Tibet

After passing Herong City, it means passing Wushaoling. The terrain gradually decreases and the green becomes more and more. Fertile land and vast grasslands begin to appear in front of us. The green carpet-like grassland extends to the distant highlands. The mountains are dotted with patches of forest.

The rivers are crisscrossed with clear water, which nourishes the land on both sides and brings rich aquatic plants.

Groups of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely by the river. The Qiang herdsmen looked at them in surprise, and suddenly waved and shouted excitedly to the Tang army on the official road. Compared with the low taxes of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo's exploitation of them was much crueler. , The Qiang people certainly hope that the Tang army will return.

Three days later, a large wheat field suddenly appeared in front of him. The wheat had been harvested and the wheat field was completely bare. Pei Xiu smiled at Li Ye and said: "Seeing the wheat field means that you are going to Guzang County. I guess there will be abundant supplies in stock."

"Why?" Li Ye asked with a smile.

"I have interrogated the stewards of the camel team in my humble position. They have not yet transported supplies to Tubo. This means that the supplies they looted are most likely still in the city and have not had time to transport them away."

"Maybe the supplies are all stored in Zhangye?"

"There will be some in Zhangye, but mainly in Liangzhou, because the warehouse of Hexi Jiedu Prefecture is in Liangzhou."

"What will it be?"

"Mainly leather and medicinal materials, there must be a large number of cattle, sheep, war horses, and wood. There is also iron ore over Jiuquan. During the Han Dynasty, the Huns mined it there. In terms of weapons, bows and arrows made in Hexi It’s the most famous, and I guess there will be a lot of raw materials for making bows and arrows.”

In the afternoon, the army arrived at Guzang County, which is today's Wuwei, the state capital of Liangzhou and the seat of Hexi Jiedu Prefecture.

Guzang County is a large county with more than 100,000 people living in it, 80% of which are Han Chinese. It is mainly engaged in handicrafts and agriculture, such as leather, wine making, car making, clothing making, iron smelting, etc., and it is surrounded by farmland. , so there are more farmers.

The Tibetans entered the Hexi Corridor for a relatively short period of time, just one year. The Han people did not plunder the Tibetans, but directly enslaved them here, classified them all as slaves, and continued to engage in handicrafts and agriculture.

Since the 10,000 Tibetan troops stationed in Liangzhou were completely wiped out, when the Tang army entered the Hexi Corridor, the few remaining Tibetans fled.

When Li Ye led the army to Guzang County, he saw tens of thousands of people helping the elderly and children out of the city to welcome the return of the Tang army. Tens of thousands of people ate pots of soup, sang and danced to welcome their troops, and the entire Liangzhou city became a Ocean of joy.

The warehouses in Guzang County did not disappoint Li Ye. More than 30 warehouses were filled with various supplies, which was a surprise. The Tibetan people collected various supplies from all over Hexi and had no time to transport them away, and finally made them for the Tang army. Got the wedding dress.

Ten large warehouses are filled with sheepskins alone, with millions of them, as well as various medicinal materials, such as precious deer antlers, musk, bezoars, etc., in huge quantities.

The person in charge of the warehouse was a Han named Wang Feng. He was actually an assistant. Because he could speak Tubo, he was hired by the Tubo people to be a translator and also in charge of the warehouse.

"Why do you speak Tubo?" Li Ye asked in surprise.

Wang Fenggong said respectfully: "Your Highness, the villain's father was kidnapped to Tubo when he was young. He spent ten years herding sheep in the West Sea and learned the Tubo dialect. Later, he was rescued by the Tang army because he could speak Tubo dialect, understand Chinese, and could speak the Tubo dialect. He learned the Qiang language, so he found a job in the Liangzhou government and worked there for more than twenty years. He passed away the year before last. The villain's Tubo language was taught by his father. Interpretation."

“Do you know many Han people who can speak Tubo?”

"The villain knows five people in total, and they all speak two languages."

"They are all in Guzang County?"

"Two of them are in Zhangye, and the other three are in Guzang County. Like the villain, they are all county officials. The Tubo people asked us to be their interpreters."

Li Ye nodded, then pointed to a few warehouses in the distance and asked, "What are those warehouses over there? I see that the keyholes are all rusty."

"Those are those left by An Sishun. They are all thick copper ingots. They have accumulated about 3.5 million kilograms. I remember it was the tenth year of Tianbao. An Sishun was preparing to mint money. It happened that the emperor issued an edict that strictly prohibited unauthorized use in all places. An Sishun didn't dare to mint money anymore, so the copper ingot was kept in the warehouse, and Ge Shuhan didn't touch it. Until now, the Tubo people wanted to use it to make armor. They talked about it for a year, but nothing happened until now. move."

Li Ye smiled happily: "I guess they all wanted to give it to me, so they were so polite!"

Of all the supplies in the warehouse, the only ones taken away by the Tubo were the bows and arrows, 10,000 city-defending bows and 300,000 soldiers' arrows, which were said to be used by the defenders equipped with big fighting tools.

The remaining supplies include sheepskins, medicinal materials, wood, copper ingots, grain, salt, spices, etc. In addition, there are 3 million sheep, 500,000 cattle, and 23,000 war horses. This is the bulk of the harvest.

The next morning, Li Ye sent someone to find Li Yu, the Bing Cao who joined the army. Li Yu was Li Ye's cousin and the eldest grandson of Li Linfu. His experience was quite rough. His father Li Xiu was beheaded by his son Li Yu because he surrendered to Anlu Mountain. He lost his right hand and lost the opportunity to serve as prime minister, but he also saved his life.

Li Xiu only served as the prince's young master, so he was not executed together with Chen Xilie. Instead, he was exiled to Lingnan together with his other brother Li Min who also surrendered to Anlu Mountain.

Li Yu fled to Xiangyang to join Li Ye, and was appointed as the military cangcao to join the military. This time he also went to Hexi with Li Ye.

"See Your Highness!"

Li Yu saluted Li Ye and at the same time saluted Pei Xiu. Pei Xiu smiled and nodded to him.

Li Ye waved his hand, "Sit down!"

Li Yu sat next to Pei Xiu, and Li Ye said slowly: "Liangzhou is a governor state, with governors, deputy governors and chief historians. According to the agreement between me and the imperial court, I can directly serve as the governor without the approval of the imperial court. But if If I want to appoint a governor, I must get the approval of the emperor. I only have the power to recommend, the power of review lies with the Ministry of Personnel, and the power of approval lies with the emperor. Although I can ignore the court, now is not the time for us to fall out with the court. So I plan to use the rules to bypass the court. I will also serve as the governor of Liangzhou, and Pei Xiu will serve as the deputy governor of Liangzhou and the military envoy of Liangzhou, in charge of military affairs. I am the official I have the right to directly appoint."

Speaking of this, Li Ye glanced at Li Yu again and said, "Brother will be appointed as the governor of Liang and in charge of government affairs!"

Because Li Ye only served as the governor of Liangzhou in name, the governor of Liangzhou governor was actually the governor. Li Yu was really moved. When he first became the magistrate of Heyang County, he fell into a low point in his life. He did not expect that many years later, he would become the governor of Liangzhou. One day when he turned around, his eyes felt sore and he quickly lowered his head.

Li Ye smiled again and said: "Sima will be appointed by Pang Fu'an, the military judge. Of course, there are also officials such as joining the army and county magistrates. I will give you the list later."

"I understand the humble position!"

Li Ye nodded and said, "Go and find Pang Fuan! Let's discuss how to establish an official office. You have been a county magistrate, so you don't need me to teach you."

Li Yu stood up, bowed, and retreated.

Li Ye took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and then said to Pei Xiu: "Considering that Liangzhou was the one I decided to capture temporarily, our task this year is to consolidate Liangzhou. We will not attack Ganzhou for the time being. There are other areas from Guzang County to Zhangye County. Five hundred miles away, it is equally difficult for the Tibetan army to attack Guzang County. Your task is to train and prepare for war. I will leave you 20,000 troops, 300,000 shi in the warehouse, and 500,000 sheep. , I hope that when I come to Liangzhou next year, I will see an elite army instead of a lazy army."

Pei Xiu stood up and saluted and said, "In this humble position, I will live up to His Highness's expectations!"

"There is also a Tang army on the other side of Juyanhai. Send an army as soon as possible to take them back for the winter!"

"I will send troops to Juyanhai Baicheng tomorrow to capture him."

Li Ye smiled and said: "In addition, the 30,000 yuan in the warehouse is reserved for Chang Shi. They will have a lot of expenses, so the army should eat more sheep! If they have any difficulties, you should help them more .”

Pei Xiu nodded silently

Arrangements were made for Liangzhou, and three days later, Li Ye returned with 10,000 troops and 20,000 camels loaded with supplies, and also took away millions of cattle and sheep.

Pei Xiu, Li Yu and a group of civil and military generals went out of the city to see His Highness back to Jincheng.

It was September of the second year of Zhide. The Tang army entered the Hexi Corridor and captured Liangzhou, taking a solid step to regain the Hexi Corridor.