Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 273

[Since the Han Dynasty brought the Western Regions under its rule and opened up the golden trade route of the Silk Road, there have been countless conflicts and disputes caused by the profits from the trade routes.

How profitable was the Silk Road?

The Parthian Empire said: If you want to talk about this, I won’t be sleepy.

Why did we lie with open eyes and deceive the envoys of the Han Dynasty?
Isn't it just to occupy the important route of the Silk Road and get something for nothing by eating and taking cards?
Gao Changguo said: Tiezi, what you said is absolutely right!

After the demise of the Eastern Turks, the countries on the Silk Road in the Western Regions rushed to Chang'an to make offerings. After all, the Tang Dynasty was one of the terminals of the Silk Road, and face had to be given, including Gaochang State.

This was the short honeymoon period between Gaochang and the Tang Dynasty.

For Gao Chang, just using a few ferret dogs from Hu merchants in the Western Regions made Li Shimin laugh, and he also earned Qu Wentai's wife the title of Princess Chang Le, a huge profit!
For Erfeng, it was very comfortable to have someone flatter him as soon as he destroyed the Turks!

But only two years later, the honeymoon period between Gaochang and the Tang Dynasty officially ended, and the two sides officially fell out.

The reason is also very simple. As we said before, due to climate change, of the three roads in the Western Region, the south, middle and north, only the north is still prosperous.

The person guarding the North Road toll station is Gaochang. Gaochang adopts a policy of treating businessmen equally:

Whether you want to do business or pay tribute to the Khan, you have to pay me obediently!

The countries in the Western Regions were naturally unconvinced, so they finally brought the lawsuit before Li Shimin:

Ask Tian Khan to reopen the Middle Road in the Western Region to avoid the sky-high toll station in Gaochang.

Li Shimin agreed, and the Dunhuang governor set up a post station along the old land of Loulan, which is now the Lop Nur area.

From then on, merchants could directly take the Desert Road westward from Dunhuang to Yanqi, and the Middle Road of the Western Regions was re-opened.

Then Yanqi was beaten up by Qu Wentai, his city was destroyed, his property was robbed, his men and women were taken away, and he left in a hurry.

After all, destroying a person's wealth is like killing his parents. If I can't cure the Tang Dynasty, why can't I cure you?

Then Qu Wentai stopped pretending.

First, they united with the Western Turks and looted Yanqi again, destroyed its three cities, and robbed men and women of their money.

Secondly, they directly detained the tribute envoys from the Western Regions countries passing through Gaochang.

Then he wrote publicly to Xue Yantuo Khan:

Your position as Khan is equal to that of Li Shimin, why do you want to be his dog?Can you be a little ambitious?
When asked by the envoy sent by Li Shimin, Qu Wentai's answer was also very interesting:
The eagle has its sky, the chicken has its grass, the cat has its nest, and the mouse has its den.

Why are you so lenient?It shows that you are capable, right?

Faced with such an offensive answer, Li Shimin's answer was "You are kind to yourself."

Then an ultimatum was issued:

Li Shimin: If you come to Chang'an in person to admit your mistake, all your previous sins will be wiped out.

Qu Wentai: I have hemorrhoids and I can’t ride a horse. I’ll do it next time.

Li Shimin's patience was completely exhausted.

In 639, Hou Junji was appointed as the general manager of the march to Jiaohe Road, with Xue Wanjun and Xue Orphan as deputy generals, and sent troops to Gaochang.

Facing the Tang Dynasty's military rise, Qu Wentai was very confident:
If you have more than [-] troops, you will definitely not have enough food and grass.

If your men and horses are less than [-], do you believe that I will die?
Hou Junji said: I only have [-] cavalry, why don't you try to kill me?
Qu Wentai: You will die if you try.

"There is no other way to be frightened, and you will get sick and die."]

In the Manna Hall, Hou Junji's heart was beating very fast.

Suppressing a little excitement, I looked left and right, feeling a little suspicious for a moment:

Why doesn't anyone envy me?

Forgetting veterans like Qin Shubao and Li Jing, why didn't you even take a look at the new Su Lie?

Why, does scaring the opponent's king to death count as merit or what?

In the end, it had to be Li Shimin. He couldn't stand the embarrassment of this former official here, so he reluctantly gave a compliment:
"well done."

Only then did Hou Junji become happy.

However, Li Shimin was a little depressed:

"Ignorant people are all interested in speaking quickly."

"To die so easily would be an advantage for this animal."

Fang and Du looked at each other:
The dignified king was frightened to death on the spot, and then recorded in the history books and was ridiculed for thousands of years. It is not cheap no matter how you look at it.

If Tuyuhun has a difficult Tubo on its side, the specific countermeasures still need to be studied.

Li Shimin only felt that it was best for Gao Chang to be shot to death quickly!
You even dare to attack my tribute, do you really think you are safe in the Western Region?
The Emperor of Tang Dynasty ordered on the spot as if he was angry:

"Don't say anything else, Qu Wentai will definitely be captured alive!"

"I have lived in the Western Regions for many years, and I thought I would also learn Hu dance. It would be a good time to dance with Jie Li!"

Hou Junji immediately puffed up his chest.

However, what disappointed Hou Junji was that His Majesty did not ask him what he thought of the expedition to Gaochang, but asked another question:
"Can this desert road be opened?"

Li Shimin knew the financial situation in Hexi very well, so his thinking was very simple.

What Gaochang received was all Datang’s money!

If the nail in Gaochang cannot be moved for a while, then we should consider directly opening the desert road.Although the wealth taken away by Gaochang was not very conspicuous in the entire Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin did not dislike it.

Hou Junji had been staying in Lufu County when he was in Hexi, which was not far from Dunhuang, so he was familiar with its situation.

After some contemplation, he affirmed: "It can be opened."

"Then I'll leave it to Junji." Li Shimin appointed lightly.

Seeing the joy on Hou Junji's face, Li Shimin still didn't want to say anything else, pointed at the light screen and said:

"Look first."

[In fact, Qu Wentai’s pretentiousness at the beginning was naturally justified.

The biggest reason is naturally because the road from Dunhuang to Gaochang is very difficult.

Cen Shen, who was once stationed in the Anxi Protectorate, wrote a poem to record this experience:
After crossing the sand moraine for ten days, the wind never ceased.The horse walked among the gravel, with blood flowing from all four hooves.

Since the horses' hooves were worn and bleeding, it can be seen that the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty probably did not install horseshoes on a large scale, which was a pity.

Judging from the tombs unearthed today, the custom of nailing horseshoes began in some areas of the north during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Therefore, some people think that it is unjustifiable that the Tang Dynasty did not use horseshoes.

But in the cold weapon era, the development of horseshoes was closely related to the weight of the pack.

The heavier the cavalry equipment, the greater the wear and tear on the horseshoes, and the higher the demand for horseshoes.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were mostly light cavalry that traveled long distances, so there was not much demand for horseshoes.

Horseshoes are also closely related to iron smelting technology. For example, horseshoes are easy to make, but the horseshoe nails that fix the horseshoes are still a bit difficult.

And for ancient times, iron horseshoes were nailed in summer and rubber horseshoes were nailed in winter. Wooden horseshoes can be considered in places with a lot of mud. In places with a lot of thorn grass, horseshoes can be half-wrapped with leather.

Different regional environments have different choices of horseshoes. For the ancients, this kind of thing would still be too troublesome without the government taking the lead.

Therefore, if horseshoes were installed on a large scale in the Tang Dynasty, I believe Qu Wentai would be more cautious when speaking harshly.

In short, after Hou Junji led the army to Qikou without any effort, Qu Wentai was frightened to death.

Faced with this news, the Tang army wanted to take advantage of the opponent's leaderlessness to launch a surprise attack, but Hou Junji did not allow it.

Lao Hou believes that Gaochang was shameless and forced His Majesty to send troops. On this trip, we will destroy the country as a supplement and punish the guilty as the main thing.

Moreover, as the old saying goes, etiquette does not prevent mourning. The Tang army is a royal master, so why should it use such a strategy?

Under the order of Lao Hou, the Tang army formed a formation and beat drums to slow down the march, showing full courtesy.

Although in the eyes of our future generations, this kind of action has the flavor of "seeing that the funeral is not too big".

What happened later was much simpler. Tiandi City was captured in half a day and more than 7000 people were captured.

Attacking Gaochang City the next day, Qu Zhisheng surrendered the city that day. Later, Laohou's troops divided into multiple groups and captured 22 cities in a row, capturing [-] households and more than [-] people, and returned in triumph.

The whole process of destruction was too fast, so after Hou Junji withdrew his troops, a nursery rhyme spread in Gaochang:

The soldiers and horses of Gaochang are like frost and snow, and the soldiers and horses of Han Dynasty are like the sun and moon.

The sun and moon shine on the frost and snow, and they will destroy themselves in return.

Gaochang was passed down to the ninth generation of the state, and he died in the 134th year of the reign of Zuo.

Li Shimin overcame all opinions and established Xizhou here.

At this point, the Tang Dynasty officially had a bridgehead to deploy troops in the Western Regions, and began to sharpen its sword and move towards the Turks in the west. 】

"Another country has perished."

Kong Ming's tone did not fluctuate and he said dryly.

Then he said with great interest:
"This horse shoe strategy is very good. This is to exchange iron bark and other things for the life of the horse. It is very cost-effective!"

He said and sighed:
"We have another sharp weapon!"

Zhao Yun had some say in this matter. He thought for a moment and said:

"When I was in Liaodong, I saw some Hu people who cherished horse power and used ropes, nails and other methods to place wood in the horseshoes."

"I just didn't expect that such a small thing could have such benefits."

Zhang Fei is still waiting to collect the first batch of good horses from Yongliang. At this time, he did not hesitate to ask questions about cavalry:

"Then since the Tang Dynasty saw this thing so much, why didn't it pay much attention to it?"

Liu Bei looked at the territory of the Tang Dynasty on the light screen and sighed:
"What other reasons could there be?"

"There are both Hexi and Hetao, and horse breeding areas are everywhere. There is no shortage of good horses, so I don't care about such trails."

Zhang Fei was dumbfounded and couldn't help but feel even more envious.

Zhao Yun imagined that if all the horses under his command could be shoed, then the good horses could run for a longer time without having to worry about damage.

The cavalry can also carry iron armor and carry heavier weapons. In this way, the cavalry that can only be seen on the light screen seems to be ready to come out!
Zhao Yun immediately looked at Zhang Fei:
"Third Brother!"

Zhang Fei felt a sudden change in his heart. Why did he always feel that Zilong's attitude was not a good thing?

Zhao Yun was also straightforward:
"Can the first batch of cavalry in Yongliang be commanded by Yun Lai?"

Sure enough... Zhang Fei sighed and chose to look around:
"Brother, the leader of this small country in Gaochang is over 100 years old!"

(End of this chapter)