Tibet.

Chapter 1446 Grassland News
Deep in the ocean far to the south, the Tang Dynasty expedition team completed its preliminary exploration of the southern continent. The two most important points in the preliminary exploration were rivers and establishing shipping routes.

Rivers are the most important. They not only mean fresh water, but also land for cultivation. The land of this southern continent is as vast as the Tang Dynasty. The expedition team cannot explore deeply at all and can only find a foothold along the coast.

After nearly a month of exploration, the expedition team found more than 30 rivers. These rivers were relatively short, but there were large tracts of fertile land on both sides of the rivers. If the Tang people migrated here, they could first establish more than 30 settlements and then gradually explore inland.

What's gratifying is that the land here is very suitable for growing wheat, and more importantly, they have confirmed that there are no natives on the southern continent. At least, there are no natives in the settlements they found, and there are no signs of human habitation.

Yang Liangyao ordered the erection of steles as evidence to indicate that this place was already the territory of the Tang Dynasty. They erected thirty-four steles and left marks for searching.

The marking method is to find a large stone on the seashore closest to the settlement, paint it red to make it particularly eye-catching, so that the marker stone can be seen on the sea.

After a busy month, the fleet set sail and headed towards Titicaca Island. They would rest on Titicaca Island for more than ten days and then continue to the southeast to find Ilha do Sur.

Liaodong in February is already full of spring, with gurgling water and green grass everywhere, full of vitality.

One hundred thousand Tang troops have arrived, plus the 20,000 troops of the Liaoxi Military Governor's Office and the 20,000 troops of the Liaodong Military Governor's Office, a total of 140,000 troops are available for deployment.

Inside the Liucheng camp, Ma Lin stood in front of the sand table, discussing the upcoming battle to annihilate the Shiwei with his deputy general Yu Changyang, Liaoxi governor Zhang Dian, and Yingzhou governor and Liaoxi governor's office chief Wei Feng.

Ma Lin said slowly: "Everyone, in fact, my biggest worry is that Xishiwei and Dashiwei will find that they cannot match the Tang army and move west to avoid fighting. This will make our strategic intention of annihilating Shiwei fail, which is the outcome that the emperor does not want to see the most. The emperor would rather Shiwei stay in Liaoxi than go to the grasslands and deserts in the north. The emperor thinks that is like a fish jumping into the sea, and it will be difficult to annihilate them completely."

Zhang Dian smiled slightly and said, "Wei Changshi has been dealing with the Shiwei side and has had more contact with the grasslands. This question should be answered by Wei Changshi."

Ma Lin turned his gaze to Wei Feng again. Wei Feng said modestly: "I actually know only a little about Shiwei and the grasslands. I'm afraid I will disappoint you, Marshal!"

Ma Lin waved his hand and said, "You are welcome, Envoy Wei. Please speak frankly!"

"Okay! Then I'll just say a few words."

Wei Feng pondered for a moment and said, "The westward migration of Shiwei was influenced by two factors. The first was their own will, and the second was whether there was a place for them on the grassland.
Putting aside their own wishes, let's simply talk about the location of the grassland. The place the Shiwei people most want to go to is of course the Suling River and Xiang'e River basins, where the grassland has the most lush grass and water. It is the heart of the grassland, but it is currently the territory of the Uighurs.

Although the Uighurs suffered a heavy blow during their invasion of the Tang Dynasty, most of their troops were redeemed, and their strength did not decrease, far exceeding that of the Shiwei.

Therefore, the Shiwei Kingdom had no chance to even think about occupying the Caixin land. Even if the Uighurs were destroyed, it would not be their turn. Kunjian, Sijie, Qiqin, Pugu, and Bayegu had already divided it up.

The second is the eastern grassland, which is divided into the upper eastern and the lower eastern. The upper eastern has the Kurob tribe and the Bayegu tribe. They may support the Shiwei, but will never allow the Shiwei to occupy their pastures.

Then there is the lower eastern part, which also includes the Bayegu tribe and the Qibi tribe. Among them, the Qibi tribe in the southeast is the weakest, but the Sijie tribe will come and fight with us. The role of the Sijie army is to plug the gap in the southeastern part of the grassland.

So if we analyze it from the grassland, there is no place for the Shiwei tribe to migrate westwards at present.”

"What about Kulobbu?"

Ma Lin asked, "It is said that the Kuluobo tribe is relatively weak. Can they stop the Xiwei people from migrating westward?"

Wei Feng smiled slightly and said, "The Kuluobo tribe is very weak, but the commander-in-chief must understand why they are weak."

"Appreciate further details!"

"The land occupied by the Kulubo tribe is located east of the North Sea. Most of it is vast primeval forests with very little grassland. Eight out of the twelve months here are covered with snow. I believe that the Shiwei people would not want such land."

Ma Lin nodded, "It really doesn't make any sense!"

"What about the wishes of the Shiwei people themselves?" Yu Changyang asked.

Wei Feng smiled and said, "The Shiwei people are Donghu people. Donghu people are a little different from grassland Hu people. They are settled rather than migrating. Their parents are buried after death, unlike grassland Hu people who set fire to their ashes. Grassland people have no fixed place to live, so they choose cremation. Therefore, the Shiwei people are generally unwilling to leave the land where their ancestors are buried. Unless they really can't survive, they will choose to migrate westward." At this time, Zhang Dian slowly said, "I have been thinking about a question for some time. Is it possible for the Bayegu tribe to unite with me to deal with the Shiwei tribe? Or station troops to prevent the Shiwei tribe from migrating westward?"

"Why did Commander Zhang suddenly have this idea?"

Zhang Dian smiled and said, "Last fall, I met a group of Bayegu merchants. After chatting with them, I learned that they have two khans. They are actually brothers with equal strength. Neither can swallow the other. They are called the Great Khan and the Little Khan. The Great Khan is more cautious and gentle, while the Little Khan is warlike and has close ties with Shiwei. I am considering whether I can use this relationship to my advantage?"

Ma Lin also laughed, "Did Commander Zhang send a clear signal to the other side?"

Zhang Dian nodded and said, "I asked the caravan to deliver a letter to the Great Khan. I think we will get a reply in the spring!"

In the morning, a group of merchants came to the official road outside the west city of Liucheng County, driving tens of thousands of fat sheep and a batch of medicinal materials. Although there were rumors that the Tang army and the Shiwei were fighting, these merchants did not take it seriously. For them, the more wars there were, the more profitable they were, especially the sale of spoils after the war, which was simply too cheap.

Last year, a businessman picked up hundreds of thousands of cow dung cakes discarded by the Tang army, transported them to Bayegu and sold them, making a lot of money. This incident was widely circulated among businessmen, and also inspired countless businessmen to rush to Liaodong to look for business opportunities.

This group of merchants are Bayegu merchants. Their leader is called Asa, an "old man" in his forties. For the Han people, people in their forties are considered middle-aged, but on the grassland, the life expectancy of ordinary people is only in their forties, so of course he is an old man.

They often traveled between Liaodong and the grassland. Did they know what the Tang army needed?
Fat sheep were what the Tang army needed most, followed by medicinal materials. They basically sold them to the Tang army. Although the prices were not high, they sold quickly and the money was collected quickly, and they still had time to make another trip.

When they arrived in Liucheng County, the merchants went to the military supplies purchasing station, but the team leader Asa went to the Governor's Mansion.

After waiting for a while, a soldier led him into the government office, and soon he met the governor Zhang Dian.

Asa was the Bayegu merchant who had talked with Zhang Dian last year and was entrusted by Zhang Dian to bring a letter to the Great Khan. Winter was over and he came back.

"Meet Commander Zhang!"

Zhang Dian smiled and said, "How was it? Did you meet your Great Khan?"

Asa took out a letter and handed it to Zhang Dian, "This is the reply from the Great Khan!"

Zhang Dian took the letter and was surprised to see that it was written in Chinese. "Is this a reply from your Great Khan himself?"

"Reporting to the governor, it is a reply from the Great Khan. He studied in Chang'an and is fluent in Chinese."

Zhang Dian took the letter, but he was not in a hurry to read it. He asked again, "Is there any other news you want to tell me?"

Asa quickly bowed and said, "Reporting to the governor, there is indeed important news. Last winter, one of the tribes of the Little Khan got lost while hiding from a snowstorm and entered the territory of the Great Khan. The Little Khan asked to be returned, but the Great Khan refused. It is very likely that the two families will go to war."

Zhang Dian nodded and asked, "Do they often go to war?"

Asa thought for a moment and said, "I remember that they fought three times, but the winner was never decided. Later, under the mediation of the Pugu tribe, both of them proclaimed themselves Khans. After that, there was no more fighting. But this time, we are really going to fight!"

"I see!"

Zhang Dian smiled and asked, "Any other news?"

"There is another piece of news. Before I came here, I heard that the envoys of the Sijie tribe came to visit the Great Khan."

These messages are very important!
Zhang Dian asked Asa for the address of his inn and asked Asa to go and get busy first.

Zhang Dian immediately ordered, "Go and ask Marshal Ma and Chief Secretary Wei to come to me!"

(End of this chapter)