"I didn't expect their reaction to this incident to be so big..."
Li Yuanji let out a long sigh and ordered Zhao Chengyong: "Go and persuade them again, just say that what we do is really meaningful."
Zhao Chengyong stared in astonishment.
Are all the words I just said in vain?
If my advice is useful, I will come back and ask you to come out?
"What's wrong?"
Li Yuanji saw Zhao Chengyong staring at him and looking straight at him, and couldn't help but ask.
Zhao Chengyong said with a bitter face: "Your Highness, I have already tried to persuade you, and I have said everything I can say, but if I can't persuade you, it will be useless for me to go again.
How about you send someone else to try?"
Li Yuanji rolled his eyes and said angrily: "If I could send someone else, I wouldn't have to let you get scolded."
Zhao Chengyong hurriedly said: "But it's useless for me to persuade you. Why don't you go outside the palace and find someone else to try?"
Li Yuanji opened his mouth, and finally waved his hands and sighed: "Forget it, I'll go see them. They are blocking the front hall. I'm afraid it won't be easy for you to get out. Even if you find a way to get out, you can find them."
It is very likely that people will be persuaded by them and stand with them."
When Zhao Chengyong heard that Li Yuanji was willing to go in person, he immediately became happy.
As for what Li Yuanji said later, he didn't listen carefully.
"It would be great if Your Highness is willing to take action personally. I will open the way for His Highness."
Zhao Chengyong quickly got up from the ground and shouted loudly at the door, asking the people outside the hall to clear the road to the front hall as soon as possible for Li Yuanji to pass.
Li Yuanji rolled his eyes, found a dark red robe, put it on, and rushed to the front hall.
When they arrived at the front hall, they saw Li Shentong and Li Gang guarding the door like two door gods. Behind them, Pei Ju, Xiao Yu and others were also standing with serious faces, as if they wanted to put King Yong on trial.
posture.
"What are you doing? Are you going to interrogate me together?"
Li Yuanji saw their posture and asked angrily.
Li Shentong and Li Gang took the initiative to greet them, and the others quickly followed.
"Chen Li Shentong..."
"Your Majesty Li Gang..."
"..."
"See Your Highness..."
After the ceremony, Li Shentong couldn't wait to ask: "Your Highness, did you agree to the Turks' blackmail and give many iron pots and cloth to the Turks?"
Li Yuanji glared at Li Shentong and said, "You really want to interrogate me?"
Li Shentong raised his head and said, neither humble nor arrogant, "I don't dare!"
Li Yuanji glared at Li Shentong again and walked towards the palace.
Li Shentong reluctantly got out of the way, but the others were not as stubborn as him and took the initiative to get out of the way.
After entering the hall, after everyone sat down, Li Yuanji waved his hand to Zhao Chengyong and motioned for Zhao Chengyong to close the door.
Xiao Yuzeng stood up immediately.
Li Yuanji stared at Xiao Yu and said: "What are you doing? Do you think I want to use my strength to suppress others?"
Seeing that no one else moved, Xiao Yu shook his head in embarrassment and sat down again.
Although he denied Li Yuanji's question, that's what he thought in his heart.
Not only him, but other people in the palace who had witnessed the Xuanwu Gate coup also came up with this idea at the moment the door closed. It was just that others stabilized, but he did not.
Li Yuanji also saw that some people became nervous when Zhao Chengyong closed the door, and immediately explained speechlessly, "The reason why I asked Zhao Chengyong to close the door is because what I say next is very important and cannot be ignored."
If it is known to outsiders, it cannot be spread by you."
Li Shentong said thoughtfully: "Is it related to your agreement to the Turks' blackmail?"
Li Yuanji rolled his eyes at Li Shentong and said, "That's not blackmail, I gave it to them on purpose."
Li Shentong frowned and said, "Why do you deliberately give them so many things? Don't you know that this is an insult to the Tang Dynasty?"
Li Yuanji glared at Li Shentun: "Are you going to listen to what I'm going to say next?"
Li Shentong said in a stiff tone: "Then I will listen carefully to why you agreed to the Turks' blackmail."
These words sounded harsh and ironic.
However, Li Yuanji didn't care, and continued what he just said: "I hope that after listening to what I said, you will strictly keep the secret and not spread a word.
If someone spreads the word, don't blame me for being unkind."
Su Dingfang roughly guessed something, so he was the first to respond: "I swear that I will not spread a word of what I heard today. If I violate this oath, I will leave it to His Highness."
When the others saw that Su Dingfang had expressed his stance, they also started to express their stance.
Although Li Shentong, Pei Ju, Xiao Yu and other veterans were reluctant, they also expressed their opinions.
After everyone finished expressing their opinions, Li Yuanji slowly said: "Since you have sworn not to tell anyone, I can tell you some truth.
The reason why I agreed to the Turks' conditions was also to prepare for the northern expedition against the Turks.
Mr. Li, Mr. Pei, Mr. Xiao, and Shuda, you four should know that before Tang Jian left, I taught him a way to convey messages using numbers.
The quantity of things needed by the Turks this time was the news that Tang Jian passed back to me.
Through the news sent back by Tang Jian, Li Gong and I learned that Tuyuhun and the Turks had formed an alliance, and the purpose of their alliance was to deal with me, the Tang Dynasty.
The reason why the Turks proposed to exchange the same weight of gold for their Kehe Dun was because of Tuyuhun's request.
Although Tuyuhun had formed an alliance with the Turks, they were also afraid that the Turks would go back on their word, use them as dead soldiers, or annex them, so they wanted the Turks to help them mediate.
After getting the news, I have sent people to remind Liu Hongji and King Xiangyi, sent Cheng Yaojin to serve as King Xiangyi's deputy, and sent Huang Junhan to Liangzhou to take charge.
The purpose of doing this is to prevent unexpected events.
But just saying this is not enough.
Whether it is our Tang Dynasty that resists the invasion of the Turks and Tuyuhun coalition forces, or our Tang Dynasty's northern expedition against the Turks, these arrangements are not enough.
We need more detailed and accurate information about Turks.
We need to understand everything about the Turks and everything about Tuyuhun.
Only in this way will it be easier for us to resist the Turks and Tuyuhun invasions or conquer them.
The purpose of agreeing to the conditions proposed by the Turks and giving them iron pots, cloths and other items was to arouse Jie Li's greed and make Jie Li propose more conditions, so that Tang Jian could deliver more news to us."
Speaking of this, Li Yuanji looked at Li Shentong, Li Xiaogong and other military officials and said: "You are all veteran generals on the battlefield. You should know how smooth it will be to fight a battle after you understand all the enemy's conditions.
How easy.”
Li Shentong, Li Xiaogong and others hesitated for a moment, then nodded in unison.
When two armies are fighting, whoever knows the enemy better has a greater chance of winning. Even if there is a disparity in military strength, the one who understands the enemy can use various means to reduce the enemy's strength, or use various methods of the enemy to reduce the enemy's strength.
By taking advantage of each other's advantages and disadvantages, we can formulate strategies that are not conducive to the enemy, forcing the enemy to use the tactics they are least good at and fight against us in the places that are most unfavorable to them.
Therefore, understanding all the enemy's conditions is really helpful to the war.
Many generals with average abilities but who have repeatedly won military exploits have made great efforts in scouting. Through scouting, they have understood all the enemy's conditions, and then used medicine to defeat them, and achieved military exploits.
Many military generals with outstanding abilities and outstanding achievements occasionally make mistakes or suffer serious battle losses. Most of them are because they do not fully understand the enemy's situation and are caught off guard by the enemy.
Therefore, any general with some success knows the benefit of knowing all the enemy's conditions.
Li Yuanji continued: "If we understand everything about the Turks and Tuyuhun, will you be able to greatly reduce the battle losses when we conquer them?"
Li Shentong, Li Xiaogong and others nodded without hesitation.
That's for sure.
If you have a clear understanding of the enemy and fight the enemy based on his strengths and weaknesses, you will definitely be able to reduce battle losses.
And the magnitude of this reduction will be very large.
Li Yuanji asked again: "So if the reduced battle losses are 10,000 people or even more, do you think it is worth giving these things to the Turks?"
value!
Well worth it!
So worth it!
If just using some iron pots and cloth can buy the lives of tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers, it will be a huge profit.
After all, there are only so many Dingkou in the Tang Dynasty. After screening and re-screening, those who can help the Tang Dynasty in the war are very limited.
And among these limited number of people, there are even fewer who are good at fighting.
Therefore, it is definitely a good thing to use a small amount of materials to expand the Tang Dynasty's advantage in conquering the Turks and Tuyuhun, and to reduce the loss of soldiers who are capable of conquering and fighting.
Li Shentong and others were convinced at once. They didn't need to analyze it in detail, but they already knew that Datang's gain in this matter was far greater than the gain.
But Li Gang and others don't think so.
Li Gang saw that Li Shentong and others were easily persuaded, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness, even so, being blackmailed by the Turks will be detrimental after all..."
"What's the loss? Nothing is lost!"
Before Li Gang could finish speaking, Li Shentong puffed up his chest and shouted.
When Li Gang looked at Li Shentong and wanted to denounce Li Shentong, Li Shentong began to talk about his new understanding of the matter, "As the sovereign state of the Turks, I, the Tang Dynasty, captured tens of thousands of Turkic slaves.
, the Turks came over and cried, giving some rewards to the Turks, just as compensation, to appease the Turks. What's wrong?"
Li Gang was dumbfounded by Li Shentong's words.
Without being so shameless, you are obviously being blackmailed, how could you speak so fresh and refined?!
"King Huai'an, you also said that the hundreds of thousands of Turkic slaves in our Tang Dynasty were captured, so why should our Tang Dynasty compensate the Turks? Could it be that they invaded our Tang Dynasty and were captured by our Datang Dynasty and used as prisoners?
Isn’t it impossible for me to be from the Tang Dynasty?”
Seeing that Li Gang was shocked by Li Shentong's shamelessness, Pei Ju couldn't help but help him.