Two days later, the Western Patrol Army arrived at the Baiyu River east of Xicheng, the capital of Khotan.
Zhang Yan introduced the origin of the name of this river to Liu Cheng: "This river is famous for its rich white jade, so the locals call it Baiyu River.
There is another river in the west called Moyu River, and the origin of the name is similar.
Xicheng, the capital of Khotan It is the dry season right in the middle of the two rivers, and the river surface has dried up.
Although the local people have picked up some on the river bed several times, there may be some missing.
If you can pick up a few pieces, you will make a fortune. " At this time, a fast horse galloped towards this side.
The knight rode directly across the Baiyu River bed and reined up his horse in front of Zhang Yan to report: "Mr.
Zhang, Yuchi Anguo, the king of Khotan, has not left the city.
To greet them, they just sent Captain Langdale, General Zuo, and the postmaster to greet them at the city gate."
Liu Cheng knew that the surname of the Khotan royal family was Weichi, and almost all of his ministers were members of the royal family.
Yuchi Anguo did not arrive at the city gate to greet him, but only sent a few officials under his command.
This news made Liu Cheng and Zhang Yan look at each other.
Although Zhang Yan was old, he had a good temper.
He said angrily: "You bastard, this Yuchi Anguo is so rude to the imperial envoy."
If Zhang Yan was still a long-term historian, he would definitely not lose such a temper.
As the saying goes, he will be cautious in his actions when seeking political power.
Now that he has no official position and is young, he will certainly not suppress his temper, and the older he gets, the more likely he will be. , the more like a child in personality, the more temper you have, you have to express it.
Liu Cheng was not angry.
He smiled and said: "Anguo is quite courageous.
He is the first king who does not go out of the city to greet me.
Where does he have the confidence?
Just with his 30,000 troops and horses, Duke Zhang, do you think How should this general react at this time?"
Zhang Yan also put away his temper at this time.
He calmed down and cupped his hands and said: "General, no matter what, this is someone else's territory.
As the saying goes, a strong dragon will not suppress the local snake.
I don't think you can go to war without authorization.
I would like to go to the palace of the Khotan King."
See Anguo, subdue him and go out of the city to meet the king."
Liu Cheng thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "What Mr.
Zhang said is inappropriate.
Doing so will only make King Khotan think that we are just bluffing, and we don't dare to challenge him.
Where is Shifu, the chief minister now?"
Zhang Yan said: "He is keeping an eye on King Khotan in the city to prevent him from doing anything untoward."
Liu Cheng asked again: "How many troops are stationed in Khotan City?
How many soldiers and horses are there in Chang Shi's Mansion?
Where are they stationed?"
"Usually, there are one thousand troops garrisoned in the city and four thousand outside the city.
Other army branches are stationed in other towns and guard Chang Shi's Mansion.
There are 500 old soldiers.
Except for those who guard Chang Shi's Mansion, the rest are all garrisoned in camps outside the city."
Liu Cheng stroked his horse's mane, thinking about countermeasures in his mind, and soon made a decision: "Send the whole army to camp again, make a living, and let the people in Khotan City wait."
"Follow your orders" Zhang Yan didn't react to Liu Cheng's decision for a long time.
What was he going to do?
But he thought about it and it seemed like a good decision to respond like this.
If your king doesn't come to greet you, I won't go forward.
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I have ten thousand soldiers.
The horses are stationed here.
I don’t believe you can withstand the pressure.
Liu Cheng snapped his fingers at Ma Chao, who galloped over and said, "General" Liu Cheng ordered: "Send out detective posts in all directions.
We can't capsize the boat in the ditch.
We still need to do the peripheral reconnaissance and surveillance that should be done.
There must be no negligence at all."
"Take the order."
Ma Chao agreed and immediately rode off to make arrangements.
The soldiers began to camp by the river, and the camp was quickly set up.
Some soldiers were walking on the dry river bed.
Zhang Yan and Liu Cheng were also walking on the river bed and talking.
Zhang Yan asked: "What are the general's plans?
If King Anguo of Khotan never comes out of the city to greet him, is it possible that we will always be stationed here?"
Liu Cheng hit his hand with a horsewhip and said in his heart: "Of course it's impossible.
We have to find out what King Khotan is thinking.
Is he deliberately provoking us or testing our bottom line?
Or does he think that with his identity and the current situation of Khotan?"
His strength no longer requires him to follow the ministers out of the city to greet me and the king.
We are stationing troops here.
He must be under pressure and he must respond."
Zhang Yan was thoughtful.
Liu Cheng asked: "Mr.
Zhang, please tell me about the situation in Khotan in recent years.
I came all the way from Dunhuang and heard many people say that Khotan has been very restless in recent years."
Zhang Yao sighed: "The previous generations of Khotan kings were very talented.
Every time they were forced to fight back on the grounds of provocation from neighboring small countries in order to achieve the purpose of annexing the country.
The reason for their counterattack was legitimate and it was not an active attack.
Even if he annexes As a result, the Khotan Kingdom deepened its hatred with the neighboring countries, especially the Khotan Kingdom, and the two sides exchanged martial arts skills almost every time.
One of the kings was killed."
"The current monarch Anguo is a tough man, and he is not a monarch appointed by the Changshi Mansion.
He is the country's own people.
At that time, the soldiers and horses of Dunhuang County and the soldiers and horses of Shule Kingdom had just withdrawn, and those who stayed in Khotan were There are only 500 soldiers from Changshi Mansion, which are too weak.
I can only acquiesce.
You also know what happened later.
An Guo sent troops to attack Mumi City, killed its king, and seized most of the country.
There were only a thousand people left in Mumi State.
It was I and Shi Fu who forcibly sent troops to stop him.
If we continue, the country of Mumi will be preserved."
After hearing this, Liu Cheng shook his head and said to Zhang Yan: "Mr.
Zhang, you have compromised too much with Khotan here, allowing them to break through our bottom line again and again.
The imperial court does not need these vassal leaders to guard the border for us, only They need to be obedient and keep As long as the Silk Road is smooth, this is their role.
As long as someone is disobedient, as long as someone dares to disturb the security and order on the Silk Road, we must resolutely suppress it.
The role of the Western Region Changshi Mansion is to rely on the majesty of the imperial court to balance the strength of the countries in the Western Region. and relations, so that all of them can be safe and sound.
As long as someone dares to break the balance, the Western Region Changshi Mansion will take action in time.
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If it cannot get the support of the imperial court in time, it must find a way to use the power of the imperial court. and tiger skin at the critical moment The moment still has some effect.
Anyone who dares to blatantly harm the governor of the Western Regions must be prepared to withstand the conquest of the imperial army.
This time, the general led his army to patrol the west to tell the countries in the Western Regions that the Celestial Empire has the ability to dispatch large armies at any time.
Trample them” Zhang Yan carefully thought about Liu Cheng's words and felt that they really made sense.
The reason why An Guo, the king of Khotan, was restless and ignored the obstruction of the Western Region Chang Shifu to attack neighboring countries was because he believed that the sky was high and the emperor was far away, so the court could not directly Send troops to Dunhuang The county also ignored the affairs here for a long time, so it dared to act arbitrarily, but this time it was different.
This time the imperial court sent 10,000 troops, and Anguo dared not care about the arrival of the imperial army.
This can no longer be tolerated.
It must be Gotta get rid of his arrogance.
"Ah, I picked up a piece of white jade, I picked up a piece of white jade, hahaha" a soldier walking on the river bed shouted excitedly holding a piece of white jade.
This alerted many soldiers around.
As soon as the soldiers heard that someone had picked up white jade on the river bed, they immediately ran out of the camp to join the treasure hunting army.
Zhang Yan saw that the soldiers were almost in full force and said, "General, stop them quickly.
If there is an enemy coming to attack at this time," Liu Cheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.
We have sent out enough detectives to guard the perimeter.
If there is any trouble, the general will receive the news.
The soldiers have not been so happy for more than a month.
Even if they can't pick it up, Going to Baiyu can also help them adjust their mood.
Besides, there are no big forces around except Khotan.
I really don’t believe that Khotan has the courage to send troops to attack our army.
These 10,000 troops are not just idle food. " The season for picking up jade on the riverbed has passed.
The local Khotan people have searched this place over and over again.
Where there are so many jade to pick up, only two or three soldiers were lucky enough to pick it up.
The others were all Nothing was found.
In the evening, the soldiers lost patience and interest and returned to the camp one after another.
Langdale, the auxiliary prince of Khotan, who greeted Liu Cheng's army at the gate of Xicheng, waited for a full afternoon with the generals on the left and the postmaster.
Neither the left nor the right came, and they were very agitated.
In the evening, they finally sent someone to inquire about the news.
They learned that Liu Cheng's army had camped by the Baiyu River.
Everyone was so angry that they were so angry that they immediately returned to the city and went to the palace to see King Yuchi Anguo.
"Why did you say they camped by the Baiyu River?"
Yuchi Anguo asked with a frown.
Langdale replied: "Yes, Your Majesty, they arrived at noon and set up camp by the river, but they didn't send anyone to say anything, so we waited for a whole afternoon and were almost scorched.
It's really abominable.
However, I always felt that something was wrong with this matter.
Why did they stop and camp by the Baiyu River instead of camping outside the city?
Is it because the king didn't go to the city gate to greet him or something else?
idea" Anguo got up and walked around the hall, saying as he walked: "In the past, when disputes between countries were resolved, the governor of the Western Regions would ask the prefect of Dunhuang County to lead troops to resolve them.
The maximum number of troops could only be a thousand people, and the main force of the troops would be the powerful neighboring countries. , but this time the Han Dynasty directly sent 10,000 cavalry.
What do they mean?
Are they here to show off their force?
Or are they targeted this time?
We are afraid that we will be in big trouble."
General Zuo suggested: "Your Majesty, why don't you just give in and go outside the city to meet the Han imperial envoy and his troops?"
An Guo shook his head solemnly: "If the other party's purpose is to cause trouble, even if I kneel down to them, do you think they will let us go easily?
So, we must find out their true purpose.
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This way, Langdale , you will bring one tomorrow Go to the Han army's camp with some grain, grass and meat to show condolences, visit the Han Dynasty imperial envoys, and check their tone.
In addition, you can also ask their military officials.
Don't give up on the Chang Shi's Mansion in the Western Regions.
See if you can bribe the Chang Shi's Mansion.
Man, let’s get some information.”
Langdale saluted and agreed, "Yes, Your Majesty, I will go and make preparations tonight and take people to the Han army camp to visit the imperial envoy early tomorrow morning":