In early February, Li Qi led nearly 40,000 cavalry troops across the Yellow River and marched westward along the Gobi road north of the Yellow River. At this time, the Tengger Desert did not expand to the north bank of the Yellow River as in later generations, and the north of the Yellow River was still an endless Gobi. The trees on both sides of the Yellow River valley have sprouted tender green leaf buds, with a hazy green.

Due to the problem of drinking water for the army, the cavalry of the brigade could not cross the desert to Liangzhou like those camel caravans, but marched along the road on the north bank of the Yellow River to Liangzhou.

Fifteen days later, the Son of Heaven's Chinese army arrived in Liangzhou.

Sun Chao, the queen of Liangzhou, had already led the leaders and generals of the Liangzhou Fan and Han tribes, as well as the cavalry of the Kang Jiu Division, who had arrived in Liangzhou in advance, to greet them outside the city.

From a distance, I saw flags waving on the avenue, and behind the cavalry team of twelve dragon flags, a big red nine-sword Daxu slowly came. But the cavalry guarding the guards were all in brocade robes and chain mail, and the mounts under their crotches were also wearing vests. But seeing that the armor is distinct, the swords and guns are like a forest, and the military appearance is extremely neat.

Where have the leaders of the Fan Han Dynasty in Liangzhou seen this kind of battle, they all looked at each other, stood by the road, and welcomed the arrival of the holy car.

"How can you be so young?!"

Sun Chao looked at the young man in front of Da Xu, who was wearing a golden armor and riding on the back of a jujube horse, and his expression was a little dazed.

Zhang Xun, the chief officer behind him, stretched out his hand and gently stabbed him, and then he came to his senses.

"Greetings to the Son of Heaven!" Sun Chao took the lead and raised his fists with both hands above his head, and led a group of leaders and officials of various departments in Liangzhou to bow down to greet him.

"You have worked hard to keep the people safe for a long time." Li Qi said loudly, he glanced at the leaders of the officials and generals in Liangzhou who were standing to greet him, and then said: "I also ask Sun Liuhou and the leader of Tubo Pan to enter the city with me." He named these two people to accompany him, which was a high honor.

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Sun Chao and Pan Jialuo were overjoyed when they heard this, and hurriedly ordered someone to bring their mounts and followed the Son of Heaven.

The city of Liangzhou is tall and sturdy, although the ancient city wall with blue bricks on the surface looks a little dilapidated, but this giant city with only one city wall is six or seven miles long, and the scale is equivalent to that of Youzhou. Liangzhou City is located between two rivers, it is spring at this time, the river is big, the waves on the river are surging, and the river water seems a little turbid.

As the saying goes, "Jin Zhangye, Yin Wuwei", Ganzhou and Liangzhou have fertile land and abundant products, and the Hexi Corridor at the foot of Qilian Mountain in this era is lush with water and grass, and the fertile fields and pastures outside Liangzhou City are endless. In the Tang Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor was an important grain-producing area in the Northwest Frontier, and it was precisely because of the abundant grain production that it was able to support the long-term competition between hundreds of thousands of Tang troops in Hexi and Tibet in the Qingtang region. Moreover, the Hexi horse is bred from the Han Dynasty from the introduction of the Central Asian Wanliang horse, well-proportioned, fast, and docile character, has always been one of the best military horses in China.

Being able to control the Hexi Corridor was Li Qi's wish for a long time, but he didn't expect to get Shuofang and Liangzhou so early, and things went unexpectedly smoothly, which still made Li Qi feel a little surprised.

In fact, after careful analysis, the original powerful Tibetan emperor has collapsed, and the Tibetan tribes in Qingtang and Hexi are also working independently, and the biggest force in Hexi has become the original inconspicuous Hui tribe. However, the Ganzhou Hui seems to be strong, with a population of less than 30,000, and even if all the people are soldiers, they can only piece together less than 60,000 soldiers and horses, and their strength is also very limited.

The 50,000 armored cavalry sent by the Jinyang side this time was enough to sweep the entire Hexi.

Thinking about it this way, it is a matter of course to be able to convince all parties.

After resting in Liangzhou for three days, Li Qi continued to lead the army to Ganzhou, this time adding more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of the Han Dynasty in Liangzhou, and the 60,000 army rushed to the north.

It is about 500 miles from Liangzhou to Ganzhou, and it does not seem particularly desolate. From the valleys of the Qilian Mountains due to the meltwater of the snow-capped mountains, large and small rivers have formed oases in the Hexi Corridor.

The army crossed the wide valley formed between the Qilian Mountains and the Rouge Mountains into the territory of Ganzhou, and then continued along the Koudan River to Ganzhou. After the Rouge Mountain, it is basically a flat and open pasture or the Gobi, which is very suitable for large-scale cavalry combat.

When the Tang army arrived in Cheldan, Renyu Khan, who had Ganzhou, finally could not resist the pressure and sent an envoy to Li Qi's camp to claim his ministers.

On the tenth day after setting out from Liangzhou, the army was already able to see the city of Ganzhou from afar, and Li Qi ordered the army to set up camp in the south of the flood river. As a result, when the camp was being set up, Renyu Khan led the main officials and generals of Ganzhou to arrive outside the camp.

Renyu Khan, who was about thirty-six or seven years old, crossed the river from a pontoon bridge over the Flood River under the escort of a group of generals. He entered Li Qi's big tent, bowed his hand and said, "The minister returns to the Khan Renyu to meet His Majesty the Heavenly Khan." ”

Li Qi looked at Renyu and said expressionlessly: "You are a khan, and I am also a khan, how can you say that you are in the audience?" I'm going to visit your family in Ganzhou. ”

Renyu was taken aback by Li Qi's words: "The little khan of the minister was sealed by the first emperor, the emperor is the heavenly khan who owns the whole world, and the minister is only the little khan in the tribe, besides, Shatuo and Hui are originally a family, and his subordinates have always supported the heavenly khan, and they dare not have the will of the heavenly khan." ”

Li Qi said: "I heard that you are going to claim to be the lord of the country, but you really can't do it this day." ”

Renyu leaned down and said, "The minister has already canceled the name of the country, and he still hopes that the Khan of Heaven will forgive his sins." ”

Li Qi said: "Okay, everyone is a brother, I will no longer pursue it, and in the future, I must remember to abide by the rules of the court." Come, give a seat! ”

After Renyu sat down, Li Qi asked about the situation of Gan and Su, and found that the Renyu family's control of Gan and Su was not as tight as he originally imagined, and most of the tribes were still in a state of their own affairs.

His original plan was to prepare to detain Renyu in the camp, and then forcibly relocate the Hui nobles from Gansu and Su Prefectures to Yunzhou for resettlement. Now I find that there is no need for this.

As long as Jinyang's forces come over, it won't be long before they can be overpowered by military and commercial means.

Of course, this requires a long period of water grinding......

Li Qi stayed in Ganzhou all the time, summoning the leaders of the two prefectures of Gan and Su every day, and at the same time, the Guiyi Army of Xuansha Prefecture made Cao Yijin and Guazhou Assassin Shi Murong Guiying to Ganzhou for the Hajj.

His delay in Ganzhou made Renyu very nervous about this, for fear that the emperor would suddenly cut his power one day. However, seeing that the emperor was alone and there was no woman around him to take care of, he gritted his teeth and simply sent his daughter over. For this kind of thing, Li Qi couldn't make him cry and laugh, and he couldn't refuse. can only take the princess Hui, who is named Tianxiang, by his side, which can be regarded as an extra concubine.

An army of 50,000 or 60,000 people, people eat horses and chew horses, and the daily expenses are huge, just when Renyu felt that he couldn't bear it anymore, Cao Yijin and Murong Guiying finally arrived. After seeing these two people and comforting them in words, Li Qi's trip to Hexi finally came to an end, and he finally set off to return to the court.

Seeing the tens of thousands of troops leaving, Na Renyu finally breathed a sigh of relief and completely settled down......

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