Chapter 170 Bring the British Orthodox to the Tang Dynasty
Li Yan also had a huge headache.
After Cao Lingzhong served as the Protector-General for ten years, the Beiting Protector-General changed several times and left several times within ten years. Some of the Protectors-in-Chief did not even take office, but were promoted and returned to the imperial court while still on the road.
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However, Cao Lingzhong worked in Beiting for ten years and was still the Protector of Beiting. After staying in Beiting, he was never promoted to Protector.
It would be fine if Cao Lingzhong was an incompetent person, but he was still a good general who was good in both literature, Taoism and military strategy, and loved his soldiers as much as his sons.
Cao Lingzhong was very angry after ten years of bumpy career, but the court's treatment of Longyou made Cao Lingzhong even more heartbroken.
Ever since the Anlushan Rebellion, Li Te generals like Cao Lingzhong have been hostile and suspicious of the Tang court.
An Lushan rebelled, and the Tang court dispatched border troops to enter the pass. At that time, the northern part of Longyou was unstable, and many small country lords were ready to take action.
The Han navy wanted to deter the small tribes in the north, and the Tianshan and Yinwu armies wanted to prevent the Uighurs from taking advantage of the situation, so Cao Lingzhong refused to be recruited by the imperial court and refused to send the main force of the Beiting army into the pass.
However, the imperial court issued more than a dozen ultimatums in succession, so Cao Lingzhong asked Cen Shen, the judge of Beiting, to lead the partial divisions of the three armies into Guanzhong.
Cao Lingzhong was regarded as unruly and rebellious by the Tang Dynasty. Gaochang City in Xizhou was an important town for the imperial court to transfer supplies to Beiting. Li Xiuzhang, the governor of Gaochang, received an order from the imperial court to withhold military pay from Beiting.
Now Beiting has become even more centrifugal. Guarding the border is already very hard, but after more than ten or twenty years of guarding the border, the court still treats it like this. The centrifugal tendency of the Beiting Protectorate becomes more and more serious, and even the Beiting Army appears.
Looting in Xizhou and "self-raising" military supplies.
Cui Tao's letter stated that Cao Lingzhong was originally loyal to the imperial court, but the current disunity of the Beiting Protectorate was inseparable from the emperor's wise operation.
But even without the wise operation of the imperial court, the Beiting Protectorate's alienation from the Central Committee was not something that only happened in recent years.
Li Linfu, the powerful prime minister during the emperor's period, promoted and appointed a group of foreign generals in order to suppress the Jiedushi envoys in the border areas and become prime ministers.
For example, Anlu Mountain at that time rose to the top in the hands of Li Linfu.
Li Linfu also used the ancestral teaching that foreigners should not be prime ministers, and thus controlled the phase for more than ten years.
Cao Lingzhong was a member of the Li Te tribe, and he was appointed as a post-resident of the Beiting Protectorate at that time.
After that, Cao Lingzhong made many military exploits, but was unable to be promoted from a post-reigning officer to a full-time military protector.
Cao Lingzhong could not be promoted, nor could his army's attack envoys, or even the more junior school captains or brigade commanders could be promoted.
The entire Beiting is like a pool of stagnant water, and there is no way to break this deadlock.
Cui Tao's plan was to send an envoy to read the Bafu's order to Cao Lingzhong, and then appease and win over the Hanhai, Tianshan, and Yinwu armies, and try to use gentle means to incorporate the entire Beiting Protectorate.
Li Yan also nodded secretly, the situation in Beiting was different from other state capitals.
The Hexi Corridor area is a land that has been managed by the Tang Dynasty for a long time. It has implemented a century-old system of granting land to soldiers, and the influence of the Tang Dynasty has been deeply rooted in this land.
For this kind of area, it is natural to cultivate it intensively.
But Beiting is different. Beiting has a large expanse of sea and wasteland, as well as a large number of nomadic tribes of different races.
The Tang Dynasty could not set up state capitals to govern these nomads like the four counties in Hexi.
The most effective way to rule was to allow these nomadic tribes to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty and maintain their influence using the method of Jisizhou.
All of this requires a mature system in the Beiting Protectorate to operate, so recruiting and surrendering to the Beiting Protectorate is the best option at the moment.
Apart from these small tribes, Li Yan looked at the map.
"Your Highness, Shang Bo Shang Sima is back!"
Li Yan was immediately overjoyed. Shang Bo successfully completed the task of talking to the Uighurs, and presided over the tea-horse mutual trade negotiations at Shouzhuo Mansion in Baowen Mountain. After hearing the news of the Shazhou Conference, he rushed back to Shazhou without stopping.
Unfortunately, he was still a step too late and failed to catch up with the Shazhou Conference.
"See Your Highness." Shang Bo, who was tired of his career, saluted Li Yan, then presented the talisman with both hands and said:
"Your Highness, fortunately you have lived up to your command!"
Li Yan immediately helped Shang Bo and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Sima Shang! But you came back just in time, and the lonely king happened to have something to ask you."
Shang Bo immediately said: "Your Highness, please speak!"
Li Yan immediately asked: "What does Shang Sima think of the Uighurs?"
Shang Bo thought for a while and said: "I have never met Gel Khan, but from what I can see from this Prince Yidijian, the Uighurs are quite ambitious towards me, the Tang Dynasty."
"Why is this?" When Li Yan went to Lingwu, he also listened to his father and Guo Ziyi discussing politics. At that time, the senior officials of the Tang Dynasty believed that the Uighurs had no desire for territory in the Tang Dynasty, so Li Hengcai refused to lend troops to Tibet. However,
You can borrow troops to fight against the Uighurs without any psychological pressure.
Because the Uighurs want money, but the Tibetans will not leave once they come.
Shang Bo said: "There is also an undercurrent in the Uighur royal court. Prince Yehu, the eldest son of Gel Khan, is pro-Tang and is currently fighting in the Central Plains. However, in the Uighur tent city, the Uighur nobles are very dissatisfied with this prince Yehu. They think
He sacrificed the lives of Uighur warriors, but only brought back so little wealth."
Li Yan nodded. Historically, after Prince Ye Hu returned to the Uighurs, he was quickly convicted and killed. After that, the Uighurs' attitude towards the Tang Dynasty took a turn for the worse.
Shang Bo said: "But in my opinion, there is another important reason for the change of attitude of the Uighurs towards the Tang Dynasty."
Li Yan quickly asked: "What's the reason?"
Shang Bo said firmly: "Beiting!"
"Beiting? Why can Beiting still affect the Uighurs? The Hanhai, Tianshan and Yinwu armies total less than 20,000 people. It is very difficult to maintain the security of Beiting. How can it affect the Uighurs?"
Li Yan also did his homework. Although the Beiting Protectorate has a large area under its jurisdiction, the total number of troops is not large.
The Han Navy is stationed on the edge of the Han Sea in the north, mainly to monitor the nomads on the other side of the Han Sea.
The Yinwu army was stationed in Yinwu, and its main function was to defend the western part of Beiting from the Uighurs.
The Tianshan Army was stationed in Luntai to protect Tingzhou, the seat of Beiting.
The number of these three troops is not large, and it is difficult to protect themselves, let alone attack the Uighurs.
Shang Bo said: "The most critical role of Beiting is not to attack the Uighurs. Has Your Highness ever thought about why the Beiting Protectorate consumes so much military food and supplies every year?"
Li Yan was stunned for a moment. According to the report submitted by Cui Tao, the supplies transferred from Gaochang City to Beiting every year did exceed the needs of the 20,000-strong army. It could even be said to exceed the military supplies consumed by the four counties in the Hexi Corridor combined.
Gaochang, a prosperous city, subsidizes grain taxes and subsidizes the money collected every year to Beiting, and also collects taxes from Shazhou and Guazhou.
"Why is this?"
Shang Bo pointed at the map and said: "Because the Tang Dynasty has been secretly funding the Geluolu tribe and the Xigasi tribe!"
Li Yan looked at the map. The Uighurs occupied the Mongolian Plateau, but there were two unsightly marks in the western part of the Uighur territory.
These are the Geluolu tribe and the Xigasi tribe respectively.
Shang Bo said: "The Geluolu tribe is a tribe of the Tiele people. Since the early Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty has been funding the Geluolu tribe to contain the Turks. The Geluolu people have always been wavering between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty.
, and finally the Turks perished, and the Geluolu tribe surrendered to the Tang Dynasty."
"During the Battle of Hengluos, the Geluolu tribe also responded to the call of the Tang Dynasty and followed General Gao Xianzhi to fight against the cannibals."
Li Yan nodded. Of course he knew about the Battle of Hengluos six years ago. Gao Xianzhi, the then Protector of Anxi, led the Anxi Beiting Army to fight against the Dashi Army.
Whether this war was a victory or a failure, even in the Tang Dynasty six years later, there were different opinions.
Someone in the court used the loss of troops in this war to attack Gao Xianzhi, saying that Gao Xianzhi had suffered a defeat.
However, this battle did block the expansion of Dashi in the Western Regions, and the soldiers and civilians of Longyou Road believed that this was a victory.
Shangbo added: "I've talked about the Geluolu people, and let's talk about the Xiugasi people. The Xiugasi are a tribe in the northwest of the Uyghurs. It is said that the descendants of Li Ling of the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty also recognized this, and the Tang Dynasty canonized the Xiugasi people.
Gasi Khan was the Cavalry Commander, which was the position Li Ling held before surrendering to the Huns."
"The Xigasi tribe has always been deferential to the Tang Dynasty and has always been a vassal to the Tang Dynasty. These two tribes have always been a serious problem for the Uighurs in the western part of the Uighurs."
"This time I went to the Uighur Tooth Tent City. The reason why I didn't see the Uighur's Gel Khan is that he went to conquer the Yigas personally."
Now Li Yan finally understood why Shang Bo said that the Tang Dynasty spent a lot of money in Beiting. It turned out that the Tang Dynasty was also playing balance with the Uighurs and secretly supported the Geluolu tribe and the Xiagasi tribe!
Sure enough, Shang Bo said: "Going north from Tingzhou, you will enter the territory of the Geluolu tribe. The Tang Dynasty has been secretly supporting the Geluolu tribe and the Xiugasi tribe in Tingzhou. Otherwise, without the support of the Tang Dynasty, these two
Why can the tribe fight with the Uighurs for so long?"
"But this time the Tang Dynasty borrowed troops from the Uighurs, one of the conditions was to stop supporting the Geluolu tribe and the Xiugasi tribe. That's why Gaochang City has been in arrears with military supplies to Beiting. Cao Lingzhong is not willing to implement this policy of the Tang Dynasty
, so the troops in Beiting are at odds with Longyou."
After Shang Bo finished speaking, Li Yan finally understood.
The situation in Beiting is actually so complicated! The imperial balance player of Datang is much better than Dai Ying!
Shang Bo continued: "Your Highness, this time Gel Khan led the Uighur elite with the intention of destroying the Geluolu tribe and the Yigasi tribe. If the Uighurs are really unified, then Longyou will face the Uighurs and Tibetans.
Threats on two fronts.”
"Although we have just signed a tea-horse trade treaty with the Uighurs, the contract on paper is unreliable. If the Uighurs eliminate the threat from the West, they will definitely keep an eye on the Tang Dynasty."
Historically, the Uighurs defeated the Geluolu tribe and the Xigas tribe at the end of the second year of Zhide, and unified the entire Mongolian plateau. A few years later, the Uighurs and Tubo divided the Longyou Road.
Li Yan looked at Shang Bo and asked, "Sima, do you have any suggestions?"
Shang Bo crossed his hands and said: "Your Highness, Bafu needs someone with weight to tell Cao Lingzhong that after he stays, Bafu is different from the imperial court. Bafu will not give up Longyou! In this way, Beiting will definitely submit!"
Li Yan nodded and said: "Then I will write a letter myself, and Shang Sima will go to Tingzhou with the arrears of military supplies to persuade Cao Lingzhong to surrender!"