Tibet

Li Ye sat down in the official office. After a while, the team leader was brought in. Li Ye asked him to sit down and asked with a smile: "May I ask your name, team leader?"

The leader's Chinese is not very good, but His Highness King Qi can speak fluent Sogdian, which reassures him a lot.

"I am an Ansham businessman from Anguo, but I have been in Bahanna and Suiye for a longer time."

"Your caravan is coming from Beiting!"

"Exactly! We spent the winter in Tingzhou. We set off in early February and walked for a whole month to Liangzhou."

"Didn't you encounter Tibetan troops in Guazhou and Suzhou?"

Ansham shook his head, "We dare not enter the city. We don't know if there are Tibetan troops in the city, but we did not encounter any Tibetan troops or sentry posts outside the city."

"What about Ganzhou? Is there no Tibetan army at the Qilian City checkpoint in Ganzhou?"

Li Ye didn't know much about Suzhou and Guazhou, but he knew very well about Ganzhou that the Qilian City checkpoint was the only way to go south on the official road. It was always guarded by 300 Tibetan troops. This checkpoint was in a valley and could not be bypassed.

Ansham still shook his head, "We passed the Qilian City checkpoint, but it was an empty city without a single person."

Li Ye finally realized that the Tubo army must have withdrawn. He paced back and forth with his hands behind his hands. The Tubo army should have changed its commander. This was the style of the new commander. He would withdraw all the troops to Shanzhou. If the Ganzhou army withdrew, then Suzhou , Guazhou and Shazhou? Li Ye was full of expectations.

He calmed down and asked with a smile: "How about broken leaves?"

"Suiye City is still the same as before. The county seat is under the control of Governor Xie. Rehai, Suiye River Valley and Yili River Valley are all garrisoned by General Dugu's troops. It is said that the relationship between the two is not good. General Dugu usually stays in Helie city."

General Dugu is Dugu Ying, the former deputy governor, the family general of Dugu Mansion, and the former general of the Xiaoqi camp. He stayed behind at Suiye to guard Suiye's foundation for himself.

"Where is Aral Sea City? Who belongs to it now?"

"Now it belongs to Kang State. It is the northernmost land of Kang State."

Li Ye sighed slightly in his heart. As he expected, most of the people in the city were from the Kang state. Of course, the Kang state was eyeing it. They did not dare to act rashly while he was there. The Tang army gave up, and the Kang state would definitely occupy it without hesitation.

"What about the Great Eclipse? Does the Great Eclipse still have any impact on the countries in the river?" Li Ye asked again.

"Reporting to Your Highness, Dashi is now under the rule of Caliph Mansur. All the countries in the river have returned their allegiance to Dashi. Mansur Khalifa has sent tax collectors to various countries, and monasteries of the Dashi religion have also been built in Bukhara and Samarkand. stand up."

Li Ye let out a long sigh in his heart. Datang gave up on his own. Of course, Dashi had to fill this gap, and all his hard work was in vain.

I don’t know if there will be a chance to take it back again in the future.

At this time, Li Ye suddenly thought of someone.

"Who is in charge of the Saintess Association now? Who is the Golden Saint?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the high priest of goddess Nana is Jinshan Ling."

The Society of Saints is just a religious institution, and the high priest is the highest religious position, which is equivalent to the head of the Council of Elders. In other words, Aling eventually became the supreme leader of the Society of Saints.

A dancing woman gradually faded away. Li Ye no longer remembered this woman in his mind and completely erased her from the depths of his memory.

He stood up and sent the leader out of the government office.

Pei Xiu and a school captain had been waiting for a long time.

The school captain's name was Shen Yewu, who was the chief general of Juyan's defense. Although the Tubo army occupied Hexi, he led 300 Tang army soldiers to guard Juyan alone until Pei Xiu sent an army to replace him.

Shen Yewu knelt down on one knee and saluted, "Your Majesty, I see you for your humble duty!"

Li Ye quickly helped the captain up and said, "General Shen, please get up. Please sit down!"

Li Ye asked Pei Xiu and Shen Yewu to sit down, comforted each other a few words, and then asked: "Have the Tubo army been to Juyanhai?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, a Tibetan Ranger Cavalry came to Juyanhai last summer, but they did not go deep into it. They only took a look at the abandoned Old Guard City on the south bank. They did not come to the north bank and did not find the New Guard City."

It should be like this. The Tubo army regarded the abandoned Shouchu City as the garrison of the Tang army. When they found that there was no garrison, they thought that there was no Tang army, and they never went to Juyanhai again.

"What about the nomadic armies in the north?"

"A Sijie army also came here last year. It stayed for two months and then returned. Later, a small Sijie tribe came. They came to the north of Juyanhai to graze their cattle. They got along well with us and gave us some food. Thousands of sheep helped me in the most difficult time, and I have always been grateful to them."

Li Ye nodded. The Sijie tribe that Shen Yewu mentioned should be the former Xue tribe. It was divided between the two tribes of Geluolu and Sijie, and the Xue tribe was completely destroyed.

Li Ye immediately promoted Shen Yewu to Eagle Striker General and rewarded him with a thousand guan in recognition of his perseverance. The other soldiers who persisted were each rewarded with 10 guan and were promoted to first-class soldiers.

There are three levels of soldiers in the Helong Army. They are third-class soldiers when they first join the army, are promoted to second-class soldiers after two years of joining the army, and are promoted to first-class soldiers after five years of joining the army.

Being promoted to a first-class soldier means that the military salary is increased and a piece of land of 20 acres will be given. In the future, for every additional year of military service, the land will be increased by one acre.

Shen Yewu retreated, and Li Ye immediately said to Pei Xiu: "From the current point of view, the Tibetan army in Zhangye has indeed retreated. Tomorrow morning, you can lead your 15,000 troops westward to Ganzhou. Be careful not to fall into an enemy ambush.

Pei Xiu was overjoyed. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "I humbly obey the order!"

Early the next morning, Pei Xiu led an army of 15,000 people to attack Ganzhou first. Two days later, Li Ye led an army of 50,000 people to attack Ganzhou.

Five days later, Li Ye's army also arrived in Zhangye. The city of Zhangye had been looted by the retreating Tibetan army. Especially the Sogdian people's wealth was looted the most. Originally, the Tubo people promised not to loot them, but in the end the Tubo people still betrayed their faith and treated them. Take action.

This was of course due to the change of coach. Ma Chongying wanted to occupy the Hexi Corridor for a long time, so he adopted a strategy to win over the Sogdians and protect their wealth. He only enslaved the Han people and robbed the Qiang people's cattle and sheep. Unfortunately, the cattle and sheep they looted were still Was intercepted by the Tang army.

Ma Chongying stepped down and Shang Jiezan took over as the head coach. He didn't care about any long-term strategy. The Sogdians' wealth could just be used by the nobles, so he ordered the Sogdians in Zhangye to plunder all their money, causing the Sogdians in Hexi to suffer unprecedented consequences. The losses, all the wealth accumulated over the years were robbed by Tubo, leaving countless Sogdian businessmen in grief.

Of course, it was not just the wealth of the Sogdians, all the government offices were burned down, and all the mansions were looted, including a mansion bought by Pei Sanniang, in which all the furniture, large water tanks, and various daily necessities were taken away.

Ordinary people in the city could not escape the disaster. Although the Tubo people could not carry more items, it did not mean that they would let the ordinary people go.

It's just that they didn't like most people's household items, so they just took away all the copper coins, jewelry, cloth and other belongings.

Li Ye rode into Zhangye City. The city was in a mess. Many people were sitting in front of their homes crying. Pei Xiu sighed and said: "Not only were the property robbed, but many young men and young women were also robbed. Those who cried bitterly were all members of their families who had been robbed." Walk."

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "Even Ganzhou has withdrawn its troops, so the Tibetan troops in Suzhou, Guazhou and Shazhou should also evacuate, otherwise they will not be able to return to Tubo."

"Your Highness said exactly the same thing as Mr. An. Mr. An also believes that all the Tibetan troops in the other three states must have been withdrawn."

"Which Mr. An?"

"It was Li Baozhen's father, An Qi Guan. I met him when he came to the city for his humble job."

Li Ye nodded and asked, "Is there anyone else in the Pei family?"

"I heard that my uncle is in Ganzhou. I don't know where he is hiding."

The third brother-in-law is Pei Jun, who was born by a concubine and has a lower status in the family. The old head of the family, Pei Fang, took his eldest son Pei Jia to lead an army to King Lingwu Qin, while the second son Pei Jian led the rest of the Pei family to evacuate in time. In Bashu, Pei Jun stayed behind. After Tubo captured Zhangye, he disappeared.

Li Ye immediately said: "I'll meet Mr. An first!"