The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 206: Journey to Tianshan

Anxi.

Li Heng asked An Sishun to take care of the affairs of the countries in the Western Regions, mainly including tribute, joint defense and the management of the Silk Road.

Then he asked Gao Xianzhi to stay in Anxi to continue running the business, and sent Feng Changqing to Beiting in advance to take over Beiting’s military affairs.

He himself, along with his men, set off slowly with Yang Yuhuan and Zhang Mujin.

Li Heng chose to walk slowly. In addition to accompanying Yang Yuhuan on the tour, he also wanted to conduct a real field investigation and turn Anxi and Beiting from images on the map into the real place in his mind.

Generally speaking, Anxi and Beiting are located between three mountains and two basins.

The three mountains from north to south are Altai Mountains, Tianshan Mountains and Kunlun Mountains, and the two basins refer to the Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin.

The Tarim Basin is located between the Tianshan Mountains and the Kunlun Mountains. It is the largest basin in my country. There is widespread desert inside the basin and oases around it.

Anxi originally had four towns, which were distributed in the oases around the Tarim Basin.

The Tarim Basin is bordered by Qiuci to the north, Yanqi to the northeast, Shule to the west, and Khotan to the south.

The sandbar on the east is under the jurisdiction of Hexi.

As for the middle, it is the Taklamakan Desert, known as the Sea of ​​Death.

The Junggar Basin is located between the Altai Mountains and the Tianshan Mountains. There is a large desert with a flowing nature, which is a typical wind erosion landform. The famous Devil City is located in it.

Most of Beiting's jurisdiction revolved around the Junggar Basin, and its capital, Tingzhou, was located in the southeastern part of the Junggar Basin.

In addition to the original four towns of Anxi and the three major states of Beiting, the Ili River Valley area in the northwest is also suitable for operation.

The Ili River Valley is known as the Jiangnan of the Great Wall. It is located north of Anxi and west of Beiting. The warm current of the Atlantic Ocean blows from the west, making the land here fertile and the climate humid, which is very suitable for farming.

Previously, the Ili River Valley had always been controlled by the Turks. After Li Heng captured the city of Suiye, he basically controlled most of the Ili River Valley.

So what Li Heng needs to think about now is how to connect these three areas and make them become one.

Li Ying and his party set out from Qiuci, headed east to Yanqi, then climbed up the Tianshan Mountains and all the way to Tianshan Tianchi.

Tianchi Lake in Tianshan Mountains is located in Tingzhou, only a hundred kilometers away from Urumqi. The Tang Dynasty established Zhangbao Shouzhuo and Wuzai Shouzhuo nearby.

Yang Yuhuan came to the edge of Yaochi, found a big rock to sit on, then took off her shoes and socks and dipped her feet into the water.

Li Ying followed and sat next to Yang Yuhuan, and asked, "How did you know there is such a good place here?"

Yang Yuhuan smiled and said, "It is recorded in the Biography of Emperor Mu that on the day of Yichou, Emperor Mu toasted with the Queen Mother of the West on the Yaochi Lake. The Queen Mother of the West asked, 'White clouds are in the sky, hills appear, the road is long, and there are mountains and rivers between them. Will you be able to come back if you don't die?' The Emperor replied, 'Return to the East, govern the Xia people in harmony, and make all the people equal. I will see you again. In three years, you will be able to return to the wild.'"

The general meaning of this passage is that Emperor Mu and Queen Mother of the West were drinking in Tianchi Lake. Queen Mother of the West asked Emperor Mu if he wanted to come and play again. Emperor Mu said that he would come in three years after he finished dealing with state affairs.

Li Yan had heard of this legend, but he had not read the "Chronicles of Emperor Mu", so he could not help but ask: "Did Emperor Mu fulfill his promise later?"

"I don't know. There is no record in the book." Yang Yuhuan shook her head, her two jade feet carelessly dabbling in the water of the Tianchi Lake. After a pause, she said, "Emperor Mu is the son of the people of the world, the only hope of heaven, just like you. If he doesn't have an accident, he should come back to visit the Queen Mother of the West."

As soon as Yang Yuhuan finished speaking, Zhang Guangsheng came over and handed Li Heng a letter. The content of the letter was about the court's conscription of troops to prepare for the attack on Nanzhao.

After reading the letter, Li Ying sighed, returned the letter to Zhang Guangsheng, and said, "The situation in the Tang Dynasty is getting worse and worse."

Zhang Guangsheng glanced at the contents of the letter and asked in confusion, "Your Highness, do you not think highly of the imperial court's sending troops to Nanzhao this time?"

"Not optimistic." Li Heng said firmly, "Now is not the time to attack Nanzhao. If the Tang Dynasty attacks Nanzhao now, it will strengthen the relationship between Nanzhao and Tubo in disguise. The best strategy for Nanzhao is to appease it and win it over to fight against Tubo. Only by driving Tubo out of Qinghai Lake and the Yellow River Nine Bends and regaining control of the Tuyuhun area can the Tang Dynasty consider attacking Nanzhao."

"But since You Xiang came to power, he has been catering to the emperor's wishes, and the pace of Tang's expansion has long been unstoppable." Zhang Guangsheng sighed, "This time, the forced conscription from Hebei, Henan, and the interior of the country has caused public resentment. If this expedition succeeds, it can be suppressed for a while, but if it fails, the consequences are unimaginable."

Seeing that Zhang Guangsheng had thought about this, Li Heng asked, "Did you think we succeeded in taking Shibao City earlier?"

"The great victory of Shibao City is naturally a success." Zhang Guangsheng replied.

"No." Li Heng shook his head. "Taking Shibao City is only half successful. If we want to succeed completely, we must take Qinghai Lake and the Yellow River Nine Bends. Only by taking these two places and using their fertile land to cultivate land and solve some of the food and grass problems in Longyou can we defend it for a long time. And although we took Shibao City, we did not consume much of the enemy's manpower, and Tubo is still strong."

Zhang Guangsheng understood a little after hearing this and said, "Your Highness means that we conquer Shibao City. It is only a political and military victory, and it is useless in terms of money and grain."

"That's right." Li Heng was somewhat happy to hear that Zhang Guangsheng understood what he meant, but then he remembered the matter of Jiannan, and his smile faded again. He said, "Now the war with Nanzhao is on the verge of a fight, with no room for maneuver. We can only hope that it doesn't backfire on Longyou, Hebei and other places."

Seeing that Li Ying was so concerned about the country and the people, Zhang Guangsheng secretly admired Li Ying's benevolence. He bowed to Li Ying and retreated.

Li Ying pondered for a while, looking at the scenery of the sky and water in front of him, and said: "Nanzhao is actually a good place. Taihe City, the capital of Nanzhao, has unique scenery."

Yang Yuhuan asked curiously: "Which four?"

Li Ying said: "Flowers in Shangguan, wind in Xiaguan, snow on Cangshan Mountain, moon on Erhai Lake."

This saying did not exist in the Tang Dynasty, so Yang Yuhuan was confused and asked in confusion: "Have you ever been to Nanzhao, my dear?"

"No, I just heard about it." Li Ying shook his head.

People in later generations praised the scenery of Dali, but in the Tang Dynasty, it was a tempering ground of blood and fire. Li Mi and tens of thousands of soldiers died in Dali. Even in later generations, there is still a ancestral hall for Li Mi and a mass grave where Tang army soldiers were buried in Xiaguan, Dali.

When Li Heng thought of this, he recalled Yang Yuhuan's praise for him just now.

Yang Yuhuan said that he, like Emperor Mu, was the son of the world and the hope of heaven, but he felt that he was still far from being like that.

But what can he do?

Li Ying stood up and looked into the distance.

To the southeast of Tianchi is the majestic Bogda Peak, with mountains connected to the left and right of the peak. Three peaks rise up together, protruding into the clouds.

The majestic Tianshan Mountains, with their thousands of hills and valleys, lie across the sky like a giant silver dragon.

People in it seem as small as ants.

Seeing Li Heng's bewildered expression, Yang Yuhuan changed the subject and said, "My dear, you should recite a poem for such a beautiful scenery. Luo Binwang once wrote a poem about Tianshan Mountain, but it was about a military journey. Can you recite a different poem?"

(End of this chapter)