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Because the situation reports from Qinghai and Anxi were very critical, and the degree of urgency was beyond everyone's expectations, especially after receiving the emergency report from the general of the Anxi Town Army that it took several months to send it to Chang'an, Li Longji couldn't sit still, and hurriedly ended his recuperation in the hot springs of Huaqing Palace, and returned to Chang'an with the imperial car. He had already made up his mind to start a war against Tibet, and now that the domestic rebellion had subsided, and the Tang Dynasty had the strength to defend Anxi and Qinghai, the remaining pride in his heart made Li Longji not allow Anxi and Qinghai to be lost in his hands.

Li Longji's return to Chang'an after his vacation was on the eighth day after Guo Ziyi and his gang arrived at Huaqing Palace, which was exactly one and a half months after he left Chang'an for Huaqing Palace. The officials who stayed in Chang'an and the crown prince who supervised the army, Li Jue, didn't expect that the affairs of Anxi and Qinghai would make the emperor so anxious, didn't this seem to be the normal behavior of the emperor over the years? But no one dared to question anything.

After Li Longji returned to Chang'an, he rested for two days, and immediately convened his ministers to discuss the matter of Qinghai and Anxi.

Before a decision can be made, a court meeting must be held.

After listening to the emperor's briefing on the situation in Anxi and Qinghai, and some ministers adding explanations of the situation, many ministers knew the extent of the situation in these two places at present.

It is difficult to describe the specific situation in Anxi in words, and this is probably the case: Originally, the places under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate were about two-thirds the size of China in later generations, but now the places that the Tang forces can control add up to only one size as much as Zhejiang, which has shrunk dozens of times. Of course, not all of these territories were occupied by the Tibetans, and the indigenous tribes in that area did not obey the orders of the Tang Dynasty when the power of the Tang Dynasty was rapidly weakening, and took refuge in the Tibetans, or became their own bosses and expanded their territory. The Turkic clans in Anxi were not completely subservient to the Tang Dynasty, but now the Tubo people are intervening. There was a big commotion immediately, and the remaining troops of the Tang Dynasty in Anxi could only shrink in those large military towns and rely on strong cities to defend them.

And the Tubo people did not gather the servant tribes to attack the military towns guarded by the Tang army, and critical situations appeared from time to time, and no one knew what the situation was in Anxi and Beiting now. After all, under the current circumstances, the news from the Anxi and Beiting Metropolitan Protectorates will not reach Chang'an until a few months later, and the situation at the time of the war is changing rapidly. A few months have passed, and no one knows whether the four towns of Anxi have completely fallen.

In addition to Liangzhou, Suzhou, Hezhou, Shanzhou, and Lanzhou, which are far away from Qinghai, the state capitals of Qinghai are still under the control of the Tang army, and other places have been in the hands of Tubo. In other words, the place where the Tang army's power can reach is already a little far away from the big lake in Qinghai.

After the briefing on the situation in Qinghai and Anxi, the entire court was silent, except for a few people who knew the situation in advance, the other ministers did not expect that the situation in these two places would be so critical. Just when there was silence in the main hall, Guo Liyi, the Pingzhangshi of Wubu Shangshu and Tongzhongshu, stood up. He said loudly: "Your Majesty, the situation in Anxi, Beiting, and Qinghai is extremely critical, and the minister implores Your Majesty to give an order immediately." Send a large army to fight against the Tibetans who have attacked our territory, and put down the rebellion of the tribes in this area!"

"Your Majesty, the minister seconded the proposal!" Wei Jiansu also immediately stood up and expressed support for Guo Ziyi's proposal. "Anxi and Qinghai are in danger, and the imperial court should immediately send a large army to crusade against the Tubo people who took advantage of the fire to rob."

Immediately, Yang Xi and Gao Shi also immediately stood up and expressed the same meaning. and asked for orders to go out on the expedition when the temple was in charge.

But immediately some people stood up and opposed the current army to crusade against Tibet, they said that now that the civil strife has just subsided, the people need to recuperate, and they must not start war again, that will arouse public resentment! The crown prince Li Jue also stood up and said that it was not appropriate to raise a large army to crusade against Tibet now. This is also the point he stated before, and he had a dispute with Guo Ziyi, and he still insists on seeing it today, but because of the tough statements of Yang Xi and many other ministers, his tone is much weaker, and he does not insist on stating it.

However, there are some ministers who are strongly opposed to sending troops to Tibet now.

This situation is very normal, any major affairs of the court and politics will appear when they are brought to the court, even after the An Lushan rebellion, whether to raise troops to quell the rebellion, such a thing, have been debated in the court for a long time, many people oppose the rebellion, it is recommended to send someone to advise, persuade An Lushan to surrender, do not recommend to use violence to counter violence. The court suddenly became very lively, and there were many ministers who stood up to state their opinions, and there were arguments between them, and some people even blushed with their faces. Gao Shi, the squire of the martial arts, was so happy with a Hubu Lang surnamed Wu that he almost fought with his sleeves. Li Longji didn't seem to have any surprise at this situation, and let the ministers in the palace argue with his eyelids drooping.

The controversy among the ministers soon became divided, for the majority of those who suggested raising an army to fight against Tibet now were in a more important position, and their words carried more weight, and they refuted the opponents with a great deal of analysis, and in the end fewer and fewer people stood up to oppose them.

After the voice in the court became softer, Li Longji raised his eyes, swept the ministers in the hall who were arguing and panting, and said in the same voice as just now: "Your Aiqing has a very heated discussion, I have also heard your arguments, and it seems that the people who support sending troops to fight against Tibet account for the majority. Na I also supported the outcome of today's court meeting and sent a large army to crusade against the Tibetans. ”

"Spread the edict: Send an envoy to Qinghai to order the Tubo people to withdraw from Qinghai and Anxi," Li Longji ordered with a majestic face: "At the same time, form a large army to crusade against the Tubo people who invade these two places, and quell the rebellion in this area!" Change the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate to the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, and order all tribes in Anxi and Beiting to assist our Tang army in resisting the Tubo people, otherwise they will be punished for rebellion!"

As soon as Li Longji gave the order, there was silence in the court again, and there were not a few people who were surprised. The emperor has not shown such majesty for a long time, and in the memory of many ministers, the emperor's majesty has long been lost, even when An Lushan's rebellion started, the emperor's reprimands were all lacking in qi and annoyed and angry, but today, they saw the terrifying holy power again.

No one stood up against the decision made by the Emperor, not even those who had just shouted loudly.

"Your Majesty is wise!" But someone stood up and slapped Li Longji's ass. As soon as one person stood up and praised the emperor's wisdom, a group of people immediately followed suit and said the same thing. For a while, there was another commotion in the court.

Li Longji waved his hand to signal the ministers to be quiet, and after all the ministers stopped and stood back in the original train, Li Longji asked again: "Since the court has decided to use troops against the Tubo people, then I still want to ask you Aiqing, how to send troops?" ”

This time, Yang Xi was the first to stand up and express his opinion: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that we should use troops against Qinghai and Anxi at the same time to completely defeat the Tubo people in these two places. The national strength of Tubo is not as good as my Datang, and the number of troops and combat power cannot be compared with our Datang army. I wish to go on the expedition!"

Then Guo Ziyi also immediately stood up, supported Yang Xi's proposal, and loudly asked for his life, he was willing to lead the army to attack the Tubo people in Anxi, and vowed to put down the rebellion of the tribes in Anxi and restore order in Anxi and Beiting. He also gave a general account of how the troops would be used.

But immediately some people stood up and opposed Yang Xi's proposal to form two lines of soldiers and horses to crusade against the Tubo. Their reason was that if they divided their troops in this way, they would be easily defeated by the Tibetans, and not only would they not be able to achieve military successes, but they would be given more territory by the Tibetans. Even Prime Minister Fang Xuan stood up against it, and for a while there was a noisy quarrel in the court.

In the end, though, it was Yang Xi and Guo Ziyi's supporters who prevailed in the argument. Li Longji also seemed to be annoyed, and without waiting for the argument to end, he dispersed the court meeting, leaving only the prime ministers of the political affairs hall, as well as heavyweight ministers such as Yang Xi, Gao Shi, Wei Fangjin, and Zhang Yan to discuss matters.

After half an hour of discussion, the final result was finally reached, and two armies were formed to crusade against the Tubo people in Qinghai and Anxi respectively. "Your Majesty, if the war goes well, it is very likely that you will be able to compete for complete success in one battle and completely remove the threat of the Tubo people!" This is what Yang Xi said in front of other ministers after Li Longji finally made a decision. He also asked for orders to go out again, and was willing to lead all the way to crusade against the Tibetan people-

A few days later, the imperial court issued an edict to go on an expedition, with the crown prince Li Ying as the marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and Guo Ziyi and Yang Xi as the deputy marshals, to form a large army to crusade against the Tubo people who invaded Qinghai and Anxi.

Guo Ziyi led the general manager of the Yili Road march with the body of the deputy marshal, and took Li Guangbi, Li Siye, Zhang Xun, Nan Jiyun, Cheng Qianli, Lu Chongben, Lai Yao, Guo Yingyi, etc. as the sub-managers, and the generals of 150,000 soldiers arrived in Anxi out of the sunshine to discuss the Tubo people in Anxi, restore the jurisdiction of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate and the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate, and order the tribes in the Western Regions to obey the actions of the Tang army, otherwise they will be punished for rebellion.

Yang Xi led the general manager of the Xihaidao march as the deputy marshal, and Gao Shi, Wang Sili, Pang Zhong, Liu Guangting, Fugu Huaien, Gao Fucheng, Hun Shizhi, Hun Xuan, Chen Huiguang, Hao Tingyu, Li Baoyu and others will be the sub-commanders, leading an army of 180,000 out of Shanzhou to attack the Tubo people living in Qinghai.

Marshal Li Ying did not take up his post, and the actual commanders of the war were naturally Guo Ziyi and Yang Xi.

Guo Ziyi has age, prestige, and qualifications, and led 150,000 horses to Anxi, and no one will have any objections. Yang Xi is different, although he has made outstanding military exploits in the war to pacify An Lushan, but when he raised an army to fight against the Tubo people, he led the post of deputy marshal of soldiers and horses, and led a large group of generals with forgiveness for their military exploits to go out to the battle, which still caused many people to be dissatisfied, even some of his generals were like this. Those generals who had never led a military under Yang Xi were very unhappy with the fact that their immediate boss was only a young man who had just been weakly crowned.

However, this is not what Yang Xi is worried about, he has a way to make his generals obey him, and what he is worried about is the opposition of the people around him.

When the imperial court issued the edict, Yang Xi did not discuss this matter with his father Yang Guozhong, the imperial edict was issued, and Yang Guozhong also knew that his father was furious! (To be continued......)