A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"That's certainly a clever tactic."

The news quickly reached Luoyang, where a minister in the court remarked with such emotion.

This was clearly aimed at Huang Ce, and even Li Heng couldn't help but feel sorry that such a talented person had turned to thievery.

In particular, after reviewing Huang Ce's past, he discovered that Huang Ce should have entered the palace to serve the court.

It was because of those powerful and influential families that the two sides turned against each other, causing such a huge loss to the imperial court.

Li Heng wished he could tear that idiot from the Boling Cui family who replaced Huang Ce to pieces!

In an effort to quell Li Heng's anger, the Cui clan of Boling paid a heavy price, suffering significant losses in their influence within the imperial court.

This time, Li Heng had sufficient reason and excuse. It was precisely because of the actions of the Cui family of Boling that Huang Ce did his best to persuade Zhang Huai to raise an army and rebel.

The Cui family of Boling cannot escape blame for this rebellion.

Cui Huan, the newly appointed Minister of Personnel and the clan head of the Boling Cui clan, was forced to resign due to this incident.

Cui Huan was furious. He had finally managed to build a good relationship with the new emperor and gradually rose to the high position of Minister of Personnel, and even had the potential to become the new prime minister.

All of this is ruined because of this one foolish family disciple.

Li Heng also felt some regret over Cui Huan's talent, but this was a great opportunity for him to eliminate the Cui family's influence, and he would never give up because of Cui Huan.

However, he had a clear conscience. From the moment this matter was exposed, Cui Huan was destined for this outcome, and even if he were the emperor, it would be difficult to prevent it.

It was precisely because Cui Huan took the initiative to resign that most of the Cui family's vitality was preserved. Otherwise, with so many families watching coldly, or even kicking someone when they were down, the Cui family's losses would have been far greater than these.

Even at the local level, the stigma of stealing someone's merits was almost the most serious besides rebellion.

After this news spread, the Cui family's reputation in the region plummeted. This reputation was the result of hundreds of years of accumulation. Even if it didn't disappear overnight, their prestige among scholars would never recover, and they would never be able to become mainstream again.

The number and strength of disciples from humble backgrounds today are incomparable to those in the original history. In the original history, this was the time when the five surnames and seven powerful families held absolute power.

Those from humble backgrounds who refused to submit to the powerful and influential families had almost no chance of becoming officials.

However, in modern history, people from humble backgrounds have a place in both the imperial court and local areas.

For them, fame and official rank were the only way to rise in society. On the road to success, who hasn't been ostracized and suppressed by powerful families?

They deeply sympathized with Huang Ce's plight, and their shared hatred of the enemy led to the greatest loss ever suffered by the Cui family since its founding.

This has a huge impact on the future of the Cui family. If the Cui family of Boling were not one of the five surnames and seven prominent families, with a profound foundation and a network of disciples, former officials and relatives throughout the country, they would probably have fallen out of the ranks of the top aristocratic families in the Tang Dynasty.

In particular, Cui Huan's loss of the important position of Minister of Personnel made their path to recovery even longer.

The imperial court didn't even have to intervene. The person who stole Huang Ce's academic title back then, along with those involved, were thoroughly disciplined by the clan rules and regretted being blinded by greed for Huang Ce's academic degree.

How could he have known that Huang Ce was so capable? If he had known, he wouldn't have dared to do it.

You were so capable back then, you should have said so earlier!

If you had told me earlier, would I have dared to target you like this?!

When he first learned that the military advisor in the army was named Huang Ce, he thought it was just a coincidence of names. But when he found out that it wasn't just a coincidence of names, but the same person, he was so scared that he wet his pants!

Ultimately, this spoiled brat was expelled from the family genealogy and kicked out of the house!

The imperial court issued a warrant for the arrest of all members of the Zhang and Huang families, with a substantial reward for their capture.

After the northern frontier was pacified, Li Heng selected the elite troops from the conscripted army and sent them to the western frontier to support the western battlefield.

The fighting on the western frontier was extremely fierce because of external intervention!

The western frontier of the Tang Dynasty was dotted with numerous large and small vassal states. These states naturally seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take advantage of the situation and plunder.

With their support, the rebellion of the ten major military governorships in the western frontier was extremely powerful, with an army of 150 million.

These 150 million troops included many elite soldiers, whose weapons and armor were even better than those of the Northern Frontier, and were not inferior to the Tang army.

Gao Shi's lines are making extremely difficult progress.

At this moment, Guo Ziyi stepped forward and offered a plan, requesting that they emulate the strategies of Huo Qubing, the Marquis of Champion, and Wei Qing, the General of the Han Dynasty, with one man holding the enemy at the front and the other leading troops to flank and launch a surprise attack from behind.

But there is an even bigger problem: where is the enemy's supply lifeline?

Guo Ziyi stepped forward, pointed to a point on the military map, and said, "For such a major battle, the enemy's supply lines must have more than one route."

"But supplies from both places will definitely pass through here, and then be distributed to several supply lines along the enemy's rear."

Gao Shi looked at the place Guo Ziyi was pointing to, which turned out to be the enemy's rear, the rear of the rear.

It had already crossed the border of the Tang Dynasty and was located behind foreign countries.

The risk is far, far, far greater than attacking the enemy's rear.

After careful consideration, Gao Shi discussed the matter with his generals and finally decided to adopt Guo Ziyi's strategy. He ordered Guo Ziyi to lead his elite cavalry to flank the enemy and launch a surprise attack on their supply lines, cutting off their supplies.

Guo Ziyi gladly accepted the order, mustered his troops, and then marched into the vast Gobi Desert.

Gao Shi began to intensify his attacks to draw the enemy's attention and buy time for Guo Ziyi.

After Guo Ziyi led his troops deep into the desert, in order to avoid the enemy's patrol checkpoints, they traveled by day and night, constantly detouring, which took them longer than they could manage to reach the enemy's rear.

At this point, his supplies were almost completely exhausted. If he could not quickly find the enemy's supply transport route, his entire army would probably starve to death here.

"General, this is New Ctesiphon, a city built by the remnants of the former Parthian Empire after their westward migration following its destruction."

Just as Guo Ziyi was wondering where he was, a soldier said to him.

Guo Ziyi noticed the nostalgia in the soldier's eyes and his heart stirred.

How did you know?

"I dare not lie to the general. My parents used to be merchants here. I lived here when I was young. After I grew up, I returned to my ancestral home. Later, I was conscripted into the army by the court. I never thought I would have to come back one day."

The soldier quickly explained.

"Hahahaha, there's always a way out. It's fate, it's all fate."

Guo Ziyi laughed heartily, in high spirits!

He was currently struggling because he had a map but couldn't determine his location. Now that he had a ready-made guide, things would be much easier.

Do you know where Basra is?

Guo Ziyi quickly asked.

"Know."

The soldier nodded, signaling Guo Ziyi to open the marching map, accurately locate their current position, and then point out the location of Basra and the route to Basra!