"Marshal Qiyu, the latest information of Xuan Yingwei in the Khotanese Special Zone, Li Qiming, the lord of Khotan, has sent troops into Ya'er City three days ago, and the internal information says that he is preparing to enter the territory of Anxi from Shule." On the sandbank, with Wang Houchun and Wan Yi adjusting all the deployments, the advance corps led by Gao Siji has crossed the northernmost Suoyang City of the sandbar and entered the territory of Gaochang, and the Modao Battalion and the Chai Jia Corps, the main forces of the rear army, have also been prepared and are waiting for the order to be launched.

"Senior brother, this Khotanese lord is really interesting, I'm afraid that his move is something that Cao Rengui can't think of, right?" Wang Houchun was a little amused after reading the information, this Li Qiming was only afraid of fighting the idea of the wall, and sent troops from Shule into the territory of Anxi, although it showed that it could be quickly reached in Gaochang along the Silk Road, but he obviously gave up the operation of directly attacking the sandbar to the east.

"Do you know how many soldiers and horses they sent?" Wan Yi also thought of Wang Houchun's thoughts, so he nodded and looked at the map thoughtfully and asked. In Wan Yi's opinion, Khotan is only afraid that he is ready to play soy sauce in this round of competition, and the army has traveled thousands of miles from Shule to the Gaochang front line in Yizhou, and it is estimated that he will stop cooking when he walks to Yizhou.

"Intelligence indicates that it is about 30,000 people, and it is not clear whether there are follow-up troops." Since the dark guard of the Xuan Ying Guard takes the form of artificial oral transmission, the dark guard itself is also observed by itself.

"30,000 horses, that's not a big problem. It's just that senior brother, if Li Qiming is really playing a strategy to curry favor with both sides, then Cao Rengui will definitely show favor on his side. Wang Houchun looked at the location of Boxian Town and shook his head, I am afraid that Cao Rengui's recruitment in Khotan has been tacitly approved by the other party, at least no one can stop this wave.

"What's wrong? Are you afraid that you can't stop it? Wan Yi looked at Wang Houchun and said with a smile.

"Senior brother, don't worry, let's just sit still, and when the time comes, senior brother will put up his banner and wait for my good news." Wang Houchun didn't know what Wan Yi's smile meant, and couldn't help but roll his eyes and say.

In fact, Wang Houchun and Wan Yi guessed well, when they agreed on the development of the situation in Khotan, Su Xiaohu and Qin Kong also discussed this matter together, since Qin Kong persuaded the monk Wuxin, the situation in Khotan began to go down step by step according to Xuan Yingwei's plan. First of all, Wuxin publicly issued remarks against Li Qiming in the Bimo Temple, believing that this move not only destroyed the good relations between Khotan and the Central Plains Dynasty for thousands of years, but also brought Khotan into a dangerous and unpredictable whirlpool. And swore that the Buddha had appeared, the sun rose in the east, and the king of the Holy Ming led the Tang Dynasty to save the Western Regions, and the people of all ethnic groups in the northwest should work together to cooperate with the Tang Dynasty from the East for a win-win situation.

After this remark was published, it immediately caused an uproar, so that Khotan in winter could no longer restore calm, and at this time, the news that Li Qiming sent troops to Shule was also openly released, and all walks of life suddenly could no longer settle down. Originally, because of the appeasement of Buddhism from all walks of life, Khotan's domestic anti-Tang alliance did not pay much attention, and the people of Khotan, who had been immersed in the light of Buddha, felt that this seemingly high-level slogan was still far from them, but at this time, it was suddenly exploded, and everyone was shocked, and it turned out that the war had unknowingly approached their doorstep.

And Qin Kong added fuel to the fire at this time, putting the news that Cao Rengui had been monitoring the recruitment of troops in Khotan on the table, and said conclusively that this was Cao Rengui deliberately harming the Khotanese people, and this was to treat the children of the people of Khotan as substitutes for the dead ghosts, to block the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty and hide behind themselves to reap the benefits of the fishermen. Originally, Qin Kong's trick was easy to debunk, after all, Khotan was still separated from the Tang-controlled sandbar in the west by an Anxi, and the Uighurs in the middle were not vegetarians. But at this time, when public opinion in Khotan was provoked to the cusp, any news would cause uneasiness and fear among the people, and Qin Kong took advantage of this to suddenly stir up peace day and night in several major cities in Khotan. And taking advantage of this opportunity, the Wuxin group of people is also quickly dispatching, and began to contact the abbot of the former old ministry and the abbot of all walks of life in Buddhism, so that Buddhism can stand on their side at a critical time.

At this time, Li Qiming's counterattack also began, but it was obvious that Li Qiming did not realize that there were other forces involved in it at first, so he decisively aimed the spearhead at Wuxin, so without saying a word, he ordered the whole country to arrest Wuxin, and announced that Wuxin was a traitor to Buddhism, betrayed Khotan and betrayed Wei Chi.

But this trick was quickly cracked by Qin Kong, after the news of Khotan's troops was exposed, Qin Kong and Wuxin quickly controlled public opinion, and aimed the spearhead at Li Qiming again, this kind of remarks that brought the people of Khotan into the whirlpool and lost their peace from then on, made Li Qiming unclear who his enemy was. Moreover, the news of this secret dispatch of troops from the north also made Cao Rengui know, and for Khotan, this route of sacrificing the near and far to send troops also made Cao Rengui instantly guess Li Qiming's intentions. So in the face of Cao Rengui's questioning, Li Qiming was speechless, and the opponent obviously expected this a long time ago, so he broke out his own thoughts, and even the news that he tacitly acquiesced that Cao Rengui was recruiting troops in Khotan must have been released by the other party. In this way, the identity of the hidden opponent will be revealed.

To tell the truth, Li Qiming succeeded to the throne of Khotan for almost 15 years, and during his reign, he also made outstanding political achievements, steadily grasped the complex situation in Khotan and the surrounding areas, let himself and Khotan have always sat firmly in the Diaoyutai, and in order to resist the growing Anxi Uighurs, he also strengthened the liaison with the Guiyi army of Shazhou, and further advanced the relationship accumulated by his predecessors. In exchange for the friendship of the Guiyi army, even at the critical moment when Zhang Chaofeng had just come to power to eradicate Suo Xun, when the Anxi Uighurs suppressed Khotan from the northeast, Zhang Chaofeng did not hesitate to attack Shicheng from the east, pulling the Anxi Uighurs back in pace. It is precisely by relying on this relationship that the Guiyi Army and Khotan can always stand in the turbulent times in the northwest.

When Zhang Chaofeng was killed in Shazhou, Cao Rengui led the rest of the Guiyi Army to flee to Boxian Town, and then called on all ethnic groups in the northwest to form an anti-Tang alliance, Li Qiming joined without hesitation, and promised that Cao Rengui could recruit troops in Khotan, even if he was not a descendant of Zhaowu Jiu, as long as Cao Rengui could recruit them, he could take them away. But what Li Qiming did not expect was that in the subsequent intelligence, the combat strength of this Tang Western Expeditionary Army still frightened him, and the two Uighur attacks on 200,000 cavalry were repelled by the other side, and they were achieved under the condition of dividing the troops. This made Li Qiming break out in a cold sweat and at the same time began to wonder if he was too reckless, so after thinking about it, he decided to send troops from the north, and strictly controlled the number of troops. After all, in Li Qiming's opinion, although the Tang Dynasty is fierce, the Central Plains Dynasty will not have any other actions against Yu Khotan, a small brother in the northwest of the same culture.

But what he never expected was that his side had just sent troops to the other party's counterattack, and he had been in politics for more than ten years and also exercised his eyesight, the other party was ready to pry his own ruling foundation, and if he could not stabilize the domestic situation when he caught up with internal and external troubles, then he would inevitably lose the support of the people quickly, not to mention that the enlightenment they brought out was that Khotan has a good foundation of popular support, and the enlightenment itself is the leader of the Khotanese Buddhist community, and it can be easily supported by Buddhism.

It's just that Li Qiming feels strange and can't figure out the point that there is an Anxi Uighur between Khotan and Shazhou, and there are Cao Rengui's soldiers and horses in the middle, once the domestic situation in Khotan changes significantly, how can the other party intervene as soon as possible? Do you rely on those spies and sleepers?

Not only did he not figure it out, but Cao Rengui couldn't figure it out either, after Xuan Yingwei let go of some of the spies of the Guiyi Army and entered Khotan, Cao Rengui also guessed the purpose of the Tiance Army through clues. However, unlike Li Qiming, who couldn't figure it out, Cao Rengui shifted his gaze more to the east of himself, that is, to the east of Boxian Town. At this time, the Datun City and Shicheng and other areas east of Boxian Town were basically a piece of erosion, and Li San'er's substitute members of the Flying Eagle Brigade moved more ruthlessly than the members of the old Flying Eagle Brigade after entering, and now there are basically no Uighurs who have come out of those small oases, and in this winter, countless livestock and horses were unscrupulously dragged away by the people of the Flying Eagle Brigade, and those larger military towns wanted to come out to encircle and suppress Li San'er, and they were also seized by Li San'er and fought back several times, with heavy losses. So far, there are only two large cities that have not lost anything for the time being, but the generals and chiefs in the cities have been killed several times. The Anxi Uighur base camp also got the news from here, and sent several groups of generals before and after, but nothing improved, and even the people with them were killed by the Flying Eagle Brigade, and although the follow-up army had sent reinforcements, it was slow under the ambush of Li San'er and Xuan Yingwei, and it seemed that it would be difficult to reach the destination without a month.

Over the past month or so, Li San'er has taken advantage of this not simple harassment and assault to make the Uighurs miserable, but also to greatly increase the number of alternates, and the gap between them and the veterans of the Flying Eagle Brigade has also been rapidly narrowing. These people were originally the elite personnel drawn from various combat units by Hu Xiaosi and Su Xiaohu, and what they lacked was the familiarity with the tactics of small-scale elite operations, and after this month's training, they were basically out of the division.

"Deputy Commander Qiqi, an urgent order from the Chang'an headquarters." Zhao Si, who had been monitoring all this, received Hu Xiaosi's latest order from Shazhou at this time, and also brought a surprising news that the Chang'an headquarters in Khotan would send troops to assist when necessary, but asked to delay the time until a month later.

"Zhao Si, do you mean that Xiao Si asked you to delay the outbreak in Khotan until a month later?" Wang Houchun was also very surprised when Zhao Si came to him, it stands to reason that if the General Staff wants to arrange soldiers and horses, they will definitely notify the Western Expeditionary Army Headquarters in the name of the General Staff and let Wan Yi make unified arrangements. But this time, the news was conveyed through Xuan Yingwei, and the official order of the General Staff did not arrive, what is going on?

"How long can it drag on over there in Khotan?" Wang Houchun pulled Zhao Si and asked while looking for Wan Yi, since Xuan Yingwei said that the headquarters would send troops, then it must be that the General Staff has a new plan, and it may be that the information is delayed, after all, the way the General Staff transmits orders is generally separate from Xuan Yingwei, and if the General Staff decides to send troops, then it will definitely go through the official channel instead of the secret channel of Xuan Yingwei.

"If Qin Kong's side receives an order, it is estimated that it will take about half a month, and the original plan over there was formulated according to half a month's time." Zhao Si didn't have much to worry about, after all, Li Qiming was not easy to mess with, although he was blinded by Qin Kong's chaotic punches, but after he came to his senses, he would definitely try his best to fight back, so it was too early for the situation to reach the last step.

"In that case, you will order Qin Kong to control the rhythm, I think there will definitely be an order from the General Staff to come." After Wang Houchun entered the tent, he found Wan Yi and briefly explained the situation.

"Could it be that the emperor has already organized another expeditionary force?" Wan Yi asked a little surprised. Since the General Staff did not have an order from the headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army, there was only one other explanation, that is, another group army was also coming quickly, and it was determined that this level would not be lower than that of the Western Expeditionary Army.

"The emperor is going to do something to the Tibetans." After a long silence, the three people in the big tent spoke in unison. Only this explanation can make Xuan Yingwei's news reasonable. If you do it to the Tibetans, then you will not report to the Western Expeditionary Army in general affairs, and the Tubo war has not yet begun, so you are afraid that the news will leak if you rashly issue an order.

"I guess the emperor must mean to send light cavalry from the northern Tibetan plateau, rush westward, and break the border army of the Tubo people along the way, so that he can contact the strongest military force in Tibet." Wang Houchun nodded and said: "In this way, it means that our army can use Khotan as the foundation to attack Tibet in the south in the next time." ”

"In that case, Hou Chun, you and Zhao Si have to pay close attention to the development of the situation on the Khotan side, and let the Jedi get out of our rhythm, otherwise the light cavalry prepared by the emperor will completely lose its foundation and become a lone army, if this is the case, then it will be a big trouble." Wan Yi's face also became extremely serious, and his words also made Wang Houchun's face become solemn.