Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 249 Horse riding on Tianshan Mountain (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

The Western Region is bounded by the Tianshan Mountains and is divided into two parts: the Tarim Basin in the south and the Junggar Basin in the north.

In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there were 36 countries in the Western Region, most of which were distributed in the oases on the northern and southern edges of the Tarim Basin south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Most of these countries are centered on the city walls and engage in agriculture and animal husbandry. Some of them can even make their own weapons. Only a few countries live by water and grass and rely on neighboring countries for food supplies.

Therefore, since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasty's route into the Western Regions has always been through the Hami Basin and Turpan Basin at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, heading towards the hinterland of the Western Regions.

After entering the Tarim Basin, use the Tarim River to continue advancing westward.

Whether it was the establishment of the Western Region Protectorate in the Western Han Dynasty or the destruction of Gaochang in the Tang Dynasty, this route was followed without exception.

So Li Zicheng asked Li Guo to lead 2 elite troops to strangle Turpan.

Li Yan never imagined that the Chinese army would cross the Kunlun Mountains and directly use Daowuszang to go north.

To be honest, he had not thought of this possibility at all.

The first is to choose to fight from here to the Tianshan South Road. It is difficult to ensure supplies and it is very difficult to advance troops. He does not believe that Li Xianzhong would abandon the safe route of pushing down from Turpan and adopt such a risky strategy.

Second, the tribes in Tongwuzang in Qinghai also had Dashun's eyes and ears. After all, it had been three or four years since Li Zicheng arrived in the Western Regions, and they had also developed their own intelligence network.

The Chinese army showed no signs of mobilizing to Uzang.

Song Xiance reminded: "I remember that the spies had sent news that the second prince of China, Li Shizu, led troops to attack without authorization. Li Xianzhong was furious and beat him with forty military sticks on the spot, and ordered him to enter Uzang to study Buddhism."

"It seems that we were fooled and fell into Li Xianzhong's plan to hide the truth!"

Li Shizu was unable to ride a horse after receiving a military stick, and was almost carried into Uzang.

His father allowed him to go to Drepung Monastery to practice Buddhism. On the one hand, he wanted to deceive others so that the Chinese army could enter Uzang in the name of escorting him.

On the other hand, it also shows that the Chinese court recognized the status of Ngawang Lobsang as a religious leader.

Sending a legitimate prince to practice under his sect, even though it didn't last long, showed that he valued him.

Li Shizu understood that this time he went to Drepung Monastery to practice Buddhism not only to recuperate from his injuries, but also to practice Buddhism seriously. The more pious he showed, the more Uzang would surrender to China.

The Snowy Region is short of supplies and sparsely populated, with the population of the entire Uzang being less than one million.

It is difficult for people to associate this place with the historically powerful Tubo Kingdom.

Li Shizu discovered that there are still many traces of the rule of the Central Plains dynasty here. The 27 households and inns used in Uszang today were all set up by the Yuan Dynasty and still in use today.

However, he stayed here for three months.

Although there are only 3,000 Chinese troops accompanying him on the Tianshan South Road this time, Wuszang has already tried his best to raise the supplies for these 3,000 troops.

At this time, Li Shizu actually faced the same problem as Huo Qubing, that is, how to fight deep into the enemy's country without supplies?

Obviously, the supplies team that accompanied him on this expedition were all one-time, and it was unrealistic to expect that they would cross the Kunlun Mountains and Altyn Mountains from Uzang to provide supplies for them in the long term.

Fortunately, he had a map carefully drawn by his Taifu Mao Yuanyi, a guide sent by King Abdullah of Yarkand Khan, and information delivered by Song Xiance, the internal correspondent of the Intelligence Department in Dashun.

These are things that Huo Qubing did not have back then.

Dashun Kingdom seems to have a lot of troops left on Tianshan South Road, tens of thousands of them.

But in fact, there are not many real soldiers to fight.

Li Zicheng's core troops were the 3 soldiers he brought to the Western Regions.

After years of conquest, there are now more than 24000 people in this team.

Ten thousand of them were stationed in Turpan and it was impossible to return to support Tianshan South Road.

Li Zicheng went north to conquer Junggar and took away another 8000 people.

Only 6000 of his core people who really stayed on Tianshan South Road were left, and 2000 of them were lost to Qinghai by Tian Jianxiu.

Calculated in this way, if Li Shizu led 3,000 people in a surprise attack, the risk factor would not be so high.

After all, if we want to break through the Turpan area from the front and take a long time, it will be a great logistical test for China.

If our group of people can capture Yarkand Khanate's capital Yarkand in one fell swoop, then the entire Tianshan South Road will soon be pacified.

Li Shizu and others crossed the Kunlun Mountains and entered the Tarim Basin without attacking nearby city strongholds.

Instead, they traveled hundreds of miles north into the no-man’s land of the Taklimakan Desert.

This move really left the defenders of Yarkant at a loss!

After walking for seven or eight days, they finally arrived at their destination.

The ruins looming in the wind and sand told Li Shizu and others that this was once the site of the ancient city of Jingjue.

With the decline of the Silk Road, these historical oases have been completely abandoned and gradually been swallowed up by the surrounding desert.

Without the guide's guidance, they would never have found this place in the desert.

At this time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force was also exhausted.

Although the camels still carried some supplies on their backs, the hundreds of miles they had traveled through were really exhausting.

Naturally, they were not here for archeology. If King Abdullah of Yarkand Khan was not still in the hands of his father, Li Shizu even suspected that the guide he sent deliberately misled him and led the army into a desperate situation.

He asked: "Are you sure this is Abdullah's supply point?"

The guide nodded and said: "Our Great Khan knows that Li Zicheng will annex the Yarkand Khanate sooner or later, so we secretly store a large amount of supplies here for future counterattacks."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the messenger entered the ruins of a temple-like temple.

He gently turned the base of the statue, and then heard a loud noise, and a passage was revealed in front of everyone.

Li Shizu never expected that there would be a cave under this arid desert.

After passing through a long tunnel, they discovered an underground river.

It can be seen that someone carefully built this place. Judging from the traces, it must be hundreds of years or even longer.

The guide said: "This is the underground tomb of Queen Jingjue. Even though it is a desert now, it was once a big river."

"The great Abdullah Khan used this ruins as a material storage point, so he hid it from Li Zicheng and others."

It's a pity that the Chinese army doesn't need the weapons and armor here at all.

The soldiers of the Chinese army really did not dare to eat those naan cakes that were harder than stones and dried meat that was about to go bad.

In the end, they only replenished enough water.

Water is always the most precious in the desert.

Fortunately, the food they carried should be enough for them to get out of Taklimakan.

When the Chinese army appeared under the city of Khotan, the defenders were almost defenseless.

In panic, they quickly closed the city gates and tried to keep the Chinese out of the city.

It is a pity that there are only 500 real Dashun troops in Khotan, and the remaining more than 4000 defenders are all Yarkant people.

Li Shizu's guide had already brought Abdullah Khan's tokens and found the chiefs of several tribes around Khotan.

After learning that Abdullah Khan had sent people to kill Yarkand, they immediately chose to side with the Chinese.

Soon the city gate of Khotan was opened. Li Shizu led the Chinese army into the city and captured it within a quarter of an hour.

After taking inventory of the supplies in the city, they were surprised to find that there was a large amount of food here.

Although Khotan was once one of the four towns in Anxi during the Tang Dynasty, it is a pity that it is no longer what it used to be.

Otherwise, there would not be only 500 Shun troops garrisoned. Naturally, Dashun's military advisor Song Xiance had just sent people to transport these grains to Khotan City not long ago as agreed. In this way, the supply problem of Li Shizu's three thousand troops was completely solved.

Khotan is close to Hotan in later generations. Not only is it rich in Hotan jade, but the nearby tribes are also very enthusiastic.

I heard that Li Shizu was the second prince of the current Chinese prince, and he wanted to send his daughter directly to his bed.

It was a good thing that Li Shizu had just been beaten with a military stick by his father, otherwise he would have made a private decision here for the rest of his life.

Zheng Sen was worthy of being Zheng Zhilong’s son, and he quickly discovered the value of Hetian jade.

In fact, in traditional Chinese culture, Hetian jade is more in line with the cultural values ​​of the Chinese people than jade!

Especially the finest mutton-fat white jade has always been valuable.

Soon they reached an agreement with the local tribes, and Zheng Sen sent people to Khotan to purchase Hetian jade, and then resold it to various parts of China.

Of course, forget about building roads.

The "Yunnan-Burma Highway", which China has devoted its entire nation and spent tens of millions of taels of silver to build, has not been completed for two years.

Even if the Zheng family were as rich as the enemy, they would not be able to afford to build a road from Xi'an to Khotan. The amount of this project would be many times that of the "Burma Highway".

But their ultimate goal next is to capture Yarkand's capital, Yarkand.

Yarkand was originally an ancient country on the Silk Road. Because of the abundant water flow of the Yarkand River, it became a rare oasis on the South Tianshan Road.

Li Yan knew that the scale of the Chinese army would not be very large, so he implemented the policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country.

Concentrate troops to defend the capital city of Yarkand and prevent the Chinese army from receiving effective supplies along the way.

Under normal circumstances, Li Yan's method works.

There were 2 defenders in Yarkand, including 3500 close associates of the Shun army.

Li Shizu's Chinese army only had 3000 people in total, and it was difficult to hold on without supplies.

If they obtain supplies by plundering surrounding tribes, it will inevitably arouse the common enemies of the Yarkand tribes, so the Yarkand people will side with the Dashun Army.

He would never have thought that since Song Xiance, the traitor, had left enough supplies for the Chinese army, they would not worry about food at all.

When Li Shizu's troops appeared at the foot of Shache City, there were not only 3,000 regular Chinese troops, but also nearly 10,000 coalition troops from surrounding tribes.

Li Shizu had always regarded Huo Qubing as his idol. He dreamed of once again "Sealing the Wolf and Living in Xu" or "Shi Le Yanran"!

In fact, it is not just Li Shizu. China now attaches great importance to patriotic education. Almost all educated young Chinese people think so.

But now the Mongols no longer have the courage to fight to the death with China.

He could only settle for the next best thing and have a "horse ride on the Tianshan Mountains".

In fact, the coalition forces behind Li Shizu had far more camels than horses, and they were also dressed in a mess, including both Us Tibetans and Yarkands.

There are only four words that can describe what you see from the city, that is "rabble".

Looking at the Chinese army under the city, Li Yan was also confused. Just like this, a ragtag group of people actually fought all the way to the city of Shache?

No matter how you look at it, this is not the Chinese cavalry that made the Shun army frightened by the news.

Although the enemy forces outside the city looked weak, Li Yan still did not attack easily.

He was very clear about his task at this time, which was to hold on to Shache City and wait until Li Zicheng's army returned.

But the news he received soon made Li Yan unable to remain calm.

He received an urgent report from Li Zicheng. After receiving support from Mobei Mongolia, the Junggar tribe's strength surged.

They actually defeated the coalition forces of Dashun and the Kazakh Khanate one after another, and even General Liu Zongmin was injured!

If Li Zicheng leads his army back south at this time, the Kazakh allies will definitely take the opportunity to escape.

The Junggar tribe, whose morale is high, will inevitably go south together with the Mobei Mongolia.

By then Dashun will be attacked by the Junggar Allied Forces and the Chinese Army, and destruction will be inevitable.

Therefore, Li Zicheng asked Yarkand to send reinforcements north to support, at least to maintain the confrontation with the Junggar coalition forces.

After Song Xiance heard the news, he cursed: "Needless to say, this must be a bad idea given to His Majesty by Niu Jinxing!"

Originally, Li Zicheng had three major strategists: Li Yan, Song Xiance, and Zhong Guangdao. Naturally, there was no stage for Niu Jinxing to perform.

However, after Zhong Guangdao sacrificed himself in Xi'an and Li Zicheng was defeated and fled to the Western Regions, Niu Jinxing relied on his ability to flatter horses and was promoted by Li Zicheng.

Originally, Li Yan and Song Xiance advocated handing Turpan to China in exchange for China's support for Dashun's food and armaments.

This would be more conducive for Dashun to dominate the Western Region and pursue the more fertile Ili River Valley and the Balkhash Lake area with rich water and grass.

But Niu Jinxing insists that Turpan is the gateway to the Tianshan region. If it is handed over to China, it will undoubtedly attract wolves into the house. Even without China's assistance, I, Dashun, can conquer the Western Regions.

If Dashun can stay calm, slowly digest the Yarkand Khanate, and use Turpan to hold the front line of the Tianshan Mountains, China will not have a good opportunity to enter the army for the time being.

But Li Zicheng couldn't stand the temptation of the Kazakh Khanate. Under Niu Jinxing's repeated instigation, he decided to personally lead his army northward to work with the Kazakh Khanate to conquer Junggar, which was entrenched on the North Tianshan Road.

Dashun is faced with enemies from both sides and is in a dilemma because of this Ox-Venus star.

But now that the situation was critical, Li Yan had to try to defeat the Chinese army in front of him as soon as possible.

At this time, Song Xiance said: "The Chinese people should have received support from the surrounding Yarkand tribes, so that they would have enough food to confront us."

"I think the so-called coalition forces outside the city are just a bunch of rabble. Song is willing to lead troops to attack the camp and burn the enemy's supplies. In this way, the enemy will naturally collapse without a fight!"

Seeing that Li Yan was still hesitating, Song Xiance added: "I only took three thousand Yerqiang people out of the city. Even if the enemy troops outside the city are deceitful, we won't suffer much loss!"

At this time, the red lady on the side said: "Song's military advisor is not good at fighting. I am afraid that these Yarkand people cannot be suppressed. It is better for the last general to go out of the city to attack the camp together with Song's military advisor."

After they escaped to the Western Regions, Li Yan no longer had those constraints, and he officially married the red lady, and the two were very affectionate.

How could he safely let the red lady go on an adventure to rob the camp alone?

Although the risk of attacking rashly is not small, it is also an opportunity to quickly break the current deadlock.

In the end, Li Yan decided to lead 1000 of his confidants and 4000 Yerqiang people out of the city to attack the Chinese army outside the city.

The Red Lady and Song Xiance were both spies placed by the Intelligence Department next to Li Yan and Li Zicheng. This was naturally what they had discussed.

Use the matchmaker to provoke Li Yan to leave the city! Li Yan was ambushed by Li Shizu when he left the city, and the Yarkand people quickly dispersed.

Li Yan retreated to the foot of Shache City under the desperate cover of the Red Lady.

But at this time, Song Xiance refused to open the city gate and ordered people to shoot arrows down the city.

Li Yan cursed angrily: "Song Xiance, His Majesty is not kind to you, why did you betray him?"

Song Xiance said: "Li Zicheng is arrogant and will definitely not end well if he listens to the calumny of the minion Venus and tries to stand on his own in the Western Regions."

"Master Li, after getting to know me, Song cannot bear to harm you. But I still advise you, Niu Jinxing is a narrow-minded person, and he will retaliate. If you go to Li Zicheng, he will definitely not tolerate you and will definitely frame you. Please think again!"

Li Yan certainly knew that Niu Jinxing would not miss this opportunity, but he did not believe that Li Zicheng would attack him.

So he led his troops to join Li Zicheng without hesitation.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the fourth year of Qianxi, Li Shizu, the second prince of China, led his army to capture Shache City and regain the South Tianshan Road. All Yarkand tribes expressed their submission to China!

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(End of this chapter)