In fact, this cannot be blamed on Xiao Shougui. This has been the propaganda policy of the Tang Dynasty in recent years. It has created an illusion that all nations are coming to pay tribute. However, if you look closely, it is basically all a matter of face, and not many people will actually pay tribute to you.
"Send this message to Chang'an quickly. We will also hasten our entry into Gaochang. Will anyone stop us near the border?"
Although Su Dingfang's army had entered Gaochang, there were still Gaochang defenders in the border area. If they tried to stop them, it would be a big trouble.
"Your Highness, the border guard, General Mo Lun of Gaochang, is one of ours. However, if these thousands of people were to enter all at once, it would still be troublesome. It would be better to break them up into smaller groups."
His words were also Su Dingfang's words. General Moren and Wadahan were already people of the Tang Dynasty, but if 3,000 people went in in an orderly manner, General Moren would have no way to explain to his superiors.
Li Xiang immediately understood Su Dingfang's meaning. Our people can go in, but they cannot leave so openly.
It seems that Su Dingfang and Lord Zhao have not been idle during this period, and have been trying hard to win allies in Gaochang.
After they separated, Li Xiang increased his speed and advanced ahead with dozens of guards. He thought Cheng Luan would not be able to keep up, but he did not expect that Cheng Luan's riding skills were not worse than his. It seems that those who come from a military family have some abilities.
Near the border, Li Xiang met people who came to greet him. Su Dingfang did not come in person, mainly because the situation on the western border of Gaochang was becoming increasingly tense. The Gaochang army was like watching a show. They even wanted to open their respective borders and let the Tang army and the Western Region coalition forces fight in this area.
The policy of Gaochang Kingdom can basically be seen. They want to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between tigers. Although it is on their own territory, they don't want to get involved. Gaochang's territory is different from that of the Tang Dynasty. The territory of the Tang Dynasty is full of people living everywhere. If a war is fought in this area, it will greatly affect the lives of the people.
But Gaochang's territory is different. Most of it is Gobi Desert. If you want to fight here, just go ahead. It won't cause any harm to the area anyway. Maybe you can even boost our local economy while fighting. After all, you need all kinds of supplies to fight.
Li Xiang didn't know what to say about Gaochang's choice. Of course, if he were the king of Gaochang, he would choose to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the two sides because he couldn't afford to offend both sides. He only needed to defend a few important cities, and then you can do whatever you want with the rest of the Gobi Desert.
"Greetings, Your Highness."
It took Li Xiang three days to cross the entire territory of Gaochang at the fastest speed and then arrived at Su Dingfang's military camp.
Everyone was an acquaintance, so there wasn't much formality involved. Only Lord Zhao and Li Xiang met for the first time, but they had already known each other a lot through correspondence. Although Lord Zhao was from the Lifanyuan of the imperial court, he did things very according to the rules, especially the rules of the army.
If an old scholar named Li Xiang were to do everything he could to send Lord Zhao back to Chang'an, such a person would greatly affect our actions.
However, Lord Zhao is practical and has none of the empty etiquette of scholars. When Lord Zhao does things, the first thing he thinks of is the interests of the Tang Dynasty. This is much better than those scholars, and this is one of the reasons why Li Xiang wants to keep Lord Zhao.
Xiao Shougui's teacher and Lord Zhao were fellow disciples, so when Lord Zhao saw Xiao Shougui coming, he was very happy. After all, the border areas were all soldiers and there were not many civil servants. After Xiao Shougui came, Lord Zhao had his own ally.
Of course, now is not the time to talk about this. Li Xiang quickly understood the situation in the border area. The number of coalition forces from the Western Regions is still increasing. It has now reached 140,000 people. With the border of Gaochang Kingdom as the boundary, people from the Western Regions are in the west. Gaochang Kingdom’s 20,000 troops are stationed at the border, and Su Dingfang’s 9,000 people are also here.
Although Su Dingfang was able to mobilize more than 10,000 people, the rest were in the capital of Gaochang.
Li Xiang was positive about Su Dingfang's arrangement. Most of Gaochang's territory was useless, and we had to take control of their major cities. Gaochang had already expressed its surrender, but now they were becoming vague. They wanted to let the coalition forces of the Western Regions fight against the Tang army. No matter who won or lost, they wanted to use this opportunity to get rid of the control of the Tang Dynasty.
"How many troops does Vadahan have?"
Li Xiang thought of several internal supporters developed by Su Dingfang. These people were also powerful, but their starting point was too low. They had been working hard to develop during this period, but their impact on the overall situation was not very big, of course, with the exception of General Moren.
"Although this guy is the king's younger brother, he doesn't have many troops under his command due to his previous status as a bastard. Apart from the 2,000 or so men under his command, the others cannot be mobilized. General Moran has over 20,000 men under his command, but these 20,000 cannot be moved. They must remain on the border with the Tang Dynasty, and I don't want to move them either."
Su Dingfang made a briefing on the map. What Su Dingfang said was correct. General Moren was guarding the border between Gaochang and the Tang Dynasty, which meant that the border gate was open. Whether it was our army or supplies, as long as they were not too obvious, they could quickly enter Gaochang.
If General Moren's affairs were discovered, and if the King of Gaochang transferred him to another place, then we would be losing the big picture while losing the big picture. There would be no way for supporting troops and supplies to pass through the border unless we go to war with Gaochang.
The current situation does not allow us to make enemies. This place is thousands of miles away from Chang'an City. If a war really breaks out, it will be useless to rely on the army over there. Li Xiang made a brief calculation. Now he only has 9,000 troops and 3,000 elite troops behind them. Li Xiang wants to use these 12,000 troops to deal with the more than 100,000 Western Region coalition forces.
"There's no point in saying anything else. We have to focus on fighting first. We don't need to talk to them anymore. Let's just fight first and talk later."
Li Xiang's words made Lord Zhao and Xiao Shougui frown, but Niu Jinda and Su Dingfang both agreed that things gained through negotiations were far away and not as reliable as those gained on the battlefield. This was what His Highness said, and they remembered it as true.