The early summer in the Western Regions is much cooler than in the Central Plains. Especially in the Shule Basin at the foot of the Pamir Plateau, the Pamir Plateau and the Tibetan Plateau block the warm current from the Indian Ocean. The melt water of ice and snow flowing from the Tianshan Mountains and Kunlun Mountains brings a little coolness to the surface. The temperature in early summer here is almost the same as the spring and autumn in the Central Plains.

The Shache Oasis and the nearby Shule Oasis also ushered in the time when the water and grass are the most abundant and the weather is the most transparent and transparent. No one is in it, and the vigorous only feels that the whole body is full of energy, and even the horses are full of energy, fat and strong.

Now is a good time for the warriors to conquer and kill.

From last winter to the present, more than 200,000 troops from the upper and lower Taohuashi have been engaged in endless long-term confrontation between the Shache Oasis and the Shule Oasis.

The war between the Great Song Dynasty and the Eastern Qarakhanid Dynasty also came to an end in this long confrontation. For Ahmud, the "Lion King of China" entrenched in the city of Kashgar, he has been suffering every moment since the news of the capture of Balasagon by the Khitan in the early winter of last year.

The territory of the Eastern Qarakhanid Dynasty was divided into east and west by the Tien Shan Mountains, and the western part was mainly the land of the Seven Rivers centered on Barasagun, and it also occupied a little territory at the entrance of the Ferghana Basin. The central cities are Barasagon, Stone Town, and Talas. Among them, the Balashagon River, which occupies the bottom of the valley of the Broken Leaf River, is the most important, because the Broken Leaf River Basin is first and foremost a trade artery—from the Broken Leaf River to the east, you can enter the Tien Shan Mountains, and you can reach the Tulu Atidazaka Pass along the mountain road, and through the mountain pass, you can reach the Shule Oasis.

Secondly, the valley of the Broken Leaf River is also a rare agricultural land in the land of the Seven Rivers. Irrigation facilities built since the Tang Dynasty provide a steady harvest of wheat and barley, and can house many Iqtar knights.

Now most of these Iqta knights follow the lion Khan, and the wives and daughters in their families are estimated to have let the Khitans sleep and sleep, and their property has also been returned to their families...... It's a bit of a big thing to say. But none of these guys could see through the red dust, and they all cried and asked the lion sweat to take them back!

But how easy is it to call back? That's the Khitans! It's more than ten times more terrible than the Han people who are on the peach blossom stone, how can they fight?

Moreover, since last winter, the Han army has been driving to the Yache Oasis not far from Kashgar, and now there are 70,000 or 80,000 people, if not 100,000. And he practiced every day, and it was clear that he was going to fight hard with the Qarakhanid Dynasty.

So the lion Khan didn't dare to move his nest at all! I was afraid that as soon as he left Kashgar, before he crossed the Datulu Atidaban Pass, the Han army would come out of the Yache Oasis and occupy Kashgar.

And Kashgar is the last base of Lion Khan. If not, he and his army would have to cross the mountains to find a way to survive in the kingdom of Ganiz and Tianzhu.

Oh, it's not easy to find a way out. Ibrahim, who had just returned from the city of Herat, was sighing and reporting to Lao Tzu about Sanjar's deployment.

"Father Khan, those Turks are now stationed in the city of Herat, and the Ghulam warriors alone have gathered as many as 13,000 people! In addition, he ordered Kyrgyzstan, Ganiz and Ghor to send troops together. And as long as it is elite, not rabble. Now I'm afraid that there are thirty or forty thousand elite soldiers stationed in Herat, blocking our way south to Tianzhu......"

Tianzhu can't go, and it is also a death to cross the Datulu Atidaban Pass to fight with the Khitans, and it seems that it is not very reliable to take refuge in the territory of the Western Qarakhanid Dynasty by detouring to the Green Mountains. First, the Khitans may continue to attack Hezhong and Ferghana; Second, Sanjar may not agree to hand over his vassal state of the Western Qarakhanid Dynasty to the control of the Eastern Qarakhanids' army.

The 100,000 warriors of the Qarakhanid Dynasty gathered in Kashgar are a little cornered?

"How long can the grain last?" Lion Khan asked.

"If we want to keep the food for the army to cross the Green Ridge, it can only last for three months at most, and if we can't force the enemy back in the autumn, then we will have to cross the Green Ridge......"

Immediately, a Qarakhanid minister told the lion king the bad news. Although Kashgar is located in an oasis, no matter how green the oasis at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains is, it is impossible to supply 100,000 troops and no less than 300,000 people crowded into the city of Kashgar, as well as refugees from Khotan, Shache and other places.

So these days, the reserves in the granary in Kashgar are being rapidly depleted, and it is reasonable that they will not last long.

"But will Sanjar send troops to Kashgar?" Lion Khan asked uncertainly.

"Maybe." Ibrahim said, "That's what he promised......

"What about the pagans who went to the Peach Blossom Stone?" Lion Khan asked, "How did they solve the problem of food and grass?" Is it just the cattle and sheep that have been stolen and grazing? ”

“……”

No one can answer Lion Khan's question. Because there were a large number of Xiliang cavalry active near the Shache Oasis where the Song army (Hexi army) was entrenched, it was enough to make it difficult for the cavalry of Lion Khan to approach.

Therefore, the people in Kashgar would never have thought that Zhang Yuan, the chief priest of the Anxi Education and Chemical Regiment, was strolling along the Lingling River (also known as the Yeerqiang River) with a group of military attachés of the Great Song Dynasty at this time, while watching the soldiers wearing hats harvesting golden winter wheat.

Song Jun actually sowed a season of winter wheat in the farmland of the Yache Oasis, and now it is time to harvest. When a season of wheat is harvested, how can it be enough for the 80,000 troops under the command of Zhang Yuan and Zhao Zhongshun to eat until the end of next year.

Looking at the harvest scene in front of him, Zhang Yuan finally showed a satisfied smile. It was his idea to let the troops carry wheat seeds and farm tools into the Western Regions! At that time, the military operators in the engine room of the General Army were more opposed and less supportive-the items carried by the main force of the Western Expeditionary Army into the Western Regions through the Great Desert were strictly planned, and carrying a large number of wheat seeds and agricultural tools would squeeze out other materials.

Therefore, the military machine in charge of logistics Yi Ke argued with Zhang Yuan, a layman, and in the end, Zhang Yuan Li overrode public opinion and implemented this plan. Now it seems that it is completely correct to enter the Western Regions with wheat seeds and farm tools! Hundreds of thousands of acres of dry land in the Yache Oasis were all planted with wheat last winter. Now that the growth is so good, there are at least hundreds of thousands of stones that can be harvested.

With these hundreds of thousands of stones, the 80,000 army can not only hold out in Shache, but also save a large number of cattle and sheep - these cattle and sheep are of course "voluntarily" sacrificed by the people of Khotan in the two oases of Keriya and Yochang to welcome the Great Song People's Liberation Army! This kind of legged military ration is the key material for the Hexi Army to cross the green mountains and enter Ghazni and Tianzhu.

Therefore, if you can save cattle and sheep, and you can get hundreds of thousands of stones of wheat, this war against the peach blossom stone has been won.

Thinking that the victory was in hand, Zhang Yuan was a little poetic, and just wanted to improvise a poem, Ma Zheng didn't know where to interrupt his Yaxing.

"Teaching, the envoy of Xiao Heda's army has just arrived at the Shache camp!"

"Xiao Heda?" Zhang Yuan frowned when he heard this name, of course he knew what Xiao Heda had been doing in the past few months.

"Didn't he take refuge in the Khitans?" Zhang Yuan asked, "Why do you still have the face to send a messenger to Shache?" ”

"Teaching, his army of 17,000 has arrived at the Datulu Atidaban Pass!" Ma Zhengdao, "This mountain pass is located in the west of Kashgar, and it is the throat of Kashgar to the west over the Tianshan Mountains. ”

"Oh? What does he want to do? ”

Ma Zheng did not answer, but went on to report: "Xiao Heda's people also told us that the Khitans have reached an agreement with the Turks and will not interfere in the great war between the Turks and us."

"What?" Zhang Yuan was stunned, "The Turks want to cross the Green Ridge?" ”

Ma Zhengdao: "If Xiao Heda hadn't deceived us, then most of the Turks would have come to Kashgar to intervene." ”

Zhang Yuan has no interest in making poetry at all.

The current Turks seem to be very powerful, holding the real power of the Great Food Country, and being the hegemon of the West. If they wanted to support the Qarakhanids trapped in Kashgar, Zhang Yuan would not be sure of victory.

"If the Turks come, this battle will not be easy to fight......" Zhang Yuan looked at Ma Zheng, "It's better to send troops to fight a decisive battle immediately!" ”

"Actually, I'm not afraid of anything," Ma Zhengdao said, "The enemy has a lot of soldiers, and we have a lot of food, so it's better to defend it along the Nanlunling River, and let the Turks and Qarakhanids themselves come to die!" ”

Zhang Yuan rubbed his beard and thought about it, "It's better to go out and build a fortification on the south bank of the Chakmak River in the decisive battle in the Yache Oasis...... It is not necessary for the whole army to be stranded on the south bank of the Chakmak River, only a few thousand elites need to be left, and a base can be built every dozens of miles along the way, relying on it as a stronghold. ”

"Isn't this the method of the Battle of Pingxia City?" Ma Zheng immediately thought of the trick that Zhang Di's cousin Zhang Qi used to deal with the Empress Dowager Xiaoliang of Western Xia. Build a fortified city that can be defended by thousands of people, let the opponent's tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops attack the city without success, suffer heavy losses, and then retreat in disgrace. Then take advantage of the enemy's pursuit to chase after them and kill them by surprise.

"How?" Zhang Yuan asked, "Can it succeed?" ”

"Yes!" Ma Zheng thought for a while, "There is no problem in building the city...... When the wheat is finished, we will send 50,000 troops to the north and set up a decisive battle. The lion khan, believing that he had Turkic reinforcements, would not fight a decisive battle. In this way, we can build a night city on the south bank of the Chakmak River. ”

"Good! Just hit it like that! Zhang Yuan said: "This battle official personally led the troops to the Shule Oasis!" Does the total military aircraft think it is feasible? ”

"It's feasible," Ma Zheng hurriedly complimented, "The chief military aircraft is a soldier who knows the army, why can't he personally lead the army?" ”

Zhang Yuan actually doesn't know much about soldiers, but Ma Zheng has been with him for a long time and knows that he has two advantages, one is that he is bold and will not be frightened by the killing on the battlefield; The second is to be able to listen to the words of the military aircraft, not the kind of handsome minister who does not know how to pretend to understand. So he also got on the battlefield!