In the Lecheng County Duke's Mansion, Liu Rengui looked sideways at Liu Yuanlang and shouted: "Let me send a message to Prince Peng's Mansion, saying that the King of Nanchang will spend the night at my house tonight and will not go back."
"Here!" Liu Yuanlang immediately accepted the offer without any hesitation, looking at Li Xuan with eyes full of curiosity.
The army will head westward the next day, but tonight they forcefully drag people into the house. What is this?
Under the curious eyes of the family, Li Xuan was pulled into the study by Liu Rengui.
…
"As long as they keep the funeral secret in the Tubo Palace, all the news will not even reach Luoshu City, let alone the frontline army. They will wait until the war calms down before rushing back to deal with it, so they have enough patience. and time to find our flaws." After Liu Rengui finished speaking, he pushed a cup of hot tea into Li Xuan's hand.
Li Xuan sat opposite Liu Rengui, frowned, put her hand on the tea cup, looked sideways at Liu Rengui, and said uncertainly: "Yue Weng, is it someone in the court who suggested forcing my son-in-law to use logic? Was such a proposal rejected by Yue Weng?"
Liu Rengui glanced at Li Xuan and did not answer directly. He just said in passing: "As the wise son-in-law said, the Qinling brothers have enough control over logic. They have the ability to do this. Even if Mang Songmang Zan also agrees, or their brothers have other supporters in the palace, then even if your people kill Mansong Mangzan, the news will still not spread. Don’t forget, there are five brothers in Lun Qinling!"
"Yes, they have five brothers!" Li Xuan suddenly emphasized something meaningful, and Liu Rengui's eyes couldn't help but light up.
Li Xuan continued: "The whole of Tubo is not actually our opponent, it is just the Qinling brothers who forcibly kneaded it all together. Therefore, as long as these two brothers die, whether they die on the battlefield or somewhere else, , Tubo is finished."
"Then can your people take action?" Liu Rengui couldn't help but ask.
"After all, the Qinling brothers were the prime ministers of Tubo and controlled the military and political power of Tubo. The guards around them were probably even tighter than the palace. Moreover, the two of them were smart enough. Without several years of planning, it would be difficult for them to have a feasible plan, even once. If the assassination fails, it will be even harder next time. I only have one person. There is no need to sacrifice for this kind of thing. The key is to take the right path and kill the two brothers on the battlefield."
"Battlefield!" Liu Rengui sighed and said, "If we can kill them on the battlefield, why bother thinking of so many ways here."
Liu Rengui couldn't help but stood up, took two steps back and forth, then looked sideways at Li Xuan and asked: "Xianxiang, if you were the commander of an army and sent 80,000 troops, what would you do?"
Li Xuan was suddenly stunned. Why did Yue Weng suddenly ask such a question? He shook his head and said: "My son-in-law's generals can only have a thousand soldiers at most. They rely on wind and rain to kill the enemy, and most of their opponents are common people who have no fighting experience. They are like Tubo." The army of Hundred Battles is incomparable, let alone more than 300,000 of them. We can still rely on Pei Shangshu for this battle..."
"Tell me, can you try to say it?" Liu Rengui's face turned unexpectedly solemn, and a flash of lightning flashed in Li Xuan's mind, but he could never catch it.
After pondering for a while, Li Xuan said thoughtfully: "Yue Weng asked Sun Xun to think about it, so he must not consider the cannibalization strategy, and he must also consider the current situation of the Tang Dynasty. In this way, in Sun Xun's style, the battlefield terrain and Apart from celestial phenomena, the most effective method is to accurately locate the main force of Tubo's Lunqin Mausoleum, and then lead a direct attack with elite cavalry. If the main force of Tubo is dead, the servant army will naturally be of no help."
"The terrain is over there, we can't catch up." Liu Rengui shook his head directly.
"Then change your thinking. Instead of killing the main force of Tibet, use the illusion of attacking its main force to induce other units to block it. Then our army will concentrate on the main force and destroy one of them. As the saying goes, it is better to cut off one of their ten fingers and exterminate them. One part, and then eliminate them layer by layer...If you can’t destroy the main force of the Tibetans, then destroy their peripheral forces layer by layer, and finally only the main force of the Tibetans will remain.”
"No, unless we can accurately grasp the location of the main force of the Tubo people and other ministries, it will be easy to fall into Lun Qinling's calculations." Liu Rengui still shook his head. This method was too ideal.
Li Xuan's breathing calmed down instantly, and then he said softly: "There is a saying in the art of war. If you know yourself and the enemy, you will never be invincible. Yue Weng, the Tubo people have been operating on the plateau for more than 20 years, and their informants there have already penetrated into every corner. If we can’t find the location of the main force of the Tubo people, nor can we find the location of other subsidiary tribes, then is this battle still necessary?”
"Yes!" Liu Rengui raised his head, looked at Li Xuan solemnly, and said calmly: "I have been here in the Tang Dynasty for decades. If I don't accept anything, I will be judged by the sword of the Tang Dynasty. As for the strategy you mentioned, you have forgotten One thing, there is one place that the Tubo people must defend, and that is Fuqi City, the former royal capital of Tuyuhun. Xue Rengui once conquered that place, but unfortunately, the Tubo people did not defend it. After two months, Xue Rengui retreated, and they took the opportunity to cover up the killing."
"Then why didn't he keep it back then?"
"After a long journey and difficulties with supplies, the Tubo people evacuated all their cattle and sheep in advance, leaving only the common people with nothing." Liu Rengui couldn't help but shook his head. This method was too cruel.
Li Xuan squinted her eyes and said lightly: "What if they do it again now?"
"It's impossible now. The current Fuqi City is not the Fuqi City of the past. After more than 20 years of management, the Tubo people have managed it like the brightest pearl in the Western Regions. Once it is destroyed, they will It will take another twenty years.”
"If you save the land and lose the people, you will lose both the people and the land; if you save the people and lose the land, you will save the people and the land." Li Xuan's voice was still very soft, but his attitude was very firm. He believed that if it came to a desperate situation, even if the Tubo people were completely Abandoning Fuqi City would not give the Tang army a chance to destroy them.
Li Xuan and Liu Rengui did not give in, and their ideas collided directly.
Liu Rengui's eyes were wide-eyed, while Li Xuan's eyes were slightly narrowed; Liu Rengui was full of momentum, and Li Xuan's expression was cold.
In the end, it was Li Xuan who took a step back. He couldn't make Liu Rengui angry to death.
"Yue Weng, it's useless for you and your son-in-law to discuss this here. The person commanding this battle is the Minister of War, the Duke of Wenxi County. His battlefield methods are not inferior to yours. Now, the only way to influence his tactics is Yes, there is only the goal of this battle, so Yue Weng, what is my ultimate goal of this battle?" Li Xuan stopped the discussion at once.
In the final analysis, it still depends on what the ultimate strategic goal of this battle is.
Liu Rengui sighed, sat down aside, and then said softly: "Capture Fuqi City, and then use Fuqi City as a base to manage the entire old Tuyuhun land. But this time it is no longer like the last time, trying to help Tuyuhun restore the country. It is about establishing a border state from the ground up.”
This was the case in the last battle of Dafeichuan. Datang helped Tuyuhun regain his kingdom. In the end, they captured Fuqi City and even pursued them to Wuhai, but in the end, they still had to retreat.
Insufficient preparation, wrong goals, disagreement among frontline generals, and various reasons led to the final defeat.
Li Xuan shook his head and said: "It's not that easy. The Tubo people will not let us occupy Fuqi City. Fuqi City is too far away from Shanzhou. It is a long journey and the supply line is too long. It is easy for the Tubo people to take advantage of it." He said that it would be easier for them to trap us in Fuqi City and hunt down our reinforcements wantonly..."
"So, we need to build a city." Liu Rengui's words rang in Li Xuan's ears like a thunderbolt.
Many things flashed through his mind instantly, but he still couldn't help but ask: "Is it to build a city between Shanzhou and Fuqi City? Wouldn't that be..."
"That's right, it was your method of cannibalization. Your Majesty and the Queen finally adopted your strategy." Liu Rengui couldn't help but laugh a little. God's calculations are not as good as those of others.
"It's the drought in Hebei Province and Shandong Province." Li Xuan immediately understood the reason.
Liu Rengui nodded silently, seeming more and more heavy at this moment.
The imperial court originally planned to announce Pei Xingjian as the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition shortly after the Shangyuan Festival and lead an army of 80,000 to conquer Tibet. However, due to the sudden drought in Hebei Province, they had to make adjustments.
Pei Xingjian was still the main force, and Li Jinxing was the deputy main force. At the same time, other eight groups were arranged to disperse the Tibetan troops.
The most important thing is that the original most radical combat strategy was canceled and the most stable one was adopted, which was the cannibalization method once proposed by Li Xuan.
However, in order to appease the attitude of the radicals, the emperor and Empress Wu still set a large goal, to capture Fuqi City, the old capital of Tuyuhun, and then use Fuqi City as a fulcrum to conquer the entire old Tuyuhun territory.
Of course, it is said that we will continue to conquer the entire old Tuyuhun territory, but the main thing is to establish a firm foothold.
Fuqi City is too far from Shanzhou, so building a city became the best way.
"But building a city is also very expensive." Li Xuan couldn't help but ask.
"It's smaller than fighting in battle, and it's easier to attract the enemy to attack." Liu Rengui's eyes flashed with danger.
"Then the city will be built even slower." Li Xuan couldn't help but shake her head.
How can this be his cannibalization strategy? This is obviously a dissimilarity. By then, the city will not be built, the Tubo people will not be able to be killed, and nothing will be accomplished in the end.
"So, it depends on when Mangsong Mangzan will die?" Liu Rengui finally expressed his point of view on this battle: "Even if the funeral is not announced secretly, as long as Mangsong Mangzan dies, the Qinling brothers will have to go back to deal with it; They can indeed delay, but the longer they delay, the more dissatisfied the Tibetan nobles will be."
At this point, Liu Rengui paused slightly, then squinted his eyes and said, "Especially when someone is spreading the news that Mansong Mangzan is dead, it won't last long."
"It turns out that Yue Weng wanted my people to do this." Li Xuan finally understood the basis of today's conversation.
Liu Rengui nodded, and then said: "Although it is easy to say, it is still difficult to do. We need to accurately ascertain the date of Mansong Mangzan's death..."
"It's best to kill Mansong Mangzan directly, right?" Li Xuan finally understood the source of Liu Rengui's previous words.
After pondering for a while, Li Xuan said: "The exact date cannot be found out, but there is a rough idea, which is fine. The King of Tubo has three imperial doctors who have not returned home for several months in order to prevent leaks. news, but if a close relative dies in their family, they must go home, and if they don’t go home, it’s easy to see what the outcome will be.”
"This method is good." Liu Rengui raised his eyebrows and looked at Li Xuan in surprise.
Then I heard Li Xuan continue: "This method is not feasible now. It will have to wait at least a month."
"One month later, why?"
"If something goes wrong now, Lun Qinling will return immediately. If Mansong Mangzan is really alive, the matter will be easily suppressed." Li Xuan raised his head and said with cold eyes: "We have to wait a month, and the war between Tang Dynasty and Tubo will become anxious. , quagmire, when he can't get out, if he takes action again, he won't be able to handle it at all.
Even if Mansong Manzan was not dead, he could have taken the opportunity to kill him at that time. "
"The good son-in-law wants to..."
"Take medicine!"
(End of chapter)
