"Your Majesty, the Helan Mountain Tunnel Project is expected to be completed soon." Cen Tianshi was reporting to Li Xuanqing about the tunnel project in Helan Mountain with the Minister of Communications, when Hu Xiaosi and Xu Tianxiang hurriedly walked in. Hu Xiaosi went to northern Tibet some time ago, mainly to arrange the intelligence network in Tibet, so that Biaozi and Gesang's family can meet and get acquainted, and now the Longyou Tubo branch represented by the Gesang family has completely fallen into the Tang Empire, and the cabinet has even taken over the administrative power in the Hezhou area, especially after Xu Ying led the troops to settle in Hezhou, northern Tibet can be said to be completely included in the imperial territory, if it were not for the fact that the war in the northwest has been launched, the General Staff has even begun the strategy of conquering Tibet.

Secondly, because the trade route of the Murong family in Tibet is related to the connection between the empire and Tibet, an important route of Xuan Yingwei in Tibet is to lay out along the commercial circulation road of the Murong family and the Gesang family in Tibet.

"Your Majesty, the latest battle report of the Northwest War." After the two sat down, Hu Xiaosi handed the information in his hand to Li Xuanqing and said: "Now the first stage of the strategic task Wan Yi is basically completed, if we take Ganzhou and solve the Uighurs, then we will have a solid stronghold in the Western Regions, and the materials transported from Hexi can also be hoarded in Ganzhou." ”

With Hu Xiaosi's words, Li Xuanqing finished reading the battle report, turned around and handed it to Cen Tianshi, nodded and said: "Taking Ganzhou actually means that we have completed the first step, and the Western Expedition can be regarded as a good starting point." What are you going to do with the second route of troops and horses mobilized by the General Staff? ”

Xu Tianxiang took out the plan in his hand and handed it to Li Xuanqing and said: "Qian Ning and Tianyi over there in Lingzhou, their opinion is to continue to go from Hexi, meet Wan Yi in Ganzhou, and then the army gathers and pushes all the way, as long as the Guiyi army can be defeated, it will basically really enter Anxi." After entering Anxi, the troops were divided, and the army swept through the entire Anxi with the north and south routes, and the soldiers and horses on the north route took Yizhou, Xizhou and Yanqi as the march route, and the southern route passed through Heishui City to Gaochang and then entered Datun City and Shicheng Town from Gaochang into Boxian Town, with the strategic goal of finally entering Khotan. ”

Xu Tianxiang's plan was actually an extension of the Silk Road in the Western Regions. The north road takes the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains as the route, and recovers Yanqi, Qiuzi and other Anxijiu towns all the way. The southern route actually entered the Khotanese Buddha Kingdom along the southern edge of the Xinjiang Desert, so that after bypassing the Great Desert, it was basically possible to meet in Shule and truly enter the Anxi conquest stage.

"Then how should you solve the problem in Beiting?" Li Xuanqing looked at the map and asked, you must know that in addition to most of the areas under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Metropolitan Protector in the past, there is also the jurisdiction of the Beiting Metropolitan Protector, compared to the Anxi Metropolitan Protector, which is actually a reconquest of the old land, the area under the jurisdiction of the Beiting Metropolitan Protector is now controlled by the Gaochang Uighurs, the Xizhou Uighurs and other tribes that have been controlled by the Qarluq tribes.

"The meaning of the General Staff is to take all the areas of Anxi Dadu in advance, and then after the Shule Division, except for some soldiers and horses, the remaining soldiers and horses will be left behind, and the remaining soldiers and horses will use Shule as the attack location to go north and fight back, so that although our logistics line is long, most of the grain and grass are solved on the spot, in fact, it is only to transport military supplies, and it can still be insisted on." Xu Tianxiang understood what Li Xuanqing meant, the most difficult thing about the war in the Western Regions was not the battle itself, but the logistics and grain problems. If you can't think about the transportation of grain and grass and military supplies before the war, I am afraid that even if the Tiance army enters the Western Regions, it will have to return because of supply difficulties.

Li Xuanqing was not optimistic about Xu Tianxiang's plan, and after the Tiance army arrived in Shule, the Tianfang Sect forces in the west would inevitably entangle the surrounding vassal tribes and their followers and the Tiance army in the vicinity of Shule for a long time, and the possibility of a large-scale war was basically 100 percent, and it would be basically impossible for the Tiance army to send so many troops to recover Beiting, and even the Uighurs and other tribes located in Beiting might even organize a coalition army to go south to cut off the Qiuci and other places that had just been taken, thus cutting off the northern defense line of the Tiance army. Therefore, Li Xuanqing tended to add another army of troops and horses to march from the grassland after the Qianning army galloped to help.

Li Xuanqing's eyes were fixed on Xizhou's position and he was silent, in fact, Xu Tianxiang also knew what Li Xuanqing was worried about, but what he was most worried about was not the mobilized troops, but the long distance in the middle was enough to drag down the logistics department, making Zuo Tiancheng want to cry without tears.

"Your Majesty, why don't you continue to extend the long gold line west to Ganzhou?" Cen Tianshi also roughly guessed his thoughts when he saw Li Xuanqing's expression, and after glancing at Xu Tianxiang for a few times, he spoke.

Cen Tianshi's suggestion Li Xuanqing was just silent, and only continued after a while: "Let the Railway Department go to survey the terrain in advance, make a plan and see how difficult it is." ”

In fact, when Li Xuanqing and the others discussed this matter in the base camp, the battle on the Ganzhou side was officially started. The Uighur army had no choice but to attack at this moment to bring the surrounding Tatars involved, and Pang Teqin thought that as long as the war began, the Tatars would not be able to reach them. Therefore, the Uighur cavalry under his command immediately rushed out of the large array and rushed towards Wan Yi's frontal assault. The Da Tan people, who were a little behind, also began to take the initiative to participate, and the entire frontal battlefield officially began, hundreds of thousands of horses' hooves instantly crushed this wasteland covered with thin turf, and an invisible murderous aura rushed towards them several miles away.

"Artillery adjustment preparation, reloading, preparation, three-two-one, firing." The moment the Uighur cavalry entered the firing range, the artillery battalion's more than 90 artillery pieces were fired out of the chamber in an instant under Liu Xuan's command, with the whistling shells, the speed of which was naturally faster than the speed of the cavalry, almost in the next moment, smashed into the Uighur cavalry charging formation, and suddenly the scene of thousands of horses galloping seemed to be hit by the whistling cannonballs, and then exploded suddenly, countless war horses and Uighur corpses rose into the sky, although the power of the flowering shells was weakened by these sands, but the countless rubble on the Gobi became the most powerful weapon at this moment, and the whistling whirlwind tore everything around it, and it was hard to empty an area with a round of shells.

And the artillery battalion is almost the first cannon after the second is quickly pushed in, and then ignited, the new type of ignition equipment has the prototype of the later generations, the cable firing device has given up the dangerous open flame, the shells whistled out again, the explosion rose to the sky again, although the 125 mm gun was not as powerful as the same caliber in later generations, but the explosion after landing still raised a fireball, only to see the tide of the cavalry charge was disrupted by these fireballs, Countless frightened horses scurried around, adding to the confusion.

"Order all the cavalry to leave these damn explosions alone and give me a surprise attack with the whole army." The Uighurs had faced the Tiance army before and knew that this was the secret weapon of the other party, but the first time they participated in the Datan, they were stunned by this sudden explosion, and many cavalrymen almost fell from their horses when they saw these fireballs for the first time, sometimes people are not afraid of powerful weapons, but afraid of the kind of weapons that you can't understand at all, at this moment many Datans think that this is the punishment of the gods, and they can't afford to resist at all.

Compared with the fear of the Datans, who were unable to control the troops in the rear of the formation, the Uighurs performed much better, at least the more than 30,000 cavalry who had fled back played a role in stabilizing the morale of the army.

"Ready to shoot." Xue Wanli directly ordered the front-line trumpeters to blow their horns to inform him that the three zigzag positions under his command were beginning to prepare for battle, and the dense gunfire began to sound after the Uighurs broke through the artillery blockade and entered the firing range. Compared with the earth-shattering artillery, the sound of rifle firing was insignificant at this time, although the formation of tens of thousands of rifles firing at the same time was also very spectacular, but it was not on the same level as the shells, so many Uighur cavalry felt that after surviving that line of life and death, they should be regarded as seeing the hope of victory, but what they did not expect was to be planted on the ground.

The bullets fired from the rifle are naturally not as violent as the shells, but in terms of lethality, they are much more powerful, the dense bullets almost cover the entire front of the position, and the biggest feature of the three-stage tactics is that no matter how many enemies there are in front, what they have to do is to maintain the density of bullets, that is, in the case of a loader in the rear, there is almost no intermission, and in just an instant, hundreds of thousands of mini bullets rushed towards the Uighurs, and rows of cavalry were put to the ground, Immediately, he was trampled by his own troops rushing up from the rear. It can be said that since the beginning of the war, this wasteland has been shattered by the war, and the red blood continues to gush out, infecting the original yellow sand wasteland into black and red.

"Ballista troops ready, fire." "The mechanical crossbow troops are ready, fired." With the sound of gunfire on the three main positions in front, in addition to the artillery, the ballistae and mechanical crossbows attached to the positions also fired one after another, and the metal whistling in the air made a loud noise, especially the mechanical crossbow that could concentrate on projecting five thousand crossbow arrows each time The murderous aura began to clear the map one by one, and the terrible thing is that the design speed of the mechanical crossbow is extremely fast, and it can be quickly changed after being equipped with a new magazine. Not only was the bolt extremely lethal, but the small explosive pack attached to the bolt would cause secondary damage when it exploded, which directly stopped the Uighurs. The ballista troops should be in a state of elimination at this time, but because Lingzhou is a military warehouse in the northwest, Wan Yi felt that the firepower was not big enough before leaving, so he also brought these weapons that should have been mothballed and retired, because compared to the shells, the weight of the explosive bag is much lighter, which is convenient for long-distance marching and carrying.

Relying on this wave of powerful attacks, the Uighurs were unable to break through the triple array of firepower of the Tiance army. Seeing that the attack was frustrated, Pang Teqin began to get the Tatars to quickly step forward, preparing to carry out the encirclement strategy, intending to distract the attention of the Tiance army and ensure that there was not so much firepower pouring on the frontal battlefield. Pang Teqin's request was responded to by the Da Tan people, but the other two tribes, that is, the cavalry of the two tribes deployed on the two flanks, were hesitant at this time and did not dare to step forward.

Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, Wan Yi's artillery battalion made full efforts to bombard the Uighur military formation, and carried out extended fire to prevent the Uighurs from continuing to advance, and at the same time weaken their charging momentum and relieve the pressure on the main position below, after all, if it were not the first time that the Datans were overwhelmed by artillery, they would have attacked with 100,000 cavalry at the same time, even if they had suffered huge casualties, they would definitely break through the blockade. Therefore, almost as soon as the battle began, Tieliang's heavy cavalry battalion was ready, ready to enter the battlefield at any time to cut off the opponent's charging route and buy time for the infantry to annihilate the opponent.

But fortunately, in the era of cold weapons, the biggest role of gunpowder weapons is not actually its own power, but deterrence and intimidation. Although the artillery equipped by the Tiance Army under Li Xuanqing's guidance already has mass destruction, the coercion brought by it on the battlefield still exceeds the power of the weapon itself.

However, under the pressure of Ponteqin and the Datans, the other two tribal alliances of the Tatars also began to enter the battlefield, and in the face of more than 60,000 fresh troops, the morale of the Uighur coalition army was re-boosted, and the large-scale cavalry charge had raised the width of the frontal battlefield to a terrifying five miles long. Obviously, the Uighurs had reacted after the blow they had just received, and extending the width of the battlefield would effectively avoid the enemy's shelling, as well as greater damage, although the power of the charge would be much less powerful than their own.

"Order the heavy cavalry battalion to immediately attack and deal with the Tatar cavalry on the right flank, and then lead the army directly behind the enemy and fight back from the rear." After Wan Yi gave the order, the Tiance Army also went all out to fire, and all kinds of weapons were fired at full power, and at this time, the battle really entered the climax stage. In the rear of the main position of the Tiance Army, even Liu Xuan had already gathered two battalions of reserves, ready to deal with the opposing cavalry that broke through the defense line and entered the position.

However, at this time, Wan Yi's eyes shifted from the battlefield in full swing to the ancient city of Ganzhou in the distance, whether the battle there could be started as scheduled, if Ganzhou was attacked at this time, then the Uighurs, who were the dominant force in the alliance, would definitely have no intention of fighting again, and the battlefield situation would also take a sharp turn for the worse.

And when Wan Yi was staring at the ancient city of Ganzhou, what no one expected was that on the left flank of the battlefield, that is, on the west side, a Tiance army of soldiers and horses quickly joined in. This is the department of Shi Jian, who hurried from Yumen Pass. At this time, after Shi Jian's troops arrived in Ganzhou, they immediately divided their troops almost non-stop, partly strengthening the siege troops, and partly leading them towards the battlefield by himself.

Shi Jian's arrival brought the battle to a stage of rapid end, especially the strengthened siege troops under the guidance of Zhao Si directly began to touch the city wall.

At this time, because of the battle outside the city, almost all the defenders of Ganzhou were eagerly watching the course of the battle and the changes on the battlefield on the city tower, and no one expected that a small army like a ghost quietly came out of the city and gathered to the south city gate, almost a few flickering dozens of guards at the city gate were put to the ground, and then the city gate was opened with a bang.

This sound was like a signal for the Uighur army defending the city to react, and the Tiance army, which had been standing by outside, also moved quickly, and the two sides ignited the battle again outside the city of Ganzhou. At this time, the Eagle Brigade that had opened the city gate was divided into several teams and fought with the Uighurs who came to intercept them, blocking the opponent's footsteps.

"Set off smoke and rockets, notify the commander, the whole army will assault, and I will be killed into the city." Zhao Si was elated and directly released smoke rockets, and at the same time, the 20,000 soldiers of the reinforced Tiance Army rushed into the city with a tsunami-like shout to join the Flying Eagle Brigade. The ancient city of Ganzhou has also reached the last moment.