"But the road from Mengshezhao to the west is not easy, and the same goes for Linyi."
Li Yuanji put down his strategy and couldn't help but sigh.
From the very beginning when he wanted to enter the West, he had considered how to enter the West.
During the two Han Dynasties in history, body poisoning was indeed detected from the Western Regions and Western Shu respectively.
Theoretically, the road from Western Shu to the West is closer.
But the road from western Shu to the west is not easy to walk.
Along the way, you not only have to walk through mountains and forests, but you also have to deal with all kinds of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, as well as the miasma in the jungle.
This was nothing to the indigenous people living in the deep mountains and forests, but to the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, it was a huge obstacle.
Just being bitten by a snake and an insect is not something that most northern soldiers can adapt to.
When Wang Mang conquered the southwest, he was defeated by miasma and snake and insect bites.
Therefore, for the current Tang Dynasty, the way into the West from the Western Regions is actually safer.
It's a bit further, but except for the yellow sand all over the sky and some specific climate effects in the Western Regions, there aren't too many poisonous insects and ferocious beasts coming out to block the way.
More importantly, when the Tang Dynasty entered the West, the advance troops sent were Turks, Tuyuhuns, and Tubos.
These people have already adapted to life on the grasslands and deserts, and can easily travel through the Western Regions and reach the West.
Datang just needs to follow them and enjoy the success.
Therefore, there is no need to take such big risks and invest so much manpower and material resources to open up the road to western Shu.
However, the sea route to Linyi can be opened up.
Although the shipbuilding industry of the Tang Dynasty cannot yet support ocean voyages.
But from Linyi to Tianzhu, it is not an ocean. The distance is like from Yangzhou to Jiaozhou in the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, it is feasible to occupy Linyi, build a wharf in Linyi, and use Linyi as a springboard to take a peek at Tianzhu and the places west of Tianzhu.
However, in comparison, it is safer to enter the West from the Western Regions.
Because if you enter the West from the Western Regions, Datang can send a large number of advance troops to help with the journey and help eradicate various threats.
Datang only needs to directly face the most difficult enemy to defeat.
However, according to historical records, the prairie people were invincible when they entered the West and had few opponents. The most powerful crusaders in the West have not yet appeared.
The Turks, Tibetans, and Tuyuhun people could completely survive when they entered the West. The Tang Dynasty only needed to provide them with sufficient armaments and sufficient technical support.
Therefore, there are not many tough battles that Datang needs to fight.
As long as the Tang Dynasty can keep suppressing the Turks, Tubo, and Tuyuhun, it will always be able to share the richest fruits from their spoils.
Therefore, for the Tang Dynasty, the risk of entering the West from the Western Regions was the smallest, the effort required was small, but the gain was the greatest.
When Li Shimin heard this, he stared and said: "You want to spy on the West, on places we don't understand and don't understand. How can you do it without paying a price?"
Only by giving can you gain something.”
Li Yuanji smiled calmly and said: "But I want others to pay for us, and we will directly take the harvest."
Li Shimin stretched out his hand to pat the table, but his hand hung over the table but did not fall down. Instead, he continued to stare and said: "There is nothing in the world where you can only gain without giving."
If you want to use the strength of the Turks, Tuyuhun, and Tubo to help you spy on the West, you don't need to pay a huge price in the early stage.
But once the Turks, Tuyuhun, and Tibet gain a firm foothold in the West and become powerful, you won't be able to do it without paying the price.
Therefore, when we do things, we can borrow others’ hands, but we cannot completely borrow other people’s hands. We must have our own things and have our own backup!”
Li Yuanji nodded and said: "I admit that what you said makes sense. We should have our own back-up when doing things, but we use the Turks, Tuyuhun, and Tubo to help us spy on the West. This does not conflict with our own back-up.
.
I just said that I didn’t want to open up the road to the West at a huge cost, and I wouldn’t open it up without saying anything.”
Li Shimin was stunned for a moment and said: "You want to explore other ways into the West after the Turks, Tubos, and Tuyuhun have spied on the West and confirmed that there is indeed a hot land in the West."
In the eyes of many people in the Tang Dynasty, the West was a barbaric land. In the eyes of a few people in the Tang Dynasty who had broad vision, although the West was not a barbaric land, it was not a good place either.
It is reasonable for Li Shimin to think so.
After all, when most wise men enter an unknown place, they will not bet all their treasures at once, but will find ways to get other people to help explore the way.
When others find the way, the wise will make a bet and put everything on it.
This is just like testing and attacking a sheep during a war.
A wise general will use various tests to find out the enemy's specific strength and various layouts before the war. Once everything is understood clearly, they will attack with the entire army, pinpointing the enemy's weak points and inflicting painful suffering on the enemy.
one strike.
As a military strategist, Li Shimin had already integrated this habit into his bones, so he would think like this when he thought about problems.
When others say something related to this, they will naturally think about it.
Unfortunately, Li Shimin guessed wrongly what Li Yuanji was thinking.
Li Yuanji didn't think so.
In the eyes of the Tang people, the West was hazy and unknown.
But in Li Yuanji's eyes, everything in the West is clear.
So he didn't need to test it.
He simply didn't want to pay a high price.
After all, in this era without roads, cars, or airplanes, the road into the West was not easy.
The more roads you want to take, the higher the price you need to pay.
And this kind of price is not what Datang can afford now.
Therefore, first rely on the strength of others to navigate one path, and then rely on the strength of others to navigate other paths. Finally, when you have gathered enough of your own strength, it is the best choice to use your own strength to stabilize these paths.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Li Yuanji shook his head and said: "I didn't think so, I just didn't want to spend too much money to test the road."
Li Shimin's eyes stared like bells for an instant, and his eyes were filled with "Do you know that your words are contradictory?"
Li Yuanji sighed and explained: "The number of Dingkou in our Tang Dynasty now barely reaches three million households, which is less than one-sixth of the number in the heyday of the Han Dynasty. It can't even fill the territory of our Tang Dynasty, let alone fill it up."
We are about to capture the Turks.
Therefore, it is impossible for us to send a large number of soldiers and horses to the place where Mengshe Zhao is located, through the mountains and forests, and it is even less possible to send a large number of soldiers and horses to go through the jungle to the west of Mengshe Zhao to conquer the west.
So we can only use the help of others to help us spy on the West.
When others help us find out the situation in the West and open up all the roads for us, we can directly follow the path they have found out.
By that time, my Dingkou in Datang should have recovered to a very impressive number.
We can control the path they help us open up, and even replace them.
Only then will we truly begin to peep into the West.
Before that, we can only support the Turks, Tibetans, and Tuyuhun from behind, and let them go to the west to stir up trouble."
Li Shimin's brows instantly wrinkled, "In that case, why don't you wait until my Dingkou of the Tang Dynasty recovers before you go spying on the West?"
Li Yuanji laughed and said: "At that time, second brother, do you think I still have time to spy on the West?"
Li Shimin opened his mouth, wanting to say yes, but when the words came to his lips, he did not say them out.
By that time, Li Yuanji will probably be in his forties or fifties, and his ambitions may have been blunted by the turmoil of the Tang Dynasty. It is extremely unlikely that he will continue to peek at the West.
In addition, Li Yuan may have died long ago. If Li Yuanji were in the Tang Dynasty, he would definitely succeed Li Yuan's position.
Even if Li Yuanji didn't want to, Li Yuan would try every means to push Li Yuanji to the throne before he died, and the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty would use all kinds of methods to persuade Li Yuanji to come to the throne.
Surrounded by everyone, Li Yuanji had no room to retreat.
Once Li Yuanji succeeded Li Yuan, he would be tied up in all the trivial matters of the Tang Dynasty and would no longer be able to act as he pleased.
At that time, let alone spying on the West, even if you want to personally conquer the country, you will have to fight with the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty several times before you can get what you want.
Therefore, Datang could spy on the West in the future, but Li Yuanji could not.
Li Yuanji must set the tone, lay out the overall situation, and make a good start before Li Yuan is still alive.
Only in this way could Li Yuanji not be forced back by Li Yuan, be held hostage by civil and military officials, ascend to that position, and be locked in that position.
Thinking of this, Li Shimin's heart felt a little sour inexplicably and became complicated.
He and Li Jiancheng were vying for the position they wanted, even at the expense of hurting their own blood relatives, but Li Yuanji actually refused to take it if he didn't want it. In order to achieve his goal, he even planned an extremely crazy plan to spy on the West.
This reminded him of a sentence.
His preserves are my arsenic.
The throne that everyone yearns for, the throne that everyone wants, in Li Yuanji's eyes is not only not a piece of cake, but like a tiger or a wolf.
For a moment, Li Shimin suddenly felt that he was superficial and lacked ambition.
otherwise,
How could he hurt his brothers, nephews, and flesh and blood relatives for a mere corner of the Central Plains?
However, this idea was thrown out of Li Shimin's mind not long after it came into his mind.
This corner of the Central Plains is already something that many people have longed for in their entire lives. How could he underestimate it?
Thinking back to the time when the seventy-two anti-kings competed together, who was not there for it?
During the Seventy-Two Routes against the King, so many people died, wasn't it just because of it?
He hasn't gotten it yet, yet he dares to look down on it. Isn't he a bit arrogant and too ambitious?
