Although Li Tong raised the problem, he was not responsible for solving the problem, of course, even if he wanted to solve it, everyone might not give up the stage and let him play.

He also understood that although this army went out for a few months without fighting, it was indeed demoralized and homesick, and then directly arranged to go to the border states to defend the Turks, which was indeed a bit harsh, and it would make it more difficult to lift the morale of the army.

In the discussion of the ministers, the opinions of Li Zhaode and Di Renjie are quite representative, and they can be said to represent hawks and doves.

Li Zhaode advocated recruiting brave men in various states, especially Guanzhong, and going north to Shuofang, and once the Turks came to disturb them, they would be given a head-on attack. Di Renjie, on the other hand, advocated sending envoys to the Turks to communicate with Mo Si, and even give him a certain name if necessary, so as to ensure that the imperial court could get through this period of political turmoil as soon as possible.

The two men had their own views and reasons, and at the same time, they also had a group of supporters, which caused the discussion to reach an impasse, and they still did not reach a consensus until the end of today's court meeting.

After the ministers retreated, Li Dan deliberately left Li Tong. This time, Li Tong did not refuse, and rescuing Wang Meichang for a while also eased his relationship with his fourth uncle.

"Back then, there were more than 600,000 people who were armored, who was the enemy in the world! Time has passed, and today, a group of thieves who have lost their country have made me stalemate, and I don't know how to deal with it! Sad, hateful, I'm ashamed of my ancestors! ”

Li Dan met Li Tong in the wing hall of the Guanfeng Palace, waved his hand to screen the people who retreated from the palace, looked at his nephew and sighed.

"The old things are faint and unbearable. But fortunately, now everything is corrected, and I strive to do it, but I want to be worthy of it. ”

Hearing Li Tong say this, Li Dan showed a smile on his face, pointed at this nephew and said: "I really envy Shenzhi, you are young and strong, yes, our uncle and nephew are all enjoying their prime, why be afraid of this short-term danger in front of you!" So what the two ministers discussed, which one do you agree with more? ”

Li Zhaode and Di Renjie discussed, in the final analysis, whether they want to save face or live.

From Li Zhaode's point of view, the Turks were just a group of people who had perished, and it was only under the forgiveness of the Tang Dynasty that they were able to survive.

If this opening is opened, then the Turkic rule over the desert will be more reasonable, and it will also give the border states and the Huhu more choices to wait and see, and the disaster will be long-term.

However, Di Renjie felt that he should focus more on reality, and there were already signs of reckless military force during the Gaozong period, the collapse of the government army, and the lack of a strong army in the country is an indisputable fact, and the long-term political turmoil before and after the Wu Zhou Dynasty also brought serious internal friction.

Under such circumstances, instead of investing a lot of manpower and material resources to maintain order on the borders beyond the core interests of the empire, it is better to seize the time to restore domestic order as soon as possible, first to recuperate, and then to make ambitious plans.

Li Tong also didn't know whether his fourth uncle asked him for his opinion, whether he couldn't make up his mind, or whether it was a test for him, or both. However, he does not intend to hide his secrets on this issue.

"The Turkic thieves are wandering, coming and going are unpredictable, if you use troops this winter, I am afraid that it has already harmed my border city, and the current plan is still a follow-up attack and defense remedy."

Speaking of this problem, Li Tong also has some depression, the Daibei army has a rare opportunity to break through the empty door, but it is impossible to enter the door, and on the way to retreat, he learned that Gu Dulu died violently, and the successor Mo Si has any moves, presumably it has already been put into practice, I just hope that the border states can be properly defended, and do not let the Turks cause too much loss this time.

As for how to guard against the Turks in the future, there is actually a ready-made solution, that is, the three surrendered cities built by Zhang Renyuan in history. In the Tang Dynasty, there was no large-scale construction of the Great Wall, and the construction of the three surrendered cities was itself mainly attacked, but it was only in the middle and late Tang Dynasty after the Anshi Rebellion that the three surrendered cities were turned into a defensive system.

Historically, Zhang Renyuan took advantage of the silence of the Western Expedition and the emptiness of Monan, and took advantage of this gap to rush to build the Three Surrender Cities. Since then, Datang has had an overall border defense and offensive system in Monan, directly squeezing out the Turkic activity trajectory from Monan.

Although the current Turkic activities are also rampant, and they already have a certain strategic initiative in Monan, it does not mean that there is no foundation for building the Three Surrendered Cities at present. In fact, the current foundation is even more superior than the period of Zhang Renyuan in history.

Although Gu Dulu was the leader of the Turkic restoration, the Turks really became powerful during the Mosi period. Especially after the outbreak of the Yingzhou Rebellion, the emptiness of Wu Zhou's power in the north was exposed, which was a rare period of Turkic strength. During this period, Mo Si was officially recognized by the imperial court, and almost all the border states fell to the Turks, and the Turks' movements in Monan were even more rampant.

It was under such circumstances that Zhang Renyuan presided over the construction of the Three Surrender Cities during the reign of Zhongzong Jinglong, which allowed the imperial court to finally have the means to effectively suppress the Turks. The establishment of the Three Surrender Cities is also one of the few highlights of the Zhongzong Dynasty.

As for the present, although the Turks have successfully restored their country and are not a border force that can be completely suppressed in a short period of time, they have not yet reached the level of being extremely difficult to control.

Not to mention the three years of vertical arching, the black tooth Chang broke the Turkic bone Dulu, and Xue Huaiyi fought against the Turks in the north a few times, but all of them did not encounter the enemy, and he did not fight with the Turks at all. On the one hand, it was naturally because Xue Huaiyi was lucky, and on the other hand, the Turks did not have enough strength to meet the army.

Therefore, the current strategic initiative of the Turks is the choice of the timing and location of the Liukou's crimes, mainly relying on the fact that the Tang Dynasty does not have a systematic offensive and defensive system on the southern border of Monan.

After all, Wu Zetian is the heroine of the country, and she does not dare to delegate too much power to the border generals, and she also changes frequently, and there are many chaotic deaths. From this point of view alone, in the process of the restoration and growth of the Turks, Wu Zetian was closer to the Gu Dulu brothers than his own son.

"The Turkic plague is only a disease of the rogues, but if we turn a blind eye and fail to deal with it for a long time, it will become a disaster of erosion. Please send border affairs talents, edge river patrol, build a strong city, take the city as a point, wait for the letter, go straight into the hinterland of the south of the desert, block the enemy's ability to maneuver, in the long run, the thief is bound to be empty! ”

Although Li Tong knew such a good plan to control the enemy as the surrender of the city, he did not understand the specific tactical considerations and location selection so clearly.

But as long as this idea is proposed, the specific tactical implementation can be handed over to the relevant personnel, not to mention anything else, Zhang Renyuan is still in the Anxi Duhu Mansion at the moment, and in line with the principle of shallow Chinese medicine, he can be directly sent to Shuofang for on-the-spot investigation at the moment.

However, after Li Dan heard this strategy, he couldn't help frowning and said: "In ancient times, thieves were guarded by the river, and now they are rashly building a city in the realm of Monan, regardless of the huge waste of morale and the consumption of money and food, if it is used by thieves, I am afraid it will be even more harmful!" ”

Li Dan's question is not unreasonable. A major innovation in the tactics of the three surrendered cities is to build the city in the hinterland of the Monan grassland, although before the Tang Dynasty, there were similar buildings to the surrendered city, but it was really a veritable surrendered city, and it was a place to accept the surrender of Mobei Hulu, and it did not have too strong strategic significance in itself.

The reason why the three surrendered cities can play such a high strategic value, in addition to the innovation of the tactics themselves, there is another important reason, that is, it must be matched with the already strong military combat effectiveness of the Tang Dynasty.

At the very least, whether it is the Turks or other Hu people, when they are enemies of the Tang Dynasty, they have never formed a nomadic suppression of the agricultural people.

Therefore, the three surrendered cities essentially directly advanced the advance line of the Tang army to the hinterland of Monan, otherwise it would be difficult to form such a difficult strategic suppression with only three cities and a number of Fengbao.

As for building and maintaining the city in the hinterland of Monan, it will cost a lot of money, that's for sure. But compared to the Turks' unscrupulous rampant invasion of the border states, these costs are really not worth mentioning.

If the Turks are not effectively restrained and blockaded now, then the price to be paid in the future will be enormous, and it is far from the cost of the three surrendered cities to fill this big hole.

"The ministers are born and the descendants of the heavenly family, and they have all the food and clothing to rely on, so they don't need to enjoy the wealth of the big city. I am willing to donate all the seals to the country, and I only want the border towns to be peaceful, and the thieves do not dare to go south to herd horses! ”

Li Tong stood up and bowed, and Zhengse said.

At present, it is very difficult to directly ask the imperial treasury to allocate money and grain to build a city in Monan, which Li Tong knows very well. However, the sooner the city is built, the sooner it will benefit, and this is urgent.

Li Tong is currently sealed with 2,300 households, and he is the richest man in the clan. But to be honest, apart from the vanity of having the highest number of actual seals, he doesn't really care much about the actual amount of income. If you really don't have money to support your family, it's a big deal to eat soft rice.

Moreover, Li Tong also wanted to suppress the trend of flooding. Although the national power became stronger and stronger in the Kaiyuan period, the direct income of the imperial court did not increase proportionally, mainly because the clan magnates occupied a large amount of tax income.

Although the treatment of the clan in the Tang Dynasty was far inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty in later generations, the feudal treatment of the clan was also a rather heavy financial burden. Before Zhenguan, the imperial court was still relatively restrained in this regard, even if the prince ate less than a thousand households.

However, in the Gaozong period, in order to win over the clan, it was a little out of tune, and the basic princes were all sealed by thousands of households, and all the sons and daughters of Wu Zetian were also sealed. But the problem is not too big, after all, soon those clans were killed by Wu Zetian, and his son was merciless.

The real flood of real seals in the Tang Dynasty began from the Zhongzong Dynasty. Li Xian, the emperor, was already lacking in confidence, so he only used this to show his favor, and the princesses such as King Xiang, Taiping, and An Le all started from 7,000 households. And those clans that were killed by Wu Zetian were all able to continue their heirs and be sealed, which was even more superior to the previous ones.

The Kaiyuan period also inherited this policy, and Li Longji's brothers were all from 5,000 households, and even Li Shouli's big treasure was mixed with 1,800 households. Although the later princes and grandsons were reduced to 2,000 princes and 1,000 princesses, they were more than double compared with the early Tang Dynasty. Not to mention that there are a large number of coup heroes, who also have to be sealed.

Li Tong is now willing to donate his fiefdom to build the Three Surrender Cities, in addition to carrying forward the style and defending against thieves and thieves, he is also planning for himself.

In short, Lao Tzu will be the master of the house in the future, and it will never be so thickly sealed. The clan is pleasing to the eye, and rewarding some wealth can also promote economic consumption, but whoever wants to directly receive thousands of households, it is absolutely impossible!