Chapter 242: The lonely army of thousands of miles

Compared with Zhang Huan's difficult march for thousands of miles, the attack in Hexi was much smoother. As Tubo's troops in Hexi were drawn to Anxi to fight the attack of the Uighur army, after the fall of Wuwei, the Hexi governor Lu Jizang gave up Zhangye, retreated to Jiuquan County, and transferred Dunhuang and Jinchang to gather in Jiuquan. In this way, Lu Jizang had more than 30,000 troops in his hands. On the one hand, he defended Jiuquan to the death, and on the other hand, he sent people to ask for help from Luosai. Unexpectedly, Wang Siyu's army detoured from the south of the Qilian Mountains to Dunhuang County, occupied the empty city in one fell swoop, cutting off Lu Jizang's retreat.

Just as He Lou Wuji's army was pushing to Zhangye and preparing to attack Jiuquan with Wang Siyu, the battle of Zhu Li's army invading Longyou broke out. In order to avoid an accident in Longyou, He Lou Wuji stopped the attack and the two armies entered a confrontation.

In early November, the first heavy snowfall in the Western Regions came, and the Hexi Corridor became an ice sea snow field. As the tug-of-war between Tubo and Uighurs in Anxi gradually subsided due to heavy snow, the autumn battle in the entire Western Regions also came to an end temporarily.

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The Hexi Corridor behind the snow is particularly beautiful. The cloudless blue sky covers the earth like a dome. Under the sky, the towering Qilian Mountains, endless grasslands, trees, rivers and sparsely populated villages and towns are all immersed in the windless tranquility and bright cold, immersed in dazzling light and light blue shadows.

Zhangye County is located in the middle of the Hexi Corridor, which is also the largest horse farm in Hexi. It stretches for hundreds of miles of grassland, with abundant water and abundant grass. It is here that it once provided a steady stream of war horses for the Tang Dynasty cavalry.

The official road from Wuwei to Zhangye crosses the grassland. In order to prevent losing its direction when walking when it is covered with heavy snow, Wang Zhongsi, the governor of Hexi during the Kaiyuan period, specially ordered people to plant poplar trees on both sides of the official road. Now the poplar trees have become towering trees. Looking down from a high place, the two rows of poplar trees that stretch for hundreds of miles are like an ice ribbon on the Hexi corridor.

On this day, a cavalry team of about 5,000 people slowly came on the official road south of Zhanghuanye County. The leader was Zhang Huan, who had just arrived from Shu County. He received an emergency report from He Lou Wuji, and more than a dozen special guests came to Zhangye County.

The city of Zhangye County was already seen from afar. A team of cavalry ran out of the city gate, which was particularly conspicuous in the vast snowy world. The team was getting closer and closer. The armor of the Tang army shone in the sun. The leader was Zhang Huan's number one general, He Lou Wuji. He rushed to Zhang Huan and turned over and got off the horse, knelt down on one knee and saluted: "See the governor!"

Zhang Huan quickly dismounted and helped him up, punched him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I heard that you really married a Tubo woman as a concubine, don't be assassinated on the couch in the middle of the night."

He Lou Wuji blushed and said, "Actually, it's not a Tubo. Her parents are both Han slaves. This time they attacked Zhangye, their parents were killed by Tubo people. When their subordinates saw her lonely, they took her away. In the face of a big battle, their subordinates dared not take concubines."

"It's right. In the face of a big battle, the coach should be more cautious." Zhang Huan nodded, and he turned to wave to Meng Jiao who came with him and said, "Come here!"

Meng Jiao got off his horse and walked over quickly, waiting for Zhang Huan's arrangement.

"Meng Jiao will be the governor of Zhangye and the hedge supervisor of Hexi from now on. You can hand over the government affairs to him today!"

"I obey the order!" He Lou Wuji bowed to Meng Jiao and said with a smile: "Every day, I have made my head wide and finally I look forward to my husband."

Meng Jiao also hurriedly bowed, "For the first time, I'm going to stand alone. If there is a shortage of manpower, I hope the general will support you."

Seeing that the two got along very well, Zhang Huan smiled and said, "Let's go! Talk while walking."

Everyone got on the horse and slowly drove towards Zhangye City. Before the Tubo occupied it, Zhangye was a military center in the Hexi Corridor. The city was built tall and strong, with a population of more than 20,000, mainly living by the Han and Qiang people. After the Tubo occupied the Hexi Corridor, Zhangye became the bridgehead for Tubo to attack the Tang Dynasty and was the center of Tubo's rule over Hexi. The population increased. There were more than 100,000 residents in the entire city, and 70% were Han slaves, raising horses for the Tubo lords.

Soon the army entered the city, and the city was covered with snow. It was rare to see a pedestrian on the street. It looked very deserted, the house was also very dilapidated, and there was no commercial activity. I could occasionally see some people crawling into several dilapidated houses. These were some shrewd Longyou merchants using cheap daily necessities for fur and medicinal materials on the hands of Qiang people.

"Where do they come from Anxi? Who are they?" Seeing that He Lou Wuji's mansion was about to reach the commander-in-chief's mansion, Zhang Huan finally asked about the purpose of this.

"Report to the governor, the person who came was Cao Hanchen, the son of Cao Lingzhong, the former Anxi governor, and a total of seventeen people came from Shule and walked for more than a month."

After He Lou Wuji finished speaking, both of them were silent. "Cao Hanchen", which is an extremely tragic name in itself. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty was forced to give up the Western Regions. Tubo sent troops to occupy Hehuang and Hexi, and also occupied the four towns of Anxi. The Uighurs in the north occupied Beiting, and the Dashi in the west controlled east of the Pamir Mountains. In the era when the Tang Dynasty was eaten by wolves, the Tang army left in the Western Regions never forgot their hometowns. They fought unyieldingly, fighting against all the foreign tribes who shared the Tang Dynasty and defending the territory of the Tang Dynasty. They had even been forgotten by the Chinese people and disappeared in people's memories, but they actually existed. The Hexi Jiedushi Zhou Ding, the Anxi Protector Cao Lingzhong, the Beiting Protector Zhu, and the Tang soldiers who followed them were their existence, indicating the rationality and legality of the Tang Dynasty to retake Anxi.

"General Cao!" He Lou Wuji waved to the person sitting on the steps from afar. When the man saw hundreds of cavalry coming, he quickly stood up. He was about twenty-five or six years old, thin, dark skin, and a faint sadness in his eyes.

The group came to the steps, and He Lou Wuji jumped off his horse and pulled him over to introduce him to Zhang Huan: "Governor, this is General Cao Hanchen who came from Shule."

He also introduced Zhang Huan to Cao Hanchen, "General Cao, this is the Longyou, Hexi Jiedushi General Zhang."

Cao Hanchen looked at Zhang Huan blankly. Suddenly, he knelt down with a "thump", kowtowed three times to Zhang Huan, and cried out in a lost voice: "Please send troops to Anxi and take back the hometown of the Tang Dynasty. We 10,000 military households are looking forward to it day and night, and have been waiting for it for twenty years."

Zhang Huan's eyes also turned red. He quickly helped Cao Hanchen up and said sincerely: "Like you, I have been determined to take back my hometown since I was a child. Don't worry, I have been preparing for three years, just for this day. Since the army has advanced westward, there will be no end."

Cao Hanchen wiped away his tears, took out a letter from his arms, and handed it to Zhang Huan, saying, "This is the letter written by my father to the governor. Please read it."

Zhang Huan took the letter and patted him on the shoulder, "Let's go! Let's go in and have a detailed discussion."

A few people walked into the government office. This turned out to be the Ganzhou Governor's Office of the Tang Dynasty, and later became the Hexi Governor's Office of Tubo. It covers a large area and still maintains the original appearance of the Ganzhou Governor's Office.

Everyone went into the central hall to sit down. Several personal soldiers served hot tea. Zhang Huan took a sip of hot tea to warm up his body, took out the letter given by Cao Hanchen, and asked him while dismantling it: "Shule (Kashgar, Xinjiang today) is thousands of miles away from here. How could you know that I sent troops to Hexi?"

Cao Hanchen hurriedly bowed and replied, "More than a month ago, several Uighur merchants came to Shule to sell horses. I heard them talk about the general and Uighur attacking Tubo together."

Zhang Huan nodded and opened the letter. The letter was written by Cao Lingzhong, the former Anxi guardian, briefly introduced their struggle with the Tubo people. From the second year of Zhide, they fought with the Tubo people more than 20 times, and their strength gradually faded. Now there are only more than 30,000 men, women, young and old, and only five thousand soldiers. They guarded Shule Town alone and begged Zhang Huanian to march towards the Western Regions in their loyalty to their homeland.

Zhang Huan closed the letter, pondered for a while and asked again: "Can the governor of Hexi Zhou Ding and the envoy Zhou be here now?"

Cao Hanchen shook his head, "Old General Zhou passed away three years ago. The former Beiting guardian Zhu was killed when he defended Yutian Town five years ago. Only Shule Town is still in our hands in Anxi, and the rest have been occupied by the Tubo people."

"I understand, don't worry, I still say the same thing. The civil strife in Tubo is now a good opportunity for us to regain Anxi. I will not give up the opportunity, but it is winter now, and the army is not good at marching. I can only wait until the beginning of spring to fight again!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said, "Since General Cao has come from thousands of miles, I will take you back to the capital no matter what, so that the court can know that Anxi of my Tang Dynasty has not really been lost."

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Chang'an, the Political Affairs Hall of the Daming Palace, the highest power in the Tang Dynasty, is very tense and serious at the moment. Except for the youngest Zhu Tao who returned to Hanzhong yesterday, the other six cabinet members gathered together, and the Queen Mother Cui Xiaofu was also present.

This is the third time the cabinet has held a meeting to discuss the resolution of Zhang Huan's capture of Shuzhong. The first two times were because Zhu Tao strongly asked the court to send troops to fight Zhang Huan, and the disbanded due to the disagreement. The second time was when Cui Yu, Wang Ang, Zhu Tao and Wei Yan resolutely responded to Zhang Huan to replace Wei Yan into the cabinet.

This time, it was temporarily proposed by Empress Dowager Cui Xiaofu.

The sudden change in the situation in Shu made them unable to remain silent about Zhang Huan's behavior. After several rounds of consultations, everyone was in a complicated mood and considered the national destiny of the Tang Dynasty and the interests of the family.

The Cui family split that occurred three years ago was an extremely profound event. It completely changed the political structure of the Tang Dynasty. If the decline of the Zhang family means that the aristocratic family began to go downhill, the warlords caused by the Cui family split and the monopoly of Pei Jun's power means that the already very weak aristocratic family's government has only one shell left.

Now, the drastic changes in Shu have caused the already shattered territory of the Tang Dynasty to be shattered again. Everyone suddenly realized that Zhang Huan, who had been unknown for three years, had become the second force of the Tang Dynasty, adding new variables to the confusing power struggle.

In the past two years, local warlords have been strong, chaos in the court has spread, aristocratic government is about to end, the increasing demands of power by the Li royal family, signs of local division have begun to appear, cabinet power has gradually been marginalized, land annexation has once again risen, fiscal revenue has gradually dried up, various government orders have conflicted with each other and there is no way out of politics.

All kinds of chaos that the old pattern was broken and the new order could not be established made all officials very confused and confused. Where should the Tang Dynasty go?

Cui Yu was confused. He finally got rid of Cui Yuan's help and gained freedom. He also lost the support of his family and the power of the prime minister. He only retained his voice in the Ministry of War based on the old capital left by Cui Yuan. So, when Cui Qinggong split the Cui family and made Cui Yuan vomit blood and fall down, did he feel a little regretful when he was most ecstatic?

Wei Yan was not only confused, but also full of loss. The head of the former third-largest family had lost all his foundation and power at this moment. He was only the title of Shangshu Right Pushe. His power was not even as good as his son at this time. He was despised by Cui Qinggong, despised by Zhu Li, and despised by Zhang Huan. He felt that he was despised by everyone, because he was no longer qualified to sit in this place that represents power and strength.

Of course, the most confusing and exhausting one is right prime minister Pei Jun. When he broke the balance of power of the aristocratic families and monopolized the power, he realized that things were far from simple as he thought. All the deep contradictions hidden in the aristocratic families' affairs. After the power to suppress them gradually disappeared, these contradictions rush to erupt. The most serious of them is the court's inability to prevent the strength of local separatist forces.

Although he has tasted the sweetness of power in the past three years, he has also felt great pressure. He is like a fire extinguisher, running around the fire points everywhere, but he is unable to do so. The fire is getting bigger and bigger, and he is exhausted.

Of course, Zhu Li's fall made him feel secretly happy, and a giant sword hanging above his head disappeared, but Zhang Huan's rise made him feel a little threat, especially when he put Zhu Li, who was trapped in a dead end, back to Hanzhong's long-term conscience and viciousness, which made Pei Jun's back involuntary situations.

At this time, Cui Xiaofu changed her previous silence and she took the lead in speaking, "Dear families, let alone whether the changes in Shu are good or bad things for the court, but we cannot ignore them anymore. Not only Zhang Huan, Cui Qinggong, and Zhu Li, local warlords such as local people must also be controlled by the court, otherwise, let them develop, our Tang Dynasty will be about to split."

She has never been as sober as she is today.

She had realized that perhaps Zhang Huan's capture of Shuzhong was an excellent opportunity to resolve the dilemma of local warlord separatism. In order to survive the Tang Dynasty, Cui Xiaofu decided to take a compromise method to solve the problem. She exchanged glances with Li Mian and said slowly: "The Ai family proposed a plan for the Qing family to consider. If you think it is feasible, everyone will vote, okay?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Li Mian immediately responded: "Now it should be time for everyone to unite and resolve the crisis in our Tang Dynasty. Please speak frankly."

Cui Xiaofu nodded, and she swept everyone around and saw that no one was right, so she said loudly: "The Ai family thought that the seven ministers of the cabinet were determined by the seven major families at that time, but the times of the world changed, which obviously did not conform to the reality. Therefore, the Ai family suggested that the cabinet be expanded into nine ministers, and Zhu Li was already acting by his brother Zhu Tao. Not to mention that Cui Qinggong has actually led the Minister of War and can enter the cabinet to occupy one seat. Longyou, Hexi Jiedushi Zhang Huan is ranked third. He has regained Hehuang for the country and made contributions to Hexi and should be used. The Ai family suggested that he could also occupy one seat. In this way, Pei, Wei, Wang, Chu, Li, Zhu, two Cui, and Zhang, a total of nine people formed a new cabinet. Do you have any objections?"

This time, none of the five people spoke. Needless to say, Li Mian fully supported Cui Xiaofu's decision, but Chu Xingshui and Wang Ang rarely had the same idea, that is, to put Cui Qinggong on a bridle, and not to let him expand unlimitedly in Huaibei and threaten his territory. In particular, Chu Xingshui hoped that Zhang Huan would join; while the other Wei Yan was very reluctant, he knew very well that if the cabinet was not expanded, he might be eliminated first, and for this reason, he also remained silent.

The only dissatisfaction seemed to be Cui Yu, but in fact, he was not right. Pei Jun emptied the cabinet by giving the post of the clerk. If the cabinet could be expanded, it might instead suppress Pei Jun's power.

The five people had their own thoughts and subtly expressed their agreement with the default, but the most important thing was the attitude of the prime minister Pei Jun. He was the final concluding remarks. The room was very quiet and everyone was waiting for Pei Jun's decision.

Pei Jun suddenly laughed, summoning Zhang Huan to the court has always been his wish. Although he hoped that Zhang Huan would fight with Zhu Li River clams and his fisherman's conspiracy to benefit did not succeed, he unexpectedly discovered that Zhang Huan was Zhu Li's nemesis, so can his son-in-law become Cui Qinggong's nemesis again? He will wait and see.

Pei Jun nodded immediately and said, "Cui Qinggong has led the Minister of War and is directly granted the title of Pingzhangshi of the Secretariat of the Secretariat, while Zhang Huan suggested that he be appointed as the Prince of Zhangye County, and actually lead the Minister of the Secretariat, and be with Pingzhangshi of the Secretariat."

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In early December of the sixth year of Xuanren, Zhang Huan entered Guanzhong from Fengxiang under the escort of three thousand cavalry; one day earlier than Zhang Huaihuan, Cui Qinggong ordered his second son Cui Hao to lead the army, and he himself entered Guanzhong from Tongguan under the escort of three thousand cavalry; while Zhu Li, Hanzhong, led a thousand cavalry from Dasanguan to enter Guanzhong under the pretext of reporting his duties.
Chapter completed!