During the Zhenguan period, Hou Jun gathered in Xichang, and then set up the Anxi Protectorate in Jiaohe City. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info and to the destruction of the country of Qiuci, in the town of Qiuci, Qiuci Town is one of the four towns of Anxi, and the capital is moved here. Subsequently, the Tang army defeated the Western Turks and continued to expand its territory, so there were four towns in Anxi, which ruled the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains. And non-stop to subjugate the cities of the countries and countless cities, in the city-state hometown of the capital of the governor's office, the sphere of influence at its peak, called the Anxi metropolitan protectorate, governing the entire territory of the Western Regions, Central Asia, west to Persia, the Aral Sea, under the jurisdiction of Mengsha, Kunling two capital protectorate, Dawan metropolitan governor's mansion, Persian governor's mansion, Tiaozhi governor's mansion and other nine major prefectures, and rest, rest and follow several states.

The four towns of Anxi, Qiuci, Khotan, Shaye, Shule, Qiuci is the location of the capital protection house, located in the west of Xizhou, the south of the Tianshan Mountains, Khotan Town is located at the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain, Shule Town is located in the north of the Green Ridge, and the town of Shaye is located in the west of the Tianshan Mountains. At that time, tens of thousands of border troops of the Tang Dynasty in the Anxi Protectorate, in the Western Regions and Central Asian states, were like heavenly soldiers and generals, with supreme and inviolable power, countless city-state tribes surrendered because of fear, and countless city-state tribes surrendered because of respect.

Since the Zhenguan period, the early Tang Dynasty built the Anxi Protectorate, to the Yuanhe period, the last Anxi Protector Guo Xin died in battle, and the Anxi Protectorate existed for nearly two centuries.

Meng Ping and Li Shaocheng led their horses outside the city of Shazhou, reviewing these histories while discussing the next battle.

"In the land west of Hexi, although the Dangxiang, Uighur, Shatuo, and Tubo ethnic groups live together, they are ultimately closer to China, and the customs and folk sentiments are mostly influenced by our China, and men wear many Chinese hats, and there are many Chinese in Sha and Gua Prefectures, which is also the basis for the existence of the Guiyi Army. But further west, there will be fewer Chinese, the army will be able to get less response, and the resistance will inevitably be more, and the war will not be easy. ”

Meng Ping looked at the border Gobi, and said to Li Shaocheng heavily, the wind and sand blew on his face, unspeakably uncomfortable, blowing on the armor, making a rustling sound, the time to get here is still short, but everyone's faces are full of earth, and their lips are also very dry, not only that, not only that, not to mention washing, the water diversion of the soldiers of the three armies is a problem.

Li Shaocheng nodded and said: "From Ganzhou to the west, there are mostly Gobi Deserts along the way, and there are too few water sources, so the army has to carry water, which is a great burden on the baggage battalion. People can overcome all kinds of difficulties, but the war horse can not be neglected, not to mention anything else, in the Gobi Desert for a long time, the horseshoes are sharpened, and the sand is not penetrated, the iron horseshoe has to be replaced with a perforated wood, and the camel's hooves must also be wrapped in yakskins in order to travel far...... Our war horses have never been to this northwest wilderness, and in the future, they will travel far away to fight in the desert, and it is a question of whether they can adapt to it, and if their combat power is discounted, it will be a catastrophe......"

Meng Ping muttered: "The war horse should be changed, there are many good horses in the local area, which can adapt to the environment of the Gobi Desert, the herdsmen have many good pearls, a bead can be exchanged for a good horse, fortunately, the news of the military intelligence department is detailed, we brought a lot of pearls this time, and we can exchange many ready-made good horses on the spot, these good horses are mostly used by herdsmen to hunt, with a little training, it is not a problem to participate in the war......"

Li Shaocheng looked at the western sky from afar, "The forbidden army plus the Guiyi army, 100,000 soldiers went to the west to fight, most of the roads were barren land, water and food were difficult to replenish, and the daily cost must be several times that of the past, the army had to carry more baggage materials, and the horse team and Luo team were larger than the team of soldiers who fought in the war." ”

"It is important to follow the maps and intelligence of the Military Intelligence Department, to plan the route and the route of the march, where to transit, where to replenish drinking water, and to be fully prepared for everything, preferring to march slower than to ensure that the supplies are sufficient...... If we talk about the past conquests, the siege of the city is the key, and the current conquest, how to march is the most important. Meng Ping said in a deep voice, "Every place, every gram, a city or a tent, the battle must be carefully calculated, in this place in the Western Regions, the army cannot withstand defeat, and a defeat will be a great disaster." ”

As the sun set, everyone stopped, and Li Shaocheng said: "After the marching route is planned, the advance team will follow the guidance of the military intelligence department, and try it out first, and then the horse army will go first, and finally the army will follow up, so that the route is familiar, the situation along the way is mastered, and the army will not have too many accidents." Although this will make the enemy have some precautions, but it is more beneficial than disadvantageous, with the combat power of our army, not afraid of bloody battles with any strong enemy, the soldiers of our army, can die in the battle array, but it is impossible to die of thirst in the desert, lost in the middle of the way! ”

Meng Ping nodded, agreeing with Li Shaocheng's point of view, "The timing of sending troops has been roughly agreed, and the time chosen is the time when the wind and sand are the least and the sandstorm is the least, this time to use troops in the Western Regions, Cao Yijin and I will go north, attack Yizhou, Xizhou Uighurs, and march to Qiuzi Town, you and Zhang Jin will go south, attack Zhongyun and Khotan, and recover Khotanese Town, and finally the two armies will meet in Shule, and then solve other opponents in the west together." ”

Li Shaocheng's expression was solemn, "This time I set out to conquer the Western Regions, I don't know how long it will take, thousands of miles away, there may be many accidents, even if it takes a few years, it is not unusual." ”

Meng Ping and Li Shaocheng stood side by side and looked at the west sky together, "How difficult the march is, it is not as good as being in the Central Plains, having said that, after all, our army is fully prepared, the horse team and camel team are huge, in fact, the march is not slow, if the battle is generally smooth, it will not take long to join Shule Town." ”

There have been many Han and Tang legends in the Western Regions, and now Meng Ping and Li Shaocheng have arrived here.

......

The forbidden army was divided into the north and the south to fight in the Western Regions, taking the north and south roads of the Tarim Basin, and the Silk Road was also divided into two branches.

Li Shaocheng led an army of 30,000 out of Yangguan and marched to the southwest, and the first goal of his troops to pacify was Zhongyun State.

Zhongyun Kingdom, according to Stone Town, Datun City, "its tooth tent dwells in Hulu Moraine". Stone Town, Datun City, that is, Shanshan, Ruoqiang hometown. Shanshan and Ruoqiang, that is, the Loulan Kingdom in the early Han Dynasty, the Loulan of "not breaking the Loulan oath and not returning", are also one of the 36 countries in the Western Regions in the early Han Dynasty. After Ban Chaoding the Western Regions, Loulan belonged to the Han Dynasty. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Shanshan changed its name to Stone Town, which belonged to Shazhou, and was later occupied by Tubo, and is now Zhongyun State, with few people, a total of tens of thousands of people, and Shazhou has mutual contacts.

Zhongyun people, "the remnants of the Xiaoyue branch, their people are brave and warlike." ”

The Hulu moraine where the tooth tent is located, "Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty conquered the Xiongnu, Tuntian in Wulu, and covered its land." ”

Li Shaocheng marched to the boundary of Zhongyun territory, and did not attack rashly, but sent military envoys with an edict to Datun City first.

Entering the Western Regions is a major event that Li Congjing has been planning for a long time, and his understanding of the countries in the Western Regions is naturally quite detailed.

At present, Li Shaocheng went to Datuncheng with an edict as a military envoy, intending to canonize the monarch of Zhongyun and try to make him obediently return to the Tang Dynasty.

Since the Han Dynasty, China has had the tradition of accepting and canonizing all the ethnic groups in the grasslands and the countries of the Western Regions, especially the Han and Tang dynasties.

In order to show his sincerity, Li Shaocheng stopped advancing after two more days of marching after the military envoys went first, and set up camp on the side of Puchanghai. Puchanghai is a lake, the upper reaches of the Qiuzi River, the lower reaches of the Fumo River (Tarim River), this section of the river is a seasonal river, the spring is warm and the snow is melting, there is water in the river, but the amount of water is not large.

However, the Tang army is not short of water, they camped on the side of the Puchang Sea, this place, is no longer a desert oasis can be described, the water and grass are abundant, the forest is deep, there is a blue sea and blue sky scenery, and in the warm spring, it is the time when the flowers are blooming, which makes people suspect that they have reached the south of the Yangtze River.

For no other reason, because Pu Changhai was later called Lop Nur.

The current Lop Nur is the real Puchang Sea, not the dry saline-alkali land.

Since Pu Changhai is the south of the Yangtze River in the Western Regions, there is naturally no shortage of herdsmen at this time, after the forbidden army arrives, they will camp and take water quietly, and there will naturally be no disturbance to the people, but Rao is so, and it is also shocking that Zhongyun people fled in all directions, and it didn't take long for them to run away, and even most of the sheep were lost.

This scene made Li Shaocheng on horseback shake his head, "Let Zhang Jin lead people, chase those herdsmen back, and appease them, so that they can continue to graze here...... Since we intend to settle Zhongyun peacefully, we must show the attitude we should have, so that the people of Zhongyun can see our sincerity. ”

Li Shaocheng was right, when Zhongyun's envoy came to Puchanghai and saw a picture of harmony between the army and the people, there was both surprise and joy on his face, and the group looked at the officers and soldiers of the Tang Army, and their eyes were a little kinder.

Li Shaocheng received the envoy of Zhongyun in the big tent of the Chinese army, and when he listened to Zhang Jinlai's introduction, he was a little surprised by the weight of this envoy team...... The two prime ministers and more than a dozen governors are full of weight no matter how you look at it.

What Li Shaocheng didn't know was that in the Later Jin Dynasty, Gao Juhai sent an envoy to the Western Regions, and when he arrived in Datun City, Zhongyun sent four prime ministers and thirty-seven governors to greet him.

The Western Regions have been the land of China since the Han Dynasty, and China's strong national strength and prosperity of civilization are the objects of worship of the countries of the Western Regions, and China's policy towards the Western Regions has always been very lenient, and the Chinese are knowledgeable and reasonable, and after entering the Western Regions, they have merged with various ethnic groups, and it has been nearly a thousand years, bringing splendid culture and advanced civilization, making the Western Regions social progress, and improving the lives of the people.

In a word, the Western Regions is the land of China and the land of China.

After the Anshi Rebellion, although the Western Regions were isolated from China, it was not only Guo Xin and Guiyi Army who sent envoys to the east, but also many Western Regions states.

Over the years, what really isolated the Western Regions from China was not the rebellion of the people of the Western Regions, but the invasion of the Xiongnu, Turkic, Tibetan, Uighur, Mongol and other ethnic groups, and the destruction of the four towns of Anxi, which came from the east of Islamic civilizations, was due to the invasion of Tibet.

Li Shaocheng set up a banquet in the army and had a very happy conversation with Zhong Yunlai, and with Zhang Jinlai as the "middleman", the exchanges between the two sides were very smooth.

The Tang army's recovery of Hexi, Zhong Yun has already heard that this time the Tang army is coming westward, unstoppable, and treating each other with courtesy, showing the prestige of a great power, Zhong Yun made it clear that Zhong Yun has no intention of starting a war with the Tang army, and is willing to return to the Tang Dynasty.

This was an unexpected and reasonable thing, and the next step was to negotiate the terms of conformity.