"This is fate! Is this fucking going to be exhausting! After receiving the military information, Ma Lan let out a long sigh.

At the corner of his mouth, a bloodthirsty smile appeared.

……

Now the army has occupied more than 30% of the land of the Great Eclipse, and if you only count the eastern part of the Zagros Mountains, the Tang Dynasty has more than half of the land. To the west of the Zagros Mountains, Syria, Egypt, Ctesiphon and even Tunisia, the three caliphs are fighting each other, and no one has time to look eastward.

According to the original plan, after the construction of Wannian City, he would personally sail to the sea, bypass the Arabian Peninsula to Africa to catch a few ships of Kunlun slaves, and then take the army to Rai to reiterate the Tang Dynasty's rule over your Shabul-Rai corridor, but this time the military situation made the plan have to change.

There is still a lot of land to occupy on the eastern side of the Zagros Mountains, but it is no longer the time. The first thing to do now is to return to Anxi with the army to open up the Hui Road for Li Longji, the son of the Tang Dynasty, and connect the northeast and northwest.

When he was in Chang'an, the Son of Heaven ordered him to be the envoy of the Five Towns Festival, and he had clearly said at that time that he believed that he would have a day to open up the road back to Hui. This is the wish of the Son of Heaven, and it is also his wish.

Among the four realms of the Tang Dynasty, the only possible threat is the Hui in the north, the Son of Heaven is already old, I don't know how long he can live, this matter is not completed when the Son of Heaven is alive, and after the new emperor ascends the throne, he can no longer stay in Anxi, and this matter cannot be completed in person.

The arrival of a province of Fars has already aroused Ma Lu's ambitions. Originally, it was planned to harvest the great food land on the east side of the Zagros Mountains in the fifteenth year of Tianbao, but this plan can only be postponed for now. For the time being, we can only stabilize the front and stop advancing westward, and wait until the road back to the Hui Road is opened.

……

After Hui Hui claimed to dominate Mobei, he has always been friendly with the Tang Dynasty, but the Son of Heaven has the idea of destroying Hui Hui. There is nothing wrong with this, for the king of a country, friendship is nothing at all, only interests are important.

On the original history books, Hui and the Tang Dynasty made friends, helped the Tang Dynasty to quell the rebellion in the Anshi Rebellion, and later Tubo took advantage of the Anshi Rebellion to occupy Guasha, and the Shahe River did not pass through the northwest court of Anxi to become an enclave. After nearly a hundred years, the Hui and the Tang Dynasty continued to communicate, and many times of harmony made this connection closer, until the Hui disappeared in Li Ling's descendant Huang Jiasi, and never really invaded the Tang Dynasty on a large scale. In the annals of history he saw in his previous life, there are many praises for Hui Hui.

However, in Ma Luan's view, the closeness between the Hui and the Tang Dynasty is more about the closeness of the Hui Khan to the Tang Dynasty Emperor, rather than the closeness of the Hui people to the Han people. The Hui soldiers helped the Tang Dynasty to quell the chaos several times, and the soldiers of the tiger and wolf entered the prosperous place, which also caused great murder.

As far as he was concerned, anyone who had killed the Han people in the Anshi Rebellion was unforgivable. The Anshi Rebellion did not break out, and the Hui soldiers did not sack the land of Liangjing, this mentality is actually very unreasonable, but this is his obsession, the insistence of a later generation.

This is the case for An Fatzi, this is the case for Ashina Chengqing, this is the case for Shi Siming, and he is also the same mentality for the Hui Hui who had plundered the land of Liangjing in the original history.

In fact, after the Tang Dynasty completely entered the age of firearms, relying on the huge numerical advantage, the nomads on the grassland would not be troubled. However, due to Li Longji's age, Ma Lan couldn't wait until that time to make a move. Since the Hui people have sent the opportunity, they must seize it immediately, and there is no reason to let it go.

In Ma Ling's time, the Pu Sea was called Balikun Lake, which had shrunk by more than half compared to the Tang Dynasty, but it was still a pearl in the eastern section of the Tianshan Mountains. It was indeed a treasure land with fertile water and grass, and it was no wonder that the Hui people wanted to seize it. However, the western boundary of Huifu is Jinshan, and since it has crossed Jinshan, it is an excuse for the Tang Dynasty to raise troops.

……

The journey from Wannian City to Anxi was too far, so after learning what happened in Pu Shihai, Ma Lan quickly arranged everything, and set off with a large army, preparing to return to Anxi.

No matter how the Son of Heaven deals with this matter, he is the master west of the quicksand, and if someone knocks on the door, it will be one word, do it!

The 10,000 Anxi New Army is all the strength of the Tang Dynasty in the territory of the Black Clothes and Great Food, and naturally it cannot be taken away. Ma Ling directly left half of the soldiers and horses for Tian Mingyuan and Niu Xu, and left all the fire and thunder gunpowder and most of the steel crossbow arrows, so that the two of them could defend the city of Wannian and did not have to continue to open up westward.

The 30,000 Turkic soldiers of the Khino also stayed behind and continued to help build the city of Ten Thousand Years. Qi Biye has been following him for several years, and there is no doubt about the loyalty of this Tiele man, and there is no problem in fighting a good fight when something happens.

All the staff brought by them stayed in Wannian City to help Tian Mingyuan and Niu Xu maintain their rule here. Ma Lu himself only took 5,000 soldiers with him, and immediately left Wannian City and headed in the direction of Kerman.

The scouts set out ahead of the army and ordered the Dekhgans along the way to prepare food and grass to supply the army. All the knights were one man and three horses, galloping at high speed on the avenue, traveling more than 200 miles a day, squeezing the horsepower to the limit.

The road was uneventful, with a slight delay in climbing the hill near Kerman, and then it was a smooth road. This time, there was no need to fight and there was no need to choose Dehgan as an agent, so the speed was extremely fast.

It took less than twenty days to pass through the edge of the salt to your Sapur and re-enter the territory of Khorasan Province. It took nearly ten days from your Shabuer City to Mulu, and then the army went straight to Wuhushui.

Along the way, they passed through the Lantian Army, the Xinping Army, and the Yanchuan Army, but they did not stop at all, and they passed directly over the city. When the army returned to the city of Hunting, it was the end of January in the fifteenth year of Tianbao.

It is a miracle that it took only fifty days on the road from the Strait of Hormuz to the catch. Before the Mongol cavalry appeared in this world, this was probably the fastest march of the cavalry. This speed has reached the limit of what the athletes can bear.

After returning to the city, Ma Ling did not go back to the palace to see his wife and children, and directly found Duan Xiushi and asked for more news from the Green Mountain.

……

"General, not long after the news reached here, the Ma family's workshop no longer transported ordnance to this side. Miss Gao said that you will definitely not let go of the Hui people, so the Fire Thunder Crossbow and Yuan Rong Crossbow will no longer be transported here, so as not to be transported back in the future. Duan Xiushi said with a smile.

Ma Lan smiled and nodded: "This girl understands me." If it was brought over, it had to be transported back by the brothers of the Changxingfang, so it was better to stay in Anxi. Is there any news from Chang'an? What did Your Majesty say? If Your Majesty doesn't want to turn against Hui Hui, I'll do it myself. ”

"Chang'an has a will to come, this time His Majesty is really angry, mobilize most of the world's soldiers and horses to prepare for the northern expedition, this time the march is named the Hokkaido March, it can be seen that Your Majesty's purpose of the northern expedition."

"Hokkaido March!" Ma Lan laughed.

Every large-scale military operation in the Tang Dynasty is named after a certain road march, such as Li Jing's battle to destroy Tuyuhun, which is the march of the West Sea Road, Hou Junjiping Gaochang, which is called the march of the river channel, Cheng Zhijie's expedition to the Western Turks, is the march of the Green Mountain Road, and Xue Rengui's army defeated the battle of Dafeichuan, which is the march of the Luosa Road.

The goal of the march is the name of the march, and the commander of the army is the general manager, which is the practice of the Tang Dynasty.

In other words, this time the Northern Expedition, Your Majesty is bound to win, and it is necessary to fight until it reaches the North Sea.

"The head of the Hokkaido march, haha, not bad!" Ma Lan smiled and said, "Chenggong, you go with me in this battle, and when you fight in Beihai, you and I will go to Yanran Mountain to Leshi Jigong!" ”

Duan Xiushi shook his head and said, "General, this Hokkaido march, the chief manager is not you. ”

"Huh?" Ma Lan frowned, "Who can it be if it's not me?" ”

"Yang Guozhong, the left minister."

"Yang Guozhong?" Ma Luan's face sank slightly.

He has always been very good at dealing with Yang Guozhong, mainly because he looks down on this guy, although Yang Youniang is his wife, but his prejudice against Yang Guozhong is deeply rooted in the history books, and he can't change it and doesn't want to change it.

It was really wrong for him to attack Yang Guozhong's prime minister's mansion at the beginning, but if Yang Guozhong hadn't said that he had been a ranger on the Qinzheng Building that day, he would not have wronged him. It was those guards who were unjustly killed in this matter, and Yang Guozhong had already offended him by pointing out that he was a ranger in order to prevent him from paying homage to the prime minister.

These personal grievances are actually nothing, the key is that this war is very important, and the strong enemies faced are unprecedented, and the various powerful forces of the Hui Khanate are not easy to get along. Yang Guozhong is not familiar with military affairs, and being the commander will only hinder him, which is harmful to the army.

"Cheng Gong, why is it Yang Guozhong? Is Your Majesty really confused? Ma Lan asked with a frown.

"Yang Guozhong is the general manager, and the people in the world are stable. The general is the general manager, and I don't know how many people in the world can't sleep. In my opinion, Yang Guozhong is actually more suitable for the post of chief manager than a general. Duan Xiushi said with a smile.

"Why?" Ma Ling frowned.

Duan Xiushi said with a smile: "Regarding this court meeting, there has already been news in Chang'an City. At that moment, he also told Ma Lan the news he knew, and described in detail the discussions in the court.

After hearing this, Ma Lan couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth and smiling bitterly.

It was actually put on the spot by Zhang Xun!

Do you think you can really kill Hui Hui easily? That's tens or millions of steppe barbarians!

When fighting against the enemy, you must first consider victory or defeat, and now you don't think about victory or defeat, the first thing to consider is that his authority is too great!

Damn, even if he is not the chief manager, the original authority is already big enough, how much difference is there between having half of the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses in his hands and half of the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses in his hands?

If he really had different aspirations, if no one else said it, Duan Xiushi and Feng Changqing would not be able to let him go. The Son of Heaven once again showed his trust in him, but the end result still annoyed him.

Zhang Xun is loyal and straight, but he is a nerd after all. This guy doesn't know about the military, and he really thinks that the Tang Dynasty's northern expedition is like a boulder pressing an egg! Being said by him made Yang Guozhong the general manager, and this battle must be constrained everywhere, and I am afraid that it will not be easy. (To be continued.) )