Although Zhao Yun didn't know where Khotan and Yarkand had the courage to confront the Han Empire, Zhao Yun knew that they did not have the strength to confront the Han Empire.
The King of Khotan dispatched 20,000 troops, which was about the same number as the army led by Zhao Yun. However, after the first battle, the Khotan army could not resist the Han army.
Although Zhao Yun was still young, he rarely charged in person after holding a high position. He ordered his general Yun Tong to lead three thousand cavalry to charge.
These three thousand cavalry were like iron pestles that pierced through Khotan's military formation. Zhao Yun then commanded the Lianda of Shanshan and Mumi to press forward, and won the final victory in one fell swoop.
King Yuchisha of Khotan was defeated because of his arrogance and rudeness. After the war, he fell from his horse and died in panic. Zhao Yun led his troops to advance with great success and captured the city of King Khotan five days later.
According to the Han Empire's regulations for annihilation, Zhao Yun wiped out the ruling group of Khotan, killed a man whose head was rolling, and then declared the fall of Khotan.
The Khotan Kingdom with a population of 80,000 was wiped out by the Han army.
After the Khotan Kingdom was wiped out, Zhao Yun did not let go of the Shache Kingdom who was instigating the matter behind the scenes.
Although the Yarkand Kingdom was horrified after learning the news of the fall of Khotan and sent envoys to the Han army to request surrender, Zhao Yun expelled the envoys and told the Yarkand King not to think about surrendering, but to just wash his neck and prepare. Waiting to die.
King Yarkand was dying and had no choice but to lead an army of 10,000 to fight and make a desperate struggle. Naturally, he was defeated by Zhao Yun and his entire army was wiped out. He had no power to fight back and could only retreat to the royal city.
He tried to hold on to exhaust Zhao Yun's food and grab a glimmer of hope, and then asked for help from the Kingdom of Dawan. Unexpectedly, Zhao Yun brought fire oil cans and made a simple version of the "speeding car" on site to throw the fire oil cans, and then it rained fire. Fire burned the city.
Three days later, the city of the King of Yarkand was captured by the Han army. Zhao Yun killed the King of Yarkand and destroyed all the ruling groups of the Yarkand Kingdom. He took all his people out of the city and beheaded them, declaring the destruction of the Yarkand Kingdom.
After the Kingdom of Khotan and the Kingdom of Shache were destroyed by Zhao Yun one after another, the surrounding small countries were frightened and did not dare to resist. They all submitted letters of credence to Zhao Yun, requesting to submit to the Han Empire and pay tribute to the Emperor of Han.
For example, small countries such as Xiye Kingdom, Zihe Kingdom, Puli Kingdom, Wulei Kingdom, and Wushu Kingdom all took the initiative to send letters of credence to the Han army, requesting surrender and submission, so as to prevent the red-eyed Han army from treating them as their own. The credit was taken away by Yi Bo.
They don't want to be reduced to that situation, it would be too unfair.
But in any case, after Zhao Yun defeated Khotan and Yarkand in succession, there was no longer any presence on the South Western Route that could affect the authority of the Han Empire. Just like the situation on the Northern Route of the Western Regions, there were no possible obstacles on either route. It has been wiped out by the Han army.
This original [inspection of the Western Regions] trip inexplicably turned into a war to open up the Silk Road, and it was fought extremely smoothly. What Liu Bei originally planned to complete in three to five years was completed in about one year. Liu Bei was also a little caught off guard.
But in any case, in March of the fourth year of Zhenguan, the two Han armies had arrived at the border area of Dawan State, and had surrendered other surrounding countries, and the logistics route had been quite consolidated.
Therefore, the two Han armies entered the territory of Dawan separately in April of the fourth year of Zhenguan.
With the army in hand, there is nothing to say. He directly asked the King of Dawan if he wanted to be the Dahan's dog. If he did, then hello, me, everyone. Help the Dahan garrison here. Don't say anything else.
Don’t do…
Then just wait until you are willing to be a big man's dog.
After all, being a man's dog is the happiest thing.
Zhang Fei, who was full of murderous intent, didn't even bother to let Dong Zhuo and Wang Chong serve as envoys to argue with the King of Dawan. He directly sent his men in the army to issue an ultimatum without any room for negotiation, making the King of Dawan angry and scared.
In fact, at this moment, there is Kang Ju's army in Dawan.
Previously, Dayuan was included in the sphere of influence of Kang Ju, and it had been helping Kang Ju to face the threat from the Kushan Empire moving north. It had some military strength, a large population, and a lot of cities, so it could barely be considered a small power.
But who would have thought that the Han Empire's strategy of returning to the Western Regions would be so fierce and fierce, and it would penetrate the Western Regions and reach the Dawan Kingdom in three strikes, five and two.
If this was just the case, Dayuan still had some ideas of resisting the Han army. After all, Kang Ju’s father was behind it, but the key problem was...
Kang Ju's father was also beaten up by the Han army before. Not only was the whole army annihilated, it is said that he was also beaten to the border by the Han army. He only withdrew after showing off his power, but Kang Ju's army was unable to do anything.
In this way, it is worth talking about whether Kang Ju's father can help Dayuan to block the Han army's invasion, and whether he can continue to maintain his identity as his father.
There are still some grievances and grievances between the Dawan Kingdom and the Han Empire, and these grievances and grievances can also involve Kang Juguo.
As early as the Western Han Dynasty, when the Han Empire first launched a war against the Dawan Kingdom on the pretext of sweating horses, Kangju State, as an ally with considerable economic and cultural ties to the Dawan Kingdom, came into the Han Empire's sight. , well known to strategists in Chang'an.
And at that time, Kangju State was judged to be a first-rate powerful country with more than 120,000 troops, while at the same time, Dawan State was a second-rate powerful country with a population of 300,000 and a military strength of 60,000.
If the two countries are fully mobilized, they can muster 180,000 troops. Using military force to fight against them is not the best choice for the Han Empire.
Faced with such a powerful force, when the Han army retreated and the Dawan people killed the interim monarch who was too weak and compromised, the Han Empire did not intervene a second time.
However, according to the Kangju State, it was not a centralized palace state, but an alliance state. Although there was a king in the country, he did not have the power to command everything. The existence of many noble chiefs and the like divided this part of the power, making Kang Juguo The strategies of the Allied Powers often cannot be agreed upon internally.
This is related to the fundamental nature of Kangju’s origins from the grassland nomads, and is also the biggest reason why the window period between the collapse of the Western Han Empire and the resurgence of the Eastern Han Empire was not utilized by them.
If Kangju was a powerful centralized country, then Kangju would definitely reach out to the Western Regions long before the Kushan Empire reached out to the Western Regions. Taking advantage of the internal chaos of the Han Empire, Kangju could even extend its influence to the Yumen Pass area.
This is a blessing for the Han Empire.
But this is for external expansion. If the fundamental interests of the Kangju noble chiefs are touched, they can still unite as one, piece together a large army, and launch a fierce attack on the enemy.
Zhang Fei, Dong Zhuo and others learned about this through Wusun and made it very clear.
Zhang Fei knew that both Kangju and Dawan were relatively powerful opponents with large populations and strong war potential.
At the same time, the terrain of the Dawan Kingdom is very superior. If the Dawan Kingdom is controlled, the fastest route from Kangju Kingdom and the Kushan Empire to the Western Regions can basically be controlled with less troops, and the fastest route to the Western Regions will be controlled. It has an advantage in geographical location.
When the time comes to attack Central Asia, we will be condescending, like a tiger descending from a mountain.
If the Han Empire wants to intervene in the struggle for hegemony in Central Asia in the future, it is inevitable to control the Dawan Kingdom.
Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and the staff team sent by the Privy Council discussed it and concluded that it was necessary to control the Dawan Kingdom. If you want to fully control the Dawan Kingdom, the current army alone is not enough.
So after the armies reunited, Zhang Fei sent Zhao Yun back and asked Zhao Yun to mobilize three armies to the front line of Dawan State, and then recruit the armies of Shanshan State, Cheshi State, Qiuci State, Wusun State and other large countries as well as a number of small countries along the way. , let some of them go to the Dawan front line to support the Han army, and some of them served as logistics troops and began to transport grain and fodder to the front line.
In this way, the Han army of 40,000, combined with at least 40,000 of the coalition forces of the Western Regions, formed an army of 80,000. They launched a strategic decisive battle with the Dawan and Kangju coalition forces on the front line of the Dawan State, and drove the forces of Kangju State out of the Dawan State. .
At the same time, Zhang Fei also went to Luoyang to tell Luoyang that he was preparing to go to war in Dayuan Kingdom, and asked Luoyang to make some preparations, provide some necessary help, etc.
Zhang Fei had complete control over this right to act expediently.
More than four months had passed from the time Zhang Fei issued the ultimatum to Dayuan to the time when war preparations were almost completed.
The Han army and the various countries in the Western Regions completed the deployment of military power and resources from Dunhuang County to the front line of Dawan Kingdom at a relatively fast speed. Among them, the powerful transportation capabilities of the Han Empire itself played a big role.
After Liu Bei, who lived in Luoyang, learned about this, he decided to support Zhang Fei's war decision and not interfere. He believed that he, who was in the rear, would not understand the local military situation better than the military generals on the front line. , so it is not appropriate to interfere more.
He even sent the Privy Council Envoy Xun You to Liangzhou and asked him to take the most capable Privy Council team to arrange logistics transportation for Zhang Fei. At the same time, he was also responsible for coordinating the logistics routes of the Western Regions with people from the Western Regions Military Region. country.
After that, he also ordered that all the three-year grain storage in the warehouses of Liangzhou and Yongzhou be used for the war, and allowed it to be allocated to the troops fighting on the front line of Dawan. He also recruited 100,000 civilians and 200,000 official slaves from Liangzhou and Yongzhou. , 100,000 livestock and 150,000 vehicles of all kinds were used to provide food and fodder for the frontline troops.
The strong national power that the Han Empire had accumulated for many years under Liu Bei's governance began to fully explode. The accumulation of three years in Yongliang Province alone was enough to support 40,000 Han troops in the expedition to Dayuan for this very important battle. From the beginning of preparations to It actually took less than four months to implement everything, just over three months.
The extremely capable Xun You and the skilled Privy Council team supported Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun on the front line.
They opened up all the joints of the logistics route in the rear and directly connected with every Western Region country on the logistics route. Not only did they transfer their own food, they also transferred food from the local area as much as possible to save costs.
After three months of hard work, Zhang Fei and the 40,000 Han troops and more than 60,000 Western Region Allied troops on the front line were ready to launch a full-scale war against the Dawan Kingdom.
In contrast, in this battle, Dawan and Kangju were fighting on their own soil in a sense. It was easier to fight, and the transportation of materials was more convenient. Logically speaking, their preparations should be faster. .
But in fact, this is not the case.
Zhang Fei was already ready to launch an attack. He was waiting for Zhao Yun to return from the rear, so he could advance in two directions and launch an all-out battle against Dawan.
At this stage, Dayuan and Kangju were still not ready for a full-scale war.
First of all, there is some controversy within Dayuan Kingdom about whether to fight this war.
Although Kang Juguo made it clear that he wanted to fight the Han army and regain the lost face, specifically, the Dawan people also knew what the internal problems of Kangjuguo were. The nobles in the eastern part of the country near Dawan State The chiefs paid more attention to the Dawan Kingdom, but the noble chiefs on the western grasslands lacked interest in it.
The reason is that the interests of both parties are different.
The nobles in the east care more about business and trade with Dayuan and their economic interests. Losing Dayuan is unacceptable to them. However, the nobles in the west lack business contacts with Dayuan. I heard that In Wusun, Kang Ju's army was completely destroyed by the Han army. He felt that he could not get any benefits, so he was unwilling to cooperate with the eastern nobles in fighting.
King Kang Ju could give them orders on some less sensitive issues, but on issues involving core interests, King Kang Ju could not make much of a decision. He could only mediate and negotiate constantly, but the mediation came and went. It was impossible to reach a consensus on the issue of joint resistance between the East and the West.
Just as the Han army was mobilizing troops, horses, and supplies, and the entire Kansai region began to mobilize to support the war, the Kangju people were constantly wrangling and mediating.
The eastern nobles must fight, but the western nobles are not interested and do not want to pay a price for something that does not involve their interests, so they are unwilling to send troops.
However, after the eastern nobles saw the powerful fighting power of the Han army, they felt that if they faced the Han army alone and suffered heavy losses and were unable to win the battle, they would not only lose everything in Dawan, but even lose their own interests in Kangju's country. There is a possibility of being annexed, so I am worried about it, and I have been unable to make up my mind to launch a general mobilization for myself.
King Kangju could consider this matter from the perspective of overall interests, and wanted to promote everyone to cooperate with each other and confront the Han army, but he obviously could not force the western nobles to join this war.
Dawan State was affected by the internal conflicts and disputes of Kangju State. It was also very hesitant about whether to go to war and internal disputes continued.
As for the Han army, in order to buy time for the Han army, Dong Zhuo and Wang Chong continued to send people and even went to Dawan to talk to the king in person, pretending to persuade the king to fully surrender to the Han Empire and abandon Kangju, so as to give the king of Dawan and the domestic peacemaker a chance. Very confusing.
As a result, under the influence of the peace factions on both sides, the war preparations of the war factions were more advanced. In four months, a little more than half of the army was mobilized, and the grain and fodder transportation reserves were less than two months.
Kangju's army only had more than 10,000 people assisting in the defense on the front line of the Dawan Kingdom. It originally claimed to support their 100,000-strong army, but now there are still 90,000 people missing. However, the Dawan Kingdom mobilized more than 20,000 people to defend the frontline. The front line defends, but if the remaining people have to mobilize, it will be more difficult.
General mobilization cannot be achieved without some determination and without putting the country into a state of war.
Therefore, by the end of July in the fourth year of Zhenguan, the balance of strength between the multinational coalition forces led by the Han army and the Dawan Kangju coalition force was completely unbalanced, as were the fighting will and combat preparations of both sides.
(End of chapter)
