Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

When Li Er first saw it, he was completely stunned and shocked. How long had it been since the Harsha Dynasty was destroyed?

That’s not all. Along with the seventeen small countries, they were all destroyed. Li Yuanji was much more powerful than the Tang Dynasty.

Especially the fact that the 400,000 Persian troops equipped with firearms were completely wiped out and killed by 120,000 of them, Li Er felt dizzy.

He didn't know the details of the battle, but based on this record, he didn't know whether to say that Li Yuanji's army was too strong or the Persian army was too weak.

These were 400,000 troops, 400,000 equipped with firearms, and they were completely wiped out!
Li Er felt scared when he saw the news. Even though he was a veteran, he still thought the news was a bit ridiculous.

Not only did Li Yuanji win, he even sent envoys to Persia and received 30 million taels of silver in compensation. How many years of tax revenue would this 30 million taels of silver represent for the Tang Dynasty?

What made Li Er even more angry was that Li Yuanji signed the agreement with Persia in the name of the Tang Dynasty. It would have been fine if he had just signed it, but he had to recognize Li Yuanji as the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty.

It was obvious that he, Li Er, was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Did those countries and Li Yuanji take him seriously?

Is it Li Yuanji, the orthodox leader of the Tang Dynasty, or is it Li Er, the orthodox leader of the Tang Dynasty?

He, Li Er, is now the real Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and he rules the Tang Dynasty!

Even Lingnan, where Li Yuanji started his career, was originally the land of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Er found it difficult to accept this news. As long as he was at war, the national treasury seemed to have never been rich. However, the more Li Yuanji fought, the richer he became. Li Er was jealous to the point of being dizzy.

Especially the combat effectiveness of Li Yuanji's army and the reappearance of new firearms made Li Er feel uneasy.

This was the first time he had doubts: Could he really beat Li Yuanji?
Fang Xuanling and others below were also shocked when they heard Li Er's words. They looked at Li Er with wide eyes, their eyes full of disbelief.

After reading the news carefully, several people were shocked and numb for a moment. They did not expect that Li Yuanji was such a good fighter.

Being able to fight is one thing, especially Li Yuanji's firearms. From this news, it can be seen that there have been changes again. They are more advanced than what they knew before.

As for signing an agreement with Persia and receiving 30 million taels of silver in compensation, they no longer wanted to talk about it.

The economy of Lingnan was already very good, and they had never thought of starting with the economy of Lingnan. Instead, it was Li Yuanji who used the economy to ruin the Tang Dynasty.

They all agreed that Li Yuanji would fight for two to three years during his western expedition. Before that, Zhangsun Wuji insisted on writing to Li Er to give the Persian envoy the manufacturing methods of gunpowder and firearms. Although they opposed it, in their hearts, they also hoped that Persia could delay Li Yuanji.

The final result was this: Persia developed a matchlock gun that was similar to theirs, and also created cannons, which made Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui feel even more depressed.

The serious problem is that the method of manufacturing firearms will probably be completely leaked out, and will spread outward with Persia as the center. The gap between them and those small countries will become smaller and smaller as time goes by.

What was even more devastating was that the Persian army, which was equipped like this, had 400,000 men, but 120,000 of them were completely wiped out.

If it was a major defeat, they could accept it, but that was a total annihilation of the army. How strong must Li Yuanji's army be to achieve such a result?
For a moment, several people didn't know what to do. After listening to Li Er's question, they didn't know how to respond.

Li Yuanji was the King of Qi of the Tang Dynasty. Logically, he could not sign the treaty in the name of the Tang Dynasty, but those small countries had to recognize it.

In the distant West, the deterrent power of the Tang Dynasty was entirely achieved by Li Yuanji. It can be said that the Tang Dynasty's current deterrent power and the fact that they were called Tang people were all achieved step by step by Li Yuanji sending troops.

If there was no Li Yuanji, would the people in those places be like this?
As Li Er said, Persia today, although it has not been destroyed, is no different from a destroyed country. The army is gone, it was defeated in one battle, and Li Yuanji did not return the prisoners, so Persia could only become a vassal state of Li Yuanji.

No matter how much Persia hated Li Yuanji, as long as Li Yuanji spoke, how could Persia dare to say no to Li Yuanji's words?

The one who suffered the most was Changsun Wuji.

When Changsun Wuji heard that Li Yuanji had won another great victory, conquered the Harsha Dynasty and the surrounding 17 countries, and defeated and conquered Persia, he felt very uncomfortable when he saw Li Yuanji's strength increased again.

Changsun Wuji was very clear that one of him and Li Yuanji had to die. Once Li Er was defeated by Li Yuanji, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui might not be in danger, but he would definitely die. Changsun Wuji knew this very well.

He was extremely eager for Li Er to eliminate Li Yuanji, his greatest threat, as soon as possible so that he could take revenge.

Now, after finally waiting for the Tang Dynasty's wars in the surrounding areas to gradually come to an end, they began to use military force against Li Yuanji. However, Li Yuanji was now ridiculously powerful. Changsun Wuji was almost going crazy with rage, and his entire face was distorted and deformed.

After a long time, Fang Xuanling's helpless voice slowly came out.

“Your Majesty, we don’t need to worry about the things happening in Persia and the Harsha Dynasty for now. The most important thing next is to gather our forces as quickly as possible and capture Lingnan.

Lingnan is the foundation of the King of Qi. Only after conquering Lingnan can we talk about eliminating the King of Qi.

Now that the King of Qi has a very large fiefdom, it is impossible to destroy him directly. We must weaken him step by step. First, we should conquer Lingnan, and then conquer the lands around the King of Qi, and gradually compress the King of Qi. Only then will we have a chance.

Your Majesty, please be prepared for a long-term battle. Once you complete a stage goal and suppress the Queen of Qi, you must start to recuperate.

Otherwise, the burden on the people will be too heavy, and rebellions may break out in the Tang Dynasty."

Li Er said nothing after hearing this. He originally thought that after conquering Lingnan, his navy would be so powerful that he could directly eliminate Li Yuanji. Now that Fang Xuanling said this, he couldn't accept it for a while.

According to Fang Xuanling, how long will this fight take?

Even if we achieve the first stage goal of conquering Lingnan, the war will not be over in a short period of time. We will have to recuperate and develop people's livelihood, which will take several more years.

Could he eliminate Li Yuanji during his lifetime?

Li Er wanted to decide the outcome with a battle, but he was also very clear about the facts that Fang Xuanling said, but he was still unwilling to face it.

It was really because Li Yuanji's strength was increasing too quickly. The longer the time passed, the more afraid he was that something might go wrong again.

Du Ruhui saw that Li Er's face was uncertain and spoke immediately.

"Your Majesty, can you please show me the map?"

Li Er turned to look at Du Ruhui, then nodded, and Li Junxian immediately spread out the map.

Several people looked at the map and then at Du Ruhui, wanting to know what Du Ruhui meant.

Du Ruhui came directly to the map.

“Your Majesty, please look, this is Persia. From Persia, go eastward to Lingnan, then continue eastward to the original Wakoku, Baekje, Silla, and then to Dongyi.

Your Majesty, look again, south of Lingnan, this is the Qi King's Lüzhou Prefecture and Songzhou Prefecture. And further southwest of the two prefectures, all the way to the original Srivijaya Kingdom.

Your Majesty, look at the Prince of Qi's current fiefdom. If Your Majesty had not conquered the lands of Eastern Turks and Tuyuhun, the Prince of Qi's fiefdom would have been larger than that of the Tang Dynasty!
Only now that Your Majesty has incorporated Eastern Turkestan and the land to the north of Eastern Turkestan, as well as Tuyuhun, the Eastern Women's Kingdom, Dangxiang, and Subi into the territory of the Tang Dynasty, can the current Tang Dynasty still surpass the King of Qi in terms of territory.

However, in terms of the importance of the territory itself, Tuyuhun, Dongnuguo, Dangxiang and other places can't provide any help to Your Majesty at all.

In the previous wars with Tubo, the armies of these small countries were all defeated, the armies could not be replenished, and food and other resources were also limited.

The King of Qi did not suffer heavy losses in those places he conquered, as all the enemy troops were captured. He was able to reorganize his army and gain much more.

We can't let the King of Qi continue like this!"

Du Ruhui said this and looked at Li Er with a firm gaze.

"What Prime Minister Fang said just now is the most important thing for us right now, which is not to think about suppressing the King of Qi directly.

I will say something that Your Majesty may not like. Even if Your Majesty is defeated, the King of Qi will not be able to completely eliminate Your Majesty. Relying on the vast territory of the Tang Dynasty, they can still rely on cities and terrain to block the King of Qi's army and at the same time recover the losses caused by the defeat.

The same goes for the King of Qi. Now that the King of Qi's fiefdom is so vast, unless Your Majesty can mobilize an army of more than two million to attack all of the King of Qi's fiefdoms at the same time, even so, the King of Qi can still evacuate to the south.

Your Majesty needs to have a positive attitude. As long as we conquer Lingnan and cut off the connection between the King of Qi in the east and the west, we can then divide the King of Qi's fiefdom and defeat them one by one.

At the same time, we must vigorously develop the navy. The navy is extremely important to whether we can achieve this goal. Not to mention defeating the King of Qi's navy, at least our navy must be able to remain undefeated so that we can implement subsequent strategies.

As long as the power of the King of Qi is weakened, the money and grain from the King of Qi's fiefdom can be quickly fed back to the Tang Dynasty, and the speed of developing people's livelihood will then be very fast.

As long as we get the money and food from Lingnan, the internal crisis of the Tang Dynasty and the burden on the people will be resolved.

Please don't have too many illusions, Your Majesty. As long as the first step can be achieved, Your Majesty will be the final winner."

Du Ruhui could see that Li Er wanted to destroy Li Yuanji in one battle, but he could also understand it. Li Yuanji's strength was getting stronger and stronger. As an enemy of Li Yuanji, who wouldn't be nervous?

But Du Ruhui knew better that panicking was useless, and the idea of ​​ending the war quickly was even more wrong. Now, whether it was Li Yuanji or Li Er, the people behind them were very powerful, and it was unrealistic to decide the outcome in one battle.

We must be prepared for a long war and prepare all kinds of supplies and weapons in advance. If we don't keep a calm mind and make these preparations well, the longer the fight lasts, the more disadvantageous we will be.

And there was one thing he didn't say, for he was afraid that saying it would further affect Li Er's mentality.

That is, they could not afford to waste time with Li Yuanji. Li Yuanji could afford it, but they could not. Once they did, they would not be able to conquer Lingnan and obtain the money and food from Lingnan to feed back to the Tang Dynasty, and it would be easy for rebellions to break out within the Tang Dynasty.

Once the war begins, the pressure on the people and the aristocratic families of the Tang Dynasty will be even greater. I am afraid that the chaotic scenes of the former Sui Dynasty will be repeated in the Tang Dynasty.

Although this contradicts what he said before, it is the fact, because the Tang Dynasty’s treasury has limited money and grain, especially food.

Money is not a big problem, but food is in short supply. Now people are tightening their belts to make ends meet. In wartime, these belts will probably strangle people to death.

In order to ensure the food and other supplies needed by the army, the imperial court will inevitably impose additional taxes. This is inevitable. How can the people who are desperate not rebel?
These words should have been a reminder to Li Er, but now is obviously not the time to say this. If Li Er is hit like this again, his mentality will probably be even worse.

Du Ruhui could only wait to raise this question later, and he was helpless now.

Li Er listened to Du Ruhui's words without saying anything. He was silent for a long time. When his restless heart gradually calmed down and reason returned to his mind, Li Er instantly understood what Du Ruhui said.

Li Er was also able to guess what Du Ruhui did not say, and Li Er himself was not bad.

Li Er stared at Li Yuanji's fiefdom on the map, and felt calmly in his heart that Li Yuanji was stronger than him.

Li Er really admitted this. In the past, Li Yuanji took the people from the Prince of Qi's Mansion to Lingnan. In a few years, he conquered a fiefdom comparable to the territory of the Tang Dynasty. If it were him, Li Er knew that he could not do it.

Li Er didn't know about the cheat in Li Yuanji's hand. He just thought that Li Yuanji did all this by his own ability, and he felt inferior to him.

But he was still full of confidence in the battle with Li Yuanji.

Li Er believed that he would not fail, just because his name was Li Shimin!
After a while, Li Er turned around and looked at Du Ruhui and others.

"I was distracted just now, but now I'm fine.

I agree with what you said. Lingnan is the foundation of the King of Qi. We must conquer Lingnan first before we can hurt the roots of the King of Qi.

Now that the decision has been made, the next step is to begin assembling the army.

The coalition forces of various countries that were formed earlier, including the armies from all over the country, should speed up their assembly and start marching south after completing the reorganization! "

Li Er's eyes were burning with enthusiasm, and he was full of confidence in the upcoming battle.

“By the way, how are the firearms deployed now? How many troops are equipped with them?

And the casting of sea vessels, how many naval forces are there now?"

“Your Majesty, now firearms have been deployed to 100,000 troops, and 20 warships have been built.

I have already ordered the full expansion of the foundry scale, and it will be completed within this month, and the output will be more than three times the current level."

Li Er nodded, his eyes fixed.

"Then we should speed up our preparations. It will take about half a year for the army to assemble and march south. During this time, we must equip the army.

At the same time, food and other supplies must also be prepared as soon as possible to meet the needs of the army.

In addition, we will recruit another 200,000 young and strong men. After the recruitment is completed, they will be trained in the rear, so that when the army needs reinforcements, they can be replenished in time to start fighting! "

As Li Er set the tone, the Tang Dynasty's war machine began to move faster. All the Tang Dynasty's armies began to gather, and all kinds of supplies and food began to be concentrated.

At the same time, the Tang Dynasty began to levy forced labor and forced conscription of able-bodied men into the army. The common people of the Tang Dynasty suffered terribly, and the voices of opposition from the people became louder and louder.

Even among the aristocratic families, some of them began to become dissatisfied, because their family members were constantly being sent into the army and recruited by Li Er.

Some noble families also took the initiative to bet on Li Er and began to devote themselves to the battle between Li Er and Li Yuanji in order to seek a breakthrough for their family. (End of this chapter)