During the discussion between Li Daozong and An Xinggui, Gaochang State (around the later Turpan Basin).
Ju Wentai has been a little excited recently. His wild father, oh, no, Yi Bi Duo Lu, the supporter behind him, has given him a new order, asking him to cooperate with the other party to completely eliminate the pseudo-Khan Zheli Lose. !
It seems to be an order, but in fact Ju Wentai is very happy, because this proves that Gaochang has a very significant influence in the Western Regions! have a look! Whether it's the Western Turks or the Tang Dynasty, don't they still have to look at my face, Gao Chang? !
We can't blame Ju Wentai for having this idea, because the entire thirty-six countries in the Western Regions have to be dogs for the Western Turks or the Tang Dynasty! But he, Gaochang, is not the one! Humph, those other Cheshihouguo, Yanqi, and Qiuci either worked as dogs for two different khans of the Western Turks, or worked as dogs for the Tang Dynasty, or even had to work as dogs for both!
Only he, Gaochang, is independent.
At least Ju Wentai thinks so, because Gaochang does not pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, nor does it pay tribute to the Western Turks. But other countries had to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty or the Western Turks. Hum, the tributes paid by Yanqi and other countries to the Tang Dynasty were all stopped by Ju Wentai!
These tributes all fell into his own pocket, so Ju Wentai was inflated. He thought that Gaochang was very important, and he did not expect him to prevent envoys from these countries from paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty. But couldn't the Tang Dynasty do anything to him? Isn't it just that he has nothing to do but blame himself, hehe, he is not like the Tang Dynasty, isn't there still nothing he can do? !
The same is true for the Western Turks. Don't they still need to contain the Tang Dynasty themselves? Or involve other Khans! I have been in Gaochang for so many years and I am not afraid of these people at all.
That Yi Li Shi defected to the Tang Dynasty. Yibi Duolu was afraid that he would gain the support of the Tang Dynasty, so behind his back he wanted him Ju Wentai to cut off all ties between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty! However, Ju Wentai did not want to do this, or to be precise, he cut off all connections between Datang and countries in the Western Regions, and then used this as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Datang or increase toll taxes.
But this time, the main forces of the Tang Dynasty were directly involved in Tubo. Think about how long the Tang Dynasty was entangled with Tuyuhun? Now that the environment in Tubo is worse than that in Tuyuhun, Tubo will naturally involve more troops from the Tang Dynasty.
So, this is a great opportunity! Obviously Yibi Duolu also saw this opportunity, so he allowed himself to cut off the connection between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty, and then gave him the opportunity to completely eliminate Zhishu!
And Yi Biduolu's request is also an opportunity for Ju Wentai, because he, Gao Chang, can take the opportunity to attack and capture Yiwu Country (Later Hami)! Although Yiwu is now the territory of the Tang Dynasty, Ju Wentai feels that attacking Yiwu is not a big problem.
The reason is very simple. The main military forces of the Tang Dynasty are not on Longyou Road, and Yiwu is originally from the Yiwu country. It has just joined the Tang Dynasty not long ago. Yiwu was originally a small country with only one city, and now it has annexed Yiwu. , Gaochang can naturally increase its land area a lot.
And Yi Biduolu also sent him three thousand troops, which allowed Ju Wentai to gather up ten thousand troops plus three thousand Turkic cavalry!
Of course, Li Daozong and An Xinggui learned about Ju Wentai's plan to attack Yiwu City not long after they discussed the march plan.
To be honest, Li Daozong and An Xinggui were a little confused when they learned about this plan. They didn't know where Ju Wentai got his courage.
Of course, Yiwu City is not big, the walls are not high, the population is not large, and the troops stationed in the Tang Dynasty are only two thousand, but is this something you, Gao Chang, can do? Or do you think Datang really doesn’t dare to hit you? It is true that since the Zhenguan years, Ju Wentai has been provoking Datang many times. At that time, because he did not deal with Tuyuhun, Li Shimin really could not spare the troops to deal with him.
But... don't you have any idea?
The entire Gaochang has a large population, but the population of Gaochang City is only more than 40,000, and Gaochang's elite military strength is about 4 to 5,000. You can just provoke the Tang Dynasty, but take the initiative to attack?
Of course, Li Daozong and An Xinggui couldn't possibly know that this was how Ju Wentai played in history. The problem was that he just let it go. When he finally learned that the Tang army had arrived, he actually frightened himself to death.
It's true...it's a bit outrageous.
"Why don't we just take advantage of this opportunity to capture the entire Gaochang?" After learning about Ju Wentai's attack plan, Li Daozong and An Xinggui quickly discussed and revised the original plan.
They were originally planning to hook up with Ju Wentai, but who knew that Ju Wentai was actually preparing to commit suicide as His Highness said.
"Dispatch 30,000 cavalry, 10,000 to destroy the invading enemy, and the other 20,000 to bypass the enemy and only attack the capital of Gaochang, taking the opportunity to capture the capital." An Xinggui said quickly.
"But His Highness asked me to test the new weapon." Li Daozong said helplessly.
"New weapons." An Xinggui was stunned for a moment, "What new weapons? Armor?"
"Obviously not." Li Daozong shook his head and said, "The convoy responsible for logistics transportation should have transported the weapons to Yiwu. Because all of us dispatched this time are cavalry, these large weapons are definitely not easy to carry. For the time being, the logistics team will The troops will be responsible for transportation."
"At the moment, I don't know what it is specifically. It was supposed to be sent to Yiwu to receive it, but who knew Gaochang would take the initiative to send troops."
"Then... encircle without attacking!" An Xinggui hesitated for a moment and then said decisively. Anyway, Gaochang only has 10,000 troops at most. If these 10,000 are eliminated, taking Gaochang with 20,000 cavalry is not a problem at all. "
"That's fine. His Majesty happened to have specially told us that when we use troops against Gaochang in the summer, we must be careful of soldiers suffering from heatstroke. After all, the weather is too hot. If we wear full-body armor, over time, even the troops and horses will not be able to bear it. We are here When marching into a region, the best time to attack is in the morning. It is the coolest time. We must avoid non-combat attrition." Li Daozong nodded.
"Okay." An Xinggui also nodded. The temperature in Gaochang is indeed high. It's too hot in summer. Although His Highness upgraded their armors, these armors were simply a pain to wear.
Therefore, it can only be worn during combat. It is precisely because of this that the scouting work must be the best. Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing to be attacked by the enemy without having time to reach the armor.
After determining the strategy, a total of 50,000 troops quickly set off from Suoyang City and Dunhuang respectively. 20,000 troops went from Dunhuang via Han Yumen Pass and Yangguan Ruins to Nuqiang City, and then split into two at Nuqiang and Loulan.
The remaining 30,000 troops headed straight for Yiwu City!
This time, all the 50,000 troops dispatched by the Tang Dynasty were cavalry. The reason why they were all cavalry was because they wanted to obtain higher mobility in the later period.
And similarly, the configuration of this 50,000-strong army is also one cavalry and three horses.
However, they did not count the logistics and supply troops. If all the logistics and supply troops were included, it would be very reasonable for the historical records to record an army of 100,000 to 200,000.
