"Send troops to the Western Regions?" Zhang Ren and other generals were all shocked, the Western Regions are thousands of miles away, it is not that it can be fought, this involves the whole body, and now the Sichuan army is in a period of recuperation.

Zhang Ren wanted to persuade him to suspend the army immediately, but Liu Zhang's words obviously did not give a tone of discussion, Zhang Ren was a little puzzled, such a major decision, even if Liu Zhang was arbitrary, he would leave some room for negotiation, but now he seemed to be dead.

But Zhang Ren is not a person who observes words and feelings, although he can observe words and feelings, but he will not decide his words and deeds according to the results of observing words and feelings, and he still has to admonish him.

"My lord, the conquest of the Western Regions is very important, I heard that the queen of Shache country, Latia, has 5,000 elite cavalry, and there are some weird witchcraft, and 50,000 infantry, camel soldiers, etc., and it is still expanding.

If we were to conquer Shache, not only would it be protracted to be thousands of miles away, but we would have to send at least half of the soldiers and horses of the Shache country, and it would seem that the general would need 10,000 elite cavalry and more than 20,000 infantry.

This is equivalent to Emperor Xiaowu's conquest of Dawan back then, but our treasury is far inferior to that of the Han Dynasty, and the opponent we face is stronger than Dawan, which is very unfavorable to us. ”

At that time, Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division, requisitioned 6,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry from his subordinate countries, and with the help of some countries in the Western Regions, he took Dawan, and this move was one of the important links of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to deplete the treasury.

Ban Chao pacified Shache back then, and he was also a gathering of soldiers and horses from the Western Regions, so he took people nearby, and he didn't dare to send troops from within the Han Dynasty.

Pacifying the Western Regions is not burning money, it is directly ordering the treasury.

"Then with what General Zhang means, how do we deal with it?" Liu Zhang asked Zhang Rendao.

Zhang Ren couldn't answer. I wanted to say that it was diplomatic. But that is undoubtedly childish behavior. The queen of Shache is so ambitious, how can the envoy solve it.

And the envoy went, not only on behalf of weakness, but also had no effect at all, to negotiate peace, the Shache country will definitely negotiate peace, what people want is the Western Regions, and wait to take Loulan and the rest of the recalcitrant small countries. Directly bordering the Han Dynasty, what people want is at will.

"Alright." Liu Zhang waved his hand: "To tell you the truth, the Shache Kingdom is not only related to safeguarding the interests of our merchants, but also related to the authority of our Han in the subject countries, related to the prestige of our Han Dynasty, and more importantly, related to the personal safety of our Sichuan army.

Let's imagine, if the Shache Kingdom really established an empire in the Western Regions and bordered our Han Dynasty, how many soldiers and horses would we have to garrison at Yumen Pass? If Shache harassed. How much grain and baggage do we have to send to Yumen Pass every year, and how many frontier troops do we have to raise?

So. The Shache Empire must not be formed, this is related to the back of our Sichuan army, when the judgment is constantly affected by its chaos, and now if the Latia force is not cut in the bud, he will be a big trouble for our Sichuan army. So the king has decided to send troops. ”

Liu Zhang breathed a sigh of relief after speaking, and said slowly: "Of course, General Zhang is also reasonable, fight, you can't fight brutely, otherwise even if our Sichuan military treasury is turned over, it won't be enough for us to fight, my plan is to ......" Liu Zhang suddenly paused and looked at Zhou Budo on the side.

"No doubt, how do you think it will be good?"

Zhou Budo seemed to guess that Liu Zhang would ask him, "It depends on what results His Highness needs, if it is just to strangle the Shache Empire in the bud, it will be much simpler."

According to our information, it is not only the Han that has offended the Shache Kingdom this time, but also the Yue Clan Kingdom and the Great Qin Kingdom, and the Great Qin Kingdom is thousands of miles away, and there is also the Yue Clan Country.

The Yueshi country is known as the empire, and its strength should be very strong, since they are already going to move troops with Shache, then we can move troops without going all out, we only need to send reinforcements to Loulan, and form a stalemate with Shache country, and the war will drag on.

When the Yueshi Kingdom hits Shache, I don't believe that the queen of Shache can be indifferent. ”

After Zhou Budo finished speaking, he immediately caused a voice of praise, Zhou Budo's strategy is really feasible, and the Han does not really want to destroy Shache, there are many countries in the Western Regions, as long as they don't take the lead, it doesn't matter if they can't destroy Shache.

And just to contain Shache, Loulan is closer to Yumen Pass, then the consumption of grain and grass will be greatly reduced, it can be said that this strategy has not only achieved the goal, but also reduced consumption, it is really perfect.

Everyone admires Zhou Budo very much, Zhou Budo is only fifteen years old this year, just an adult, and there are not many people who know Zhou Budo's talent except for Liu Zhang, because every time Zhou Budo speaks, he says it to Liu Zhang.

Everyone basically stayed in the impression that Zhou Budo fought against Confucianism in the first session of the Four Examinations, and this time Guanzhong recovered, and saw the power of Zhou Budo's internal affairs.

I didn't expect that Zhou Budo's overall grasp of the military and the war situation was so in place, which was really impressive.

But Liu Zhang frowned, he knew that what Zhou Budo said was correct, and he didn't know what Queen Nalatia thought, leaving the Guishan Empire with troops to move, he had to fight to the death with a Loulan.

It can be said that if the Han army really restrains the Shache army, then with the strength of the Kushan Empire, it will definitely strike hard at Shache.

But what is the result? Guishan defeated Shache and occupied the western part of the Western Regions, originally small countries such as Dawan Kingdom had been divided into their sphere of influence by Guishan from the hands of the Han Dynasty, and then defeated Shache, Guishan's prestige rose greatly, and the Western Regions became Guishan's back garden.

Now the people of the Han Dynasty have not regarded the Western Regions as the territory of the Han Dynasty, so there is nothing wrong with Zhou Budo's advice.

But Liu Zhang, as a descendant, can't think like this, in Liu Zhang's heart, the Western Regions is the territory of the Han Dynasty, although it can't be recovered for the time being, it can't be taken away by others.

The Sichuan army and Shache died in Loulan, didn't they cheapen Guishuang for nothing?

Shache's sudden and rapid rise, with a shallow foundation, will not last long, if it is subdued by the Guishan, the Guishan power will really expand to East Asia, and this kind of business will definitely not be worth it.

"Okay, there is no doubt that the strategy is feasible, this time we dispatched 10,000 elites from Chang'an, 6,000 cavalry, and 4,000 infantry, led by Zhao Yun, and then ordered Liangzhou to assassinate Wang Yi, and requisition 20,000 soldiers and horses from Xiliang and Qiang in the form of mercenary, send troops to Loulan, and contain the Shache army."

Liu Zhang estimated that this was already the limit of the soldiers and horses that the Sichuan army could dispatch, and if there were more, it would definitely lose a lot of money to the treasury. And even so. The attrition of such an expedition is also staggering.

But fortunately, Loulan is not far from Yumen Pass. It was not the scene of the Second Division's general expedition to Dawan back then, and it was impossible for these troops to penetrate deep into the Western Regions.

At most, Liu Zhang will only let these troops fight in Loulan, and it is impossible to delay it for too long, which is simply burning grain. So of course, Liu Zhang will not adopt Zhou Budo's stalemate strategy.

However, when the civil and military forces heard it, Liu Zhang adopted Zhou Budo's strategy, and there was no surprise, but Zhou Budo glanced at Liu Zhang in surprise, although Zhou Budo did not have the territorial concept of the Western Regions. He didn't feel that there was anything wrong with his strategy, but he still felt that Liu Zhang disagreed with his strategy, but he didn't expect to agree.

Jiang Wan stepped forward and said: "My lord, if you send 10,000 troops and requisition 20,000, it will also be an army of 30,000, who will be the commander?" ”

As soon as Jiang Wan finished speaking, there were immediately a few disapproving eyes, and Ma Dai stepped forward and said, "Lord Jiang, I am afraid that you were not familiar with the generals in the army in Jingzhou before. But you also look down on General Zilong too much, I dare to say that General Zilong commanded an army of 30,000 like a command. Just now, the lord said that General Zilong would lead 10,000 elites out of Yumen, but he did not specify who would command the 20,000 new troops, of course, let General Zilong serve as the governor of the western capital. ”

Ma Chao and Zhao Yun are all from the original Liang Army, and they all use guns, so they are closer, and of course Pang De Ma Dai and other generals also have a good impression of Zhao Yun.

Jiang Wan was not annoyed because Ma Dai said that he was not familiar with military affairs, and indeed he was not very familiar with the generals of the Sichuan army, after all, Jiang Wan had been in Jingzhou before, from the beginning of Baichuan County to Jiangling Taishou, and then to Jingzhou Beijia, until the current Sili Lieutenant.

It has always been a civilian promotion, and it is far away from the main combat site of the Sichuan army.

However, this did not prevent Jiang Wan from thinking normally, and bowed to Liu Zhang: "Lord, my subordinates absolutely believe that General Zhao Yun can command 30,000, let alone 30,000, with the talent of General Zilong, there is no problem in commanding an army of 100,000 across the battlefield."

However, the countries of the Western Regions are complicated, there are several countries around Loulan alone, as well as Shanshan, Ruoqiang and other big countries, this attack on the Western Regions is not only to punish Shache, but also to stabilize the Western Regions, it is impossible to just fight on the battlefield, involving diplomacy and balance of interests, so the subordinates think that the commander of the Sichuan army cannot be a person with only military talent. ”

Jiang Wan's words were not euphemistic, he simply said that Zhao Yun was a martial artist, although many generals were indeed martial artists, even if Zhao Yun was brave and strategic, but it was also on the battlefield, and the vertical and horizontal skills between several countries were not his strong point, but even so, many generals would still be uncomfortable when they were said like this.

But Zhao Yun didn't have any expression at all, except for hearing Liu Zhang's appointment just now, he didn't say anything else.

Liu Zhang knew that Zhao Yun didn't care about these things, and he wouldn't worry about these things with Jiang Wan, so he turned to Jiang Wan and said, "Then who does Master Jiang think is suitable?" ”

"Pang Tong." Jiang Wan said a name without thinking about it, and after finishing speaking, all the generals were shocked, especially Gao Pei, who only blamed himself for his slow brain response, how to forget the angry person.

Pang Tong said at the beginning, because he first betrayed his family, and secondly betrayed Liu Bei, he had no shame to participate in the internal war, but if he conquered other races, he would join the war.

At that time, Gao Pei thought, isn't this perfunctory, now that the small alien races of Xiqiang and Nanban have been surrendered, what other alien races are fighting? Xianbei's military strength is not what the Sichuan army wants to attack now, not because of fear, but when it goes to attack the grassland at this time, it is purely unpleasant.

At least after the reunification of the country, it will attack the grassland, and in Gao Pei's view, who will expand just after reunification? Probably, there will be no interracial fighting at all for decades.

So Gao Pei felt that Pang Tong was perfunctory, this guy would never join the Sichuan Army again, and he hid and retired alone.

I didn't expect that the Sichuan army would be with the alien race so quickly, even if that guy was perfunctory, he couldn't be perfunctory.

Gao Pei immediately stepped forward to second. In addition to Gao Pei, more than a dozen civil and military officers came forward to second, and now Huang Yueying and Fa are in Jingzhou, and there is still a big deal with Jiangdong, although Zhou Budo is talented, he has not officially put into effect.

To say that both civil and military, can not only command the army, but also have the wisdom of the countryman, this Pang Tong is really the best candidate, plus Pang Tong killed Zhang Fei at the beginning, robbed the Liang army of grain and grass, and let the Sichuan army win an easy victory in Qinchuan, this credit alone is enough to appoint the post of governor.

The Sichuan Army is not anywhere else, if it were the Cao Army or the Jiangdong Army, it would never be possible for a child who betrayed the family to hold such a big official position.

But although they all felt that Pang Tong was suitable, Xiao Furong, Huang Yue and Qu Lingchen still looked at Liu Zhang worriedly, and Liu Xun frowned and looked at his father.

They all know that Liu Zhang likes to do it in person, so they are afraid that Liu Zhang will do it in person, and Cao Xian is still thinking in his heart that Pang Tong led the Sichuan army out of Yumen Pass, what is the Di army doing?

Could it be that he went south from the Tianshan Mountains to contain Shache? Yes, it must be so.

As soon as she thought of this, Cao Xian's thoughts were a little different from Xiao Furong and others, she faintly hoped that Liu Zhang would be personally recruited, but she felt that this idea was very selfish, and she wanted Liu Zhang to stay in Chang'an and lead the troops to the Western Regions alone.

Cao Xian didn't think that the current Diren army was in danger and it was difficult to send troops to the Western Regions, she just felt that since Liu Zhang needed her army, she didn't care about anything.

Liu Zhang pondered for a while, thought for a while, nodded and said: "If Shiyuan can go out of the mountain, the position of governor will belong to him, otherwise Zilong will still command the whole army, and Yang Zishang will follow the army." ”

Although Yang Zishang's character is a little bad, his eloquence is still good, and he can carry out diplomatic skills, but Pang Tong, who is poor in vertical and horizontal skills, is by no means a little bit.

Xiao Furong Liu Xun and others breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Liu Zhang's words, Cao Xian lowered her head, although she also hoped that Liu Zhang would stay in Chang'an to recuperate, but she was still a little disappointed, thinking that if she went for a year and a half, she didn't know if she could see Liu Zhang again, and she was even a little flustered when she thought of this.

After Zhong Wenwu retreated, only Xiao Furong and others were left, and Zhou Budo knew that Liu Zhang definitely didn't have anything to say, and Liu Zhang would not agree with his plan, but he didn't ask, knowing that he was about to know.

"Xun'er, you sent someone to invite Mr. Du Wei from southern Xinjiang, remember to use the etiquette of a national soldier to invite him to join the Sichuan Army's expedition to the west, if he doesn't agree, don't force it."

Liu Zhang is still not sure how long Du Wei's medicine can last, whether it is half a year to a year as he said, but there is no doubt that Du Wei has helped him.

And this deaf man is indeed a talented person, if he defects to the Sichuan army, it will only be good for the Sichuan army, and now he will conquer the Western Regions, and he will try everything he says.

Liu Xun replied yes, Liu Zhang asked Cao Xian to stand in front of him and said: "Zhelan, I didn't say anything just now, our grain and grass can't withstand the consumption of the army, and I don't allow us to fight with Shache, so Guishan picked up the cheap, so the stalemate between the 30,000 army and Shache will not work, I need your help." ”

"Husband, Zhelan is already your person, what help to talk about, Zhelan will lead the army south from the Tianshan Mountains to contain Shache." (To be continued......)