The two gentlemen and ministers discussed properly, which does not mean that Pei Shiju will be able to make the trip immediately.

> such a major event has a bearing on the fortunes of the country, and it not only requires the unanimous consent of the highest decision-making level of the central authorities, but also requires the formulation of detailed plans, and all kinds of complicated issues must be considered thoroughly, and the relevant government offices such as the central government, the government of the Ministry of Defense, the government of local governments, the Northwest Army, and the Captain's Office of the Western Regions must also work together to make concerted efforts.

Pei Shiju is the initiator and executor of this "project," and this trip to the west is mainly to play the role of overall planning, coordination, command, and decision-making, and specific things still need to be done by military and political officials at the central and local levels, which involves the interests of all quarters, and the difficulty of its implementation can be imagined.

Pei Shiju swore an oath, but he didn't make a promise with a pat on his chest, in fact, even if he made a promise, the Holy Lord and the central ministers would not believe it, so they listened to it, prepared both hands, prepared a plan, and once Pei Shiju failed to achieve the expected goal on this trip, he would immediately change course and take another plan.

The Holy Lord's goal is already very clear, to launch the Third Crusade as soon as possible, so the time he gave Pei Shiju is very limited, at most until the end of this year, five months after the full battle, deducting the time to hurry, Pei Shiju can actually use the time to complete the negotiations, theoretically less than three months, too little time.

At present, the situation at home and abroad is not good, there are stubborn conservatives at home, there are fierce northern captives abroad, crises are lurking, the Holy Lord and the center are anxious, eager to reverse, so launching the Third Crusade has become the most "convenient" "life-saving straw". Although this move is suspected of being quick to achieve quick success, if everything goes smoothly, all the expected goals are achieved, and the authority can be re-established internally and deterred by force externally, the situation at home and abroad can be quickly reversed, and the effect will indeed be immediate. But the Third Crusade cannot be delayed, it must begin next spring, and if it drags on until the year after next or even longer, "the daylilies are cold", it will not be a "life-saving straw", but a "noose" for suicide.

This is the reason why the Holy Lord limits Pei Shiju's time to complete the task, and his intention is not to increase the difficulty of the task, but to warn Pei Shiju that he must distinguish the priority of this task.

The main task of Pei Shiju's westward journey was to "destroy" the political "bargaining chips" used by Xijing to blackmail the eastern capital, forcing Xijing to compromise with the eastern capital, or at least not to openly oppose the Third Eastern Crusade.

The Holy Lord will also compromise, his "bottom line" is that you can not support the Third Crusade, but you don't go against me, you can be silent. You have the Northwest crisis to solve, you're busy with yours, and I can even give you "resources" for support, with only one condition, keep your mouth shut.

The secondary task of Pei Shiju's westward journey was to contain and attack the desert northern captives, because this was not a necessary condition for launching the Third Eastern Crusade. In other words, the Holy Lord actually did not limit the time of the "secondary task", he limited the time of the "main task", and he asked Pei Shiju to tell Xijing with clear and undoubted facts before the end of the year that the political "bargaining chips" you were going to blackmail the eastern capital were over. And this point, Pei Shiju will definitely be able to do, that is, whether he is subjectively willing to do it, if he is unwilling and deliberately obstructs the Third Eastern Crusade, then the problem is complicated.

If Pei Shiju succeeds in his westward journey, he can contain the desert and the northern captives externally, and suppress the conservative forces in Xijing internally, which is basically the same as the ultimate goal of the Third Eastern Crusade, and can win the maximum benefit at the lowest cost, but only the Holy Lord and the center can not wash away the shame of the defeat of the Eastern Crusade and rebuild the authoritarian power, and the authority is too important, related to the survival of the rulers, the success or failure of the reform, and cannot collapse.

Of course, Xijing's political compromise is only one of the necessary conditions for the Holy Lord to launch the Third Eastern Crusade, if the other conditions are not met, the Third Eastern Crusade is still the wishful thinking of the Holy Lord, so for the Holy Lord, in order to ensure safety, Pei Shiju's westward journey can only succeed and not fail, so that even if there is no Third Eastern Crusade, Middle-earth can rely on cooperation with the Western Turks to win the opportunity to reverse the current crisis.

At present, the Third Eastern Crusade is still in the "assumption" stage, and the central ministers are very pessimistic about this "assumption", and there is also great controversy at the core decision-making level, but the Holy Lord is optimistic, positive, and resolute about it, and the commanders of the Wei government who hold the position of the main battle are also "gearing up". As a result, it was difficult for Pei Shiju to take into account the positions of all parties when formulating the strategy of this westward trip, and he was unable to achieve the best of both worlds, and the direct consequence was that the military and political circles made a "misinterpretation" of this strategy, and then deliberately set up obstacles, which would be troublesome.

Just when Pei Shiju was exhausted and exhausted for the westward strategy, a letter from Feng Deyi, a member of the Inner History House, was sent to Pei Shiju's desk.

Pei Shiju was very surprised, he never expected that the King of Qi and his supporting forces would "kill" the northern Xinjiang at such a critical moment, resulting in the already bad north-south situation "sideways branches", the slightest carelessness, the north-south relations will inevitably deteriorate rapidly.

Pei Shiju's evaluation of King Qi changed greatly. King Qi made a good move, walked well, and attacked the enemy unprepared, just hit the vital point of the Holy Lord and the center, and the place where the Holy Lord and the center would be saved, which can be described as a fatal blow.

Pei Shiju agreed with Feng Deyi's analysis of the political game hidden behind the two sudden events of "King Qi's Northward Journey" and "Gaoyang Crisis" and their incalculable impact on the situation in northern Xinjiang and even the relationship between the North and the South, and then doubted the "uncertainty" of the Third Eastern Crusade. He suddenly had a premonition that the Third Crusade might change from the will of the Holy Lord to the supreme decision of the center in a short period of time.

Among the necessary conditions for launching the Third Eastern Crusade, it was Xijing who had to compromise and make concessions politically, and externally, the northern captives of the desert were effectively contained and could not hinder and destroy the Third Eastern Crusade in Middle-earth. If it wants to contain the northern captives, Middle-earth can only rely on joining forces with the Western Turks to attack the east at the north and south foothills of the Dajin Mountain. The Turks are obviously not enough, after all, it is unrealistic to hope that the Western Turks will be inseparable from the desert and the northern captives, and hand over their fate to others.

However, due to the needs of the Eastern Crusade, a large number of Northern Xinjiang garrison troops and local heroes were transferred to the battlefield of the Eastern Crusade, resulting in a sharp decline in the strength of Northern Xinjiang Garrison. If the Eastern Expedition is decided in a drum, the First World War, and the Northern Xinjiang Zhenshu Army on the battlefield of the Eastern Expedition quickly returns to the Great Wall defense line, this is a small problem that can be ignored, but the Eastern Expedition has failed for two consecutive years, and the Northern Xinjiang Zhenshu Army on the Eastern Expedition battlefield has not only been unable to return to the Great Wall defense line for a long time, but also suffered heavy losses, resulting in the originally negligible small problems quickly evolving into a major crisis.

It is foreseeable that if Middle-earth launches the Third Eastern Crusade, the Desert Northern Captives will definitely take advantage of the great opportunity of the serious shortage of garrison forces in the northern part of Middle-earth to go south to Koubian, so that it can not only give Goguryeo strong support, but also attack and coerce Middle-earth, killing two birds with one stone, why not?

This is also one of the important reasons why Pei Shiju offered his advice to the Holy Lord and actively allied with the Western Turks. Regardless of whether there is a Third Crusade or not, the situation in northern Xinjiang will be very grim in the next few years, so it is necessary to unite all forces that can be united to contain and weaken the desert northern captives.

However, the Western Regions are far away, and the Western Turks are not easy to deal with, Pei Shiju's trip to the west may not be able to achieve the expected goal, and it may not be easy to encircle Wei to save Zhao, "far water can not quench thirst", in comparison, the king of Qi went north to suppress the army, and those who supported the king of Qi stood in the "bright place" and hid in the "dark place" The forces have poured into the northern Xinjiang to help, and it will inevitably be able to strengthen the northern Xinjiang garrison force in a short period of time, strengthen the defense line of the Great Wall, and form a substantial threat to the desert northern captives.

Therefore, in terms of the strategy itself of "King Qi going north", the value is very high, it is opportune and just right, and it can solve many thorny problems faced by the Holy Lord and the center both politically and militarily, which is very good, but from the crisis hidden behind this strategy, "King Qi going north" is a "double-edged sword", which can not only hurt the enemy, but also harm oneself, and it is difficult to weigh the advantages and disadvantages.

"King Qi going north" will trigger two major internal and external crises. Outside, there is a crisis between the north and the south, if the king of Qi intends to create a crisis between the north and the south to blackmail the holy lord and the center, so as to gain great power and strong strength, then his northward movement will not only not help the easing of relations between the north and the south, but may lead to a great war between the north and the south in advance. Internally, there is a crisis of imperial unity, once the king of Qi is hegemonic according to the northern frontier, he will inevitably covet the imperial unity, and it is very likely to repeat the mistakes of Yang Liang, the king of Han, killing each other, father and son turning against each other, and ruining lives.

People have no foresight, but they must have near-term worries. The Holy Lord and the Central Pivot not only have to consider long-term interests in the matter of "King Qi going north", but also have to solve immediate troubles, so it is a bit difficult and takes time. But the longer the time drags on, the greater the variables, and the more unfavorable it is to align the king, this is obvious. In order to prevent accidents, the king of Qi made a decisive move, not only caught the holy lord and the center by surprise, but also sacrificed a sharp "big knife", and this "knife" was the white-haired thief who was known as the first anti-thief in Middle-earth.

For the white-haired thief, Pei Shiju has long been concerned. As early as when he appeared in and around the Great Wall as a horse thief, he heard of it; When Yu Wenshu ordered his arrest and brought to Beijing, Pei Shiju noticed something unusual; Later, when the white-haired thief troubled southwest Lu and gradually became a big trouble, Pei Shiju also? Slow has some guesswork.

Today, Feng Deyi told the white-haired thief a lot in his secret letters, and these messages were all from Fan Yang Lu's family, which was very credible, among which the suspicion of the mysterious identity of the white-haired thief, various speculations about the sudden rise of the white-haired thief, and the unpredictable means of its development and growth in a short period of time all made Pei Shiju suddenly have a sense of déjà vu.

"Is he still alive?"

Pei Shiju couldn't help but think of a person, a person who had died.

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