Chapter 3251: Alert
The once prosperous Loulan Kingdom has been completely cut off since then, and the world only knows Shanshan.
The city of Goni leads to Qiemo, Jingjue, Kumi and Khotan in the southwest, to Cheshi in the north, to Yanqi in the northwest, to Bailongdui in the east, to Dunhuang, and is the hub of the Silk Road.
Of course, Muni City is not far from Yumen Pass, so it is difficult for the Turks to penetrate into it, and it has always been under the control of the Tang Dynasty. However, from the city of Muni to the west, the Tang army's control gradually weakened. Near Gaochang, they could only maintain control of important cities. As for the long stretches of yellow sand and cool Gobi, it was difficult to cut off the movement of Turkic cavalry.
This is the current situation of the Western Regions. It is not because the Tang Dynasty has insufficient control power, but also because the Western Regions are too vast and the population is too sparse. If you want to maintain strong dominance everywhere, you must have more than 300,000 troops stationed all year round. , the price to pay is too high.
The sky is full of wind and snow, and the vision is gradually blurred.
Back in the house, after Fang Jun sat back at the desk, a soldier opened the door and entered, saying: "Commander, a letter from Chang'an has arrived."
Fang Jun nodded, and the soldier stepped forward and handed him the letter, then turned around and pushed it out.
After pouring a cup of tea by himself, Fang Jun first looked at the seal and saw that the prince's seal was intact, then he opened the envelope, took out the letter paper, and read it carefully.
After a long time, he put down the letter, picked up the tea cup and took a sip.
The tea has become lukewarm.
He put down the tea cup and called to the soldiers outside the door, asking them to call Pei Xingjian and Cheng Wuting. The soldiers followed the order and left.
A moment later, Pei Xingjian and Cheng Wu, who were all cold, walked in quickly. After greeting each other, Pei Xingjian asked: "The commander is eager to summon you, but what is the important matter?"
Fang Jun pointed to the letter on the table and said, "Sit down first and then talk after reading it."
"Here."
The two of them sat down. Pei Xingjian first picked up the letter and looked at it carefully, while Fang Jun took off the boiling water from the stove, made another pot of tea, and poured a cup for each of them.
The two thanked him quickly.
After a while, Pei Xingjian read the letter and handed it to Cheng Wuting. He took a sip of hot tea from the cup, then held the hot cup in both hands and sighed softly, saying: "Chang'an City... is really a monster, wait and see. When the empire was in crisis, all these people actually It is shameful and hateful to blindly fight for power without caring for the country and the people. However, His Royal Highness reminded the commander to be careful of harm... You are in the army now, and you have confidants on your left and right. Even if there are some people who are cowardly, there is no such thing. Opportunity?”
Fang Jun snorted and said disdainfully: "If we can't get close, we naturally have to start from the outside. Although the territory of the Western Region is controlled by the Anxi Army, the Turks come and go like the wind. There may not be anyone who has a secret conspiracy with the Turks. It's possible to leak the right The whereabouts of the garrison.”
He has been marching all the way since leaving Chang'an. The cold and difficult environment has made his face darker and darker. The short mustache on his lips has become thicker and thicker due to neglect. His cheeks are thin and his face is hard. His eyes are shining brighter and his momentum is getting stronger. It looks majestic and dignified.
This life, he snorted coldly and became more domineering.
At this time, Cheng Wuting also finished reading the letter, put it on the table, and said in a deep voice: "The Guanlong clan has great influence in the Anxi army, and they have always secretly communicated with the Turks, and they are very likely to betray our Youtun guards. , have to guard against it.”
Fang Jun nodded.
In fact, the Guanlong clan has little regard for their family and country. They only have interests in their eyes. As long as they can grab enough interests, they will regard betraying their ancestors, abandoning their lineage, collaborating with the enemy and treason as a matter of course.
I remember that the first time I commanded the Shenji Battalion and followed Hou Junji to conquer Gaochang Kingdom, I was attacked by a Turkic wolf cavalry on the shores of Lop Nur Lake. The entire army was almost destroyed and buried here. It was later learned that someone had bribed the Turks with ten carts of refined iron, allowing them to bypass the main force of the Tang army and attack them.
Although there was no evidence at the time, Fang Jun deeply suspected that Chang Sun Chong was responsible. As the eldest son of the Changsun family, he secretly colluded with the Turks, and was able to mobilize the wolf cavalry around the Turks Khan, which is enough to show the depth of the entanglement between the Guanlong clan and the Turks.
At this moment, if you want to fail in the Western Regions, it is not surprising to bribe the Turks again.
Immediately, he added: "Not only the Turks, but even the Arabs may take action."
Pei Xingjian was confused: "Aren't the Arabs fighting back and forth with the Anxi army to the west of Gongyue City? How could they send an army deep into the hinterland of the Western Regions and risk huge risks to attack us?"
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Arabs are different from Turks.
The Turks have always had a strong control over the Western Regions. Even though they were defeated several times by the Tang Dynasty and had to flee to the desert grasslands in the far west, they still have a strong foundation in the Western Regions. They really want to remain unnoticed. It is not difficult to sneak into the Western Regions and attack Youtun Wei.
But the Arabs were outsiders and had never set foot on the land of the Western Regions. Now they were killing the Hu people in the Western Regions for food and supplies. They were regarded as barbaric beasts. It was almost impossible to sneak into the hinterland of the Western Regions secretly.
Immediately, thinking of a possibility, his expression changed and he blurted out: "Does the commander think that someone is colluding with the Arabs?"
This is incredible.
The Turks roamed across Mobei and were powerful. Even though they were beaten by the Tang Dynasty, their foundation was still there. It is indeed understandable that those powerful factions secretly colluded with them to seek their own interests. However, the Arabs are Western barbarians and have never had any contact with the Tang Dynasty. This time they invaded the Western Region as bandits and robbed the interests of various clans in the Western Region. This was simply grabbing food from the mouth of a tiger. How could those clans compete with the Arabs? Cooperate with each other?
Unprofitable...
Fang Jun played with the ceramic teacup in his hand and said in a deep voice: "This time the Arabs conquered the Western Regions, from the timing they grasped when sending troops, to the marching route and battlefield deployment after entering the Western Regions, they all showed the situation of the Anxi Army. Knowing very well, he can always avoid the truth and make false claims, which makes The Anxi Army was constrained in every way. If it weren't for Xue Rengui's superior military strategy and the Anxi Army was elite and good at fighting, the Arabs would have been defeated long ago. It was impossible for the Arabs to have such a powerful detailed manufacturing system. It could only be that someone secretly betrayed the secrets of the Anxi Army. ”
Pei Xingjian was shocked and said: "This can be called treason!"
Cheng Wuting said in a strange tone next to him: "So what if it's treason? In the eyes of those aristocratic families, only the family has no country. As long as they can gain benefits for the family, they don't care whether the empire is flooded or war-torn!"
Why are aristocratic families condemned by people all over the world? The reason lies in their indifference to the consciousness of the country and the nation, and they only focus on pursuing the interests of the family. As long as it is beneficial to the family, they can definitely treat all the people as dolphins and dogs, and the country as a straw mat, and hand it over to the hands of foreigners.
Throughout the ages, this has never been the case.
Fang Jun took a sip of tea and sighed: "It's a pity that the 'Baiqisi' was restrained by His Majesty in Chang'an City. At most, it has some energy in the Guanzhong area, and in order to prevent the tail from being lost, it can only be used internally but not externally. If we let The 'Baiqisi' became the intelligence agency of the Tang Dynasty military, responsible for collecting internal and external intelligence, and it was not possible to just let it go without knowing that those people were collaborating with the enemy and treason but had no evidence."
In his opinion, His Majesty Li Er is still too cautious.
It is true that while consolidating the imperial power, the imperial minions such as "Hundred Qisi" are very likely to develop into a vicious tumor that cannot be removed, and then destroy the structure of the court and make people angry, but if they are directed to develop outward, there is no way out. And a disadvantageous tool.
Perhaps, it was also history that limited the emperor's vision. From ancient times to the present, countless emperors have had secret service offices with great power and strength like the "Hundred Cavalry Division", such as the "Plum Blossom Internal Guard", "Imperial City Division", "Jinyi Guards", "Niangan Department", etc. etc., but they only regarded them as the emperor's minions, responsible for stabilizing the imperial rule, but never developed their functions to penetrate into the outside world.
In war, the role of intelligence is obvious, and sometimes it is even more useful than a powerful army. However, these emperors have made the most powerful intelligence agency under them useless, and they only know how to stabilize the imperial power and prevent internal chaos.
As a result, both the Song and Ming dynasties fell into the hands of foreigners, and their own intelligence agencies made almost no contribution to foreign operations...
The three of them were discussing countermeasures when they suddenly heard footsteps outside. The soldiers knocked on the door and entered, saluting: "Commander, Xue Sima sent someone from Gongyue City to send you a letter."
Fang Jun's heart sank and he hurriedly said: "Bring them here!"
Could it be that something happened during the Battle of the Western Regions?
Although the Arabs were unstoppable and marched straight in, the Western Region was vast and had sufficient strategic depth. The strategy adopted by Xue Rengui was excellent. The situation would not deteriorate for a while, resulting in the complete loss of Gongyue City and Luntai City, and the complete exposure of Jiaohe City. Under the enemy's military peak.
However, Xue Rengui sent someone to deliver the letter at this time. Apparently, the letter was already on the way just after he entered the Western Regions, which gave Fang Jun a bad feeling... (End of Chapter)