The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 868 The Great Shift in Strategy

When Li Yuanji came to the Imperial Study Room of Wude Hall, a guard reported to Emperor Li Yuan, and soon, an eunuch came out to salute and said, "Your Highness, Your Majesty invites you in."

Li Yuanji walked quickly to the imperial study, Li Yuan's imperial study was very spacious, just like a palace.

In the imperial study room at this time, more than a dozen important officials of the Li and Tang Dynasty had gathered together. In addition to Dou Gui, who was leading the army, Xiangguo Liu Wenjing, Pei Ji, Chen Shuda, Xiao Yu, Dou Lukuan, Li Shentong were all there, and Prince Li Jiancheng was also present. , Li Xiaogong, and various ministers, ministers and other ministers.

Li Yuanji nodded to everyone, stepped forward and bowed in salute, "I pay homage to my father."

Li Yuan saw his son's unkempt hair like thatch and muddy water on his clothes, so he knew that he had just arrived in Chengdu, and his face softened a lot, "The emperor has worked hard all the way, please sit down."

Immediately, an eunuch brought a padded chair to Li Yuanji. Li Yuanji was about to report on the situation of the house raids. Li Yuan, who understood Li Yuanji's intentions, waved his hand and said, "We will report on the situation of the strict investigation of bullies later. Let's continue to discuss the future of the Sui Dynasty." thing."

Although Li Yuanji felt a little disappointed, he also saw that the imperial court was making a strategic deployment for a new round of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and he also wanted to gain some military power from it, so he quickly sorted out his mentality and temporarily put the things he was about to report lay down.After sitting down, he noticed that there was a huge map of the world hanging in the hall, and Minister of War Zhao Cijing was standing in front of the map.

Li Yuan turned his gaze to Zhao Cijing, "Zhao Shangshu continue."

Zhao Cijing is Li Yuan's son-in-law. Because last time an officer of the Ministry of War was arrested by Li Yuanji innocently and killed, he wanted to resign in a rage. In order to appease him, Li Yuan let him be "Jing Zhao Yin" for a while, After entering Shu, Li Yuan transferred him back to the Ministry of War and was promoted to the post of Shangshu.
"My minister obeys!" Zhao Cijing pointed at the map with a wooden pole and said, "According to the latest information we have received, the Sui army on the border of our Tang Dynasty mainly divided into seven routes, and the first route was Pei Xingyan. After the Tuyuhun Allied Forces, he took over the most elite First Army Corps of the Sui Dynasty, with a total strength of 5 troops. His current position is to establish Yongzhi City, the prefecture of Jiangyuan County, in the land of Tubo, Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, and Bailanqiang. , that is, Wenshan County in Tang Dynasty, but Wenshan County is not conducive to cavalry charging due to the vertical and horizontal mountains; the second line is the Ninth Army stationed in Lintao, with a number of 2. The main generals are Xue Wanche and Wang Fubao. 6. The army put together by the Ninth and Tenth armies has not recovered its original combat power for the time being; the third army is Yao Junsu at the intersection of Hanyang and Hechi. Mainly, it is mainly to prevent the king of Jin from going northward, attacking the Dashanguan area, and ensuring the safety of the western part of the Guanzhong. This is an army that focuses on defense; It is also 28; the Fifth Army is the Sixth Army in the east of Hanzhong. It is reported that this is an army mainly composed of infantry and navy, with a strength of 30, led by Li Jing and Du Fuwei. That is to say, Yang Tong deployed [-] troops on the border between the two dynasties, plus the county There are at least [-] soldiers in the county."

Speaking of this, Zhao Cijing reminded emphatically: "The six-way army is undoubtedly the last three lines that pose the greatest threat to our Tang Dynasty. The Sixth Army and Seventh Army in the direction of Hanzhong not only did not make large-scale adjustments, but also aimed at the complex Yizhou. Terrain, training new tactics in Micang Mountain and Daba Mountain every day, and also using [-] foreign slaves to excavate Micang Mountain and Daba Mountain, leveling and widening the northern part of Micang Road and Yangshui Road. The construction of these wide and flat official roads, It provided great convenience for the Sui army to go south; as for the Yiling Tenth Army, it was training for water and land battles, obviously planning to march west along the Yangtze River to avoid the difficult gorge.”

"Wait a minute!" Li Yuanji interrupted Zhao Cijing's introduction and asked, "Just now Zhao Shangshu said that the Sui Army had seven routes, but now it only introduced six routes. What about the other route?"

Although Zhao Cijing hated the cruel Li Yuanji very much, he was a person who clearly distinguished between public and private, and would not bring his personal likes and dislikes into official affairs. Hearing Li Yuanji's question, he pointed the wooden pole at the east of Daba Mountain, Fangling, Xicheng, At the turn of the four counties of Tongchuan and Badong, "The Seventh Route is here. This is the Beizhen Army led by Dugu Qingyun and Dugu Yanyun. According to General Zhang Shigui's report, this army is very likely to take refuge in the Sui Dynasty. There is no exact information, but from the fact that the Dugu brothers held the title of the Sui Dynasty and Yang Tong allowed them to operate in the territory, it can be seen that the Beizhen Army is inextricably linked to the Sui Dynasty, and they are enemies of our Tang Dynasty , so they can be included in the Sui army or the allied army of the Sui Dynasty, their position is extremely critical, they can enter Badong County at any time, and open the door for the Tenth Army of the Sui Dynasty to enter Shu."

Li Yuanji understood a little bit, he said to Li Yuan: "Father, according to what Zhao Shangshu said, the threat of the Beizhen Army to our Tang Dynasty seems to be greater."

Li Yuan snorted coldly: "The emperor is right. Judging from Yang Tong's current deployment, he is using the Beizhen Army as a wedge. As long as this army opens the door, the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Route Army will be fine." It is easy to enter the Shuzhong Plain."

"Are we just being beaten passively like this? Didn't we think about taking the initiative?" Li Yuanji asked.

"Although we have more than 20 troops, they are mainly recruits. After guarding the main roads, we have no soldiers to send." Li Yuan's face was very ugly. The current army of the Li Tang Dynasty was divided into two, one The army belongs to Li Shimin, and the other part is the imperial army. He originally wanted to control Li Shimin in Chengdu, and let the imperial general take over the army in the direction of Dangchang. Who would have thought that Li Shimin not only escaped by himself, but also quietly took away his wife and children. He completely lost the means of suppressing him, but Li Shimin was not too much, and still used the officials sent by the imperial court to recognize the imperial court's control over local finances.

His attitude is very obvious, he just doesn't want the court to interfere with his military affairs, and he can completely ignore the court's unreasonable military actions.

Although Li Yuan was very angry, he didn't want to conquer Li Shimin, a rebellious son. First, he didn't want to take advantage of the Sui Dynasty, and second, the imperial court's army was not as large as Li Shimin's.

Li Yuanji pondered for a moment, and then said: "The Sui Dynasty occupied Qing, Xu, Jing, and Yang states last year. The people's hearts have not yet been completely surrendered, and the Sui army has left in large numbers. Can we follow the example of the Beizhen Army and send an army? Going to these places to cause damage? This will not only consume the national strength of the Sui Dynasty, but also make the Sui army exhausted, thus buying time for our Great Sui to recover."

Li Yuan glanced at Li Jiancheng, and said calmly, "Prince, tell Yuan Ji!"

"Your servant obeys." Li Jiancheng frowned slightly. His father used to call himself Dalang, Jiancheng, or Huanger and Chenger. The title of "Prince" certainly seemed very formal, but from "Prince" and "Yuanji" ', he could hear the difference between closeness and closeness, and he didn't know why his father became more and more indifferent to him, but now is obviously not the time to think about these issues.

He said to Li Yuanji: "Yuanji didn't know something. Although the Sui Dynasty transferred the main forces, there were no large-scale troops in Ji, You, Bing, Yong, Liang, Yan, Yu, Qing, Xu, Jing, Yang and other places. The main battle division, but according to our investigations and statistics over the years, we found that all counties and counties have county soldiers who maintain local order and wipe out bandits and bandits. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Officials are under the unified supervision of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Moreover, these county soldiers are transferred to each other every three years to avoid being stationed in one place for a long time."

Li Yuanji was puzzled: "The county soldiers are handymen, why should they be transferred?"

"This is to prevent the county soldiers from stationing in one place for a long time, exploiting the people in places where supervision is not in place, and forming criminal gangs that are outside the law. This is exactly the same as the system where officials avoid the county and exchange land when they expire." Li Jiancheng said .

Li Yuan continued, "Regardless of your standpoint, Yang Tong's work is indeed impeccable, and he even counts people's hearts. But isn't he worried that these county soldiers will complain in their hearts?"

"My father doesn't know that the military salaries of these county soldiers are not low. The military salaries of Luoyang, Daxing, Yecheng, Zhuojun, Taiyuan, Jiangdu and border counties are ten times that of my soldiers in the Tang Dynasty. Ordinary counties with heavy tasks Soldiers are paid five times, and those who are more leisurely governed by the county are paid three times...the treatment of soldiers in the main battle is even better...and soldiers and the families of soldiers in the county pay [-]% less tax than ordinary people in the Sui Dynasty." Li Jiancheng said with a wry smile. : "Such a good treatment, even if the management is stricter, there are still a lot of people who want to be soldiers and county soldiers."

Li Tang, who had never paid attention to the soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, gasped when he heard the words. Li Yuan looked at Li Jiancheng in disbelief and said, "Where did Yang Tong get so much money? And as far as I know, the agricultural tax in the Sui Dynasty was not high at all. , only one-fifth of my Tang Dynasty, without agricultural tax revenue, how can there be so much food and money to support the soldiers of the world?"

A county soldier is not an army, just like a yamen servant. Usually, a yamen servant is a miscellaneous official who is not in the rank of the imperial court. According to Li Yuan and others, Yang Tong is mentally ill.

"Father, don't underestimate these county soldiers. The county soldiers in the Sui Dynasty were all retired soldiers, and their combat power was very fierce. The reason why the newly occupied lands of the Sui Dynasty were able to resume production quickly was all because of these county soldiers fighting in the territory. According to the Sui Dynasty, the soldiers of the Ministry of War were responsible for annihilating the main force of the enemy, and the county soldiers of the Ministry of Military Affairs were responsible for the second war. The distribution by the imperial court can not only prevent local officials from profiting from it, but also enable the county soldiers to have a legitimate income, and not to exploit the people and harm the village. Moreover, there are these county soldiers who train in their spare time and use their time to fight criminals. Any county They all have a certain combat power. If there is an enemy attack, the county magistrates and county magistrates who have been included in the Ministry of Military Affairs can gather a powerful army to fight against the enemy in a short period of time. The important thing is that these county soldiers are the reserve army of the Sui Dynasty. The soldiers in the front are seriously attrition, and the county soldiers can immediately go to war without training." Speaking of this, Li Jiancheng continued: "And only Luoyang and other big cities and border counties stationed a large number of county soldiers, such as Jizhou, Youzhou, etc. In places such as Zhouzhou, Bingzhou, and Yongzhou, which belonged to the Sui Dynasty, the number of soldiers in each county is no more than two hundred, and if it is less, it is only a hundred."

"Where does the money and food for these county soldiers come from? Can Yang Tong persist?" Li Yuan was not worried about Yang Tong, but from Li Jiancheng's introduction, he saw the benefits of the Sui Dynasty's county soldiers. Incorporating it into the official system of the imperial court, Datang can also enjoy the various benefits mentioned by Li Jiancheng, but the key is the issue of money.

"Commercial tax!" Li Jiancheng said: "This commercial tax is not only collected from fixed stores, but also from Hu merchants. Every time Hu merchants enter the customs, they must register the names and quantities of their goods and transport them to Daxing. Afterwards, the Ministry of Commerce collected [-]% of the goods tax deduction based on this list, and then gave Hu merchants a pass. With this pass, Hu merchants would no longer have to pay taxes in any place in the Sui Dynasty. And in order to avoid Hu merchants from bribing the customs Officials of the Ministry of Commerce who registered underreported the goods, and made strict regulations. If they dared to cheat and bribe officials, they would confiscate all the goods, or execute the leader of the caravan. Hu merchants risked their lives. If you come to China from thousands of miles away to make money, you will naturally not take the risk of losing money and people to corrupt the laws of the Sui Dynasty. If the officials of the Ministry of Commerce at the border pass forcibly extort bribes, Hu merchants can either report to the local criminal and imperial departments, or Report to the Ministry of Commerce; in this way, both parties will be supervised and both parties will be bound by heavy laws, thus forming a good situation where Hu merchants dare not bribe and border officials dare not ask for bribes."

Seeing everyone's surprised expressions, Li Jiancheng smiled wryly and said, "Not to mention the commercial taxes of local counties and counties, the value of the goods handed over by Hu merchants alone is enough for the Sui Dynasty court to pay the salaries of soldiers and county soldiers; not to mention, The official supply and marketing cooperatives still hold colored glass, blue salt, soap, tea, fine wine, heroes, paper books, paper and other trades, and many things are only sold by the supply and marketing cooperatives... Of course, the most profitable business in the Sui Dynasty still came from the military equipment. Yang Tong has mastered the new smelting technique, and the weapons and equipment they eliminated are still great equipment for the surrounding countries. The Eastern and Western Turks, the four kingdoms of Tubo, the countries of the Western Regions, Goguryeo, Silla, Baekje, and Nanshi Wei, Beishiwei, Sumo Mohe, Heishui Mohe and other countries were full of conflicts, and some even had feuds. Seeing that the enemy had bought good military equipment from the Sui Dynasty, they were afraid that their own army would not be able to defeat them, so they also bought from the Sui Dynasty one after another. The DPRK took advantage of the contradictions of these countries to make a lot of money with discarded military equipment... In addition, they also occupied many islands in the Wa country, and used the Japanese slaves to mine. A large amount of gold, silver and copper arrived in Luoyang every month. It can be said that In the Sui Dynasty, the most important thing now is money. As for food, because every household obtains an ox or a horse as labor, plus there are bobbin carts, curved plows and other farm tools that can increase production, so almost every year The harvest was bumper, and ordinary people mostly sold their surplus grain to the court of the Sui Dynasty, and the prices purchased by the Sui Dynasty were fair, and traders did not dare to make a fuss about these strategic materials."

Li Yuanji's eyes brightened: "This is an opportunity. We can send people to drive up the price of grain, which will surely make the Sui Dynasty's military grain shortage."

Li Jiancheng shook his head and sighed, "Yuan Ji thinks too much, this is simply impossible."

"Why?" Li Yuanji asked puzzled.

"Businessmen are after profit, who wants to hoard food at the risk of beheading?" Li Jiancheng said with a wry smile.

"Even if the merchants of the Sui Dynasty dare not, we can send someone to do it? Isn't that what the Sui Dynasty did against me before the Tang Dynasty?" Li Yuanji asked doubtfully.

"First of all, the official prices given to the people in the Sui Dynasty are reasonable, and compared to the merchants, the people in the Sui Dynasty trust the credibility of the court more. If we want to drive up grain prices, we must at least offer prices that are much higher than the official prices of the Sui Dynasty. Second, what the emperor of the Sui Dynasty liked to do most was to build granaries and stockpile grain. Yang Tong went too far. He not only built granaries in various important places, but also asked Sinong Temple to reserve enough to supply tens of millions of people in the Sui Dynasty. The amount of annual consumption, in addition to these grains stored in several large granaries, there are also county-level official warehouses, and righteous warehouses in villages. There was so much grain in the Sui Dynasty that there was no worry about food shortages. I guess Yang Tong would like to We went to drive up grain prices, which greatly benefited the people of the Sui Dynasty."

"..." Li Yuanji stared blankly when he heard that, "According to this, I am afraid that the wealth of the whole country of the Tang Dynasty will not be able to buy the Luokou warehouse, which is known as the world's number one official warehouse?"

"Almost." Li Jiancheng said lightly.

"In other words, if people were sent to make trouble, the Sui Dynasty had powerful county soldiers. If the number was small, it would not be effective. If there were too many, they would not be able to hide the Sui army from all over the world. Can't it be the same?" Li Yuanji suddenly realized that the brilliant idea he thought of was very mentally handicapped.

"almost."

"Then what do we do now?"

"Enough..." Li Yuan's face was rather ugly. Although he also knew that the power gap between the Sui and Tang Dynasties was huge, he never thought that the difference was so big. He didn't want to talk about such frustrating topics anymore. It is normal for many states to be more powerful than us. Zhao Shangshu, you continue."

"Here!" Zhao Cijing bowed slightly, and continued: "The Sui and Tang dynasties confronted each other in important places. They couldn't get in, and we couldn't get out for the time being. So our dynasty took a defensive position against the Sui Dynasty and launched an offensive against Nanzhao. Taking Nanzhao's fertile land and nearly one million people for our court use is also tempering elite soldiers through actual combat."

He pointed the wooden pole to Yuejuan County and said: "First transport the grain and grass materials to Qiongbu County, Yueluan County through the Yangtze River, and then organize the people to transport them to Taideng County, then go south along the Lushui River, and arrive at Dingruo Town in Qiongdu County. Nanzhao is a whole in name, but it is very loose internally. It is divided into six imperial edicts: Mengyi, Yuexi, Langqiong, Bixie, Shilang, and Mengshe. Many small tribes are attached to these six edicts. As far as we know , the Six Edicts are also breaking out in a war. The Mengyu Edict and the Yuexi Edict, which border us, are allies. They are not strong, and they have been beaten back. To enter, first inform the other four edicts, and then merge the Mengxuan edict and the Yuexi edict, and take Nanzhao into the territory of the Tang Dynasty."

"Your Majesty!" Xiao Yu bowed his hands to Li Yuan and asked, "Our army is not large, so we really can't send many soldiers, but what is the strength of the Six Edicts? How many troops do we need?"

"The strength of the Liuzhao is not strong, and the equipment is backward. We only need to send [-] troops. Chengdu's army and local county soldiers can be used temporarily... As for the general..." Li Yuan pondered for a long time, and said to Li Xiaogong: "Xiaogong, I I appoint you as the Grand Marshal of the Southern Expedition, and you will lead [-] soldiers to the south, and you must win the Six Edicts for me, lay a solid foundation, and open up the road for our Great Tang to march westward to Tubo and eastward to conquer Sichuan."

In the past, Li Yuan would not hesitate to appoint Li Yuanji or Li Shentong as the commander in chief, but now, he has deeply realized the importance of ability. With the current family background of the Tang Dynasty, he can no longer afford a big loss. So he dared not pin this hope on these two people.

When Li Xiaogong dealt with Zhu Can, Xiao Xian, and Li Mi, he performed quite amazingly, and his personal ability and record were better than Li Shimin; but when he was fighting against the Sui Dynasty, he suffered from the fact that the imperial court was far away from the military and lacked national power. He had only been wiped out twice. If he let go of the rigid system that bound him, even if he lost, it would not be so miserable.

Li Xiaogong got up and saluted: "The last general will never disappoint the Holy One!"

Although Li Yuanji, who was on the sidelines, was not very happy and objected intentionally, but thinking that Li Xiaogong's transfer would be regarded as breaking Li Jiancheng's pillar, so he didn't say much.

At this time, Li Xiaogong remembered something, hesitated a little, and asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, the last general has worked with the warrior General Yi for many years, and they cooperate with each other tacitly. I implore the Holy Majesty to appoint General Wu as the marching commander of the last general."

"I only have one request now, and that is that you take down the Six Edicts with the least damage and the fastest speed. As for whoever you want, I will approve it. After you arrive in the south, you can fight however you want, and I don't care." Li Yuan's understanding of the reason for Tang's prosperity and decline is actually like a bright mirror. He is too authoritarian. Many failures are the result of his remote control of the generals in front of him. Although he does not admit his mistakes, he is actually introspecting. The general in front is overly controlling, but the national power no longer allows him to play like this.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Xiaogong was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed to salute.

Li Yuan nodded slightly, and formally conferred Li Xiaogong as Marshal of Conquering the South, awarded military talismans, seals, and swords, and led an army of [-] to conquer Liuzhao; he also appointed Pei Ji to recruit [-] civilians to transport grain, and then appointed the upright Zhao Cijing as Marshal of the Army Supervising Grain , the governor's [-] civilian husbands and the logistics of grain and grass transportation.

This is a major decision of the Tang Dynasty during the New Year, marking the earth-shaking change in the strategic focus of the Tang Dynasty, from civil war to external expansion, and the start of the expedition to the south.

………………

"The Southern Expedition means that our strategic goal of Datang this year is to adopt the method of internal defense and external attack, but the tree wants to be quiet but the wind does not stop. We think so, but Yang Tong will not give us the opportunity to expand freely, so we will continue to , not only must seize the time to train strong soldiers, but also try to solve the problem of money and food."

After the civil and military ministers who participated in the Southern Expedition left, Li Yuan said the second major issue of this year, "In the truce agreement with the Sui Dynasty, we reached a free trade agreement that would not be suspended even if there was a war. On this point, the Sui Dynasty We are indeed complying, but we have also suffered a lot from this, and many people have suggested suspending free trade. I want to hear what everyone thinks."

For the Tang Dynasty, free trade was a sharp double-edged sword. According to a report by Xiao Yu, who is in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the free trade reached a few years ago not only did not bring prosperity to the Tang Dynasty, but instead sucked it away like a blood-sucking leech. The wealth of the Tang Dynasty, the influx of a large amount of money and the outflow of various materials caused great disasters to the Tang Dynasty. Merchants used various materials from Yizhou to sell in Daxing, Luoyang, Xiangyang and other places, and exchanged a large number of Yanhuang Tongbao. Yanhuang Tongbao was exchanged for gold from the Tang Dynasty court, and then gold was exchanged for Kaiyuan Tongbao from the black market. The profit was so high that it even exceeded the income from buying and selling goods.

The Li and Tang dynasties needed a huge amount of Kaiyuan Tongbao. This was because the officials had to buy a large amount of iron ore, agricultural tools, fur, refined salt, and grain from the Sui Dynasty. Although the price was very expensive, the Tang Dynasty had no choice. At the same time, the Sui Dynasty The dynasty did not allow Kaiyuan Tongbao to circulate among the people, nor did it allow gold to be traded in the market, forcing the Tang Dynasty court to exchange gold from merchants for Yanhuang Tongbao.

After going around such a big circle, the so-called free trade actually means that the Tang Dynasty exchanged various materials for the expensive iron ore of the Sui Dynasty. With Yanhuang Tongbao occupying Kaiyuan Tongbao's position, it is in danger of being completely replaced by Yanhuang Tongbao.

In fact, the Li and Tang Dynasty suffered from this kind of loss many times, but in the case of severe shortage of strategic materials, they could only drink poison to quench their thirst.

The key point is that the Sui Dynasty purchased shipbuilding timber such as Hongchou and Phoebe at high prices, which made it profitable for Li and Tang merchants to hire a large number of people to search for century-old trees in the mountains. Now, everyone’s focus is not on agriculture. Farmers don’t pay attention to agriculture, and the grain output can be imagined. If the people can’t buy food to eat, they will never introspect, and they will never know the reason for the rise in food prices. They don't pay attention to agriculture, which leads to food shortages. They only blame the imperial court, thinking that the imperial court deliberately drives up prices to earn their hard-earned money.

It was precisely because he knew the series of consequences that Li Yuan made it a top priority to discuss.

"My lord, please allow me to introduce the situation." Xiao Yu stood up and asked for instructions.

Li Yuan raised his hand to signal: "Mr. Xiao, please tell me."

"My minister obeys!" Xiao Yu saluted and said to everyone: "As far as we are concerned, we have suffered a big loss in trade. If the trade is interrupted now, we can save food and save money. We can go on. The most important thing now is that we can seriously refine the iron ore that produces iron ore. Without it, weapons, armor, agricultural tools, etc. cannot be made. In order to make up for the lack of production capacity, we have to buy in large quantities from the Sui Dynasty. This is also what we mainly buy. However, according to the feedback from the officials responsible for buying iron, the Sui Dynasty increased the price of iron ore tenfold on the basis of the original high price. Is it necessary for us to continue to develop with the Sui Dynasty? free trade?"

Seeing that Li Yuan had no intention of speaking, Li Shentong asked: "Xiao Xiangguo, you mean that we can be self-sufficient in everything else, only iron ore is heavily dependent on the Sui Dynasty, is that true?"

"exactly."

"Your Majesty, when we traded with the Sui Dynasty, we suffered a big loss. Yang Tong raised the price of iron ore all of a sudden, and obviously lost the sincerity of the trade." Li Shentong saluted Li Yuan.

Li Yuan shook his head: "It's not that Yang Tong is insincere. He actually wants to continue trading with Datang. If he is really insincere, the price will not only be ten times, but a hundred times, a thousand times. It's just that he knows that we have copied Yizhou." The boss of the bully, the treasury is full, so he wants to extort a lot of money."

Li Shentong suggested: "My lord, although the iron mines in Pingqiang County, Meishan County are extremely difficult to mine, we can increase our manpower to mine them, so we don't need to rely on the Sui Dynasty."

Dou Lukuan, who has been silent all this time, said: "The iron mines in Pingqiang County, Meishan County are located in the lower layer of the rock. It is extremely difficult to mine, and it is far from meeting the needs of the army and people's livelihood. Moreover, these iron mines were completely destroyed by the Taihe Army last year. Several times, it is still in the recovery period, and it will not be able to produce iron until at least March and April. Our army already has a shortage of weapons and armor. If the transaction is interrupted, we will not be able to produce weapons and armor. Even if the Sui army does not fight us, But the army of the Southern Expedition also needs weapons and armor supplements? If a large number of weapons and armor are used in the Southern Expedition and the Sui army invades, what will our army do? So if we continue to trade, although we lose money, we will forge a new one for the army. A batch of weapons and armor; if the transaction is interrupted, we can't let the soldiers deal with sudden wars empty-handed, right? Even if the order is forced, the soldiers will immediately turn back. And to put it ugly, if we are not willing to invest money When it comes to buying iron ore, how long can we keep the money? No matter how we weigh the pros and cons, we should agree."

"I completely agree with Dou Lu Xiangguo's statement." Li Yuan nodded, and Dou Lukuan spoke to his heart, and he said to everyone: "The army is the foundation of the Tang Dynasty, and weapons and equipment are the foundation of an army. Only with enough weapons and equipment can our soldiers defend their homes and country, attack cities and seize land, so we know that Yang Tong is blackmailing, and we can only admit it."

"Father and sons and ministers also agree to continue the trade." Li Yuanji also expressed his position: "Brother just said that the Sui Dynasty used all kinds of obsolete weapons and all kinds of luxury goods to earn money from the foreigners around them. They are neither short of money nor short of money. Food. That is to say, Yang Tong doesn’t care about our wealth at all, and it doesn’t matter to him whether we trade or not. But for us, if there is no trade, where will the pig iron and weapons and equipment come from?” Li Yuanji It seems to be fair and objective, but the essence is to use this opportunity to make Li Yuan dissatisfied with Li Jiancheng who "gives up other people's ambitions and destroys his own prestige".

As expected.

Seeing that Li Yuan's face became a little embarrassed, he said coldly: "The longer the time drags on, the greater the gap between the two dynasties, so we have to use Yang Tong to devote a lot of energy and financial resources to the south this year, and try our best to Use all means to develop the military. As long as the military supplies are sufficient, other supplies that have little to do with the army are not important, as long as Yang Tong needs them, we will exchange them for some iron ore as soon as possible.”

Li Jiancheng actually wanted to persuade his father not to trade with the Sui Dynasty without restraint, but his father's attitude was already quite obvious, so he could only keep silent. What's more, everyone's words were not unreasonable, if Yang Tong opened his mouth again , or interrupt the transaction, the Tang Dynasty will suffer.

At this time, Li Yuan said viciously again: "Also, order the Shaofu Supervisor to immediately stop casting coins and dissolve copper ingots into molten iron to cast arrow clusters and shields. There is only one principle for me, that is, within two or three years, all Focus on the military."

Li Yuan knew that the Tang Dynasty had no way out, and there was not much time for peace. The only way was to develop the military with all his heart. For this purpose, all conditions can be agreed to Yang Tong.

Seeing that Li Yuan had made up his mind, everyone left one after another.

Seeing that his father was in a bad mood, Li Yuanji hesitated for a moment, and then retreated. He planned to inquire about the details of Bu in the palace first, to understand the reason why his father was dissatisfied with his eldest brother, so that he could prescribe the right medicine.

Everyone retreated, but Li Shentong stayed behind, and when everyone was gone, Li Yuan asked, "What's the matter?"

Li Shentong looked at the respectful old eunuch next to him, knew that the other party was Li Yuan's confidant, but he didn't take it seriously, he whispered: "My lord, Xiaoji and the others failed."

"What?" Li Yuan was taken aback, and asked anxiously, "What about Xiaoji and the others?"

"Xiaoji, Dou Fengjie, and all the assassins were wiped out by the Sui army, leaving no one left!" Li Shentong said in a low voice: "Not only that, but the Sui army took away all the intelligence points we set up in Guanzhong. "

"..." Li Yuan's face became ugly. In fact, he also knew that there was little hope of assassinating Yang Tong, because he knew that there must be a lot of light and dark whistle around Yang Tong. If Li Xiaoji and the others used fewer assassins, they would not be able to kill him. If there are too many assassins, it will be easy to expose, so Li Xiaoji and Dou Fengjie failed, he can accept and understand, but the intelligence point is newly set up by him, so what is going on?

Li Yuan stared at Li Shentong coldly, and asked, "You are responsible for the information point, how do you explain this to me?"

Seeing that Li Yuan was so angry, Li Shentong naturally did not dare to say that he had given Li Xiaoji the roster of intelligence personnel. He glanced at Li Yuan with a livid face, and said in a low voice anxiously: "My lord, it should be that the humble ministers have misused people and betrayed by the bad guys." Everyone, take the initiative to inform the Sui Dynasty."

Li Yuan's face softened a little. After all, there were more intelligence personnel sent, and it's normal for a few black apples to appear. "All these intelligence points are gone?"

"Fortunately, Wei Chen had a mind at the beginning and divided the intelligence personnel into two. The two did their own things and didn't know each other, so there were still a small number of people who were not affected." Li Shentong was glad that he had kept his mind. The full list of Lee Hyo Ki was not given.

Li Yuan glanced at Li Shentong, annoyed and helpless in his heart, so he nodded and ordered: "Let these people temporarily stop intelligence collection, settle down for a while, and talk about the Guanzhong matter later."

"I obey." Seeing that Li Yuan didn't blame him, Li Shentong secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"In addition, let these people pay attention a little bit. Which spy leader is still alive proves that this person is an informer."

"Here."

(End of this chapter)