It turned out that before the army entered the desert again, it had stored enough drinking water, but on the way, they experienced a black storm and lost a lot of drinking water. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info then, although they tried to save water, it was still not enough to support the army out of the desert.

Su Dingfang and several generals took the lead in controlling drinking water, and even Ashinaqing's delicate cherry lips were chapped due to lack of water.

Li Su asked Cai Sha to take out the sorbet and invited several generals to enjoy it. Unexpectedly, everyone shook their heads in unison, and no one would enjoy it.

Ashina Qing said: "My soldiers are hungry and thirsty, how can I enjoy it here? ”

The generals thought the same way.

Li Su was moved in his heart, and said in his heart: "It is not for nothing that the Tang Army in history has strong combat power and swept the world, which can be seen from the bodies of these generals. ”

Li Su never asked about specific affairs, and his carriage had everything in it, so he did not know that the army was experiencing difficulties in water shortage. He said: "In the future, if you encounter difficulties, you should come to me in time, and I will find a way to solve them." ”

Su Dingfang said with some disbelief: "Can you solve the water problem?" It is impossible to drill a well here. ”

Li Su said with a smile: "You can appropriately increase the drinking water of the soldiers to prevent heat stroke, and at night, I have my own way to solve it." ”

That night, the soldiers hung their horizontal swords one after another, the tip of the knife downward, and the helmet placed underneath. They're gathering dew.

The reason why the Tang army crossed the desert was only to conceal the army's travel, so the desert that the expeditionary force crossed was the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, which was not very far from the upper reaches of the Tarim River, and although there was no water, it was not absolutely arid like the depths of the desert.

There is a large difference in temperature between day and night in the desert, and the temperature here is only 5-6 degrees at night. The cold air at night contains a certain amount of moisture. This makes it possible to collect dew at night.

Su Dingfang rested in the tent, but he couldn't sleep, thinking about the method taught by King Liang, and didn't know if it would work.

At 4 o'clock in the evening, Su Dingfang finally fell asleep in a daze, and at this moment, a personal guard came in and woke him up. The guard said excitedly: "Deputy marshal, there is water, there is really water." ”

Su Dingfang was in high spirits, and immediately ran out to check, only to see that the snow bright blade was now foggy, and it was full of fine dew, a lot of dew condensed together, and began to flow downward, and half an inch of dew had accumulated in the helmet underneath.

Su Dingfang was overjoyed, struck each other with both hands, and said, "Okay, great." Now, we can cross the desert safely. ”

The adjutant general sighed: "His Royal Highness King Liang is really too smart, he can think of such a method." ”

Su Dingfang nodded and said: "His Royal Highness King Liang is really the lucky star of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty has prospered rapidly in recent years, and His Royal Highness should be the first to take the lead."

Ash Naqing looked at the dew in her helmet, and the handsome face of King Liang appeared in front of her, as if she was looking at herself, her face was blushing, and she didn't dare to look any further.

Although the dew collected at night is not much, the drinking water for the soldiers for a day can basically be satisfied, and the drinking water that the army originally had some reserves completely solved the drinking water problem of the army.

On this day, good news came from the front - the vanguard of the army had come out of the desert.

Gao Changguo.

It is located in the Hara and Zhuo area in the southeast of Turpan, Xinjiang, and is the transportation hub of the Western Regions in ancient times. Along the north road of Tianshan South Road, it is the key point of east-west traffic, and it is also one of the political, economic and cultural centers of Xinjiang in ancient times.

The residents of Gaochang are mainly Han (mainly descendants of the Han and Wei Tunshu soldiers and civilians and immigrants from the interior who fled the war), supplemented by ethnic minorities (mainly Zhaowu Jiu and expatriates from other Western Regions). It is a relatively independent and stable living area with Han people as the main body. Therefore, the establishment of the Gaochang State, such as the official system, the military system, the enlistment system, the scholar system, etc., was probably born from the Han and Jin dynasties, and it has its own characteristics.

The traditional culture of the Han nationality is dominant in Gaochang.

At the beginning of Zhenguan (626), Qu Wentai, the king of Gaochang, once came to the Chang'an Dynasty to meet Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, and expressed his submission to the Tang Dynasty.

Later, the Tang Dynasty suffered the wars of the Eastern Turks and Xue Yantuo one after another, and did not care about the affairs of the Western Regions, and at this time the Western Turks rose, Qu Wentai took refuge in the Western Turks, and no longer paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty.

Just last September, a caravan of 300 people from the Tang Dynasty was hijacked by Qu Zhisheng, the son of Qu Wentai, the king of Gaochang, and more than 50 of them were killed, and the rest of the merchants were detained, and they are still stranded in the city of Gaochang to serve hard labor.

The Tang Dynasty once sent people to negotiate, and Qu Wentai, the king of Gaochang, refused to admit that it was Gaochang Guo who did it in order to protect his son Qu Zhisheng, and the matter has not been resolved.

Not long ago, the Western Turkic Khan defeated his uncle and further expanded his power, revealing his ambition to unify the Western Regions. Qu Wentai felt the danger and knew that sooner or later, one day, he would annex Gaochangguo.

The Western Turkic Khan was ruthless, he believed that only when the enemy was wiped out was the safest and most thorough solution, and the enemy he defeated had only one end, death! All the males of the deceased's family will be killed, and the women will be taken captive into slavery.

Qu Wentai regretted falling out with the Tang Dynasty, he was worried that he would not be able to repair relations with the Tang Dynasty, and he was worried that even if he repaired relations with the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty was thousands of miles away and could not be reached.

On this day, he was talking with his son Qu Zhisheng. Qu Wentai had six sons, Qu Wentai was the eldest son and the prince (equivalent to the crown prince). He said: "I heard that not long ago, the Tang Dynasty sent a lot of missions to the Western Regions, but did not send people to our Gaochang, it seems that you hijacked the Tang Dynasty's caravan last time and offended them severely." ”

Qu Zhisheng said: "Father, in fact, I did this at that time because of the Western Turks, although the Tang Dynasty was strong, it was too far away from us. The Western Turks were now so powerful that even the Tang Dynasty was afraid of them.

Not long ago, the Tang Dynasty signed a peace agreement with the Western Turks, and it seems that the Tang Dynasty will ignore the affairs of the Western Regions for a long time. We don't have to worry about what will happen if we offend the Tang Dynasty.

On the contrary, if we befriend the Tang Dynasty and are targeted by the profits, it will be troublesome. Did you find that since we robbed the caravan of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Turks' troops on the border of our Gaochang Kingdom have withdrawn. ”

Qu Wentai nodded and said, "You have a point. We can only befriend the Western Turks now. However, for those Tang Dynasty merchants who were caught by you, be kind to them, and don't have any more dead people. ”

Qu Zhisheng said: "Okay, I will treat them well." ”