Tibet

The first key target of the Tang Army on the middle route was Anji City in Bakhna. Anji City had the largest overflow oil well in the entire river area. The people in Bakhna called the oil Kanda. The oil in Anji City was light oil. The quality is much better than the oil in Yanzhou. It does not need to be refined or filtered and can be used directly as kerosene.

Legally speaking, Anji City belongs to Suiye. Back then, King Murdo exchanged Anji City with the Tang Army for Juzhanti's wheat fields.

However, since Li Ye left Suiye and returned to Chang'an, the Hezhong Governor's Office showed little interest in Anji. In addition, Anji City was far away from Bahanna and there were no Han people living in the city. The Hezhong Governor's Office gradually became less interested in Anji City. No more questions.

After Arolie came to power, he used 10,000 taels of silver to redeem Anji City from the Hezhong Dudu Mansion, and Anji City once again became the land of Bahna.

Arole then granted Anji City to his sister Adele as her territory.

Adele became the owner of Anji City, and she sold a large amount of the oil produced in Anji City to Sogdian merchants. Arolie also heard about it, but he did not interfere.

But what Arolie didn't expect was that the oil was eventually sold to Anlushan in large quantities and became the source of kerosene for Anlushan's army.

But since King Arole died of poisoning, Adele became the queen of Bukhana, and Bukhana finally began to betray the Tang Dynasty. First, he expelled the 500 Tang army garrison that Suiye had in Juzhanti, and then Bukhana completely stopped In order to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, they drove the Suiye General Chamber of Commerce back to Suiye.

The Suiye General Chamber of Commerce is semi-official. It is actually the embassy of the Tang Dynasty stationed in Bukhana, and is stationed by Suiye officials.

Driving out the Broken Leaf General Chamber of Commerce meant completely severing relations with the Tang Dynasty. Guo Xin had always wanted to conquer Ba Khanna, but unfortunately he didn't have the strength. Now the 60,000 Western Expeditionary Army has arrived.

In the afternoon, the 40,000-strong army from the middle route arrived at Anji City. There were 300 soldiers in Anji City, led by an Awa, which means commander of thousands.

Forty thousand soldiers of the Tang Dynasty came to the city. The environment of Anji City was not good. It was surrounded by arid Gobi Desert. To the south was the Zhenzhu River, which is also the lifeblood of Anji. All its water sources came from the Zhenzhu River, and all its food was transported by the Zhenzhu River. It was rich in Oil depends on

The Tang army cut off the water channel between Anji City and Zhenzhu River. In just one day, the defenders surrendered.

When Li Ye formulated the plan for the Western Expedition, he did not kill all the troops in a one-size-fits-all manner like the Japanese and Silla armies did. Instead, he used a combination of leniency and severity, giving both sticks and carrots.

If they surrender voluntarily, the soldiers will be disbanded as civilians. If they are prisoners of war on the battlefield, they will be fined for mining for three years. If they resist stubbornly, they will be killed without mercy.

But Bukhanna's army is a little special. Many of Bukhanna's generals were trained by the Tang Army. If they are willing to surrender voluntarily, then this army can be organized into the Tang Army and continue to be used.

After capturing Anji City, Bai Xiaode left 2,000 men to guard Anji. The reason for the heavy garrison was that Anji's kerosene was very important to the Tang army, and secondly, Anji could become a waterway transit port for Bakhna.

The army continued to move north, and at noon the next day, they arrived at the capital city of Bakhna, Kesai City.

There are 30,000 troops garrisoned in Kesai City. They are either the troops of the Holy Women's Society or Bukhan's own army. The 20,000 troops of the Holy Women's Society are in Shiguo.

An army of 40,000 men immediately set up camp outside Kesai City.

In the big tent, the sand table in the river has been erected. Bai Xiaode pointed to Qianquan City, the border town of Shiguo: "This is where the Saint Sisters' army is stationed, and it is also the location of the largest silver mine in Shiguo. Now we face a choice, which is to be patient." Wait a minute, let’s talk about it after the Holy Sisters’ army supports Ba Khanna. Should we launch a siege and attack Ba Khanna directly and then turn around and go to Shi Country?”

General Huben Cao Lingzhong said: "General, since Shi Guo and Bukhan are both controlled by the Holy Maiden Society, they should be allies. If Bukhan is in trouble, why won't Shiguo not support them?"

Another Huben general, Lu Yang, said: "The general said in Suiye before that this Saintess Army was actually responsible for garrisoning Shiguo and Bahanna, and when it attacked Suiye, it was from Bahanna. Even if the army of the Shi Kingdom does not come to support Bakhna, then this army should come to the rescue. It is unshirkable. "

Both of them supported the siege and reinforcement plan. Bai Xiaode nodded and asked Xi Wanli and Xu Zongran: "What are the opinions of the two generals?"

Xi Wanli and Xu Zongran discussed in a low voice, and Xu Zongran said: "We suggest listening to the supervisor's opinion. She understands the current situation in the river better than we do."

According to regulations, the military supervisor does not participate in the decision-making of military operations. As the supervisor, Li Chenghua is only responsible for reviewing and ensuring that the specific combat plan does not violate the emperor's Western Expedition strategy. If the emperor wants to merge Ba Khanna and Shi Kingdom into the Tang Dynasty, The battle plan was to kill all the soldiers and civilians of Bukhanna, which obviously violated the Western Expedition Strategy, and Li Chenghua had the right to veto it.

Bai Xiaode will have to make a new battle plan. If the battle plan is rejected by the supervisor Li Chenghua three times in a row, then Li Chenghua has the right to remove Bai Xiaode from his position as commander-in-chief. If Bai Xiaode dares to disobey or resist, it will be a rebellion.

So, can Bai Xiaode lead an army to rebel and support the army to become independent?

It was difficult, basically impossible. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were basically Han Chinese, and they would never betray the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, Bai Xiaode could only lead a very small number of his confidants to escape, and it was impossible to support the army and stand on its own.

That's why Bian Lingcheng, the supervisor of the army, was so powerful in Anxi back then. No matter Fu Meng Lingcha, Gao Xianzhi or Feng Changqing were all afraid of him.

Bai Xiaode nodded and quickly ordered his soldiers: "Go quickly and ask Supervisor Li to come to the Chinese army's tent!"

The guards ran away. Not long after, Li Chenghua walked into the big tent. Bai Xiaode saluted and said, "Excuse me, military supervisor!"

Li Chenghua smiled and said, "General Bai, you are welcome. What can I do for you?"

"It's like this. There is a plan. I want to hear the military supervisor's advice?"

Bai Xiaode told the two plans again. Li Chenghua smiled faintly and said, "Although General Cao and General Lu both make sense, I can guarantee that the Saint Maiden Army stationed in Qianquan City will never come to support Bukhara. On the contrary, once they learn of the news of Bukhara, they will immediately withdraw to Juzhanti."

Bai Xiaode was stunned, "Why?"

Li Chenghua smiled and said, "This army only belongs to the Saint Maiden Association in name, but in fact their main decision-making generals have been controlled by the Arabs. They attacked Suiye. It was also the order of the Arabs. I have talked to the Holy Maiden Society and the Six Nations Alliance in Samarkand. They have expressed to me very firmly that no matter what, they will not be enemies with the Tang Dynasty. They do not want to destroy themselves. "

Lu Yang was a little unconvinced and said: "Li Jianjun believes that they are controlled by the Arabs. Do you have any evidence?"

Li Chenghua nodded, "The commander of this army is called Sabah, who is from Anguo. His two deputy commanders are Maimana and Charan, who are also from Anguo like the commander. In fact, they were promoted by Sabah. The three of them formed the decision-making group of this army. The evidence is that the three of them converted to the Arab religion. "

Everyone looked at each other. They all admired Li Chenghua's intelligence. It was too powerful. There was evidence against a foreign army. Ordinary people could not do it at all.

Bai Xiaode nodded. He no longer hesitated and immediately ordered: "Pass my order, first capture Kesai City and Bukhara!"