"What do you say? The Third Corps was divided into troops in Khotan, and the third battalion of the main force and the mountain battalion went around the capital of Khotan, and now there is only one battalion of the fifteenth battalion in the capital of Khotan? In the headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army of Suoyang City, Wan Yi looked at the information from Khotan that was urgently sent in disbelief, and said, "Is he joking?" 30,000 people are still divided into troops, is it really impossible to set up tens of thousands of troops in Khotan? ”

"Forget it, it's too late to say this now, but what I know about Xue Yang, although he likes to take risks, he never goes untargeted, I think he is worried about the enemy in the west, right? After all, once the internal strife in Khotan is known to the opponent, the Safarid Dynasty and the Samanid Empire will not let go of such an opportunity, so Xue Yang's plan should be for Li Yang to stabilize the internal situation in Khotan, and he will lead the main force of the Third Corps to advance lightly and completely defeat the opponent's interference force before the other party reacts, so as to win time to calmly solve Khotan. Wang Houchun, who rushed over from Shazhou, was not as angry as Wan Yi, but he still felt a little palpitating at Xue Yang's boldness.

"Forget it, even if we don't agree, there's no way to stop it now, let's find a way to deal with the aftermath. It was already the beginning of February, and I wanted to allow the forward troops of the Western Expeditionary Army to enter the territory of the Uighurs in Gaochang as soon as possible, so as to create tension on the Yizhou side, so as to mobilize the Uighurs to concentrate on the Yizhou front in advance, and completely empty the eastern part of the sandbank, so as to mobilize Cao Rengui to set out from Boxian Town as soon as possible. Wan Yi shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Now that most of the arrangements are in place, it's nothing to act in advance, and it's a great warrior to work hard." ”

"It's not much in advance to go back and forth, and ten days is nothing." Wang Houchun stood up and said with a smile: "In this case, I will immediately rush back to Shazhou to sit in the town, mobilize and command most of the Flying Eagle Brigade to withdraw near Shicheng as soon as possible and then release the news, and at the same time, in the past two days, I will release the intelligence control of Cao Rengui and pass the news of Senior Brother sending troops to Shazhou to him, I don't think he will let go of such an opportunity." ”

"There is a secret force in Suzhou, if the sandbar can't support it and the main force of our Western Expeditionary Army doesn't come back in time, let's find a way to transfer them over." Wang Houchun walked to the door and Wan Yi's voice came, but before Wan Yi finished speaking, Wang Houchun said as he walked out: "Senior brother must have confidence in the plan he has made, and he must also have confidence in the Flying Eagle Brigade, although the number of soldiers is small, the role they can play cannot be measured by ordinary troops." I will hold out until my brother returns with the army. ”

Wang Houchun is gone, which also means that the Tiance Army's Western Expedition Group Army has entered the final deployment of Cao Rengui's troops, but at this time, Li Yang on the Khotanese side no longer cares about the civil strife of these Khotanese people after participating in the pre-war meeting held by Wuxin, but according to the latest instructions from Wan Yi's side, he began to formulate a plan for the capture of the capital city of Khotan, and Khotan's army is actually not very bad, at least much higher than the previous Tubo mercenaries, but for the Tiance army, this combat power is nothing. Especially the rabble that Wuxin temporarily pulled out, most of the army members are not regular soldiers, which has led to countless military discipline problems.

"Biaozi, do you want to come over the city defense materials of the capital of Khotan and the distribution map of their garrisons?" After Li Yang returned, he made a plan in the tent, although the 15th Battalion only had 10,000 men, but it was equipped with 20 mortars, and it was the latest 80 mortar, which was powerful enough to cover the Demoman near the city gate and then blow it open.

The 80 mortar was actually Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi when they were bored, and they told Qin Yao about this anti-Japanese war artifact in the later generations, and then imitated it according to their memory. Although a complete spring and elastic pressure bearing device were not manufactured, the research of mild steel in today's laboratory is also somewhat nervous, although the effect of the mild steel manufactured is not as good as in the previous life, but it is still acceptable in terms of its effect, but like in later generations, the firing fuse of the shell almost made Li Xuanqing collapse, but fortunately, Li Xuanqing still has a little influence on the mortar shell, and the experimental products used by the Flying Eagle Brigade before also gave Qin Yao enough experience, so there will be this latest 80 mortar.

"It's all here, Qin Kong has arrangements in the city, after entering the city, you only need to follow the fingers of the people they arranged, you can quickly distinguish the defenders in the city, so that you can get close to the royal city and capture Li Qiming alive." Biao Zi put the information he had collected from Qin Kong and the city defense distribution map on the table, shook his head and said, "But isn't it a bit unauthentic for us to bypass the Great Monk of Wuxin like this and do it alone?" Although I don't know what kind of method the deputy prime minister has taken over Khotan, isn't it tantamount to giving up on the other side if we do this? ”

"That's something you Xuan Yingwei and the deputy prime minister have to think about, anyway, I've already said hello to Qin Kong's side." Li Yang shook his head indifferently, took the information brought by Biaozi and studied it from Gu Zi and said, "How about it, did you find that the northwest is very different from our empire?" ”

Biaozi didn't expect Li Yang to ask such a question, so he came over and said while helping: "I don't know about other places, but this place in Khotan is very strange, although this common people look similar to our Chinese people, and most of the people can also speak a few words of Tang Yan, but it is very strange why is Buddhism here so prosperous?" These monks rely on the people to provide for them, can the people afford it? No wonder I heard that the emperor was going to restrict the preaching of religions in the interior. ”

"I said, how can you, a serious commander, care about these people's livelihood affairs? Is it possible to want to move to the part of government affairs over time? Biao Zi smiled: "If I were to think about it, how should you talk when you see the lord of Khotan?" To be honest, I'm very curious about this Yu Chi clan, inherited for thousands of years, probably from the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty to build a country here, and then although there were several interruptions in the middle, but it has always stood in the northwest, and the country of Khotan has ups and downs but has always been a big country in the Western Regions. And this Li Qiming can be regarded as a good lord of the country after he took the throne, but his vision is not very good, and he has to follow Cao Rengui and the Guiyi Army all the way to the dark. ”

"So I think it's better to leave this matter to you, and I'm only responsible for arresting people." Li Yang clapped his hands and asked the guards stationed at the gate to send an order to notify the three commanders of the 15th Battalion to come over for a meeting, and said with a smile: "Do you want to listen to our battle plan?" ”

"Forget it? My task is to assist you in crossing the Tibetan region into Khotan, and now that you have arrived, my mission is complete. Biao Zi shook his head and said: "I still don't participate in this kind of thing like fighting, I'll go and help Qin Kong, his side has been busy recently, and he has to coordinate the Flying Eagle Brigade to block the border, and it is estimated that he is too busy to touch the ground." After saying that, he got up and left directly. Not long after Biao Zi left, Li Yang's three commanders also came, and the captain of the personal guard and the captain of the mortar brigade also rushed over.

"Speaking of our mission, I have decided to start the official attack on Khotanese early the day after tomorrow, so you still have one day to pack up and rest, early the day after tomorrow, the three of you must arrange your positions in accordance with the half-moon shape marked on the map, if the Khotanese army goes out of the city to meet the battle, then you have to give me a fight, if they rely on the city wall to garrison, then there is Lao Wu, you are responsible for suppressing the vitality of the other party, covering the blasters to approach the city wall blasting, and then Qishan, you will be the lead to attack the city, and then go straight to the royal city, and the two of you are responsible for sweeping the city." Li Yang put down the hard pen in his hand and continued: "If our army enters the city before the Wuxin troops participate in the war, then treat them as friendly troops, if we enter the city and they participate in the war, then I'm sorry for Khotan, except for the prisoners, they don't want to touch anything except the rest, otherwise they will be killed, understand?" ”

Li Yang's words stunned everyone, but then they understood what they meant, and nodded one after another. The Third Corps set off from Jincheng and traveled thousands of miles to arrive in Khotan, it is impossible to help them with the obligation, the commander is already a middle-level general of the Tiance Army, and he is very familiar with the basic national policies, and his tactical literacy has passed the test after years of uninterrupted study by the Military Academy, so he can naturally understand the strategic position of Khotan in the northwest, so if he can still tolerate others getting involved in such a strategic point, wouldn't the Tiance Army be too weak? And the most important thing is that Wuxin's troops can still be regarded as friendly forces at present, but if Li Qiming is taken down, the relationship between friend and foe will only be transformed in an instant. Therefore, Li Yang's words have made it clear that if the other party acts with him, it means that at least Wuxin himself has moved closer to the Tang Dynasty and the Tiance Army, so it doesn't matter if he is a friendly army, if Chengpo only thinks of taking advantage of it after the city, then I'm sorry, the Tiance Army has never been afraid of any opponent.

"Please rest assured, general, we understand that we will not damage the interests of the empire." Several people stood up and took orders.

"Okay, let's go ahead and prepare for each of them. This is the position map, you take it back and study it yourself, I will see you go to arrange the troops by yourself early the day after tomorrow, don't think that I will interfere. Li Yang threw the drawings in his hand and the defense map in the city to the three commanders. Li Yang led the troops basically thinking about how to tap the potential and initiative of his subordinates, so for this level of war formation, what can be handed over to his subordinates will be handed over to his subordinates to let them complete it on their own.

Li Yang's side is ready to wait for the day after tomorrow to start fighting, when Su Xiaohu, who has been squatting on the Khotanese border, also received information from Qin Kong, informing that the Tiance army has entered Khotan from the south, and has made a plan to attack Khotan City, and the task given to Su Xiaohu is not to let go of any Cao Rengui's spies to enter and leave Khotan between half a month and a month, block this news, and find a way to cooperate with Xuan Yingwei to take false information to Cao Rengui to make a wrong judgment.

"Alright, the brothers have a job to do." After reading the information, Su Xiaohu stood up and howled, and then said with a smile: "The brothers have finished eating this barbecue and worked, this time there is a big deal." After saying that, he unceremoniously snatched a piece of roasted sizzling beef from one of his subordinates and nibbled on it, ignoring the disgruntled eyes of the subordinate.

The next day, that is, on the sixth day of the second month of the fourth year of the Apocalypse, Su Xiaohu led his team to intercept and kill the spies of the Guiyi Army who wanted to cross the border into Khotan, and released all the bandits and robbers who had been subdued during this time. In fact, the caravans that can have the courage to enter and exit the border at this time basically belong to the kind of smuggling, so it is not difficult for the bandits who are already active in these places, so the bandits who were originally suppressed by Su Xiaohu and couldn't raise their heads suddenly felt that their spring was coming again, so they almost began to patrol day and night along these hundreds of miles of mountainous areas, not sparing the slightest manpower border.

At the same time that Su Xiaohu blocked the eastern border, the Second Brigade of the Flying Eagle Brigade, which had been on the northern border of Yaercheng on the Shule River, also carried out the order at the same time, which was equivalent to completely cutting off the internal and external ties of Khotan, and Khotan became a stuffy gourd, cutting off internal and external contacts.

At this time, Zhao Si of Shazhou also began to walk the news, and revealed the news that Wan Yi led the army north from Suoyang City to Cao Rengui's spies, so that the Shazhou area was completely empty, and before Cao Rengui could react, most of the Flying Eagle Brigade, which had been raging east of Boxian Town, also began to retreat northward, and fought with Shi Jianjiao's troops near Shicheng and was driven by Shi Jianjiao all the way towards Yizhou. In order to convince Cao Rengui that they had indeed retreated to Yizhou, Zhao Si specially asked Wan Yi to send a force to meet them and join the main force of Wan Yi's brigade in the sight of the other party's spies. This is equivalent to giving Cao Rengui a clear message, there are no Uighurs left east of Boxian Town, except for Shi Jianjiao's Shatuo people, and the Flying Eagle Brigade has completely cleared it for him before, and there is not even a single unit in the entire area.

With the news and the arrival of Shi Jianjiao's 30,000 cavalry, Cao Rengui suddenly concentrated a huge army of 100,000 people, which was not enough to deal with Wan Yi's main force of the Western Expeditionary Army, but after Wan Yi was dragged by the Uighurs in Yizhou, he could easily take the sandbar, recover the territory of the Guiyi army, and by the way, he was able to take the entire area east of Boxian Town. This is tantamount to a shocking piece of good news for Cao Rengui, who was in a predicament, so much so that he almost lost his temper at the welcome banquet that received Shi Jianjiao.

"Jiedu envoy, the current situation must also understand that our best strategy is to wave our army directly into the sandbar after the main force of Wan Yi's army is dragged down, so as to cut off Wan Yi's back road, so as to completely cut off Li Xuanqing's minions reaching out to the Western Regions." Shi Jianjiao was originally a famous general of Shatuo, so he was naturally able to see the situation clearly, so he said without hurry: "Before I came, my lord had already arrived at the front line in Yizhou, and I would go to Yizhou to ask my lord to persuade the front base camp to try to give me a helping hand." When the time comes, the festival will make the adults recover the old land, and they will need to help us Shatuo people a little more? Shi Jianjiao's words made Cao Rengui laugh, raised his glass and said, "General Shi, then I wish us a happy cooperation." ”