August 11, on the north bank of the Juma River, Xiaohuangjinkou.

Pei Shiju, the waiter of the Yellow Gate, led the westbound team to arrive at the Juma River. Feng Deyi, the inner historian, Duan Da and Xiaoguo Wu Benlang greeted the Yin Shishi in Jinkou. After a short meeting, Duan Da and Yin Shishi took their leave, and commanded the soldiers of the Wei Mansion to cooperate with Pei Shiju's subordinates and began to cross the river and march west.

In public, Feng Deyi and Pei Shiju always maintain a "distance" and will not show the slightest intimate action. The two had an exchange and communication on the decision-making content of the eighth central center in early August. Pei Shiju was a little worried, and he was rather pessimistic about the situation in northern Xinjiang and the trend of north-south relations, and the key reason was that he was "passive"; no matter whether the king of Qi went north to defend the border, or the white-haired thief accepted the appeasement, it could not fundamentally reverse the passive situation of China and Turkey in national defense and diplomacy. If you are passive, you will be beaten, and if you can't beat others, you can only defend passively, and passive defense will further cause passivity, resulting in a vicious circle, and you will be stuck in a quagmire and unable to extricate yourself.

Feng Deyi thought so. The current predicament of Middle-earth is that internal and external troubles erupt together. The core of the internal worries is that reform and conservatism have become fire and water, and the two sides have to fight each other, but there is little difference in strength between them, and even if the conservative forces suffer heavy setbacks because of Yang Xuangan's defeat, they can still compete with the reformers, which leads to the fact that even if the two sides take a step back, they cannot win a situation of political stability and unity; Although the Western Turks were pinned down by the Persians, it was precisely because of this that the Western Turks had to actively provoke a war between the North and the South and give way to the East. The Turks and the Middle-earths were "two tigers fighting", and only in this way could it concentrate its forces against the Persians, and the east. The Turks could only take advantage of this opportunity to unite with the Western Turks to attack Middle-earth, so the Civil War was already on the verge of breaking out. In such an unfavorable situation, the most important task of China and Turkey is, of course, to prepare for war and to fight a war with all its national strength, and only by winning the war can China and Turkey fundamentally reverse the passive situation in national defense and diplomacy.

From this, it is not difficult to see that whether the king of Qi went north to the border or the white-haired thief was appeased, it was a small part of the preparations for war in Middle-earth, which could only alleviate the crisis of suppressing the war in northern Xinjiang and played a small role in the local area, but it basically had no impact on the overall situation of the entire war, let alone any improvement effect. And this is the reason why the Holy Lord and the Central Pivot made a compromise on the matter of King Qi's border and the disposal of the white-haired thief. As long as Pei Shiju's westward journey is successful, he can provoke the contradiction between the eastern and western Turks, effectively delay the outbreak of the war, and there is the third crusade, as long as the eastern expedition is victorious, he can conquer the Far East captives and cut off the "one arm" of the desert northern captives, of course, there is more important, that is, to make concessions to the domestic conservative forces, in exchange for the stability of the political situation in the two capitals, even if it is temporary, because this directly determines the victory or defeat of Middle-earth in this war, Imagine if the conservative forces had staged another mutiny in Kyoto during the war, it would have been a terrible disaster.

Feng Deyi couldn't provide Pei Shiju with any useful advice, so he could only comfort him, revealing his guilt and gratitude to Pei Shiju between the lines.

Pei Shiju is open-minded and outspoken, it is precisely because of Feng Deyi that he resolutely made a choice in the future direction of Middle Earth, otherwise he would not have made up his mind at all, and he would always waver and never make a decision.

In fact, after the outbreak of internal and external troubles, there are only two countermeasures in China, one is to conservative the main and strategic strategy, to fight the outside must first be at home, to be an "ostrich" first, to be passive in defense and diplomacy, to compromise and forbear, to concentrate all efforts to solve domestic contradictions first, first to stabilize the political situation, to restore national strength, and then to conquer foreign countries to wash away the shame; One is the radical main battle strategy, that is, to carry out the "outside" and "inside" at the same time, fighting on two fronts, and fighting to the death.

The disadvantages of the former are that the Holy Lord and the reformers must bear full responsibility for today's predicament, and they must admit their failure in political, military, and diplomatic decision-making, the ruling position of the reformers will be seriously shaken, the power of the reformers will be dealt a heavy blow, and the reforms will stagnate, regress or even fail, and the cost is too great; The disadvantage of the latter is that once the "outside" fails, the ruling position of the Holy Lord and the reformers will also be seriously shaken, so that the "Ann" will become an empty word, the reform will fail, the risk is too great, but the risk is too great, and the harvest is also great, once the "Outside" is successful, the "Ann" will be logical, and the domestic opposition will collectively lose their voice, and the Holy Lord and the center will be able to reverse the disadvantage overnight.

Pei Shiju's position and weight in the core decision-making level of the center are obvious, and he will make decisions in the future? The change of the field directly led to the "radical main battle" position occupying the upper hand in the core decision-making level of the center, and then the center did not passively wait for the changes in the general trend of China and foreign countries to make decisions, but actively promoted the development of the general trend of China and foreign countries in the direction of the established decision-making, so as to ensure that the established decisions can be implemented smoothly and achieve the expected results.

Pei Shiju and Feng Deyi said goodbye and crossed the river.

The master of the Yin world led a thousand Xiao Guo Hu to send it away.

Pei Xuanji greeted him on the other side of the river. The father and son got into the car, closed the door, and talked in a low voice.

The news brought by Pei Xuanji surprised Pei Shiju. The unexpected thing was not that Li Pingyuan came back from the dead and reappeared as a white-haired thief, nor that Li Pingyuan resolutely refused Pei Shiju's appeasement, but Li Pingyuan's strategy of going east to the outside of the fortress.

The biggest advantage of this strategy is that it has won valuable time and space for Middle-earth to prepare for war, of course, the premise is that this strategy must succeed, and once this strategy succeeds, it will bring not only advantages to Middle-earth, but also disadvantages, that is, raising tigers for trouble, the Holy Lord and the center used Middle-earth's money, food, and weapons to "fatten" an uncontrollable tiger, and finally moved stones to their own feet and brought disaster upon themselves.

Therefore, the risk of this strategy is huge, once this tiger goes back on its word at the critical moment of the Great War of the North, blackmails the Holy Lord and the center, seeks "huge profits" for itself, and even treacherously, attacks Middle-earth with the Northern Captives, kills people with a sword, and grabs personal interests for himself with the help of the power of the Northern Captives, then the situation is overturned, not to mention that the Civil War may be lost, and even the country is in danger of overturning.

Of course, in order to prevent the occurrence of such the worst results, the Holy Lord and the center will definitely take a series of preventive measures to achieve the goal of maximizing benefits and minimizing risks, such as using the white-haired thief to achieve phased results as a condition for support, to put it bluntly, you pay first, you first show the results, and then you can gain in order to win the reward, otherwise, you will fend for yourself, this is a transaction in itself, both parties want to use the other to make a profit, it belongs to a willingness to fight and a willingness to suffer, and no one can complain about anyone. If the white-haired thief is invincible, the battle is brilliant, and the Holy Lord and the center gradually lose control of the risk, then of course they must reduce or even cut off support in order to regain control of the risk.

So in the final analysis, it is still strength, great strength, and with good strategies, you can maximize the benefits, on the contrary, it is the grasshopper shaking the tree, not measuring itself, maximizing the risk, and even in the end making wedding clothes for others in vain, a hard work in vain.

In Pei Shiju's eyes, when the strategy of going east into the outside of the fortress is in his hands, it will definitely play the greatest role and seek the greatest benefits for Middle Earth, while Li Fengyun is arrogant and arrogant, trying to use this strategy to develop and grow and soar outside the nine heavens, which is simply wishful thinking. How can there be such a cheap thing in the world? You dare to seek the skin of a tiger, and the result can be imagined, and it must be the tiger's belly in the end.

In the end, Pei Xuanji revealed the mystery of Li Pingyuan's resurrection, and Li Pingyuan was saved by Princess Kehe Dunyicheng in the desert tooth tent.

Princess Yicheng is the daughter of the Great Sui clan and the wife of the Qimin Khan. The Khan of Qimin was a staunch lord and faction in the relations between the north and the south, proclaimed himself a vassal to Middle-earth, and lived in peace with Middle-earth, while the east was in decline. It was under the leadership of him and a group of like-minded people that the Turks dominated the desert and rose to prominence again in just ten years. Three years ago, Qimin Khan died of illness, and his eldest son Ashina Jishi succeeded to the throne, called Shibi Khan, and married Princess Yicheng as his wife.

The Turks once again dominated the desert, and the development strategy of the Tooth Tent also changed, and the resolute representative of the main battle faction, Ashina Jishi, succeeded the Tooth Tent Khan, which clearly showed the change in the highest strategy of the Desert Beiyu, and this change had a significant impact on the relations between the North and the South, and the clouds of war began to loom inside and outside the Great Wall.

The Eastern Crusade launched by Middle-earth made the Turks feel the approach of war, and the contradictions within the Tooth Tent intensified, and the main war faction led by Shibi Khan and the Lord Peace faction with Princess Kohe Dun Yicheng as the "big banner" fought sharply, and the princes and nobles of the Tooth Tent and the leaders of various tribes also held their own positions and argued endlessly. Therefore, from a diplomatic point of view, if Middle-earth can win over and buy the main peace faction in the tooth tent, and further worsen the internal contradictions in the tooth tent by means of discord and instigation, it is also an effective way to ease the tension between the north and the south and delay the outbreak of war.

At the beginning, it was the radicals who secretly traded with the Yuwen brothers to carry out the "heavy army" transaction, and later the East Window Incident, the Yuwen brothers were arrested, and it was these radicals who chased and killed Li Pingyuan on the desert, and it was these radicals who had been fighting for power and profit with the Qimin Khan in the tooth tent, so it was definitely not Princess Yicheng who had just married the Qimin Khan and had not yet gained a foothold in the tooth tent, but the tooth tent master and faction.

In other words, the reason why Li Pingyuan revealed this secret was to tell the Pei family and his son that he had a connection with the Tooth Tent Master and the faction, and this was the biggest reason for him to dare to go out to fight.

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