King Qi's words can't be untargeted, but Cui Junsu was still immersed in the situation in the eastern capital just now, thinking about the direction of the domestic situation, and suddenly "jumped" to the north-south relationship, to think about the general trend of China and foreign countries, the span is too large, and he was unexpected.

Fortunately, on the way to stop the Eastern Expedition and rush to the aid of the Eastern Capital, Cui Junsu and Lai Hu'er have been discussing the trend of the domestic and foreign situation after the defeat of the two Eastern Crusades, and the relationship between the North and the South is the focus of their discussion. The primary purpose of the Eastern Crusade was to maintain the stability of relations between the North and the South, but against people's wishes, the successive defeats of the Eastern Crusade not only failed to stabilize the relations between the North and the South, but instead exacerbated the rupture of relations between the North and the South, and the clouds of war hung over the Great Wall, and a major war between the North and the South was about to break out. This was the result of a discussion between Cui Junsu and Laihu'er, and both of them believed that if Yang Xuangan's rebellion could be quelled in the shortest possible time, then the Eastern Crusade would continue, and a third Eastern Crusade would be carried out to delay the outbreak of the Civil War as much as possible and give Middle-earth more time to prepare for war. Of course, if the destruction of Goguryeo could prevent the outbreak of the Civil War, it would be very ideal, and it would be a wish, but it is a pity that since Goguryeo and Choi Junsu's understanding of the Northern Captives, this is basically a luxury.

The reason why Goguryeo was attacked by Middle-earth is because the development of Goguryeo has harmed the interests of Middle-earth, and the Northern Captives are also developing and growing, and they are also harming the interests of Middle-earth, so if Goguryeo dies, it will be a lesson for the Northern Captives, coupled with the bloody lessons of history, the Northern Captives actually have no way to retreat, and retreat is also death, only by moving forward bravely and fighting to the death can they fight a bloody way, so it is absolutely impossible to expect to kill the "chicken" of Goguryeo to set an example of the "monkey" of the Northern Captives, on the contrary, It will only provoke the ferocity of the Beiju and make the Beiyu more determined to survive by force.

However, even so, the "chicken" of Goguryeo still had to be slaughtered, one to prove the strength of Middle-earth, deter the Far Eastern captives, and ensure the interests of Middle-earth in the Far East, and the other was to cut off the "arm" of the Northern captives, so that the Far Eastern captives led by Goguryeo could not give tacit cooperation and positive response to the northern and southern invasions from the direction of Liaodong after the outbreak of the Great War between the North and the South, and effectively alleviate the heavy pressure on the Middle Earth in the Great War of the North.

Cui Junsu hesitated for a long time and said slowly, "It is obvious that the relationship between the north and the south will inevitably become worse and worse with the re-emergence of the north captives in the desert, and with the rupture of the relationship between the north and the south, the war between the north and the south will inevitably break out, which is also unstoppable." ”

Cui Junsu did not guess the intention of King Qi, so his answer was very subtle. Historically, the trend of North-South relations is like this, when strength determines a qiē, and when there is little difference in strength, North-South relations are relatively stable, and conversely, whoever is strong will be attacked on the other side. After the unification of the Middle Earth, the strength of the Catalpa soil increased rapidly, and there were more and more foreign expeditions, and in the later years of the first emperor, the Middle Earth had occupied a clear advantage, but there was still a considerable distance from the overwhelming advantage. The objects of the Holy Lord's foreign conquest are all the weak people who are close to Middle-earth, Tuyuhun in the west, Goguryeo in the east, and the purpose is to kill chickens and set an example for monkeys, which can also be seen from the side, the strength of Middle-earth is not enough to form a fatal threat to the Turks, Tiele and other captives in the far west and the northern desert, and the confrontation between the two sides is still in a stalemate period, in this case, the sudden decline in the strength of either side will inevitably break the balance between the north and the south, and a large-scale war may break out at any time. Taking advantage of your illness and taking your life is a matter of national fortune and the future of the race, and no party with the upper hand will miss such a God-given opportunity.

King Qi nodded solemnly with a stern expression, and then asked, "The defeat of the Eastern Crusade for two consecutive years will definitely have a bad impact on the middle appearance, in order to eliminate these bad influences to the greatest extent, will the Holy Lord and the Central Center launch the Third Eastern Crusade?" ”

When Cui Junsu heard this, his heart suddenly made waves. The Third Crusade? Is this King Qi's personal speculation, or is it a secret that Yuwenshu "accidentally" revealed?

From the standpoint of the Holy Lord and the center, in order to reverse the inferior situation, it is indeed possible to take a dangerous fight and launch the Third Eastern Crusade regardless of the cost, but the problem is that now the domestic situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and the rebellion has broken up in the north and south of the Great River, and the Second Eastern Crusade fell short because of Yang Xuangan's mutiny, and the defeat of the Second Eastern Crusade further deteriorated the relations between the north and the south, and had a more severe adverse impact on the northern Xinjiang suppression. If a large-scale rebellion breaks out in the country during the Third Eastern Crusade, or a large-scale invasion by the Northern Captives, and the Northern Xinjiang is full of wolves, and the Third Eastern Crusade falls short again, the consequences will be unimaginable, and it is possible that the Chinese and foreign crises will break out together, and the national Zuo will collapse violently under the impact of internal and external difficulties.

The benefits that can be obtained from the Third Crusade are limited, and the limited benefits are really insignificant compared to the terrible consequences of the collapse of the national ancestry.

"The Third Crusade?" Cui Junsu thought about it again and again, but still shook his head, and said carefully, "Now that the appearance is not good, it no longer has the conditions to launch the Eastern Crusade. ”

Although sometimes there are some things that cannot be taken without taking risks, but depending on the price of failure, once the price of failure cannot be afforded, then this risk cannot be taken, even if the Holy Lord and the center have strong confidence in the strength of Middle-earth, their own governing ability and control ability, but considering that they are not afraid of 10,000, they are afraid of what if, it is better to be safe and cautious.

King Qi bowed slightly, and asked again, with the intention of pressing step by step, "If you give up the Eastern Crusade, will the relationship between the North and the South break down?" Will the Civil War break out quickly? ”

Cui Junsu sighed secretly. The reason why he and Laihu'er came to the conclusion of "launching the Third Crusade if conditions permit" is precisely because once China gives up the Eastern Crusade, once it admits its its defeat, admits that it can't even kill a "chicken", and the "impact" on the North-South relationship is too great, it is foreseeable that the Great War between the North and the South will inevitably accelerate its outbreak, and once the Great War breaks out, some ambitious political forces in the country will inevitably fall into the ground, and wave after wave of rebellions will be set off in the country. Once the united front of the two fronts is defeated, the authority will be lost, and the national will be in danger of collapse.

In other words, when the Third Eastern Crusade is launched, there is still a chance of reversal, and if you abandon the Eastern Crusade, you will not even have a chance of a first-line reversal, and then the Holy Lord and the Central Center can only fight bloody battles on two fronts at home and abroad, hoping that a miracle will happen. Of course, miracles exist, as long as the Holy Lord and the center can fight their way out under the joint attack of the powerful conservative forces at home and the fierce northern captives abroad, a crisis will be solved.

Cui Junsu pondered for a long time and slowly gave the answer, "If the Holy Lord and the Central Authority can make full use of the conflict between the Northern Captives and intensify the internal contradictions in the tooth tent, the relationship between the North and the South may not break down, and the Great War between the North and the South may not break out. ”

The common strategy of containing and weakening the Northern captives in Middle-earth is to defeat them with razing and winning the maximum result at the minimum cost. During the period of the first emperor, Middle Earth used this method to divide the powerful northern captives of the desert, and after the Holy Lord ascended the throne, he used this method to break up the captives of the western earth, so that the unified Middle earth won a basically stable north-south relationship at the minimum cost, and won valuable time for the development of Middle-earth. Of course, this policy is not invincible, but also depends on the timing, if there are few internal contradictions in the northern captives, and the tribes are more united, it will be very difficult to implement this plan, on the contrary, the implementation will be very smooth, especially when the northern captives are conquest with each other, it is twice the result with half the effort.

Now the timing of the implementation of this strategy is not very good, because the Turks on the desert have just risen, their own strength is not very strong, Middle-earth still has a considerable threat to their survival, and Middle-earth's crazy attack on Goguryeo makes them have a huge sense of crisis, coupled with the bloody historical lessons are still fresh in the memory, these will invisibly unite all kinds of northern captives, seek common ground while reserving differences, and work together to fight Middle-earth, so that if Middle-earth wants to use bribery, deception, coercion and other means to divide and divide, It will be more difficult to divide the northern captives.

King Qi smiled slightly, "Gu understands what Gao Tang Gong means. On the other hand, if the use of razing to control razing fails to work, or even backfires, and provokes the northern captives, relations between the north and the south will definitely break down, and a major war between the north and the south will definitely break out. ”

Cui Junsu wanted to refute, this can't be said nonsense, and it is responsible to spread it, but after hesitating for a while, he gave up again, he vaguely guessed the reason why King Qi always focused on the relationship between the north and the south, maybe King Qi's survival strategy was related to this.

He was thinking about it when a sudden word came from his ear that shocked him and made him so shocked and incredulous that he could hardly believe his ears.

"I want to suppress the northern frontier and go north to kill the captives."

King Qi's expression was solemn, his tone was firm, and his expression was very indifferent, obviously this was not his impulsive move, but a well-thought-out decision.

Cui Junsu's face was expressionless and silent, but his heart was "stormy waves", and his imagination was fluttering.

Soon he sorted out the various interests arising from the king of Qi's northward march to the border, and finally came to a conclusion: retreating as an advance is a brilliant plan, and the timing is very well chosen, Cui Junsu can even be sure that the holy lord and the center will finally make a compromise with the king of Qi and agree to him to conquer the northern frontier.

It's just that this plan is a risky move for King Qi, and it is doomed to failure.

As long as the northern captives invade and the relationship between the north and the south breaks down, the king of Qi must bear all the responsibility for the holy lord and the center in politics, after all, the holy lord and the center have been greatly reduced by the failure of the Eastern Crusade, and they can no longer be allowed to suffer a heavy blow. p>

If there is a third crusade, the pressure on the king of Qi will be greater, and the relationship between the north and the south will become a "noose" around the neck of the king of Qi, the king of Qi must not only ensure the security of the northern frontier, but also ensure that the relationship between the north and the south will not break down, otherwise even if the eastern crusade is successful, the king of Qi will also bear the blame, of course, if the eastern crusade fails again, the king of Qi is the first "scapegoat".

The king of Qi went north to the border, in fact, it was to put it to death and then live, looking for a glimmer of life in a desperate situation, but this glimmer of life is too slim, at least in Cui Junsu's view, the relationship between the north and the south has been on the verge of rupture, and the king of Qi is simply unable to create a miracle, the reason why the king of Qi wants to go north to the border is just to seek death, is to maintain the glory of his king, sacrifice his life for the country, and shroud in horse leather.

Cui Junsu was inexplicably sad. Grief is greater than death, King Qi is really desperate, this time the control of the Grand Canal is not to fight for the imperial throne, but to fight for himself a choice of death, he wants to choose a dignified death.

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