Tibet

Xie Jin, the chief historian, said worriedly: "Does the governor have a plan? Or should we propose to the court to return Tocharo to the Anxi army?"

Li Ye shook his head and said: "It is unrealistic to return Tocharo to the Anxi Army. The court will not agree, because Tocharo is also a direction of the eastward expansion of food.

The purpose of the imperial court in setting up the Hezhong Army was, firstly, to prevent Tubo from expanding westward, and secondly, to prevent Tibetan food from expanding eastward. However, I have also repeatedly considered how to control Tocharia. The key is that we must have a stronghold. "

Li Ye pointed to Juzhanti on the map, "This is where Juzhanti is, the city of Dongcao Kingdom. This is an extremely important strategic location. It is the southern exit of the Fergan Basin. There is a flat trade road here. It leads to Jumi, a small country in the north of Tochara. I have walked this road, and the cavalry can walk on it. It only takes ten days to reach Jumi.

After supplying and resting in Jumi, the cavalry then went south along the Wuhu River. It took about fifteen days to reach the Humi Kingdom, and then it only took five days to travel from the Humi Kingdom to the Yushi Kingdom.

In other words, as long as we control Juzhanti, starting from Juzhanti, it only takes one month to reach the Kingdom of Yushi, and there is no need to cross mountains and ridges. The cavalry can pass through the entire journey, and we can rest and recuperate in the Kingdom of Jumi and Humi along the way. supply. "

Everyone understood, and Wang Changling smiled and said: "So our first step is to expand westward, and we will fight for all the occupation?"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "That's right. We don't think about Tocharia now, at least not this year. We still follow the original plan this year and gain a foothold in the river first, and control everything. We will talk about Tocharia next year. matter."

Chief Shi Xie Jin said worriedly: "What if the Tibetan army takes advantage of this year's opportunity to invade Tochara?"

Li Ye nodded, "It's possible, but don't worry too much. It took the Tubo army ten years to run Dabolu. When they entered Tocharo, their beliefs, customs, climate, language, etc. were all different. In twenty years, they have not been able to gain a firm foothold. It is more likely that they occupied the Shishi Kingdom, then sent troops to plunder Tochara, and collected a large amount of food and materials to support the main force of the Tibetan army in Dabolu."

Pei Xiu raised his hand and said: "Captain, Tiermei's army is in Kumi, and they can be stationed in Yushi Kingdom to resist the westward advance of the Tibetan army."

Li Ye briefly introduced the situation of the Tocharian Allied Forces to everyone, and said: "I will send someone to Jumi to deliver a message to Termei, requesting the Tocharian Allied Forces to station in the Kingdom of Yushi to defend against the Tibetan army's westward advance."

Things on Suiye's side are still complicated, but the most pressing food problem has been temporarily solved, and the army has begun normal training.

Several other urgent matters are also waiting for Li Ye to deal with, especially the tens of thousands of prisoners of war in Dashi. Li Ye has obtained the authorization from the emperor, and he is fully responsible for negotiating with Dashi. This includes tens of thousands of prisoners of war in Dashi. .

Early the next morning, Li Ye left Suiye with 300 cavalry and 600 camels and headed for the country of Bakhan.

It takes about ten days to travel to Bakhna. Camels are an indispensable means of transportation in the river area. Although the team is traveling along the Pearl River, not all river sections are suitable for water transportation. Only after entering the Fergan Basin , is suitable for transporting goods by raft, and almost all other road sections are in mountainous areas.

Fortunately, when nature creates high mountains, it also leaves a way out. Horses and camels can walk in mountains and forests that are hundreds of miles long.

Camels carry ample supplies, and there are water sources along the way. If you are skilled in martial arts, you can hunt in the vast forests to obtain food.

Ten days later, the team arrived at the royal city of Bakhna, Kesai City. More than half a year had passed since the Battle of Talos, and Kesai City had completely restored its pre-war prosperity. Caravans from all over the country gathered, bringing all kinds of goods with them. The goods were distributed from Kesai City to other countries in the river.

Pakhanna is a small country with a population of just over one million, but since it is the largest gold producer in the Transoxiana region, the gold it produces every year is distributed to Sogdiana and Tocharia through trade.

This makes Kesai City the largest material distribution center in the Hezhong area. Everyone wants its gold, so they can only exchange goods. In addition, Shiguo is the largest silver producer in the Hezhong area, so Bahna and Shiguo have another Known as the Kingdom of Gold and the Kingdom of Silver.

Gold and silver mines all come from the Qianquan Mountains in the north of the two countries. The Qianquan Mountains extend all the way to Suiye, so Suiye also produces gold and silver. Anxi Jiedu Prefecture once had a secret gold and silver mine in Suiye, but last year Production has been stopped, mainly because Gao Xianzhi was transferred. Feng Changqing was cautious and not as greedy for wealth as Gao Xianzhi, so he ordered the mining to stop.

The team entered Kesai City and all the way to the palace. Prince Arolie came out to greet Li Ye in person.

Li Ye chuckled and said, "Has the prince adapted to returning to China?"

Arolie shook his head and said: "I fell in love with big cities like Chang'an and Luoyang, and felt disappointed when I came back. Now I understand why my father always wanted to return to Chang'an."

Li Ye smiled and said: "A golden nest or a silver nest is not as good as your own doghouse. No matter how good Chang'an or Luoyang is, they are still foreign countries. In fact, it is better to be your own hometown."

"well said!"

King Murdo also came out, glared at his son, and said to Li Ye: "This kid went to the Tang Dynasty and became ambitious. He wanted to annex the Shi Kingdom. How could he have such a ridiculous idea? The Shi Kingdom is Sogdia. One of the nine kingdoms, the nine surnames of Sogdiana, one is prosperous and the other suffers, but he has never heard of it!"

Arole said unhappily: "Father, please quickly invite the distinguished guests into the palace!"

King Murdo hurriedly invited Li Ye into the palace. Li Ye saw that Arole was very frustrated. He laughed softly and said, "I will talk to your father about the matter later."

Arole beamed with smiles and immediately cheered up.

Li Ye came to the meeting hall of the palace. The king asked him to sit down. Li Ye asked, "How about feasting on the prisoners of war?"

Nearly 30,000 Dashi prisoners of war were handed over to the country of Bukhan for custody. King Murdo said: "They are mining over there in Qianquan City. We at Bukhan treat them well. They can eat well and treat them when they are sick. Prisoners of war It’s relatively stable.”

"Ning Yuan's army is still looking after them now?"

"It has always been under the supervision of Ning Yuan's army!"

The three thousand Ningyuan Army was actually an army trained by Li Ye. It was controlled by Li Ye's twenty personal soldiers. Xu Jian and Yu Changyang served as the left and right generals. They were dual loyal, loyal to both Bahna and Li Ye. Ye.

Li Ye nodded and said to King Murdo: "The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty has authorized me to negotiate with Dashi. The Dashi envoy does not need to go to Chang'an anymore. Please ask the king to ask the General Chamber of Commerce to inform the Caliphate and ask the Dashi envoy to come to Suiye for negotiations as soon as possible. "

King Murdo nodded, "I will inform them today!"

After a pause, King Murdo continued: "According to the agreement reached with the governor last year, 30% of the ore mined by the prisoners of war belongs to the Broken Leaf Army. I have refined it and obtained 4,000 kilograms of gold and 150,000 kilograms of crude silver. I will arrange for camels to carry them to the crushed leaves.”

Li Ye handed over 30,000 prisoners of war from the food army to Bakhna to work as mining laborers. Of course, there were conditions. The 30,000 laborers would get 30-70% of the ore, and Bukhanate would get 70%, and the broken leaves would get 30%. Li Ye This time I came to Bahanna also for this wealth.

Although the military salary of the 12,000-strong army is the burden of the court, the military salary of the border army is composed of two parts. One is the basic military salary, three rations per month. This is the burden of the court and is paid directly to the families of the soldiers. Half of it is a frontier subsidy, and the Hezhong side is three guans per month. It is up to the Hezhong Governor's Office to find a way to solve it.

In addition, there are excess military resources, such as Suiye's original thousand troops and thousand Modao troops. All of their military salaries have to be paid by Li Ye, which is about 10,000 yuan per month.

Li Ye not only had to meet the military salary expenditure of 48,000 guan per month, but also bear the food, clothing and housing of the army. The fiscal revenue of the Hezhong Governor's Office was too small to afford the army's salary and supplies, so Li Ye Ye needs to get the money first, and then he has to collect protection fees from the riverine countries and the Bukhan countries, and then open mines and trade himself, so as to maintain the operation of the army.

"The third thing is about Prince Alole's desire to attack the Stone Kingdom!" Li Ye said with a smile.