Ziyad saluted Abu *** and said, "I should have good news here that interests you, my esteemed Grand Duke Abu." ”

"What good news can there be from the west, the uprising of the Tocharians in the river, or the counterattack of Kufa?"

"Grand Duke, not from the west, but from the east." Ziad couldn't hide the mocking look on his face: "These Sogdian barbarians knelt on the ground and wagked their tails to praise the masters of the Tang Dynasty, but they didn't bring a reward, but Gao Xianzhi brought knives and guns and slaughtered them as lambs. ”

Abu *** frowned, raised his finger and said: "This Gao Xianzhi should have done us a great favor, and we should take this opportunity to let the Sogdians of the Nine Kingdoms of the River know us again, and re-understand the *** under the light of the Abbasid Caliphate, and we can also take this opportunity to fully control here." ”

Ziad propped his chest with one hand and said, "Then what do you want me to do?" ”

Abu *** stood up from the stone platform, stretched out his hand and grabbed the beard on his chin, and muttered: "Order Kabul, who is stationed in Samarkand, to lead an army to enter Talas, and order the 150,000 garrisons of Mulu City to be stationed in Bukhara and Samarkand respectively, under your personal command. Remember, this is normal zone rotation and don't let outsiders see our intentions. ”

"Yes." Ziad's face was different, and he said strangely: "Why do you want to send so many people, the political situation is still unstable for our government. ”

"It doesn't matter," said Abu *** with a serene smile, making him look like a kind father: "My parents were slaves, and I escaped from my master's house and worked as a trader for a few years, and I learned a few tenets from the old businessmen, one of which is that when you think a business is profitable, you can do it at any cost, at any price. ”

Ziad asked, "Then what do you want of me, and how much victory will I achieve in this battle?" ”

"We're going to take the four towns of Anxi."

Ziad's eyes widened in surprise again: "Really? ”

Abu *** laughed out loud and said, "They merchants also have a credo, that is, when selling and buying things, you must quote the highest price, wait for your opponent to kill the price, and then you can meet the best psychological expectations." The capture of the four towns of Anxi is the highest price we will offer, but our psychological expectation is that the Sogdians of the Nine Kingdoms will be completely brought under our rule. ”

Ziad cocked his thumb and said admiringly: "The Grand Duke is clever, Ziad admires." ”

Abu *** turned to sit down again, and repeatedly told Ziyad: "I will give you command of all the troops sent to the river, and remember not to be greedy for merit." First, not to fight on someone else's home turf, but to draw them to our home turf, second, to exploit the Sogdians' hatred of Gao Xianzhi, to divide their allies as much as possible, to turn them into our allies, and third, and most importantly, if a real and final victory is achieved, we must find a way to expand the victory and squeeze the death of the defeated army to nothing. ”

Ziad was stunned, and after bowing slightly with his right hand on his chest, he slowly retreated.

……

As soon as the atmosphere of the Shangyuan Festival in Chang'an City dissipated, Jin Wuwei began to clean up the streets and sweep the main roads to welcome Gao Xianzhi, the envoy of the Anxi Festival who had returned to Beijing in victory.

It has only been two years since Gao Xianzhi returned to Chang'an last time, and he handed in a satisfactory answer to the emperor with his outstanding military exploits.

He led the team to enter from the Jinguang Gate, the Marquis of Yu waved the flag in front of the road, the crimson Sanchen flag was hunting in the northwest wind, the horizontal blowing team straddled the horses on both sides, and the suona in his hand puffed up the cheeks, and the blowing was Li Siye's "General Order" dedicated to Chang'an, and the translucent tone was impassioned, making the tooth soldiers impassioned, and the iron boots made a clicking sound on the ground.

The people stood by the wall and gathered to watch, and they exchanged their heads and praised the outstanding military exploits of the high school Cheng.

At the back of the line were the four prisoners, because they had once been noble, and Gao Xianzhi was not transported in that simple prison cart, but in a sealed ink cart.

When the procession reached the Kaiyuan Gate in the northwest of the city, the eunuch Yuan Siyi rode to them with the will of the saint and shouted in a sharp voice: "Declare the decree!" ”

Gao Xianzhi took the lead in turning over and dismounting, and everyone bowed to the ground fork hands: "The generals will take the order!" ”

Yuan Siyi took out the yellow silk from the bamboo tube behind him, pulled it open in his hand with a bang, and read aloud: "Under the door!" The governor of the Dawan Governor's Mansion was favored by the emperor, did not want to serve the country, and had ill intentions, and colluded with the Turks to move the Khan with the intention of rebellion. The special purpose is to open the far gate outside the place to behead, the head of Xingqing Palace! The book is made as right, and it is carried out! ”

When the emperor's holy decree was issued, Gao Xianzhi was stunned for a moment, then turned around and waved his hand indifferently: "Hand over, execution!" ”

Immediately a group of tooth soldiers ran from the middle of the group to the back of the line, opened the door of the ink cart, and dragged down the limp of the chariot.

The king of Shiguo was so frightened that his legs could no longer walk, and he was dragged to the city gate by the two of them. He was still shouting, "I have been wronged! I'm wronged! Gao Xianzhi! You're a brute who doesn't have a son! Lao Tzu is waiting for you in the underworld as a ghost! ”

Gao Xianzhi's back was cold, his face sank like water, and he turned his head back, and ordered loudly: "Plug his mouth, do it quickly!" ”

After being thrown out of the car, he broke away from the two escorted soldiers, with chains on his hands and feet, and walked proudly towards the execution ground with his head held high.

The heads of the two fell to the ground and were put into a yellow thick brocade box, and the guards of the Longwu Army brought by Yuan Siyi carried them to Xingqing Palace with the brigade of the Jiedu envoys.

The onlookers were puzzled, since the sinners had been escorted to Chang'an, why did the saint can't wait to cut off their heads, so that they can see the dead but not the living?

This started an hour ago, when Gao Xianzhi was still pausing at the last post station outside Chang'an City, and the news of entering Beijing to offer prisoners had already reached Xingqing Palace.

Li Longji was very happy, and he immediately ordered the civil and military officials to greet him at the gate of the city. Yang Guozhong, the secretary of the Taifu, walked into the Qinzheng Building with a volume of impeachment notes, which was written by Li Siye with black materials.

Yang Guozhong stood in the hall and bowed down and said, "Your Majesty, although Gao Xianzhi has great merits, he also has great crimes, and he cannot be rewarded, but he must be punished heavily." ”

Li Longji frowned, this Yang Zhao has always only picked up good words, why did he suddenly change his temper today, and he actually wanted to impeach Gao Xianzhi?

"What is Gao Xianzhi's crime?"

Yang Guozhong said loudly: "Your Majesty, please allow me to come with them, Gao Xianzhi is one of his crimes, framing the monarch of Shi Guo and the Tuqi Shi Khan, and raising troops to attack the city." The second crime is that after he invaded the capital of Shiguo, he ransacked the palace and obtained more than 40,000 taels of gold, took thirteen white camels as personal wealth, and indulged the soldiers to burn, kill and loot, so that everyone in Zhaowu Jiuhu was in danger. The third sin is that the Turgish have gone through several calamities and are already weak, but he attacks the broken leaves with the crime he wants to add, and the captives move the Khan, causing the Turgish people to be feared like a tiger. He repeatedly attacked and killed the Sogdian Hu merchants who were dissatisfied with him, and boasted of his exploits as breaking the Nine Kingdoms. Gao Xianzhi's move will cause my Tang Dynasty to lose all the hearts of all Hu in the Western Regions, please be aware of it. ”

Li Linfu stood aside and listened quietly, and only after he finished speaking, did he ask coldly: "Uncle Yang, you live in Chang'an, how do you know the affairs of the Western Regions so clearly and describe them in such detail?" ”

Yang Guozhong glanced back at Li Linfu demonstratively, and said calmly: "Sage, this is not a note written by Guozhong, but written by Li Siye, an interview envoy of Longyoudao, who accompanied Gao Xianzhi on the expedition as an interview envoy, and saw Gao Xianzhi's behavior of destroying the prestige of the imperial court, and was anxious in his heart, so he wrote such a note, and he was afraid that he would be intercepted by someone halfway, so he handed it over to the minister to present to the saint. ”