Xu Shiji liked Liu Lancheng's cheerfulness very much, so he got up and said with a smile: "Since that's the case, please come with me!" ”

Xu Shiji walked to the sand table, Liu Lancheng and Du Ruhui also walked over, Xu Shiji picked up the wooden pole and pointed to Qingjiang County and said: "I don't know if Your Majesty has said it to General Liu before, if you say it, then I will repeat it again, if not, then I have to say it more carefully." Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Du Ruhui said with a smile: "General Liu came from Liang County, and he hasn't had time to see His Majesty or Fang Junshi, so he shouldn't know." ”

Liu Lancheng nodded and smiled: "I really don't know anything, please let General Xu tell me in detail." ”

Xu Shiji pointed to Qingjiang Road with a wooden pole: "You can take the Three Gorges Road and Qingjiang Road to enter Bashu from the South Road, among which the Qingjiang Road is more difficult and more far, but you can still take the cavalry, I will lead the main force and the navy to take the Three Gorges Road into Shu together, so I ask General Liu to lead 10,000 cavalry to enter Shu from Qingjiang Road, as a surprise soldier to kill the Tang army by surprise." ”

Liu Lancheng understood Xu Shiji's deployment, and he asked in a deep voice, "I don't know how the Tang Army's deployment in Bashu is now?" ”

Du Ruhui smiled and said: "I just got the latest information, Li Yuan transferred 20,000 troops from Bashu for the battle of Hedong County, and now the regular army of Bashu is only 10,000 people, which is very empty, although there are still tens of thousands of county soldiers, but they are all rabble, but they are very scattered, there is no need to worry, at present, 10,000 regular troops are deployed in Badong County and Shu County with 5,000 people each, which is our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and our 90,000 troops want to use the opportunity created by the battle of Bingzhou to seize Bashu in one fell swoop. ”

Liu Lancheng couldn't help but sigh lowly, "The world is in a big war, Your Majesty is really generous!" ”

He immediately said: "Then without further ado, we will have a day off today and leave for Qingjiang County early tomorrow morning." ”

Xu Shiji was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "In terms of supplies, please rest assured, we have sent a hundred thousand-stone cargo ships to transport grain and grass to Qingjiang County, and there are another twenty grain ships accompanying the army to replenish the general's consumption on the road at any time." ”

"General Xu is so thoughtful, why don't you worry about your humble position! I'll go back and make a plan, and we'll continue to discuss it in the evening. ”

Liu Lancheng saluted, said goodbye and left, Xu Shiji looked at Liu Lancheng's back and sighed: "It is worthy of being the first general of the miracle soldier who is personally sealed by the saint, and he really thinks clearly, does things decisively, and never drags mud and water. ”

Du Ruhui also smiled slightly: "The Holy Lord sent him to Bashu, which shows that our Battle of Bashu is the real battlefield of this World War, General Xu, we must not let the Holy Lord down." ”

Xu Shiji nodded, he walked to the door of the big tent with his hands in his hands, looking at the white clouds in the western sky from a distance, his heart was gradually filled with pride, and he just wanted to send troops to the west tonight.

Early the next morning, Liu Lancheng led 10,000 cavalry to Qingjiang County, and three days later, Xu Shiji and the naval army commander Hui'er led 80,000 land and water troops to kill the Three Gorges Road, officially opening the curtain of the Zhou army's westward expedition to Bashu.

..........

From Lingwu County to the west, over Helan Mountain, and then through the vast desert called 'Tengger' today, then into the Hexi Corridor, a 30,000-strong Zhou cavalry under the leadership of the general Li Jing after 20 days of arduous trekking, finally through hundreds of miles of desert, arrived at the north of the Hexi Corridor two large lakes, Hutuze and Baitingze.

These two lakes are located in the northernmost part of Wuwei County, formed by the injection of the Macheng River formed by the meltwater of the Qilian Mountains, which is also caused by the special topography of the Hexi Corridor, the Qilian Mountains in the south are covered by ice and snow all the year round, and a large number of springs converge into hundreds of small rivers to the grassland after the glacier dissolves in summer, nourishing the fertile land and creating the wealth of the Hexi Corridor.

When the river continues to converge to the north, it will gather when it flows to the low-lying place, and finally form a piece of large lakes, such as Xiutuze and Baitingze in Wuwei County in the south, Juyanze in Jiuquan County in the north, and Daze in Dunhuang County and Jinchang County in the north, these are all famous lakes in the Hexi Corridor, surrounded by abundant pastures and vast grasslands, and have always become the largest horse breeding ground in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and also support the strength of the cavalry of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

When Zhang Xuan ascended the throne, he began to formulate a plan to attack the world, using the annexation of the state as a bait to attract the main force of the Tang army to the battlefield of the state, and then launched the battle of Bashu and the battle of Hexi, cutting off the most important three sides of the Tang Dynasty in one fell swoop, and merging the state, Bashu and Hexi, compressing the territory of the Tang Dynasty in Guanlong, which is also after the Zhou army captured Jingzhou and Luoyang, the strength expanded to nearly 700,000, and the powerful force was three times that of the Tang Dynasty, and it was already capable of launching a three-line battle and launching a war in the world.

This time, Li Jing's Hetao army increased to 80,000, so he divided his troops into three routes, one was led by Du Yunsi, the general of Hu Benlang, to stay in Lingwu County, and the other 40,000 troops led by Mai Mengcai, the general of Hu Benlang, went south to Jincheng County, and confronted the 20,000 Longyou Tang army of Li Gaoqian, the general of the Tang Dynasty, while Li Jing led 30,000 cavalry to attack Hexi County.

Li Jing's army first arrived at Baitingze, facing the vast Daze, the soldiers were very excited, but Li Jing did not dare to indulge the soldiers to drink water and rest, although the Tang army in the Hexi Corridor was not much, only a few thousand, but the Qiang tribes were relatively strong, with their own army, once they were assembled, it was also a powerful army of tens of thousands of people.

Li Jing had to wait for news from the vanguard before he could make the next move, and three days before they set off, Ying Yanglang led Wang Canghai with 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard, and had already entered the Hexi Corridor first.

At this time, a cavalry of more than 100 people rushed from the south, and they were the scouts of the vanguard army who had marched into Hexi first, and rushed to Li Jing in a moment, bowed down and saluted for the first lieutenant on his horse: "General Qiyu, more than 100 Tang troops captured by Baiting have been captured, and there are no Tang troops stationed within 300 miles nearby. ”

"What about the Qiang tribe?"

Li Jing asked again: "What is their attitude?" ”

"The Qiang people in this area have a good attitude towards us, there is no hostility towards us, General Wang has already contacted them before, they should come to visit the general soon."

Li Jing nodded, and then ordered: "Camp on the spot and rest!" ”

Under an order, 30,000 Zhou troops have taken action, moved down the tents from the army carts, set up a big tent, and the war horses have also gathered, go to the lake to drink water, although the soldiers are fast, but many things are not reached, the Zhou army has crossed the vast desert, the men and horses have long been exhausted, and need to have enough rest to recover their strength, and secondly, the attitude of the Qiang people in Hexi is unclear, although hasty action is conducive to military occupation, but politically it will leave sequelae.

Li Jing knew very well in his heart why the Holy Lord would send him to lead the battle of the Western Regions, because he believed that he could handle the military and political issues of the Western Regions, at this time, Li Shimo, who joined the army, stepped forward and said with a smile: "Is the general's western expedition really going to Yiwu County this time?" ”

Li Shimo is the son of Li Jing, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and the official is the Cheng of Beiping County, this time he was appointed to join the army in the Western Expedition, and is ready to serve as the first Wuwei County Taishou, the reason why Li Shimo was appointed as the Wuwei County Taishou, mainly because he was born in the Li clan of Hexi, and his father Li Jing has a very high prestige in Hexi, and this appointment will help stabilize the Zhou Dynasty's control of Hexi.

Li Jing also smiled and said: "Yiwu County, Jimo County and Shanshan County are the territories opened up by the previous dynasty, if they give up, the people of the world will accuse our saint of not being as good as Yang Guang, and while it is still an official appointed by the previous dynasty, it will be recovered in time, so as not to be invaded by the Western Turks." ”

Li Shimo nodded and praised: "The general will take back the frontier and will definitely leave his name in history!" ”

Li Jing laughed, "I don't dare to ask for any name, I just don't have to be ashamed!" ”

After saying that, he turned his horse's head and ran forward, and asked loudly in front of a group of peripheral patrols, "What is the matter?" ”

"General Qiyu, more than a dozen Qiang tribal leaders ask to see!"

When Li Shimo heard that the leader of the Qiang tribe had arrived, he also urged his horse to follow.

.........

One of the biggest characteristics of the Qiang people in Hexi is that the tribes are scattered, there are hundreds of tribes of all sizes, each guarding a pasture, there are seven Qiang tribes around Hutu Ze and Bai Tingze alone, thousands of people are large, only a few hundred people are small, these Qiang tribes have lived in the Hexi Corridor for generations, in the era of the Sui Emperor, these Qiang tribes recognized themselves as the people of the Great Sui, accepted the jurisdiction of the government, and also symbolically paid a little sheep and horses as taxes.

However, the northern part of the Hexi Corridor was the sphere of influence of the Turks, and it was difficult for the Sui Dynasty's army to prevent a large-scale Turkic cavalry from invading the Hexi Corridor, which made the Hexi Qiang also heavily oppressed by the Turks, and they were forced to pay a large amount of taxes every year in exchange for peace.

The Qiang tribe who came to meet Li Jing today were the leaders of the seven tribes from around the lake and the four tribes along the Mayan River in the south, a total of 11 tribes.

In a large tent that had just been built, Li Jing met with eleven Qiang tribal leaders, Li Shimo also sat aside, and the soldiers served milk tea to everyone according to local customs.

Li Jing said with a smile: "I think you should have dealt with General Wang, that's why you came so timely, we have just arrived in Hexi." ”

The first old man bowed and said: "The general is right, we have contacted General Wang before, and we deeply feel that your army has not committed any crimes, and we have nothing to repay, so we specially sent 10,000 fat sheep to reward the army, hoping that General Li can win the battle and complete the goal as soon as possible." (To be continued.) )