"His Majesty is back!"
When Li Shimin's carriage appeared at the West City Gate, the entire Chang 'an City was in an uproar.
"Fortunately, His Majesty is in good health. Otherwise, the Old Man would have personally requested to go to war and kill all the Turks!" An old soldier said angrily.
Everyone else echoed his words. Although Li Shimin had many blemishes when he became the Emperor, he was indeed a wise Emperor in recent years. Coupled with the rise of the Mo Family and the rapid development of the Tang dynasty, the lives of the people were getting better day by day. Li Shimin's prestige among the people was increasing day by day. To the people, as long as they could have enough to eat and wear, who would care about the affairs of those high and mighty people?
With Li Shimin's return, the originally agitated people of Chang 'an City slowly calmed down. Some of the actions against the Hu people also stopped. This was also the reason why Li Shimin was in a hurry to return to Chang' an City. If the Ninety Percent Palace was delayed for too long, who knew what kind of trouble would occur between the Han and Hu people in Chang 'an City.
"Your son respectfully welcomes Father!"
In the Imperial Palace, Li Chengqian could not help but heave a sigh of relief when he received news of Li Shimin's return. He hurriedly went to welcome him.
"Your subjects respectfully welcome Your Majesty!" The Han civil and military officials followed behind Li Chengqian and greeted him respectfully.
"Your guilty subjects respectfully welcome Your Majesty. Fortunately, Your Majesty is fine. Otherwise, your subjects would have died a thousand times."
Behind them were numerous Turks. Li Shimin's return would determine the future relationship between the Turks and the Tang dynasty. It would also determine their prosperity and even life and death.
Li Shimin ignored Li Chengqian and the civil and military officials. He personally went forward to help the Turks up and said sincerely, "I naturally know your sincerity. This is only because the Ashina Society and Heluohe were bewitched by Satoshi Tani. It has nothing to do with you, and it has nothing to do with the friendship between the Turks and the Tang dynasty."
"This sinner kowtows and thanks the Heavenly Khan for his kindness." Ashina Simo said gratefully. The other Turks also expressed their gratitude. Since Li Shimin said these words, it meant that they were not involved in this rebellion. At the very least, they would not be implicated.
Li Shimin first placated the hearts of the Turks' generals before leading the group of civil and military officials back to Taiji Palace.
"Reporting to Imperial Father, the Ashina Society and Heluugu have all been arrested! Li Chengqian said in a clear voice.
"Well done!" Li Shimin couldn't help but nod. He raised his hand slightly and said, "Bring them all up. We will personally interrogate them."
Soon, Cheng Yaojin brought the two tightly bound men to Taiji Palace. As for Qin Huaiyu and the other two, they were not qualified to participate.
"Kneel!" Cheng Yaojin angrily shouted.
However, Heluugu was not afraid at all. He laughed and said, "You, Li Shimin, are the Son of Heaven. I, Heluugu, am also the Khan. Why should I kneel to you?"
Ashina Simo was so angry that his entire body trembled. He angrily rebuked, "Heluugu, the Heavenly Khan pitied Tuli's early death and took care of you all these years. Otherwise, with your young age, how could you inherit Tuli's position? You actually repaid kindness with enmity and tried to assassinate His Majesty."
According to the customs of the grasslands, the younger brother would inherit the position. Since Tuli Khan died early, according to the customs of the Turks, his wealth and status would have been divided among his brothers.
However, Li Shimin followed the customs of the Tang dynasty and passed Tuli's position to Heluugu. Otherwise, it would not be Heluugu's turn to enjoy all this.
Heluugu laughed and said, "You still have the guts to mention Father Khan. You are all Father Khan's subjects, yet you betrayed him. Father Khan died early because of this incapable ruler. Otherwise, with Father Khan's heroic bearing, he would not have died so young."
Li Shimin frowned. Only now did he understand why Heluugu rebelled. On one hand, it was because of the temptation of the position of Khan. On the other hand, it was to avenge his father.
Li Shimin could not help but sigh and said, "Heluugu, if you think that it was me who harmed Brother Tuli, then you are gravely mistaken. That year, it was your most trusted uncle, Ashina Jieshu, who falsely accused Brother Tuli of rebelling. This caused Brother Tuli to be afraid and die with hatred. For this reason, I know Ashina Jieshu's character very well. For ten years, he had not been promoted and was still a Lieutenant General. This caused him to harbor hatred in his heart and conspire to rebel!"
"Ah! Uncle, is this true? " Heluugu looked at Ashina Jieshu in disbelief. He did not expect that his most trusted uncle was the one who framed his father.
Ashina Jieshu sneered and said, "Lieutenant General, who cares about your position in the Tang dynasty? I am a member of the Ashina family. What I want is the position of Khan. Now that things have come to this, I am not afraid to tell you that not only did I expose Brother Tuli's rebellion, but I also killed Brother Tuli. "
Ashina Jieshu knew that he could not escape death, so he did not hesitate to reveal the truth.
Heluugu felt as if he was struck by lightning. After Brother Tuli's early death, Heluugu treated Ashina Jieshu like a father. But he did not expect that he would recognize a traitor as his father.
Suddenly, the Turks were in an uproar. No one expected Ashina Jieshu to be so ruthless and kill Brother Tuli.
"Ashina Jieshu, you are simply a wolf with wild ambition. You actually killed Brother Tuli for your own benefit," Ashina Simo said angrily.
"For my own benefit … No, from the beginning to the end, I did not do it for my own glory and wealth. If I wanted, I only needed to kneel in front of this dog Emperor like all of you. Everything I did was for the Turks. That year, I strongly advised Brother Tuli to take advantage of the fact that the Turks were migrating and most of the tribes were dissatisfied to lead the Turks to rise up and take the opportunity to destroy the Tang dynasty. I did not expect Brother Tuli to be so weak that he did not dare to do it.
Since Brother Tuli was weak, there was no need for him to take the position of Khan. So I first accused Brother Tuli of rebellion and then plotted to poison him to death. Unfortunately, Li Shimin was prejudiced against me and refused to follow the tradition of the steppe. Instead, he supported you, the youngest son, to succeed the throne. Otherwise, it would be the Turks who would have taken over the Central Plains, "Ashina Jieshu said arrogantly.
The Turks could not help but be shocked. They did not know whether they were shocked by Ashina Jieshu's ambition or his wild ambition.
"You are simply crazy! If the Turks follow you, sooner or later they will be exterminated, "Ashina Simo said in disbelief.
Ashina Jieshu said arrogantly, "So what? Isn't following the Tang dynasty the same? Now the Tang dynasty has continuously expanded for thousands of li. How many of these were fought by our Turks? These were all exchanged with the blood of our Turks. "
Meton stepped forward and angrily rebuked, "This is simply ridiculous. In the two Western Expeditions, 70% of the soldiers were from the Tang dynasty, 30% were from the Turks and the allied forces of other races. The ones who suffered the most casualties were also from the Tang dynasty. Moreover, in this Western Expedition to Gao Chang, not a single Turk soldier was injured."
Meton used ironclad facts to slap Ashina Jieshu's face. In the first Western Expedition to Tuyuhun, although there were casualties among the Turks, the Tang dynasty did not treat them unfairly and gave them generous compensation. The deaths of those Turks also won glory, splendor, wealth, and rank for the Turks. The Turks present were all vested interests.
As for the second Western Expedition to Gao Chang, because the Firearms Supervisor had destroyed the city in one shot, not a single Turk soldier was injured, not to mention that the Turks had sacrificed themselves for the Tang dynasty. In this regard, many Turks had the same idea as the Tang dynasty. They did not need to put in any effort to obtain merits.
Ashina Jieshu smiled bitterly and said, "We are like a hunter's dog. We Turks are born wolves of the grassland. We run on the grassland, not the dogs of your Tang dynasty. We guard the house and chase the prey for our masters. "
The faces of the Turks could not help but turn ugly. Ashina Jieshu showed the crazy nature of a wolf. He was more like a Turk than any of them.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
