"You don't need to be so cunning. Just say what you need to say. You must understand that the life and death of your family members is not controlled by the court. They are now in my hands. If you are still holding back from me, then I am also holding back from your family. What is the situation in the border areas? I believe you have seen the three handwritten letters. If you want them to return and live a good life, you must say everything you need to say. Don't be afraid of offending anyone within the court."
Li Xiang also noticed that this guy was obviously holding back. Since that was the case, Li Xiang would speak frankly and let you know who he was working for. There was no need to save face for those people in the court. They were not doing their job well themselves, including Changsun Wuji, who must have been deceived by these people. Of course, this was a better aspect. If we were to talk about the bad aspect, it might be that Changsun Wuji chose the wrong person, and that was his fault.
In fact, this is a very normal thing. In this era, people did not pay much attention to places outside the Central Plains, whether it was Tuyuhun near Chang'an or Goguryeo which was relatively far away. If the emperor gave the order himself, the officials might still pay attention to it, but if the emperor did not pay much attention to this area, the officials would pay even less attention to it.
It seems that these spies spent a lot of money from the court, but if you calculate carefully, their local expenses are not enough at all. At most, they can only find out some folk news and pass it back to Chang'an based on what others say. There is no way to confirm the real news. How much money would it take to bribe local officials?
What's more, the financial situation of the Tang Dynasty is not good during this period. If the financial supply is sufficient, perhaps they can get some accurate information, but if the financial supply is not good, you can't blame these spies on the front line.
"Your Highness, please forgive me, Your Highness, please forgive me..."
Since it involves his family members, Zhang Jiuli can't do the same as before. He has to kneel down and apologize quickly. He has been an official for a long time. When you report to your superiors, you must never mention other people's shortcomings. If you mention other people's shortcomings when reporting, it means that you have made an enemy with this person.
The officialdom has its own rules. When you report your own affairs, you must not cause unnecessary trouble, especially when facing a royal family member like Li Xiang. Because such royal family members are in charge of a wider range of affairs and there are no specific restrictions, they can take care of everything.
For example, in this matter at hand, if Zhang Jiuli tells the truth, then all the government offices in the court may be offended, especially some officials in charge of this area. If Li Xiang goes back and starts an investigation from top to bottom, the truth will eventually come out, and Zhang Jiuli will be exposed in front of everyone.
"I know what you're worried about, but you should also go and find out. It's mainly about those who live with me. I can protect them all, but they must also assert their rights. If they're half-hearted in front of me, the end result will be bad."
In order to make Zhang Jiuli tell the truth, Li Xiang had to make some promises. People are now working for you wholeheartedly. If they are suppressed by some old bureaucrats in the court, then you must stand up. It is not to save Zhang Jiuli, but to let all the officials of your faction see clearly that what you are doing can support them, so that they can work for you 100%. Otherwise, who doesn't have his own little tricks?
"I thank Your Highness and will definitely..."
"Let's get down to business."
Seeing that Zhang Jiuli was about to give another long speech, Li Xiang immediately stopped this guy. If we continue to listen to your long speech here, we don’t know how long it will take us to finish, so let’s get down to business first and give a detailed introduction to Nanzhao’s military strength.
"As for the content of the court's investigation, it's basically more than ten years ago. Currently, Nanzhao's regular army should have nearly 70,000 men. In addition, there are some local armed forces, which also have 10,000 to 20,000 men. All of this is controlled by local officials. Nanzhao has always given people the impression of being small and weak, but their population is still over a million. Although the common people don't like war very much, if they were to mobilize for war, hundreds of thousands of people would still be no problem."
Zhang Jiuli knew more about the situation here, so he integrated it a little in his mind and said this number. Sure enough, it was similar to the history that Li Xiang was familiar with. If this number was placed in front of Changsun Wuji, I am afraid that Changsun Wuji would resign in shame and go home.
Their combat effectiveness is similar to that of the Tusi army on the mountain, but the Tusi army on the mountain has a dangerous place to defend, while there is no other dangerous place on the Nanzhao Kingdom's side. If you want to take it by military strength, it should be about the same difficulty as the four major Tusi forces. However, there is another difficulty here, that is, the logistics supply line is relatively long.
Li Xiang had already mentioned this in Chang'an City. The navy's warships had been repaired, and even if they weren't needed, Li Xiang was willing to let them sail around the northern and southern seas. If they couldn't even reach here, how would they sail across the ocean in the future? You know, this world is huge.
"How much do you know about the current Nanzhao King Luo Sheng?"
Li Xiang thought of his cheap father-in-law. Nanzhao was going to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, and this man wanted to marry his daughter to Li Xiang. If it wasn't Li Xiang, he might not be willing to do so. She had to be the main wife, because Li Xiang might become the emperor of the Tang Dynasty in the future, and it was very likely. So even if his daughter was a concubine, he agreed.
"Your Highness, this man once visited Chang'an City when he was young. He was sent by his father to the Tang Dynasty to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor. He later received the position of Governor, a mere honorary position, of course. After returning to Nanzhao, because he had previously paid homage to the emperor in Chang'an, coupled with his outstanding personal abilities, he became the current King of Nanzhao. He must be no simple figure."
Zhang Jiuli said with difficulty that this was indeed not his strong point, and no one would be an official in Sichuan and still think about Nanzhao's affairs.
