"Shubao, do you mean that the Tang Dynasty will send a army and go deep into the snowy plateau to attack Tubo?" Li Shimin shook his head, "Not to mention that Tubo has not sent troops to invade the Qiang, even if it really sent troops, it is not realistic to go all the way to fight in the snowy plateau. Before, you and Huailiang Pingdang Xiang and Tuyuhun were already very dangerous. At that time, my Tang soldiers marched there, but suffered a lot. This was still not far from Qinghai Lake. If we go deeper to fight with Tubo, it would be a huge burden on our logistics, and it might even cause great casualties in soldiers...."

The emperor always believed that the logistics burden of going to the snowy plateau to fight was too great, and the Tang army was not adapted to the climatic conditions there, and the casualties would be very high. If they were to fight, they would not get any benefits if they won. Even if they were taken, they would not have the value of occupying the place. But if they lost, they would lose to the west.

No matter how you look at it, this battle didn't take the lead.

What's more, the court is now preparing to deal with the most likely battle of the grasslands. The war with Xue Yantuo may break out at any time. Once the battle starts, the Tang Dynasty will have to do its best. Goguryeo in Liaodong has been resentful since the last time of Beisha City, and now it has a very rigid relationship with the Tang Dynasty. It has been secretly preparing for war and it is also possible to fight.

Qin Lang was still struggling in the south. Although the Jucheng rebellion had been quelled, according to Qin Lang's report, Nanon Sanniang fled to the south of the West Daojiang River. Now he has incited the Heman ghost lord Meng Guqi to seize the position of Henidao Ghost Lord in the west, and actually built a compass country.

The mangled chaos will not end for a while, and it may even be about to usher in another wave of counterattack climax. After the last rebellion of the Wuxi Manjing in Guangxi, it has not yet settled down. Many barbarians in Guangxi in Guizhou have recently been unstable due to Qin Lang's transformation of land and the relocation of the barbarians.

Under such circumstances, neither Li Shimin nor the prime ministers of the Political Affairs Hall wanted to start another war in the originally peaceful Western Xinjiang.

However, Li Shimin listened to Qin Qiong's reminder.

"Shubao, you are the governor of the Songzhou Governor's Office. Songzhou Governor's Office has already controlled the Qiangs, Bailang, Bailan and other Qiangs west of Gansongling. The Qiangs have long surrendered to our Tang Dynasty. The chiefs are under the throne of our Tang Dynasty and are subjects of our Tang Dynasty. If that Tubo boy is really arrogant and arrogant, he dares to invade our vassal subjects, you can make judgments and arrangements based on the actual situation and allow you to control the defensive and counterattack of the vassals."

"Of course, if Tubo is just acting but has not sent troops, there is no need for us to take action first and then send others. Then Tubo has no benefit in fighting with them, and it will be a loss if he wins, so he doesn't have the same knowledge as them."

Li Shimin also knew that he needed money to prepare for war, so he thought for the last time and pulled out a million guan from his inner warehouse and handed it to Qin Qiong, asking him to use the money to strengthen the defense in the west of Jiannan, build fortress garrisons, beacon military camps, and increase some reserves of military supplies and food. In addition, he also used this money to integrate the Qiang in Bailan, Duomian, Misang, Dongnu, Xishan, Bailang and other Qiang.

Even if they want to fight, Li Shimin hopes to command these Western Qiang to fight against Tubo at that time.

"Shubao, don't take that kid too much. If he is really arrogant and offended, you can teach him how to be a human being. With my god of war and the gate god of the Tang Dynasty guarding the southwest gate, no matter how smart this kid is, he will not dare to attack!"

Qin Qiong was slightly disappointed with the emperor's attitude, but did not refute it. However, he still asked the emperor to be promoted to the Governor's Office in Victoria southwest of Songzhou, and to send an additional general to guard the Qiang in the eight kingdoms of the Western Mountains, and to establish a line of defense in Jinchuan and Dadu River to guard against Tubo's invasion from this direction.

"Do you have the right person to recommend it?"

"I recommend Su Dingfang or Duan Zhixuan to take on this important task!"

Li Shimin asked Chengqian to take a map and study it in the west of Jiannan for a while.

Songzhou is at the forefront of Dangxiang in the northwest corner of Jiannan Road and is also close to Tuyuhun. However, Tuyuhun and Dangxiang have surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and Songzhou has little military pressure.

If Tubo invaded north, it would be an important gateway for them to enter the Tang Dynasty. However, Qin Qiong and Li Shimin also believed that Tubo was unlikely to come directly to Songzhou before he took over Duomian, Bailan, Misang, Dangxiang and Qiang.

It is more likely that it is to follow several large river valley channels on the plateau and head to the southwest of Jiannan Road. Victoria on the east side of the Jinchuan River and Yazhou on the Dadu River, Yuzhou on the east side of the water of the Lu River, which is the newly renamed Xining Prefecture in the imperial court, are all strategic points.

Of course, Tubo can also go down along the Nujiang River, Lancang River, and Jinsha River, enter Yunnan, and reach the Erhai Lake area.

However, it is actually difficult to cross the snow-capped mountains and the canyons here. The roads have to change the roads between the three rivers. It is extremely difficult to march and supply. It is extremely difficult for civil horse gangs to sell salt, tea and horses to take this path. Another Tubo people rushed into Erhai Lake in Yunnan, there were Liuzhao barbarians there. There was no big city, and it was difficult to plunder enough resources and materials, and they could not use war to support the war. The most important thing is that they rushed into western Yunnan and did not affect the Tang Dynasty at all, and there was a danger of being surrounded by the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, relatively speaking, Qin Qiong and Li Shimin believed that if Qi Zongnong was really crazy and dared to invade, they would also be the most likely to go north to fight Supi, and then all the way to Duomian, Bailan, Dangxiang, and Tuyuhun, all the way to Qinghai Lake, or to the west to Qiman, instead of coming to Jiannan, Songzhou.

Of course, we have to be careful that this young man would not play according to common sense. After all, if it is normal, Tubo would never dare to invade the Tang Dynasty.

"In this way, I asked Duan Zhixuan to supervise the chief of the governor of Xining Prefecture, and also lead the Xuanwu army envoy to guard Xining. Su Dingfang was appointed as the governor of Weizhou, and also the envoy of Desheng army envoy to guard Weizhou. All the governors along the border Qiang and Mizhou tribes, you should work harder, and add a Jiannan Road Xuanfu Strategic Envoy to control the governors, states, troops, towns and garrisons!"

The Ningyuan Army in Songzhou, plus the newly established Xuanwu Army in Xiningzhou and the newly established Desheng Army in Victoria, all three armies have 3,000 troops each, with a total of only 9,000 soldiers. Although there are not many, Li Shimin's intentions are enough.

Nine thousand elite troops guarded the three sides of Jiannan, plus the government soldiers, garrison troops and united soldiers in Yizhou and other places, it should be fine to defend the enemy outside the national gates. Moreover, there were also controls the Qiang, Man and Manchu states, a total of 261, and the Songzhou states were controlled by the Tang Dynasty. It can be said that the number of governors in Jiannan Road was the largest. Longyou and Hexi controlled the governor's offices, including the Western Regions, and there were only 51 states and 198 states. The original 51 states belonged to the former Jiangnan Road. Now Jiangnan Road has been divided into five roads, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian.

The surviving states in Lingnan were even reduced to ninety-two states by Qin Lang, and a total of thirty-six states in Guangxi Road were included.

The Tang Dynasty now has 896 bans and prefectures, and is called bans. Although the tribute and taxes are mostly not included in the Ministry of Revenue.

But no matter what, most of these Southern Barbarians and Western Qiang are now obeying the orders of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, if they really want to fight with Tubo, Qin Qiong, Duan Zhixuan, and Su Dingfang can immediately recruit all the Qiang and Barbarians from all over the country to fight, and the number is still very considerable. At that time, they all brought their own food, grass and weapons to fight, which is much better than the expedition of the North and South Yamen Army from the Central Plains, which saves trouble and labor and money.

Qin Lang accepted the court's decision and proposed to recruit a group of elite soldiers from the barbarians and Qiang tribes now, use the Tang Dynasty's prefectures and battle formations to train, station in dangerous places, and carry out military farming and grazing, farming, grassing, practice and guarding, and also carry out rotating garrison techniques, and regularly recruit elite troops from various ministries to train on duty. This can not only enhance the ability to guard the border, but also enhance the court's influence and control over the barbarians.

There is no need to have many such permanent garrisons. Under the three governors' offices, each army can be equipped with two cities and barbarians, and the Ningyuan Army with 3,000 troops each, each equipped with 6,000 barbarian soldiers, and one Tang border camp and two barbarian Qiang city camps. Qin Qiong's proposal also has another advantage, that is, the Jiannan border army suddenly changed from nine thousand to twenty-seven, which has the ability to attack and defend.

Especially these barbarians and Qiang people have lived on the border for generations. They adapt to the plateau climate and harsh terrain there. Many people cross mountains and ridges and walk on flat ground. They are not afraid of the plateau climate and the cold snowy mountains. Using them to form some plateau cavalry or mountain infantry is a good choice. In addition, they can cooperate with the regular border troops of the Tang Dynasty with excellent weapons and equipment. It will be like a tiger that can be strengthened. The Tang army can defend and attack when retreating.

The Tang army helped train these barbarians and could even give them some good treatment, such as those selected were awarded land and ranch, and even those who made contributions could be awarded medals and officials in the future, so that their children could enter the schools established by the military government, and even those who performed well and made contributions could also be sent to Chang'an.

Anyway, there are benefits.

Of course, if this plan is successful, it will also be of great benefit to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, 18 strong warriors will be added for nothing, and there will definitely be many barbarians who will be influenced by the Tang Dynasty and will be pro-Tang Dynasty and even become Han people. This will be of great benefit to the rule of Jiannan District.

Li Shimin looked at Qin Qiong. This old guy was really old. With white hair, his beard began to get a little white, not to mention that his face became yellower and his burly body was able to shock thousands of troops when he fought on the battlefield, but now he was a little hunched.

"Shubao, I'll leave everything to you in Jiannan. I know you have always been steady, so I'm completely relieved to hand it over to you."
Chapter completed!