Chapter 375: No doubt about employment

The military alliance between the Tang Dynasty and the Byzantine Empire was not signed unexpectedly. The two sides agreed that within three years, the two countries would jointly deal with the Abbasid Empire, including coordinating military operations, that is, one side starts a war and the other side must fight together. In this agreement, Li Qing'an signed his name on the contract on behalf of the Tang Dynasty and stamped his seal.

But this is just a framework agreement. In terms of specific implementation, the two parties have signed several additional agreements, including the Tang Dynasty that will be sold to Byzantium in three years to 10,000 pairs of Mingguang armor and 10,000 horizontal swords, and additional 2,000 Tang crossbows. These weapons will bring two million gold coins to the Tang Dynasty.

Another additional agreement is the first specific date of coordinated combat between the two sides. The two sides agreed that in early August of the Tang calendar, both sides would launch an attack on the Dashi at the same time. The Byzantine Empire wanted to take over Cyprus Island, while the Tang army wanted to take over Sindh and Punjab.

There were still fifty days left, and time was already very tight. Li Qing'an did not even participate in the subsequent trade negotiations. He led his army back to Saiye and left the trade negotiations to Yang Fengche to continue completing them.

On the one hand, he sent people to Beijing to file the contract with the court. On the other hand, he issued more than a dozen orders on the road, urging the Anxi army to divide the east, middle and west into preparations for Tochar and Xinde.

On the western front, the general Li Guangbi was appointed as the commander of the Western Army, commanding 30,000 Han and Hu coalition forces to prepare for attacking Tucharo, and the middle front was the Wuyun Pass of Ilshad. From this mountain pass, you can directly enter the famous Wakhan Valley, which is also the only way to the Southern Silk Road. The eastern front is from Lianyun Fort to Xiaobolu, and then from Xiaobolu through Dabolu to Ershimi, who is today's actual control area of ​​Kashmir India. From here, you can directly enter India. Li Qing'an handed over the Eastern front army to Feng Changqing, the general who had seized military power by him, and ordered Feng Changqing to lead 5,000 troops from Lianyun Fort to enter Xiaobolu.

In mid-July, Li Qing'an rushed to Wuyun Mountain Pass. Wuyun Mountain Pass was two hundred miles west of Paoling Guard. This was the entrance to the famous Wahan Valley. The Tubo people built a large castle that can accommodate tens of thousands of people here - Wuyun Castle. It blocked the castle and blocked the most convenient road to Tochar from Anxi. In the early years of Tianbao, Wuyun Mountain Pass was captured by the Tubo people. They stationed 10,000 troops here. Six years later, Gao Xianzhi was preparing to attack Xiaobolu, but the Tang army could not go to Wahan Valley, so they could only bypass the Outer Alay Mountain and then crossed the middle section of Wahan Valley to enter the secret passage. That difficult march was Li Qing'an's rise.

After the Battle of Xiaobolu, the 10,000 Tubo troops stationed at Wuyun Mountain Pass were forced to withdraw their troops south due to the cut-off of the support. Wuyun Castle was then occupied by the Tang army. The Tang army stationed 3,000 troops here, controlled the Wahan Valley, and at the same time, it also restored the southern Silk Road.

In fact, half a year ago, Li Qing'an began to prepare for the Battle of Tochar. He gradually increased his troops to Wuyun Castle to 8,000 people, transporting 100,000 stones of grain, tents, marching sleeping bags, bows and arrows, forage, jerky meat, dry food bags, salt, tea cakes, wine, wounded medicine and other large amounts of supplies were concentrated in Wuyun Castle.

Li Qing'an led 20,000 scattered Ye army to Wuyun Castle, which also included 5,000 Eastern Front Army. They will go directly to Lianyun Castle from the Wahan Valley.

That morning, strong winds were everywhere, and sand and stones were flying at the entrance of Wuyun Mountain. Dark clouds came quickly from the southwest. The air was filled with the smell of heavy rain.

The Tang army immediately pulled out the camp and moved the camp to a high place to prevent the mountain torrents from erupting. Less than half of the camping camp, the overwhelming downpour was pulled open. The Tang army shouted and hid in the camp that had been set up. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, as if the entire Wahan Valley had been swallowed up by heavy rain.

"Such rains are rare even in midsummer. In my memory, only the rainstorm on the Zhongyuan Festival in the eighth year of Tianbao is impressive. The rainstorm lasted for five days and five nights, and the mountain torrent broke out. A team of merchants from Tocharo were unfortunately swept away by the mountain torrent. Unfortunately, the more than 10,000 kilograms of silver they brought were gone without a trace."

The person who spoke was Zhao Chongjie, the military commander of Wuyunbao. He was the second brother of Zhao Chongqi, the former military commander of Shule. Zhao Chongqi followed Gao Xianzhi to Anxi. His two younger brothers, Zhao Chongjie and Zhao Chongji, remained in Anxi as generals. Zhao Chongjie also participated in the Xiaobolu Battle in the sixth year of Tianbao. At that time, he was a brigade commander, only one level lower than Li Qing'an. He followed Xi Yuanqing, not Li Qing'an's scout system, so his promotion was obviously a bit slow. He was only promoted to Wuyunbao in six years.

The military envoy was named Lang General. There are two types of military envoys in Anxi. One is the governor and military envoy, such as the governor and military envoy of the Hanhai Army. Cui Qianyou, who was commanding more than 5,000 troops, and was appointed as the general of the Central Army or general. The scattered officials were also from the third rank. The other is the Castle Military envoy, who was under the command of less than 5,000 troops. For example, Zhao Chongjie's Wuyunbao Military envoy was the Lang General or the Central Army. Because Zhao Chongjie did not participate in the Battle of Talas, his official position was slightly lower, just for the Lang General.

This time, the feng shui changed. Li Qing'an wanted to attack Tocharo and Xinde. The opportunity was finally his turn. Zhao Chongjie had already been holding back his energy. In the eighth year of Tianbao, he had followed Gao Xianzhi to fight Tocharo, but finally suffered a tragic failure. That time it was a lifelong shame, and this time he wanted to do a big fight, and Xue Huan's last shame.

Zhao Chongjie was the Tang general who was most familiar with the Wahan Valley. This sudden heavy rain was the first to discover, and he promptly informed the Tang army to move to the highlands.

Li Qing'an was not very familiar with Zhao Chongjie, but he had a very good relationship with Zhao Chongjie's brother Zhao Chongqi. He also took special care of his two brothers who remained in Anxi. This time he attacked Tocharo, Zhao Chongjie became his military staff officer.

A huge Tochar map was laid in the big tent. This was the marching map left by Gao Xianzhi in the past. It was very detailed. Li Qing'an stood in front of the map, frowned. The lack of information about Tochar and Xinde made him seem a little inconsistent with this battle.

From the East, Central and West lines, he mobilized a total of 55,000 troops. According to the information from the previous year, the Shinde and Punjab Dashi Army had only about 20,000 troops, which was enough to deal with the Dashi Army, but if the local army was considered, it would not be very clear.

Li Qingan walked to the tent and watched the heavy rain coming from the sky. He suddenly turned around and asked, "General Zhao, based on your experience, will this heavy rain affect the march in the Wahan Valley?"

"Report to the general, it depends on the degree of the heavy rain. If the time is short, it will not affect the marching. However, if it rains for more than three days, it is very likely to cause mountain torrents or even rock collapse. At that time, the road will be destroyed and the marching will be affected. However, it will only be like this in the narrowest part of the Wakhan Valley. Generally speaking, the Wakhan Valley is more than ten miles wide, and even more than a hundred miles wide, and it will not have any impact."

Li Qingan nodded. He glanced at Feng Changqing who had been standing in front of the map and kept silent, and smiled and said, "Lao Feng, why don't you speak?"

Feng Changqing only rushed from Yincheng to Wuyun Castle yesterday. Compared with last year, he was obviously thinner. He was not stupid. Of course, he knew that he had taken away military power by Li Qing'an, but he did not resent Li Qing'an. The handwritten letter Li Longji wrote to him was still on him! For this reason, he was only depressed. Li Longji thought too simply and actually let him and King Qing seize power. Is it that easy? Now he has not seen the shadow of King Qing wherever King is. It is said that he was placed under house arrest by Li Qing'an in Shiguo, and Feng Changqing was also placed under house arrest in Yincheng. He should not leave at will. He could not even mobilize fifty soldiers. The original deputy commander Anxi fell to such a point. Feng Changqing also guessed that Li Qing'an probably already knew that Li Longji secretly sent a secret order to him.

This time he was suddenly activated, and the reason was very clear. The Tang Dynasty had changed its emperor, and Li Longji's seal order no longer had any meaning.

After hearing Li Qing'an ask him, Feng Changqing reluctantly smiled and said, "I think the general is thinking too far. There are still twenty days left before the appointment with Byzantium. Could it be that the general wants to send troops now?"

"Li Qing'an shook his head and said, "Lao Feng, you have not understood the treaty and attacked Dashi at the same time, which means attacking Dashi at the same time, rather than starting from here. In other words, twenty days later, the Tang army will appear on the land controlled by the Dashi people and launch an attack on the Dashi army, either Tochar or Xinde."

"But there is also Li Guangbi's Western Route Army! His place is very close to Tochar and should be able to catch up."

Li Qingan looked at him and laughed, "Lao Feng, can you be a civil servant for a year and you can't even fight a war?"

Feng Changqing blushed and bowed and said, "Please give advice to the general!"

Li Qing'an Da walked to the map and pointed at Tochar with a wooden pole and said, "I divided into three groups this time, and the strategic goal is very clear. Li Guangbi's mission will be to take down Tochar and drive the Dashi forces across the Amu River. He will definitely fight first in this battle. Once Tochar is in war, Khorasan should send troops to aid. However, because Byzantine put pressure on Dashi in the north, Mansour will not focus on the east. He will inevitably concentrate his troops to prevent the Byzantine army from moving south. In this way, Mansour will likely transfer the troops from Sindh and Punjab troops to rescue Tochar."

Li Qing'an Mugan pointed to Sindhi and Punjab and continued: "If that were the case, the troops in Sindhi and Punjab would be empty, which would give me a chance."

Feng Changqing sighed and praised: "The general's strategy is getting better and better, and his subordinates are beyond the reach of the world."

After pausing, he suddenly frowned and said, "But in that case, the general's army will be enough to take down Sindh and Punjab. So what's the use of me going to leave Xiaobolu?"

"You're asking this very well!"

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "Because I want you to attack Tianzhu."

"Tianzhu?" Feng Changqing was stunned.

"That's right, I'm going to fight against Tianzhu. Unfortunately, I don't have a map here and I can't explain the situation to you. But I know that Tianzhu has a flat land, a large population, an extremely rich food, and the army there is not good at fighting. At that time, Wang Xuance, the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, could sweep Tianzhu by his own strength, and you led 5,000 elite troops into Tianzhu, I think it should be better than our predecessors."

"But... when we attack Tianzhu, it seems that Wuming was found out?" Feng Changqing hesitated.

"Nothing is known to you. I don't need their land, nor do I want to massacre their people. There is no need. I am not a murderer, but I want their food and gold. This time when you attack Tianzhu, you must get me food of at least two million stones. As for gold and silver, I won't give you the quota, the more the better."

Seeing that Feng Changqing was still hesitant, Li Qingan patted his shoulder and said, "Lao Feng, I want food and gold and silver not to satisfy my selfish desires. Seeing that the chaos in the Central Plains is about to arise, An Lushan's ambition is as good as Sima Zhao's heart. Everyone knows that once he rebels, a military disaster in the Central Plains will inevitably arise. The poor people are still ordinary people. I need food to help the victims. I need gold and silver to save the financial and taxes that are about to collapse in the Tang Dynasty. Do you understand? I am considering the long-term view of the Tang Dynasty."

There are some words that Li Qing'an does not need to be said very clearly, and Feng Changqing also understood that Li Qing'an is now the King of Zhao of the Tang Dynasty and a descendant of the Prince Jiancheng, and he is determined to be in the world.

Feng Changqing originally thought he had no hope and lived a life of cowardly in Yinchengwo, but he did not expect that Li Qing'an could use him again, that is, he gave him another chance. If he did not cherish this opportunity, his life would be defeated and ended in depression. He had already thought through this truth. Even if Li Longji came to Anxi in person, he would not be able to seize Li Qing'an's military power, and Li Longji's strategy of seizing power seemed to be completely wrong.

The mistake not only divided the Tang Dynasty into pieces, but also made An Lushan bigger. Even Li Longji himself fell to Shuofang. He didn't know how to live or die. In this way, why did he still have to serve the old emperor who was harming the country and the people? No! He Feng Changqing should go his own way. His interests have been tied to Li Qing'an. Everyone in Anxi soldiers are loyal to Li Qing'an. Why didn't he do this? Li Qing'an has a broad mind. Why didn't he cherish this opportunity again?

Thinking of this, Feng Changqing was extremely excited. He took out Li Longji's secret decree from his arms and said in shame: "General, this is the secret decree given to me by the late emperor. He ordered me to assist King Qing and seize the military power of the general. I have always kept this secret decree by my side. It is like a big stone, pressing on my heart, making me live like a year. Today I will hand it over to the general and apologize to the general!"

After saying that, he raised the secret order high above his head, and knelt down in front of Li Qing'an, and said in tears: "The general did not care about his old grudges and came to Kucha to invite me and use it for me personally, but I did not want to repay me. Instead, I wanted to frame the general. I was extremely ruthless and unrighteous. Please punish me!"

Li Qing'an received the secret order. He didn't even look at it, so he took it directly to the candlelight and lit it. A ball of fire quickly swallowed the secret order and burned it into paper ash in a moment. He shook, and the paper ash drifted out of the tent with the wind. Li Qing'an helped Feng Changqing up and said sincerely: "Men have gold under their knees, don't kneel down to me easily. I don't want to mention the past. I only look at it in the future. I believe that one day in the future, you, Feng Changqing, will be the commander of the Tang Army in Anxi, and will conquer all directions for me."
Chapter completed!