The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 684

This afternoon, when Yang Tong, Yang Gongren and others were paying attention to Tubo and Tuyuhun and making strategic plans, Li Yuan was also calling his close ministers to discuss important matters.

However, in the Li Tang Dynasty, after Li Yuan wiped out the officials of the Dugu faction and imprisoned the relatives of each family in the Dugu Mansion, the next step was to cleanse the local officials and generals in the army. The control was in place, so these Guanlong generals were taken down almost without bloodshed. These people have only one end, which is death, in the name of collaborating with the enemy and withholding military pay.As these people were brutally purged, many talented generals were able to be reused. Military officers below the brigade commander were all recommended by the soldiers. This made the soldiers of the Tang army feel involved in the affairs of the court, and their loyalty to the Li and Tang Dynasty reached an unprecedented level. high.

The good news from all over the place made Li Yuan both happy and regretful. He was happy about the benefits after the purge and the support of the soldiers; but regretful was that if he knew that the Guanlong nobles were so easy to clean up, he would have followed the advice of his eldest son Li Jiancheng. , I did this when I went south to Xiangyang. If I had listened to the eldest son's suggestion, Datang's situation would have been a hundred times better than it is now.

The temporary relief of the internal crisis made Li Yuan heave a long sigh of relief, and set his sights on the upcoming external crisis.

Outside the Xiangyang Taiji Palace, Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji, Chen Shuda, Xiao Yu, Dou Gui, and Dou Lukuan entered the palace side by side, and walked towards the seat of the Political Affairs Hall.

At present, there are seven ministers in the Zhengshitang. In addition to participating in the decision-making of various major events, each of the seven people is in charge of a department; take Xiao Yu as an example, he is also in charge of Li Tang's finances; As well as the analysis and formulation of major strategies; Dou Gui is in charge of the Ministry of Officials, Dou Lukuan is in charge of the people's livelihood under the rule, Pei Ji is in charge of the Ministry of Industry, and Li Shimin, who has just entered the prime minister, is mainly in charge of military operations.

"The six prime ministers, the Holy Majesty, the Crown Prince, and the King of Jin have been waiting for a long time." At the door, the eunuch who had already been waiting here stepped forward and greeted the six people.

Everyone nodded.

Their faces were all solemn. With the defeat of Li Mi, the Sui Dynasty not only unified the Central Plains, but also the Jianghuai region. He and Zhang Zhenzhou trapped him in Poyang County, and Pei Renji tried his best to recover the four counties of Yichun, Linchuan, Luling and Nankang.Once Lin Shihong perished, Meng Haigong, who occupied the two counties of Yongjia and Jian'an, would not last long without the main force of the Sui army.

What is even more worrying is that half an hour ago, Yincheng guard Liu Hongji sent someone to send an urgent message, saying that Xue Wanjun on the other side had sent more troops to the intersection of Junyang in Xiyang and Yincheng in Xiangyang, and the atmosphere of the war had enveloped Li Tang. , but Li Tang is not yet ready for the battle.

According to the predictions of Li Yuan and his advisers, if the Sui and Tang battles were postponed for half a month, Li Tang could take the initiative to attack and break the current predicament after Li Tang settled the internal troubles. The chances of winning are still very high, but Yang Tong obviously saw it too. The small number of soldiers in Nanjun did not intend to give the Tang army an opportunity to take the initiative to attack, so Xue Wanjun was allowed to take the initiative. This was undoubtedly Yang Tong's strategy to encircle Wei and save Zhao.

But Nanjun is just an ordinary county to Yang Yu, even if it is lost, it doesn't matter, it has almost no influence on the Sui Dynasty, which occupies a vast land, but Xiangyang is the capital of the Tang Dynasty, once the Sui army comes to the city , it will shake the morale of the troops everywhere, which is more important and less important, so even if you see through Xue Wanjun's true intentions, you can't ignore the safety of Xiangyang.

Always stay with me.

At this moment, Liu Xiang's heart was extremely heavy, and after nodding with the eunuch, he hurried to the Zhengshitang.

In the political affairs hall, Li Yuan's face was somewhat relaxed; below him were Prince Li Jiancheng and Jin Wang Li Shimin. .

"My ministers see the Holy One." After paying respects to Li Yuan, the six ministers took their seats according to his gesture.

"Don't worry about political affairs, let's take a look at this first." Li Yuan asked the eunuch to pass a letter to Liu Xiang, and said with a smile, "This is probably the best news in a while."

Liuxiang was amazed.

There has been constant news about the Sui Army in the past few days. For the Li Tang Dynasty, the Sui Army that has been freed is a big trouble, and one news means a bad thing. Apart from taking down all the Dugu factions, there is basically no good news. .

A few days ago, news came from the prefect of Meishan that the people in the mine in Pingqiang County exploded under the instigation of the "Taihe Army", destroyed the mine, destroyed the smelting plant, burned the ship, and seized all the iron ingots that were finally obtained. I went there, and then received news that the Taihe Army was about to move, and that Li Yuanji had dispatched troops to put down the rebellion.

Although Li Yuan occupies Yizhou (Bashu), which has not experienced major turmoil, and has the largest population among the thirteen states in the world, if he recuperates for a year and puts down the Yizhou Taihe Army and the provocative chaos, he can gather several An army of [-] can compete with Yang Tong again.However, although Yizhou, which is surrounded by mountains, is easy to defend and difficult to attack, on the other hand, there are very few roads for the Tang army to leave Shu.

This is also the main reason why many insightful people opposed moving the capital to Yizhou and abandoning Jingxiang. They worried that after the imperial court entered Shu, it would become the Shu-Han Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms at the end of Han Dynasty. .Jingxiang is indeed facing enemies on three sides and is in great danger, but the Tang army has a large force, so it should be able to defend it. As long as the Sui army's spirit is wiped out, the capital of the Li and Tang Dynasties will be stable.

……

The content of the letter was only one, but it was enough to shock, astonish, and change the expression of Liuxiang. The Holy One actually contacted Tubo quietly.

There are four letters from Tubo: one is that Langri Zanpu donated ten thousand taels of gold, ten thousand good horses, and thousands of rare objects such as pine otoliths, pearls and emeralds, in order to marry the princess of the Tang Dynasty and become the son-in-law. Union.

The second is to ask the Tang Dynasty to send thousands of famous teachers to help Tubo cultivate talents for combat, governance, law enforcement, medical practice, and smelting.

The third is that after the first two conditions are fulfilled, Tubo will take advantage of the Sui and Tang Dynasties and send troops to the sparsely populated Xihai County or Heyuan County. The county captured Dazhen Pass and occupied Guanzhong.The acquired land, Tubo doesn't want an inch of land, it belongs to the Tang Dynasty. They only need the property and food in these places, as well as the skills of hundreds of schools collected in Daxing Palace.

Fourth, Tubo Langri Zanpu sent Prime Minister Shang Nang to lead [-] elite soldiers to participate in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. They have now reached the border of Linqiong County. As long as the Tang Dynasty agrees, they will enter the country and come straight to Xiangyang.

This is after Dazan Gampo and Lu Dongzan inquired about the relationship between the Sui and Tang Dynasties after they hit a wall in the Sui Dynasty. After reaching a preliminary consensus, Lu Dongzan returned to Tubo and reported to Langri Zanpu.

Langri Zanpu's real name is Lun Zan Nong Nang, and his ancestors were the leaders of Tubo for generations. When he took the throne, he was in the prime of life, with a keen mind, worked hard to govern, and worked hard to improve himself.Respected by the Tubo people as "Langri Zanpu", and because Zanpu means the same as the emperor, it is called "Langri Zanpu". He attacked the Subi tribe three years ago and unified the southern Tibetan plateau. Later, he divided up the party with Tuyuhun, and his prestige was unparalleled for a while, but because he reused the great achievements of Niang Zanggu, Nong Moanbo, Drepung Nasheng, Ba Yuzebu, Qiongbo Bangse, etc. The new aristocrats can arouse the hatred of the old aristocrats, and Tubo, which has not long been unified, is in danger of a civil war that is about to break out.

Langri Zanpu didn't want this new country to split again, so he tried to marry the Sui Dynasty, using the great reputation of the Sui Dynasty to frighten Xiaoxiao, but it was a pity that everything was seen through by the wise men of the Sui Dynasty. Here came the hostility of the Sui Dynasty.The attitude of the Sui Dynasty also made the old nobles who were hostile to him rejoice, and some small tribes even rebelled, resulting in the poisoning of Songtsan Gampo, the youngest son of Langri Zanpu.

Just when Langri Zanpu was dying of pain, the eldest son Dazan Gampo returned to the country and said that all surrounding enemy countries such as Tuyuhun, Xiangxiong, and Bolu had joined the Silk Road Alliance led by the Sui Dynasty. agreement.

Langri Zanpu, who was in the pain of losing his son, was terrified. After asking the emperor of the Sui Dynasty about his attitude towards Tubo, he immediately realized that the emperor of the Sui Dynasty was using the name of the "Silk Road Alliance" to isolate Tubo, who was fighting against enemies everywhere, and even used coordinated operations. The treaty tied Tubo's hands and feet, and finally trapped Tubo in a corner.

Once the unification of the Sui Dynasty is completed, the next step may be to respond to the requests of countries that have enemies with Tubo, such as Xiangxiong, Tuyuhun, and Bolu, and enter Tubo.Therefore, when he waited until Lu Dongzan returned to China, he analyzed with his think tanks, and everyone agreed that a divided Central Plains would do no harm to Tubo. For his own benefit, Tubo would not only form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, but also participate During the Great War in the Central Plains, if we sit back and watch the Tang Dynasty perish, Tubo will be destroyed by the "Silk Road Alliance" led by the Sui Dynasty, so it has decided to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty.

In order to deter domestic opposition forces, Langri Zanpu responded to Shang Nang's suggestion to magnify the strength of the Tang Dynasty a thousand times in the country, saying that the Central Plains world is in the process of splitting in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the Sui Dynasty only occupied one-third of the Central Plains world. , It is not the opponent of the Tang Dynasty of Guotai Minan at all.The domestic forces were unknown and dubiously sent cronies into the Central Plains to inquire about the news of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which also temporarily stabilized the interior of Tubo.

……

After Langri Zanpu's letters were circulated one by one, Liuxiang had different faces and different thoughts. Some people supported them in their hearts, while others opposed them in their hearts. When Li Yuan called this letter "good news", the six people already knew the emperor's attitude, so everyone was silent, thinking about the pros and cons of forming an alliance with Tubo, and what words they would use to express their views .

In an instant, the political affairs hall fell into deathly silence.

(End of this chapter)