Anxi, after three days of marching, Zhang Huan's army has been pushed to Weitou City, which is also the capital of an ancient Anxi country, Weitou Kingdom, which is still nearly three hundred and fifty miles away from Shule.

The topography here is different from that of Bachang City, it is close to the edge of the desert, the climate is arid, the rivers are scarce, the endless prairie is no longer visible, more is the undulating Gobi, not far away is a bare mountain beam, but then go west until Shule, the Gobi slowly decreases, the soil becomes deep, the light and heat conditions are better, and there is the Red River water irrigation, so the west area has become the main agricultural area of Anxi, and the second largest country in Anxi, Shule is located in it.

At this time, it was the beginning of September, it was cooler in the morning and evening, and there was even frost in the early morning, Zhang Huan saw that the sky was about to get dark, so he ordered: "Camp on the spot, and go again after dawn tomorrow." ”

The army set up a large camp under a leeward mountain beam, buried the pot to make food, rested the horses, nearly a thousand sentinels rushed to patrol within dozens of miles around, the soldiers in the camp were eating, everyone was talking and laughing, very lively, the army annihilated the main force of the Tubo army in one fell swoop in the east of the city of Bachang, the morale was greatly boosted, and now it is about to deal with the invading big food army, and the Tang army is full of confidence in victory.

At this time, several soldiers took the captured Prince Agush to Zhang Huan's big tent, because of Agush's special status, he was not mistreated, except that there was no freedom, all kinds of conditions were not bad, the Tang army was even in the city to get him some books on big food, after some days with the Tang army, Agush's attitude gradually changed.

He wrote in his Oriental Chronicles: I had the good fortune to meet another group of Orientals, they came from the homeland of silk and porcelain, they were true Orientals, they were optimistic, tenacious, and disciplined, completely different from the natives of Anxi, and the soldier who guarded me was a young man of twenty years old, he was very honest and faithful to his duties, and he often told me about his hometown. It was incredible that those beautiful silks had come out of the mouth of a kind of worm, and I would have loved to follow them to the East to see them for myself

Zhang Huan was having dinner at this time, and the dinner was very simple, exactly the same as the soldiers, a few steamed buns, a plate of sliced dried meat, and a plate of fried wild vegetables. There was also a bowl of soup, and he looked down at the sand table beside him while eating dinner.

According to the scouts' intelligence. When the Great Food Army arrived here, it received the news that the Tubo army had been wiped out, so it withdrew back to Shule, which can be seen. The main purpose of the Great Cannibal's eastward invasion is to occupy Shule and establish a base for them to continue to advance eastward in the future, Shule is the largest agricultural area in Anxi, if it is fully developed, it can feed tens of thousands of troops, and Shule is also the starting point of his westward strategy, which will be the political center of the Tang Dynasty's rule in the Western Regions in the future, and it is also not to be missed. Therefore, it is impossible to avoid the war with Dashi for Shule.

Although the war is only a political continuation, it involves core interests. Any diplomatic rhetoric is pale and powerless, any restraint and protest will be regarded as weakness by the other side, so as to press step by step, lose more vital interests, and territory or territorial sea is the core interests of a country, only with war can show a country's toughness and determination to maintain sovereignty, since ancient times, the law of the jungle is the law of the jungle, after the great cannibals occupied Shule. If the Tang army forbears or negotiates. There can only be one result, and that is the complete loss of Shule.

This. Zhang Huan knows better than anyone that in this battle, he will recapture Shule at all costs, annihilate the invading Great Food Army, and use bloody consequences to defeat the ambition of the Great Food Caliphate to invade the east, this is the second rule of the law of the jungle, if the invader has no loss and retreats, he will come again, only by beating him or maiming him, or even killing him, will he deter the latecomers.

After countless bloody wars, Zhang Huan's heart has long been colder than ice and harder than iron.

"Governor, the Great Cannibal has brought." Outside the tent, the sound of the soldiers sounded the sound of the soldiers.

"Bring him in!"

Zhang Huan waved his hand, ordered his own soldiers to bring the food away, the curtain was opened, and several personal soldiers led Agush and his interpreter in, the translator was no longer the strangely pronounced big food soldier, but a big food merchant who went to Chang'an to do business, proficient in Chinese, and could better express the subtlety of the conversation between high-level people.

Zhang Huan looked at Agush, only to see that his beard had grown longer and he had lost some weight, and he smiled slightly: "Your Royal Highness, please take a seat!" ”

In front of Zhang Huan, Agush no longer has the previous arrogance and indifference, the translator told him that this Tang army commander is not an ordinary person, he is the strongest local prince in the Tang Dynasty, and one of the most powerful people in the Tang Dynasty, the big cannibal has always believed in strength and respected the strong, Agush gave Zhang Huan a salute and sat down on a chair.

"General Zhang has already defeated Tibet, why should he continue to travel west? Do you want to be our enemies? ”

The translator translated his words to Zhang Huan as they were, Zhang Huan sneered in his heart, and said unceremoniously: "We Oriental sages have an old saying, repay virtue with virtue and complain with straightforwardness, you eat first and occupy Shule, so naturally we will not treat you as friends." ”

"Nope! No! No! Agush waved his hand again and again, "I think General Zhang misunderstood, Shule was snatched from the Tubo people, not from the Tang Dynasty, if you want to complain, it should be the Tubo people who are right to us, not the Tang Dynasty." ”

Zhang Huan looked up to the sky and laughed, his laughter suddenly stopped, and then he said coldly: "You robbed the robbers' land, is the thing your land?" Very good! Shule has been one of the four towns in Anxi since ancient times, and now the master has come back to ask for something, do you give it or not? ”

"This

The Agush language is stopped, he does not know the history of Anxidi, and even if he does, he will not pay attention to it, in their opinion, anything has no owner, as long as it is grabbed, it is his own, otherwise the Persians ask them for Baghdad, and the Umayyads ask them for Jerusalem, will he give it? The problem is that he himself is still a prisoner of others, and he is slaughtered by others, and he doesn't want to be quick to speak for a while and annoy the commander of the Tang Army, so it is still important to save his life.

As soon as he rolled his eyes, he said very sincerely: "We never knew that Shule would be the territory of the Tang Dynasty, if we knew, we would not have come all the way from Tocharo, we came east to punish the Tubo people for invading Tocharo, if General Zhang is willing to let me go back." I will certainly convince General Aros to withdraw from Shule. ”

Zhang Huan glanced at him, and couldn't help but smile faintly: "The rule of our Oriental people has always been to give things first, and then pay, His Royal Highness Agush can write a letter, as long as he is willing to quit Shule, then I will let you go back." ”

The translator said it well, and Agush suddenly heard the language problem in Zhang Huan's words, so he seized the loophole in his words and asked, "Just leave Shule." Is it okay to go anywhere? ”

"Yes, just leave Shule. Go anywhere! As long as he is willing to leave Shule, I will not break my word. Zhang Huan replied without hesitation.

Agush had already taken it with him, he wrote a letter. Ordering the commander of the Great Food Army, Aros, to temporarily evacuate Shule and occupy other cities, Zhang Huan immediately ordered a merchant to deliver a letter for him.

It was already very late at night, and Zhang Huan was still studying the terrain on the sand table, which was relatively simple from Qiuzi to the west because there were fewer Tang scouts, and only marked one main section, that is, a section near the Chi River. And a large area in the north has been made into continuous mountains, and even Cao Hanchen and Lu Yang are not very familiar.

But Jing Niang told him that she didn't go to Shule when she went to break leaves. Zhang Huan didn't pay attention to it at the time, but now that he thinks about it, he realizes the importance of this information, he met her in Qiuzi, that is, there is actually another way to Broken Leaves.

It's a pity that Jing Niang has already returned to Chang'an, otherwise she would be a good guide, at this time, Guan Ying, the pro-soldier captain next to her, was stunned when she saw the lord looking at a large blank space on the sand table. He couldn't help but say more: "Why doesn't the governor ask the big food merchant?" ”

A sentence reminded Zhang Huan. Today, the big food translator is proficient in Chinese, and he must have traveled back and forth many times. He should have known the distance, and he immediately ordered his own soldiers to invite him.

The big food merchant is called Amin, he is fifty-five years old this year, he has been traveling between Baghdad and Chang'an with his father since he was a teenager, and he is familiar with every grass and tree on the Silk Road, but after the Tibetan occupation of Anxi, the land trade between the East and the West was interrupted, so he changed to Guangzhou by water, or transferred to Chang'an from Huifu, this time he heard that the Tang army was going to recover Anxi, so he brought some goods to try his luck, and happened to meet the Tang army in Weitou City, and was invited to be an interpreter.

He entered the tent and bowed to Zhang Huanshen and said, "See the honorable Zhang Shangshu!" ”

Zhang Huan nodded and smiled: "I heard that you know the Silk Road very well, and I want to ask you something about it." ”

Ah Ming knew Zhang Huan's status in the Tang Dynasty, if he could get in touch with him, he and his sons would get great benefits in the future, he didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly responded: "Zhang Shangshu, please speak up, as long as the grass people know, they will never hide it." ”

"Okay, let me ask you, can you only go to Pantuoling from Shule to Broken Leaves, and then go around to the north?"

Hearing the word broken leaves, Ah Ming was a little sensitive, he hesitated, Zhang Huan saw his expression in his eyes, and smiled: "If you don't know, forget it, I'll ask someone else." ”

"Nope! I know. Although Amin is a great cannibal, he has no good feelings for the black-clothed food from Persia, his grandfather was a court official of the white-clothed Wumaiyed Dynasty, speaking of which, he is also a man who has lost his country, but more importantly, he is a businessman, and the biggest characteristic of a businessman is that he can seize opportunities.

At the moment when Zhang Huan was about to give the order to evict the guests, he immediately said: "Ordinary merchants go to Tuopanling, but there is another mountain pass about two hundred and fifty miles north from Shule, called Tuoyun Mountain Pass (today's Tulugart Pass), and you can go straight to Shaye and Atami if you go all the way. ”

Tuoyun Pass, Zhang Huan slapped his head violently, what he should know was that when Gao Xianzhi fought the Battle of Talas, wasn't it Tuoyun Pass? During the Han Dynasty, a post station was set up there, and I forgot how to forget.

He pulled Ah Ming to the sand table, pointed to the mountains to the north, and said, "Tell me, where is the mountain pass?" ”

It was the first time Amin had seen the sand table, and he praised the exquisiteness of the work, he looked at the sand table carefully, and pointed to a mountain road in the north: "This is here, the road is very difficult to walk, but camels and horses can pass through the Tianshan Mountains and go straight to the broken leaves." ”

"You can go straight to the broken leaves." Zhang Huan stared at this in a daze, this was an extremely bold idea, and suddenly found that his original strategic plan was completely overturned, and it was his general direction to continue the westward expedition, and the original plan was to accumulate in Shule for several years, and then attack westward, but like that. The Great Food also completed its cultural and religious assimilation to the west of the Green Mountains, and would also deploy a large army to resist the Tang army's westward advance.

However, if the surprise army takes down the broken leaves, it will greatly encourage the determination of the countries in the Western Regions to resist the Great Eclipse, and will greatly delay the occupation of the Great Eclipse to the west of the Green Ridge, and at the same time, it can also be connected with the North Court in the west, which will be a perfect strategic arc.

Thinking of this, he raised his eyes and smiled at Ah Ming: "Are you willing to be my guide?" After the deed is done. I will not do you any wrong. ”

"The grass people are willing to work for Zhang Shangshu!" Armin bowed and agreed without hesitation.

The soldiers took Amin down to prepare. Zhang Huan took a closer look at the Tuoyun Mountain Pass, from here to Broken Leaves, there is still a thousand miles away. You can surprise and capture Broken Leaf, but you must find someone who is brave and risky to complete the task.

He suddenly seemed to think of something, turned his head to look at Guan Ying on the side, and couldn't help laughing, laughing like an old fox, Guan Ying's heart was pounding with nervousness! Jumping straight, Zhang Huan stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. He said in a deep voice: "If you can take down the broken leaves for me, I will promote you to Zhonglang General!" ”

Zhonglang General, Guan Ying's eyes suddenly burst out of flames. Kashgar, as early as the Han Dynasty, it was attached to the Han Dynasty, and later the Central Plains turmoil at the end of the Han Dynasty, Shule lost contact with the Central Plains Dynasty, but for hundreds of years, its attachment to the Central Plains has not been broken, from the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty and finally to the Tang Dynasty. It was the king of Shule who sent envoys to the Central Plains again and again to ask for dependence. It finally prompted Li Shimin to make up his mind to rebuild the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate.

After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tibetans occupied Hexi and Qiuzi. blocked the way back of the Anxi Tang Army, and the survival of the Anxi Tang Army was in jeopardy, and it was Pei Lengleng, the king of Shule, who accepted them coldly, so that the remnants of the Anxi Tang Army can hold on to this day.

But at this time, Shule has become the focus of the Tang Dynasty and the Great Food, with the Tubo and Hui successively faded out of the competition for Anxi, and finally won Shule, which is the end of the Tang Army's battle to the west for nearly half a year.

At present, Pei Lengleng, the king of Shule, has gone east to Khotan, and nearly 50,000 elite cannibal troops have arrived in Shule from Tocharian one after another, and the Tocharian governor Aros is personally seated here.

Fifty years old, he was a burly, sharp-eyed, and unusually clear of thought in the war against the white-clothed Governor.

At this moment, he was in the palace of Shule to meet a big food merchant who came from the Tang camp, he brought a personal letter from His Royal Highness Prince Agush, Agush disappeared on the way to meet the Tibetan Zampu, and later fled back The retinue told him that His Royal Highness Agush was captured by an unknown army, of course Aros knew that this unknown army was the Tang army, the matter was serious, he immediately ordered 30,000 troops to rush to join the Tubo army, but not long after the army was dispatched, the news of the defeat of the Tubo army came and the city changed, Although His Highness al-Qagush was important, the caliph's strategy in the east was even more important, and after weighing it up repeatedly, Aros ordered his army to retreat to Shul, and just as he was about to write a letter to the caliph to report what had happened to His Highness al-Qush, the al-Qush letter was delivered to him.

Aros paced back and forth in the palace with his hands behind his back, and Agush asked him to temporarily withdraw from Shule in exchange for freedom, which was very simple, as if he had taken a big advantage, but Aros was the same as Zhang Huan, he knew very well the consequences of temporarily withdrawing from Shule, once he lost Shule, how could the 50,000 army survive? How long can you stay here? The Tang army didn't need to fight him at all, and they could easily drive him back to Tocharo, and Agush was too naïve to understand anything.

However, if he did not agree to his request, he sued himself before the caliph, and he would have to follow the path of Abu Muslim, and after the defeat of the Tang army at Talas, he was killed for his great achievements.

Aros was very embarrassed, if he lost to the Tang army, the caliph would not spare him, he had to sigh that the commander of the Tang army had clever methods, saw through the incompetent nature of Agush, and just put on a posture to force himself into a dilemma.

In the end, Aros gritted his teeth, at most he pleaded with the caliph afterwards, Shule must not be able to withdraw, he immediately wrote a reply, told Agush the reason why he could not quit Shule, and pointed out that even if he quit Shule, the Tang army would definitely not let him go, so he could not be ordered, he handed the letter to the big food merchant and said: "Please tell His Royal Highness the prince that for the sake of the caliphate, I can only wronged him." ”