On the sixth day of October, a sizable cavalry force appeared in the fields outside Gongyue City.
They first circled the dilapidated city and made sure that no one was there before entering the city in batches.
The weather is getting colder and colder. Although King Zhao's army has received sufficient supplies, it would still be very comfortable if they could have a sheltered place to rest.
The cavalry commander sent by King Zhao was named Wang Chongwen.
His name is "Chongwen", and he is indeed knowledgeable in classics and history, calm and elegant, but he is really a serious warrior, the kind who started from a junior high school, and is the son of Wang Wan, the envoy of the Golden Spear Army.
Among the one thousand cavalry, as many as 700 were from the Eastern Court Horse Army, the troops that Yang Xingmi left to his son to save his life - but at the critical moment they chose to sit on the sidelines.
Wang Chongwen was Xu Wen's son-in-law. He was not very popular among the generals who were born in Huainan, and he could not fit into the traditional circle of Forbidden Army warriors. His status was a bit embarrassing.
But he is really calm, not affected by these bad things, and still completes his work meticulously.
First, assign the Rangers to spread out to prevent surprise attacks.
He then arranged for people to go to a distant place to cut the grass. After cutting, he brought them back. He personally set an example and led others to crush the withered grass.
Finally, he repeatedly confirmed the route with Liu Mian and asked the guide about the situation along the way. He went through it over and over in his mind, thinking about any accidents that might occur.
Liu Mian observed him silently for a while and felt quite fond of him. So when the two of them had a chance to be alone, he asked, "I wonder what General Wang thinks of the Western Regions?"
"It's tasteless to eat, it's a pity to throw it away." Wang Chongwen said.
Liu Mian silently savored his words and found them quite interesting, so he asked further: "Please explain in detail."
Wang Chongwen used a wooden stick to put aside the bonfire and said: "On the whole, the water and grass are abundant, and there is no shortage of cultivated land. Take Beiting as an example. Along the way, there are many places suitable for grazing and farming, but how big is Beiting? It's quite big.
In the whole of Henan. In such a large place, we can only pick out so many good places, and they are relatively scattered. Not many people can live in a single oasis. If you think about it carefully, it is quite troublesome to rule. If the thieves come to attack, they will gather together
Can tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 knights attack a city alone and defend it?"
Liu Mian shook his head.
"If we can't defend it, if the thieves come a few more times, the people will not be able to survive." Wang Chongwen said: "Without these people, how can the warriors survive?"
"General Wang really hit the nail on the head." Liu Mian praised.
In fact, he got to the key point. The former Tang Dynasty set up so many garrison cities, but the scales were too small. How many soldiers could be stationed? If a large enemy army was encountered, it was basically impossible to defend it. Not to mention that the entire Western Region only had two or three soldiers.
Thousands of soldiers, divided into so many strongholds, are like pepper sprinkled in the sea, and there is no taste at all.
The Tang Dynasty mainly adopted diplomatic means to avoid crises in the Western Regions, that is, to try to avoid outsiders being hostile to you. Don't mention it, they really let them play successfully for more than a hundred years. If the violence of Tubo hadn't broken this pattern, it would probably still be possible.
Keep playing.
But even so, problems always exist.
In fact, there is a way to solve it, which is to immigrate as many people as possible, cultivate all the places that can be cultivated, expand the population base as much as possible, and connect the dots together so that they are no longer lines but become surfaces.
But for Tang Ting, instead of going to that trouble, it would be better to develop Wuyue and Jiangxi would benefit even more...
"The invasion of the Western Regions by the imperial troops was a feat of recovering more than a hundred old lands that had been conquered by Tibet, but it is hard to say what will happen in the future," Wang Chongwen said.
"Why?"
"The saint's appetite is too big." Wang Chongwen said: "Liaodong wants it, Yunnan wants it, the Western Regions want it, and even the grasslands want to rule. The saint may be able to maintain it when he is alive, but if he is not there, there will definitely be problems."
"It seems that the long life of a saint is the blessing of the country." Liu Mian smiled and said: "Liaodong has been developed for ten years, right? Small results have been achieved. After a few more years of stability, maybe it can be emptied.
Take action and go to the Western Regions."
Liaodong has actually been developed for more than ten years. After all, the Andong Mansion was established at the end of the Tang Dynasty, almost fifteen years ago.
In the past fifteen years, Liaodong's territory has been steadily expanding. During this period, it also defeated the Khitan and the Bohai Kingdom, restrained the Jurchen tribes, and its expansion reached its limit.
In recent years, we have been working hard to digest it, with considerable investment and great determination. As Wang Chongwen said, if it is stable for a few more years, by the time of the 20th anniversary of the development of Liaodong, it may be completely different.
Of course, what will happen to Liaodong in the end depends on the policy of the imperial court.
As of the middle of this year, as 4,000 families of criminals from Changzhou, Runzhou, and Suzhou were sent to Liaodong as troops, Xianzhou's 10,000 soldiers all had troops. This was after Andong Prefecture and Shenzhou.
The third state and county to fully complete this work.
However, Xiazhou, Minzhou, Mengzhou and Muzhou are still not completed, with a total gap of more than 40,000 households.
It is conceivable that in the next few years, the court will still need to invest a lot of resources in that direction to improve it as soon as possible - Wang Chongwen is not very clear about this.
"Maybe." Wang Chongwen thought for a while and felt that what Liu Mian said made sense.
"General Wang has been in the army for a long time. Do you know what the soldiers think of the Western Regions?" Liu Mian asked again.
"Barren land." Wang Chongwen replied bluntly.
This answer was expected by Liu Mian, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt a little unwilling to accept it, so he asked: "No one wants to stay here?"
"The common people are not willing to come, let alone the warriors?" Wang Chongwen said: "Liaodong is also relocating government soldiers. They are all three-household tribes. They are given 150 acres of land there, while the western regions are only given 100 acres. Liaodong is also rich in water and grass.
, the land is fertile, you can get a lot of skins from hunting, and you can collect a lot of wild products in the mountains. Compared with the Western Region, everything is inferior, how can the warriors want to come?"
"The warriors didn't want to go to Liaodong at first..." Liu Mian said halfway, sighed and stopped.
Were all the soldiers who went to Liaodong voluntary? Maybe, but on the whole, they were still half forced and half induced. Moreover, the soldiers who surrendered had already lost half their lives and were afraid, so they were reluctant.
I would like to go to Liaodong and serve as a soldier.
For example, the Dragon and Tiger Army just retreated from Yunnan.
During the southern expedition, this army suffered enough from the tribes in Kunming. After arriving in Yunnan, it was a relief to attack Kunzhou. Then when they suppressed the rebellion in the newly established Quzhou and the former Tonghai Governor's Mansion, they suffered endlessly - the battle
They won the battle and robbed a lot of things, but due to the severe epidemic attrition and low morale, they had to retreat to rest.
While passing through central Guizhou, there were rumors among the army that they would be sent to garrison in Lingnan next, so everyone was afraid, and then there was uproar and chaos.
Zhu Yanshou spent a lot of effort, hunting, threatening, and begging, and finally calmed down. In the end, there were only about 7,000 people left.
The Privy Council sent people south to negotiate with the sergeants. In the end, all the remnants of the Longhu Army were converted into government soldiers, and 5,000 people were resettled in Yizhou and 2,000 in Jizhou.
Do you see? Only when these warriors have gotten to this point, they are afraid of going to hot and humid places to garrison and fight, but also afraid of the court's suppression and killing, and then the privy ministers will come forward, with the cooperation of the old chiefs, and make a big deal out of it.
It is possible to agree to the court's conditions.
If you want to follow the same pattern and get the warriors to come to the Western Regions, you can only use these hard-and-easy methods. Otherwise, the saint would not have recruited two thousand Yanqi Mansion soldiers among hundreds of thousands of miscellaneous soldiers before. Because only in the
With such a large base, it was possible for him to recruit 2,000 people.
"However, I am willing to come to the Western Regions." Wang Chongwen suddenly smiled and said.
"Why?" Liu Mian asked.
"I don't have to worry about food and clothing, and I am very free. I want to try another kind of life." Wang Chongwen said with a smile.
Liu Mian also smiled.
There are hundreds of people, all kinds of people, with all kinds of ideas. Wang Chongwen probably has not suffered much since he was a child, and he is very energetic and has many fantasies about making achievements.
This is a good thing.
******
After leaving Gongyue City, the army crossed the entire Yinli River Valley, then followed the gap in the mountains and spent ten days entering the long-famous Atami.
Atami is located in a mountain basin south of the Yinli River (today's Yinli River). This basin covers an area of more than 6,000 square kilometers. It is surrounded by high mountains and has a warm climate. Because it is a saltwater lake, the wind and waves are large and thin ice cannot
It covers the surface of the lake so it doesn't freeze even in severe winter, hence the name.
Rehai was once an important military base during the Tang Dynasty.
Xuanzang once recorded: "The Daqing Pool (or Rehai) is more than a thousand miles in circumference, wide from east to west and narrow from north to south. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It is surrounded by many streams. It is green and black in color, has a salty and bitter taste, is flooded with sweat, and is shocked by waves.
My sister-in-law, dragons and fish are everywhere, and there are ghosts and monsters everywhere, so they travel around and pray for blessings. Although there are many aquatic animals, no one dares to fish."
After all, he is a monk. Xuanzang's description is still relatively "unscientific". In just a few words, he even mentioned words such as "dragon", "spirit", "prayer", and "water tribe". It is really idealistic.
Change it to Cen Shen's "A Journey to Rehai to Send Cui Shiyu Back to the Capital", and there is a description of "there are long and fat carp in it", but I don't know if he has eaten it.
"Stop." More than a hundred riders came from a distance and shouted loudly.
When 1,500 cavalry enter their territory, any Turkic people who are not fools can spot them. What's more, they have so many horses. Although a large part of them have lost weight, they must be war horses that have been trained for many years.
, bring it back to the tribe and raise it for a while, and it will be beneficial.
"Stop." Wang Chongwen reined in his horse, and Qian Yuqi slowly slowed down and stopped at the bank of the lake with withered grass.
Without the officer's instructions, the sergeants automatically divided into several groups. Some took out their bow tips and strung them, some picked up their long bows, and some took out their iron laos, iron maces, sabers and other short soldiers.
"If a fight breaks out, the front army's cavalry and archers will outflank the two flanks, the middle army will clash with horses and spears, and the rear army will fight hard at hand. Anyone who dares to look back will die." Wang Chongwen ordered.
"If a fight breaks out...anyone who dares to look back will die!"
The order quickly spread throughout the entire army, and everyone was in awe, silently looking ahead.
The Turks were sensitive to the change in the atmosphere, and they stopped. After a while, they rode forward and shouted something.
"It's me." No matter how slow Cao A'le was, he knew it was time for him to get in. He stepped out of the crowd, looked at the Turks riding alone, and said loudly.
"It's you, Fu Duodan." Basseqian relaxed his guard, rode his horse in front of Cao A'lu, twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "What? You couldn't wait for us in Xiadu, so you came here on your own?"
Cao A'liao looked behind him.
"Don't look at it, the others have gone to fight and haven't come back yet," Basseigan said.
"War?" Cao A's expression changed and he said, "Who are you fighting for? The Persians? Or the Uighurs?"
"Fight for yourself." Baseqian said calmly.
"Stop talking nonsense, who did you take refuge in?" Cao A'liao asked.
Bassegan punched Cao A'le on the chest and said: "It's not enough for Vandak to ask this question. You are not qualified. However, for the sake of our many years of friendship, it doesn't matter if I tell you. Ogul
Chuck wanted us to help him fight the war and gave us a lot of property. Many people couldn't resist the temptation and agreed."
"What?" Cao A'liao was a little surprised and asked, "He has just recaptured Suiye City and fought so poorly. Why did you help him?"
"He said that the Gaochang Uighurs were finished. We asked someone to find out, and it was true. Now that it's like this, what can we do? Ogulchak said that if he can take back Talas, he will hand over Broken Leaf City.
As a pasture, all we need to do is surrender and be loyal to him." said Busseqian.
"Is Ogurchak worthy of loyalty after repeated defeats in battles?" Cao A'liao asked.
Basseqian was speechless and said: "Actually, I don't agree with it, and Sunong doesn't agree with it either. Our two families with thirty thousand tents didn't follow to get involved. Let's go back to the tribe first. These people you brought here
, please stay away, we will send people to bring fodder and food, but you can't get close to the tribe. They are too dangerous."
Cao Ah nodded in understanding.
Even though there are only 1,500 horsemen, they are fully armed and if they raid the tribes, they can cause unimaginable consequences. No matter how big the Turks' hearts are, they would not dare to put these people in a place where the old, weak, women and children gather, even if
They also have tens of thousands of people living nearby, seemingly outnumbered.
Cao Aliao quickly returned to the formation and told the Turks their concerns in detail.
"It doesn't matter, I'll just wait for a few people to go there. It's not a dragon's pond or a tiger's den, so I'm afraid." Liu Mian smiled gently, which greatly comforted Cao A'lao, who was eager to make meritorious deeds.
"Vice General Sun, you lead ten people to escort Judge Liu. Cao Monk is entering the prisoner's tent." Seeing that Liu Mian had no objection, Wang Chongwen did not insist and ordered: "I will lead the people back thirty miles. Before nightfall, you send
One person will come out to make the announcement. If I don't see anyone, I will bring someone over to take care of you."
"As ordered." Sun Shuxian responded.
"That's very good." Liu Mianzan said calmly, as if he didn't care about his own safety at all.
He is certainly not the kind of person who likes to take personal risks.
He has a family, a career, and wealth, but sometimes, you have to take a risk, otherwise you may not be able to get things done.
Winning over the Rehai Turks and establishing friendship with them was of great importance, and he could not tolerate his failure. Therefore, after hearing Cao A'le's report, he agreed almost without thinking.
After the explanation was completed, Liu Mian, Cao A and a group of more than ten people, surrounded by Turks, came to their pasture.