Lu Dongzan thought for a while and said: "My lord, this is of little significance, and the capital has just been moved. We should vigorously cultivate fields and dredge rivers. At this time, we should focus on developing ourselves, and it is better not to create extraneous branches."
Songtsen Gampo knew that what Lu Dongtsen said was reasonable, but he was a little unwilling to do so.
Songtsen Gampo fought in various places when he was a boy. He not only put down the rebellion of the tribe, but also brought Tubo into prosperity.
This also made Songtsen Gampo a little arrogant. The Tang Dynasty first rejected his proposal, and then prevented him from annexing Tuguhun. It can be said that old hatreds were added to new ones.
Now that there is such a good opportunity, Songtsen Gampo naturally wants to cause trouble to Datang.
But what Lu Dongzan said makes sense. Although doing this would cause trouble for the Tang Dynasty, it would not benefit itself, and the mobilization of troops and horses would also consume food and grass.
Partly emotional and partly rational, Songtsen Gampo was a little hesitant.
Lu Dongzan knew Songtsan Gambo's character of beating people very well, and said: "Does the ruler want short-term pleasure, or does he want to take revenge on the Tang Dynasty one day?"
Songtsen Gampo was startled and said: "The Prime Minister is right. We should develop ourselves at this time. We don't need to pay attention to the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Turks."
…………
When Cheng Yaojin defeated the 100,000-strong army in the grassland, Li Ji also led an army from the western regions into the grassland, wiped out several small tribes, and completed the alliance with Li Daozong.
Chinese army camp
"Everyone, tell me, should we continue to go deeper or wait for the Western Turks to raise their troops to attack?"
Li Daozong called all the generals together to discuss how to fight next.
Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong looked like "Don't ask me."
Li Ji sat there expressionlessly and did not speak.
He is the commander-in-chief of the First Army. Although Li Daozong was the leader after the alliance, his status was higher than the others.
Seeing that no one was talking, Hou Junji stood up. This was a good opportunity for him.
"The general manager, the general, believes that the Tong'e headquarters has been severely damaged by our army. We should quickly advance troops now without giving it time to recover. Otherwise, once Yuanqi troops and Xue Yantuo send troops to assist, they will lose their chance of fighting." Hou Jun
Ji said.
Li Daozong nodded, asked Hou Junji to sit down, looked at Lin Xuan and asked: "Zi Chu, what do you think?"
Lin Xuan stood up and saluted, pondered for a while and said: "General Manager, I don't think it is appropriate to go deeper, otherwise our supply line will be too long, and a large number of troops will be needed to guard the food road. In this way, there will be no way to fight the Western Turks.
Enough cavalry."
In the grassland, if you want to protect the grain roads, you can only send out cavalry.
If the number of troops is small, it is easy for the Western Turks to successfully attack. Once there are more troops, there will not be enough cavalry to fight the Western Turks.
Since ancient times, many armies have been defeated due to problems with their food and fodder.
The importance of food and grass is naturally understood by battlefield veterans like Li Daozong.
Li Daozong nodded and motioned for Lin Xuan to continue.
However, when Lin Xuan was just about to say it, Hou Junji said disdainfully: "Everyone knows what you are talking about, but if we don't march quickly, defeat them one by one, and give them time to unite, what will we do to deal with the West?"
The allied forces of the Turks and Xue Yantuo? The Marquis of Jingyang County probably doesn’t know how many cavalry there are between the Western Turks and Xue Yantuo, right?"
"Once we are unable to open up the situation for a long time and let the war fall into a stalemate, we will have no choice but to withdraw our troops until winter."
"I'm talking about Lao Hou, the general manager asked everyone to speak freely, but before Zichu finished speaking, you came out to refute. Is it possible that you still don't allow others to put forward different opinions?" Cheng Yaojin mocked.
"Cheng Yaojin, please don't mess around. How can military affairs be a piece of cake? He has only been on the battlefield a few times? I am also teaching him." Hou Junji said with a livid face.
"Hey, what does that say? If you listen to both, you will be enlightened, and if you listen to one side, you will be dark. Does it mean that what you said is definitely right?" Cheng Yaojin said disdainfully.
"You..." Hou Jun was so angry that his whole body trembled.
"Okay, now we are discussing the war. If you continue to argue, each of you will go down and get thirty military sticks." Li Daozong said seriously.
"Hehe." Cheng Yaojin smiled at Hou Junji and said nothing more.
Although Hou Junji was very angry, he did not dare to go against Li Daozong's words.
Li Daozong had not led an army for many years, and his prestige in the army was gone. Hou Junji did not want to be the one who stood out.
"Zi Chu, please continue." Li Daozong said.
Lin Xuan cupped his hands and said: "What Duke Lu just said is right. If we don't advance quickly, it will indeed give the Western Turks and Xue Yantuo time to unite. By then we may have to face hundreds of thousands of cavalry.
"
Everyone looked at Lin Xuan in surprise.
Could it be that Lin Xuan was afraid of offending Hou Junji and deliberately catered to Hou Junji?
Even Hou Junji himself was stunned.
"But what if there is someone from the Tang Dynasty involved?" Lin Xuan said with a smile.
"What!"
Everyone looked at Lin Xuan in disbelief.
As the saying goes, a thousand-mile dike breaks in an ant nest. It is easiest to destroy anything from the inside.
If there really is an internal force in the Western Turks army, then the more troops the Western Turks gather, the more miserable their defeat will be.
Li Ji glanced at Li Daozong without revealing any trace, and found that there was no surprise on Li Daozong's face. He knew that Li Daozong had already known what Lin Xuan was talking about.
"Marquis of Jingyang County, I wonder who you are talking about as the internal leader? What is his status in the Western Turks Army?" Hou Junji asked.
"Gong Lu, for the sake of confidentiality, I won't tell you who this person is. I also know this, and what Zichu said is true," Li Daozong said.
"The general is impatient."
Hou Junji knew that he was too anxious. So many people present were surprised by the news, but no one asked Nei Ying's identity.
Once the spy's identity is exposed, whoever asks first will be the most suspicious.
"It doesn't matter." Li Daozong waved his hand and said: "After you all go back, organize your army and prepare for war. With this victory, the Western Turks will no longer have the power to resist, and with this defeat, we can only retreat. So the outcome of this battle is
, also determines the outcome of the battle between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Turks. If anyone dares to slack off, he will be rude to me by the manager."
"Yes!" Everyone responded with serious expressions and stood up.
Li Daozong asked everyone to disperse, leaving Lin Xuan alone.
"I already know about Changsun Chong. Your Majesty has issued an order for Changsun Chong to accept that woman. However, if that dandy boy stays in the army, it will be a disaster after all. There will be a food transport team back soon, and then let him go back together.
." Li Daozong said.
"General Manager, Your Majesty asked Changsun Chong to serve as a soldier in the Valiant Guard. If you let him leave like this, your Majesty will pursue the case..." Lin Xuan said with some embarrassment.
"Haha, don't worry. If Your Majesty pursues the case, I will bear the responsibility." Li Daozong said with a smile.
He looked down upon dandy boys like Chang Sun Chong very much.
If he had been here before, he would not have hesitated and killed Changsun Chong directly.
So now he simply sends Changsun Chong away, out of sight but out of mind.