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

Chapter 1255 Three Conditions (Part )

Although Li Yan's plan was cruel, it was well-intentioned and showed the kindness of a bodhisattva.

I am afraid that from now on, the Tang Dynasty will have to work hard to govern the country, absorb talents, appoint wise ministers, punish lawlessness, crack down on mediocrity, encourage farming, and develop all industries, striving to build the Tang Dynasty into a powerful empire with wise rulers, virtuous ministers, and the support of the people.

In order to defeat the Turks as soon as possible and completely eliminate the threat posed by the Right Wise King's lineage.

Of course, the bloodlines left on the grassland must also work hard and strive to be the best, whether it is for the purpose of entering the Central Plains and replacing them in the future, or for self-preservation.

The grassland is not a place where you can live in peace. It is more like the Warring States Period in the Central Plains, with princes everywhere. If you slack off, you will be overtaken by other tribes. If a tyrant like Jie Li emerges, he will be slaughtered.

Li Yan could protect them temporarily, but he could not protect their descendants. In order to prevent them from falling into depravity in the future, he had to put a tight ring on them. If they did not want to be hunted down by the Tang Dynasty, they had to be the master of the grassland forever and always hold the mighty army.

This way it can always be safe and last for a long time.

Born in sorrow, die in happiness.

If you want to live long and healthy lives, you must always be in a state of worry, forge ahead, and fight bravely; this is the way of heaven and earth.

Dou Dan and Li Daozon both sighed deeply. They had a new understanding of Li Yan's vision and breadth of mind. He was very difficult to deal with.

Fang Xuanling had a complicated expression, not knowing whether it would be a blessing or a curse for the Tang Dynasty to have such an enemy. He only now realized that from Jie Li to Shi Luodie, and now to the Right Wise King, each one was more difficult and more sinister than the other.

In contrast, Jie Li, who committed murder, arson, extortion of money and food every time he invaded the Tang Dynasty, was the easiest to deal with.

Li Yan's two requests did not involve any money, nor did they require land, cities, people, or military equipment, but they were full of far-reaching intentions and would affect countless things in the future. With his vision, he could of course see how powerful the other party's methods were.

He would rather the other party ask for money, even if it means emptying the treasury again, than accept such conditions.

However, the other party's expression told him that he also knew that these requests were far more important than money, land and cities.

These empty things are meaningless to a tyrant and a reckless man like Jie Li, but they are very important to the Right Wise King who has lofty ambitions and a brilliant mind. As long as the other party has a strong military force, sooner or later they will be able to turn these empty things into real ones.

From then on, a three-foot-long sword was hanging over the head of the Tang Dynasty, and there was also a deadly enemy.

"This last one is much easier."

Seeing that the three people were silent, Li Yan smiled and said, "I know that the Central Plains usually uses checks and balances to deal with the grasslands, but that was the time when foreigners dominated. Under this king's rule, such a thing will never be allowed to happen."

"Shi Luodie and his fifty thousand men are all in your Tang Dynasty."

"If I am not mistaken, based on Li Shimin's vision, he will definitely make peace with Shi Luodie and work together to deal with me. He even wants to support Shi Luodie to become bigger in the eastern grasslands in the future to contain me."

"This king wants you to kill them all to eliminate future troubles."

"Of course, Shi Luodie is now your ally. You will always feel a little embarrassed to attack your ally. It doesn't matter. It just so happens that I have 800,000 troops here. If it is inconvenient for you, I can do it myself and let you watch the excitement."

Dou Dan, Li Daozon and Fang Xuanling felt a sinking feeling in their hearts. They had known that negotiations with an enemy at the gates would not be easy, but the other party's conditions still exceeded their expectations.

The other side did not want money, silk, or food, and even land, cities, women, weapons, and other very important resources for the Turks, but they did not take them. Instead, they only wanted some things that seemed very empty to ordinary people.

The emperor has always been the core link, and the important ministers and nobles in the court are as stable as Mount Tai. Whether the world is in chaos or foreign enemies invade, the ones who die are the people at the bottom, and they are never threatened.

Now, they have such an opponent who does not massacre the lower classes or overthrow the dynasty, but directly targets them.

In an instant, they felt deeply uneasy.

Dou Dan, Li Daozon and Fang Xuanling could only sigh now that it was fortunate that the other party was a member of the Li family. If it was someone they had no relationship with, or a grassland man, with such foresight and great talent, the Central Plains would be in real danger.

Now, the other party's Han identity determines that there is no risk of national crisis in the Central Plains; the other party's identity as a member of the Li clan determines that the Tang Dynasty will not change; the real threat is only the second branch of Li Shimin.

The first point is very important to Fang Xuanling, the second point is very important to Dou Dan and Li Dao Zong, and the third point has nothing to do with them, it is Li Shimin's business. Who told you to kill so happily inside Xuanwu Gate, and not do a clean job outside Xuanwu Gate, leaving a bloodline wandering in the grassland, and eventually becoming a big problem. I didn't expect that the arrow shot twenty years ago would fall on myself twenty years later!
"As long as we achieve these three points, will you withdraw your troops?"

Finally, Fang Xuanling asked, "Well, I mean to withdraw to the grassland, return to the north of the Yellow River, and return the northern part of Guannei Road that we occupied previously to the Tang Dynasty."

Li Yan was stunned by this question, and pretended to think about it, with a look of disquiet on his face. The three people from the Tang Dynasty also began to get nervous. Of course, they knew that they had to withdraw their troops, but where to withdraw to was still a matter of discussion.

Generally speaking, according to the current situation, the Turks are all cavalry, and although there are many people in Chang'an, they are all infantry. On the vast plains, the cavalry gallops vertically and horizontally, and their combat effectiveness is extremely strong, and they can achieve a record of one to ten at most.

This is equivalent to having well-trained cavalry, one thousand of which can break the formation of ten thousand infantry.

According to historical records, in the Battle of Hulao Pass in the third year of Wude, Li Shimin personally led 3,500 black-armored soldiers to defeat Dou Jiande's 100,000 infantrymen, achieving a terrifying record of one to thirty, which shows how sharp the cavalry was.

In the era of cold weapons, cavalry was equivalent to mechanized corps, and had an overwhelming advantage over infantry, which was almost unsolvable.

The northern nomads were able to suppress the Central Plains dynasties because of their countless cavalry.

In the mid-sixteenth century, a small primitive and backward tribe in the northeast still relied on the might of cavalry to devour the advanced civilization of the Central Plains Empire. It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the rise of hot weapons, that the era of bows and war horses came to an end.

Of course, most of the Turkic cavalry at this time were not fully equipped and had poor military discipline. But the Tang army was even more exhausted. Thirty percent of them were young and strong men who were full of anger and fighting for their own land. They were not qualified to stand on the top of the city and throw stones, let alone fight head-on.

Another 30% were soldiers from nearby states and counties, and the real backbone forces were taken to the Western Regions by the Guanlong clans. Only about 40% were combat-ready, but they were not those who were trained to resist cavalry.

Facing cavalry, these people could only take a defensive stance and rely on the solid barriers built by the city and rivers.

In fact, Chang'an was surrounded by the Turks. In this passive situation, the so-called withdrawal of troops was at most a few hundred miles away, giving you some space. If the sky was broken, it would be to retreat to the north of Dingxiang Yunzhong and restore the confrontation situation of the Jie Li era.

Moreover, this time the Turkic army marched southwards, not by cavalry like Jie Li did, but by taking over all the towns in the northern part of Guannei Road. Except for a few that were still holding out, most of them fell into the hands of the Turks.

These are the fruits of victory of the Turkic army's march southwards, fought for with every sword and spear. How can we spit them out once we have swallowed them?
The eastern part of the Central Plains has the Yanshan defense line, and the central Hedong area is even more mountainous, with overlapping dangerous passes and solid as a rock. In the end, the Guannei Road in the Hetao area is flat, with only the natural barrier of the Yellow River and several important towns set up along the Yellow River in Yituo to defend it.

But these are the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn. In winter, there is heavy snow and the Yellow River is frozen. In some shallow places, the ice is very thick, and the Turkic troops can directly walk through the ice, and the natural barriers have become thoroughfares. Therefore, the defense line created by the river is far less reliable than the mountains and ridges, and it has always been extremely difficult to defend.

The Hetao region has always been the main attack direction for the northern nomads invading the Central Plains.

Before the Battle of Dingxiang in the winter of the third year of Zhenguan, the Tang Dynasty built a Great Wall defense line in the central part of Hetao, relying on several criss-crossing rivers, from Lingzhou and Yanzhou in the west to Shuofang and Xiazhou in the middle, and then to Yinzhou and Suizhou in the east.

The area north of the Great Wall belonged to the influence of the Turks, while the area south of the Great Wall belonged to the Tang Dynasty. During this period, Jie Li took the offensive, while the Tang Dynasty mostly took the defensive.

This defense line in the central part of Hetao also relies on the river.

But as the saying goes, rivers are unreliable, and the Great Wall made of stone has firmly blocked the grassland people in the north.

Li Yan thought that people in later generations always stand in the modern era of advanced technology and laugh at the ancients for spending countless manpower and material resources to build a clumsy Great Wall in an attempt to stop the nomadic peoples from moving south. It was really a stupid act.

However, it is unfair to stand on the shoulders of giants and look down on others.

The ancients were only backward in technology, but in terms of thinking, they had reached the pinnacle of perfection.

It is precisely because the feudal dynasty's autocratic ideology was highly developed and firmly imprisoned people's creativity that the development of the times was restricted. The ancient rulers wanted domination and slavery, and the superiority of cannibalism, and did not need freedom, liberation, democracy, development and innovation.

In this environment of thousands of years of isolation and backward technology, nomadic peoples were helpless. The Great Wall was the best solution to the invasion of northern barbarians.

There is the Great Wall and a war is fought every year.

Without the Great Wall, would it be the same if we fought thirty days a month?

(End of this chapter)