Li Sheng was very experienced. He was not in a hurry to attack the southern part of Yizhou controlled by Nanzhao. Instead, he first established a foothold in the northern part where the Han people lived.
The army stationed in Yuexi County, which was the administrative seat of Yizhou, and Nanzhao called it Jianchang Prefecture.
Seventy percent of the people in the city are Han, 30% are Nanzhao and other ethnic groups, and there are a few Tubo people.
In the Chinese army's tent, Lieutenant General Qu Huan pointed to the sand table and said: "The Nanzhao army is mainly concentrated in Huili County in the south, which is where their Huichuan Governor's Mansion is located. The Jianchuan Mansion in the west is actually controlled by the Tubo army. The Tubo army is in
There are 30,000 troops stationed in Jianchuan. Once our army takes over the Huichuan Governor's Mansion, it will be less than 300 miles away from Yangjumei City, the capital of Nanzhao."
Li Sheng planted a small flag on the Governor's Mansion in Huichuan. Huichuan was close to Lushui, and their sand table would end at Lushui. He said slowly: "In this way, the Governor's Mansion in Huichuan is the Peking University of Nanzhao."
The door is the place they must protect."
Qu Huan nodded, "The general is absolutely right. It was because he occupied the Dudu's Mansion in Huichuan that year that Li Mi's morale was boosted and he went to Taihe City, the capital at that time. As a result, Huichuan was attacked by the Tibetan army who came to support him.
Occupied, logistics was cut off, the Tang army retreated in panic, and was attacked from the north and south by Nanzhao and Tubo. The entire Tang army was destroyed, and Li Mi threw himself into the Erhai Sea to die for his country. It was so tragic."
Li Sheng pondered for a moment and said: "In fact, Tubo and Nanzhao are at odds with each other. Tubo is in the west and Nanzhao is in the south. Once they rush into Nanzhao in a hurry, the Tubo army will definitely be cut off. Therefore, we can either capture the governor of Huichuan and then have a long-term confrontation.
Or divide your forces and fight."
Qu Huan was the governor of Jiannan. He led an army of 10,000 to join Li Sheng's main force and served as deputy general of the Southern Expedition. The arrival of the Jiannan army brought the number of Tang soldiers to 60,000. Qu Huan pondered and said: "General, according to my humble position,
, the total strength of Nanzhao is probably 200,000, and there are 30,000 war elephants. In the first battle between Datang and Nanzhao, the Tang army was defeated by the war elephants. The general must not be careless."
Li Sheng sneered and said: "I believe that history will never repeat itself again. Although I only led 50,000 troops southward, I have powerful force that subverts the imagination of the Nanzhao and Tubo people. If they know better and surrender early, they may be able to avoid the destruction of the country."
worry!"
At noon, staff officer Zheng Xu hurriedly found Li Sheng and said, "See the general!"
Zheng Xu was Zhang Li's staff disciple and the nephew of Zheng Hui, a Qingping official in Nanzhao. He had previously testified in the political affairs hall. He was appointed by Li Sheng as a staff advisor and accompanied the army to fight south.
Li Sheng was looking at the map. He pointed at the map and said with a smile: "Why is Taihe City marked as the capital city, and Yangjumei City is also the capital city. Which one is the capital city?"
Zheng Xu bowed and said: "Taihe City is the capital, and Yangju City is a new city. Although it is not the capital, the royal palace, official offices and garrison are all in Yangju City, and the population is also the largest in Yangju City, so Yangju City
Baa City is the de facto capital."
"I see!"
Li Sheng asked with a smile: "How is the climate there in April and May? I read the records of Zhuge Liang's attack on the Southern Barbarians. After crossing the Lu River, the ground was full of miasma and virgin forests were everywhere. The Han army was extremely unsuitable."
Zheng Xu hurriedly said: "That was the Shuhan period. It has been almost a thousand years. It is completely different. Nanzhao has a large population. How can we support it if it is all virgin forest? Now, except for the mountainous areas, the plains are farmland.
There are also small towns and villages dotted all over the place, but I really have to remind the general that the weather there is hot and humid, which makes people very uncomfortable. If you don't get used to it, it's really easy to get sick."
Li Sheng nodded, "I know that the first war between Datang and Nanzhao was because the Tang army could not adapt to the weather and most of them got sick. Is there any way to avoid it?"
Zheng Xu said quickly: "This is what I am planning to suggest to the general. If the general wants to cross the Lu River and enter the hinterland of Nanzhao, he must be equipped with medicine. According to Beizi's knowledge, Han merchants have prepared medicine in advance when they go to Nanzhao.
If you feel unwell over there, just take some medicine and you'll be fine."
Li Sheng was most worried that the soldiers would not adapt to the climate. When he heard that there was medicine, he was overjoyed and asked anxiously: "Where can I find the medicine?"
"I know a drugstore shopkeeper in my humble position. I can go and ask him!"
"I will go with you!"
Full of hope, Li Sheng took Qu Huan and Marching Sima Li Miao and followed Zheng Xu to a medicine shop in Yueqi County. This was a medicine shop opened by Han people called Baicao Shop.
Hearing that the Tang Army Lord was coming, the medicine shop owner hurriedly came out to greet him and invited Li Sheng and his entourage to sit in the inner room.
Zheng Xu smiled and said: "The army is marching south and needs medicine to prevent dampness and heat. The shopkeeper recommended those medicines to me last time. Let me introduce them to the general!"
The shopkeeper nodded, "General, wait a moment!"
The shopkeeper ran to get the medicine. After a while, he brought several medicines, put them on the table and said with a smile: "These are the three treasures of Yunnan that businessmen like most. One is the Xingnao Dan to prevent heat stroke and miasma, and the other is Baidu to prevent poisonous insects."
Powder, there is also a dehumidifying patch to prevent chest tightness caused by dampness and heat, and there are also mugwort packs to prevent mosquito bites, etc.
The most popular ones here are Baidu Powder and Dehumidifying Patch, especially the Dehumidifying Patch, which is a plaster that is applied to the back and makes the body transparent throughout the day and night. Businessmen call it a magical patch."
Li Sheng was overjoyed, "How many are these three medicines?"
"Small stores sell a set of three medicines, which can be used for twenty days, and costs five hundred coins per set. If the quantity is large, it can be cheaper."
Li Sheng was overjoyed, "I want 100,000 sets, can I get them?"
The shopkeeper was so frightened that he almost fell down, "The general is too scary. When the store talks about large quantities, it means one or two hundred sets. The store only has a few hundred sets in stock. It can't even take out a thousand sets!"
Li Sheng smiled and said: "I know you won't have it, but tell me, is there any way?"
The shopkeeper said with a grimace: "There are enough medicinal materials, but we don't have that many manpower! It would take a year to gather all the pharmacists in the county to make it."
Qu Huan suddenly said: "The manpower problem is not big. Give me the medicinal materials and formulas, and I can mobilize all the states and counties in Jiannan, as well as the states and counties in Shannan West Road. It can be completed in a month or two, one by one faster.
Just a month is enough,”
This is a good idea. Li Sheng immediately said to Li Miao, the marching commander: "You are responsible for getting the formula and medicinal materials and send them to Chengdu immediately. The Qujiang Army will hand them over to the government to arrange the medicine!"
"I understand the humble position!"
Li Sheng asked the shopkeeper again, "Can we really buy enough medicinal materials?"
The shopkeeper nodded, "Our Yueqi County is the largest distribution center for Nanzhao medicinal materials. We store a large number of medicinal materials from Nanzhao and then sell them to Bashu, Chang'an and other parts of the south. Hundreds of warehouses are filled with various medicinal materials.
You can have as many as you want!”
"Where's the recipe? Is it easy to get?"
The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Don't worry, general. These are all medicines that are always on hand, not secret recipes. Every store has the formula. I can provide them to the general without taking any money."
Li Sheng nodded, "I bought all the three Yunnan treasures in your store."
Li Sheng can ask the army to wait, but the scouts need this medicine.
The medicinal materials for removing dampness and heat need to be used after passing through the Lu River, and will not be used when attacking Huichuan Prefecture in the south.
The task of preparing medicine was handed over to Sima Li Miao, and Li Sheng immediately led an army of 50,000 troops southward, with the goal of Huichuan Governor's Mansion on the north bank of Lushui River.
Huichuan Dudufu is today's Huili County. It is the northern gate of Nanzhao and the stronghold for Nanzhao's army to invade the Tang Dynasty from the north. Its strategic location is extremely important.
You can go west from Huichuan to the Jianchuan Dudu Mansion. Once the Tang Dynasty crossed the Lu River and entered Nanzhao, the Tibetan army would quickly come from Jianchuan, occupy Huichuan Mansion, and cut off the Tang army's retreat.
At this time, there were about 20,000 Nanzhao and Tubo coalition forces in the Huichuan Dudu Mansion, and they were fully prepared for the arrival of the Tang army.
Currently, there are several major factions in Nanzhao. The first is Nanzhao King Geluofeng. He belongs to the centrist faction. On the one hand, he fought two battles with the Tang army and killed hundreds of thousands of Tang soldiers. He was extremely afraid of the Tang Dynasty, so he had no intention of doing anything.
Hesitant to embrace Tubo.
But as Tubo's oppression of Nanzhao became increasingly heavy, Ge Luofeng wanted to use the power of the Tang Dynasty to get rid of Tubo, so he erected the Nanzhao Dehua Monument a few years ago to show that he had no choice but to rebel against the Tang Dynasty and that he was willing to reconcile with the Tang Dynasty.
.
When Li Ye ascended the throne, Ge Luofeng specially sent an envoy to congratulate him. He wanted to take advantage of Li Ye's accession to the throne to ease relations with the Tang Dynasty.
Zheng Hui, an official of the Qing Dynasty, was friendly to the Tang Dynasty and tried his best to persuade Ge Luofeng to be friendly to the Tang Dynasty.
However, there were six Qingping officials in Nanzhao, that is, six prime ministers, and Zheng Hui was only one of them. His strength was still not enough. Hard-liners against the Tang Dynasty still accounted for the majority of Nanzhao, especially with Tibet supporting the hard-liners behind them.
Zheng Hui is a little alone.
Among the hard-liners against the Tang Dynasty, Shisun Yimouxun was also represented. He was young, energetic and ambitious, and advocated seizing all the land in the southern part of Jiannan.
Therefore, the Nanzhao army's attack on the Tang Dynasty prospecting team was no accident. It can be regarded as a hedging measure taken by the hardliners after King Geluofeng sent an envoy to congratulate Li Ye on his accession to the throne.
However, it was the attack by the Nanzhao-Tubo coalition forces on the Tang Dynasty prospecting team that caused the Tang Dynasty to worry about the security of southern Jiannan, which led the Tang Dynasty to take this opportunity to send troops to Nanzhao to resolutely maintain the security of southern Jiannan.
The third war between Datang and Nanzhao inevitably broke out.
