The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 885: A Test for the Great Tang Dynasty
After learning about Li Yan's true identity last year, Hermu knew that Li Yan's future would not be limited to a small Turkic state. So he used the convenience of the information agency in his hands to collect a lot of information about other forces in the grassland and the Central Plains Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the pattern has also expanded, and one has a strong sense of the overall situation when considering issues. One's vision has begun to broaden and focus on the world.

At present, the decision-making body of the Turks actually consists of three people, Heermu and Gurentu as assistants, one civil and one military, and Li Yan as the main person. No matter how big the matter is, as long as the three of them meet and agree, they can boldly do it.

"Your Majesty, there are almost no other forces in the north and east of our Turkic people. Even if there are some small tribes that are rarely visited, it is not worth mobilizing the power of the entire Khanate."

Heermu began to enter the actual operation stage, analyzing: "The Three Han in the south were also dealt with last year. If we mobilize troops on a large scale again, it will be the Bibi tribe in the east and the Ashinayun tribe in the south?"

"But they are nominally the territories of the Tang Dynasty. Both places have set up Grand Military Governor's Offices. Who are you going to attack, Your Majesty?"

"Of course it's Biheli!"

Li Yan said as a matter of course: "Although both places are territories of the Tang Dynasty, Mo Nan is closely connected to the Tang Dynasty. Once there is an external invasion, it will be very convenient for the Tang Dynasty to send troops. At that time, we will inevitably have to confront the Tang Dynasty. With the current size of the Tang Dynasty, I am afraid that we will not gain any advantage in this battle?"

"And the Fu Bi tribe is in the northern desert, and the Tang Dynasty is far away from them. They may not send a large number of reinforcements, and it will be useless if there are too few people."

Helmu agreed with Li Yan's opinion and he thought the same way.

"Your Majesty, what you said makes sense. From what I have learned, the Tang Dynasty has deeply penetrated into Mo Nan. Even many of the leaders of the tribes are Tang generals. Mo Nan is a peripheral force of the Tang Dynasty, so they will definitely not sit idly by."

"But the Fubi tribe is far away in the northern desert, and they only follow orders but not announcements."

"It is nominally the Governor's Office of the Tang Dynasty, but in reality, Biheli does not recognize it. I heard that since he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, he has never been to Chang'an to pay homage, and he is also very hostile to the officials sent by the Tang Dynasty to the Anbei Grand Governor's Office."

At this point, Hermu suddenly seemed to remember something and said excitedly, "Oh, my king, last year we killed Jie Li in the name of Yinan. The two tribes are of the same origin. It just so happens that this time we can use the name of revenge for Jie Li, which is justified."

"The Bibi tribe is weak and can't withstand a single blow."

"If we launch a surprise attack and quickly resolve the battle before the Tang Dynasty can react, perhaps the Tang Dynasty won't even send out troops?"

Through his understanding of the Tang Dynasty, Hermu knew that although the Tang Dynasty was powerful, the court had very tight management over its subordinates. Any major event had to be discussed repeatedly, let alone a foreign war, which would take several months just to discuss.

Unlike the Turks, they would attack as soon as they were told to.

In addition, the Tang Dynasty is now undergoing a comprehensive reform of its internal affairs, and its external focus is on managing the Western Regions.

After taking over Mo Nan, they almost no longer cared about the threat from the desert. If they adjusted their direction and sent troops to the desert again, it would probably not be so easy.

Li Yan nodded silently. This arrangement was made last year to pave the way for later events, but he didn't expect it to be used so soon.

When in Chang'an before, Li Yan had in-depth exchanges with Li Shimin. The Tang Dynasty, Mobei and the Western Regions are three completely different ecological survival systems.

Relatively speaking, the difference between the Tang Dynasty and Mobei is the greatest. One is an agricultural nation and the other is a nomadic nation, which are completely different. The Western Regions are in between the two, half agricultural and half nomadic, and also rely on the trade of the Silk Road.

In terms of governance methods, we should also adopt an approach that suits local conditions.

The Tang Dynasty should focus on assimilating and absorbing the Western Regions, and adopt a method of division and disintegration towards Mobei, weakening and balancing it from within. When the Central Plains and the Western Regions are completely integrated, it will naturally have an overwhelming advantage in dealing with these wolves in the north, and can win without fighting.

But since he left, Li Shimin returned to his old way of thinking.

After the Battle of Dingxiang dismembered the Great Turkic people, the Tang Dynasty did not adopt the feudal system it had offered, but returned to the original track and set up three major military governorships in Mobei. In order to integrate them into the Central Plains, a lot of time and energy were spent on these people.

Allocate funds and distribute relief grain to grassland tribes every year, wasting the national treasury just to maintain the superficial prosperity.

He did not pay much attention to the Western Regions. Apart from opening up the Silk Road during the Han Dynasty, he set up a long snake formation on the route to Central Asia, starting from Yumen Pass in Hexi, and established towns such as Xizhou, Yanqi, Qiuci, Shule, and Khotan.

Even Parthia and Gumo, as far west as the Pamir Mountains, were governed by provincial governments.

The current map of the Tang Dynasty is like an axe that stretches its hand far away. The farthest Anxi is twice as far from Chang'an as the southernmost Yazhou. In the south lies the dormant Tubo, and in the north lies the Xueyantuo, gathering strength. It takes half a year to travel back and forth.

It is simply inconceivable to control the terrain for a long time.

Li Yan now understood why the vast territories of the Han and Tang dynasties were like flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water, which could only last for a few decades when they encountered strong rulers. No matter how hard the kings of later generations tried, they could not restore the glory of their ancestors.

If we do not take advantage of the advantages and vigor of the founding period to lay a solid foundation, future kings, no matter how wise they are, will be constrained by the country's increasingly serious internal contradictions and the increasingly powerful aristocratic class, and it will be good if they can maintain the situation and avoid the country's demise.

It was simply a foolish dream to expand the territory. Now the Tang Dynasty was at its most vigorous, with a wise ruler and virtuous ministers, and it was a time to make great plans. But after the victory, the entire Tang Dynasty was immersed in the joy of expanding the territory, and Li Shimin was even more confused by the flattery of the small countries in the northwest.

Although some internal reforms have been carried out, no results have been achieved.

What Li Yan offered at the beginning was a comprehensive answer to solve the problem in one package. Internal reforms must be supplemented by the feudal system to relieve the conflicts and pressures of domestic aristocratic landlords. Only by advancing the reform by making the pie bigger can we achieve twice the result with half the effort.

However, the imperial court forced the reform when it could not divide the fiefs.

As a result, internal conflicts tied up a lot of energy, and external governance became a formality. The rise of Heli and Yinan was the most typical example. If Mo Nan had not left the blood of the Li family, I am afraid that the Tang Dynasty would not have been able to control it so smoothly.

And the Turkic Khanate where Li Yan is now, has been in the northeast for five or six years, but the Tang Dynasty has ignored it and allowed it to fall apart and then reunite. Don't they know that after the Turkic Khanate completes its internal unification, it will inevitably seek external development?

Even if Li Yan did not exist, after Jie Li successfully passed the real power to Shi Luodie, this group would still seek external invasion.

From the fact that he had simply proposed it casually and received strong support from Helmu and Gurentu, it could be seen that the people below must have thought the same.

What we do is just going with the flow as people's wishes are being fulfilled.

Li Yan sighed secretly. After all, it was the weakness of human nature. The emperor's selfishness and narrow vision restricted the transformation of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Shimin was reluctant to see the Tuli, Xueyantuo and Xibi tribes submit to the Tang Dynasty and own the grassland land.

He also did not want to implement the feudal system in the Western Regions. In his eyes, the world belonged to the Li family, so why should it be given to others?

After all, the emperors in ancient feudal society were all obsessed with the idea of ​​preferring to have friendly relations with foreign countries rather than with domestic slaves.

The Western Regions were only submissive to Li Shimin because they were afraid of the military might of the Tang Dynasty and had no choice but to bow their heads temporarily. Li Shimin gave up the destruction of their fundamental rule just because of their superficial obedience, which was very short-sighted.

As long as the grassland rises again, or the Tang Dynasty weakens slightly, these small countries will quickly break away or even become enemies.

Without their support, the 'axe handle' left by the Tang Dynasty would collapse in an instant and could not be maintained at all.

Li Yan gave up his position as the crown prince and left the Tang Dynasty in order to prevent this situation.

After all, a young man of twenty years old has limited influence on national affairs, and since Li Shimin is in good health, Li Yan can only play an indirect role by giving suggestions. As long as Li Shimin doesn't listen, Li Yan can't do anything.

If the advice is too harsh, it may easily create rift between father and son.

Li Yan also knew that even though he had explained it very clearly to Li Shimin, he would still pick out some of the things he thought were correct to implement based on his inherent knowledge and ideas.

He eliminated some of the ones he thought were inappropriate, such as dividing the land and establishing borders.

Even if the territory is not yours, even if it is given away at the expense of others. If you want to seal off these places, you have to conquer them first. Once they fall into your pocket, it will be as painful as cutting off your own flesh when you want to take them out.

Li Yan understood this mentality very well. He was also an ordinary person and was reluctant to give up the meat that was already in his mouth.

Having read more than 2,000 years of history, he knew clearly that with the technology and productivity level of the Tang Dynasty, it was impossible to defend such a vast territory. Instead of being dragged down by these burdens in the end, it would be better to be generous and expand the living space for the entire nation.

After five or six years of struggle, Li Yan has already mastered half of the power of the grassland. His influence on the Tang Dynasty is far greater than the role of a prince's advice from the side, and there is less internal friction caused by factions, succession struggles, court struggles, balance and other factors.

The purpose of Li Yan's sending troops this time was to remind Li Shimin that the current strength of the Tang Dynasty was nothing more than the land dividends left over from the change of dynasties.

This kind of prosperity and vanity is only in form.

The slightest bit of external pressure will cause it to fall apart, and without radical changes, everything will be short-lived.

Since the power of his own small corner of the northeast can disrupt the prosperous era carefully created by the emperor and his ministers in the early Tang Dynasty, then others can do it too.

I want to be a future An Lushan and expose these crises in advance.

The external storms and enemy pressure were used to test the solidity of the Zhenguan prosperity, and at the same time prove to Li Shimin that his approach was not feasible. This forced the Tang monarch and his ministers to reflect and find and adopt a more reliable strategy to strengthen the country.

(End of this chapter)