The climate in Yuli is getting colder and colder.

It even snowed last night, although it didn't rain for long, but this was still extremely bad news for Li Ling.

Judging from past practice, as long as it starts to snow here in the Western Regions, then soon a snowstorm will come.

The howling north wind will carry continuous snow and ice to lock the mountain gorge.

At that time, the passage between the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains will be completely closed.

If you want to withdraw again, it will not be so easy.

And the closure of the passage also means that the army of Wei Li will completely lose the supply of materials from the Western Regions.

"Why hasn't Zhang Anshi come yet?" Li Ling muttered to himself.

This question is not only being asked by him, but also by the Huns, and even by the monarchs and nobles of the Western Regions.

In the past few days, Li Ling and the sages have done everything in their power to spread the news that they have concentrated the prisoners of war of the Han army in Weili.

To be reasonable, judging from Zhang Anshi's hometown and the current situation, he should arrive immediately!

"It's not normal!" Li Ling thought worriedly: "Zhang Anshi must be planning something!" ”

Just thinking about this, a nobleman hurriedly came to Li Ling and knelt down to report: "King, something is wrong!" ”

"What's the matter?" Li Ling immediately asked, "But the Han army is coming?" ”

"King, a messenger has just come to report that the cavalry of the Han Dynasty has attacked Qiuzi, and Duyan City has been lost!"

When Li Ling heard this, he stumbled and barely stood firm.

Turtles!

The strategic cornerstone of the Xiongnu at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains!

It has an almost irreplaceable strategic position!

Because, Qiuzi directly controls the throat of the entire north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and is even more condescending, monitoring the entire Luntai area and the Jixian water basin behind it.

But the question is......

How did the Han Dynasty army bypass Yuli and attack Qiuzi?

Moreover, Qiuzi is not completely defenseless and defensive!

At least half of the main force of the Qiuci Kingdom is still guarding Qiuci, in addition, there are thousands of Hun cavalry and more than 4,000 horses from Weisu and Yanlu to assist in the defense.

There is also a large city like Yancheng, which is also a fortress in the Western Regions.

How could it have fallen so quickly?

Moreover, Li Ling didn't even hear any rumors or receive any signals before this!

The nobleman said: "The minister heard that it seems that the king of Qiuzi rebelled......"

When Li Ling heard this, he suddenly raised his head: "King Qiuzi rebelled? ”

He muttered to himself, "That's right, if you don't rebel, King Guizi is too stupid......"

The 36 countries of the Western Regions, since the conquest of the Xiongnu Lao Shangdanyu, the rule of the Xiongnu here is to walk on two legs.

One is deterrence and exploitation.

The Xiongnu demanded that the states of the Western Regions contribute slaves, cloth, gold, treasures, grain, and other handicraft products to Shan Yuting on time.

The other is support and protection.

The Huns, who received the protection money, would actively maintain the rule of the royal family and nobility of the Western Regions.

This includes, but is not limited to, sending troops to help the pro-Xiongnu kings eradicate dissidents, suppress rebellions, and even support a new king to ascend the throne.

In this way, for more than 100 years, the countries of the Western Regions have become dependent on the Xiongnu.

Most kings would marry the daughters of Xiongnu nobles, and even Shan Yu was the second lady of Zuo.

Its domestic aristocracy also had close ties with the Xiongnu.

Therefore, although the Xiongnu exploited and demanded a lot.

But all the nations can still endure it, they can all accept it, and there is no second choice

I chose.

However, this is not the case now.

The strong intervention of the Han Dynasty gave the Western Regions a second choice.

What's even worse is that in the past two years, the sages have been reckless.

First, he gathered the strength of the entire Western Regions and confronted Hulugu, but he didn't fight at all, and was almost pushed by Hulugu.

At the critical moment, Mobei was on fire, and Hulugu urgently withdrew his troops, and at this moment, the master of the Western Regions may have become a certain son of Hulugu.

As for the ancestors, the best outcome is to flee to the Han Dynasty and become a puppet of the Han people.

Originally, it was already very hurtful.

Fox Lugu's evaluation and prestige in the Western Regions have also dropped to the freezing point, and there is not much patience and patience left for it.

In order to be single, he resolutely launched the Battle of Luntai.

poured out of the nest, although the wheel was laid, it also summoned the army of the Han Dynasty.

But at this time, Hulugu refused to admit defeat and obediently withdrew her troops, but wanted to continue to the end.

So, for the continuation of the war.

Xian Xian and his subordinates, in the countries of the Western Regions, knocked out the bones and sucked the marrow, and did everything possible to raise materials and soldiers.

Especially Weili, Qiuzi, Weisu, Yanlu and other countries are still exploiting!

With the mentality of 'even if the last person from the Western Regions dies, the Xiongnu will never give in', these countries are almost as if they have been swept away by natural disasters.

Like in Weili, in order to maintain the existence of the army.

The Huns stipulated that each household must send a man to serve the Xiongnu, and at the same time, they must also provide ten catties of firewood to the Xiongnu every day, and one load of firewood and five catties of cheese must be supplied every five days.

Moreover, it is not only the herdsmen and people at the bottom who are oppressed and exploited in this way.

The ruling class, too, is doomed.

Their estates and houses were forcibly seized by the Huns, their granaries and cellars were emptied by the Huns, and all their wealth and slaves were lost.

Like King Yuli, even the royal palace was occupied by the Huns and became a place to house prisoners of war from the Han Dynasty.

The king and his ministers could only huddle in less than a third of the place, shivering in huddles for warmth.

I'm afraid Guizi won't be there.

In such a situation, as long as the king of Qiuzi has the opportunity, he will inevitably rebel and become the leading party!

To be reasonable, if it weren't for the fact that the main force of the Huns is here now, I'm afraid the situation will be similar.

"Mencius said: "The righteous are more helpful and the unrighteous are less ......helpful," Li Ling laughed when he thought about this: "It seems that even Yidi is the same!" ”

This situation gave him some new ideas for the future.

But in any case, he knew that he had to face the outcome now.

…………………………

Almost five hundred miles to the west of Yuli is the Kingdom of Qiuzi.

This ancient kingdom of the Western Regions has been established for 200 years.

In the royal palace of Qiuzi, there are murals depicting the migration of its ancestors and people from afar.

And now, it has a new owner.

Han army in black armor and red battle robes.

Landing on the head of Duyan City, Gongsun Jing was full of emotion in his heart.

Qiuci is one of the largest countries in the Western Regions, and its territory once covered the current Yuli, Luntai, and Qiyou, and almost occupied most of the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.

Even now, it still covers thousands of miles of land, and it is a powerful country in the Western Regions after Wusun and Shache.

It is also the strategic cornerstone of the Xiongnu in the northern part of the Western Regions.

And now, the country has bowed to Han.

"Purge the remnants of the Huns in Qiuci

After that, our army immediately advanced to the Tianshan Pass and closed it! Shangguan respectfully ordered: "Send someone back to Luntai to inform Li Duwei and Wang Xiaowei, and ask them to send the good news back to Chang'an!" ”

Taking Qiuzi means that the Han army has achieved half of its pre-war strategic intentions.

Now, the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains has been controlled by the Han Dynasty, except for the Weili part.

Controlling Qiuzi was a surprise for the Han army.

Originally, the Han army had no extravagant hope that it would be able to control Qiuzi before it dealt with Wei Li.

But......

The active contact between King Guizi and his ministers made this possible.

Five thousand Han horsemen, galloping hundreds of miles for three days and three nights, under the leadership of the Qiuzi army, unexpectedly appeared under the city of Duyan.

Then, with the Qiuzi army and nobles in the city, it took almost no effort to clear the Xiongnu army in Duyan City.

Now, the tide of battle has completely turned in favor of Zhang Anshi.

After possessing Qiuzi, the Han army gained a geographical advantage in the Western Regions for the first time.

Now, the Han army in the direction of Qiuci can suppress or even cut off the connection between the enemy of Weili and the south of the Tianshan Mountains from the west to the east.

This is not good news for the Huns!

The whole ditch plough is now in a panic.

Thanks to the cartographic and map-reading techniques taught by Zhao Xin, Wei Lu, Li Ling and others, the high-level nobles of the Xiongnu now have a certain geographical knowledge and map reading ability.

So, now they just have to open their eyes and look at the map of the northern foot of the Tian Shan Mountains drawn on sheepskin.

Everyone will tremble uncontrollably!

Judging from the map, Qiuzi is simply the ** of Yuli and the entire northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

Not only does it condescendingly overlook the entire Weili, but what is more terrible is that the Qiuzi people directly control the water sources and roads that are related to the lifeline of the entire northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains!

Now, the main force of the Xiongnu Western Regions is like a beast that has fallen into the trap of a hunter.

It has no strategic room to retreat and maneuver.

If you lose once, you can lose them all!

"King Jiankun, what should I do now?" Xianxian looked at Li Ling and couldn't help but ask, "Do we have to prepare to retreat?" ”

As soon as the turtle was lost, the portal of the northern foot of the entire Tianshan Mountains was opened.

If the Han Dynasty army took advantage of the victory and pursued and ignored the direction of Weili, they could even climb through the Northern Tianshan Mountains from Qiuci, enter the rich and beautiful Tarim Territory, and do whatever they want in the anointed land of the Huns!

Not much, as long as there are 3,000 cavalry to kill it, the entire territory will be turned upside down!

Now, as long as the sages close their eyes, they will dream of the scene of the Han Dynasty cavalry overturning the river and the sea in his old lair, so he is so frightened that he can't sleep at all!

"Tu Hao doesn't need to panic...... Li Ling still looked calm, he looked at the sages and said, "Although the current situation is unfavorable, it is not without a chance of winning!" ”

He'd already figured it out.

In this battle, it doesn't matter if you win or lose.

The key is to deplete the strength of both Han and Hungary.

It is best for Xianxian and Zhang Anshi to lose both, and at worst, to lose the strength of both sides as much as possible.

In this way, no matter if that side wins, it will be impossible for the power to interfere in the affairs of Mobei in the next few years.

Especially the Han Dynasty!

Li Ling knew very well that the financial strength, manpower and material resources of the Han family could not withstand such consumption.

After this battle, the Han army did not cultivate and accumulate for three or five years, and had no strength to go out again.

In this way, the powerful Han Dynasty army will become a mountain guard dog because of its national strength.

This gave him and his friends the opportunity to slowly plot within the Huns!