"There's no time to go home. Bring money and all the supplies along the way. Twenty of you, follow me."
At the gate of the palace, Li Xiang had already made arrangements.
Chang Sun Chong led out forty top-quality war horses from the emperor's stables, with each man riding two horses.
"I will obey your orders."
From Long Yi to Long Ershi, they were the ones who followed Li Xiang to the grassland this time. These people had experienced long-distance training before, but they were a little worried that Li Xiang's body would not be able to bear it. After all, they had spent several days on horseback. If Li Xiang just went forward like this, he might not be able to hold on on the road. They wanted to prepare a carriage for Li Xiang, but the carriage was useless in such a hurry.
Li Xiang did not give them a chance to speak, and the group rushed towards the south gate of Chang'an City.
"Assistant Engine, have all the stations along the way been arranged?"
Standing on the city wall of the imperial city, Li Shimin saw Li Xiang's cavalry rushing into the distance. He felt the blood in his body boiling. If he were twenty years younger, he might have made the same choice as his grandson. He had not experienced the feeling of dancing on the edge of a knife for a long time.
"Your Majesty, rest assured. The carrier pigeons have already been sent out. They should be able to get ahead of them and deliver the message to dozens of people in total. There won't be any delays. As long as he can reach the grassland within the specified time, I will be able to let him see Prime Minister Midu."
Li Shimin has always been very confident in Zhangsun Wuji's arrangements. Whether in our country or in the enemy country, Zhangsun Wuji has his own eyes. This time he went to the southwest battlefield, on the one hand to read the emperor's edict, and on the other hand to arrange his own spies in Tuyuhun. It may have been useless before, and the ministers in the court thought he spent too much money, but now it finally came in handy.
"He's dealt with that Mi before, so they should have something to talk about. What do you think the chances are of winning?"
Li Shimin was unsure, as Li Xiang's idea was too shocking and seemed to be improvised. Although he had completely blocked Lu Dongzan's plan, he also left too many loopholes for himself. Now Li Xiang was going to plug the loopholes.
"Tyuhun has just suffered a major defeat, and Tibetan troops should have been detected on the southern border. If I am not mistaken, Tuyuhun is in chaos right now. Your Highness is always adept at handling such situations. If possible, I believe Your Highness should be able to resolve it properly."
After getting to know each other over this period of time, Changsun Wuji also knew that Li Xiang would not act without a purpose. Although this mission was a bit difficult, it should still be accomplished. The most important things were two aspects: whether the Khan of Tuyuhun could bow his head, and whether he could come back in such a short time.
"Inform the Liangzhou City garrison to obey the orders of Prince Chengping."
Although he was appointed to the post in a time of crisis, Li Xiang set a precedent, that is, all the border troops obeyed one prince. This was impossible in the past. Although there were members of the royal family who accompanied the army to war in the past, most of them were deputy generals, and no one had ever been a main general. This meant that Li Xiang controlled tens of thousands of troops on the border of Liangzhou.
Changsun Wuji didn't say anything. If it were any other prince or grandson of the emperor, Changsun Wuji would have said a few words, but now he was on Li Xiang's car, and this opportunity was extremely rare. Even if the emperor was testing him, Changsun Wuji was ready to play dumb.
Li Xiang galloped along the way, holding Li Shimin's gold medal. Even when he passed some heavily guarded checkpoints, these people immediately let him go after seeing the emperor's gold medal. Although they didn't know Li Xiang's identity, they could tell that he was a group of strong men. Moreover, he was riding an imperial horse and holding a gold medal, so he should be carrying out the emperor's special mission. Who would stop these people?
According to the highest record of the Ministry of War, it should be 800 miles a day. After thirteen hours, Li Xiang had broken this record. One reason was that their physical fitness was strong enough, and the other was that their war horses were the best. The best war horses in the world were with the emperor. If anyone else kept such war horses privately, except for those given by the emperor, others would be guilty of a serious crime.
For three whole days, they only rested for two hours each day, and spent the rest of the time on horseback. They ate and drank water on horseback, which set the fastest record in the Tang Dynasty.
"Boss, get the buns."
On the fourth day, Li Xiang and his companions passed by a bun shop on the roadside and threw out a gold ingot. Before the owner could see what was happening, dozens of cavalrymen galloped past their stall, but several baskets of buns next to them were missing.
"Thank you, sir. Come again tomorrow."
The boss looked at the gold ingot in his hand happily. It weighed five taels. Not to mention these baskets of buns, he could buy half of the store with it.
It's a pity that this only happens once, and I won't run into these people again...
On the road that Li Xiang was walking on, many bosses were just like the bun shop owner. They didn't see clearly who their customers were. They just received the money and had less goods in their hands. If the money in their hands was not real, they would have thought they had encountered a ghost.
"careful……"
When Li Xiang heard Long San shouting beside him, he realized that the warhorse under his crotch could not hold on any longer. Fortunately, Long San's reminder allowed Li Xiang to jump up from the horse immediately. The warhorse fell directly from the front. If he had not jumped up, he might have fallen down like the warhorse, and the injury would definitely have been serious.
"You can't keep running like this, Your Highness. All the horses can't hold on any longer."
Long Er is a master of horse breeding. He has checked all the horses and found that they have basically reached their limits. If they continue to run, similar things will happen again. This time Li Xiang is lucky. If he continues like this, he may not be so lucky next time.
"There's no town nearby, so everyone be careful. Let's go to a larger town ahead and change horses."
Li Xiang also nodded. Although these were the emperor's horses, considered the best in the world, after marching non-stop for the past few days, dozens of horses could no longer hold on and they needed time to rest.
Luckily, there was a small town ten miles ahead. Long Si had almost fallen off his horse. There was a large escort agency in this town, and they also provided horse replacements for merchants.