Even if the Xue Yantuo Khanate was destroyed and the Tang Dynasty established the Hanhai Protectorate here, it would not be possible to station too many defenders.
Mobei is too big, with a vast territory, sparsely populated areas, and a bitter and cold climate. If you want to rule this area, you can only rely on the local Hu people. The Qi tribe, which has always been friendly with the Tang Dynasty, is the best choice.
Of course, support and opposition are the best ways to rule an area far away from home.
It is not enough to rely solely on one Qibu family. This will cause the Qibu family to become dominant. Today, the Qibu family is willing to stay dormant under the rule of the Tang Dynasty and work as a submissive and submissive person. But when the entire Mobei comes under its rule, will cause it to grow rapidly.
With power comes ambition.
Who knows that Qi Bu today will not become another Xue Yantuo in the future?
When His Majesty Li Er supported the restoration of the Turkic Khanate and placed it in the Chile River in Monan, he used it as a buffer between the Tang Dynasty and Xueyantuo to restrain each other. However, he did not expect that the Turkic Khanate would collapse and Xueyantuo would develop. Rapidly and violently, the result was a huge gap in power, forcing Datang to face the threat of Xue Yantuo.
Now that Xue Yantuo is about to be destroyed, the Tang Dynasty must support two spokesmen to rule Mobei and suppress the other tribes. At the same time, it must always control these two spokesmen to restrain each other and oppose each other, so as not to take advantage of the opportunity to become bigger. This is actually extremely difficult.
The Qi tribe must be won over. This is the tribe closest to the Tang Dynasty among the Mobei Tiele tribes. However, the choice of the other tribe must be cautious.
Fang Jun is now thinking about Uighur.
As the most powerful tribe among the Tiele tribes second only to Xue Yantuo, the Uighurs have strong soldiers and horses, are brave and good at fighting. Their tribe is entrenched in the Longcheng area at the foot of Langjuxu Mountain, with a large population and prosperity. The reason why Fang Jun hesitated was that the Uighurs were too powerful. Historically, Xue Yantuo fell under the attack from both sides of the Tang Dynasty and the Uighurs. Then the Uighurs rose rapidly and brought a lot of trouble to the Tang Dynasty.
Especially now that the Uighurs have formed an alliance with the Pugu, Tongluo, Bayegu and other tribes, they are powerful and difficult to control.
If you are not careful, you will suffer the consequences.
*****
Fang Jun and Qi Heli seemed to be having a casual banquet, but in fact they were testing each other and confronting each other.
Fang Jun wanted to support the Qibu to help the Tang Dynasty rule Mobei, but he had to limit his power and curb its development; Qi Heli tried his best to win the right of the Qibu to speak in Mobei. He was not willing to just be a lackey of the Tang Dynasty. , until one day the cunning rabbit dies and the lackey cooks...
Of course, the atmosphere was relatively harmonious.
Qi Heli knew that Fang Jun did not have the power to decide who would assist Datang in managing Mobei, but he had great influence on His Majesty Li Er and had an influence on this matter that cannot be underestimated to a large extent. Moreover, Fang Jun had shown He also benefited greatly from the kindness shown.
The two exchanged cups. Qi Heli personally held the pot and poured a full glass of wine for Fang Jun. He asked: "The textile factory set up by Suwen Erlang in Huating Town, Jiangnan purchased a large amount of wool from the Western Regions. Nowadays, the Western Regions are not peaceful either. The Turkic Khan Yugushe first defeated Guo Xiaoke, resulting in the defeat of tens of thousands of Tang troops, and then was defeated by the British army. His soldiers suffered numerous casualties. He only escaped with his life by fleeing to Tocharo. His reputation was ruined and his majesty was no longer. Ashi The grandson of Nishu received the support of the ten surnames of the Western Turks, deposed Yugushe, and established himself as the Khan of Yibi Shekui. He had already sent an envoy to Chang'an to request the imperial edict of the Tang Dynasty, and requested annexation. How could Yugushe be able to do so? Are you willing to be deposed? A war is about to start in the Western Regions. This chaos may affect Erlang's business... Why not transfer part of the share of wool purchased from the Western Regions to Mobei? I dare not say anything else. If Erlang is in Mobei If you buy wool from the north, whoever dares to spoil your good deeds will immediately raise an army and massacre his entire family!"
What people in the world pursue is nothing more than power and wealth.
If the Qibu could become the assistant of the Tang Dynasty in ruling Mobei, they must have stable interests to share with those tribes. Otherwise, would they be able to ride horses and carry swords to kill tribes one by one?
There is no end to the killing.
If we can maintain a stable chain of interests with Fang Jun, it will not only promote the relationship with Fang Jun, but also make many tribes defect to the Qi tribe because of the interests of wool, which will immediately increase the power of the Qi tribe.
Fang Jun naturally knew what Qi Heli was thinking, and there was nothing wrong with that. It was a matter of mutual benefit.
Of course, Qi Bu cannot make money alone, we still have to carefully seek a balance...
"Nowadays, the sales of woolen fabrics within the Tang Dynasty have gradually become saturated, and I am afraid that it will not be possible to increase production in a short period of time. However, overseas sales are now expanding. As long as the nobles of Japan, Silla, Nanyang and other places recognize woolen fabrics, they will surely With the outbreak of output, the demand for raw materials will naturally increase greatly. As long as we purchase wool from Mobei, Qibu will definitely be one of our partners."
Qi Heli chuckled and said: "That's great, then I'm just waiting for Erlang to get rich!"
He was smiling on his face and cursing in his heart.
Damn “one of the partners”!
The Han people are really annoying. They always keep in mind the strategy of restraint and balance. Even if they believe in the loyalty of the Qibu, they must support another tribe. As the imaginary enemy of the Qibu, they will never allow the Qibu family to become dominant.
Where is the need to be so cautious?
Today's Qibu is no longer the same era as the "Great Khan" together with Xue Yantuo. Not only is it far less powerful than Xue Yantuo, but even the Uighurs are firmly suppressing the Qibu. Only those who are crazy will imitate Xue Yantuo. Dominate Mobei.
Without the support of the Tang Dynasty, the Qibu would have been swallowed up by the remnants of Huihe and Xue Yantuo in just a few days...
But this is the consistent strategy of the Han people, which is to divide, contain and balance.
You have to say that this trick is very useful. It uses barbarians to control barbarians, which keeps the Hu people in internal strife all year round. They fight among themselves endlessly for power, and give the Han people a chance to recuperate. After finally defeating the competitor, he will face the powerful Han army and be defeated again, and then it will be divided, contained, and balanced...
Unless one day a genius will appear in the Hu tribe and quickly unify the tribes, or there will be a serious natural disaster in the Han area that will cause social unrest, then it will be possible to break through the Great Wall and invade the Central Plains. Otherwise, don't even think about it.
At this time, soldiers came to report outside the door.
"Bazhuo actually stood in front of Xue Yantuo's army and was proclaimed Xue Yantuo Khan with a sword in his hand?"
Fang Jun looked at the battle report and couldn't help being surprised.
Yinan Khan led the army to a huge defeat in Zhao Xincheng, causing Xue Yantuo's main force to lose ten to sixty-seven. The remaining remnants of the army fled back to Yazhang with Yimang, fought and retreated, and retreated to Longcheng under the cover of the blizzard. At present, Xue Yantuo's effective strength is the remnant army led by Yimang, and the tribes controlled by Bazhuo and Tulishi who were expelled by Yinan Khan. Each of the three parties has more than 20,000 troops, and the total strength is about 60,000 to 70,000.
There are a lot of people, but the quality of the soldiers is uneven, and the combat power is not even a little bit lower than before. After all, Xue Yantuo's vitality was severely damaged in the battle of Zhao Xincheng, and all the elite soldiers died miserably. Now these soldiers and horses are all improvised...
Moreover, the three princes each have their own shortcomings, and no one will obey the other. Even if they have 60,000 to 70,000 troops, they will fight on their own and have their own plans, and they will be really vulnerable.
However, now Bazhuo has killed Yimang brazenly and recruited all his soldiers. The strength of his troops has increased sharply, his command has been confirmed, and his power cannot be underestimated.
If you want to defeat it, you must go through a fierce battle.
Don't forget that there was another sudden loss. The battle report said that he had led his tribe to move westward, and seemed to be planning to leave Mobei and defect to the Western Turks. But who can guarantee that this man would not kill a carbine and suddenly appear in front of the Tang army? Behind you?
Qi Heli said sternly: "Bazhuo is a cruel and violent man, but he is good at battle formations and his military ability is more outstanding than the other princes. You must not be careless. Moreover, the ground of Dragon City is backed by water and mountains. Once the battle situation is unfavorable, it will We can retreat to Langjuxu Mountain. The mountains are high and densely forested and the mountains are covered with snow. It will be even more difficult to wipe them out."
Fang Jun also had a headache: "It's true. If you don't kill the snake, you will suffer from it. If you can't annihilate them all in one battle, Xue Yantuo will be reduced to pieces in the future. From time to time, soldiers will come out of Langjuxu Mountain to invade, which will be very annoying. If you don't tell them, it will lead to great losses. But is there any way to make them fight to the death without being defeated at the first touch?"
This is Mobei, the territory of the Tiele people.
Once the Xueyantuo people gave up large-scale corps operations and instead hid in the mountains to engage in "guerrilla warfare", the Tang army would have no choice but to cope...
