Chapter 313 Internal Centrifugal
Yang Yuhuan and a few others also gave Wei Xianyi encouraging looks, telling her not to blame herself.

Li Ying then asked He Jin, "How many employees does He's shop have in Chang'an?"

He Jin said: "There are more than 30 shops of various types, such as silk, tea, spices, porcelain, medicinal materials, and bookstores. On average, each shop has more than 30 people, about 1,000 people."

"So many?" Li Heng was a little surprised.

He Jin said: "I have discussed these businesses with His Highness, and the princess also agreed to open a shop and build a business."

Yang Yuhuan smiled and said, "Sister Jin is so busy checking the accounts every time she and His Highness return to the capital."

After Yang Yuhuan said this, Li Heng recalled that he had indeed rarely seen He Jin since he brought He Jin back to Chang'an this time. This girl was only thinking about making money.

Li Heng asked, "Do Jingzhao Prefecture and Taifu Temple check their employees strictly?"

He Jin said: "When the Right Prime Minister was in charge, the investigation was very strict. Later, when Wang Yu was in charge, it was relatively loose. Not long ago, Wang Yu was sentenced to death and a new person was appointed. The investigation was strict for a month, and it is relatively loose now."

Li Heng nodded and stopped talking about business, instead chatting with them about some trivial matters.

……

Twenty days later, Li Heng led his troops to the battle, marching westward to Yizhou, where he met Feng Changqing.

After the meeting, Li Heng did not rush to set off, but rested on the spot and summoned all the generals to discuss matters.

Feng Changqing was the first to report: "Your Highness, after Abusi led his troops to flee north, he gathered the old Turkic forces and fought several battles with the Huihe, but was defeated every time. He is currently fleeing westward. According to my estimation, Abusi will be able to join forces with the Karluk in a month."

Li Heng asked: "Has the Qarlug agreed to join forces with Abusi?"

"The Qarluk broke the agreement that Your Highness had signed for them and the Uighurs, and sent troops across the Altai River. The Turgesh sent troops to support them, and the Khitans in the north also sent troops into the Uighur territory." Feng Changqing replied to Li Heng, and then asked, "Your Highness, the Qarluk broke the agreement. Should we immediately send troops to the Qarluk, win a battle first, and then make them stop fighting?"

Li Heng said, "Before you attacked Tubo from the west, the Karluks also sent troops to support you. If we act rashly, I'm afraid it will ruin the friendship between the two sides. We need to use courtesy before force. Send a letter to ask them not to unite with Abusi and retreat behind the agreed line."

"Yes." Feng Changqing took the order and left.

Wang Zhongsi saw that Li Heng had no intention of taking action immediately, so he waited for the generals to leave and asked the question that had troubled him for a long time, saying: "I see that Your Highness has no intention of taking the land of Karluk or Uighur. If that's the case, why send the Hexi troops to arrest Abusi? It would be enough to send the Beiting troops from Tingzhou, which would also save some logistical supplies."

Li Heng smiled and said, "General Wang is the governor of Suzhou after all. If I ask you to lead the Beiting troops, it may be inconvenient."

What Li Heng said was to tell Wang Zhongsi that the reason why the Hexi Army was dispatched was to allow him to lead the troops to join the war with legitimate reasons.

This is paving the way for him.

Wang Zhongsi was deeply moved and said, "I would like to thank Your Highness for your kindness."

Li Ying smiled slightly and said, "General Wang, you are so polite."

In fact, the reason Li Ying gave was just one of the reasons. There are two more.

The first one is the issue of food and wages. The court does not have extra food and wages now. If only Beiting troops are sent out, most of the money and food consumed will be supplied by Anxi Beiting first, and then transferred from Hexi if it is not enough. However, if Hexi troops are sent out, Hexi can be responsible for the food and wages of Hexi troops. The second one is to pave the way for him to completely control Hexi. The Hexi army has fought the most against Tubo in recent years. It is difficult to transfer them to other places to fight. Li Heng wants to use this military transfer and personnel organization to investigate who can be used in Hexi and who cannot be used. Those who are dissidents must be eliminated first.

……

When the Qarluqs received the letter from Li Heng, the leaders of the three tribes gathered immediately to discuss the matter.

The three Karluk tribes were, from west to east, the Moushi tribe, the Taxili tribe and the Chishi tribe. The Tang Dynasty established the Yinshan, Xuanchi and Damu military governorates in these three tribes respectively.

Among them, the westernmost Yinshan Moushi tribe strongly suggested not to pay attention to Li Heng's letter, because after Li Heng occupied Suiye City, the Anxi Army gradually expanded northwards in a pincer attack, on the one hand squeezing the living space of the Moushi tribe, and on the other hand absorbing many of the Moushi tribe's population, causing the Moushi tribe's strength to become weaker and weaker. The Moushi tribe wanted to take this opportunity to gain something from the Tang Dynasty.

The easternmost tribe of the Da Mo Chi Shi insisted on listening to Li Ying's advice.

Because the Chishi tribe was at the front line, if the war with the Uighurs failed, the Chishi tribe would be the first to be invaded. In terms of relations with the Tang Dynasty, the Chishi tribe and the Tang Dynasty were separated by the Shatuo, and there was no dispute at present. In recent years, they have been relying on the Tang Dynasty to fight against the Uighurs.

The position of the Xuanchita powerhouse in the middle is more ambiguous because they have buffer lines with both the Tang Dynasty and the Uighurs.

The three departments discussed for two days but could not reach a consensus.

Finally, the Moushi tribe decided to secretly ally with the Turks to take Abusi over first, while the Chishi tribe secretly wrote a letter to Li Heng, explaining their difficulties and expressing their strong support for all of Li Heng's decisions.

After receiving the letter, Li Heng summoned all the generals to discuss the matter again.

Feng Changqing suggested: "Your Highness, since the assassination tribe has evil intentions, I suggest you march directly into the assassination tribe and defeat them first."

Li Heng was not surprised by Feng Changqing's suggestion. In history, Feng Changqing had once launched an even stranger expedition against the Karluks.

In the eleventh year of Tianbao, Feng Changqing set out from Tingzhou Luntai, went west through Hexi Shazhou, Suzhou, and Liangzhou, then went north through the Hetao Plain through Shuofang, and then went east, passed the southern part of Huihe, went around Jinshan, and launched a decisive battle with the Karluk.

Feng Changqing could clearly advance northward from Yizhou, but he took a detour of thousands of miles. Li Heng could never understand why Feng Changqing adopted this tactic.

But although he couldn't understand the reason, Li Heng could see that Feng Changqing's ability to travel long distances was really strong.

Of course, this may be related to the combat habits of the Anxi Xiting Army. After all, the Anxi Xiting Army had to travel at least a thousand miles to fight.

Wang Zhongsi's current thinking is more conservative, so he disagrees with Feng Changqing's proposal and says, "Your Highness, if we march now, although we have the upper hand, we will lose credibility. Not only will the other two Qalulu tribes not stand on our side, they may even stand against us. I think it is better to wait a little longer. If Qalulu really takes Abusi, it will not be too late for us to march."

Feng Changqing said: "Warfare is a matter of deception. If you put trust and loyalty first, the war will be more difficult to fight."

"No." Wang Zhongsi retorted, "The Huihe have long wanted to swallow up the Qallu. If the Qallu are really so ungrateful, we can unite with the Huihe and swallow up the Qallu."

Feng Changqing seemed to be thinking about something, and said, "The Huihe have sent us one letter after another inviting us to conquer Qallu together. If we can really conquer Qallu, we can tolerate him for a few days. Your Highness, please make the decision."

Li Ying pondered for a while and said, "Then let's wait a little longer."

(End of this chapter)