Late Tang

"Old man Zheng must have secretly colluded with Li Jing, otherwise he would never have been so tough. What should we do now?" Once Li Ke used his camp, Li Cunzhang and other generals immediately knew what happened in the Chinese military camp. Seeing Li Ke's gloomy expression of extreme anger, An Jinjun couldn't help shaking his head and sighing.

An Jinjun who spoke was Li Keyong's new and important general. The Zhaowu Jiu surname Sogdian who returned with Shatuo back then, surnamed An Jin, Ming Jun, and younger brother An Jinquan, is now Li Keyong's confidant general.

"I don't know." Li Ke lowered his head and stroked his forehead with his right hand, feeling indescribably depressed.Although he has always looked down on Zheng Congxuan, Zheng Congxuan's tough gesture today has slapped him hard, and he has no strength to fight back.What Zheng Congxun said is indeed very clear. The fundamental reason why the emperor of the Tang Dynasty can still pardon him for his repeated rebellions is that Yang Fuguang, who defected to the emperor Pang Xin, expressed his willingness to fight for the emperor.Because of this, the generals Zheng Congxuan and Helianduo never attacked him.

But if he wanted to return to the north at this time, he would have broken his promise to the emperor. At that time, even Zheng Congxuan and others, who had always respected the will of the emperor, would no longer hinder him from attacking him to avenge his old grievances.

Now he is completely caught in a dilemma, riding a tiger is hard to get off.

At this time Li Jing was about to enter Daibei, relying only on the Shatuo soldiers from Yanmen and the Hu people going south, Li Keyong had no confidence at all that they could defeat Li Jing, Zhang Zimian and Li Siyuan.But he wanted to go north to support, but Zheng Congxun stared at him, stuck him, making it difficult for him to move.It is unbearable for him to stay here and watch the Daibei War, waiting for Li Jing to destroy his foundation.However, now he can't get rid of Zheng Congxuan.

What a dilemma!

"The two evils are the lesser. It is better to let General Cheng Huaiyi take charge of the situation in Yanmen, and let Xin Dai's troops retreat to defend Yanmen and the second pass of Thai Opera, and defend the battle. As for Datong, just leave it to the barbarians. They are 20 Thousands of people are going south, hoping to defeat Li Jing. Even if Li Jing wants to defeat them, then the two tigers will surely fight and lose. At that time, Li Jing will not be able to go south to attack Yanmen..."

"Shall I give up Datong?" Li Ke interrupted An Jinjun with a wave of his hand. Although Datong Town was captured by Li Siyuan, Li Keyong already regarded it as his own territory.Besides, Datong in Daibei has always been the foundation of Shatuo, but it was stolen and occupied by traitors from the three Shatuo tribes for a period of time. "If Datong is lost, we will be cut off from the grassland. Now, the grassland is our biggest ally and the last retreat. In case the North cannot gain a foothold, we can temporarily retreat beyond the Great Wall. But if Datong is lost, we There is no such choice.”

"But now Zheng Congxuan and Helianduo are full of defensive hostility towards us, and they are colluding with Li Jing, trying to trap us here, and then let Li Jing seize and replace Bei in one fell swoop. Although Mrs. Zheng is a literati, he has He Lianduo, Bai Yicheng and other towns support us, and their strength is far superior to ours. Even if Wang Chongrong has a covenant with us, I am afraid that he will not support us to turn against Zheng Congxuan at this time."

"For the time being, we just wait and see what happens!" An Jinjun couldn't help sighing, "If Li Sizhao and Li Siyuan don't rebel, we will never give Li Jing this opportunity. Now we can only look forward to those barbarians, maybe, You can send someone to contact Cheng De and Wei Bo. Cheng De is now the most threatened by the Qin Army, and Han Jian has just been defeated by the Qin Army and almost died. These two people are now the only remaining two feudal clans in Hebei other than the Qin Army. We have a bitter relationship with us, and now Li Jing is sending troops to Daibei, it is the right time for them to send troops. If they are willing to send troops, maybe there is another turning point for this matter."

The strategy of Lianheng is the reason why Sha Tuo has been able to survive the attack of Qin Fan until now.Although they were defeated several times, it was the containment and help of the anti-Qin allies that made Li Jing defeat them several times, but he was unable to wipe them out completely. Li Jing was very strong, but in the north, he could only fight alone fight.

As for Shatuo, although allies have fallen one after another, until now, there are still a few allies.

Alliance, assimilation, and weakening are exactly the reasons why An Jinjun can be reused by Li Keyong. He put forward these six-character policies for Shatuo's situation.The first strategy, the alliance, is that the enemy of the enemy can form an alliance as a friend.Li Jing is Shatuo's first enemy, therefore, around this enemy Li Jing, all forces other than Li Jing should win over and become allies.Whether it's Khitan or Shiwei or Tatar, Xiren, and Yuren, Goguryeo or Chengde and Weibo in Hebei, etc.Through marriage, becoming sworn brothers, and even surrendering to the emperor of the Tang Dynasty and swearing allegiance, in exchange for every ounce of support.The second strategy is to include some of the barbarian tribes loyal to Shatuo, even Han people, etc. Just like the three Shatuo tribes back then, the population and strength of the Shatuo tribe will be enhanced.Li Keyong has already begun to cancel all the soldiers of the Shatuo army, regardless of whether they are Fan Han, their original tribal distinctions, and uniformly call them Shatuo, and even marry other tribes through this new Shatuo tribe , turning more people into Xinshatuo people.The third strategy is to use force to attack those disobedient tribes around them, sell them to Khitan and exchange them for slaves, which can not only weaken these opposing forces, but also strengthen Shatuo's strength.

With such a three-pronged approach, the Shatuo tribe will become larger and larger, with a large population growth, more Shatuo fighters, stronger tribal strength, and a new anti-Qin alliance will be formed.

One rises and the other rises, and in the end, in the land of Daibei, those sturdy border residents, regardless of Fan Han, are turned into new Shatuo people. The problem of underpopulation in Tuo will be solved.

On the way forward, Shatuo people have no capital to take it lightly.Otherwise, not only would he be annihilated by a powerful opponent like Li Jing, but he would even be subverted from within by the barbarians around him.Just like at the beginning, the three tribes of Shatuo, this system was good at the beginning. The second tribe of Sogdian Sage Anqing who was not Shatuo was also included in Shatuo, which greatly enhanced the strength of Shatuo.But the assimilation was not enough at the beginning, and there was still a huge boundary for non-real Shatuo people internally, which led to their betrayal later.But now, Li Ke must strengthen the strategy of assimilation, just as Li Jing has been doing outside the customs, to assimilate those Goguryeo people, Silla people, Bohai people, Khitan people, and even their Shatuo people. Eventually became Qin people.

Of the tens of millions of people in the Qin Dynasty, half of them are actually Fan people, but the problem of Fan Han has never become Li Jing's trouble.Li Jing did an excellent job of assimilating, which is what Shatuo people need to learn.Think about the destruction of powerful tribes such as the Turks, Tieles, and Uyghurs that were once powerful, but they were actually wiped out by the unassimilated small tribes around them.

However, to realize this long-term vision, the premise must be that they must survive the current attack by Li Jing, and must maintain the foundation of the Shatuo people. If they even lose Daibei, they will not be able to assimilate those border areas. Fan Han people, they themselves will be assimilated by Li Jing.

"Old man Zheng is already determined to fight us to the death. With him, we will never return north!" An Jinjun frowned, "Unless..."

"Unless what?" Li Ke had to admit in his heart that Zheng Congxun was a frail old man, but now he was posing a fatal threat to the fate of him and the Shatuo tribe.Even if he does nothing, as long as he sees Shatuo unable to return north, it is tantamount to the deadliest threat.

An Jinjun said with a smile: "Zheng Congxuan, like almost all Han Chinese Confucians, values ​​the way of monarch and ministers the most. Because of this, even if Zheng Congxuan has a very bad relationship with us and has deep old grievances, as long as Emperor Li Tang forgives us He had no choice but to swallow his anger and reserve his opinion about the previous rebellion. Therefore, even if the emperor named the king King of Jin, he only made him King of Xingyang County, and he didn't have the slightest opinion. It is not impossible. The key is to use the emperor to deal with him. As long as it is the imperial decree of the emperor, no matter how much Zheng Congxuan has an opinion, he will still obey it. I believe that if the king of Jin can let the emperor make a decree, let Zheng Congxuan give up the position of Hezhong Jiedu envoy King Jin, I'm afraid he can only follow through."

Let the emperor decree to Zheng Congyu, and give up the post of Hedong Jiedu envoy.

This was originally just an analogy by An Jinjun, the speaker had no intention, but the listener had intention, but Li Keyong remembered it in his heart.This kind of strategy has no effect against people like Li Jing, but it is tailor-made for old guys like Zheng Congxuan and Zheng Tian.

The only critical thing is how to get the emperor to decree that Zheng Congxun give him the post of commander in chief of Hedong Festival.This is not a simple matter, after all, although the Son of Heaven is young, he is not such a foolish character.Li Ke touched his chin, lost in thought.

Commander Zheng Congyu, commander of Zhenwu Festival He Lianduo, and commander of Tiande Festival Bai Yicheng, the two party members, said with concern: "Mr. Ling, I think that this one-eyed wolf is not a fuel-efficient lamp. He has a lamp in his hand now. But there are [-] Shatuo soldiers, and there are [-] young and strong civilian husbands. In addition, Wang Chongrong, commander of the Hezhong Festival, is not only his sworn brother, but also his son and daughter. Wang Chongrong is also a shameless person who seized the throne by mutiny and even surrendered to Huang Chao. , These two snakes and rats are in a nest, we are fighting side by side with them, it is hard to be at ease in our hearts.'

Bai Yicheng also said: "That's right, Mr. Zheng, Li Keyong is a person who is untrustworthy and rebellious. For this kind of person, it is best to get rid of the troubles forever. With him around, we neighbors don't even think about it." An Sheng. According to someone, now that the King of Qin is attacking the north and attacking his old lair, we are responding to the King of Qin, and we are the first to act first, so we can directly wipe out the one-eyed wolf and his [-] wolf cubs in one fell swoop, once and for all."

Zheng Congxuan pondered for a long time, and finally shook his head slowly, "As long as Li Keyong does not lead his troops back to the north without authorization, then he will still be the king of Jin and the envoy of Yanmen Jiedu, who was conferred by the Son of Heaven of the Tang Dynasty. he."

He Lianduo and Bai Yicheng, the two party commanders, couldn't help showing disappointment when they heard the words, and sighed in their hearts that Zheng Congxun was too pedantic, and how old he is now, he still thinks about these things.The two sighed in their hearts, but they were silent and stopped talking.They all knew that once this old Linggong made up his mind, even nine cows would not be able to pull him back. (To be continued.)