In fact, the shortest way to the Dashi Kingdom is to go through He and Anguo and enter the Mulu City of the Dashi Kingdom.
However, Mulu City is the capital of the Khorasan Province of the Dashi Kingdom and the home of the black-clad Dashi.
This force has great influence on the Tang Dynasty.
His attitude was still unclear.
To be on the safe side, Zhao Ziliang decided to abandon this shortcut and would rather take a long way to Jiling City.
After that, Zhao Ziliang led the army all the way through Bushi City, Ashu City, Lan City, Luolan City, Huwen City, and Hesina City in Tochara.
Hesina City is a large town in the southernmost part of Tocharo.
It is also the only town with sufficient supplies on the way to Jiling City.
Zhao Ziliang led his army to arrive here on the second day of February.
Since there were no large towns on the road from Hesina City to Jiling City to supply supplies, Zhao Ziliang had to order to stay here at dawn, firstly to let the army rest and regroup, and secondly to purchase enough supplies here.
In order to be able to reach Jiling City.
It was also the first time that Zhao Ziliang came here so far away from the Tang Dynasty, and saw the customs and customs here for the first time.
Although there was a general description of the city of Heshin in Xuanzang’s Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, seeing it with his own eyes and reading it from books The feeling of seeing it is completely different.
The customs, clothing, eating habits and culture here are completely different from those in the Central Plains.
In terms of beliefs, most people here are Buddhists, and a small number of people believe in Buddhism.
It can be seen that Persia in those days and today's food have also had a great influence on this area. big.
After two days of rest and replenishing sufficient supplies, Zhao Ziliang's army set off on the fourth day of February and headed southwest.
Along the way, there were deserts, deserts, and mountains everywhere, with very little arable land and very few people living in this area. .
Fortunately, Zhao Ziliang brought several guides to Hesina City, otherwise it would be difficult for people who have never been here to find the direction to Jiling City.
The road from Hesina City to Jiling City is indeed difficult.
There is no road here.
Business travelers from the east to the west or from the west to the east basically do not take this road.
There are too many mountain roads, and not only are there few people, Vegetation is also extremely sparse, and sometimes no human habitation can be seen for hundreds of miles.
Jiling City is now Tobol, Iran.
In 661 AD, the Tang Empire established the Persian Governor's Palace here.
Because it was too far away from the Tang Empire, the Persian Governor's Palace only existed for two years and then ceased to exist.
"Your Excellency, General, you can reach Tobol by walking all the way down the Helmand River, which is what you call Jiling City, but the journey is much longer.
If Your Excellency, General, is in a hurry, it is best to It is best to carry enough drinking water here and then go straight west, because there are almost no water sources along the way, so it will be much closer."
Zhao Ziliang thought, it was the seventh day of February.
Judging from the map, it would take up to four days to take a shortcut from here, but there would be no water source along the way, which would be a big trouble.
People and livestock would not die of hunger if they did not eat for two or three days, but two days Not drinking water for three days will definitely kill you, and I didn’t bring enough water bags with me on this trip.
In addition, so many war horses need to drink twice as much water as usual to meet the demand.
Relatively speaking, walking along the river does not need to worry about water sources, and everyone has two horses that can be ridden in rotation, and the marching speed is okay.
Speed up, and it's more than enough to reach Jiling City before February 15th.
After weighing the pros and cons, Zhao Ziliang ordered the army to advance along the lower reaches of the Helmand River and directly arrive at Jiling City.
On February 13th, Zhao Ziliang's army arrived at Jiling City.
Jiling City was located in a large town in the southwest corner of Tochar.
The chief here was named Laman, who was the highest ruler in the area.
He had four thousand soldiers and horses.
However, because the food country is powerful, Raman's life is not easy.
Only the civil strife in the food country in the past year or two has the pressure on Raman been relieved.
Laman's scouts discovered Zhao Ziliang's army in the southeast.
When they learned that it was a Tang army, they immediately reported it to Laman.
Laman had long been under tremendous military pressure from the Great Food Kingdom.
When he learned that the Tang Dynasty had sent an army that was almost as large as the total number of soldiers and horses under his command, he immediately led people out of the city to greet them.
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Laman has always admired the culture of the Tang Dynasty, but because this place is too far away from the sphere of influence that the Tang Dynasty can reach, and the Zhaowu Kingdom in the middle is just a wall, sometimes it belongs to the Dashi Kingdom, and sometimes it belongs to the Tang Dynasty, he cannot send it out Envoys traveled to Chang'an to establish contact with the Tang Dynasty.
After Raman, his officials and some generals saw Zhao Ziliang and his army, they immediately bowed down and said, "Raman pays homage to the General of the Tang Dynasty.
I don't know what the general is called and what his position is."
After listening to the guide's translation, Zhao Ziliang said to the guide: "Tell him that this is Zhao Ziliang, the military envoy of the Beiting Camp of the Tang Empire."
Raman listened to the guide's translation and looked happy.
He knew that the Tang Dynasty had two administrative agencies in the Western Regions, one was the Anxi Protectorate and the other was the Beiting Protectorate.
The military envoy was the highest general responsible for military affairs. , equivalent to the first person under the governor of a province in the Dashi Kingdom.
Raman immediately said: "It turns out that General, the Tang Dynasty has not directly sent officials and troops to Jiling City for almost a hundred years.
I am looking forward to the stars and the moon, and I always hope for the general to come.
I don't know if the general will come this time."
What do you mean by bringing troops here?"
Zhao Ziliang listened to the interpreter and said: "This is not the place to talk.
Let's talk after we enter the city.
Moreover, my general's army needs to rest and eat."
Raman said quickly: "Of course, of course."
Zhao Ziliang did not embarrass Raman and ordered the army to station outside the city.
He only brought a hundred followers to accompany Raman into the city.
That night, Laman held a banquet in honor of Zhao Ziliang and his party, and prepared enough food to send to the Tang army camp to express condolences to the Tang army soldiers.
The towns in Tochara basically look like a watery khaki color.
There is not a single tree or a bit of green in the town.
The houses are either made of stones or made of mud.
Houses in the Central Plains area are all brick and wood structures.
Raman received Zhao Ziliang and his party with almost the highest standards of etiquette.
In his mansion, sumptuous food and wine were served on the small table in front of everyone.
Raman warmly greeted Zhao Ziliang and others to drink and eat meat.
In the middle, there is an exotic and beautiful woman with her face half-covered, wearing gauze clothes, dancing gracefully, and there are musicians playing around her.
During the banquet, Zhao Ziliang asked: "Chief Laman, how is the civil strife in the Kingdom of Dashi?
Is there any sign of being extinguished?"
"Put it out."
Raman shook his head with a smile, took a mouthful of mutton, and said, "Not only is there no sign of eradication, the rebellion has become more and more intense.
The northern provinces have been completely occupied by rebels.
It is said that the rebels believe in another sect.
Everyone wears black, and the business travelers from the east call them Black-Clothed Dashi, and the current rulers of the Dashi Country call them Wearing white clothes, they are also called White Food Eaters.
Since last year, White Clothes Eaters have been defeated repeatedly, and their military losses have been very large.
According to the current situation, Black Clothes Eaters have the upper hand, and many people originally believed in White Clothes Eaters.
All the generals and lords have surrendered to the Black-clothed Dashi and changed their beliefs.
I am afraid that the White-clothed Dashi will be destroyed by the Black-clothed Dashi within two years."
"It turns out that Baiyi Dashi's situation is so dangerous," Zhao Ziliang sighed.
"Who says it's not the case?"
Laman said, remembering that Zhao Ziliang had not yet revealed the purpose of coming here, so he asked, "I wonder why the general is leading his troops this time?"
Zhao Ziliang said: "To be honest, Chief Laman, the Kingdom of Great Food has been married to the Tang Dynasty.
Princess Hera of the Great Food Kingdom is going to marry the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty as his concubine.
This time Zhao is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
I was ordered to lead the troops to welcome Princess Hera to Chang'an to marry His Highness the Crown Prince, and the meeting place between the two parties is here."
"That's it."
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After hearing the news, Raman nodded and said, "Your Majesty General, you may not know yet, but the military force of the Black-clad Dashi has advanced to two hundred miles west of Jiling City, that is to say , Xiaohan's Jiling City is also within the attack range of the black-clad army.
Princess Hera's wedding party should be coming from Damascus.
The last section of this route happens to be within the attack range of the black-clad army.
Inside".
Zhao Ziliang looked worried after hearing this, "So, Princess Hera's wedding party may be in danger."
"Maybe, if the black-clothed eaters don't know the news, Princess Hera should be able to arrive safely, but if they get the news, I'm afraid."
Zhao Ziliang thought that the Great Food Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty had discussed setting the pick-up location in Jiling City and the pick-up time as February 15th.
This was an extremely confidential matter.
It was impossible to come into contact with this kind of thing without a certain level. level of intelligence, but it does not rule out that the black-clothed food has planted spies among the top officials of the white-clothed food.
This is really worrying news.
At night, Zhao Ziliang returned to the camp outside the city with his followers.
In this strange land, he really didn't feel comfortable being separated from these three thousand people.
If something happened at night, he would not be able to control the situation, so it was better to return to the camp. rest assured.
On the early morning of February 14th, Zhao Ziliang got up very early.
Before he finished the two hours of practice, Bai Xiaode rushed over on his horse, got off his horse and shouted: "General, something bad happened to us half an hour ago."
Our sentry found a Dashi Kingdom official covered in blood thirty miles west of Jiling City.
He met us.
The reconnaissance cavalry immediately asked to see the general, and said that he was Dulepu, the official in charge of Princess Hera's wedding party.
The day before yesterday, they were resting in Sehelan City, 200 miles southwest of Jiling City, and happened to be eating in black.
The army went south to attack Sehelan City.
Princess Hera and her bride-to-be team were trapped in the city and could not move eastward to join us."
"What?"
Zhao Ziliang was taken aback and stopped practicing martial arts.
He collected the Golden Nail and Zaoyang Yang and said, "The thing you were worried about finally happened."
Bai Xiaode asked: "General, what should we do now?"
Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and immediately said: "Go and inform Mr.
Du and the main generals in the army to come to the Chinese army's tent to discuss matters.
In addition, bring Du Lepu, an official from the Dashi Kingdom.
I, the general, have something to ask him."
"No," Bai Xiaode said in agreement, turned around and left
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