The Western Regions were a relatively special existence for the Tang Dynasty.

Although the Tang Dynasty already had a very deep influence here, overall, it was still a group of people from foreign countries who ruled here.

Although the geographical environment here is relatively harsh, many Tang people are unwilling to live here.

In fact, this is not exactly the case.

Around the Yili Basin on the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the climate is actually very good.

There are abundant water and grass here, which is completely suitable for human habitation.

So the Western Regions are actually not as barren as ordinary people think.

The Western Turks were able to survive for so many years, but they relied on the Western Regions to continuously transfusion blood to them.

Even now, the Western Turks still have some territory in the Western Regions.

However, the Western Turks at this time are no longer the same concept as the Western Turks twenty years ago.

They honestly surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and dared not have any other thoughts.

But they have no other intentions, which does not mean that the Western Regions will be peaceful.

The Tubo Kingdom was hit by the Tang Dynasty in the former Tuyuhun and Jiannan Road. The clever Lu Dongzan and Songtsen Gampo knew that there was no way to compete with the Tang Dynasty directly, so they chose to focus their development on the west and south.

On the one hand, they continued to erode the power of the various kingdoms in northern India, and on the other hand, they continued to expand in the Western Regions.

After so many years of hard work, the strength of the Tubo country has not only not declined, but has become much stronger.

To be honest, the influence of Tubo in the Western Regions is no less than that of the Tang Dynasty.

There are actually quite a lot of conflicts between the two sides.

When Li Kuan just became the crown prince, he was already considering dealing with the Tubo people.

However, before Li Kuan could take any action, the situation in the Western Regions had changed a little more.

The covetousness of the areas that accumulated a lot of wealth on the Silk Road in the Western Regions has accelerated the pace of advancing to the East.

In the original history, the conflict between the Dashi Empire and the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions should take another ten or eight years.

But now it's already ahead of schedule.

These conflict news naturally reached Chang'an City as fast as possible.

To this end, Li Kuan rarely convened a large group of civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures.

"Your Highness, there are so many countries in the Western Regions, and some wars occur every year.

This time, there seems to be no difference, right?"

Tang Jian, the Minister of Revenue, disliked war the most.

If there is a Tang Dynasty Royal Science and Technology Award Peace Prize, there will be no problem to award it to him.

Because war means that the Ministry of Revenue needs to spend money.

Tang Jian felt heartbroken as the silver flowed out of the treasury.

"Shangshu Tang, this time the situation is different. The other party is the Great Food Empire.

This is a new force that has risen in the extreme west, and its territory is no less than that of our Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, their soldiers can win every battle and rarely lose.

If we regard them as ordinary vassal states, we will suffer a great loss."

As a general trusted by Li Kuan, Xue Rengui is now in the military with the improvement of Li Kuan's status.

Otherwise, he would not dare to stand up and refute Tang Jian directly.

You must know that Tang Jian was already the Duke of the Tang Dynasty during the Li Yuan period.

Although he was not very well-known in later generations, his influence in the Tang Dynasty was actually not small at all.

"Rengui is right. This conflict is different from the past.

His Highness the Crown Prince once said before that in this world, the two countries are the most posing a threat to our Tang Dynasty.

One is the Tubo Kingdom, and the other is the Dashi Empire.

The Tubo Kingdom is just southwest of us, and everyone can feel their harm more intuitively.

In recent years, the Tubo Kingdom has not had many conflicts with us in the Western Regions.

However, compared with the Tubo Kingdom, the Dashi Empire is actually stronger.

As can be seen from the globe, their land area is actually very vast.

The most important thing is that the system they implement is completely different from ours. They have very special things to restrain their soldiers and the people.

Although we do not agree with these things, we can control our team well.

If you carefully study the development history of the Dashi Empire, you will find that the time they started was closer to that of our Tang Dynasty.

Their development speed is also similar to that of our Tang Dynasty.

To be honest, both of our countries are emerging and rising powerful countries.

The conflict between two such countries is destined to be different from other conflicts."

Su Dingfang also stood up next to him to support Xue Rengui.

Many people realized at this time that Li Kuan's influence in the army had been so profound.

Not to mention Xue Rengui and Su Dingfang, nor to mention Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong.

Even excluding Qin Qiong and Niu Jinda and others, Li Kuan could exert a great influence on the Tang army by relying solely on his influence in the Tang Dynasty Royal Military Academy.

Now, as the prince of the governor, he is even more legitimate in controlling the military power of the Tang Dynasty.

To be honest, Li Kuan has now initially completed the control of the power of the Tang Dynasty.

Of course, there must be reasons why Li Shimin fully delegated his power.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful Li Kuan is, it would be impossible for him to surpass Li Shimin in such a short time.

"I also agree with Rengui's statement! We must be fully prepared for this conflict.

Now the road from Chang'an City to Liangzhou is very easy to walk, and there is also a cement road from Liangzhou to Suzhou.

As long as the army overcomes the journey from Suzhou to the Western Regions, it can appear directly in front of the army of the Dashi Empire.

Since their people have conflicted with our garrison in the Western Regions, it means that they have been occupied by the people of the Dashi Empire in the west.

This means that a large part of our Silk Road has actually fallen under the control of the cannibals.

Although the caravan can still act now, many of the interests in the middle have actually been taken away by the cannibals.

This is something we absolutely cannot accept.”

As the Minister of War, Li Ji naturally had to stand up and express his attitude.

"There has not been a major war in the Tang Dynasty for several years, so the rapid economic development in recent years has occurred.

Based on the current situation, if we want to successfully defeat the army of the Dashi Empire in the Western Regions, we can even further counterattack the Dashi Empire.

It is estimated that at least 50,000 or even more than 100,000 troops will be dispatched.

With so many troops deployed and crossing such a long journey, it would cost a lot of materials and money.

Although the Ministry of Revenue is not short of money now, I think it is necessary to consider how to deal with the people of the Dashi Empire.

As the leader of the civil servant, Xiao Yu naturally would not let a group of military generals be arrogant there.

Anyway, the conflict between civil officials and military generals is inevitable no matter which dynasty it is.

"Mr. Xiao said that's right. It's precisely because the Dashi Empire is very powerful. The Dashi Empire is relatively dangerous for our Tang Dynasty.

So I think it takes a good discussion on how to deal with this conflict in the Western Regions, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be any decisions today.”

Cen Wenben is now considered the pillar of civil servants.

At this time, it is naturally impossible for him to say nothing.

"What are you waiting for? I want to tell you, I, Lao Cheng, and I, with 50,000 cavalry, went directly to the Western Regions and killed those gangs without leaving any armor, so that they could know that our Tang Dynasty was not that easy to mess with."

Cheng Yaojin couldn't bear it even though he was on the side.

Anyway, as Li Kuan's father-in-law, he doesn't have to worry about the consequences after saying the wrong thing.

Cheng Yaojin's character is careless.

"The troops and horses are going to move first. Even if the court really only arranges 50,000 troops to go to war, there are still a lot of things to prepare.

This trip to the Western Regions is not a thousand miles away. Except for the first half of the road, the road ahead is actually not easy to walk.

Since we have to take action against the cannibals, we naturally cannot fight unsure of the battle.

If you want to fight, you have to beat them up at once, drive them out of the Western Regions completely, and even directly kill them to the land of the Dashi Empire."

Li Ji, Minister of War, was obviously not the kind of impulsive person.

As an authoritative figure in the Tang army after Li Jing, he performed very well in all aspects.
To be continued...