Tibet

In the sixth year of Tianbao, Gao Xianzhi went on an expedition to Xiaobolu. This battle was also the battle for Gao Xianzhi's rise. After this battle, Gao Xianzhi replaced Fumeng Lingcha as the governor of the four towns of Anxi.

The Battle of Xiaobolu was, of course, to prevent the Tibetan army from entering Anxi through Xiaobolu, and at the same time to cut off the Tibetan army's access to the Tocharian countries.

In the sixth year of Tianbao, Tubo stationed 100,000 troops in Dabolu area. Gao Xianzhi led 10,000 troops across Congling, captured Lianyun Fort, and entered Xiaobolu via Tanjuling Pass.

At that time, although the city of Nieduo City of Xiaobolu King was captured and the Tibetan princess was captured, tens of thousands of Tibetan reinforcements also arrived at the same time. When the Tang army retreated north, the pursuers had arrived. In desperation, General Xi Yuanqing cut off the vine bridge on the Poyi River. , blocking the Tibetan army on the south bank of the cliff, the Xiaobolu Kingdom was divided into two, with the Poyi River as the border, the southern part was occupied by the Tibetan army, and the northern part was controlled by the Tang army.

Gao Xianzhi also recruited more than a thousand people locally to form the Tianbao Guiren Army to prevent the Tibetan army from going north.

The Battle of Xiaobolu in Tianbao's sixth year was actually not completely successful. To be precise, it was only half successful. It successfully prevented the Tibetan army from entering Anxi through Xiaobolu, but it did not capture the Xiaobolu King's city Niduocheng, nor could it Prevent Tibet from continuing to advance westward and get involved in Tocharo.

The Tubo army used Dabolu State as its logistics center and continued to advance westward along the south bank of the Poyi River. In the eighth year of Tianbao, it took control of the Shushi State, cutting off the food routes for the garrison in the Yasin Valley and seriously threatening the survival of the Tianbao Guiren Army. .

In addition, the Xuushi Kingdom not only threatened the food security of the Xiaobolu Tang Army, but the Tubo army could also use the Xushi Kingdom as a springboard to invade the vast Tocharo region. At the same time, walking north from the Xushi Kingdom, they could cross the Dalu Pass through the Dora Pass. The Snowy Mountains enter the Bomichuan Valley. The Snowy Mountains are today's Hindu Kush Mountains, and the Bomichuan Valley is today's Wakhan Corridor. You can also enter Anxi.

One of the reasons why Gao Xianzhi went to Chang'an this spring was to seek instructions from the emperor and the imperial court to send troops to conquer the country, and he received approval from the imperial court.

After marching for six days, Li Ye followed Feng Changqing's army and arrived at Shule Town, which is today's Kashgar.

When he heard that Li Ye had arrived, Gao Xianzhi personally came out of the camp to greet him and welcomed Li Ye into the Chinese army's tent.

Gao Xianzhi asked Li Ye to sit down and said with a smile: "The last time we met was in Xuandu Temple. Unexpectedly, just a few months ago, we met again in Shule, thousands of miles away. Are you going to travel to the Hezhong area?"

Li Ye shook his head, "Too many things have happened in the past few months. Gao Shijun may not know yet, but Master Mingsong has been assassinated."

Gao Xianzhi was shocked, "Who did it?"

"Does Mr. Gao still remember Shi Kun?"

Gao Xianzhi flashed a trace of anger and said: "That traitor is now the king of Shiguo. In these years, I have put the overall situation first and have not made things difficult for him. Could it be that he assassinated Mingsong?"

Li Ye nodded, "He heard that Feilong had become a feather, so he sent his son Shidu to Chang'an to find the real Mingsong in an attempt to ask for Feilong's relics. As a result, there was a dispute and Mingsong was assassinated. Later, Shidu found me and I killed him."

Gao Xianzhi snorted, "This Shi Kun took refuge in Dashi, thinking he had Dashi as his backing, and actually sent troops to attack the Talos military city. I am going to lead the army to deal with him. Now the old and new accounts will be settled together."

Li Ye said silently in his heart: "This is the root cause of the Talas War."

"Then the young master is coming to Anxi this time."

At this time, Li Ye took out the gold medal and asked, "Do you know this?"

Gao Xianzhi's eyes suddenly widened, "How can the young master have the emperor's gold medal?"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "To be honest with you, I'm not just here for a tour. The emperor ordered me to inspect the situation in Dashi and the Hezhong area. I am now the Anxi Protectorate's official, join the army, and have the title of censor."

Gao Xianzhi's eyes lit up, "Do you have the title of censor?"

"It's just a temporary title. I may step down after I return."

Gao Xianzhi was overjoyed and stood up quickly and said: "Great, it's better to come early than to come by chance. Master, please come with me!"

Li Ye was confused and followed him to another tent. Gao Xianzhi said in a low voice: "When you go out to fight, you must be accompanied by a supervisory army. Unfortunately, the border supervisory army fell ill and could not accompany the army, which seriously affected the expedition to the Kingdom of Chu. , I am worrying, and it just so happens that you have the title of censor, so you can supervise the army for him."

Li Ye was stunned, "Can I supervise the army for him?"

"It's not that you supervise the army for him, but he can entrust you to supervise the army. One prerequisite is that you must have the title of censor."

"The Border Patrol Army should also have subordinates!"

"One of his two men went to Beiting, and the other went back to Chang'an to report. They happened to be in Anxi."

"But" Li Ye was still a little hesitant.

"Don't refuse, just do me a favor. I'm going to be worried to death now."

Gao Xianzhi pulled Li Ye into a large tent. This was a ward with a strong smell of medicine. There was a middle-aged man lying on the bed. His face was white and beardless, and he was well-maintained. There were no wrinkles. Maybe it was because of illness. His complexion was not very good. Well, this person is Bian Lingcheng, the supervisor of the army.

Anxi is really far away from the emperor. If there were no supervisory army, the court would not even know that Gao Xianzhi became the emperor on his own. However, Bian Lingcheng was pretty good and basically did not interfere in military affairs.

"Gao Shijun, what do the doctors from Kucha say about my illness?" Bian Lingcheng asked hummingly.

Gao Xianzhi said with a smile: "The doctor said that the supervisor is just acclimatized and has hurt his intestines and stomach. He can just rest for a few months."

"That's good, Gao Shijun, our subordinates are not here, which affects your expedition."

Gao Xianzhi waved his hand and said with a smile: "What a coincidence, a messenger from the emperor came here today, and he has the title of censor."

"Who?" Bian Lingcheng asked nervously.

"He is the grandson of Li Xiangguo, his name is Li Ye!"

Gao Xianzhi winked at Li Ye, and Li Ye quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Li Ye meets the border supervisors!"

Bian Lingcheng turned to look at Li Ye for a moment and laughed, "We have seen you at Gao Weng's house. You played polo for him, right?"

"Oh! Why don't I have any impression at all?"

"Xiao Feng takes you to see the dormitory. Our house happens to be right next to it. You may not have noticed me."

That was the first time I went to Gao Lishi's house. It seemed that there were several eunuchs at Baoshouyuan, but Li Ye really had no impression of them.

Bian Lingcheng asked again: "Gao Shijun said that you have the title of Censor, do you have a token of the Censor's Stand?"

"This is all I have!"

Li Ye took out the emperor's gold medal. Bian Lingcheng took the gold medal and looked at it carefully for a long time. He sighed and said, "Your Majesty actually gave you the gold medal. Hey! With this gold medal, it doesn't matter whether you have the title of censor or not. When we come back, our family will I’ll give you the Supervisory Army’s arrow.”

Coming out of the tent, Li Ye was a little embarrassed: "I wanted to join the war, but the envoy asked me to be the supervisor!"

Gao Xianzhi said with a smile: "As long as you are in the army, no matter what you do, even if you become a cook, it will not affect your status as a military supervisor."

So it turned out that Li Ye understood. He pondered for a while and asked Gao Xianzhi: "Is there any conflict between the envoy's attack on the Shi Kingdom and his attack on the Xu Shi Kingdom?"

Gao Xianzhi shook his head, "The attack on Shi Kingdom will have to wait until next spring."

After a pause, Gao Xianzhi said again: "The time to attack the Shishi Kingdom is also very tight. We can't delay it any longer. We will set off tomorrow!"

At dawn the next day, the 10,000-strong army, which had only rested for a long time, set off again.

This time, Feng Changqing led troops to attack the Kingdom of Chu. This was also Gao Xianzhi training his successor. He would leave Anxi after his term expired, but he hoped that his confidants would still be in charge of Anxi.