"This is Yanqi! To be honest, when I arrived here, I had the feeling of being thousands of miles away when I used to read Tang poems. It's just that we are too easy to come now, and there is plenty of food and grass, and it is not as hard as they are there. Du Zhongxiao pointed to the city in front of him and said to Fu Bi.

"Yes, with the train, besides, after a few days, we will arrive in the Western Regions. Where it was like the Han and Tang Dynasties, people had to walk for months before they came in, and no matter which city they went to, it was often months away. ”

Looking at the tall city in front of them, Du Zhongxiao and Fu Bi sighed.

Yizhou, Gaochang, Qiuci and Shule, plus Khotan in the south, these are all common place names in Tang poetry, and I don't know how many verses. Unexpectedly, Gaochang was destroyed in a few months, approaching Khotan, and directly facing the scene in the poem.

After getting the news that Black Khan had increased his troops to Qiuzi, Du Zhongxiao sent people to negotiate, and Black Khan insisted on not retreating, so he knew that this battle had to be fought. The Black Khan is said to be a Central Asian power, and the main body is not south of the Tien Shan. If the Black Khan can be defeated in Qiuzi, he will chase it down the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and after capturing Shule, he will drive the Black Khanate out. At that time, there was no obstacle to the restoration of Khotan, and the Song army could be mainly stationed in Shule to prevent the Black Khan attack. After that, the road was built, and wherever the railway was built, it was the sphere of influence of the Song Dynasty.

Zhang Qi and Zhang Sheng were waiting outside the city, and when they saw Du Zhongxiao and Fu Bi and their party coming, they hurriedly stepped forward to greet them.

After entering the city, they each sat down in the city lord's mansion, and Zhang Qi forked his hands: "The festival marshal and the deputy envoy have worked hard all the way, so rest for the night first." The last general prepared a banquet at the back of the palace to catch the wind and wash the dust for you. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, let's go to the banquet later." There is nothing to do left and right, can you tell me what the situation is in Yanqi now? ”

Zhang Qi said: "After our army occupied Yanqi, Black Khan continued to increase troops to Qiuzi, and now there are nearly 80,000 soldiers and horses on the opposite side. The Bu Rouer between Qiuzi and Yanqi has been occupied by the Black Khan, and our army has occupied the Iron Gate Pass. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said to Fu Bi beside him: "In this way, it seems that this battle is going to be fought in Buqiuer." It is suitable for the flat terrain and the lack of a large city. Black Khan did not send troops to fight for the iron gate, and it seems that he still wants to defend it. ”

Zhang Qi said: "According to the news that the last general will get, the idea of the Black Khan is that he does not want to be a vassal to the imperial court, otherwise it will be difficult for them to maintain it. The other is to learn that the imperial court has found the Khotanese royal family, and when it stabilizes, I am afraid that it will ask them for Khotan. It's better to take advantage of the fact that our foothold is not stable now, fight a battle, and win the natural everything, the court may not be the same for them as it is for the Khitan, and it is okay to be the country of nephews. If we lose, we will simply retreat to Shanbei, and we will not be able to chase them. The railway only goes to Yizhou, and Yizhou is 1,200 miles here, and it is difficult to support it to the south. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Their idea is good, we really can't chase to the north of the mountain." However, as long as the end of the war is opened, it will not be easy to end. The south side drove them across the mountain, and the north side we could open up. And as long as the imperial court is willing to contribute people and money, is it difficult to build a railway? ”

Fu Bi said: "The people in the north are the people of Chelu, and Black Khan may not care." Besides, after the reconstruction of Khotan, the road is far away, and it will be much more difficult for us to build a railway to the north and south of the world at the same time. In a decade or two, these barbarians may not care. ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "What the deputy envoy said is also that these barbarian countries have risen and fallen one after another, and the leaders have changed frequently, so they may not think about things that far away." No matter how much, since they sent soldiers and horses, then we can fight. General Zhang, wait a few more days, General Zhao's cavalry in the north, I have ordered all to come south. When the cavalry comes, and your soldiers and horses carrying grain and grass are also transferred, 50,000 against 80,000, and we will have a good fight with the Black Khan. Since entering Gaochang, there has been no big war, which is really a pity to say. ”

Zhang Sheng said: "These days, reserve more materials in Yanqi. This battle was a large-scale melee of more than 100,000 people, and it is expected that a lot of ammunition will be consumed. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It should be like this. I have already ordered Li Fugui to properly arrange manpower to ensure that there is no shortage of supplies for Yanqi. ”

At such a long distance, of course, the heavy artillery could not be transported, and Zhang Qi's army did not even have artillery, and his strength was reduced a lot. For the Song army, although the weapons are not complete, there are 50,000 troops, which is completely a battle scale all the way, and there is nothing to fight against the Black Khan army.

After talking about some miscellaneous matters, everyone arrived at the back office for a banquet.

Yanqi is inland, the dishes are simple, only some melons and fruits. This area is the land of melons and fruits, and even though it is winter, there are still fruits that can be stored such as melons. But there is nothing in the dish, except for the meat, and the table is full of meat.

Du Zhongxiao said: "I have been in the Western Regions for a few months, and to be honest, I miss Shengzhou a little. The transportation here is inconvenient, and in autumn and winter, there are no fresh fruits and vegetables, and there is no taste to eat. Only one thing, the mutton here is very delicious, and it is even stronger than that of Seongju. ”

Zhang Qi said: "I prepared a barbecue tonight. They are all selected and finest lamb, skewered into large skewers, and cooked over a charcoal fire. ”

As he spoke, everyone sat down, and the soldiers came over and filled themselves with wine.

Du Zhongxiao raised the restaurant and said loudly: "This battle in Qiuzi is a key battle in the Western Regions. If this victory is achieved, the imperial court will be able to run the Western Regions with all its might, and there will be no foreign forces to disturb it. Of course, if you lose, you can only watch the black dust sit big, and everything will be stopped! Everyone! ”

They raised their glasses together, drank a glass of wine, and ate some cut melons.

After a while, the meat skewers came, and Du Zhongxiao took a skewer to eat, and said, "It's really good meat." Speaking of which, although the north is bitterly cold, it often produces good meat. The Western Regions is a good place, with good meat, and good melons and fruits. ”

Fu Bi said: "Yes, and this place is vast and sparsely populated, if it is under the rule of the imperial court, it is a place to settle down." ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said, "In the past, there were many repetitions in the Western Regions, all of which were chaos in the Central Plains, and here they finally died at the hands of foreign races. Now that the railroad is being built, it will be difficult for this kind of thing to happen in the future. Of course, the Central Plains is in chaos, and the Western Regions cannot be peaceful. In the final analysis, everything depends on how the Central Plains are. Although Gaochang seems to have rushed to the Western Regions in this battle, it will inevitably have a far-reaching impact on future generations. If you win this battle, it will set the overall situation in the future. drove out the Black Khan, but he could welcome Chi Saburo to Khotan and rebuild his country. ”

Fu Bi said: "Jieshuai, why do you have to rebuild Khotan? When the country is destroyed, it will be destroyed, and if it occupies the place, the court will send officials. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The deputy envoy, in fact, includes many officials, who feel that it is redundant to rebuild Khotan. Actually, it's not that hard to understand. After the party is destroyed, the Central Plains to the Western Regions, it is inevitable to go to Hexi County. From the late Tang Dynasty to the hundreds of years of war in the Five Dynasties, how many Han people are left in Hexi County? And without the Han people, there would be no stability under the rule. Not to mention the Western Regions, Yizhou, Gaochang, Beiting and other places, there are still some Han people left, Yanqi is, when they arrived in Shule, I heard that they were all indigenous. At present, the population of the Central Plains is not large, except for the imperial court envoys, there will not be many Han people to go to the Western Regions to seek a living. If it is not built in Khotan, the local natives will have nothing in their hearts, and they are afraid that there will be chaos. ”

When they arrived at Hequ Road, the population there was already small, and with the agitation of the party, the Song Dynasty occupied basically a no-man's land. If the population is insufficient, it is necessary to cultivate near the castle and slowly expand to the surrounding areas. The Western Regions are different, the population lives in those places where there is a water source, and if the Han people do not come, they must be occupied by the natives. It's good at the beginning, but after a long time, you will inevitably have different hearts.