Daqin: Zulong's Traveling Frog

Chapter 319 Sense of Crisis

The terrain of the Western Regions is vast, connecting Yumen Pass in the Central Plains to the east and Congling Mountains to the west, a total of more than [-] miles; the majestic Tianshan Mountains in the north, and Kunlun Mountain, the "ancestor of thousands of mountains", in the south, about [-] miles away.

However, the central hinterland of this piece of land is an endless desert. People in the Western Regions call it "Taklamakan", which means barren land. The Bailongdui Desert in the east of Loulan is actually an extension of this large desert.

Due to the limitation of living environment such as water source, the countries in the Western Regions are distributed along the oasis on the edge of Taklimakan. The north of the desert is called Beijiang, and the south is called Nanjiang.

Khotan is located in southern Xinjiang, with Kunlun Mountains in the south and Taklamakan in the north.

Cheshi is located in northern Xinjiang, bordering the desert in the south, Tianshan Mountain in the north, and facing Khotan across the desert.

Only Loulan Kingdom and Moshan Kingdom have a special geographical location, because the two neighboring countries are located in the east of Taklamakan, and strictly speaking, neither belong to southern Xinjiang nor northern Xinjiang.

But the status of these two countries in the Western Regions should not be underestimated: Loulan is a big country in the Western Regions, and because it is the closest to the Central Plains, it has become an important route between the East and the West; Copper and iron mines, relying on God's gift, the country is rich and the people are sufficient.

Since King Xidun of Khotan seized the throne from his uncle Huairen and ascended the throne by force, the Western Regions began to become uneasy. The southern border states such as Shache, Jingjue, and Qiemo were all wiped out by Xidun's troops. Tian dominated southern Xinjiang and became a thriving one. Its northeast border extended to the border with Loulan Kingdom.

Many people think that Xi Dun's ambition is in the entire Western Regions, and Khotan's troops are in full swing, and the next target must be Loulan.Even the people of Loulan thought so, as evidenced by the fact that King Wentian recently dispatched a large number of elite troops to station at the southern border.Although the flames of war have not been ignited for the time being, anyone with a discerning eye knows that Loulan and Khotan will immediately enter a state of hostility with just a small introduction, or even a trivial excuse.

What is surprising is that King Xidun suddenly issued an announcement saying that Changmai, the second prince of Cheshi Kingdom, first broke into the envoy's camp in Khotan, intending to take away the sacred Ye Mingzhu, and then colluded with ghosts and ghosts to kill the black-armored warrior. Tian vowed to avenge this.

The kingdom of Khotan protested openly. With the sharp and tough character of King Xidun like a lion, he would surely fulfill his promise, but the people of Cheshi did not panic. Master, we must first cross the border of Loulan, and Shaman, the queen of King Cheshi, is the sister of King Wentian of Loulan. A soldier crosses his own country to attack the allies.

Of course, Khotan has another alternative attack route, which is to bypass the Loulan line of defense and directly send cavalry across the Taklamakan Desert, which is a thousand miles away, which is simply impossible to do by manpower.

Old Cheshi Wang Libi is nearly [-] years old. When the ministers rush into the palace to report all kinds of urgent government affairs and military affairs, he always listens with a blank face, showing a rare tranquility in anticipation of danger. This is probably a Traits of an old man suffering from illness.

And the anxiety of the ministers is not unreasonable-the neighboring country Moshan, which has always lived in peace, suddenly announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Che Shi. The reason is that the prince Changmai of Che Shi deliberately framed Muta, a businessman from Moshan who had a dispute, and put it in his luggage. Putting in silkworm eggs, he was killed by the Central Plains general at Yumen Pass.

The two incidents were both related to Prince Changmai, but since Changmai left the Loulan caravan privately with his military adviser priceless, they have never appeared again.Weixiang, the head of the Loulan Royal Palace Guard, was fined and suspended for failing to protect the prince.

The direct consequence of Moshan's turn of events is that all caravans going to Cheshi can no longer pass through the border of Moshan, including the minister Tang Zhe, who transported food back to China, and his party had to go around the Bailongdui Desert in the east.

Not to mention the difficult and dangerous roads, horse thieves frequently appeared, and the caravans forced to detour to Bailongdui were looted by horse thieves again and again, their goods and livestock were robbed, and the merchants were killed on the spot and left dead in the desert.

The horse thieves were unscrupulous, and even once broke into Cheshi's territory, murdered and set fire, and plundered the local people.The eldest prince Chang Yi who was in charge of the army of Che Shi Kingdom was finally enraged, and he personally led two thousand elite soldiers to the southeast border. Firstly, he wanted to meet Minister Tang Zhe and ensure the safety of the food team; Horse thief.

After Prince Changyi led his army to leave the royal city of Jiaohe, a dusty cavalry unexpectedly appeared outside Yanjin City, the important town of Cheshi.Although there were only a few hundred people, when Cheshi's soldiers and civilians realized that this team was the Khotan black armored knights who had crossed the Taklamakan Desert, they had no fighting spirit and swarmed into the city, guarding behind closed doors.The Khotanese did not launch an attack immediately, but camped and rested on the spot.

The news of Yanjin's siege quickly spread to the Jiaohe Palace. King Libi, who had always been calm, was shocked when he heard that the Khotan cavalry had crossed thousands of miles of deserts and arrived at Yanjin, and the number of people continued to flow. It's still Shidun!"

Cheshi's border is long and narrow, and Yanjin is only four hundred miles away from Jiaohe, the capital of the king. Without Yanjin, Jiaohe will lose its southern barrier and is in danger.King Libi had no choice but to order the mobilization of the whole country, mobilizing all the elite troops to rush to Yanjin, intending to resist the enemy on the border.

A few days after the emergency departure of the army, Mo Shan and Che Shi had a fierce conflict on the southeastern border. Mo Shan claimed that Che Shi sent people to cross the border and set fire to the barn of the barracks, and used this as an excuse to start a war against Che Shi.The moshan army that had been assembled for a long time broke through the border defense line quickly, and the road was like a broken bamboo. It only took one day and one night, and its forward Qingqi could quickly advance to Yecheng.

The city of Ye is built along a mountain pass, and the terrain is quite steep. It is only [-] miles away from Jiaohe, Cheshi Wangcheng.However, there were no barriers around the Jiaohe River, and the city was only built in the open area where the Youhe River diverted. From a distance, it looked like an isolated island in the wilderness, so Yecheng was the last pass of the Wangcheng.

It's just that at this moment, Yecheng's military strength is weak, and it is almost an empty city.

Holding a yellow horse in his hand, Xiao Yang is standing on the hillside of Jitouling overlooking Yecheng - the sun has just risen, and the sun is shining gently on the Populus euphratica forest on the east bank of You River. The mountains are like eyebrows and the trees are like emerald jade.The sky is high and the clouds are light, a group of cattle and sheep are grazing leisurely on the hillside, an eagle is circling in the sky, and the whole small town is enveloped in a quiet and peaceful scene.

A caravan of camels was passing through the path down the hillside, led by a rare white camel with its head held high, very beautiful, with a big copper bell hanging around its neck, the bells were ringing, crisp and melodious.

At the end of the pack team was a horse-drawn cart, in which sat several men in ragged clothes, who should be slaves that the owner of the camel team was planning to sell.

Slave trading has always been popular in the East and the West. The powerful and wealthy businessmen in the Central Plains used the blond-haired and blue-eyed slaves in the Western Regions as capital to show off, and Westerners often took the glory of buying Han slaves in the Central Plains.

Xiao Yang had just arrived in Yecheng, and he didn't know that Moshan Kingdom had already started a war with Che Shi, but he had already heard the news that Khotan's soldiers were approaching Yanjin, and he felt ominous in his heart. A disaster is about to strike.
(End of this chapter)