A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1103 Don’t learn from Wagang’s stick of incense
The gatherings of generals are always inseparable from drinking.

Drinking from a big cup makes you look cool.

Lao Cheng held a glass and insisted on drinking white wine with Huaiyu, "This glass made by you is more beautiful than any agate cup and glass cup. This glass must be paired with your white wine. It is crystal clear." Wine glass, filled with clear and transparent white wine,"

Wu Huaiyu would not dare to drink liquor with this old devil.

There are so many big and powerful generals today. If they really want to do this, they will probably have to lie down drunk.

"This glass is most suitable with grape red wine. The luminous glass of grape wine will remind you immediately if you want to drink from the pipa. Lord Don't laugh when you are drunk on the battlefield. How many people from ancient times will return from the battle."

"This poem of yours," Lao Cheng said while holding the wine glass. He didn't like it very much. "Are you really going to lead eight thousand horses on an expedition to the west?"

"Your Majesty gave me eight thousand more," Huaiyu swung the red wine in his glass and took a sip. The wine tasted good.

Although Lao Cheng fully supported Wu Huaiyu in the palace, he even felt that Wu Huaiyu's words of riding eight thousand horses through the Western Regions were really exciting to hear, especially when looking at Hou Junji's suppressed red face.

But now in private, he still wanted to ask Wu Huaiyu what confidence he had.
"I, Old Cheng, have experienced hundreds of battles. I am not afraid of Yuguzhao in the Western Expedition, but I am really not confident in leading eight thousand cavalry on an expedition of ten thousand miles.

There is also the Gaochang State that is at the forefront of our Western Expedition. Although it only has more than 10,000 households, it has five large cities and can win 10,000 soldiers. Moreover, if you want to set up a valley, you will definitely receive reinforcements. The cavalry is outside,

If they attack our supplies, we'll be in trouble. "

"Although there is a desert barrier to the west of Yumen Pass, we still have the advance fortress of Yizhou in Qixi," Wu Huaiyu was very confident and did not underestimate the enemy.

When he and Li Jing destroyed DTZ, they also launched a surprise attack, and now they can do it again.

The road blockage problem in Gaochang that Lao Cheng was worried about was not a problem, because Gaochang was a small country with few people. Although there were five big cities, the so-called big cities were only compared to the oasis cities in the small countries in the Western Regions.

The royal capital of Gaochang is actually not very big, but the terrain it occupies is relatively dangerous.

But the Tang Dynasty had the Shenji Camp and the Shenji Firearms, which were great weapons for attacking cities and strongholds. In history, Hou Junji did not have such sharp firearms, and he could still destroy the capital of Gaochang with just a catapult.
What's more, now?

It was precisely with these trump cards that Wu Huaiyu dared to say that he could capture Yugushe alive with only eight thousand fine cavalry.

When fighting, you will get unexpected results.

You have to break through the routine and control the rhythm in your own hands.

Both Yu Gushe and Qu Zhisheng felt that although the Tang Dynasty sent envoys several times to question him, it would not really send troops to the Western Regions. This was because the Sui Dynasty was so powerful that the Emperor Daye conquered Linyi in the south, Fuhai and Liuqiu, and westward. Destroy Tuyuhun and Yiwu, and conquer Goguryeo.
But in the Western Region, we only stopped at Yiwu.
Facing the Gaochang Kingdom, they only canonized Yuwen Yubo as Princess Huarong and married him to the King of Gaochang.

Today's Tang Dynasty is far inferior to the Sui Dynasty in terms of national power.
Yang Guang, a warlike emperor, attacked Yiwu, Tuyuhun, Linyi, Liuqiu, Khitan, and Goguryeo, but he did not attack Gaochang.
Datang will definitely not really attack Gaochang.
What's more, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, it has never truly entered the Western Regions.

A Yiwu is just a group of Sogdian city lords who surrendered to the Central Plains. The Tang Dynasty established Yizhou in Yiwu and even sent the governor of Anxi, but it still cannot be regarded as the Zhengzhou of the Tang Dynasty.

Under this inertial thinking, they all felt that it was impossible for the Tang Dynasty to really send troops to the Western Regions. Even if they did come, Gaochang would still be in the way.

Separated by seven thousand miles and hundreds of miles of desert,

If the Tang Dynasty sent hundreds of thousands of troops, how would they be resupplied over such a long distance and difficult transportation?

How can they take down more than 20 cities in Gaochang if they come less?

The Western Region is not the Central Plains. It is a city-state formed by many large and small oases. If the Tang army does not capture Gaochang, it will not get supplies, let alone go deeper.

In fact, even many people in the Tang Dynasty thought so.

I feel that if we have fewer troops, we may not be able to defeat them, but if we have more troops, it will be difficult to supply. We cannot do what Yang Guang did when he conquered Liaodong, sending millions of troops and then forcing all the people in the world to transport food. That would cause chaos in the world.

"Although Guo Xiaoke neglected his duties, at least he still defended Yiwu, and there were a thousand Anxi troops there, and there were also many Sogdian and other Hu soldiers in Yiwu,"

Wu Huaiyu told Lao Cheng that the most critical point in the Western Expedition was Yiwu City.

It's not Yiwu Army but Yiwu City.

Since the Han Dynasty, there were originally two ways to go out of the Western Regions, and later there were four.

From Yumen, cross the quicksand, and go west for two thousand miles to Shanshan, which is one road; from Yumen, cross the quicksand, and go north for two thousand two hundred miles to Cheshi, which is one road;
It goes one hundred miles west from Yarkand to Congling, which is one thousand three hundred miles west to Jiabei; it is one road from Congling five hundred miles southwest of Yarkand, and one thousand three hundred miles southwest to Bolu.

Later, Yumen Pass moved eastward and was closely connected with Yiwu Road. The Yiwu Road was opened as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty. Dou Gu led his army to attack Yiwu and fought at Puleihai. It went from Dunhuang to the west of Yumen and Yangguan, crossed Shanshan, and led to Yiwu for more than a thousand miles in the north.

From the Han Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty, Yumen Pass to the west of Dunhuang has always been the gateway to the Western Regions.

The Yiwu Road prospered during the Northern Zhou Dynasty. From Dunhuang to Yiwu, there were many sandy moraine. It is impossible to accurately record the road. The only evidence is human and animal bones and camel and horse dung.

This road is very difficult. It is 1,300 miles from the northwest of Guazhou to Gaochang. There are sandy moraine and lack of water and grass. It is difficult for people to walk. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers. You have to rely on animal bones and camel and horse dung to find the way. If it snows heavily, there will be no way. Find the way.

Because this old Yiwu Road was difficult to travel, later during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, a new Yiwu Road was opened, running from the southeast of the county to the east of the sea, and then crossing the moraine in the southeast to enter the border of Yizhou.

This road is now also called Jigang Road. It goes from Dunhuang to the north, passes through Xianquan garrison and Jiggan garrison, and ends in Yizhou. Its name comes from the Jiggan garrison that passes by.

Wu Huaiyu studied this road, which probably started from the northwest of Guazhou, crossed Liusha to Hami, then went south along the Tianshan Mountains, passing through Pizhan, Luxembourg, Turpan, etc.
The Tang army wanted to expedition to the Western Regions, and the greatest difficulty was actually the long journey.

Especially when you have to cross hundreds of miles of desert, with neither water nor grass along the way, and it may even be difficult to recognize the road.
However, Wu Huaiyu was in control of the Northern Yiwu Road, also known as Jigang Road. Since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Central Plains had had close contact with Yiwu and Gaochang, and he knew how to manage this road very clearly.

As long as it is not the season of heavy snowfall in winter and spring, then there is no big problem for the Tang army to take this route. With a small number of troops, they don't have to worry about supply problems.

Of course, the most important thing is that Wu Huaiyu not only clearly mastered Yiwu Dao, Datang now also controls Yiwu City, which is the original Yiwu Kingdom.

"In the fourth year of Daye, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty appointed Xue Wanche's father, Xue Shixiong, as the general of the Yumen Road march, so that he and the Turkic Qimin Khan jointly attacked the country of Yiwu and moved to Yumen. Qimin broke the treaty and the troops failed to arrive.

The Yiwu Kingdom believed that since the Turkic Qimin Khan did not send troops, the Sui army would not be able to come again and they would be defenseless.
By the time they discovered the Sui army, Xue Shixiong's army had already crossed the desert, and the divine soldiers descended from the sky. The country of Yiwu was greatly frightened, and asked to surrender, so that they could drink wine at the gate of the army. "

Speaking of this past event, Wu Huaiyu still admired Lao Xue. At that time, Qimin Khan was originally the main force to attack Yiwu, but Qimin did not come.
Xue Shixiong led thousands of Sui soldiers, but he still insisted on crossing the moraine alone, and finally caught the Yiwu Kingdom by surprise. The King of Yiwu did not even have time to summon his troops, and the royal city was surrounded.

The king surrendered directly.

Xue Shixiong accepted the surrender, and then built a new city to the east of the old Yiwulu City of the Han Dynasty. He left his deputy general to lead a thousand Sui troops to garrison Yiwulu, and he returned to the court.

"Are you saying that the current King Gaochang and Yu Gushe, just like King Yiwu back then, think that our Tang army will not really conquer the west?

And you want to imitate Xue Shixiong and ride across the moraine, and the magic soldiers descend from heaven to Gaochang? "

Wu Huaiyu nodded.

Qin Qiong's voice came from behind, "Huaiyu's idea is a good one. As long as Gaochang is unprepared and Huaiyu has the help of magical firearms, it will not be difficult to capture Gaochang, but it will be difficult to set up Yugu.

Even if Qingqi crosses the moraine and raids the Khan's court, it will not be easy to capture Yu Gushe if he wants to run away. "

"Don't worry, foster father. It was difficult for Jieli to escape at first, but in the end he didn't escape my senior brother's pursuit. This time, I specially invited my senior brother Su to be the vanguard. The task of capturing Yu Gushe was given to him. ." Huaiyu said with a smile.

The key to his confidence in taking down Yugushe is that Yugushe's Khan Court is not far from Gaochang State, and a light cavalry attack can completely catch Yugushe off guard.

As long as you don't alert the snake and don't let him escape in advance, it will not be easy to escape Su Dingfang's pursuit.

"After listening to Erlang's words, I feel more confident now." Lao Cheng laughed loudly and drank the wine in a big gulp, his face flushed, "No wonder Hou Junji took the initiative to recruit Brother Xue Wanche to serve as the leader before. As for the deputy general, he probably remembers the time when Xue Shixiong destroyed Yiwu alone."

"When Xue Shixiong crossed Qiwu alone to destroy Yiwu, the Xue Wanche brothers should not have been in the army, right?"

"It doesn't matter if he's here or not, we won't take the Xue brothers with us on our western expedition."

Cheng Yaojin blushed and talked about Guo Xiaoke, the protector of Anxi. Guo Xiaoke was also born in Wagang. In his early years, he was a farmer in Henan like Zhang Liang. He liked to idle around and not do anything in production. He took advantage of the chaos in the world to drag his troops to Wagang. However, he Different from Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin and others,

Guo Xiaoke is Li Ji's confidant, but Li Ji has been suppressed in recent years. Guo Xiaoke, a fierce general, has not developed much. He has been serving as governor for several times. Now he is the governor of Anxi and the governor of Yizhou, but he has not been able to serve as governor. The governor of a state has only a thousand soldiers at his command.

He has made little achievements in the Western Regions, so no wonder he has no territory or soldiers, what can he do.

When we worked hard together in Wagang, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin and the others had already become Dukes and Generals, while Guo Xiaoke was still just a Duke.

"If it weren't for Lao Guo, it wouldn't be our turn to march westward. We wouldn't even be able to eat this fat meal. We have to thank Lao Guo."

Everyone laughed.

When Wu Huaiyu saw this, he thought, no wonder everyone said that they would rather learn Taoyuan Sanshengyi than Wagang Yizhuxiang. There are many factions in Wagang. The relationship between a group of brothers is too chaotic, and most of them are superficial brothers.

(End of this chapter)