At the beginning of March of the second year of Taining, with the Western Expedition army stationed in the two cities of Loulan and Haitou, the Western Expedition officially kicked off. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After a short rest and recuperation with the generals of Yanwang, the army was divided into two, the southern route was commanded by Liu Yao, and the two generals of Yao Lan and Fu Hong rode a total of 30,000 steps, and marched west along the south of the Silk Road from Haitou, responsible for passing through Shanshan, Khotan and other countries.

The remaining 90,000 cavalry formed the Northern Route Army, commanded by Wei Shuo himself, and after going north to Gaochang, it will follow the middle route of the Silk Road and pass through Shanshan, Qiuci, Shule and other countries to the west.

Upon learning of the Yan army's movements, the Western Regions Alliance quickly took action, and a large number of troops began to concentrate in Qiuzi. In order to lure the Yan army into being deceived, the coalition forces even gave up the Iron Gate Pass, the most important pass on the middle road!

Subsequently, the Western Expedition army captured Yanqi and Yuli with almost no effort, and entered the Tiemen Pass.

Perhaps the word 'capture' cannot be used, and the Northern Route Army marched westward almost without any resistance, and in this way took Yanqi and Yuli without blood.

However, just when everyone thought that the main force of the Yan army would continue to attack Qiuzi to the west, the king of Yan ordered the northern route army to suspend its westward advance.

As a result, the main force of the 90,000 Western Expeditionary Army was entrenched in the territory of Cheshi Qianguo, Yanqi, and Yuli, so that the Gaoche tribe and the Cheshi Houguo coalition army, which were planning to cut off the rear road of the Yan army, could not advance or retreat.

……

Yuanqu City, the original Yanqi King City, has now been taken over by the Yan Army and has become the temporary base camp of the Northern Route Army. Right now, the generals are gathered in the room, discussing the latest military situation.

In the past half month, the Northern Route Army, as the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army, has hardly exerted much strength. On the contrary, it was the Southern Route Army commanded by Liu Yao who made a lot of noise in the South Road, and went west to connect the three kingdoms of Shanshan, and the end of the country, and the three kingdoms, and now it is even more troops in Khotan, causing a shock and fear in the entire South Road countries.

"King, your hand can be regarded as hitting the soft underbelly of the Western Regions Alliance, and the minister heard that the southern countries led by Khotan and Shanshan are strongly asking the main force of the coalition to go south, which makes the central and northern powers such as Qiuzi and Wusun very unhappy, and almost caused the alliance to split."

"This is all the credit of the Southern Route Army, if it weren't for the courage of the Zhengchang offensive, there would never be such a good situation today."

Wei Shuo couldn't help but show a few smiles on his face when he heard this, since the Yan Army's northern and southern armies started, the entire Western Regions was in flames. However, under his strict orders, the Northern Route Army made slow progress, and by late March it had only advanced to Tiemen Pass.

Only the Southern Route Army's Liu Yao Division made smooth progress, and captured most of the Southern Western Regions in a near-sweeping manner.

The Western Expeditionary Army's differentiated attack almost broke the Western Regions Alliance.

Seeing that their own countries have fallen one after another, while the countries of the North and Middle Provinces are intact, it is inevitable that there will be grievances in their hearts.

"However, although this time it has made the Western Regions Alliance very embarrassed, it will not break the alliance."

"Well, Shi Qiu has a point!"

Wei Shuo slightly bowed his head and very much agreed with Yang Hu's judgment, among the powerful countries in the Western Regions, only Khotan and Shanshan were located in the south province, and the rest of the countries such as Qiuzi were in the middle and north provinces, and the balance of strength was obviously unbalanced, and it was estimated that the dispute would end with a compromise between the southern countries.

"What do you think the alliance will do next?"

"In the minister's opinion, during the period when the main force of our army is stopped in Yanqi, the Western Regions Alliance will never let the Gaoche and Cheshi Houguo coalition forces go south to attack Gaochang, so the minister thinks that the alliance is very likely to continue to lure the main force of our army to the west, so as to create a good opportunity for the capture of Gaochang."

"Yes, the Western Regions Alliance is not stupid, they will never act rashly until our army continues to penetrate deep into the hinterland of the Western Regions."

"My lord, since the Western Regions Alliance has repeatedly 'invited' our army to move west, do you think we should give him a little face?"

"Huh? Hahaha...... Ahem, hahaha! ”

Listening to Yang Yu's slightly ridiculous tone, and then looking at the other party's evil smile, Wei Shuo couldn't help laughing, and the rest of the people couldn't help but laugh.

"That is the case, the king has no choice but to be respectful, it is better to obey his orders, come to someone, and pass on the order of the widow: order Li Bai and Zhou Futong to garrison Gaochang, and not let an enemy army enter the city before the main force and the coalition army are defeated! Can you do it? ”

"The humble post, the last general is willing to make a military order, and he can't hold Gaochang, please ask the king to take it below!" Li Bai and Zhou Fu stood up and bowed down to receive the order.

"Okay, the safety of the army's retreat, the widow can be entrusted with carte blanche to the Qing family!"

After arranging the defense of Gaochang, Wei Shuo got up and glanced around at Yang Hu, Deng Yue, Xun Guanniang and other generals, and said loudly: "Pass my general's order: the main force of the army immediately crosses the Iron Gate Pass to the west and fights to the death with the Western Regions Alliance!" ”

"No!" The generals should bow down.

……

Things were just as Wei Shuo expected, the high-level members of the alliance who were gathering in the King of Qiuci City, the King of Wusun, the King of Yuban, and the King of Qiuci were really disturbed by the recent actions of the Yan army.

With the large-scale westward expedition of the Yan State, the soldiers and horses went directly out of Gaochang and Loulan, and the eastern countries such as Yanqi and Shanshan, which were not far away, naturally became the first target to be attacked, that is, the cannon fodder in the minds of the alliance's high-level leaders.

Since they are cannon fodder, of course, everyone will not take the other party's losses to heart, and at the same time, they also hope that each country will hold on for a longer time in order to give the Yan army greater damage.

However, as a party, Yan Qixin Wang Long, and King Shanshan are not as calm as others.

Since the Yan army conquered the two countries, not only did it not plan further, but instead engaged in some kind of 'new policy' in the two countries, raiding the homes and magnates of various royal families one after another, and then distributing a small part of the wealth and land to the ordinary people.

In this way, the people of the two countries slowly accepted the rule of Yan.

Seeing this scene, King Yanqi and King Shanshan couldn't sit still, if they really let Yan Kingdom gain a firm foothold in the two countries, how can they go back to rebuild Guozuo in the future?

So King Yanqi and King Shanshan insisted on letting the coalition army advance eastward and start a decisive battle with the Yan army as soon as possible. But this proposal was rejected by other powers, and most people knew that the Yan army was in full swing at the moment, and it was not the time for a decisive battle.

Although he rejected the suggestions of King Yanqi and King Shanshan, the high-level leaders of the alliance led by King Wusun, King Qiuzi, and King Yuban also had bitter words. Originally, the countries of the alliance had already negotiated, and from the beginning of March, they concentrated their forces in Quci City, waiting for the Yan army to cross the Yumen Pass and advance westward.

But who knows that the main force of the Yan army did not take a step west after entering Tiemen Pass, but began to implement new policies in the newly occupied land. At the same time, the king of Yan also sent Liu Yao, the governor of Liangzhou, to command 30,000 troops to attack the countries of Nandao, and successively defeated several countries such as Shanshan, Jimo, and Jingjue.

As soon as everyone received the latest military information, they immediately realized that something was wrong, the Yan army did not plunder as usual, but instead appeased the people of various countries unusually, which was obviously to take root in the Western Regions! As a result, the kings of the fallen countries could no longer sit idly by, and one by one asked the alliance to mobilize reinforcements as soon as possible.

"Let's all talk about it, where should the coalition go next?"

Seeing that everyone was silent, and seeing that King Shanshan and King Yanqi were still angry, King Qiuzi couldn't help but explain: "Why didn't the main force of the Yan army continue to advance westward after capturing the Iron Gate Pass? King Yan just wanted to provoke the dissatisfaction of the eastern countries such as Er, and then wait for the alliance to fight among themselves. ”

At this time, King Wusun also stood up to support King Qiuci and said: "Yes, King Qiuci is reasonable, but we must not be fooled. Next, I hope that everyone will focus on the overall situation and not act rashly. As long as you can defeat the Yan army in this battle and dispel their desire to return to the Western Regions, the losses you have suffered now will be compensated in the future. ”

In the face of everyone's unanimous rejection, King Yanqi and King Shanshan could only put aside no matter how dissatisfied they were. Especially for King Yanqi, he has almost become a loner, even if he breaks away from the alliance, it is impossible to recover the land from the Yan State, and in the end he has to rely on the coalition army.

And King Shanshan saw that King Yanqi retreated, and he felt that he was weak, so he naturally didn't dare to continue to make trouble. After the joint suppression of several powerful countries such as King Wusun and King Qiuzi, the internal contradictions were finally temporarily suppressed.

Just when everyone was still discussing how to lure the main force of the Yan army westward, a scout suddenly came to report that the main force of the Yan army had crossed the Tiemen Pass in early April and marched westward. When everyone heard this, they were overjoyed, and all countries gathered their armies one after another, gathered under the banner of the alliance, and prepared for a decisive battle with the Yan army. (To be continued.) )