This bloody battle lasted until the first watch and ended. Five thousand Tubo soldiers, including the general Lun Shanghu, were divided and surrounded by the Tang army. They were defeated one by one. In the end, the entire army was destroyed, and no one surrendered. The entire army died in a deadly battle. The Tang army
It also cost more than a thousand casualties.
At dawn the next day, the kings of the fifteen kingdoms received the news that the Tang army had wiped out five thousand Tibetan troops. They immediately became excited, rushed out of the camp, and led their troops to the oases across Anxi.
Although the 25,000 Anxi Allied Forces did not dare to provoke the Tibetan army, they were not afraid of the Tibetan herdsmen. Once the Tibetan army was destroyed, they would go to various oases like wolves and tigers to seize land, kill the Tibetan herdsmen, and rob their cattle and sheep.
Of course, there are more than 500,000 sheep and more than 100,000 stones of wheat in the Tibetan army camp. These are the Tibetan army's military rations and now belong to the Tang army.
The decline of Tubo's national power has already determined that they can only survive in Anxi, and the existence of thousands of soldiers is only a symbolic meaning. Once the Tang army is determined to restore the Anxi Jiedu Mansion, it will not be too difficult, as long as it uses strong troops to annihilate the Tubo
If the remaining troops conquer the Anxi countries with kindness and power at the same time, then the restoration of the Anxi Jiedu Prefecture will be a matter of course.
Guo Song appointed Lu Yang to continue to serve as the garrison of Shule. He ordered the army to rest for ten days and then set out to attack Dabolu, where four thousand Tibetan troops were stationed. However, this decision was opposed by Lu Yang, a veteran general.
In the main tent of the Chinese army, Lu Yang said slowly to Guo Song: "The envoy does not want to leave any trouble for Anxi, and I understand the mood of conquering the big and small Bolu, but after all, the envoy's stay in Anxi is too short, unlike us.
Deeply understand the situation in Anxi."
Guo Song nodded and said with a smile: "Keep talking, if you can convince me, I will give up attacking Big and Small Bolu."
"This starts with why Tubo tried every possible means to get the court to abandon Shule. Tubo's national policy was to capture Anxi and Beiting, and at the same time open up a shortcut to Tocharo and the Hezhong area. Shule was the key to this shortcut, so when
After Tubo's national power could no longer support their occupation of Anxi and Beiting, they retreated to the next best thing and only wanted to retain the shortcut to Shule. This is why they can leave out Qiuci and Khotan, but they must keep Shule."
This view was completely consistent with Guo Song's original idea. Guo Song deeply agreed. He asked with a smile: "What does this have to do with Big and Little Bolu?"
“There is a deep connection!”
Lu Yang said calmly: "If the passage from Shule is lost, then Tubo can still go from Dabolu to Tocharo. This will actually return to the situation five years ago in Tianbao, when Tubo tried to get involved in Tochara.
, and took control of King Xiaobolu. King Xiaobolu asked Gao Xianzhi for help. In order to eliminate Tubo's attempt to encroach on Tochara, Gao Xianzhi launched the Battle of Xiaobolu at the beginning of the sixth year of Tianbao."
Guo Song nodded slightly and said: "I understand what you mean. What you mean is that the elimination of the Tubo army of Big and Small Bolu will completely block the channel for Tubo to expand westward, and will force them to counterattack Anxi. If you give them
If we retain the Big and Little Bolu passages, then Tibet will not be so strong in its intention to recapture Anxi, is this what you mean?"
Lu Yang nodded, "That's what I mean by humble post. This is also the strategy that the old prince emphasized repeatedly back then. If Shule is blocked and Bolu is released, Anxi can survive. If Shule is blocked and Bolu is destroyed, Anxi will be destroyed. Of course, this
The point of view is a bit appeasement and compromise, and it is also a method that our Anxi Army is considering to protect itself because it is too weak."
Guo Song took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said to Lu Yang: "Although what you said makes sense, my ideas are different from yours. However, I can indeed delay the attack on Big and Small Bolu and let Anxi stabilize for a year or two.
Then we will consider attacking the Big and Little Bolu."
Lu Yang smiled and said, "I want to hear your thoughts?"
"The reason is very simple. As the general himself said, you were too weak at the beginning and had to make compromises. Once Anxi's strength becomes stronger, I still hope to block the way for Tibet to obtain food and materials from Tochara and Tianzhu to restore its strength.
Trapping the Tibetans on the plateau caused their internal conflicts to break out and they slowly declined."
Lu Yang smiled bitterly, "My idea is indeed a bit too weak."
"Your Majesty, what's our next step?" Li Bing asked next to him.
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said: "Go back to Qiuci to rest for a few days, and then start the Northern Expedition to Shatuo!"
Guo Song left a thousand garrison to guard Shule, and the army immediately returned to Kucha. Seven days later, the Tang army arrived at Kucha City.
Lou Wenda and a group of officials are not in Qiuci. They are busy determining the scope of the oasis with the Anxi countries. This is a particularly time-consuming negotiation. Both sides have previously determined that the oasis land will be divided into 30 and 70 parts. There is no problem with the principle.
They all signed a promise that no one would dare to go back on their promise in front of the powerful Tang army, but the specific operations inside were a bit cumbersome.
It was impossible for the Tang army to occupy an oasis in every small country. The Tang army was mainly stationed in the four towns of Qiuci, Shule, Khotan and Yanji, so the oasis land could only come from these four countries, which involved the issue of land exchange.
For example, the Gumo Kingdom handed over 30% of the oasis to the Tang Army, and the area was determined. Then the Tang Army exchanged this oasis with the neighboring Qiuci Kingdom for the land to the west of them, so that the Tang Army's land could be connected into one piece.
Other countries operate this way, which requires negotiation, determination of land area, etc. It is very cumbersome and cannot be completed within a year.
Of course, there is also Qiemo Town. The oasis there is an unclaimed land and was occupied by the Tang Army. Then the Tang Army will build Qiemo Town there. The banks of the Qiemo River, the coast of Puchang Sea and the surrounding large oasis are all owned by the Tang Army.
This involves a very important issue, that is, immigration, the relocation of Han people from the Central Plains to farm in Anxi.
This is something that all dynasties have done. During the Kaiyuan period, the Tang Dynasty immigrated to Anxi on a large scale. Hundreds of thousands of people migrated, called Long Marchers. Later, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the Tang Dynasty had no time to take care of the Western Regions, which was gradually occupied by Tubo and Uighurs.
, many Han people returned to the Central Plains one after another.
But how to get the Han people to voluntarily return to the Western Regions? This requires tempting people with benefits that can impress people. Guo Song considered moving 100,000 people from the group of refugees who fled Longyou to Hexi to Anxi. First of all, they were military relatives, like
Just like in Fengzhou, the people were tempted with vast land and huge benefits of tax exemption for twenty years.
This will have to wait until the Anxi land is delivered before it can be implemented, at least until next year.
After resting for five days, Guo Song led an army of 15,000 people and marched northward.
There are two roads to Beiting. One is the Wusun Road going north from Qiuci. When Guo Song passed it, a flash flood broke out and killed more than a dozen soldiers. The other road is the Silver Road.
Mountain Road, but Yinshan Road is controlled by the Shatuo Army and is very dangerous. It can be said that one man can guard the pass and ten thousand people cannot open it.
Guo Song did not plan to take the Yinshan Road, but the Wusun Road. Although the road was a bit more difficult, businessmen said that it has become easier to walk in recent years. The main reason is that there has been too much snowmelt in recent years, resulting in frequent flash floods. The road was originally
The valley sealed by boulders was actually washed open by flash floods, forming a new valley. This way, there was no need to climb over mountains and ridges, but instead, the valley could be passed directly from below along the river.
Guo Song found a few guides and headed towards Wusundao with 15,000 troops and 5,000 camels loaded with food.
Zhu Xie Jinhai's disastrous defeat in Shazhou and Guazhou undoubtedly once again set off turmoil within Shatuo, but this time it was difficult to discuss. The six elders other than Chu Yuebu unanimously stated that Chu Yuebu would either execute Zhu Xie Jinhai,
Or compensate the six departments for their huge losses, including personnel and materials.
Shatuo Khan Zhu Xieliang was very embarrassed. He also wanted to kill Zhu Xiejinhai to apologize to the various ministries, but Zhu Xiejinhai knew that the Presbyterian Council would not tolerate him anymore, so he did not come to Yiwu at all, but fled directly to Gaochang, where is
The territory he controls.
In desperation, Zhu Xieliang had to negotiate compensation with the other six ministries.
Chiefs of the six tribes of Shatuo including Chumi, Prebranch, Lieshan, Wusun, Jinshan and Yiwu gathered at the location of Chumi to discuss how to collectively claim compensation from Chuyue.
The Six Ministries reached a consensus within one day. One of the Six Ministries' soldiers was killed in the battle, and they claimed 300 sheep. In addition, they asked the Chuyue Ministry to take out all the pig iron and copper ingots in stock and distribute them equally to the various ministries. The Chuyue Ministry could not monopolize them.
If the Chuyue tribe refuses their compensation, then the Shatuo Alliance will be dissolved, and the Shatuo people will be left with only the Chuyue tribe.
Zhu Xieliang was stunned by this claim list. The sheep to be compensated alone were three million. How could Chuyuebu come up with so many sheep to compensate Liubu?
At this time, Zhu Xiejinman suggested to Zhu Xieliang that he might as well use Tingzhou to put pressure on Guo Song and force him to release the Shatuo Army prisoners of war.