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

Chapter 890: One day of letting the enemy go will cause eternal trouble
Fang Xuanling was just thinking about going to the Hongwen Hall to make inquiries when he received the call for replacement.

"Who else could the emperor recruit besides me?" Fang Xuanling asked hurriedly when he saw Wang Detong's eyes looking away after he was summoned.

When Wang De heard this, he looked around and whispered, "There is also the Duke of Wei."

"Master Fang, is the emperor worried?"

Seeing Fang Xuanling standing there thinking, Wang De hurriedly said, "Go quickly. In the blink of an eye, the Duke of Wei has disappeared. I have to go find him, so I won't accompany you."

After saying this, Wang De chased after the crowd that was leaving the court.
Without delay, Fang Xuanling walked towards the harem, passed through several palace barriers, and came to the imperial study in Chengqing Hall. He saw Li Shimin walking back and forth in the room with an irritable look on his face.

"Your Majesty, you have summoned me here, but I wonder why?"

Li Shimin handed the military report to Fang Xuanling: "Xuanling, Mobei Heli has an urgent report. More than a month ago, Li Yan, the Right Sage King of the Turks, personally led an army of 800,000 and attacked the Anbei Grand Military Governor's Office."

"The Turks came with great force, and within a month, they almost swept across the northern desert."

"We defeated the enemy and routed their army. We were unable to resist and have been defeated in battle after battle. We have led the remaining troops to retreat to the Yu Dujun Mountain area and begged the court to send troops to rescue us. What do you think we should do? How should our Tang Dynasty respond?"

Fang Xuanling's face changed, as if he was shocked by Li Shimin's words: "Do the Turks have so many people? Why mobilize 800,000 troops at once?"

"Two hundred thousand are the Turkish cavalry, and another five or six hundred thousand are the young and strong men captured from the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Although those people are not very strong in combat and are only used as cannon fodder in logistics, it will be no problem to leave half of them alive after a few battles."

Li Shimin explained in an annoyed tone, then clenched his right fist and slammed it hard into his left palm, with a look of regret in his eyes: "When I was in Liaodong, I just thought that if the Turks got rid of these people, it would make it easier for the Three Kingdoms of Korea to be integrated into the Tang Dynasty, and I didn't think too much about it."

"I didn't expect that these people would be organized into an army by the Turks. In the blink of an eye, they have become a threat to our Tang Dynasty. What a mistake!"

"After Liaodong City fell out with the Right Wise King, the 200,000 dan of grain promised to the Turks was not fulfilled. At the beginning, all the ministers felt that since the Right Wise King replaced Jie Li, the previous agreement would naturally be invalid, and the Tang Dynasty did not have to keep its promise."

"At that time, I felt something was wrong. How would these 500,000 or 600,000 people survive the winter on the grassland? With so many people, the pressure on survival would be so great. If the Right Wise King did not want to kill them, he would have to lead the internal hidden dangers outward, and external invasion would be inevitable."

Fang Xuanling suddenly realized, how could he have forgotten those people?
Hearing Li Shimin's slightly complaining words, his old face turned red. He had agreed to break the contract at the beginning. In the end, the 200,000 taels of gold from the Turks were retained, but this money was the money that Jie Li and the Tang Dynasty agreed to use to buy grain from the Tang Dynasty in the winter, right?

Fang Xuanling had thought about the problem of how those people would survive the winter. He was planning to use this huge burden to drag down the Turks, or to use the Turks to forcibly reduce the number of these people. However, he did not expect that the Right Wise King would take over the power of the Turks and help these people survive the winter.

At the beginning of spring, we are asking for food from the Fubi tribe in Mobei?

As the saying goes, a hungry wolf is as fierce as a tiger. A group of wolves that have been hungry for a whole winter will surely eat Biheli alive.

As the Left Prime Minister, it is his duty to assist the emperor in governing the world. Now that such a big mistake has occurred, Fang Xuanling has no choice but to take responsibility.

"Your Majesty, it's all due to my lack of consideration. Please punish me." Fang Xuanling knelt down and apologized without saying a word.

Li Shimin sighed. Things had already happened. Blaming the minister would only cause a rift between the monarch and the minister, so he helped him up.

"Xuanling, get up quickly."

"I don't mean to blame you. In fact, how could I not know what you are thinking? You are trying to drive the tiger to devour the wolf and watch the fire from the other side of the river. In fact, I am not the same. Since things are not going as we wish, let's think about how to deal with the next situation!"

Fang Xuanling stood up and took the military report. He quickly read it and found that the situation was similar to what Li Shimin said. After thinking for a while, he explained to Li Shimin: "Your Majesty, Fu Biheli has been ambivalent about our Tang Dynasty in recent years. He only obeys orders but not announcements."

"Although he has the title of Anbei Grand Commandery, he has never considered himself a subject of the Tang Dynasty."

"According to the secret report of the Jinyiwei, like Yi Nan, Biheli is recruiting soldiers in Mobei and expanding his territory and strength. He has more than 200,000 soldiers under his command and is about to break away from the Tang Dynasty and establish his own regime."

"Although he was a Tang official, he was actually a steppe power just like the Turks. It's no pity that he was destroyed."

At this point, Fang Xuanling sighed and said, "I just thought that he had accumulated strength for many years and was very powerful. Even if he couldn't defeat the Turks, he could at least resist for a while, or cause some damage to the Turks."

"Who knew he was so vulnerable? The Turks had only invaded for a month and he had already lost most of his territory. I really overestimated him in the past."

Li Shimin waved his hand and said, "It's not his fault. The Turks have an army of 800,000, and the strength is far different. In addition, the Right Wise King is vicious and led these people as the vanguard, consuming a large amount of the manpower of the army."

"In fact, in the more than one month since the war began, the Bibi tribe has lost more than 100,000 people, and the Turks have also suffered more than 200,000 losses."

Fang Xuanling curled his lips and said, "Those who died in the battle were slave soldiers from the Three Han in Liaodong. These people are not good at field battles, and if they stay, it will be a waste of food and grass. This Right Xianwang made good use of the waste, which not only hit the enemy but also reduced the burden. It really killed two birds with one stone, and it was a good plan." Li Shimin nodded silently. How could he not see it, but Mobei was too far away from the Tang Dynasty and it was beyond his reach. Even the military report in his hand was only half a month ago. Now another half a month has passed, and we still don't know how the situation has deteriorated?

At this time, Wang De came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the Duke of Weiguo has been summoned by Your Majesty and is waiting outside the palace."

"Quick, call Li Jing in!"

Since the matter involved the Turks, Li Shimin had to summon Li Jing, who was familiar with the grassland and understood the enemy situation, to come and discuss military affairs.

After a while, an old man with white hair and beard, looking energetic, walked in wearing a casual robe.

The old man is the war god of the Tang Dynasty, Li Jing, the Duke of Weiguo. Li Jing is nearly 70 years old. Although he has been fighting for a long time, he is not like the generals who are old and sick and waiting to die at home. Instead, he is full of energy. After years of self-cultivation, his eyes are bright and his hair is white and his face is youthful.

When he was seen in Mount Zhongnan, he was often mistaken by the people as an old immortal.

"Old minister Li Jing pays respect to His Majesty!"

Li Jing strode up to Li Shimin, knelt down and paid a great tribute to him.

Li Shimin smiled warmly, looked at Li Jing with envy at his age, who was still in good health, and pretended to blame him, "It's rare for the Duke of Wei to come to Chengqing Palace, so there's no need to be so polite?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Jing bowed and then stood up at the signal of Li Shimin.

Although he was polite, Li Jing was always respectful every time he met Li Shimin, and he never slacked off in front of the emperor. The greater his achievements and fame, the more respectful he was to Li Shimin. Li Jing was an experienced man and knew that courtesy was not a problem.

The emperor's courtesy is a display of his humility and magnanimity. If I were to take advantage of the situation, it would appear that I have no sense of propriety and am proud of my achievements.

After Li Jing defeated Jie Li in the Battle of Dingxiang, he was indeed a little too successful to be loyal to the emperor. In addition, he falsely reported his military achievements and almost misled the court to launch a western expedition. He was accused of holding his own troops and was suspected of being disloyal.

After returning to the court, Li Jing lived in seclusion and rarely went out. He usually carried the empty title of Guanglu Dafu and cultivated himself in a villa at the foot of Mount Zhongnan, far away from the capital.

As long as Li Shimin did not ask for a replacement, he would never return to Chang'an.

That is to say, at the end of last year, he helped Li Shimin to perform a drama in Liaodong. After returning to the capital and preparing to leave, the Yi people in the west became restless because all the Tang generals were transferred to Liaodong, leaving Chang'an empty.

Li Shimin kept him and prepared to find an opportunity to ask him about Yi Nan.

Before he could do so, the Turks invaded the northern desert, so Li Shimin simply recruited Li Jing to join him.

As the saying goes, those who do great things do not consult with the public. In order to improve efficiency, only one civil official and one military official are needed to basically have a general idea of ​​what is happening in the north. On this point, Li Yan and Li Shimin are somewhat in agreement.

After handing the urgent military report from the north to Li Jing and introducing the situation.

"Ugh"

Li Shimin frowned, sighed and said, "In the Liaodong campaign last year, Hou Junji made a fuss and ended up letting the Right Wise King escape. At that time, I had a vague premonition that the Right Wise King would sooner or later become a major threat to our Tang Dynasty."

"If we let the enemy go for a day, we will suffer for eternity!"

Fang Xuanling also had a dejected look on his face: "Now it seems that the emperor is far-sighted. At that time, I thought that once the Right Wise King returned to the grassland, he would inevitably fight with Jie Li. If two tigers fight, they might both suffer losses."

"If there is a major internal turmoil in the Turkic people, the Tang Dynasty can take the opportunity to send troops north and completely destroy the Turkic people."

"But I didn't expect that the Right Wise King was so clever. He sent someone to assassinate Xi Jie Li halfway through the Hanar grassland. He did it very quickly and efficiently. He also pushed the blame on Yinan and conquered the entire Turkic tribe without bloodshed."

"What makes people most fearful is that this person is not only powerful in combat, but also has a strong mind."

"He did not directly claim the title of Khan, but instead undermined the power of the Khan and brutally purged the dissident forces in the Turkic Khanate. He then pushed the crown prince Shi Luodi to the position of Khan, while he himself controlled the real power behind the scenes."

"In this way, Shi Luodie is still the Khan on the surface, and he is just a powerful official. We don't even have the opportunity to sow discord between them."

"His courage, skill, and scheming are unprecedented in my life. He is indeed an opponent that cannot be ignored!"

(End of this chapter)