In the Zichen Hall, Li Xuan, who was dressed in a crimson official robe, raised his hands to Li Zhi and Empress Wu who were above them, and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, the Prince of Nanchang County, the Commander-in-Chief of the Qingchao, the General Councilor, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, inspect. The prince of the school is right to praise the good doctor, and the right guard of the school is general Xuan. I pay homage to your majesty. May your majesty live a long life. I pay homage to the queen of heaven. May the queen of heaven be blessed and safe."
Li Zhi raised his head slightly and said, "Sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Xuan stood up seriously. Today, he will listen to the final instructions of Li Zhi and Empress Wu.
"In this Western Expedition, Tubo Zanpu has been killed, and the victory of the army has been determined. What remains is how to reduce the consumption of the court, and at the same time be careful not to fall into the trap of Lun Qinling. Fight steadily and approach step by step. , capture the Qingxi Basin, capture Xinghai, capture Wuhai, capture the entire Tuyuhun hometown."
At this point, Li Zhi paused for a moment, looked at Li Xuan, and said seriously: "As for Luoche, take your time step by step. I don't want a broken Luoche."
"Here!" Li Xuan's heart suddenly tightened. Has the emperor officially rejected his proposal to use Huo Qubing's method of fighting?
"The matter of revitalizing the sea is not yet urgent. King Nanchang, I want you to go west to Qingxi first." Empress Wu followed up and took over from Li Zhi.
"I obey." Li Xuan bowed again, but he suddenly felt something was wrong.
Li Zhi smiled, and then said: "After marching west to Qingxi, the troops divided into two groups: heading north to the Qilian Mountains, attacking from behind the Tuyuhunda Yanmangjiebo tribe in the west, and connecting with the Ganliang Dao and Shasu Dao armies; and heading south Qingxi Basin, reaching the foot of Kunlun Mountain, to get Kunlun jade."
"In this way, the Kunlun Jade and Qingxi Salt Ponds should be able to alleviate the pressure on North Korea and China's military supplies." Empress Wu couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
Li Xuan's idea of opening salt ponds in Qingxi and seizing the jade mines in Kunlun Mountains indeed relieved the pressure on Empress Wu's shoulders.
What the DPRK and China are most worried about now is another drought next year.
If another drought really happens, then the war between Tang Dynasty and Tubo will not only have to retreat, but there is even a risk of defeat.
"King Nanchang, I think you really don't like the Anle Prefecture Governor's family?" Li Zhi suddenly mentioned the Murong family and his son.
The corner of Li Xuan's mouth twitched slightly, and she cupped her hands and said: "Reporting to your majesty, I saw strong ambition in the eyes of General Youbao Taowei... Once the Tang Dynasty loses both sides in the war with Tubo, then the Murong family will definitely come from the northwest Fight out and retake the entire Tuyuhun."
"Murong Zhong." Li Zhi considered the eldest son of the King of Qinghai.
Murong Nuohebo, the governor of Anle Prefecture and the king of Qinghai, experienced the destruction of the country by Tuyuhun and lived in the Tang Dynasty for many years. He was already old. Although he also longed for the restoration of the country, he was nothing more than a name for restoring the Tuyuhun country. There is no ambition to dominate the entire Tuyuhun.
But young people are different.
Although Murong Zhong seemed to be surrendered, he was secretly rebellious in his heart. Li Xuan had long mentioned this repeatedly, and this was the reason why he had a bad impression of Murong.
In addition, there are also overall variables.
When the Tubo people withdrew, at least more than 300,000 cattle and sheep were plundered from Fuqi City, of which 100,000 were exchanged for the corpses of 3,000 Gar clan elites, which fell into the hands of the Tang Dynasty. All in all, it caused problems with the food and grass supply in Fuqi City.
But later, Murong Nuohebo wanted to take back the 100,000 cattle and sheep again.
Murong Nuohebo opened his mouth. Logically speaking, Datang should be interested in it no matter what.
But neither Liu Rengui, the emperor, nor Empress Wu had the slightest intention of doing anything about it.
They even used Li Xuan's disapproval as an excuse to keep blocking him.
"Actually, it doesn't matter if they have ambitions. The key is that they don't have the ability. They don't have the ability, but they still have ambitions. Anyone who becomes their ally must be careful." Li Xuan had a trace of worry on his face.
The Murong family may have a good prestige among the Tuyuhun people, but the prestige is just prestige, and it has no effect at all under the actual hunger and cold.
Plus, there's the blade.
In the final analysis, Murong was just a chess piece that could be used by the Tang Dynasty, but this chess piece had different ambitions, which was very annoying.
Li Zhi picked up a memorial from the side and placed it on the imperial case. Then he looked at Li Xuan and said, "This is the memorial sent to Chang'an by the governor of Anle Prefecture the day before yesterday. They hope to send troops to Qingdong to assist Zuo Xiang in annihilating Xing." ocean……"
As he spoke, Li Zhi looked at Li Xuan's expression carefully.
"How many troops are they going to send?" Li Xuan instantly grasped the gist of the matter.
Li Zhi suddenly smiled and said, "Twenty thousand."
"How much?" Li Xuan couldn't help but screamed loudly, and then he quickly handed over his hands to apologize: "Your Majesty, please forgive me, I'm rude."
"It doesn't have to be like this." Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "Even I was extremely shocked and angry when I found out that Tuyuhun wanted to mobilize 20,000 cavalry to enter Qingdong, but I soon understood that this was just a test."
"Yes, it's a test." Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief. It was impossible for the Tubo people to mobilize 20,000 cavalry out of Fuqi City in one go. Otherwise, as long as Dayan Mangjiebo from the west came over, he would be able to break Fuqi City immediately.
Li Xuan immediately raised her eyebrows: "They are still asking for food. They are threatening. If they don't give food, they will kill Qingdong."
"The Governor of Anle Prefecture should not be like this." Li Zhi waved his hand, which was a bit funny. Li Xuan seemed to seize the opportunity to apply eye drops to Murong.
Li Zhi said calmly: "It is true that we need food, but we need military food. To serve in the army, Datang will naturally provide food and grass.
But this matter is not over yet. Didn't you offer one month of food and grass to the Murong family before? You can give it, but you will personally lead three thousand soldiers to march westward with the Murong family.
But Murong had to transfer three thousand elites to Qingdong, and exchange three thousand for three thousand. In this way, no one would lose. "
Li Xuan immediately held up his hands and said: "Your Majesty is wise and decisive. If the elite soldiers of Tuyuhun are incorporated into our soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, they will be able to fight."
"If you want to annex Tuyuhun, don't talk about it for now." Li Zhi waved his hand and said: "The restoration of Tuyuhun is a great policy and cannot be changed. However, the power of Tuyuhun can only advance westward and cannot peek eastward."
"In this way, the Tang Dynasty became a barrier between Tuyuhun and Tubo." Li Xuan immediately thought of the disadvantages of this matter.
Li Zhi couldn't help but smile: "Isn't this exactly what you have always wanted?"
Li Xuan could only smile bitterly and hand over his hands: "Here!"
"This winter, capture Xinghai first, and next summer and autumn directly capture Wuhai." Li Zhi took a deep breath and said with a solemn expression: "After all, the Luoche rebellion will not last long, so the best way is to discuss Before Qinling returns, think about how to capture Wuhai, this is the key point of the Mingxia battle."
By capturing Xinghai, the first phase of the war between Tang Dynasty and Tubo will be over, but the second phase will immediately begin.
More serious plateau miasma, more steep mountain roads, and two hundred kilometers of rugged and difficult grain transportation channels will become the fatal weakness of the Tang Dynasty.
What's more, in this mountain road, Tubo has no idea how many visible and invisible secret agents have been arranged.
In this way, it can be predicted that next year's battle will be even more bloody and cruel than this year's.
"I understand." Li Xuan's breathing became more serious.
Li Zhi smiled softly and then said: "There is also the matter of next year's food and grass. No matter what, you must be prepared for the lack of food and grass in the early stage. I have to take into account the entire world of Datang and cannot just focus on Qingxi. look."
"Here!" Li Xuan couldn't help but bow deeply. For a moment, the pressure on his shoulders became heavier.
"Tell me, King of Nanchang, how can you solve the problem of food and grass?" Empress Wu suddenly became interested. She wanted to see if Li Xuan had any other way to solve the problem besides buying and exchanging salt for food. approach to food crises.
"Tongren, Guide, and Jianzha each have a river valley for farming. If we can win Xinghai, we can also allocate a piece of land for planting." Li Xuan said with a difficult expression: "Although the yield of highland barley is not high, But it can still offset a small amount of military food consumption and at the same time allow the people to be self-sufficient."
Neither wheat nor rice can grow on the plateau. The only thing that can be provided as military food on the plateau, besides cattle and sheep, is highland barley.
But highland barley lasts only one season a year, and the yield is insufficient. Even so, it is better than cattle and sheep.
"In addition, there is Qinghai Lake." Li Xuan raised his head, looked at Li Zhi and Empress Wu, and said with cupped hands: "Your Majesty, Queen of Heaven, Qinghai Lake is also a treasure house; if all are caught, tens of thousands of tons of fish can be harvested, which is enough to make up for a large amount of military rations. Needed."
"Then we have to build ships and mobilize more troops from the south of the Yangtze River." Empress Wu turned to look at Li Zhi and said, "Now, how about the six thousand troops from Yangzhou also be transferred to the command of the King of Nanchang?"
On Shasu Road and Ganliang Road, there were three thousand Jiangnan soldiers each responsible for transporting military supplies.
If these three thousand people are transferred to Li Xuan, and then some craftsmen are mobilized to build ships on Qinghai Lake, a lot of food consumption can definitely be solved.
At least the military food consumption of these six thousand people was saved, and they could even take a large part of the food transportation on Shasu Road and Ganliang Road away from Qinghai Lake.
"It was decided that after the King of Nanchang, Duke Pengcheng and Duke Liang gathered together, he would transfer those Yangzhou soldiers to his command and be responsible for the transportation of military supplies on the northern line." Li Zhi looked at Li Xuan with a smile.
"I obey." Li Xuan could only hand over helplessly.
These six thousand Yangzhou soldiers were said to be transferred to his command, but in fact it was not the case at all. They were responsible for transporting grain to the northern front, which was enough to drag this man along the northern front.
"Don't look so embarrassed." Li Zhi waved his hands and said solemnly: "I once said that after we capture Xinghai, we will establish a new state in Qugou. By then, Qugou, Xinghai, Guinan, and De, Tongren, Zeku, I will give them all to you and let you be the governor of Xinzhou."
Qugou, Xinghai, Guinan, Tongde, Tongren, Zeku, there are six counties in total, not to mention the population, but six counties are enough for the jurisdiction of a central state.
"I thank your Majesty very much. I will do my best to capture Tubo." Li Xuan bowed deeply.
Li Zhi nodded and said: "Okay, you can retreat. When you get to Qingxi, be careful to get along with the governor of Anle Prefecture. But if he behaves disobediently, I allow you to kill him first and then report him. It's your right to take advantage of it."
"Your Majesty, take the order." Li Xuan's expression suddenly became solemn.
…
Seeing Li Xuan steadily walking out of the Zichen Palace, Empress Wu turned to look at Li Xuan and asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, do you really intend to let the King of Nanchang be the king of the northwest?"
"Why, the queen is worried?" Li Zhi looked at Empress Wu with deep eyes.
Empress Wu directly replied: "Yes, once the King of Nanchang becomes the King of the Northwest, he will have tens of thousands of soldiers on the plateau, and the threat cannot be the same."
Seeing Empress Wu's serious look, Li Zhi smiled calmly, and then said: "What if I also give Wu Hai to him in the future?"
"Well!" Empress Wu was slightly startled, and then said relaxedly: "Then the threat from King Nanchang will be completely reduced."
"He said that if he followed Huo Qubing's story, he could conquer the land within five years, but what if I want him to occupy and govern the Tubo land step by step?"
Li Zhi shook his head calmly and said: "If Henan is transferred to Hezhou, Guide is transferred to Kuozhou, and there is also the governor of Anlezhou in the west, the military supplies and lifeblood are all in my hands, what can he do?
The King of Nanchang has some abilities, but nothing more. "
All the lifeblood of Xinzhou is in the hands of the imperial court, and the power he possesses is diluted by the land of Tubo.
There is Lun Qinling in the front and Murong on the side. Even if Li Xuan is the king of the northwest, it is just a joke.
Empress Wu suddenly said: "What about the Governor of Anle Prefecture?"
"If the governor of Anle Prefecture really dies in the hands of King Nanchang, then the court should prepare to put down the rebellion."
(End of chapter)
