Shi Donglai smiled, "Although the governor commands, as long as I can do it, I will do my best to help!"

Guo Song nodded, "I have nearly six thousand Shatuo Army prisoners of war in my hands, and I want to exchange Tang Army prisoners of war with the other party, but we have no connection with the Shatuo people, and I want to ask Shi Dongzhu to be an intermediary." ”

Shi Donglai thought for a while and said: "No problem, I can bring a message for the governor, if the governor agrees, I can use the flying pigeon to send a message now, I have a branch in Yiwu County, and my third son is currently there!" ”

Guo Song was overjoyed, and said with a smile: "It's completely possible!" Please Shi Dong as soon as possible, if there is any news, please feel free to inform Yu Xiancheng, Shi Dong I would like to express my heartfelt thanks for your help. ”

........

Guo Song said goodbye and left, and Shi Donglai kept sending Guo Song and his party out of the gate.

The eldest son, Shi Eun, said worriedly: "Didn't my father always say that he wouldn't do things for the government?" Why did you obey this Guo Song? ”

Shi Donglai said lightly: "You have to consider why I don't do things for the government, Zhao Tengjiao's mediocrity, Wang Lianen's ruthlessness, I really don't want to do things for them, but this Guo Song is different, I can't ask for anything for him." ”

"Father seems to be very optimistic about this Guo Song."

"How can you not be optimistic? Kill 30,000 Shatuo to the annihilation of the whole army, if I guess correctly, he will soon march into Jiuquan, Datang has rarely produced such a good war and courageous general, the key is that this person is only twenty-six years old, the future is limitless, such a talented person is worthy of our investment, doing things for him is only our first step, we will seize more opportunities in the future, you have to remember my words, can make Ash. Durhan's willing servants are definitely not things in the pool. ”

..........

In the camp outside the city, Lang and the above generals gathered in a single account, Guo Song hung up a huge map of the Hexi Corridor, and said to everyone: "I won't leave any suspense for everyone, my next goal is to take Suzhou, this is an action with the permission of the Son of Heaven, you don't have to worry about the attitude of the imperial court, the problem now is that we are not strong enough, some people may say, we have 17,000 people, why are we still insufficient?" Let me tell you, Shatuo is the tiger that stands in our way to regain the Hexi Corridor, but there is a poisonous snake hidden behind us. ”

Guo Song pointed to the big dou tug valley on the map with a wooden stick, "This poisonous snake is Tubo, will it take the opportunity of our army to go north and sneak attack Ganzhou from the big dou tug valley?" The answer is entirely possible, in the past, the Great Dou Tu Valley was in the hands of the Tuyuhun people, and now the Tuyu Hun people have been completely subjugated by the Tubo people, and this more than 50 miles long valley road has fallen into the hands of the Tubo people, so we must make two preparations, one is to hoard heavy troops at the dangerous exit point in the north of the Great Dou Tu Valley, and secondly, the defenders of Zhangye City must have at least 10,000 people.

The two items add up, and the number of troops we have left behind is 13,000 people, and we actually only have 4,000 usable troops, so I sent a letter to Chang'an yesterday, imploring the Son of Heaven to temporarily transfer 10,000 troops from Liangzhou, and it is estimated that there will be news in two or three days, which is on the one hand, on the other hand, I want to use the prisoners of war of the Shatuo Army in my hands to exchange for the prisoners of war of the Tang Army in the hands of the Shatuo people, which is about 4,000 people, which will also be a source of our troops. ”

Only then did everyone suddenly realize that the reason why the governor insisted on accepting prisoners of war was to exchange prisoners of war with the Shatuo army, An Rengui asked: "May I ask the governor, we still have prisoners of war in the hands of the Shatuo people, is this news reliable?" ”

"It should be reliable!"

Guo Song smiled slightly: "I have inquired from many sources, not all of the previous 7,000 brothers were killed, at least most of them were captured, and the Shatuo people are also in urgent need of young and strong men to open mines for them, and they do not drive out the enemy army as before, but use them as slaves after being captured." ”

"May I ask the governor, do you have to wait for reinforcements to arrive before attacking Jiuquan, will you lose your fighters?" This time it was Liang Wu who asked the question, he was a little anxious, and he couldn't wait to send troops to Jiuquan now.

Guo Song still shook his head, "Jiuquan must be taken as soon as possible, it can't be delayed, even if the Tubo people want to sneak attack Ganzhou, it will not be a matter of time and a half, at least after a while, I just said that we need to take precautions." ”

At this time, Yao Jin raised his hand and said: "Governor, there is a suggestion from the humble position, you can first send 3,000 people to hoard at the dangerous place at the exit of Dadou Bagu, and then Zhangye City will leave 5,000 people, and Qilianshu will leave 1,000 troops, and then we will send 8,000 troops north to Suzhou to seize Jiuquan, and then the reinforcements from Liangzhou should also arrive." ”

Guo Song pondered for a moment, nodded and asked, "Yes, I don't know if any of you are willing to lead troops to guard the Great Dou Tu Valley?" ”

Yao Jin raised his hand, "Since the plan was proposed by the lowly position, the lowly position is willing to lead the army to guard the valley!" ”

This is also in line with Guo Song's meaning, Yao Jin is bold and careful, he can take charge alone, and he can rest assured when he is handed over.

Guo Song immediately made arrangements, ordering Liang Wu to lead 5,000 men to defend Zhangye City, Yao Jin to lead 3,000 men to guard Dadou Bagu, and himself to lead 8,000 men to Jiuquan.

At the end of the discussion, everyone dispersed, Guo Song stopped Yao Jin, Guo Song pondered for a moment and said to him: "Before we set off to Ganzhou, the Tubo envoy arrived in Chang'an and put forward a proposal to send troops to help us seize the Hexi Corridor, but it was vetoed by the Son of Heaven, I think the Tubo army will never be reconciled, I estimate that they have already gathered troops at the other end of the Dadou Pull Valley."

Whether Tubo wants to send troops to capture Ganzhou or Shazhou, I can't judge yet, but if Ganzhou has a chance, they will definitely not let it go, so you are not pretentious this time, you must be vigilant, strengthen precautions, and beware of enemy sneak attacks! ”

Yao Jin hugged his fists and said: "Please rest assured, there is a humble position, and he will never let the Tubo soldiers take a step out of the Great Dou Tu Valley!" ”

.........

Early the next morning, Guo Song led 8,000 cavalry to the north and set off, about 400 miles from Zhangye to Jiuquan, and the army had to walk for three days to arrive.

At the same time, the Ganzhou army defeated the Shatuo army in Zhangye, and the news of the annihilation of the 30,000 Shatuo army also reached Chang'an, and the Chang'an government and the opposition suddenly rejoiced, which was another exciting victory news after the victory in Fengzhou, which really made the people of Chang'an and the officials of the court rejoice.

Li Shi, the son of heaven, was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth, this was the first war since he ascended the throne, and he started with a great victory, which was a good momentum.

Li Shi was very excited, drunk that night, early the next morning, Li Shi officially issued an order to commend the soldiers of the Ganzhou army, the dead and disabled soldiers were doubled, and at the same time ordered the lord Guo Song to be the Duke of Xia Guo, and he was crowned as the doctor of Jin Ziguanglu, rewarded with 10,000 taels of gold, and the rest of the generals were promoted to a higher level, and at the same time rewarded the three armies with 500,000 yuan and 300,000 silk horses.

In the imperial study, Li Shi summoned Xiangguo Li Mi, and Li Shi pondered and asked, "Is it that the political affairs hall has a lot of complaints about my reward?" ”

"Your Majesty is also aware of it! There should be a reward for meritorious service, this is undoubted, everyone has no opinion on adding officials to the knight, Guo Song sealed the country, and no one objected, but let the court take out so much money and silk at once, everyone has a little opinion, Your Majesty should know that the imperial court is now financially tight, Jianghuai's salt tax and Bashu's money and grain have not been shipped, if it weren't for Yang Xiangguo's levy on liquor, the imperial court would really be a little unsustainable. ”

Li Shi sighed and said: "I also know that the imperial court is difficult, but the promotion of officials to the knighthood is only limited to generals, and for ordinary soldiers, if there is no reward, it is really a bit unreasonable." ”

"Your Majesty, Wechen remembers that when Guo Song was in Fengzhou, he used land to reward military merits, and Wechen felt that this method was very good, and there were a large number of official fields in every state and county, and these official fields could indeed be used to reward military merits and settle bereavement pensions, which could greatly reduce the financial burden of the imperial court."

"But I have already issued an edict, do I want to be untrustworthy?"

"Your Majesty, in fact, it can be converted, such as five yuan or five horses of silk for one acre of land, and then Your Majesty increases it a little bit to ensure that each soldier can have a reward of ten acres of land, and the land is given to their families, Weichen feels that this is much more meaningful than simply rewarding money and silk."

Li Shi pondered for a moment, and finally nodded, "Xiangguo is reasonable, the political hall will study it, and if it is feasible, decide it!" ”

Li Mi suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, he could finally go back to the political affairs hall to give an errand.

"Your Majesty, there is another attack on Jiuquan.......

Without waiting for Li Yu to finish speaking, Li Yi immediately decided: "The attack on Jiuquan was agreed by me a long time ago, and there is no opposition, and I will never give in." ”

"Your Majesty, in fact, Weichen is also in favor of attacking Jiuquan, this is indeed a good opportunity, but to move the whole body, capture Suzhou, the next step is Guazhou and Shazhou, if they are successfully attacked, then it will cost a lot of financial, material and manpower to defend it in the future, can the court afford it? In addition, Tubo will not sit idly by, and Hui will not sit idly by, how will we deal with it? I think these should be carefully considered, not just for a moment, please Your Majesty! ”

Li Shi pondered for a moment and said, "That's it! Take Jiuquan first, whether to continue north to Guazhou, and take a look at the situation. ”

After a pause, Li Shi added: "I have agreed to transfer 10,000 Liangzhou troops to support Zhangye. ”