Chapter 59: Preparing for War!

"Your Majesty is brilliant and unparalleled; in this battle, the Great Tang will undoubtedly prevail!"

"We offer our premature congratulations to Your Majesty for sweeping away the Turkic tribes in one stroke, achieving glorious feats that shall be etched into history!"

...

With the Emperor having made his decision, the civil and military officials naturally voiced their enthusiastic approval, eager to sing the praises of the Emperor while inwardly marveling at his strategy.

Marveling at whom?

First, they marveled at the Son of Heaven. What a masterful ploy of "releasing before catching," playing all the ministers like puppets in the palm of his hand—truly cunning!

Second, they marveled at the two Prime Ministers. To have looked past the false intelligence and instantly discerned the Emperor’s true intent—what remarkable insight!

Yet, some were left puzzled. It was no surprise that the Right Prime Minister, Li Linfu—who was notoriously cunning and sharper than a monkey—could guess the Emperor’s mind. But why had the Left Prime Minister, Li Shizhi, whose nature was typically boorish and rough, also guessed it correctly this time?

Could it be that the Left Prime Minister was a man of great wisdom who had been hiding his true brilliance all along?

The officials did not know the answer, but Li Linfu knew it perfectly well. Before entering the palace for the meeting, he had received a secret report from a "mole."

Just last night, Li Shizhi had gathered his closest confidants at his residence to drink and discuss the impending Turkic invasion and whether to fight or negotiate. Most of those present believed that, based on the rumors from the palace, the Emperor intended to seek peace, and it would be best to follow his lead and support the peace proposal during the court session.

Li Zhao had been present as well. He had argued against the consensus, asserting that the Emperor’s talk of peace was a ruse, and that a decisive battle against the Turks was the true intent. He listed a series of reasons, leaving everyone in awe.

Even the ten points of strategic advantage were listed by Li Zhao; Li Shizhi had merely been parroting his words.

*This lad is truly brilliant, both in letters and in arms, with a vision that is sharp beyond compare, as if he could foresee the future. If I could win him over, he would surely become my right-hand man... What a pity. The Emperor struck first. No matter how capable I am, I cannot snatch someone away from the Emperor, can I?*

Thinking this, Li Linfu glanced at the northwest corner of the grand hall. Standing there was a youth with red lips, white teeth, and a heroic bearing—it was Li Zhao.

Ever since he became a Court Chamberlain, the Emperor had kept Li Zhao by his side for all court sessions, meetings, and outings, often discussing matters of state and military affairs with him. The intention to groom him was blindingly obvious!

One could easily imagine that in a few years, there would be another Prime Minister Li in the Tang court.

But enough of that; let us return to the war against the Turks.

A war that consumes the resources of the entire nation is no trivial matter. It cannot be won simply by making a resolution or shouting a few impassioned slogans. To win such a war, one must plan meticulously and consider every factor, the most vital of which is: unity and cooperation!

Is the Great Tang internally united?

Regrettably, not at all.

To speak of nothing else, the court itself was a cesspool of intrigue between the factions of the Left and Right Prime Ministers. How could such a state withstand foreign enemies?

"Right Prime Minister, Left Prime Minister, with a great enemy at our gates, for the sake of the empire, I hope you two will work in concert to assist me in defeating this powerful foe!" Li Longji looked at Li Linfu and Li Shizhi, his tone cold, even tinged with a hint of murderous intent.

He was well aware of the factional infighting; he simply had not intervened. The reason was simple: the more the ministers fought, the more stable the Emperor’s position remained. This was an eternal truth.

Therefore, he had never interfered in their squabbles, preferring to sit on high and watch the show, provided the fighting did not threaten his imperial power or spiral out of control.

But things were different now. Faced with the formidable Turks, the Tang Empire had to be united; only by acting as one could they prevail.

If anyone ignored the bigger picture now and continued their infighting, he would have no choice but to draw the Emperor’s sword and start a massacre!

"Your Majesty, rest assured. We two shall lead the civil and military officials in absolute unity to repel the foreign insult, in return for Your Majesty’s boundless grace!"

Li Linfu and Li Shizhi were both clever men. Naturally, they understood the Emperor’s meaning and immediately pledged on their honor that their factions would cease their strife and unite to defend against the enemy.

To prove it, the two even held hands in front of the officials and uttered many nauseatingly insincere words about letting bygones be bygones and working in perfect harmony.

Of course, they both knew that the factional struggle would never end; it was merely suppressed for the moment. Sooner or later, the two sides would still fight to the death.

...

Having temporarily suppressed internal strife, the next step was how to deal with the external enemy. After deep deliberation, Li Longji issued three imperial edicts.

The first edict: Ordering the officials of Jiangnan, Huainan, and Jiangnan-West circuits to collect four million dan of grain within two months.

Some might ask: the Guanzhong Plain has been a fertile land for thousands of years; why not collect military supplies there instead of transporting grain from the distant south?

There was no choice. While Guanzhong was a great granary, it suffered from two major flaws:

First, the Guanzhong Plain was too small, hemmed in by the Qinling Mountains and the Weibei Mountains, with practically no room for expansion.

Second, from the Zhou, Qin, and Han dynasties through the Sui and Tang, over a dozen dynasties had made their capital in Guanzhong. A thousand years of unrestrained cultivation had led to severe soil erosion, causing the quality of the farmland to decline and grain yields to drop year after year.

Today, the grain produced in Guanzhong was barely enough to feed the locals, let alone supply hundreds of thousands of troops in the northwest.

Fortunately, since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Jiangnan region had been extensively developed. With its dense network of waterways and convenient irrigation, its agricultural production had flourished, making the collection of millions of dan of grain a feasible task.

The second edict: After the spring plowing ends next year, one and a half million able-bodied laborers were to be conscripted from all circuits, prefectures, and counties to be responsible for transporting grain and supplies to the northwest army!

The journey from Jiangnan to the northwest spanned thousands of miles. If transported solely by land, the consumption along the way would be enough to bankrupt a nation.

Fortunately, there was the Grand Canal. It could transport Jiangnan’s grain by water to Luoyang, then via the Guangtong Canal to Chang'an, and finally by land to the northwest front, significantly reducing losses.

Speaking of this, one must thank Emperor Yang of Sui! This tyrant had sacrificed the nation’s fate to carve out the Grand Canal, allowing the abundant resources of the south to be continuously transported north, ensuring the normal operation of the state machinery. His sin was in his time, but his benefit would last for a thousand years!

The third edict: Promoting Wang Zhongsi to General of the Cavalry and Chariots, granting him command over the four military governorships of Shuofang, Hexi, Hedong, and Longyou. He was bestowed with the yellow battle-axe and white yak tail, symbols of supreme military authority, and given full power to command the war against the Turks!

Wang Zhongsi, originally named Wang Xun, was the son of Wang Haibin, a general known for his valor who had reached the rank of Loyal and Brave General. His father was famous in Longyou for wielding a six-he broadsword—twelve feet long and weighing fifty-four catties—dancing it on horseback as if it were a feather.

In the second year of the Kaiyuan era, the Tibetans invaded the Longyou region. Wang Haibin led his troops to intercept them, winning victory after victory, capturing much. Unexpectedly, other generals grew jealous and stood by, refusing to provide support.

Left without reinforcements, Wang Haibin was surrounded. Outnumbered, he fought to the death and died a hero’s death.

Afterward, pitying Wang Haibin, Li Longji posthumously granted him the title of General of the Left Jinwu and took his nine-year-old son, Wang Xun, into the palace to be raised alongside the princes. The Emperor personally bestowed upon him the name "Zhongsi" (Inheritor of Loyalty).

As he grew up, Wang Zhongsi became adept in both letters and arms, exceptionally brave. He joined the army and achieved repeated merits on the northwestern front. In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, he was promoted to Military Governor of Shuofang, specifically tasked with guarding against the Turks.

Having served in the northwest for many years, Wang Zhongsi was intimately familiar with the local customs and the strengths and weaknesses of the Turkic tribes. There was no one better suited to command this campaign.

With the decisions made, Li Longji breathed a long sigh of relief. Seeing that it was near noon, he prepared to hold a banquet at the Xingqing Palace to reward the officials and take the opportunity to boost morale.

Just as he was about to issue the order, a young eunuch scurried in, kneeling with a memorial in his hands. Gao Lishi took it, and his expression changed dramatically.

"Lishi, what has happened?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Tibetan envoy, Sangzhabu, has arrived in Chang'an and has submitted a request for an audience!"

"Hmph, the Tibetan envoy arrives neither too early nor too late, but at this critical juncture. I fear the audience is a ruse, and their true intent is to spy on our situation and fish in troubled waters!"

Li Longji was deeply troubled, feeling as if he were fending off a wolf at the front door while a tiger entered through the back.

Both the Turks and the Tibetans were powerful entities with hundreds of thousands of troops. One was in the northwest, the other in the southwest, forming a pincer movement against the Tang Empire. The focus of their struggle was the Hetao region and the Hexi Corridor, where they had fought countless bloody battles.

Strategically, the Tang was fighting on two fronts, caught in a pincer, making the situation doubly arduous.

Fortunately, Li Zhao had presented three poisonous... no, three brilliant strategies, binding the hands and feet of the Tibetans, which allowed the Tang to gather heavy forces along the Shuofang and Hexi lines to wage a total war against the Turks!

Once the Turks were crushed and the northwestern problem solved, the Tang could focus its strength on the southwest.

Unexpectedly, at this critical moment of troop deployment, the Tibetan envoy arrived. What did this mean?

It meant the Tibetans did not want to stay on the sidelines; they wanted to seize the chance while the Tang and Turks were at war to intervene and reap some benefits. What would they want?

A marriage alliance?

Cession of territory?

Or gold and silver?

If the Tibetans made exorbitant demands, should he grant them or not? Li Longji’s brows knitted together.

On the other side, the Left Prime Minister, Li Shizhi, stepped forward. "Your Majesty, the Tibetan envoy is likely here with ill intent. You could cite the heavy burden of state affairs to delay the audience, while sending someone to meet him privately to probe their true intentions."

"No need. I am the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang. If I avoid him, would I not be a laughingstock? Issue the order: tomorrow morning, I shall hold a banquet in the Xingqing Hall to receive the Tibetan envoy!"

"As you command!"