Changsun Wuji insisted that Fang Xuanling speak first. After Fang Xuanling delayed for a while, he saw that Changsun Wuji was sincere, so he no longer refused.
"Your Majesty, generals, please note that the three southwestern provinces are filled with mountains and are not suitable for large-scale military deployments. If we want to occupy them, simply sending troops in will be extremely difficult. Moreover, the three southwestern provinces are different from the grasslands in the north. The grasslands in the north are flat, while the three southwestern provinces are filled with mountains..."
Fang Xuanling began his speech, first talking about the terrain. If we want to occupy this area, the terrain alone is enough to make us suffer. At that time, no matter how many troops we send there, it is likely that they will form a long snake formation, and our military advantage will not be able to show up.
The second is that the local area is full of miasma. If our people go there, they are likely to develop various diseases. If they cannot be cured by then, our people may suffer heavy losses before they even meet the enemy army.
The third question is, what's the point of conquering a place? Local products aren't particularly abundant, and the people aren't living well. When we conquer a place, we must prioritize economic benefits. If there aren't, wouldn't that be a waste of money? While it might expand the empire's territory, it wouldn't benefit the entire empire's finances, and ultimately, it would be a huge loss.
Although the common people would not speak out at the time, when military spending affected their lives, they would probably stand up and criticize the government. Coupled with the strange habits of the literati at the time, this incident might bring a huge crisis of trust to the court, and the common people would think that the decisions made by the court were no longer practical.
The last and most important point is that if we send troops this time, it would be a bit unreasonable. In the past, no matter which country we attacked, we could fabricate a theory that was beneficial to us, but can we fabricate it now?
The Nanzhao Kingdom invited our Royal Highness the Crown Prince to come over because they were planning to marry their princess to us, but we were planning to plot against their country. From any perspective, this is probably unacceptable, right?
Even if we were to seize Nanzhao's territory, would we be able to rest easy? What impression would we leave on the surrounding nations? As long as we set our sights on your land, we would do whatever it takes to get it.
After Fang Xuanling finished saying this, he stood directly at the back. He had said everything that needed to be said. If you insist on attacking, then you can make the decision yourself, but as for the aftermath after the attack, you will have to solve it yourselves.
"I'll add one thing. The current Nanzhao Kingdom doesn't pose any disadvantages to us. They pay tribute on time every year, and the benefits they give us are substantial. Even if we conquer this place, the benefits they give us in the end may not be greater than what we have now..."
Changsun Wuji remained silent. He was thinking the same thing as Fang Xuanling. When Fang Xuanling finished speaking, Changsun Wuji added this sentence, leaving those present at a loss for words. The meaning was very clear: whether you fight or not, the benefits are the same, so why bother fighting? As long as there is a war, we will inevitably suffer losses. Even with losses, the gains will remain the same as before, or even decrease. What is the point of war?
Li Shimin had not considered this before. After listening to what the two adults said, Li Shimin frowned. If we analyze it rationally, what the two adults said is also a fact if we do not pursue the expansion of the country's territory.
"You're all just calculating economics. Have you ever considered that if we take over Nanzhao's land, we can use it as a base and even continue to expand southward in all directions. Then our land area will continue to increase, and what we get then will be much more than just a little bit."
As the representative of the court in the military, Li Xiaogong is of course the representative of the previous generation, and in this life it must be Li Xiang. He is also very passionate about military affairs. Although not as strong as Li Shimin, he also wants to build the Tang Dynasty into an unprecedented empire.
Li Xiang once talked about the things in the south of Nanzhao Kingdom. If we can take down Nanzhao Kingdom, we can advance to the countries in South Asia. Of course, they don’t know what South Asia is yet. They just know that there are countless small jobs there. Although the supplies are not so abundant, the population is large and food production is still possible.
In the agricultural era, isn't food the most important thing? Hearing that there are so many countries over there, these people instantly became interested, but they didn't expect that there would be an obstacle here in Nanzhao.
"You must have heard what His Royal Highness said. I have indeed sent out a number of spies, and they have also sent back some news from further south. It is basically the same as what Your Highness said. However, I must tell you one thing. The people over there live deep in the mountains and old forests. The terrain is complex and changeable, and the weather is humid. Can our army really withstand it?"
After Li Xiang described the situation in South Asia, the court asked Changsun Wuji to send a group of spies. Now only half of them have returned. The rest are said to be unable to adapt to the southern climate and all died in the south. This loss rate can be said to be very high, which is also one of the reasons why Changsun Wuji prevented them from going south.
When talking about the climate in the south, these people were silent. Not to mention the south of Nanzhao Kingdom, even in some areas of Lingnan in our country, many people could not stand it. When the imperial court sent troops to Lingnan to set up a county, many soldiers did lose their lives on the way.
They have never even seen the enemy. It was because of the humid climate in the south that these people lost their lives. Now they are going further south. If there are too many non-combat casualties, we may be in a state of being neither up nor down, and then we will suffer even greater losses.
Li Shimin had originally thought that today's talks would go very smoothly. After all, the Tang Dynasty was now powerful and had just conquered the Western Regions. As long as they could bring the southwest into their territory, it would be closer to the Begonia that Li Xiang had mentioned. However, after listening to the two adults' words, Li Shimin fell into deep thought...