In late June of the third year of the Apocalypse, the Tiance Army captured Suzhou, where the Longjia family was located, the northwest separatist force, and this thousand-year-old city returned to the hands of the Tang Empire after a night of war. The main force of the Tiance Army that invaded the city was skillfully cooperated by the Flying Eagle Brigade and the Xuanying Guard to kill a total of 27 generals under the commander of the Guiyi Army, Li Mingzhen, and completely disrupted the command center of the Guiyi Army.

The battle continued until the next morning, when Wan Yi, the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army, entered the city, marking the end of the battle, and the remaining stubborn Guiyi army and the remnants of the Uighurs were compressed in the northwest corner of the city, and were gradually compressed and annihilated by the freed armies. In fact, although Wan Yi instructed Li Tianyi not to let go of the Uighur leader Pang Teqin, this man, after realizing that the overall situation was irreversible, still took advantage of the chaos to break away from Suzhou and cross the grasslands from the northwest into the Gaochang region. However, after Suzhou was occupied, Wan Yi no longer pursued the matter, and brought his personal guards and the military headquarters of the Western Expedition Group Army into the main residence of the Long family, which is the ruling center of Suzhou.

By noon, the battle in the city was over. Although the casualties of the Tiance army in this battle were compared with those of the previous battles, in the face of the opponent's 200,000 troops gathered in Suzhou City, Wan Yi was still very happy to be able to achieve such a record overnight, on the one hand, he asked the chief of staff Liu Xuan to write down the battle experience and results into a military report and send it to the Chang'an base camp quickly, and on the other hand, he asked the participating troops to take turns to rest and recuperate, preparing to seize the time to sweep the surrounding areas of Suzhou. At the same time, people quickly summoned Tuoba Si, who was sitting in Ganzhou, to send people to accept the government affairs of Suzhou and the captured Guiyi Army personnel.

In fact, Wan Yi himself didn't think about how to deal with the captives, most of the captives of the Long family army were easy to do, although the news from Zhao Si's side that the Long family was not satisfied with the Tiance army's killing of Li Mingzhen, but there was no room for recovery, according to the treatment of the forces anyway, the Long family army and the leaders of the Long family all need to be sent back to Chang'an, and wait until the cabinet and the general staff to deal with it. The Uighurs, on the other hand, were better managed, and were directly incorporated into the captive brigade and used as a road-building team. It is said that there have been too many prisoners in the last few wars, and Tuoba Sijian discussed with Yang Yi on the way to Suzhou, preparing to send all the prisoners near Huqiu Pass back to Hexi after accepting this group of people, and participate in the railway construction brigade and Zhang Quanfu's windbreak project. At least in June and July, a type of windbreak can still be planted in the northwest, and Zhang Quanfu's Ministry of Water Resources and Environmental Protection seems to have its own attainments and understanding of afforestation. According to the gang of radicals, they can plant trees in the winter.

"Deputy Prime Minister, Brother Yang, you are finally here, Dashuai has been in a bad mood for the past two days because of the affairs of the Long family, so let me come to greet you." On the first day of July, Tuoba Sijian and Yang Yi led the team to rush to the outside of Suzhou City on time, and it was Zhao Si and Su Xiaohu who were recovering from his injuries that came to greet him, and the other generals were basically sent by Wan Yi to recover other areas.

"The Long family? What's wrong? Do they still want to regret it? Before Tuoba could speak, Yang Yi behind him was a little surprised: "Could it be that you copied his Long family's treasury?" ”

Su Xiaohu shook his head and smiled bitterly: "How can it? If the treasury of the Long family is copied by us, it is estimated that your cabinet will be able to collect the money for the construction of the railway this year, and it is also the favorite gold and silver of the money bank. I had this plan before, but it was rejected by the marshal. ”

Zhao Si saw that Su Xiaohu was off topic, so he hurriedly dragged it back and said: "The Long family probably thinks that we have an opinion on killing Li Mingzhen, the commander of the Guiyi Army, in the middle of the battle, and Xiaohu They are too ruthless, not only Li Mingzhen, but even Cao Xianqi, the general of the Cao family this time, was killed with one shot, and even more than a dozen children of the Long family were killed." ”

"That's it? The two armies faced each other in every possible way. What's so annoying about the big handsome. Take the two of us to see the marshal, and then the two of you will lead my troops to surround everyone in the Long family, as well as their treasury and warehouse, and wait for me to give an order to copy all of them. Tuoba Si Zhi didn't feel that his words surprised everyone at all, but said to himself: "Don't be too polite to a person like the Long family, otherwise it will be called kicking your nose in the face." After raiding the house, Brother Yang, you sent someone to Liangzhou with the main cadres of the Long family first, and the emperor was already waiting there. The remaining Long family army was then sent to Hexi for a generation, and it was time for the Long family to withdraw from history. ”

As soon as Tuoba Si Zhi finished speaking, he found that the faces of the people around him were not quite right, and he was secretly amused, and then said: "Don't worry, this matter is already a government affair, listen to me." He was just about to explain to Zhao Si and the others when he found that Wan Yi had already come over in front of him, so he immediately greeted him and saluted. Wan Yi has a very high status in the high-level of the empire because of Li Xuanqing's relationship, so although Tuoba Sijian is the deputy prime minister, he still takes the initiative to salute.

"It's great that you're here, Brother Siji, and the government affairs of Suzhou are all handed over to you." Wan Yi has also been annoyed by the affairs of the Long family in the past two days, and he also has to plan the countermeasures for the next move of the Guiyi Army, plus it is now July, and the winter in the northwest region is coming very early, if you can't solve the Guiyi Army before the winter, then I am afraid that it will have to wait until next year, which is also a helpless move. And in winter, it is more expensive to transport their own supplies from the rear. Therefore, the arrival of Tuoba Siji is not only a relief for him, once Ganzhou and Suzhou are restored to calm and included in the scope of imperial rule, then a lot of material supplies can be solved in these two places, and this move will inevitably greatly reduce the logistical burden.

A few people came to the headquarters, and after Tuoba Sijian and Wan Yi handed over the government affairs, they explained to Wan Yi what they said on the road, compared to the shock of others at the beginning, Wan Yi was thoughtful, nodded and said: "Brother Siji's method is not bad, but I am still too soft-hearted these days." It's just that in this way, our reputation on the side of the Guiyi Army will be completely ruined. Xuan Yingwei's actions to rebel against the rebels will surely come to naught. ”

Yang Yi thought clearly about the intention of Tuoba Si's advice at this time, and took over the conversation and said: "Dashuai, the last general thinks that even if we treat the Long family well, the Guiyi army will not easily succumb. On the one hand, they were dissatisfied with Zhang Yichao's actions in the previous dynasty, and they could be said to regard the Chang'an court as an enemy, and on the other hand, because the Guiyi Army had been out of the control of the central government for so many years, they were afraid that now the helmsman and his high-level people were already thinking about how to continue to be their own soil emperor, instead of rescuing the Han people in the northwest and restoring the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions. With such hateful and selfish people, even if we try to win them over, it will have no effect. Therefore, the last general thinks that the deputy prime minister's opinion is appropriate, at least he can solve the Long family as quickly as possible, eliminate the immediate trouble, and also be able to deter the other few tribes around him, and anyone who dares to be the enemy of my Datang, no matter who it is, will have to pay the price. ”

"And the big handsome, in fact, if the Long family doesn't rebel in the future, then there is no way to compensate them for the confiscated property." Tuoba Si said with a smile: "In fact, their current property has been seized by us, if they don't resist, I will ask the emperor to compensate them in other aspects, which is called everything must be invested first and then there will be a harvest, otherwise it will not become a business without capital?" ”

Wan Yi was amused by the strange theory of Tuoba Siji, waved his hand to signal that he didn't care about these government affairs, and then handed over the tens of thousands of prisoners in his hands to Yang Yi, let him be responsible for the arrangement, and then explained that Zhao Si and Su Xiaohu sent people to assist Tuoba Sijiao to stabilize the situation in Suzhou City as soon as possible.

"Marshal, how long will it take for the towns and prefectures around Suzhou to recover?" Tuoba asked the deputy and his entourage to ask while working out various measures while looking through the previous files and civil books of the Long family.

Wan Yi nodded and said: "Before the Battle of Suzhou, Yumen Pass and its surrounding areas have been taken, and after Suzhou was recovered, there are actually not many other places in Suzhou, because Suzhou City relies on Juyanze, which is the location of Guzhangye County, if the west is basically divided with the Guiyi Army Jiuquan County, in fact, according to the current speed of the march, we can basically guarantee to take all the areas before the first ten, and then move the troops west to suppress the Guiyi Army." It's just that it's July now, although it seems to be summer, but the further west the northwest is, the faster the winter comes. So I've been thinking about this issue for the past few days, to see if I can discuss the matter on the sandbank side of the General Staff and press it to the end of the year. Is there anything special on Brother Si's side that needs the help of the army? ”

"There is no special thing, but according to the previous cabinet to the emperor's approval, all the areas east of Yumen Pass, which is now Suzhou, together with the previous Ganzhou and other places, have been incorporated into Hexi Province, and since then Hexi has been unified, completely won the Hexi Corridor, and opened up the land passage between the mainland and Anxi. For this reason, the emperor and the queen have already arrived in Liangzhou, so I want to ask if the marshal has nothing else to do, then he can go back to Liangzhou to participate in the ceremony of the establishment of Hexi Province, just to escort the Long family army there. Wan Yi naturally understood what it meant, the Long family, as the head snake of Suzhou, if it appeared at the ceremony of the establishment of Hexi Province, its political significance was very great, and I am afraid that it would vigorously inspire the people in the mainland to pay attention to Hexi and the Western Regions. Since then, the large-scale development of the northwest has also had more impetus and manpower. In fact, even he himself is not optimistic about delaying the matter of the Guiyi Army until next year, because compared to the war in Hexi, once the Tiance army enters Anxi, he is only afraid that the big war will be more numerous, and if he solves the Guiyi army this year, then in the long winter, he can use the army and the materials sent from the rear to build fortifications to the west of Shazhou and Guazhou to block the Uighurs from advancing eastward, which means that Hexi and other places can also quickly get on the right track and connect with the interior.

"In this way, Brother Si, you deal with political affairs as soon as possible in the next few days, calm people's hearts, I will go everywhere to supervise the war, strive to end the war as soon as possible, and then formulate a good strategy according to the battle situation and the actions of the Guiyi army, and then strive to arrange for the army to attack the sandbar before the arrival of the Hexi ceremony, so that you can free up time to attack instead defend before the other party is ready, and arrange it in advance. After participating in the ceremony, the war immediately began and hit the sandbank. Wan Yi said after thinking for a while.

"In that case, I'll go and meet the head of the Long family." Tuoba Sijian took the information about the Long family handed over by Liu Xuan, waved his hand at Wan Yi, and walked out of the headquarters to find Zhao Si. Over there, Zhao Si had already sent someone to invite the head of the Long family, the elders of each house, and all the stalwarts of the Long family such as Long Xuan and Long Yi.

When Tuoba Siji walked in, he saw Zhao Sizheng looking towards the door, nodded slightly, and walked to the main seat indoors and sat down. As soon as he sat down, the Long family present realized that the person who came was a heavyweight, otherwise it would be impossible for Zhao Si to give up the main position. It's just that the one who can make Zhao Si willingly give up the main seat to sit with him is the commander of the Tiance Army?

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is my Deputy Prime Minister of the Tang Empire, Tuoba Siji, and also the political officer of this Western Expedition." Zhao Si looked at everyone's reactions and smiled coldly, introduced the identity of Tuoba Si Ji and said: "If you have anything, you can say it all today, if you don't make small moves after you continue to talk about it, then Tiance Army will definitely not sit idly by." ”

The Tang Empire is basically different from before because of Li Xuanqing, although the Long family has learned about it through various channels before, but this time they were still surprised to hear that the deputy prime minister had arrived. The head of the Long family stood up and said, "It's really a sin to bother the deputy prime minister about the trivial matters of the Long family. On behalf of the Long family, I would like to welcome the Deputy Prime Minister to visit Suzhou. His gesture basically announced the state of mind of the Long family at this time. Tuoba Si glanced at Zhao Si beside him in a little surprise, this guy doesn't look difficult to deal with? However, Tuoba Sizhi had not yet received an answer, and only heard the head of the Long family continue: "However, after all, this is related to the future of my Long family, so many things still depend on the Deputy Prime Minister Haihan." ”

"Then the head of the Long family, please say, what conditions do you Long family plan to put forward with my Datang?" Tuoba asked thoughtfully.

"The Long family can be submissive to Datang as part of Datang. But we also want to ask Datang to protect the rights and interests of my Long family in Suzhou. Otherwise, if it weren't for my Long family at the critical moment, anyway, my army might not be able to get in so easily, right? Before the head of the Long family could answer, a thin old man beside him stood up and said: "And I have heard of the prosperity of Middle Earth for a long time, I may not be able to see the bitter cold land of the Western Regions, my Long family is willing to serve the Tang Dynasty as the suzerain and submit to the Tang Dynasty, but it can't be without any benefits, right?" ”

The old man's words made everyone's faces change suddenly, and Tuoba Siji and Zhao Si, who were sitting on the main seat, had a trace of uncontrollable murderous aura in their eyes.

"Who is so bold as to dare to bargain with my Datang?" Tuoba Sijian was just about to speak, and Su Xiaohu's voice came from outside the door, but it made him show a hint of joy inexplicably.