Cui Tao said: "Your Highness, Leiyin Temple's conspiracy has been exposed. As long as we are prepared, Leiyin Temple's rebellion is nothing to worry about."
"But Leiyin Temple is only a monastery of monks. Even if they occupy Shazhou City, they will definitely not be able to hold it."
"They must have negotiated with the Tubo army, and they will surrender the city as soon as they capture Shazhou City! The Tubo army must have been assembled, and they will attack Shazhou after the fasting ceremony starts next month!
"
After Cui Tao said this, everyone turned aside.
Li Yan looked at the map of Longyou Road hanging on the wall of the inner hall and fell into thinking.
At the beginning of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Longyou Road was still the territory of the Turks. At that time, the Turks were still a powerful force in the northwest region. In the early Tang Dynasty, the army fought many battles with the Turks, always winning less and losing more.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Turks successfully eliminated the Turks by constantly trying to win over and divide them, and instigate conflicts among various tribes within the Turks.
However, there were no Turks in the northern grassland area, and the Huigu people appeared again. Coupled with the rise of the Tubo people on the plateau, the Three Kingdoms Massacre was always being staged in the Longyou area.
With the strong financial support of the Wu Zhou Dynasty and the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Shang, the Tang army successfully defeated the Tubo and Uighurs and controlled the entire Longyou Road.
But with the decline of the Tang Dynasty, the Tubo and Uighurs became interested in Longyou again.
The Uighurs are a little better. They are nomadic people who live on grass and are not so fanatical about their territory.
But the Tubo people have always been at war with the Tang Dynasty, competing for control of the Silk Road.
The entire Longyou Road is a long and narrow corridor, also known as the Hexi Corridor in history.
Shazhou is located at the heart of this corridor, and its geographical location is very important.
Historically, when Tubo annexed Longyou ten years later, it first captured Shazhou, Guazhou, and Shuozhou, cut the Longyou Road into two halves, then continued to annex the four towns of Anxi to the west of Longyou Road, and finally completely occupied Longyou.
.
Cui Tao's analysis is correct. Shazhou City cannot be controlled by a group of monks from Leiyin Temple alone.
Once Shazhou City was captured, the Hexi Jiedu envoys stationed in Liangzhou, as well as the soldiers and horses from the four towns of Suiye, Qiuci, Khotan, and Shule, would inevitably mobilize to retake Shazhou.
Therefore, the Tibetan army to support this group of monks must have already set off. They will enter Shazhou City as soon as the monks from Leiyin Temple occupy Shazhou.
Spring defense is coming early!
In the past, the Tibetan army would not attack until April, but this time they started in March!
Li Yan's face was serious, and he asked Cui Tao: "Cui Sima, how should we respond?"
Cui Tao touched his missing beard, shook a feather fan in the winter, and said: "Your Highness, I have three strategies: upper, middle and lower!"
Everyone rolled their eyes. Is this guy addicted to cosplaying Zhuge Liang? Does he want to create a Longzhong opposite?
I don't know where I got such a broken fan recently, and I shake it here and there angrily every day.
Unexpectedly, Li Yan, an "NPC", also said politely: "Sir, please speak!"
Cui Tao said: "The next best strategy is to wipe out the Leiyin Temple rebellion first, and then unite the Doulu and Moli armies to strengthen border defense to deal with Tibet."
Jiang Lun, who was in charge of Bafu's finances, shook his head and said: "Mobilizing an army requires food and grass. Now there is not enough food and grass in Shazhou and Guazhou. Moreover, we don't know when the Tibetans will attack and from where. How can we defend the long border?"
Cui Tao nodded and said: "So this is a bad idea. It will cost the army and money and still be beaten passively."
Li Yan then asked: "Where is Zhongce?"
Cui Tao continued to shake his feather fan and said: "The so-called middle strategy is to ignore these monks for the time being and wait for them to raise troops. However, His Highness is stationed in Shazhou City and the monks of Leiyin Temple cannot attack it for a long time. The Tibetan army will definitely be recruited to attack Shazhou City.
When the time comes, we can lay an ambush near Shazhou and destroy the Tubo invading army!"
Jiang Lun then said: "No, Shazhou is undergoing spring plowing. If we fight outside the city at this time, there will be no food for the autumn tax. Moreover, there is a large area of Pingyuan outside the city. If the Tubo army is defeated, it will inevitably destroy the area outside Shazhou City.
the people.”
Li Yan cupped his hands and said, "May I ask what Cui Sima's strategy is?"
Cui Tao stopped shaking his feather fan and walked to the map and said: "The best strategy is for us to take the initiative. First we will kill the gang of bald donkeys from Leiyin Temple, and then pretend to be the defeated troops of Leiyin Temple, and deceive the Tibetan castle at Dangjin Mountain Pass, and take the initiative.
Invade Tubo!"
Li Yan looked at what Cui Tao's feather fan was pointing at, which was the Dangjin Pass where the Tang Dynasty and Tubo fought fiercely.
Shazhou and Tubo use the Qilian Mountains and the Daxue Mountain as the natural dividing line. The Tang Dynasty and Tubo once demarcated the boundary, which was based on the geographical dividing line of the mountains on the edge of the plateau.
Dangjinshan Pass is a mountain pass between the Qilian Mountains and the Daxue Mountains. Both the Tang Dynasty and Tubo built castles on this mountain pass to fight against each other.
In addition to Dangjin Pass, there are many trails between Shazhou and Tubo that can be passed. Datang also built some beacon camps on the border to prevent small groups of Tubo from invading.
However, after the Anlu Mountain Rebellion, the emperor mobilized the Longyou Dao army to enter the Central Pass to quell the rebellion, and after they were completely destroyed in Tongguan, most of these beacon camps were deserted because there was no one to guard them, so Jiang Lun said that the long border could not be defended.
Cui Tao's best strategy was to take the initiative to attack Dangjin Pass, which was of greater strategic significance, and force the Tibetan army to give up attacking Shazhou and defend Dangjin Pass.
Li Yan looked at the map and said: "What if Tubo gives up its defense and takes Jinshan Pass, attacks Shazhou, and surrounds Wei and rescues Zhao?"
Cui Tao shook his head and said: "It's impossible. As long as we attack Dangjin Pass, the Tubo people will definitely save us!"
"Why is this?"
Cui Tao pointed to Dangjin Mountain Pass and said: "To the south of Dangjin Mountain Pass is a natural valley bottom. The Shule River flows into the mountain pass and nourishes this warm valley floor."
"The Tibetans spent a hundred years developing the valley floor of Dangjin Pass and recruiting troops to farm. This was to build the valley floor of Dangjin Pass into an outpost for the attack on Longyou."
"Although there are trails that can be crossed in the Snowy Mountains of Qilian Mountains, if the Tibetan army wants to fight across the mountains, they must still camp at Dangjin Pass!"
"So only Tubo still has plans for Shazhou, so Jinshan Pass must not be lost. It must be defended no matter what!"
Now Li Yan understood that Tubo was on a plateau and the land was desolate.
Jinshan Pass was not only a Tibetan fortress, but also the only place within a hundred miles where large armies could be garrisoned.
This is what the art of war calls important territory. No matter who the Tibetan general is, he cannot bear the responsibility for losing the Dangjin Mountain Pass.
As long as the Tang Dynasty occupied the fortress built by Tubo at Dangjin Mountain Pass, the Tibetan army would definitely give up its previous strategy and find a way to recapture the Dangjin Mountain Fortress.
Only by taking the initiative can you resolve the passivity of your strategy and keep your enemies at bay!
Li Yan stood up holding his sword and said: "Here comes! Gather the generals and order the troops!"