Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 187 Lure the enemy into attack
When Chen Qingsi heard Li Ji's words, he knew that Li Ji was not completely ignorant of the situation in Tibet.

After all, a force that can dispatch 12 troops suddenly emerged in the surrounding area. As the No. 1 military force, how could he not get the news?
It's just that in order to paralyze the Tang Dynasty, Tubo gave gifts and tributes, and imitated Silla, holding the Tang Dynasty's smelly feet and gnawing and licking them.

Li Ji, who had been at the top for a long time, was already slacking off. Seeing Tubo being so humble, he didn't take it to heart.

It wasn't until this moment that Li Ji came to his senses.

There is no other reason.

Li Ji knew too little about Tubo.

He always thought that the Tubo were no different from the Turks, Qiang people, Xueyantuo and others, they were all nomadic barbarians.

Li Ji has been dealing with nomadic barbarians for a long time and is well aware of their weaknesses.

What should Tubo worry about when it comes to a mere [-] troops?
After all, Xue Yantuo also had 20 powerful soldiers in the past, so he was not allowed to be destroyed easily.

Little did they know that although Tubo was a mainly nomadic country, it was different from ordinary nomads.

Li Ji looked at the memorial in his hand and looked at Chen Qingsi's analysis of the nomads. His old face was full of shame and he said: "I have been fighting all my life, and my writings are not as good as Mr. Chen's short hundred words. What's more, I didn't expect that Tubo actually Ability to overcome one’s own shortcomings…”

What Li Ji said about Li Ji in "On Enemies" came to Li Zhi's mind:

Nomads have three major disadvantages: First, they lack self-productivity. Their livelihood is extremely dependent on profits from plunder, and they are unable to produce internally.

[-]. The extremely single nature of the living environment leads to extremely poor disaster resistance;

[-]. The environment is harsh, the people live on the grass, and their lifestyle has disunity factors.

Just three simple points clearly reveal the characteristics of the nomadic people.

Because it is unable to produce its own products, it is unable to hoard wealth, it lacks the foundation for growth and growth, and it is unable to gather core strength.With poor disaster resistance, a natural disaster can destroy a prosperous tribe, as is the case with the Eastern Turks.The extreme internal disunity gave them the opportunity to divide and win over each other. Whether it was the Eastern Turks or Xue Yantuo, the Tang army used almost the same method to disintegrate them internally.

Due to many disadvantages, the Tang army itself was extremely powerful, and it was almost overwhelming against the nomads. Even if the number of enemies was ten or twenty times greater, the Tang army would not be intimidated.

And what about Tubo?

They retained the habits of the nomadic people, but as the temperature became warmer, fields suitable for farming appeared in the Yalong Valley in Shannan, the birthplace of Tubo.

The first highland barley field and the first palace Yongbulakang appeared on the plateau.

They absorbed technology from the East and the West, burning wood into charcoal, refining ores into gold, copper, and iron; drilling wood into holes to make plows and ox yokes; reclaiming land and diverting streams for irrigation; plowing lotus roots and cultivating grasslands. The beaches were converted into acres of land, and bridges were built over rivers that could not be crossed, forming a situation where farming and animal husbandry were both engaged in, and each other was inside and outside.

The current Tibetans can no longer be regarded as nomads. If we use the same methods as nomads to deal with Tibetans, we will suffer big losses.

Chen Qingsi bowed to Li Zhi and Li Ji respectively, and then said: "Your Majesty, as far as I know, there are rich mines on the plateau. Tubo learned smelting technology from the West and trained a kind of armored cavalry, which is the They are all made of iron armor, with only two eyes open, strong bows and sharp blades cannot kill. They can forge such iron armor, and I think they can also make excellent armor. Although it is not as good as my Tang Dynasty's craftsmanship, it is not inferior by much."

"But there is a fatal thing about Tubo. Resources are scattered on the plateau, which is not conducive to development. If it wants to truly rise and become a powerful country, it must go to the plateau to gain a foothold."

"Tubo wants to go down to the plateau. There are four directions. To the west, from the west to Tianzhu, and then through Tianzhu to reach Dashi. Tubo calls this road the Musk Road, the Gem Road, and the Salt and Grain Road. It is related to us. Before the establishment of diplomatic relations with North Korea, Tubo had already used this road to communicate with the food country. However, this road needed to cross the Tianshan Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains, and was only suitable for small groups of caravans." "Go northwest through Bolu and Jibin and enter the Western Regions. This road is extremely dangerous and passes through many treacherous and uninhabited areas.”

"Going south to Jiannan, there are poor mountains and harsh waters, no need to say more."

"The last road is the well-known North Road, which leads to Qinghai Lake and directly to the meander of the river..."

"There is no doubt that going north to Qinghai Lake is the only option for Tibet. They need a treasure land suitable for their farming and nomadic life, and Qinghai Lake has inexhaustible salt, vast pastures, arable land, and fisheries. It is very developed. It meets all the development needs of Tubo. Tubo covets Qinghai Lake. As long as there is an opportunity, there is no reason not to take it."

"and……"

When Chen Qingsi said this, he said word for word: "Once the Tibetans occupy Qinghai Lake, they can threaten our land of Lianglong by going north, and they can also drive directly into the Western Regions to the west and cut off our trade routes."

Li Zhi finally couldn't sit still.

The core interests of the Tang Dynasty lay in the Western Regions. Even Li Shimin stabilized the Western Regions before taking action against the Haidong region.

After years of development, Liangzhou is now developing rapidly, second only to Chang'an and Luoyang.

There are hundreds of thousands of households in Liangzhou, and the scene of barbarians half-playing the pipa has already taken shape.

The trade routes of the Western Regions brought huge commercial benefits to Datang, and they could not accept the interruption of the trade routes no matter what.

"Are you saying that Tubo not only covets Qinghai Lake, but also wants to use Qinghai Lake as a base to peek into the Hehuang Western Region?"

Chen Qingsi said: "It's natural to go to Long and look at Shu. Who wouldn't be jealous of the huge profits from business? No matter how strong a person is, there will be times when he relaxes. As long as they think they have a chance, there is no guarantee that they will not be swayed by their own interests."

Although Li Ji was not as forward-looking as Li Shimin and Li Jing, he was also a rare general in the world. It was only because of carelessness and lack of understanding of Tubo that he ignored the rise of Tubo, which strategically led to the collapse of the Tang Dynasty. Lost the initiative.

Now Chen Qingsi has written an article about the enemy, crushing Tubo to pieces and analyzing it. How can he not wake up to the truth and say: "Mr. Chen's words are reasonable. Your Majesty, the matter of Tubo must be dealt with cautiously."

Li Zhi rubbed his aching brain and sighed: "In this case, the Eastern Expedition will be postponed again."

Li Zhi had his own obsession with conquering Goguryeo.

But fortunately, he is not Yang Guang. He knows his priorities clearly and will not ignore the interests of the country and force the eastward expedition.

Li Ji responded with a smile: "But that's not necessarily the case."

Li Zhi said: "The imperial court's finances are tight and there is no room for more wars."

Li Ji did not speak, but looked at Chen Qingsi and smiled and said: "If sir brought this up, I won't accept the credit shamelessly."

He gestured with the word "please".

Chen Qingsi did not give in and said: "Your Majesty, there is no reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days. Tubo was ready to attack Tuyuhun, but did not attack. It was obviously waiting for the opportunity. We can create opportunities to induce them to attack Tuyuhun. I The army prepared in advance and defeated Tibet. Tibet was not weak, but it could not withstand a big defeat. Once the losses were heavy, it would be difficult to recover within three to five years. The imperial court also had enough time to march eastward."

(End of this chapter)