In fact, the closest way to the Great Food Country is to take He Country and Anguo and enter Mulu City in the Great Food Country, but Mulu City is the capital of the Great Food Country and the location of the old nest of the black-clothed Great Food, and the attitude of this force towards the Tang Dynasty is still unclear, for the sake of insurance, Zhao Ziliang still decided to abandon this short road, and would rather take a long detour to reach Jiling City. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

After that, Zhao Ziliang led the army all the way through the city of Bushi, Ashu, Lancheng, Luoluo City, Huwen City, and Hesina City of Tocharo.

The city of Hesina was a large town in the southernmost part of Tocharo, and it was the only town on the way to the city with sufficient supplies, and Zhao Ziliang and his army arrived here on the second day of the second month of February.

Since there were no major towns to supply supplies from Hesina City to Jiling City, Zhao Ziliang had to order to stay here at dawn, first, to let the army rest, and secondly, to purchase enough supplies here to be able to reach Jiling City.

Zhao Ziliang is also the first time to leave the Tang Dynasty so far to come here, the first time to see the customs here, although Xuanzang's "Tang Dynasty Western Regions" has a general description of the city, but the feeling of seeing it with his own eyes and seeing it from the book is completely different.

The customs, costumes, eating habits and culture here are completely different from those of the Central Plains, and in terms of faith, most of the people here believe in Buddhism, and a small number of people believe in ******, which shows that the Persia and the current Great Food have also had a great influence on this area.

After resting for two days and replenishing enough supplies, Zhao Ziliang's army set off on the fourth day of the second month and headed southwest, along the way there were deserts, deserts, mountains, and few arable areas, and there were very few people living in this area.

Fortunately, Zhao Ziliang brought a few guides in Hexina City, otherwise it would be difficult for people who have never been here to find the direction to Jiling City.

The road from Hesina City to Jiling City is indeed difficult to walk, there is no road here, the business travelers from the East to the West or from the West to the East basically do not take this road, there are too many mountain roads, not only sparsely populated, the vegetation is also extremely scarce, sometimes there are no people for hundreds of miles.

In 661 AD, the Tang Empire set up the Persian Governorate, but because it was too far away from the Tang Empire, the Persian Governorate only existed for two years and then ceased to exist.

"Your Excellency, you can reach Tobol by going downstream along this Helmand River, which is what you call the city of Jiling, but the road is much farther, and if your Excellency is in a hurry, it is best to carry enough drinking water here and go straight west, because there is almost no water along the way, so it will be much closer."

Zhao Ziliang pondered, it is now the seventh day of the second month, judging from the map, if you approach the road from here for a maximum of four days, but there is no water source along the way is a big trouble, people and livestock do not eat for two or three days and will not starve to death, but if they do not drink water for two or three days, they will definitely die, and this trip did not carry enough water bags to hold water.

In addition, so many horses have to drink twice as much water as usual to meet the demand, relatively speaking, there is no need to worry about the water source when walking along the river, and everyone has two horses to rotate and ride, and the marching speed can be accelerated, and it is more than enough to reach Jiling City before February 15.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Ziliang ordered the army to advance along the lower reaches of the Helmand River and directly reach the city of Jiling.

On February 13, Zhao Ziliang's army arrived at Jiling City, which is located in a large town in the southwesternmost corner of Tocharo, where the chieftain is named Laman, who is the highest ruler in the area, with 4,000 soldiers and horses, but because the Great Food Country is strong, Laman's life is not easy, and only in the last year or two there has been civil strife in the Great Food Country, and the pressure on Laman has been reduced.

Laman's scouts spotted Zhao Ziliang's army in the southeast, and when they learned that it was a Tang army, they immediately reported it to Laman.

Rahman had long been under great military pressure from the Great Food Nation, and when he learned that the Tang Dynasty had sent an army that was almost equal in number to the total number of men and horses under his command, he immediately led people out of the city to meet them.

Rahman had always admired Tang culture, but because it was too far away from the Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence, and the Zhaowu kingdoms in the middle were grass on the wall, sometimes attached to the Great Food Kingdom, sometimes to the Tang Dynasty, he could not send envoys to Chang'an to establish contact with the Tang Dynasty.

After seeing Zhao Ziliang and his army with his officials and some soldiers, Raman immediately bowed down and said: "Raman visited the Tang general, I don't know what the general is called and what position he holds?" ”

After listening to the guide's translation, Zhao Ziliang said to the guide: "You tell him that a certain is Zhao Ziliang, the soldier and horse envoy of the North Court of the Tang Empire!" ”

Rahman listened to the guide's translation, his face was happy, he knew that the Tang Dynasty had two administrative institutions in the Western Regions, one was the Anxi Protectorate, and the other was the Beiting Protectorate, and the Soldiers and Horses Envoy was the highest general in charge of military affairs, equivalent to the first person under the governor of a province in the Great Food Country.

Raman immediately said: "It turned out to be His Excellency the General! Datang has not directly sent officials and troops to Jiling City for almost a hundred years, I am looking forward to the stars and the moon, and I always look forward to the general. I don't know what the general is saying about leading his troops this time? ”

Zhao Ziliang listened to the translation and said: "This place is not a place to talk, let's talk about it after entering the city!" And the army of this general needs to rest and eat".

Raman hurriedly said, "Of course, of course! ”

Zhao Ziliang did not embarrass Laman, and ordered the army to be stationed outside the city, and he only brought a hundred followers into the city with Laman. That night, Raman held a banquet to entertain Zhao Ziliang and his party, and prepared sufficient food to be sent to the Tang army camp to comfort the Tang army soldiers.

The towns in Tochar are basically yellow, there is not a single tree or a little green in the town, and the houses are either made of stone or mud, unlike the houses in the Central Plains, which are all brick and wood.

In his mansion, sumptuous food and wine were served to the small table in front of everyone, and Raman warmly greeted Zhao Ziliang and others to drink and eat meat. In the middle, an exotic woman with a half-covered face and a gauze dress dances, surrounded by musicians.

During the banquet, Zhao Ziliang asked, "Chief Laman, how is the civil strife in the Great Food Country?" Are there any signs of extinguishment? ”

"Extinguish?" Raman shook his head with a smile, took a bite of mutton, and said: "Not only is there no sign of extinguishing, the rebellion has intensified, the northern provinces have been completely occupied by the rebels, it is said that the rebels believe in another sect, the people in the sect are dressed in black, and the merchants from the east call them the black clothes of the Great Food, and the current rulers of the Great Food Country are all dressed in white, so it is also called the White Clothes of the Great Food, since last year, the White Clothes and Great Foods have been defeated repeatedly, and the losses of troops are very large, according to the current situation, the Black Clothes and Great Foods have the upper hand, Moreover, many generals and lords who originally believed in the Great Food in White have surrendered to the Great Food in Black and changed their beliefs, but I am afraid that the Great Food in Black will perish in less than two years!"

"It turns out that the situation of the white-clothed food is so dangerous," Zhao Ziliang sighed.

"Who's to say it isn't!" Raman said, remembering that Zhao Ziliang hadn't said the purpose of this place yet, so he asked, "I don't know why the general led the troops this time?" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "Don't hide it from the leader of the Laman, the Great Food Country has formed a marriage with my Tang Dynasty, and Princess Hera of the Great Food Country is going to marry my Royal Highness the Tang Dynasty Prince as a concubine, this time Zhao is ordered by the emperor of the Tang Dynasty to lead the troops to welcome Princess Hera to Chang'an to marry His Royal Highness the Prince, and the connection between the two sides is here."

"I see!" After hearing the news, Raman nodded and said: "Your Excellency General, you may not know that the military force of the Black-clothed Great Food has advanced to the west of the Black-clothed Great Food City, which means that the Little Khan's Jiling City is also within the attack range of the Black-clothed Great Food, and Princess Hera's send-off team should come from Damascus, and the last section of this route happens to be within the attack range of the Black-clothed Great Food Army."

Zhao Ziliang's face was a little sad when he heard this, "So, Princess Hera's send-off team may be in danger?" ”

"Perhaps, if the Black Eater didn't know about it, Princess Hera should be able to arrive safely, but if they get the news, I'm afraid of ・・・・・・."

Zhao Ziliang thought to himself, the Great Food Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty Imperial Court discussed setting the place of response in Jiling City and the time of response as February 15, which was an extremely confidential matter, and it was impossible to have access to this level of intelligence without a certain level, but it was not ruled out that the black-clothed Dashi would plant spies among the high-level officials of the white-clothed Dashi.

This is really worrying news.

At night, Zhao Ziliang returned to the camp outside the city with Hu Cong, in this strange land, he really didn't worry about separating from the three thousand people, if something really happened at night, he couldn't control the situation, so it was more reassuring to return to the camp.

In the early morning of February 14, Zhao Ziliang got up very well, and before the two-hour practice of the lance method was completed, Bai Xiaode rushed to ride his horse and ran over, turned over and dismounted, and shouted: "General, the big thing is not good!" Half an hour ago, our outpost found a blood-covered official of the Great Food Nation thirty miles west of Jiling City, and he immediately asked to see the general after encountering our scout horse, and said that he was the official in charge of Princess Hera's family sending team, Dulep, and they were resting in Sehelan City, two hundred miles southwest of Jiling City, the day before yesterday, and it happened that the black-clothed Great Food Army went south to attack Sehelan City, and Princess Hera and the family sending team were trapped in the city and could not go east to join us! ”

"What?" Zhao Ziliang was taken aback, and he stopped practicing martial arts, accepted the golden nail jujube yang lance, and said, "The thing I was worried about finally happened!" ”

Bai Xiaode asked, "General, what should we do now?" ”

Zhao Ziliang thought about it and immediately said: "Go and inform Lord Du and the main generals of the army to come to the big tent of the Chinese army to discuss matters, and bring Du Lepu, the official of the Great Food Country, this general has something to ask him!" ”

"No!" Bai Xiaode said yes and turned to leave. (To be continued.) )