About seventy miles north of Yiwu County, there is a mountain that stretches for hundreds of miles, called Zheluoman Mountain. It is a barrier of Yizhou. Below the mountains are endless grasslands.

There is a pasture at the foot of the mountain to the north of the mountain, where hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep are stocked. The pasture is run by dozens of Turkic herders and is also a logistics center for the Tocharian cavalry.

This pasture has existed for more than ten years and is an important part of the Tocharian infiltrating Beiting. It is precisely because of its existence that the Tocharian cavalry solved the logistics and military rations problem of the invading Beiting.

That afternoon, a Tocharian cavalry of about 10,000 people rushed from the north, with flags waving and a huge momentum.

The general led is the fire fairy who was once captured in the Battle of Broken Leaf.

The fairy Spitfire is about fifty years old, with a thin face and a pair of triangular eyes, giving people a feeling of insidiousness and cunning.

The Tuhuoxian has lost his position as Khan, and is now the prime minister of Tuqishi. He is still in power. He is fully responsible for the strategic expansion of the Tang Dynasty.

The ambition of the Tuqi Shiren invaded Beiting for more than ten years, but he suffered a crushing defeat at the beginning of the year. The ambition of the Tuqi Shiren invaded Beiting was not as strong as before.

However, Yuan Tao was unexpectedly promoted to the governor of Beiting, which gave Tuqi Shi a glimmer of hope. If he could use the relationship between the Yuan family and successfully occupy Beiting, he would greatly restore Tuqi Shi's vitality.

Seeing that it was getting late, the fire fairy waved her whip and said, "The army entered the ranch to rest!"

Entering the ranch is like coming to your own territory. There are tents and other military supplies hidden in the ranch. The soldiers rushed to the warehouse, took out the tents and began to build military camps.

The Tuhuoxian sat down in the big tent, and the ranch manager stepped forward and said, "You report to the chief, yesterday Beizhi received an eagle letter from Gaochang."

“How to say it?”

"The letter says that the Tang princess will get married in Gaochang in five days!"

"Five days later?"

The Tuhuoxian calculated the time in his mind, and Yuan Tao should have set out from Tingzhou."

"Is there any news in Tingzhou?"

"Before, Sun Zhaoyang sent a letter, and the Yuan envoy would do his best to bring the army of Tingzhou to Gaochang."

Sun Zhaoyang was the military envoy of the Yiwu Army. He was born in the Yuan family. He was loyal to the Yuan family and was also Yuan Tao's confidant. He replaced Yuan Tao as the military envoy of the Yiwu Army.

"Where is the letter?"

The manager presented the letter to the Tuhuoxian, who quickly opened the letter and read it carefully.

Tuhuoxian was more concerned about how to deploy the Yiwu army. According to the consensus reached between him and Yuanbiao in Chang'an, Sun Zhaoyang led his army to withdraw from Yiwu County and handed over Yiwu County to him as a logistics supply city. Once Tuqishi took down Beiting, Gaochang would be handed over to the Yuan family as a land for the founding of the country.

Although Sun Zhaoyang did not mention the Yuan family in his letter, he mentioned that he would lead three thousand troops south to Gaochang to attend the princess's wedding.

Among the five thousand Yiwu troops, two thousand people followed Yuan Tao. In fact, Yiwu only had three thousand garrison troops, and Sun Zhaoyang took away three thousand troops, which meant that Yiwu City was an empty city.

Thinking of this, the Turghuo Xian immediately made a decision and said, "Let the spy come to see me quickly!"

.........

Miao Changchun completely cooperated with Li Xiu, and his twelve subordinates had been killed and replaced by Li Xiu's people.

It was as if nothing had happened, and continued to monitor Li Xiu and look for opportunities to assassinate.

A few more days passed, and that afternoon, Miao Changchun found Li Xiu.

"Your Highness, Yuan Tao has sent someone to contact me."

Li Xiu was excited and asked quickly: "What did he say?"

"He first asked me why he didn't take action? I said I didn't find a suitable opportunity."

"Then what?"

"Then someone told me that Yuan Tao will arrive in Gaochang in three days and ask me to complete the task before Yuan Tao arrives!"

This time should be correct. The princess will hold a wedding in five days. As the witness designated by the court, Yuan Tao must arrive in Gaochang two days in advance.

So what about the cavalry and cavalry? When will they come to Gaochang?

Li Xiu paced around the room with his hands behind his back, and the two things were intertwined, and he needed to clarify his ideas.

There is no doubt that Yuan Tao must come to Gaochang, but what is the goal of Tuqi Shi?

Li Xiu believed that Tuqishi's goal was definitely not himself. They had their own strategic goals and would never become the thugs of the Yuan family.

Li Xiu thought of Tingzhou. If he attacked Tingzhou from the west, he would encounter many obstacles, and it would be almost impossible to capture Tingzhou City.

But it is different from the east to attack. From the northeast to Yizhou, then bypass Yizhou and attack Tingzhou from the east, there is basically no obstacle.

If it were before, this would not have happened. The imperial court's intention to set up the Yiwu Army was to prevent the Turks or Turkish cavalry from moving south from Alkin Mountain and prevent the enemy from attacking Beiting from behind.

But since Yuan Tao became the commander of the Yiwu Army more than two years ago, everything is possible.

In October of the previous year, the Tuqi Shiren passed through Yiwu and attacked Xizhou. In fact, it was a test. The facts proved that the Yiwu army no longer worked, and the Tuqi Shiren could attack Tingzhou from the east.

During this princess wedding, Yuan Tao and most generals will come to Gaochang to attend the wedding.

Under normal circumstances, Tingzhou would leave an army to guard it, but if Yuan Tao colluded with the Tuqi people, he would bring all the garrisons of Tingzhou to Gaochang, or just leave a little garrison.

Tingzhou may be captured by the Tuqi Shiren, which means that the core of Beiting has been occupied by the Tuqi Shiren.

A war will inevitably break out.

Thinking of this, Li Xiu sat down and wrote a letter to Tian Renwan, asking him to stay in Beiting and not attend the princess’ wedding to prevent the thunder and the thunderbolts from attacking Tingzhou.

Li Xiu immediately sent a subordinate to Tingzhou to deliver the letter.

………………

Beiting Jiedushi Yuan Tao led two thousand troops to the south. That afternoon, the team entered Xizhou, two days away from Gaochang County.

Yuan Tao was about thirty years old and not very tall. He was a guard and was promoted step by step with the first step of his family. After twelve years of his military service, he became the first Jiedushi to have never participated in the war.

Yuan Tao has been serving as the governor of Beiting for only half a year. He has a shallow foundation in Beiting, lacks qualifications, and has no military achievements. He relies entirely on his family's influence to forcibly be named the governor of Beiting.

People who started their business by power may be able to do well in Chang'an, but this trick won't work on the border. They have no great military achievements or qualifications, and even soldiers look down on them.

Yuan Tao's life was very depressed in the past six months. First of all, the Hanhai Army envoy Tian Renwan did not buy his account. He originally wanted to transfer a thousand people from the Hanhai Army as his direct army, but Tian Renwan refused, and the Tianshan Army envoy Gao Xianzhi also politely rejected him on the grounds that the army was insufficient.

Yuan Tao had to divide two thousand people from the Yiwu army he controlled as his direct army.

Yuan Tao knew in his heart that Beiting seemed calm, but major changes were about to happen. Tuhuoxian's army should have arrived at the northern camp of Yiwu. Sun Zhaoyang also led his army out of Yiwu County to go south under his orders to create conditions for Tuhuoxian's army.

This is a major decision made by the Yuan family. Yuan Tao did not know why his father had to bet on everything and betray the Tang Dynasty. There was only one possibility. If he did not take this step, the Yuan family would face the misfortune of being killed.

Yuan Tao sighed and turned around to ask a subordinate, "Have Tian Renwan set out?"

"Report to the envoy, you should have set out. I heard that he was leading three thousand troops, one day later than us."

Although the Hanhai Army had 10,000 troops, its distribution was relatively scattered, half of which were distributed among the guards and forts in various passes and forts, and there were only 5,000 troops in Tingzhou City.

Once Tian Renwan takes away three thousand troops, there will be only two thousand troops left in the city. As long as the Tuhuoxian uses a night sneak attack, he should be able to easily capture Tingzhou.

Once Yizhou and Tingzhou were captured, Tuqishi would launch a large increase in troops, and the Tang army in Gaochang could only withdraw its troops to Dunhuang.

The team entered Xizhou. It was already late at this time. Yuan Tao ordered the place to rest. The cavalry dismounted and rested. Yuan Tao sat on a big rock and had tea to rest, watching the soldiers busy setting up a big tent.
Chapter completed!