While Tang and Tibet were still fighting each other, a powerful new force, the Arab Empire, emerged in the Western Regions, the Great Food Empire.

Since Muhammad and the Four Great Caliphs, the Arabs of the Middle East have risen rapidly, and Muslim has controlled a vast territory that the Assyrians, Persians and Romans never dared to think of, expanding from a few tribes on the Arabian Peninsula to an unprecedented empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, occupying all of North Africa and West Asia to the west, annexing all of West Asia and most of Central Asia to the east, and controlling the entire region on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. The Arab Empire became another powerful force in the Western Regions in addition to the Tang Dynasty and Tibet.

Before Tubo surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the king of Tubo married the princess to King Xiao Bolu, and Xiao Bolu and more than 20 countries around it were attached to Tubo and no longer paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty. Tang served as the envoy of the Anxi Festival, the capital of Tian Renwan, and Gai Jiayun, and sent troops to crusade several times, but they were all invincible. In the past six years, Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, ordered Gao Xianzhi to be the envoy of the camp and led 10,000 cavalry to conquer.

Gao Xianzhi was the fourth general to be sent to conquer Xiao Bolu. In April, the Pamirs depart from Qiuzi, the seat of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, and the climate conditions in the Pamirs are harsh, with only summer and autumn being slightly warmer. Gao Xianzhi's Tang. The number of troops was 10,000 cavalry, the infantry had private horses, plus the addition of Zhao Chongwei, the envoy of Shule guarding and capturing Zhao Chongwei, the transfer of the envoy Jia Chongjun, and the army of Protecting the Secret State and Knowing the Hidden Country, the final total strength was about 20,000 people. Gao Xianzhi's march route departed from Anxi in early April, arrived at the city of Diao after fifteen days, arrived at Shused in more than ten days, and arrived at Shule in more than ten days, where Gao Xianzhi's army rested. Then set out from Shule, after more than 20 days, arrived at the Green Ridge to guard and capture, and then after more than 20 days, arrived at the Bomi River, and then arrived at the Telman River after more than 20 days, at this time it was close to the fortress Lianyunbao on the border of Tibet, and Gao Xianzhi made a second rest here. The distance from Shule to Telmanchuan is about 400 kilometers, which is only about a quarter of the total journey, but it takes two-thirds of the time, because it is very difficult to cross mountains and mountains all the way.

The Pamir Plateau is five or six thousand meters above sea level, and even if it is passed through the valley pass, there are three or four thousand meters, according to the experience of later generations of mountaineers, at this altitude ordinary people will have more or less difficulty breathing, physical strength and other phenomena, but also to guard against bad weather and natural disasters such as landslides that may be encountered at any time. And Gao Xianzhi's army dui marched at this altitude for at least a month and a half, and also had to ensure the timely transportation of supplies, Gao Xianzhi had a headache all the way: how to make his army dui still maintain combat effectiveness after such a march? All three of his predecessors have retreated here.

Gao Xianzhi divided the army into pieces in Telmanchuan and divided it into three routes, Zhao Chongyu marched from Beigu Road, Jia Chongjun marched from Chifo Road, and Gao Xianzhi and Bian Lingcheng, the supervisor, led the Chinese army to march from the Protectorate State and assembled in front of Lianyunbao. This had at least one advantage, as it was much faster to march in small groups of troops on three separate mountain roads than to concentrate on one.

Lianyunbao is built on a mountain peak in the northeast of Afghanistan in the later generations, with steep cliffs on three sides, southeast and west, and only the north is flat, with the Penchi River as a barrier. There were 1,000 Tibetan troops stationed in the mountain fort, and there was a wooden fence about five or six kilometers south of the city, and there were 8,900 people stationed there, which was a dangerous pass that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The first thing Gao Xianzhi had to solve was to cross the Penchi River, when the snow melted in the summer and the river swelled.

Gao Xianzhi showed extraordinary courage and experience in this matter: the rivers on the plateau rely on the melting snow water of the surrounding snow-capped mountains, and the sunlight shines during the day, and the river flow is large, and the temperature at night on the plateau is very low, and the flow is naturally much smaller. Gao Xianzhi ordered his subordinates to cross the river at three or four o'clock in the morning, when the temperature was the lowest point of the day! "People don't wet the flag, horses don't wet the sheath", Gao Xianzhi easily overcame a seemingly insurmountable difficulty, which was not only for his soldiers before, but also for the Tubo army stationed on Lianyun Fort in the future, it was a crazy move.

Gao Xianzhi himself was overjoyed after crossing the river, "Come to me half of the thief, I am defeated, and now I am in a row, and it is God who gives me this thief."

Tang Dynasty. The army crossed the river at night, and before seven o'clock in the morning, when the sky was just dawning, it suddenly appeared in front of Lianyunbao, and the Tubo army was still asleep, how could they expect that the enemy would be able to attack the city so quickly!

But it's still a tough battle anyway, and bravery and speed are the key factors that will determine victory or defeat. Gao Xianzhi selected the fierce generals Li Siye and Tian Zhen as the left and right Mo sword generals, led the soldiers to storm Lianyun Fort, and issued a death order, must take the city before noon.

Mo Dao is Tang. The army's unique weapon, long pole, knife on both sides of the blade, the end is triangular, can be cut, can be stabbed, the powerful soldier with this knife to charge forward, unstoppable. This battle was fought from morning to noon, the other side lost 5,000 people and was captured alive 1,000 people. The army also paid a certain price.

After conquering this fortress, the only thing that could stop Gao Xianzhi's pace was the Tanju Ridge, which reached an altitude of more than 4,600 meters above sea level at the mountain pass, and the only difficulty Gao Xianzhi faced was how to inspire the courage of the soldiers, so that they had the courage to follow him over the snow-capped mountain and continue to advance. The overseer Bian Lingcheng peed his pants first, and Gao Xianzhi had no choice but to leave him and the 3,000 soldiers with weak physique in Lianyunbao.

Gao Xianzhi's more than 10,000 soldiers finally climbed the iceberg of Tanju Ridge at an altitude of more than 4,600 meters after a lot of hard climbing. There are only three people in history who have done this kind of thing, the other two are Han Niba and the other is Napoleon, and they have climbed the Alps, but at a slightly lower altitude.

It is easy to go up the mountain and difficult to descend, from the top of Tanjuling Mountain to the bottom of the southern slope of the mountain, there are at least 20 kilometers of steep mountain roads covered with snow and ice, and after going down, you will enter the enemy territory, that is, if you fail, there is no way out.

Tang Dynasty. The soldiers all asked Gao Xianzhi suspiciously, "Where does the general want us to go?" ”

If it is an ordinary commander, he may directly force the soldiers to go down the mountain, and if there is a retreat, he will kill a few, but this will definitely greatly dampen morale, and may even lead to mutiny.

Gao Xianzhi used an ingenious method to send more than 20 people down the mountain long before climbing the mountain, pretending to be Anuyue people to meet the surrender, and deceived that the rattan bridge connecting Da Bolu on the Indus River had been cut off, so that the Tibetan reinforcements would not be able to reinforce Xiao Bolu.

Tang Dynasty. The soldiers believed it and went down happily.

Ah Xuan Yue is also a small country that has to rely on Tibet, Ah Xuan Yue City is not far from the small Bolu country, if they refuse to fight, Gao Xianzhi's tired army is afraid to suffer great losses, although they cannot be Tang. army, but even a small delay may allow the Tibetan reinforcements to get a buffer time.

Gao Xianzhi's luck was super good, but he didn't expect the Ah Xuan Yue people to really surrender, which made Tang. The army was rested in time and replenished with provisions.

The rattan bridge of the Suoyi River was not broken, but the Tibetan reinforcements were beyond the reach of the whip at this time, and the little Bolu had few domestic soldiers, and the king and his pro-Tibetan ministers had become frightened birds.

For Gao Xianzhi, the purpose of this expedition was to overthrow the pro-Tibetan Xiaobolu government and support and form a new pro-Tang government.

If the leaders who are attached to Tibet are let go, this expedition will be equivalent to a trip in vain. It is impossible for the army to fight a protracted war here, and as soon as the soldiers retreat, these people will come back, and the little Bolu will still be the little Bolu. In order to avoid this, Gao Xianzhi sent the general Xi Yuanqing with a thousand cavalry to the capital of Xiaobolu in advance. The army came this time just to take the road to attack Da Bolu, wanting to stabilize the little Bolu monarchs, but the pro-Tubo leaders knew that they would not let go of themselves no matter what, and still tried to escape, so Xi Yuanqing took the edict silk and other objects prepared in advance to appease them, but took the opportunity to tie the ropes, and the king took his Tubo queen to hide in the cave and couldn't catch it for a while.

As soon as Gao Xianzhi's soldiers arrived, he first beheaded five or six leaders who were wholeheartedly loyal to Tibet, and then went to appease King Xiao Bolu in person. In one fell swoop, he calmed down Little Bolu. By the time the Tibetan army arrived in the evening, it would be useless - it would take at least a year to repair the bridge as fast as possible and then kill it.

Gao Xianzhi's campaign against Xiao Bolu was a remarkable success, as he almost minimized the losses in exchange for this victory.

After pacifying the Lesser Bolu, the Tang Dynasty regained hegemony in the areas west and north of Kashmir for a short time, and both the Arab Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire were shocked.

After the Battle of Little Bolu, at the request of Tocharian Yehu Litanga, Gao Xianzhi was ordered to defeat the rebellious Karma in the Green Ridge area, capture his king Boteha, and make his brother Suga king. The Karma were a tribe between Bolu and its southern Mis, which was rich in grain in the Indus Valley, and its king had repeatedly written to Chang'an to ask for a relationship with the Tang. The military cooperated to suppress the Tibetans, and promised to guarantee 200,000 Tang. The supply of food and grass for the army. This is actually also Don. One of the reasons why the army was able to go on expeditions to the small Bolu repeatedly. After the second conquest, stability was restored along the southern route of the Silk Road, and for the first time, the Tang government achieved real control in the Pamirs and beyond.

The 6th century AD was known as the "Dark Ages" in Western Europe. However, the world outside of Western Europe was not "dark" at this time, and there were three great empires in Eurasia that were in their prime. In addition to the Byzantine Empire, which was entrenched in southeastern and eastern Europe, the other two were the Tang Empire and the Arab Empire.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the Eastern and Western Turkic Khanates were destroyed by the Tang Dynasty, and the small states of the Western Regions, such as Yiwu, Shanshan, Gaochang, Yanqi, Qiuzi, Shule, and Khotan, were either forced to surrender to the Tang Dynasty or destroyed by force in the following decades. Since then, the Tang Dynasty has established a Western Regions ruling system with the four towns of Anxi - Qiuci, Shule, Khotan, and Yanqi as the core, and the Anxi Protectorate is located in Qiuci Town.

Around the same time, the Arabs of the Middle East were also rapidly rising. Since Muhammad and the Four Caliphs, Muslim has controlled a vast territory that the Assyrians, Persians, and Romans never dared to think of, expanding from a few tribes on the Arabian Peninsula to an unprecedented empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, occupying all of North Africa and Western Asia to the west, and all of West Asia and most of Central Asia to the east, and controlling the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean. The Arab Empire became another powerful force in the Western Regions in addition to the Tang Dynasty and Tibet.

Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, the supreme governor of the Arab Empire in the East, promised his two great generals, Muhammad and Gutaibai ibn al-Muslin, that whoever first set foot on the territory of the Tang Dynasty would be appointed as the governor of the Tang Dynasty. So the former conquered the border areas of India, and the latter conquered large areas of Central Asia such as Taligan, Schumann, Takhastan, and Bukhara, but none of them could cross the borders of the Tang Dynasty. In 644 A.D., the Turgish, together with the Tibetan and Great Food Soldiers, launched two wars against the four towns of Anxi, both of which were repulsed.

The Arab Empire due to its great geographical advantage, coupled with the Tang. During this period, the army fought with the Tibetan state in Qinghai, and had no time to take care of the Western Regions, and the influence of Arabia was slowly reflected, and most of the countries in the Western Regions originally believed in Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, etc., or their own traditional ZJ, and felt uneasy about the eastward expansion of YSL culture, and were more afraid of the fierce Mu Slin warriors, so many countries asked the Tang Dynasty for help.