The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 289 Rejection
In addition to his marriage to He Jin, Li Ying also requested three other things.

The first thing is to ask for credit for the soldiers.

The second thing is to re-establish an army in Shibao City.

Re-establishing the army in Shibao City was not a sudden whim of Li Heng or any ulterior motive, but was mainly for the needs of war.

In the 17th year of Kaiyuan, after Xin'an Prince Li Yi captured Shibao City, he established the Zhenwu Army in Shibao City. Later, when Shibao City fell, the Zhenwu Army was destroyed. Historically, it was not until Geshu Han retook Shibao City that the Shenwu Army was established in Shibao City.

Li Ying was just following the path that others had taken in history.

The third thing is about the combat strategy for the next war with Tubo.

Among them, Li Heng specifically elaborated on three points, namely, slow advancement, making friends with distant nations and attacking nearby ones, and provoking conflicts with other Tibetan tribes.

Gao Lishi thought for a moment and said, "I think you can agree to the three matters of granting marriage, rewarding merit and setting up an army. As for the battle strategy, it would be best if you could hand it over to the Right Prime Minister to lead the various departments of the court for discussion."

Li Longji seemed to be thinking about something, and asked, "Do you think Shiba Lang's battle strategy is inappropriate?"

Gao Lishi said, "I am not familiar with military affairs, so I don't know whether His Highness Shou's battle strategy is appropriate. However, I know that no matter how good a strategy is, it still needs someone to execute it. If the Right Prime Minister and the various departments of the court disagree, and His Highness Shou's strategy is not implemented effectively, it will definitely cause trouble."

What Gao Lishi was worried about was actually the price Li Longji would have to pay.

If Li Longji wanted Li Linfu and Li Heng to check and balance each other, conflicts would inevitably arise, and once conflicts arose, they would inevitably become alienated.

Li Longji nodded and said, "Then let's do as you said. The three matters of granting marriage, rewarding merit and setting up an army will be approved. The battle plan will be sent to each department, and the right prime minister will lead them to discuss it."

"Yes." Gao Lishi accepted the order.

The two of them walked and talked until they arrived at Concubine Wu Huifei's palace.

This time, Li Longji did not test Wu Huifei again, but just chatted with her about family matters.

……

Shanzhou.

The imperial edict was delivered to Li Heng. As he had discussed with Gao Lishi, Li Longji approved his first three requests, but rejected the fourth combat strategy.

In addition, Geshu Han also went to Shanzhou along with the imperial edict.

Li Heng's combat strategy was to advance slowly first.

Li Heng wanted to proceed slowly for three reasons.

First of all, the terrain of Dafeichuan and Mohuanchuan is dangerous, and they are also the lands controlled by Tubo for a long time. The Tang army is unfamiliar with them, but Tubo is familiar with them. If they advance rashly, they will easily be ambushed or even encircled.

The second is logistics supply. The most important logistics bases of the Tang army are Lanzhou and Liangzhou. The second is Shanzhou. The supply line from Liangzhou and Lanzhou to Dafeichuan and Mohuanchuan is long and difficult, and it is easy to be cut off by Tubo. Tubo's logistics base is the city in the Qinghai Lake and the Yellow River Jiuqu, with a short supply line and low difficulty.

Finally, there is the issue of altitude and climate. Tubo is at a high altitude and has a cold climate. Tang army soldiers have to deal with both altitude sickness and climate issues. The best time for the Tang army to attack Tubo is in summer. It is best to attack in summer and defend in winter, advancing slowly.

Li Ying had his reasons, and Li Linfu also had his reasons for rebuttal.

Li Linfu felt that Li Heng could have made rapid progress but chose to advance slowly. It was obvious that he wanted to keep the enemy at bay and protect himself. Moreover, maintaining a long-term front-line combat state would require a huge consumption of supplies. Li Heng wanted to tie the Tang Dynasty to his chariot.

The second strategy of Li Heng's warfare was to make friends with those far away and attack those nearby.

The so-called "making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones" means uniting the countries in the Western Regions, the Arabs, the Uighurs, the Nanzhao, and even India in the south to encircle Tubo and gradually consume and erode Tubo.

Li Linfu also refuted this.

Li Linfu believed that Li Heng did this for two reasons: first, to delay time and shirk responsibility. After all, it would take a long time and be difficult to unite so many forces. Second, he wanted to expand other forces and create new opponents for himself.

As for the third strategy of the war, which was to stir up internal conflicts in Tubo, Li Linfu thought it was difficult to do and it was still Li Heng's trick of nurturing the enemy to protect himself. Li Longji thought seriously about Li Linfu's suggestion and felt that what Li Linfu said made sense. Now that the dangerous Shibao City had been taken, the Tang army should sweep across Tubo.

So he summoned all his ministers and asked them to recommend generals who could quickly advance the front line.

Li Heng quickly recommended Geshu Han.

Geshu Han originally wanted to refuse, but then he thought that if he didn't show up this time, there would be wars in the future and no one would recommend him, so he had to seize this opportunity.

So, he accepted the order and planned to achieve some results first.

Li Heng held the imperial edict and looked at Geshu Han, feeling a headache.

Looking at the history of Geshu Han's success and failure, he became famous in Shibao City and was defeated in Tongguan.

Wang Zhongsi did not attack Shibao City, but he did. Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing wanted to defend Tongguan to the death, so he went out. His whole life seemed to be a gamble in the cracks.

Seeing that Li Heng looked a little strange, Geshu Han smiled and said, "Your Highness told me to come and serve you after I recover. I am following your orders."

Li Heng smiled helplessly and said, "When will the court order Deputy Envoy Geshu to march?"

Geshu Han said: "Your Highness, in early spring."

"So early?" Li Heng was stunned. He summoned the generals from Longyou and asked them what they thought.

The generals were silent at first, then Wang Sili stood up and said, "As long as it is beneficial to the country, why fear life and death! Since the court has ordered us to march in early spring, I will follow your orders."

Next, Gao Xiuyan, Zhang Shouyu and other trusted generals of Geshu Han expressed their intention to fight.

After these people finished speaking, Guan Chongsi, who was from the middle power, also stood up and said, "The reason why the army is invincible is that the whole army is united. Now that the court has set the policy, I can only execute it."

Once Guan Chongsi took the lead, other middle forces such as Huoba Guiren, Su Fading, Li Wuding and others followed suit.

For a moment, only the Anxi generals brought by Li Heng, as well as Gao Shi, Ma Lin and Li Sheng did not express their opinions.

Li Heng understood a little bit. Those who originally followed Geshu Han wanted to fight with Geshu Han, while those in the middle wanted to make achievements and establish their own careers.

In their view, Li Heng's consideration of the overall situation and strategic determination were stumbling blocks that prevented them from achieving success. If he insisted on advancing slowly at this time, he would not only be resisting but also suppressing others.

Li Ying sighed silently and started coughing violently. Zhang Guangsheng immediately stepped forward and helped Li Ying to calm down.

Li Ying said, "I have been feeling increasingly unwell lately and need to recuperate for a while. You two can discuss this."

After saying that, he stood up and left the meeting hall.

Zhang Guangsheng followed him out, and Anxi generals such as Gao Xianzhi, Cen Shen, Li Siye, Lai Zhen also followed out, and finally An Sishun also followed out.

Gao Shi, Ma Lin and Li Sheng also wanted to leave, but they were generals of Longyou after all, so after thinking it over, they chose to stay.

As soon as Lai Zhen left the meeting hall, he kicked the lion in front of the gate hard and cursed, "Fuck!"

Upon hearing this, Li Heng couldn't help but glance at Lai Zhen.

Lai Zhen came from a family of generals, but he had serious border army habits. In history, he had defied Li Heng several times.

Gao Xianzhi also heard what Lai Zhen said and said with a smile, "Why is General Lai so angry?"

Lai Zhen said, "Last time, His Highness was recalled after he recaptured Shibao City. This time, he was not recalled, but Geshu Han was sent to take over. That's fine, but the key point is that the strategy that His Highness and we agreed on is obviously the best, but why doesn't the court use it?"

Gao Xianzhi said: "It may be that the natural defenses of Shibao City have been breached, and we have won too much, so the court thinks that Tubo is a group of rabble that will fall apart at the first touch."

(End of this chapter)