In a dark room, Chen Long casually opened a few letters and nodded with satisfaction. These were all very important information that had to be transported back immediately and handed over to Ang Lee. He had to personally escort these important letters back. Moreover, in order to prevent any undue delay, they had to leave as soon as possible, not even a day more.
"Tomorrow morning, I will escort these letters back and leave twenty men to continue to move around the city and gather more information. In addition, the two of you have to continue to work in the Duan residence to avoid arousing suspicion. Make use of Housekeeper Liu. Don't be afraid of spending money. As long as you can complete the task, Assistant Minister Li will not treat you unfairly."
Chen Long said.
"Yes, we understand."
Chen Long nodded and put all the letters into sandwiched wood. It was the safest to transport these letters with wood. If they were placed in a large box and encountered bandits along the way, they would mistakenly think that there were treasures in the box, which would cause unnecessary trouble. However, if they were placed in the wood, there would be no such problem. These woods were all specialties of Nanzhao. The Eastern Maiden Continent did not have these woods. The woods of the two places could completely complement each other. The price of these woods was neither high nor low and was very suitable for medium-distance transportation. After deducting the cost and transportation fees, there was still some profit and it would not arouse suspicion.
There were still many caravans like this that sold wood. The commoners and bandits along the way had long known about them. Therefore, as long as they saw a caravan of ordinary wood, they would generally not rob it. There was really nothing to gain from such a caravan. Robbing such a caravan was not worth the loss. Moreover, Chen Long and the others were obviously more powerful people. One could tell from their physique and appearance. Naturally, they would not get into trouble.
It was enough to leave twenty men to guard Nanzhao Royal City. In addition, the two soldiers who had sneaked into the Duan residence could not leave too early. After all, leaving too early would arouse suspicion. As for the letters they had stolen, after all, they came from the secret room. The owner of the secret room was dead and not many people knew about this secret room. The Duan family did not know what was in the secret room. Therefore, even if they found the secret room, they could not find out what was missing. Naturally, they would not be suspicious.
There was another important reason for leaving the two soldiers in the Duan residence. After all, the Duan residence was once glorious and they might be able to obtain a lot of information. Furthermore, Housekeeper Liu was already under control. As long as Housekeeper Liu was covering for them, the two soldiers would not be exposed. The three of them together in the residence could naturally find a lot of useful information. This might be useful in destroying Nanzhao.
They did not encounter any accidents along the way. After a few days, Chen Long and his group returned to the Mo Family Village and handed the letters to Li An.
"Not bad! You completed the task..............
. "Ang Lee asked concernedly.
Chen Long said proudly, "No! How could there be any casualties? We stole them directly. "
"Oh, not bad. You did not alarm the guards."
Ang Lee praised with satisfaction.
Chen Long said, "We bribed a small housekeeper and sent two soldiers to sneak in and secretly steal the letters. Oh right, the Duan family has declined. The number of guards in the residence has decreased by more than half. However, there are still many servants."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "This is normal. Duan Jianwei was a high-ranking official. Naturally, he would be treated like one. Now that he is dead, there is no high-ranking official in the Duan residence. Naturally, it is not suitable for heavy protection. The guards will naturally be lowered to match their status. However, the number of servants will also decrease very soon."
The decline of a family was often a matter of one person. As long as the backbone was lost, the family could decline overnight. At most, it could persist for more than ten years before it would decline. This was an iron law that no one could break.
With the death of Duan Jianwei, the Duan family could not bring out any decent talents. Duan Chu, who was caught, was already considered one of the best, but this best was actually such a trash. It could be imagined what kind of trash the rest of the people were. It was unreasonable for the Duan family not to decline.
Ang Lee did not care whether the Duan family declined or not. This had nothing to do with Ang Lee. What Ang Lee wanted to do was to protect the interests of the Tang dynasty. That was enough.
"Hey, why are these letters so smelly?"
Ang Lee picked up a letter and asked doubtfully.
Chen Long did not dare to hide the truth and told Ang Lee the ins and outs of the matter.
"Haha! So that's how it is. This is quite interesting. However, it is not appropriate to send such smelly things directly to the palace. First, put these letters in the room to breathe. It is best to sprinkle some fragrant powder on them. We must get rid of the stench of the letters. "
Ang Lee requested.
Although this was not a big deal, these letters were to be handed over to the imperial court. It was not a big deal to leave the smelly letters. This was a small detail, but it must be done properly.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li. I will have people deal with these letters."
Chen Long said and called some people to start dealing with the smelly letters.
Ang Lee did not care much about the smell of these letters. He took a few letters and began to read them. Indeed, he found many hidden things.
Some of these things were internal affairs of Nanzhao, and some were related to the Tang dynasty. These letters related to the Tang dynasty were all about sabotaging the Tang dynasty's takeover of Dongnu Province. They were reports written by Duan Jianwei's subordinates. As long as there were these letters, it was enough to prove that Gelofeng had something to do with this matter.
It took the soldiers one day to deal with all these letters and categorize them. Those related to the Tang dynasty were put together, and those unrelated to the Tang dynasty were put on the other side.
There were tens of thousands of letters, among which five or six hundred were related to the Tang dynasty. These letters could very well expose the sinister intentions of Nanzhao. They would be of great help to the Tang dynasty's invasion of Nanzhao.
"The letters have been dealt with. Send them back to the imperial court as soon as possible! We must send them back to the imperial court as soon as possible. "
Ang Lee gave the order.
The task of sending the letters was very simple. There was no need for Chen Zhuang to do it personally. However, in order to prevent any accidents, Chen Zhuang sent a total of fifty soldiers back to the capital. This way, they could ensure absolute safety.
Because the Tang dynasty's train had already been connected to Central Sichuan, the letters were quickly sent to the imperial court.
In front of a large amount of evidence, the imperial court of the Tang dynasty finally realized the sinister intentions of Nanzhao. This small Nanzhao had made enemies of the Tang dynasty time and time again. In the end, they even dared to assassinate an important minister of the Tang dynasty. Such disloyal behavior naturally could not be tolerated.
The courtiers unanimously agreed that they should send troops south to wipe out Nanzhao in one fell swoop, turn Nanzhao into a county, and expand the territory of the Tang dynasty to the border of the Pyu Empire.
Of course, with the current status of the Tang dynasty, they naturally did not need to send troops secretly. This was not in line with the identity of the Tang Empire. If they wanted to send troops, they had to send troops with great fanfare. They had to tell the whole world that it was Nanzhao who disobeyed them first. The Tang dynasty sent troops because they had no choice but to retaliate in self-defense.
As for who to send south, there would naturally be a debate among the court officials. Different people had different opinions, and they all wanted to send their trusted subordinates down south. After all, this was a good opportunity to perform meritorious deeds. As for destroying Nanzhao, the court officials were full of confidence. This was a very easy task, and there was no difficulty at all. Whoever led the army down south was giving up the opportunity to perform meritorious deeds. As a result, there would naturally be a fight over it.
Considering that Nanzhao was just a small country, it did not need too many troops to destroy Nanzhao. Only a small number of elite soldiers and horses would be enough. Therefore, they only needed to send troops stationed at the border of Nanzhao to record the situation.
For example, the army of Jiaozhou in the south, the army of Cuandi in the east, and the army of Chen Zhuang in the north. If these three armies attacked together, Nanzhao would not be able to hold on for long. After all, no matter how good the defense of the city was, it could not withstand the attack of artillery troops. Each army of the Tang dynasty only needed a brigade of artillery troops to be invincible. Chen Zhuang's army happened to have a brigade of artillery troops. These artillery troops were enough to destroy Nanzhao's resistance.
A few days later, the imperial court's order was delivered to Ang Lee's position. With the imperial court's permission, Ang Lee began to organize troops and horses, preparing to take down Nanzhao in one fell swoop.
Chen Zhuang's army only had 3,000 core troops. However, after incorporating the troops of the Eastern Maiden Province, they had 30,000 troops. It was not a big problem to transfer 20,000 troops to the south. With 3,000 core troops as the vanguard, Nanzhao would not be able to resist. This was almost a one-sided battle. There was not much suspense. No one doubted that the Tang dynasty would be defeated. The Tang Empire could not be defeated. The only possibility was that Nanzhao would be defeated.
"Assistant Minister Li, all the troops are ready. We can set off now."
Chen Zhuang said.
When the letter was sent, Ang Lee had already asked Chen Zhuang to prepare for war. After nearly a month of preparation, the 20,000 troops had already been prepared. All kinds of war materials had been piled up at the border. Because they were well-hidden, Nanzhao did not find anything.
The assembled troops were also scattered in the valleys near the border. Because the valleys were forbidden to outsiders, no one knew how many troops there were in the valleys.
Recently, the Tang dynasty's troops had been besieging and suppressing bandits. Therefore, the ordinary people did not find it strange. As long as the mountains were closed, the people would think that the bandits were going to be hunted down. Ordinary people also hated bandits very much. They supported the imperial court's action of suppressing bandits, so naturally, they would not interfere.
Li An smiled with satisfaction. At this time, the other two groups of soldiers must have received the order. However, they definitely still needed time to prepare. Li An's group of soldiers was already ready. Naturally, they could launch the attack a step earlier. Li An felt that his group of soldiers could destroy Nanzhao. The existence of the other two groups of soldiers did not have much meaning. They could just come in and directly defend. Li An's group of soldiers was not very strong.
"Since the 20,000 troops are ready, let's discuss how to advance first."
Ang Lee took out a military map and began to discuss with several officers.
"Assistant Minister Li, the defense in the north of Nanzhao is the strongest. However, these defenses are nothing in front of our troops. As long as we advance steadily, we can reach Nanzhao's capital in two months."
One of the captains said.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "No, two months is too slow. We have to solve the rebellion in Nanzhao in one month and show the military power of the Tang dynasty. Besides, other countries are watching. If the battle drags on for too long, it will damage the reputation of the Tang dynasty. This battle to destroy the Tang dynasty is to clearly tell the world what the consequences of going against the Tang dynasty are and how powerful the military power of the Tang dynasty is. Therefore, we must destroy Nanzhao in one month, not even one more day. "
The imperial court did not give Ang Lee an order to destroy Nanzhao in one month, but Ang Lee believed that speed was the most important thing in war. They had to take Nanzhao as soon as possible. The faster the Tang dynasty acted, the better the impact would be. If they delayed for too long, it would have a lot of negative impact on the Tang dynasty.
In addition, if they could kill their way into Nanzhao's capital in one month, the other two troops probably had not set off yet. This could also show Ang Lee's ability very well.
"One month is too short. I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete the task. At least, it will take more than one month to advance normally. We have to use strategies."
One of the captains said.
"Assistant Minister Li, I think we must send people to sneak into the various passes of Nanzhao in advance and cooperate with the main army. Only in this way can we quickly go south one by one and save the time for the main army to attack cities and seize territory. In this way, we may be able to kill our way into Nanzhao's capital in one month."
"Yes, yes, it seems that this is the only way."
Several generals nodded in agreement.
Li An nodded and said, "Then send a few elite troops to secretly sneak into the important passes of Nanzhao. Coordinate with the main army from the inside and outside, and flatten these bones that are hard to chew."
Later, Ang Lee began to deploy the battle. He sent several elite troops to set off in advance and asked them to dress up as businessmen. In this way, they could paralyze the Nanzhao troops along the way.
Half a day after the elite troops set off, in the middle of the night, the elite troops of the Tang dynasty suddenly appeared at the border checkpoint of Nanzhao and immediately launched an attack. A brigade of artillery directly blasted the gate of the checkpoint open. Then, thousands of troops swarmed in and completely occupied the checkpoint.
From the beginning of the attack to the final capture of the checkpoint, Li An's army had used less than four hours, which could be considered very fast. After capturing the checkpoint, the army did not remain idle. Other than leaving behind two hundred soldiers to guard the checkpoint, the rest of the army continued to advance, especially the vanguard. They advanced very quickly, almost at the speed of a rapid march. After all, the time that Li An had given them was very short. In the short span of a month, they had to complete the mission of destroying Nanzhao. Naturally, they could not afford the slightest delay. The army had to seize the time and maintain a rapid march the entire way.
The news of the sudden attack on the border naturally spread to Nanzhao's capital. This made Gelofeng extremely frightened. The Tang dynasty was a huge monster. How could they resist the sudden attack of Nanzhao? There was no doubt that they would be wiped out.
"Why did the Tang dynasty suddenly attack? What's going on?"
Gelofeng was frightened. According to his understanding, the Tang dynasty would at least punish them before attacking. But the Tang dynasty did not punish them at all. He did not know anything, but the border was attacked. How could he not be shocked?
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