Tibet

"Ah! The army is about to go out, what a humble job"

Li Ye understood what he meant, smiled and said: "Your defense of the Aral Sea is equivalent to an expedition. The imperial court cares about Aral Sea City very much. Even the emperor asked your name. Your name must be recorded in the annals of history and should be cherished. With this opportunity, if nothing unexpected happens, next year Aral Sea will be promoted to Aral Sea Governor's Palace, I will concurrently serve as Aral Sea Governor, and Qin will be promoted to Deputy Governor and Aral Sea Military Envoy. Your father will also be proud of you."

Pei Xiu was finally moved. He nodded and said, "There is one more thing to report to the governor about the Khazar Kingdom."

"you say!"

"Does the Governor remember that Zaire? Rossini sent him to negotiate with us about the Sogdian!"

"I remember, what happened to him?"

"Last month he came to Aral Sea City again and delivered a letter."

Pei Xiu took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Li Ye, "It's in Sogdian. I asked the soldiers to translate it into Chinese. It's a personal letter written by the Khazar king to the governor."

Li Ye took the letter and didn't rush to read it. He asked again: "Has Zaire been promoted?"

"How does the governor know? He has been promoted to deputy prime minister."

Li Ye smiled. Zaire strongly opposed going to war with the Tang army. His promotion meant that King Bran was not willing to go to war with the Tang army.

"How did he say?"

"He introduced the situation of the Khazar Kingdom. Rossini was deprived of military power by the king because he went to war with the Tang army without authorization. He was appointed governor of the East and had jurisdiction over more than a dozen Turkic cities. As a result, Rossini was dissatisfied and attempted to plot a rebellion and separatist rule. , to seize the throne, but the conspiracy was exposed, and King Bran sent an army to capture him and execute him."

Li Ye nodded, "It seems that the Khazar Kingdom doesn't want to go to war with the Tang army?"

Pei Xiu said slowly: "I have learned some information from my humble position. The Khazar Khanate has always been a buffer between the Great Food Kingdom and the Great Qin Kingdom. Because a civil war broke out with the Turks, the Khazar Army was retreating steadily, but in the Great Qin Kingdom With the support of the army, they turned defeat into victory, but they also suffered heavy losses, and their strength was less than 20,000.

The army was originally very small, but Rossini wanted to go to war with the Tang army. Their king was very angry. They were especially afraid that if the Tang army and the food army joined forces, they would destroy the country, so Zaire came to Aral Sea City and officially recognized the Aral Sea. The city and the Yaosha River Delta are our territory, and they hope that the two families will conclude a peace agreement. "

Li Ye took a few steps with his hands behind his back. He could only say that the Khazar Kingdom was lucky. Seeing that the Anshi Rebellion was about to break out, he no longer had the energy to march westward, so the Khazar Khanate escaped.

Thinking of this, he nodded and said: "We can conclude a peace agreement and let Zaire come to Anxi Kucha City in August."

Two days later, Li Ye once again led an army of 20,000 people and thousands of camels to march towards Juzhanti.

Prior to this, the Hezhong Dudu Mansion had sent a large amount of food supplies and hundreds of thousands of sheep to Juzhanti.

There is a very important reason why Li Ye did not lead his army over Lingshan to Anxi, but took a detour to Juzhanti, and then detoured from Juzhanti to Tocharo.

Because most of the snow-capped mountains on the Congling Plateau run east-west, and the rivers also flow east-west. Once you reach Tokhara, and then march eastward, you can make full use of the low-altitude valleys and march within the valleys, which greatly reduces the number of people traveling in the valleys. Marching distance in high altitude areas above 5,000 meters.

This is crucial for the Tang soldiers in both the Beiting Army and the Hezhong Army.

In early April, Li Ye led an army of 20,000 to the Humi Kingdom. This time, the Tang army was well prepared and brought 30,000 camels alone, fully loaded with food and supplies, as well as hundreds of thousands of sheep.

In Humi, Li Ye met Tiermei, the commander of the Tocharian coalition forces. He led more than 10,000 Tocharian troops to be stationed in Humi country at this time.

The Tocharian Allied Army was composed of troops from ten small countries, with a total of 15,000 troops. Among them, the Guangjumi Kingdom sent 5,000 troops, so Termei, the brother of King Kumi, was appointed as the commander-in-chief.

The combat effectiveness of this army is really poor. Li Ye has seen it with his own eyes, and he has no hope for this army.

But the problem is that the Tubo people don't know the combat effectiveness of this army. There are 15,000 troops stationed in the East Gate of Tocharo to protect the honey country. The Tubo are still a little wary and dare not send troops easily.

This caused Tubo to lose its best opportunity last year, and it would be too late to send troops to war this year.

In the big tent, Tiermei said to Li Ye: "Last summer, we encountered Shangmi and the Tubo army in the Yushi Kingdom. There was a brief fierce battle between the two sides. We failed to defeat the Tibetan army and were forced to withdraw from the Yushi Kingdom."

Tiermei knew that Li Ye was well aware of the combat effectiveness of their army, and he did not hide his failure and was honest about it, but he still wanted to save face and did not mention the strength of both sides and the number of casualties.

"How many people are there in the Tubo army in the Shishi Kingdom?"

This is what Li Ye is most concerned about. How many casualties the Tocharian coalition forces suffered has nothing to do with him.

"About five hundred people!"

"What now?"

Li Ye asked again: "How many people are there now?"

Tirmei shook his head, "I don't know very well. I just came from Jumi and I know nothing about the situation in the Shishi Kingdom."

Li Ye nodded. Judging from the time, Li Siye and the others should have arrived in Yushi State in these days. There should not be many Tibetan troops in Yushi State, and the food supply in Yushi State could not carry too many troops.

Once the Tubo army garrisoned a large number of troops in the Kingdom of Yushi, they would inevitably expand westward and would not stop in the Kingdom of Yushi.

After resting for two days, the Tang army replenished food in the Humi Kingdom and continued to march towards the Chushi Kingdom.

Although the Tocharian coalition forces were unable to fight on the battlefield, they provided significant help to the Tang army on the other hand. Their army had a drug that was very effective in preventing and treating altitude sickness.

Although I don’t know what the ingredients of this drug are? But judging from the other party's description, the most important medicine is most likely Rhodiola rosea.

Six days later, the army arrived at Shangmi, the king's city of Xushi. Li Ye had already received news on the way that the Tang army in Anxi had captured the Xushi Kingdom. The hundreds of Tibetan troops in the Xushi Kingdom were completely destroyed, and no one escaped.

The two armies completed their rendezvous in the Kingdom of Yushi.

Perhaps it was because the soldiers had eaten well and slept well along the way, as well as with the help of medicine, and the soldiers were already physically strong. More importantly, it was April now, and the weather was getting warmer, making marching much easier. You won’t be too tired on the road.

Not one of the 35,000 troops suffered from altitude sickness.

The Anxi army also brought medicines with them. This was due to Feng Changqing. He organized military doctors to study the Wusu people's altitude medicine. He also used Rhodiola rosea, which is abundant in Anxi, as the basic medicine to produce a large number of medicines to prevent altitude sickness.

The Tang army then rested for three days in Yushi Kingdom before continuing to march towards Xiaobolu.

In the big tent, Li Siye reported a very important piece of information to Li Ye.

"We destroyed the 500 Tibetan troops in the Shishi Kingdom, and at the same time captured a Tibetan official. He was a civil servant from a Tibetan noble. He was not as stubborn as the army. Under our torture, he told us a lot of important information. intelligence."

"What important information?" Li Ye asked with great interest.

"Tubo actually has spies in Qiuci City. The Tubo people also know that Bi Sichen has mastered the military power and has taken advantage of Feng Changqing. So they sent troops to Qiemo and Ruoqiang to test us. If Bi Sichen ignores Ruoqiang and Qiemo, or If the strength of the Anxi army is greatly reduced, they will quickly increase their troops and attack Tocharo.

They had been hesitant to attack Tochara before because they were afraid that Xiaobolu would cut off the Tibetan army's retreat. They had to regain control of Xiaobolu before they could continue to attack Tocharo, and Shijun sent troops to annihilate Qiemo. and Ruoqiang's Tubo army caused a fierce quarrel among their upper echelons. "

Li Ye nodded, he also felt that the attack on Qiemo and Ruoqiang was just a trial attack by the Tubo army. The time was far from mature, and they would not rush to attack in such a hurry.