Seeing Mo Hedu's worry, Xiao Rui said with a smile: "Of course not, getting married is just a trivial matter, and it won't destroy other people's countries just because of it. Doesn't that mean that I, Xiao Rui, have no courage at all?"
"In fact, I have long disliked Gaochang."
"Old Mo, you may not know that Gaochang is the first stop on our Silk Road leading to the Western Regions, and it is the only way. Our caravans in the Tang Dynasty were repeatedly robbed and plundered by him, and the merchants of the Tang Dynasty suffered a lot. Chang Jiu. This is the first reason why we want to destroy him, and it is also the most important one."
Mo Heduo said in surprise: "Gaochang is a small country and Ju Wentai is a coward. How dare he plunder the merchants of the Tang Dynasty like this?"
Xiao Rui smiled, "It's true that Gaochang is a small country, but Ju Wentai is not a coward. In fact, he is a sinister person who pretends to be a pig and eats the tiger. They are not openly looting and collecting tariffs. They dare not offend me head-on. Datang. But what does Gaochang rely on to make a living? You won’t just watch money being transported back and forth from your own territory and starve yourself."
"So Ju Wentai sent his soldiers and horses to pretend to be horse thieves, and plundered like the wind. The caravan went to the local government to suppress the bandits, but the bandits were suppressed, but the bandits were not seen. In the end, Gaochang was able to make money from us on both sides. , In fact, they are a nest of snakes and rats, and they are a family."
Hiss...is this still possible? Why didn't I think of that before? Mohe scratched his head and fell into a brief daze.
Xiao Rui patted the other party and said, "What are you thinking about? Do you want to imitate someone else? Then don't talk about this business. I will lead the team there myself."
"No, no, no, no," the Marquis continued." Mo He Duo said with a smile, "I just didn't expect that Gaochang Ju Wentai would be so cunning."
"The second point is that they believe in Buddhism. When our Tang Dynasty completely wiped out Buddhism, Gaochang took in unlimited Buddhists who escaped. Isn't this blatantly against our Tang Dynasty? He has been busy dealing with Jie Li before , unable to take action. However, relying on the fact that the sky is high and the emperor is far away, they are intensifying their temptations. Do they really think that my soldiers of the Tang Dynasty cannot reach the Western Regions? "
"As early as six hundred years ago during the Han Dynasty, we established a Protectorate in the Western Regions!"
"This third point..."
Mo Hedu held Xiao Rui's hand, "That's right, that's right. Needless to say about the third point, it must be because I didn't know the etiquette and came to get married."
"These three points are enough. If it were me, I would have already sent troops based on the first point alone."
"How do you want to cooperate, Lord Marquis?"
With his shrewd eyes and expression, Zhao Deyan was stunned, thinking to himself, is this the Khan of the Western Turks? Change of face so quickly?
Xiao Rui smiled, this is the Mo Hedu I know.
He held out two fingers and said, "Two ways. One is, I will provide money and food, you will send troops, and I will hire your 100,000 troops from the Western Turks to help the Tang Dynasty destroy Gaochang. After the victory, the territory will be ours, and the spoils captured in Gaochang will be divided among us. Half of you."
Is this a good thing? Mo Heduo's eyes lit up, and he thought that the Marquis was an open-minded person, and this condition sounded like a lot of money.
"What about the second one?"
Xiao Rui was a little surprised and said: "Okay, Lao Mo, we haven't seen you for a few years, have you been on the market? When I helped you conquer the Western Turks, I gave you an idea, and you had to pay me. It's better now. Half of you have gained so much, but you can actually hold it back?"
Mo Heduo smiled and said: "It's a cooperative business, of course you have to listen to it."
"The second kind is that I will neither provide money nor food, and you will send troops to destroy the country yourself. After taking Gaochang, the territory, money, food, and population will all belong to you, the Western Turks."
ah? This... Mo Hedu was shocked. Even Zhao Deyan next to him opened his mouth, trying to dissuade Xiao Rui.
Although all this is natural and has nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty on the surface. The Western Turks destroyed Gaochang by themselves, so of course they want to occupy everything in Gaochang. Do you still need to say that, Xiao Rui?
In fact, it is not the case. If it were that simple, the Western Turks would have taken action long ago. How could Xiao Rui be used to remind him? The reason why he did not dare to get involved in the Thirty-six Kingdoms of the Western Regions was that he was afraid of Datang's intervention, so he always maintained a balance.
Including Gaochang, caught between two powerful countries, the Western Turks and the Tang Dynasty, he wanted to survive with ease. In fact, such a country has been dancing on the edge of the cliff. It is precarious and will die sooner or later.
Now, with the promise of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Turks can expand their territory without any scruples, and Mohe Duo will laugh out loud in his dreams.
"Master Marquis, what do you want?" Mo Heduo knew that there was no free lunch in the world. Xiao Rui's promise to expand his territory must be conditional.
Xiao Rui waved his hand and said: "With the friendship between you and me, I can ask for nothing. But in order to silence some people in the court, after you take Gaochang, just make a promise to Datang."
"Promise? What kind of promise?"
"It's very simple. If the Tang Dynasty's caravan passes through your Western Turk territory, any banditry accidents will be your responsibility."
this……
Mo Hedu understood. This means that from now on, the Western Turks will serve as guards for the Tang Dynasty caravans on the Silk Road.
After hesitating for a moment, Mo Heduo nodded and agreed, "No problem. I can't guarantee that in other places, the Datang caravan will be absolutely safe in our Western Turkic territory."
Xiao Rui patted the other party's shoulder: "Don't worry, every caravan passing through the territory of the Western Turks along the way will not miss you a cent of the tariff. In the future, I will send someone to negotiate, and the two sides will decide on a suitable tariff." Tariff price, we get rich, and you also get rich, this is called win-win cooperation."
Mo Heduo nodded heavily, this is good, it is of course the best if we can cooperate and make a fortune together.
"Ahem, Lord Marquis, there is no problem in sending troops to destroy Gaochang. However, our Western Turks have just developed a few years ago, and their strength is still somewhat lacking..."
Xiao Rui frowned, "What do you mean? Old Mo, you are the mighty Western Turks, the overlord who occupies half of the grassland. Not to mention elsewhere, you are the strongest country in the Western Regions. You can't even take down Gaochang?"
"Forget it, you are such a loser, what should I do with you? I only cooperate with the strong."
puff……
"No, no, we can win it, but the casualties may be heavy..."
"Ahem, it doesn't matter if there are heavy casualties. There is no one who can't die in a war. I'm afraid that other countries won't open their eyes to come to help. This will become a tug of war. If it takes too long, it will delay the affairs of the Marquis. If Gaochang is destroyed, The battle lasted for a year and a half...and you also know that we are all men on horseback and do not know much about siege warfare."
Xiao Rui waved his hand and interrupted: "Okay, okay, stop talking. If you keep talking, you are not going to destroy Gaochang, you are going to die with others."
"Don't you just want a helping hand? Just say it, why bother to be coy?"
"In this way, I will send a general over there with 20,000 troops to cheer you up. I will also give you advice to help you fight and reduce casualties. Is this all right?"
"If you bother me again, forget about it and I'll find someone else."
Mo Heduo took Xiao Rui's hand and said, "Deal, deal! In three months, at most three months, I will definitely capture Gaochang and ensure that Datang's trade routes in the Western Regions are unimpeded! I will go back and make arrangements right away."
After saying that, he really got up and walked out.
"Hey, don't worry, at this moment, I have eaten at last!"
"I won't eat anymore. I'll go back to Chang'an to make arrangements for business. Once the arrangements are made, I'll come back and stay there for a few days."
After sending Mo Hedu away, Zhao Deyan expressed his worries, "Master Hou, you have good intentions in using the Western Turks as the guardian of the Silk Road, but it is not a good thing to give them a wealthy territory for no reason. The imperial court Wouldn’t agree.”
