Early the next morning, Guo Xin sent a thousand soldiers to meet Guo Song at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the north. They mainly captured too many supplies and lacked manpower, so they could not bring them back to Kucha City. They had to get support from the Tang army in Kucha City.
At dusk, the mighty team returned, bringing back more than 4,000 horses, 80,000 fat sheep, and more than 200 carts full of grain and other belongings.
Guo Xin personally went outside the city to welcome Guo Song's return. The people and soldiers in the city were overjoyed. Guo Song brought back the food and property they longed for most.
At this time, Guo Song got off his horse and walked up quickly. All the generals laughed and said: "Congratulations to Chang Shi for your great achievements!"
"This is all the credit of the soldiers and has nothing to do with me!"
"Chang Shi is so humble!"
Guo Xin gave a thumbs up and said in approval: "To wipe out 5,000 enemy troops with an army of 300 is a miracle of war!"
He pointed to the countless sheep, horses and supplies and sighed: "There are still so many livestock and supplies. We are all grateful to Chang Shi from the bottom of our hearts."
Guo Song smiled slightly and said, "Let's go to the city first! Then we'll talk about this battle in detail."
Guo Xin waved her hand and said, "Send the things into the city!"
Everyone sent the sheep, war horses and carts into the city one after another. Guo Xin ordered the sheep to be killed to reward the soldiers and the people. For a time, the city was filled with thunderous joy, just like a festival.
In the lobby of Jiedu Mansion, all the generals gathered together. Guo Song pointed at the wooden map with a wooden pole and introduced to everyone the process of the two attacks on the enemy.
"Speaking of it, there is still some kind of providence. If we had not caught the Tibetan officials, we would not have known that the Tibetan herdsmen did not completely hand over the sheep to the army. What happened next was one link after another. In the final analysis, it was still the Tubo people.
Their national strength is not enough to control thousands of miles of territory, so there will be loopholes in their rule in Anxi, and we will seize the opportunity."
Guo Xin nodded, "Guo Changshi is absolutely right. Our Anxi Army has been able to hold on to the city for more than ten years, not because we are so brave and good at fighting. In fact, we are already extremely weak, with only a few thousand old and weak troops left."
, and more importantly, the Tubo army was too scattered. They did not concentrate their forces to attack Anxi, but focused their attack on the west of Congling."
After a pause, Guo Xin continued: "Although we defeated the Tibetan coalition this time, we must understand that it is not that we are indestructible, but that there is an internal problem with the Tibetan army. The preparations are hasty and there is insufficient food and fodder. We cannot be arrogant and complacent.
We must strengthen training when we come down.”
Coming out of the lobby, Guo Song and Guo Xin walked slowly on the street side by side. Looking at the joyful smiling faces of the soldiers, Guo Xin's eyes flashed with unspeakable sadness and said to Guo Song: "I don't know
How long can Anxi be able to defend it? Maybe after more than ten years, the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty will disappear."
"Why did the commander say this?" Guo Song asked in confusion.
"Do you know what the average age of the Anxi Army is? Forty years old. More than half of the soldiers are over forty-five. Since the 20,000 Anxi Army were drafted to the Central Plains twenty years ago, the imperial court has not replenished the Anxi Army.
After passing the army, the soldiers are gradually getting old, and their descendants are too few to inherit their father's legacy. In more than ten years, Anxi will only have a group of old and weak Tang soldiers, and I will be old too!"
Guo Song was silent for a while and said: "The imperial court has never forgotten the Anxi Army, and the emperor has never forgotten it, which is why I am sent to Anxi as an envoy this time."
Guo Xin shook his head with a wry smile, "The vassal towns are separatist in the Central Plains, and the court has too much time to take care of itself. How could I not know? Even if the emperor doesn't want to lose Anxi, he just thinks about it. If the court really has this determination, they should at least take back Suzhou and Guazhou.
, regaining the Hexi Corridor, we can also connect Hexi through the Puchang Sea. Is it difficult to capture Suzhou and Guazhou? But the imperial court does not even have this courage and courage, and only considers defense and is content with the status quo."
Guo Song was speechless. Guo Xin was right. Is it difficult to recapture Suzhou and Guazhou? It was not difficult at all, but the Tang Dynasty simply did not have the courage to march westward.
The glory of the prosperous Tang Dynasty has passed from the bones.
Guo Xin smiled and said: "Let's not talk about this heavy topic. Chang Shi won't stay in Anxi forever, right?"
Guo Song shook his head, "Anxi is just the first step of my mission to the Western Regions. I will also go to Beiting to express condolences to the Tang army in Beiting on behalf of the court, and then return to the court to report to the emperor!"
"Going to Beiting is like entering the wolf's den. It's not as easy as Anxi. That's the territory of the Shatuo people, and every step is dangerous."
"I know it's dangerous to go to Beiting, but no matter how dangerous it is, I have to go. This is my duty."
Guo Xin asked again: "When is Chang Shi going to leave?"
Guo Song pondered for a while and said: "There are still many wounded soldiers in our army. It will take about a month for them to fully recover from their injuries! While they are recovering from their injuries, I will also go to Shule Town and Yutian Town. Later,
Let’s set off for Beiting.”
"Okay! I'll ask Zheng Ju to accompany you to Shule and Khotan."
Early the next morning, Guo Song left Guo Chongqing to take care of the wounded soldiers. He and Li Ji led 250 soldiers to leave Kucha City and headed west to inspect Shule.
Lun Xianggui led more than 9,000 Tibetan allied troops to retreat eastward. Halfway through, they were about to run out of food. They would have to kill horses for food. Of course, they would not kill the horses of the Tibetan soldiers, but the Tuyuhun soldiers.
This decision was strongly opposed by General Tuyuhun and once again aroused strong dissatisfaction among Tuyuhun soldiers.
General Tuyuhun also had good reasons for his objections. First, there are still a thousand sheep in the army. Everyone can share the food and it can last for two days. Second, if you really want to kill horses for food, you should treat them equally and not just kill them.
The war horses of Tuyuhun soldiers.
At night, Lun Xianggui sent someone to find several Tubo generals and whispered to them: "We still have about a thousand muttons, but the highland barley is gone. If we save a thousand sheep, we can feed a thousand Tubo people."
The soldiers eat for five days, but if they share the food with the Tuyuhun soldiers, it is only enough for one meal, and then the horses will be killed. What do you think we should do?"
In fact, Lun Xianggui's hint was already very obvious. A Tubo general said without hesitation: "We Tubo soldiers regard war horses as brothers. No one will kill his own war horse. Since the Tuyuhun people are unwilling to kill horses, then they will return home."
, bridge to bridge, we each go our own way."
The other three Tibetan generals also unanimously agreed to abandon the Tuyuhun soldiers and go on their own.
Of course Lun Xianggui knew that once the last thousand sheep were eaten, the two sides would disagree on the matter of killing the horses and would inevitably part ways. Instead of falling out at that time, it would be better to break up now and return the thousand sheep to the Tibetan army, so that they would not have to
Even if the horses are killed, at least a thousand Tubo soldiers can be saved.
But making this decision is tantamount to betraying the Tuguhun people, and the consequences will be serious. Even the noble prime minister is worried that the superiors will blame him, so he asked several Tubo generals to bring it up themselves, so that he can give a reason to the superiors.
He had to make this decision due to the strong request of the Tibetan army officers and soldiers.
That night, a thousand Tibetan soldiers quietly left the team with a thousand sheep. They walked south in a straight line and crossed the edge of the desert. It took four or five days to reach the Qiemo River.
Early the next morning, they discovered that the Tibetan army was leaving. The eight thousand Tuyuhun soldiers were in an uproar. The Tubo army actually took away a thousand sheep, which made them extremely angry.
But the anger was anger, and they survived. The Tuyuhun soldiers unanimously elected Murong Zhan, the commander of ten thousand men, as the new leader to lead them out of the predicament.
Murong Zhan immediately ordered the thin soldiers to ride on one horse and kill five hundred old horses for food. The whole army sped up and rushed to Puchanghai.
This conflict between Tubo and Tuyuhun had a far-reaching impact. It was a fuse that caused serious rifts in the relationship between Tubo and Tuyuhun. A few months later, in order to calm down the anger of the Tuyuhun people, Tubo Zanpu Chisong Detsen had to order the execution of
Killing Xianggui to apologize to the Tuyuhun people.
But killing Xianggui could not completely quell Tuyuhun's dissatisfaction with Tubo. In the tenth year of the Dali calendar, Tuyuhun's army began to shrink its front line and withdrew from Longyou, which greatly reduced the pressure on Longyou in the Tang Dynasty. These are all mentioned later.