The Turks are divided into east and west, of which the eastern Turks occupy the grasslands of the northern Tang Dynasty, also known as the steppe Turks, which were destroyed by Li Shimin many years ago, and now there are almost no Turks on the grasslands, while the western Turks occupy the Western Regions, and the strength is also very strong, and they once formed an alliance with the Tang Dynasty to deal with the Eastern Turks.

But since Jieli was eliminated by the Tang Dynasty, perhaps because of fate, the Western Turks also began to decline rapidly, speaking of which there are many reasons for the decline of the Western Turks, but one of the most important points is the internal war, since the death of the original commander Ye Khan, the entire Western Turks have been fighting endlessly, and the Khans of all sizes have supported their own troops, and the Western Regions have become a mess.

In the case of civil strife in the Western Turks, the Tang Dynasty naturally will not let go of this excellent opportunity, so over the years, the Tang Dynasty has also been expanding its power to the Western Regions, and many small countries in the Western Regions have also turned to the Tang Dynasty, and for a time the influence of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions has increased greatly, and the Western Regions is a necessary place on the Silk Road, so the Tang Dynasty even began to garrison troops in the Western Regions to further encroach on the territory of the Western Turks in the Western Regions.

In the face of the Tang Dynasty's advance, the Western Turks, who were in civil strife, were powerless to resist at all, and even in order to win the support of the Tang Dynasty, they had to deliberately make friends with the Tang Dynasty, and some small khans even directly gave up the original territory of the Western Turks for some personal interests, which fueled the ambitions of the Tang Dynasty.

However, this situation has suddenly undergone some changes this year, originally the Western Turks were seriously divided, among which there were two main forces, namely the North Court and the South Court, and in the spring of this year, the North Court of the Ebilu Khan defeated the South Court of the Ebi Sha Bala Yehu Khan, as a result, the strength of the North Court soared, and the Western Turks also had a tendency to unify internally.

With the increase in strength, Beiting's Yibi Lu Khan also skyrocketed in self-confidence, and in the face of Datang's step-by-step advance, he no longer blindly retreated, but he was at least a little more sensible, knowing that even if he unified the Western Turks, he still had no advantage in the face of a behemoth like Datang, so he didn't dare to come forward, and even instigated Gaochang to provoke Datang.

The current King of Gaochang is named Lu Wentai, and he visited Datang a few years ago, and his attitude towards Datang was not very good at that time, but in order to show his measurement, Li Shimin didn't care too much, but also rewarded the other party.

It's a pity that Li Shimin's approach not only did not get the gratitude of Ko Wentai, but made him feel that Datang was weak and bullied, and looked down on Datang even more, and Gaochang is located on the main road of the Silk Road, almost all caravans have to pass through Gaochang, but there are often some caravans encountered "robbers" attack, it is said that these "robbers" are trained to come and go like the wind, and they know the terrain of Gaochang.

Of course, although Lu Wentai is stupid, he is not hopelessly stupid, he knows the gap between Gaochang and Datang, so he generally does not touch the bottom line of Datang, and he also has something to rely on, that is, Gaochang is far away from Datang, even if Datang wants to attack Gaochang, it is not an easy task.

However, with the strength of the Beiting Turks, Gaochang is also very close to the Beiting, just this summer, the Yibi Lu Khan of the Beiting lured Liwentai, and the two sides formed an alliance to attack Yanqi together, and Yanqi is one of the small countries that are very close to the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, and even intends to become a subject country of the Tang Dynasty, but he did not expect to be destroyed by the Beiting Turks and Gaochang in a battle, and then Yanqi's envoys ran to the Tang Dynasty for help.

In fact, the Beiting Turks are testing the bottom line of the Tang Dynasty this time, if the Tang Dynasty ignores the demise of Yanqi, then there will definitely be more small countries in the Western Regions that will be annexed by the Western Turks, and then the previous efforts of the Tang Dynasty will also come to naught.

Therefore, when the envoys of Yanqi for help arrived in the Tang Dynasty, there was also a lot of noise in the court, and many people supported sending troops to the Western Regions, giving the Northern Court Turks a hard lesson, and letting them know who was the master of the Western Regions!

However, there are also some sensible ministers who believe that the imperial court has just sent troops to destroy Goguryeo, and this war consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, even if the Tang Dynasty has not fully recovered now, and the successive foreign wars will also make the outside world have a belligerent impression of the Tang Dynasty, which is also not conducive to the Tang Dynasty's rule over the surrounding small countries, so they also report a very cautious attitude towards sending troops to the Western Regions.

Zhongnan Academy and Nanshan Academy are the gathering places of young scholars in the Tang Dynasty, so the discussion of the Western Regions here is also more lively, many young people have expressed their opinions, and even wrote long articles and posted them on the announcement wall of the academy, on the one hand, to express their own views, on the other hand, they can also use this to make a name for themselves.

In this environment of the academy, it was impossible for Li Xiu not to know about the affairs of the Western Regions, and even some students took advantage of the class to ask Li Xiu his opinion on this matter in person, which made him unable to avoid this matter at all, so he simply learned more.

In fact, Li Xiu's opinion on this matter is very simple, that is, it is necessary to send troops, because the location of the Western Regions is too important, even if the maritime trade of the Tang Dynasty is developing well, and the Silk Road on the sea is also very smooth, but the Silk Road on land is also equally important, if the Western Regions are lost, then the Silk Road will be in the hands of others, which will have a major impact on the commerce of the Tang Dynasty, and even a blow, so it is necessary to beat the arrogance of the Beiting Turks.

However, now Datang does have concerns, on the one hand, after a major war, the national strength has not been restored, on the other hand, the Beiting Turks have a tendency to unify the Western Turks, if they tear their faces with the other party now, if they really unify the Western Turks by him in the future, it will pose a huge threat to the Tang Dynasty.

In particular, the second half of the Silk Road is also in the hands of the Western Turks, so if the Tang Dynasty really tears its face with the Western Turks, then it must be won with one blow, and destroy the Western Turks in one fell swoop like the previous destruction of Jieli, so as not to affect the operation of the Silk Road, but now the Tang Dynasty obviously does not have this strength, after all, the Western Regions are too far away, and the transportation of grain and grass for the army alone is a big problem.

In the face of this situation, Li Xiu couldn't help but feel a headache for Li Shimin, whether it was sending troops or not, it seemed that Datang would fall into some trouble, and now Datang also has some internal problems, and it is even more difficult for people to choose for a while.