Tibet

The next morning, Li Ye came to the government office and summoned military advisor Li Mi.

Not long after, Li Mi hurriedly came to the official office, bowed and said: "See you, Your Highness!"

"Commander, please sit down!"

Li Mi sat down and asked with a smile: "Will His Highness bring some people there this time?"

Li Ye nodded, "Take the military department here first this time, and then go there next time for government affairs, transportation, and supervision."

"Is it because of safety issues?"

Li Ye shook his head, "It has nothing to do with safety. It's mainly due to the lack of government offices and official residences. They are being built now. Next time we go there, they will almost be completed."

"His Highness's decision to place his foundation in Jincheng is indeed a wise decision, and we all very much agree with it."

Li Mi originally wanted to find an opportunity to persuade Li Ye that it was not appropriate to put his base in Zhangye. There were too many barbarians there and they were far away from the Central Plains, so they could easily be marginalized. Unless they wanted to develop into the Western Regions, that was fine.

But His Highness has not given up on his quest to dominate the world. As a member of the Li clan, he is fully qualified and has the opportunity to succeed the Tang Dynasty.

Unexpectedly, His Highness chose Jincheng County, which really made everyone overjoyed.

"What's going on in the court now?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

Speaking of major events in the court, Li Mi sighed: "Your Highness is indeed right as expected. Shi Siming has indeed rebelled again."

When they were in Xiangyang, they received news that Shi Siming voluntarily surrendered to the court, so the emperor was eager to deal with Xiangyang. However, Li Ye told everyone at that time that Shi Siming was pretending to surrender and would rebel again soon.

A few months later, Li Ye's prediction came true.

Li Ye smiled and asked: "What happened to make Shi Siming rebel again?"

"I read Shi Siming's message because the court was not sincere and wanted to kill him. He wanted to surrender, but the court refused, so he had to rebel again."

Li Ye shook his head, "I said that Shi Siming would rebel again for two reasons. First, Shi Siming was guilty of serious crimes, killing more than a million innocent people. His crimes were extremely heinous and unforgivable.

Secondly, Shi Siming himself knew it well, so his sincerity in surrendering was insufficient. Especially when the court publicly executed dozens of people including Chen Xilie and Ge Shuhan who surrendered to Anlu Mountain, it actually cut off the possibility of the rebels surrendering. Lu, Shi Siming was not a fool. Of course he knew that the court would not let him go. His surrender to the court was just a pretext to buy time. "

Li Miwei smiled and said: "According to the information we have received so far, there is actually a third reason, which is that the opinions within the imperial court are not unified. It is said that the emperor is willing to compromise and accept Shi Siming's surrender, but the Political Affairs Hall is firmly opposed, and in the end the emperor has to give in. Pretending to accept surrender.”

Li Ye took a few steps with his hands behind his back and sighed: "There is actually a big problem hidden here! Did the military advisor see it?"

"Your Highness said that the Emperor's character is too weak?"

"The emperor's weakness is not only a matter of his character, but also involves the issue of the power of the prime minister and the power of the monarch. The emperor's improper position and lack of prestige make the power of the emperor currently greater than the power of the monarch. In the end, the emperor will inevitably rely on the eunuch group to fight against the imperial court. Now Li Fuguo, Yu Chaoen, and Cheng Yuanzhen have gained power, and the signs of the eunuch group have emerged. Once the eunuch group seizes the army, the Tang Dynasty will sooner or later become a world dominated by eunuchs."

Li Bi said slowly: "The system of three provinces and six ministries is originally a system of balance between the monarch and the emperor. The power of the political hall and the power of the emperor are clearly distinct, and each has its own limitations. The centuries-old prosperity of the Tang Dynasty is due to the balance between the monarch and the minister.

In the late Kaiyuan period, the monarch and the prime minister began to become unbalanced, and the power of the prime minister could no longer check and balance the monarch's power. The root cause was that the Taishang Emperor introduced the bachelor system and used the bachelor system to compete with the political affairs hall. The military system was destroyed and the court's finances deteriorated. The court had to delegate power to the military envoys and let them handle their own military salaries. This finally led to the Anlushan Rebellion. "

Li Ye nodded secretly. Li Mi was very discerning in seeing that land annexation led to the destruction of the military system of the government and eventually triggered the Anshi Rebellion.

Li Ye smiled and asked: "The nine Jiedu envoys attacked Anyang, how is the situation now?"

Li Mi shook his head, "Yu Chaoen has become the head coach, so don't worry about the outcome! It will inevitably fail."

"Can you tell me more specifically?"

"Yu Chaoen ordered the siege but not the attack, which gave An Qingxu a chance to breathe in the city, but the city could not be captured. He heard that An Qingxu asked Shi Siming for help, and Shi Siming led his army to Weizhou. Yu Chaoen wanted to siege the city and rescue him, but Shi Siming just Without assistance, the Tang army faced off in Weizhou. The Tang army's soldiers are now exhausted, their troops and horses are trapped, and they are full of complaints. The Tang army will definitely lose this battle."

"The military adviser has seen clearly that the emperor's heavy use of eunuchs is the root of failure. If this continues, the Tang Dynasty will become more and more corrupt. If I am not wrong, the prince is also in danger."

Li Mi nodded, "Your Highness is right. Once the eunuchs gain power, they will never allow a new monarch to appear who threatens their interests. The prince is indeed in danger."

This issue becomes a bit more subtle. The emergence of a wise and powerful monarch in the Tang Dynasty is definitely not a good thing for Li Ye. Only when chaos occurs will he have a chance. The eunuch's monopoly is what he expects.

Li Ye changed the topic, he smiled and said: "This time during the expedition to Longyou, I found that the Tubo army was not as strong as I thought. Why do you think this is the case?"

Li Mi pondered for a moment and said: "I have actually considered this issue. I think there are three reasons."

Li Ye asked his staff to change a cup of tea for Li Mi and said with a smile: "I'd like to hear the details!"

Li Mi organized his thoughts and said slowly: "The first reason is that thanks to the successive Longyou armies fighting against the Tubo army in the past dynasties, by the thirteenth year of Tianbao, the Tang Dynasty had occupied the entire Dafeichuan. Your Highness should be in the Western Regions I also feel that the Tibetan army does not have many troops. Your Highness, think about it, is this true?"

Li Ye nodded, "You are right. Whether it is attacking Qiemo City, Gasi Grassland, or Big and Small Bolu, the Tubo army is surprisingly small. There are only one or two thousand troops. They were all before. There are tens of thousands of troops.”

Li Bi said with a smile: "This is the important reason. The Tubo army has basically been depleted, and Tubo has a population of more than one million. The Tang Dynasty and Tubo have been at war since Wu Zetian's time, which lasted for sixty or seventy years. Even if the Tuyuhun people were finally conquered, , received part of the military replenishment, but it was impossible to continue to fight against the Tang Dynasty, so in the thirteenth year of Tianbao, Tubo had exhausted its military strength and began to be completely defeated, shrinking from Longyou, Anxi to Jiannan."

Li Ye thought for a while and said: "Then why did Tubo suddenly send an army of 200,000 to fight for Longyou, Hexi and Shuofang?"

"This is the second reason I want to talk about. The troops directly belonging to the Tubo court were basically wiped out in the thirteenth year of Tianbao. However, the Tubo nobles still had troops. However, the Tubo army had been defeated repeatedly in the past, and these nobles were unwilling to send troops. Help the Tubo court.

However, An Lushan rebelled and all the Longyou and Hexi armies were transferred. When these nobles found it profitable, they were willing to send troops to assist the Tubo court. Including the Tubo army, the Tuyuhun and Tubo Han people they controlled appeared in large numbers.

But these nobles would never send out real elite troops, they would definitely send out old and weak troops, so the combat effectiveness of these soldiers was far inferior to the previous Tubo soldiers. "

Li Ye thought about it and this was really the case. The 10,000 Jingxiang new army led by Lei Wanchun could defeat the 5,000 Tubo army. This shows that the combat effectiveness of the Tubo army has dropped significantly.

"Teacher, continue!"

Li Mi smiled and continued: "The intention of these Tubo nobles is to plunder the population and wealth, not to occupy and conquer Longyou and Hexi, so they deploy their troops in dots. This is a typical scattered and plundering deployment of each tribe. , which goes against the wishes of Tubo Zampu.

So Tubo Zamp found an opportunity to revoke the still-interested coach position and appointed Ma Chongying to Longyou. However, Ma Chongying had just taken office not long ago and had not had time to change, or he could not find a reason to change.

His Highness appeared at this time and took advantage of the opponent's point-like deployment of troops to eliminate 20,000 Tibetan troops by defeating each other. Ma Chongying took the opportunity to seize military power, hold all the troops in his own hands, and concentrate them in Shanzhou. "

Li Ye sighed, "The military advisor has a very thorough view. Judging from the current performance of the Tibetan army, these are indeed the problems."

"Actually, there is a more important reason!"

Li Mi gave it a try and said with a smile: "Your Highness, you might as well take a guess. You should be able to guess it."