Tibet

"Woo——"

The low horn sounded, and seven thousand Tang troops came from all directions. Arrows shot at the Khazar Turk cavalry like raindrops. Under the dense rain of arrows, countless enemy troops screamed and fell off their horses.

The two sides collided together, each holding a torch, and started a fierce night battle.

Li Ye saw that the opponent's armor was distinctive. All generals wore white helmets, but ordinary cavalry wore black helmets. This was also convenient for soldiers to follow their commanders and centurions, but it also created a way to shoot enemy generals. condition.

Li Ye drew his bow and nocked an arrow, specifically shooting the enemy general wearing a white helmet while running. His arrows were all in vain. In just a moment, he shot more than thirty Khazar Turk generals off their horses. Without the general to lead them, the enemy army The cavalry seemed to be blinded and began to become confused.

"Break through! Break out to the west!" Captain Wanfu shouted anxiously.

Li Ye stared at the leader who was shouting among the enemy troops.

Li Ye drew an arrow, drew the bow like a full moon, and fixed his sharp eyes on the opponent's neck. When the opponent turned his head for a moment, the wolf-fang arrow shot out like lightning, passing through the gap in the crowd. The opponent's leader just turned around, and the arrow The arrow hit the eye, and it was so fast that Captain Wanfu couldn't dodge it.

"puff!"

The wolf-fang arrow shot through the throat, and the tip of the arrow came out from the back of the neck. The captain turned over and fell from his horse. Li Ye put away his bow and arrow, took off his long spear and shouted: "Kill them all, no prisoners!"

He waved his long spear and urged his horse to kill where the crowd was gathering.

This night battle lasted from the fourth watch to dawn. Except for hundreds of Khazar cavalry who broke through and fled westward, all the other 2,600 enemy troops were killed by the Tang army.

However, the soldiers of the Tang Army also paid the price of more than 700 casualties, of which about 300 were killed and more than 400 were injured.

It was getting daylight, and the Tang army had searched all kinds of items, including tens of thousands of gold coins. All of these gold coins were used to compensate the fallen soldiers.

Then came the war horses and weapons, and all the iron weapons were collected.

Tang Jun then divided the corpses into several piles, sprinkled them with kerosene, and lit them on fire.

Li Ye left a thousand men behind to deal with the aftermath, while he led five thousand cavalry to the camp.

Nalman's army arrived at the camp first. They annihilated hundreds of fleeing cavalry, then rushed to the camp, comforted the women who had been raped by the enemy, and captured dozens of Khazar Turk cavalry who stayed behind.

Nalman needs to ask clearly about the situation. These captured enemy cavalry will eventually die.

Li Ye ordered the army to rest on the spot, and he and Nalman walked into a big tent.

"The enemy has confiscated some of the property. Let these properties be handed over to the governor to provide compensation to the wounded and wounded soldiers!"

Nalman also knew that the Tang army had suffered more than 700 casualties, and he felt quite guilty. Although these properties were exploited by the Geluolu people, he still decided to give them to the Tang army.

Li Ye happily accepted the other party's intention and asked again: "Did you get any news from the cross-examination?"

Narman nodded, "I guessed it right. A civil war broke out in the Khazar Khanate. The Khazar Turks were defeated by the Khazar cavalry and were driven out of the Khazar Khanate. About 80,000 people evacuated eastward. They The main force is now located in the northeast of the Aral Sea, preparing to move eastward after the beginning of spring. This 3,000-man cavalry is their vanguard. Their mission is to first seize the pastures of Xiyibohai as a foothold. Their goal is the southern part of Yibohai and In the Yili Valley, Ashnasab is preparing to build another Western Turkic Khanate."

"How many troops do they have?" Li Ye asked again.

After excluding these 3,000 people, there are probably more than 10,000 people left. Li Ye frowned and said, "Even if more than 10,000 soldiers are wiped out, there are still more than 60,000 old, weak, women and children, which is difficult to deal with!"

Nalman said: "If the governor allows it, I also need 10,000 people to supplement the population. Others can sell them as slaves to the Sogdians!"

Li Ye nodded slowly, "I will give you part of the population, and the rest of the population will be given to the Khazar Khanate. That is their homeland, and they can go back to where they came from!"

Li Ye only stayed in the camp for half a day before leading his army back to the battlefield. By this time, the battlefield had been cleaned, and all the burned corpses had been dug and buried. The 300 soldiers who died in the battle were also cremated, and their ashes were taken back to their hometowns. .

The Tang army turned around and retreated south. Seven days later, the army arrived at Suiye City.

Just three days after they returned, a powerful snowstorm swept from the north. The entire river area turned into a white world, and the Chu River Valley was also covered in heavy snow.

At this time, Li Ye also received a letter from Aling Toba Khanna, a businessman. She will come to Suiye Guangming Temple tomorrow spring to serve as the leader of the Eastern Saints Association.

That morning, Li Ye and Wang Changling came to Suiye County to study. Suiye County was established three months ago. Judge Wang Changling served as the first county magistrate. Zhang Jue, the former Suiye soldier and horse envoy, joined the army and became the county magistrate. The entire county has There are 3,000 households, including 1,800 Han households, and the rest are of various ethnic groups. Tuqishi people account for the majority, with more than 700 households.

Of course, this is only the number of households in the county. If you include people from several small towns near Atami and herdsmen from various places, the population reaches 20,000 households, with more than 100,000 registered residents.

"Have the governor considered building a few more county towns?" Wang Changling asked with a smile.

Li Ye nodded, "One Suiye County alone is definitely not enough. The earliest plan I made was to build at least two more county towns. One is on the shore of Atami. Helie City can be used as the county seat. Its city size can be regarded as one." It is a small county called Atami County.

Then we will build a county town in the Yili River Valley, called Yili County, but it may not be built by me. My time here will not be too long, at most two and a half years. I will try my best to use these two and a half years to lay down the foundation. Play well. "

"The governor plans to go back in Tianbao's fourteenth year?"

Li Ye nodded, "In the fourteenth year of Tianbao, the term of the brothers has also expired. I want to take them back to Chang'an."

Wang Changling sighed and said, "Time flies very fast here. We set out on the 17th day of the first lunar month. In the blink of an eye, almost a year has passed."

Li Ye smiled and said: "The main reason is that the distance here is too far. It takes many days to go anywhere. Next year I will face the Khazar Turk army. I may have to go back to report on my work. The war with the Tubo army may be postponed to the year after that. , two or three years passed by in such a flash, life is too short."

"Next spring, the first batch of military family members will also arrive. They are now in Beiting."

The two of them talked and walked into the gate of Suiye County School. This was Wang Changling's political achievement. He ran three schools, one county school and two primary schools. There were more than 300 students in total, including him, who was responsible for logistics. The three great poets Gao Shi and Cen Shen also became professors, and officials with Jinshi origins such as Xie Jin and Zhong Hui also guest taught. Therefore, Suiye County School can be said to have the highest quality of teachers among the major county schools in the world. County school.

The official name of the county school is Li Pu. He is a famous Confucian scholar in Suiye. He taught at Luoyang Imperial Academy for several years. Because his father passed away, he returned to Suiye to pay filial piety to his father. Then he stayed in Suiye and inherited his father's legacy. Broken leaves cultivate talents.

Li Pu asked Li Ye and Wang Changling to sit down, poured them a cup of hot tea and said: "Director Li, there is a very practical problem, about how to solve the problem of students' academic achievements? Since you are studying in the county school, you must take the exam before going to school. Participate in the imperial examination, but we are not qualified."

Li Ye nodded and said: "This problem needs to be solved. Are there any students who will take the imperial examination next year?"

"Tomorrow autumn, there are five students who will take the autumn examination, and the next spring they will go to Chang'an to take the imperial examination and the provincial examination. They are all my students. They used to study with me. I think their talents and studies are very good, no worse than students from the Central Plains. "

Li Ye thought for a while and said: "Let's do this! Let them go to Dunhuang County to take the exam next fall. As far as I know, the scholars from Anxi and Beiting all took the autumn exam in Shazhou. After taking the autumn exam, they went directly to Go to Chang'an, study in Chang'an while waiting for the imperial examination, all the troubles and expenses will be borne by the governor's office!"

Wang Changling smiled and said: "This is a good idea. In fact, we can open two official inns in Dunhuang and Chang'an for convenient accommodation!"

Li Ye nodded, "It will be possible in the future. In the future, the Hezhong Governor's Office will also set up a memorial hall in Chang'an to strengthen the connection with the central court."