In the first year of Tianbao, Tubo successively lost more than 100,000 horses in Hexi and Longyou, not 180,000, but 150,000, and the total strength of Tubo was only 400,000 at most, and the troops deployed in Dafeichuan, the area around the West Sea and the south of the Qilian Mountains were only 100,000, so this year, the Tubo people can be said to have reimbursed all the troops deployed in this area.

In addition, Tubo also killed two princes and a number of senior generals, it can be said that the losses are extremely heavy, originally the Tubo people wanted to take advantage of the strong force to cut a knife on the Tang Dynasty, but they didn't expect to steal chickens instead of eating rice, and lost their wives and soldiers!

Since the Tibetans had almost no troops stationed in the areas around the West Sea, Dafeichuan (the Cheji Plain) and Haixi (the Qaidam Basin west of Qinghai Lake), Zhao Ziliang would certainly not let go of such an opportunity, and wanted to take advantage of the lack of troops in this area of the Tibetan army and seize the opportunity to take these areas in one fell swoop, so as not to transfer troops and horses from southern and eastern Tibet after the Tubo people came to their senses.

In Linqiang County, Zhao Ziliang had a long talk with Huangfu Weiming, Zhao Ziliang still admires Huangfu Weiming, at least Huangfu Weiming is not afraid of the powerful, and dares to point directly at Prime Minister Li Linfu to deceive the upper and lower, forming a party for personal gain, who else has this kind of courage?

Zhao Ziliang and Huangfu Weiming were talking, and Zhang Boji, the judge of Huangfu Weiming, walked in and saluted: "Dashuai, Murong Jieyan, the leader of Tuyuhun in the west, is outside Longqi City, saying that he is asking to see Dashuai!" ”

Huangfu Weiming and Zhao Ziliang glanced at each other, and Huangfu Weiming frowned and said: "When Ben Shuai waved his army to attack, this old thing ran faster than a rabbit, why is he back now?" Aren't you afraid that Ben Shuai will cut him? ”

Zhao Ziliang took a sip of wine and said with a smile: "Dashuai, this Murong Jieyan is only afraid that he is here to surrender and attach!" ”

"Surrendered?" Huangfu Weiming was a little puzzled and surprised, and even more disbelieving, and said: "It shouldn't be, Murong Jieyan occupies a large area in Haixi, and there are 10,000 soldiers and horses, why do you want to surrender and annex?" ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head and said: "Dashuai, now that Tubo has been newly defeated, his strength has been greatly damaged, I am afraid that it will be difficult to take care of Tuyuhun in Haixi in a short period of time, Murong Jieyan is equivalent to losing his backer, if you don't want to be destroyed by my Tang Dynasty, the only way is to surrender and annex!" ”

Emperor Fu Weiming nodded when he heard this, and asked, "Does General Zhao think we should accept Murong Jieyan's surrender and annexation?" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked rhetorically: "Why not?" Murong Jieyan still has thousands of tents, more than 10,000 soldiers, and the terrain of Haixi is complicated, my Tang army is not familiar with the terrain and climate in that area, I am afraid that it is not so easy to defeat it, now Murong Jieyan has taken the initiative to surrender and annex, I should raise my hands to welcome, and when my Tang Dynasty sends troops to station, familiar with the local terrain and climate, Murong Jieyan wants to rebel again, and then my Tang Dynasty can easily destroy him! ”

"Hahaha······" Huangfu Weiming laughed, and then said: "This matter is not asked, now General Zhao is the governor of Xihai Prefecture, Xihai County Taishou, this matter should be handled by the general, this marshal will return to Xiping County in the near future, about this battle, this marshal will naturally be sent to the court in detail in the twists and turns, General Zhao and his subordinates will naturally have no less!" ”

Zhao Ziliang politely clenched his fists and arched his hand: "Then thank you for your support, but there is one thing that I don't know whether to say or not!" ”

"Oh? General Zhao has something to say, but it doesn't hurt to say it! Huangfu Weiming said and raised his hand.

Zhao Ziliang said: "The last general in Chang'an for three years, as the general of the left prison guard, the general of the left Jin Wuwei, and the director of the military selection department of the Ministry of War, but each of these positions has not been long, because the actions of the general in Chang'an have touched the interests of some people, these people are headed by Li Linfu, the prime minister of the dynasty, this person deceived the superiors and subordinates, formed a party for personal gain, played with power, and made the court into a miasma. The last general heard that the marshal had been at odds with Li Linfu, this time the marshal broke Tubo and beheaded tens of thousands, which is a great merit, such as Li Linfu learned, he must be jealous, and the marshal's performance was only afraid that it would be intercepted by this bureaucrat before it was sent to His Majesty. ”

Huangfu Weiming heard that his hair stood up, his eyes were red, and his face was purple, and he slammed the desk like thunder: "I heard all kinds of evil things about Li Linfu, a traitor, a long time ago, and this bureaucrat should really be cut with a thousand knives!" One day, after entering the court, he will join him in front of His Majesty, dismiss his officials, remove him from his post, and cut off his head! ”

Judge Zhang Boji hurriedly persuaded: "The handsome man is angry, angry, angry!" What General Zhao said is not unreasonable, the marshal or guard against it, now the court is not Li Linfu covering the sky with one hand, the prince and King Xin'an are both people who can be entrusted with big things, when the marshal sends good news to the court, he can also send a letter to His Royal Highness the Prince and King Xin'an, if Li Linfu dares to intercept the good news privately, as long as His Royal Highness the Prince and King Xin'an take out the letter of the marshal above the court, see how he Li Linfu ends! ”

Although Huangfu Weiming is also a little happy, he is not a person who is stubborn and self-serving, and he can still listen to the persuasion of his subordinates, he nodded and said: "What Mr. Zhang said is very true, and I thank General Zhao for reminding him, otherwise if he is really put on the table by Li Linfu's traitorous villain, Ben Shuai will have no place to cry!" ”

Speaking of this, Huangfu Weiming said to Zhao Ziliang: "Since Murong Jieyan, the leader of Tuyuhun, wants to lead his troops to surrender to my Tang Dynasty, this matter will naturally be handled by General Zhao, and General Zhao will not be left here by this commander, after all, it is a big matter to be surrendered, and it is not allowed to be neglected." In the future, if he has time, Ben Shuai also hopes to have more exchanges with General Zhao on the art of war and tactics! ”

Zhao Ziliang got up and hugged his fists and said: "There is naturally a chance, but I also ask the marshal to give advice, and the last general will not stay much, and I will come to visit the marshal again in the future and say goodbye!" ”

Huangfu Weiming also got up and hugged his fists and saluted, "In this way, the commander will not send it, General Wang is rare, you are General Zhao's old department, just send General Zhao a ride on behalf of the commander!" ”

Wang rarely hugged his fists and said: "No! ”

After Zhao Ziliang left, he remembered that he had not discussed the issue of the ownership of Shibao City with Huangfu Weiming, and he had never understood that Shibao City was only one hundred and eighty miles away from Shanzhou City, where the Longyou Jiedu envoy was stationed, but why was it under the jurisdiction of the Hexi Jiedu envoy, you must know that although Liangzhou was only a few hundred miles away from Shibao City in a straight line, it was separated by the Qilian Mountains in the middle, and the information transmission and transportation were extremely inconvenient. You can also get timely news and support. However, Zhao Ziliang thought about it, now that he was the governor of Xihai and the Taishou of Xihai County, it was much more convenient to manage the entire defense system of Shibao City, so there was no need to transfer the jurisdiction of Shibao City to the Longyou Jiedu Embassy.

Leaving the Linqiang County Mansion, on the way back to Longqi City, Zhao Ziliang asked Brehan: "Are there still a few sub-forts around Shibao City that have been taken?" ”

Brehan said: "General, after the Mangbuzhi army was defeated, the news quickly spread to the sub-forts, most of the Tubo defenders in them were Tuyuhun people, they quickly came out and surrendered on their own, and the soldiers took over the sub-forts without a single soldier, and now all the fortresses around the stone fort city are in the hands of our army!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and ordered: "After I go back, remind me, remember to strengthen the strength of Shibao City and the surrounding sub-forts, increase ordnance materials, rebuild fortifications, and the patrol system must be strictly revised and implemented again, and there can be no more dereliction of duty and being taken away by the Tubo people!" ”

Brehan promised: "No! ”

When he arrived at Longqi City, Ma Lan had already placed Murong Jieyan, the leader of Tuyuhun, in the camp to rest, and had tea and wine banquets to entertain him, it seems that Ma Lan still knows the seriousness of the matter, regardless of whether the above will accept Tuyuhun to surrender and attach, now that people are here, there should still be hospitality etiquette, at least not let the barbarians laugh at the Tang generals for not knowing etiquette.

Zhao Ziliang waved his hand and said: "This time your contribution is not small, we reported in detail in the Tubo people that Mang Buzhi and a few other Tubo generals only fled to the Tubo army garrison in the northwest of the West Sea with only a few dozen people. ”

Ma Lu immediately clenched his fists and said: "This is what the last general should be, but I still have to thank the general for his support!" By the way, Murong Jieyan, the leader of Haixi Tuyuhun, and his party have been waiting in the camp for a day, does the general want to see them at this time? ”

Zhao Ziliang picked up the teapot on the desk and poured a few big mouthfuls into his mouth, waved to Ma Luan and said, "Go and bring them over!" ”

"No!"

After a while, Murong Jieyan and several leaders of the Tuyuhun small tribe were brought into the big tent by Ma Lan.

As the saying goes, "people have to bow their heads under the eaves", Murong Jieyan and others had to salute Zhao Ziliang in order to keep the Tuyuhun tribe: "Murong Jieyan, the leader of the Tuyuhun of the Huawai barbarians, and others visited General Zhao of the Tang Dynasty!" ”

Zhao Ziliang raised his hand: "Everyone, General Ma, give a seat to Chief Murong and others!" ”

"Thank you, General!"

After serving tea, Zhao Ziliang asked: "Chief Murong, I heard that my subordinates said that you and others came this time to surrender to my Datang and belong to my Datang?" ”

Murong Jieyan is a little old man in his fifties, his beard and hair are already gray, he is old like this at this age, it can be seen that his life is not easy, and the pressure is great!

He bowed his hand to Zhao Ziliang and said: "General Mingjian, in fact, we have always admired the Tang culture, and have always been attached to the Tang Dynasty, but before the Tubo was powerful, for the survival of the clansmen, we had to be aggrieved under the rule of the Tubo people, and now the Tang army is under the leadership of a loyal general like General Zhao to break the Tubo, so that the Tubo people are frightened, we naturally want to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, and serve the Tang Emperor as the Heavenly Khan!" ”

Zhao Ziliang smiled and said, "Yes, but why does General Ben believe in Murong Chief?" You must know that two days ago, you and a few of them still led a large army to help Mangbuzhi attack my Tang army? ”

"This ······" Murong Jieyan was very embarrassed, hesitated for a moment and asked carefully, "I don't know how the general can trust Xiao Lao'er?" ”

Zhao Ziliang raised his finger and said: "It's very simple, just agree to the three conditions of this general: first, your department will destroy the soldiers and horses of Tubo in your territory, and announce that you will advance and retreat together with my Tang Dynasty; second, our army should be stationed in Bailan (now Dulan, Xituguhun jurisdiction); Third, 5,000 horses are sacrificed every year! If the leader of Murong agrees to these three conditions, the general can ask the imperial court to canonize the leader of Murong as the king of Bailan, and then the Tuyuhun of the leader of Murong and my Tang Dynasty have become an offensive and defensive alliance, and they are united with the outside world, and if any party is attacked by the enemy, it is equivalent to declaring war on the other side, and the other side must send troops to rescue."

The muscles on Murong Jieyan's face trembled a few times when he heard this, and he gritted his teeth and said, "But! Within a month, our troops will encircle and annihilate all the soldiers and horses of Tubo in the land of my Tuyuhun, and then the general's soldiers and horses can be stationed, and after the mare gives birth to a foal next year, he will offer 5,000 war horses. ”

Zhao Ziliang slapped the table and immediately said loudly: "Come on, draft a covenant!" ”

At this point, after the military strength of Tubo around Qinghai Lake was greatly reduced, the western Tuguhun descended to the Tang Dynasty, which made the military strategic offensive situation of Tubo against the Tang Dynasty turn into strategic defense, while the Tang Dynasty turned strategic defense into strategic offensive on the contrary. (To be continued.) )