Merchants passing by Tiemen Pass said that King Aziman had begun to organize his troops, claiming to be 100,000 troops, and was to wait for the Liang army to die at Tiemen Pass. He also claimed that if he captured Chen Muzhi, the main general of the Liang army, he would be rewarded with one hundred taels of gold and three thousand sheep.

Hearing this news, Chen Mu also let out his words, on the tenth day of the second month, he led 500,000 troops to attack Tiemen Pass, captured the king of Aziman, rewarded a thousand gold, and sealed ten thousand households.

Both sides are bragging, one blowing louder than the other.

According to Tanma's report, there were only 8,000 Aziman soldiers stationed at Tiemen Pass at this time, and the regular troops from Qiuzi Town and Yanqi Town would not exceed 15,000. They are ready to defend the iron gates. and gave up Putao City, which was far away from eight hundred taels.

In fact, the distance from Dunhuang to Tiemen Pass is a thousand miles, if Chen Mu does not set off again, it will let the enemy see the flaw, so Chen Mu ordered Wang Caotian to stick to Dunhuang, and he led the second and third brigades to rush out of the city.

The troops marched quickly and arrived in the Ruoqiang area three days later.

Chen Mu divided his troops, the Fourth Cavalry Regiment (attached to the Second Brigade) raided Qitun City, and the remaining 5,000 people went straight to Putao City.

There were only 500 soldiers defending the city in Putaocheng, and when they saw that the Liang army was stationed under the city with 5,000 iron horses, they immediately opened the door and surrendered.

Chen Mu was overjoyed.

Soon after, after hearing the news of Qitun City, the fourth regiment made a successful surprise attack, killing more than 300 enemies, capturing 200, and the Liang army sacrificing 37 people and losing 13 horses.

The first battle solved Putao City, continued to advance westward, and approached the end of the city.

Thirty miles away from the end of the city, an envoy from the Qur'an Kingdom came to meet him, sent a table of surrender, and knelt on the ground begging for mercy.

Chen Mu said: "At the beginning, I asked you to return the land, but you refused, and now that our army has arrived, you have returned a city, which is no longer enough to wipe out the anger in the heart of the general." If you surrender sincerely, you will either send us two more cities and ten thousand sheep. Otherwise, I will go directly to Khotan Town and capture your queen alive!" ”

The envoy pleaded: "The land of Gulan is vast and sparsely populated, and this year it has caught up with a great drought, which is really difficult, and I ask General Chen to be gracious." ”

Later, after negotiation, Chen Mu only needed a "Lancheng Hand Catch", which was a guard city. During the Tang Dynasty, there were some Shou Capture Lang living in the Shou Capture City, so there were still many Han people in those small towns. The structure of the castle is more like a fortress city.

Zhen Badao asked Chen Mu why he didn't kill Khotan directly?

Chen Mu said that now we do not have such a strong strength. The territory is too big, but there are no soldiers to guard it, so it is better not to come back. The queen of the Gulan Kingdom is strong and strong, and she is kept as a buffer for us to prevent contact with other small countries in the Western Regions at this time. In case we encounter a strong one, it is not conducive to our economic development.

Later, Chen Mu set up a local militia group, which was not a regular army, that is, they were allowed to carry weapons to deal with horse bandits. The regular army in Chen Mu's hands did not intend to disperse, but wanted to concentrate on intimidating the Aziman people.

After recovering the last city, Chen Mu revised the tax law in the local area, promulgated the policy of benevolence, and called on the general public to go to Dunhuang for development.

He didn't stay too long in the end of the city, so he led his troops back.

On the way back, caught up with the heavy snow, many snowflakes fell on Shi Jinchong's big bald head, the snow melted, and steam rose from the heads of the three generals.

Shi Jin turned his head in conflict: "I said Chen Mu, let's play the king of the Turtle Country (the capital of Aziman is Wuzi Town, and Shi Jinchong calls it the Turtle Country there), do you think he will send troops to fight Dunhuang?" There are only 1,200 people in Dunhuang City, so I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on. ”

Chen Mu smiled: "Why does the third brother have this idea? ”

Shi Jin shook his head and pounced on the snow above his head: "If I were the king of the Turtle Country, I wouldn't be able to swallow this breath, I would have to kill Dunhuang!" ”

Chen Mu laughed: "If King Aziman had your temper, he would have been wiped out by the Sogdians. ”

Shi Jinchong was unconvinced: "Why? ”

Chen Mu's horse whip pointed to the north, and he pointed at the head of the country and said: "At the beginning, the Sogdian army was powerful and plundered territory everywhere, and King Aziman kept swallowing his anger. It can be seen that he is not much different from Queen Quran. With more than 20,000 soldiers and horses, it is not enough to protect the homeland. How can you send troops out to fight? ”

Shi Jinchong glared: "You only have seven or eight thousand soldiers in your hands, aren't you going to come out to fight?" ”

Chen Mu pretended to be stunned and said loudly: "There are three invincible generals in the world by my side!" ”

"Hahaha!" Shi Jinchong laughed: "That's right! Hahahaha! ”

The big black man laughed, his voice was like a bell, and he felt that his eardrums were itchy.

He put down his war horse and shook his ears, as if he had a prejudice against his master.

In early February, after returning triumphantly and bringing back a lot of supplies, Shi Jinchong ran to the streets, proclaimed his great achievements, and recruited troops on the spot.

Not to mention, it only took one day for him to recruit the thirty-seven people he had lost. With less than a dozen horses, he ran to the market to snatch thirteen horses and left, and he asked the horse merchant to go to Chen Mu to ask for money.

In the Western Regions, the Dunhuang horse market is still relatively traditional, and there are really a lot of merchants who come here to sell horses, and more importantly, after Chen Mu took power, he took care of all kinds of merchants in place, and his reputation was excellent.

There were three merchants who were robbed by Shi Jin, and they formed a group to find Chen Mu.

But if they wanted to see Chen Mu, it was really difficult. At this time, Chen Mu was the deputy general of Anxi, and he was a member of the third grade, how could it be that they could see each other.

The guards didn't give a report, so they squatted at the door with a bitter face.

They were lucky enough to meet the lame.

When the lame man learned about this, he was furious, grabbed the doorman by the mouth, and scolded the dog slave.

Then the cripple first asked the merchants to rest in the living room, and then went to Shi Jinchong to inquire about the situation.

Shi Jinchong found a beautiful woman to sleep with, and his servant said to the lame man that he did take thirteen horses from the horse market today, but not to rob them, but to ask them to go to General Chen to ask for money.

The lame man didn't speak, came back to Chen Mu, and told him about it.

Chen Mu first called the merchants, and then Shi Jinchong, and after determining the number of horses, he gave money according to the market price.

After doing these things, Chen Mu told Shi Jinchong that if he buys something in the future, report it first, the report is passed, and then go to Xiaomei to pay the money, don't run to rob it like a bandit. If you are in a hurry, you should also write a note with your name on it.

Shi Jinchong was scolded by Chen Mu for a few words, and he didn't take it seriously, and left with his big head.

Chen Mu asked Zhang Han to call all the guards and told them at a meeting that they would report anything in the future, and if they felt that the matter was too small and the level was not enough, they could report it to the secretary Lang Zhang Ga.

You can't turn people away, and it chills the hearts of the people.

——

A girl in black walked to the entrance of the division department, carrying a blue cloth bag on her left shoulder, a gift box in her right hand, and a knife hidden in her sleeve.

In order to facilitate the next reading, you can click on the "Collection" below to record the reading record of this time (Chapter 124 Reconquista), and you can see it next time you open the bookshelf!

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