The Tang Dynasty led 5,000 elite soldiers, 3,000 horses, and countless heavy grains and grasses. He had gold and silver, armor, grain and grass in his hands, and he bought a lot of them, although he only had 5,000 men and horses, but the army was neat and tidy, and he felt that his combat effectiveness was very strong.

The Tang Dynasty has already assigned 600 generals under his command to serve as a small leader in the march during the march, and the army of 4,000 people is led by the Four Tigers of the Zhuan clan, each with a team of 1,000 people, a bit like the Turkic commander of a thousand soldiers, in addition to 600 generals and 1,000 elite soldiers around him, that is, Sheva, Longdo, as well as Banlin and Xinbaijiang, to form the Chinese army, and the formation of the long snake formation when marching.

After all, Zhang Wenyuan knew that the form of the Western Regions was complex and that there was a possibility of war at any time, so with the vanguard army sentry scout, the Chinese army slowly advanced, and the infantry and baggage followed closely, in order to guard against the enemy's sudden attack. The horse thieves in the Western Regions are involved by many people, and it is not like a war within the Central Plains, but a melee between Han people. Often among the horse thieves, there are people from Tubo, Nanzhao, and even Bosi and Dashi, who have different skin colors and races, but they can form an army-like group because of common interests, which is the horse thief who has changed color in all countries in the Western Regions!

In fact, between countries, such as the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, even if there is a big war, but it is impossible to fight forever, endlessly, most of the time it is mostly compromised with each other, forming a situation of mutual non-aggression, that is, the Tang Dynasty is the most desirable thing to see, after all, often fighting, it is inevitable to lose, once the news of defeat is transmitted to the ears of the king, his position will be in jeopardy. But horse thieves are different, horse thieves are a group of murderous people, who can ignore all rules for the sake of profit, and only take profit as their duty.

Of course, horse thieves also have the rules of horse thieves, that is, they do not rob the old and weak, women and children, in addition to that, burning, killing, robbing, and plundering, that is not a problem, they can intercept caravans, and they can also attack the government garrisons of various countries. However, under normal circumstances, although the horse thieves are ferocious, all of them are murderous and strong in martial arts, riding on a big horse, coming and going like the wind, walking like electricity, but the general horse thieves still do not have the strength to fight against the garrisons of various countries, if they encounter the army to protect the caravan across the desert to the countries of the Western Regions, most of them dare not have any ideas.

But in the vast territory of the Western Regions, there is a team of horse thieves, which is fully capable of competing with the armies of various countries, except for a few single merchants who were robbed by pony thieves, most of the caravans lost their supplies and were kidnapped, all because of a huge organization.

This organization is Huangfeng Village, the paradise of horse thieves in the Western Regions is here, and countless merchants are bankrupt because of this organization, burying their bodies in the vast yellow sand of the Western Regions.

This organization is a bandit organization, occupying the mountain as the king, setting up a headquarters in Huangfeng Mountain, outside the lair is the vast desert, in the place where the headquarters of Huangfeng Mountain is reached, there are three barriers, all of which are natural hazards in the Western Regions, around the Tianshan Mountains, building fortifications layer by layer, like an independent kingdom.

There are many disputes over the land of the Western Regions, especially on the border, and because of territorial reasons, countries often break out into wars, of course, the most explosive wars are the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. One is a big country in the east and wants to stretch out its palm to the vast land of the Western Regions, and the other is a nomadic people who are good at war and aggression, and war between the two sides is inevitable!

When the Tang Dynasty opened the country, the Central Plains was chaotic and the Turks took the opportunity to expand, but later Li Shimin sent Li Jing to defeat the Turks and drive them to the west, however, for such a nomadic and aggressive people, the expulsion was only temporary. In the process of escaping, they continued to annex the lands of weak and small ethnic groups, cultivated strength, and came to compete with the Tang Dynasty again in a few years.

Of course, the Tibetans and the Hui are also forces that should not be underestimated, and their support or failure can often determine the outcome of the war!

Of course, not only these two countries, but also the three countries of Dashi, Bosi, and Tianzhu, although they are not directly involved in the war, there are countless martial arts masters, for the interests of the Western Regions, participate in the competition, or join the army, or join the horse thieves.

In addition, there are two countries, Xi and Khitan, although they are weak now, but they have the fierceness of ethnic minorities, occupy a territory, trade with neighboring ethnic groups, and often break out wars.

All these factors constitute the complexity of the society in the Western Regions, which is why people as powerful as Gao Xianzhi also feel that the Tang Dynasty is hopeless.

In the past, the Tang Dynasty stationed 100,000 troops in the Anxi Protectorate, although it is impossible to all of them are elite soldiers, but there are 20,000 or 30,000 elite soldiers. After all, there is an endless stream of merchants walking on the Silk Road, and if nothing else, the protection fee alone is also a huge benefit.

In all dynasties, even if the Qing Dynasty implemented the policy of closing the country to the outside world, the income from the customs, at the least, was still worth all the income of the Qing Dynasty, tens of millions of taels of silver, which cannot be underestimated. The trade of the Tang Dynasty was not less than that of the Qing Dynasty, but was much larger, which made the countries that controlled the Silk Road to put it bluntly a huge benefit for the army.

Nearly 100,000 Tang Dynasty garrisons, the expenses are huge, if Li Longji not ordered the army to settle in the field, and there is also a tax collection from passing merchants, it will not be able to support the huge expenditure at all-

During the march, Zhuan Ren suddenly came back from a horse with a briefcase. The bag was made of red cowhide and stamped with an expedited postmark of 800 miles, which was obviously a major event for military aircraft.

The Tang Dynasty stood on the horse and opened it, and the official document was as follows: "Xiaguan Anxi's deputy capital cow guards and monks and children are crying blood, and the largest horse thief in the Western Regions, Huang Fengzhai, is attacking Yanran Mountain, wanting to unify the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, Xiaguan has held on for a day and a night, but the thieves are fierce, and the outer barrier of Yanran Mountain has been lost in three places, and now it has shrunk to defend in the capital protection mansion, deep ditches and high bases, refusing to fight, and is eager for rescue!" The lower officials can hold on for ten days, and after ten days, they will have no worries about food and grass, but the troops are weak and unbearable, and there is only one way to withdraw the army! ”

There are two letters in it, one is for himself, the marshal of Anxi, and the other is for the imperial court.

Looking at the appearance of this messenger sweating through his heavy clothes, he knew that he took a lot of effort when he rushed out, and the horse thieves in Huangfeng Village seemed to be really unscrupulous, and they were so arrogant that they attacked the fundamental important place of the Anxi Protectorate, obviously their ambitions were not small, as Niu Monk said, they wanted to unify the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains and control the Silk Road. After all, relying on robbery can never clear the charge of robbers, but if the Tang Dynasty army collects protection money in such a grand manner, it is a different matter. They had already figured out that the Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Longji seemed to be crazy, and he actually withdrew 70,000 of the 100,000 troops guarding the Western Regions, and the 30,000 left behind were old and weak soldiers. The spies planted in the army by Huang Fengzhai reported that Huo Huo, the leader of the horse thieves in Huang Fengzhai, was injured.

Huo Shen is an old fox, from Bosi, a martial arts, not only proficient in the martial arts of various countries in the Western Regions, especially Arab martial arts, but also intensive study of Tang hands, is the ancestor of the most powerful and influential robber "Old Man in the Mountain" Huo Shan in the Arabian Desert in later generations.

As soon as he received the news, he immediately judged that either there was a major rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, or it was a suspicious plan. He has reason to believe that with such a rich oil and water, all countries in the Western Regions are salivating, and the Tang Dynasty cannot give up so easily, he knows that Li Longji's character is by no means a fool's first-class.

Later, when his spy flying pigeon in Chang'an spread to the Western Regions, he took the lead.

He knows that even if he doesn't do it, there are other countries rushing to do it.

Now is the time to beat the water dog, he used to be too angry with Gao Xianzhi, but there is no way to take him, direct confrontation is definitely at a disadvantage, poison and stabbing is useless, with Gao Xianzhi's strong martial arts, he knows that it is not under himself, and the stabbing is useless.

He has been waiting for an opportunity, waiting for the day when Gao Xianzhi will leave office.

Other countries also knew the news more or less, but they were all waiting to see what happened, only Huo Shu was the most anxious, so he did not hesitate to attack the Anxi Protectorate, and completely drove the forces of the Tang Dynasty out of the Tianshan Mountains.

The power of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, in the eyes of many foreigners, is a powerful and unshakable existence, with the strength of the Turkic Jieli Khan, it was still defeated in the hands of Li Jing, for decades, the Tang Dynasty's guards in the Western Regions are very powerful figures, which makes the countries in the Western Regions hold back the fire in their bellies.

Among them, the biggest contradiction with the Anxi Protectorate is the horse thieves of the Turks and Huangfeng Village-

In fact, the Turks can control the great desert and can also benefit from countless merchants, after all, although the Turks are not as good as the Tang Dynasty, they are also a powerful country in the Western Regions, that is, the Xiongnu in the Han Dynasty, although they are divided into two, but they still cannot be underestimated, and there is no need to rob naked like Huangfengzhai.

Horse thieves are also people, horse thieves also have shame, and they don't want to be robbers all their lives, so they want to capture the Anxi Protectorate and make huge profits in a grand manner.

Please support!