Zhang Xuan did not kill the eldest prince of Qiuzi, He Naye, but issued an edict to send He Naye to Qinghai. This is equivalent to exile He Naye to the fief of He Lu, the king of Qiuzi, and surround He Na Ye with a small life in disguise.

Helu and the Qiuzi royal family naturally felt zero tears and thanked them more than once. [Search for the latest updates]

After a riot, the turtles were truly calm. With the destruction of Wusun and Gumo, the entire thirty-six countries of the Western Regions temporarily returned to peace. Of course, Zhang Xuan knew very well in his heart that for a period of time, this kind of calm was basically an illusion, and without ten years of strong rule and the promotion of national integration and economic prosperity, the Western Regions would still not be able to achieve naturalization in the true sense of the word.

This is a long-term job, and there is no urgency.

Zhang Xuan stayed in Qiuzi for a week, and then handed over all the affairs of the Western Regions to Feng Changqing and Fugu Huaien, and then led his army to Shule to join the army.

Feng Changqing had 40,000 Anxi troops under his command, and 30,000 troops were stationed in Beiting, which was in Huai'en. There are 70,000 soldiers and horses in the Western Regions to deter, and Zhang Xuan feels that it is enough. Next, the Western Regions was divided into two towns and two provinces, which were both military towns and administrative divisions, and the establishment of prefectures and counties, the promotion of immigration, and the garrison of Tuntian required the two of them to do it with all their hearts.

In Feng Changqing's words, the emperor's destiny is a chore, and it is difficult to make achievements, but it is easy to leak arsenic. If one is not good, it will cause chaos. Feng Changqing had already made full mental preparations in his heart, and in the past three years, he and Fugu Huaien were in the Western Regions, and they were firefighters.

In order to facilitate the strengthening of ties and coordination between the two provinces of Tibet and the Western Regions, and to ensure the stability and prosperity of the borderlands, Zhang Xuan also asked Guo Ziyi to pass on the letter to Beijing, and ordered the imperial court to set up a special pacification department for the Qingbo Western Regions, with Chen Xilie concurrently serving as the pacification matter.

On July 17, the third year of Yongning, Zhang Xuan led 50,000 Shence troops to Shule.

On July 19, Zhang Xuan swore an oath in Shule to restrain the army of 10,000,000 from Shule to cross the Green Ridge and march to the land of Zhaowu Jiu on the Green Ridge, thus opening the fierce collision between the two huge empires of the Chinese Dynasty and the Great Food Dynasty.

A big war kicked off.

In the Central Plains, Kang, An, Cao, Shi, Mi, He, Huoxun, Wudi, and Shi are the nine surnames of Zhaowu, and Dong'anguo, Biguo, Han, and Nasebo are attached to it, and Cao is divided into three kingdoms: east, west, and middle.

The first stop of the Western Expedition was Kangguo, the head of the Zhaowu Kingdom.

Because of the defeat and retreat of the battle of Gaoxian Zhiheng Rus, the forces of the Great Cannibals have been stationed over, and the land of the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu on the Green Ridge has actually become the territory of the Great Cannibals. Of course, in the land of Zhaowu Jiu, the garrison is not much, and the main force is placed in Kangguo, with more than 10,000 people.

On the green ridge, the total strength of the Great Cannibals added up to nearly 50,000.

The news that the Chinese emperor raised a large army to conquer the land of Zhaowu Jiu reached the green ridge, and Meng Bai, the governor of the soldiers and horses of the great cannibals, took the initiative to retreat while reporting to the country, and withdrew half of the soldiers and horses to guard the city of Hengrus, while half stayed in the city of King Kang to assist Hewei

i. The Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu mobilized troops and horses to resist the invasion of the Chinese army.

The nine kingdoms of Zhaowu are all small countries, there are not many soldiers and horses, all of them combined, there are only 60,000 or 70,000 people, plus the big food soldiers and horses, the total is less than 100,000.

With 100,000 people to meet the Chinese army of 300,000, the confidence of the people of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms was seriously insufficient, and many nobles even advocated that the whole country should evacuate the land of the Zhaowu Nine surnames and retreat to the territory of Dashi to avoid the edge of the Chinese army.

However, how could the Great Cannibals let these small countries retreat to the Great Eclipse and surrender the land of the nine surnames of Zhaowu to the Chinese Imperial Court. In this way, it is equivalent to opening the border defense door of Dashi, and it is possible for the Chinese army to drive straight in.

In the mobilization and power of the Great Cannibal

Under I, the nine countries of Zhaowu joined forces in one place, and put on a posture of a decisive battle with the Chinese army on the front line of Kangguo, but in fact, the morale of the army was unstable and low.

From Shule on the edge of the Tarim Basin to the Green Ridge Plateau, it is necessary to follow the canyon on the eastern edge of the plateau up the river, and then climb several mountain ranges on the plateau, passing through the mountain passes covered with ice and snow all year round, and the road is very difficult. Fortunately, the Anxi Protectorate has been operating for more than 100 years, and the terracotta plank road from Shule to Kangguo has been built relatively smoothly.

The army of the Western Expedition slowly marched westward, and after most of the half-month trek, it crossed the plateau and went straight to the Pingchuan area above the plateau, and entered the land of the nine surnames of Zhaowu.

Hundreds of thousands of troops moved with great momentum and waved their flags, and every time the Tanma of the Zhaowu Nine-Nation Alliance Army delivered back the news, the hearts of the high-level members of the coalition army became more and more nervous.

The soldiers and horses of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu had no experience in fighting with great powers and armies at all, and the iron hooves of Gao Xianzhi's Anxi Gao family army were difficult to stop, not to mention the almost invincible Chinese army that destroyed Tubo and Tuqi Shi and pacified the entire Western Regions.

After the destruction of Tubo and Tuqishi, the prestige of Zhang Xuan's entire emperor and the prestige of the army under his command had spread far away, and for the people of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, this was too powerful an armed force, and it was simply not something that these small countries could resist.

Even with the support of the big cannibals, they felt that they did not win

Zhang Xuan's army marched slowly, because on the plateau, Zhang Xuan was worried that the soldiers would not adapt to the altitude sickness, so he slowed down the pace of the march. The army marched dozens of miles every day, and everywhere it went, it was like a torrent of steel, uprooting the forts set up by the Great Cannibals and Kangguo people and the barracks and bases to protect the trade routes.

On the Kang side, the leader of the coalition army was Shi Laihe, the king of Kang, and Isri, a partial general under Meng Bai, the governor of the Great Food Governor, also led 20,000 Great Food Cavalry to garrison the grassland west of the Kang King City, forming a mutual coordination with the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms Alliance.

King Kang City.

Shi Laihe stood on the wall of the royal city, and beside him was the main general of each ** horse, that is, the upper echelons of the coalition army, in fact, these people were also the royal families of various countries.

The smoke and dust in the north covered the sky and the sun. Although the banner of the Chinese army is still invisible, the supreme power of this army's actions is enough to make people's hearts tremble.

Shi Laihe's face was very gloomy, he raised the scimitar in his hand, and said with a long sigh, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Chinese Emperor's army is less than a hundred miles away from the royal city, and with only 60,000 of us, we can only seek our own way out of the city to fight against the Chinese army. Our only chance is to defend the city and wait for the rescue of the cannibals. ”

Although Shi Laihe said this, he didn't have a score at all in his heart.

King Kang City is already the largest and strongest city in the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu, but such a city defense is still not enough to stop the footsteps of the Chinese army, and Shi Laihe knows that siege warfare is originally the strength of the soldiers and horses of the Central Plains Dynasty.

As for the rescue of the big cannibal soldiers, whether they can come, how many they can come, and whether they are the opponents of the Chinese emperor or not, all of these have no bottom.

Everyone's thoughts are basically similar to Shi Laihe's. Therefore, when Shi Laihe said this, no one responded at all, and they all looked at the origin of the Chinese army with gloomy faces on the city wall.

Shi Laihe went down the city tower in a very low mood and entered his palace.

Several of his princes and seven or eight daughters gathered in the main hall, and when they saw him walk in, the eldest prince Kecha hurriedly greeted him and bowed down, "Father, sons, and others have something to tell the head king!" ”

Shi Laihe waved his hand impatiently and said, "Say!" ”

"Father, the army of the Chinese emperor is not something that our Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms can resist at all, and the big cannibals are simply using us as a shield, preparing to sacrifice our nine countries to buy time for them to deploy defense and deploy troops on the sideline."

Kecha gritted his teeth and said, "Father, we can't fall for the big cannibals. The Great Cannibals are not reliable, they just use us, and they don't really send troops to protect our land at all. ”

Shi Laihe sighed, and said in his heart, do you still need to say this? In the current situation, none of the people of the nine countries of Zhaowu are unclear. can know that the Great Cannibal is unreliable, but he can only rely on the Great Cannibal, because only the Great Cannibal can compete with the strength of the Chinese Dynasty.

"Father, since the Great Cannibal is unreliable, why don't we surrender to the Chinese Dynasty? Our Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms have always been the vassal countries of the Tang Dynasty, but it was only because of Gao Xianzhi's defeat of Hengros and the invasion of the Great Cannibal Force that we had to take refuge in the Great Cannibal. Now the Chinese emperor has raised a large army to attack, clearly to recover the land of Zhaowu Jiu, and even to attack Dashi. ”

"There will be a battle between the Chinese dynasty and the Great Eclipse. From a child's point of view, the Chinese emperor has a great chance of winning. The child heard that the Chinese army was brave and invincible, and the army was also equipped with mysterious firearms, whether it was Tubo or Tuqishi, they all died at the hands of this kind of artifact. ”

The corners of Shi Laihe's mouth twitched slightly.

The idea of surrendering to the Chinese dynasty was not unheard of by him, and the kings of other countries were not without it.

It's just that they betrayed the Central Plains Dynasty, and no one is sure whether they will be accepted by the Chinese emperor again. Moreover, the big cannibals were eyeing from the sidelines, and under the threat and temptation, no one dared to move this idea again.

"The big cannibals are not reliable, and the people of the Central Plains may not be reliable, don't say it, go back to the palace to guard the palace, the Chinese army is coming, and this king will lead the soldiers and horses to fight with the enemy!" Shi Laihe waved his hand and frowned.

"Father! At this moment, the Chinese army has not yet arrived, the two armies have not started a war, we still have room to return to obedience, if we wait for the army to come to the city, we will surrender again, and people may not accept it. Father, don't miss the opportunity! ”

But I went down.

Shi Laihe pushed Kecha in annoyance and strode over.

Kecha's face changed, he stomped his feet, and suddenly said loudly, "If the father doesn't listen to the child's words and insists on finding his own way, the child and the others can only lead their troops and horses out of the city to surrender to the Chinese emperor and find their own way to survive!" ”

Shi Laihe was furious, suddenly turned around and glared at Kecha viciously, and roared, "Son, you dare! ”

But when he looked prepared, he smiled coldly and put his finger to his mouth and whistled.

In an instant, more than 100 armor soldiers poured out of the apse and surrounded Shi Laihe. (To be continued)