Although the army came in response to Subi's request for help, in the eyes of these arrogant and brave generals, if the Subi people were not obedient enough, it would be nothing to destroy them by the way.
Anyway, the order they received was to destroy Tubo, and they did not say to help Queen Subi ascend the Tubo throne, so the generals could naturally do things easily.
From the perspective of the Supi people, this is called the standard method of luring a wolf into the house.
Today's Tang Dynasty is different from the so-called ceremonial state of later times. It is greedily paying attention to its surroundings, always ready to extend its claws and fight for all resources to heal its bruised and bruised self.
Li Po sent troops to conquer Tubo. From a grand strategic perspective, his purpose was to stabilize the counties in Hexi and restore communications with the Western Regions.
But the imperial edict would not make it so clear. When the generals come here, they can only pay attention to the military merits. When it comes to the specific level of war, killing Tubo's effective forces and making them unable to expand, or even divide and conquer, will become
options for executors.
…………
Before it got dark, Hou Junji finally arrived with his people.
As an envoy of the Tang Dynasty, his rank is not low, but this is an additional rank. He will automatically step down when he returns to the Tang Dynasty. He is incomparable to a military general like Chen Li who holds military power.
In the Chinese army's tent, Hou Junji met Chen Li.
After receiving the news, Chen Li asked someone to kill a sheep to entertain Hou Junji.
Seeing Chen Li who was in good spirits and not dying, Hou Junji was also very pleased. When they arrived in Tubo, their biggest enemy was not the Tubo people, but the climate here.
Hou Junji was afraid that everyone who came would become a weakling, so why the hell would he fight? It would be better to go back to the Tang Dynasty as soon as possible to avoid becoming a ghost in a foreign land.
After entering the military camp, he took a close look at the status of the soldiers. Although everyone's face was covered with dust and their bodies were covered with exhaustion, at least they were still acting as usual.
And he also saw that most of them should be people from the northwest tribe, so he felt more relieved. The lives of these people were not worth anything. It would be heartbreaking if the elite soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were lost here.
…………
Hou Junji is not an official of Honglu Temple, he is a general who leads troops. Well, it is difficult for today's officials to define their civil and military skills. Those people in Honglu Temple gave them the opportunity to do what Zhang Qian once did.
It is not impossible to let them lead troops to fight for something.
Envoys like Hou Junji and Cheng Zhijie actually do not appear to be too unusual.
…………
"I am Hou Junji. I was sent as an envoy to Tibet. I met General Chen here." After seeing Chen Li, Hou Junji took the lead in saluting.
Chen Li replied with a smile: "How come Hou Sima is so polite? It's not like we have never met each other in Liangzhou. It was because the military situation was urgent at that time, so we didn't have a drink together. Come on, come on, sit down and talk."
The two people actually met when they were in Liangzhou. Hou Junji served as the Sima of Liangzhou. Chen Li and others followed Zhang Lun and led an army to assist Liangzhou and defeated the Tibetan army. After that, they had dealings with everyone in Liangzhou.
Hou Junji's main reason is that he is thin-skinned and is afraid that if he gets close to others, they won't remember who he is and he will lose face.
If it were Cheng Zhijie, he wouldn't care about this. How much is face worth? As long as we have met and talked to each other, we are friends. If we can still drink together, it is a lifelong friendship.
But these are not useful as a Kansai person.
Hou Junji and Chen Li both came from the Kansai aristocratic family, and within a few words of each other, when they heard each other's authentic Kansai accent, they immediately liked each other a lot.
They had little contact when they were in Liangzhou. Chen Li had been leading troops away and had not shown much face in Guzang City. Hou Junji soon returned to Beijing to report on his previous trip to Dunhuang. It was a pity that he did not make it in time.
The war with the Tubo people, otherwise, it would be a mark on top of military achievements.
Hou Junji actually has a lot of military exploits, but unfortunately they are all stories from when Li Yuan was in power and cannot be used. He can say that he participated in the war to conquer Xue Ju, which is the limit, but he can never say that the leader of the army is the same as the current emperor.
If you lead a large army into a fight, you are simply looking for death.
Therefore, Hou Junji only had one pitiful record left, which was the battle with Tu Pangyu, the general of Zuojian Gate Guard, to defeat the Guhun people, and this was not enough for him to strive for a high position.
The last time he returned to Beijing to report on his duties, even with Pang Yu's recommendation, he could only hope that Sima, the left prison guard, would join the army.
If a member of the Kansai clan has no military merit... he will not have the confidence to talk to others...
…………
"Isn't it difficult to walk on this road? When I came to Tubo, I stayed in the highlands for a winter. Everyone felt that they could set off south, so they set out on the road. It must not be easy for the army to travel all the way.
When I just entered the camp, I took a look and found that the soldiers were a little tired, but their morale was still there, which shows that General Chen is running the army well."
Hou Junji flattered the other party a little, and also told the other party that he had also led troops, laying the groundwork for the subsequent topic.
Chen Li invited Hou Junji to sit down, and asked someone to serve hot soup first, "Brother Hou hit the nail on the head, Tubo is a place with high mountains and rivers. Who but us is willing to set foot here?"
Fortunately, we have arrived at the place. If we continue like this, there is no need for the Tubo people to fight. Damn it, we can't do it ourselves. We have to attack far away, the right time, the right place and the right people are all gone. All the taboos mentioned in the art of war have been violated.
All over...
But we have already reached the limit of our efforts in opening up new territories, so even if we hold on to death, we still have to kill some Tibetan brats before going back, brother Hou, don’t you think so?"
The shouts of Brother Hou made Hou Junji very comfortable, "What the general said is that great achievements are right in front of you, and no matter what, you have to destroy the country and return it."
…………
While they were talking, the roasted half-cooked lamb was brought up. Chen Li had been marching for many days and had long forgotten all etiquette. He went up and pulled off a leg of lamb and handed it to Hou Junji.
Hou Junji was not polite. After living on the plateau for nearly two years, he had already despaired of Tibetan food, and he didn't expect to eat anything good in the army. He thanked him, took it and tore it apart.
Took two bites.
Chen Li had no appetite, so he sipped the broth and asked, "Brother Hou has been in Tubo for a while, do you think the Supi people are still friendly?
Speaking of which, we came here at the invitation of the Supi people, so we didn’t change our minds when we saw that there were so many of us.”
Hou Junji tried his best to swallow the meat in his mouth, took another sip of broth to smooth it down, and then smiled and said: "General, don't worry, the Supi people have always treated us like honored guests. When the army arrives, our words will be even more special."
A little easier to use.
This place used to be called Subo by the Tubo people. There were only a few farming households and most of them were nomadic. The population was small. We did some research and found that there were only tens of thousands of households.
Spread in such a large area, not even a single person can be seen all day long. As soon as our army arrives, the Supi people will not say goodbye. Even if they are half-hearted, they will not be able to gather the troops.
Besides, we arrived here last year, and half a year later, our relationship with them is still..."
At this point, he thought about it in his mind and then laughed in a low voice: "To be honest with the general, Cheng Zhijie is an envoy to Tibet. Has the general heard about it?"
Chen Li nodded. Chen Li had never met Cheng Zhijie, but everyone knew that the imperial court sent people to Tibet led by Cheng Zhijie and Hou Junji.
"I heard that Cheng Shijun and Brother Hou took people to Dunhuang, recruited some Western Turks who fled back, and then led people to Tibet. It is really a great achievement for their hard work. I have long wanted to meet what kind of people they are."
Cheng Shijun... After hearing such a title, Hou Junji felt doubly amused. The image of Cheng's bearded man appeared in his mind, which added to his joy.
The envoy to the king was the chief of a county in the Han Dynasty. He was also called an envoy.
However, the title of Shijun naturally carries a certain elegance. Cheng Dabeard's behavior is incompatible with such an honorific as Shijun.
"Shi Cheng has a close relationship with the queen...and is very familiar with her ministers, so the general is here, so please relax. With him here, the people of Supi will not have any worries about recurrence."
Chen Li pondered what the situation was, but he didn't care, "That's good, that's good. It seems really wise for the DPRK to send two envoys to Tibet.
If not for the presence of these two generals, we would not have dared to easily raise troops against Tibet. It seems that we will have to trouble the two of you for everything in the future. I am here to express my gratitude to the other generals and express my merits to the court.
The contributions of both of you will never be forgotten."
With Hou Junji's words, Chen Li was half relieved. Otherwise, without the support of the Supi people, the army would have to imitate the bandits' behavior and obtain enough weapons for the army from Supi.
Just military rations.
What Hou Junji wanted was what Chen Li and others said.
Afterwards, the two of them talked while eating. Since they were from the same Kansai clan and had the same goals, they didn't need to worry too much.
Chen Li asked about the situation in Tubo. He felt relieved when he heard that Tubo was still in civil strife. The army had arrived not too late. If the people were getting along again, those of them who wanted to break in would be in trouble.
Hou Junji asked about the situation of the army, and Chen Li did not hide it, telling him that the whole army was very tired, with a lot of casualties on the road, and morale was not high.
There were more than 10,000 troops at the time of departure, but now it is estimated that there are only more than 9,000 troops left, especially in terms of the composition of the army. Most of the troops recruited for this expedition to Tibet were from the northwest tribes.
During the march, we encountered a lot of troubles, but we were still able to manage them. Once we engage in battle with the enemy, it would be dire. It is estimated that we will have to rely on the more than a thousand elite soldiers of the Chinese army to open up the situation.
The focus of the topic suddenly turned to marching operations. Seeing that Hou Junji was talking about military affairs and what he said was very insightful, Chen Li couldn't help but praise him a few times.
Hou Junji took advantage of the situation and asked to fight with the army later, but Chen Li could not agree. He felt that the two Tang envoys should go to raise food and grass for the army and appease the Supi people, instead of following the army to serve in front of the battle.
However, he did not refuse. If there were people like Hou Junji who were familiar with the local customs in the army, it would save a lot of trouble...
