Chapter 342 Foreign Aid
Li Heng is well aware of the problems behind the Anshi Rebellion, and he is trying hard to avoid them. But can he get the outcome he wants by avoiding the wrong answers he knows?
Not necessarily.

History has never been a multiple-choice question, but rather a problem with no standard answers. How you write your answer depends not only on what you know and think.

Li Ying could only write down his answer to the best of his ability.

Li Mi saw that Li Heng was in deep thought and thought that he had awakened Li Heng, so he continued, "The rebels have lost the initiative, and their actions have not won the support of the people. Now is the time to start the counterattack. It is winter now, and most of the Shuofang soldiers are from the north. They are not used to the hot climate in Guanzhong. It is the right time to fight in winter. Your Highness can order the Shuofang army to go south and attack the rebels together with the Tongguan and Helong armies."

This strategy was in line with Li Heng's expectations. Li Heng said, "This strategy is very good, but there is still disunity within the court. I don't know how to deal with it."

Li Mi said: "Your Highness's act of burning the boxes in Hanyuan Hall has already made the court officials unanimously blame Yang Guozhong and the deposed crown prince. Your Highness is worried about the deposed crown prince's original staff. Now that Changyuan is serving Your Highness, he is willing to be the pioneer and call in the deposed crown prince's original staff."

"Thank you very much, Changyuan." Li Ying was very happy.

Li Mi said: "Your Highness did not purge the old forces, but chose to be lenient to others. In this way, Your Highness has won the hearts of some people. However, in order to make it legitimate, you still need to let the Saint confer the title of Queen to Your Highness's biological mother and the title of Crown Prince to the next."

Historically, Li Mi also made similar suggestions to Li Heng.

Among Li Heng's sons, Li Neng was the best at fighting. Li Heng wanted to appoint Li Neng as the Grand Marshal of the Army at first, but was stopped by Li Mi. Li Mi advised that in order to prevent brothers from fighting, Li Yu should be appointed as the Grand Marshal of the Army and let Li Neng go out to fight. Li Heng listened to him, but he went too far, because he killed Li Neng directly.

This operation completely confused Li Mi.

Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "It's easy to appoint the Crown Prince, but I'm afraid the officials in the court will have objections to letting my mother be the Queen."

Li Mi said: "As the saying goes, one should repay a favor. Your Highness has been lenient to his subjects, and the subjects should also be grateful and repay the favor. Let Changyuan lobby for this matter."

Li Ying said: "I am like a fish in water now that I have Changyuan."

Li Mi said: "Your Highness has a long-term vision and a more complete strategy than Changyuan thought. What Changyuan can do is to follow your steps and do some small things for you."

Li Ying said, "Changyuan, don't be so modest. I still have many things to ask Changyuan. How about letting Changyuan take charge of the Imperial Censor for the time being?"

Li Mi quickly stood up and said, "Changyuan assists Your Highness not for fame, wealth or official positions. If Your Highness grants Changyuan an official position, Changyuan will have to leave."

"Then don't do it." Li Heng smiled, pulled Li Mi to sit down, and said, "I am rude."

Li Mi said: "Thank you for your understanding, Your Highness."

Li Ying said, "I know Changyuan doesn't eat meat, so I've asked the kitchen to prepare some vegetarian food. You and I can eat while we chat."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Li Mi thanked Li Ying again and talked with Li Ying while eating.

Li Heng and Li Mi chatted for half a day and wanted to continue the conversation, but Zhang Guangsheng came to report that the envoy of the Arabs wanted to see them and wanted to send troops to support the Tang Dynasty.

Since An Lushan's rebellion, the Pangcheng tribes of the four towns of Longyou Road, the Uighurs, the Qarluk tribes, the Western Regions, Tubo, and Nanzhao have all sent envoys one after another. They all want to send troops to support the Tang Dynasty in suppressing the rebellion and hope that Li Heng will agree.

Li Ying met him personally.

Historically, most of these forces sent troops to participate in the Tang Dynasty's suppression of rebellions. Their situations were different and they had their own purposes, but in the early days most of them were wholeheartedly helping the Tang Dynasty.

But the Tang Dynasty became weaker and weaker, to the point where it could not defeat the invaders without external aid. When the various forces saw how weak the Tang Dynasty was, they decided that they could no longer serve the Tang Dynasty and demanded a price!

But the Chinese Super League cannot play without foreign players, which means it is bad from beginning to end, but Datang is not like that. Li Ying defended Chang'an and defended the dignity of Datang. If these forces want to help Datang now, they have to look at Li Ying's face. Li Ying roughly divides these forces into four categories.

The first category must never be used, a typical example being Tubo.

Tubo wanted to help the Tang Dynasty in order to regain control of Qinghai Lake and the Nine Bends of the Yellow River. They were very likely to use the excuse of sending troops to help to move their army to Qinghai Lake and the Nine Bends of the Yellow River and settle down there.

However, Li Heng did not directly refuse Tubo. Instead, he told the Tubo envoys that if they wanted to help the Tang Dynasty, they did not need to send troops, but could give money and food.

The second category is those that Li Heng did not want to use but have already gotten involved, such as the Uighurs.

Not long after An Lushan's rebellion, the Uighurs took the initiative to send troops to assist the Tang Dynasty. The Uighurs made great efforts to enable the Shuofang Army to quickly capture Yunzhong and other places.

At that time, the Uighurs did not know the strength of the Tang Dynasty and took the initiative to work for it. However, in history, when they saw that the Tang Dynasty was defeated, they began to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers, letting both the court and the rebels come to them for help, and they would help whoever offered the highest price.

Then Li Heng put forward the condition that "on the day the city is conquered, the land and common people will belong to the Tang Dynasty, and the gold, silk, and children will all belong to the Huihe people."

After the recovery of Chang'an, Li Yu adopted the strategy of delaying, saying that it would be detrimental to unity to seize Chang'an now, and it would be inconvenient to recover Luoyang, so it would be better to recover Luoyang first and then seize Luoyang.

The Uighurs agreed.

After Luoyang was recovered, the people of Luoyang welcomed the royal army with great joy. However, what they encountered was three days and three nights of burning, killing and looting by the Uighurs. Even the people's underwear was taken away, and they were only able to cover their bodies with leaves and paper. Some people took refuge in high towers, but were blocked by the Uighur soldiers and burned to death.

In the end, it was the wealthy families in Luoyang who offered silk and cloth to persuade the Uighurs to stop.

The Uighurs took the silk and asked the Tang Dynasty to sign a silk-horse trade agreement with them.

The silk-horse trade was that the Tang Dynasty exchanged forty pieces of silk for one horse from the Huihe people.

In the textile industry of the Tang Dynasty at that time, a skilled textile worker could only weave three feet of cloth or three inches of silk a day.

The Tang Dynasty had no choice but to accept such an unequal treaty with tears.

Li Heng did not want to let the Huihe become more powerful by suppressing the rebellion, but now the Huihe have been involved and their position is important. He cannot "abandon allies and make enemies", so he can only try his best to tie down the Huihe and let them follow the Shuofang Army to Hebei.

The third category should be used with caution, such as Nanzhao, Karluk, Dashi, and the countries in the Western Regions.

This force had differences and cooperation with the Tang Dynasty, and the conflict of interest was not as great as that between Tubo and Huihe. This was especially true for the countries in the Western Regions, which were all vassal states of the Tang Dynasty. When Li Heng led the Anxi troops to war, he would basically ask them for assistance.

Use this kind of force to prevent them from turning against us at the last minute.

The fourth category is the tribes near the cities in the four towns of Longyou Road, such as the Qibi clan in Hexi, the Dangxiang clan in Longyou, the Yuchi clan in Anxi Yutian, and the Bai clan in Qiuci.

The interests of these neighboring tribes are currently highly aligned with those of the Tang Dynasty. Only when the Tang Dynasty is doing well can they do well.

When it came to sending out troops, these neighboring tribes also gave their all. Yuchi Sheng, the royal leader of the Khotan clan, personally led 5,000 soldiers to support, and Tuoba Shouji, the leader of the Dangxiang clan, also personally led his troops to support the king. As for the Bai clan, the royal family of Kucha, Bai Xiaode had been following Li Heng.

This type of force can be used directly as Tang Dynasty soldiers.

(End of this chapter)