If you look at the current military deployment of Dayuan, you can easily find a center point on the map.
From here, you can go to Halalin for two thousand miles to the north, Kaiping for more than a thousand miles to the east, Gaochang for more than two thousand miles to the west, and Yan'an Prefecture to the south.
Yanjing, Taiyuan, Luoyang, Chang'an, Lanzhou, Liangzhou, Xingqing...the roads connecting these current military towns are like a spider web.
The center of this spider web is Jiuyuan City in Hetao, also called Baotou, which is a homonym for "Baoketu", which means a place with deer in Mongolian.
A large number of cattle, sheep and horses were herded here, and the troops and horses of the Yuan army mobilized from the east and west and from the north and south could be supplied here.
Knights came and went every day, delivering orders from Kaiping, documents from Yanjing, money and food from Shanxi, and battle reports from Xingqing, the Western Regions, Tubo and other places.
Sitting here like a spider now is the sect king Tachar.
His grandfather, Temuge, was the youngest brother of Genghis Khan. The collateral lines of this golden family were all enfeoffed in the east of the Mongolian Kingdom, which had nowhere to expand. They were called the host kings, and their status was certainly not as good as that of Genghis Khan's own descendants.
, especially since Temu Ge once rebelled.
Tachaer is very good at business and supported Meng Ge at the Kuriltai Conference when he was young.
His fiefdom is in Liaodong, and he is Li Fen's in-law. When Meng Ge died, if he chose to support Ali Bu Ge, he would be enough to help Ali Bu Ge destroy Kublai Khan.
Kublai Khan sent someone to bring him his own meal, expressing his closeness by "taking off his clothes and pushing him to eat", and promised to share wealth and honor with him from now on.
Tachaer was the first among the clan kings to express his support for Kublai Khan, and by virtue of his support, he became the most powerful clan king in the Yuan Dynasty besides Kublai Khan.
Therefore, he left Jiuyuan City to strategically encircle the Tang Dynasty on behalf of Kublai Khan.
Jiuyuan City is bounded by Mobei to the north, the Yellow River to the south, and the Tumochuan Plain and Hetao Plain to the east and west, with the Yinshan Mountains running through it. There are mountains, water, grassland, and Gobi.
This is the south of the Yangtze River, with both the vastness of the north and the richness and beauty of the south of the Yangtze River.
It was June, the water and grass along the Kundulun River were lush, and there were flocks of cattle and sheep.
In the big tent, Tachaer received another urgent report from Dong Wenbing. He just came back from hunting, threw away his riding whip, and refused to accept the letter.
"Other than asking for reinforcements, what else can he do? Come and see."
His king, Sajisi, was a Uighur and had been Temuge's scribe for a long time. After Temuge's death, Sajisi supported Tacha'er as heir, which can be said to be a great achievement for his hard work.
Sajisi read the letter, his eyes gradually became dull, and he murmured in disbelief: "Li Xia has arrived at Xingqing Mansion."
"What?" Tacha'er asked in surprise: "Didn't he just come back from Song Dynasty? In the spring, Ali Hague was still blocking him on the Yangtze River, wasn't he?"
Sajisi could only respond: "Yes, he was in the Song Dynasty in the spring, but it is summer now."
Tacha'er was still quite surprised, and said to himself: "Uh-huh, I feel like I only hunted twice, and he finished hunting the Song Dynasty and came to hunt the Yuan Dynasty again?"
"Time passes very quickly. If you do nothing, Your Majesty, three to five months will pass in the blink of an eye. If you work hard with all your energy, you can do a lot in three to five months." Sarges gave a philosophical remonstrance.
.
People like them, who have won at the fork in the national destiny, don't need to work too hard.
Tachaer only turned a deaf ear to Sargis's philosophy and said: "How many troops and horses can he bring when he comes? If he brings too many, Guanzhong will be empty. Dong Wenbing can hold on without calling for reinforcements. I don't need to call for reinforcements at all."
I don’t want to defeat Li Xia and make meritorious service, so there is no need to send troops there.”
He really had no intention of defeating Li Xia.
Before Meng Ge's personal expedition, he was asked to attack Xiangfan, but due to continuous rain, he only stationed in Xiangfan for a few months before returning without success.
From this point of view, Tachaer is neither warlike nor good at fighting.
However, he was a convicted clan member and became the leader of the host kings by continuously supporting the British Lord. Naturally, he had unique strategic vision and keen political sense.
Kublai Khan could safely let him sit in the Loop because he had a clear control of the entire situation and knew exactly how many troops should be deployed in each direction.
"When Li Xia attacked the Song Dynasty, he attracted the Song army in Xiangyang and at the same time sent people to sneak attack Ezhou. If others go, we will send troops wherever they go. No matter how strong the Yuan Dynasty is, sooner or later it will be wiped out by him."
The more he talked, the more Tachaer felt that what he said made sense, and he became more determined, saying: "Send someone to tell Dong Wenbing that I will not send any more reinforcements to him. When Brother Ma has pacified the Western Region, there will naturally be a large army to attack."
Xingqing Mansion, now he only needs to contain the Tang State."
"Your Majesty is right." Sajisi said, "But even if we don't want to send troops this time, I'm afraid we still have to support Dong Wenbing."
"Why?"
"King Yan." Sajith said, "Has your Majesty forgotten King Yan?"
Tachaer was stunned.
Sajisi added: "Why did Li Xia come to Xingqing Mansion at this time? Of course it is to deal with King Yan personally."
"So what?" Tacha'er said: "If we don't send many soldiers and horses, can we defeat Li Xia in the Tang Dynasty? What if we send too many and ruin the war in the Western Regions?"
Sajisi understood what he meant. Now Dayuan is mainly attacking the Western Region, and other places are cooperating and containing it. If too many troops are thrown into a small battlefield, in case of defeat, the whole body will be affected by the influence.
However, after pondering for a moment, Sajisi still said: "Your Majesty wanted to make King Yan the crown prince, but he was worried that the Mongolian kings would oppose him, so he sent King Yan to Tubo to establish his power. Now the news has leaked, and Li Xia has come to surround him personally.
Du Yanwang, if Yanwang dies..."
Tachaer corrected him: "Your Majesty wants to make his descendant the crown prince."
He may not be very capable, but he can see things very clearly.
"Yes, even if King Yan dies, Your Majesty will not be left without a heir." Sajith said, "But what will he think of you, Your Majesty?"
Tachar put his hand into his thick beard and scratched it, with a thoughtful look in his eyes, and listened carefully to Sarkis's analysis.
Under the old Mongolian system, the throne of Khan was elected by the kings at the Khuliltai Assembly. It was these old Mongolian nobles that Kublai Khan had to deal with now.
And his grandfather, Temuge, wanted to seize the throne of Khan after the death of Ogodei Khan. In Kublai Khan's eyes, he may not be without ambition.
"At this time, if something happens to King Yan because of your failure to send troops, Your Majesty will definitely think that you did it on purpose..."
"I know." Tacha'er narrowed her eyes slightly, feeling a little impatient.
"This is also an opportunity for the king. If the king can defeat Li Xia..."
"I can't." Tacha'er shook his head and said, "If I have the ability to defeat Li Xia, why don't I become a sweat myself?"
Sajisi couldn't help but laugh and said: "The Immortal God will never give good luck to one person forever. It's time for Li Xia to lose. If the king can be so calm and cautious, he may be able to win this time."
"Think about this?" Tachaer was not interested in this and said: "Anyway, I will definitely not let anything happen to the child Zhenjin..."
~~
The Bura River originates from Shulenan Mountain in the Qilian Mountains and slowly flows into Qinghai Lake.
"Bula" means buffalo in Mongolian. The river is now named in Mongolian, which shows that the Tibetan tribes who lived here in the past submitted to Mongolia for decades.
It is a pity that this is the first time those Tibetan people have heard of the name "Dayuan".
On the ninth day of the sixth lunar month, Monk Gao and Liu Anzhong finally got the chance to persuade Brother Zhao to run away and reveal the identity of the Yuan officials.
Zhenjin did not identify himself, but pretended to be an interpreter.
"Don't forget, you are attacking tens of thousands of households in the Great Mongolia."
When Liu Anzhong finished shouting in Mongolian, Zhenjin looked at Brother Zhao Ben and translated in Tubo: "The great Mongolian country can make you ten thousand households and fight for generations. This is a condition that the Tang people can never give. Now you
If you are fooled by the small profit offered by a woman, you will lose even more when Tang invades Qinghai in the future."
These words were like playing the piano to a cow. Brother Zhao quickly picked out his earwax, not interested at all, and said: "Don't say these useless things."
Xiao was unable to reason, so Zhen Jin planned to be moved by emotion. He also talked about the death of Zhao Age Pan and Zhao Chongxi and his son in Diaoyu City. Finally, he said: "Dayuan has a favor for the leader, and the Tang Dynasty
But there is only hatred with the leader..."
"Why are you, a man, like a woman?" Zhao Age Ben suddenly glared at Zhen Jin impatiently and said, "Yan Shangshu has already told me all this."
Zhenjin was shocked.
I thought it was a trump card to win over the Tibetan tribe in Qinghai, but I didn't expect it to be cracked by the Tang woman before it even started.
Brother Zhao didn't want to beat around the bush with them. He flicked the wax in his nails and said, "Shang Shu Yan promised to give me a gift and restart trade. What about you? What can you give me?"
Zhenjin turned to look at Monk Gao.
Monk Gao then approached him and whispered in Mongolian: "The goods and gifts that the woman mentioned were the ones that were robbed by us, and they are now in Cui Bin's army."
Zhenjin then turned to Brother Zhao Ben, raised his voice, and said: "What Tang can give, we can give more. Please allow us to send someone to Riyue Mountain to say so, and the gift will be delivered soon."
"good!"
Brother Zhao got the promises from both sides and was in a good mood. With a wave of his hand, he arranged for his subordinates to take two prisoners to Riyue Mountain to deliver the message...
At this point, Monk Gao and Liu Anzhong could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
I believe that when Cui Bin sends people, King Yan will be able to return to the army safely.
It's funny to say that I made a simple mistake at the beginning, and now all I am trying to do is to send King Yan back to safety, that is, to return to the original situation...
~~
The Tubo people's supervision was finally not so strict, and Zhen Jin was able to have some activities by the Qinghai Lake with his two courtiers.
He looked at the snow-capped mountains, grasslands, rivers, and lakes, and then his eyes froze when he saw Yan Yunyun washing himself by the lake.
"Isn't this water very cold?"
Zhen Jin stepped forward, and was more than ten steps away from Yan Yunyun. He stopped because Gao Monk and Liu Anzhong were too nervous, and then said: "The river water formed by the snow on the mountain is very cold even in summer."
Yan Yunyun didn't answer, turned half of his face and glanced at Zhenjin.
The half of her face that had just been washed was still covered with water drops, and her eyes were high and scornful.
Zhen Jin actually felt a sense of oppression, paused, and said: "Qinghai is covered with long clouds and covered with snow-capped mountains, and the lonely city looks at Yumen Pass in the distance... I used to read poems and thought about why Qinghai Lake and Yumen Pass were thousands of miles apart, so why were they placed in the same poem?
That’s what it turned out to be.”
"Do you understand poetry?"
"I don't know much." Zhen Jin said: "I was enlightened by the Book of Filial Piety when I was young. After that, I mostly read the Four Books and Five Classics, such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. I only dabbled in poetry occasionally."
Yan Yunyun raised the corners of his mouth slightly, as if he was laughing at his naivety.
She glanced at Monk Gao and Liu Anzhong, and then asked Zhenjin: "Are you the translator? What's your surname?"
Zhenjin hesitated for a moment, held up his hands and wanted to say a name, but couldn't make it up for the moment.
"Just don't tell me." Yan Yunyun sighed, turned his back and continued washing, and said softly: "The Han descended to the road in vain, and Hu took a look at Qinghai Bay. It was the place where we fought, and no one returned."
Behind her, Zhenjin asked: "What is 'Han'? What is 'Hu'?"
He took a step closer and said: "The sage has said that when barbarians enter China, if there are good people in China, they can follow them and follow them. Why are we divided into Hu and Han because of their origin?"
Yan Yunyun didn't answer. She squatted there, holding a stone in her hand and beating the clothes. Then she turned her head and looked up and down again.
Gao Heyan and Liu Anzhong glanced at her hand and quickly took Zhenjin back a few steps.
Yan Yunyun then said: "It's not appropriate for us to talk too much. Goodbye."
After saying that, she turned to look at the Qinghai Lake, with a look of understanding in her eyes...