Du Zhongxiao sat in the yard of the royal court, looking at the yellow leaves planted beside the trees. Autumn in the Western Regions came particularly early. Just now, the weather in August was approaching, and the leaves fell in the mountains, and the autumn in Gaochang City was also strong.

This attack on Gaochang is much easier than attacking Hequlu two years ago, and there is basically no big battle. This is normal. The forces of both sides are two to one, and the weapons, strategies and tactics are all inferior to each other. Gaochang has no power to fight back. In addition, Gaochang's main force is in Yanqi, and Gaochang is empty inside, and was directly attacked by the sudden Song army. Without waiting for a fight, everything was over.

Fu Bi came out of the official hall, held a document in his hand, and whispered: "Jie Shuai, Zhangbali has surrendered!"

Du Zhongxiao stood up, took the official document and looked at it, and said, "There are less than a thousand soldiers in Zhangbali. When Zhao Zi attacked him, he could only surrender. Yangji Bali was opposite to the Hei Khanate, and most of them would surrender. The war north of the Tianshan Mountains only looked at Beiting. There is more soldiers and horses, and it is not enough to be backed by the desert. Gaochang's troops are mainly in Yanqi, so let's see where it is now."

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao said: "Gaochang has less than 40,000 troops, and is stationed in various places. We attack with 70,000 or 80,000 people, and are well-equipped, so we should have won quickly. We were worried before that because the entire army had been trained for two years, and we didn't know what the result was. Now it seems that it is not difficult to win if we encounter an army like Gaochang. This is enough. The court knows where to fight."

Fu Bi said: "Jingshuai said that since he entered Gaochang, he occupied many cities, and there was no decent war at all, just like an adult fighting a child. After occupying Gaochang, the court had a clear mind and might be able to attack Dangxiang."

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "One Dangxiang has restrained nearly 400,000 troops of the imperial court, so it should be destroyed as soon as possible. In the past, it was difficult to fight because the road was difficult to move and the supply was not easy. It gave Dangxiang the opportunity to defeat each of them. Now that the railway has been built to the Zhenrong Army, it can directly send troops to attack Lingzhou and concentrate its forces in one place. How many troops can Dangxiang send? How can he defend Lingzhou? Of course, Dangxiang has been desperately casting cannons in the past two years, but I heard that the output of gunpowder is not high, so he can only guard a few important places."

Fu Bi said: "The court sent generals from Zhenrong Army to attack Lingzhou. We can send troops from Yizhou to attack Hexi. How can Dangxiang have the ability to resist the two armies? Not to mention that in the past two years, the Prime Minister and the important officials within Dangxiang have fought hard, and the military strength is no longer as good as before."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Send troops from Yizhou to attack Guazhou and Shazhou, from Juyan to attack Ganzhou and Suzhou, from Zhenrong to attack Lingzhou, several troops were sent together, and the core area of ​​Dangxiang was gone. Even if Xingqing Prefecture cannot be occupied for a while, Dangxiang would not be left. The most important thing about these wars is to rely on the railway, and the army can be continuously flowing and there is no shortage of food and grass."

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sat down again and said to Fu Bi: "In fact, it is not difficult to attack the Western Regions. The difficult road is that the road is long. The Central Plains have many people and land, and there are many grains and soldiers. As long as they can transport it, what are the small countries in the Western Regions? Although Gaochang and Heihan have a large territory, they are actually very restricted and have many small forces. As long as they defeat their main force, these small forces will respond. Now there is a railway, and we can enter the Western Regions thousands of miles away from Hequ Road, less than a month. What is the Heihan of Gaochang? In this battle, one is to lead Gaochang and reopen the commercial road. Another is to use Yizhou as a base to attack Dangxiang from the west. Another is to go south to occupy the hometown of Khotan and rebuild the Kingdom of Khotan. Now that Gaochang is occupied, there must be someone in the court who is unwilling to rebuild Khotan and sent Yuchi Sanlang to Mount Wutai."

Fu Bi said: "In fact, as long as the railway is connected, the court can send officials to rule, and it may not necessarily be necessary to rebuild Khotan."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Will it be okay if the deputy envoy does not rebuild Khotan? It's okay, but the Central Plains has to pay more money and send more people here. What will happen in the end? No one can tell you clearly. The Green Cult is now popular in the west, and the missionary preaching is fierce. How can the secular country resist them? Khotan is a Buddhist country and a native of the Western Regions. After it is rebuilt, they can use them to resist the Green Cult."

Fu Bi said: "The Central Plains is prosperous, and there are only many temples. All the monks can be worshipped by the people."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Since we entered Gaochang, from Puchang to Gaochang, there are many temples. The deputy envoy is familiar with Buddhism, but can we talk to the monks here? Can monks here trust the deputy envoy? Even monks don't believe in monks, let alone the local people. Religion is invisible and intangible, but it plays an important role in the psychology of the people and cannot be underestimated. The monks in the Central Plains are different from this place. In addition to being familiar with Buddhism, monks in the Central Plains also need to look at Confucian classics, but they are actually Confucian monks. The difference here is that they are carefully studying Buddhism, and they are not familiar with Confucian classics, and are deeply trusted by the people. There is another advantage in Khotan, which is that the foot of Kunlun Mountain, climbing over the mountains is where Buddhism originates. Establishing a Buddhist country can win over the hearts of the people in the Western Regions and make them trust the court. After occupying Gaochang, the most important thing for us is to solve Yanqi as soon as possible and take back Khotan from Hei Khan."

Fu Bi was surprised: "Ting Jieshuai means to go to war with Hei Khan? Hei Khan is much bigger than Gaochang, and is divided into two Khanate countries in the East and West, and the East Khanate is divided into several divisions, Gaochang is still no match for it."

Du Zhongxiao said: "The people in the Western Regions are distributed along the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and the south and farther south than the north. After the Black Khan destroyed Khotan, most of the densely populated areas in the Western Regions were in their hands, so Gaochang was naturally no match. Moreover, there were not many Uighurs, so how could they beat Black Khan?"

Fu Bi said: "But if we attack Heihan, the east and west divisions can join forces and recruit hundreds of thousands of troops, but it will be difficult to attack!"

Du Zhongxiao said: "It is not that the Khan of the Western Hei Khan is Berry Teqin and Ibrahim, who is called Taohuashi Khan. It is funny to say that Taohuashi is originally the name of the Central Plains by people from the Western Regions, so Ibrahim can be regarded as the Khan of the Chinese. He has established a country and has a bad relationship with the Eastern Hei Khan Kingdom. He often conquered it, so how can he cooperate? We go south and just deal with the Eastern Hei Khan Kingdom. Now there are about 30,000 Black Khan troops opposite Kucha and Yanqi. In a battle, we can encircle and annihilate these people. Without waiting for the Black Khan to order troops, we can occupy the former Khotan area."

Fu Bi thought for a while and nodded, "Jie Shuai said it well, but Yan Qi is still there. The most important thing now is whether Yan Qi will surrender. If he surrenders, two or three thousand troops will also have a lot of help."

"Yes, Zhao Zi has opened a gap in the north and occupied Zhangbali. However, there is no news about Zhang Ji in the south."

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sighed. He thought that after he caught Pugu Huaien, Yanqi in the south should surrender, but he didn't expect that after waiting for more than ten days, there was still no news. There were heavy troops there, but the idea of ​​the guard general was not good. Du Zhongxiao was not afraid that they would surrender to the black khan. The two countries had fought for a hundred years and had religious conflicts, so it was difficult to get together.

Fu Bi said: "Would you like to urge Zhang Ji to send troops from Hancheng, cross the mountain, and advance to Yanqi?"

Du Zhongxiao said, "Okay, just urge Zhang Ji like this. Now in August, the weather in the south will be hotter and it will snow in the north. Get out of the valley as soon as possible and move into Yanqi, and try to get rid of Yanqi before the New Year. Alas, once you cross the mountains, it will be troublesome to provide them with food and grass."
Chapter completed!