Tianzhu.
Today, the northern part of Tianzhu is ruled by the Bahori dynasty of the Hapu Dynasty, known as the Bahori king. It is separated from the north and south of the Pala dynasty using the Ganges River as the boundary.
The Tianzhu people who massacred the people of Dalong's caravan and looted the goods were the Hapu dynasty under Bahori's power.
Hapu Dynasty Bira City, Lotus Zen Forest.
Bahori, the Northern King of Tianzhu, was chatting softly with an Indian monk of about sixty years old under a huge Buddha statue.
As the most powerful king in northern Tianzhu, Baholi should have looked high-spirited, but at this moment, Baholi's face was so gloomy that he wanted to drip because of the old monk named Gal opposite him.
Bahori took off his baggage and placed it on the simple wooden table in front of the old monk. He slowly untied it and placed it with a beautiful glazed plum vase on the wooden table.
"Wise man, these fabrics, which are called silk by merchants in the Western Regions, and these exquisite porcelains are simply gifts from Buddha and God.
I am King Bahori of the Hapu Dynasty, and I hope that all my people will wear this kind of silk fabric as smooth as the skin of a beautiful girl, and use these exquisite porcelains. What went wrong?
I am a king and I want my people to live a better life. This is my duty.
Regardless of whether you are willing to bless the glory of Buddha for the soldiers and horses who go on the expedition, I will send the soldiers and horses to the far east, to the dynasty called Dalong to find these silks, porcelain, and countless treasure belts
return.
But I still hope you can be wise and don't deliberately delay the king and delay the warriors' schedule just for the sake of so-called kindness."
Old Senggal looked at Baholi's gloomy face, clasped his hands together and sighed.
"King! To go to the distant dragon to find silk and treasures, do you need to send as many as 50,000 troops?
You are not searching or trading, but plundering.
The gift of the Buddha will not protect believers and believers who aim to rob other people's property. Last year, you and the Big Food King have committed mistakes that even the Buddha cannot forgive.
I hope you can turn around and not make the same mistake again and again.
The king and his ministers have already massacred more than a thousand merchants who came to Tianzhu to trade with peaceful beliefs. If they send troops to the Dragon Dynasty again to rob, the Buddha will punish them."
"So what the wise man means is that he is not willing to bless the Buddha's gift for the soldiers and horses who are far away?"
"Please forgive me, the king, but the old monk can't do it.
Moreover, the old monk hopes that you, the king, can take back your evil thoughts. When your father, King Bachov, was on the throne, you said that a monk named Liao Fan from the Dragon Dynasty once came to the Lotus Zen Forest to exchange Buddhist teachings.
The late king solemnly received the young wise man from the distant dragon, and hoped that the wise man would bring back his belief in peaceful coexistence with the king of the dragon.
You have destroyed the faith of the late king and will be punished by the Buddha."
Bahori's eyes lit up and he stared at the old monk closely: "So, wise man, do you know about this kingdom of dragons? Do you, wise man, know what kind of country this is?"
Old Senggal glanced at the ten-foot-tall Buddha statue outside, and the young wise man named Lingfan from the Great Dragon Dynasty appeared in front of his eyes.
The wise man jumped more than ten feet, and the figure in his moon-white monk's robes looked like the Buddha had come to the world. The image was still fresh in my memory and could not be forgotten for a long time.
Gal put his hands together and recited the Buddha's name silently.
"King, that is a magical eastern country. The old monk once again begged the king to take back his evil thoughts, otherwise the Buddha will punish him!"
"Hmph! If you don't want to, forget it. There are three Zen forests in Bira City. If you don't want to, I will go find two other wise men to bless the Buddha's gift.
Farewell."
After Baholi finished speaking, he leaned over and picked up the silk and colorful glazed plum vase, and walked directly outside the Zen forest.
Looking at Baholi's back, Gal sighed and shook his head.
"Buddha bless you, I hope the king will not bring disaster from the dragon to Tianzhu!
Kasha, Bagir, you have all met the young wise man from Dalong. I hope you will not make any mistakes.
The new king has already committed evil deeds, and if you continue to support his obsession, Hapu will never recover."
Time passes.
In a blink of an eye, it was the third day of August in the third year of Dalong Taiping.
After a month of rest and recuperation, the Western Expeditionary Army, which had fully adapted to the climate of Central Asia, immediately divided into two groups and marched towards the territories of Dashi and Tianzhu.
The city of Gistan is fifty miles away.
Zhang Kuang, Yeluha, and Hu Yanyu were looking through the second batch of information sent back by the scouts.
"Everyone, you have all read the news we got from the big food merchants. The total military strength of the big food country is said to be more than 600,000.
Whether it is true or false remains to be tested.
As for the combat strength of these 600,000 troops, whether they are elite or not, we need to explore by ourselves.
Tomorrow night, we will march secretly twenty miles east of Gistan City and hibernate to recharge our batteries. The day after tomorrow, we will immediately march our troops below the city and attack the city directly."
"Commander, why don't you send a message of conquest to the city lord Aigra of Gistan City?"
"I would like to think about it, can they understand it?"
"Uh... I understand, General!"
"That's the tentative plan. Let's all go back and recharge our batteries. We'll start marching early tomorrow morning.
This is the first battle of our expedition and must be fought successfully.
Show off the power of our great dragon and the momentum of recruiting troops and horses from our left side to the west."
"We have the order! We must retreat."
The western expedition army on the left led by Zhang Kuang could arrive at the gates of Gistan City at any time, and the army on the right led by Nangong Ye was marching towards Zala City on the Tianzhu border.
Tochara City, a city on the southeastern border of Dashi Kingdom, is located a hundred miles away in the wilderness leading to Zara City.
Nangong Ye looked at the stars above his head and walked towards the simple tent.
"See the Marshal."
“All free!”
"Thank you, Marshal!"
"I just observed the sky at night, and tomorrow will be a good weather day, which will not slow down our march.
I hope God will bless us and we can rush to Zara City within ten days and capture it in one fell swoop."
"Commander, the scouts reported not long ago that no spies from the Dashi Kingdom were found within eighty miles of Tocharo City. It seems that the Dashi people and the Tianzhu people have not discovered the whereabouts of our army."
"Well! This is a good thing. The later the traces of our army are exposed, the better it will be for us to launch a surprise attack on Tianzhu."
"Early tomorrow morning, we will send three thousand scouts all the way south, first to Zala City to investigate the enemy's situation.
However, these three thousand scouts cannot be the same as before. At least three people must assist each other along the way. Each scout must carry fireworks and flares, and the distance between them must not exceed two miles.
It is guaranteed that no matter if any of the scouts encounters an emergency, the other scout brothers will be able to rush over in time to provide assistance."
"Commander, the general has another suggestion."
"Deputy Commander Wanyan, please tell me."
"The general suggested that after the 3,000 scouts, 30,000 vanguard troops should be sent to follow closely behind.
After all, it was an expedition to a foreign and unfamiliar land, and there were 30,000 vanguard troops leading the way, which was many times more effective than the early warning provided by the scout brothers.
And it can prevent unexpected events from happening.”
Warlord Yunchong pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Commander, I second the deputy commander's opinion.
The general said something bad, once the three thousand scouts encounter something unexpected, the thirty thousand vanguard troops will be our successor scouts and the first line of defense.
As a military governor, I am also willing to serve as a vanguard general to go south to fight against the bandits."
Nangong Ye hesitated for a while, then nodded silently: "Okay, I will pass this order tomorrow and have Cheng Kai's troops and the Eagle Guard each send out 15,000 cavalry to form a vanguard force to follow.
After scouting, we will rush to Zala City in Tianzhu first."
"We have the order!"
"It's been a day of marching. Let's go back and rest."
"We'll leave!"
After the generals left, Nangong Ye took a look at the map on the wooden stand, leaned over the simple desk and fell asleep.
Generals like Nangong Ye, Wanyan Chizha and others who were formulating an attack plan did not know that as early as ten days ago, a force of more than 50,000 soldiers from the Tianzhu Hapu Dynasty was heading in the same direction as them.
To be continued...