Chapter 109: Differentiation and Checks and Balances
Even if the Xue Yantuo Khanate was destroyed and the Tang Dynasty established the Hanhai Protectorate here, it would not be possible to station too many garrison troops.
Mobei is too big, with a vast territory, sparsely populated areas, and a bitter and cold climate. If you want to rule this area, you can only rely on the local Hu tribe. The Qibi tribe, which has always been friendly with the Tang Dynasty, is the best choice.
Of course, support and opposition are the best ways to rule an area far away from home.
It is not enough to rely solely on one Qibi tribe. This will cause the Qibi tribe to become a dominant family. Today, the Qibi tribe is willing to dormant under the rule of the Tang Dynasty and be a submissive person. But when the entire Mobei is reduced to Its rule will promote its rapid growth.
With power comes ambition.
Who knows that the Qibi tribe today will not become another Xue Yantuo in the future?
When His Majesty Li Er supported the restoration of the East Turkic Khanate and placed it in the Chile River in Monan, he intended it to serve as a buffer between the Tang Dynasty and Xue Yantuo to restrain each other. However, he did not expect that the East Turkic Khanate would collapse. Xue Yantuo developed rapidly, which resulted in a huge gap in power, forcing the Tang Dynasty to face Xue Yantuo's threat.
Now that Xue Yantuo is about to be overthrown, the Tang Dynasty must support two spokesmen to rule Mobei and suppress the other tribes. At the same time, it must always control these two spokesmen to restrain and oppose each other so as not to take advantage of the opportunity to expand. This is actually extremely difficult.
The Qibi tribe must be won over. This is the tribe closest to the Tang Dynasty among the Mobei Tiele tribes. However, the choice of the other tribe must be cautious.
Fang Jun is now thinking about Uighur.
As the most powerful tribe among the Tiele tribes second only to Xue Yantuo, the Uighurs have strong soldiers and horses, are brave and good at fighting. Their tribe is entrenched in the Longcheng area at the foot of Langjuxu Mountain. It has a large population and is powerful. The reason why Fang Jun hesitated is that the Uighurs are too powerful. Stronger, historically Xue Yantuo fell under the attack from both sides of the Tang Dynasty and the Uighurs, and then the Uighurs rose rapidly and brought a lot of trouble to the Tang Dynasty.
Especially now that the Uighurs have formed an alliance with the Pugu, Tongluo, Bayegu and other tribes, they are powerful and difficult to control.
If you are not careful, you will suffer the consequences.
*****
Fang Jun and Qibi Heli seemed to be having a casual banquet, but in fact they were testing each other and fighting with each other.
Fang Jun wanted to support the Qibi tribe to become the helper of the Tang Dynasty in ruling Mobei, but he had to limit its power and curb its development; Qibi Heli tried his best to win the Qibi tribe's right to speak in Mobei. He was not willing to just serve as the Tang Dynasty's ruler. His lackeys, hawks and dogs, until one day the cunning rabbit died and the lackeys cooked...
Of course, the atmosphere was relatively harmonious.
Qibi Heli knew that Fang Jun did not have the power to decide who would assist Datang in managing Mobei, but he had great influence on His Majesty Li Er and had an influence on this matter that cannot be underestimated to a large extent. Moreover, Fang Jun's The kindness shown also benefited him greatly.
The two exchanged cups, and Qibi Heli personally held the pot and filled Fang Jun a glass of wine, asking: "The textile factory established by Suwen Erlang in Huating Town, Jiangnan purchased a large amount of wool from the Western Regions. Nowadays, the Western Regions are not peaceful either. The Western Turkic Khan Yugushe first defeated Guo Xiaoke, resulting in the defeat of tens of thousands of Tang troops, and then was defeated by the British commander's army. His soldiers suffered numerous casualties. He only escaped with his life by fleeing to Tocharo. His reputation was ruined and his majesty was no longer. With the support of the ten surnames of the Western Turks, Shi Nanishe's grandson deposed Yugushe and established himself as Yibi Shekui Khan. He had already sent envoys to Chang'an to request the Tang Dynasty's imperial edict and request for attachment. Yugushe? Are you willing to be deposed? A war is about to start in the Western Regions. This chaos may affect Erlang's business... Why not transfer part of the share of wool purchased from the Western Regions to Mobei? I dare not say anything else. If Erlang is here Mobei is purchasing wool. If any blind person dares to ruin your good deeds, I will immediately raise an army and massacre his entire family!"
What people in the world pursue is nothing more than power and wealth.
If the Qibi tribe can become the assistant of the Tang Dynasty in ruling Mobei, they must also have stable interests to share with those tribes. Otherwise, how can they ride horses and carry swords to kill tribes one by one?
There is no end to the killing.
If we can maintain a stable chain of interests with Fang Jun, it will not only promote the relationship with Fang Jun, but also enable many tribes to defect to the Qibi tribe because of the interests of wool, which will immediately greatly increase the power of the Qibi tribe.
.
Fang Jun naturally knew what Qi Bi Heli was thinking, and there was nothing wrong with that. Cooperation was a matter of mutual benefit.
Of course, the Qi Bi Department cannot make money alone. We still need to carefully seek a balance...
"Nowadays, the sales of woolen fabrics within the Tang Dynasty have gradually become saturated, and I am afraid that it will be impossible to increase production in a short period of time. However, overseas sales are now expanding. As long as the nobles of Japan, Silla, Nanyang and other places recognize woolen fabrics, they will surely
With the outbreak of output, the demand for raw materials will naturally increase greatly. As long as we purchase wool from Mobei, the Qibi Department will definitely be one of our partners."
Qibi Heli chuckled and said: "That's very good, then I'm just waiting for Erlang to get rich!"
He was smiling on his face and cursing in his heart.
Damn “one of the partners”!
The Han people are really annoying. They always keep in mind the strategy of restraint and balance. Even if they believe in the loyalty of the Qibi tribe, they must support another tribe. As the imaginary enemy of the Qibi tribe, they will never allow the Qibi family to dominate.
big.
Where is the need to be so cautious?
Today's Qibi tribe is no longer the same era as the "Great Khan" together with Xue Yantuo. Not only is it far less powerful than Xue Yantuo, but even the Uighurs have firmly suppressed the Qibi tribe. Unless they are crazy, they will
Follow the example of Xue Yantuo and dominate Mobei.
Without the support of the Tang Dynasty, the Qibi tribe would have been swallowed up by the remnants of Huihe and Xue Yantuo in just a few days...
But this is the consistent strategy of the Han people: differentiation, containment, and balance.
You have to say that this trick is very useful. It uses barbarians to control barbarians, which keeps the Hu people in internal strife all year round. They fight among themselves for power and give the Han people a chance to recuperate. After finally killing the competitors, they will face the powerful Han people again.
The army was defeated again, and then divided, contained, and balanced...
Unless one day a genius appears in the Hu tribe and can quickly unify the tribes, or there is a serious natural disaster in the Han area that causes social unrest, then it is possible to break through the Great Wall and invade the Central Plains. Otherwise, don't even think about it.
At this time, soldiers outside the door came to report.
"Bazhuo actually stood in front of Xue Yantuo's army and was proclaimed Xue Yantuo Khan with a sword in his hand?"
Fang Jun looked at the battle report and couldn't help being surprised.
Yinan Khan led his army to a huge defeat in Zhao Xincheng, causing Xue Yantuo's main force to lose ten to sixty-seven. The remaining remnants of the army fled back to Yazhang with Yimang, fought and retreated, and retreated to Longcheng under the cover of the blizzard. Now
Xue Yantuo's effective strength was the remnant army led by Yimang, as well as the tribes controlled by Bazhuo and Tulishi who had been expelled by Yinan Khan. Each of the three parties had more than 20,000 troops, and the total strength was about 60,000 to 70,000.
There are a lot of people, but the quality of the soldiers is uneven, and the combat power is not even slightly lower than before. After all, Xue Yantuo's vitality was severely damaged in the battle of Zhao Xincheng, and all the elite soldiers died miserably. Now these soldiers and horses are all improvised...
Moreover, each of the three princes has his own faults, and no one is willing to obey the other. Even if they have 60,000 to 70,000 troops, they will fight on their own and have their own plans. They are really vulnerable.
However, now Bazhuo has killed Yimang boldly and recruited all his soldiers. The number of troops has increased sharply, the command has been confirmed, and the power cannot be underestimated.
If you want to defeat it, you will definitely have to go through a fierce battle.
Don't forget that there was another sudden loss. The battle report said that he had led his tribe to move westward, and seemed to be planning to leave Mobei and defect to the Western Turks. But who can guarantee that this man would not kill a horseman and suddenly appear in front of the Tang army?
Behind you?
Qibi Heli said sternly: "Bazhuo is a ferocious and violent man, but he is good at battle formations and his military ability is more outstanding than the other princes. You must not be careless. Moreover, the ground of Dragon City is backed by water and mountains. Once the battle situation is unfavorable,
We can retreat to Langjuxu Mountain. The mountains are high and densely forested and the mountains are covered with snow. It will be even more difficult to wipe them out."
Fang Jun also had a headache: "It's true. If you don't kill the snake, you will suffer from it. If you can't annihilate them all in one battle, Xue Yantuo will be reduced to pieces in the future, and soldiers will come out from time to time to invade Langjuxu Mountain, which will be very annoying.
If you don't tell them, it will lead to great losses. But is there any way to make them fight to the death without being defeated at the first touch?"
This is Mobei, the territory of the Tiele people.
Once the Xueyantuo people gave up large-scale corps operations and instead hid in the mountains to engage in "guerrilla warfare", the Tang army would have no choice but to deal with it...