After the messenger returned, more than ten days later, 2,000 Anxi veterans who had set out from Quy Nhon finally arrived at the surrendered city after a long journey.

Almost at the same time, Li Gongpo, the king of Zhangxiong, came to announce that more than a dozen Zhangzhung tribes in the west, which had been independent for more than 100 years, had been annexed, and the country of Zhangzhung had increased by nearly 100,000 dingkou.

These tribes were originally part of the Zhangxiong Kingdom, but after the loss of the Zhangxiong King Li Mixia, the Tibetan people never actually controlled this area due to the distance from the mountains, so these tribes did not become part of the Tibetan Empire. Now that he learned the news of King Zhangxiong's return to the country, he immediately came to serve.

Before you know it, the strength of the Elephant Male has increased to this extent!

Tens of thousands of elite soldiers were stationed outside the surrendered city, and the tribal leaders came to the general's palace to meet Ma Lu under the guidance of Li Gongpo. Looking at the dozen or so tribal leaders kneeling in front of him and bowing eagerly, Ma Lu's heart was extremely vigilant.

They chose to join the army, on the one hand, because of the king of Zhangxiong, and on the other hand, because of themselves, the so-called Bon protector of the God of War Patriarch. Looking at the expressions of these guys, you can know that they are convinced of the fact that they are the reincarnation of the Protector God of War Patriarch under the command of Xin Rao Mivo.

Originally, after this battle, the Zhangxiong people were greatly damaged, but counting these tribes, the population of the Zhangxiong people has exceeded 100,000, which can be said to be an extremely powerful force on the plateau.

In its heyday, the Zhangzhung region consisted of three parts, except for the upper and lower Zhangzhung ten Dongdai areas, and the west was these tribes located under the Great and Small Bolu, occupying a part of the so-called Kashmir region in later generations; The east side directly extends to the Sichuan-Tibet area of later generations. Later, due to the strong rise of the Subi tribe and the occupation of a large area of the Zhangxiong Kingdom, the connection between Zhangzhung and the eastern tribes was severed, but the influence of the Zhangzhung tribes in the eastern tribes still existed.

Now that King Zhang-zhung has just returned to the country, the tribes in the west have rushed to join the country, and the Subi tribe is facing the fate of the scattered tribes.

In that case, it will immediately be a new Tibetan Empire!

Li Gongbu is still a person who knows how to repay his kindness, and now it can be said that he is loyal to the Tang Dynasty and has no dissent, but no matter what, a new empire must not be allowed to appear on the plateau!

More than a dozen tribal leaders from the west looked eager, kneeling on the ground and begging the Protector of the God of War Patriarch to take them to Luoqi to avenge the destruction of the country by Zhangzhung a hundred years ago.

Ma Lan turned his head to look at Li Gongbu, and saw that this old guy also had a pleading look, and his heart suddenly became murderous.

Li Gongbu must not be allowed to sit on the throne, and the Xiangxiong people must be in their own hands. Any possibility that threatens Datang must be strangled directly when there are signs of it!

No matter how the leaders kowtowed and pleaded, Ma Lu did not agree to their request. Pulling little Dorje from Princess Zhangxiong's hand, Ma Lan smiled and said, "I like this child very much, and it will be my righteous son in the future." King Zhangxiong, you have no opinion, right? ”

This abrupt sentence surprised everyone present.

Li Gongbu was stunned, his face suddenly showed ecstasy, and he pressed Xiao Dorje and said, "Quick! Call your father! ”

Little Dorje didn't know why, but he still kowtowed honestly. Du Huan glanced at the beautiful Princess Zhangxiong, and then at Ma Lan, with a strange smile on his face.

Ma Ling knew that this thing was crooked, so he didn't pay attention to him, smiled and pulled little Dorje up, took out a small piece of sserness from his arms and put it on Dorje's hand, and said with a smile: "Good boy, we will be a family from now on." -- The matter of sending troops is very important and needs to be discussed slowly. In this case, you all go back first, and I will discuss this matter with the generals, and you should also go back and think about it more, and we will discuss it in three days. ”

The leaders and Li Gongbu's family withdrew from the general's mansion, and Du Huan said with a smile: "The general wants Princess Zhangxiong, just stay, why bother to beat around the bush." ”

Duan Xiushi looked at Ma Lan, but said solemnly: "General, Li Gongbu can't die for the time being!" ”

"Cheng Gong, how can you tell that I want to kill this guy?" Ma Lan asked with a smile.

"As soon as Li Gongpo died, Dorje was the king of Zhangxiong. This son is king, and Zhangxiong cannot expand outward. The general is afraid that Xiangxiong will sit big, so he will have such thoughts. But it's not going to work, at least not yet! Duan Xiushi did not answer Ma Lan's question, and said in a deep voice.

"Let's talk about it!" Ma Lan sat down.

Du Huan looked ashamed, why didn't he see such a simple thing in his heart, but this time he stole the limelight for Cheng Gong.

Duan Xiushi also found a chair to sit down, and said in a deep voice: "Dorje is just a child, and Princess Zhangxiong herself is just a child. If their mother and son preside over the state affairs at this time, the Xiangxiong people will immediately lose their sharpness, and they will not be able to expand, this is the calculation in the general's heart. ”

Ma Lan nodded.

"The surrendered city is in the territory of Zhangxiong, and in order to maintain this city, it must be supported by a strong Zhangxiong state. If the country of Zhangxiong is destroyed by other Qiang tribes, it will be another trouble for us. We are not going to garrison too many troops here, so the Zhangxiong people must have the strength to protect themselves. If Li Gongbu dies at this time, Xiangxiong is only afraid that everything needs to be worried about us, and I am afraid that more troops will need to come up to stabilize the situation here. ”

"I don't want Zhangxiong to expand on a large scale, the general only needs to send troops to help in the war, and with today's Zhangxiong's national strength, it is not possible to forcibly wipe out other Qiang tribes. It must be known that there are more than one million Qiang people in Qiangtang, and it is so easy for the Xiangxiong people to unify it! Besides, Rigompot does not have such ambition now, and he knows that we will not allow him to do so. What he has to do now is just to go to the valley of the Luo River and plunder, and the so-called capture of the Luo is just a rhetoric in front of those Qiang heads. That being the case, the general should just go with him, and you must not kill him at this time! ”

Ma Ling frowned and said, "What does Cheng Gong mean, Li Gongbu just wants to make some floating money?" ”

Duan Xiushi said: "Li Gongbu is extremely smart, and he will never do what he can't do. The new defeat of the Luo army must have caused the various tribes in the Luo valley to be extremely frightened, and it was a good time to capture Dingkou. Zhangxiong country is down the valley of the Luo River, how can you not take the opportunity to take advantage of it at this time? The tribes to the west had recently joined the army, and they also needed to get some benefits in order to be loyal to the king. It was this time that Li Gongbu was bound to send troops. He wasn't so stupid to say that he was going to go down to some cities with a bang and become the target of public criticism. ”

"Master, what do you think?" Ma Xuan turned his head to look at Cen Shendao.

Cen Shen said with a smile: "What Cheng Gong said is very reasonable, whoever occupies some cities now will become a thorn in the side of each Qiang tribe." How shrewd Li Gongbu was, how could he provoke such trouble! ”

"If Li Gongbu is really shrewd enough, he should know that I have the intention of killing him, why did he act so happy just now?" Ma Ling frowned.

"After all, he is old and won't live long, you accepted Dorje as your adopted son, although it was to control Zhangxiong, but in Li Gongpo's opinion, it was Dorje who had an extra backer after his death, so you can't like it. He has no intention of betraying Datang at the moment, he completely regards Datang as the dependence of Zhangxiong, and the inheritance of the Zhangxiong royal system is the most important thing, even more important than his personal life and death. Of course, he certainly won't let himself die at your hands. You can't kill him openly, he just needs to avoid seeing you again to avoid killing him. If my guess is correct, Li Gongbu is no longer in the surrendered city at this moment. Duan Xiushi said in a deep voice.

Ma Ling heard this, called Ma Yong and Ma Qiang, and asked them to bring a few personal soldiers to have a look.

Soon the two returned, and Li Gongbu did not return to the palace in the city, but followed the leaders who came with the troops to the military camp where the Xitou Xiangxiong people were stationed outside the city.

"This old fox!" Ma Lan twitched the corners of his mouth.

If this guy were twenty years younger, Ma Lan would be desperate to kill him. It is really terrible for such a person to become the king of Xiangxiong, and Ma Lan doesn't want to bring a disaster to the Tang Dynasty.

But he was old after all, Ma Ling thought about it and decided to adopt the opinions of several staff. The Xiangxiong people are willing to go to the valley of the Luo, and they will not stop them, but the Anxi army will not use a single soldier.

If one day the elephant male has signs of being uncontrollable, he must kill this old boy.

……

Looking at this, Li Gongbu is obviously not ready to return to the surrender city. The conspiracy has turned into a conspiracy, and there is no possibility of execution. Now even if he decides to kill Li Gongbu, there is no chance. Since this was the case, Ma Lan asked Ma Qiang to go outside the city and tell Li Gongbu about his decision.

A day later, the army of the Zhangxiong people drove sheep, horses, and yaks to the southwest, and tens of thousands of people were ready to attack the valley of the Luo. On the Anxi Army's side, it began to change guards.

Two thousand Anxi veterans took over the defense of the surrendered city, Du Huan and Cen Shen volunteered to stay here to deal with the follow-up affairs, and Ma Ling left the surrendered city with five thousand Anxi soldiers, and the whole army went north into Baishitan, and then did not go north, but turned northwest.

This road was the original road for Tibet to enter the Great and Small Bolu, and the 2,000 soldiers of the Quy Nhon army arrived at the surrendered city through this road. The purpose of Ma Lan and Anxi New Army's trip was the Quy Nhon Army.

After all, he was not worried about Li Siye and Li Fei Yuanli's five thousand Anxi athletes, so Ma Ling decided to personally lead the troops to Xiaobolu. If Li Siye's army is safe, he can return to Anxi, and if there is a problem on Li Siye's side, he must bring troops to respond.

Prior to this, an order had been sent to the garrison general of the Quy Nhon army, asking him to try his best to find out the news of Li Siye's army, and at the same time, there was also an order to the secret agent battalion of the Anxi army, and a large number of secret agents had already gone to Xiao Bolu first.

Princess Zhangxiong and little Dorje also left the surrendered city with the army, and Dorje, a child who was still young, could be taught to be a well-informed Han family son according to Ma Luan's wishes.

…… (To be continued.) )