2773. Chapter 2704 The Three Clans of Yang, Li and Ji Conquer the Western Regions Ten
Chapter 2704 Yang Liji’s three families conquered the Western Alliance, the Anti-Sui Alliance of the Fifteen Kingdoms in the Western Regions
Chapter 2700: Yang Liji’s three families conquered the Western Alliance, the anti-Sui alliance of the fifteen countries in the Western Regions
Yang Su also guessed that Yang Guang would not want to bring Li Ji's family to send troops together. After all, the Sui State was the overlord of the Western Regions, and Ji Chang and Li Siyuan were also pulling on the Sui State's tiger skin to gain a foothold in the Western Regions.
But things are different today.
After each of the Ji and Li families destroyed a country, they already had their own territory and population, as well as fixed grain-producing areas. Even if they were separated from the protection of the Sui State, they could still survive.
For the Ji and Li families, it no longer matters whether there is the Sui State or not. Even if they leave the Sui State aside, they can still go it alone and grow stronger.
On the other hand, if the Sui State loses the two potential allies of the Ji and Li families, it will only have two more difficult enemies due to conflicts of interest. After all, it is impossible for the Ji and Li families to give up their expansion in the Western Regions.
Yang Guang underestimated Ji Chang and Li Siyuan and failed to destroy them when they were weak. As a result, the two families now have a firm foothold in the Western Regions and have formed an alliance with each other to stay together.
The combined strength of the Ji and Li families was not much less than the Sui army in the Western Regions, and their combat power was not inferior to the Sui army.
If the Sui State wants to deal with the Ji and Li families now, unless it mobilizes the entire country's forces to engage in a national war, it may even be swallowed up by the Ji and Li families if it relies solely on local garrison troops in the Western Regions.
Of course, this is just a thought. After all, if the Sui State really mobilizes its national troops, the Qin Army in Yongliang will definitely not sit idly by. If it triggers the Qin Army's westward expedition, it will not be good.
Even if the Qin army did not move out and watched the Sui Dynasty destroy the Ji and Li families, Ji Chang and Li Siyuan were not stupid.
If the entire Sui army invaded, even if the Ji-Li alliance couldn't defeat it, couldn't they still run away?
The Western Region is so big and the local power is weak. As long as there is a fighting army, Ji Chang and Li Siyuan can completely re-establish their power elsewhere.
It’s impossible for the Sui State to pursue Ji and Li’s family all the time, right?
Judging from the current situation, the Sui Kingdom cannot destroy the Ji-Li Alliance at all, even if it mobilizes the power of the whole country.
Since both Ji Chang and Li Siyuan chose to venture into the Western Regions, they naturally could not just sit back and watch the Sui family monopolize the Western Regions. The Ji-Li alliance was the biggest obstacle to the Sui State's occupation of the Western Regions.
If the Sui State did not join forces with the Ji and Li families, it would surely fall into a situation of fighting alone. Not only would it have to face counterattacks from the local forces in the Western Regions, but it would even have to face backstabs from the Ji and Li alliances.
The Sui Kingdom was not the Qin Dynasty. If it wanted to rely on the strength of one family to challenge so many forces, it was obviously beyond its capabilities and it would be difficult to completely occupy the Western Regions in a short period of time.
This is also the main reason why Yang Su proposed to get the Ji and Li families to send troops together, because only by dividing the cake between the Ji and Li families can the Yang family get the biggest piece.
After all, Yang Guang's intelligence attribute is as high as 94 points. Although he does not want to share the Western Region with the Ji and Li family, he also knows what cannot be done.
Under Yang Su's reminder, Yang Guang quickly figured out the key and had to accept the fact that the Sui State had nothing to do with the Ji and Li families, and had to join forces with the Ji and Li families to swallow up the Western Regions.
"Hey, it's all my fault that I underestimated Ji Chang and Li Siyuan and allowed these two to become big in the Western Region. Now it's even more difficult to restrain them."
Yang Guang said with regret on his face, he would never have imagined that these two subordinates of Li Shimin, who were ordinary when Li Shimin was alive, would explode with such great ambition after Li Shimin's death.
But having said that, when Dong Zhuo was still alive, Yang Jian and Li Yuan also did not dare to have any different intentions under Dong Zhuo's suppression. After Dong Zhuo's death, their ambitions exploded.
Since ancient times, the human heart is the most unpredictable.
Yang Su, Yang Shuang, Gao Jun, Gao Changgong and others, seeing Yang Guang's remorseful look, also tried to comfort Yang Guang, saying that the current situation was not his fault, but a result of fate.
After Yang Guang's Xinxin gesture of self-examination, he naturally took the initiative and said, "Prime Minister, you will be solely responsible for forming an alliance with the Ji and Li families and jointly sending troops to conquer the Western Regions."
Gao Jong stood up quickly, clasped his fists and said sternly: "Old minister, I will live up to my lord's trust."
Yang Guang nodded: "This time I form an alliance with the Ji and Li families, I have only one request: to conquer the Western Regions, I, the Sui Dynasty, will be the leader of the alliance."
"promise."
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The Sui State has determined the strategy of uniting the Ji and Li families to carve up the Western Region, but Ji Chang and Li Siyuan, who are far away in the Western Region, do not know yet, so they are anxiously waiting for the Sui State's next move. After all, the Sui State's next choice will affect them.
of survival.
In fact, neither Ji Chang nor Li Siyuan were willing to go against Yang Guang. After all, the increasingly powerful Da Qin was their common enemy.
But if Yang Guang is really short-sighted and thinks that their concession is because they are afraid of the Sui State, then they don't mind teaching the Sui State a lesson in the Western Regions so that Yang Guang understands who the real overlord of the Western Regions is.
However, Yang Guang was quite rational and was not arrogant enough to think that relying solely on the power of the Sui family, he could monopolize the Western Regions without the Ji and Li families.
The Prime Minister of the Sui Dynasty, Gao Jun, personally came to discuss the alliance's dispatch of troops, which also made Ji Chang and Li Siyuan breathe a sigh of relief. This showed that Yang Guang had looked at them squarely and would give up his status as an equal rather than a vassal.
Regarding Yang Guang's request for the Sui State to be the leader of the alliance after the three families formed an alliance, Ji Chang and Li Siyuan agreed without thinking. After all, the strength of their two families was still too weak, and only the Sui State had the strength to serve as the leader of the alliance.
After some discussion, both Ji Chang and Li Siyuan decided to accept the Sui State as their alliance leader, and each dispatched 15,000 troops, totaling 30,000 troops, to cooperate with the Sui State in launching the third Western Expedition.
Ji and Li both had nearly 30,000 troops, but they only sent out 15,000 troops. This was not because they wanted to conserve their strength, but because they did not have enough food to support the 30,000-strong army.
Now the Sui State has long ceased to provide grain and grass support to the two families. Although the Ji and Li families have their own territory and high-yield grain seeds from the Central Plains, most of the Western Regions are dry and short of water, and the land suitable for planting is not
If there are too many, it will naturally be difficult to increase grain production.
Although Ji Chang and Li Siyuan each destroyed a country, they were both small countries, and the population of the newly acquired land was not large. If they wanted to support such a large army, they could only establish military camps, and occasionally plunder the local forces in the Western Regions.
Maintain food and grass consumption.
The food and fodder for the 15,000-strong army dispatched this time was already saved by Ji Chang and Li Siyuan by cutting back on food and clothing.
The number of troops sent this time is also related to how much territory they can occupy in the Western Regions, so Ji Chang and Li Siyuan also want Sui to sponsor them or borrow a batch of food and grass for emergency response.
But Gao Jiong was not stupid. After the Ji and Li families had food and grass, if their power in the Western Regions grew stronger, it would definitely squeeze the power space of the Sui State in the Western Regions, so he refused without any hesitation.
Ji Chang and Li Siyuan failed to borrow food and grass and could not go all out. They could only send out 15,000 troops each for the western expedition.
Yang Guang saw that the Ji and Li families had dispatched 30,000 troops. After discussing with Yang Su and Yang Shuang, he decided to appoint Yang Shuang as the general to conquer the west and lead an army of 40,000 to conquer the Western Regions.
The reason why Yang Guang chose Yang Shuang this time instead of the experienced Yang Su who had already conquered the Western Regions twice was mainly because Yang Su's contribution was already too great. In order to prevent the situation where there was no reward and no reward but more merit, Yang Su
Guangzhou must support a new commander to check and balance Yang Su, and Yang Shuang is the candidate.
Although Yang Shuang is young, he has served as the deputy general of Yang Guang and Yang Su many times. He has made great contributions in the extermination of the Qiang and the conquest of the West. He is experienced in military use and has extraordinary talents, so Yang Guang chose him to check and balance Yang Su.
Yang Guang was preparing to completely occupy the Western Region this time. The reason why he only sent out 40,000 troops was not only because he had two more allies to share the pressure, but also because he was worried about sending too many troops for the Western Expedition under Yang Su's persuasion.
Huixiliang was empty and attracted the Qin army to advance westward.
No matter how important the Western Region was, it was still not as important as Liangzhou in Yang Guang's heart.
Although the 40,000 Sui troops were not too many, when coupled with the 30,000 troops of the Ji and Li families, the three coalition forces totaled 70,000 troops. Their strength was already the largest in the history of the Western Expedition.
Yang Guang's first two western expeditions dispatched only 30,000 troops at most, but they still defeated the more than 200,000 coalition forces in the Western Regions. If Ji Xiaolan and Wang Ben hadn't stepped in, the Western Regions Coalition forces would have been defeated.
The Sui army was completely wiped out.
Now the Yang, Li, and Ji families have dispatched 70,000 troops, which is more than double the previous strength. It is not easy to deal with the backward natives of the Western Regions.
In the fourth year of Shenwu, it was June 15th.
Just when the Eight Route Army of the Qin Dynasty came out to fight fiercely with the Wei, Song and Ming Kingdoms in the Central Plains, Sui King Yang Guang, who was far away in Xiliang, suddenly raised his troops without any warning and launched the third Western Expedition to attack the countries in the Western Regions.
In Yang Guang's third Western Expedition, Yang Shuang was the main general, leading 40,000 Sui troops, 15,000 Ji's troops, and 15,000 Li's troops, a total of 70,000 troops. Externally, they claimed that 100,000 troops were conquering the Western Alliance.
Yang Guang was very ungrateful and adopted an undeclared war. When the countries in the Western Regions learned that the Sui State was coming, many lines of defense on the front line had been breached by the three coalition forces.
As soon as this news came out, the countries in the Western Regions were extremely frightened.
Don't be afraid, after all, the Sui Kingdom only sent 30,000 troops in its two previous Western expeditions, but it defeated more than 200,000 coalition troops in the Western Regions and was unable to hold its head, but now it sent a full 100,000 troops.
In their opinion, how virtuous and capable is my little Western Region? Is it worthy of the Central Plains Kingdom to send out a hundred thousand troops to crusade?
Of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, fourteen were destroyed by Yang Su, two were destroyed by Ji Chang and Li Siyuan, and seven voluntarily became tributaries of the Qin Dynasty, leaving only thirteen independent countries.
After the Sui army retreated, the first thing the remaining thirteen countries did was to annex the neighboring countries that had been weakened by the Sui country.
People from the Western Regions are cowardly when facing the Han people, but they are ruthless when it comes to killing their own people.
This annexation war lasted for half a year and got out of control. Even two of the vassal states of Great Qin were destroyed.
In the end, under Wang Ben's military intervention, in addition to the five vassal states of the Qin Dynasty, only ten independent states were left in the entire Western Region, including Loulan, Khotan, Qiuci, Shule, Dayuan, and Daliang.
The fifteen countries in the Western Regions survived through brutal wars. Logically speaking, they should be stronger, but even after Wang Ben's training, the combat effectiveness of their armies was still indescribable.
Wang Ben's training of the armies of the Western Regions countries is not unsatisfactory, but high-intensity training often means investing more resources, and the Western Regions countries not only invest money to increase military pay, but also invest in food to improve food.
Wang Bikong had a good way of training troops, but he had no resources, so he could only lower the training standards again and again. The final effect was naturally not good. Although the army's combat power was improved, it was not much.
Wang Ben was very dissatisfied with the results of this training. After training for so long, what kind of stuff did he get out of it? He felt embarrassed even if he said it.
Wang Ben was dissatisfied, but the kings of the Western Regions were very satisfied. After all, the army was completely different from the original. Even if the overall combat power was still not as good as that of the Sui army, they could still defeat the Sui army in a war of attrition based on their numbers.
Consumed to death.
The fifteen countries in the Western Regions all felt that the Sui State, which was restrained by the Yongliang Army of the Qin Dynasty, would not be able to send out too many troops to conquer the Western Regions, but they never expected that Yang Guang would send out a hundred thousand troops this time.
The number of 100,000 was so huge that it frightened all the major forces in the Western Regions. The local forces in the Western Regions would certainly not be able to stop them, so they all approached Ji Xiaolan, the Great Qin Ambassador to the Western Regions, hoping that Great Qin could intervene to help the Western Regions.
Defeat the Sui army.
"Lord Ji, as long as Great Qin is willing to send troops, our country is willing to become a vassal state of Great Qin and pay tribute to Great Qin." The ambassador of Shule State said.
"Our country is also willing." The ambassador of Kucha State agreed.
Although the envoys from Loulan, Dayuan, Xiliang and other countries did not express their stance directly, when the country was destroyed, they would definitely be willing to become vassals of Da Qin in exchange for the survival of the country.
It can be seen that the people of the Western Regions actually have a clear view of the pros and cons. Between subjugating their country and becoming a vassal state of the Qin Dynasty, they would choose the latter without hesitation.
Seeing this, Ji Xiaolan said calmly: "Everyone, our Great Qin is currently at war with the Wei, Song and Ming Kingdoms. We will not directly send troops to the Western Regions until the war is over."
As soon as this statement came out, envoys from various countries became anxious.
"What can we do? If the Qin Dynasty does not send troops, we will all become slaves of the Sui Kingdom."
"Yes, Master Ji, Great Qin cannot ignore us."
"Yeah yeah……"
The envoys from the fifteen countries in the Western Region, including the five major vassal countries, kept talking to each other, as if the sky would collapse without Qin.
Ji Xiaolan said: "Everyone, the Western Region is your homeland. If the Qin Dynasty doesn't send reinforcements, won't you resist?"
Upon hearing this, the envoys from various countries fell silent.
Yes, the Western Regions belong to the Western Regions. Now that the Sui Kingdom has come to invade their homeland, they have no way out. Regardless of whether the Qin faction sends reinforcements or not, they will have no choice but to fight until the last moment.
Ji Xiaolan saw that everyone had calmed down and continued: "The top priority is to form a coalition to resist the Sui army's offensive. Otherwise, even if I, Da Qin, send reinforcements, you will not be able to survive until the reinforcements arrive."
Under the leadership of Ji Xiaolan, the fifteen countries in the Western Regions that were hostile to each other due to the annexation war were united again by the Sui invasion. They jointly formed the fifteen-nation anti-Sui coalition to resist the Sui invasion. Naturally, there were only one candidate for the leader.
It will be Wang Ben, the commander-in-chief of the Great Qin Dynasty who protects the Western Regions.
I was too busy during the Chinese New Year, with all kinds of trivial matters going on, and I really didn’t have the time to type. It got better after the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. The author still has a few days off, so I will update it steadily in the future.