In the Council Hall, the emperor and the Privy Council discussed the border war. Guo Ziyi, the Privy Council envoy, and Li Guangbi, the deputy Privy Council envoy, presided over the meeting.
As the deputy envoy to the Privy Council, Li Guangbi was mainly responsible for clearing out the remaining forces of the Southern Tang and Later Yan.
He pointed to the map of the case and said: "After Shi Siming was killed, the entire Yan State, led by his son Shi Chaoyi, asked Datang to surrender. However, there were still many troops who refused to surrender and fled south to Fuzhou.
Quanzhou and Zhangzhou area. At the beginning of this year, Pugu Huai'en led his troops to capture, and Bai Xiaode led his troops to capture Zhangpu. Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou have now been restored."
Li Guangbi paused for a moment and continued: "However, the remnants of the Yan bandits knew that they were no match for the Tang army, so they fled to Liuqiu (Taiwan) with their belongings, and then escaped into the dense forest. Last month, Navy Admiral Du Huan led the Yuyang Army,
Wang Haijun and Nanchen Army, with a total of 230 warships, crossed the sea and attacked. Due to a sudden storm, they had to suspend their voyage and return to Quanzhou Port."
When Zhou Jun heard this, he looked away from the Kan book, looked at Li Guangbi, and said in a deep voice: "Send orders to Du Huan, wait until the storm subsides, rest and reorganize the army, and then attack Liuqiu."
Li Guangbi said yes.
Zhou Jun: "If the enemies of Liuqiu are willing to surrender, they can move to Zhangquan and Quanzhou."
Li Guangbi: "Your Majesty, what if you don't surrender?"
Zhou Jun had a rare serious look on his face and said word by word: "Burn the mountains and destroy the forests, level the villages, leave no traitors behind, just make the land pure!"
Li Guangbi was stunned for a moment, then bowed in agreement.
As the privy envoy, Guo Ziyi was responsible for Longyou, in other words, the war with the Tubo people.
Guo Ziyi said: "Back then, when the Tubo army was defeated and Sang Chiruo retreated, Guo Xin, as the Hehuang Jiedu envoy, took advantage of the situation to capture Shibao City. In the past few years, the Tang army and the Tubo army had fought against each other, and there were victories and losses, but generally speaking
, our army still has the advantage."
Guo Ziyi pointed to the map and said: "The Tang army has now advanced its troops to Moliyi and completely occupied the Chiling area. The Tubo army stationed troops in Dafeichuan and formed a confrontation with our army. Last October, and this year
In March, Guo Xin sent troops to attack Dafeichuan twice in total, but they both returned without success."
When Zhou Jun heard this, he interrupted and asked: "I have read the battle reports of these two times. When talking about the reasons for retreating, there is a sentence called "Fan slaves to the barbarians and fought without fear of death, which made the Tang army
"Hindered", what does this mean?"
Guo Ziyi replied: "Sang Chiruo fell into the trap of alienation and executed many nobles under his command, which caused many noble tribes in Tubo to turn against him. After he returned to Luosuchi City in Tubo this time, the royal nobles united to overthrow
His position as a great critic was suppressed by bloody means."
"Sang Chiruo knew that he had lost the support of the nobility in the country, so he turned to support the new classes, such as Tibetan slaves and mountain barbarians, gave the latter appropriate power, and introduced some of them to the Tubo king's tent.
Become an official to suppress the old aristocracy."
Zhou Jun: "Although Sang Chiruo's move can consolidate his position as a great scholar, it will intensify the internal conflicts in Tubo. Doesn't he know?"
Guo Ziyi: "Sang Chiruo probably knows it, but right now he has no choice. Only when the new aristocracy becomes stronger and suppresses the old aristocracy can Sang Chiruo find a chance to survive in the cracks. Otherwise, if Sang Chiruo doesn't do this
After all, after the defeat of Changsheng Temple, it is absolutely impossible for him to survive until now."
Zhou Jun: "So, in order to gain status in the court, the new nobles supported by Sang Chiruo sent troops to fight against the Tang army. This caused our army to stagnate?"
Guo Ziyi: "The powerful Shankai army of Tubo at that time came from Jishi Mountain in the south of Hehuang. Tribes from Maqin, Dari, Banma and other places crossed the mountains this time and went north to fight with the Tibetan army in Dafeichuan.
, jointly attacking the Tang army was one of the reasons why Guo Xin lost the battle. In addition..."
Zhou Jun: "What other reasons were there for the Tang army's defeat?"
Guo Ziyi sighed: "Another reason is that the Tibetan army may have mastered the method of making gunpowder."
Zhou Jun was stunned.
Guo Ziyi: "According to Guo Xin's battle report, the Tibetan army has used gunpowder more and more frequently in the past few months. And based on the seizures by our army, the gunpowder used by the Tibetan army does not look like an old thing.
Looks like it was recently produced."
Zhou Jun: "Where did the Tubo people get their techniques?"
Guo Ziyi turned to look at Li Guangbi.
Li Guangbi said: "Back then, the Puppet Tang Emperor Li Yu was forced to abdicate by Shi Siming. According to others, some people in the Puppet Tang Dynasty were unwilling to take refuge with Shi Siming, so they traveled south across the Yangtze River, entering Jiannan Road from the Middle Guizhou Road and passing through the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
When they entered Tubo, they also brought with them many craftsmanship techniques from the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty."
Zhou Jun said angrily: "I have heard such rumors before, but the road from Jiangnan to Tubo is difficult and dangerous, and Jiannan Jiedufu has set up checkpoints in Yazhou and Hanzhou. Why didn't I check it before?!"
Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi looked at each other, and they were silent together.
At the time of the fall of the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty, the relationship between Jiannan Jiedu Mansion and the imperial court was estranged, and they must not have cared about investigating the past.
Now that the emperor was angry, he might have forgotten this matter, so it was not easy for the two of them to point it out in public.
After a while, Zhou Jun slowly realized one thing. Since the formula of gunpowder is not complicated, it is only a matter of time before it spreads. Instead of getting angry here, it is better to think about how to deal with it.
So, he asked Guo Ziyi: "What is the material of Tubo gunpowder?"
Guo Ziyi: "The Ministry of War conducted experiments on the captured Tibetan gunpowder, and judged it to be inferior, with many impurities, and easy to explode. The weapons supervisor suspected that although the Tibetan gunpowder manufacturing techniques were available, the purification and grinding processes were not up to standard.
It can only be used to make explosives, but not guns."
Zhou Jun pondered for a moment and asked Guo Ziyi: "What are the prohibitions currently implemented in the customs bordering the Tang Dynasty and Tubo?"
Guo Ziyi: "All items and personnel related to military equipment are not allowed to enter or exit the customs. Violators will be executed on the spot."
Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "No, this is far from enough. In the name of the Privy Council, I ordered that all customs bordering Tubo will be subject to strict border inspections from now on. All goods and personnel, regardless of whether they are related to military matters or not, will be subject to strict border inspections.
All of them will be detained and will not be allowed to pass customs!"
Guo Ziyi said yes.
Zhou Jun: "If I remember correctly, the military governor of Jiannan Jiedu Mansion is Jia Chaorong?"
Guo Ziyi: "Yes."
Zhou Jun: "At that time, the north and the south were fighting, the situation in the south of the Yangtze River was unclear, and the Jiannan Road was swinging from side to side... Later, Jiankang City was destroyed, and although Shuzhong took the initiative to join us, in order to stabilize the hearts of the local people, I did not make any big moves in terms of personnel.
Now that Jiangnan has been completely pacified, it is also time for a group of officials to be replaced in Jiannan Road, which borders Tubo."
Guo Ziyi looked at Zhou Jun: "As your Majesty wishes?"
Zhou Jun: "It was nearly August, and the chief and deputy chiefs of the six prefectures in Sichuan were ordered to come to Beijing to report on their duties."
After a pause, Zhou Jun added: "Also, let Guo Xin go back to Chang'an. The war in Tubo is becoming more and more troublesome as it drags on. We must find a way to solve it."
Guo Ziyi bowed and accepted the order.
This chapter has been completed!