Youth is indeed a capital, but Li Shengtian shook his head. Just as Zhang Zhao said, no matter how much he feels sorry for his eldest sister, he is not an ordinary person. He is the king of Khotan. Everything he does must be done. Put the interests of the Khotan Kingdom first.
At this time, although the Khotan Kingdom is prosperous and powerful, it is one of the three major kingdoms in Anxi.
However, the Kara Khanate in the north, composed of the nine surnames Ogus and the third surname Geluolu, still posed a considerable threat to Khotan, and it was not an ordinary threat, but a religious threat.
Since the Tang Dynasty's forces withdrew from Anxi, the Great Cannibal took advantage of the victory of Talos and continued to spread Tianfang Sect to the east.
Especially fifteen years ago, after Saktu Bugla Khan of Karakhan publicly declared his conversion to Tianfang Religion, many nobles in the Karakhan Kingdom began to convert.
Monks of the Tianfang Sect and people who believed in the Tianfang Sect continued to spread their faith from Shule to Khotan.
At present, the only thing that the Buddhists and Manichaeans in the Karakhanate can still control is Balashagon, and it is still under siege by Saktu Bugla Khan. It will fall sooner or later. thing.
It is conceivable that after Saktu Bugla Khan captured Balashagon, the number of Tianfang Sect believers and monks who infiltrated into Khotan might not be the current number.
Khotan has a population of 700,000 and is already a big country in Anxi. However, once the Karakhanate regains Balashagon and even Bakhna (Fergana Basin), it will have at least 300,000 tents, which is 150,000 people. Around 100,000 to 1.8 million people.
This kind of population size is not something that Khotan can contend with, at least not for a long time.
Therefore, while Li Shengtian continued to strengthen Khotan himself, he still placed his hopes on the Gaochang Uighurs, Guiyi Army and even the dynasties of the Central Plains in the east.
What Li Shengtian is looking forward to most now is the revival of the Tang Dynasty. Five hundred thousand heavenly soldiers will come and beat up traitors and cannibals like Ge Luolu.
Of course, he himself knew that this was not very realistic, but it was still very realistic to get help from the Central Plains and the Guiyi Army.
So in any case, no matter how wronged the eldest sister was, and even the only bloodline of Jinshan Crown Prince Zhang Xuan died young, Li Shengtian still maintained good relations with the Cao family. This was determined by the reality of Khotan.
Thinking of this, Li Shengtian felt very heavy, and he shook his head at Zhang Zhao.
"Don't give me explicit support. Even if it's secret support, I won't be able to give it to you. I am the king of Khotan, and I must be responsible for Khotan!"
Zhang Zhao was a little disappointed, but he had considered this situation before he came, and he actually never thought about letting Li Shengtian directly intervene in his plan to regain the power of the rebels.
If he is willing to do this, he should go to the Qilian Mountains to collude with the Kucha Uighurs now, slowly mess up the Guiyi Army, and then seize power.
By disrupting the Guiyi Army and relying on a bloody coup to seize power, Zhang Zhao would definitely not choose this path.
"My nephew is very clear about my uncle's difficulties, and I also understand that things should not be done or ignored. But we haven't started yet, and we can't give up lightly. Over there in Goni City, please give me a noble hand!"
"Alas!" Li Shengtian looked at Zhang Zhao and couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
"Your father died too early, and he didn't even teach you these things. Do you know that with the things you have done recently, if you were a different king, you would have been driven back to the sandbank, not to mention the death of your father!" "
Zhang Zhao knew what Li Shengtian meant. Whether it was to reward the queen of Sanpoba to the people below, or when he arrived in Khotan City, he had to be reminded by Li Shengtian before he gave the benefits gained in Zhongyun to his uncle and the emperor. Involved with the sensitive brothers and sisters Li Ruoyu and Li Ruoliu.
These things, no matter which one they are, are actually quite taboo.
Of course, this was due to Zhang Zhao's lack of political experience, but the bigger reason was that he gradually felt the "pulse" of Li Shengtian and knew that this uncle of the emperor was not a ruthless king. Furthermore, he was very confident that Li Shengtian would see After seeing his effect on Khotan, all his shortcomings will be ignored.
"Zhao'er dares to be so presumptuous because he understands that my uncle really loves me. Even though I am not my mother's biological child, he loves me as much as I do, and my uncle treats me as his nephew."
Zhang Zhao's face showed a bit of warmth, "But uncle, don't worry, although my nephew is reckless, he is willing and can share his worries!"
Li Shengtian smiled and nodded. Although this nephew was a little reckless, his feelings for him could still be seen.
But he won't show it on his lips. This kid is too ignorant now and needs to be suppressed again. So Li Shengtian's face turned cold.
"My uncle knows that you are known to be brave and brave, and all the soldiers under your command use their strength to fight. But there are only a hundred of you, how much help can you help my uncle? Are you helping someone look after the home and the hospital? Don't brag!"
"I wonder if Zhao'er can help my uncle, the Emperor, blow down the wall of Shule City. Does that count as help?"
Zhang Zhao smiled faintly, this is the advantage of the time traveler. Although he only has more than a hundred people, he can do things that tens of thousands of Khotan troops cannot.
"What do you think...huh? Boy! What are you talking about? Can you blow down the wall of Shule City?"
Li Shengtian didn't hear clearly for a while and gasped heavily.
And he paused heavily on the word "explosion". At this time, "explosion" did not mean explosion. It was mainly used to describe a very sudden and loud sound.
Zhang Zhao didn't say much, and took out a gadget from his pocket and showed it to Li Shengtian.
This is a small hollow bamboo tube filled with black gunpowder that Cao Shishi prepared in Yuechang. Both ends are blocked with dried yellow mud. A fuse wrapped with a large amount of gunpowder foam is drawn from the yellow mud. stretched out.
This is a relatively primitive firecracker, but the firecrackers are more powerful.
Li Shengtian looked at Zhang Zhao strangely, wondering what his nephew wanted to do?
It seems that his intelligence system is not invincible. At least Li Shentian still doesn't know how Zhang Zhao blew open the palace gate of King Zhongyun Sanpoba.
"Uncle, you can ask your chamberlain to dig up a ball of yellow mud, and Zhao'er can show your uncle how to break through the wall of Shule City."
The yellow mud was delivered quickly, and the doubt on Li Shengtian's face became more and more intense. If Zhang Zhao didn't look like a confident old god, and if Zhang Zhao wasn't the only son of his eldest sister, Princess Fengtian, Li Shengtian would have wanted to let him go. They threw Zhang Zhao out.
Four generations of Khotan kings mobilized their entire nation's troops six times but failed to break through the gate of Shule. How can you, a young boy with a strange-looking bamboo tube, break open the gate of Shule just by talking nonsense?
Li Shengtian decided that if Zhang Zhao couldn't give him a reasonable explanation, he would send this guy back to Dunhuang even if it made his eldest sister sad!
At worst, he wrote a letter to his father-in-law Cao Yijin personally, asking the Cao family not to embarrass Zhang Zhao anymore.
