After sending Wang away from Wang Yuan, Zhao Ziliang and the others returned, and saw that Jia Lin, the official captain of the Jiedu Embassy, had woken up, so he smiled and said, "Captain Jia is awake?" So-and-so has already prepared a meal, let's continue to drink, come on, come on."

Jia Lin almost drank to death last night, and when he heard that he was going to drink, his head suddenly shook like a rattle, and he hurriedly excused himself: "Don't don't, thank you General Zhao for your hospitality, but the lowly post must return to Liangzhou today, and now the hour is not early, and the lowly rank is about to leave." Oh, by the way, there is one more thing that I forgot to hand over to General Zhao, during this period of time, Zhao Ziliang has made great contributions, and others have been promoted and rewarded, of course the marshal will not forget General Zhao, the imperial court decided to set up the Xihai Governor's Mansion and Xihai County south of Qilian Mountain, and appointed General Zhao as the Governor of the Xihai Governor's Mansion and the Taishou of Xihai County, and concurrently served as the envoy of the Great Dou Army, and was subject to the jurisdiction of the Hexi Jiedu Envoy, this is the appointment letter of the imperial court, the general took it well, and resigned from his humble position! ”

"Wait!" Zhao Ziliang took the letter of appointment and immediately ordered Brehan to prepare some dry food and wine for Jia Lin and others to use on the road.

After sending Jia Lin and the others away, Zhao Ziliang opened the appointment document and looked at it, the so-called Xihai County is the area around Qinghai Lake, and these areas except Qilian and Dichi County have been occupied by Zhao Ziliang's Dadou army, and the other areas are still in the hands of the Tubo people, if you want Xihai County to really become a county, Zhao Ziliang will send troops to defeat these areas, and he is the governor of Xihai Prefecture and the envoy of Dadou Army, which can be said to be a concentration of military and political power.

As the Taishou of Xihai County, Zhao Ziliang has the obligation and responsibility to knock down the area around Qinghai Lake, so that Xihai County can live up to its name and become a county of the Tang Dynasty, and as the governor of Xihai Prefecture, he has the right to send troops to Tibet independently without asking for instructions from the Jiedu envoy Wang Qi in everything, and he also has the right to manage and appease the ethnic minorities in the area.

In the past, Zhao Ziliang was the envoy of the Great Dou Army, although he was already in charge alone, but this was not the real sense of the word, because if he wanted to send troops, he had to ask Wang Qi for instructions, and he had Wang Qi's permission, but now it is different, although he is still under the jurisdiction of Wang Qi, but if he finds an opportunity, he can send troops directly without asking Wang Qi.

There is also an important point, the Taishou of Xihai County is the local governor, and the governor of the Xihai Governor's Mansion is not only the local governor, but also the military governor, which shows that Zhao Ziliang already has independent financial power, in such a border area, the imperial court not only does not collect taxes, but also vigorously carries out financial subsidies, so Zhao Ziliang can leave the money he has earned for recruiting troops and expanding armaments.

Seeing this letter of appointment, Zhao Ziliang was full of ambition, and immediately said loudly: "Go back to the camp and prepare to hold a military meeting to expand troops and armaments!" ”

······

Wang was rarely transferred to Longyou Road as the Heyuan military envoy two months later, in November of the first year of Tianbao, the Tubo people who were unwilling to fail made a comeback again, Tubo Zanpu Xi Dezuzan sent a great talk of Mangbu Zhi again led 50,000 troops to attack the Tang Dynasty, but this time Mangbu Zhi put the direction of attack in the Longyou area, Longyou Dao Jiedu made Huangfu Weiming lead the army to meet the attack, the two sides fought in the West Sea (Qinghai Lake), and the Tang army won a complete victory.

In December, Mangbuzhi refused to admit defeat and once again led 30,000 troops to attack Longyou.

Two months ago, Zhao Ziliang had set up the Xihai Governor's Mansion and the Xihai County Administration in the Qilian area south of the Qilian Mountains, and set up counties here, while the new city south of the eastern section of the Qilian Mountains was still garrisoned by Geshuhan, with 3,000 men and horses.

The main forces of the Dadou Army have all been moved forward to Qilian County, and there is only one Wusu in the former garrison of Dadou Tu Gu, with a garrison of 200 people.

After Zhao Ziliang moved the administrative office to Qilian County, he set up a county here, appointed county officials and other officials to manage civil affairs, guided the people of all ethnic groups in the territory under his jurisdiction to do a good job in production, built water conservancy, and in order to obtain enough grain and grass, the Dadou Army opened up wasteland and cultivated land under his instructions to carry out large-scale production.

On the eighth day of the twelfth month, commonly known as Laba, Laba porridge should be eaten on this day. Zhao Ziliang was training soldiers and horses on the school ground, and the chief of the guard, Brehan, walked over quickly with the handle of his sword and arched his hand: "General, General Ge Shuhan sent a fast horse to report, saying that there is an urgent military situation, and now he is in the Governor's Mansion."

Zhao Ziliang handed over the drill to Zhang Shouyu and others, and returned to the Governor's Mansion with Brehan, in order to facilitate the office, the Governor's Mansion and the Taishou Mansion were set up in one place, which was both the Governor's Mansion and the Taishou Mansion.

As soon as he walked into the lobby of the Governor's Mansion, he saw a burly soldier standing up and saluting: "The villain is the house slave of General Geshu, meet the general!" ”

Zhao Ziliang saw that the left body was tall and far beyond ordinary people, with thick limbs and a powerful appearance, he knew that this person was a powerful person, he nodded, walked to the hall and sat down, and said to the left lane: "You get up, tell me what Ge Shuhan asked you to come to report to General Ben?" ”

"General, my general got the news that three days ago, the Tubo State Minister's Mangbu Branch took 30,000 horses to Shanzhou, the seat of the Longyou Jiedu Envoy, it seems that he wants to compete with Huangfu Weiming again, and he will not give up if he does not take Shanzhou, General Ge Shuhan thinks that this is a good opportunity for our army to attack."

Zhao Ziliang immediately asked, "Where is the Mangbuzhi army now?" ”

"You should confront Huangfu Weiming's army in the area of Xiping Pavilion north of the Huangshui River in Xiping County!"

Zhao Ziliang frowned and said, "Xiping County? Isn't it Shanzhou? ”

Zuo Che arched his hand and said: "General, at the beginning of this summer, the imperial court issued an order to change the name of Shanzhou to Xiping County!" ”

Xiping Pavilion is the Xining urban area of later generations, the Han Dynasty general Huo Qubing built Xiping Pavilion here, set up Linqiang County at the source of Huangshui west of Xiping Pavilion, only to have the name Xiping, to the Northern Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty set up Xining Prefecture, the location is in Xining in later generations, and the name Xining is really seen in the annals.

At this time, Xiping Pavilion was also a Wu office, in the hands of the Heyuan army of Longyou Dao, which was also the border dividing line between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, and the two sides fought here several times.

Zhao Ziliang couldn't help frowning when he heard this, walked to the wall on the left side of the lobby, looked at the map hanging on the wall, and quickly found the location of Xiping Pavilion.

Zhao Ziliang found that there were 5,000 men and horses stationed in Changning County, which was controlled by the Tubo people in the north of Xipingting, and 6,000 people stationed on the northwest shore of Qinghai Lake (now Gangcha County), and a total of 10,000 people were stationed in the former Longqicheng hometown (now Haiyan County) and the former Linqiang County in the north of Qinghai Lake, of which 7,000 men and horses were stationed in the former Linqiang County (now Huangyuan County).

Along the grain and grass hoarding site of the Tubo army, Zhao Ziliang's eyes moved southward, and soon found an eye-catching landmark, not far from the foot of Chiling, there is a fortress towering, this is the stone fort city, more than a year ago, it was because of the negligence of the former Hexi Jiedu that Gai Jiayun let the Tubo people capture this stone fort city, thus making the Tang Dynasty lose the initiative in the war.

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and said to Brehan: "Arrange for the left car to go down to rest, and send someone to find a few Qiang people and the old people in Tuyuhun to come over!" ”

"No!" Brehan agreed and led the left car out.

An hour later, Brehan led six old men dressed in various national costumes, including Tuyuhun people, Qiang people, Tibetan people, and Han Chinese.

"I'll see the general!" Several old men trembled and shouted in shock.

Zhao Ziliang turned around and said with a smile: "Everyone, please get up, please sit!" ”

"Don't dare, don't dare! How dare we sit in front of the general? Several old men resigned in unison.

Zhao Ziliang was not reluctant, and asked: "There is a question, I want to ask the extremely old man, you see, we are here now, Qilian County!" If a certain wants to lead an army to the hometown of the original Longqi City, is there a shortcut to avoid the Tibetan army stationed on the northwest shore of the West Sea? ”

All the old men looked in the direction pointed by Zhao Ziliang's finger, but they couldn't understand it, and an old man from the Qiang people said: "If the general wants to go to the hometown of the original Longqi City, the old man knows a shortcut to go, and he can also avoid the eyes and ears of the cavalry of the army on the northwest coast of the West Sea!" A few days ago, when Tibet was not at war with the Tang Dynasty, the old man often drove cattle, sheep and horses to the tea and horse market in Linqiang County to sell them."

Zhao Ziliang hurriedly said: "Oh, please come quickly, if this general can do a great thing, there will definitely be a heavy reward!" ”

The old man of the Qiang people said: "Cross the Datong River from Mole Village, and then follow a small river in the southeast direction until it reaches the confluence with the Hash River, and then walk along the Hash River to the southeast to reach the west coast, and soon to the east to the hometown of Longqi City!" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked, "How long did it take you to drive the cattle and horses to Linqiang County?" ”

"Ten days!"

Zhao Ziliang compared it with his finger on the map, and calculated, the distance was about five hundred miles, and the old man of the Qiang nationality drove the cattle and horses for fifty miles a day, and he could reach Longqi City within ten days. However, the speed of walking with cattle and horses is certainly not as fast as that of an army, and if it is all cavalry, the speed will be faster.

The elite cavalry can travel 300 miles a day, but it is difficult to say if you want to maintain combat effectiveness, and it is not difficult for the cavalry under Zhao Ziliang to maintain combat effectiveness for 200 miles a day, but it is located on a plateau, with mountains and rivers crisscrossing the country, and the terrain in many places is steep, and the cavalry will not be able to travel 200 miles a day, if you travel 150 miles a day, it should be possible to reach it in three days, in such a short period of time, it is impossible for the Tubo people to detect anything, as long as they quietly defeat the Tubo garrison in Longqi City, Not far from achieving his goal.

Zhao Ziliang turned his head and asked, "If General Ben brings all the cavalry there, how long does it take for the old man to arrive?" ”

The old man of the Qiang people thought for a moment and said, "If they are all cavalrymen with excellent horsemanship, they should be able to arrive in three days without carrying more things."

Zhao Ziliang was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Please also ask the old man to lead the way for us, after the matter is completed, General Ben will give you 500 cattle and sheep and 1,000 yuan of money, how about it?" ”

The old man of the Qiang tribe said with a bitter face: "General, the old man is old, he can't stand such a toss, if the general doesn't dislike it, the old man's son Naiga can lead the way for the general, every time he rushes to the market, he follows the old man to get familiar with the path."

Zhao Ziliang immediately said: "Okay, then invite the old man's son Naiga over!" (To be continued.) )