Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1553
On the sixth day of October, a large cavalry appeared in the field outside Gongyue City.

They walked around the dilapidated city first, and only entered the city in batches after making sure that there was no one there.

The weather is getting colder and colder. Although Zhao Wangjun has received sufficient supplies, it is still very pleasant to have a shelter from the wind and rain to rest.

The cavalry commander sent by King Zhao was named Wang Chongwen.

The name is "Chongwen", and he is indeed well-versed in classics and history, calm and elegant, but he is really a serious warrior, the kind who started from a small school, the son of the Golden Spear Army envoy Wang Wan.

Among the thousand riders, as many as 700 were born in the Eastern Academy's horse army, the army Yang Xingmi left for his son to save his life-but they chose to stand on the sidelines at the critical moment.

Wang Chongwen is Xu Wen's son-in-law. He is not very popular among the generals from Huainan, and he can't squeeze into the traditional circle of imperial guards and warriors. His status is a bit embarrassing.

But he is indeed calm, not affected by these bad things, and still completes his work meticulously.

First assign the rangers to scatter to prevent being attacked.

Arrange for someone to mow the grass in the distance.After cutting and bringing them back, he personally set an example and led others to chop up these withered and yellow forages.

In the end, I repeatedly confirmed the route with Liu Mian, and asked the guide about the situation along the way, going over and over again in my mind, thinking about any accidents that might arise.

Liu Mian observed silently for a while, and had a good impression of him, so after the two had a chance to be alone, he asked, "I wonder what General Wang thinks of the Western Regions?"

"It's tasteless to eat, but it's a pity to throw it away." Wang Chongwen said.

Liu Mian silently savored his words and found it quite interesting, so he asked further: "Please explain in detail."

Wang Chongwen took a wooden stick to put aside the bonfire, and said: "On the whole, there is abundant water and grass, and there is no shortage of cultivated land. Taking Beiting as an example, there are many places suitable for grazing and farming along the way, but how big is Beiting? Quite In the whole of Henan. Such a big place can only pick out such a few good places, and the distribution is relatively fragmented. There can't be many people in a single oasis. Thinking about it carefully, it is quite troublesome to rule. If thieves come to attack, they will gather Tens of thousands of cavalry, or even more than a hundred thousand cavalry, can attack a single defending city and hold it?"

Liu Mian shook his head.

"Since we can't keep it, if the thieves come a few more times, the people will not be able to survive." Wang Chongwen said: "Without these people, how can the warrior survive?"

"General Wang really hit the nail on the head." Liu Mian praised.

In fact, he got to the point.There are so many guard cities in the former Tang Dynasty, but the scale is too small, how many soldiers can be stationed?If you really encounter a large group of enemy troops, you will basically be unable to defend them.What's more, there are only [-] to [-] soldiers in the entire Western Region, and they are divided into so many strongholds, it is like pepper sprinkled in the sea, and there is no taste at all.

Tang Ting mainly adopts diplomatic means to avoid the crisis in the Western Regions, that is, to avoid hostility from outsiders to you as much as possible.Not to mention, it really made them play successfully for more than 100 years.If it hadn't been for Tubo's violence to break this pattern, it is estimated that we can continue to play.

But even so, problems persist.

In fact, there is a way to solve the problem, that is, to immigrate as much as possible, to reclaim all the land that can be reclaimed, to expand the population base as much as possible, to connect each point, no longer a line, but to make it a surface.

But for Tang Ting, it is better to develop Wuyue and Jiangxi instead of spending that much effort...

"The entry of Guochao soldiers into the Western Regions is a feat of regaining more than a hundred old lands trapped by the Tibetans, but it is hard to say what will happen in the future." Wang Chongwen said.

"Why?"

"The saint's appetite is too great." Wang Chongwen said: "Liaodong wants it, Yunnan wants it, the Western Regions wants it, and even the grasslands want to rule. The saint may be able to maintain it while he is alive. If he is not here, there will be problems."

"It seems that the longevity of the sage is the blessing of the country." Liu Mian smiled and said, "Has Liaodong been developed for ten years? We have seen little results, and if we stabilize it for a few more years, we may be able to free up." Let’s make a move and go to the Western Regions.”

The development of Liaodong has actually been more than ten years. After all, the Andong Mansion was established at the end of Tang Dynasty, almost 15 years ago.

In the past 15 years, the territory of Liaodong has been steadily expanding. During this period, the Khitan and Bohai countries were also conquered, and the Jurchen tribes were imprisoned, and the expansion reached its limit.

In recent years, I have been working hard to digest it. The investment is quite large and the determination is also great.As Wang Chongwen said, after a few more years of stability, it may be quite different by the [-]th anniversary of the development of Liaodong.

Of course, what will happen to Liaodong in the end depends on the policy of the imperial court.

As of the middle of this year, as [-] sinners from Changzhou, Runzhou, and Suzhou were sent to Liaodong as a trilogy, all the [-] soldiers in Xianzhou had a trilogy. This is after Anton Mansion and Shenzhou. The third state to complete the job.

However, Xiazhou, Mozhou, Mengzhou, and Muzhou are still not completed, with a total gap of more than [-] households.

It is conceivable that in the next few years, the imperial court still needs to invest a lot of resources in that direction to improve it as soon as possible - Wang Chongwen is not very clear about this.

"Perhaps." Wang Chongwen thought for a while, and felt that what Liu Mian said was also reasonable.

"General Wang has been in the army for a long time, how do you know what the soldiers think of the Western Regions?" Liu Mian asked again.

"Barren land." Wang Chongwen replied bluntly.

This answer was expected by Liu Mian, but after thinking about it carefully, he was a little unwilling after all, so he asked, "Is there no one who wants to stay here?"

"People don't want to come, let alone warriors?" Wang Chongwen said: "East Liaodong is also resettling government soldiers, all of which are from three households. There are 150 mu of land over there, while the western regions are only given [-] mu. Liaodong is still rich in water and grass, and the land is fertile. , you can get a lot of leather from hunting, and you can also collect a lot of wild goods in the mountains. Compared with them, the Western Regions are inferior in everything, so how can warriors want to come?"

"Warrior didn't want to go to Liaodong at first..." Liu Mian half-spoken, sighed, and stopped.

Are all the warriors who went to Liaodong voluntary?Maybe there was, but on the whole, it was half coercion and half lure, and those surrendered soldiers had already lost half their lives, so they were afraid, so they reluctantly went to Liaodong to serve as soldiers.

Just like the Dragon and Tiger Army that just withdrew from Yunnan.

When this army marched south, they suffered enough in the Kunming tribe. After arriving in Yunnan, it was a pleasure to attack Kunzhou.When the rebellion in the newly established Quzhou and the former Tonghai Governor's Mansion was suppressed afterwards, it was full of bitterness - the battle was won and a lot of things were robbed, but due to the serious reduction in staff and low morale due to the epidemic, they had to retreat to rest.

While passing through central Guizhou, there were rumors in the army that they would be sent to garrison in Lingnan next, so everyone was afraid, and then there was a commotion.

Zhu Yanshou spent a lot of effort, hunting, intimidating, and begging, and finally calmed down. In the end, there were only about 7000 people left.

The Privy Council sent people to the south to negotiate with the sergeants. In the end, all the remnants of the Dragon and Tiger Army were changed to Fubing, 5000 people were resettled to Meizhou, and 2000 people were resettled to Jizhou.

Do you see it?Only when these warriors get mixed up to this point, they are afraid of going to the hot and humid places to garrison and fight, and they are also afraid of the imperial court’s suppression and killing, and then the privy ministers come forward, with the cooperation of the old chief, earnestly and sincerely, can they agree to the imperial court conditions of.

If you want to do the same thing and bring Wufu to the Western Regions, you can only use these soft and hard methods.Otherwise, the saint would not have recruited 10,000 Yanqi soldiers among the 2000+ miscellaneous soldiers.Because only with such a large base, it is possible for him to recruit [-] people.

"However, I am willing to come to the Western Regions." Wang Chongwen said with a sudden smile.

"Why?" Liu Mian asked.

"I don't have to worry about food and clothing, and I'm in a hurry. I want to try another life." Wang Chongwen said with a smile.

Liu Mian also laughed.

There are hundreds of people, all kinds of people, and people with all kinds of ideas.Wang Chongwen probably didn't suffer any hardships since he was a child, he was full of energy, and had many fantasies about making contributions.

This is a good thing.

******
After leaving Gongyue City, the army crossed the entire Ili River Valley, and then walked along the gap in the mountains, and entered the long-known Atami in ten days.

Rehai is located in an intermountain basin south of Yili River (now Yili River).The basin covers an area of ​​more than 6000 square kilometers. It is surrounded by high mountains and has a warm climate. Because it is a saltwater lake, there are strong winds and waves, and the thin ice cannot cover the lake surface. Therefore, it is not frozen even in severe winters, so it is named.

Atami was once a military center in the Tang Dynasty.

Xuanzang once recorded: "Daqing Pond (or Rehai) is more than a thousand miles in circumference, wide from east to west, narrow from north to south, surrounded by mountains, crowded with streams, green and black in color, salty and bitter in taste, loud and sweaty, shocking. Tears. Arowanas and fishes are everywhere, and spirits and monsters appear here and there, so I travel here and there, praying for blessings. Although there are many aquariums, no one dares to catch them."

After all, he is a monk, so Xuanzang's description is relatively "unscientific". In just a few dozen words, he even mentioned words such as "dragon", "spiritual monster", "prayer", and "water tribe", which is really idealistic.

Changed to Cen Shen's "Returning Cui Shiyu to Beijing on a Trip to Rehai", there is a description of "the carp is long and fat", but I don't know if he has eaten it.

"Stop." More than a hundred riders galloped from afar, shouting loudly.

If [-] cavalry marched into their own territory, the Turkic people, as long as they were not fools, would be able to spot it.What's more, they have so many horses. Although a large part of them have lost weight, they must be war horses that have been trained for many years. If they are brought back to the tribe for a while, they will be used without any disadvantages.

"Stop." Wang Chongwen reined in the horse's reins, and Qian Yuqi slowly slowed down and stopped on the shore of the lake with withered grass.

Without the order of the officer, the sergeants were automatically divided into several groups. Some drew out the tip of the bow and strung it, some picked up the long spear, and some took out short weapons such as iron rods, iron maces, and sabers.

"If there is a fight, the front army's cavalry and archers will outflank the two wings, the middle army will clash with their horses, and the rear army will fight with short soldiers. Those who dare to look back will die." Wang Chongwen ordered.

"If there is a fight... those who dare to look back will die!"

The order was quickly spread throughout the army, and everyone looked forward silently in awe.

The Turks were sensitive to the change in the atmosphere, so they also stopped, and after a while, they rode forward and shouted something loudly.

"Pu Saigan, it's me." No matter how dull Cao Ah was, he knew it was time to go on his own, and saw him come out more and more, looking at the Turkic man riding over alone, he said loudly.

"It's you, Fu Duodan." Ba Saigan relaxed his guard, rode his horse up to Cao Ah's body, twitched his lips, and said, "What? You didn't even wait for us in Xia, so you came here by yourself?"

Cao Ah Liao looked behind him.

"Don't look, the others went to war and haven't come back yet." Bosegan said.

"War?" Cao Ah's expression changed, and he said, "Who are you fighting for? The Persians? Or the Uyghurs?"

"Fight for yourself." Bassegan said calmly.

"Don't talk nonsense, who did you take refuge in?" Cao Ah Liao asked.

Ba Saigan punched Cao Ah Leo's chest, and said: "It's not bad for Fan Dake to ask this question, and you are not qualified. But, for the sake of our friendship for many years, it's okay to tell you. Ogul Chuck wanted us to help him fight and gave us a lot of property, and many people couldn't resist the temptation and agreed."

"What?" Cao Ah Liao was a little surprised, and asked, "He just took back Suiye City, and he played so badly, why did you help him?"

"He said that the Uighurs in Gaochang were finished. We asked someone to inquire, and it was true. What can we do now? Ogulchak said that if he can regain Talas, he will hand over Suiye City to As a ranch, we just need to submit and be loyal to him." Bosegan said.

"Ogulchak has been defeated repeatedly, is he worthy of allegiance?" Cao Alai asked.

Ba Saigan was speechless, and said: "Actually, I don't agree with it, and Su Nong also doesn't agree. The [-] accounts of our two families didn't follow suit. Let's go, let's go back to the tribe first. The people you brought over , Please stay away, we will send people to deliver grass and food, but not close to the tribe. They are too dangerous."

Cao Ah Liao nodded in understanding.

Although they only have [-] riders, if they are fully armed, if they raid various tribes, it will cause unimaginable consequences.No matter how big the Turks' hearts are, they dare not put these people in places where the old, the weak, women and children gather, even though they still have tens of thousands of people living nearby, which seems to be a large number of people.

Cao Alai quickly returned to the formation and told the truth about the concerns of the Turkic people.

"It's okay, I'll wait for a few people to go there, it's not a dragon's pond and a tiger's den, I'm afraid." Liu Mian smiled gently, which comforted the eager Cao Ah Leo.

"Vice General Sun, you take ten people to escort Judge Liu and Monk Cao to the camp." Seeing that Liu Mian had no objection, Wang Chongwen did not insist, and ordered: "I will lead the people back for thirty miles. Before nightfall, you send One person will come out to communicate, if I don’t see anyone, I will bring someone to meet me.”

"Of order." Sun Shuxian replied.

"It's so good." Liu Mianzan said calmly, as if he didn't care about his own safety at all.

He certainly wasn't the type to take personal risks.

He has a family and a business, and enjoys wealth everywhere, but sometimes, you have to take a risk, otherwise you may not be able to get things done.

Winning Atami Turks and establishing friendship with them is of great importance, and he cannot tolerate his own failure.Therefore, after hearing Cao Ale's report, he agreed almost without thinking.

After the explanation, Liu Mian and Cao A led a group of more than ten people, surrounded by Turkic people, to their pasture.

(End of this chapter)