The Western Regions is bounded by the Tianshan Mountains and is divided into two parts, the Tarim Basin in the south and the Junggar Basin in the north.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there were 36 countries in the Western Regions, most of which were distributed in the oases on the northern and southern edges of the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Most of these countries are centered on cities, and they are also engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, and some can also forge their own weapons, while only a few countries live on water and grass, and rely on neighboring countries for food.

Therefore, since ancient times, the route of the Central Plains Dynasty to march into the Western Regions has always been through the Hami Basin and the Turpan Basin at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and advanced to the hinterland of the Western Regions.

After entering the Tarim Basin, it continued to advance westward using the Tarim River.

Whether it was the Western Han Dynasty setting up the Western Regions Protectorate, or the Tang Dynasty destroying Gaochang, all of them took this route without exception.

So Li Zicheng asked Li Guo to lead 20,000 elites to strangle Turpan.

Li Yan never dreamed that the Huaxia army would actually cross the Kunlun Mountain and go north directly through Wusizang.

To be honest, he wasn't completely unaware of this possibility.

First, he chose to kill from here to the south of the Tianshan Mountains, the supply was difficult to guarantee, and the difficulty of entering the army was very great, and he did not believe that Li Xianzhong would not take the safe route from Turpan and adopt such a risky tactic.

After all, it has been three or four years since Li Zicheng arrived in the Western Regions, and they have also developed their own intelligence network.

There was no sign of the Huaxia Army moving towards Uszang.

Song Xiance reminded: "I remember that the spies once sent a message that Li Shizu, the second prince of Huaxia, led his troops to attack without authorization, Li Xianzhong was furious, beat him with forty military sticks on the spot, and ordered him to enter Wusizang to study Buddhism. ”

"It seems that we were fooled and fell for Li Xianzhong's plan to hide the sky and cross the sea!"

Li Shizu could not ride a horse after receiving the military stick, and was almost carried into Wusizang.

My father let him go to Drepung Monastery to practice Buddhism, on the one hand, in order to hide people's eyes and ears, so that the Huaxia army could enter Wusizang under the name of escorting him.

On the other hand, it also shows the recognition of the Chinese court for Ngawang Lobsang as a religious leader.

Sending a prince to practice under his disciple is not long, but it also shows the importance attached to him.

Li Shizu understood that he went to Drepung Monastery to practice Buddhism this time not only to recuperate from his injuries, but also to practice Buddhism seriously, and the more devout he showed, the more Uszang would surrender to Huaxia.

The snowy region is scarce in materials and sparsely populated, and the population of the entire Usizang is less than one million.

It's hard to associate this place with the mighty Tibetan kingdom in history.

Li Shizu found that there are still many traces of the rule of the Central Plains Dynasty here, and the 13 million households and 27 post stations used by Wusizang today are all set up in the Yuan Dynasty and continue to be used today.

Still, he stayed here for three months.

Although there were only 3,000 Huaxia troops on the Tianshan South Road with him this time, it was already all out for Wu Sizang to raise and supply the materials for these 3,000 people.

At this time, Li Shizu was actually facing the same problem as Huo Quzhi at the beginning, that is, how to fight deep into the enemy country without supplies?

Obviously, the material team that accompanied him this time was a one-time one, and it was unrealistic to expect to provide him with supplies from Wusizang over the Kunlun Mountains and Altun Mountains for a long time.

But fortunately, he had his own carefully drawn map by Taifu Mao Yuanyi, as well as the guide sent by Abdullah, the king of Yarkand Khan, and the information transmitted by the Intelligence Department in Dashun's Neiying Song Xiance.

These are all things that Huo Qubing did not have back then.

It seems that there are a lot of people and horses left in the south road of Tianshan by Dashunguo, and there are tens of thousands of people.

But in fact, there are not many real soldiers who can fight.

Li Zicheng's core men were the 30,000 Shun troops he brought to the Western Regions.

After years of conquest, there are now more than 24,000 people in this team.

10,000 of them were stationed in Turpan, and it was impossible for them to return to the south of the Tianshan Road.

Li Zicheng went north to conquer Dzungaria, taking another 8,000 people with him.

There are only about 6,000 people left in the core of Tianshan South Road, and 2,000 of them were folded in Qinghai by Tian Jianxiu.

In this way, Li Shizu led 3,000 people to raid, and the danger factor was not so high.

After all, if it is to break through the Turpan area from the front, it will be a great logistical test for China.

If his own people can take Shache, the capital of the Yarkand Khanate, in one fell swoop, then the entire Tianshan South Road will soon be pacified.

Li Shizu and others crossed the Kunlun Mountains and entered the Tarim Basin without attacking the nearby city strongholds.

Instead, they traveled hundreds of miles north into the no-man's land of the Taklamakan Desert.

This move really made the defenders of Yarkand scratch their heads!

After seven or eight days of walking, they finally arrived at their destination.

The ruins looming in the wind and sand told Li Shizu and others that this was once the site of the exquisite ancient city.

With the weakening of the Silk Road, these historical oases have been completely abandoned, gradually swallowed up by the surrounding desert.

Without the guidance of a guide, they would never have been able to find this place in the desert.

At this time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force was also exhausted.

Although the camels still carried some supplies on their backs, the hundreds of miles they had advanced were really expensive.

Naturally, they did not come to archaeology, and if it weren't for the fact that Abdullah, the king of Yarkand Khan, was still in the hands of his father, Li Shizu even wondered if the guide he sent deliberately misled him and brought the army into a desperate situation.

He asked, "Are you sure this is Abdullah's supply point?" ”

The guide nodded and said, "Our Great Khan knows that Li Zicheng is going to annex the Yarkand Khanate sooner or later, so he secretly stores a large amount of materials here for future counterattacks. ”

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the messenger entered the ruins of a temple-like ruins.

He turned the base of the idol slightly, and then he heard a loud bang, and a passage appeared in front of everyone.

Li Shizu never imagined that there would be a cave under this arid desert.

After passing through a long tunnel, they actually discovered an underground river.

It can be seen that someone has carefully built this place, and judging from the traces, it should be hundreds of years or even more old.

The guide said, "This is the underground mausoleum of the Absolute Queen, don't look at it now this is a desert, it was once a big river. ”

"The great Abdullah Khan used this ruin as a storage point for materials, and only then did he hide it from Li Zicheng and others."

It's a pity that the weapons and armor here are not needed by the Huaxia Army at all.

And those naan cakes that are harder than stones and dried meat that are about to be weathered, the soldiers of the Huaxia army really dare not eat them.

In the end, they just replenished enough water.

In the desert, water is always precious.

Fortunately, the food they were carrying should be enough for them to get out of Taklamakan.

When the Huaxia army appeared under the city of Khotan, the defenders were almost defenseless.

In a panic, they quickly closed the city gates, trying to keep the Huaxia people out of the city.

It's a pity that there are only 500 real Dashun troops in Khotan, and the remaining more than 4,000 defenders are all Yarkands.

Li Shizu's guide had already brought Abdullah Khan's tokens and found the chiefs of several tribes around Khotan.

Knowing that Abdullah Khan had sent people back to Yarkand, they immediately chose to side with the Chinese.

Soon the gates of Khotan were opened, and Li Shizu led the Huaxia army into the city, taking it in a quarter of an hour.

After counting the supplies in the city, they were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a large amount of grain here.

Although Khotan was once one of the four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, it is a pity that it is no longer what it used to be.

Otherwise, there would not be only 500 Shun troops stationed, and these grains were naturally transported to Khotan City by Song Xiance, the military advisor of Dashun, according to the agreement.

In this way, the supply problem of Li Shizu's 3,000 men and horses was completely solved.

Khotan was close to the later generations of Hotan, where not only Hetian jade was abundant, but the nearby tribes were also very welcoming.

I heard that Li Shizu is the second prince of the current Chinese Emperor, and he can't wait to send his daughter directly to his bed.

It's also a shame that Li Shizu was just beaten with a military stick by his father, otherwise he would have made a private decision here for life if he couldn't keep it.

Zheng Sen is worthy of being Zheng Zhilong's son, and he soon discovered the value of Hetian jade.

In fact, in traditional Chinese culture, Hetian jade is more in line with the cultural values of Chinese people than jadeite!

In particular, the high-quality mutton fat white jade has always been valuable.

Soon they reached an agreement with the local tribes, and Zheng Sen came forward to send people to Khotan to buy Hetian jade, and then resell it to various parts of China.

Of course, don't think about building roads.

The "Yunnan-Burma Highway" built by Huaxia with the strength of the country and tens of millions of taels of silver has lasted for two years, and has not been completed.

Even if his Zheng family is rich and rivals the country, it is impossible to afford to build a road from Xi'an to Khotan, which is many times the amount of the "Yunnan-Burma Highway".

However, their ultimate goal was to capture the capital of Yarkand, Shache.

Shache was originally an ancient country on the Silk Road, because the Yarkand River has abundant water, making it a rare oasis on the South Tianshan Road.

Li Yan knew that the scale of the Huaxia army would not be very large, so he implemented the policy of fortifying the walls and clearing the wilderness.

Concentrate forces to hold the capital city of Shachecheng, and prevent the Huaxia army from receiving effective supplies along the way.

Under normal circumstances, Li Yan's method works.

There were 20,000 defenders in Yache City, including 3,500 henchmen of the Shun army.

Li Shizu's Huaxia army totaled only 3,000 people, and it was difficult to hold out without supplies.

If they get supplies by plundering the surrounding tribes, it will inevitably arouse the common hatred of the Yarkand tribes, so that the Yarkand people will be on the side of the Dashun army.

He would never have thought that since Song Xiance, an inner ghost, had left enough supplies for the Huaxia Army, they would not worry about food at all.

When Li Shizu's men and horses appeared under the city of Shache, there were not only 3,000 regular Huaxia troops, but also nearly 10,000 allied troops composed of various surrounding tribes.

Li Shizu has always regarded Huo Qubing as his idol in his heart, and he dreams of realizing "Feng Wolf Juxu" or "Shi Le Yanran" again!

In fact, it is not only Li Shizu, but now China attaches great importance to patriotic education, and almost all educated Chinese young people think so.

However, now the Mongols have long lost the courage to fight to the death with China.

He can only retreat to the next best thing and come to "step on the Tianshan Mountain" once.

In fact, the coalition army behind Li Shizu rode camels far more than horses, and their clothes were also messy, including both Us-Tibetans and Yarkands.

From the bottom of the city, there are only four words to describe, that is, "rabble".

Looking at the Huaxia army under the city, Li Yan was also confused, just like that, a group of rabble actually killed all the way to Shache City?

How do you think this is not the Huaxia Iron Cavalry that terrifies the Shun army?

Although the enemy forces outside the city looked weak, Li Yan still did not attack easily.

He knew very well that his task at this time was to hold on to Shache City and wait until Li Zicheng's army returned to the division.

But the news received soon after made Li Yan unable to continue to calm down.

He received an urgent report from Li Zicheng, and the strength of the Dzungar Ministry skyrocketed after receiving the support of Mobei Mongolia.

actually defeated the coalition forces of Dashun and the Kazakh Khanate in a row, and even the general Liu Zongmin was injured!

If Li Zicheng led his army south at this time, then the allies of the Kazakhs would definitely take the opportunity to flee.

And the Dzungar tribe, whose morale is in full swing, will inevitably converge with Mobei Mongolia and go south.

At that time, Dashun will be flanked by the Junggar coalition army and the Huaxia army, and its destruction will be inevitable.

Therefore, Li Zicheng asked Shache to send reinforcements north to support, at least to maintain the situation of confrontation with the Dzungar coalition forces.

After Song Xiance heard the news, he scolded: "Needless to say, this must be a bad idea from Niu Jinxing to His Majesty!" ”

Originally, Li Zicheng had three major military divisions under Li Yan, Song Xiance, and Chongguangdao, so naturally there was no stage for Niu Jinxing to play.

However, after Li Zicheng left the Western Regions, this Niu Jinxing relied on his own kung fu and was promoted and reused by Li Zicheng.

Originally, Li Yan and Song Xiance both advocated handing over Turpan to Huaxia in exchange for Huaxia's support for Dashun's grain armament.

This is more conducive to Dashun's dominance of the Western Regions, to seek a richer Ili River valley and the Balkhash Lake area with abundant water and grass.

However, Niu Jinxing insisted that Turpan was the gateway to the Tianshan region, and if this place was handed over to Huaxia, it would undoubtedly lead the wolf into the room, even without Huaxia's assistance, my Dashun would be able to conquer the Western Regions.

If Dashun can defend himself in peace, slowly digest the Yarkand Khanate, and use Turpan to hold the first line of the Tianshan Mountains, China will not have a good opportunity to enter the army for the time being.

But Li Zicheng couldn't withstand the temptation of the Kazakh Khanate, and under the repeated instigation of Niu Jinxing, he decided to personally lead his army north to deal with the Kazakh Khanate to deal with Dzungaria, which was entrenched on the northern road of the Tianshan Mountains.

Da Shun suffered from the enemy on his back, and the dilemma was all due to this bull Venus.

But now that the situation is critical, Li Yan also has to try to defeat the Huaxia army in front of him as soon as possible.

At this time, Song Xiance said: "The Chinese people should have the support of the surrounding Yarkand tribes, so that they can have enough food to confront us." ”

"I see that the so-called coalition army outside the city is just a group of rabble, and Song is willing to lead the troops to attack the camp and burn the enemy's supplies, so that the enemy army will naturally collapse without a fight!"

Seeing that Li Yan was still hesitating, Song Xiance added: "I only took three thousand Yaerqiang people out of the city, even if the enemy army outside the city is cheating, we don't have much loss!" ”

At this time, the red lady on the side said: "The Song army is not good at fighting, I'm afraid I can't suppress these Yarkand people, so let's go out of the city and attack the camp with the Song army." ”

After they fled to the Western Regions, Li Yan did not have those restraints, so he officially married the red lady, and the two fell in love.

How can he rest assured that the red lady will go on an adventure to rob the camp alone?

While it is risky to make a rash move, it is also an opportunity to quickly break the impasse in front of us.

In the end, Li Yan decided to lead his 1,000 henchmen and 4,000 Yarkand people out of the city to attack the Huaxia army outside the city.

The Red Lady and Song Xiance were both spies placed by the Intelligence Department beside Li Yan and Li Zicheng, which was naturally discussed by them.

Use the red lady to provoke Li Yan to take the initiative to go out of the city! And Li Yan, who went out of the city, was ambushed by Li Shizu, and those Yarkand people quickly dispersed.

Li Yan retreated to Shache City under the desperate cover of the Red Lady.

But at this time, Song Xiance refused to open the city gate and let people release arrows towards the city.

Li Yan scolded angrily: "Song Xiance, Your Majesty is not kind to you, why did you betray him?" ”

Song Xiance said: "Li Zicheng is arrogant and arrogant, listening to the slanderous rumors of the villain Niu Jinxing and trying to stand on his own feet in the Western Regions, he will definitely not end well. ”

"Li Gongzi, I have known each other once, and Song can't bear to harm you. But I still advise you, Niu Jinxing is narrow-minded, and he will repay him. If you go to Li Zicheng, he will definitely not be able to tolerate you, and he will definitely frame you, please think twice! ”

Of course, Li Yan knew that Niu Jinxing would definitely not let go of this opportunity, but he didn't believe that Li Zicheng would attack him.

So he still took the people to join Li Zicheng without hesitation.

On the eighth day of December in the fourth year of Qianxi, Li Shizu, the second prince of China, led an army to capture Shachecheng and regained the Tianshan South Road.

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(End of chapter)