Li Shimin originally wanted to create some trouble for Li Xiang. After all, Li Xiang was becoming more and more undisciplined. If things continued like this, perhaps he would be not much different from Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan.
However, Li Shimin was an emperor who cared about his reputation. Normally, if his ministers did not submit memorials to criticize his mistakes, he would require them to do so. Now what Li Xiang was doing was good, and it could also expand the territory and influence of the Tang Dynasty. If Li Xiang was stopped now, if something went wrong in the future, it was unknown how history books would record it.
So Li Shimin simply ignored this matter. If Li Xiang won, it would be the result of our overall leadership. This brat himself could not have such great ability. But if something went wrong, then blame it all on him. Anyway, we will share the credit equally, and the mistakes will all be yours.
Of course, the support that should be given still has to be given. Sichuan is now Li Xiang's rear base. In addition to supporting a large amount of food, Li Shimin also organized a large number of civilians to go to Sichuan to help build roads. After the previous wars, Li Shimin also realized that the quality of the road directly affects the outcome of the war.
Except for the first war against Tuyuhun, almost all other wars involved transportation issues. There were still many people in the court who opposed it at the time. They believed that Li Xiang spent money on building roads, which was a pure waste of the court's money. The court's finances were not broad, and you were throwing so much money on the land, which was simply a disregard for the country's foundation.
But now these people are silent. Even those who had accused Li Xiang in the past have apologized to Li Xiang in public. There are even some people from all over the country who have come forward to express their gratitude. After the road is built, in addition to making it easier to fight, their travel is also much more convenient than before. All kinds of materials can be exchanged, and the economy of various places is also booming.
So when Xiao Yu proposed to build a road in Sichuan, Li Shimin immediately agreed and mobilized more than 17,000 criminals from all over the country to build the road in Sichuan. If anyone dared to escape, Xiao Yu would be allowed to kill them directly.
This can be said to have given Xiao Yu a lot of power. As long as the roads in Sichuan could be repaired, the court would not take care of the rest. Now they would give money and people, but if the war with Nanzhao failed, everyone would be in trouble. Xiao Yu naturally understood this.
Many people think that Li Xiang is too adventurous, including Xiao Yu. If he had to choose, he would rather put the Nanzhao affairs aside first and then go to the capital to claim credit. This time is no joke. So many people have failed to deal with the four chieftains for so many years, and we have solved these four troublemakers. This can be said to be a great merit.
If they had returned to Chang'an, everyone from top to bottom would have been rewarded, but unexpectedly, Li Xiang did not have the time and actually started the war in Nanzhao again. One wave after another came, which was a challenge for anyone. At least you should take the credit for the previous work first, and then do the rest.
Unfortunately, Li Xiang doesn't have the time to do so. He is a man who gets things done. It is impossible for him to stop just because of these achievements. The Xiao family members who followed Xiao Yu also made contributions. They don't understand Li Xiang's approach. Now they can only follow Li Xiang to the end. Who made the court treat the Xiao family members as Li Xiang's subordinates?
Everything is ready in Sichuan, except for a memorial from Nanzhao. So everyone has been looking forward to it these days to see what Qian Ping can do over there. According to their current mentality, the more chaotic the better, and it would be best if there is not even a single rule, so that more people can go there.
For these chieftain armies, they have witnessed the power of the Tang Dynasty in recent times. Now they have such an opportunity for them to join the Tang Dynasty. Many people feel that this is a God-given opportunity. Moreover, life after going down the mountain is much better than before. At least they don’t need to eat wild fruits and tree bark.
In the past, when there was not enough food in the mountains, many people had to rely on this to fill their stomachs. It did not mean that every household had enough wild game, so many people would still starve to death. Now, as long as you join the Tang Dynasty’s army, according to the salary given by the Tang Dynasty court, one person’s service as a soldier can almost ensure food and drink for the entire family. Of course, you cannot live a rich life, but your family will definitely not starve to death.
This may not be very attractive to some people in Chang'an City, because with the rise of the entire Tang Dynasty's economy, being a soldier is no longer a good career option. However, for the armies of these chieftains, they have never heard of such treatment. One person serving in the army can feed the whole family. There has never been such a thing in all dynasties. Many soldiers even have to bring their own dry food.
Now that such good things are right in front of them, they have to continue to show their performance.
They had no chance before, but now the opportunity was right in front of them. According to the rumors circulating within the army, as long as they could pass the battle in Nanzhao, it didn't matter how well they performed, as long as they could control the country, then from that moment on, they would be the real Tang army. Not only would they be able to get the same salary as the Tang army, but their families would also have all kinds of care.
Now because they have just been reorganized, they can only get the salary of the reserve army, which is 70% of the regular Tang Dynasty soldiers. However, it is enough for a family of four to eat, and they eat real rice, not that kind of mixed grain noodles.
In addition, they have seen the power of the Tang Dynasty army. Although they have not used that kind of weapons yet, these Tang Dynasty soldiers are helping them. If we rely on the weak army in the south, if they are allowed to deal with us, they might as well find a piece of tofu and kill themselves.
It's not like we haven't fought with the southern army before, but those people were like weaklings, and at most they could use their numbers to bully the smaller force. If the armies of both sides were similar, we would hardly ever win. Moreover, as long as we were serious, the Nanzhao Kingdom would always send special envoys and would never really fight with us. They were even weaker than the Han people in the north.
