The imperial court's personnel adjustments were not limited to the two prime ministers. Immediately afterwards, the emperor, the right prime minister and the Ministry of Civil Affairs issued dozens of personnel adjustment orders, involving the position adjustment of nearly a hundred officials.
For a time, people in the imperial court were in shock. Everyone was talking about this major official adjustment. This was the most drastic adjustment since the emperor ascended the throne. At this time, almost everyone had forgotten about the recapture of Shazhou.
The state is too far away, or the power changes in front of us are more concerning.
That afternoon, Xue Xun returned to the mansion with a lot of worries. Mrs. Han came up to her and took off her husband's coat. Xue Xun waved his hand and said, "I'll go sit in the inner study for a while, and you can make me a cup of tea!"
He turned around and walked into the inner study. Looking at the worried back of her husband, Mrs. Han was really surprised. Her husband was eager to see his son every day when he came back, without exception. What is going on today?
She asked the maid to make a pot of tea, then she walked into her husband's study carrying the tea cup. Seeing him sitting at the table in a daze, she put the tea cup on the table and asked, "Master, what happened?"
Xue Xun sighed and said, "Yang Xiangguo came to talk to me today."
Han was shocked, "Could it be that Yang Xiangguo wants to remove you from your official position?"
Xue Xun shook his head, "It's not that I'm being removed from my post, but I'm being transferred to serve in Bashu."
Han breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "I won't let you go to Jianzhou again!"
"This time I am going to Chengdu Mansion to serve as governor and be promoted to Yinqing Guanglu doctor. It seems to be the emperor's intention."
Han's eyes widened, and she said with surprise and joy: "Isn't this a promotion? Why are you so worried? I thought something big happened?"
Xue Xun sighed, "This promotion is too fast. I was a sixth-grade official the year before last, and I have been promoted to the third-grade official in just two years. My virtue is not worthy of my position, and I don't want to accept it."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Mrs. Han got a little anxious and poked her husband's forehead with her finger: "Others can't get promoted even if they want to, but you think you are promoted too quickly. I don't know what to say to you."
Xue Xun pushed his wife's fingers away unhappily, "What do you know? This is my son-in-law's promotion. I can't take it."
"What...what does this have to do with my son-in-law?"
Xue Xun shook his head, "My son-in-law led the army to a great victory in Shazhou. The court decided to keep a low profile this time and will not promote my son-in-law anymore. The emperor felt a little guilty, so he took advantage of this major adjustment in official positions to promote me, even if it was
I have made up for my son-in-law's grievances, and my son-in-law has made great contributions to the country. What does my promotion mean?"
"You are telling me this!"
"The rumors were told to me personally by the Privy Councilor, Eunuch Huo. He is someone close to the Emperor, so of course he knows the truth."
Han said after a while: "Even if this is the case, if you refuse to accept it, wouldn't you be letting your son-in-law down even more? At least the son-in-law knows that his contribution will be compensated to a certain extent, which will make him feel better and Tao'er will be happy too."
In fact, what Han said makes sense. No matter from the standpoint of the emperor or from the standpoint of Guo Song, everyone can accept this arrangement. However, Xue Xun himself is a little sad because he feels that his talents and virtues are not worthy of it.
this position.
Xue Xun sighed. He felt uncomfortable, but the emperor's decree had been issued and he could no longer control it.
"Pack your things! We will go to Chengdu in three days."
"What about the safety on the road?" Han still remembers the fright he encountered on the way to Bashu last time.
Xue Xun thought for a while and said: "We will try to keep it simple this time. We don't need to bring any books or anything. In addition, the imperial court will send an army of 100 people to escort us to Chengdu. There should be no problem with safety."
...........
With the sound of camel bells and the long stretches of yellow sand, a team consisting of thousands of camels and 3,000 Tang Army cavalry have walked through hundreds of miles of desert. They bid farewell to the yellow sand and saw a large poplar forest in front of them. They could walk dozens of miles further.
You can reach Puchanghai.
"It feels very relaxed to cross the desert this time. I don't have the feeling of dying at any moment like before. Can you summarize your experience and tell me why?"
Guo Song smiled and asked several of the accompanying generals around him. They had all followed Guo Song to Anxi back then, and they still had fresh memories of the pain of crossing the desert.
Li Bing raised his hand and said with a smile: "Let me tell you first! I think the most important thing is to have enough water. We didn't estimate it at the beginning and ran out of water belts. We ran out of water halfway through. The main pain at that time was that there was no water and it made people thirsty.
The feeling of death.”
Guo Song nodded, "That's good, who else can add?"
Liang Wu raised his hand and said: "I think it's because we have so many camels. They act as a barrier and surround us at night. They are not afraid of the wind and sand."
Everyone quarreled. Some agreed that there was enough water, while others thought that the main reason was the abundance of camels.
Guo Song waved his hand and said with a smile: "Actually, it's very simple. Once we become familiar with it, once a road becomes familiar, it will become shorter. Each of us has this experience.
Of course, scale is important. Two people crossing the desert are completely different from twenty thousand people crossing the desert. With huge scale, they can carry huge resources, so I think that in the future, crossing the desert will require a thousand people.
and more than 3,000 camels. In addition, supply points should be set up at both ends of the desert, mainly with water, and guide towers should be erected in the desert. In this way, both people and camels can maintain sufficient physical strength, and it may only be possible to cross the desert.
In four days, the connection between Shazhou and Anxi will become even closer."
Li Bing thought for a while and suggested: "Actually, I think we can move a tribe to Puchanghai and set up a guard city, and then set up a guard city in Shazhou, and rely on the city, and slowly inns and taverns will come out.
This creates commercial supply points along the way."
Guo Song sighed slightly: "These tribes, whether they were guarding the city, or whether they were doing business, they all had them, and even small towns. Unfortunately, they were all destroyed by the war. Unless the Tibetans were driven out of Anxi, they would not
To allow the connection between Shazhou and Anxi to be strengthened, don’t think too much about it at this stage. As long as the water supply station and the guide tower in the desert are erected, it will be very good.”
After walking for more than ten miles, everyone felt the water vapor in the air. They suddenly became energetic and ran forward faster. The soldiers in front had already shouted. At this time, even Guo Song saw it, with a blue face.
The gem-like lake appeared in front of them, endless as far as the eye could see, with vast waves. Puchanghai had arrived.
.........
After resting for a day at Puchanghai, the team continued westward along the Chihe River. No Tibetan troops were encountered along the way. Eight days later, they entered the territory of Kucha Kingdom. On this morning, there were still more than ten miles away from Kucha City, and only one team was seen.
The cavalry came at a gallop.
The white-haired veteran at the head was Guo Xin. When he saw the Tang army, he dismounted from his horse and ran towards him. Guo Song quickly dismounted, and the two hugged each other tightly, with tears flowing down. It was the last time Guo Song left.
It had been eight years since he left. Eight years later, Guo Song came again with his troops. The soldiers on both sides looked at this scene and all shed tears.
Guo Xin choked with sobs and said, "My dear nephew, you are finally here."
Guo Song restrained the sadness and excitement in his heart, nodded and said: "I said, I will definitely come back."
Guo Xin looked at the camels behind and couldn't help but ask: "Have you brought any supplies to us? You know it's really hard for us. Last year, during the snowstorm in Anxi, all the sheep we raised froze to death. We ran out of food, so we had to rely on hunting.
Fishing, catching field mice, and digging grass roots to survive, many people are too hungry to walk."
"Does King Qiuci not care about you?" Guo Song said angrily.
Guo Xin shook his head and sighed: "They have moved away for five years. Only the Tang army and their families are left in Qiuci City, but they refuse to give us the land outside the city. They plant wheat every spring and harvest it in autumn.
Not even a single ear of wheat was left, and when winter came, life became very difficult. Each person only had a bowl of thin porridge every day, which was barely enough to prevent him from starving to death."
Guo Song pointed to the camels and said: "These three thousand camels are loaded with food and various supplies. Together with the camels, they are all for Anxi. I have led the army to conquer Shazhou and established a road from Ganzhou to Shazhou and then to Anxi.
There is a material supply channel from Shazhou to Anxi, but I think we still need to find a way to make Anxi self-sufficient in food."
"We'll talk about this later, let's go back to Kucha City first!"
Everyone greeted Guo Xin one by one, and Guo Xin recognized many of them, which made him sigh. Especially when he heard that Guo Song had been promoted to Hexi Jiedushi, he was even more happy and emotional. Guo Song persuaded Guo Xin for a while.
, everyone then got on their horses and urged their horses towards Qiuci City, which was more than ten miles away.