Between the mountains and hills leading to Talas, the pursuing Tang army had spread into a long line, like a large net open to catch a lone fish.

In the first half of the journey from the Zhenzhu River to the city of Thirsty Sai, the Tang army was still collecting these groups of prisoners of great food, but in the second half of the pursuit, no one had such idleness.

Although Dr. Li has always declared that each captive captured is more than 50 yuan per head, most people still think that it is inconvenient to take a large living person to pursue, not to mention that the language barrier between the two sides does not even have the effect of relieving loneliness and boredom, but it is better to earn 50 yuan less.

Not far away, on the sun-drenched Gobi Desert, a fugitive soldier with a crutch and tattered clothes, his chain mail had already been thrown halfway down the road, and he had to look back every few steps he ran to see that the Tang army had caught up from behind.

Although he had not eaten for three days, he still used his crutches to support his body and forced his way, and when he heard the sound of horses' hooves beating behind him, he subconsciously turned around and waved his scimitar, which was only half a cut, and the cavalry who rushed over leaned down and slashed down with a horizontal knife in his hand. The Great Eater fell in a pool of blood.

The cavalry turned around and shouted to the 7th pawn of Tang Junbu who was left behind: "This is for you." ”

……

At the end of August, the Tang army officially came to the city of Talas, and the few large food troops left in the city had already fled, and the troops of Ning Yuanguo and Gelulu also came to the city, and the three parties held a small bonfire dinner in the open space in the city that night.

Even after the war, there was no shortage of entertainment in the city, and the Kangju beauties scattered all over the river danced around the bonfires, drawing applause from the soldiers sitting on the ground.

Li Siye sat in the center, and Gellulu Yehu Tun Biga and Ningyuan King Dou Siddha sat on either side of him, frequently raising their glasses to him.

"Dr. Li strategized and defeated the elite army of Abu *** in one fell swoop, which made us admire and admire."

The boasting ability of these ethnic minorities does not have a bit of technical content, which sounds embarrassing, and Li Siye can only indifferently pretend to be very useful, and raise the wine cup to salute the other party.

"Dr. Li has made a miraculous feat of breaking the Great Food Army, and the saint who returns to Chang'an will be overjoyed, and when the time comes, he will move to the left to open the palace and the three divisions, and maybe he will be crowned king."

He put down the wine cup, supported the desk of the case with both hands, stared at the two of them left and right, and smiled indifferently: "What kind of merit is this, such as Kangju Kangdi, Anxi Anguo, Nanmi Country, Enamel Shiguo, Guishan He Country are still in the hands of the Great Cannibal, and there are fourteen of the eighteen states of Tocharian in the hands of the Great Eclipse, how can I have the face to enter Chang'an to ask for merit from the sage?" ”

The two were dumbfounded, and they dared to guarantee that Li Siye would definitely have something amazing next.

"This credit is not great, what does Dr. Li want?"

"What do you want?" He laughed and said, "Since the first battle was won, there should be a war next." Don Ye Hu, King of Ningyuan, I want to collect food to complete the repair in six days, prepare two months' dry food for each person, and make a long-distance attack on Samarkand, the hometown of Kangju, the city of Bukhara in the rest of the region, the city of Mulu, the important military town of Dashi, the important border town of Herat, and the city of Tus, the capital of Khorasan. ”

Sure enough, there is a kind of person who does not dare to brag about it, and as soon as he praises it, he wants to go to heaven. Li Siye didn't understand the truth of accepting it when he saw it, and he still wanted to take the army to the river, and he also wanted to go straight to the capital of Khorasan. You have also seen the combat effectiveness of the Great Food Army, which is on par with the Tubo Army, and it is impossible to fight against such a strong enemy and win forever.

"Doctor Li, please think twice, although our three armies have eliminated 70,000 elites of the Great Food Army, there are still many troops like this under the command of Abu ***, so I suggest that the doctor first digest the existing victory results, and then slowly figure it out in the future, how about it?"

This was a word of exhortation from Don Viga who was half selfish and half worried about him, and even Dou Sida, the king of Ningyuan, was not optimistic about his victory, so he was silent on the side. Li Siye looked up at the Tang army generals sitting at the bottom and asked, "What do you think, do you think I should go on a long expedition when our army is in full swing, or give up the offensive and maintain the current victory?" ”

Cheng Qianli took the lead in forking his hand, and said with a hesitant expression: "Doctor Li, between us and Dashi, there is originally a buffer between the green ridge and the river, if we insist on taking the river in our hands." It is equivalent to the border of the Great Food Country, which is not good for the situation, and it is better to maintain the status quo. In this battle, we defeated the 70,000 elite troops of the Great Food Army, and the enemy who defeated three times was already raising his eyebrows. There is no need to make any more extraneous branches. ”

Li Siye thought to himself, Cheng Qianli is selfish, and his personal thoughts are troublesome, so he can't be trusted.

He asked the deputy protector of the king, who was sitting below him, "Masami, what about you?" ”

Wang Zhengjian was already a fifty-year-old veteran, his beard hung down on his chest like autumn grass, and he crossed his hands at Li Siye and said: "Doctor Li, although I support Cheng Duhu's opinion, if the doctor wants to go on a long-distance expedition, I, Wang Zhengjian, will be the front." ”

Let's see, this old man will speak, and neither side will be offended.

Li Siye asked Ma Phosphorus again: "What did General Ma say?" ”

Ma Phosphorus said calmly: "I support General Cheng Qianli's words, but I don't agree with his later statement, a three-fold enemy may not be able to scare the Great Food Army, we should be stable on the front line of Talas City, and send troops to stay here, instead of continuing the expedition." ”

He finally looked at Tian Zhen and Duan Xiushi, if the two of them also objected, this expedition could be stopped, after all, the twisted melon is not sweet, and it is a disadvantageous move to go against the will of the army.

Tian Zhen stood up with the wine bowl and said loudly: "I don't know about others, Lao Tian, I support the doctor's expedition, the reason is not for anything else, since we have won, why don't we continue to fight?" What if these 70,000 people are the strongest combat force of the Great Food Army, and what if the people they left behind are more chaff than them? If you don't fight now, when the vitality of the people has recovered, you have already touched the way of our Tang army, and it will not be easy to defeat them in a battle. ”

Li Siye nodded quietly, and was very emotional in his heart, Tian Zhen deserved to come out of Chang'an with me, and he was a hero.

"Duan Xiushi, what about you?"

Duan Xiushi also stood up and said calmly: "I support Dr. Li's long-distance attack to break through Kangju's hometown and seize control of the river from the big cannibals. There is never any buffer in defending the territory, as long as the enemy is ambitious enough, they don't care about the steep terrain of the mountains and rivers. In the same way, we don't care, don't forget that during the reign of Gaozong Longshuo, thirty-six countries west of the Green Mountains were attached, and Gaozong named them as the governor of the prefecture, Sima, which was originally our territory! It was only because of the continuous eastward invasion of the Great Food Country, the reign of the Empress Wu of the DPRK, and the Wei Rebellion, and the flawless westward appearance of the imperial court, so that the old place in the river fell into the hands of the enemy. Now that the doctor has won the first battle, defeated and eliminated the elite main force of the Great Food Army, I should take this opportunity to go west, take the opportunity to go west, take all the Hezhong and Tocharian realms into my possession, and restore the territory of the Western Regions during the time of my Tang Gaozong! ”

Li Siye stood up in an uproar, this can be regarded as speaking to his heart, but the ratio of favor and opposition is still the majority of opponents, he turned his head and looked at the right behind him, and the prison army Bian Lingcheng was lying on the table gnawing a deer bone.

He then smiled, patted the eunuch on the shoulder and said, "Bian Gong, what is Bian Gong's opinion?" ”

Bian Lingcheng waved his sleeves and wiped his greasy lips, and said with a smile: "This is a matter for your generals, how else can our family say, but since it is difficult to decide, it is better to write a letter to your Majesty, and Your Majesty will decide what to do." ”

"My Bian Gong, alas, Talas is 10,000 miles away from Chang'an, and when it is sent to Chang'an, His Majesty's holy order will come from Chang'an at the earliest, and it will take more than three months at the earliest, and all the dishes will be cold by then."

Bian Lingcheng said with a smile: "Since you know that Chang'an is thousands of miles away, you can know Your Majesty's duty to set up the envoy of the border town." What is an Ambassador? The Son of Heaven could not personally patrol the border, so he sent envoys to hunt on behalf of the Celestial Patrol. Doctor Li, you are Your Majesty's stand-in at the moment, you have to think about what kind of decision Your Majesty would make if you were here, and you just do what you are told. ”

He nodded suddenly, rubbed his palms and said, "I understand, the whole army will be repaired for seven days, prepare two months' dry food, and the Anxi Northwest Court coalition army will go out in seven days!" ”