Tibet

After more than ten days of non-stop marching day and night, the team finally arrived at Dunhuang.

Just the day before Li Ye arrived in Dunhuang, Beiting Governor Li Fei Shouyu and Chang Shi Dugujun also arrived in Dunhuang.

Li Ye did not have time to visit Beiting anymore, so he could only meet them in Dunhuang.

After listening to the reports of the two men, Li Ye nodded slowly and said: "The momentum of the rise of the Kunjian tribe is unstoppable. Once the Uighurs cannot resist it, they are likely to retreat southward. A Hexi Corridor and a Beiting will be The direction of their retreat must prevent doves from occupying the magpie's nest."

Li Ye's worry is exactly the true trend of history. After the Uighurs were destroyed by the Xiongasi, that is, after the Kunjian tribe was destroyed, the remaining tribes moved to the Hexi Corridor and Beiting, and established two regimes, Xizhou Uighur and Ganzhou Uighur. It was late at that time In the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had completely lost the Hexi Corridor and the North Court of Anxi and was occupied by the Tubo people. However, the Tubo people eventually declined due to climate change and were defeated by the Uighurs and retreated to the plateau.

Li Fei Shouyu said in a deep voice: "But if the Uighurs move south in a large scale, they will inevitably penetrate every corner. We can't kill them all."

Li Ye smiled lightly and said: "If the Uighurs move south in a large scale, first of all, the territory of the Sijie and Geluolu people cannot be preserved. Then it is the court's business to deal with the Uighurs moving south. What you have to do is to deal with the small-scale Uighurs moving south. , we must learn the method I used to govern the Yili Valley so that ordinary people can accept it. Kill all the Uighur nobles and turn the Uighur people into subjects of the Tang Dynasty, instead of turning the entire Uighur tribe into a vassal of the Tang Dynasty. Do you understand? ?I want people, not vassals!"

Li Fei Shouyu nodded, "I understand, I understand!"

Li Ye added: "Maybe the Uighur issue will arise in more than ten years, but the trouble Beiting is facing now is the Shatuo tribe."

The Shatuo tribe is the Jinshan tribe that Li Ye encountered when he wiped out Abusi. The Jinshan tribe is just a folk name, just like the folk name of Cantonese. In fact, the official name should be Cantonese.

The Shatuo tribe has been under the close supervision of the Tang army in Beiting and basically had no development. It was not until after the Anshi Rebellion that the Tang Dynasty gradually abandoned Beiting, Tubo and Uighurs competed for Beiting, and the Shatuo people took refuge in Tubo and began to grow.

Li Ye continued: "The reason why I mentioned the Shatuo tribe is to remind General Li Fei that the Beiting Army is not idle. You must monitor the Uighurs and Geluolu people outside the country, and you must also closely monitor the people inside. For the Shatuo Tribe, to prevent them from becoming powerful, we must use the method of divide and conquer, and use the method of extending grace orders to encourage them to split into more small tribes, so that the Shatuo Tribe will always become a loose sand."

Li Fei Shouyu nodded silently, "He completely understands the lord's strategic intention!"

Dugujun remained silent. After the meeting, Li Ye asked Li Fei Shouyu to take the first step, leaving Dugujun behind.

"Did Uncle Dugu want to say something to me?" Li Ye asked.

Dugujun is currently the chief historian of the Beiting Governor's Office and the governor of Tingzhou. This is Li Ye's biggest reform of the Jiedu Mansion. He abolished the Jiedu Mansion and changed it to the Governor's Mansion, implementing the separation of military and political affairs.

Of course, it also harmed the interests of the Jiedushi and the chief historian. For example, Dugujun was the chief of the Beiting Jiedu Prefecture before. He was in charge of the entire Beiting government affairs. Now he can only manage military affairs. Fortunately, he also serves as the governor of Tingzhou. , he can still manage the government affairs of Tingzhou, but he has no right to interfere with the government affairs of Xizhou and Yizhou.

The dissatisfaction in Dugujun's heart is obvious.

Dugujun was silent for a long time and said: "Your Highness, can you transfer the humble post to Guanzhong? The humble post is old and Beiting is not suitable for me."

Li Ye didn't ask him the reason. He heard Bai Xiaode say in Qiuci that Dugujun looked down on Li Fei Shouyu and relied on his old man to sell off his old age. This was a great hindrance to Li Fei Shouyu. No matter what Li Fei wanted to do, he opposed it. As a result, Li Fei Shouyu accomplished nothing. "

Li Ye originally planned to talk to him. Since he offered to leave, he just went downhill. He nodded and said: "How about Longzhou? Or Liangzhou in Hanzhong, or Ningzhou in Guannai Road. At present, this There are three seats available.”

"Don't you have the position of observer?"

Li Ye shook his head, "The observation envoy has been cancelled. Now it has been changed to the transfer envoy, the supervisory envoy, and the punishment envoy, which are subordinate to the Department of Household Affairs, the Supervisory Platform, and the Department of Punishment respectively. The positions of these three envoys are at the same level as the governor, but they have greater power. , if Third Uncle is interested, there will be a vacancy for the transfer envoy of Guannai Road."

Dugujun could only smile bitterly and said: "Fifteen years ago, I served as Sima of Liangzhou. If possible, I will return to Liangzhou!"

After resting for two days in Dunhuang, the team continued southward and arrived at Jiuquan five days later.

The team set up camp outside Jiuquan City. Zhang Ju, the governor of Suzhou, and Sima Chong, the chief governor, came to pay homage to His Highness the King of Qi.

Li Ye asked about some people's livelihood conditions, and then changed the topic: "I heard that there are horse bandits in Suzhou. What's going on?"

Zhang Ju quickly said: "There are indeed horse bandits. They suddenly appeared this summer. Their origins are unknown. They come and go without a trace. They have never been caught alive, so their origin cannot be determined. There are only various rumors, and some say they are The idle and indolent Qiang people from various Qiang tribes joined forces to form it. Some people say it is the remnants of the Tubo army, and some people say it is the invasion of sporadic nomads from the north. Anyway, there are various rumors, and no one knows what the truth is."

"Is this horse bandit very harmful?" Li Ye asked again.

Zhang Ju nodded, "They looted caravans, attacked lone herdsmen or Han people, burned, killed, looted, and raped women. They did all kinds of evil. They were so bold that they even dared to attack and plunder the official supply team."

"Has anyone seen the bandit leader?"

Zhang Ju smiled bitterly and said: "Most of the people who saw him died, but a Qiang woman who was raped and tortured by them survived by chance. When she was found, she was already dying, leaving only one sentence, the face of the bandit leader There was a long scar, and then the woman died."

Li Ye was a little dissatisfied and said, "The two governor's offices didn't send troops to annihilate them?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the Ganliang Governor's Mansion in the south and our Shasu Governor's Mansion have successively sent out troops, and they jointly sent out troops last month. However, as soon as the government sends out troops, they disappear without a trace, and as soon as the government withdraws its troops, they appear again. It’s like a mosquito at night, very annoying.”

Li Ye said calmly: "Will they keep an eye on my team?"

Zhang Ju scratched his head and said, "I don't think I dare to do this for a humble job!"

Li Ye sneered, "Didn't you say they were bold? I really hope they have the courage to sneak attack my team."

On a hill about three miles away from the camp of Li Ye's Tang Army, a dozen horsemen looked at the camp under the moonlight from a distance. The leader was a man with a long scar on his face.

The man on horseback watched for a long time, gave a low command, and a dozen horsemen followed him and turned their horses' heads and left the hill.