"What are you going to do with this Khotan?" In the Chang'an base camp, the cabinet was busy approving the final plan, and the law court was busy all winter because it wanted to popularize the branch plans of the law courts in various places and implement the three-level trial and approval of the confirmed cases proposed by Li Xuanqing. After the implementation of the plan on the side of the General Staff, there was not much to do, and all the matters on the Anxi side were also handed over to Xuan Yingwei and the General Staff to deal with on their behalf. And when Wang Houchun and Zhao Si returned to Shazhou, Li Xuanqing was entangled in Khotan's disposal plan when they were transmitted back to Chang'an. In fact, at the beginning, according to Xuan Yingwei's previous plan, Khotan was actually a target that could be wooed, because Khotan had a bad relationship with the surrounding Uighurs, Tibetans, and the Safarid dynasty further west, because Khotan had been the spread of Buddhism in the Western Regions since the spread of Buddhism to the east, but the west and even Anxi, which was occupied by the Uighurs, began to accept Tianfang Christianity or was eroded by Tianfang Christianity, so this ideological contest led to Khotan being surrounded by all sides for a long time. The rulers of Khotan, on the other hand, were eager to establish close relations with the Central Plains Dynasty in order to resist the encroachment of the Heavenly Sect. Before the rise of the Tang Empire, Khotan also maintained a close relationship with the Guiyi military regime for a long time, and it was precisely because of this similar military alliance between the two families that the Guiyi army did not dare to overpress the Guiyi army when it was in the most chaotic and declining state, and kept the last territory of Shazhou and Guazhou.

"This is the disposal plan for Khotan sent back by Zhao Si, and they are going to find the descendants of the Wei Chi clan back then." Hu Xiaosi handed the latest information in his hand to Li Xuanqing and said a little helplessly: "But I am not optimistic about this plan, although it can be achieved in terms of purpose, but I always feel that Zhao Si's trick will really make a mess of the situation in Khotan, you must know that there is an Anxi Uighur between us and Khotan, if there is a big change over there, we simply don't have enough strength to intervene, and then we will cheapen others in vain." ”

"I'm surprised, when will you still be afraid of chaos in the world?" Xu Tianxiang, who came over to report on the garrison in Hexi, sneered: "I think the people you brought out are all virtuous with you, according to what you say, with Zhao Si's means, Khotan is only afraid that it will not be peaceful." Xu Tianxiang shook his head and said: "Khotan is now inhabited by the largest number of Han people in the northwest and the tribal people who are close to our Tang Dynasty, if the situation gets out of control, then we are afraid that we will not be able to explain to the ordinary people." ”

Li Xuanqing shook his head, he was also secretly funny about Zhao Si's plan, and found the descendants of the Yu Chi clan to participate, but the Yu Chi clan was founded in Khotan According to Li Xuanqing's memory and the information found in this life, it is basically certain that in the era of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, he was later entangled with the surrounding Shache, Shanshan and even Shule in the north and other local countries in the Western Regions for hundreds of years, during which he was also destroyed several times. In the Tang Dynasty, the four towns of Anxi were abandoned in the Wuhou era, and later Wei Chi Sheng brought Khotan into the Tang Dynasty, and was given the daughter of the clan to marry by Emperor Xuanzong. After the Anshi Rebellion, the lord of Khotan led his army to return to the mainland with the Anxi army to participate in the counterinsurgency. Later, Anxi was completely occupied by Tibet, and Khotan also fell into the hands of Tibet, until 848, when Zhang Yichao held up the banner of righteousness in Shazhou and constantly attacked the power of the Tibetans, so that the dominance of Tibet in Anxi fell sharply, and Khotan was finally restored. It's just that the Yuchi family has been inherited for hundreds of years and nearly a thousand years, and from the Western Han Dynasty to the present, the royal family is no longer the original royal family. Although Li Qiming, the current lord of Khotan, is also a descendant of the Wei Chi clan, according to Zhao Si, the evidence they found out is not the original royal lineage. Therefore, they are ready to find the descendants of the royal family back then, and bring them out to compete with Li Qiming for the supreme power in Khotan. But here's the problem, the Yu Chi clan has been inherited in Khotan for so long, and it doesn't matter whether the royal family is descendant or not, if Zhao Si really finds out the descendant of the Yu Chi clan, whether it is true or not, it will inevitably make the internal situation in Khotan out of control, and what worries him the most is that the Safar Dynasty is eyeing the side, this is a descendant of the Great Food Empire on the Persian Plateau, with the same aggressive habits as the former, If there is chaos in Khotan at this time, then this Safarid dynasty will definitely not let go of such an opportunity.

The problem arises here, according to the current route and goal of the Tiance army, the Uighurs must be solved in the early stage, otherwise they will not be able to meddle in the situation in Khotan, that is to say, it is not himself who will not succeed in this trick of Zhao Si, but others.

"Your Majesty, now that Khotan's plan has just begun, if we issue an order at this time, we can let Zhao Si stop it." The change in Li Xuanqing's face also made Hu Xiaosi and Xu Tianxiang look at it, the former stood up and said with a wry smile: "The emperor is actually not optimistic about it, that Li Qiming's name within the Wei Chi clan is Yu Chi Vi Sama, and he has a pivotal position within the royal family, he is the second lord of the country after the restoration of Khotan, and he can be regarded as a monarch who has made a difference, and more importantly, Li Qiming has a great relationship with Cao Rengui and Zhang Chaofeng, I think this is also the reason why he finally chose the anti-Tang alliance." ”

"What about the clansman of the Wei Chi clan that Zhao Si was looking for?" Li Xuanqing asked, he didn't have much impression of this Li Qiming and Li Xuanqing, so the only thing that could make him judge at this time was the information from the front.

"Actually, this person from the Yuchi clan is a monk, but he is just a descendant of another Yuchi clan who rose up with Li Qiming's father to return to the country. After Li Qiming came to power, he felt that Uncle Wang, who had raised troops with his father, was too much of a threat to him, so he tried to relieve the other party of his military power, and forced the other party to become a monk, and later forced his descendants to become monks. Hu Xiaosi said while repeating the information from Zhao Si's side: "In fact, purely from this aspect, the object chosen by Zhao Si's side is not bad, this monk named Yu Chi Sha Chiche has a certain prestige and foundation in Khotan. ”

"In that case, let Zhao Si continue, but it's best to send a courier to Senior Brother so that he can be prepared." Li Xuanqing nodded, and while commanding, he got up and spread out the hanging map behind him, carefully describing the simulated battle situation if there was an accident.

"Tianxiang, what are you here for? You won't be so idle to accompany Xiaosi here, right? Li Xuanqing asked without looking back while drawing lines on the map by himself.

"Your Majesty, the plan of the General Staff at the beginning of the year was to mobilize Xue Yang's troops to set off from Yuanzhou and choose an opportunity to carry out the operation of recovering Tibetan areas. In order to contain the suppression of the Tibetan people on the Anxi side. Xu Tianxiang heard Li Xuanqing's question and walked over and said, "It's just that Tiancheng chose to put the route in the southwest direction when formulating the battle plan. ”

"And what do you mean?" Li Xuanqing naturally knew the advantages and advantages of marching troops from the southwest, but he also knew Xu Tianxiang's idea, although there were great disadvantages if he entered Tibet from the northwest, there was a little advantage that he could rely on the advantages of the Northwest Railway to obtain supplies nearby, and the most important thing was that the impact of entering Tibet from the northwest was far greater than that of advancing troops from the southwest, and he could directly support the northwest operation. Even when necessary, a second front could be opened from Tibetan areas and the army could be directly led into Khotan. Moreover, relying on the terrifying plateau operations and mobile superiority of the 3rd Battalion and the Mountain Battalion, it may really be possible to intervene in the situation in Khotan when necessary.

Thinking of this, Li Xuanqing put down the charcoal pen in his hand and said in a deep voice: "The General Staff sent an order, Xue Yang and Xu Ying rushed to Chang'an in the near future, I want to meet them in person, if I can, I can fight on two fronts, the southwest side enters the Tibetan area as the main force of the army, and the plateau combat troops led by Xue Yang in the northwest are lightly armed and rushed forward, entering Khotan from the territory of Tubo in a roundabout way, and entering Khotan when the main force of the senior brother's Western Expeditionary Army and the Uighurs are in a decisive battle, and assisting Xuanyingwei to stabilize Khotan in one fell swoop, so as to surround the Anxi Uighurs in the middle and attack them on two sides. ”

Although Li Xuanqing's words were not finished, Xu Tianxiang couldn't help but clapped his hands and smiled: "Your Majesty's trick is good, I promise that according to Xue Yang's personality, he will definitely agree without thinking." It's just that it may be too late in time, the winter on the northern Tibetan plateau is not bad at all compared to the northwest, and the terrain is high, even if the third battalion and the mountain battalion have to pass through thousands of miles of enemy borders, it is quite difficult. ”

"Let Xue Yang decide this matter for himself, Xiaosi, you contact you, go back and check the hydrological data and climate data in northern Tibet to see if you can send troops." Li Xuanqing waved his hand and didn't have much hope for this move, this era has many differences compared to later generations. That permafrost and plateau is not so easy to traverse.

"Are you ready to fight with Samhan?" Li Xuanqing felt a headache about the plan of the General Staff for this year, although the Imperial Conference had not yet been held, but when he thought of the fact that there were almost no major wars going on around the empire this year, he felt that the finances really might not be able to bear it. In particular, when the cabinet is seriously studying the northern industrial belt and the five-year industrial development plan drawn up by itself and Qiaoxi, if the war expenditure continues, it will inevitably greatly delay the internal development and divide up the funds needed for economic development. Although the war itself actually has a role in promoting economic development, especially now that industrialization has been proposed by Li Xuanqing, it is on the verge of kicking the door.

"The navy over there has long been prepared, and Xuan Yingwei has also arranged for some secret guards to intervene in Liuqiu's interior, Qian Biao has actually had a bad time in Liuqiu in the past two years, if it weren't for the ocean trade we have carried out, we have never avoided Liuqiu, but I'm afraid they will be even more sad." Xu Tianxiang said: "The 50,000 troops led by the Marine Corps and the first battalion are not a problem to solve the flow of demand. The 1st Battalion has experience in both island warfare and warfare in the southern climate. ”

"Then tell Chen Fan that the plan of the three Koreas in the north should be postponed for the time being, and we will consider it after the northwest divides the winners and losers. If there is a war on all sides, the Cabinet will definitely not be able to bear such a huge military expenditure, and even if all your captures are handed over to the public, they will not be able to make up for it. Moreover, Samhan's side is also involved in their local Silla relationship with us. Zhu Youlun and Zheng Fan did a good job on Silla's side, and if we rashly targeted, the two would not merge. So it's better to wait, or you guys find a way to get them to fight again, a little bigger. Li Xuanqing rubbed his head and said with a bitter smile: "Otherwise, even if I personally say that the Xiang Cabinet will not agree to such a huge military expenditure." ”

"I know this very well, what our General Staff means is to carry out the project in advance, and the specific implementation stage will take into account the financial situation, and when this will start still needs to be decided by the emperor." Xu Tianxiang laughed, he was not surprised that his thoughts were guessed by Li Xuanqing, he stood up and pulled Hu Xiaosi out of the door, and he had to stare at the changes in the battle situation in the northwest with Hu Xiaosi. Although the grassland eagle training has been put into the northwest direction, the information from the front line still makes Xu Tianxiang feel powerless when it reaches Chang'an.

"I didn't expect the task to be heavier this year." After Xu Tianxiang and Hu Xiaosi left, Li Xuanqing couldn't help but smile bitterly when he looked at the map that he had drawn and couldn't see what it looked like. The northwest side is the big part that must be invested, even a civil official like Cen Tianshi has never had the idea of giving up the Western Regions in the post-martial period, and even if the interior is a little harder, Anxi must be recovered. This is no longer a question of whether it is cost-effective or not, but a requirement that must be met by the rebirth of the empire, although the northwest is a bitter cold land and does not have much output, but in the eyes of Cen Tianshi and others, it is an indispensable land for the Tang Dynasty. And as the deeds of the Anxi Army spread, the ordinary people of the empire also paid more and more attention to the northwest and Anxi.

"Why is the big brother sad? Is there something on your mind? Li Xuanqing was silently thinking about his thoughts, and he didn't even notice when Qiaoxi came in, so Qiaoxi couldn't help but ask a little curiously: "Could it be that there is something wrong with Senior Brother Northwest?" ”

"Qiaoxi still remembers the Buddha country in the northwest?" After Li Xuanqing was "woken up", he stood up and pulled the skillful Rou Yi and said with a little nostalgia: "Do you remember that period of history?" ”

Qiao Xi groaned slightly: "Big brother is talking about Khotan? The country that once stood in the Western Regions for nearly a thousand years? Did something go wrong? ”

"Yes, it's that country, but this time it's hard to see if there will really be a death of the Buddha country. I don't know how many regrets we will have when we go to the Western Regions. ”

Qiaoxi didn't pay too much attention to the war in the northwest, although she was the queen, and no one had any objections to what she wanted to know, but he didn't pay much attention to military operations under normal circumstances. At this time, I heard Li Xuanqing suddenly talk about Khotan, and with inexplicable emotions, I couldn't help but be a little curious.

Li Xuanqing handed the information and plan sent by Hu Xiaosi to Qiaoxi, and after a while, Qiaoxi raised his head from this plan, looked at Li Xuanqing's expression, and said with a little emotion: "I'm afraid that after this battle, I will never see the Aurora Buddha Country again, where the Aurora Buddha is sung everywhere." I didn't expect that we would be reborn once, and the result still didn't change. ”

"I'm afraid we can't do anything about it this time." Li Xuanqing stretched out his hand to grab Qiaoxi and said with a wry smile.