Water Margin people

Chapter 1502: Western Liao Gathering

Gaochang.

"Report, King Khan, Juer Khan and his army have arrived outside the city."

A soldier hurried into the palace to report.

"Come on, follow me out of the city to welcome Juerhan!"

Bilege immediately called all officials to go out of the city to welcome them. He had to welcome the Western Liao army well this time.

Outside Gaochang City.

The black masses of cavalry surged in like a tide, and the people in Gaochang City ran home in fear, and the entire city was closed.

Bilego, along with officials and troops, greeted them outside the city.

"Meet Juerhan!"

Bilege bowed respectfully to Yelu Dashi.

"Ok!"

Yelu Dashi just nodded slightly, but he was looking at Gaochang City. He started his westward journey from Gaochang City. It was here a few years ago that Bilege held a three-day banquet and presented 600 horses, 100 camels, and 3000 sheep. With these start-up funds, he established the Western Liao Empire today.

"Khan Juer and the other Khans, please enter the city!"

Bilego invited.

"The army is waiting in the camp outside the city!"

Yelu Dashi spoke up. He knew very well what kind of character his army had. If they entered the city, there would be chaos. Now that the war was imminent, he needed a stable rear, so Gaochang City could not be in chaos.

When everyone entered the palace, a fine banquet was already set.

"Bilege, how are the preparations for food and fodder going?"

Yelu Dashi ignored Bilege's flattery and directly asked what was on his mind. He was leading hundreds of thousands of troops on the eastern expedition, and food and fodder were the most important things.

"I have already contacted the Naiman tribe and the Tubo tribes. We have already collected two months' worth of food and fodder. As for the rest, we are really powerless. We can only go to the east to get food and fodder."

Bilego spoke.

"The Tibetan tribes?"

The rest of the people frowned. They knew about the Naiman tribe, but they didn't often deal with the Tibetans on the plateau.

"The Tibetans live on the plateau all year round and rarely interact with the lower parts. However, their plateau happens to overlook Qi's grain transportation route, so I contacted them and asked them to attack the grain route and block the enemy's supply! After conquering the Central Plains, we only need to give them the Chengdu and Tongchuan roads."

Bilego spoke.

"Well, you did a good job on this!"

Yelu Dashi was very satisfied when he heard this. With his knowledge, he naturally knew the importance of cutting off the enemy's food supply. He was also clear about the terrain of the Hexi Corridor. The Tibetans were an excellent choice.

"Then Tibet has been divided into many tribes, how many troops are they willing to send?"

Yelu Dashi looked at Bilege and asked.

"Gur Khan, after the Tibetan king was killed, Tibet split into eight major royal families: the Lhasa royal family, the Yalong Jue'a royal family, the Zongkha royal family, the Gongtang royal family, the Ladakh royal family, the Guge royal family, the Purang royal family, and the Yaze royal family."

"However, the Guge and Gongtang royal families are too far away and may not be able to participate in the war. The Lhasa royal family, Yalong Jue'a royal family and others are confirmed to participate in the war! They can probably send out 30,000 troops!"

Bilege said that the Tibetan Plateau was too large, and the people he sent had not yet contacted all the royal families.

"I don't know much about Tibet, but they can only send 30,000 troops?"

Yelu Dashi frowned and said that the Liao Kingdom didn't know much about Tubo, and he hadn't studied it either, but Tuyuhun was once a powerful country that could invade the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

"Khan Jurchen, Tuyuhun has been destroyed, and now Tubo is in disarray. The royal family of Ali region is guarding the wilderness and refusing to come out. Only the royal family of Lhasa and Yalong Jue'a still have ambitions. Among them, the Western Xia Emperor Li Qianshun fled to Lhasa city!" Bilege said.

"Li Qianshun!"

Yelu Dashi narrowed his eyes slightly. It was because of the Western Xia's indecision that the Liao Dynasty was destroyed, and finally it was destroyed by the Qi Dynasty.

“He will send troops this time too!”

Bilego spoke.

"Well, tell them that as long as they can block Qi's food supply, I will never be stingy with the land in the East!"

Yelu Dashi spoke up. He knew very well that the Tibetans had always wanted to leave the plateau, and this was their only chance in a hundred years.

"What's the situation in Qi?"

Yelu Dashi asked about the situation in Qi again.

"Qi State is still increasing its troops. Three waves of troops have arrived in succession during this period. Now there are a total of 130,000 troops! Among them, 50,000 troops are at Yumen Pass and 80,000 troops are at Puchang Sea."

Bilege whispered that he felt a little guilty when talking about Pu Changhai, because it was there that he killed the young eunuch of Western Liao.

"Pu Changhai!"

Yelu Dashi's face was slightly gloomy. He sent Xiao Dajin to Gaochang as a junior supervisor. In addition to extorting money, he also wanted to monitor Gaochang. But now Xiao Dajin was inexplicably killed by Qi State, which made him very confused. Xiao Dajin was not a fool, so how could he run to the front line and be delivered to the mouth of Qi State's army?

However, all the evidence pointed to Qi. He sent people to investigate several times, but the result was the same. He could only let the matter go, but his intuition told him that there must be something wrong.

"The enemy is right in front of you, why don't you send troops?"

Mahmud, the king of the Western Karakhanid Khanate, said that Opuchanghai has always been the territory of Gaochang. Even though the State of Qi had attacked, the Khan of Gaochang could still sit in the city.

"We have few soldiers in Gaochang, and our soldiers are not strong in combat. We dare not fight against Qi head-on, so we held out until Juer Khan arrived. If we attack rashly and end up being defeated, the entire Eastern Expedition will be affected!"

Bilege looked at everyone and said that he didn't mind showing weakness and embarrassment, because Gaochang itself was the weakest of the four Khanates.

"You did the right thing. You really shouldn't attack rashly!"

Yelu Dashi knew that some Khans were unwilling to march eastward and had very negative attitudes, so he was obviously trying to find fault.

After Yelu Dashi spoke, the others stopped talking about it.

"What's the situation in Hami?"

Yelu Dashi asked about the situation in Hami, which was the front line they had planned.

"Everything in Hami has been prepared. My 50,000-strong army from Gaochang is there. The people have been evacuated, and the city walls have been raised and reinforced. Hami is now a solid fortress."

Bilego spoke.

After hearing what Bilego said, everyone's faces looked much better. A solid fortress could give these expeditioners enough sense of security.

"Everyone has come from afar, let's have a drink first! This is the best grape wine in the Western Region. The wine and food for the army outside the city have also been delivered!"

Bilego smiled and raised his glass to invite everyone. He said that everything he prepared for this banquet was the best, with the aim of satisfying everyone.

The banquet officially began. After traveling thousands of miles and crossing mountains and rivers, everyone was already hungry and tired. Now with delicious food and wine, everyone enjoyed themselves comfortably and relieved their fatigue along the way.

Only Yelu Dashi's expression remained unchanged. With the war imminent, his mind was full of thoughts on how to conquer the land, how to enter the Central Plains, and revive the Liao Dynasty.

No one tried to persuade Yelu Dashi. They had long been accustomed to Yelu Dashi's seriousness and rigidity. It had always been like this.

(End of this chapter)