Khotan is in the south of Qiuci, and the Taklamakan Desert is just separated between the two cities, and the four towns of Yanqi, Qiuci, Shule, and Khotan just surround the Taklamakan Desert, as long as these four cities can be controlled, it is equivalent to controlling a large area of land from the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains to the north side of the Karakoram Mountains.

To attack Khotan, you need to start from Qiuci and go west, reach the city of Shule, then go south from Shule, cross the Xiduo River, which is the Yarkand River today, and then travel a long way along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert to reach the edge of the Jade River in Khotan, but most of the energy has to be spent on the road.

This time, Shen Long brought Lu Shishi's re-formed Xuanwei army, and some of the servant troops who were newly returned to the Tang Dynasty, and the rest of the men and horses stayed in the territory of the Anxi Protectorate.

Because of the blockage of the Karakoram Mountains, it was not easy for the Tibetans to support Khotan, and they had previously lost too many soldiers and horses in Hexi and Longyou, and now the entire north of Tubo was on the defensive, and Shen Long's trip was only to deal with the defenders in Khotan.

He didn't even go out to fight in person, just watched the Xuanwei army and the servant army attack in the rear, with the help of gunpowder, the Xuanwei army didn't spend much effort to take Khotanese City, after entering the city, Lu Shixi looked at those familiar places in the city one by one with a solemn face.

What made Lu 14 feel both sad and happy was that there were still survivors of the Xuanwei Army in Khotan, who were captured by the Tubo people during that battle and became slaves of the Tubo people for several years now; Lu Shixi was happy that his old comrades-in-arms were still alive, but sad that they had been so difficult all these years.

Each of them looked many years older than themselves, their hands and feet had been deformed from years of hard work, and their bodies had become weak due to long-term lack of nutrition; However, all this suffering is over, as long as you live, it is a good thing, and you will recover after a little while.

Shen Long left Lu 14 to continue to defend Khotan, while he himself continued eastward with these veterans and other troops, continuing to sweep the remaining Tibetan army along the southern side of the Taklamakan Desert.

Cancheng guarded, Lancheng guarded, and the end of the city, Putao City, the enemy along the road was crushed at the touch of a button, and these places returned to the hands of the Tang Dynasty.

Shen Long circled around the Taklamakan Desert until he reached Shazhou City on the east side of the desert, and then turned west and returned to Tingzhou City; This circle is not only to deal with the few remaining Tubo people along the way, but also to show the prestige of the Tang Dynasty to those aliens living here, telling them that the Tang Dynasty is back here, and the Tang soldiers and horses who have returned this time are stronger than any of the previous ones.

After recovering Khotan and other places, the Anxi Protectorate reached Yizhou in the east, Broken Leaf City in the west, Khotan in the south, and the Ili River Valley in the north.

Shen Long did not continue to expand, but temporarily stopped, he knew that before the big explosion of communication and transportation technology, it was not necessarily a good thing for the territory to be too wide, so he focused on tuntian and industry, as long as he controlled the Silk Road, then the Western Regions could not get rid of the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

After a few more years, this group of Datang soldiers returned to Chang'an, and a new batch of soldiers arrived; After Guo Xin, who stayed in Chang'an, waited for these soldiers to return, he immediately incorporated them into the army directly under Chang'an, and relied on these armies to attack the feudal forces entrenched in various places, and began a vigorous action to cut down the feudal domains.

The notorious feudal towns of Weibo, Hebei, Ziqing, and Huaixi were eliminated by Guo Xin one by one, and the envoys of these military towns were either beheaded on the battlefield or sent back to Chang'an to be executed.

In the process of solving these military towns, Princess Xian'an also sent reinforcements from the Uighurs, and maintained pressure on these military towns from the north.

Even if there were a few unwilling tribal nobles, as long as they thought that in the west of the Uighurs was the prestigious Anxi Protectorate, and in the south was the revitalized Tang Dynasty, they quickly extinguished this thought, even if they could pull Princess Xian'an off the throne? Anxi Duhufu and Datang work together, and their heads can't be saved!

After completing this feat, Guo Xin passed away peacefully, and the court gave him generous favors, and all kinds of favors were even above Guo Ziyi; Later, Yang Zhenggu took Guo Xin's place, and Shen Long continued to guard the Western Regions.

A few years later, Tang Dezong died, Li Yu was the emperor for a few days, passed the throne to Li Chun, Li Chun began to eliminate maladministration as soon as he ascended the throne, with the support of Yang Zhenggu's strong army, Li Chun's various new policies were successfully implemented.

The planting area of various high-yield new crops in Datang has been expanding, and large-scale workshops have been built in Datang one after another, and Datang has begun to show signs of entering the industrial age.

Such a Datang should be able to last for a few hundred more years, right? Even if the Tang Dynasty perishes in the future, it will be caused by the social contradictions caused by the industrial revolution, and it will never be occupied by alien races on the grassland, and the glory of the Tang Dynasty will continue to shine in the Western Regions for a long time, and Shen Long's task can be said to be successfully completed.

So, Shen Long can also leave this world with confidence, and after making a series of arrangements, Shen Long faked his death and left Datang and returned to his long-lost home.

Standing up and stretching a long lazy waist, Datang's Jin Ge Iron Horse gradually faded away in Shen Long's mind, and he changed from a Dadu protector who fought bloodily for Datang in the Western Regions to a half-otaku who just wanted to enjoy a lazy life in the capital.

So, what will be the reward this time? Guo Yuanzheng doesn't seem to have anything I want, right? With such doubts, Shen Long opened the system in his mind.

A familiar voice immediately came to his mind, "Guo Yuanzheng from the Ninth Cavalry of the Xuange Battalion of the Wuwei Army in "The Last Transfer of the Tang Mobei" Wuwei Army Thank you very much for helping him realize his wish, and now he is ....... special general."