Fan Wenjin, the general manager of Liangzhou, reported to the court that Cheng Zhijie and his people had reached the high ground of Fuqi City and were warmly received by the Tibetan commander Nang Niimaben. Since winter had come and it was difficult to go south, they settled in Fuqi City.
We will set off again to the south next spring.
Cheng Zhijie not only sent people to report that they were safe, but also gave some brief descriptions of the situation in the highlands.
The Tibetan troops stationed in the highlands were not many, at most more than 10,000, or even a few thousand.
The situation they faced was also very bad. They were cut off from the news from the south. They saw signs of resistance from the Tuyuhun and Qiang tribes that they had conquered in the past few years. However, the strength of the Tubo people was no longer enough to suppress the rebellion of the slave tribes in the highlands.
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Next spring the Tibetans are likely to abandon the highlands and return south to the Tibetan kingdom with the Tang envoys.
In addition, the spies from the Military Intelligence Department who pretended to be businessmen had already rushed south to Luoche City, the royal city of Tubo. Perhaps they were so eager to achieve success that the cooperation between the two parties was not tacit.
They should have been waiting for the arrival of Cheng Zhijie and his party in the highlands...
In other words, just like some spies who were on the front line but became the vanguard of the army, they acted too recklessly.
But it's normal that the people in the Military Intelligence Department have no reporting relationship with them, because the situation in Tubo is obviously chaotic and it is far away from the Tang Dynasty, so most of the orders given to them are done casually.
This time it seems that they really want to compete for credit...
The news brought back by Cheng Zhijie was very interesting. He believed that Nang Nie and others were isolated and helpless. He wanted to persuade these people to stay in the highlands so that they could suppress the tribes on the highlands and try to subdue them.
The Tubo people are very greedy for money. As long as the Tang Dynasty can provide them with enough benefits, they will probably not think about returning to the Tubo country to participate in the civil strife.
Of course, if Nang Nie is ambitious enough, maybe he will not be tempted. Who knows, Nang Nie has his own ideas, but what about his subordinates?
Cheng Zhijie has already arrived at Fuqi City. He has one winter to deal with these people. Anyway, the Tang army will not be able to reach the high ground in a short time, so this becomes a good choice.
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This year, the Xihai Racecourse in Liangzhou finally has some features.
The main reason is that there is an elite cavalry stationed in Liangzhou. In addition to the military brigades that have been transferred to Lingzhou and Shuofang, this cavalry still maintains a scale of about 7,000 people.
Fan Wenjin discussed with Zhang Lun and planned to transfer 2,000 people to the West Sea. In addition to running the ranch, they could also clean up the nomadic tribes near the West Sea.
The remaining ones are recruiting Western Turks to join the army. In addition to continuing to wipe out the rebellious Lingzhou Qiang and Tuyuhun tribes, they will also work on rectifying the access road from the Hexi Corridor to Dunhuang and restoring exchanges with countries in the Western Regions.
Zhang Lun, Pang Yu and other generals, as well as Liangzhou officials headed by Fan Wenjin, the general manager of Liangzhou, were very active in doing these things.
They were not very sensitive to the direction of the court's policies, but they were very focused on matters concerning their own one-third of an acre. In fact, after temporarily losing their opponent Tubo, these were the only things left.
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Zhang Lun and others still don't know that the imperial court is already thinking about gradually taking back the military power of the Wei Mansion. They will have a good time of not being able to accept the orders of the foreign emperor for a few days.
This is a problem left over from the war in the late Sui Dynasty. Today, when all wars are gradually subsided, it is time to solve it.
It was much earlier than Li Po expected, but who made the strategic environment change so quickly?
At the same time, the good days of general managers in various places are coming to an end. This year, roads are being built everywhere in the world, and the position of general manager seems to be somewhat redundant.
However, given that everything is still not stable, the general managers estimate that they can stay in office for another year or two.
At this time, the court had begun to make room for the feudal officials who were about to return to the court, intentionally or unintentionally. In fact, it was not difficult to arrange, because some people in the court would take up posts, and some people were old and had reached the age of retirement, so
It is more than enough to arrange a few general managers.
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In the twelfth lunar month, the memorial from Yu Wenxin, the general manager of Youzhou, arrived.
After some reductions, the Tang army stationed in Youzhou has about 40,000 troops left, which is still a considerable force. In addition to the Hebei troops stationed behind Youzhou, the strength is still very strong, with more than 100,000 troops.
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The army has sufficient food and fodder, and its morale is also maintained well.
In addition to these, the most important thing is that Yu Wenxin reported the news about the Liaodong war to the Central Committee.
After all, it was not close there, and Ashina had heard a lot and had some arrangements for his escape, so the information he could find was very limited.
In September, Yu Wenxin received accurate news. Ashina Duwen led his army to capture Buyeo City and took away the home of Goguryeo, where the Buyeo people first founded their country.
Of course, this was not the first time that the area fell. Going back a bit, when Yang Guang conquered Goguryeo in the eighth year of Daye, these small towns were inevitably attacked by millions of Sui troops.
This time Ashina Duowen attacked Liaodong and assembled an army of almost 100,000 people, among which there were only more than 60,000 Turks, and the rest were tribes affiliated with the Turks.
Ashina was hesitant when he heard about it, but in the end he didn't dare to go all out. He completely took the gamble and left some energy to guard against someone stabbing him in the back.
Originally, he wanted to go straight to the point and gather troops to attack Liaodong City, but in the end he was persuaded by his confidants to first sweep the Goguryeo City on the banks of the Liao River and put Liaodong City at the back.
The advantages and disadvantages of this are equally obvious.
As long as two or three cities are captured, the Turkic army will have a foothold, which is a relatively safe approach both in strategy and tactics.
This is what the Sui army did when they conquered Liaodong. Even though they did not capture Liaodong City, Goguryeo's other cities in Liaodong were all captured.
However, the Sui army was too large in number and could not afford to suffer logistical losses, so it was unable to gain a foothold in Liaodong. In addition, neither Yang Guang nor the Sui army generals looked down upon these small towns in Liaodong, so the Sui army abandoned them when they withdrew.
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The Turks are obviously different. They can rely on these cities to continue to harass Goguryeo, because the land in Liaodong is suitable for Turks to graze, and they have a natural advantage in this aspect.
The disadvantage is that there is no quick fix.
It can be said that Ashina Duowen has been preparing to attack Liaodong for a long time, but strategically it has been in a state of chaos, and it can actually adapt to the situation. How strange is it to put this on the Central Plains Army? It must be in the command system
Chaos will occur, and it will even greatly affect the situation of the war.
But the Turks just did it, and no one questioned the Khan's irresponsible behavior.
In fact, in August, the Turks had already divided their troops and achieved considerable results.
Ashina Tawen personally led his army to attack Buyeo Castle in one day. Ashina Tawen also disliked it because although Buyeo Castle used to be the royal city of Goguryeo, it was also the northernmost military town of Goguryeo.
Once is also very important. With the word once, everyone can actually understand that there will be a but...
But now Fuyu City has long been in dilapidated condition. After the Sui army captured Fuyu City, they did not stay here much because they had to return to join the main force of the army to attack Liaodong City, so the Sui army left a handful here before leaving.
The fire almost burned down Buyeo City.
The Goguryeo people, who had been so anxious these years, had consciously or unconsciously forgotten who their ancestors were, and had no plans to rebuild Buyeo Castle. They just sent some people to garrison here.
Ashina Tawen looked at the ruins of Fuyu City. Even the walls had collapsed in several places. It was from here that they had easily invaded. Ashina Tawen felt that it was particularly unlucky.
So with a wave of his hand, another fire was set here, completely turning Buyeo City into ruins.
The Turks marched non-stop and joined the other two groups to attack the new city. They defeated it three days later. The new city was already very close to Liaodong City and the defensive force was relatively strong.
What has to be said is that the Goguryeo defenders and people were still so confident, and they still put up a rather tenacious resistance despite the Turks' rapid offensive.
Then...well, then it was the old rule. When the Turks broke into the city, Goguryeo's garrison generals surrendered, hoping that the Turks could give them a decent surrender ceremony.
Does this sound familiar? This is obviously an experience the Goguryeo people learned from their war with the Sui army.
But Ashina Duowen was not the weirdo like Yang Guang. He thought the new city was pretty good and close to Liaodong City, so it was just the right place for the army to settle down.
This choice incidentally also determined the fate of the Goguryeo people.
The Turks slaughtered Xincheng. According to the custom of the Turks, this was a shock to the Goguryeo people, which would make Goguryeo give up resistance in subsequent battles.
The corpses are preserved and may be used as winter food... and the young women are used for military purposes.
In the second half of August, all Goguryeo cities, except Liaodong City, such as Jian'an City, Anshi City, and the domestic city in the east, fell.
Liaodong City was cut off from inside and outside, and strategically it had been surrounded by the Turks.
The Turks waved the butcher knife without any surprise, even though Ashina Duowen told the leaders before raising the army that they would try to keep as many Goguryeo as slaves.
But when the time comes, even Ashina Duowen himself can't hold back. How do you expect others to obey this order?
So the Goguryeo people were in bad luck. The Turks broke into Anshi City and massacred it. They broke into Jianan City and massacred it. The inner city fell, and they simply came to kill people and set fire to it.
Every Wubao found by the Turks was wiped out. The Turks roamed across the Liaodong plain. Smoke and dust rose everywhere in their path, completely shattering the peace that had been maintained in Liaodong for many years.
But when heavy snow came in Liaodong at the end of August, Liaodong City was still standing there, leaving little time for the Turks to attack the city.
In Yu Wenxin's memorial, he gloated to the emperor that the Turks did not capture Liaodong City this year, and they would spend the winter in Liaodong.