Tibet.

Chapter 1451 The troops are divided into three groups
In the imperial study, Li Ye looked at Gyeongju and Wonju on the sand table.

On the other side stood Wei Jiansu and Guo Ziyi.

Li Ye pondered for a long time and asked, "Who do you think would be the best person for me to send to wipe out the Tanguts?"

Guo Ziyi had already made up his mind, and said calmly: "Li Sheng is the only one who can go to fight against the Tanguts!"

Li Ye nodded, he was also thinking of Li Sheng.

At this time, Wei Jiansu asked, "Your Majesty, how do you plan to deal with the Dangxiang people?"

Li Ye sighed and said, "Those who are not of my race must have different hearts. When the Southern Xiongnu surrendered, the Eastern Han Dynasty was too lenient to them, which left hidden dangers. Later, Cao Cao divided the Southern Xiongnu into five tribes, namely, the left, right, south, north and center, and settled them in Guannei, Hedong and Hebei respectively, with their nobles as commanders. This is the root of the Five Barbarians' Rebellion.
The Dangxiang and the Five Barbarians at this time are so similar. When we are strong, we can look down on these foreign races, but when we unfortunately become weak in the future, what will these foreign races bring to our descendants?
Prime Minister Wei, those who do not plan for eternity are not qualified to plan for a single game!"

Wei Jiansu was deeply moved, and stroked his beard and said, "Your Majesty is right, I fully support the extermination of the Dangxiang!"

In the afternoon, Li Ye met with General Li Sheng.

Li Ye performed extremely well in the war to pacify Nanzhao, which created a model for Li Ye to check and balance small countries, and he was able to destroy the country but not perish.

Some small countries cannot be destroyed, such as Nanzhao. Nanzhao and the various small ethnic groups in the south are numerous and very complicated, and the imperial court does not have enough energy to manage them.

Leaving Nanzhao as an agent to manage the country would save the court a lot of trouble. The same goes for Shi State, which was one of the nine Sogdian states. If it were completely destroyed, the other eight Sogdian states would be completely pushed to the Arabs, and the Tang Dynasty would not be able to gain a foothold in the Transoxiana region. Therefore, the Nanzhao model was the best solution. It controlled Shi State by garrisoning troops and sharing its resources, while not interfering in Shi State’s internal affairs and using marriage to appease Shi State.

These are the foundations laid by the Nanzhao model, and for this reason, Li Ye values ​​Li Sheng very much.

"Your Majesty, I am your humble servant!" Li Sheng bowed.

Li Sheng now serves as the General of the Right Guard and the Inspector of the Minister of War. This position is a sinecure. If the emperor remembers you and wants to use you, you can immediately go to the battlefield. If the emperor does not remember you or does not want to use you, you will have to be idle for the rest of your life.

For example, Li Ye would no longer use Gao Xiuyan, the General of the Left Guard, as he was already in his sixties and too old, so Li Ye appointed him as the General of the Left Guard and Duke of Dai, so that he could enjoy his old age.

But Li Sheng is different. He is only in his early forties and in the prime of his life.

Although Li Sheng was successful in his expedition to Nanzhao, he was still quite nervous because he had stood on the wrong side before.

This time the emperor decided to use him to fight against the Dangxiang, and he was particularly excited.

Li Ye pointed to Yuanqing and other states on the sand table and said, "General, you know about the Dangxiang rebellion, right?"

"I read the Tang Dynasty Weekly yesterday and found out."

Li Ye pointed at Yanzhou with a wooden pole and said, "The Dangxiang are besieging Yanzhou now. How can we rescue it?"

Li Sheng pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I think the Dangxiang people really want to attack Lingzhou instead of Yanzhou!"

“How come you see?”

"Your Majesty, the Dangxiang are different from other nomadic peoples. They are half pastoral and half agricultural. Their population has reached the critical point of 500,000. If they can break through 500,000, they will soon advance to 1 million. As Dangxiang nobles, they certainly hope that the population will break through as soon as possible, but to break through 500,000, there must be sufficient food guarantee. In the vicinity of Gyeongju and Wonju, the largest grain-producing area is Hetao. Once Lingzhou and Hetao are occupied, the Dangxiang will have the desire to establish an independent country."

It has to be said that Li Sheng's inference is still very convincing. Historically, the Dangxiang officially established the Western Xia Kingdom after controlling the Lingzhou Hetao area, and it has always been a thorn in the side of the Song Dynasty.

"Do you think they are feinting to attack Yanzhou?"

"Not really. I think they still want to plunder Yanzhou's kerosene, but not its land. I read the weekly journal, which says that the Dangxiang have been attacking Yanzhou for several days, but Your Majesty has not received the news of Yanzhou's fall. This means that they are besieging but not attacking, trying to lure our main force to rescue Yanzhou and buy time for Lingzhou. Once our main force reaches Yanzhou, they will immediately start to snatch the kerosene and then quickly retreat." Li Ye nodded. "If I give you 50,000 troops, how will you deal with the Dangxiang?"

"Your Majesty, if you give me 50,000 troops, I will take 30,000 troops from Chang'an and 20,000 troops from Yunzhou. The 30,000 troops from Chang'an will move north slowly, and the 20,000 cavalry from Yunzhou will be divided into two groups. One group will rush to support Lingzhou, and the other group will rush to support Yanzhou."

Li Ye nodded with satisfaction, "As you wish!"

Li Ye immediately appointed Li Sheng as Imperial Censor and Defense Envoy of Guannei, and ordered him to lead 30,000 troops to rescue Yanzhou.

At the same time, he sent an urgent eagle letter to Zhang Guangsheng, the governor of Yunzhou, ordering his 20,000 troops to split into two routes, one to rush to rescue Lingzhou, and the other to rush to Yanzhou to stop the Dangxiang people from plundering kerosene.

The eagle message arrived quickly. Zhang Guangsheng received it at dusk. He sent out troops overnight and ordered General Lu Yan to lead 10,000 cavalry to Lingzhou. He himself led 10,000 troops to Yanzhou.

At the same time, another eagle letter from Li Ye also arrived in Taiyuan, ordering Xin Jingmin, the defense commander of the three cities of Taiyuan, to lead 5,000 troops to rush north and temporarily take over the defense of Yunzhou.

Just as Li Ye was mobilizing his troops to attack the Dangxiang.

Some subtle changes have also taken place in western Liaoning.

On a vast grassland, a migrating group is slowly moving westward.

This was a small tribe of Xishiwei with only a thousand people. There were more than a thousand carts loaded with tents, other furniture and various daily necessities. Women and children were sitting on the carts, while men were riding horses. Large herds of cattle and sheep followed on both sides of the caravan.

The team marched eastward in a mighty manner.

Ever since the 30,000-strong Shiwei army was completely wiped out and the pro-Shiwei Khan Bayegu was eliminated, the Shiwei nobles finally felt the coming of the crisis.

They finally began to consider their retreat plan, and this small tribe was their migration test.

The migrating team cannot pass through the territory of the Kulubo tribe. This is one of the conditions for the Kulubo tribe to send troops. If the migrating team of the Shiwei enters their pasture, they will withdraw immediately.

The Shiwei tribe did not want to lose their only ally, so they had to migrate along the southern bank of the Onon River. The Onon River was the dividing line between the Kurob tribe and the Bayegu tribe. In fact, they were moving along the border between the two tribes, on the Bayegu side.

The team had been walking for four days and they were very nervous. Once they were captured by the Bayegu tribe, they would most likely become slaves.

The slave households were actually similar to the lowest-level herdsmen of the Bayegu tribe, except that they had to pay more taxes to the nobles, and of course, there was still discrimination.

But if they surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the only change would be the name, and they would no longer be called the Shiwei people. They would become subjects of the Tang Dynasty, with their registered permanent residence in Liaoxi. After a few generations, they would become Han people.

Now the imperial court has no plans to relocate them to the interior, but to keep them in Liaodong to farm the land, transforming them from a nomadic people into an agricultural people, and assimilating them step by step.

This experimental tribe that migrated westward was unfortunate. In the afternoon, a group of several thousand Bayegu cavalrymen came and surrounded more than a thousand carts. Faced with the ferocious shouts of the cavalry, the men did not dare to resist and knelt on the ground, while the women cried in the carts holding their children.

The nobles of the various tribes on the grassland are relatively welcoming to the population, which means they will get more tax sheep.

The Bayegu cavalry searched all their weapons and ordered the team to turn south to the kingdom of Bayegu. Their fate would be decided by Dada Khan.

They were generally divided equally among the eight tribes and became slaves of the Bayegu tribe.

(End of this chapter)