"It is now April. Last year, we made an agreement with the Turks to raise troops this year during the alliance meeting. The Turks also abided by the agreement and did not invade Gaochang. They just massacred Kucha...
I believe your Majesty knows better than you what it would be like for the Turks to raise troops to fight. If it's too late, even if Ashina Qiuluo doesn't want to antagonize the Tang Dynasty, what about his subordinates?
I feel that I cannot wait any longer and at least let the Turks know that Gaochang has been protected by the Tang Dynasty and cannot be insulted. Otherwise, if the Turks sweep across the Western Regions and the war spreads, sooner or later someone will violate the covenant and use troops against Gaochang.
At that time, what can we do even if we question the Turkic royal court?"
Naturally, these words did not come from the mouth of Yuwen Yubo, but from Zuopushe Li Jing. The original time for the deployment of troops was April and May this year.
Zhang Shigui has been deploying troops in Zhangye for a long time. Zhang Lun led troops from the West Sea to Liangzhou at the end of last year. The cavalry of his headquarters led by Xue Wanche also arrived in Liangzhou and joined Zhang Lun's command.
Therefore, the cavalry troops from all walks of life who gathered in the northwest during the winter had already reached 25,000 people, and grain, grass, baggage, etc. had already been transported to Hexi one after another to provide food and equipment for the army.
A large-scale cavalry group is in a state of readiness at any time.
Although the Turks raised more than 100,000 troops, the Tang Dynasty only had more than 20,000 cavalry. There was a huge difference in military strength.
However, the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, which had experienced the wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty, were the sharpest swords in the hands of the Tang Dynasty today. They were fundamentally different from the patchwork prairie cavalry of the Turks.
If they were really serious, more than 20,000 Tang Dynasty cavalry would rush into the Western Regions to fight Ashina Qiuluo. It was hard to say whether they would win or lose.
The biggest problem for the Tang Army was that it relied more on logistical supplies than the Turks. Moreover, during long journeys, according to the military art of the Central Plains, there was the worry of using troops to attack far away. Apart from this, there was no need to worry too much about combat effectiveness and the like.
Li Po did not want to go to war at this time, but made preparations for war. However, the purpose of the war was definitely not to use large-scale troops in the Western Regions, but to prevent unexpected accidents.
In view of the alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, Li Jing and Xu Shiji suggested sending light troops to Gaochang first to see how the Turks would react before making a decision.
The general meaning is that if you are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust. The style is very consistent with the consistent political and military thinking of the Central Plains.
Until now, everything else has been going according to the expectations when the Tang Dynasty and the Turks signed the alliance, and neither side has done anything to betray the alliance.
The only thing that was a little surprising was that the king and queen of Gaochang were not very popular. Seeing that the limelight was not right, they left the subjects of Gaochang and ran to the Tang Dynasty.
Li Po asked Yuwen Yubo what they thought, and the answer he got was that Qu Wentai was timid and was afraid of being killed by the Turks, so he wanted to run away alone, but she found out, so the two of them went together
Sneaked out.
From her few words, Li Po guessed that Qu Wentai was too flattering to King Zhang of the Western Turks and did a lot of work to win the favor of Yehu Khan, the ruler, and this spread spread in the Western Regions.
In addition, there were many Uighurs in the country who clamored to die for the Khan. Qu Wentai was afraid, so he left the country and took refuge in the Tang Dynasty.
…………
As for the real reason, Li Po didn't intend to go into detail, because that was too unnecessary.
The two people in Gaochang are not very smart. Once they leave Gaochang, their value to anyone will drop sharply.
Because for a small country like Gaochang, in the eyes of behemoths like the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, it is actually not troublesome to change a king, as long as he is obedient, and it does not matter whether he is wise or stupid.
The Tang Dynasty could still think that the Gaochang royal family was of Han Miao descent, and the queen was also a married princess, which could be exploited from a political point of view.
In contrast, the Turks did not care about this at all. From this point of view, it was not wrong for them to flee to the Tang Dynasty.
This is the reason why it is difficult for the Turks to maintain long-term political stability. There is no clear policy direction, only a display of strength, which is very one-sided and too barbaric. The result is that the rate of decline is much faster than that of the Central Plains dynasty.
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Li Jing proposed to raise troops according to the plan, how to win over Gaochang and wait until the Tang army occupied the capital of Gaochang, in case the Turks saw that the Tang Dynasty general had not done anything, and other changes occurred.
So in the middle of April of the eighth year of Yuanzhen, Li Po ordered Zhang Shigui, the general of Zuo Xiaowei, to lead 5,000 cavalry from Zhangye, march towards Dunhuang and march directly to Gaochang in early May.
He also ordered Xue Wanche to follow up with five thousand cavalry and stationed at Dunhuang as a backup for Zhang Shigui's troops.
Zhang Lun then led his army to station in Zhangye to transport grain, grass and baggage for the army ahead.
Later, Xu Jingzong, the prefect of Fufeng County in Jin Dynasty, was appointed as the inspector of Hexi Province. He immediately went to Liangzhou to take up his post. Together with Chu Suiliang, who was inspecting various counties in Liangzhou, he took charge of the government affairs of Liangzhou.
They looked like they were about to start a fight, but in fact they were preparations to prevent Ashina Qura, the Khan of the Western Turks, from falling out.
…………
In the direction of the Western Regions, Datang and the Turks were more prepared to defend each other than to cooperate with each other. As the war in the Western Regions progressed, the two countries would make adjustments at any time. Even if some friction occurred, it was not something unpredictable.
For this reason, at the end of April this year, Li Po wrote a handwritten letter to the Turkic Royal Court to express his worries to Ashina Yang Huan.
In fact, it is to tell Ashina Yang Huan that if the two countries have irreconcilable conflicts in the Western Region, or even fight, you and I must be mentally prepared.
It is best to restrain each other in advance and avoid too many conflicts. Otherwise, the alliance between the two countries will become a piece of waste paper, and their efforts over the years will be in vain.
When Ashina Yang Huan received the letter from her nephew, her nose almost became angry. Every word in it seemed to doubt her influence and control over the Western Expeditionary Army. Then why did you do it when you made an alliance?
You advise me not to go west with the army?
Now, as soon as I turn my back, you come to make things difficult for me, for no reason.
He wanted to ignore this bastard, but he finally replied with a letter and sent it to Chang'an in mid-May, so that Li Po could rest assured that Ashina Qura would not dare to act rashly.
He also said that even if someone has evil intentions and deliberately undermines the diplomatic relations between the two countries, if everyone responds in time, it will not affect the friendship between the two countries. At the end of the letter, he probably couldn't hold it back and mocked his nephew a few words, which was a little out of control.
tone.
Li Po then had her reply put in the Guanwen Palace. If Ashina Qiuluo really left alone again in the future, he would send the letter back to shame the other party's face, so that everyone could have another drama of punishing the traitor.
Just like Ashina Duowen who is currently attacking Liaodong...