Everyone present felt that the goal set by Li Xiang was a bit too conservative. If they were asked to set a goal, they would definitely go straight to the capital of the Arab Empire. They had done such a thing before. In their opinion, we cannot indulge the people of the Arab Empire, and we should give them a big blow.
"I know what the expressions on your faces mean. You must think that the goal I set is too conservative, but I want you to understand how far this place is from the economic heartland of the Tang Dynasty? How far is it from the Anxi Protectorate? You should all see clearly. We have just built a military station here, but it is not a place for us to build a road. This is our territory. There are still too many dangers around, and the logistics line also needs to be maintained. So I made this plan for our own sake."
When Li Xiang said this, he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart. In the past, the Tang army never considered these issues when fighting in other places, mainly because they were not that far away. Now the transportation is really too bad. If you talk about distance, it is more than 10,000 miles.
"Your Highness is right. We were too impatient. But this opportunity is rare. If it weren't for the obstruction near their capital, the Arab Empire would have very likely paid the price for this refugee invasion. They had sinister intentions and originally wanted to deal with us, but ended up suffering heavy losses at the hands of the refugees. While they are dealing with the refugees, we should also take action."
Su Dingfang didn't want to waste the opportunity. Time was extremely precious now. Although the Arab Empire had assembled a lot of troops, many of their soldiers were temporarily recruited, and there were not many real elite soldiers. If a war broke out, we still had a lot of advantages.
"You should have a battle plan, so just tell me directly. If it's feasible, then I will use your battle plan. You all know me. As long as your plan makes sense, I will definitely allow it."
Li Xiang's words gave Su Lingfang hope. In fact, when retreating, he had already formulated a battle plan, which was to use the tactics of the Arab Empire, rushing forward over a long distance, and returning to the place where they retreated from. Moreover, they would start fighting immediately after rushing forward, using the blitzkrieg that our Highness is best at. Before the enemy could react, we had already killed our way into their camp.
"The plan is quite good, but do you know where their main force is? The refugees can affect the Arab Empire's army, but do you think they can't affect us?"
On the sand table next to them, Li Xiang and several generals listened to Su Dingfang's battle plan. A long journey was nothing for the Tang army. They only needed to rest for two days before they could continue to advance. After all, the intensity of their usual training was also very high. For them, this level of advancement was at most a slight increase over their training.
When Li Xiang said this, Su Dingfang was immediately stunned. The refugees had caused too much trouble for the Arab army. If we continued to advance in this way, the difficulties would fall on our heads. The refugees were like a double-edged sword.
Originally, everyone present was very optimistic, but after listening to Li Xiang's words, they realized what they had overlooked. That was the refugees scattered throughout central and northern Arabia. These people were the most deadly. They were now like desperate criminals. As long as they had a chance to survive, they would not be afraid of the army of the Arab Empire, let alone the army of the Tang Dynasty. Long-term hunger made their combat effectiveness extremely strong.
"Then why are you here, Your Highness?"
Su Dingfang asked in confusion, "If my battle plan wasn't suitable, then why did Li Xiang bring tens of thousands of troops here? Is there something else going on?"
"I came here to advance steadily, not to make a long-distance raid like you."
When Li Xiang said this, he actually confused his men. "Didn't you, old man, invent blitzkrieg?" All the generals of the Tang army fought according to your instructions. Facts have proven that this method is very effective and has helped us defeat countless enemies. Why are we now going for a steady and cautious approach?
"I didn't say we were going to attack the heart of the Arab Empire. I was talking about the coast of the Caspian Sea. This is the Caspian Sea."
Li Xiang pulled everyone to the map again. The sand table mainly marked the direction to the Arabian Peninsula, but before going to the Arabian Peninsula, to their west, there were a large number of areas along the Caspian Sea coast. This area also belonged to the Arab Empire, but there were still a large number of indigenous people here. To put it bluntly, it was the frontier area of the Arab Empire.
"Your Highness, although the land here is quite good, the problem is that our conquest will not cause much damage to the Arab Empire. We should still focus our main attention on their own country, especially the army they have now organized."
Li Chengyi said anxiously that if we attack towards the Caspian Sea, we will face the second-line army of the Arab Empire. There are only tens of thousands of troops here. Why use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken? If we kill them all, it will not have much impact on the war situation. Only by killing the first-line army of the Arab Empire can we win.
"I understand. When we attacked here, we were actually surrounding the enemy and attacking their reinforcements."
Cheng Chuliang slapped his head and Li Xiang immediately laughed.
It is not suitable to attack the heartland of the Arab Empire now. The number of refugees is too large. These refugees alone are enough to cause us trouble, not to mention the fighting between the two sides. So in this case, we should attack other places and wait for the reinforcements sent by the Arab Empire, and kill them in the middle. It should be safer for us.
Li Xiang has been thinking of a way, which is to pull out the Arab Empire's army and pull them out of the refugee crisis, so that we can deal with them better. Only in this way can we avoid being caught in the refugee crisis.
After this incident, Li Xiang realized that no one can get out of the refugee crisis once they get stuck in it, so we should not try it anymore.
