In April, Hou Junji took an army of 200,000 to Yumen Pass, rested at Yumen Pass for a few days, and after supplying some water, the army set off again to approach Gaochang.

Out of the Yumen Pass, the first hurdle that the army has to pass is the two-thousand-mile moraine that Gaochang relies on as a barrier, that is, the great desert.

Mohe Yanqi is the name of the great desert, in the Journey to the West, this desert was written by Wu Chengen as a turbulent quicksand river, and the sand monk is the Tang monk who is waiting here.

In fact, although the real sand river is written as the quicksand river, the historical Tang monk Xuanzang did go from here to the Western Regions and then to Tianzhu to seek the Western Scriptures.

After spending nine lives through this difficult quicksand river, Tang Xuanzang still had palpitations when he recalled Mohe Yanmoi: "Mohe Yanmoi is eight hundred miles long, and it was called Shahe River in ancient times. There are no birds on the top and no beasts under it, and there is no water grass Gu Ying is the only one. After four nights and five days, the mouth and abdomen were dry and scorched, and they would die. Looking around, the night is enchanting and raising fire, bright as stars, and the day is frightened by the wind and sand, scattered like rain.

The most convenient way to communicate between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the recognized Silk Road North Road and the North New Road, which are lush with water and plants, is to go from this great desert.

In the past, it was too difficult and dangerous here, and the merchants and travelers took the northern road, the northern new road, and later after being blocked by the Western Turks, the Silk Road was not smooth, so when the Yanqi Kingdom went to the Tang Dynasty to pay tribute, they had to borrow Gaochang, and from Gaochang to the desert to the Tang Dynasty, they asked the Tang Dynasty to reopen the Silk Road, and therefore offended Gaochang and was attacked by Gaochang and the Western Turks.

This is the path taken by the Tang army's march this time.

Ju Wentai, the king of Gaochang, thought that Datang would be stopped by the desert and did not dare to enter the army, but he did not expect that Datang's determination to enter the army this time was so great, nor did he expect that Datang's national strength was no longer comparable to before.

The Tang army not only walked directly into the desert, but also sent the logistics materials to Yumen Pass by road, and then sent into the desert through camels and horses from Yumen Pass.

Not only into the desert, but also all the way to the material has sufficient security, on the tenth day of the fifth month, the Tang army stepped out of the desert to Yizhou, that is, the later Hami.

"Tang goes to me for seven thousand miles, the sand moraine lives for two thousand miles, there is no water and grass on the ground, the cold wind is like a knife, the hot wind is like a burn, and the army can be anneng ! When I entered the court, I saw the north of Qin and Long, and the city was depressed, and there was no longer a Sui ratio. Now come to attack me, and if you send more troops, you will not be able to transport food; 30,000 have been lowered, and I can control it. When you wait for your work, sit back and reap the disadvantages. If the army is under the city, but it will be twenty days, and the food will be exhausted, and then it will be captured. Why worry! ”

Gaochang Wang Ju Wentai's confident words became a joke.

The two thousand miles of sand sea did not stop the journey of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty did not have a depression and no longer the prosperity of the Sui Dynasty, and the grain and grass were enough to support the 200,000 army to fight dozens of wars to destroy Gaochang.

So a few days later, Ju Wentai, the king of Gaochang who was about to attack Gaochang when the Tang army crossed the desert, was afraid and did not know what to do, and died of illness.

died, and King Gaochang, who was arrogant, was scared to death without even seeing a single soldier of the Tang Dynasty.

"Chief, there is news that Ju Wentai, the king of Gaochang, was scared to death when he heard that our army was coming." Xue Wanjun, the deputy director, walked in and said with a smile.

"Hahaha, scared to death, no cowardly child dares to say disrespectful words to my Datang, it should end like this." Hou Junji was looking at the map, and when he heard this, he laughed loudly, and the sand fell on the roof.

"Now that Ju Wentai is dead, shall we continue to march into the army?" Xue Wanjun asked.

"Why not, Your Majesty wants us to destroy Gaochang, instead of just letting Ju Wentai die." Hou Junji said with a sneer.

Not to mention that the emperor's order is to destroy Gaochang, even if it is not, they all came to the ground with an army of 200,000, and the general will not be subject to the orders of the monarch outside, and Hou Junji will not be able to return back in vain.

This is a great contribution to the expansion of the territory and the destruction of the country, Hou Junji waited for so many years before finally waiting for the opportunity to really lead the army to destroy a country, how could he give up, he didn't want Li Jing to be alone in the front.

Hou Junji is a person with great pursuits.

"Order, let the soldiers speed up the progress of making siege equipment, and let's give them a blow at the good time of the new funeral of the king of Gaochang." Hou Junji ordered with a smile.

"Yes." Xue Wanjun promised to go out.

"Oh, by the way, who is now the new king of Gaochang?" Hou Junji asked again.

"It's his son Ju Zhisheng." Xue Wanjun said.

"Oh, okay, got it."

..............

Datang's march into Gaochang this time to promote the prestige of the country can be described as a large number of generals, more than 200,000 soldiers, naturally quite a lot. Jiang Guang, the military department Shangshu Luguo Gonghou Junji is the general manager of the march, the general of Zuotunwei and the founding prince of Yong'an County of Shangzhu State Xue Wanjun is the deputy general of the march, and the general of the right Xiaowei Shangzhu State Xue Gu Wu Ren is also the deputy general of the march.

Jiang Xingben, the founding man of Tongchuan County, Shangzhu State, was the deputy governor, and General Zuo Wuwei was the head of the Jiaohe Road March. He Li is the deputy chief of the march of the Green Mountain Road. Ashina Sheer is the head of the march of the Jiaohe River. Zuo Xiaowei, the general of Shangzhu Guoyunzhong County, Cao Qin, was the head of the march, and Liu Demin, the founding prince of Pingyuan County, Changzhou, was the head of the march.

In addition to these chief managers, general managers, and deputy general managers, there are also Zhonglang will be the founding prince of Huai'an County, Zhonglang will be the founder of Fuyang County, Zhonglang will be the founder of Fuyang County, Zhonglang will be Li Haihai, the former Kaizhou assassin Shi Deheng, and the governor of the left prison gate Shi Wang Jinwei.

There is also the most general Qiu Xinggong, who is also a famous general, but because of his strict nature, he often offends his colleagues, and has been impeached and lost his official position many times because of cruel methods, although every time Li Shimin remembers his merits, it will not take long for him to resume his official position, but it has also caused him to have not been promoted another step since the first year of Zhenguan for more than ten years.

However, this person is most famous not because of himself, but because he gave birth to a son, and the son gave birth to a son, that is, his grandson is a famous figure on the list of cool officials who have been infamous for thousands of years.

So many generals, princes, county princes, princes, and Shangzhu kingdoms, in the words of later generations, will gather the stars. Such a big battle to fight a small Gaochang is completely anti-aircraft artillery to fight mosquitoes, and it is useless.

However, although the contrast in strength is obvious, these generals did not underestimate Gao Chang, but treated them with a mentality of fighting a strong country.

In front of the opening of the road is the deputy general manager Jiang Xingben, the supervision of the construction of siege equipment is also he, now Yizhou built a large number of siege equipment, and so from Yizhou to the first attack target, but also the border pass of Gaochang Heavy Kaliu Valley less than 100 miles, Jiang Xingben once again ordered to set up camp, in the camp Luo Manshan mountain to pick wood, continue to build siege equipment.

Enough siege equipment has been built, but Jiang Xingben is still too little, when passing by Luo Manshan saw that there were enough trees on the mountain and ordered people to build again, and waited until Hou Junji led the follow-up army to arrive before stopping.

Then the first intimate contact between Datang and Gaochang began.