Early the next morning, Guo Xin sent 1,000 soldiers to the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the north to meet Guo Song, mainly because they had captured too many materials and insufficient manpower, so they could not bring them back to Qiuci City, and they had to get the response of the Tang army in Qiuci City.

At dusk, the mighty procession returned, bringing back more than 4,000 horses, 80,000 fat sheep, and more than 200 carts laden with grain and other goods.

Guo Xin personally went outside the city to welcome Guo Song's return, and the people and soldiers in the city were overjoyed, and Guo Song brought back the food and goods they most desired.

At this time, Guo Song turned over and dismounted, walked up quickly, and the generals laughed and said: "Congratulations to Changshi for his great achievements!" ”

"It's all the credit of the soldiers, and it has nothing to do with me!"

"Changshi is too modest!"

Guo Xin gave a thumbs up and said: "Annihilating 5,000 enemy troops with an army of 300 can be called a miracle of war!" ”

He pointed to the countless flocks of sheep, war horses, and supplies and sighed: "There are so many livestock materials, we are all grateful to Changshi from the bottom of our hearts. ”

Guo Song smiled slightly: "Let's go to the city!" And then talk about this campaign in detail. ”

Guo Xin waved his hand, "Send things into the city!" ”

Everyone sent sheep and war horses and carts into the city, Guo Xin ordered to kill sheep and reward the soldiers and civilians, and for a time the city was thunderous, as if it was a festival.

In the hall of Jiedu Mansion, the generals gathered together, and Guo Song pointed to the woodcarved map with a wooden pole and introduced the two attacks on the enemy army.

"Speaking of which, there is still some kind of providence, if we don't catch the Tibetan officials, we won't know that the Tibetan herdsmen did not completely hand over the sheep to the army, and what happened later is all linked one by one, in the final analysis, the national strength of the Tubo people is not enough to control the territory of thousands of miles, and their rule in Anxi will have loopholes, and we will seize the opportunity."

Guo Xin nodded, "Guo Changshi is completely right, our Anxi army can still hold the city for more than ten years, not because of how brave and good we are, in fact, we are already weak, only a few thousand old and weak troops are left, and more importantly, the Tubo army is too scattered, they did not concentrate their forces to attack Anxi, but focused their attack on the west of the Green Ridge." ”

After a pause, Guo Xin continued: "Although we defeated the Tubo coalition army this time, we must understand one thing, it is not that we are indestructible, but that there is a problem within the Tubo army, the preparation is hasty, the food and grass are insufficient, we must not be complacent, and we must strengthen training next........"

Coming out of the lobby, Guo Song and Guo Xin walked slowly on the street side by side, looking at the happy smiling faces of the soldiers, Guo Xin's eyes flashed with an indescribable sadness, and said to Guo Song: "I don't know how long Anxi can hold on, maybe after more than ten years, the Tang Anxi Army will disappear." ”

"Why did the marshal say this?" Guo Song asked puzzled.

"Do you know what the average age of the Anxi Army is? Forty years old, more than half of the soldiers are over forty-five years old, since twenty thousand Anxi troops were requisitioned to the Central Plains twenty years ago, the imperial court has never replenished the Anxi army, the soldiers are getting old, their descendants are too few, can not inherit their father's business, more than ten years, Anxi only a group of old and weak Tang army, I am also dying! ”

Guo Song was silent for a long time and said: "The imperial court has never forgotten the Anxi army, and the Son of Heaven has not forgotten it, so I sent an envoy to Anxi this time." ”

Guo Xin smiled bitterly and shook his head, "The feudal town is divided into the Central Plains, and the imperial court is still too busy to take care of itself, how can I not know?" Even if the Son of Heaven doesn't want to lose Anxi, he just thinks about it, if the imperial court really has this determination, they should at least recapture Suzhou and Guazhou, recover the Hexi Corridor, we can also connect Hexi through Puchanghai, is it difficult to capture Suzhou and Guazhou? But the imperial court didn't even have this courage and courage, and only thought about defense and was content with the status quo. ”

Guo Song was speechless, Guo Xin was right, is it difficult to recapture Suzhou and Guazhou? It's not difficult at all, but the Tang Dynasty just doesn't have the courage to go west.

The glory of the Tang Dynasty has passed away from the bones.

Guo Xin smiled and said: "Let's not talk about this heavy topic, Changshi won't stay in Anxi all the time, right?" ”

Guo Song shook his head, "Anxi is just the first step of my mission to the Western Regions this time, I also have to go to Beiting, on behalf of the imperial court, to comfort the Tang army in Beiting, and then return to the imperial court to return to the Son of Heaven!" ”

"Going to Beiting is equivalent to entering the wolf's den, but it's not as easy as Anxi, there is the territory of the Shatuo people, and it is risky step by step."

"I know it's dangerous to go to Beiting, but no matter how dangerous it is, I have to go, it's my duty."

Guo Xin asked again: "When is Changshi going to leave?" ”

Guo Song groaned and said: "There are still many wounded soldiers in our army, and we have to wait for them to fully recover from their injuries, about a month!" While they were recuperating from their injuries, I had to go to Shule and Khotan, and then I set off for Beiting. ”

"Alright! I asked Zheng to accompany you to Shule and Khotan. ”

Early the next morning, Guo Song left Guo Chongqing to take care of the wounded soldiers, and he and Li Ji left Qiuci City with two hundred and fifty soldiers and headed west to inspect Shule.

..........

On Xianggui led more than 9,000 Tubo coalition troops to retreat all the way to the east, halfway through, their food was about to run out, and then they would have to kill horses for food, of course, not to kill the war horses of Tubo soldiers, but to kill the horses of Tuyuhun soldiers, this decision was strongly opposed by Tuyuhun generals, and once again caused strong dissatisfaction among Tuyuhun soldiers.

The reasons for the opposition of the Tuyuhun generals are also very sufficient, first, there are still a thousand sheep in the army, and everyone can share the food and support it for two days; Second, if you really want to kill horses for food, then you should treat them equally, and you can't just kill the war horses of the Tuyuhun soldiers.

At night, Xianggui sent someone to find a few Tibetan generals and whispered to a few people: "We still have about a thousand mutton, but there is no barley left, a thousand sheep can save a little, it can be enough for a thousand Tubo soldiers to eat for five days, but if you share food with the Tuyuhun soldiers, it is only enough to eat one meal, and then you will kill the horse, what do you say?" ”

In fact, the hint of Xianggui is already obvious, and a Tubo general said without hesitation: "We Tubo soldiers regard war horses as brothers, and no one will kill their own war horses. ”

The other three Tibetan generals also unanimously agreed, discarding the Tuyuhun soldiers and setting out on their own.

Of course, Xianggui knows that once the last thousand sheep are eaten up, the two sides will disagree on the matter of killing horses, and they will inevitably part ways, rather than turning their faces at that time, it is better to break up now and return a thousand sheep to the Tibetan army, they will not have to kill the horses, at least they can keep a thousand Tibetan soldiers.

It's just that making this decision is tantamount to betraying the Tugu Hun people, and the consequences are more serious, and the noble minister is also worried that the above will blame him, so he wants to let several Tubo generals put it forward by themselves, so that he can give the above a reason, it is because of the strong request of the Tubo army soldiers that he has to make this decision.

That night, a thousand Tibetan soldiers quietly left the team with a thousand sheep, and they walked in a straight line south, crossing the edge of the great desert, and in four or five days they could reach the Jimo River.

In the early morning of the next day, when the Tibetan army was found to have left, the 8,000 Tuyuhun soldiers were in an uproar, and the Tubo took away a thousand sheep, which made them very angry.

But anger turned to anger, and they also survived, and the Tuyuhun generals unanimously promoted Murong Zhan, the commander of ten thousand masters, as the new leader and led them out of the predicament.

Murong Zhan immediately ordered that the emaciated soldiers ride a horse and kill five hundred old horses for food, and the whole army sped up and rushed to Puchanghai.

The conflict between Tubo and Tuyuhun had a far-reaching impact, it was a fuse, which led to a serious rift in the relationship between Tubo and Tuyuhun, and a few months later, in order to appease the anger of the Tuyuhun people, Tubo Zanpu Trisong Detsen had to order the killing of the Xianggui to make amends to the Tuyuhun people.

In the tenth year of the Great Calendar, the Tuyuhun army began to shrink the front and withdraw from Longyou, which greatly reduced the pressure on Longyou in the Tang Dynasty.

Ten days later, Guo Song arrived in Shule Town.