"Greetings to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
When Li Xiang returned to the Eastern Palace, Qian Ping brought all the eunuchs and palace maids of the Eastern Palace, big and small, and stood obediently at the door of the Eastern Palace, and saluted Li Xiang solemnly.
"Alright, alright, we're all family, why are you arguing about these things? Everyone will get a month's salary increase, and from now on, just do your own things. If I have a future, then so will you."
Hearing that Li Xiang had rewarded them with a month's salary, the people below were even happier. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince never beat or scolded his servants. Even if they did something wrong, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would protect them. Who wouldn't be happy to have such a young master!
"Father and Mother."
Li Xiang was about to kneel down and salute when he was stopped by Li Chengqian. His efforts over the past few days had paid off. Li Chengqian had always been worried that he would be deposed. Even though Li Xiang had made so many contributions to the Tang Dynasty, Li Chengqian always felt that he was floating in the air. When he heard the news from the court today, Li Chengqian felt his legs hit the ground.
How could he possibly depose the Crown Prince when his son has already been crowned the Crown Prince? All the civil and military officials in the court should think carefully about this. Li Chengqian remembers everything you did to the Eastern Palace in the past, but without Li Xiang's approval, he cannot retaliate against these people.
"How much hardship has this journey endured!"
Li Xiang had little contact with his mother Liu, but when he saw Liu shedding tears at this moment, Li Xiang was also touched. After all, this body was the fusion of two souls. Although the soul of modern society occupied the main position, there were also memories of Liu.
"Look, why are you crying? Isn't it a good thing that your son is back? Let's go eat first."
After hearing what Li Chengqian said, Liu also felt that crying in such an occasion was not a good thing, so she quickly wiped away her tears and followed her husband into the house.
Li Xiang saw clearly that even though he, as her son, had become the crown prince and Li Chengqian had to rely on him to make a living, his mother still could not put on airs and always respected Li Chengqian throughout her life. Perhaps this was the way women of this era were.
"How could you be so bold, kid? I hadn't even heard that Tuyuhun agreed to this at the time. Yet, you rushed over a thousand miles away. If anything went wrong along the way, how would your mother and I survive?"
After everyone left, Li Chengqian said a few words from his heart. Li Xiang had not returned home at all at that time. When Li Chengqian asked Qian Ping to inquire about the news, Li Xiang had already arrived at Shili Pavilion. The couple had been worried for the past few days. Fortunately, Li Xiang asked someone to send the news home, otherwise they didn't know how worried they would be.
"The situation at the time forced us to do so. If we hadn't said that, Tuyuhun would have been lost. The Tibetan army of over 100,000 was already waiting to attack, and the only one they feared was the Tang Dynasty."
Thinking of the situation at that time, Li Xiang also felt very sad, but if he were given another chance to choose, he would probably still say the same thing.
"The Tibetans can easily gather an army of 150,000. This country is not weak."
Li Chengqian didn't know much about Tubo. Although many Tang Dynasty merchants had been to Tubo, according to what they said, Tubo was a loose society, completely different from our Tang Dynasty, and all the people were very strong in combat. Apart from this, there was no other information. After all, the Tibetans did not allow Tang Dynasty merchants to roam around in their territory.
"Father is wrong. I think the 150,000-man army is just a bluff. 100,000 men are already good. And it's definitely not easy for them to gather these 100,000 men. It must have taken the whole country's strength."
According to Li Xiang's understanding of the history of this period, the total population of Tubo should be around one million. Even if the climate in Tubo was very good during this era, it would not be possible to exceed this number. After all, there were only two million people there in the 21st century.
Of course, there are several vassal states in the south of Tubo, and several ethnic minorities such as the Qiang have been conquered in the northwest. These vassal states have a population of hundreds of thousands, but since they have just been conquered, they may not necessarily work for Tubo.
"If that's the case, then there's a high chance they were just bluffing when they attacked Tuyuhun?"
Li Chengqian said with some surprise that he had never doubted that what Li Xiang said was false, because most of the things Li Xiang did had been realized, and what he said had brought him great changes, so whatever Li Xiang said about the situation in Tubo Kingdom was what it was.
"In fact, they can fight on their own and don't need to come to us for an alliance. Tuyuhun has become so weak now, but the Tibetan Kingdom still sent their prime minister, hoping to form an alliance with us. This shows one thing: no matter what the outcome of the war is, they are afraid that the Tang Dynasty will march on them."
If Li Xiang had said this to other generals, they would probably have laughed out loud, because in several conflicts, the Tang army was no match for the Tubo army. How could they be afraid of us?
The reason for this theory is that we ran to the plateau. If we were on flat ground, we might not be afraid of them.
"No wonder many people in the court were a little scared when Lu Dongzan came. You've never been afraid. You know their backgrounds."
From the perspective of the entire Tang Empire, Li Chengqian was also somewhat worried about the Tubo Kingdom. After all, we knew too little about them. We only knew that their leader Songtsen Gampo was not a simple man and often launched attacks on surrounding tribes.
"The Tibetan Empire has crossed a massive mountain in its southern region and conquered several smaller states. From what I understand, they've adopted an iron-fisted approach to rule, which has caused dissatisfaction among many locals, who have been rising up in resistance over the past two years. Therefore, they'll need to leave some troops in the south. Most of the Tibetan Empire's land is of little use. Compared to the comprehensive national strength of the Tang Dynasty, they're far behind. However, we still need to focus on military strength. We might win in a short conflict, but if the battle line is prolonged, the Tibetan Empire will inevitably lose."
From the perspective of a 21st-century youth, war is a test of comprehensive national strength. Although Tubo is currently aggressive, if the two sides really clash, it will only take six months for Tubo's supply lines to be cut off, while the Tang Dynasty can continuously obtain large quantities of supplies from Jiangnan...