The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 524 Alliance
Li Fengjie took Yang Jiong to the top of the city wall. Half a minute later, Cui Xuanwei came hurriedly to hand in the documents.

Li Fengjie, the governor of Anxi Protectorate, can see all the files here.

Now Li Yiyan is still staying in Xizhou City, and the entire Anxi Protectorate's personnel are taking turns to move westward, and the Tang people's control over the Western Regions is also gradually strengthening.

A long time ago, Li Fengjie recalled that when he was still a teenager of fifteen or sixteen years old, he heard his father say that the prince looked like a kind crown prince, but in fact he was very cunning.

After the crown prince ascended the throne, his ability to centralize power was even greater than during the Zhenguan period.

The people of the Western Regions lived in peace under the governance of the Heavenly Khan, and the emperor and the court strengthened their control over the Western Regions.

According to the document sent by the Ministry of Rites, in other words, the document sent by the Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong, the emperor's words were relayed, that is, the governance of the Western Regions began to shift from taking on everything to more detailed powers and responsibilities, that is, specific matters would be assigned to specific people, that's roughly it.

Generally speaking, with Jingzhao Prefecture and Duhufu as the center, several more government offices would be built.

In other words, the emperor wanted to further centralize power in the Western Regions, even down to the level of individual households and people.

Cui Xuanwei looked at the fields in the distance and explained, "Originally, we started to cultivate the fields in March this year. At the beginning, the cultivation of the fields was not smooth. The wheat did not grow well after it was planted. We did not expect that this year's winter would be so long. The wheat we planted could not sprout in the frozen soil."

He paused for a moment and continued, "Later, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture built a greenhouse in the city to grow rice seedlings. After a few seedlings grew, they were planted. From March to now, April, there are finally some results."

Yang Jiong wondered, "Can we still farm like this?"

Cui Xuanwei shook his head and said, "This is also a helpless move. Many of the seedlings we raised died. Fortunately, the weather has improved since April."

As he spoke, Cui Xuanwei pointed to another field in Talas City.

Li Fengjie saw large tracts of fields to the north of Talas City, and the green fields extended all the way to the foot of the snow-capped mountains.

Cui Xuanwei added: "This is the grain that was planted in mid-April. It has just grown, but it is difficult to irrigate it. It is difficult to dig a karez here, so we can only use the snow water from the snow mountain for irrigation."

Li Fengjie saw that the crops in the fields had grown to knee height, so he didn't need to use too much water to grow the fields. He said, "I'm afraid these grains are not enough for the army ahead."

Cui Xuanwei nodded and said, "Yes."

Yang Jiong asked again: "What should we do then?"

Cui Xuanwei pulled out a roll of cloth from his sleeve and explained, "This is the news sent by General Wang Xuance, the commander-in-chief of the Tianzhu Road Army."

Li Fengjie took the cloth and looked at the ink on it. What was written on it was very simple. Wang Xuance had prepared a million stones of grain and fodder in Eastern India, and was sending them to the front line through the Kingdom of Xiaoboluo.

Cui Xuanwei continued, "Liu Hongye in the Chongwenguan in Tianzhu has submitted memorials to the court several times. In Tianzhu, during the best season, grain can be harvested three times a year, but in the army..."

Li Fengjie asked, "What happened in the army?"

"I'm afraid the soldiers in the army don't like to eat the food from India. The rice here is all from the Tianshan Mountains. I don't know how the food grown here is." Cui Xuanwei said with emotion: "Liu Fuyin repeatedly said that the soldiers are fighting hard in the front, and no matter how hard it is for us in the rear, at least we should let the soldiers live better and eat better."

With India as a big granary, the army at least won't go hungry while away from home.

Cui Xuanwei and Li Fengjie talked about the current situation. In fact, the Arabs also wanted to obtain India.

It was a coincidence that after the Arabs destroyed Persia, India was in the midst of civil strife, and Wang Xuance took advantage of the situation to quell the strife.

Not only that, Wang Xuance also left behind the Queen of India, which was the orthodoxy of India.

Moreover, Xuanzang's trip to India had already made this great Tang monk famous in India.

Therefore, the people of India now prefer to be close to the Tang Dynasty and start fighting against the Arabs.

Whether in terms of public opinion or stance, the Tang Dynasty had the upper hand.

Perhaps the Arabs are now looking at India which has fallen into the hands of the Tang Dynasty and gritting their teeth at this huge granary.

The upper reaches of the Amu Darya River are located on the high mountain glaciers of the Pamir Plateau. Among the Hu people in the Pamir Mountains, this river has many names.

An Yanyan was wearing a white robe, showing his identity as a white-clad Hu merchant. He looked at the water of the Amu Darya River and whispered, "People east of the Pamir Mountains call this river the Amu Darya River. We Sogdians call it Uxus, which means the river god. June is the time when the glaciers melt, and the river is the most abundant. The melted glacier water flows into the river, and the river water rises."

After hearing this, the old Arab at the side asked, "You are very knowledgeable."

Hearing the other party's comments, An Yanyan bowed respectfully again and said: "Now that An Guo is blocking the Tang army, the river water is rising, and the Tang army dare not cross the river at this time."

The old Arab nodded and said, "Yes."

An Yanyan said: "There are 200,000 troops here, and there are more than 100,000 in Mulu City. We are very short of food."

"They said they were going to attack the Pamirs and seize their food."

After listening to the old man's words, An Yanyan advised: "We should go south to Tianzhu and get the granary first."

This old man was Ali's close attendant. Hearing this, he seemed to be thinking about it.

An Yanyan bowed respectfully and said, "I heard that Ali is the only descendant of the Prophet left in the world. I have always wanted to meet him."

Ali is the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. The prophet of the Caliphate died when he was only twenty years old, leaving behind only this grandson.

The old man added: "I will take you to see Ali."

"Thank you."

The old man smiled and nodded, "After you go to the Arab Empire, you will definitely become a very wealthy man."

This was exactly what An Yanyan was planning in his mind. He saluted again with a smile on his face. At this moment, the Sogdians and the Arabs reached an alliance.

Under the construction of the Tang people, everything in the Western Regions was carried out according to the will of the emperor. Under the rule of the Tang people, which emphasized construction over commerce and had strict laws, An Yanyan knew very well that there was no soil in the Western Regions suitable for his survival.

The only land suitable for his survival and the place where he could display his talents was the Arab world.

Two days later, Anyanyan left the Amu Darya River and came to the prosperous city of Mulu, where he met Ali.

When he actually met Ali, Anyanyan was very surprised. The future caliph was younger than he had expected.

Ali was drinking grape wine, sitting in the palace, listening absentmindedly to the stories of several people.

After the old men finished speaking, Ali put down the wine jug in his hand and said, "Persian wine is too sweet. How can their wine be so sweet?"

The old man added: "Their wine vessels can make the wine sweeter."

Ali closed his eyes and held his temple, then said, "Then let's go fight Dong Tianzhu."

Several old men nodded.

An Yanyan stood aside, with his head lowered, a respectful look, and remained silent.

In the middle of June in the eleventh year of Qianqing, the Tang army finally began to move. Troops of soldiers and horses were leaving the city one after another. Pei Xingjian, who was about to leave the city, received a piece of news. He hurried to the camp to report to Liang Jianfang, "General, the Arabs are going to attack East Tianzhu."

Liang Jianfang tightened his armor and put on his helmet while asking, "What's the situation?"

Murong Shun, who followed Pei Xingjian, saluted and said, "General, the Arabs have sent more than 100,000 troops to attack Eastern Tianzhu."

Liang Jianfang lowered his voice and asked, "Why are they attacking the Indians?"

Murong Shun added: "For the sake of food, they want both food from India and food that India sends to us."

Pei Xingjian echoed, "Once the Arabs get the food, they will be able to rest easy."

Liang Jianfang's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice: "What a calculation."

Pei Xingjian said loudly: "I request your permission to go and intercept them!"

At this point, Xue Rengui also walked into the camp and saluted, saying, "General, now is a good time to weaken the Arab army. I request to go and assist Wang Xuance."

Liang Jianfang sat down, closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, then said, "I wanted to end the war as soon as possible and let the soldiers go home as soon as possible, but I didn't want any complications."

Pei Xingjian said: "General, if we don't wipe out some enemies, they will just think that the Tang people are easy to bully."

Liang Jianfang opened his eyes again, his gaze became sharper, and he said, "I can only give you 30,000 soldiers."

Murong Shun said: "General, I still have 50,000 soldiers and horses."

There were 80,000 soldiers and horses in total, which made Pei Xingjian feel more at ease. He asked, "Where is your army?"

Murong Shun couldn't possibly run around with 50,000 troops. He smiled and said, "The foreign minister's army is at the end of the Wakhan Corridor. Xuanzang also entered India from there."

Xue Rengui took the order handed to him by Liang Jianfang and left quickly.

Inside the camp, various armies were preparing for another expedition. The prince originally wanted to go to India, but was stopped by Lou Shide's advice.

Yu Tu had no choice but to give up. Lou Shide also brought his father's decree that he would return to Chang'an after the battle of Pamirs was over.

When Liang Jianfang heard the news, the stone in his heart finally fell. The prince was in his own army, and he always felt like his head was hanging on his belt.

Now that the prince is leaving, and his personal guards are leaving with him, Liang Jianfang won't have to see Cheng Chumo's sour face anymore. He can't tell you how happy he is.

The sound of drums rang out in the camp, and the 30,000-strong army was fully equipped. Because they were going to march thousands of miles, most of the troops were cavalry.

Ru Laijie said: "General Pei, General Xue, we are going to fight together again."

Xue Rengui remembered this old man. He and Wang Xuance had fought together against the Arabs. He said, "I remember you!"

Ru Laijie asked again: "Is Qin Ling okay?"

Pei Xingjian said: "He led his troops northward."

After everyone had packed up, the army did not dare to delay and after an hour of preparation, they set out south.

In the upper reaches of the Amu Darya River, north of Anguo, a Tang army was climbing a mountain. Most of the mountains in the Pamir Mountains were bare. As they got closer to the Amu Darya River and away from the glaciers, they could finally see some low green plants.

Di Renjie climbed up a hill by stepping on the hard rocks. From here he could see a large plain in the distance. In the middle of the plain was a big city. This was Anguo, which the Tang army was going to attack next.

Pei Yan and Li Zhi also followed.

Di Renjie looked back and asked, "Where is Prince Ji?"

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "He is exhausted. He should sit down at the foot of the mountain and rest. Don't worry about him."

Di Renjie looked down the mountain behind him again and saw Prince Ji climbing up with sweat all over his forehead. He was wearing heavy armor.

Sometimes, in order to cope with long marches, veteran soldiers in the army would not wear armor for a long time. Most of the time, they would only wear light leather armor. Even weapons were not carried on their bodies, but were transported with the baggage.

Only when facing the enemy will everyone put on their equipment and charge into battle.

Prince Ji was a man who valued his life very much. He always wore armor, which clanged when he walked.

When he climbed up the hill with great effort, he straightened his helmet, his messy face covered with sweat, and complained: "The more I wipe, the more sweat I get."

Afterwards, Li Shen also looked at the scenery in the distance and whispered, "Are those people the Hu people from Anguo?"

Di Renjie shook his head and said, "No, they are not Hu people."

Pei Yan also whispered: "They are Arabs."

Li Shen was puzzled and said, "That's not right. I haven't heard that Anguo has fallen into the hands of the Arabs."

Li Zhi said: "We have to attack them anyway, no matter who they are."

Looking more carefully, he saw several groups of Arabs gathering at a downhill slope. Pei Yan calculated the time and said quickly, "Not good! They are setting an ambush."

Di Renjie said: "They dared to ambush our army. We should remove their ambush troops first!"

Pei Yan nodded and said, "Okay!"

The four of them made some plans and waited for nightfall.

This group of 500 Tang soldiers came here in advance to wait in wait in order to support the large army that was coming from the rear.

Normally, the moonlight over the Pamirs is very bright, but tonight it is overcast and it is about to rain over the Pamirs, which has been dry for a long time.

In the darkness of night, on a low slope leading to the main road of Anguo.

At this moment, there were wailing sounds everywhere.

There was still an Arab who wanted to climb up the slope. The Arab with a saber in his hand looked back, still with lingering fear. But when he looked again, he suddenly saw a horse lance emitting a cold light across his face.

The horse lance was a weapon unique to the Tang army, and the Arabs had long heard of it.

Pei Yan held the lance expressionlessly and thrust it forward into the Arab's lower abdomen. Then, as his horse charged forward, he grasped the tail of the lance and retracted it, rushing towards the next enemy with a splash of blood.

The heavy rain came down with the wind, and the huge water drops hit the face and it actually hurt. This was the feeling of the dying cannibal lying on the ground. Before he died, he looked up at the night sky. He had never felt such pain from the rain falling on his body, until the rain fell into his eyes and mouth, the cold rain flowed from his neck to his throat, until his vision became blurred and his feeling disappeared.

The killing here lasted for half an hour. Li Shen counted and confirmed the number of people. The number of this ambush force was not large, only more than a hundred people, but they had prepared a lot of kerosene.

Li Zhi rode up on his horse and said, "The scouts reported that the army still has sixty miles to go from here."

(End of this chapter)