Chapter 4834: King's Order

Chapter 4834: King's Order
Pei Xingjian's face was cold and without any anger. He just stared at Lu Dongzan and said word by word: "Are you threatening me and the Tang Dynasty?"

Lu Dongzan felt the huge pressure coming at him. His skinny hands were stroking the teacup, his eyes deep. "I'm not threatening you, but it's the truth. Without the help of the Tang Dynasty, Lun Qinling can't defend Zishankou. As long as he retreats, his morale will be completely lost and he will be defeated. Even he can't stop the decline. I'm not threatening you, you're forcing me."

Faced with the huge disparity in power with the Tang Dynasty, even he could only swallow his anger and endure Pei Xingjian, a young boy, showing off in front of him.

"The Tang Dynasty never forces others to do things, and will never force others to do anything. The Tang Dynasty's national policy has always been good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence. When it comes to friends, the Tang Dynasty transfers benefits and cooperates for mutual benefit. It has never done anything to suck the marrow out of bones. When it comes to enemies, the Tang Dynasty will not have the slightest mercy. Wherever the iron hoof tramples, there must be the bones of the enemies."

People always misunderstand that the Tang Dynasty bullies the weak and even uses its own powerful force to squeeze others and strengthen itself. In fact, it is not true.

The Tang Dynasty was willing to provide support to every country that was willing to recognize and be friendly with the Tang Dynasty, whether in culture, economy, or even military.

However, as long as the national security of the Tang Dynasty is threatened, the enemy must be eradicated no matter how great the cost.

Lu Dongzan drank a sip of hot tea, raised his eyelids and looked at Pei Xingjian: "Without the support of the Tang Dynasty, Zishankou will never be able to be defended. It's not that we don't want to do it, but we can't do it. The choice is up to Pei Duhu. The Gar tribe will accompany you to the end."

The Tang Dynasty is indeed powerful and invincible, but the Gar tribe cannot be like a lackey and not even dare to bark. This battle cannot be fought or not fought at the Tang Dynasty's discretion. Even if the Gar tribe cannot seize the initiative, it must demonstrate its strategic value.

Otherwise, they will be abandoned and disdained by the Tang Dynasty.

Pei Xingjian nodded and said, "Yes, but after this battle, the Tang Dynasty will gather a large army in the Western Regions to resist the possible invasion of the Arab Kingdom. The Gar tribe and the Tang Dynasty are in a desperate situation, so I hope the Great Theory can send more elite troops to help."

Lu Dongzan's eyelids twitched, and he tried his best to suppress the anger in his heart.

Send troops to the Western Regions?
Once the elites of the tribe were all gone, who would guard Qinghai Lake, the place where the whole tribe lived? As a buffer zone between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, whether Tubo or the Tang Dynasty wanted to get involved in Qinghai Lake, they could crush the Gar tribe, which had withdrawn its troops, into dust in an instant.

Taking a deep breath, Lu Dongzan shook his head and said, "The Gar tribe needs to fully deal with the counterattack of Tubo. How can it have spare energy to send troops to the Western Regions? If Pei Duhu insists on doing so, then I can only order Lun Qinling to surrender on the spot, take off his armor and go to Luoshui City to apologize to the Zamp, so that the Gar tribe can return to the Zamp's rule."

If you don't give me a chance to live, then we'll break up.

Now Tibet's fear of the Tang Dynasty has reached an unprecedented level. Songtsen Gampo will agree to anything that is beneficial to Tibet's strategy. Moreover, he probably regrets expelling Lu Dongzan. If the Gar tribe returns to his allegiance at this time, he will surely accept it with pleasure.

When the strategic buffer Gar tribe submitted to Tubo, it meant that Tubo's troops could reach the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains and could cross the Qilian Mountains to threaten the four towns in Hexi at any time. The four towns in Hexi were important transportation hubs between Guanzhong and the Western Regions and they could not be lost. Otherwise, once the four towns in Hexi were lost, the entire Western Regions would lose supplies from Guanzhong. How many days could the tens of thousands of Anxi troops hold out against the counterattacks of the Hu people from all over the country?
Pei Xingjian's eyes were sharp and he remained unmoved: "You can give it a try and see whether the reinforcements from Tubo will arrive faster or the Tang army will destroy the Gar tribe faster!"

Lu Dongzan refused to give in: "Even if the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Gar tribe, what would happen? The Tuyuhun territory is backed by the Qilian Mountains and faces the plateau. The Tubo army can swoop down at any time. Without the Gar tribe, the Tang Dynasty cannot defend the area south of the Qilian Mountains."

Pei Xingjian sneered: "But the Gar tribe will be completely wiped out and will no longer exist."

Lu Dongzan: “…”

This is his Achilles' heel. Once the Tang Dynasty is determined to eliminate the hidden danger of the Gar tribe, the Gar tribe will have no chance of escape.

After all, when Tuyuhun was destroyed, the Tang Dynasty had a direct conflict with Tubo. The worst that could happen was that the Tang Dynasty would retreat back to the north of Qilian Mountains and restore the original situation.

The Tang Dynasty could accept such a situation, but the Gar tribe could not.

Lu Dongzan was very dejected. What was the use of being the "wisest man in Tubo"? Faced with the huge gap in strength between them, any calculations were nothing but trifling tricks that would not help. The Tang Dynasty only needed to deploy its army at the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains, and the Gar tribe would have to submit.

This is the tragedy of a small country.

What's more, the Gar tribe is not even a "small country"...

What else can be done?

It is nothing more than the four words "bearing humiliation and bearing heavy burdens" to comfort oneself...

"Then we will stop at Zishankou and defend it to the death."

……

Pei Xingjian certainly would not believe Lu Dongzan's lies. Even if Qinling defended Zishankou to the death and refused to advance or retreat, it was just a stopgap measure of the Gar tribe. Once changes occurred within Tubo and the various tribes opposed the king's wish to welcome Lu Dongzan to Lhasa City to take charge of the situation, the Gar tribe would immediately turn against the Tang Dynasty.

So he came out of Fushi City and returned to the four towns of Anxi. He immediately sent a troop of troops to cross the Dadouba Valley and station at the shore of Qinghai Lake. As long as Lu Dongzan made the slightest movement, he would immediately capture Fushi City and hold the entire Gar tribe in his hands, making Lun Qinling afraid to act rashly and stationed honestly at Zishankou to block Tubo's way to the north for the Tang Dynasty.

*****
Chang'an, Tai Chi Palace.

The battle report sent by Su Dingfang from Yazhou express ship about the looting and massacre of Tang merchants in the port of Siluofu and Su Dingfang's order to Yang Zhou to lead the warships from Da Nang to protect the Tang merchant fleet and deal with the matter was placed on the imperial desk in the imperial study. Li Ji, Liu Li, Li Xiaogong, Fang Jun, Ma Zhou and other military and political ministers were all present.

Liu Li was furious: "The Arab Empire is not some foreign barbarian country. It is a first-class country in the West with a vast territory and sufficient troops. It is also one of the largest trading countries of the Tang Dynasty. Even if there are disputes between us, the Honglu Temple should summon the Arab envoys to discuss and solve the problem peacefully. How can we send a fleet to punish them at will? It is really lawless to provoke border conflicts and disrupt diplomatic relations between the two countries."

As a civilian official, one must always follow the rules. What he hates most is the military's approach of acting on its own without considering the overall situation. It is easy to dispatch a large army, but it takes a lot of energy for civilian officials to clean up the mess afterwards, which is simply unbearable.

Fang Jun, however, was extremely unhappy with this conciliatory policy of "condemning" at every turn without any substantial action. If they did not have the strength, it would be fine, and they would have to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens. But now that the Tang Dynasty is at its peak and awes the world, why should they continue to endure it in a pretentious manner?
"It is unacceptable for the people of the Tang Dynasty to be massacred anywhere. The army's duty is to protect the country and the people. If the army is indifferent and apathetic after the people are massacred, who will support the army in the future? How can the cohesion of the army be guaranteed? Anyone who harms the people of the Tang Dynasty will pay a price, and the Arab Empire is no exception. It is worth it even if we start a war for this."

No matter what the civilian officials say or do, the army must maintain its edge. "Tough", "fearless" and even "protecting one's shortcomings" should be the qualities that the army possesses. In Fang Jun's opinion, Su Dingfang is even a little conservative. If he knew about this in advance, his first order would definitely be to order the navy to cross the ocean to the Persian Gulf and deal a heavy blow to the port of Shirov to deter the petty villains and set an example.

Liu Li was very angry and said angrily: "You keep talking about fighting and killing. That is the behavior of robbers. How can a country like the Tang Dynasty do that?"

Fang Jun said bluntly: "As a prime minister, you enjoy the blood and sweat of the people of the Tang Dynasty. When the people of the Tang Dynasty were being slaughtered, you only thought about the so-called official etiquette and had no sympathy for the victims. You are as hard-hearted as iron and worse than beasts!"

"Asshole!" Liu Li was so angry that his hair stood on end. He slammed his palm on the table in front of him and said, "How do you know that I don't feel sorry for the people? But you and I are not the heads of a family but the ministers of a country. We should not only consider the plight of the people but also the policies of the country. We should discuss and solve this matter from a comprehensive perspective. If you just want to take revenge and shout for war, how are you any different from an ordinary person?"

"Alright, alright, stop talking. What's the point of making so much noise?"

Li Chengqian rubbed his temples. His head hurt from the quarrel between the two. He stopped the quarrel and turned to ask Li Ji: "How does Lord Ying think this matter should be handled?"

Generally speaking, he trusted Li Ji more in all matters related to foreign affairs. Fang Jun was too radical, as if everything in the world was in his pocket. Especially in the livelihood of the people of the Tang Dynasty, he would never allow the people to be bullied by foreign countries or tribes. Liu Li was too conservative, always putting national stability and political peace first, and carefully audited the treasury expenditures and was very meticulous.

Relatively speaking, Li Ji is more neutral and objective...

Li Ji said: "The barbarians fear power but not virtue. Our benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness are disdainful to them. They will only obey and respect us if a steel knife is put to their necks. The Honglu Temple should notify their envoys to reprimand them and order them to come up with a compensation plan, but it is also necessary to send troops to the border to show their power."

Fang Jun glanced at Li Ji and sneered in his heart. This guy really has the same style as always. He either pretends to be deaf and dumb and stands by and watches, or tries to smooth things over and remain impartial. It's the same as if he didn't say anything...

Li Chengqian was also somewhat helpless, and said, "Then let's do this. Order the Honglu Temple to notify the envoys of the Arab Empire, admonish, warn and discuss compensation plans. Also, send a message to Yang Zhou to intimidate the Arab Empire. While intimidating, don't go too far, so as to avoid misunderstandings and lead to an unnecessary war."

After saying this, I felt something was wrong.

The navy was thousands of miles away. When the battle report was sent to Chang'an, the warships had probably already arrived at the port of Shilafu. Now the order was sent from Chang'an and then sent to the Persian Gulf thousands of miles away to be handed over to Yang Zhou. I'm afraid the battle was already over...

This is no longer a matter of "a general is not bound by the king's orders when he is away from home", but the king has no need to issue orders to generals thousands of miles away from home. The two sides are separated by oceans and it takes several months or even half a year for war reports to be exchanged. By the time the orders from here reach the other side, the situation has already changed drastically, and the generals can only act on their own according to the changes in the situation.

Whether it's the navy, the Anxi Army, or the Hanhai Army, they are too far away from the center...