The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 686 Brothers fighting for the front, the flames of war are coming

"Prince, tell me your point of view." After seeing Pei Ji's incident in the Zhengshitang, and then falling into a dead silence where no one spoke, Li Yuan simply called the names.

Regarding the matter of Tubo, Li Jiancheng knew that his father was optimistic about his success, but he himself was quite entangled. On the one hand, it was the righteousness of the nation, and on the other hand, it was the life and death of the Li Dynasty, which made him really unable to make a decision.

From his personal point of view, he tends to be non-aligned, and advocates simply abandoning Jingxiang, seeking development in Yizhou, closing the four fortresses, turning them into a country like an iron barrel, and then making a comeback to compete with the Sui Dynasty. If it really doesn't work to decide the winner, at worst, he will die like Li Mi, who will die vigorously and swallow mountains and rivers, even if he dies, he must die with dignity.

It's just that Li Jiancheng also knew that the Li and Tang Dynasty could not make decisions by themselves, so when he saw the letter from Tubo Langri Tsanpo, he kept pretending to think, not because he didn't want to say it, but actually because he didn't want to talk to his father and second brother. quarrel.Now that the royal father has already called the roll call, naturally he can no longer pretend to be stupid.

He sighed secretly, stood up and saluted, and said, "I would like to report to my father, my ministers tend to Liu Xiangguo's proposition, and we must not lose the righteousness of the nation."

"Brother Huang's words are wrong." Li Shimin also stood up, bowed to his father, then looked at Li Jiancheng, and said seriously: "After more than ten years of turmoil, many powerful old forces have been wiped out. , the unifier, at least hundreds of years of national destiny, as long as the Tang Dynasty seizes the world, who dares to say that we colluded with Tubo? After nearly a hundred years of accumulation, the Sui Dynasty has become history and gradually forgotten by the world. At that time, history books will say that Yang Tong Colluding with Turkic, Tuyuhun, Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje, it will also be said that Yang Tong is colluding with the countries of the Western Regions, and the slave soldiers under Yang Tong’s command are the best evidence. If it is my Tang Dynasty that fails, the emperor thinks Will Yang Tong put the name of benevolence and righteousness on Li's head?"

Li Shimin looked around for a week and continued: "As for the issue of Tubo, it is actually very easy to solve...Didn't Langri Zanpu ask to marry me, Princess Datang? We agreed. With this level of in-law relationship, it is Datang and Tubo. Weng-son alliance, son-in-law helping father-in-law to defeat the enemy is justified and taken for granted. As long as the Sui Dynasty is defeated together, future history books will only praise it desperately. There will be gossip, unless the person who speaks dies. After such a long time, who knows what is going on today?"

Li Jiancheng shook his head and said, "Isn't it the winner and the loser? I understand. But the second brother overestimated the strength of Tubo."

Li Shimin was stunned by it, cupped his hands and said, "I would like to hear the details."

Li Jiancheng said: "When I first formulated the policy of moving the capital to Shu and conquering Nanzhao in the south, I paid a lot of attention to the various countries and ministries in the southwest. As far as I know, Tubo is a country with enemies on all sides. The north is the Sui Dynasty, and the east On the front are the three tribes of Bailanqiang, Domi, and Jialiang; on the northeast is Tuyuhun; The above countries and tribes were all offended by Langri Zanpu. Otherwise, how could they travel thousands of miles to Luoyang to ask Yang Tong for help? How could they bow their heads to Yang Tong? And Tubo’s military strength is at most 10,000+ people Forget it, it is necessary to defend against so many enemies, but also to prevent the restoration of many tribes such as Subi, Fuguo, and Pengyu. In such a situation, Langri Zanpu, how many soldiers and horses do the second brother think he can send? Yang Tong has a hundred The Eastern/Turkic people who control the strings have been torn apart, so what can the Tubo soldiers with poor equipment do?"

Li Shimin argued: "The road to hegemony is like sailing against the current, either advancing or retreating. Now there are no decent forces in the country, and Lin Shihong and Meng Haigong are almost finished. Since Tubo can fight enemies on all sides without dying, it can be seen that their army is not bad. , maybe they are all elite troops, if equipped with our equipment, their combat power will be multiplied. Since Langri Zanpu sent it to our door, if we can't grasp it, should we wait for the slaughter?"

Li Jiancheng snorted coldly and said, "Tubo is a country dominated by nomads. It is not much different from Turks. Its weapons and equipment are not as good as those of the Sui Dynasty, but they are worse than Turks, Tuyuhun, and other countries in the Western Regions. There is no such thing at all. What kind of decent siege equipment, how can it be capable of attacking a fortified city? At most, it is just a show of strength in the sparsely populated West Sea. Langri Zanpu himself seems to understand the gap between Tubo and the Central Plains, so he wrote in black and white He will not want an inch of land in the Central Plains, and his meaning is even more obvious. It is nothing more than taking advantage of the Sui and Tang Dynasties to profit from it, just looting and leaving, and then leaving behind a "bones exposed in the wild, a thousand miles without chicken crowing" What happened next? Naturally, Yang Tong took bloody revenge."

Tubo was established far away on a vast and sparsely populated plateau. If the Sui army went to retaliate, Langri Zanpu would roll up his tent and leave, and change his foothold.What about my Datang?How to face the furious Sui army? "

Speaking of this, Li Jiancheng sighed and said: "Langri Zanpu is interested in the wealth of Hehuang and Guanzhong, the advanced technology and advanced civilization of the Central Plains Dynasty, and he is not sincerely allied with us. Coupled with the strength of Tubo Just like that, it will not help us at all, but will anger Yang Tong. Why should we give up righteousness to form an alliance with a person who can't do everything? And if righteousness is in hand, as long as we work hard, we can make the people of Yizhou return to their hearts. If there is no righteousness, and the result fails again, once the people hear that Tubo is poisoning Hehuang, they will only feel cold towards my Tang Dynasty, and it is impossible to support my Tang Dynasty to fight against the Sui Dynasty. Therefore, we don’t need to go hungry and eat against Tubo Ally."

Li Shimin was silent when he heard the words, Tubo really looked like he was going to die, he really had to think about it.

The conversation between their brothers also made Li Yuan's complexion burn hot, and his earnest heart went cold.This Tubo relationship was cheated, he took away the benefits, and let Li Tang bear the bad reputation.But I announced it as good news, it is really embarrassing...

In fact, he didn't take the so-called "righteousness" to heart. He knew that benevolence and righteousness were just a cloak for the ruler, and that interests were the foundation of a country. 'Theory.However, after the two brothers said this, he began to hesitate about the issue of Tubo.

On the one hand, the Sui Dynasty is an invincible sword. It was originally hidden in its sheath, but after Li Mi was annihilated by the Sui Dynasty, this sword against the Li and Tang Dynasty has already begun to be unsheathed. His heart was cold, and he woke up from nightmares from time to time.Li Tang is isolated and helpless in the country, and the situation is precarious, so Li Yuan agrees with Li Shimin's theory of opportunity, hoping to attract foreign aid, and Li Shimin's words deeply moved him, that is-"Since Tubo can fight enemies on all sides without dying, It can be seen that their army is not bad, maybe they are all elite divisions, if equipped with our equipment, their combat power will be doubled."

But on the other hand, Prince Li Jiancheng is also right. Tubo and Turks are the same, they will not occupy the land of the Central Plains to establish a country, and they will withdraw to the plateau after looting people, property and various books. The Hehuang area was a temporary problem for the Sui Dynasty, and it was impossible to destroy the vast Sui Dynasty.When Tubo is completely removed, the Tang Dynasty will definitely become the first target of Yang Tong's revenge. The Sui army will fight against the enemy, and will explode more fighting power. How will the Tang Dynasty face the crazy counterattack of the Sui army?A series of failures have left a deep and heavy shadow in Li Yuan's heart, making Li Yuan afraid of Yang Tong in his bones.

For a moment, Li Yuan was in an extremely contradictory dilemma...

"Your Majesty..." Outside the door, a solemn eunuch rushed in.

Li Yuan was furious: "Why are you so panicked?"

The eunuch saluted nervously: "I report to the Holy Majesty that something happened in Shangyong County, Fangling County."

"what?"

Li Yuan was taken aback, and immediately forgot the annoyance in his heart, and quickly asked, "What happened?"

"Many private parts of Guanlong nobles are reversed."

The eunuch's words, like a thunderbolt from the blue sky, exploded in everyone's ears. Li Yuan was stunned immediately, his mind went blank.

I'm really afraid of what's coming.

"Is the news true?" Li Shimin reacted and asked loudly.

"This is an urgent report from Fangling." The eunuch submitted an urgent report.

Li Shimin snatched it away, looked it over quickly, and said in a deep voice, "It's really the opposite."

(End of this chapter)