Zhao Ziliang presented to the imperial court about the acceptance of Xitugu Hun surrender and annexation, and proposed to canonize Murong Jieyan as the king of Bailan and the governor of Haixi was quickly approved, just turned over the year, to the tenth day of the first month of the second year of Tianbao, the court's reply arrived, approved Zhao Ziliang's play, and sent a judge to Zhao Ziliang, this person is Yan Zhenqing, who has had several encounters with Zhao Ziliang in the court, and has a great influence on later generations of calligraphy.

Yan Zhenqing brought the imperial court's canonization documents and official seal letters to Murong Jieyan, and when he saw Zhao Ziliang, Zhao Ziliang was leading the army and civilians to build a city in Fuqi City, and he was in full swing.

Fu Qi City is on the west side of the West Sea, it was originally the royal city of the Tuyuhun Kingdom, since Xue Rengui was defeated by Tubo in the Qiji grassland, the original East Tuyuhun was occupied by Tubo, Fu Qi City naturally fell into the hands of the Tubo people, and the Tubo people have not repaired this city much over the years, so that this city is almost in ruins.

Zhao Ziliang didn't plan to build this city high, the purpose of building the city was mainly to block the wind and snow and enclose livestock, not to defend it, and besides, this place was sparsely populated, and it was impossible to build the walls of a city several feet high, and there were not so many laborers to do this work.

Under the leadership of Zhao Ziliang, the city wall was built two zhang high, this height did not cost much labor, stone, rammed earth, did not require much technical content, and also had a certain defensive ability, and it was not so easy for the soldiers and horses of the nomads who were not good at attacking the city to climb such a high city wall.

There were originally some Tuyuhun people living here, and the city was an important transportation hub between the east and west in the fourth and sixth centuries when the Hexi Corridor was not smooth, and the geographical location was important. During the Sui Dynasty, the seat of Xihai County was located here. Zhao Ziliang's decision to set up the seat of Xihai County here was also carefully considered, this is on the west side of Qinghai Lake, not only can keep an eye on the West Tuyuhun located in Bailan, but also can fight with the soldiers and civilians of Longyou Dao to flank the Tubo army located in the southeast of Xihai Mantou City, Gongji City, and Huayuan City.

"Alright, pull up!" Zhao Ziliang tied the rope to a large stone and shouted to the soldiers on the city wall, and the soldiers shouted loudly together through the pulley group, and at the same time pulled the big stone up and built it on the city wall.

Zhao Ziliang was about to put another rope on a big stone next to him, when Ma Lu came over from behind with an official official in his thirties and clenched his fists and reported: "General, the judge sent to you by the imperial court has arrived!" ”

Zhao Ziliang set the rope and shouted to the soldiers on the city wall: "You can pull it!" ”

After shouting, he turned around, nodded to Ma Lan, and looked at the civil official beside him, this person is in his thirties, with a long beard and a plump face, maybe he is not used to the climate here in the plateau, his face is not very good-looking, he feels that this person is a little familiar, and before he can remember, he saw this person bow and salute: "The new judge of the Xihai Governor's Mansion and the magistrate of Xihai County, Shi Yan Zhenqing, meets the general!" ”

Hearing Yan Zhenqing introduce himself like this, Zhao Ziliang slapped his palms and said with a smile: "Come to mind, Mr. Qingchen, speaking of which, we have been a minister in the same hall for a long time, and we have also had several faces, by the way, you have twice referred to a certain book to the saint, right?" ”

Yan Zhenqing belongs to Li Linfu's family in the court, and was once pushed out by Li Linfu as a pawn to impeach Zhao Ziliang in front of the emperor, many people in the court know that Yan Zhenqing's heart has been beating the drum before coming, worried that Zhao Ziliang will hate him, and now Zhao Ziliang mentioned this matter in person, which made Yan Zhenqing so embarrassed, and he didn't know where to put it with an old face, and the generals and colonels next to him heard that the new judge had impeached Zhao Ziliang several times in the court, and looked at Yan Zhenqing with murderous eyes, This is definitely not a kind gaze.

Yan Zhenqing hurriedly arched his hand and said: "General, that's really not the original intention of the lower official, the general has also stayed in the court for a few years, when he knows that sometimes he can't help himself in the court, even if he comes here to be a judge and a long history for the general, it is not Yan Mou's willing, but the general can rest assured, the general is willing to do whatever he wants, and the lower official should not see it!" ”

Of course, Zhao Ziliang knew that Yan Zhenqing was sent by Li Linfu to spy on him and pull his pigtails, and when he heard him say this, he immediately disagreed: "Lord Yan, this is not good, what is going to be done, how can you not see it?" You must know that you are a judge and a long history, and General Ben depends on you for many things! ”

Yan Zhenqing couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "The general misunderstood the meaning of the lower official, the general can only give orders if he has something, and the subordinate will not dare to disobey!" ”

"That's good!" Zhao Ziliang stretched out his hand and patted Yan Zhenqing on the shoulder, almost patting Yan Zhenqing down, and said with a smile: "You see that General Ben still has a lot of military affairs to do, and this city building is really cumbersome, why don't you ask Lord Yan to take over?" ”

The shot just now, the strength was not light, Yan Zhenqing was so painful that cold sweat broke out on his forehead, his face turned a little blue, and he grinned and agreed: "Promise, the lower officials will definitely do a good job in this matter and build the city wall as soon as possible!" ”

Since the defeat of Mangbuzhi and only his life, all the Tubo troops deployed on the western coast of the West Sea have withdrawn, and the Tubo people also know that after this defeat, they are afraid that they will not be able to keep the West Sea, and it is better to abandon this area and preserve these forces than to let the troops deployed here be swallowed up by the Tang army.

Just after the month of the agreement with Murong Jieyan, Murong Jieyan really made a move against the Tubo army stationed in Bailan, and the three thousand Tubo army, none of them ran away, and all of them were beheaded.

No, Zhao Ziliang just handed over the task of building the city to Yan Zhenqing, and he got out by himself, and before his ass was hot, Ge Shuhan came to report.

"General, Murong Jieyan is here with someone to drive the horse team, and he will be there soon!"

"Oh? Let's go, let's see! Zhao Ziliang said as he mounted his Wuli horse to the south, and Ge Shuhan and Brehan immediately followed with their followers.

On the south shore of the West Sea from east to west, there is a South Mountain that separates the West Sea from the west of Tuguhun's royal city of Bailan, from Bailan to Fu Qi City, to bypass the west end of Nanshan Mountain, and the east end of Nanshan is still controlled by the Tubo people, Murong Jieyan and his men and horses are to bypass the west end of Nanshan Mountain and come to Fu Qi City.

Murong Jieyan came to Zhao Ziliang with a horse team composed of more than 1,000 cavalry and hundreds of horses, turned over and dismounted to stroke his chest and saluted: "Murong Jieyan sees the general!" ”

Zhao Ziliang raised his hand and said with a smile: "Leader Murong doesn't have to be polite, I don't know what happened to Leader Murong coming here this time?" ”

Murong Jieyan turned around and pointed to the heads of human beings tied to the backs of the horses on the horse team and said: "General, the three thousand soldiers and horses stationed in Bailan in Tubo have all been annihilated by our army, and three thousand one hundred and twenty-eight heads are here, one is not less, please check it!" ”

Zhao Ziliang looked in the direction of Murong Jieyan's finger, and sure enough, he saw that each horse in the horse team had a number of human heads tied to their backs, and they were all Tubo people in terms of hair accessories and appearance, so he immediately smiled and affirmed Murong Jieyan's actions: "Okay, the leader of Murong is really a trustworthy person, and he has worked hard all the way, please go to the camp with a certain person to rest!" Geshuhan, you take someone to bury these people's heads."

"No!"

"Thank you, General!"

The soldiers and horses brought by Murong Jieyan stayed outside the Tang army camp to camp and rest, and he and a few guards followed Zhao Ziliang into the Tang army camp and came to the Chinese army's big tent, Zhao Ziliang asked people to send hot tea, warm wine, and food for Murong Jieyan to enjoy, and he himself drank a few cups with him.

After eating and drinking, Murong Jieyan wiped his mouth and said to Zhao Ziliang: "General, a few days ago, Xiao Lao'er has sent someone to Luoqi, the royal city of Tubo (now Lhasa), to send a letter, clearly stating that the descendants of my Tugu Hun Dayan Mangbo Jie are not mainly Tubo, but belong to the Tang Dynasty and advance and retreat with the Tang Dynasty!" This is a copy of the document sent to the general, please take a look at it! ”

A Hu Cong took a roll of sheepskin from Murong Jieyan's hand and turned around and handed it to Zhao Ziliang with both hands, Zhao Ziliang took it and opened it to see that it was written in Chinese and Tubo with a statement of breaking with Tubo and annexing to the Tang Dynasty.

Zhao Ziliang put away the parchment roll with satisfaction, clapped his hands, and brought a roll of yellow cloth and a square object wrapped in red silk from the tray, Zhao Ziliang took the tray and said to Murong Jieyan: "Murong Chief, no, King Bailan, you should be called King Bailan now, the will of the court has come down, and Murong Jieyan is officially canonized as King Bailan and the governor of Haixi Prefecture!" Murong Jieyan, take the order! ”

Murong Jieyan looked excited, hurriedly got up and knelt down in front of Zhao Ziliang, respectfully bowed and worshipped, and shouted: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live!" Then he took the tray very carefully and handed it to his guards.

On the fifth day of the second month, the city was finally rebuilt, and the area was still as large as before, divided into an inner city and an outer city, but the city wall was only half as high as before.

After the construction of the city was completed, Zhao Ziliang immediately formed an army in Fuqi City, and at the same time used the Dadou Army and the western Tuyuhun people as guides to sweep away all the strongholds deployed by Tubo in the Qaidam Basin.

This time, Zhao Ziliang did not personally lead the troops, he stayed in Fu Qi City to form the Fu Qi Army, led by Ge Shuhan and Gao Xiuyan, and marched to the hinterland of Qaidam in two ways, while Liu Gong, the deputy envoy of the Great Dou Army, stayed in Qilian County.

As the battle line advanced to the south of the West Sea, there was no need for the Great Dou Army to maintain the scale of more than 10,000 people, Zhao Ziliang left the regular establishment of 7,200 people to the Great Dou Army, and the surplus men and horses were all assigned to the Fu Qi Army, a total of more than 3,800 people, including 2,000 cavalry and 2,800 infantry, he took these 3,800 people as the backbone, recruited Qiang people, Tuyuhun people, and Han people from the nomadic tribes around the West Sea to enrich the Fu Qi army, and sent people to the hinterland of the Central Plains to recruit idle young people at a high price to come to the border, and in early March, A total of 8,500 troops, plus the original 3,800 troops, provide 12,300 men, and a considerable number of them have already completed the training of military envoys, and only 3,000 have just entered the training period.

Coupled with the Great Dou Army, Zhao Ziliang already had nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses available in his hands, and with such a strong force, Zhao Ziliang turned his attention to Huayuan County, Mantou City, Gongji City, Watering River City, Xiqiang City, Shudun City, Minghe City and other Dafeichuan areas occupied by the Tubo army in the southeast of the West Sea!

Nowadays, these places occupied by the Tubo people are in the gap between Longyou Dao and Xihai County, and if you want to pull out the Tubo army strongholds in these places, cooperating with Longyou Dao is the best way. (To be continued.) )