After dawn, the Tang army attacked everywhere to drive out the Tibetan herdsmen, and the rebels were all killed, and thousands of Tibetan herdsmen were expelled from Anxi.

Guo Song led his men to patrol around the end of the city, and the end of the city is the end of the later generation of the end of the county, located in the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, thanks to the snow melt of Kunshan, there are large oases here, many rivers, and finally converge into the end of the river, flowing into the Puchang Sea.

Guo Song pointed to the surrounding oasis with a horsewhip and said: "It is completely possible to build a military town here, and the surrounding oases are military camps, and there is no problem with food self-sufficiency, and you can also raise cattle and sheep, and the source of meat and fur can also be solved." ”

Xie Tianshan said on the side: "It has always been the dream of the old prince to establish a military town in the end of the river, he originally wanted to connect the four cities of the end of the river in the east, but they all failed, or because the Tibetan army continued to kill from the plateau. ”

Guo Song is completely understandable, and the end of the city is located at the fork of the Kunlun Mountains and the Altun Mountains, from the plateau, and the end of the city is the only way to pass, the reason why the Tubo regard the end of the city as a stronghold is here.

Guo Song nodded and asked, "What happened to the four cities of Mohe now?" ”

And the four cities of Mohe refer to the crossbow branch city, the new city, the Dianhe city and the Putao city, which were broken by the combined forces of Tubo and Tuyuhun ten years ago, and now the situation is unknown?

Xie Tianshan sighed and said: "And the four cities of Mohe are gone, and the last bit of garrison has also arrived in Khotan, the old prince wants to rebuild, but he has no manpower and material resources, so he can only give up." ”

If you rebuild a big city on the original site of the four cities of the end of the river, and regard it as the town of the end of the army, it is actually better than building it here, there is the Altun Mountain behind it, and there is the irrigation of the end of the river, there are more oases than here, and you can also have a large number of fields, although there are many oases here, but the wind is too strong in winter, and the cold is unbearable.

At this time, Guo Song pointed to the north with a horsewhip and asked Xie Tianshan: "Can you go north directly from here?" ”

Guo Song has been thinking about this problem, from the end of the city to Qiuci City, but also to turn back to Puchanghai, and then to the west, the road is too far, it takes too much time, if you can go north directly, you can save at least four or five days.

Xie Tianshan shook his head and said: "From here, it is the hinterland of the great desert to go directly north, it is impossible to leave, we generally go east to Putao City, and then go directly north, there is no need to go to Puchanghai for transit, although it is the edge of the Turanda Desert, but there is still a small oasis, it only takes two days to ride a horse to pass through, which saves three days than taking Puchanghai." ”

"What if we go west?"

Xie Tianshan said with a smile: "Actually, it is better to go west, first to Khotan Military Town, and then go north along the Jade River, you can directly pass through the Great Desert and arrive at Qiuci City." ”

The Jade River is the Hetian River of later generations, formed by the confluence of the Yulong Kashgar River and the Karakash River, the Tang Dynasty was not a seasonal river, even if there is a small amount of water in the dry season, it has been flowing north into the Red River, now it is the time when the ice and snow melt, the amount of water is more sufficient, the reason why the Tang Army of Anxi does not take Puchanghai is here, go directly to the Jade River, cross the desert, and arrive at Khotan Town, there is no need to detour far.

Guo Song pondered for a moment, and then said happily: "Then go to Khotan Town!" ”

Two days later, the Tang army completely drove away the nearby herdsmen and seized a large number of cattle and sheep, which were not owned by the herdsmen, but by the Tubo military, and the herdsmen were just grazing for the Tubo army.

At this time, 5,000 camels from Puchanghai arrived at the end of the city with 20,000 stone of grain, and Guo Song left 1,000 troops to defend the end of the city, and he led 15,000 troops and 5,000 camels and a large number of cattle and sheep to Khotan Town, which was thousands of miles away.

.......

It is about 1,200 miles from the end of the city to Khotan, there are several oases on the way, in the past, it was the Tang army's defense and capture city, such as Lancheng guarding, Niyang guarding and capturing and Kancheng guarding, but now the troops are insufficient, the guards have been abandoned, and the oasis is also occupied by Tubo and Tuyuhun herdsmen, and the Tang army in Anxi is powerless to drive away.

The Tang army walked for ten days before finally arriving at Khotan Town, where the soldiers and horses were also an old friend of Zheng Ju, who went to Qiuzi for help when he was the general of the crossbow branch town, and almost died in Puchanghai, and was rescued by Guo Song, who came to Anxi for the first time.

Zheng Zhi's father, Zheng Wengao, was a veteran soldier and horse envoy in Khotan Town, and after his death a few years ago, Guo Xin appointed him as a soldier and horse envoy in Khotan, took over his father's sword, and continued to sit in Khotan.

There are currently 1,000 troops in Khotan, and in the past two years, as the Tibetans continued to occupy the pastures, Khotan also felt the pain, and they began to treat the Tang army well, and the Tang army in Khotan was able to slightly improve their living conditions.

Zheng Zhi heard that Guo Song was coming, and personally went out of the city ten miles to greet him, looking at the endless Tang army, Zheng Ju was even more excited, Guo Zhijun was going to kick Tubo out of Anxi completely!

He accompanied Guo Song all the way to Khotan.

"It's funny to say, last autumn the king of Khotan wanted to recapture the Nanshan pasture, and did not inform us, he led two thousand troops to drive away the Tibetan herdsmen, as a result, hundreds of Tibetan troops were killed, the Khotanese army was defeated, hundreds of dead and wounded, the Tibetan army also attacked the city of Khotan, but we defended, the king of Khotan's attitude towards us has changed greatly, it is closer than his own brothers."

Guo Song suddenly became interested and asked, "How did a thousand soldiers defend Khotan City?" ”

"With fire oil!"

Guo Song's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "Where is the fire oil?" ”

"In the heart of the desert, we loaded more than 2,000 barrels, and when the enemy came to attack, we burned more than 200 Tibetan soldiers with fire oil, and they had to withdraw."

This is good news, Anxi has oil oil, Guo Song, who has been looking for oil in Hexi without success, is in good spirits, and he is ready to spend a high price to buy oil in Yanzhou, which can save him money.

Guo Song heard the information in his words again, and asked again: "Where did the Tubo army you just said come from?" ”

"The envoy won't think that the Tubo army came from Shule, right?"

Guo Song shook his head, "I thought so at first, but it didn't feel right, even the wings of the Tubo army couldn't fly so fast." ”

"The Tibetan army is in Jiliang Town, about 30 miles away from Khotanese City, stationed 500 Tibetan soldiers, this side of the pasture is large, and there are many Tibetan herdsmen, so there is the protection of the army, so for so many years basically do not invade each other.

But last year's incident was more serious in nature, the death of more than 200 Tubo soldiers was a big deal for them, and the Shule Tubo army was likely to retaliate, and the king of Khotan was restless this winter, and he came to me several times to discuss countermeasures, and now the king led the army over, and it is estimated that he can sleep peacefully. ”

The army did not enter the city, and was stationed directly outside the city, they carried a marching tent, the marching tent was relatively light, it was easier to pack up and build, and it was folded directly and placed on horseback, and a marching tent could sleep three soldiers.

The big tent of the Chinese army was also set up immediately, and at this time, Zheng Ju hurriedly brought a middle-aged bearded man, with a black face and beard, his head wrapped in a white cloth, a turban with a huge ruby, and a good leather jacket.

Zheng Ju introduced to Guo Song: "Envoy, this is Ajuluo, the king of Khotan!" ”

Guo Song hurriedly saluted, "Under Guo Song, I have given a salute to the prince!" ”

The king of Khotan bowed deeply and said in a proficient Chinese: "We look forward to the army of the Tang Dynasty, just like the sick and waiting for a good doctor, and finally put the envoy to the king, and the name of the Han Dynasty is victorious." ”

Guo Song heard that his accent was a very standard Chang'an official dialect, so he smiled and said, "The prince seems to have stayed in Chang'an?" ”

"I lived in Chang'an for more than ten years when I was young, and in fact, the monarchs of all countries in Anxi have lived in Chang'an, and language communication is not a problem."

"That's convenient, please sit down!"

The two sat down separately, and some soldiers served them tea, and Ajuluo asked with an expectant face: "This time, Guo Yuanjun led the army over, it should be to restore the Anxi Jiedu Mansion!" ”

Guo Song nodded, "That's true, this is also the last wish of King Guo Laojun, and it is also the wish of every one of our Tang Dynasty soldiers." ”

"But the Tang Dynasty and Tubo signed an alliance agreement, so take the initiative to attack Tubo, will the monarch be impeached by the imperial court?"

The news was not smooth, and Ajuro didn't know what happened in Chang'an and Longyou.

Guo Song smiled slightly: "In the autumn of last year, we had already fought a fierce battle with Tubo in Longyou, and the alliance agreement had been torn up, so I decided to lead the army into Anxi." ”

"That's great!"

Agri excitedly asked, "What do you need us to do?" ”

Guo Song nodded, "To drive Tubo out of Anxi, I believe that it is not only the wish of the Tang Army, but also the common wish of all countries in Anxi, I hope that this time we can work together and work together to drive Tubo out of Anxi, so before launching the Shule Campaign, I will convene a gathering of various countries in Qiuci to discuss the plan, and I also ask the prince to convey it to you for me." ”

"I'll be happy to convey it to you!"

Ajuluo hesitated for a moment and then asked, "The Tang army came from the east, I don't know what happened to the Tubo army on the other side of the last city?" ”

Guo Song bowed slightly and said with a smile: "And the 1,000 Tubo army in the last city has been completely wiped out by us, the Tubo herdsmen have been driven back to the plateau, and the Tubo army in Khotan will be annihilated by us, and the main force of the Tang army will be temporarily stationed in Khotan Town, and we will carry the grain, and the cattle and sheep will also bring 200,000 heads, which will not cause trouble to Khotan." ”