Chapter 0929 Using barbarians to control barbarians is not a good strategy
Li Yuanji did not expect that Ashina Sheer, a person who always thought of his family and country, was actually such a person behind his back, and would betray his allies without mercy.
He is worthy of becoming a Turkic Khan. He seems to follow the rules but is not pedantic at the same time. He really has two brushes.
However, everything he said was nothing to Datang.
Even without the help of him and Sunishu, the Tang Dynasty could still conquer the Liang Division and the Dahe Alliance.
So he wanted to use these in exchange for the Turkic territory that Tang Dynasty seized from Jieli, but it was simply not enough.
Li Yuanji looked at Ashina Sheer with a smile, and slowly shook his head, "Not enough!"
Ashina Sheer's eyes widened for a moment, and he said angrily: "Isn't this enough?"
Li Yuanji laughed and said: "Isn't this enough? What you said, Datang can do without relying on your strength, and may even do better than you. Then, why should we spend a huge price to ask you to help us?
Woolen cloth?"
Ashina Sheer glared and shouted: "Do you have so many troops in the Tang Dynasty? You have deployed tens of thousands of troops outside Lingzhou, and tens of thousands of troops here. The total is almost more than 200,000."
Count.
If you want to conquer Liang Shidu and the Dahe clan at the same time, you will need to invest more troops.
A rough estimate would be around one hundred thousand.
Can your Tang Dynasty still have so many elite soldiers?"
Li Yuanji was stunned and asked curiously, "Have you never experienced the previous Battle of Gyeongju? Have you not carefully understood the details of the Battle of Gyeongju?"
Ashina Sheer was stunned. He had understood it, but Jieli had blocked the information very tightly. All he had learned were some fragments, and he was not clear about the specific situation.
The reason for this is that in order to consolidate his position as Khan, Jieli blocked all news that was unfavorable to him and blamed Tuli for the defeat.
So what he learned was that the Tujue invaded the Tang Dynasty and was ambushed by the Tang people. This led to the disastrous defeat of the Turkic invasion of the Tang Dynasty.
Although he learned some details from Sunisu after he fell to Sunisu, Sunisu was on the Suiyeon battlefield at the time and not on the main battlefield of Gyeongju, so he had no idea what happened on the main battlefield.
Everything I know is not detailed.
Therefore, his understanding of the details of the Battle of Gyeongju was very partial.
He didn't know why Li Yuanji was asking this, so he stared at Li Yuanji suspiciously.
When Li Yuanji saw this, he knew that he did not know the details of the Battle of Qingzhou deeply, and immediately smiled and said: "It seems that you don't know the details of the Battle of Qingzhou. If you knew the details of the Battle of Qingzhou, you would definitely
You wouldn’t say such a thing.”
Ashina Sheer's heart skipped a beat, and he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
Li Yuanji smiled and said: "It means that the Tang Dynasty invested more than 200,000 troops in the Battle of Qingzhou, and that was when the Tang Dynasty was weak.
Nowadays, our Tang Dynasty's national power is booming, the number of Dingkou has nearly doubled, and the number of troops that can be invested will only increase.
In this expedition against Jieli, the Tang Dynasty invested hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, but among the twelve guards, the Tang Dynasty only dispatched four guards, and there were still seven guards to dispatch.
Among the government troops in Jiangbei, our Tang Dynasty has currently only invested troops from Guannai Road, Longyou Road, Duji Road, and Taiyuan Prefecture. There are also government troops from Hebei Road and Henan Road that can be invested.
Do you think the Tang Dynasty can provide 100,000 troops?"
The Tang Dynasty dispatched more than 200,000 soldiers and horses from the four regions of Jiangbei alone. Only four of the twelve guards were dispatched, and there were still seven guards who had not moved. Except for the Qianniu Guards who guarded the imperial city, the remaining
can rush to the battlefield at any time, and Hebei Province and Henan Province can provide Datang with probably hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
This is only Jiangbei. If the huge Jiangnan is included, Datang can provide even more troops.
The more than 200,000 troops and horses currently deployed are estimated to only reach two-fifths of the troops that the Tang Dynasty can mobilize.
Datang was far from reaching its limit.
But just like this, the Turks, the Liang Division, and the Dahe Alliance were already having a hard time dealing with it.
If the Tang Dynasty continued to invest troops, the Turks, the Liang Division, and the Great He Family Alliance would only be crushed.
Not only that, most of the generals dispatched by Datang this time were very young, such as Qu Tutong, Liu Hongji, Huang Junhan and other veterans on the battlefield, who did not move.
Li Shimin, who claimed to have supported half of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Xiaogong, who had built half of the Tang Dynasty, did not move.
If the Tang Dynasty allowed them to lead the second and third armies to the expedition.
The Turks, the Liang Division, and the Dahe Alliance, let alone dealing with them, would be great if they can find a way out.
Thinking of this, Ashina She suddenly felt extremely flustered.
He analyzed it from all aspects and found that the Turks had no chance of winning anyway, and it was very difficult to survive under the hands of the Tang Dynasty.
They don't seem to have any initiative in negotiating terms with Datang.
"Gudu..."
Ashina Sheer swallowed subconsciously and said in a difficult tone: "Then what do you want?"
Li Yuanji smiled and said: "You and Sunisi completely surrender to me. Not only can I protect your Turkic subjects, but I can also seal you in the Turks and let you continue to be the king of the grassland."
Ashina Sheer stared at Li Yuanji with burning eyes and said word for word: "You know, this is simply impossible."
Complete surrender and being humble and vassal are two completely different concepts.
Complete surrender means that the Turks completely surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. From now on, there will be no Turkic forces, only the Turkic tribe of the Tang Dynasty, or the Mizhou attached to the Tang Dynasty.
To be humble and to be small is to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but the Turks are still the same Turks. They just recognized the status of the suzerainty of the Tang Dynasty and paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty.
The former completely became a courtier of the Tang Dynasty, flattening and rounding it with the Tang Dynasty.
The latter seemed to be a minister of the Tang Dynasty, but in fact he had great autonomy. If the Tang Dynasty wanted to flatten and round him, he had to get permission from others.
The Turks are not yet at the end of their rope, and Li Jing has not let the Turks see what it means to sweep holes with thunder and what despair means.
Therefore, in the eyes of Ashina Sheer and even many people, the Turks can still struggle.
Li Yuanji smiled cheerfully and said: "In other words, there is no more talk?"
The Ashina Sheer man was under the eaves and had to lower his head. He gritted his teeth and said: "If you don't speak loudly, we can still talk..."
Li Yuanji smiled and said: "But I don't want to talk anymore, can you still be my master?"
After saying this, without waiting for Ashina She'er to speak to him again, he directly ordered Zhao Chengyong: "Send Prince She'er down."
"His Royal Highness King Yong?!"
Ashina Sheer was anxious and wanted to say something.
Zhao Chengyong blocked his chest and forced him back.
Ashina Sheer was unwilling to give in, raised his neck and shouted at the top of his voice.
"Your Highness King Yong, I, the Turks, cannot completely surrender to you, but I can. I am willing to lead my troops to surrender to the Tang Dynasty. I only ask that you give the Turks' subjects a way to survive."
Li Yuanji turned a deaf ear to this. After returning to the carriage, he asked the driver to drive the carriage and continue on its way.
Li Shimin had been sitting in the car, listening to Ashina Sheer's shouts, and couldn't help but sigh: "He is also a rare loyal person..."
Li Shimin is still very accurate in judging people.
Ashina Sheer is indeed a loyal person.
When the Turks were in danger of life and death, he could continue to work for the Turks and dedicate himself and his tribe to the Turks, which is indeed rare.
In the eyes of Tang people, this may be a common operation.
But he is a Turk.
While his uncles and uncles were fighting endlessly for their own selfish interests, he was the only one who still cared about the country of Turks, and the only one who was willing to dedicate everything to the country of Turks.
With his uncle and uncle as a comparison, and with Ashina Simo, a man who was rushing to fall to the Tang Dynasty, as a foil, everything he did becomes even more precious.
"so what?"
Li Yuanji asked with a faint smile.
He knew that Li Shimin still had something to say.
Li Shimin continued with emotion: "If I can use it for my own use, it will definitely become a great help to our Datang."
Li Yuanji nodded.
Indeed.
Ashina Sheer is indeed suitable for being adopted as his own. According to history, he can not only become a great help to the Tang Dynasty, but also become a loyal dog of the powerful people of the Tang Dynasty.
And he is the kind of loyal dog who is willing to hand over his life.
However, he is now blocking the way of the Tang Dynasty. If he insists on going against the Tang Dynasty, he will be killed even if he is the loyal dog of the Tang Dynasty in history.
The Tang Dynasty was not so endowed as to trade a piece of territory for a loyal dog.
"Then what?"
Li Yuanji asked with a smile.
Li Shimin said meaningfully: "Now is a good time to show kindness."
Li Yuanji laughed out loud.
Li Shimin is right, now is indeed a good time to show kindness to Ashina Sheer.
Ashina Sheer is now begging Datang. As long as Datang shows a little kindness to him, he can regain his heart.
It's just that although Ashina Sheer has recognized the reality, he has made it clear that he does not want to give up. Before he is completely desperate, extending favor to him means giving up a large area of Turkic territory.
It is obviously not worthwhile to give up a large area of Turkic territory for him.
Not to mention him, not even Li Jing, Li Shiji, Su Dingfang and others.
What's the point of things like territory? Once conquered, you have to occupy it, hold it, and then return it?
It's better not to fight.
Our surname is Li, and Li, who is about to shine brightly, instead of Sima, can't do the kind of thing to return the territory that the soldiers worked hard to fight for.
An inch of mountains and rivers, an inch of blood, not an inch of the territory watered by flesh and blood can be lost!
"Second brother, do you want me to support Jieli as a Turkic Khan after I defeat him, and let him herd horses and herd sheep for me in the Tang Dynasty?"
Li Yuanji stared at Li Shimin and asked with a smile.
The reason why Li Shimin expressed his kindness to Ashina Sheer at this time was because he thought of supporting Ashina Sheer to rise to power and let Ashina Sheer help the Tang Dynasty manage the Turks.
This is what he did historically.
After the Tang Dynasty conquered the Turks, it supported several Turkic royal families who were close to the Tang Dynasty and helped the Tang Dynasty manage the Turks.
In history, most emperors did the same thing when they visited the grasslands.
They all returned the grassland to the grassland people and supported the grassland people to help the Central Plains manage the grassland.
However, judging from the historical results, this method not only fails to allow the grassland people to help the Central Plains manage the grasslands, but will instead breed masters one after another who will attack the Central Plains.
Not only that, each of these masters was more ruthless than the last, and they would not show mercy at all when killing Han people.
