Chapter 1217 Strategic Suggestions

Li Mi nodded and said: "Liu Shangshu is right. It is very likely that Uighur's target is Taiyuan City, so His Highness will also send more troops to Yunzhou and add the most advanced firearms. I believe Yunzhong County can hold it. As long as By holding on to Yunzhong County, the Uighur army would not dare to advance southward, so their next step would most likely be to go to Youzhou. There is already evidence that Zhu Si surrendered to the Uighurs. "

Li Mi's inference was basically consistent with Li Ye's idea, except that Li Ye believed that the focus of the Uighur army was Hebei, and Yunzhou was secondary. Of course, they would also attack Yunzhong County, and if they could not capture it, they would immediately divert to Hebei.

Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "I am considering killing from Feihuxing this winter and killing Zhu Si first. What do you think?"

Li Mi shook his head and said: "Your Highness's idea is good, but from an overall perspective, it is not the best choice."

Li Ye did not interrupt Li Mi and let him continue.

Li Mi continued: "Youzhou is too complicated. It is not only the home of the rebel forces, but also nearly 200,000 Goguryeo people, as well as the Khitan and Xi people. In particular, the Khitan people have occupied Liaodong and have been eyeing Pingzhou. The assassination of Zhu Tao in Luoyang was proof that the Khitans were eyeing the Central Plains. They wanted to use the assassination to mess up the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, it is easy for Your Highness to defeat Zhu Si's army and easy to capture Youzhou, but it is too difficult to stand firm in Youzhou. It is like standing on an unstable boulder, with the Uighur attack in front, the counterattack of the feudal town behind, and the internal A large number of internal forces have rebelled and attracted the enemy. Don't you feel very passive, Your Highness? "

Liu Yan next to him also said: "Li Shangshu discussed this matter with Beizhi before. We all thought that as long as Yunzhou is defended, Youzhou should be left alone. We should follow the original plan and eradicate Li Zhengji in the south of the Yellow River first. There will be no worries, and then Launch the Battle of Hebei."

Li Mi also said: "This is the opinion of Hsinchu, but Hsien would like to remind His Highness to pay attention to three points. First, beware of Shuozhou. If the Uighurs cannot take Yunzhong County, the Uighur Khan will probably send troops to go south and massacre the city." Mayi County and Shanyang County to avenge the past; secondly, the alliance of the vassal towns should not be underestimated. In the face of destruction, they will definitely share the same hatred with the enemy. Once His Highness sends a large army to attack Li Zhengji, the alliance army will surround Wei to save Zhao and attack Weizhou and Huaizhou threatened Luoyang and forced His Highness to retreat, so I suggested that Lei Wanchun's troops withdraw to Huaizhou; thirdly, the power of kerosene was experienced by all the feudal towns, and I believed that Huihe had hoarded a large amount of kerosene and they would use it. The kerosene comes to support the feudal town, so Your Highness must be prepared for the kerosene."

The internal security investigation was extremely efficient. In just two days, Li Chenghua submitted a supplementary investigation report to Li Ye.

"Your Highness, the Imperial Guard has visited nearly 300 businessmen in the past two days and has obtained a large amount of information, which is basically consistent with the report. However, a few points need to be added. There is a reason why the first Geluolu showed weakness to Huihe. Internal disputes also broke out among the Geluolu people. It is said that a conflict broke out between the Pogo tribe Geluolu and Jinshan Geluolu last year. The cause of the conflict is unknown. Jinshan Geluolu were defeated and suffered heavy casualties. They did not have the strength to confront the Uighurs. Show weakness and withdraw from the Xue tribe’s land.”

Li Ye nodded silently. He had an intuition that the conflict between the two Geluolu people was probably related to the eastward expansion of Zoroastrianism. When he thought of Zoroastrianism, Li Ye thought of Jinshan Ling. He quickly shook his head and removed the woman from Get it out of your mind.

Li Ye didn't want to think too much about this matter, and said: "What next? Keep talking!"

Li Chenghua continued: "Then there is Liaodong. It is said that the Khitan army has garrisoned in Pingzhou and has trained a Goguryeo army of tens of thousands. The leader of this Goguryeo army seems to have been from the imperial court."

A person suddenly popped into Li Ye's mind, the former Plum Blossom Guard general Wang Siyi. After conquering Luoyang, he disappeared, and a group of his close men, about 2,000 people, also disappeared.

The leader of the Goguryeo army in Youzhou should be Wang Siyi, and his two thousand troops, Jiaotu Sanku. Wang Siyi and his men escaped the encirclement and suppression of his army and crossed the Yellow River to the north.

"Anything to add?" Li Ye asked again.

"Just these two points, nothing else for the time being."

Li Chenghua handed the report to Li Ye. Li Ye thought for a long time and said: "After we captured Taiyuan, the Hebei feudal town was very nervous. We wanted to prevent them from jumping over the wall and sending assassins to Chang'an. Do you understand what I mean?"

Li Chenghua nodded, "I understand!"

To stop the war, kill those who want to start the war. This weak idea is very popular in the feudal towns. From Li Xilie to Tian Chengsi, and then to Zhu Si, they have always done this, and they will definitely do it again. Dry.

This new year will be the most challenging one for internal defense.

In the afternoon, Li Ye issued two orders. The first order was to add 30,000 troops to the northern part of Hedong Road, of which 10,000 were added to the defense of Yunzhou and the other 20,000 were added to the defense of Shuozhou.

The second order ordered Lei Wanchun to lead his army to retreat to Huaizhou, ready to support Xue Song's tribe in Weizhou at any time.

There is also a trace of dissatisfaction with Xue Song. As the last warlord outside the vassal town, Xue Song did not enter the capital. This shows that Xue Song has not awakened. He only has 10,000 troops and one Weizhou left in his hands. With little military power in his hands, Li Ye decided to take this opportunity and asked Lei Wanchun to arrange an opportunity to capture Xue Song to prevent him from leading his army to surrender to the feudal town.

Early the next morning, Li Ye came to the Yuan Hall of Zhongshu Province to participate in the fifth routine military and political discussions.

The military and political affairs were actually a court meeting, but it was not called a court meeting, so there was no need for Empress Dowager Zhang and the Emperor to attend.

There are two ways to discuss military affairs. One is temporary military affairs. When there is an important matter, Li Ye will summon civil officials of the fifth rank and above to participate.

The second is the regular meeting, which is held on the fifth day of each month, that is, on the fifth, fifteenth and twenty-fifth days of each month. There are three military affairs meetings a month.

Today is December 15th. Nearly a hundred fifth-rank officials gathered together. The officials sat on the stepped seats around. The lower the seat, the higher the official rank.

At the bottom are the nine members of the Political Affairs Hall, plus two Political Affairs Hall walkers, the Imperial Censor Yan Zhenqing and the Remonstrance Doctor Cui Huan. A total of eleven members sat around a huge circular table. To the north is the seat of the Regent Li Ye. His seat is slightly higher than the other eleven people. There are also several secretaries and supervisors sitting behind him.

Today's meeting was presided over by Wei Jiansu, the Minister of Rites. The seven assistant ministers took turns to preside over it every month. This month it was Wei Jiansu's turn.

However, the meeting of the Political Affairs Hall was convened and presided over by the Right Prime Minister, which is different from the military affairs meeting.

Not every minister is qualified to speak in military and political affairs. Generally, only the regent and members of the Political Affairs Hall have direct speaking rights, that is, they can speak directly without consent.

Other officials must first obtain the consent of the chief officer, then file with the host of the meeting, and finally apply for speaking on the spot. They can speak only after the regent Li Ye agrees.

Officials of any dynasty cannot speak or report to their superiors at will. That is disrespectful to their superiors and violates the etiquette of respect and inferiority.

But there are exceptions to everything. How did many low-level officials risk their lives to write to the emperor?

Especially after Wu Zetian broke the rules and allowed low-level officials to report to the emperor, although the emperor criticized Wu Zetian later, he retained her regulations allowing low-level officials to report to the emperor.

But they cannot report to the emperor at will. There is a channel here, which is the Jianyuan.

The Jianyuan is a bit like the petition office in later generations. It is not only a channel for communication between the court and the general public, but also a channel for communication between low-level officials and superiors.

At present, there are four copper boxes at the gate of the Jianyuan, which are blue, red, white and black. Among them, the "Yan'en Box" is for those who seek official advancement; the "Zhaojian Box" is for those who talk about the gains and losses of the government; the "Shenyuan Box" is for those who have been wronged; and the "Tongxuan Box" is for those who talk about celestial disasters and military secrets.

Although a large number of informants appeared when Wu Zetian established it, making the court panic, its original intention was to communicate grievances and understand the people's feelings.

A bit off topic, with a crisp knock on the cloud board, the military and political discussions began.

Wei Jiansu said slowly: "Today there are two topics, the first is to discuss the Chang'an expansion plan, and the second is to nominate candidates for next year's reign. Both plans have been sent to everyone in advance. Let's start with the first topic, discussing the Chang'an expansion plan."