Chapter 28: Conquering the Four Frontiers
[On the fourth day of October, Li Yuan arrived at the east of Chang'an. At this time, Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng, Princess Pingyang Zhao and other soldiers had gathered, about 200,000 strong. On the fourteenth day, the siege began. On the twenty-seventh day, the attack began.

On the ninth day of November, Chang'an was captured.

After marching into Chang'an, Li Yuan killed Yin Shishi, Gu Yi and others who were the leaders and had dug up his ancestral tombs and destroyed the ancestral temple, but he did not touch anyone else.

On the 13th, he welcomed Yang You as the emperor, namely Emperor Gong of Sui; changed the reign title to Yining, and remotely respected Yang Guang as the emperor. Li Yuan himself served as the King of Tang, Li Jiancheng as the crown prince of Tang, Li Shimin as Jingzhao Yin and Duke of Qin, and Li Yuanji as Duke of Qi.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Yang Jian's eyebrows twitched, and he didn't know what to say: "The Li family's ancestral tomb was dug up? The ancestral temple was also destroyed?" This kind of thing, this, this is really really...

He and Dugu Jialuo looked at each other and both felt a little upset. Under normal circumstances, civil officials and military officers would not take the initiative to do such things. It is very likely that there are instructions from above. But the question is, was it their son who ran to Jiangdu and lived a life of drunkenness and debauchery who gave the order, or was it Yang You who stayed in Chang'an who made the decision?
To be honest, they didn't seem too surprised by whoever gave the instructions.

This is even worse.

"Forget it," Yang Jian turned his attention back to the contents of the sky curtain, "Li Yuan does have the ability to be emperor." After attacking Chang'an, he only attacked the main culprits who dug up ancestral graves and destroyed ancestral temples, and even spared the followers - this kind of thing definitely would not be the only one involved by people like Yin Shishi; and the rest of the Chang'an people and high-ranking families were not hurt at all.

This kind of mind - at least the mind that is shown, is enough!
He could have honored Yang You as emperor first. After his military strength and mind were demonstrated, there would inevitably be people who wanted to welcome him as emperor, but he held back and waited for the opportunity. This kind of mentality is enough.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che, who also discussed the matter, felt a little envious of Li Yuan: "How could Emperor Gaozu of Tang have so many outstanding children?" Not to mention his sons, who all seemed to be able to take on important responsibilities, how could the same be true for his daughters?
This is Princess Pingyang Zhao. Although the miracle did not mention much about her, she was mentioned specifically when the troops were joined together, which actually meant that she also contributed to these troops.

In March of the second year of Yining, which was March of the fourteenth year of Daye, a major event occurred in Jiangdu. Out of ambition, self-preservation and other reasons, dozens of officials and generals including Yuwen Wenji, Yuwen Zhiji, Sima Dekan and Yuan Li took advantage of the fact that most of the soldiers came from Guanzhong and missed their hometown, and jointly launched a rebellion of the army and officials. Yang Guang was strangled to death by Linghu Xingda.

Now that Yang Guang is dead, Li Yuan can naturally take action.

In May of the second year of Yining, Emperor Gong of Sui, Yang You, abdicated to Li Yuan, who changed the country's name to Tang, established the Wude era, made Li Jiancheng the crown prince, and named Li Shimin Shangshu Ling (the prime minister of the Shangshu Province), You Wuhou General, and further named him the King of Qin, and granted him the title of Governor of Yongzhou. He also named Li Yuanji the King of Qi.

At this time, the territory of the Tang Dynasty was limited to Guanzhong and Hedong, and the country had not yet been completely unified. Various forces were still eyeing it covetously. 】

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

The time of the end of the Sui Dynasty finally came. Yang Jian held his wife's hand and leaned back in his chair, feeling exhausted.

"I've guessed Guang'er's ending a long time ago, but I didn't expect that it wasn't the outside army that killed him." Dugu Jialuo also sighed. Judging from Li Yuan's actions, he was a smart man and would definitely not let himself be labeled as a regicide.

[Li Yuan ascended the throne and the Li Tang Dynasty was officially established.]

However, the Li Tang Dynasty at that time only occupied small pieces of land such as Chang'an and Taiyuan, and the country was divided into many kingdoms. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty faced the arduous task of unifying the world in its early days.

Let’s first take a look at the extent of the separatism at that time:
Liu Wuzhou proclaimed himself Yang Khan in Mayi;
Xue Ju proclaimed himself emperor in Jincheng and named his country Qin;
Li Gui proclaimed himself emperor in Wuwei and named his country Liang;
Yu Wenzhi proclaimed himself emperor in Liaocheng and named his country Xu; Wang Shichong proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang and named his country Zheng;

Xiao Xin proclaimed himself emperor in Jiangling and named his country Liang;
Li Zitong proclaimed himself emperor in Jiangdu and named his country Wu.

In addition, there are two other forces that cannot be underestimated, Dou Jiande, the King of Xia in Hebei, and Du Fuwei, the King of Wu in Jianghuai. 】

A densely packed map filled with various forces was simultaneously displayed on the sky screen. Early Han Dynasty.

The king and his ministers remained silent.

The Tang Dynasty seemed really small at that time. Even though it occupied the capital Chang'an, its actual control area was really small. It was really hard to imagine how the Tang Dynasty finally achieved national unification. Later, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, it was called the "Heavenly Khan".

From the current situation, combined with the praise in the miracles in the future, we can only draw one conclusion: "This Tang Dynasty, the court is full of talented people!"

Judging from the talents in the Tang Dynasty at present, there will probably be batches of high-quality talents in the future; and with the broad-mindedness that Li Yuan has shown at this time, whether sincerely or falsely, he can basically accept any talents who are willing to surrender from so many forces.

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng looked at the messy map and couldn't help but frown.

The area outside the Central Plains is vast. It's not surprising.

However, with so many forces ruling one side, he really felt uncomfortable.

After his own previous thinking, and the vague revelation of the miracles to the system of later dynasties, he saw that the widespread implementation of the county system further proved the correctness of the county system. Then, the question became: how to ensure the central government's control over the local areas while implementing the county system, and avoid the problem of local independence.

[The first target is Xue Ju.]

This was not the first time Xue Ju and the Tang army had fought each other. As early as when Li Yuan first entered Chang'an, Xue Ju had wanted to attack Li Yuan when he was unstable, but was beaten back by Li Shimin.

In June of the first year of Wude, the Tang army launched an attack on Xue Ju. However, on the way, Li Shimin, the commander, retreated to the rear due to illness. Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan, who took over the command, relied on their large numbers and did not listen to Li Shimin's words: "Xue Ju's troops are deep in the territory, with little food and tired soldiers. If he comes to challenge you, do not respond. Wait until I recover from my illness, and then I will defeat him for you." In the end, they suffered a great defeat in Gaocheng.

Then in September, Xue Ju suddenly died of illness and his son Xue Rengao took over his position.

Therefore, Li Yuan once again sent Li Shimin to lead troops to attack Xue Rengao.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Prince of Jin Zhu Gang was quite emotional: "This is God's will for the Tang Dynasty!" Otherwise, how could Xue Ju suddenly disappear?

Tianmu did not elaborate, but as people from a later dynasty, they naturally knew about the records related to Xue Ju.

Xue Ju was fine and was planning to take advantage of the situation to attack the Tang Dynasty. He had no health problems, but suddenly he fell ill and went to see a witch. The witch turned out to be the one who had cursed him. Within two days, Xue Ju died.

Isn't this God's will?
What's more, Xue Ju had been fighting for many years and obviously did not have any chronic illness, so he died suddenly.

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with Zhu Gang's words, and he himself still believed in the concept of destiny. Or, in other words, people in this period basically believed in destiny.

(End of this chapter)