Chapter 491: Strategic planning

In the Battle of Qiemo City, Li Qing'an's main force arrived in time, he achieved brilliant results. The 50,000 Tubo army and 6,000 logistics teams that attacked Anxi were all annihilated. In the two battles, more than 200,000 Tubo army were killed, 30,000 prisoners were captured, and more than 200,000 cattle, sheep and horses were captured. However, Tubo commander Shang Jiasu finally escaped under the protection of more than 2,000 soldiers. They fled to the plateau, and they did not know their life or death.

But the Battle of the Mocheng was only one link in the Tang and Tibet War. Although the Tang army won a great victory in this link, the other link, Tochar in the west encountered a serious crisis.

In mid-September, the main force of the 70,000 Tubo Army, led by Shangxi Dongzan, entered the Imperial Kingdom from Dabolu, seized the rich grain of honey, and obtained supplies here. After half a month, crossed the Xindu River and entered Tochari. In Shihanna, the 70,000 Tubo Army defeated the low-killed Tochari coalition and killed 20,000 captured soldiers one after another.

The brutality of the Tubo army shocked the countries of Tochar and they all asked Anxi for help. However, at this time, due to the invasion of the Uighur army in the south, threatening the security of Saiye. The 20,000 Saiye Tang troops who originally supported Tochari were forced to go north to defend against the Uighurs. The 8,000 Tang troops in Tochari were mainly concentrated in the silver mine area of ​​Bosishan and could not support the south.

The Tang army in Tochar was empty and allowed the Tubo army to take advantage of the opportunity. They defeated the Tochar coalition forces again in Ayan City and occupied Ayan City. Under the strong pressure of the Tubo army, the royal nobles of Yuezhi, Wang Ting, Gao Fu, Da Khan, Gumo and other countries fled to Tochar and went north to Saiye to take refuge under the escort of the Tang army in Bosishan.

At this time, the 30,000 reinforcements sent by Tubo Zamp also arrived in Tochar, causing the Tubo army in Tochar to reach 100,000. Shangxi Dongzan immediately sent eight armies to occupy various fortresses in Tochar. At this point, Tochar was fully occupied by the Tubo army.

As the Tubo army occupied the strategic location of Tochar, the situation in Anxi became confusing.

Shang Xi Dongzan's purpose was not just Tochar. His goal was to devour the Sacred Leaf and the entire Fergan Basin, and then to devour Xinde and Tianzhu to the south. It would allow Tubo to walk out of the plateau, obtain a real development base, and then turn back to compete for hegemony with the Tang Dynasty. This was the strategic goal formulated by the upper class of Tubo, and Tochar was just their first step.

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In late September, Li Qing'an returned to Thunder Ye and began to mobilize troops to Tocharo. On the Western Front, he ordered 20,000 Tang troops stationed in Kangguo to go south and enter Shiguo and Tiemen Pass.

On the middle line, Li Qing'an transferred 20,000 new troops from Shiguo and 10,000 garrisons from Ju Zhanti, and a total of 30,000 troops rushed to Bosishan and stationed the four major silver mines in this area with the 8,000 Tang troops from Bosishan to strictly prevent the Tubo army from attacking the silver mines.

On the eastern front, he appointed He Lou Yurun as the governor of Tochar and led 20,000 Tang troops to garrison Shiniu. His order An Baozhen was appointed as the envoy of Guiren's army, and led 5,000 troops to increase Xiaobolu's Tang army, so that Xiaobolu's Tang army reached 8,000.

Finally, on the southern front, Li Qing'an appointed Feng Changqing as Governor of Xinde, who was fully responsible for the military and political affairs of Xinde and Punjab, and allowed him to recruit troops locally to defend against the Tubo people's invasion of Xinde.

After a series of emergency deployments, the Anxi crisis caused by the Tubo invasion of Tocharo was temporarily alleviated.

In early October, Shangxi Dongzan sent a general Lunzhizang to lead his army of 5,000 to attack the Jiesu Kingdom, the northernmost part of Tocharo. This was the only small Tochar country that Tubo did not occupy. Here is the sunset silver mine in Anxi, which is the second largest silver mine in Anxi. 30,000 Tochar miners dug here, and 5,000 Anxi troops stationed here.

In the Penchi Valley, 80 miles south of Jiesu Kingdom, the Tubo army advancing north was ambushed by the Tang army. More than 3,000 Tubo army members were killed in battle. The main general Lunzhizang fell into the valley while fleeing. This was also the first failure of Shangxi Dongzan's march into Tocharo. At this time, the first heavy snow fell, the weather cooled down sharply, and the river began to freeze.

The failure of the army to enter the Jie Su Kingdom and the arrival of winter, at the same time, the news of the Tubo army's defeat on the northern front in Qiemo City also spread to Tochar. Various unfavorable conditions forced Shangxi Dongzan to temporarily suppress his ambition to enter the Fergan Basin north, and he sent someone to report military information to Zanpu.

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In the house of King Zhao, the inner room was filled with medicine. Li Qing'an's concubine Rushi was sitting in front of a red mud stove and carefully observed the heat of the Chinese medicine jar. Li Qing'an was a little sick due to a long journey and a hard-working Tochar crisis. She became more and more serious in the past few days and had to rest at home. However, today it seemed that she was much better.

Among Li Qing'an's four wives and concubines, Mingyue and Ruhua went to Chang'an. The only ones were Wuyi and Rushi. They originally wanted to go to Beijing with Mingyue, but because their daughter Li Siduo suddenly fell ill and could not travel a long distance, Rushi had to stay. Wuyi didn't want to go back to Chang'an, so she stayed with Rushi. At this time, Rushi was particularly happy. Her husband's return made her longing result. Li Qing'an also said that next time he returned to Chang'an, he would take them back.

The medicine was boiled out, and Rushi quickly stirred it in the medicine jar with silver chopsticks. It felt like the heat was almost the same, so she put out the fire. The maid next to her hurriedly stepped forward to ask for help, but Rushi waved her hand and signaled herself to come.

She carefully poured the medicine into the jade bowl, and the fragrance of medicine suddenly filled the room. She slowly picked up the plate, opened the curtain, and walked out of the room.

It started to snow in the yard, and white snowflakes were rising. The maid quickly held an umbrella. At this time, another maid hurriedly walked into the outside and reported: "The third lady, there were four guests of the master, namely Wang Changshi and Pei Sima, as well as Governor Duan and Judge Du, who wanted to see the master."

"I see."

Rushi nodded and ordered: "Please wait in your guest room first, serve good tea and serve in detail."

The maid agreed and left. Seeing that the medicine was about to cool down, Rushi hurriedly walked towards the ward opposite.

Although there were snowflakes outside, the room was very warm. Li Qing'an's second concubine Wuyi was sitting by the window and reading the letter. The letter was written by the bright moon. It was just delivered today. The letter said that there was also a light snow in Chang'an. The snow scene was particularly beautiful. The Zhao Palace was also packed up. In Guanglufang, it is still empty in Guanzhong. I hope they will return to Beijing as soon as possible.

"My Yi, what is the letter saying?"

Li Qing'an was lying on the bed wearing a loose cotton robe, with her hands on her face, and was playing with his daughter Siduo. His daughter Li Siduo was one month away from being one year old. The little guy was very smart and naughty and could learn to speak. At this time, she was sitting next to Li Qing'an, playing with her father's purple goldfish bag with all concentration.

While Li Qing'an looked at his daughter, his eyes fell on the letters in Wuyi's hands from time to time. He had not read the letters written by Mingyue yet!

Wuyi smiled slightly and said, "Actually, there is nothing wrong, just some family matters. My elder sister said that the mansion has been repaired, but it is too deserted and she has not moved in. She temporarily lives in Dugu Mansion with Ruhua. I hope we will go back to Chang'an as soon as possible. By the way, it is snowing in Chang'an as well."

"Is it snowing in Chang'an in October? It's early enough this year."

Li Qingan smiled again and said, "What else, such as what big thing happened in Chang'an?"

"It's nothing big, it's just that my elder sister is going to ask Mingzhu to go to Changsun Mansion for a blind date."

Wuyi said it lightly, but from the corner of her eyes, she glanced at Li Qing'an intentionally or unintentionally. Li Qing'an seemed to have not heard it. He pointed to the purple goldfish bag and asked his daughter with a smile: "Duoduo, what is this?"

"Fish!" Siduo pouted his mouth and said a vague syllable.

"Not bad! Not bad!"

Li Qingan was extremely happy and hugged his daughter in his arms and kissed her little face. Unexpectedly, the little guy suddenly touched the Qilin Jade Pendant on his neck, and was attracted suddenly, shouting, "Yes! You want!"

Seeing that Li Qingan seemed to be not very concerned about Mingzhu, Wuyi couldn't help but shake her head gently, "This person!" I really don't know what he was thinking.

Li Qing'an took the jade pendant from his neck, held it in his hand, and smiled and said, "I'll give it to you by calling Daddy."

Siduo snatched it twice, but didn't snatch it. She grinned and was about to cry. Li Qingan was so scared that she quickly stuffed it to her, "Duoduo doesn't cry, Daddy is teasing you, if you like it, I'll give it to you."

The little guy got the jade and burst into tears to smile. He pointed at Yu Qilin and said to Li Qingan with a slight voice: "Sheep!"

Li Qingan was stunned and burst into laughter.

"Brother is in a good mood!"

After lifting the curtain, Rushi walked in and said with a smile: "Although the disease seems to be cured, the medicine must be taken. The doctor said that if the disease is cured, it will be consolidated for another two days."

"no problem!"

Li Qing'an sat up and took the medicine bowl. The medicine was warm. He drank it all. Rushi saw that her husband was willing to drink the medicine and was happy. She smiled and said, "After drinking the medicine, go and see the guests! The head and mind of the Zhengshi Hall are here, waiting for you in your guest room."

Li Qingan knew that they must have something to come, so he touched his daughter's head, smiled at Wuyi again, and went out.

Rushi saw that Li Qing'an smiled strangely at Wuyi, and asked with a smile: "What did you say to him? Why did he have that expression?"

Wuyi shook her head and smiled bitterly, "I told him that my elder sister would go on a blind date for Mingzhu and Changsun's family. He ignored me. Now he laughed again, which means he still cared about it! Rushi, let's make a bet, I'll tell Zhu's blind date will definitely fail. Do you bet?"

Rushi smiled and said, "What's the point of betting on this? Of course it will fail. Who dares to marry Mingzhu? But the eldest sister is a little confused."

"She is not confused, she is thinking too much."

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Rushi and Wuyi were talking about Mingzhu in the room. Li Qing'an had already arrived at the precious guest room. In the room, Wang Changling, Pei Mian, Duan Xiushi and Du Hongjian were talking about something. When they saw Li Qing'an coming in, the four of them stood up quickly.

"General, are you in better health?" Wang Changling bowed and smiled.

"It's much better. I was about to go to the Political Affairs Hall in the afternoon, but you came."

Li Qingan patted the snowflakes on his body, waved his hand and smiled, "Everyone, sit down!"

The three of them sat down, and the maid put a cup of hot tea for Li Qing. Li Qingan picked up the teacup, took a sip, and smiled and said, "You guys are going to come for nothing, tell me! What's the matter?"

The four of them looked at each other, and Pei Mian smiled and said, "Today, the Political Affairs Hall is preparing to hold a meeting on Tocharism, and the General is not here, so we will open it in the General's Mansion."

Among the four, Pei Mian and Du Hongjian were both senior officials in Hexi. Last year, they were not convinced by Cheng Qianli's control over Hexi, so they came to Anxi to surrender to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an had long heard of their talents and reused them. Cen Shen was summoned by Li Qing'an to serve in the court, and Pei Mian replaced him as a Sima position, in charge of military supplies. Although He Lou Yurun scolded Pei Mian and others for making mistakes and did not shock him in time, Li Qing'an was not prepared to blame the Zhengshi Hall. This is the responsibility of the Zhengshi Hall. In addition to the dispatch of troops, the transportation of other important materials must be approved by the Zhengshi Hall to pass.

Pei Mian was once Li Heng's right prime minister in history. Although he made many strategic mistakes, he was very capable and was not a foolish person. After he replaced Cen Shen, he checked and counted the military supplies from all over the country one by one and sorted them out in an orderly manner.

The thunder of the sky is the most important military material. Although Li Qing'an has specially approved it, it must be registered with Pei Mian's subordinates, and then a special person will go to Shiguo to count and deliver. The procedures are very strict, so the time is relatively long, which is also a normal procedure. Pei Mian did not deliberately delay.

Another character, Du Hongjian, was also an important minister who made support when Li Heng ascended the throne. He served as the Minister of War and later served as the governor of Hexi. He served as the judge in Anxi and had great power. If he thought that a certain decree issued by Wang Changling was inappropriate, he could directly reject it and hand it over to the Anxi Political Affairs Hall for discussion.

Li Qingan originally planned to go to the Political Affairs Hall to talk about Tucharism with everyone. Since everyone is here, it will be a good time to have a meeting.

At this time, Duan Xiushi said first: "General, we also discussed this morning that Tochar's strategic position is really important. It threatens our interests from all directions and has a great restraint on us. With the Tubo army having food supply, we are very worried that Tubo will continue to increase its troops to the Tochar. If war starts again next spring and summer, it may be more difficult, so we should do it as soon as possible."

Wang Changling next to him also said: "We have enough weapons and food, and the troops in various places can gather 150,000. The Tubo army is far from being as shocking as the thunder. While the Tocharian people are unhappy, we recommend launching a winter offensive as soon as possible to drive the Tubo army out of Tocharia and alleviate the pressure on the Bossesan silver mine."

Li Qingan pondered for a moment and said slowly: "You are all right, and I am also considering trying to do it as soon as possible, but I am very worried about one thing."

"What are the general worried about?" Pei Mian asked.

"I'm very worried that the Great Food Army will intervene in Tochar."
Chapter completed!