The Turks were divided into two parts: east and west. Among them, the Turks in the east occupy the grasslands in the northern part of the Tang Dynasty, also known as the grasslands Turks. They were destroyed by Li Shimin many years ago. Now there are almost no Turks on the grasslands. The Turks in the west occupy the Western Regions and are very powerful. They once formed an alliance with the Tang Dynasty to deal with the eastern Turks.

However, since Jie Li was eliminated by the Tang Dynasty, perhaps due to fate, the Western Turks began to decline rapidly. Speaking of which, there are many reasons for the decline of the Western Turks, but the most important point is the internal war. Since the death of Tonghu Ye Khan, the entire Western Turks have been fighting endlessly. Khans of all sizes have been held in power, and the Western Regions have become a chaotic group.

In the case of civil strife in the Western Turks, the Tang Dynasty naturally would not miss this excellent opportunity. Therefore, in recent years, the Tang Dynasty has been expanding its power to the Western Regions. Many small countries in the Western Regions also turned to the Tang Dynasty. For a time, the Tang Dynasty's influence in the Western Regions increased greatly, and the Western Regions was a must-pass place on the Silk Road. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty even began to station troops in the Western Regions, further eroding the Western Turks' territory in the Western Regions.

Faced with the advance of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Turks, which had been in constant civil strife, were unable to resist at all. In order to win the support of the Tang Dynasty, they had to deliberately make friends with the Tang Dynasty. Some khans even gave up the original territory of the Western Turks for some selfish interests, which further encouraged the Tang Dynasty's ambitions. If this situation continues, it may not take a few years for the entire Western Regions to fall into the hands of the Tang Dynasty.

However, this situation suddenly changed this year. Originally, the internal part of the Western Turks was severely divided, including two of the main forces, namely Beiting and Nanting. In the spring of this year, Yibidulu Khan of Beiting defeated Yibisaboro Yehu Khan of Nanting, which resulted in the strength of Beiting, and there was a trend of unification within the Western Turks.

As his strength increased, Yibidulu Khan of Beiting also had a surge in confidence. Faced with the Tang Dynasty's step by step, he no longer blindly gave in. However, he was at least a little rational, knowing that even if he unified the Western Turks, he still had no advantage in the face of such a giant as the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, he did not dare to come forward and instigated Gaochang to provoke the Tang Dynasty.

The current King of Gaochang is Qu Wentai. He visited the Tang Dynasty a few years ago. At that time, he did not have a good attitude towards the Tang Dynasty. However, in order to show his own ruling, Li Shimin did not care too much, but instead rewarded the other party.

Unfortunately, Li Shimin's approach was not only not grateful to Qu Wentai, but instead made him feel that the Tang Dynasty was weak and could be bullied and looked down on the Tang Dynasty even more. Moreover, Gaochang was located on the main road of the Silk Road, and almost all caravans had to pass by Gaochang. However, some caravans often encountered attacks from "robbers". It is said that these "robbers" trained, come and go like the wind, and knew the terrain of Gaochang. Every time the Tang Dynasty urged Gaochang to clear out these robbers, Qu Wentai agreed on the surface, but rarely had any results.

Of course, although Qu Wentai is stupid, he is not hopeless. He knows the gap between Gaochang and the Tang Dynasty, so he generally does not touch the bottom line of the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, he also has some support, that is, Gaochang is far away from the Tang Dynasty, and even if the Tang Dynasty wants to attack Gaochang, it is not easy.

However, with the strength of the Beiting Turks, Gaochang also got very close to Beiting. Just this summer, Yibidulu Khan of Beiting lured Qu Wentai and the two sides formed an alliance to attack Yanqi. Yanqi was one of the small countries that were very close to the Tang Dynasty. He even intended to become a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, but he did not expect to be destroyed by the Beiting Turks and Gaochang. Then Yanqi's envoy ran to the Tang Dynasty for help.

In fact, the Beiting Turks are testing the bottom line of the Tang Dynasty this time. If the Tang Dynasty ignores the demise of Yanqi, then more small countries in the Western Regions will definitely be enfeoffed by the Western Turks in the future, and the efforts of the Tang Dynasty will be gone.

So when the envoys who were seeking help from Yanqi arrived in the Tang Dynasty, the court also had a quarrel, and many people supported the dispatch of troops to the Western Regions, giving the Beiting Turks a severe lesson, so that they could know who was the master of the Western Regions!

However, some rational ministers believed that the imperial court had just sent troops to destroy Goguryeo before, and this battle consumed a lot of manpower and material resources. Even if the Tang Dynasty has not yet fully recovered, and the successive foreign wars will give the outside world an impression of war against the Tang Dynasty, which is not conducive to the Tang Dynasty's rule over the surrounding small countries, so they also took a very cautious attitude towards sending troops to the Western Regions.

This matter is not only quarreling in the court, but also quarreling among scholars. Zhongnan Academy and Nanshan Academy are also gathering places for young scholars in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the discussion on the Western Regions here is even more lively. Many young people have expressed their opinions and even wrote long articles on the academy's announcement wall. On the one hand, they express their opinions, and on the other hand, they can also make themselves famous.

In the academy environment, Li Xiu thought it was impossible to know anything about the Western Regions. Some students even took advantage of the class to ask Li Xiu about his views on this matter, which made him unable to avoid this matter at all, so he simply learned more.

In fact, Li Xiu's view on this matter is very simple, that is, he must send troops, because the location of the Western Regions is really important. Even if the Tang Dynasty's maritime trade is developing well now, the Silk Road on the sea is very smooth, but the Silk Road on the land is also important. If the Western Regions are lost, the Silk Road will be in control of others, which will have a significant impact or even a blow to the Tang Dynasty's business. Therefore, the arrogance of the Beiting Turks must be defeated.

However, the Tang Dynasty is indeed worried now. On the one hand, the national strength has not recovered after a war. On the other hand, the Beiting Turks have already shown a trend of unifying the Western Turks. If they now break up with the other side, if they are really unified by him in the future, it will pose a huge threat to the Tang Dynasty.

Especially the second half of the Silk Road was also in control by the Western Turks, so if the Tang Dynasty really broke up with the Western Turks, it would be necessary to win with one blow, and destroy the Western Turks in one fell swoop like before, so as to destroy the Western Turks in one fell swoop, so as not to affect the operation of the Silk Road. However, the Tang Dynasty obviously does not have this strength now. After all, the Western Regions are too far away, and the transportation of food and grass by the army is a big problem.
Chapter completed!