Tibet.

Chapter 1369 Troop Plan
Li Ye hurried to the round hall of the Council of State, where he happened to meet Guo Ziyi. Guo Ziyi had just taken office as Privy Councilor yesterday afternoon. Today was his first day on the job, and he encountered a major military intelligence report.

Guo Ziyi bowed and saluted, "Your Majesty!"

Li Ye sighed and said, "I have something unfortunate to tell you. I hope you will be mentally prepared!"

Guo Ziyi's heart sank, but he still said calmly: "Your Majesty, please speak!"

"I received news from the inner guards last night that Suiye was ambushed and captured."

The governor of Hezhong was Guo Ziyi's nephew Guo Xin. Guo Ziyi was stunned and asked after a while: "Did Guo Xin die in battle?"

Li Ye shook his head. "I don't know. The Eagle Letter from the Inner Guard only said one sentence: Suiye was ambushed and captured by the Saint Maiden Society's army! Nothing else was mentioned."

Guo Ziyi hesitated for a moment and said, "I hope he can save his life!"

Guo Ziyi did not blame Guo Xin for losing Suiye just because he was his nephew. He was a veteran and knew that the lives of soldiers were more important than the city. A city could be recaptured if it was lost, but it was hard to accept that the soldiers were completely wiped out.

Li Ye nodded and said, "I think the Privy Council will also receive the news in the next two days. Lord Guo should pay attention to it."

Guo Ziyi nodded silently and walked into the round hall.

In the round hall, nine important officials of the Council of State were present, including Zhang Hao, the Imperial Secretary who had just returned from Liaodong. Zhang Hao also came back yesterday with Guo Ziyi and had not yet had time to report to Li Ye.

"Everyone, Li Dutong, the inner guard, came to see me urgently at midnight last night and told me a piece of news. Suiye was captured by the enemy, and the enemy was the army of the Saint Maiden Society."

When talking about the Holy Maiden Society incident before, Li Ye informed everyone that the Holy Maiden Society had an army of 50,000 people.

Everyone was shocked, and Zhang Li asked anxiously: "What are the casualties of the soldiers?"

Li Ye shook his head, "No news at the moment!"

Wei Jiansu frowned, "There is no reason! Although we don't allow the Saint to preach, that was just two months ago. Kangguo is so far away, it's impossible for them to know so quickly."

Li Ye shook his head. "We don't care about the specific reasons, but Suiye is the support point of our Hezhong strategy. If Suiye is lost, it means the loss of the entire Hezhong. We must take back Suiye and use this as an opportunity to regain control of Hezhong."

Liu Yan agreed loudly, "Your Majesty's idea is right. Hezhong is a land rich in gold and silver. It is continuously transported to the Tang Dynasty through the Silk Road. It has always been an important source of finance for our Tang Dynasty. Tubo and Daqin are eyeing Hezhong covetously. It can be said that whoever gets Hezhong will be able to continue to be strong in the next 30 years. We must not hand over the precious land of Hezhong to Tubo and Daqin."

Wei Jiansu also said: "The Tubo people are completely pinned down by us in Longyou, and this year they suffered a disastrous defeat in the southwest. If there is no chance in the southwest and Longyou, the Tubo people will probably make efforts in the west to avoid our edge and send troops to Tokharistan. So at this time, we are increasing our troops in the Western Regions to actually defend against the Tubo people."

No one else opposed the emperor's plan to march west, and no one could use financial shortages as an excuse. In fact, every expedition led by Li Ye was lucrative. The Tang officials, who had always lived a hard life, had never stood up so straight as they did now. At most, they could only march to the Western Regions without a legitimate reason. But now they had a legitimate reason. It could be said that the right time, place, and people were all in place to march to the Western Regions.

After the discussion, Li Ye made it a sure thing that the Privy Council would formulate a military plan and that it must be prepared before the end of the year.

The Western Expedition was of a strategic level. It would not be over in one or two wars, nor would it be over in one or two months. It would take a year or even two years, so it was impossible to order the mobilization of troops and prepare logistical supplies on the spot.

It is necessary to formulate a series of plans first, including military plans, logistics plans, financial plans, marching plans, battle plans, etc. Although the situation in war is ever-changing and it is impossible to calculate everything accurately, this is related to the logistics material preparation and financial burden, and the bottom line and upper limit of material consumption and financial consumption must be calculated.

Therefore, many wars were not lost on the battlefield, but because of lack of logistics and financial support. This is because there was no advance plan. The coach was unaware of the logistics and financial situation and was only thinking about expanding the results of the battle. In the end, the finances and logistics collapsed and the battlefield was turned from victory to defeat. There are too many such cases.

On the contrary, if the commander knows that the logistics and finances are insufficient, he will not rush to expand the results of the battle, but will proceed step by step, first preserve the existing results, or negotiate a ceasefire with the enemy, or switch from offense to defense, and wait for the finances and logistics to catch up before continuing the attack.

I have said so much just to illustrate the importance of making a plan in advance for the grand strategy. Li Ye left the round hall of the Political Affairs Hall, and Zhang Hao hurriedly chased after him, "Your Majesty!"

Li Ye stopped and said with a smile: "Is there anything wrong, Mr. Zhang?"

"I am preparing a report on the resettlement of Liaodong, but I have two questions that I would like to report to Your Majesty in person. Is Your Majesty free this afternoon?"

"I have to go inspect the city expansion this afternoon. We still have some time. Come to my study to talk. Invite the two prime ministers as well. I will treat you to lunch at noon."

"I will go find the Prime Minister and come here immediately!"

"Okay! I'll go ahead and wait for you in the imperial study."

Li Ye got on a light carriage and returned to his imperial study first.

As the carriage passed the gate of the Privy Council, Li Ye saw Zhang Dian coming out of the Privy Council. He immediately stopped the carriage and ordered the guards, "Let General Zhang come to see me!"

Zhang Dian came to the Privy Council to handle formalities, but he didn't expect to run into the emperor's motorcade. He hurried forward and bowed, "Your Majesty, your humble servant is here to see you!"

"Why don't you take a few days off and start working today?"

"Your Majesty, I will be leaving soon?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? Why don't you stay with your family for a few more days?"

"I have met my parents, and I will bring my wife and children to Liucheng County with me this time."

Li Ye implemented the system of imperial censors supervising the army, and did not implement the system of keeping hostages in the capital, so frontier generals would generally bring their wives and children with them. If they did not, it was due to their own reasons and had nothing to do with the system.

Li Ye nodded and said, "This time we are going to Liaoxi, we will have to deal with the Shiwei and Heishui Mohe in the future. I have said everything I should say. Finally, I will tell you one more thing. You must strictly implement my order to kill the enemy and learn from the lesson of the failure of the Sui Dynasty's expedition against Goguryeo. If you don't understand, you can ask for advice, and I will arrange a good military advisor for you."

"Your Majesty's teachings, I will keep them in mind!"

"Go!"

Zhang Dian bowed again and then left in a hurry.

The biggest lesson from the Sui Dynasty's failed expedition against Goguryeo is that kindness is more important than power. Yang Guang wanted to use both kindness and power to recapture Goguryeo, but he only considered kindness and not power. He went through untold hardships to attack the fortified city, but when the other side saw that they could not hold it, they immediately surrendered. Yang Guang said a few words of gratitude and submission. Yang Guang was happy and allowed the other side to continue to defend the city. As a result, the other side soon turned against him. It was like this every time: first surrender and then turn against him, which exhausted the will and fighting power of the Sui army.

Li Ye wanted to remind Zhang Dian not to be fooled by the other side's surrender. No matter whether the other side's surrender was true or false, he must strictly execute his orders and kill all the other side's troops.

The good military advisor that Li Ye wanted to assign to Zhang Dian was Wei Feng, Lei Wanchun's aide.

Lei Wanchun has few opportunities to go to the battlefield, so Li Ye plans to let him retire after achieving success, go to Beijing to take charge of the Martial Arts Hall, and confer the title of general.

Wei Feng is a good person and can be transferred to be the Chief Clerk of Liaoxi Military Governor's Office.

As soon as Li Ye returned to the imperial study, Zhang Hao, Wei Jiansu and Zhang Li hurried over.

(End of this chapter)