Chapter 481: Send troops to the northwest

The situation in the north is getting worse and worse. Tubo keeps instigating other tribes in the north of the desert to rebel against the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, it also mobilizes troops from the Tubo homeland to prepare to annex Tuyuhun.

Urgent documents float into the Daming Palace like snowflakes and pile up on Li Chengqian's desk.

A war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo is inevitable, and this moment has finally arrived.

Li Chengqian immediately summoned ministers to discuss sending troops to aid Tuyuhun and fight against Tubo.

The Ministry of War, which is responsible for mobilizing troops, the Ministry of Revenue, which is responsible for money and grain, the Ministry of Works, which is responsible for equipment manufacturing and maintenance, as well as the prime ministers and generals of the three provinces were all called to the Purple Palace by Li Chengqian to discuss matters.

"It is said that Tubo has mobilized no less than 300,000 troops. If the Tang Dynasty wants to assist Tuyuhun, it will need at least 100,000 troops. If we want to quell the rebellion in Mobei, a conservative estimate is that it will require about 150,000 troops." The Minister of War gave a figure, which was the conclusion he came to after some calculations.

"150,000 soldiers need to consume a lot of food every day, and how much food will be consumed in a year, plus the consumption during transportation."

"One million shi of grain will be transported from various places to the northwest, how much food will be left? Now there is a large canal connected by the Sui Dynasty, which can reduce some of the consumption on the road."

"I have calculated that with the current strength of the Tang Dynasty, it can only support 150,000 troops to fight in the northwest for a year and a half at most."

"But this will delay farming. If the seeds cannot be sown in time, there will be no harvest next year, and the people will be hungry."

"If the people can't survive, they will rebel. In that case, the Tang Dynasty will follow the Sui Dynasty." The Minister of Revenue said.

He was the person who disagreed with fighting with Tubo the most. After all, a lot of money and food would slip out of his hands in the war. He felt heartbroken. The entire Tang Dynasty had many places to spend money.

If all the money and food are used to supply the army for war, there will be no money and food for other places.

For example, if there is a natural disaster this year, if all the money and food are used for war, what will be used for disaster relief?

"We must fight against Tubo. If we don't, Tubo will only harass our neighboring countries frequently, and even attack our borders and plunder our Tang Dynasty."

"Mobei will never be at peace under the instigation of Tubo, and the money and food consumed will only be more. In this case, it is better to send troops directly, and it is better to defeat Tubo in one battle." Li Chengqian said.

Tubo is already difficult to deal with now. If we let it grow stronger, that will be terrible.

Only now, while the Tang Dynasty still has the ability to beat him down, we must beat Tubo half to death, so that Tubo will tremble at the sight of the word Tang Dynasty.

Let the Tang Dynasty become Tubo's everlasting nightmare, and there will be no more chaos in the northwest of the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty! Of course we have to fight Tubo, but we can't destroy our country and our family because of this!" said the Minister of Revenue.

"Then in your opinion, how should we deal with the incident between Tubo and Tuyuhun?" Li Chengqian asked. "

I think that Tubo should be fought, but also appeased, and the best strategy is to use both soft and hard tactics." said the Minister of Revenue.

"How do you plan to use both soft and hard tactics against Tubo?" asked Li Chengqian.

"I think we can send more troops to Lingzhou to scare Tubo and show that the Tang Dynasty is determined to fight."

"Then, send people to negotiate peace with Tubo, marry a girl to Tubo, and let Tubo retreat to Tubo's homeland and stop harassing Tuyuhun." The Minister of Revenue said.

According to his idea, he would use force to intimidate Tubo and force him to submit to the Tang Dynasty by marrying a girl.

This would not only solve the problem between Tubo and Tuyuhun, but also save a lot of money and food. It would kill two birds with one stone.

Li Chengqian sneered in his heart. The annexation of Tuyuhun was an indispensable part of Tubo's development. Tubo would not withdraw from Tuyuhun no matter what.

This has nothing to do with whether or not to make peace with the emperor. If you want to prevent Tubo from getting involved in Tuyuhun again, you can only beat Tubo so that it has no strength to continue to get involved in Tuyuhun.

It is unrealistic to want Tubo to give up annexing Tuyuhun through marriage. The only way to achieve this is to beat Tubo so badly that it has no strength to attack Tuyuhun again.

"You can't imagine how determined Tubo is to annex Tuyuhun. Tuyuhun is a stumbling block on Tubo's development path. Only by removing this stumbling block can Tubo grow stronger."

"Then they will get involved in the entire Western Regions. By then, the entire Silk Road will be in Tubo's pocket."

"The Silk Road is important to the Tang Dynasty. I don't need to tell you. Everyone here should know it."

"Once Tubo annexes Tuyuhun, the buffer zone between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo will no longer exist, and Tubo will directly threaten the Tang Dynasty's border."

"The Tubo will take the opportunity to invade the twelve states where the Qiang people live, namely Du, Liu, Jue, Tiao, Chou, Ban, Fu, Qi, Er, Xun, Shuai and Cha; these are all vassal states of our Great Tang."

"This is the territory of our Great Tang, how can we allow others to interfere? How can we allow others to sleep beside our bed? I will definitely attack the Tubo." Li Chengqian said.

"Your Majesty! I think that the Tang Dynasty should first deal with Shule and Gongyue, take control of Shule territory, and take back the territory bordering Tubo."

"In this way, we can cut off the connection between Mobei and Tubo, and then we can send troops and quickly unite the tribes to suppress the rebels."

"As long as we can pacify Mobei, we can defend Tuyuhun, and then march to Tubo, defeat Tubo in one fell swoop, and make Tubo dare not have any unreasonable thoughts." Li Ke said.

"Wu Wang Li Ke is right, I also have this idea, pacify Mobei first, and then fight Tubo." Li Chengqian said.

"Your Majesty! Natural disasters continue to occur in the Tang Dynasty. Now we should focus on providing relief to the victims and restoring our strength

. How can we send troops on a long expedition?" "Last year, drought and famine occurred in the capital Chang'an and the areas east of Mount Xiao, the Yangtze River and the Huai River basins. Now there are refugees everywhere. Your Majesty should provide relief to the victims instead of sending troops on a long expedition. Please think twice." These are the voices of the opposition.

"I have already sent Di Renjie to take full charge of relief work. Hasn't Chang'an overcome the difficulties? I believe Di Renjie will not disappoint me and will definitely solve these problems."

"There is no conflict between disaster relief and expedition to Tubo. I want to provide disaster relief and send troops to help Tuyuhun resist Tubo. You don't need to say more. Just make a decision. Anyone who obstructs will be killed without mercy!" Li Chengqian said.

"Yes!" Everyone saluted and responded.

That day, Li Chengqian issued an edict to send 50,000 troops to the northwest. The troops were divided into two groups. One group, led by Pei Xingjian and others, was to pacify Mobei and cut off the connection between Mobei and Tubo.

Along the way, Gao Kan, Pang Tongshan and others led an army of 30,000 to aid Tuyuhun.