Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 424 Dong Zhan's Methods

The Zuosilo tribe, which had helped the Qiang people deal with the Hehuang Tubo, suddenly turned its guns on them and joined forces with the Hehuang Tubo to attack the Qiang people.

The Qiang people were caught off guard and were annexed directly.

By the time the news reached Western Xia, the Zuosilo tribe had already completely taken control of Hehuang.

At the same time, the people of the Zuosilo tribe who remained on the plateau also began to migrate to Hehuang.

"boom!"

Inside the Liao imperial palace, Li Liangzuo threw the teacup heavily out after hearing the news.

At this time, he knew that Zuosilo's promise to help the Qiang was just a cover for the purpose of migrating to Hehuang.

Li Liangzuo didn't think about it in this way at first.

After all, he could never have imagined that the Zuosilo tribe would give up the plateau with greater development potential and go to Hehuang, which had little development potential.

Most importantly, he didn't understand why the Tubo people in Hehuang would agree to let Zuosilo enter Hehuang and surrender directly.

Aren't they afraid of being annexed by the Zuosiluo tribe?
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure it out. But now was not the time to think about these things. Instead, he had to find a way to stop this from happening.

Otherwise, what is the point of Xixia occupying a plateau where there are no people?
What restricted the development of Western Xia was not only the territory but also the population.

Even for Western Xia, population is more important than territory.

Western Xia had a population of only a few million. As the territory expanded, the defense area also increased. Increasing the territory without increasing the population would not be of much significance to Western Xia.

Li Liangzuo immediately ordered people to summon important officials in the court to discuss countermeasures.

"Your Majesty, this must be a conspiracy of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty wants to let the Zuosiluo tribe enter Hehuang, so that the Great Xia can only occupy a piece of empty land. In my opinion, we should immediately send troops to attack the Zuosiluo tribe."

"No, I think we should wait until the Zuosiluo tribe enters Hehuang before sending troops, so that we can annex Hehuang in one fell swoop."

"But if we do this, the Song Dynasty will definitely not let it go. Now is not the time to go to war with the Song Dynasty."

"What are you afraid of? The Song Dynasty is weak and can be bullied. If the Xia Dynasty mobilizes troops against Hehuang, the Song Dynasty will definitely not dare to intervene."

"Before, the Zuosiluo tribe helped the Qiang people, and I said that we should send troops to stop it, but the prime minister said not to interfere, and let the Zuosiluo tribe waste troops in Hehuang so that it would be convenient to mobilize troops against the Zuosiluo tribe next year. Now, the Zuosiluo tribe has annexed the Hehuang Qiang people and Tubo, and its strength has not decreased but increased."

When Li Liangzuo led the Zuosiluo tribe to occupy Hehuang and was relocating the people to Hehuang, the court was in chaos for a while.

Some people even used this to attack Liang Guangchuan.

Liang Guangchuan, a Han Chinese, became the prime minister of Western Xia and was deeply trusted by Li Liangzuo, which naturally aroused dissatisfaction among many Dangxiang officials.

Li Liangzuo looked at Liang Guangchuan, who had no expression on his face and had not spoken a word, then he pressed his hand and waited for the hall to quiet down before he said, "What does the Prime Minister think of this matter?"

"Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to send troops at this time. I think what Minister Wu said is right. We should wait until the Zuosilo tribe enters Hehuang and then attack Hehuang directly!" Liang Guangchuan said.

"The Prime Minister's proposal is indeed a good one!"

A general from the royal family said sarcastically: "If we attack Hehuang, will the Song Dynasty watch? Even if the Song Dynasty really does not intervene, the Zuosiluo tribe will be much stronger after annexing Hehuang, and it will also cost a lot of troops to capture Hehuang.

Could it be that the Prime Minister has reached some kind of agreement with the Song Dynasty?"

Facing the ridicule, Liang Guangchuan said calmly: "The only thing that the Zuosiluo tribe was able to persuade the Hehuang Tubo to agree to was to promise them independence. For the Hehuang Tubo, both Daxia and Song were much stronger than them. Although the Zuosiluo was also stronger than them, it was ultimately limited.

However, after the Zuosiluo tribe entered Hehuang, they would certainly not be willing to occupy only a part of the territory.

As long as we divide and win over the enemy, Hehuang will be in chaos, and it won’t take much effort to take over Hehuang.”

"As for the Song Dynasty, there is no need to worry. The Song Dynasty is building a Great Wall in the north, but it has not yet been completed, and the civil strife in Liao is about to subside. By then, they will certainly not tolerate the Song Dynasty building a Great Wall in the north to defend against Liao.

The Song Dynasty is already worried about its own problems, so it is impossible for it to go to war with the Xia Dynasty!"

"This is just the prime minister's conjecture. If the Song Dynasty intervenes, can the prime minister still convince the Song Dynasty to withdraw its troops?"

"It often snows heavily on the plateau nowadays, and even Zuosiluo has set a trap. Is General Li sure that he can lead his troops to destroy the Zuosiluo tribe at this time?" Liang Guangchuan retorted.

"I…"

The royal general opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything big.

As Liang Guangchuan said, it often snows heavily on the plateau at this time of year. Once the road is blocked by heavy snow, it is difficult to transport supplies in time.

Moreover, it is impossible for the Zuosilu to migrate without any preparation.

He did not dare to boast that he could lead his troops to destroy the Zuosiluo tribe.

Li Liangzuo understood what Liang Guangchuan meant, but it was too late to stop him and he had no other choice.

"Then we will send troops next year. If the Song Dynasty intervenes, we will fight against the Song Dynasty!" Li Liangzuo said coldly.

…………

While the Western Xia was discussing this, Zhao Xing also received the news that Dong Zhan had occupied Hehuang.

In comparison, Zhao Xing knew more details because Wang Shao was in Dong Zhen's army.

Dong Jian accepted Wang Shao's strategy and agreed to the Qiang people's request for help.

According to Wang Shao's original plan, he wanted to help the Qiang people deal with the Tubo in Hehuang, and then turn around and annex the Tubo tribes in Hehuang.

However, without Wang Shao's knowledge, Dong Jian secretly contacted the leaders of the various Tibetan tribes in Hehuang, promised to allow them to establish independence and form an alliance to resist the Song Dynasty and Western Xia. He gained the support of the Tibetan tribes in Hehuang, and then turned around and annexed the Qiang people.

Not only did it not take much effort, it even annexed the remnants of the Qiang tribe, greatly increasing its strength.

In fact, Wang Shao also thought of this method, but Wang Shao did not tell Dong Zhen. Instead, he asked him to destroy the Tubo in Hehuang first, and then annex the Qiang people.

Wang Shao did this because he was worried about raising a tiger that would cause trouble, even though Hehuang's development potential was limited.

However, if the Zuosilo tribe could annex the Qiang and Tubo in Hehuang without much effort, it would not only make up for its previous losses but also greatly increase its strength.

The Zuosiluo tribe is obedient now, but it is hard to say what will happen in the future.

It would be a trouble if Dong Jian had any ulterior motives in the future.

Therefore, Wang Shao did not want Zuo Silu to occupy Hehuang easily.

As a result, even if the Zuosilo tribe occupied Hehuang, they would have to recuperate for many years.

During this period, we can only rely on the Song Dynasty.

Wang Shao said in his report that he suspected Dong Chen had secretly been in contact with Hehuang Tubo long before this, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to convince the Hehuang Tubo tribes so easily.

After reading the report, Zhao Xing frowned slightly. He actually underestimated Dong Zhen.

Whether Dong Jian had been in contact with Tubo in Hehuang before him, or started contacting them after meeting him and returning, it shows that this person was not willing to be manipulated by the Song Dynasty.

Dong Jian had not leaked any information before this, and he suddenly did this, perhaps to tell the Song Dynasty that he was not so easy to control.

(End of this chapter)