Man Tanghong

The 10,000+ people were reduced by Li Shiji to only [-], and the remaining people were all rushed into the baggage team.

After everything was ready, Li Shiji launched an attack on the Western Turks without hesitation.

Just as Li Shiji said, after the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty entered the Western Turks, they encountered almost no decent resistance. The Western Turks had no time to take care of themselves, and Ashina Sheer and others were crazy in the northwest of the Western Turks. Conquer cities and seize territory.

Therefore, after entering the Western Turks, the soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty marched almost all the way.

In five days, Hou Junji, the newly appointed former army commander and the marching commander of Longyou Road, and Xue Wanjun, the new deputy commander of the former army and the marching commander of Lingzhou Road, led three thousand light cavalry and attacked more than 1000 miles. Sixteen small groups of Western Turks were defeated, four cities were captured, and Changle of Western Turks was reached.

After this matter spread to the Chinese army, the whole army was in an uproar.

Before the expedition, everyone guessed that the Western Turks would be easy to fight, but no one expected that the Western Turks would be so easy to fight.

What is the concept of traveling more than 1000 miles in five days?
This is equivalent to traveling more than 300 miles every day!

If they were just rushing on the road, it wouldn't be a big deal, but this was a rush operation. They not only had to rush on the road, but also wiped out all the enemies they encountered on the road. That would be awesome.

There are two examples of Hou Junji and Xue Wanjun. The other soldiers are clamoring to speed up the march, go to the Western Turks to cut the heads of the Turks, and go to the Western Turks to make achievements.

Although Li Shiji was very strict in managing the army, he did not dare to stop the enthusiasm of the soldiers to make great achievements, so after careful consideration, he reported the matter to King Yong's Palace in Lingzhou, hoping to allow them to take the lead in entering the hinterland of the Western Turks.

The reason why Li Shiji reported this matter was because several Turkic regiments participated in the war against the Western Turks.

Although he is the commander-in-chief of the army, he can control the whole army and give orders to any soldier, but the Turkic Corps has not been incorporated into the military order of the Tang Dynasty. It is just a non-staff member. If you want others to cooperate with him, you can It must be reported to King Yong's palace, and the decision will be made by King Yong's palace.

In a temporarily occupied mansion in Lingzhou, after Li Yuanji read the documents handed over by Li Shiji, he handed them to Li Shimin and said, "Take a look..."

Li Shimin was writing a document to govern Mobei for his son Li Chengqian. He was stunned for a moment when the document was suddenly handed to him. Then he put down the pen in his hand, took the document suspiciously, and quickly read it. After reading all the documents, After reading the content, he stared in astonishment.

“Five days and more than 200 miles, along the way we also conquered 3000 small Western Turkic tribes, captured four cities, captured more than [-] Western Turkic people, and captured more than [-] cattle and sheep.

Are you sure everything in this document is true? "

Even though Li Shimin was well-informed, he looked in disbelief after reading the contents of the document.

He has actually seen more exaggerated results than this, and even fought them with his own hands.

For example, the battle at Hulao Pass.

But when this kind of thing happens to him, he easily believes it and accepts it easily. When it happens to others, he doesn't believe it so much and he doesn't accept it so much.

After all, apart from Xue Wanjun, Hou Junji was a general who served under his sect, and he knew exactly how much Hou Junji weighed.

Based on his understanding of Hou Junji, he didn't think Hou Junji could achieve such a sharp record.

Facing Li Shimin's question, Li Yuanji said calmly: "Do you think Li Shiji dares to lie to me about this kind of thing?"

Li Shimin hesitated for a moment and shook his head with difficulty.

Although Li Shiji had a bad character and was sinister, he would never joke about this kind of thing, let alone play tricks on this kind of thing.

After all, this was a major military matter related to the Tang Dynasty's conquest of the Western Turks, and Li Shiji knew how to handle it.

But precisely because of this, Li Shimin was even more unbelievable, "When did Hou Junji become so powerful?"

He brought Hou Junji out single-handedly, and he may know Hou Junji's capabilities better than Hou Junji himself.

Therefore, even though he recognized Hou Junji's performance in his heart, he still had some doubts.

"Is it possible that it's not that Hou Junji has become more powerful, but that our opponent is too weak?"

Li Yuanji turned his head and looked at Li Shimin and asked.

The Western Turks are now in chaos. When Li Shiji went out to explore the terrain, he came back and said that the Western Turks might be easier to fight than everyone thought.

Therefore, Hou Junji's current record only proves Li Shiji's words, and there is nothing to be surprised about.Li Shimin was stunned for a moment when he heard this. After a brief consideration, he nodded in approval.

But before he could speak, Li Yuanji continued: "Now is not the time to talk about this. What we need to discuss now is whether to agree to Li Shiji's request and let him leave Ashina Simo and others behind and lead the attack first. "

Li Shimin was silent for a moment, and after putting aside the matter of Hou Junji, he thought: "If we agree to Li Shiji's request, then our idea of ​​using the Turks to consume the strength of the Western Turks may be in vain..."

Li Yuanji nodded and said, "It is precisely because of this consideration that I hesitate to agree to Li Shiji's request."

Li Shimin had already made some thoughts at this time, and mused: "Why don't you agree to Li Shiji first and let him lead the attack first? When he reaches Shanshan and needs to divide his troops into three groups, let him wait for Ashina." Think about them.

Or let Li Shiji leave Ashina Simo alone and fight as he wants. We can directly send orders to Ashina Simo and ask Ashina Simo to lead people from Jinshan into Western Turks to cooperate with Li Shiji in the Western Turks. The Turks attacked Ashinasheer from both sides in the northwest.

Anyway, according to what Li Shiji said, when the Tang Dynasty invades the Western Turks, the most difficult enemy to deal with is Ashina Sheer.

Therefore, whether Ashina Simo follows Li Shiji's footsteps or directly enters the Western Turks from Jinshan, in the end they have to cooperate with Li Shiji to fight against Ashina Sher in the northwest of the Western Turks.

So we just need to make sure that when Li Shiji arrives in the northwest of Western Turks, Ashina Simo is also there, and the rest can be arranged in any way. "

Li Yuanji nodded thoughtfully and said, "You prefer the last option, right?"

Both arrangements have advantages and disadvantages. The former can assist Li Shiji during the march and can provide Li Shiji with backing when necessary. However, the disadvantages are also great, that is, there will be a huge demand for baggage.

After all, if Li Shiji himself leads more than 8 elite soldiers, and Ashina Simo leads three more regiments, a total of 15 people are put together with Li Shiji, then the daily baggage required will be a huge number.

Judging from the current transportation capacity of Lingzhou's baggage team, it can barely supply it. However, once the battle line is stretched, especially after the troops are divided into three groups and they need to enter the desert from Dunhuang and then cross the edge of the desert into Gaochang, then There will be no supply.

After all, the baggage team in Lingzhou is now only responsible for transporting baggage to the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, but not to the Turkic regiments.

The only baggage and military supplies currently equipped by the Turkic Corps include some armor that has been issued to them, and some cattle and sheep that have been used as rations, which they carry and drive themselves.

According to the earliest strategic vision, the Turkic regiments were planned to be at the front, so they could not see the baggage the Tang soldiers would receive and the treatment they would enjoy, so there would be no disagreements.

But once they get behind the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty and see the baggage and the treatment that the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty receive, they will definitely feel unbalanced and will definitely cause trouble.

Therefore, once the former arrangement is adopted, a certain amount of baggage must be provided to the Turkic Corps.

In this case, Lingzhou's baggage team must shoulder the responsibility of transporting baggage to the Turkic Corps.

The number of Turkic regiments was three times that of the right route army planned by Li Shiji, so the baggage pressure would also be multiplied by three.

With the transportation capacity of Lingzhou's current baggage team, it simply cannot bear it.

Therefore, if it is arranged according to the former arrangement, Datang will still need to expand its baggage team. The pressure that Datang will have to face and the manpower and material resources it will need to pay will also increase exponentially.

The latter did not rely much on the Tang Dynasty's supplies. It could even be said that it was not dependent at all. After all, if Ashina Simo entered the Western Turks from Jinshan, it would be impossible for Ashina Simo to meet Li Shiji on the road, let alone Li Shiji. See the treatment enjoyed by the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

Not only that, after Ashina Simo entered the Western Turks, he could easily form a two-sided attack with Li Shiji. In this way, it would be easier to conquer Ashina Sheer.

As for the disadvantage, Ashina Simo and others could not appear behind Li Shiji in time to help Li Shiji, nor could they be Li Shiji's back-up.

However, judging from the current situation in Western Turkestan, Li Shiji will hardly encounter any particularly strong resistance before entering Gaochang, so the chance of needing Ashina Simo is slim.

Therefore, comparing the two, the latter obviously has more advantages and is more worthy of adoption.

After hearing the question, Li Shimin nodded without hesitation: "Yes, I prefer the latter!"

Li Yuanji nodded, without any further hesitation, and directly ordered Ren Gui to draft a document, allowing Li Shiji to take the lead in leading the attack. At the same time, he asked Ren Gui to change the documents to Ashina Simo, Astez En, and Zhi Shisi Li, so that Li Yuanji could They abandoned their previously planned marching route and rushed to Jinshan instead. From Jinshan they entered the Western Turks, and cooperated with Li Shiji to form a two-sided attack on Ashinasheer.

Ren Gui was a master of military art and knew that military orders should be brief, so he wrote two documents in just a hundred words.

And it was presented to Li Yuanji for reading.

Li Yuanji glanced at it briefly, and after confirming that what Ren Gui wrote was consistent with what he meant, he immediately asked Zhao Chengyong to send someone out.