Chapter 23: One Offense and One Defense
Li Longji relieved the troubles of the south and was in a good mood. He asked Gao Lishi to prepare wine and food, wanting to have a big meal.
He has no appetite for his defeat in the south these days.
What Pei wanted to say was very urgent, but he was not in a hurry.
In just a short quarter of an hour, the rich food had been placed in front of Li Longji and Pei.
The imperial chef's craftsmanship is beyond words, and Pei Dakuoduo was eating.
Li Longji is used to eating it, but nothing is fresh. But because of his bad appetite before, he is now enjoying his food.
Especially Pei was talking to him on the side.
As a member of the hawkish, Pei is obviously very keen on Li Longji's temperament in his handling of things.
In the mood, Li Longji suddenly asked Pei's purpose.
Pei didn't know if he should say it for a moment.
Li Longji obviously misunderstood and said, "Jingyuan didn't come for the matter in Southern Xinjiang, right?"
Pei shook his head and said, "I just want to wait until His Majesty finishes eating, so that you won't lose your appetite again."
Li Longji was stunned for a moment, put down the food in his hand, and said helplessly: "Tell me, I have no appetite now."
Pei stood up and left the seat with a solemn expression, walked to the center of the hall step by step, and bowed, "I came to Chang'an to ask for a fight..."
Li Longji's heart trembled and he said for a while: "Who is the enemy?"
"Arab, Tubo!"
Pei spitted out two national names and five words.
Li Longji's expression became more and more serious.
Gao Lishi on the side also changed color.
"Do you know the current situation?"
Li Longji loosened his fists and clenched his fists, clenched them tightly, and said hurriedly: "This failure in the southern expedition, our army lost 50,000 soldiers, and lost countless equipment, food and grass. The pension after the war was astronomical. You had just advised me to start the war in southern Xinjiang again, and the war in the northeast has not stopped. Now you are going to war with Arabia and Tubo again... The court has indeed developed very well in the past decade, but it can't stand such trouble. Do you know how the Sui Dynasty perished? You are a generation of Wenzong, and you will not know the truth that even if your homeland is big, you will die if you are warlike."
"I understand!"
Pei said resolutely: "There is another sentence that follows this sentence, 'Although the world is safe, forgetting to fight will be dangerous'. It is not that I am wary, but I really have to fight. You know the situation in our dynasty. I know that Tubo and Arabia are even more clear. There is a saying that people who know themselves best are often their enemies. Our weaknesses, Tubo and Arabia are far more familiar with us. Now I can be sure that in less than a year, Tubo and Arabia will definitely launch an attack on our Tang Dynasty at the same time. At that time, the Western Regions will be in a fire of war, and whether Tubo will attack the Jiuqu area of Hexi or Hexi, this minister cannot count, and the initiative will be in their hands."
"For our dynasty, the failure of this southern expedition has indeed not hurt our dynasty. However, this defeat gave Tubo the opportunity to recuperate; this defeat shocked the morale of Tubo; this defeat greatly reduced our dynasty's prestige. For Tubo and Arab countries, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Unless they are foolish, they will sit idly and wait for us to recover. We will sit idly and watch us build the Gaochang Warehouse without any worries about food and grass?"
"This is impossible. The way to use troops is to control the victory or defeat in one's own hands, rather than begging God and Buddha, begging the enemy to make stupid mistakes. It is not that the ministers are warlike and seeking war, but that Tubo and Arabs have forced them to fight."
Li Longji looked shocked, and he finally realized how stupid Nanzheng's decision was.
Finally realized that Nanzheng's failure was not just a defeat at the beginning.
This defeat disrupted the situation in the West.
I made an extremely stupid decision at the beginning.
However, Li Longji's self-esteem did not admit his failure and hesitated for a moment: "Since this is the situation, why can't you just delay it? Besides, defense has a certain advantage. Isn't it more likely to win by fighting based on the advantage?"
Pei shook his head and said, "I have calculated that defense will cause greater damage to our Tang Dynasty. Your Majesty, once the war starts from Tubo and Arabia, it means that they have made sufficient preparations. Needless to say, Tubo's troops are 100,000. Their 100,000 troops will be launched together. If they attack Moliyi, Moliyi will be a nail, which is not conducive to the deployment of the army, and it will definitely not be able to defend. Retreat to the Jiuqu land of Hexi, it will be inevitable. At that time, our dynasty's construction in Jiuqu land of Hexi will be severely damaged. If they really only attack Jiuqu land of Hexi, it will be easy. If they sometimes attack Jiuqu land of Hexi, sometimes attack Hexi, or divide their troops to attack two places and harass the two places, even if they win in the end, these two places will be devastatingly hit."
"And Arabs, it is initially calculated that he is 200,000! The Liangzhou Army, Anxi Army, and Beiting Army have a total of 110,000, plus the forces of the countries in the Western Regions, and can barely raise 150,000. Passive defense is not a problem, but our food and grass problems have not been solved. The pure grain from Guanzhong, Longyou, and Hexi, transported thousands of miles, and maintained the supply of 150,000 troops. I know that I dare not calculate what the amount it is. If Arabs make up their minds and mobilize 300,000 troops, then we still need to recruit troops in the Western Regions. I cannot predict how long it will take to fight this time. One year, two years or three or five years? If there is no need for five years, I am afraid that after three years, our economy will be emptied."
When Li Longji heard this, his face was already a little pale, and he said in a rough voice: "Is there no other way?"
Pei sighed: "Instead of letting Tubo and the big food be dragged down, either take the initiative or the hero cut off his arm and give up the Western Regions directly..."
"Impossible!" Before Pei finished speaking, Li Longji had already slapped the table and said sternly: "It is never possible to give up the Western Regions. I will never repeat the footsteps of that woman, and the Western Regions will never give up,"
The woman Li Longji mentioned is of course Wu Zetian.
The Li family cannot not hate Wu Zetian, but Wu Zetian is their grandmother again, in order to show filial piety.
Both Li Longji and Li Dan have always shown great filial piety to the outside world.
At this moment, Li Longji expressed his thoughts, and it was obviously a little confused.
Pei bowed again and said, "There is only one battle!"
Li Longji frowned and said, "Then how many soldiers do you need?"
Pei shook his head and said, "Your Majesty still listened to the intentions of me to show that I have never been arrogant enough to fight against Tubo and Arab countries with the strength of our dynasty. My goal is Qinghai Lake and completely defeat Tubo. As for Arabs, I am just passively defending, one attack and one defense. Attack is the territory of Tubo. Setting the battlefield in Qinghai Lake, all losses are from Tubo. In the Western Regions, we are certainly in the Western Regions, but Arabs must capture the nine countries of Zhaowu to truly threaten the territory controlled by our dynasty. This can minimize the losses."
"It is an active attack against Tubo, and an active defense against Arabia..."
Chapter completed!