Tibet

The news that Jiedushi distributed all the wealth to the soldiers spread like wildfire. The Anxi Army and the Beiting Army cheered. Many retired soldiers asked to rejoin the Anxi Army. The reason was that they could not stand Bi Sichen's retirement. Now they Seeing the hope of reviving the Anxi Army, of course they asked to re-enlist.

Li Ye did not refuse, and all the soldiers approved to rejoin the Anxi Army. For a time, the Anxi Army increased by more than 3,000 people, bringing the number of troops to 19,000. If Li Ye's Qianhe Army is added, then Exactly 20,000 people.

Wealth is the best weapon to boost military morale. It is more powerful than any reason. 1.3 million yuan of wealth was distributed to the soldiers, and the morale of the Anxi Army and the Beiting Army suddenly increased.

The next step is training. Only sufficient training can ensure that the soldiers will defeat the Tibetan army in the Battle of Dabolu next year.

Time gradually came to the New Year. On the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, the army began to take a holiday and would not regroup until the Lantern Festival. This has always been the rule of the Anxi army, and Li Ye did not intend to break it.

That afternoon, Xi Yuanqing found Li Ye. The military camp was on holiday. Only a few soldiers stayed in the military camp. Li Ye also moved to the VIP hotel in Qiuci.

This was where Bian Lingcheng lived. The conditions were very good and comfortable.

Li Ye was sitting in his study, playing with a piece of beautiful jade. He did not ask for the 20,000 yuan given to him. Duan Xiushi felt really sorry, so he gave Li Ye several boxes of beautiful jade collected by Bian Lingcheng. This box of beautiful jade was not within the scope of wealth. The reason is very simple. This kind of beautiful jade seed material is abundant in the Khotan River. If you pick it up casually, it is almost worthless in Anxi, but it is a treasure when transported to Chang'an.

Duan Xiushi couldn't cash in the beautiful jade in Anxi, so he gave it to Li Ye directly, and Li Ye happily accepted it. There were thousands of pieces in large and small sizes. Of course, what Bian Lingcheng collected was top quality, and every piece was top-notch. Some mutton-fat jade has a gorgeous skin color, some has no skin color, and is pure white jade.

At this time, the soldiers reported in the courtyard, "I am reporting to you, General Xi, to see you!"

Li Ye put down the book and said with a smile: "Invite him in!"

Not long after, Xi Yuanqing walked into the study quickly, clasped his fists and saluted: "See you, envoy!"

Li Ye smiled and waved his hand, "You're welcome, please sit down!"

Xi Yuanqing sat down, looked around and said with a smile: "The only thing we can do in Anxi is the VIP hotel. Gao Xianzhi spent a lot of money to build it just to make Bian Lingcheng satisfied with his stay."

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "Every aspect here is much better than Suiye, and it is not even worse than the VIP Hotel in Honglu Temple!"

Xi Yuanqing pondered for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, are you planning to launch troops against Big and Small Bolu in the spring next year?"

Li Ye shook his head, "This is not my decision, it is the decision of the emperor and the court. My first priority as the governor of Anxi is to prevent the Tibetan army from encroaching on Tocharo and Hezhong."

Xi Yuanqing smiled and said: "If the envoy is just to prevent the Tibetan army from advancing westward, it will be difficult to completely annihilate the big and small Bolu."

"How do you say this?"

"Let me tell you about the Battle of Xiaobolu! In fact, Gao Xianzhi's battle report to the court concealed something, and it is not entirely true."

"General Xi, please speak!"

"In the first part, it was really difficult for us. In fact, Shijun attacked Golden Fort, and Lianyun Fort was the same. It was a very dangerous military city. We suffered hundreds of casualties. In the end, we relied on heavy armored infantry to capture Lianyun Fort. So, It's a straight line from Lianyunbao to Xiaobolu, and it takes at most twenty days to get there, but we walked for four whole months, why?"

Li Ye shook his head, "I don't understand either!"

"Because there are snow-capped mountains to the south of Lianyunbao. The higher we go, the soldiers have difficulty breathing, and batches of soldiers fall ill. If we continue to move forward, everyone will not survive. We have no choice but to go back and walk along the Bomi River detoured to Humi, where they cultivated for a month, and then went to the Shushi Kingdom, and then attacked Xiaobolu from the Shushi Kingdom. We attacked the Tibetan army in a sneak attack, and Xiaobolu's Tibetan army only had a few hundred people. Tens of thousands of Tibetan troops were stationed on the south bank. They had received the news and quickly rushed towards Xiaobolu King City. At the critical moment, they cut off the vine bridge on the Poyi River. The Tubo army was blocked on the south bank and could not come over. Do you understand what I mean?"

Li Ye nodded, "Feng Changqing told me that the Battle of Xiaobolu was only half fought because the bridge was broken and we could not continue the fight."

Xi Yuanqing sneered, "That's not the case. We were lucky enough to succeed in the sneak attack and cut off the bridge in time before we captured Xiaobolu. If we were killed by the Tubo army, we would definitely be defeated and even the whole army would be destroyed. We left four It’s because many soldiers couldn’t bear the plateau climate and fell ill.”

Li Ye understood what Xi Yuanqing meant. Little Bulu was located in Gilgit, today's Kashmir, which was located in a river valley with a low altitude, but Big Bulu was located in the Karakoram Mountains, with an average altitude of 5,500 meters.

The Tubo army could fight on the plateau, but what about the Tang army?

In the battle on the Gasi Grassland, his own army suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, he finally won with a force three times that of Tubo. If the Tubo army had one thousand more soldiers, his entire army would have been destroyed.

The Gasi grassland is only 3,000 meters above sea level. If you go to the Karakoram Mountains, which is 5,500 meters above sea level, how can you still defeat the Tibetan army of 30,000 with an army of 40,000?

Theoretically, it is completely impossible. However, we should be afraid of the word "but" in everything. In the 12th year of Tianbao in history, Feng Changqing led 10,000 Anxi troops to completely annihilate the Tubo army in Dabolu, completely ruining the Tubo army's attempt to conquer the country. The plan of the Great and Little Brutus to advance westward.

How did Feng Changqing do it? The elite of the Anxi Army had been lost in the Battle of Talas. Later, the organization was restored and they were all new soldiers. But a year later, Feng Changqing led 10,000 new soldiers to destroy Dabo. As a result, the Tibetan army lost the important logistics center of Dabolu.

There is only one reason to explain. Tubo did not have many troops stationed in Dabolu, far less than 30,000 people, so Feng Changqing got a big advantage.

If Feng Changqing could do it, he could do it too. The key was intelligence, and Xiao Bolu had to be used to obtain information about the Tibetan army.

Thinking of this, Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "I have a principle to tell General Xi. I am not going to fight the Tibetan army, but to destroy Dabolu. I know it very well and it is difficult to breathe. On the high mountains and snowy plains, 30,000 of us are no match for the 10,000 Tibetan troops.”

Only Xi Yuanqing could understand Li Ye's words. He nodded slowly, "In that case, I think I can give it a try."

After communicating with Dugujun in Dunhuang, Li Ye also believed that the emperor Li Longji had an spy in Anxi to monitor his every move.

So who could this person be?

Li Ye had been observing during this period. He knew that Li Longji was not familiar with Anxi. This spy could only be placed by Bian Lingcheng. He must be a confidant of Bian Lingcheng or someone who was trusted by Bian Lingcheng.

Li Ye once suspected that this person was Bi Sichen. Since Bian Lingcheng used Bi Sichen to distract Feng Changqing, he would definitely use Bi Sichen to contain himself.

Perhaps Bian Lingcheng did not expect such a serious incident to occur, so he killed Bi Sichen and his remaining members.

After much deliberation, Bi Sichen was the most likely. It was impossible for Bian Lingcheng to arrange for a small person to monitor him. How could a small person supervise himself if he had no access to many important things?

And Xi Yuanqing, Li Siye and others were deprived of military power by Bi Sichen, which made it even more impossible. Since it was Bian Lingcheng's spy, at least Bi Sichen did not dare to touch him.

After observing for more than twenty days, nothing was found. As time passed, Li Ye gradually became less aware of this matter.

In a blink of an eye, the thirteenth year of Tianbao has arrived.