Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 754 Dilemma
It's a blessing, not a curse, but it's a curse that cannot be avoided.

After a night of struggle and thinking, Emperor Li Qi finally figured out one thing:

Life is often like being raped. Rather than resisting and being beaten up in despair, it is better to lie down and let it go. No matter how many ideas the elbow has, it cannot twist the thigh.

So as soon as the sun rose, Li Qi couldn't wait to take a carriage to the Kaifeng government office.

Then he saw Fang Chongyong in the government office's study, who had not slept all night and had dark circles under his eyes.

The two men with dark circles under their eyes were unable to utter a word for a long time, each of them looking tired in their own way.

"Your Majesty, have you considered this?"

After a long time, Fang Zhongyong asked in a hoarse voice.

"I have thought about it. You Tibetan clowns are killing my people. I cannot pretend I don't know about these things.

Now that we have to maintain the dignity of the Tang Dynasty, it is my duty."

Li Qi said the words he had thought of last night. But it was just a polite remark like this, and even he himself didn't believe it!
"Although Your Majesty is leading the army in person, he only needs to stay in the city behind to stabilize the morale of the troops. I will be there to support you in the battle ahead.

Please don't worry, Your Majesty."

Fang Zhongyong saluted Li Qi with his arms crossed.

Hearing this, Li Qi breathed a sigh of relief. He was actually a little worried about going to the front line.

If you just stay in the city, the risk is still very small. Of course, the war situation changes rapidly, and it is difficult to say that it is absolutely safe at any time.

"In that case, I'll trouble you, Your Majesty. I can set off at any time.

But I don’t know what the government’s plans are?

We cannot send troops to Hexi without taking Guanzhong. I heard that Li Baoyu and Li Baochen are fighting fiercely near Chang'an. What does your Majesty plan to do?"

Li Qi asked with some confusion.

He was very surprised at Fang Zhongyong's decision, and didn't understand how the other party could do this.

In fact, Bianzhou is too far away from Hexi, and the variables in between are really hard to describe. In Li Qi's opinion, Fang Chongyong does not need to be anxious at all, he just needs to wait quietly, and when the Tibetans and Li Baochen are tired of fighting, then he can go and wipe them out at once, wouldn't it be wonderful?
This is also Yan Zhuang's opinion.

"Your Majesty, I intend to issue a manifesto in your name to attack Tubo, and persuade Li Baochen and Li Baoyu to temporarily put aside their prejudices and face the outside world together."

Fang Zhongyong told the truth.

Li Qi had just asked casually, but after hearing Fang Chongyong say this, he suddenly felt that something was not right.

"Sir, I have never been involved in government or military affairs. I am confused even if you tell me. However, for two fierce tigers to shake hands and make peace is a bit..."

Li Qi didn't know what to say.

Let's not talk about Li Baochen, he started out as a rebel. Let's talk about Li Baoyu, he had tens of thousands of elite soldiers and occupied Hedong.

You just need to issue a manifesto to make Li Baoyu obey you and follow you to Hexi to fight the Tibetans.

Isn't this a bit dramatic?

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. I will certainly find a way to convince them."

Fang Zhongyong said calmly, not wanting to continue explaining the details.

Li Qi nodded, not quite understanding. He wanted to say something else, but then he thought about his identity as a puppet emperor and finally did not say anything.

Fang Chongyong handed the letter written overnight on the table, "The Imperial Edict Ordering Fang Qing and Others to Attack Tubo", to Li Qi.

Li Qi didn't say anything. He read it quickly and understood everything immediately.

In the imperial edict, as the emperor, he appointed Fang Qing as the "General Manager of the Hexi Town Army", and also appointed Li Baochen, Li Baoyu and others.

The imperial edict itself had no binding force, but Li Baochen and Li Baoyu had no choice but to accept it.

If we don't accept the call, we will surely be despised by the world. If we only focus on internal fighting when the country is in danger, the morale of the army will also be greatly affected.

If you accept it, it will nominally belong to Li Qi.

In other words, let's not talk about the issue of orthodoxy for now, and temporarily unanimously recognize that Li Qi is the orthodox of the Tang Dynasty, and the troops under his command are all official troops.

Perhaps they still obey orders but not announcements, but at least what was announced was that they were united in their desire to drive out Tubo.

Anyone who attacked each other in private would be condemned by the world and would have a bad reputation in the future. This is the so-called "justification", which does not actually require a large-scale reorganization of Li Baoyu and Li Baochen's troops.

Li Qi also had to admit that Fang Zhongyong's trick was very useful, or in other words, it made Li Baochen and others hesitate to act rashly.

"Since the emperor has already made the decision, I will announce this letter of appeal to the world."

Li Qi nodded, feeling a little relieved.

After saying that, he found an excuse and left. Fang Zhongyong sent him to the gate of the government office, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Li Qi's carriage slowly leave.

Having taken care of the easiest part, the next step is to convince your trusted staff.

Fang Chongyong also knew that many people must think that it is not worth going to Liangzhou to fight the Tubo people now.

He needs to do ideological work on these people and convince them to work together. This is not only to unite his subordinates, but also to straighten out internal relations. As a team leader, no matter what he does, only when his subordinates are convinced and the pros and cons are explained to them clearly, will these people work wholeheartedly.

Otherwise, if we force our way forward, once we are on the battlefield and someone behind us is causing trouble or slacking off, the consequences will be disastrous.

……

In Guanzhong, near Baqiao east of Chang'an, the spring is bright and beautiful, with birds singing and flowers blooming, and there is no trace of the smoke of war.

The Hedong Army, with the Chishui Army as its backbone, camped here and has not yet attacked Chang'an, so the situation near Chang'an seems relatively calm.

The main force of Li Baochen's army had already withdrawn to Wugong County west of Chang'an, leaving only a small number of troops to guard the Daming Palace. In fact, he was planning to give Chang'an to Li Baoyu.

Of course, this was not out of Li Baochen's good intentions, but the huge Chang'an was often not a wealth but a heavy burden for a vassal state with extremely limited administrative capabilities.

Li Baoyu conquered Chang'an. Did he care about the eating, drinking, defecating and urinating of the people in the city?

If nothing is done, Chang'an will become a hell on earth, with rebellious soldiers and civilians running rampant. For Li Baoyu, the benefits he can gain will be limited, but there will be a lot of trouble.

If we have to manage it, how should we manage it?

Soldiers can kill people, but they cannot produce or manage the local area. Where do qualified officials come from, and how should the administrative institutions operate?

These trivial matters will greatly delay Li Baoyu's advance. Li Baochen, who has been entrenched in Chang'an for many years, has a deep understanding of this.

Chang'an is a place that is easy to enter, but difficult to manage and put things in order.

Li Baoyu also understood this truth, so after he reached Baqiao, he stopped and stationed his troops there, and was not in a hurry to enter Chang'an.

In addition, there was another important reason why Li Baoyu stopped at Baqiao, that was that Liangzhou City had now been conquered by the Tibetans.

Even if they took Chang'an, Longyou to the west would still be a dead end. In other words, Li Baoyu and others had planned to take Hexi and Longyou easily after taking Chang'an. With Liangzhou to the west and Taiyuan to the east, this narrow and long ruling area had enough strategic depth for them to make great efforts.

But now that Liangzhou has been lost, even if they occupy Chang'an and defeat Li Baochen, they will still face invasion from the Tibetans, and their original foundation in Liangzhou will be completely useless.

What to do next became a major decision facing Li Baoyu and others.

Li Baoyu, who had just had a big fight with the five brothers of the Lun family, was now rubbing his brow.

The Lun family is the descendant of Lun Qinling. After moving to Liangzhou, they have been fighting against the Tubo people. Now that the Tubo people have occupied Liangzhou, the Lun family is worried. Although the core members of their family have settled in Hedong, they still have a lot of properties and servants in Liangzhou.

The reason why they supported Li Baoyu was because the plan proposed by Li Baoyu, which spanned Liangzhou and Hedong, was very tempting.

Now that Liangzhou was lost, the vital interests of the Lun family were seriously damaged, especially since it was occupied by the Tibetans. So their dissatisfaction was obvious.

The losses of the An family in Liangzhou were even greater, but Li Baoyu did not dare to act rashly.

Anyone who has lived in Liangzhou for a period of time will know how powerful the Tibetans are. They are barbarians who can easily mobilize more than 100,000 soldiers and fight without caring about their own lives.

Generals like Li Baoyu grew up in the battles on the front lines, not in a greenhouse. Because of this, these people knew very well how powerful the Tibetans were.

The Tibetans lived on the plateau and had a very short life expectancy.

Not fighting is a long-term pain, fighting is a short-term pain. For the Tibetans, fighting is often just a relief.

Generals such as Li Baoyu were well aware of this.

"Brother, don't we want to go to Chang'an?"

Seeing Li Baoyu standing outside the camp gate, staring at the Chang'an City on the other side of the Ba River in a daze, Li Baozhen walked over and asked in a low voice.

"Do you think we should give up our foundation in Liangzhou? We don't know what the situation is like at home now."

Li Baoyu sighed, his face full of sorrow.

In Hedong, they had only lived for a few years, but in Liangzhou, their ancestors had lived and multiplied there for generations.

Even before the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Liangzhou An family had already settled in Liangzhou, but they did not become successful.

At that time, they intermarried with the Zhang family and other large families in Liangzhou, and to some extent "co-governed" the Hexi area. It was Li Baoyu's ancestor An Xinggui who mediated and allowed the Tang Dynasty to take over Liangzhou in a relatively peaceful manner, which led to the foundation of the Liangzhou An family.

Now, are they going to give up this "family business"?

It's not that they have to shed the last drop of blood for this ancestral heritage, but they are unwilling to give it to the Tibetans.

In Li Baoyu's opinion, the Tibetans were not worthy.

“I am also very confused about this matter and it is difficult to make a decision.

He had to take Guanzhong, deal with Li Baochen, march into Liangzhou, and defeat the Tibetans.

I think we are a bit overconfident considering our current strength."

Li Baoyu shook his head, obviously not optimistic about achieving all the strategic goals.

If you want this, this, and more, the end result will be that you will be bursting with nothing.

"Brother, if we can't take Liangzhou, then the Tibetans will be west of Fengxiang Prefecture in the future. In other words, if they want to come to Chang'an at that time, it will only take a few days for them to drink water from the Wei River.

If that's the case, what's the point of us taking Chang'an? We'll just be a shield for Fang Qing and his ilk in Bianzhou."

Li Baozhen complained with some dissatisfaction.

The words are spoken very bluntly and the logic is obvious.

After all, it was not difficult for Li Baozhen to see Yan Zhuang's plan of "killing with a borrowed knife". Now the Tibetans were a knife, a knife that affected the internal situation of the Tang Dynasty.

Anyone who gets hurt by this knife can only blame himself for his bad luck.

"If we don't want Guanzhong, then we can only retreat to Hedong. Hedong is a narrow place, how many years can we hold out?"

Seeing that Li Baoyu didn't say anything, Li Baozhen stabbed him again.

"I know what you said, so now we are in a dilemma."

Li Baoyu waved his hands, his heart full of sorrow just like the Ba River before him, endless.

At this moment, a personal soldier came hurriedly and whispered something to Li Baoyu. After the other party finished speaking, Li Baoyu just nodded slightly, greeted Li Baozhen, and the two came to the general's tent.

I saw a messenger covered in blood, who had died from excessive blood loss. There was a letter for help hidden in the bamboo tube on his waist.

"The situation has deteriorated so badly!"

After reading the letter, Li Baoyu felt a little flustered and talked to himself.

The letter was written by Gao Xianzhi, and the content is not difficult to guess. It was asking Li Baoyu for help and asked him to lead troops to support Hexi.

In the letter, Gao Xianzhi told Li Baoyu: Now four of the five states in Hexi have been lost, and only the westernmost Shazhou has not been captured by the Tibetans, and is fighting desperately. Many soldiers and civilians from the five states in Hexi have fled here, including the An family of Liangzhou.

"Brother, if we go, it will be very difficult to win...

After reading the letter, Li Baozhen muttered to himself.

He originally advocated leading troops to fight back to Liangzhou, but after reading this letter, he changed his mind.

Before, he and Li Baoyu didn't know the situation in Hexi. If only Liangzhou was lost in Hexi, then there would still be room for maneuver.

However, four of the five states in Hexi had been lost, and only Shazhou, the westernmost state, was still resisting. If troops were transferred from Guanzhong, it would be almost equivalent to fighting against the main force of the Tubo army alone.

That's not how war is fought.

Although Li Baozhen has never watched "Calabash Brothers", he still understands the routine of Calabash Brothers saving his grandfather by sending them one by one.

You can’t go this time. Going will mean you’ll die!

Li Baoyu didn't say anything, obviously hesitant.

Whether they win or lose when fighting against the Tibetans, they are sapping their own strength. Then the people in Bianzhou will directly enter Guanzhong to reap the spoils.

If they retreated to Hedong and left the mess to Li Baochen, Li Baoyu and others could still protect themselves.

But I am unwilling to accept this! This is really a dilemma!

Of course, in theory, they could also join forces with Li Baochen to deal with the Tibetans. But who would be so magnanimous as to reconcile with an opponent they were fighting to the death?
Even if Li Baoyu himself doesn't mind, doesn't Li Baochen have his own little thoughts?

People's minds are treacherous and difficult to guess. Usually when two armies confront each other, they both try to guess their opponent's thoughts with the utmost malice.

At this moment, Li Baoyu had already begun to think about retreating.

(End of this chapter)