Traveling through the divine eagle: the first sword of Quanzhen

Chapter 573 Western Regions and Salt
"Furthermore, this king's words are also in the thoughts of the fourth prince. Soon after, Empress Dowager Naimazhen and Great Khan Guiyu will 'pass away' one after another. At that time, the Mongolian grassland will win a new round of power struggle."

"If the main force of the prince is completely wiped out at this time, I believe that the prince will not be able to go back to the Golden Roof Tent to seize the throne."

"But if the prince retreats to preserve his strength at this time, then there are three benefits. One is the benefit of the prince, that is, the prince can preserve his own strength. Whether it is to suppress the rebellion in the territory in the future, or return to the Golden Roof tent to seize the throne, They all have the strength to fight.”

"The second is the benefit of our Great Song Dynasty. If the prince preserves his strength and defends on all fronts, then Datang will not expel you Mongols from the Central Plains so quickly."

"And the third advantage is that if the offensive momentum of the Great Tang's Eastern Expedition is frustrated, then I can take the opportunity to persuade the emperor to conquer the Western Regions. Although the emperor has captured Guanluo now, he doesn't have much sense of security. Only after winning the Western Regions can he get rid of his heart disease."

"As for the Western Regions, if my king remembers correctly, it should be the elder brother of the fourth prince, the territory of Meng Ge Khan. When the time comes, this king will ask the emperor to go west. When the time comes, the emperor will get the land of the Western Regions, and Meng Ge Khan's strength will also increase." Weakened by Tang, weakened Meng Ge Khan, a powerful opponent, presumably no one can compete with the fourth prince for the position of Great Khan."

"That's it. That's why I just said that this matter is also good for the Fourth Prince."

Kublai Khan asked at this time: "But the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, how could he listen to the advice of His Royal Highness King Wei? He is just a sensible person, and he knows very well that the Great Tang is to recover the Central Plains. What is he going to the Western Regions for?"

Li Qing smiled and said: "Well, first of all, it is about the safety of Chang'an City, the capital of the Tang Dynasty. The emperor has already determined Chang'an as the capital of the Tang Dynasty. If the Western Regions are not captured and the corresponding depth is obtained, then the Mongolian cavalry can smash the river at any time."

"Is this the second one? It's the emperor's personal preference. The emperor likes wines from the Western Regions, as well as fair-skinned, graceful dancing women."

"If the momentum of the Tang Army's Eastern Expedition is frustrated, then I can let the emperor take the Western Regions first. At that time, both you and I can take the opportunity to recover our strength and achieve a true tripartite confrontation."

"At that time, the fourth prince will inherit the position of the Great Khan of Mongolia. At that time, the two will be weak and the other will be strong. If the fourth prince attacks Tang and Song, then our two families will unite. But if the prince has no intention of conquering, then my Great Song will not send troops. I will just sit back and watch the situation develop and wait for an opportunity to preserve myself. If one day Tang Qiang is weakened, then I, Da Song, don't mind joining forces with you again."

Li Qingwei was not completely deceiving Kublai Khan. Compared with the land of the Central Plains, taking the Western Regions after gaining a firm foothold was the most important thing.

As Li Qingwei said just now, only by winning the Western Regions can Chang'an City be guaranteed strategically, otherwise Chang'an City will always be exposed to the iron heel of Mongolia.

In Li Qingwei's eyes, the Western Regions are not a barren land of thousands of miles of yellow sand. Instead, it is a land that is richer than any other place. Apart from fine wine and fair-skinned girls, there are more important things there. Li Qingwei must get it.

Those two important things are "salt".

The first type of salt is common salt, and the common salt consumed in this era is basically either sea salt or well salt from Bashu, and these two salt producing places are not under Li Qingwei's control, and the salt is very important strategic material.

Li Qingwei didn't even need to think about it, Kublai Khan and his dear "old man" would definitely use a material embargo to "block" his Datang regime and get his "neck".

Although there is "Dingbian Salt Lake" near Guanzhong, it is in northern Shaanxi, and it is not within its sphere of influence.

And the "traffic" situation in northern Shaanxi in this era may not have much mining value.Moreover, the strategic location there is protruding, and it is extremely vulnerable to attacks by the Mongols. If the Mongols know where the only salt well in Datang is, then it will become the flashpoint of all conflicts.

After all, the nomadic cavalry is best at "guerrilla". Now that the Great Wall Fortress has not been won, there is no need for him to really fight the Mongols for a salt lake.

Therefore, more can only rely on "imports", and salt is an indispensable thing in daily life, and it will not take long for them to empty out Datang's small fiscal revenue.

Although Li Qingwei could also go east or south to take land, but if Mongolia is still alive and goes south to "invade the Song Dynasty", then he will follow the old path of Jin Aizong.

As for the Eastern Expedition to recapture Qilu, the front line would be too long, and now Datang's finances are not enough to form so many troops, even if the place is defeated, it is not easy to garrison it.

What's more, at that time, it will be fully "bordered" with Song and Mongolia. At that time, the front line will be too long. Datang will not only have to deal with the Mongol invasion on a wide front, but also guard against the "second five" invasion of the Southern Song Dynasty at any time. boy" backstab.

So it will be very passive.

Although Li Qingwei gave "Father Emperor" a temple title of "Duzong" when he returned to Lin'an, controlling the government by himself can solve this problem.

But after all, he is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, so it is impossible to stay in the territory of the Song Dynasty all day long. Without the suppression of the relatives and noble forces headed by Zhao Yu, those gangsters and insects would have to turn against the sky.

Fewer lords and stronger ministers will weaken the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty, and it is difficult to guarantee that those aristocrats will not persuade the lord to surrender like "Cai Mao persuaded Liu Cong".

After all, "surrender" is an "ancestral" operation of Jiangdong clans since the Three Kingdoms period.

In Li Qingwei's plan, the power of the Southern Song Dynasty can be seized, but it is definitely not now.

Now is the initial stage of the establishment of the Datang regime. What is needed at this time is the containment of the three parties to strive for a few years of stable development for the Datang.

What's more, to seize the throne of the Southern Song Dynasty, as long as the orthodox status of "Zhao Pan" is still there, it will be easy for Li Qingwei.So there is no need to rush this moment.

Apart from this, Li Qingwei had no other choice but to attack the Western Regions.

After all, a piece of land in the "Qaidam" Basin in Qinghai is made of salt, not to mention that there is a "Qarhan Salt Lake" in the south of Qaidam. Perhaps the ancients of this era did not have the ability to mine and refine land rock salt. Technology, but Li Qingwei knows it!
As long as the Western Regions are won, the strategic location there will be better, and it will not be easily exposed to the iron heels of the Mongols, so you can safely and boldly operate and mine.

The only one with such a "little" threat is Tubo.

As for Tubo, today's Tubo surrendered to the Mongol Empire and became the territory of the Mongol Empire in name, but in fact the Mongols did not have much control.

To be precise, the Mongols don't want to take too much control, after all, who would like to stay in a place with such a high altitude and such harsh weather conditions.

To be more precise, Tubo is more like a "semi-independent" vassal state of the Mongol Empire than a territory.

But even so, they are not worried, because the current Tubo is not very united, and the chieftains don't respect the Tubo king so much.

The current Tubo is a scum that even the Southern Song Dynasty can't beat.

Li Qingwei didn't even think much of the Mongols, so naturally he wouldn't take them seriously either. If they dared to obstruct the "Heavenly Army", the Emperor Tang didn't mind destroying them first.

If it was just table salt, Li Qingwei would not be so keen on the Western Regions, he was interested in another kind of salt.

　The (note) here has a historical error.

　　The actual Tubo Kingdom perished as early as the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.

　　The Tubo Kingdom mentioned in Jin Lao Tian Long Ba Bu is a fiction.

　　Because this novel is based on the "world line" set by his old man, Tubo will appear later.

　　So please be patient with this slot.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)