After receiving food supplies, the soldiers and civilians of Putao City regained their strength. They packed up their belongings and followed Guo Song's team to Kucha.
More than 70 women and children rode in a dozen carts, all the soldiers were riding war horses, and the other horses were carrying various supplies, driving more than 200,000 sheep, and headed east in a mighty way.
They still returned eastward along the same route, first to Puchanghai, and then from Puchanghai to the west along the Red River. Although it was nearly a thousand miles longer than taking a straight line, it was a very wise move.
Walking in a straight line requires crossing the vast Taklimakan Desert. Although it is only on the edge of the desert, the journey is still difficult. The key is that there is no water source along the way. This is tantamount to a road of death for the Tang army driving hundreds of thousands of sheep and more than 5,000 war horses.
the road.
Although it is seven or eight days further by taking the curve, this road is along the river and has a guaranteed water source. In Anxi, where there is a water source, there is life and hope.
Five days later, the team bypassed the Puchang Sea and began to travel westward along the Chihe River. The Chihe River is today's Tarim River, also known as the Kongque River. Although it was also a seasonal river in the Tang Dynasty, it did not completely stop flowing in winter.
The water flow is very small and thin, occupying a small part of the river bed and flowing shallowly. However, it is also frozen now. You can directly melt the ice cubes and boil water to ensure drinking water for people and animals along the way.
Precisely because of the sufficient food supply, despite the hard march along the way, most of the soldiers and civilians in Putao City were looking better day by day. Even Zheng Ju fully recovered and became a brave general of the Tang Army again.
That afternoon, the Tang army was not far from the Mobei Oasis, and Guo Song asked his soldiers to find Zheng Ju.
"I heard that Chang Shi is looking for me?" Zheng Ju came galloping over on horseback.
Guo Song smiled and said: "Last time I heard that the Tibetans occupied the oasis, and you could only defend the city alone. Now that we have to cross the oasis, wouldn't it be that we are walking on the territory of the Tibetans, which will cause conflicts?"
Zheng Ju bowed and said: "Although most of the oases here in Kucha are occupied by the Tibetans, the oases near Yanji Town and the oases along the Red River in the south of Kucha Town still belong to the Kucha Kingdom. We can go to Kucha
country’s territory.”
"Besides Qiuci, where are the Tang troops stationed in Anxi?"
"There are garrisons in Yanji, Khotan, and Shule. The number of them is about a thousand. Qiuci has a little more, but it can only be 3,000."
"But the small country of Anxi surrendered to Tubo, am I right?" Guo Song asked again.
Zheng Ju smiled bitterly and said: "Qiuci, Khotan, Shule and other small Anxi countries have already surrendered to Tubo, but they did not want to be assimilated by the Tubo people, so they continued to retain the Tang army in the city.
It is a very complicated relationship, which seems unreasonable, but it has always existed like this. For more than 20 years, the Tubo people and the Tuyuhun people tried to destroy the Tang army many times, but they failed. On the one hand, the Tang army resisted tenaciously, and on the other hand, the Tang army resisted tenaciously.
It was also the small countries in Anxi that secretly supported the Tang army."
Guo Song nodded. He now understood why the Tang army had fewer troops and was scattered across Yanji, Khotan, and Shule. The key was that the Tang army had formed a symbiotic relationship with these small countries. He wanted to persuade Guo Xin to withdraw all the Tang troops.
It seems unrealistic to go to Dunhuang.
The team walked along the Chihe River for another two days. There were more and more greens, lush woods, large wheat fields everywhere, more villages and more people, and groups of children kept coming to watch this group of Tang troops coming from afar.
This morning, a city finally appeared in the distance, which was Kucha City. It was the seat of Anxi Jiedu Prefecture and the capital of Kucha Kingdom.
Yang Xiaoyan had already gone to Kucha City to inform the coach Guo Xin. Not long after, a team of hundreds of people rushed from a distance. This was Guo Xin who personally came to greet Guo Song's arrival.
After a moment, a large group of cavalry rushed over, led by a middle-aged man in his fifties, wearing armor, with dark skin and gray temples. His face was covered with vicissitudes of life, but his eyes were particularly sharp. The soldiers behind him
Most of them had sallow faces and thin muscles. Looking at the hundreds of thousands of sheep, the soldiers all had eager eyes in their eyes.
The person who came was none other than Guo Ziyi's nephew Guo Xin, who was currently serving as a post-resident in the Fourth Town of Anxi. Guo Chongqing couldn't bear it any longer and jumped off his horse and cried loudly, "Little Third Uncle, do you still know me?"
Guo Xin was shocked. Only his own children of the Guo family called him Uncle Sanshu. He looked at Guo Chongqing, hesitated and said, "Are you Qilang Chongqing?"
It has been fifteen years since Guo Xin left Chang'an and went to Anxi. At that time, Guo Chongqing was only fifteen years old. Now Guo Chongqing is thirty years old, and he still vaguely looks like he did back then.
"Uncle, it's me!" Guo Chongqing fell on the ground and cried bitterly.
He was originally an orphan whose parents both died. When he was five years old, he was picked up by Guo Xin and brought back to the Guo Mansion. Guo Xin taught him to read and practice martial arts. The two had a deep relationship and shared the same love as father and son. This is why Guo Ziyi asked Guo Chongqing to follow Guo Song to Anxi.
Guo Xin quickly helped him up, "Don't cry! Don't cry! We'll talk later later, let's talk business first!"
Guo Chongqing wiped away his tears and introduced Guo Songdao to him: "This is Guo Changshi. The emperor personally appointed him as the pacifier of the Western Regions and the governor of the Anxi Protectorate."
Guo Xin was startled. Although Yang Xiaoyan had told him in advance, he never expected that the other party would be so young. He quickly cupped his fists and said: "Guo Xin, welcome the comfort envoy to Anxi!"
Guo Xin was already a third-rank Yunhui general when he came to Anxi fifteen years ago. However, the court thought he had disappeared and had not been promoted in fifteen years. In front of Guo Song, he was not only senior and had a higher official position, but Guo
Because Song was the emperor's special envoy, Guo Xin paid special attention to him.
Guo Song took out the imperial edict and said loudly: "Here is the imperial edict, Guo Xin will receive it!"
Guo Xin quickly knelt down and said, "Wei Chen is here!"
Hundreds of other Anxi soldiers followed suit and knelt down.
Guo Song unfolded the imperial edict and said: "General Yunhui, Guo Xin who stayed in the four towns of Anxi, and the soldiers of Anxi guarded the border with great hardships, bravely served the country, and were loyal and loyal, so that the important town of Anxi still belongs to the Tang Dynasty. Their achievements are extremely great, and they should be heavily rewarded and given special titles.
Guo Xin became the Guanglu doctor and the protector of Anxi. He was granted the title of Lord Shu and was rewarded with 10,000 pieces of silk. The other Anxi generals were all promoted to the third level and were rewarded with ten hectares of land and 500 pieces of silk. Each Anxi soldier was rewarded with 100 acres of land and 5 pieces of silk.
Ten horses, admire this!"
Guo Xin kowtowed with tears in his eyes and said: "Holy grace is like a mountain, I can only repay it with death!"
Guo Song handed the imperial edict to Guo Xin, and Guo Xin raised the edict high, and the Anxi soldiers all shouted long live.
After reading out the imperial edict, Guo Song told Guo Xin about supporting Putao City. To Guo Song's expectation, Guo Xin didn't care that Guo Song gave up the five cities of Qiemo, and didn't ask any questions about the annihilation of thousands of people. He was obviously
They were more interested in the trophies captured by the Tang army, including more than 200,000 sheep, more than 5,300 war horses, a large number of weapons and more than 1,000 stones of highland barley. This was a huge wealth to them.
Guo Xin was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth. He quickly asked the soldiers to send all the materials and livestock into the city, and then he accompanied Guo Song into the city.
"Chang Shi didn't know how precious food is to us. We also have two to three thousand acres of wheat fields and grow a little wheat, but these two to three thousand acres of land have to feed three thousand soldiers and more than two thousand military dependents. The ration for one person per year is only
We have more than a hundred kilograms of wheat, and we have to cook it with Elaeagnus, wild vegetables and the like. Occasionally we catch some fish from the Red River. This time you brought so many trophies, everyone will be overjoyed."
Guo Songxiao asked: "How can we raise more than 200,000 sheep? Is there any grassland?"
Guo Xin shook his head, "If you don't raise them, kill all the sheep. While the ice in the river has not yet melted, quickly build an ice cellar to store them. Keep part of the sheepskin, and the rest will be used to exchange food with the Qiuci Kingdom. As for the war horses, we will keep three
A thousand horses, and the rest sent to Khotan and Shule."
"It's my order to abandon the five cities of Qiemo, but the Protector doesn't seem to care?"
Guo Xin smiled bitterly and said: "I received their eagle letter asking for help two months ago, but I was unable to rescue them. Over the years, I have told the soldiers that people are the most important. In fact,
If you can't hold it, give up. Four of the last five cities have been destroyed. How long can the last city hold on? I don't know yet? In fact, even if Chang Shi doesn't give the order, I will also order them to abandon the military city and retreat north."
Guo Song felt relieved a little. When he heard Ying's letter, he suddenly remembered that he had not seen Mengzi for many days. He raised his head and looked at the sky, but there was no sign of Mengzi. Suddenly, he felt an inexplicable worry in his heart.