"Ah..." After organizing his words, Gu Xun still followed the principle of being a monk and ringing the clock every day, and sincerely performed his duties... Although this is actually not something that the Imperial Master should take care of.
"Of course there are problems with the surprise plan, and they are no less than the former."
"First of all, it's a matter of timing." Gu Xun stretched out a finger and said.
"In Lingnan, even if there is only a thousand-man army, it is difficult to avoid various Yue tribes for a long time. In addition, the food and supplies that can be carried are limited, so it is impossible to transport the soldiers there in advance."
"In this way, the action time of the surprise troops and the main army must be strictly planned to avoid delays."
"Of course, this is not too troublesome. I think the empire's army should still be able to cooperate."
After Tu Sui heard this, he immediately expressed his position, "Don't worry, Imperial Master, I will handle it well."
"The second question is the landing location." Gu Xun stretched out his second finger and gestured.
"I do have a few useful ports along the coast of Baiyue... let's call them ports, but once the empire uses troops against Baiyue, there is no guarantee that the other side will not be on guard against my fleet and keep an eye on these landing ports."
"Of course, large troops don't need to take this into account. Tens of thousands of people can just push them up. Baiyue can't resist it unless it pulls all its main forces to defend the coast. But a small group of surprise troops, not even mentioning the problem of being blocked and unable to land, is concealed.
That’s the most important thing. What effect can it have if people find out about it?”
"That is to say, we need to find a suitable landing place again. To be honest... although the coastline is long, such a place is not very easy to find."
In Lingnan, which has not undergone any development, there are many cliffs that can smash ships into pieces, but there are very few flat beaches suitable for landing.
Regarding this issue, Tu Sui simply chose to pass the blame, "On this point, I have to worry about the Imperial Master."
He couldn't solve this problem, and he was sure that Li Si couldn't solve it either, so he could only ask Gu Xun to handle it.
Gu Xun shrugged, not agreeing to anything, but not rejecting either.
Ever since he was forcibly involved in the plan to attack Baiyue, he was destined to cause a lot of trouble, so it didn't matter.
Gu Xun then stretched out his third finger, "The last point is not a big problem, it's just the transportation distance."
"My fleet cannot transport the empire's troops to the hinterland of Lingnan, and at most it can only reach South Vietnam."
The coastline of Baiyue is very long. Whether it is Minyue, Nanyue, Xiou, or even the farthest Luoyue, they are all close to the sea. In theory, any of them can be reached by sea ship, but in fact... at most it is South Vietnam.
.
The cooperation between Liusha and Tianze is definitely the closest, and they also have a lot of trade exchanges with Nanyue Kingdom. The contact with Xiou Kingdom is very weak. As for Luo Yue... there is almost no contact.
The few exchanges between Xiou Kingdom and Liusha are basically transferred through South Vietnam, so the furthest merchant ships from Liusha go to South Vietnam.
As for the further south, I have not set foot in it.
The longer the transportation line is, the greater the risk and the higher the difficulty. Anyway, it will not increase much profit, so Gu Xun simply stopped exploring the ocean.
How should I put it? It is of course necessary to continue to explore further coasts, but you have to be down-to-earth. Now is not the time to do this.
"When the empire was conquering Fujian and South Vietnam, my fleet could still provide direct help. But after reaching Xiou, or even the more remote Luo Yue generation, it would be of little help."
Gu Xun stopped Li Si before he could speak, "Don't talk about asking me to open up a navigation line."
"It's too late, unless the empire is willing to wait for me for about two years."
As soon as Li Si heard this, he immediately gave up his original idea.
It's okay to wait for a few months, but two years is too long. The empire can't wait, those noble people can't wait, and neither can His Majesty the Emperor.
Tu Sui also silently closed the mouth he just opened. He was so impatient that he couldn't wait any longer.
Seeing this, Gu Xun grinned and concluded leisurely, "Actually speaking, no matter which plan is helpful to the empire's Baiyue strategy, there are problems in it. The root cause is that this help is very small."
Limited."
"The final outcome of this war to conquer Baiyue will ultimately depend on the performance of the two of you and the strength of the empire. The assistance I can provide is quite limited."
"By the way." Gu Xun finally said to Li Si, "I will help contact Tianze, but I'll leave the specific negotiations to you."
"Just go back and find a reliable lobbyist and come to me at the Imperial Prefect's Mansion."
Li Sigang nodded to show that he knew, and Gu Xun immediately asked, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"
Li Si thought for a while and felt that there was nothing important to ask. If there were any questions later, we would just discuss them, so he shook his head.
Tu Sui, on the other hand, hesitated for a moment and then asked in a bad tone, "I want to know why the Imperial Master is so unfavorable to the Battle of Baiyue?"
"Ah...this question..." Gu Xun opened his mouth, but did not give an answer immediately. After pondering for a moment, he replied, "It's not that I am not optimistic about whether the empire can win, no matter how tenacious Baiyue's resistance is.
, it’s just the size of the price you pay.”
"I just feel that the empire cannot get sufficiently equivalent returns from this war."
Tu Sui frowned and wanted to speak, but considering Gu Xun's past reputation, he forced himself to hold it down.
He doesn’t understand, so why can’t he get anything in return?
This war is obviously enough to satisfy many people, very satisfied!
………………
An hour and three quarters later, both Li Si and Tu Sui left Shuyi Hall, leaving only Gu Xun and Ying Zheng in the hall.
Ying Zheng, who had been listening silently and said nothing, now looked at Gu Xun with an imperceptible smile.
He didn't ask about shipping or other questions directly related to the Battle of Lingnan, but asked about Gu Xun's final answer to Tu Sui.
"The Imperial Advisor seems to firmly believe that this war will only bring losses to the empire?"
"It's obvious." Gu Xun shrugged and replied in a relaxed tone.
The smile on Ying Zheng's face gradually faded, and his tone changed to a more serious tone and he said, "Then I can tell you that the empire will not fight a war without benefits!"
"Maybe..." Gu Xun raised his eyebrows, "What we think of as harvest is not the same."
When the war breaks out, Yingzheng can expand the territory, and the military nobles can get a lot of military merits. Civil servants including Li Si will also gain their own merits, and the empire will naturally not suffer losses.
Well...at least everyone in the court will not suffer any loss.
Take all the baht and use it like sand.
After actually facing all this, Gu Xun realized that what Du Mu said was so accurate.
