The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1208 Development of the Situation (Part )
You say Li You has no contribution, right? In the past six months, he alone recovered most of the Tang territory, including half of Shandong Province.

But if you say he has merit, he didn't inflict any losses on the Turkic cavalry, which were only tens of thousands of them, who were plundering the Tang territory. You can't say that, because it is natural that infantry can't catch up with cavalry, and it's good enough that he didn't suffer a big setback. What else do you want?

However, in the past, when the northern nomads invaded, the people who suffered the most were the common people, followed by the soldiers, and finally the nobles and wealthy families.

Now the situation is reversed, the nobles suffered the most, the soldiers were more than able to protect themselves, and the common people benefited greatly. This also made the court fail to adapt to this new way of war in time, which turned the serious illness into a chronic disease.

Several people in the court advised to remove Li You and replace him with more capable people to suppress the bandits.

With Li Yan's deliberate indulgence, everything was delayed for various reasons. The biggest obstacle was the wrangling among the various forces in the court. I blocked the person you recommended, and he tripped up the person I recommended. In the end, no one could gain any advantage.

It had to be put on hold again and again until half a year had passed.

In fact, Li Yan saw this situation very clearly. The reason why such a strange situation arose was due to special external circumstances.

This war was very strange. The Turks conquered half of the Tang Dynasty, but lost territory as they fought, and have not yet completely occupied any place. There was no wanton burning, killing, and looting as in previous invasions from the south, and the damage to the local area was minimal.

Even the people's spring ploughing was not affected. The Tang Dynasty and the Turks fought for more than half a year, but in the end not an inch of land was lost, and there were no large numbers of refugees injured by the war.

In order to prevent the Turks from going crazy and disrupting the internal affairs of the Tang Dynasty, the court did not resort to excessive military expansion. With many considerations, the war within the Tang Dynasty did not escalate into a full-scale war, and it remained a localized festering war, and the pressure on the court was not that great.

Of course, the most important thing is the game and constraints among the three major internal aristocratic circles.

After losing the main force of Longxi Flying Cavalry, the Guanlong clan was seriously injured. Although Li Yan's marriage with Wei clan temporarily stabilized the situation, the Shandong clan and the Jiangnan clan still united in the court and continued to squeeze the Guanlong clan's cake.

Under such circumstances, the leaders of the Guanlong clans flexibly adjusted their previous idea of ​​​​eliminating the Turks as soon as possible, and did the opposite. They temporarily condoned the Turks' plundering in order to divert conflicts in the court and weaken the other two families.

With the indulgence of the Guanlong nobles and Li Yan's arrangement, the Turks were able to successfully move south to capture cities and territories. The war for land distribution in Hebei spread to eastern Henan, and even spread to both sides of the Yangtze River and Huai River and the hinterland of Jingxiang, implicating the Jiangnan nobles as well.

The Hebei nobles, who were the first to suffer, interfered in the war in order to balance the power. This delayed the emergence of the court's anti-enemy strategy and forced the Central Plains into a disastrous war.

At the beginning, it was the Hebei nobles who actively demanded an end to the war, while the Guanlong nobles and the Jiangnan nobles watched from the other side and watched the fire and the boat capsize; in the middle, the Guanlong nobles wanted to wipe out the Turks as soon as possible, while the Jiangnan nobles and the nobles in the occupied areas of Hebei secretly hindered them.

Now, the Jiangnan nobles are affected and are clamoring to eliminate the Turks as soon as possible, while the other two families are finding all kinds of excuses to watch the Turks plundering the Jianghuai area with glee.

Since losses are inevitable, it is better for everyone to share the hardship. After their strengths have been weakened, the Guanlong clan will still be the boss, the Hebei clan will still be the second, and your Jiangnan clan will still be at the bottom.

As a result, this war dragged on for more than half a year and implicated half of the country.

After half a year of delay, everyone has discovered that the Turks are not interested in grabbing territory or even wealth, and they avoid the court and the people just to attack the nobles. On the surface, the Turks have not gained any advantage in the past six months.

The Tang Dynasty did not lose anything. Invisibly, the scale of land flowing from the nobles to the people became larger and larger. If the Turks continued to make trouble, the nobles in the world would no longer have the prestige they once had. Without land, there would be no people, and without people, there would be no soldiers and power.

In the end, even if they can survive, they will just become wealthy families.

After the Turks moved south, the imperial court sent troops and officials to take over Hebei, which was also very smooth. When they intended to take back the land, they would have huge conflicts with the local people. Officials who went to the countryside were beheaded from time to time, and there were even incidents of people attacking the county government.

Now the government realized what a mess the Turks had left them. In addition, these lands belonged to the wealthy and powerful, who gathered in Chang'an and dared not go back, so there was no need for the court to offend the people for them.

If a civil unrest breaks out, they will be the ones to suffer the consequences.

Therefore, in order to stabilize the situation, the court did not issue any rigid regulations on the distribution of land for the time being, but kept it on hold, waiting until the Turks were completely eliminated.

Seeing that if this continued, the three families would kill each other, and all of them would be victims, which would benefit the royal family. Therefore, the three families had frequent contacts recently, and quickly mediated and compromised, and decided to end this situation.

Of course, it was also because the three families had been weakened to varying degrees and had once again reached a balance of power. If they were allowed to continue, they might completely get out of control, which was why there was a 'right opportunity.'

"Your Majesty, I am here to investigate the case of Prince Qi Li You."

At this time, Liu Bo took out a memorial from his arms. Wang De hurried forward to take it, turned around and handed it to the emperor behind the desk.

Li Yan took it with his hand, but did not open it. Instead, he put it on the table and said softly, "I wonder what Liu Qing's family wants to report to the King of Qi. Since everyone is here, you can tell us?" "Yes, Your Majesty."

Everyone knew that the main event was about to begin, and they immediately fell silent and looked over. Liu Bo said, "Your Majesty, the King of Qi has been leading the army for half a year, but has been unable to wipe out the remaining Turkic troops. This has caused the Turkic bandits to invade Jiangnan, Jianghuai, and even the Jingxiang area has been implicated."

"These are all important tax collection areas for the imperial court. Due to the war, the imperial court's tax revenue has been greatly reduced."

"Tens of millions of people in Hebei, Henan, Jianghuai, Jingxiang and other provinces wailed in agony under the iron hoofs of the Turks, with no way to survive."

"But Li You ignored everything. I report that he neglected his duties, delayed military operations, failed to suppress the bandits, and even had the intention of raising his own crown and using it to plunder the local area. I request that the emperor summon him back to the capital to punish him."

Li Yan's eyes jumped, but he was slightly relieved. These people thought that Li You had selfish motives, but they only thought that he was taking the opportunity to make money. No one thought that Li You had ulterior motives and intended to rebel. This shows that these people did not realize the importance of the problem.

Then Li Yan suddenly realized that he was guilty and was afraid that his intentions would be exposed.

In fact, given Li You's current situation, no one would have thought that he would have such great ambitions.

In the current Tang Dynasty, with the Empress Dowager Zhangsun as the leader, himself as the emperor on the throne, and a legitimate son in a fiefdom, he, an unpopular prince among the illegitimate sons, had no chance of being associated with the throne at all.

If not for this, he would not have been allowed to lead troops in Shandong.

Of the 500,000 infantrymen in Hebei, only 200,000 were actually under Li You's control. He also had to follow the Turks everywhere, and he did not recruit soldiers on his own to expand his power, nor did he establish his own territory to win over the people.

Li You is now no different from an ordinary general. Given his situation and strength, it is hard to convince people that he is rebelling.

Li Yan felt relieved and looked at the others and asked, "What do you think of what Liu Qing's family said?"

"Your Majesty, I also feel that the Prince of Qi has made very little progress in leading the army over the past six months."

Cen Wenben said: "Since the Turks entered the Tang Dynasty last year, their 300,000-strong army has been destroyed after a long battle, especially the two major battles in Jizhou. Only tens of thousands of remnants are left, and they are fleeing in panic."

"These people should have been defeated in one battle, but the King of Qi has been chasing them for half a year and still hasn't eliminated them. He is really too incompetent. We can investigate whether Li You has ulterior motives. As for the charge of ineffective suppression, he is guilty. Therefore, I second Lord Liu's suggestion."

"Humph"

Xiao Yu also snorted coldly at this time and scolded: "Li You is a waste, a mere remnant of a defeated army, but he has an army of 200,000 and is fighting in the heartland of our Tang Dynasty. It can be said that he has the best of both worlds, but he dragged it out for so long."

"If any other veteran had been in his place, I'm afraid Shi Luodie, the Turkic pseudo-Khan, would have been beheaded long ago."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I also suggest that you invite the Prince of Qi back to the capital."

Seeing that the time was right, Zhang Xuansu also encouraged, "Since the beginning of spring, the weather has gradually warmed up, and the condition of the Grand Commandant Hou Junji has gradually stabilized. I think we can call back the King of Qi and let Hou Junji lead the troops. We will definitely win the battle and completely eliminate this group of bandits."

"I second the proposal!"

Ma Zhou and Zhu Suiliang also cupped their hands and said, "I agree. We cannot allow the Turks to continue making such a fuss."

Sure enough, as long as the three major clan circles agree, they can react quickly, which is reflected in the high-level meeting in the Imperial Study. Before, these people were arguing with each other, saying that the King of Qi had no merits but hard work, and it was not easy to chase the Turks in the open air.

Now he has been labeled as useless and incompetent, and everyone is condemning him.

In the process of power game, the speech of each participant may not reflect their true thoughts, but may just be an excuse for making conditions and seeking benefits. As long as the goal is achieved, the previous expression can be regarded as fart.

It's really dirty.
"Ah."

Li Yan nodded, and at the same time, he asked hypocritically with an embarrassed expression on his face: "I agree with what you all said. However, my fifth brother often sends military reports, saying that the soldiers are having a hard time chasing the enemy."

"They are also very dedicated and responsible. In every encounter, they can more or less annihilate a lot of Turks. I don't praise them, but now I have to issue an imperial decree to punish them. Will it hurt the morale of the soldiers on the front line?"

(End of this chapter)