Fu Tang

Regarding Li Guangrui's letter, Li Congjia was not too nervous. In his opinion, the Uyghurs were rebelling at most. Although it was annoying, it was not impossible to deal with it. After all, the Uyghurs did not have firearms.

However, what Li Congjia didn't expect was that the other party would come aggressively. Although they were all poor people, they didn't look like mobs.

These are all the news from Li Hongji. After Li Congjia received Li Guangrui's letter, he asked the intelligence department to focus on the investigation, and then found that there were indeed abnormalities in some marginal areas.

To be honest, it’s not the intelligence department’s fault if we can’t find it. There are few people in the Western Regions. Wasn’t it because Li Congjia was able to counterattack from the horse thieves at the beginning because this place is vast and sparsely populated, no matter what regime it is, it is difficult to manage it?

Even if he is the master of this land now, there is still no way to solve this problem.

These rebels, Li Congjia, really didn't take it seriously. He originally thought that even if the opponent had some knowledge, it was very likely that the original Uighur general was leading him. As a result, when the news of Li Hongji's defeat came, Li Congjia was not very happy for a while. dare to believe.

Although Li Hongji was not at the level of Dinghaishenzhen in the Tang Dynasty, he was still considered a general who was always victorious. Li Hongji had never suffered a loss when he faced the Guiyi army, but he lost this time?

Li Congjia didn't doubt Li Hongji, but went to Shi Xueting immediately, after all, the intelligence department is now in charge of Shi Xueting.

After seeing Li Congjia, Shi Xueting knew what Li Congjia was coming for, and said directly: "It's just a small defeat, not many casualties, mainly because of underestimating the enemy."

Li Congjia frowned: "Brother is not someone who underestimates the enemy."

Shi Xueting nodded: "Indeed, but this time the situation is a bit special, the number of people on the opposite side is more than what we found out before."

Li Congjia asked: "There are too many people? What's the situation? They called more people?"

Shi Xueting shook his head: "No, the extra people are soldiers, not ordinary people."

These rebels are fighting in the name of the peasant uprising, but the peasants who have never been on the battlefield are definitely different from those who have been on the battlefield. This point is specifically stated in the intelligence.

Li Congjia stared: "Can you finish it all at once, so don't whet my appetite?"

Shi Xueting was helpless: "Because I haven't fully found out where the person is, I didn't want to tell you."

Li Congjia stared up at the roof for a long while before asking: "If it wasn't the Uyghurs, it probably wouldn't be the Han people either. After all, no one travels all the way to fight here. Well, of course, except for the intervention of other regimes. The Northern and Southern Zhou dynasties are now in full swing. The Northern Han Dynasty is far away from us, and the Shu Kingdom may not be able to spare now. Jingnan...they are just lingering on their last days. Counting like this...probably only Khotan .”

Shi Xueting looked at Li Congjia and asked, "Did you overlook something?"

Li Congjia asked: "Are you talking about party matters? It can't be them. Let alone Li Guangrui wrote to me, just say that Li Yiyin is not a person who can't figure it out. Datang has begun to take shape, and they won't do it easily."

After all, the current Dangxiang does not have enough strength to build a country. Only by finding ways to protect itself in troubled times can it make itself stronger little by little.

Shi Xueting was helpless, how could he not know that Dang Xiang didn't have such strength?

"It's not the party item, it's Tubo."

What the hell!

Li Congjia was startled: "They came down from the plateau?"

Shi Xueting said: "I'm not sure yet, but now only Tubo is left with spare power. Recently, the Kara Khanate has undergone frequent changes, and the point of the blade is Khotan. Khotan will not provoke himself at this time. A formidable foe."

Li Congjia had a rare ostrich: "What do you say if there is no result yet? Let's talk about it when the result comes out."

It's not that he wants to be an ostrich, but that he really doesn't want Tubo to intervene, because Tubo is now in a state of overall collapse, and it's too chaotic. There are four royal families among them, not to mention various separatist regimes, and even slave uprisings.

Logically speaking, Tubo is not much better than the Central Plains now. It is also a raging battle. It is too late to conquer each other to confirm the orthodox status and expand the territory. They should not have the energy to intervene in the affairs of the Tang Dynasty. However, they did send people to support them at this time. The purpose of the rebel army is probably to target the fertile land in Li Congjia's hands.

However, things in the world are always unsatisfactory, and what Li Congjia fears will happen more and more.

The atmosphere in the Xuanzheng Hall was extremely depressing. From Li Congjia to the ministers below, everyone looked dignified. This is a small court meeting, and all the courtiers who come here are relatively important courtiers, so they know what the word Tubo means. Although the barbarians are now divided, they should not be underestimated.

In other words, it must be a relatively powerful regime that can still get out of its hands to do things at such a time.

Not to mention the current Tang Dynasty, even when the Southern Tang Dynasty was in full swing, they did not dare to provoke Tubo, but now Tubo has come to provoke them.

Li Congjia looked at everyone who was silent, raised his chin slightly and said, "Don't be silent, let's talk."

Li Congjia had already spoken, and everyone had to talk. Zhou Zong, as the chief assistant, had a high position and authority, and at the same time, he had to rush forward to block the gun.

Fortunately, Zhou Zong was not unprepared, he thought for a while and said: "Since Tubo only sent people to support the uprising, it proves that Tubo didn't want to make it clear, as long as we find out which regime did it, we can take precautions." Not too late."

Li Congjia nodded: "Any one of the four royal families is possible. Even if we investigate, what we find out may not be true. What if they frame each other?"

Zhou Zong suddenly asked in his heart: "What does Your Highness mean?"

Li Congjia said with a cold face: "What can I mean? It seems that everyone wants to calm down, so continue to send troops to destroy the rebel army, and then focus on guarding against King Yalongjue."

Han Xizai asked, "King Yalongjue? Your Highness thinks it's him?"

Li Congjia reached out and knocked on the imperial case and said: "The Tubo regime must not be far away from us in the Tang Dynasty where the army can be sent close without anyone noticing. Then the conditions are limited. The land is relatively large and the population is relatively large. It's still very close... I can't think of anyone else besides King Yalongjue of Tubo."

Of course, it's not that I can't think of it at all, but I don't remember it. In Li Congjia's memory, there seems to be only one powerful Tubo regime near here in history. The others have been annihilated in the long river of history with time. Don't remember, that is not strong enough.

As for why I think of historical records... The main reason is that it is too chaotic now, everyone is busy with their own one-third of an acre of land, so how can they have the mood to take care of Tubo?

What's more, when the Central Plains became so chaotic, everyone naturally hoped that Tubo would follow suit, so as to ensure that there would be one less powerful enemy.

Song Qiqiu couldn't help but said: "Your Highness, we can no longer engage in military affairs."

Li Congjia laughed angrily: "Is it me who wants to raise troops? Or are they here to provoke?"

Song Qiqiu had no choice but to say, "If you take a step back, the sea and the sky will open up, and sometimes you will suffer a little bit. Today's Tang Dynasty cannot support the third-line battle."

Li Congjia said lightly: "I didn't say to beat them now, I just asked everyone to be on guard." Seeing that the ministers were relieved, he added: "If Tubo keeps provoking again and again, you And don't make me bear it."

Xiao Yan frowned and said, "Even though a country is big, warlike ones will surely perish."

Li Congjia said coldly: "I just don't want to be the second Shi Jingtang."

Shi Jingtang?son emperor?

The few people who persuaded Li Congjia just now couldn't sit still. They just didn't want Li Congjia to fight Tubo with blood, so why did they still get connected with Shi Jingtang?And taking a ten thousand step back, the place occupied by the rebel army is near Qinghai, and Qinghai is not comparable to Yanyun sixteen prefectures.

Seeing that everyone was restless, Li Congjia said earnestly, "It's not that I don't want to retire, but that I can't."

Everyone looked at each other, and everyone was a little helpless. All the cabinet ministers knew that no matter how much they said here, as long as the king and the Privy Council reached an agreement, there was basically no room for them to object. However, what Li Congjia said was indeed reasonable. Well, after experiencing a series of upheavals of losing land and subjugating the country, these ministers don't want to give up any piece of land, even if there is no one there!

However... fighting against Tubo... none of them have confidence.

Li Congjia shook his sleeves and left. After returning to the Zichen Palace, Shi Xueting said: "All the ministers are trying to persuade you with kindness, why are you angry?"

Li Congjia said: "Who is angry?"

Shi Xueting looked at him with raised eyebrows, although Li Congjia didn't show anger or yell, but Shi Xueting knew him well and knew that he must be angry.

Li Congjia sat down and said: "Hey, I'm just giving them a vaccination. Don't always think about maintaining stability. Now Datang needs to show its muscles. If we take one step back now, some people will want us to take ten steps back in the future!"

Shi Xueting actually understood what Li Congjia meant, he just didn't want to be suppressed by the old ministers, and now the ministers in the court are all very old, and these people are still familiar with each other, which puts a lot of pressure on Li Congjia, For example, just now, almost all the ministers opposed sending troops. Of course, Li Congjia was not so rebellious that he opposed everything the ministers said.

But no matter how you look at it, this step cannot be retreated, not to mention that today's Tubo is not what it used to be, or to be more precise, there is no Tubo at this time, and the Tubo dynasty has long since perished and ceased to exist, even King Yalong Jue'a In Li Congjia's eyes, it was nothing.

Their threat is not as great as that brought by Shu!

Li Congjia's dissatisfaction is that these people are afraid when they hear Tubo's name. How can this be?

Shi Xueting patted his head and didn't say anything, but asked people to continue to investigate whether it was Yalongjue King who did something wrong.

As a result, there was no result of the investigation here, but Li Jingda sent an urgent message: Shu Kingdom seems to be joining hands with Nan Zhou!

When the ministers of the cabinet heard the news, they began to lobby Li Congjia again: You can't fight Tubo, okay, okay, you say they are not Tubo, they are not, no matter who they are, they can't fight anymore, Southern Zhou and Shu joined forces , we will be very stressed.

Li Congjia sneered: "Only they will find an alliance. I will write the letter of credence to Bei Zhou!"

The enemy of the enemy is a friend, unite all the forces that can be united, this is very clear to Li Congjia, he not only wrote the letter of credence to the Northern Zhou Dynasty, but even wrote it to Jingnan!

Speaking of which, Jingnan is also suffering. To be able to establish a political power in the troubled times and survive till now, there is naturally strength, but this strength is not very strong. The reason why Jingnan can be self-sufficient in such a small area is that It was entirely because the regime occupied the main roads of transportation. When Gao Jixing served as Jingnan Jiedu envoy, he started his business by robbing envoys from various countries passing by.

Now that Li Jingjia wants to fight against the Kingdom of Shu, he did not intend to borrow from Jingnan at first, but now that the Southern Zhou Dynasty is joining hands with the Kingdom of Shu, the strategy and tactics of Datang will change, and it is inevitable to deal with Jingnan. It's good to have a letter of credence to recognize their international status, as long as they can make excuses and not hold back, everything can be said.

Li Congjia did not have integrity in some matters, but he was willing to write the letter of credence, and the ministers refused to agree.

What is Jing Nan?Can such a small territory and so few people be counted as a country?

Seeing everyone's opposition, Li Congjia simply said, "Jingnan occupies an important traffic road, how can you borrow the road?"

The ministers thought for a while and had to say: "Then just write a letter."

Li Congjia smiled: "It's because we are asking for others, so it's really okay to put on such a high profile?"

Zhou Zong said earnestly: "Your Highness, we are the orthodox now, how can you admit that others are also emperors?"

Even if you become an emperor, you still have to be called a false emperor. Even if you call him this, you can't do anything to others, you have to show your own position.

Li Congjia thought about the historical reasons and when Jingnan surrendered to the Northern Song Dynasty, and simply said: "Then take Jingnan first."

Everyone:? ? ? ? ? ?

We let you have a higher profile, not Gao Cheng!

I never thought His Highness was so belligerent before, so why do you always want to fight others recently?Can you be a quiet and handsome man?

Li Congjia saw that everyone looked hopeless, touched his chin and said, "Even if you want Jingnan, it's not easy to attack by force. Let Bai Guogong or Zi Tinghou send someone to Jingnan with a lot of money to borrow the way. If Jingnan agrees, take the opportunity to control Jiangling, make Gao Jichong surrender!"

Li Congjia really didn't do it on a whim, the main reason is that Jingnan now has no successors.

Gao Jichong is the eldest son of Gao Baorong. However, when Gao Baorong passed away, he was still too young, so Gao Baorong let his younger brother Gao Baoxu succeed him. As a result, Gao Baoxu went to reunite with his brother just two years after taking the throne. Gao Baoxu died of illness. After that, he can only succeed.

When Gao Baorong passed away, Gao Jichong was just fifteen years old, and he was not good this year.

It's just that in order to maintain the balance on the surface, no one took the initiative to touch the cake of Jingnan. However, it is foreseeable that if Li Congjia takes Jingnan, he will definitely be counterattacked by Southern Zhou and Shu. In the south, Datang can attack and retreat or defend, they will become very passive.

Li Congjia's proposal is more acceptable. After all, this method is relatively bloodless. Now many people think that if you can do it, don't do it.

Since everyone thought this method was good, Li Congjia happily handed over the matter to the ministers, since he was there to come up with an idea anyway.

This idea is not difficult, the difficulty lies in how to control Jiangling, after all Jiangling can be regarded as the stronghold of the Gao family.

Li Congjia gave a little advice on this: occupy the city alley first.

This idea surprised Shi Xueting, he never knew that Li Congjia was so familiar with Jingnan, as far as he knew, Li Congjia seemed to have never been to that place, right?

What Shi Xueting thought was also the thoughts of the ministers. In the end, many people felt that Li Congjia must have made the idea there a long time ago, so they did their homework in advance. As for how early to start making the idea, no one knows. The only thing they can be sure of is Li Congjia. He is a master who takes one step and sees ten steps.

After Li Congjia knew everyone's views, he was quite dumbfounded. He didn't take one step to see ten steps.

According to the normal historical trajectory, the Northern Song Dynasty had been established at this time and began to gradually unify the Central Plains. As a result, Li Congjia was born, and now the Central Plains is still in war. The founding emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty... is working for him outside!

Sometimes Li Congjia also wondered if he had done something wrong. If it wasn't for him, most of the people in the Central Plains would have ended their days of war and displacement, and began to gradually recover and resume production.

But thinking about it carefully, Li Congjia didn't have any idea of ​​fighting for hegemony in the beginning, he just wanted to survive, and he was not just a disobedient one. He never expected to come to this step today.

When the state of Zhou was not divided, Li Congjia would occasionally think about whether he would stay in the Western Regions if he wanted to. Later, when the state of Zhou split, there was no powerful empire in the Central Plains that could unify the Central Plains. This made Li Congjia more determined to return to the Central Plains.

But after all, he feels ashamed of the people in the world, but unfortunately, he can only hide this guilt deep in his heart, even Shi Xueting can't say it.

It's just that Li Congjia's emotion didn't last too long. Datang was regarded as being attacked by the enemy before, but now it gradually took the initiative. After Li Congjia handed over a battalion of firearms to Li Hongji, the so-called peasant uprising had results.

To Li Congjia's surprise, Li Hongji claimed in the battle report that none of the Tubo people he had seen before had been caught!

What is the other party here for?If you really want to make trouble, it seems that this side can't do it, so go to other places immediately and continue to incite the people.

Anyway, if it was Li Congjia, he would do it like this. After all, there are always people who are dissatisfied with the court. And I won’t fight back too much—it’s true that the current border is too vague, even Li Congjia himself can’t say where Datang’s current national border is. Ways to agree on national boundaries with others.

Why did you run away?What are these people doing here?

Li Congjia thought for a long time before he could figure it out, so he simply put it aside. His current energy is mainly focused on the war against Shu.

The news from the Northern Zhou Dynasty came back quickly. Li Congjia wanted to unite with them to fight the Shu Kingdom. Of course they also wanted to unite with Li Congjia to fight the Southern Zhou Dynasty. However, after all, they are two countries. How to fight, how to plan the marching route, and how to occupy the cities Allocating is a problem.

Of course, the most important thing is that Bei Zhou also made a request: I hope that Tang Guo can sell them some gunpowder.

Yes, the main reason why Bei Zhou was able to agree to form an alliance so readily was because he fell in love with the weapons of the Datang Firearms Army.

Li Congjia knew that as long as the firearms army appeared in the Central Plains, it would be impossible to conceal the existence of firearms, and once people knew that there was such a big killer, someone would definitely make such an idea.

Bei Zhou was being polite, after all, he had never thought of taking it by force, and what Li Congjia meant by this was: sell it to them!

Xiao Yan was a little worried: "I'm afraid it's wrong to sell it to them?"

Li Congjia smiled slyly: "I said to sell them, but I didn't say that I would sell them all, and they didn't say which one they wanted to buy. I think Thunder Box is pretty good."

The Thunder Box was created by Li Congjia from the very beginning. It looked very lethal at the beginning, but now it seems that the harm outweighs the benefits. In addition, there are real craftsmen who have started various improvements. The Thunder Box has basically been removed from Tang Jun’s arsenal. retired.

And some thunder boxes made before have been useless for a long time, so I just took this opportunity to sell them to Bei Zhou!

Anyway, Northern Zhou doesn't know what kind of weapons they have. At most, they know about gunpowder. As for the others... Just kidding, Li Congjia's firearms army is not so easy to enter. Everyone who comes in can't wait for the eight generations of ancestors to check Once again, the loyalty and closeness are guaranteed to the greatest extent. It is not easy for other troops to contact them. Want to inquire about intelligence?Go dreaming.

And even if the things they eliminated, it doesn't mean that the quality is not good. Their military industry is still good, but it's just... this thing is a bit picky about the use environment. I don't know if Beizhou can develop more. How to use it.

After hearing this, Xiao Yan felt relieved: Knowing that their king is so shameless, no, no, no, so cunning, they are relieved!

After Bei Zhou received Li Congjia's reply, he was relieved from top to bottom for a while. They wanted to sell gunpowder. First, they were greedy for Tang's new weapon, and second, they wanted to test it. If Tang refused to sell it, then It shows that the Tang State has evil intentions in marching into the Central Plains. If it is willing to sell, it means that the Tang State has no intention of competing with the Northern Zhou Dynasty for the world.

Of course, from time to time, there might be a time when Tang Guo wanted to fight again, but at that time they also had that kind of useful weapon in their hands, who was afraid of whom?

In this way, one sold happily, and the other bought with a happy face, and everyone was happy.

These thunder boxes, which Li Congjia regarded as waste, were sold at sky-high prices. After Li Congjia knew about it, the smile on his face did not disappear for three days.

As a result, at this moment, Li Hongji sent a message: King Yalongjue sent an envoy!