Originally, Li Xiang wanted to take a bath together with his wife, but unfortunately the conditions here were limited and the wooden tub was too small. Besides, Changsun Pingting had already finished bathing, so how could she let him bathe again? So Li Xiang could only take a bath in it while Changsun Pingting helped him from the side.
"Have we ever done business with the chieftains in Bashu? Do you have any news about them? I spoke with Xiao Yu today, and it seems these people have done a lot of outrageous things. I saw him hesitate when he spoke, perhaps because it concerns the official positions of some people in the court, so he doesn't want to offend them."
Li Xiang suddenly thought of his business. Now most of the business in Chang'an City was handed over to Changsun Pingting. If a woman had nothing to do, she would probably think about some serious things. Now so many businesses were in Changsun Pingting's hands, which more than doubled than before. The most important thing was that she had no time to cause trouble for Li Xiang. This was killing two birds with one stone.
Although Li Xiang looked down upon Xiao Yu's way of doing things, he could not interfere. After all, there was a powerful family behind him. What he had to consider was not only his personal gains and losses, but also the benefits of the entire family. Maybe some of these officials had business dealings with their family. What's more, Li Xiang could also find out about these things. He just needed to click on it.
"Old foxes always think this way. My father only speaks half the truth, but the reputation of these chieftains is really not very good. When our caravan passed by here, if it weren't for our strong armed forces and the several effective attacks we dealt them, we might have been robbed."
When Li Xiang heard Changsun Pingting say this, he immediately became restless. He had originally thought that these guys were superficially in cahoots with the court, but he hadn't expected them to go so far as to rob merchant caravans. Wouldn't this have a direct impact on the court's income? With less income for the merchants, the taxes paid to the court would naturally be less. This was a very serious problem. Why hadn't he heard anything about this in Chang'an?
"When something like this happened, local officials didn't report it?"
Li Xiang said with some surprise, you know, the local officials are the ones who are most affected by the chieftains' actions. Maybe they don't have enough troops, but as long as they report to the court, the court should send troops to suppress them.
"As far as I know, the original local officials also reported it, and the imperial court also sent troops to deal with this matter. When the imperial army arrived, the chieftains and their men immediately retreated to the mountains. You may not be familiar with the local situation. If they really went into the mountains, let alone tens of thousands of troops, even hundreds of thousands of troops would not be able to find them. The mountains are too huge. After the imperial army left, these chieftains would come back again. What could you do to them? Later, they began to bribe local officials. The local officials also knew that reporting to the court would not solve anything and would only bring some risks to their reputations, so they simply did not report it."
Earlier, when Li Xiang told Changsun Pingting that he was going south, Changsun Pingting had prepared all the intelligence in the south and shared that she would find an opportunity to report to Li Xiang. Unexpectedly, she never found the opportunity, so she took advantage of this opportunity today to say everything she needed to say.
"They are simply a bunch of beasts. They take the imperial salary but don't serve the people. They even collude with these chieftains. It seems Xiao Yu's idea is right. Even if we don't deal with Nanzhao, we must first dig out these parasites."
Li Xiang had been fighting outside, and in his heart he always felt that nothing was wrong in the Tang Dynasty's homeland. Moreover, it was the Zhenguan period, and the officialdom at that time was still relatively clean. When he suddenly heard that someone was corrupt, Li Xiang found it a little hard to accept.
"Let me tell you, Xiao Yu's plan is also feasible. If we rashly attack Nanzhao, these chieftains might cause us trouble. They have ties with Nanzhao, and if the north and south respond to each other, our army will be in trouble."
Changsun Pingting knew the situation of these local people. Although they were not of the same clan and ancestor as Nanzhao, they were definitely much closer to each other than to us. Moreover, if Nanzhao perished, then these chieftains would also be doomed to perish.
The reason why the imperial court set up these chieftains was because their lands bordered Nanzhao. The imperial court was unwilling to deal with Nanzhao, which would waste a lot of money and troops, so it entrusted border affairs to the chieftains. To put it bluntly, it let them consume each other. Now, if Nanzhao was destroyed, what would these chieftains do?
If we can consider this, the Tusi masters can also consider it. When they are no longer useful, they will feel a sense of crisis. Now they can still help the Tang Dynasty guard the southwest gate, so they are still useful. When the day comes that they are no longer useful, will the Tang Dynasty still need them? Therefore, when the Tang army attacks Nanzhao, these people are very likely to unite with the people of Nanzhao. At that time, we will be attacked from both sides. Even if Li Xiang's men are strong, the losses will definitely not be insignificant.
To resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the internal situation...
Li Xiang remembered this sentence. Although the source of this sentence was somewhat inconsistent with the situation at that time, it was still very appropriate for Li Xiang's current situation. If he didn't take off these plasters on his body, how could he attack other countries? He would be careful not to be robbed by others.
"There's one more thing. If we can capture these chieftains ahead of time, their men can also be used. Fighting in the deep mountains and old forests, no matter how well-trained our men are, they are no match for these men. They grew up in the deep mountains and old forests. Recruiting a group of troops from them is just like recruiting troops on the grasslands, and they can fight alongside our own elite troops..."
Changsun Pingting is definitely a good military strategist. Although Li Xiang did not give her a title, she did not leave out any help in helping Li Xiang.
"That means women can't be officials. If women could be officials, I would definitely give you a female prime minister."
Li Xiang's words amused Changsun Pingting. In fact, Changsun Pingting didn't need any female prime minister. As long as she could help Li Xiang, she would feel happy. It was better than being those useless vases.