Du Zhongxiao sat in the courtyard of the royal court, looking at the yellow leaves planted next to him. Autumn in the Western Regions came exceptionally early, just entered the August weather, the leaves in the mountains have fallen away, and the city of Gaochang is also full of autumn.

This attack on Gaochang was much easier than his capture of Hequ Road two years ago, and there was basically no big war. This is also normal, the ratio of troops on both sides is two to one, plus the weapons, strategy, and tactics are all one era behind, and Gao Chang has no power to fight back. Coupled with the fact that Gaochang's main force was in Yanqi, Gaochang was empty inside, and was directly attacked by the sudden Song army, and everything was over without waiting to fight back.

Fu Bi came out of the official hall, holding an official document in his hand, and said loudly: "Jieshuai, Zhangbali has been lowered!" ”

Du Zhongxiao got up, took the official document and looked at it, and said: "There are less than 1,000 soldiers and horses in Zhangbali, and when Zhao Zi attacks him, he can only surrender." Yangji Bali is opposite to the Black Khanate, and most of them will also fall. The war north of the Tianshan Mountains only looks at the North Garden. There is the summer capital of Gaochang, there are more soldiers and horses, and the back is the desert, it is really not good, you can also retreat to the desert. Gaochang's troops are mainly in Yanqi, now look there. ”

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao said: "The national strength of Gaochang is less than 40,000 people, and it is stationed in various places. We attacked with 70,000 or 80,000 men, well-armed, and we should have won quickly. I used to worry because the whole army had been training for two years, and I didn't know what the result would be. Now it seems that if you encounter an army like Gaochang, it will not be difficult to win. This is enough, the court knows, where to fight. ”

Fu Bi said: "That's what the marshal said. Since entering Gaochang and occupying many cities, there has been no decent war at all, just like an adult beating a child. After the occupation of Gaochang, the imperial court had the bottom in its heart, and maybe it would be able to attack the party. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "A party item has restrained nearly 400,000 troops in the imperial court, and it should be destroyed as soon as possible." In the past, it was difficult to fight, because the roads were difficult to travel, and it was not easy to replenish, and when it came to disposing of troops, it gave the party a chance to break through. Now that the railway has been repaired to the Zhenrong army, it can directly send troops from there to attack Lingzhou and concentrate troops in one place. How many troops can the party send? How to keep Lingzhou. Of course, in the past two years, the party has worked hard to cast cannons, but I heard that the output of gunpowder is not high, and it can only defend a few important places. ”

Fu Bi said: "The imperial court sent a general to attack Lingzhou from the Zhenrong army, we can send troops from Yizhou to attack Hexi, the two armies are advancing, how can the party have the ability to resist?" Not to mention that in the past two years, the party has fought fiercely for ministers and important ministers, and the military strength has long been inferior to before. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Send troops from Yizhou to attack Guazhou and Shazhou, send troops from Juyan to attack Ganzhou and Suzhou, and send troops from Zhenrong Army to attack Lingzhou. Even if Xingqing Mansion can't be occupied for a while, there is nothing left of the party. The most important thing in these battles is that the back is the railway, and the army can be endless, and there is no shortage of food and grass. ”

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sat down again and said to Fu Bi: "Actually, it is not difficult to attack the Western Regions, but the difficult thing is the long way. There are many people in the Central Plains, there are many places, there are many grains and soldiers, as long as they can be transported over, what are these small countries in the Western Regions? Don't look at the territory of Gaochang and Hei Khan, in fact, there are many internal constraints and many small forces. As soon as their main forces are defeated, these small forces will rebel. Now that there is a railway, we can enter the Western Regions from thousands of miles away from Hequ Road, less than a month, what is the Gaochang Black Khan? In this battle, the first is to lead Gaochang and reopen the trade route. The other is based in Illinois, which can attack the party from the west. There is also a rule, that is, to occupy the homeland of Khotan in the south and rebuild the country of Khotan. Now that Gaochang is occupied, there must be people in the imperial court who are unwilling to rebuild Khotan, and send Yu Chi Saburo to Wutai Mountain. ”

Fu Bi said: "In fact, as long as the railway is opened, the imperial court can send officials to rule, and it does not necessarily have to be rebuilt in Khotan." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Deputy envoy, if you don't rebuild Khotan, will it work?" It's okay, but it will cost the Central Plains more money and send more people here. What will happen in the end, no one can say clearly. Now that the green religion is prevalent in the west, and the preaching is fierce, how can the secular country resist them? Khotan is a Buddhist country and a native of the Western Regions, and after it was rebuilt, it was possible to use them to resist the Green Religion. ”

Fu Bi said: "Buddhism is also prosperous in the Central Plains, it is nothing more than opening more temples, there are all high monks, and the people can worship it." ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Since we entered Gaochang, from Puchang to Gaochang, there are many temples. The deputy envoy is familiar with the Dharma, can he talk to the monks here? Can the monks trust the deputy envoy here? Even the monks don't believe it, let alone the local people. Religion is something that cannot be seen or touched, but it plays an important role in the psychology of the people and cannot be underestimated. The monks of the Central Plains are different from here, in addition to being familiar with Buddhism, they also have to read the Confucian classics, and they are actually Confucian monks. The difference here is that they study Buddhism intensively, and they are not familiar with the Confucian scriptures, but they are deeply trusted by the people. There is another advantage in Khotan, it is at the foot of Kunlun Mountain, over the mountain, which is the place where Buddhism originated. Establishing a Buddhist state there can win the hearts of the people of the Western Regions and make them trust the imperial court. After taking Gaochang, the most important thing for us is to solve Yanqi as soon as possible and recapture Khotan from the hands of Black Khan. ”

Fu Bi was taken aback: "Listen to the meaning of the festival handsome, is it to start a war with the black sweat?" The Black Khan was much larger than Gaochang and was divided into two khanates, the Eastern Khanate, which was divided into several parts, and Gaochang was still not its opponent. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The households in the Western Regions are distributed along the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and the south side of the Tianshan Mountains is far more than the north. After the Black Khan was destroyed in Khotan, most of the densely populated places in the Western Regions fell into his hands, and Gaochang was naturally not an opponent. Moreover, there are not many Uighurs, how can they fight the black sweat? ”

Fu Bi said: "But if we attack Black Khan, the two parts of the east and west can combine their troops, and hundreds of thousands of troops can be requisitioned, but it will be difficult to attack!" ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "No, the Khan of Xihei Khan is Beili Special Service, Ibrahim, called Peach Blossom Stone Khan." It's funny to say, Peach Blossom Stone was originally the name of the people of the Western Regions for the Central Plains, so Ibrahim can be regarded as the Khan of China. He has already established a country, has a bad relationship with the Eastern Black Khanate, and often captures, how can he cooperate. If we go south, we only need to deal with the Eastern Black Khanate. Now the Black Khan army opposite Qiuzi and Yanqi has about 30,000 people. In the first war, we surrounded and annihilated these people, and without waiting for the Black Khan to raise troops, we could occupy the area of Khotan. ”

Fu Bi thought for a while, nodded and said, "What the section commander said is also good, but there is Yan Qi in the middle." The most important thing now is whether Yanqi will surrender. If you surrender, 20,000 or 30,000 troops will also be a big help. ”

"Yes, Zhao Zi in the north has opened the gap and occupied Zhangbali. It's Zhang in the south, and there is no news yet. ”

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sighed. Originally, I thought that after catching Fugu Huaien, Yanqi in the south should be lowered, but I didn't expect that after waiting for more than ten days, there was still no news at all. There are heavy troops there, and the idea of the guards is not good. Du Zhongxiao is not afraid of them to reduce black sweat, the two countries have been fighting for a hundred years, and there are religious contradictions, it is difficult to come together.

Fu Bi said: "Do you want to urge Zhang, send troops from Hancheng, go over the mountain, and enter Yanqi." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, let's urge Zhang like this." Now in August, the weather is hotter in the south, and it is going to snow in the north. Get out of the valley as soon as possible, enter Yanqi, and try to solve Yanqi before the New Year. Alas, once they crossed the mountain, it was also troublesome to provide them with food and grass. ”

The railway only reached Yizhou, and Zhang's 50,000 army, if he attacked Yanqi, would be hundreds of miles longer than Gaochang, and the transportation would be increased. This is the most difficult thing in the Western Regions, the distance between the two places is hundreds of miles, and once you go forward, the supply line will be much longer. Even though the railway arrived in Yizhou, the army traveled nearly thousands of miles, and even though Du Zhongxiao's army had a lot of horses and livestock, it was also very difficult. And if you want to build the railway, you don't know what year and month you will wait for, Du Zhongxiao can't stay on Hequ Road for so long.