Early morning of February 10, 637.

The vanguard of the coalition forces finally reached the edge of the oasis in the southeast of Gaochang Kingdom. On the way, the coalition forces seized all the pedestrians, so the coalition army's imminent attack on Gaochang did not alarm the Gaochang people.

In the afternoon of that day, the liaison officer of the Northwest Frontier Affairs Bureau, who was sent by Wang Xuance to greet the army, was brought to Li You and others, and he introduced the current situation in Gaochangguo.

The state of Gaochang was also a city-state, with a total of 23 cities in its territory. Among them, there are five large cities, namely the capital Gaochang City and four county seats, as well as 18 county seats. The usual troop deployment was 3,000 men in Gaochang City, 500 men in each of the four counties, and about 100 local armed guards in each county.

After listening to his introduction, the generals all thought it was funny, this battle was really not interesting. There are more than 30,000 coalition troops, isn't this bullying?

Next, the liaison officer introduced: "The lord of Gaochang has received an order from the Turkic Khan, and he wants to mobilize 2,000 soldiers and horses of Gaochang to go to Qiuci to participate in the Turkic crusade against Desire, and he will set off early tomorrow morning." ”

Li You praised: "I really didn't mistake Wang Xuance, this guy actually provoked the civil war in the Western Turks in advance. Now, we don't have to worry about the intervention of the Western Turks for the time being. ”

He immediately sent a summons to the main generals of the various ministries to come to the meeting.

After the generals arrived, Hou Junji briefly introduced the situation, and everyone felt very relaxed.

Hou Junji said: "Your Highness, you can talk about it first. ”

Li You said: "I have one request, that is, the two thousand main forces of Gaochang Kingdom should stay in Gaochang. ”

Sima Jiong asked, "Your Highness, wouldn't it be better to fight the battle if they let them go?" ”

Li You shook his head and said, "What you said has some truth. I have other ideas in mind, though. ”

Gao Yong said: "The minister agrees with His Highness's opinion. These 2,000 men had to take with them a large amount of ordnance, horses, and other supplies when they were going to go on the expedition. These things should be our trophies. ”

"Well said." The crowd was unanimous.

Li You smiled: "This is one of them. Let's talk about it, what else is the purpose? ”

Hou Junji knew the main reason, but in his capacity, he would not answer such a simple question.

Sima Jiong's suggestion just now was vetoed by the prince, and he felt a little shameless, so he hurriedly replied: "Your Highness, the minister knows." We are going to occupy Gaochang for a long time, and if these people stay outside, it will be a hidden danger sooner or later in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with them in one fell swoop. ”

"Yes, that's a good point." Li You praised.

He then asked, "I have another important use. What do you say? ”

Hou Junji probably guessed his intentions, but after thinking about it, he felt that something was wrong, so he didn't say anything.

Xue Rengui, Hou Cheng, Qualcomm, Murong Ling, Ash Naqing and others were all trying to guess, but they still hadn't figured it out.

At this time, Li You saw that Ash Naqing was a little eager to try, so he encouraged her and said, "You talk about it, it doesn't matter if it's wrong." ”

Ashina Qing said: "Slave guess you want these people to help you go to war. Although she now has the identity of the county lord, she is used to following Li You's side, and she still considers herself a slave.

Li You praised: "Yes, that's exactly what I meant. The Western Regions are too big, and relying only on our tens of thousands of horses is not enough to defeat the entire Western Regions. ”

Hou Junji was a little unconvinced, he said: "Your Highness, let's take down Gaochang, even if we capture these people." Can these people use it? ”

"Yes, Your Highness, I'm afraid it's not appropriate." The crowd raised questions.

Li You smiled: "Does anyone dare to bet with me?" ”

Hearing this, everyone shook their heads together.

Li You said: "In the next battle, I hope that all units will strictly abide by battlefield discipline and try not to kill or injure civilians as much as possible. Prisoners of war are not to be killed as long as they do not resist.

That's all I have to say, how to fight the next battle, General Hou is in charge, you can discuss. ”

After that, he sat on the side and said nothing, listening to the discussion of the generals and learning from their experiences.

Hou Junji, Gao Yong, Ashina Simo and others are all experienced generals and have rich experience in how to fight. They are the most reluctant to listen to others' criticism, and they all feel comfortable when they see Li You's style.

After studying the situation, Hou Junji and others formulated a specific combat plan. Although Li You did not interfere with the process of setting up the battle plan, the battle plan was completed after the day. Hou Junji, as the deputy marshal, still reported to Li You, the coach.

Hou Junji's deployment was to use the main force of the Ashina Simo Department to insert between Gaochang and Yanqi to cut off the connection between Gaochang and the Western Turks. At the same time, the surrounding counties were laid on the spot.

Hou Junji and Gao Yong led the main force of the Tang army and attacked Gaochang City. The main force of Tuyuhun's army was responsible for guarding Li You, attacking the other counties of Gaochang one by one.

Li You had no opinion, and Hou Junji immediately organized and launched a campaign to attack Gaochang.

Sichang County is a county with a population of just over 3,000 people, and the people here have not experienced war for more than 20 years, and the people live a peaceful and comfortable life.

On this morning, a rumbling sound of iron hooves broke through the silence here, and an army of tens of thousands of people, ten thousand horses, galloped, passed outside the city.

Several soldiers guarding the city gates did not know these troops, but it was certain that they were not the army of Gaochangguo. So they hurriedly closed the gates and sent messengers to the city order.

The city commander hurriedly led people to the castle tower and looked out. At this time, the army had just passed, and the billowing smoke and dust in the distance were still clearly visible.

Seeing that this army did not attack the county seat, Cheng Ling and the others breathed a sigh of relief. However, he knew that something unusual had happened, so he mobilized the people of the city to go to the city wall to defend it.

At this moment, smoke and dust were billowing in the distance, and thousands of horses were galloping, rushing towards the county seat. This time someone on the city wall recognized it, this is the banner of the Don Army.

The first time it was Ashina Simo's men and horses that passed, and this time it was Hou Junji's main force of the Tang Army who came.

The city commander looked at the rolling iron stream outside the city in horror, for fear that they would be interested in their small county seat. Thankfully, the Tang army ignored them and rushed straight forward.

Suddenly, the city commander found a soldier holding a bow and arrow and aiming outward, he trembled in his heart, and said secretly: "Aren't you looking for death?" ”

He stepped forward, kicked the soldier hard, and shouted: "Everyone pay attention, all squat, don't provoke the Tang army outside." ”

Finally, the Tang army was all gone. Cheng Ling secretly rejoiced in his heart: "It seems that these troops are just passing by, and they won't fight the idea of the small county town of Shichang County." ”

Soon after, there was smoke and dust, and a large army rushed in the direction of the county seat. The city commander looked at it from a distance and found that this army was more numerous, and the banners were chaotic, and the one recognized was the banner of the Tang Army.

This army is the men and horses of Tuyuhun and Xue Yantuo commanded by Li You and the two female generals.

The city commander prayed in his heart, hoping that this great army would also be like the army in front of it, just passing by. However, he was disappointed - the army stopped in front of the gates of the county seat. And several cavalry detachments were divided from it, galloping around the city wall, and soon surrounded Sichang County!8)