Aspiring to the Ten Kingdoms

The news that Ali Musa gave up on Shule caused a lot of dissatisfaction among Ye Hu.

At this moment, the overall system in the West is the divine right, followed by the emperor, followed by the warlords of various places. In the Kara Khanate, the warlords are called Ye Hu, which is an official name handed down from the Turks and Uighurs.

Shule is the economic center of the Western Regions. In terms of wealth, it is even better than their capital, Kashgar, and can be compared with Samarkand.

Such a rich and treasured land, if you give up as soon as you say it, who can be convinced?
Besides, even if you want to give up the retreat, you have to loot Shule. What is it to withdraw directly?
But Ali Musa did not have time to explain a lot and forcibly retreated.

Shortly after Kara Khan's army withdrew from Shule, Gaochang Uyghur cavalry appeared near their army. The elite Uyghur cavalry circled around them, did not attack, but just sat and watched them leave.

It was only then that many Ye Hus understood why Ali Musa retreated so resolutely. In the current situation, if they retreated slowly, it was very likely that the Gaochang Uighurs would have no way out and would not be able to retreat.

Under the governance of the Lion King, the Gaochang Uighurs had no intention of expanding and only focused on economic development.

But no one in Karahan regarded that lion as a sick cat. Karahan had suffered a lot.

When the Kara Khanate liquidated the infidels, some Buddhist believers fled to Gaochang.

At that time, the Kara Khanate regarded the Gaochang Uyghur as a sick cat, and the believers of the Great Food Method sent troops to coerce them to surrender.

The Gaochang Uyghurs immediately built the heads of three thousand Dafa believers into a Jingguan, which still stands on the border.

It's not that the Gaochang Uighurs can't fight, they're just making a fortune in silence.

Since then, believers of the Great Food Law did not mention the Gaochang Uyghurs by their country name, but by the vicious heretics instead.

However, because the Gaochang Uyghurs had no intention of expanding, and the Kara Khanate did not want to make another enemy, they played down the matter tacitly.

Only that Jingguan is still standing on the border between the two countries, recording this period of past.

The Lion King sent Ali Musa's Karakhan army out of the Khotan border with squinted eyes, and ordered: "Send scouts to cruise within the border to prevent them from turning back."

He said to a Uyghur man beside him with some respect: "The Karakhans have withdrawn from Shule, and the city must be in chaos at this moment. Please trouble Venerable Sang to enter the city to appease him, tell the people in the city, and say that the East His Majesty the Great Yu Emperor has sent heavenly soldiers to guard, and the Western Regions will be safe from now on, so don't panic."

The Uighur who made the Lion King call him Venerable Sang was Sang Wenshi, a Uighur who accepted the baptism of Manichaeism in Han Dynasty. At this moment, his identity is Fu Duodan of Shule Liuguang Temple, that is, the law enforcer, equivalent to Shule District Bishop.

Sang Wenshi bowed goodbye to the Lion King and left.

After watching Sang Wenshi go away, the Lion King said: "General Ai, you lead 1000 people to Shicheng Town and escort Mr. Yan to Shicheng Town. You stay in Shicheng Town and listen to General Dayu's orders. The order of the king should be regarded as the order of the king, and there must be no mistakes."

Ai Weixiu said sullenly, "Obey."

He is most loyal to the Lion King, and never asks the reason for his orders.

The Lion King said: "Mr. Yan, you have to express your attitude to the Dayu court when you go, and you say that since the Tang court withdrew from the Western Regions in the past, the Western Regions have been in chaos for a hundred years, and all the people look forward to the Master Wang. It is heaven that the Master Wang will return today." Congratulations. I have driven the Karakhan soldiers out of Khotan according to the order. If you have any instructions, just tell me. My soldiers in Gaochang are the soldiers of your majesty. The people of Gaochang are also the people of your majesty."

The position is very firm.

This is also the genius of The Lion King.

Compared with the ambitious Li Shengtian, the Lion King has a longer-term vision.

The Western Regions are no longer the Western Regions of the past. Once upon a time, the Western Regions, as a place of cultural exchange between the east, west, north, and south, did have a period of glory.But this place is of great significance in the era of the right of way. First, the Tang Dynasty and the black-clothed Dashi fought in Tanluosi, followed by the confrontation between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo around the Western Regions, then the confrontation between Tubo and Dashi, and then the Uyghur The struggle with Tubo.

The turmoil experienced by the Western Regions after the Great Tang withdrew was not at all inferior to the Great Turmoil of the Five Dynasties in the East.

Dongfang Huaxia has a deep foundation and has the background to rise again.

This is not the case in the Western Regions. Being in a place where games are played, it is doomed to lack the foundation for contending for supremacy.

Instead of fighting in the Western Regions to lose both sides, it is better to use the geographical advantages to develop national power and consolidate itself.

The Lion King has been in power for more than [-] years, making friends with the East and the West, sending envoys to Khitan and Huaxia more than ten times to pay tribute, opening up trade, and earning a lot of money.

The Lion King has always wanted to maintain the status quo, and did not want any force from the East and the West to break the situation in the Western Regions, so he secretly gave Li Shengtian a lot of support.

But when Dayu's army appeared on the border of Khotan, Shicheng Town, the Lion King knew that he had no choice.

If you want to avoid military disasters, you can only support Dayu with all your strength.
-
On the banks of the West Chelchen River in Shicheng Town.

Thousands of camels were drinking water by the river. Zhe Yuxun sat on the back of the camel and looked west with a telescope. In the billowing dust and smoke, Zhe Yuqing led a hundred horses and galloped over. He put away the telescope in his hand and rode the camels to greet him. go up.

This surprise attack was not planned for a long time, but it was prepared for a long time.

It is true that there must be great order after great chaos.

On the one hand, most of the founding monarchs and ministers were wise and good ministers, and they were able to make correct decisions. On the other hand, it was also because of the determination of the people. The people who have suffered from wars know the beauty of peace best, and know that a peaceful life is hard-won.They bear hardships and stand hard work. As long as they have a stutter, they are willing to double their labor, and they are especially easy to be satisfied.

With this up and down, the development of the Dayu court is changing with each passing day.

As early as four years ago, when Luo Youdu learned of Li Shengtian's ambitions, he allocated part of the military expenditure to buy camels and formed a camel cavalry and camel transport team.

Camel cavalry and camel transport teams are rarely used in China and Kyushu, but they are very effective in the West.

No matter whether you are marching into Gaochang or Shicheng Town, you can't avoid the inaccessible desert. Having camel cavalry and camel transport team will definitely come in handy.

Camel cavalry and camel transport teams are suitable for marching and fighting in the desert. It happened that the west of Fugu was the Mu Us Desert, so Zhe Yuxun was assigned to train the camel cavalry.

During the civil strife in the Guiyi army, the Dayu court took advantage of the situation to take back the control of Sha and Gua prefectures. Li Chuyun, the governor of Liangzhou, had already received the order to take advantage of the situation and attack the Western Regions when he took over the Guiyi army.

After thinking about it, Li Chuyun, who is more familiar with the terrain and even the situation in the Western Regions, did not immediately announce Luo Youdu's military order, but deliberately stopped it, making a look of stabilizing the rear first, consolidating the reorganization and reorganization of the rebel army, and showing no westward advance at all. , but secretly let the Zhejia brothers lead their troops across Lop Nur to attack Shicheng Town.

Li Chuyun has been in Liangzhou for many years, and often communicates with businessmen from all over the Western Regions, and has a certain understanding of the two roads leading to the Western Regions.

It is safe to take the Gaochang line, but the speed is slow. It is still the Uighurs in Xizhou who cross the two thousand miles of sand and moraine, and they have to go south from Gaochang and cross the Tarim Basin to reach the territory of Khotan.

Taking this route has no surprise effect at all. It is impossible for the army to pass through the Uighur territory of Xizhou without leaking news.

Walking along the Lop Nur line can indeed be unexpected, but it is too dangerous. Once the army is troubled by wind and sand, it is in danger of being wiped out.

As a generation of famous generals, Li Chuyun naturally understands the truth of seeking stability rather than danger.In recent years, he has used the Gaochang line to deduce the military power, until recently he received a strange item... a water floating magnetic needle, that is, a compass.

The compass, a tool for identifying directions, appeared as early as the Warring States Period, and it was called Sinan. However, due to environmental influences, there were often serious errors.It wasn't until the compass came out that it was really possible to tell the direction in any environment.

The earliest compass record in history was born 100 years later with the development of geomancy.

However, due to the vigorous development of maritime merchants in the South China Sea, driven by huge profits, the rapid advancement of navigation technology, and the development of physics and mechanics, the water-floating magnetic needle, an artifact that can accurately determine the direction on the sea, naturally came out ahead of schedule.

When Li Chuyun learned that there was such an artifact, he immediately changed his tactical assumptions.

From Yumenguan to the Western Regions, the Lop Nur line is only more than [-] miles away, more than half of the distance.

The difficulty is that the Lop Nur line is full of salt land along the way. There is no drinking water source along the way, and there is no way to resupply. It is necessary to walk out of the no-man's land in one breath.Once hit by sandstorms along the way, lost or delayed for a few days, there is a huge risk.It is completely unrealistic to expect that the sea of ​​death will not have sandstorms.

However, with the water floating magnetic needle, even if the sky is full of sandstorms, the direction can be accurately identified, and the risk is minimized.

Zhe Yuxun has marched in the desert many times and has rich experience...

Based on various conditions, Li Chuyun drew up the plan.

The two brothers Zhe Yuxun and Zhe Yuqing also successfully overcame the dangers encountered along the way and completed the surprise attack.

"How?" Zhe Yuxun asked.

Zhe Yuqing, who had just come back from surveying the topographical information, shook his head and said, "This Li Shengtian still has some skills. He directly ignored the army of the Kara Khanate and transferred the western troops back to the west city. They didn't intend to come to help Shicheng town .Instead, the soldiers and civilians from Xincheng, Dahei, and Boxian Town were transferred to Xicheng."

Xicheng is also the capital of Khotan, Hotan of later generations, where Hotan jade is rich.

Zhe Yuxun nodded silently, and said: "A strong man breaks his wrist, Li Shengtian intends to fight a battle to protect the country and survive. If that is the case, then he should do what he asks. Erlang, you lead your troops into the city, occupy Shicheng Town, and move your troops to Ruoqiang for your brother At the foot of the mountain in the south, take care of each other. After you enter the city, appease the nobles and people in the city, and choose trustworthy people to serve as labor."

Zhe Yuqing is a famous general of the generation, only Li Jilong can compare with him in talent and potential, and instantly understands what his brother means. Li Shengtian wants to fight the battle of life and death, and they also want to fight the battle of standing in the Western Regions.

Khotan's offensive and defensive battles will be very important, and my elder brother is going to prepare the wood for making siege equipment in advance before the arrival of the army.

There is a certain risk for them to come here. The person who will be the prisoner is not with him, but it does not hinder the preparation of supplies in advance.