Tibet

Li Ye's army was stationed in Julan City, about eighty miles east of Talas City. It was not only his two thousand Suiye Army, but also the three thousand Bukhan Naningyuan Army who also obeyed his orders.

Julan City is much smaller than Talas City. At this time, Li Ye has received news that about 15,000 food troops have entered Talas City.

On the top of the city, Li Ye stared at the blooming oleanders in the distance. It turned out that Central Asia was the origin of oleanders, and it took no effort to get them.

At this time, Pei Xiu slowly walked forward and asked in confusion: "General, why do we have to abandon Talas City?"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "The river is very close to Persia, but we are thousands of miles apart. If I were the commander of the Dashi Army, then I would never follow the Tang Army's rhythm and go out. If the Tang Army wants to fight this autumn, I will not come. , Come back next spring, wait for the Tang Army to come all the way to fight, I will go back, wait for the main force of the Tang Army to retreat, I will fight back again, the Tang Army can't afford it, and the court will not allow it."

"It's really possible! Wouldn't they think of it?"

Li Ye continued with a smile: "Because of this possibility, the most important part of our entire strategy is to draw out the main force of the food army. This is actually the top priority, and Gao Shuai is worried about it. Dashan, if he cannot win, he will have no way to answer to the emperor, but if the other side knows this, they will never send troops in a hurry."

Speaking of this, Li Ye said lightly: "So I want to give Talos City to them, and even leave them a little hope. I have buried a little bit of crude silver in the mine. As long as they stay in the city for five days, I am 70% sure that I can lure out the food army."

Pei Xiu was extremely smart and understood immediately, "General, what you want is to give Talas City to them so that we can lay siege to the city and fight for reinforcements?"

Li Ye sneered and said: "Greed is human nature, and cannibalism is no exception!"

At this time, a soldier came to report, "General, Commander Gao is here with his army!"

When Li Ye turned around, he saw a large army heading this way not far from the east of Julan City.

Gao Xianzhi's 20,000 troops temporarily camped in Julan City to rest. In a large tent, Li Ye reported to Gao Xianzhi the situation of the previous sneak attack on the enemy, and also reported the current situation in Talas City.

Gao Xianzhi is very satisfied. The current progress of the war is completely in the direction they expected. In fact, Gao Xianzhi is also worried that the Food Army will avoid the war, which makes him uncomfortable. It doesn't matter if it was in the past.

But this time, he issued a military order in front of the emperor. If the food army did not fight, how could he explain to the emperor? What will happen to his career next year?

"Well done! I'd like to hear your advice on what should we do next?"

The young man in front of him, Gao Xianzhi, was very convinced and had a very strategic mind. No wonder his grandfather Li Linfu valued him so much and wanted to train him as his heir.

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "Besiege the city and call for reinforcements, forcing the main force of the food army to come to the rescue!"

This plan made Gao Xianzhi nod repeatedly, and it could be said to be the best plan at the moment.

Li Ye said again: "I still have a surprising plan!"

Li Ye whispered a few words to Gao Xianzhi. Gao Xianzhi was suddenly surprised and happy, "Is it true?"

Li Ye nodded, and Gao Xianzhi made a decision immediately, "Just follow General Li's suggestion!"

Gao Xianzhi made a decision immediately. He did not stay and immediately led the entire army to Talas City. At the same time, he notified Cheng Qianli's army to come to Talas to participate in the siege of Talos City and provide reinforcements.

In fact, the Tang army had five participating armies: Gao Xianzhi's 20,000-strong Anxi Army, Cheng Qianli's 12,000 Beiting Army, Li Ye's 2,000 Suiye Army and 3,000 Ningyuan Army, and Tiermei's 12,000-strong Beiting Army. Ten thousand coalition troops, as well as three thousand Bakhna cavalry led by Prince Arolie.

The Tang army set up three camps under Talas City, blocking the retreat of the 15,000 food troops in Talas City.

On the top of the city, Ziad looked at the massive Tang army on the city wall, and felt panic in his heart. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into the Tang army's trap, not hundreds, not thousands, but tens of thousands of Tang soldiers.

It was too late for him to lead his army to retreat. The Tang Dynasty blocked the only city gate.

Ziyad immediately sent an eagle message to Abu Muslim of Mulu for urgent help.

Li Ye did not lead the army to participate in the siege of Talas City. He and Prince Arolie had other tasks. They passed through Qianquan Mountain from a valley about dozens of miles long and arrived at Qianquan City first.

This is a small town in the northernmost part of Bakhna. People in this small town have made a living by mining for generations. They mined the gold in Bakhna. Now there is not much gold, and they mainly mine copper.

Li Ye and Prince Arolie split up here. Prince Arolie led 3,000 soldiers and 5,000 camels to the royal city of Kesai City. They transported all the tens of thousands of barrels of kanda to Talo City. Of course, there were also a large number of haystacks.

Li Ye led 5,000 troops and 5,000 camels to Tuozhi City, the royal city of Shi. Tuozhi City contained various siege weapons built by the former king Kundu Shi. Wouldn't it be a pity not to make use of them.

Three days later, five thousand troops arrived at Tuozhi City. The entire Shi Kingdom's elite had been lost in the battle of Bukhan. Although the new king Chebishi had slowly increased his army to five thousand, the Shi Kingdom's rule The Chinese no longer have the ambition to confront big powers.

Although Chebishi was a little bit worried about the rough silver in Talos City being robbed by the Tang army, he had nothing to do. Even if the 320,000 kilograms of rough silver were not robbed by the Tang army, it would be robbed by the food army. Once the news of this huge wealth is revealed, it will inevitably become the target of competition among major powers, and cannot be controlled by a small country like Shi Guo.

He still ordered the city gates to be opened, allowing the Tang army to enter the city, and handed over control of the armory to the Tang army.

The Shiguo Armory is located in the east of the city, covering an area of ​​30 acres. It consists of five large warehouses. Three warehouses are empty, and two warehouses are filled with various siege equipment.

"General Li, how do you take away these heavy objects?" Chebishi asked in confusion.

Li Ye smiled and said: "Not all the siege weapons are taken away. I only take away eighteen trebuchets. There is no need for other siege rams and siege ladders."

Li Ye immediately ordered the soldiers to dismantle the eighteen trebuchets into parts, package them, and carry them on camels.

"Excuse me, king, where are the craftsmen who made these siege weapons?" Li Ye asked again.

Chebishi sighed and said: "You have to ask Kundu Shi. He sent more than a thousand craftsmen from the Shi Kingdom to Dashi and never came back, including more than 400 craftsmen who made ordnance, and two hundred craftsmen. Many paper-making craftsmen and metallurgical craftsmen, all of whom are the most valuable talents in the Stone Kingdom, were all snatched away by the cannibals. Their families come to the palace every day and cry, and there is nothing we can do."

If there are craftsmen from the Stone Kingdom, these trebuchets will be assembled faster, but it doesn't matter if there are no craftsmen from the Stone Kingdom. The Tang army has its own military craftsmen.

At this time, Li Ye found a large table in the corner of the warehouse, wrapped in cloth and placed upright against the wall, covered with dust.

"What is this?" Li Ye asked, pointing to the wooden platform.

"It seems to be some kind of sand table. It took Kundu Shi two years to build it. There were two sand tables in total. One was taken away by the big eater. This one was originally placed in the palace. I thought it was taking up space and was in the way, so I threw it away. Been here for several months."

"Sand table in the river!"

Li Ye was suddenly surprised and delighted. This was Feilong's wisdom in time travel. He quickly opened the cloth, and a huge sand table three feet long and two feet wide appeared in front of him. It was made up of three parts: rivers, mountains, basins, and grasslands. , deserts, canyons, cities, etc., all lifelike. Through this sand table, Li Ye discovered that there is actually more than one Nalen Grand Canyon from Zhenzhu River to Atami, and there are two other small canyons, which he didn't even know about.

This is simply an unexpected surprise!

At this time, Pei Xiu stepped forward and whispered to Li Ye: "If Gao Shuai sees this sand table, he will definitely take it as his own and take it to Anxi. Why don't we send it to Bahan for preservation first?" , wait until the war is over before sending the broken leaves."

Li Ye nodded slowly. Pei Xiu's suggestion came very timely.