The first key target of the Tang Army on the middle route was Anji City in Bakhna. Anji City had the largest overflow oil well in the entire river area. The people in Bakhna called the oil Kanda. The oil in Anji City was light oil.
The quality is much better than the oil in Yanzhou. It does not need to be refined or filtered and can be used directly as kerosene.
Legally, Anji City belongs to Suiye. Back then, King Murdo exchanged Anji City with the Tang Army for Juzhanti's wheat fields.
However, since Li Ye left Suiye and returned to Chang'an, the Hezhong Governor's Office showed little interest in Anji. In addition, Anji City was far away from Bahna and there were no Han people living in the city. The Hezhong Governor's Office gradually became less interested in Anji City.
No more questions.
After Arolie came to power, he used 10,000 taels of silver to redeem Anji City from the Hezhong Dudufu, and Anji City once again became the land of Bahna.
Arole then granted Anji City to his sister Adele as her territory.
Adele became the owner of Anji City, and she sold a large amount of the oil produced in Anji City to Sogdian merchants. Alole also heard about it, but he did not interfere.
But what Arolie didn't expect was that a large amount of this oil was eventually sold to Anlushan and became the source of kerosene for Anlushan's army.
But after King Arole died of poisoning and Adele became the queen of Bukhana, Bukhana finally began to betray the Tang Dynasty. First, he expelled the 500 Tang army garrison that Suiye had in Juzhanti, and then Bukhana completely stopped
In order to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, they drove the Suiye Chamber of Commerce back to Suiye.
The Suiye General Chamber of Commerce is semi-official. It is actually the embassy of the Tang Dynasty stationed in Bahna, and is stationed by Suiye officials.
Expelling the Broken Leaf General Chamber of Commerce means completely severing relations with the Tang Dynasty. Guo Xin has always wanted to conquer Ba Khanna, but unfortunately he does not have the strength. Now the 60,000 Western Expeditionary Army has arrived.
In the afternoon, the 40,000-strong Central Army arrived at Anji City. There were 300 soldiers in Anji City, led by an Awa, which means commander of thousands.
Forty thousand troops of the Tang Dynasty came to the city. The environment of Anji City was not good. It was surrounded by arid Gobi Desert. To the south was the Zhenzhu River, which is also the lifeblood of Anji. All its water sources came from the Zhenzhu River, and all its food was transported by the Zhenzhu River. It was rich in
Oil depends on
The Tang army cut off the water channel between Anji City and Zhenzhu River. In just one day, the defenders opened the city and surrendered.
When Li Ye was formulating the plan for the Western Expedition, he did not kill all the troops in a one-size-fits-all manner like the Japanese and Silla armies did. Instead, he used a combination of leniency and severity, giving both sticks and carrots.
If they surrender voluntarily, the soldiers will be disbanded as civilians. If they are prisoners of war on the battlefield, they will be fined for mining for three years. If they resist stubbornly, they will be killed without mercy.
But Bukhanna's army is a little bit special. Many of Bukhanna's generals were trained by the Tang Army. If they are willing to surrender voluntarily, then this army can be organized into the Tang Army and continue to be used.
After capturing Anji City, Bai Xiaode left 2,000 men to guard Anji. The reason why he stationed a large number of troops was that Anji's kerosene was very important to the Tang army, and secondly, Anji could become a waterway transit port for Bakhna.
The army continued to move north, and at noon the next day, they arrived at the capital city of Bakhna, Kesai City.
There are 30,000 troops stationed in Kesai City. They are either the army of the Holy Sisters or Bukhan's own army. The 20,000 troops of the Holy Sisters are in Shiguo.
An army of 40,000 troops immediately set up camp outside Kesai City.
In the big tent, the sand table in the river has been erected. Bai Xiaode pointed to Qianquan City, the border town of Shi Kingdom: "This is where the Saint Sisters' army is stationed, and it is also the location of the largest silver mine in Shi Kingdom. Now we face a choice, which is to be patient."
Wait a minute, wait for the Saint Sisters' Army to support Bakhna. Should we besiege the city and provide reinforcements, or should we attack Bakhna directly, and then turn around and go to Shiguo? Everyone, let's talk about it!"
General Huben Cao Lingzhong said: "General, since both Shi Guo and Bukhan are controlled by the Holy Maiden Society, they should be allies. If Bukhan is in trouble, why won't Shi Guo not support them?"
Another Huben general, Lu Yang, said: "The general said in Suiye before that this Saintess Army was actually responsible for garrisoning Shiguo and Bahanna, and when it attacked Suiye, it was from Bahanna.
Even if the army of the Stone Kingdom does not come to support Bakhna, then this army should come to the rescue, and it is unshirkable."
Both of them supported the siege and reinforcement plan. Bai Xiaode nodded and asked Xi Wanli and Xu Zongran: "What are the opinions of the two generals?"
Xi Wanli and Xu Zongran discussed in a low voice, and Xu Zongran said: "We suggest listening to the supervisor's opinion. She understands the current situation in the river better than we do."
According to regulations, the military supervisor does not participate in the decision-making of military operations. As the supervisor, Li Chenghua is only responsible for reviewing and ensuring that the specific combat plan does not violate the emperor's western expedition strategy. If the emperor wants to merge Ba Khanna and Shi Kingdom into the Tang Dynasty,
The battle plan was to kill all the soldiers and civilians of Bukhanna, which obviously violated the Western Expedition strategy, and Li Chenghua had the right to veto it.
Bai Xiaode will have to make a new battle plan. If the battle plan is rejected by the supervisor Li Chenghua three times in a row, then Li Chenghua has the right to remove Bai Xiaode from his position as commander-in-chief. If Bai Xiaode dares to disobey or resist, it will be a rebellion.
So, can Bai Xiaode lead the army to rebel and support the army to become independent?
It was difficult, basically impossible. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were basically Han Chinese, and they would never betray the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Bai Xiaode could only lead a very small number of his confidants to escape, and could not support the army and stand on his own feet.
That's why Bian Lingcheng, the supervisor of the army, was so powerful in Anxi. No matter Fu Meng Lingcha, Gao Xianzhi or Feng Changqing were afraid of him like a tiger.
Bai Xiaode nodded and quickly ordered his soldiers: "Go quickly and ask Supervisor Li to come to the Chinese army's tent!"
The soldiers rushed away, and after a while, Li Chenghua walked into the tent. Bai Xiaode clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "I'm sorry for the supervisor!"
Li Chenghua smiled slightly and said, "You're welcome, General Bai. What do you need me to do?"
"That's right. There is a plan. I would like to hear the supervisor's advice?"
Bai Xiaode explained the two plans, and Li Chenghua smiled lightly and said: "Although what General Cao and General Lu said are reasonable, I can guarantee that the Saint Sisters Army stationed in Qianquan City will never come to support Ba Khan.
, On the contrary, once they learn the news about Bukhana, they will immediately evacuate to Juzhanti."
Bai Xiaode was stunned, "Why?"
Li Chenghua smiled and said: "This army only belongs to the Holy Maiden Society in name, but in fact their main decision-making generals have been controlled by Dashi. Their attack on Suiye was also ordered by Dashi. I was in Samarkand and
The Saints' Association and the Six Nations Alliance have all discussed it, and they have definitely expressed their position to me that no matter what, they will not be enemies of the Tang Dynasty, and they do not want to bring about their own destruction."
Lu Yang was a little unconvinced and said: "Li Jianjun thinks they are controlled by Dashi. Is there any evidence?"
Li Chenghua nodded, "The general of this army is called Sabah, who is from Anguo. His two lieutenants, one named Maimana and the other named Charan, are both from Anguo like the general. In fact, they are Sabah's subordinates."
Promoted, the three of them formed the decision-making team of this army, and the evidence is that all three of them have converted to the Dashi Cult."
Everyone looked at each other in amazement. They all admired Li Chenghua's intelligence. It was so powerful that he actually had evidence against foreign armies. Most people couldn't do it.
Bai Xiaode nodded. He no longer hesitated and immediately gave the order: "Pass on my order to capture Kesai City first and capture Bahan Na!"