Tibet

Although Cheng Qianli's earnest persuasion was well-intentioned and broke some of the unspoken rules of officialdom, Li Ye didn't value it. He came to Anxi just to participate in the Battle of Talas and to change history, not to get promoted. , he became the Duke of Jinshan County at the age of fourteen. What title does he still care about?

However, Li Ye also heard that Cheng Qianli was actually talking about his own regrets. He was dissatisfied with being neglected by the court for a long time and felt that the rewards from the court were unfair.

Li Ye didn't want to talk more about this matter, so he turned the topic back to business, "How much does Commander Cheng know about this war with Dashi?"

Cheng Qianli sighed and said: "That's why I came early. I know that Gao Xianzhi is on guard against me and is afraid that I will take away his credit. He won't tell everything about many things. I can only come to see my nephew. I hope you If you can tell me in detail, I will tell you that I really don’t know anything right now. The Holy Lord’s decree said nothing. Even if Han Haijun came to Broken Leaf to assist Gao Xianzhi in the battle against Dashi, His Highness the Crown Prince didn’t say anything either. .”

Li Ye nodded, walked to a map on the table, pointed at Shi Guo and said: "It's a long story, let's start with Shi Guo!"

Two days later, Li Ye received a letter from Gao Xianzhi, ordering him to send 500 people to seize Talas City and control the Shiguo silver mines.

Li Ye immediately sent Pei Xiu with 500 cavalry to rush to Talas and occupy Talas City and Shiguo Silver Mine.

A few days later, Gao Xianzhi led 20,000 Anxi troops and 10,000 camels loaded with military rations to arrive at Suiye. In fact, Suiye itself was also an important supplier of military rations. Their two large armies in the Chu River Valley and the Yili River Valley There are 300,000 sheep in the pasture, enough to support this war.

At this time, Prince Arolie of Bukhana and Prince Termei of Kumi Kingdom also rushed to Suiye to participate in the military and political discussions chaired by Gao Xianzhi. Prince Arolie also brought important information about the Sogdian Legion of Huoxun Kingdom. Stationed in Bukhara, Anguo, the Dashi army numbered about 15,000 people.

This information is very important. Li Ye knows that the strength of the Dashi Sogdian Army is only about 4,000, and now it suddenly increased to 15,000, which means that the Dashi regular army has also appeared in Anguo.

"When did it happen?" Gao Xianzhi asked with a very stern expression.

"Not long after the Battle of Juzhanti!"

Gao Xianzhi frowned. He was very confident that he had wiped out Ju Zhanti's Da Shi army and no one had escaped. Where did Da Shi get the information?

He pondered for a moment and asked Cheng Qianli: "Where did Cheng Shijun think he got the information about Dashi?"

Of course Cheng Qianli would not know, but he was a deputy general, and his rank and position in the court were not lower than Gao Xianzhi's, and he was even older than Gao Xianzhi.

Therefore, Gao Xianzhi cannot go around the process at the beginning. It is like two cities holding a coordination meeting. The top leaders of both cities are here. The two top leaders must interact at all times and cannot ignore each other to show respect. This is the basic rule of officialdom. According to the rules, Gao Xianzhi still has objections to Cheng Qianli, but he must still maintain his superficial appearance.

Cheng Qianli smiled and said: "I don't know much about the situation, so I'd better ask General Li, he should know!"

"Yes!"

Gao Xianzhi asked Li Ye again: "What is Li Bingmao's opinion?"

Li Ye said calmly: "Dashi has been infiltrating Hezhong and Tochara for many years. The main point of this infiltration is the collection of intelligence. These intelligence personnel must be either the army or ordinary businessmen and civilians. If I You guessed it right, Dashi has intelligence points in all small countries, even in Suiye, and has established a very powerful intelligence network!"

"You mean that Dashi already knows about our gathering of broken leaves?"

Li Ye nodded, "I definitely know!"

Gao Xianzhi's frown deepened. The other party knew himself and the enemy, but Tang Jun only knew himself and not the enemy. This was too passive.

Li Ye understood Gao Xianzhi's worries and said with a smile: "Actually, we can also know the information about the river and Tochara."

Gao Xianzhi suddenly became energetic and asked, "How do you know?"

Li Ye smiled slightly, "How did you know that there was a coup in Shiguo?"

If Gao Xianzhi realized something, he turned around and asked Tiermei, the commander of the Tocharian coalition forces: "Where is Master Padmasambhava?"

Tirmei bowed slightly and said: "When I left, the master was on his way to Kumi. As General Li said, the master's disciples and followers are all over the world. He will send a lot of important news in time. This time I am here to break the news. Ye also wants to establish an intelligence station and provide the information obtained by the master to the envoy in a timely manner. This is also the meaning of our cooperation."

"well said!"

Gao Xianzhi was overjoyed and turned back to explain to Cheng Qianli. Cheng Qianli nodded, "Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory, especially the intelligence of Bukhara and Samarkand. Only then will we know the situation of Dashi's troop reinforcements. I am very In favor of building an intelligence center in Broken Leaf."

Gao Xianzhi suddenly felt a taste for food. How did Cheng Qianli know that Bukhara and Samarkand were the places where the food army must pass? He glanced at Li Ye with dissatisfaction, and he vaguely felt that the relationship between Li Ye and Cheng Qianli was unusual. Could it be that Cheng Qianli was also following Li Xiangguo's path?

Like Gao Xianzhi, Cheng Qianli's term will expire next year, and the position of Hexi Jiedushi is vacant. Gao Xianzhi doesn't believe that Cheng Qianli will not be tempted?

A decision was quickly made after many discussions. Everyone unanimously agreed that Li Ye would be the front army and led two thousand broken leaf troops to Talas. At the same time, Bukhana's Ningyuan army also rushed to Talas to support. The first step was to defeat the opponent. Gao Xianzhi's main force is waiting for the opponent's main force in Baoda Military City, and the Beiting Army led by Cheng Qianli is the backup. Once a war breaks out, he will immediately join the war.

As for the Tocharian coalition forces, they have three tasks. One is to transmit information, the second is to be responsible for logistics transportation, and the third task is to garrison the Nalen Pass. This is the only way from Zhenzhu River to Rehai. The strategic location is very important. This mountain pass must be guarded to prevent the food army from sneaking into Broken Leaf.

That night, Li Ye set off. He led 1,500 cavalry and a thousand camels loaded with military supplies and rushed to Talas City.

What Li Ye said is right. The White-coated Emperors penetrated Tocharo and Transoxiana for decades and established a huge intelligence network. The Abbasid Dynasty replaced the Umayyad Dynasty. These intelligence networks did not disappear with the change of dynasties, but were replaced by the Abbasid Dynasty. Strengthened by the rise of Bass.

All intelligence points are under the jurisdiction of the Khorasan Governor's Palace.

In Tuozhi City, the King's City of Stone, there is a shop selling carpets. This is one of Dashi's intelligence points in Stone Kingdom. Originally, the intelligence point was at Dashijio Temple, but because of the coup in Stone Kingdom, these intelligence officers were worried After being captured by the new king of the Stone Kingdom, he changed his intelligence point to this carpet-selling shop.

The door of the shop is not big, but the shop is very deep. It is filled with all kinds of carpets from Persia. The Sogdians are not rare for Persian carpets. They basically buy them in large quantities and then sell them to the Tang Dynasty. The business is very good. big.

At noon that day, a man hurriedly walked into the shop and saluted the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper nodded and took him into the back room.

"Is there any important news?" the shopkeeper asked.

The man nodded, "The Tang army occupied Talas City. The news came from the palace. The news is absolutely reliable."

The shopkeeper was also surprised and asked urgently: "How many troops are there?"

"There are about a few hundred people. The details are unclear. It is said that the other party has occupied Talas City. The king is helpless and has sent people to negotiate."

The shopkeeper was not surprised. The Tang army who occupied Talas City must have come for the silver mines. That was also their top priority. The governor ordered them to go to Talas to arrange an intelligence point. Before they could go, something happened.

The shop owner was anxious, so he immediately ordered one of his subordinates: "You are taking a few brothers to Talas City to learn about the Tang army's intelligence. I will immediately send an eagle letter to the Governor's Mansion to report!"

Half an hour later, a faith eagle slowly took off, circled in the air several times, and flew toward Mulu City, the capital of Khorasan, in the southwest.