In the Ziwei Pavilion of Jinyang Palace, Xiao Feng, the military officer of the Records Office, hurried into Yang Yuanqing's official room. Chen Chun went to Dunhuang County. Xiao Feng was the only one who joined the Records Office. He sorted out confidential documents every day and was quite busy. Xiao Feng stepped forward and bowed and said, "Is there anything wrong with the general manager looking for me?"

Yang Yuanqing nodded and smiled, "Thank you for your hard work during this period."

"This is a matter of my subordinates."

"You are really too busy to be busy with your new journalism office. I plan to let Pei Qingsong, a new student, join the army. He went to Wenxi County to pick up his wife and daughter. He should come back tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. You should teach him more and let him share the affairs for you as soon as possible."

"I understand, and I will definitely teach him with all my strength."

Xiao Wen is a member of the Xiao family in Dunhuang. He is Xiao Yinyin's nephew. He has been following Yang Yuanqing for many years and has been handling various documents in the army.

Today, Yang Yuanqing received an eagle letter from Yumen Pass, and basically learned about some things that happened in Dunhuang County. What unexpectedly was that Yang Dalang actually stood on the side of the old Dunhuang clan and severely suppressed the Jiangnan gentry in Dunhuang. Although this was contrary to Yang Yuanqing's expectations, he believed that Yang Dalang's caution must have a reason for doing this.

But in this way, he needed to appease the eighteen gentry children of Jiangnan who had followed him for many years. There were three of the Xiao family's children alone. In addition to Xiao Guan, there were two Xiao family children working in the army. With this, Yang Yuanqing also had to give them an explanation.

After pondering for a while, Yang Yuanqing asked him again, "Do you still have any contact with your family? I mean the Dunhuang Xiao family."

Xiao Feng was silent for a moment. In fact, last year he received a letter from his aunt Xiao Yinyin, hoping that he could think of a solution for the family. The family has been forced to continue in Dunhuang. Xiao Feng has not replied, and he doesn't know how to help the family.

"Report to the supervisor, I received a letter from the head of the family last year, saying that the Xiao family is in a difficult situation in Dunhuang and may not be able to stay in Dunhuang."

"Then what?"

Yang Yuanqing asked again: "Is there any news later?"

"I heard that my clan brother said that the Xiao family had left Dunhuang and moved to Nanjun, which was our ancestral home."

Yang Yuanqing sighed slightly and said a little apologetically: "I am very sorry for the Xiao family about this. In fact, Li Zhu, also known as Yang Dalang, is still my confidant. Although it was not my instruction for him to suppress the Jiangnan gentry. But I did ignore the interests of your family, as well as the Xie family and the Shen family. You can write a letter to the head of the family to convey your apology to her for me. If they are willing to come to Taiyuan, I will arrange them well. If they still want to stay in the south, then one day in the future, I will definitely compensate them. I just hope that they can forgive Li Zhu. He has heavy responsibilities and has his difficulties."

Xiao Feng hurriedly bowed: "Thank you for your concern. In fact, General Li Zhu is also responsible. He did not hurt anyone in the Xiao family, but just snatched the land and cut off their financial resources. These are all external things. They will definitely forgive General Li Zhu, and their subordinates also understand why General Li Zhu chose the old tribe of Dunhuang."

Yang Yuanqing was interested and asked with a smile: "Tell me why did he choose the old Dunhuang clan?"

"This has to start with the late emperor. When Emperor Wen decided to exile several major families in Jiangnan, he adopted a tolerant attitude and prepared them to go with money. At that time, the prefect of Dunhuang County and the garrison leaders were both biased towards the gentry of Jiangnan. In addition, my aunt married the army leader and later married the new prefect. This made the gentry of Jiangnan more powerful in Dunhuang. But in fact, the locals in Dunhuang did not like the gentry of Jiangnan, and even opposed them because they used various means to occupy the originally small arable land in Dunhuang, and at the same time monopolized the trade and shops in Dunhuang.

The locals can only become friends and tenants of the Jiangnan gentry. Local tribes such as the Suo family, Cao family, and Zhang family were forced to almost move away. However, the strength of the Jiangnan gentry was not stable. The locals did not support them. They had no roots in Dunhuang. As long as the Sui Dynasty had a weak control over Dunhuang, the locals would rise up and resist. General Li Zhu also saw this, so he turned to support the old Dunhuang clan so that he could truly take root in Dunhuang."

Yang Yuanqing nodded repeatedly, and Xiao Feng's explanation made him understand why Yang Dalang supported the old Dunhuang clan, because he was the one he left behind. His troops were all soldiers of Dunhuang. Only by supporting the old Dunhuang clan could he truly control his troops. It should be said that Yang Dalang was very sensible.

"I understand, you go first! You must write a letter to the family, explain the matter clearly, and tell them that when I unify the south in the future, they will need their full assistance."

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Xiao Feng said goodbye. Yang Yuanqing walked to the east wall with his hands behind his back and stared at the map of Hexi and Longyou hanging on the wall. Dunhuang County is located in the distant northwest, but it is the key connection between Hexi and the Western Regions. If this wedge can be laid in the Western Regions and control Dunhuang County, then he will have the best springboard for him whether he will recover Hexi or march into the Western Regions in the future.

However, Yang Yuanqing also knew that Li Yuan would never give up Dunhuang as a strategic location easily. A battle for Dunhuang County would inevitably break out. I wonder if Su Dingfang and Yang Dalang could withstand it? A deep worry flashed through Yang Yuanqing's eyes.

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The 3,000 cavalry of the Sui army had left the ancient pass of Yumen Pass and was stationed in Changle County, south of Yumen Pass. It also belongs to Dunhuang County. It is a small county town with only more than 2,000 residents. There are no garrisons. The city is short and dilapidated, so it can only barely defend against the Canglang on the Gobi Desert.

The Sui army camp was stationed outside the county town, in the big tent, and the chief general Su Dingfang stood beside the map and was listening to the latest report of a scout with all his attention.

"...Li Zhaojin's army is now located near Liuyuan, with about 10,000 people."

Su Dingfang found Liuyuan on the map, a small town about 80 miles away from Dunhuang County. Because of a lake, dozens of families gathered, and forty miles away from Changle County where he was located.

Su Dingfang is twenty-seven years old this year. If he included the Battle of Harry Lake in Renshou for four years, he has been following Yang Yuanqing for more than ten years, and has grown from a young man who is not afraid of tigers to a general who stands alone. When he attacked Yiwu, he also made mistakes of believing in others, which almost wiped out more than 100 subordinates. Since then, he has gradually matured.

This time, Yang Yuanqing appointed him as the general manager of the Yumen Road march, who was fully responsible for the capture of Dunhuang and Yiwu counties. In addition, he also wanted him to take down Shanshan County and Qiemo County. Su Dingfang felt that he was shouldering the heavy responsibility and he was also full of confidence in himself.

Su Dingfang had obtained information from Li Zhu. Li Zhaojin had a total of 15,000 people, of which 3,000 were stationed in Yiwu County. There were more than 12,000 troops in Dunhuang County. Now Li Zhaojin personally led 10,000 people to fight, so there were still 2,000 people left behind in Dunhuang County. Now he needs to contact Li Zhu.

Just as he thought of this, there was a soldier outside the tent, "Report to General Su, General Li Shatuo sent his subordinates to send information."

"Send him in!"

After a moment, a scout of Li Shatuo hurried into the tent, knelt down on one knee and fisted, saying, "Report to General Su. General Li has emergency information."

The scout submitted a piece of information. Su Dingfang took the information and slowly unfolded it. He read it carefully. There were two thousand people guarding Dunhuang County, all of whom were Li Zhu's subordinates. As expected, Li Zhu had cut off Li Zhaojin's retreat. So of Li Zhaojin's 10,000 people, at least three thousand people were Li Zhu's army.

"Where is General Li Shatuo now?" Su Dingfang asked again.

"Report to General Li Shatuo, who was ordered by General Li Zhu, led his army to defend Dunhuang County."

Su Dingfang nodded. With Li Zhu, the biggest internal battle, the battle to capture Dunhuang County became extremely simple. He immediately ordered: "Transfer my order, the whole army will be on the horse and march towards Liuyuan!"

The three thousand cavalry were ready. With Su Dingfang's order, the three thousand cavalry flew on their horses and ran out of the camp gate. They rushed towards Liuyuan. It was noon at this time, and Liuyuan was not far away. It was only forty miles and it could be reached in one hour.

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Liuyuan is located between Changle County and Dunhuang County. There is an ancient swamp lake covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. The lake is full of red willow trees, so it is named Liuyuan.

There is a town near the northwest corner of this lake, with only thirty or forty families, who make a living by grazing and fishing in the lake. When merchants pass by, they can also provide food and accommodation to merchants and get a little reward.

The town was old and quiet, but a sudden war broke their tranquility. More than 10,000 troops appeared outside the town. Hundreds of soldiers rushed into their town and searched the enemy spies from house to house. The residents of the town fled into the lake by boat, hid on small islands in the lake, waiting for the end of the war.

The leader of this army, Li Zhaojin, was about fifty years old. He had a big nose with a wine leech and had his eyes squinted all year round, and his eyes were often exposed to a cold look. He was the clan brother of Li Gui, the emperor of the Great Liang Kingdom. He was named King of Dunhuang and served as the prefect of Dunhuang, holding the military and political power of Dunhuang County.

After the fall of the Great Liang Kingdom, Li Shentong sent people to persuade him to surrender to the Tang Dynasty three times. Li Zhaojin was not unable to surrender, but his conditions were very harsh. He wanted the Tang court to continue to be named King of Dunhuang, and the army was still under his command. His descendants would inherit his title and army. In fact, what he wanted was that he wanted to establish the Dunhuang Kingdom and could surrender to the Tang Dynasty, but he was a lifelong king.

The Tang Dynasty could not agree to his conditions. The two sides were in a stalemate. Li Zhaojin also knew that the Tang Dynasty did not care about him because of the Western Qin State. Once the Western Qin State was destroyed, it would be his turn next. So during this period, Li Zhaojin was busy building a kingdom, but he did not expect that at this time, the power of the Sui Dynasty also penetrated into Dunhuang.

Li Zhaojin was very nervous. Fortunately, the Sui army had only 3,000 cavalry, and he had five times the enemy's army, which was enough to annihilate them. Li Zhaojin personally led 10,000 troops to fight against the Sui army, trying to annihilate the Sui army in one fell swoop.

Li Zhaojin looked into the distance and felt that the Sui army was almost here. At this time, Deputy General Li Zhu was standing behind him, expressionless.

At this time, someone pointed to the distance and shouted: "Prince, come quickly, the Sui army is here!"

I saw a group of black dots appear in the distance. As the black dots become more and more, all the soldiers saw clearly that a cavalry was running towards this side and stopped at a distance of hundreds of steps.

"Army array!"

Li Zhaojin shouted sternly, and his 10,000 troops formed a formation. He led 4,000 people to the central army, Li Zhu led 3,000 people to the left wing, and another general, Zhang Zhitai, led 3,000 people to the right wing.

Li Zhu did not leave, but he stepped forward and whispered to Li Zhaojin: "Prince, it seems that the other party wants to talk to you."

Li Zhaojin was stunned. Sure enough, a general of the other party slowly stepped forward and shouted loudly: "Where is General Li Zhaojin? Please come up and answer."

Li Zhaojin hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to go up, but Li Zhu advised him, "The prince might as well listen to what he said. If there are conditions that are superior to the Tang Dynasty, it can be negotiated and resolved."

Li Zhaojin pondered for a moment, then urged him to go immediately and stopped fifty steps away. Several personal soldiers used shields to protect him from the left and right to prevent the Sui army from being coldly arrowed. Li Zhu immediately stood behind him, holding a large iron spear in her hand, and looked at Li Zhaojin coldly.

"I am Li Zhaojin. What do you want to talk to me?"

Su Dingfang said coldly: "If you don't want to die, get off the horse and surrender immediately, otherwise today will be your death day next year!"

Li Zhaojin was furious, "Who dares to kill me!"

"I dare to kill you!"

Li Zhu shouted angrily, and a big iron spear shook, pierced Li Zhaojin's chest from the back. He raised the big spear and pushed him high in the air. Li Zhaojin looked at Li Zhu in shock in the air, and then died, but his eyes could not be closed.

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Chapter completed!