In the Penglai Hall, Empress Wu and Li Zhi were sitting high, and the important ministers on both sides looked sideways at Li Xuan.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Li Xuan cautiously held up his hands and said, "My preface is nothing more than a few delusions."
Empress Wu waved her hands carelessly, staring at Li Xuan and said: "It doesn't matter, King Nanchang has something to say. If we can pacify the East Island without moving the army, King Nanchang will have made great contributions to the court."
The eyes of everyone present fell on Li Xuan calmly, and they did not care about Empress Wu's words.
If it is said that there is a great contribution to the dynasty, who here does not have a great contribution to the dynasty.
Pei Xingjian, Liu Rengui, and Hao Chujun, all of them have great achievements.
After sorting out his thoughts for a while, Li Xuan said cautiously: "Your Majesty, Queen of Heaven, Silla's move has hit the key point of our government. In addition to profiting for herself, it is actually to open eyes for Tubo.
Therefore, this matter must have been instigated by Tubo from behind, promising great benefits, and then they would be tempted to attack our army.
Even after our dynasty retreats and occupies the old territories of Baekje and Goguryeo, Silla will definitely attack us from Liaodong Road during the war between our dynasty and Tubo, thus reducing the pressure on Tubo.
Even if it succeeds, both parties may agree to share the Tang Dynasty with each other. "
The virtues of the Silla people have been like this since ancient times, and they can't wait to add Chang'an to their territory now.
"The order has already said this." Li Zhi waved his hand and looked at Li Xuan: "You continue!"
"Well!" Li Xuan thought carefully and spoke: "Although Tubo expects Silla to use its national strength to defeat the Tang Dynasty, it is hard to say how much Silla itself is willing to contribute. After all, Silla is at war with us. Over the past few years, its national power has declined and has reached its limit.”
Li Zhi frowned a little. He understood the meaning of Li Xuan's words and turned sideways to pick up the memorial.
Immediately, Li Zhi handed the memorial to Empress Wu on the right. After Empress Wu read it once, she handed it to Prince Li Xian, followed by Liu Rengui, Hao Chujun and other important ministers.
"Indeed, although Silla has mobilized a large army, the only place where the war with me broke out was in the city of Maixiao." Pei Xingjian breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I originally thought that Silla was also waiting for our army to reveal its flaws. At that time, we will devote all our efforts to attack, but now it seems that whether we will attack is still undecided."
Li Xuan raised his hands to Pei Xingjian seriously, and Pei Xingjian looked at him like a military god with sharp eyes.
Li Xuan's understanding of the people of Silla was probably the least common in the entire Tang Dynasty.
"The people of Silla are greedy for small profits and cherish their own lives. If they are allowed to gain the upper hand in the battle between Tibet and Tang Dynasty, they will be tempted. But if they are allowed to serve the goals of the Silla people, they will die. He must not want to." Li Xuan concluded with a sneer, and all the officials present nodded silently.
Li Zhi knocked on the table gently and said uncertainly: "If this is the case, even if we don't send reinforcements, can the army retreat safely?"
Li Xuan bowed again and said: "Your Majesty, it's early winter now. If our army's formation is stable, its backup is sufficient, and there are no flaws, Silla will only gain some advantages. However, we are afraid that the weather will be extremely cold and the mountain roads will be rugged. Our army will inevitably Flaws will be exposed. When the opportunity comes, the Silla people will definitely pounce on them like mad dogs. It is hard to predict what the outcome will be. The withdrawal of Yang Guang's troops back then was a precedent."
What Li Xuan said may not have been realized by everyone present before, but how can we take it as a fluke when a large army fights.
What's more, in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, everyone from the emperor to the leaders of the three provinces and six departments in the court, to the commander on the front line, was accustomed to taking the situation completely into their own hands.
There are too many uncertain possibilities in the future that Li Xuan said, so everyone eliminated these possibilities from the beginning.
Li Xuan's words actually directly pointed out Silla's real anxious state of mind. He cupped his hands and said: "If we are tough and can severely injure the enemy at the beginning of the war and make desperate moves, then after that Even if the weather is not favorable and the location is inconvenient, we can still retreat calmly."
"It's difficult." Liu Rengui answered, shaking his head and said, "We have thirty thousand troops in the Andong Governor's Mansion, but they are stationed in various cities, and there are only more than ten thousand troops on the front line. However, Silla has three or four times as many as me. If there is a slight disadvantage, the army will be overturned in an instant, it is not a chance."
Li Jinxing's
He is indeed a good general, and it is impossible to secure Anton. However, if you want to defeat one against a hundred, or even replicate the situation of the battle at Baijiangkou, it may be difficult to do so.
After all, not everyone belongs to Liu Rengui and Xue Rengui.
"Therefore, we need to start with external forces." Li Xuan bowed to Liu Rengui, then looked at Li Zhi and said, "Your Majesty, the one who least wants me to prepare for the western expedition is Tubo. Now that the war between Tang Dynasty and Silla has resumed, The happiest person is Tibet. If this happens, Tibet will send envoys to earnestly ask for peace..."
"There are no words between me and Tubo." Li Zhi didn't even want to hear Li Xuan finish what he said and waved his hand directly.
Li Xuan immediately said with approval: "Your Majesty naturally does not need to talk to Tubo. You only need to let the Silla envoys know that the Tubo peace envoys are coming. Anyway, your Majesty will expel them from Chang'an tomorrow."
"Finish your words." Li Zhi vaguely seemed to understand that Li Xuan had other intentions, but what exactly was his intention?
"Here!" Li Xuan handed over his hand again and said, "Your Majesty, although Silla and Tubo are connected with each other, their trust in each other is weak. If there is an envoy from Tibet coming to Chang'an to ask for peace at this time, the Silla envoy may not believe it, but They will definitely be suspicious and even find someone to contact Tibet again..."
Silla and Tubo were thousands of miles apart, so it was unusual for them to trust each other, but under such circumstances, they were able to communicate with each other in a timely manner, which was somewhat magical.
But Li Zhi and everyone in the hall did not doubt its authenticity.
After all, the East China Sea King incident happened not long ago, and his involvement in it was clearly visible to everyone.
Li Xuan straightened up slightly and looked solemn: "Your Majesty, you can cover it up a little at first, then become suspicious, and finally contact Tubo, or there may be a spy in our court, let him know the truth and let him feel relieved, but also At this moment, let him accidentally know our true trump card."
"What's the trump card?" Li Zhi and the ministers present heard that Li Xuan had been writing for so long and finally got to the point.
"Japan." Li Xuan looked at Li Zhi solemnly and said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, since the Battle of Baijiangkou, Japan has been conquered by our country. Over the years, it has been sending a large number of Tang envoys to our country to study the Tang Dynasty. Although he is the defeated general of our dynasty, his combat power cannot be ignored. The most important thing is that he is a hundred miles southeast of Silla and can arrive in half a day.
If the envoys of Silla were to know that our court intends to unite with Japan from the north and south to attack Silla, they would definitely feel panic. In addition, I am going southeast to prepare a large number of reinforcements to cross eastward. I am afraid that I will not be able to move lightly towards the army at that time. Silla will naturally plead guilty and surrender.
What we need to pay is just a fake edict and a slight deployment of troops from several states in the southeast. "
The effort is small, the reward is big, and the game is psychological warfare.
"That's right." Empress Wu nodded first, and all the important officials present bowed at the same time.
After being involved in the court for so long, Li Xuan understood the attitude of the courtiers of Empress Wu's line towards war.
Empress Wu was in charge of the government and did not get involved in the military. She was more in charge of money, food and taxes.
For a war, how much food, civilians, horses, and ordnance need to be prepared, what is the daily consumption on the battlefield, how long can the treasury reserves last, and how long does it take to transport them to the front line.
This is where Empress Wu is best at and uses her strength.
War is actually a game, but the winner does not necessarily take all, and the loser does not necessarily lose everything.
However, it usually happens that the loser loses a lot, but the winner gets nothing.
Especially fighting against tribal peoples such as Tubo and Turks, apart from removing border threats, yielded very little. If it had not been for the Silk Road, I am afraid that the war against the Turks would have been a loss.
Of course, battlefield matters cannot be purely economic. Otherwise, it will be the end of the humiliation of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Silla was deceived by a fake edict and did not dare to act rashly, and then Datang successfully withdrew its troops. This was the most cost-effective thing.
The precise arrangements and human calculations did not even need to be completely believed by Silla.
As long as there are enough doubts in their country, Li Jinxing, the ambassador to the Andong Province, and Gao Kan, the deputy envoy, will put all this aside.
The arrangements are clear.
"What else do you think?" Li Zhi sat behind the table and looked at everyone calmly.
Zhongshu ordered Hao Chujun to step forward, cupped his hands and said: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the strategy proposed by the King of Nanchang is indeed feasible, but it is too risky. Even if everything goes well in the early stage, the Silla envoy believes that the Japanese and our dynasties will carry out a north-south attack on it. A flanking strategy, but it would take time for his suspicion to spread back to Dongdao.
Moreover, even if Japan and our country really attack from north to south, one winter alone will definitely not be enough for coordination, armament, and time. Silla only needs to explore to distinguish the true from the false. "
"Then let's go in parallel." Liu Rengui stood up and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, even without the Silla people behind, it will be very difficult to withdraw troops from Liaodong Road in winter. I originally planned to call in the Dengzhou Navy to assist the army. Withdraw, since Silla is going to be afraid now, why not actually dispatch a navy to the East Island, which can facilitate the evacuation of the army even if it does not participate in the war."
"Since we want to be true, why not do everything true." Li Zhi straightened up, placed his hands on the dragon case, his eyes fell on the ministers in the palace, and said in a deep voice: "Summons, let the Japanese envoys come to see you tomorrow. Since the Japanese have an army, I also covet the northern territory, so why not let it really cooperate with our dynasty? Even if it is not for today, we must consider the future. I don’t want to hear any news about Silla’s movements when we are going to war with Tubo.”
At this point, Li Zhi sneered slightly and said softly: "Perhaps I will not be able to completely pacify Silla in this life, but my son...Prince, you must remember that Silla has betrayed his trust and will be punished severely in the future until the country is destroyed. .”
Li Xian immediately stood in the center of the hall and bowed deeply to Li Zhi: "My son, I obey your order."
All the ministers present bowed their heads at the same time. They all knew in their hearts that for the Emperor who annihilated Goguryeo and Baekje, the existence and rebellion of Silla made it impossible for him to complete his achievements.
Although Li Zhi still has some time left in his life, he will pay more attention to Tubo. As for Silla, let the prince play with it.
After giving Li Xian a deep look, Li Zhi raised his head, looked at Zhao Renben, the servant on one side, and said in a deep voice: "It is passed down that Shi Dou Xuande, the governor of Yangzhou, is appointed as the army ambassador of Jiangnan Province, and Li Xuan, the king of Nanchang, is appointed. He served as the deputy envoy of Jiangnan Province's army preparation, and prepared various naval forces in Jiangnan Province to assist Dongdao, withdraw troops, and allied forces with Japan."
With one word from Li Zhi, the future situation of the entire East Island has been completely determined.
"I obey the order." Li Xuan immediately stepped forward and held his hands.
Empress Wu immediately added: "All ministries cooperate with King Nanchang and act cautiously."
All the officials present raised their hands at the same time: "I obey the order."
