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The letter said that after the Empress Changsun took the medicine prescribed by Zuo Shaoyang, she had fully recovered within a month, and the emperor Longyan was happy, rewarded him generously, and also selected a number of medical classics from the prince's library and sent them to Zuo Shaoyang. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoAs for sending troops to the Western Regions, you need to be fully prepared.

Zuo Shaoyang looked at it, he didn't know whether to be happy or frustrated, now it is a good time to unite with Duomi and others to destroy Tubo, but it is necessary to continue to rub it off, and when the Tubo power is strong and the Western Regions are unified, it will be difficult to fight with Tubo at that time.

Zuo Shaoyang wrote a reply letter, detailing his analysis of the development momentum of Tubo, and warning Li Shimin, Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, that if he did not take advantage of the fact that Tubo was now fledgling and destroyed it, he would inevitably become a problem for Datang's henchmen.

Zuo Shaoyang naturally didn't expect to say that Li Shimin could send troops to the deserted Western Regions to fight against Tubo, so for the sake of Gangren Buche, he put forward a request, that is, once Tubo captured the small countries in the east and approached the border of the Tang Dynasty, please ask Li Shimin to send troops to Tubo immediately for the sake of saving Empress Changsun, otherwise, Tubo will attack Zhangxiong and Gangren Buche when they turn around. I can't be the Dharma King myself. I helped the emperor, and I also hope that the emperor can help with this, and even said that the mountains and rivers will not turn, and maybe they will ask for their own in the future.

After writing this nondescript letter and sealing it to the Tang envoys, the Tang envoys set off to return to the Tang Dynasty.

This time, the emperor rewarded Zuo Shaoyang with several large boxes of medical books, and he didn't have time to read them at all. Now that he had no time to worry about improving his medical skills, he had to think about how to keep the mandala.

The large boxes of gold, silver and jewels rewarded by the emperor came in handy, except for some of them for the construction of the mandala and the cultivation of handicrafts with great vitality, and the rest were used for war preparation.

He began to buy horses in large quantities. Now we can't pin our hopes on Li Shimin, we must leave a hand to prepare, the Tubo army is not invincible, with the rapid increase in the population of Gangren Buche Mandala and the expansion of influence, Zuo Shaoyang began to see a glimmer of hope. He wants to arm the people of the mandala, and he may be able to use it at the last moment.

He drew up a combat readiness training plan, setting aside a certain amount of time each month for combat training. He was not good at this, so he hired generals with rich combat experience from Zhangxiong to help with training.

With the support of his large amount of silver, a large number of war horses were purchased from all directions at preferential prices and sent to the mandala, sold to the herdsmen on credit, and it only took half a year to work, and the horses in the mandala have reached 20,000!

The herdsmen who received the favor of the Dharma King were the only ones who looked forward to the horse and participated in the training in strict accordance with the requirements of the Dharma King.

A year later, there were already 20,000 cavalry in the mandala that could be put into battle!

These combat units are herdsmen in peacetime, and weapons are distributed to individuals, and in wartime, they can be put into battle at the sound of an order.

Zuo Shaoyang is very satisfied, with this army, he can at least feel a little more at ease.

Li Shimin really did not pay attention to Zuo Shaoyang's persuasion, even after a few years, Tubo had conquered all the small countries and tribes in the entire east, and burned the war to the border of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin did not even mobilize troops to prepare for it.

Finally, the two tigers met.

Twelve years of Zhenguan! The first battle between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty began, and although the Tang Army won the victory in the end, it also made Li Shimin feel the strong military power of this army from the Western Plateau. Only then did Li Shimin begin to regret that he did not listen to Zuo Shaoyang's words. After he found out that the Tubo army was a strong opponent, he was even more reluctant to devote the country's strength to fight to the death with the other party, so he made peace with his relatives naturally.

In the fifth year of Zuo Shaoyang's reign as the king, that is, the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, Princess Wencheng married Tubo.

When Zuo Shaoyang heard the news, he was completely disappointed in Li Shimin, and he also knew that he had not been able to rewrite this history. Come and see, you can only rely on yourself to change your fate.

Zuo Shaoyang immediately wrote a letter, saying that where he became the king, the people were very bitter and hoped to get the blessing of the Tang Emperor.

He knew that as long as he asked for money, Li Shimin was very generous, and at this time, Datang's national strength was already very strong, and he could give money to himself.

Li Shimin is still very grateful to Zuo Shaoyang for saving the life of Empress Changsun, and he also guessed the purpose of Zuo Shaoyang asking him for money at this time, if a sharp blade is planted behind Tubo, it will definitely play a huge role in containing Tubo. Therefore, this time, Li Shimin not only canonized Zuo Shaoyang, the Dharma King of Gangren Buche, with great fanfare, and sent him a huge amount of gold, silver and jewelry, but also sent an elite cavalry of 10,000 people as Zuo Shaoyang's escort team, and came to Zhangxiong through Tibet.

Tubo had just married the daughter of the Tang Emperor, and in the face of the Tang army's request to cross the border, although he knew that it was inappropriate, he was not easy to refuse. Therefore, the 10,000 cavalry successfully passed through Tibet and came to Zhangxiong Gangren Buche.

The leader of this cavalry turned out to be Xue Wanzhu, the general who besieged Hezhou at the beginning!

Zuo Shaoyang was very surprised, but he still admired Xue Wanzhu's generals, when he was in Hezhou, he was very impressed by the orderly advance and retreat of the army under Xue Wanzhuan, and the courage of the battle. With him to help him, that's really like a tiger with wings.

Xue Wanzhu obviously got Li Shimin's strict order to obey Zuo Shaoyang's command, so he was very respectful to Zuo Shaoyang.

With this army of a hundred battles, another famous general of the Tang Dynasty, and a huge fortune, Zuo Shaoyang was very sure in his heart.

Xue Wanzhu also understood what the emperor's purpose was for placing him here. So he helped Zuo Shaoyang to give advice, quickly expand the team, and further develop the economy. To strengthen the team, it is obviously not possible to rely on Gangren Buche Mandala alone, and neither can Zhangxiong, because the population of Zhangxiong is relatively small and the residence is scattered. So, the two set their sights on Nibora and Tianzhu!

There is a hill tribe in Nepal called Gorkha. This was the birthplace of the mercenary Nepalese that became famous. These mountain people are accustomed to fighting in a highland environment, can endure hardships and stand hard work, and have a natural professional military nature. In his bones, he has the idea of taking people's money to eliminate disasters for others, and he is the most professional ethics among mercenaries.

As a result, Zuo Shaoyang hired Gurkha people on a large scale, recruited almost all adult Gurkha men, and formed a full-time mercenary army of about 5,000 people.

The economy of Gangren Buche, led by the handicraft industry, continues to develop rapidly. Coupled with Zuo Shaoyang's superb medical skills, it is like a gold-absorbing stone, which will continue to attract people from all over the world to the mandala. These people are mainly from the poor Tianzhu and Nibhara.

In the fourth and fifth years of Zuo Shaoyang's arrival in the Western Regions, Sang Xiaomei and Bai Zhihan gave birth to a daughter and a son to Zuo Shaoyang respectively.

Although Zuo Shaoyang already had five children in front of him, he left and came to the Western Regions before he could remember, so those five children actually didn't stay with him for a long time, and Zuo Shaoyang poured his hard work for his children on these two children.

It's a pity that Sang Xiaomei's daughter is a little wild, like boys, she only likes to dance with guns and sticks, and doesn't like to study medicine, but Bai Zhihan's son is very introverted, since he was literate, he likes to stay quietly alone and read and write, especially interested in medical books. So Zuo Shaoyang had high hopes for him.

In the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, that is, the ninth year of Zuo Shaoyang's reign, under the injection of large sums of gold and silver treasures into the Tang Dynasty every year, Gangren Buche Mandala has developed rapidly, and the population has reached nearly 100,000! And the army in the hands of Zuo Shaoyang and Xue Wanzhu, in addition to the 10,000 regular troops of the Tang Dynasty and the 5,000 Gurkha mercenaries, has more than 60,000 people who can fight for the people in peacetime and the army in wartime! In total, there are already 80,000 troops at disposal!

In the face of the growth of Gangren Buche, King Zhangxiong was somewhat worried, but Zuo Shaoyang, the king of the law, was canonized by the Tang Dynasty and had the support of the Tang Emperor, although it was inserted in his heart like a stinger, King Zhangzhung was still helpless.

In recent years, Zuo Shaoyang has developed the economy on the one hand, and the army on the other hand, and at the same time, he has spent a lot of money to buy high-ranking officials in Tibet and people around Zampu, and installed his own eyeliner.

In the past nine years, Tibet has conquered the entire small eastern states and tribes, bordering the Tang Dynasty. In the entire Western Regions, only Yang Tong and Zhangxiong remained. Li Shimin became more and more aware of the power of Tibet, and the more this was the case, the more he did not dare to easily raise a sword. As a result, increasing the military strength of Zuo Shaoyang in Gangren Buche Mandala has become an important move to contain Tibet. Originally, he was only grateful to Zuo Shaoyang for saving Empress Changsun, so he gave him a large amount of gold and silver, but now, it has become an important military force that helps the security of the Tang Dynasty and has been deliberately supported, and this time, Li Shimin's gold and silver invested in this have increased exponentially.

With these huge injections of funds, it took Zuo Shaoyang nine years to build the mandala into a new city, and it was a solid new city.

With the help of Xue Wanzhuan, he built tall walls and a wide moat, attracting snowmelt from the snow-capped mountains. The city hoarded a large amount of food, enough for the soldiers and civilians of the city to eat for several years. Many wells were also dug to ensure that the city was self-sufficient in drinking water.

At the same time, Xue Wanzhuan had already inspected the terrain around Gangren Buche countless times, and once the Tubo army came to attack, how to deal with it was already clear in his heart.

At this moment, the 200,000-strong army of Tubo has already reached the border.

Yangtong was a large country to the north of Zhangxiong, and it was also Zhangxiong's last ally against Tibet. If the sheep perish together, it will be difficult for the elephant to protect himself.

However, King Zhangzhung still firmly believed in the alliance with Tibet and did not even make decent preparations for war. The news was transmitted to Zuo Shaoyang, and he knew that there could be no illusions in the object of Xiong Guojun.

So, when the Tubo army invaded Yangtong and approached the capital. Zuo Shaoyang's army also invaded Tubo and approached Luoqicheng!

This move besieged Wei to save Zhao, and the effect was obvious, and Songtsen Gampo had to urgently withdraw his troops and return to the city of Luo. Zuo Shaoyang's purpose is naturally not to capture some cities, because at this moment, Tubo's troops far exceed his own, and he is a division of a hundred battles, and he is full of sharpness, so he can't fight with them. Therefore, Zuo Shaoyang wrote a letter asking for help, and after sending someone to Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty to Li Shimin, he led the army to withdraw to the Gangren Buche mandala.

Songtsen Gampo couldn't imagine that a little Dharma King would break ground on Tai Sui's head, and immediately asked the king of Zhangxiong to hand over Zuo Shaoyang. Xiangxiong Guo can't hand it over, because Zuo Shaoyang has 80,000 troops in his hands, and more importantly, he has the support of the Tang Dynasty behind him. Moreover, the arrogant Xiangxiong Kingdom also felt very faceless in the face of Tubo's request, so he ignored it.

Songtsen Gampo used this as an excuse to repeat the old trick, negotiated a truce with the sheep, and then freed his hands and concentrated his forces to start attacking Zhangxiong!

The flames of war finally burned to the doorstep, and King Zhangzhung realized that the Tibetan lion was going to bite. hastily organized resistance, but the Xiangxiong Kingdom was like an old bull, and it was impossible to resist the onslaught of the Tibetans. Soon, the entire territory of Zhangxiong was captured by the Tibetans except for the Gangren Buche mandala.

Zuo Shaoyang already knew that the Zhangxiong army was actually vulnerable, so he did not give up the impregnable mandala to rescue the Zhangxiong army. Tubo originally hoped that Zuo Shaoyang would go out of the city to rescue, but he happened to lure the snake out of the hole and gather and annihilate it. Unexpectedly, Zuo Shaoyang did not move and stuck to the mandala.

The Tibetan army surrounded the mandala, but found that the mandala was really impregnable, and Songtsen Gampo did not order a strong attack, but withdrew his army and attacked Yangtong instead.

When Yang Tong was attacked by Tubo for the first time, Zuo Shaoyang sent troops to relieve their siege, but when Zuo Shaoyang Mandala was surrounded, Yang Tong did not move. By the time the Tibetan army had captured most of Zhangzhung and freed up his hands to deal with him, he had become a lamb to the slaughter.

Zuo Shaoyang could not sit back and wait for Yangtong to perish, his 10,000 Tang cavalry under the leadership of Xue Wanzhu, can be described as unexpected, constantly harassing the empty Tubo towns in the rear, this cavalry is familiar with the terrain, mobile and flexible, greatly restraining Tubo's military operations in Yangtong.

At this critical juncture of life and death, the sheep army also began to cooperate with Zuo Shaoyang's cavalry to fight, when the Tubo attacked, they held on, and once the Tubo retreated, they chased and fought. It made the Tibetan army exhausted.

However, Songtsen Gampo was a generation of heroes after all, and he quickly adjusted his deployment, desperately dropped a few towns to Zuo Shaoyang's cavalry, concentrated on dealing with Yangtong, and used an ambush to surround Yangtong's main force and annihilate it in one fell swoop. The sheep are all gone.

Then, Songtsen Gampo waved the mandala and surrounded Zuo Shaoyang's mandala!

Zuo Shaoyang saw that the general trend had gone, so he had to stick to the mandala. The 10,000 cavalry still fought in maneuver and harassed the Tibetan army.

At this time, the results of Zuo Shaoyang's painstaking management for nine years finally came into play, with tall and strong city walls, 60,000 soldiers and civilians who had been trained to defend the city for a long time, and 5,000 mercenaries who were brave and good at fighting, enough food and grass for several years, and a separate source of drinking water. made the Tibetan army attack for several months, but failed to shake the mandala at all! Instead, thousands of soldiers were killed and wounded.

(To be continued)