In the middle of May of the 17th year of Zhenguan, the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate sent Qin Wenhua as an envoy to hold talks with the king of Qiuci to discuss the matter of taking advantage of the transit channel, and the two sides reached an agreement after several days of friendly negotiation - the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate obtained the right to transit at the cost of 300 horses, 500 cattle and 100 silk, and the small city of Shaya by the Tarim River was lent by the Qiuci State as the grain transit city of the Tang Army in Anxi, which was temporarily under the jurisdiction of the Tang Army when the Tang Army was marching south, and returned to Qiuci after the war.

On May 21, the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the Tang army of Anxi swore to march in Jiaohe City, and Li Zhen, the governor of Anxi, ordered Liu Qi to temporarily belong to the military and political affairs of Anxi by the town guard of Yizhou, and led 6,000 officers and soldiers of the garrison battalion to guard Gaochang, Jiaohe and other cities, and led 15,000 regular troops to enter Shaya along the Tarim River to the west to prepare for the southern expedition.

On May 28, the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the Tang army of Anxi arrived at the small city of Shaya, and after a short rest for two days, the whole army turned to the south of the Hotan River, with the cavalry commander Chen Wu leading 3,000 cavalry as the vanguard, the cavalry commander Dong Qianli, and Yan 18 each leading 2,000 men and horses as the left and right flanks to travel sentinels, and the captain of the Buyi Battalion and the general of Mingyuan, He Dacai, stayed in Shaya City, and took the captain of the Ranger C Battalion Sha Kui as the head of the grain road transfer, and was in charge of the transfer of logistics and baggage, and Li Zhen personally led the Chinese army's 8,000 horse infantry army as the Chinese army, and marched south along the Hotan River. The target was directly aimed at the city of Hetian in the state of Khotan.

As soon as the news spread, all the surrounding forces were shocked, and the king of Khotan, Fu Jiaxiong, panicked, and immediately sent envoys to ask for help from the surrounding forces - the first to receive Fu Jiaxiong's request for help, Tubo Zanpu Songtsen Gampo wanted to agree to send troops to rescue, but at this time, he suddenly received a military report from Tuyuhun on the eastern front to increase troops on the border between the two countries, and did not dare to slack off, so he could only order the Tubo army to immediately increase troops to the front line to strictly prevent Tuyuhun from moving differently, at the same time, sent an urgent letter to Li Shimin, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, to intercede for Khotan, but the 30,000 troops originally promised to be sent to Khotan only sent a mixed army of 4,000 infantry led by an adjutant marshal to make up the numbers; Although Xue Yantuo and the Western Turks, who were far away from the desert, had received letters of help from Khotan, the former ignored them, and the latter was busy with civil war at this time, and the two great powers did nothing except morally support Khotan; The only response to Khotan was its neighbor Shule.

Shule is the ancient country of the Western Regions, since the Han Dynasty period and the Central Plains regime has close contacts, after the Tang Dynasty, has also sent envoys into the court many times to pay tribute, in order to obtain the protection of the Tang Dynasty, trying to rely on the power of the Tang Dynasty to get rid of the brutal slavery of the Western Turks, and since the fourteenth year of Zhenguan Tang sent Hou Junji as a general into the Western Regions to destroy Gaochang, the Western Turks have entered the stage of decline, the control of the Western Regions has dropped greatly, Shule took the opportunity to obtain a completely independent status, although the heart of the Tang Dynasty is still respectful, but the attitude has quietly changed, After Li Zhen killed a piece of the sky in Anxi, the king of Shule, Taganda, also put forward a request to attach the Tang Dynasty, but he refused to promote Sinology throughout the country, and did not agree to the Tang army of Anxi to enter his country, therefore, his proposal to attach it was rejected by Li Zhen, the king of Yue, Taganda was always worried that the Tang army of Anxi would attack, this time I heard that the Tang army sent troops to Khotan, and got the secret letter of the king of Qiuzi, although he was very afraid of the strength of the Tang army, but he was even more afraid that after the Tang army destroyed Khotan, he attacked Shule by the way, under the threat of death and cold. He sent his eldest son Hesa as his commander and commanded 5,000 troops to Khotan to help defend it.

Khotan is a powerful country in the Western Regions, its country has a total of seven cities such as Hotan, Pishan, Moyu, Luopu, Celle, Yutian, Minfeng, Xicheng, etc., agriculture is developed, and because it is located on the main road of the Silk Road, the economy is extremely developed, although the population is not as much as the country of Qiuci, but the force is not less than the country of Qiuci, the total number of soldiers of the country is more than 30,000, the establishment of its army is generally the establishment of the Tang army, it is also a mixed combination of horse and foot, its cavalry is similar to the Western Turkic cavalry, and the infantry is deeply influenced by the Tibetans, which is a rare hoplite in the East, After learning that the Tang army was dispatched in a big way, all the troops of the whole country gathered near Hotan City, together with the reinforcements of Tubo and Shule, a total of 40,000 troops, and the joint camp was set up to meet the 13,000 Tang army led by Li Zhen.

On the ninth day of the sixth month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, after a long journey, the Tang army went south along the gradually shallow Hotan River, successfully crossed the Taklamakan Desert, arrived at the Tawakul Lake, and set up camp here, but did not immediately put into attack, but stationed there, and formed a confrontation situation with the camp of the Three Kingdoms Coalition Army five miles apart.

At noon on June 13, the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, the scorching sun hung high in the sky, giving light and heat generously to the earth, the heat wave in the desert was rolling, that is, there was not even a trace of breeze, both sides of the attack and defense maintained a restrained attitude, except for a small number of rangers, the two armies were huddled in their respective camps, because the army was accumulated here, the animals that used to go to the lake and the river to drink water were all lost at this time, the desert was quiet, there was no movement, suddenly, a hawk song broke the silence, But I saw an eagle falcon flying at high speed from the north over the Tang army camp, chirping all the way to the south, and after a while, it soared and circled several times over the camp of the Three Kingdoms Alliance, and then as if it had found prey, it swooped down like an arrow and disappeared in the center of the Three Kingdoms camp.

In the middle of the camp of Khotan, in the middle of the Chinese army tent, the king of Khotan, Fu Yanxiong, is setting up a banquet to entertain the prince of Shule, the prince of Shule, and the commander of the Tubo reinforcements, Bu Nepo, who came from afar to support, singing and dancing in the tent, plus several huge ice basins to calm the heat, the guests and hosts praise each other, but also happy, there is no trace of the tension that the war is coming, is looking at the staggered cup, but saw a sergeant holding a roll of cloth from outside the tent rushed in, as soon as he saw Fu Jiaxiong, immediately one knee to the ground, loudly reported: "Your Majesty, King Guizi is in a hurry! ”

"Oh? Quick, express up! Fu Yanxiong, who was holding the wine bottle to persuade him to drink, hurriedly put down the wine bottle in his hand, and shouted loudly, and the sergeant hurriedly knelt down a few steps, presented the cloth, and then kowtowed, and quietly withdrew from the Chinese army's tent.

Fu Yanxiong didn't pay attention to the sergeant's salute at all, took the rolled cloth, picked up the knife used to cut meat on the table, cut off the fire paint sealed on the cloth, and spread the cloth.

"Your Majesty, what happened?" Hersa, the prince of Shule, was young and not as calm as Buniepo, and when he saw that Fu Jiaxiong was so angry, he immediately asked curiously.

"Alas!" Fu Yanxiong sighed heavily, and spat out a lot of stuffiness in his chest, and without saying much, he just waved his hand and motioned to the guard standing behind him to hand over the secret letter on the table to Hersa.

"How so? That class of gelding pigs dared to trick us and others, damn dogs, if he got the chance, this king would never spare this dog! After reading the secret letter, Hersa was generally so angry that the bruises on his forehead jumped, and he cursed.

"Huh?" As soon as he saw that Fu Jiaxiong and Hersa both had such a seizure, Bu Nipo couldn't hold his breath, and he didn't care about ordering his subordinates to go down to get the letter, so he stood up, and strode to Hersa's sons, picked up the secret letter that had been crumpled into a ball by Hersa, frowned and unfolded the cloth, and glanced at it quickly, but found that it was written in Qiuzi script, and Bu Neipa couldn't understand it at all, so she had no choice but to shrug her shoulders and say in Tubo: "Two, what's going on?" ”

Fu Yanxiong has always been good friends with Tibet, and he is very proficient in the Tibetan language, but at this time, Bu Nie Po's tone was not happy, and he hurriedly explained: "Dashuai, this letter was written by the gelding pig in the class of King Qiuzi, saying that his current troops are insufficient, and he cannot cut off the grain of the Tang army for the time being, and asks us to hold on for more than a month and leave him enough time to transfer troops." ”

"More than a month? Bastard, this damn old turtle! When Bu Nipo heard this, he immediately became furious, without him, when the king of Qiuzi sent someone to deliver the news to Fu Jiaxiong and Taganda, it had been agreed that as soon as the Tang army arrived at the front line of Hotan, he would immediately send troops to Shaya, completely cutting off the Tang army's food route, which is also the root cause of the Three Kingdoms Alliance Army never fought head-on with the Tang army, and it was just about planning to wait for the Tang army to know that the back road was cut off and fall into a panic, and then win with one blow, but now the class has changed, No one knows if the old fox will go according to plan.

Hersa was young and vigorous, and when he saw that there was no hope at that end, he immediately jumped up and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, you can't wait any longer, the Tang army has been making frequent cavalry sorties these days, and there is gradually a trend of large-scale sorties, once our army is stationed here for a long time, it is one thing for the army to be slack, if the Tang army divides several cavalry troops to attack my empty rear, even if it can't take the city, the morale of the army and the people will inevitably be damaged because of this, it is better to fight as soon as possible, with the strength of our army several times more than the Tang army, it should be able to win in one battle!" ”

Bu Niep Po is forty years old, he participated in the Battle of Tuyuhun back then, fought with the Tang Army, knows that the Tang Army's combat power is extraordinary, and has not heard of Li Zhen's strength, but in his opinion, this Tang Army is not the Tang Army, the left and right are just some miscellaneous Tang Army, not to mention the training for a long time, the real Tang people inside are not many, although there have been examples of defeating the Western Turks, but it is still not a strong army, after all, Li Zhen's defeat of the Western Turks was a clever trick rather than a frontal enemy, like this kind of frontal battle today, Bu Neipa was not afraid of Li Zhen's prestige at all, and after listening to what Hersa said in the translation, she groaned slightly, and also opened her mouth to echo: "Your Majesty, let's fight, this commander is willing to lead his troops and horses as the vanguard, and see if the Anxi Tang army is powerful, or my Tubo warriors are smart!" ”

Both reinforcements have to fight, but Fu Jiaxiong did not immediately express his position, without him, Fu Jiaxiong is also an old fox in the desert - it is not easy to keep the independence of Khotan under the condition that most of the countries in the Western Regions were destroyed by the Western Turks, it is not an easy thing to keep the independence of Khotan, it is a tightrope between the Western Turks, Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, ordinary people can't cope with it, according to his judgment, the class of the King of Qiuzi came to such a hand, and his intention was just to make the Three Kingdoms Alliance and Li Zhen fight to the death, and end up in a lose-lose situation, and that class took advantage of the situation, to clean up the mess appeared, so as to realize its ambition to sweep the Western Regions, in this sense, that class is not not not to make a move, but to wait for the opportunity, only after the war breaks out, that class will start to cut off the Tang army's grain route, as long as the front is not fighting, don't expect that class to shoot, this is already a sure thing, but it is clear that Fu Yanxiong has no way to take that class.

It seems that the fight must be fought, with the current situation, even if the Three Kingdoms Alliance does not move, I am afraid that the Tang Army that has completed the rest will not give the Three Kingdoms Alliance Army time to continue to maintain the confrontation, rather than waiting for the Tang Army to kill and weaken their own morale, it is better to take advantage of their own momentum and the absolute upper hand in the army, to give the Tang Army a heavy blow, forcing it to withdraw strongly, but Fu Yanxiong is extremely jealous of Li Zhen, and he has never been sure of victory in his heart, and he is worried that Li Zhen may have other ambushes, and he is undecided for a while. It was always difficult to make up his mind to fight, and he just silently bowed his head and pondered, but refused to give the order to fight.

"Your Majesty, when you decide, when you decide, when will you wait if you don't fight at this time? Let's go! When Hersa saw that Fu Jaxiong was dead or alive, he could not hold back at once, and stamped his feet and screamed.

"Yes, Your Majesty, with the strength of our army, why should we be afraid of the Tang Army, we can win a battle!" Bu Nipo also urged a little impatiently.

"Okay, then it's a good fight, come on, give Li Zhenxiao'er a war letter, and fight tomorrow!" Seeing that the reinforcements from both sides insisted on fighting, Fu Jiaxiong had no choice but to issue an order for tomorrow's battle, in addition to ordering all armaments to fight, he also sent an envoy to send a war letter to Li Zhen, intending to defeat Li Zhen's troops head-on with a dignified and upright army.

At six o'clock in the unitary hour, it was the time of sunset, most of the sunset in the west had fallen below the low level, the afterglow reflected the clouds on the horizon as red as blood, the hot day was over, the temperature fell back to an acceptable range, most of the Tang officers and soldiers who had been suffocating in the camp all day walked out of the tents, wandered around in the camp, relaxed their tired muscles and bones, enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the sunset, and the camp was a relaxed scene, but at this moment, three Khotanese cavalry holding white flags rushed over from a distance, Immediately alarmed dozens of rangers who were patrolling outside the camp, and the Tang army rangers who moved quickly immediately formed a fan, rushed up, and surrounded the three Khotanese cavalry in the center, and after several negotiations, a Khotanese cavalry holding an official letter slowly entered the Tang army's camp under the escort of several Tang rangers.

In the big tent of the Tang Army, Li Zhengao sat on the top, opened the so-called "war book" with an expressionless face, just glanced at it, and didn't say much, picked up the wolf pen that rested on the bookcase, dipped it in ink, and with a big stroke of the pen, he wrote a big word "war" on the back of the letter, and then threw the war letter in front of the envoy, and said coldly: "Go back and tell your king, wash your hair tomorrow, wait for the king to cut it, and send it off!" As soon as Li Zhen's voice fell, several personal soldiers under the tent rushed up, and no matter how the envoy struggled, he went out, pushed him on his horse, and blasted him out of the Tang army's camp.

This battle is not easy to fight, with 12,000 to 40,000, it is strange to be able to fight, it is not easy to win, don't look at Li Zhen's reply to the war book is very refreshing, but his heart is not calm, to be honest, this situation is indeed a little unexpected by Li Zhen - Shule's reinforcements Li Zhen has already arrived, and he didn't pay much attention to it, and the little belly chicken intestines of King Qiuzi can't hide Li Zhen's calculations, but it is the reinforcements of Tubo that really give Li Zhen a headache - as early as when the original policy was to be taken from Khotan, Li Zhen has fully considered the factors of Tubo, and Tuyuhun reached a secret agreement in the calculation, this time when the Tang army set out, Tuyuhun really moved troops and horses in accordance with the secret agreement, and restrained most of Tubo's military strength, but the problem is that Tubo is strong and Tuyuhun is weak, although Tuyuhun has gone all out, but Tubo in addition to dealing with Tuyuhun's changes, still has the ability to send reinforcements to Khotan, and even does not hesitate to risk a complete face with the Tang Dynasty, which makes Li Zhen can't help but sigh at the courage of Songtsan Gampo - four thousand Tubo soldiers are not muchRegardless of whether the original plan can be implemented smoothly, tomorrow's battle is a big pass, if it can't be won, the overall plan will be in danger of collapsing, but now, Li Zhen has no room for maneuver, and can only hope that another ambush can play a key role.

"Come on, beat the drums and gather the generals!" Li Zhen squatted in front of the sand table in the tent and pondered for a while, finally stood up, and gave the order to gather generals in a loud voice, with the beating of the war drums at the door of the big tent, the commanders of the various armies rushed to the big tent of the Chinese army from all over the camp, and the soldiers of the various armies who were originally wandering in the camp also returned to their camps, and after a while, the Tang army camp that was still a little messy was already solemn, and a murderous aura quietly rose in the air, and it became more and more intense, rushing straight to the nine clouds.

Li Zhen ruled the army very strictly, gathered the generals and drums, a pillar of incense before the time came, it was to kill without forgiveness, this point is well known to the generals of all armies, no one wants to test the law, therefore, as soon as the drum rested, the generals have gathered in the tent, everyone stood calmly, waiting for Li Zhen to give a combat order.

"Soldiers!" Li Zhen looked around at the generals under his tent, raised his voice, and stopped drinking.

"In!" The generals took a step forward and replied with their own hands.

Li Zhen looked at his generals expressionlessly, and said loudly: "Old man Fu Yanxiong has sent someone to issue a war letter, do you dare to fight?" ”

"Fight! War! War! When the generals heard this, they shouted at the same time, and the roar echoed in the night sky with a soaring pride......

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