When Guo Song returned to the capital, it was already noon the next day, and the carriage had just stopped in front of the palace gate, and the housekeeper Wang greeted him and said: "This morning, someone from the palace came to look for the envoy, saying that the Son of Heaven had summoned him, and I said that the envoy had gone to the manor and might come back today, so they asked the envoy to enter the palace as soon as possible after he returned." ”

"I see!"

Guo Song helped Xue Tao get out of the carriage and said to her, "You go home first!" I'll go into the palace now. ”

"Won't you finish lunch before leaving?"

"I guess it's a very urgent matter, otherwise the Son of Heaven won't summon me, and I'll eat lunch when I come back."

"Husband, beware of yourself!"

Guo Song nodded, turned on his horse, and galloped towards the city with two followers.......

Half an hour later, Guo Song rushed to the Zichen Palace, and after waiting outside the hall for a while, a eunuch greeted him and said, "Governor Guo is finally here, and the Holy Lord is about to send someone to urge him again." ”

"What happened?" Guo Song asked.

"It seems that the Tibetan envoy came and wanted to help the Tang Dynasty recapture the Hexi Corridor."

This was indeed unexpected news, but Guo Song wanted to know what the purpose of Tubo's suggestion was.

After a short time, he came to the outside of the imperial study, and the eunuch went in to report for him, and came out in a moment and said, "The Holy Lord announced that you have entered!" ”

Guo Song tidied up his clothes a little and walked into the imperial study quickly.

In the imperial study, Li Shizheng, the Son of Heaven, was standing by the wall with his hands in his hands, looking up at the large map on the wall.

Guo Song hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "See Your Majesty!" ”

Li Shi nodded and said apologetically: "Aiqing is newly married Yan'er, but I summoned Aiqing, it is really a big matter, it is related to the future of the Hexi Corridor, and Aiqing must be brought in for discussion." ”

"State affairs are important, and Wechen is at your Majesty's call at any time."

Li Shi was very satisfied with Guo Song's attitude, and he said slowly: "I am looking for you because the Tibetan envoys came, they arrived yesterday afternoon, I asked Han Xiangguo to contact them, and the news that Han Xiangguo fed back early in the morning was that Tubo Yuan sent troops to help us recapture the Hexi Corridor." ”

"What about the conditions?"

Guo Song smiled: "I believe that Tubo is not here to do good deeds!" ”

"They made conditions, and they were very harsh, and they demanded that we give up the four towns of Anxi."

Guo Song groaned for a long time, Li Shi looked at him and asked with a smile, "Do you have any ideas?" ”

Guo Song hesitated for a moment and said: "Weichen has to feel a little strange, Tubo has occupied nearly half of Anxi, and they have now withdrawn their troops from the west of the Green Ridge, it stands to reason that they want to occupy the entire territory of Anxi, it should be said that it is easy to say, why do they want to use the price of sending troops to Hexi in exchange for us to give up the four towns of Anxi, is it necessary?" ”

Li Shidao: "The political hall thinks that the strength of the Tubo State is weak, and it is no longer enough to seize the four towns of Anxi, so it wants to use this method in exchange for the occupation of the entire territory of Anxi. ”

Guo Song shook his head, "I don't agree with this opinion!" ”

Guo Song's statement not only surprised Li Shi a little, but also in his expectation, he smiled slightly, and asked with interest: "What do you think of Aiqing?" ”

"Weichen feels that since the national strength is weak, the national policy should be to shrink, rather than continue to expand, occupy the entire territory of Anxi, and the most unfortunate should be to try to maintain the status quo, so Tubo's proposal is a bit contradictory."

"Can Aiqing see through their true intentions?"

Weichen believes that they may have three intentions, one may be that they are showing weakness, deliberately leaving the impression of their weak national strength on Datang, weakening Datang's defense against them, and creating conditions for them to raid Datang in the future; The second possibility is that they want to surrender without a fight, and wait for the Tang Dynasty to withdraw its troops and cede Anxi, causing the Anxi countries to completely despair of the Tang Dynasty, and then they can permanently occupy Anxi; The third possibility is that they are also fighting the idea of the Hexi Corridor, which makes us think that they are bringing in a foreign aid, but in fact it is a wolf. ”

Li Shi took a few steps with his hand in his hand and asked, "Then which do you think is the most likely?" ”

Guo Song pondered for a moment and said, "Weichen personally leans towards the second possibility. ”

"Tell me why!"

"The first and third are both a kind of tactic, and the role is only temporary, but the second is a strategy, once we really take the initiative to give up Anxi, we will completely lose the hearts of the people, and Anxi will never have a chance with us."

"But the question is, where is the Tang army in Anxi withdrawn? Have you ever considered this? ”

Guo Song bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen has been to Anxi, and I know the situation of Anxi better, Tubo may not let us all withdraw from Anxi, they are likely to propose that we first let Shule and Khotan two towns, and let the Tang army retreat to Qiuzi, it sounds like we can concentrate our forces to defend, and the plan seems to be feasible, but once we take the initiative to give up any town, it means that it is a betrayal of the locals, and the Qiuzi people will no longer trust us, and we will lose the whole of Anxi sooner or later, and it will be completely lost, and we will never come back, Guo Xin personally told me that he would rather live and die with the four towns of Anxi than give up one place, as long as the Tang army never gave up, it would be occupied by Tubo, and we would have to take it back one day, if we gave up, then there would be no chance at all. ”

Guo Song's words made Li Shi wake up like a dream, and he nodded, "The Tang Xiangguo can't think of this, but Aiqing thinks of it, which shows that Aiqing stands taller than them and sees farther!" ”

..........

Guo Song retreated and left, Li Shi paced back and forth in the imperial study with his hands, and the suggestion put forward by Tubo made him heartbroken, if it wasn't for a basin of cold water poured by Guo Song in time, maybe he would really agree, after all, it has always been his dream to recover the Hexi Corridor.

Like all young emperors who have just succeeded to the throne, Li Shi is full of ambition, he is not only eager to recover Hexi, but also to recover Beiting and Anxi, restore the glory created by his ancestors, and let the banner of the Tang Dynasty be replanted in the green mountains.

However, all the ministers opposed the re-opening of the Tang Dynasty to the west, the reason is very simple, the internal instability, Hebei, the Central Plains, Jianghuai and even the Bashu feudal towns are like tumors all over the texture of the Tang Dynasty, seriously eroding the Tang Dynasty's rivers and mountains, making the Tang Dynasty like two imperial courts, and the internal instability of the Tang Dynasty seriously restricts the energy of the imperial court, and also makes it difficult for the imperial court to maintain its financial resources.

Although the confiscation of the wealth of Li Fuguo, Yu Chaoen, Lu Sigong, Yuan Zai and others allowed the depleted finances of the imperial court to breathe, after all, this was only an accidental gain, and it could not last long, and the national strength of the Tang Dynasty could not afford to fight on two fronts at the same time.

It's just that Li Shi is unwilling, this is obviously a rare opportunity, Tubo and Hui are both defeated, Tubo is insufficient, the national strength is weak, and Hui Hui encountered the challenge of Ge Lulu, unable to invade the Tang Dynasty on a large scale, such a good opportunity, but he watched it slip out of his hands, and could not seize it.

Is there a way to recover the Hexi Corridor and recover Beiting and Anxi at the lowest cost?

Li Shi only now realized his father's foresight, and put Guo Song in the position of Ganzhou, Guo Song is undoubtedly the most suitable candidate, just with Fengzhou such a small price to drag Xue Yantuo to death, his father obviously also saw this, he was thinking the same as himself, with the smallest price to recover Hexi and Anxi.

Although the first emperor Li Yu never told his son Li Shi why he wanted to appoint Guo Song as the governor of Ganzhou, Li Shi really realized the foresight of his father in making this decision from the perspective of an emperor.

At this time, there was a eunuch at the door, "Your Majesty, Han Xiangguo is here!" ”

Li Shi nodded, "Xuan him in!" ”

After a moment, Han Yun walked quickly into the imperial study and bowed, "See Your Majesty!" ”

"Excuse me, give me a seat!"

A palace maid brought a soft pier to Han Rong, and Han Rong thanked him and sat down.

"How did you talk to the Tibetan envoy?" Li Shi asked.

"Wechen is here to report this!"

Li Shi nodded and motioned for Han Yun to continue.

"The Tubo proposed a new compromise plan, they could understand that the Tang army in Anxi had nowhere to retreat, so they promised that the Tang army could continue to stay in Qiuci and Yanji, as long as the two towns of Shule and Khotan were ceded to the Tubo, and the Tubo would send 5,000 troops to attack Shazhou, and the Tang army would be flanked from the end to drive the Shatuo army out of the Hexi Corridor."

Li Shi's eyes narrowed, and he asked lightly, "What about the opinion of the political affairs hall?" ”

"The political hall believes that it is difficult to hold the four towns with Anxi's troops, it is better to shrink the troops and hold the two towns of Qiuci and Yanji, Tubo's plan is acceptable, but the key is that Tubo must fulfill its promise and return Shazhou to Datang, the key to this entire agreement."

Li Shi sighed softly in his heart, in terms of strategic vision, the ministers in the political hall are really not as good as Guo Song.

He said slowly: "Doesn't Han Xiangguo think it's strange that a Tibetan envoy can directly decide on a new compromise plan without reporting to Zampu?" ”

"Weichen believes that the so-called compromise plan is actually the real negotiation plan of Tibet."

Li Shi shook his head, "I can't accept any plan from Tubo about Anxi!" ”

Han Yun was stunned, "Your Majesty, why is this?" ”

"People's hearts!"

Li Shi said coldly: "As long as the Tang army abandons any town in Anxi, it is tantamount to betraying the people of Anxi, and we will completely lose the hearts of the people of Anxi. ”

Han Yun couldn't say a word for a long time.

Li Shi took a few steps with his hand in his hand, and continued: "The Anxi Tang Army has been defending the four towns for decades, from young and strong to white, they did not fall on the battlefield, but finally fell on the negotiation table of the imperial court, sad! ”

He turned around and said, "As long as I am still the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, I will never allow such a ridiculous thing to happen!" ”

Han Yun was ashamed, got up and saluted, "The ministers didn't think it through, and they made a mistake!" ”