"Holy Lord, no news is good news." Pei Shiju said quietly? Not surprisingly, the good news of the rebellion and pacification will soon come from the eastern capital. ”

The Holy Lord understood it, but knowingly asked, "What is the explanation?" ”

Pei Shiju pointed to the Xijing report, "The acting king did not mention the situation in the eastern capital, nor did he mention the rebellion and rebels, but only said the crisis in the northwest, which shows that the counterinsurgency has entered the end and has been firmly won, and all the energy in Xijing has been turned to the northwest, and they urgently need the support of the saints." ”

Pei Shiju "stops at the point", cherishes words like gold, and doesn't say a word.

The high place is unbearable, Pei Shiju seems to be powerful and hot, but in fact, he knows that if he wants to do one thing, the hardships are indescribable. In terms of diplomatic strategy, Pei Shiju was an absolute authority, but because he was constrained by the fierce struggle between conservatism and reform, in order to safeguard the overall interests of the Holy Lord and the center, he had to make compromises again and again in diplomatic strategy, and as a result, the diplomatic good situation achieved by successfully passing through the western territory was soon lost.

Of course, this does not place all the blame on the Lord and the reformers. If the First Eastern Crusade is victorious, all the expected goals are achieved, China and Turkey have more advantages in the relations between the North and the South, the Holy Lord and the reformers have consolidated and strengthened their ruling position, and the obstacles to reform have been rapidly reduced, then it is natural for the Eastern Capital to take into account the interests of the Western Territory, and even if it will not increase its investment in the economic strategy of the Western Territory, at least it will maintain the current pattern of the Western Territory, and use armed confrontation to ensure a long-term alliance, so that it will face the East. The Turks formed a flanking attack, and China and Turkey were able to take more initiative in the relationship between the north and the south.

However, contrary to people's wishes, after the fiasco of the First Eastern Crusade, the situation was completely overturned in just over half a year, and the achievements of the past few years were completely lost, and with the defeat of the Second Eastern Crusade, the vitality of Middle-earth was greatly damaged, and the last chance to reverse the crisis in the northwest was completely ruined.

Now Middle-earth no longer has the ability to launch a counterattack in the western frontier, and in the face of the restoration of the Tuyuhun people, they can only knock out their teeth and swallow blood, and in the face of the countries of the Western Regions under the coercion of the strong strength of the Western Turks, they can only swallow their anger. At present, what can be done in Middle-earth is to stick to the line of Yiwu and Dunhuang to ensure the safety of Hexi; Stick to the first line of Xiping and Heyuan to ensure that Longxi is worry-free. However, with the current situation of the suppression of the army in Western Xinjiang and the support of the Eastern Capital for Western Xinjiang, it is very difficult to achieve this "bottom line" goal.

Therefore, Pei Shiju took advantage of this opportunity to openly and formally advise the Holy Lord that he must face the facts, have the courage to admit his mistakes, correct his mistakes in a timely manner, and quickly adjust his national defense and foreign affairs strategy.

However, Pei Shiju was afraid of the "face" of the Holy Lord, and he himself was also one of the important members of the highest decision-making level of the center, although he raised objections to the decision to move the first and second crusades, he did not resolutely oppose it, did not vote against it, and finally supported the central decision, so the emergence of today's Chinese and foreign predicament is also directly responsible for him, so he can't hit the "face" of the center, slap his own face, the so-called exhortation is actually some kind of implication, if the holy lord does not agree, pretend not to understand, That's not what I said.

"I gave them enough support." The Holy Lord frowned slightly, and said angrily, "The Western Expedition has yielded fruitful results, and in order to consolidate and expand the results of the war, it is natural for the Eastern Capital to give full support to the Western Frontier. However, what did I get in return for my support? In just half a year, the remnants of the army of Achailu (Tuyuhun) not only captured the end and Shanshan, but also swept across the West Sea and threatened Longxi, why? I want to know, when Achaiyu attacked, where was the Hexi Weifu army? Where is the Longxi army? Didn't the Hexi Weifu army know that when they withdrew from the Western Regions, it was equivalent to giving up the protection of the Western Regions countries and directly pushing the Western Regions countries into the arms of the Turks? The withdrawal of the Longxi army from the West China Sea is tantamount to once again falling into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts in the northwest, and our northwest army has to fight fiercely with the northwest captives again in the two battlefields of Longxi and Hexi. ”

The Holy Lord was very angry and his words were very fierce, but he still controlled his emotions, and did not publicly accuse Xijing of inaction or even dereliction of duty, nor did he openly accuse Xijing of deliberately creating a crisis in the northwest to threaten the central government, obviously forced by the status quo He had to compromise, but this compromise was very limited.

Pei Shiju sighed secretly. The Holy Lord deliberately has a temper, in essence, he avoids the important and trivial, and is unwilling to admit the mistakes made by the center in the Western Soil Scripture.

The core link of the Western Tu Economic Strategy is to form an alliance with the Western Turks, and whether it is from the situation of the three kingdoms competing for hegemony west of the Green Ridge or from the situation of the three powers competing for the deer east of the Green Ridge, it is the best time for the two sides to form an alliance. In addition, the Western Turkic Khan was ambitious and ambitious, and he and his tent set their sights on the west of the Green Ridge and the future of the Turks in the vast west, so the Western Turks were happy to see Middle-earth and East. The Turks were "fighting with two tigers", which allowed them to deal with the Persians with all their might without worries and avoid fighting on two fronts, so the Western Turks had considerable sincerity towards forming an alliance with Middle-earth.

According to Pei Shiju's optimistic prediction, as long as China and Turkey sincerely form an alliance, the mutually beneficial and friendly situation between the two sides can last for at least ten to twenty years, until the end of the war between the Western Turks and the Persians, and after such a long period of peaceful development in China, the national strength will inevitably be strong, and it may even have defeated the East. The Turks, having annexed the entire Western Regions, already possessed a strong strength to subjugate the Western Turks.

However, because the core contradiction between reform and conservatism has become more and more intense, it has seriously interfered with and influenced the decision-making of the Holy Lord and the central center on the grand strategy of national defense and foreign affairs.

They launched the Eastern Crusade on the pretext that the desert captives were rapidly rising and had threatened the security of Middle-earth. Because of the eastward crusade, of course, the support for the western frontier was reduced, and the Western Turk strategy came to a standstill or even regressed, and the alliance with the Western Turks was basically a formality, without sincerity and substantive cooperation.

For their part, the Western Turks were happy to see Middle-earth conquer the East, whether it was against the Far Eastern captives or with the East. The frontal conflict between the Turks was conducive to the Western Turks' control of the Western Regions and the use of the Western Regions to establish a solid defense of Middle Earth and the East. Turkic defense line.

Before the Eastern Crusade of Middle-earth began, the Western Turks could not wait to march into the Western Regions, and the Khan even moved his tents to the Western Regions, which shows his determination to control the Western Regions.

The Western Turkic soldiers were divided into three routes, secretly supporting the Tuyuhun people to restore the country all the way, in order to contain the Northwest Army in Middle-earth; All the way to the east. In order to prevent the victory of the Eastern Expedition of Middle-earth, the Shibi Khan took advantage of the victory of the Northern Expedition and agreed to the conditions of the Khan to contain the Hexi Weifu army in the southeast foot of the Dajin Mountain (Altai Mountain); Attack the Tiele people and Xue Yantuo people all the way, kill chickens and monkeys, and coerce the Western Regions countries to submit by force.

As a result, the first eastern crusade of Middle-earth was defeated, followed by the second eastern crusade, not only unable to take into account the rapid changes in the situation in western Turkey, but also unable to provide a steady stream of military supplies to the Northwest Army, so the plan of the Western Turks succeeded.

Looking back from the perspective of Middle-earth, if the Holy Lord and the Central Committee had sincerely formed an alliance with the Western Turks, they would have met some of the conditions for the alliance that were not too excessive, such as being willing to share the benefits of the Silk Road between the north and south of the Western Regions with the Western Turks, and willing to attack the East with the Western Turks on the front line of the Dajin Mountain. The Turks, joining forces to put the east. The Turks drove out of the Western Regions, and were even willing to return the Luo Khan and his followers to the Khan of the Mud, and the Eastern Capital continued to consolidate and strengthen the Western Territory Economic Strategy, and continued to maintain or increase its support for the Western Frontier, so even if the Eastern Expedition failed repeatedly, the impact on the situation in the Western Territory would not be too great, and at least the crisis in the Northwest would not be so serious that it would be difficult to save.

Of course, there is no point in such speculation. For Pei Shiju, the founder of the Western Continental Strategy, the key to resolving the crisis in the northwest was to establish substantive cooperation with the Western Turks.

He was convinced that the goal of the Khan was not Middle-earth, nor was it East. Turkic, not to mention the Western Regions and the Western Sea. The countries of the Western Regions in the Western Regions and the Tuyuhun in the Western Sea were in fact "tools" used by the Western Turks to establish a solid defense line east of the Green Mountains. But Middle-earth is too strong, even if it often suffers heavy setbacks, it can recover quickly, and once it recovers, Middle-earth will expand and attack strongly, so from the perspective of the Western Turks, the "results" they have achieved so far are not worth mentioning, and they cannot withstand the blows of Middle-earth, so if they want to really win a stable situation east of the Green Ridge, they still need the Middle-earth Covenant, a sincere and substantial cooperation and mutual benefit alliance, otherwise everything is in the air, without any security guarantees.

Regarding Pei Shiju's view, the Holy Lord and the Central Center neither affirmed nor denied it. Judging from the history of exchanges between the North and the South, it is not surprising that the alliance between China and Turkey and foreign captives is the norm, and it is not surprising that there is either a war or an alliance between the North and the South, and there are precedents for sincere alliances, and it is indeed necessary for China and Turkey to establish a sincere alliance with the Western Turks today.

However, the core contradiction in Middle-earth today is reform and conservatism, Xijing is the "base camp" of the conservative forces, and Western Xinjiang is the foundation of the conservative forces with the Guanlong aristocratic clique as the main force.

Now that the Northwest Crisis has broken out, and the Northwest Army has withdrawn from the Western Regions and the West Sea, in this unfavorable situation, if the Holy Lord and the reformers compromise and restart Pei Shiju's Western Soil Strategy, then how many "resources" will the central government invest in Western Xinjiang? To be sure, this is the Second Crusade West.

The reason is very simple, now talk about substantive cooperation with the Western Turks, the Western Turks will inevitably open their mouths and ask for prices in the sky when they have an absolute advantage, and the only way for Middle Earth is to wipe out the Tugu again, and then enter the hinterland of the Western Regions, and then occupy an absolute advantage, otherwise there is no way to talk about cooperation.

However, for today's Middle Earth, the Eastern Expedition has suffered successive defeats, the relations between the North and the South have deteriorated sharply, and the Great War between the North and the South is imminent.

Therefore, it is impossible for the Holy Lord to admit that he has made a mistake in strategy, he will only resent the Western Turks for being insidious and cunning, greedy and despicable, and treacherous, after all, nominally Middle-earth and the Western Turks are allies, but this time the Western Turks reneged on the covenant and helped the Tuyuhun people to restore their country, and quietly stabbed Middle-earth in the back.

As soon as the Holy Lord pushes it, then the direct responsibility for the Northwest Crisis will of course be borne by the Northwest Army, and the indirect responsibility will of course be borne by the Xijing and Guanlong people, although Xijing does have the suspicion of using the Northwest Crisis to blackmail the Holy Lord and the center, but now, even if the Holy Lord hates Xijing and Guanlong people to the point of gritting his teeth, he will not dare to kill on a large scale, so as not to intensify the contradiction and worsen the situation in the Northwest again.

Pei Shiju decided to give up the exhortation and accept the facts. Since the Holy Lord "couldn't understand" his hints and turned a deaf ear to his "hints", then the Western Soil Scripture should not be mentioned again, and the crisis in the northwest could not be solved from the root, and could only be "cured of headaches and sore feet".

There are three Northwest crises. First, the West Sea has fallen, and the Longxi Army is currently unable to recapture it; the second is the fall of Jimo and Shanshan in the Western Regions, and the current Hexi Army is unable to recover; Finally, the Turks in Hoerning want to "return to China" and rebel, which is still possible to be resolved.

Pei Shiju bowed down and begged for his life, "Holy Lord, please ask for help, and rush to the northwest." ”

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=[End of Chapter]