the entire Chang’an city would be exposed before Liu Wuzhou. Therefore, Taiyuan absolutely could not be lost!
But could Li Yuanji rescue Jinyang and even all of Taiyuan from Liu Wuzhou’s hands?
Although Li Yuanji was brave and warlike, he lacked Li Shimin’s meticulous thoughts and intelligence. More often, he relied on a surge of momentum—if he won, that was fine, but if he lost, he would have no reserves left, and would become complacent.
Moreover, besides this, he had another major flaw—he was cruel and fond of killing, not only toward enemies but also toward his own people.
Jinyang was in crisis, Fenzhou was in crisis, Li Yuan was anxious, but Li Yuanji on this journey showed no urgency whatsoever. Furthermore, on this expedition, with neither Li Jiancheng nor Li Shimin accompanying him, he was the supreme commander with no one to restrain him. He actually hunted while marching, even claiming he “could go three days without food, but could not go one day without hunting,” seriously affecting the army’s marching speed.
For a full half month, they still had not reached Jinyang. Along the way, he indulged soldiers in plundering civilian property, and when the mood struck him, he would shoot arrows on the main roads they passed—he wasn’t shooting at targets, but at real living people. Every time he hit someone, he was delighted, and if any civilians dared to cause trouble, he would have them all captured and killed. Along the entire route, civilians were angry but dared not speak.
After marching for over twenty days, they finally reached Jinyang. At this time, although Jinyang had not yet fallen, it was already in grave danger. Li Yuanji and the army he led were the greatest hope for the defending soldiers.
Unfortunately, this hope was short-lived before it was shattered. As mentioned above, Li Yuanji fought entirely on surge of momentum—if this surge could not subdue the enemy, then he had no further strategies.
But Liu Wuzhou was different. His qualification to compete for the realm was earned not through father or brothers, but through himself. In terms of ability, several Li Yuanjis could not match him. If Li Jiancheng had been sent instead, he might have been able to fight him.
This time, Li Yuan’s decision to send Li Yuanji to lead the expedition was truly a grave error!
Li Yuanji was defeated—defeated without suspense. The hundred thousand troops he brought were scattered in defeat by Liu Wuzhou’s assault, finally gathering only forty thousand men. After this defeat, he developed a deep fear of Liu Wuzhou and dared not oppose him again.
February 11th: Li Yuanji suffered crushing defeat, a hundred thousand troops reduced to forty thousand!
February 19th: Shizhou fell!
February 28th: Pingyao fell!
March 10th: Jiexiu fell!
Taiyuan in crisis! Shanxi in crisis! Guanzhong in crisis!
When these pieces of news reached Chang’an city one after another, Li Yuan’s mood reached its worst point. Since raising his army to establishing the capital in Chang’an and ascending the throne, such a critical situation had never occurred.
The current Taiyuan had become a complete mess, but no matter how rotten this mess was, he still had to find someone to clean it up.
According to past precedent, this person would naturally be Li Shimin, who since beginning his military campaigns had suffered virtually no defeats except for sieges he could not take.
However, Li Yuan did not want to employ Li Shimin—this son was no longer suitable for leading expeditions!
Just as Li Yuan was contemplating whom to send, one person volunteered—Peiji!
Peiji was Li Yuan’s greatest contributor in raising his army. After Li Yuan’s enthronement, he had promised Peiji the highest ministerial position, far above all others, including Liu Wenjing.