bastard seizes tang

Chapter 552 The Theory of Tubo
"Looking at the appearance of Hutou just before the court meeting, he hesitated to speak a few times, seems to have something to say?" Li Shimin left Li Ke alone, and asked Li Ke as soon as he opened his mouth.

Li Ke replied: "As the commander of the northern border, I sit in Hedong, and the affairs of the southwest are not under my jurisdiction. I shouldn't talk too much, and I don't know whether to say some things."

Li Shimin heard the words and corrected him: "Hutou's words are wrong. Although you are handsome in the east of the river, you are also a prince. You are responsible for the long-term stability of my Tang Dynasty. Everything about my Tang Dynasty is beneficial to the country. You can ask everything, and who can say it, not to mention that you have a lot of insights in seeing things, and I just want to hear your opinions on some things."

"Your servant takes orders." Li Ke responded and replied.

Li Shimin asked: "What's wrong with sending troops to Tubo just now?"

Li Kedao: "That's not the case. If it's true that the war is inappropriate, I will never stand by and watch. Even if the officials impeach me, I must make it clear. I just stopped talking. What I'm worried about is not the war, but the war." Tubo is its country."

Li Shimin asked puzzledly: "In Ke'er's view, is Tubo's national power stronger than that of Turks and Xue Yantuo?"

Li Ke thought for a while and replied: "This is not necessarily true. If we only talk about national strength, Tubo is located on a plateau, and its products are a little barren. It is not as good as the grassland. Although the soldiers are brave, they are not as good at fighting as the people of the grassland. In comparison, Tubo is inferior to Turkic and Xue Yantuo."

Li Shimin smiled and asked: "That's strange. You dared to ask yourself as a hostage when you were young. You went north to Turkic, and then you faced Xue Yantuo. You didn't fear at all. You did everything in one fell swoop. The defeat of Turkic and Xue Yantuo has nothing to do with you. How do you do that?" Biansheng is so cautious about Tubo."

Li Ke replied: "The basis of war is nothing more than the timing, location, and harmony of people. Our Great Tang has a sage king. According to the timing, the monarch and his ministers work together to occupy the harmony of people. But Tubo has a unique location, which is unparalleled in the world." .”

Li Shimin raised his hands and asked curiously: "My Tang Dynasty has a vast territory, famous mountains and great rivers, and fertile land. Is it better than a Tubo?"

Li Ke said: "The advantage of Tubo's land lies not in its products, but in its terrain. Tubo lives on a plateau, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Even if our Tang Dynasty has twice as many soldiers as Tubo, we can only defend ourselves, and it is difficult to attack back."

"Why is this? Could it be that Tubo's danger is ten times greater than that of Sichuan and Shu?" Since Li Shimin joined the army, except for one big loss at the hands of Longyou Xueju, other defeats were rare. The terrain is so powerful, Li Shimin inevitably became interested.

Li Ke said: "Although Tubo occupies a dangerous terrain, if only relying on this move, it will be difficult to stop our great Tang lion. Tubo is located thousands of feet high in the southwest, and its geography is unique. It is very different from our Central Plains, and even from Sichuan, Sichuan and Tiannan. It’s very different. When I go to the highlands, the mild ones can’t breathe freely, can’t breathe evenly, have chest tightness and shortness of breath, and the severe ones are flustered like a drum, and the whole body is swollen and unbearable, so they lose their lives.”

Li Shimin suddenly said: "This is miasma."

Li Ke said: "Although not all of them are, they are almost the same. I, Tang Erlang, was born on the plains. The danger of the plateau is uncommon and predictable. Even if I am as strong as a cow, I may not be able to climb it. If my Tang Dynasty army goes to Tibet, As long as we go to the highlands, there is no need for the Tubo people to send troops, and my Tang soldiers will already be ten to five or six."

Hearing this, Li Shimin was surprised and said: "I have also heard that the plateau is difficult to climb, but it is so dangerous?"

Li Ke replied: "That's exactly the case. Therefore, General Xue's expedition this time should only retreat from the enemy and not pursue deeply, otherwise he may suffer defeat."

Li Ke has always been safe in his actions and words. If he hadn't been completely sure, Li Ke would never say anything and ruin morale. Therefore, Li Shimin could trust what Li Ke said, and he would definitely listen to it.

Li Shimin nodded, and asked Li Ke: "Hutou, you have never been to the plateau, how did you hear about it?"

Li Ke replied: "At the beginning, when Erchen was in Pingkangfang, I met a Hu merchant from the Western Regions. He ran around doing business and had been to Tubo. He mentioned it to me. I was very surprised by this, so although Several years have passed, but my son still remembers it fresh."

What Li Ke said is of course perfunctory, the real reasons of each center are not humane, and Pingkangfang is a place where people are mixed, it is not surprising who Li Ke meets here and hears nothing.

Li Shimin said: "If you say so, I'm afraid Tubo will not be able to attack for a while. I only hate him for being so rampant, but I can't help him."

Li Ke thought for a while and said: "Although Tubo cannot be moved, there is no way to restrain him. If Tubo is only one place, it will be difficult for us to suffer from the Tang Dynasty. I am afraid that Tubo will collude with other countries in the Western Regions to cause chaos together. That's the hard part."

Li Shimin heard Li Ke's words, and immediately understood what Li Ke meant. Li Shimin asked, "Is the tiger head talking about Gaochang?"

Li Kedao: "It was Gaochang. Gaochang and Tubo were in collusion. This time Tubo went south, Gaochang Kingdom also took the opportunity to invade Tuyuhun, mess up the western border of our Tang Dynasty, and fuel Tubo's momentum. Qu Wentai of Gaochang Kingdom was ambitious and made enemies of our Tang Dynasty several times. Blocking the East-West Silk Road and taking it for myself, I think that if my Great Tang intends to expand the Western Regions, Gaochang should not stay for a long time."

Gaochang is located in the west of Dunhuang, Liangzhou. There are 21 cities, which were called Gaochangbi in ancient times.

It is precisely because of Gaochang's wealth, winning thousands of soldiers, and being far away from Chang'an, that the Tang Dynasty's soldiers could not help him, so the king of Gaochang, Ju Wentai, had the courage to develop the idea of ​​​​the Silk Road, and wanted to take it for himself.

However, although the Silk Road is important, after all, its value is only in the economy, and it has not yet risen to the most eye-catching military level of the Tang Dynasty. Out of Gaochang this nail.

But today is different. Ju Wentai actually set his sights on Tuyuhun, and took advantage of Tubo's southward movement to plunder Tuyuhun, occupy its land, and seize its cattle and sheep. This immediately touched the fundamental interests of the Tang court.

After all, since Li Jing went west and Tuyuhun descended to Tang, Tuyuhun was a subject of the Tang Dynasty, and Gaochang's attack on Tuyuhun was attacking the Tang Dynasty, how could the Tang court tolerate it.

Li Shimin patted Li Ke on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Hutou has been in Hedong for a long time, and he didn't expect to have such deep insights into the affairs of the Western Regions. You deserve the word 'famous commander' that I just said in the palace. But your words have been mentioned to me before, and you are not the first one."

Li Ke asked curiously: "I don't know which general it is, but it is the same as what my son saw?"

Li Shimin replied: "It's Hou Junji, the general of the right guard. Hou Junji was the deputy commander of the pharmacist. He accompanied the pharmacist on the Tuyuhun expedition, so he knew Gaochang a long time ago. After Gaochang followed Tubo this morning, the incident of invading Tuyuhun was reported. In the middle of Beijing, he came to see me, please command the west to conquer Gaochang."

Li Ke asked: "I don't know what the father thinks?"

Li Shimin said: "Hou Junji is not as good as Hutou, he didn't try to convince me, I wanted to settle Tubo first, and then Gaochang, but after hearing Hutou's words today, I decided to accept the opinions of you and Hou Junji, Set Gaochang first, and shock Tubo."

Li Shimin said, and then asked Li Ke: "Hou Junji, please take command of the Western Expedition, do you think it is okay?"

Li Ke replied without hesitation: "Chen Guogong once went to Tuyuhun with Yaoshigong, so he must know a lot about the affairs of the Western Regions, so he should be in command."

　Maybe in everyone's impression, Tubo's military strength is relatively strong, but in fact, Tubo's military strength was not strong before the birth of Lu Dongzan's second son, Lun Qinling, and the drastic reform of Tubo's military system. , if it weren't for relying on the plateau, it would be really difficult to survive Zhenguan.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)