Tibet.

Chapter 1328: Yunnan Three Treasures
Li Sheng has led an army of 50,000 into Shizhou.

Li Sheng was very experienced. He was not in a hurry to attack the southern part of Shizhou controlled by Nanzhao, but instead wanted to gain a foothold in the northern part where the Han people lived first.

The army entered Yuexi County, which was the seat of Xizhou. Nanzhao called it Jianchang Prefecture.

70% of the people in the city are Han people, 30% are Nanzhao and other ethnic groups, and there are a few Tibetans.

In the central army tent, Deputy General Qu Huan pointed to the sand table and said, "The Nanzhao army is mainly concentrated in Huili County in the south, which is the seat of Huichuan Military Governor's Office. Jianchuan Prefecture in the west is actually controlled by the Tubo army. Tubo has stationed 30,000 troops in Jianchuan. Once our army takes over Huichuan Military Governor's Office, it will be less than 300 miles away from the Nanzhao capital Yangzhumie City."

Li Sheng used a small flag to plant on the Huichuan Governor's Mansion. Huichuan was close to the Lushui River, and their sand table ended at the Lushui River. He said slowly: "In this way, the Huichuan Governor's Mansion is the northern gate of Nanzhao, and it is a place they must defend."

Qu Huan nodded, "General, you are absolutely right. Back then, Li Mi's morale was boosted by the occupation of Huichuan Governor's Office, and he marched to the capital city of Taihe City. As a result, Huichuan was attacked and occupied by the Tibetan army that came to support it. The logistics were cut off, and the Tang army retreated in panic. They were attacked from both sides by Nanzhao and Tibetans. The Tang army was completely destroyed, and Li Mi drowned himself in Erhai Lake. It was so tragic."

Li Sheng pondered for a moment and said, "In fact, Tubo and Nanzhao are in a pincer attack. Tubo is in the west and Nanzhao is in the south. If we rush into Nanzhao, the Tubo army will definitely be cut off. So we can either occupy Huichuan and then confront them for a long time, or divide our forces and fight."

Qu Huan was the governor of Jiannan. He led 10,000 troops to join Li Sheng's main force and served as the deputy general of the southern expedition. The arrival of the Jiannan army brought the number of Tang troops to 60,000. Qu Huan pondered for a moment and said, "General, as far as I know, the total strength of Nanzhao is probably 200,000, and there are 30,000 war elephants. In the first battle between the Tang and Nanzhao, the Tang army was defeated by war elephants. General, you must not be careless."

Li Sheng sneered and said, "I believe that history will never repeat itself. Although I only led 50,000 troops to the south, I have a strong military force that can subvert the imagination of the Nanzhao and Tubo people. If they are sensible and surrender early, perhaps they can avoid the worry of national destruction!"

At noon, the staff officer Zheng Xu hurriedly found Li Sheng and said, "Meet the general!"

Zheng Xu was Zhang Li's aide and retainer, and the nephew of Zheng Hui, the Qingping official of Nanzhao. It was he who had testified in the Political Affairs Hall before. He was appointed by Li Sheng as an aide-de-camp to follow the army south to fight.

Li Sheng was looking at a map. He pointed at the map and laughed, "Why is Taihe City marked as the capital, and Yangzhumie City is also the capital? Which one is the capital?"

Zheng Xu bowed and said, "Taihe City is the capital, and Yangzhumie City is a new city. Although it is not the capital, the royal palace, government offices, and garrison troops are all in Yangzhumie City, and Yangzhumie City also has the largest population, so Yangzhumie City is the de facto capital."

"I see!"

Li Sheng smiled and asked, "What's the climate like there in April and May? I read the records of Zhuge Liang's attack on the Nanman. After crossing the Lushui River, the ground was full of miasma and primitive forests. The Han army was extremely uncomfortable with it."

Zheng Xu said quickly, "That was during the Shu Han period. Almost a thousand years have passed, and it's completely different. Nanzhao has a large population. How could they feed it if it were all primeval forests? Now, except for the mountains, the plains are all farmland, and there are also small cities and villages scattered around. However, I do want to remind the general that the weather there is hot and humid, which makes people very uncomfortable. If you don't adapt, you will really get sick easily."

Li Sheng nodded. "I know that the first war between the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao was because the Tang army was not used to the weather and most of them fell ill. Is there any way to avoid this?"

Zheng Xu said quickly, "This is what I am going to suggest to the general. If the general wants to cross the Lushui River and enter the heartland of Nanzhao, he must be equipped with medicine. As far as I know, Han merchants go to Nanzhao with medicine in advance. If you feel unwell there, you can just take some medicine."

Li Sheng was most worried that the soldiers would not be able to adapt to the climate. When he heard that there was medicine, he was overjoyed and asked anxiously, "Where is the medicine?"

"I know a drug store owner. I can go ask him!"

"I will go with you!"

Full of hope, Li Sheng, along with Qu Huan and military commander Li Miao, followed Zheng Xu to a pharmacy in Yuexi County. The pharmacy was run by a Han Chinese and was called Baicao Herb Shop.

Upon hearing that the Tang army commander was coming, the owner of the drug store hurried out to greet him and invited Li Sheng and his party to sit in the inner room.

Zheng Xu smiled and said, "The army is marching south, and we need medicine to prevent dampness and heat. The shopkeeper recommended those medicines to me last time. I will introduce some to the general!"

The shopkeeper nodded, "General, wait a moment!"

The shopkeeper ran to get some medicine. After a while, he brought back several kinds of medicine, put them on the table and said with a smile: "These are the three treasures of Yunnan that merchants like best. One is the brain-awakening pill to prevent heatstroke and miasma, another is the Baidusan to prevent poisonous insects, and another is the dehumidifying patch to prevent chest tightness caused by damp heat, and the others are the mugwort bags to prevent mosquito bites, etc.

The most popular items here are Baidusan and Qushitie, especially Qushitie, which is a plaster that you stick on your back. It makes your body feel clear all day and night. Merchants call it the magic patch. "

Li Sheng was delighted, "How many of these three medicines are there?"

"Small shops sell them in sets. A set contains three kinds of medicine, which can be used for twenty days. It costs 500 coins per set. If you buy in large quantities, you can get a discount." Li Sheng was delighted. "I want 100,000 sets. Can you get them?"

The shopkeeper was so frightened that he almost fell to the ground. "General, you are too scary. When we say large quantity, we mean one or two hundred sets. Our entire store has only a few hundred sets in stock. We can't even get a thousand sets!"

Li Sheng smiled and said, "I know you don't have it, but tell me, is there any way?"

The shopkeeper said with a bitter face: "There are enough medicinal materials, but not enough manpower! Even if all the pharmacists in the county were to work together, it would take a year."

Qu Huan suddenly said: "Manpower is not a big problem. Give me the herbs and formulas, and I can mobilize the counties and states in Jiannan, as well as the counties and states in Shannan West Road. It will be completed in one or two months, or even one month if it's faster."

This is a good idea. Li Sheng immediately said to Li Miao, the military commander, "You are responsible for getting the formula and medicinal materials and sending them to Chengdu immediately. The Qujiang Army will hand them over to the government to arrange for the production of the medicine!"

"I understand the humble position!"

Li Sheng asked the shopkeeper again, "Can we really buy enough medicinal materials?"

The shopkeeper nodded and said, "Our Yuexi County is the largest distribution center for Nanzhao medicinal materials. A large amount of medicinal materials from Nanzhao are stored here, and then sold to Bashu, Chang'an and all over the south. Hundreds of warehouses are filled with various medicinal materials. We have as many as you want!"

"Where's the recipe? Is it easy to get?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Don't worry, General. These are common medicines. They are not secret recipes. Every store has the recipes. I can provide them to you without charging you a penny."

Li Sheng nodded, "I'll buy all the Yunnan Three Treasures you have in your store."

Li Sheng could ask the army to wait, but the scouts needed this medicine.

Medicinal herbs for removing dampness and heat are only needed after crossing the Lu River. They are not needed when attacking Huichuan Prefecture in the south.

The task of preparing medicine was given to Sima Li Miao, and Li Sheng immediately led an army of 50,000 southward, targeting Huichuan Military Governor's Mansion on the north bank of Lushui.

Huichuan Military Governor's Office is today's Huili County. It was the northern gate of Nanzhao and also the stronghold for the Nanzhao army to harass the Tang Dynasty to the north. Its strategic location was extremely important.

From Huichuan, you can go west to Jianchuan Military Governor's Mansion. Once the Tang Dynasty crossed the Lu River and entered Nanzhao, the Tubo army would quickly attack from Jianchuan, occupy Huichuan Mansion, and cut off the Tang army's retreat.

At this time, the Huichuan Military Governor's Office had a combined Nanzhao and Tubo force of about 20,000 men, who were ready to fight against the Tang army.

There are currently several major factions in Nanzhao. The first is the Nanzhao King Geluofeng, who belongs to the centrists. On the one hand, he fought two battles with the Tang army and killed hundreds of thousands of Tang soldiers. He was extremely afraid of the Tang Dynasty, so he embraced Tubo without hesitation.

However, as Tubo's oppression of Nanzhao became increasingly severe, Geluofeng wanted to use the power of the Tang Dynasty to get rid of Tubo, so he erected the Nanzhao Dehua Stele a few years ago to show that he had no choice but to rebel against the Tang Dynasty and that he was willing to make peace with the Tang Dynasty.

When Li Ye ascended the throne, Geluofeng specially sent an envoy to congratulate him. He wanted to take the opportunity of Li Ye's ascension to the throne to ease relations with the Tang Dynasty.

Zheng Hui, the Qingping official, was a pro-Tang faction and tried his best to persuade Geluofeng to be friendly to the Tang Dynasty.

However, Nanzhao had six Qingping officials, or six prime ministers, and Zheng Hui was only one of them. His power was still not enough. The anti-Tang hardliners still dominated the mainstream of Nanzhao, especially with Tubo supporting the hardliners from behind. It was a bit difficult for Zheng Hui alone to carry on the cause.

Among the hardliners against the Tang Dynasty, the most representative was the grandson of the Tang Dynasty, Yi Mouxun. He was young and ambitious, and advocated seizing all the land in the southern part of Jiannan.

Therefore, the Nanzhao army's attack on the Tang Dynasty prospecting team was by no means accidental. It can be regarded as a hedging measure taken by the hardliners after King Geluofeng sent envoys to congratulate Li Ye on his accession to the throne.

However, it was also the attack by the Nanzhao-Tibetan coalition on the Tang Dynasty's prospecting team that caused the Tang Dynasty to worry about the security of southern Jiannan, which led to the Tang Dynasty taking this opportunity to send troops to Nanzhao to resolutely safeguard the security of southern Jiannan.

The third war between the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao inevitably broke out.

(End of this chapter)