In fact, the imperial court's suggestion for a second crusade against Tibet had been mentioned since the defeat of Wang Zhonghe's army the previous year. This time it was Xuanzong who mentioned this. In Xuanzong's view, the defeat of Shibao City was a slap in the face, loud and hot. The Tang Dynasty mobilized heavy troops to punish the Tubo people, but was taught a lesson by the Tubo people, which was even more disgusting and uncomfortable than eating the food that was spit out.

Xuanzong, who has been in the limelight for decades, and thinks that there is no one before and no one after him, cannot accept this fact. Since his accession to the throne, the Tang Dynasty has been thriving, and the four seas have risen to level and become the first powerful country in the world. But such great achievements also made Xuanzong change from the wise, wise, diligent and cautious saint to a person who likes to listen to whiskers and pat horses, and likes to sing praises of virtue.

Because of this, most of the people who hold great power in the court of the Tang Dynasty are also good at speculating on the holy will, and are good at singing praises and flattery. For example, Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong, An Lushan and others. Wang Zhonghe's great joy is the biggest problem of Xuanzong in his later years. The inflated Xuanzong couldn't accept any failure, in his imagination, wherever the iron hooves of the Tang Heavenly Army went, everyone should kneel and surrender, otherwise he would be unhappy and would never give up if he didn't conquer it.

From a generation of great men to those who are self-righteous and self-serving, there are many examples, both in history and in later generations, but there is no need to go into detail. All in all, Xuanzong was determined to take a second revenge on the Tibetans, to regain the lost face, and to return the slaps made by the Tibetans even more ferociously.

Regarding Xuanzong's proposal, the ministers were all silent. The Longyou Army and the Hexi Army were newly defeated, and the wounds were still bleeding, and the conditions for a second crusade were not ripe at this time. Moreover, at this time when the court and the central government were in chaos, Wang Zhonghe's argument about the crime was in an uproar, and what should be thought of at this time was to calm the aftermath of this defeat and calm the mood of the army and people in the whole world in the court, rather than conducting another random crusade.

This time, even Yang Guozhong and Li Linfu felt that it was not very appropriate, they were the heads of the imperial court, and Xuanzong could issue orders at will, but they had to weigh their family background and the consequences. But Xuanzong had already made a decision, and the vague opposition of the two was ignored. These two people are smart people, they will not be like some stunned young people in the court in order to oppose some orders of His Majesty to rush to the sky and the blood, after knowing that Xuanzong's determination has been fixed, these two people invariably changed their tone and actively began to plan this matter.

This is also the reason why Yang Guozhong wrote a secret letter in advance to inform Wang Yuan to reveal the news. Yang Guozhong knew in his heart that the Longyou Army and the Hexi Army had suffered heavy losses, and they were originally the largest main force in the crusade against Tubo, but now after the new defeat, it was too late to even replenish the new troops to crusade against Tubo again, and it was impossible for the Longyou Army and the Hexi Army to do it. Then if this second crusade is to be carried out, it can only mobilize the Jiannan Army and the Anxi Army far northwest of the Kunlun Mountains. With Xuanzong's temper, the scale of the second crusade will be larger than the first, so this is almost a sure thing.

Yang Guozhong definitely didn't want the Jiannan Army to participate in the battle against the Tubo, and figures like Wang Zhongsi had planted their heels on the Tubo people, and Yang Guozhong was worried that Wang Yuan would be buried in the hands of the Tubo people. Wang Yuan is Yang Guozhong's only reliable leader of the army, compared to Li Linfu's An Lushan and the three towns of the festival, he is already shabby and pitiful. If Wang Yuan is defeated by Tubo again, then he will lose a lot.

But all this is inevitable, Yang Guozhong understands that this time the Jiannan Army is absolutely going to send troops, so he wrote a secret letter to inform Wang Yuan, so that Wang Yuan can be mentally prepared.

At the end of the first month, after Wang Zhonghe's case was concluded, the second crusade against Tibet was finally officially put on the agenda. After several days of deliberation, the plan and schedule for the second crusade against Tibet were finally decided.

This time, Xuanzong made up his mind to let the Tubo people learn the Tianwei of the Tang Dynasty, and he ordered Anxi Jiedu to make Gao Xianzhi lead the Anxi army and 70,000 soldiers and horses of the indigenous soldiers and horses under his jurisdiction as the Western Route Army, enter the western border of Tubo from the Great Bolu Kingdom west of Kunlun Mountain, and launch an attack on Tubo from the west. Temporarily transferred 10,000 horses from the Shuofang army to the Hexi Longyou Coalition Army, with Ge Shuhan as the commander and Li Guangbi as the deputy, integrating the two armies of nearly 50,000 troops as the Northern Route Army. The purpose of the Northern Route Army was to attack the area of Zhaling Lake and Ngoling Lake again. Wang Yuan's Jiannan Army was the Eastern Route Army, which transferred only 10,000 soldiers and horses from Shannan West Road and Qianzhong Road to Wang Yuan's jurisdiction, and attacked Tubo from east to west with 60,000 troops.

This time it was a real big deal, with nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses on the three routes, and there was a great momentum to level the Tubo people. Xuanzong himself was complacent about this plan, but he didn't know how much money the expedition of nearly 200,000 soldiers and horses would cost in the treasury. These two crusades against Tibet almost drained the treasury of the Tang Dynasty.

The imperial decree arrived in Chengdu on the tenth day of the second month, and Wang Yuan was already in a very anxious mood. The situation in Bison City is becoming more and more tense, and there are already soldiers and horses gathering in Yak City, on the bank of the Yak River, eighty miles southwest of Bison City. The frequency of enemy scouts near Bison City is also increasing. Even the Fengsui Tang guards had already had several skirmishes with the Tibetan scouts, all of which foreshadowed an attack on Bison City. But Wang Yuan couldn't rush to Bison City to sit down, so he could only wait for the holy decree in Chengdu, which didn't make Wang Yuan feel extremely anxious.

In the hall of the Yamen of the Jiedu envoy, the attendants who had just arrived read the decree before they had time to rest, and Wang Yuan led the civil and military officials of Jiannan Province to kneel and listen.

Wang Yuan and the officials of the South Province of Jian listened to the order, and the battle of Shibao City was lost a few years ago, and Wang Zhonghe's army failed to live up to the grace of the saint, and I was really angry. However, compared with Wang Zhonghe's defeat and the loss of my Tang Guowei, Jiannan Jiedu made Wang Yuan lead the army to attack Bison City in one fell swoop, which greatly dealt a blow to Tubo Xiao's petty arrogance, and the victory in this battle was precious, and it also gave me some comfort. However, after the defeat of Shibao City, the small country of Tubo celebrated and was extremely arrogant, which really made my subjects of the Tang Dynasty indignant. Therefore, I decided to march again against the Tibetan state. The Anxi Army, the Hexi Longyou Second Army and the Jiannan Army formed a three-way crusade army to defeat Tubo. Wang Yuan was specially appointed as the commander of the Eastern Route Army, and together with 10,000 soldiers and horses from Shannan West Road and Qianzhong Road, he marched east to attack. ……，……。 ”

After the reading of the holy decree, Wang Yuan shouted long live and got up to receive the decree, and after putting the holy decree respectfully, he turned back and smiled at the inner servant: "It's hard work, it's a chore to come here from the capital to announce the decree, please sit down and drink tea, and after a little preparation for a thin banquet later, please go to the pavilion to rest." ”

The chamberlain smiled and said, "This is a light errand for me, and there are two people who have sent the decree to the land of Anxi to deliver the edict to General Gao Xianzhi, so it is bitter." ”

"It's all hard, it's all hard, please sit down, come here, don't you have tea?" Wang Yuan shouted loudly, and the maidservant came up with a tea tray and served the hot tea.

"Drink some hot tea and catch your breath." Wang Yuandao.

"Don't be busy, Your Majesty still has something to reward the envoy of the king's festival." Serve the Tao in the Message.

Wang Yuan was stunned for a moment, but when he saw the waiter beckoning, the entourage came over with a brocade box and put it on the table.

The messenger said with a smile: "Wang Jiedu envoy, please open it." ”

Wang Yuan smiled and said, "What did Your Majesty reward?" ”

The messenger said, "Open it and you'll know." ”

Wang Yuan stepped forward and carefully called the brocade box, and when he opened the lid of the box, his eyes were suddenly full of brilliance, and there was a purple and gold crown in the box, with seven or eight pearls the size of a pigeon's egg embedded in it, and a red orb in the middle trembled slightly.

Wang Yuan was surprised: "This is ......"

The chamberlain smiled and said, "This is the purple gold crown, which His Majesty specially rewarded you." Your Majesty said that you will be twenty years old this year, which is the year of the weak crown. You are not in the capital, and Your Majesty can't give you the gift of a weak crown, so he rewarded you with this purple and gold crown, which can be regarded as a gift of a weak crown for you. ”

Wang Yuan was surprised: "This gift is too valuable, how dare the minister?" ”

The attendant smiled and said, "If Wang Jiedu can't afford it, who can afford it?" Thank you. ”

Wang Yuan hurriedly knelt down and thanked him, feeling in his heart that Xuanzong still knew how to win people's hearts, and he had gone through the trouble of rewarding gifts when he was twenty years old, which showed that he still had a status in his heart. It's just that this purple and gold crown has rewarded himself, and he doesn't dare to wear it on his head. The purple gold crown is also known as the crown prince, although it is not the prince alone, but others will inevitably suffer from slander when they wear it, and Xuanzong is just a symbolic reward crown, not a practical thing.

The holy decree was finally issued, and the Jiannan Army set out for no change, and a stone in Wang Yuan's heart also fell to the ground. This time, the three-way army went out at the same time, not the Jiannan army alone, which was already the result that Wang Yuan was most looking forward to. Judging from the strategy of marching, it was obvious that the Anxi army was the main force, and Gao Xianzhi led an army of 70,000 to attack from the west to the east, which was the easiest way to get close to the city. The Tibetans will definitely do their best to stop his soldiers and horses, so that the other two soldiers and horses will not be under much pressure. Moreover, after Gao Xianzhi and Ge Shuhan's soldiers and horses launched an attack, the crisis in Bison City would be alleviated, and the Tubo people should no longer have the energy to compete with them in Bison City, so their wealth would be saved.

But there is one thing that Wang Yuan feels needs to be carefully considered. The imperial court only wanted to lead its army to attack the hinterland of Tibet from east to west, but it did not set a target for itself, so it became a choice whether to go north or south after attacking the hinterland. If you go north, you can help Ge Shuhan outflank the army in the north of Tubo, and it will be an easy journey, and you will definitely not encounter any danger and hard bones. But if you attack in the direction of the city of Raksha in the south, you will be greatly hindered. The south is the place where the Tubo people gather, and the city of Luo is the capital of Tubo, and the Tubo people will definitely block it to the death.

Wang Yuan didn't want to fight to the death with the Tubo people, but if he didn't attack south, Gao Xianzhi's Western Route Army would become a lone army, and it was likely to be besieged by the main army of Tubo.

All in all, it's a dilemma. Wang Yuan decided not to think about it for the time being, anyway, there was still a month to prepare for the expedition, and maybe there would be an answer in a month, and it would be useless to think about this matter too much.