The days have advanced for another three months, and in the golden autumn, it is the harvest season, and a team of more than 30,000 people is walking on the official road west of Chang'an City with low morale. Only when the scouts in front came to report that it was less than ten miles away from Chang'an, did the soldiers' eyes show a little brilliance. The pace of the march was much faster.

But the generals who led the team still had heavy faces.

50,000 soldiers against less than 30,000 Arabs, but because the enemy was ambushed by the enemy, they lost 20,000 soldiers! This is simply a big defeat that has not been seen in more than a decade.

Although on the surface, the two sides retreated on the surface, and it should have been a draw, but strictly speaking, it was Datang who lost. Fighting more and fighting less, he was killed 20,000 soldiers and horses, which can be said to be a great shame. So the whole army, down to the minions, up to the generals, all had gloomy faces, as if preparing to lead the coming storm.

Not surprisingly, in the morning of the second day after the army returned, some officials stood up and unceremoniously joined Li Tao and other generals who led the army to the west, accusing them of not leading the troops strictly, underestimating the enemy, and leading the army to advance, resulting in heavy casualties and almost failure, and demanding that they be investigated and severely punished.

Li Tao and others were at a loss, had nothing to say, and did not defend themselves, so that the officials who accused them quarreled even more fiercely, and even went too far, and even proposed to dismiss Li Tao from his official post.

Li Zhi was noisy by the ministers below and had no opinion, he wanted to punish Li Tao and others a little, the meaning was fine, who knew that these officials were so ruthless, and they had to dismiss the officials, which was greatly beyond Li Zhi's expectations, and he didn't know how to mention Li Tao for a while.

Chen Fei saw that Li Zhi was blocking, so he had to sigh and stand up to relieve them.

Anyway, Cheng Yanjin, Li Tao, Niu Jinda and others are all close to him, if he doesn't stand up and say something at this time, he can't talk too much about being a junior.

What's more, if Li Zhi is really dismissed, then who will restrain the Changsun faction in the court in the future?

Chen Fei will need their help in the future, so he doesn't mind taking a little risk to speak for them now.

"Ahem! Your Majesty, the minister thinks that victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers. The Arabs obviously deliberately designed to lure our army out of the city, using the sandstorm weather to ambush, although our army fought bravely and invincible in the plains and mountains, but in the desert they lacked combat experience, unfamiliar with the place, it was easy to encounter some accidents, such as General Li and others encountered a sandstorm, which was extremely unfavorable to our army's operation, although some light enemy ventured, but this was not the main factor of defeat. I believe that with General Li's experience in a hundred battles, he could calmly organize a counterattack even if he encountered an ambush, but our army was not adapted to fighting in a sandstorm environment, and in the end it led to losses.

In such bad weather, I am afraid that there is no ambush, the war will be very difficult, who wins and who loses is unpredictable, this is not a crime of war, but a natural disaster, Gu Chen believes that although General Li and others are guilty, but the crime is not to be demoted, and I hope that Your Majesty will learn from it. ”

Chen Fei's words were also reasonable, and the civil officials were thinking about how to refute it, Li Zhi was very smart and quickly took the words. "Well, Zicheng is reasonable, although a large part of the reason for the defeat is because of the weather, but the enemy can not be punished, several main generals will be closed for six months to reflect on the fine, in order to set an example, I hope that other generals will learn from it, in the future war, not to commit the crime of underestimating the enemy's rash advance. Otherwise, I will be severely punished! ”

Li Tao, Cheng Yanjin and others hurriedly thanked them. The rest of the civil servants were dumbfounded.

I'll go! After losing 20,000 horses, he was actually locked up for half a year, and the fine for three years was over? Is this a punishment for them? It's just giving them a holiday to rest! What's more, Cheng Biting Jin, the old puppet's family, is almost too rich to fit gold and silver, and he has been in a fortune for three years? It's painless to punish him for thirty years, I'm afraid that now this old fox is secretly having fun behind his back!

Some civil servants quit, and they don't know why they are so eager to punish others, and one by one they plan to jump out and make persistent efforts to join them again.

But Chen Fei was very clever in introducing another topic, forcing those civil officials to swallow what they wanted to say.

"Your Majesty, the minister has received the latest report from Jiangnan Shipyard, and at present, six small treasure ships have completed the water test, and the first medium treasure ship is about to be completed. Your Majesty, the minister thought that the sailors who had not experienced actual combat were not enough to take on the important task of going to sea in the ocean, so the ministers thought that when the first medium-sized treasure ship was built and the trial voyage was successful, the sailors could control the fleet and experience a real battle! Chen always believes that blood can hone real warriors, and an army that does not experience the baptism of blood can never be regarded as a real army! ”

Li Zhi's eyes lit up when he heard this, perhaps because he inherited Li Shimin's genes, and Li Zhi was born with a special interest in conquest. As soon as Chen Fei said this, he immediately became interested.

"Sailor? Zicheng has a goal to conquer? ”

Chen Fei smiled slightly, nodded and said: "Yes, and this place is reluctant to be from the Tang Dynasty, and it is rich in products, but the local indigenous combat effectiveness is not strong, and the Datang Navy Division will definitely be able to successfully capture this place and include this rich place in my Datang territory." ”

"Where is this? Where? What is the demographic? Li Zhi's eyes lit up, and he was about to jump up with excitement.

Three years after ascending the throne, he has not yet captured a piece of land, the most important reason is that the area around the Tang Dynasty has been defeated, no matter how far away, such as the Arab Empire, the Western Turks, not to mention the long distance, the opponent's military strength is also very strong, and it is not easy to attack through the desert, so he has to let him temporarily put down the idea of attacking, and then slowly figure it out later. This made Li Zhi very depressed, always thinking that he was doing better than his father, but politically he was restrained by civilian officials, and he couldn't find anyone to vent militarily, and he just suffered a big loss, which made him feel like he had nowhere to vent his anger.

So as soon as he heard that there was such a good place, he immediately became excited.

Chen Fei smiled slightly, glanced at everyone, retracted his gaze, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty must be no stranger to this place, located in the southeast of Jiangnan Province, about three hundred miles out of the sea, Liuqiu Islands (called Liuqiu in the Tang Dynasty)!" As early as the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty had sent troops to attack, the local indigenous combat power was extremely weak, but the products were abundant, it was a rare rich treasure land, and the location of the Liuqiu Islands was important, if you occupy this place and establish a fortress, it is equivalent to controlling the sea area east of the Tang Dynasty, and it can also be used as a supply for the fleet going to sea. ”

Taiwan has been a bit dishonest lately.......

(End of chapter)