Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 261 In the Tang Dynasty, who hasn't had the merit of destroying a country?
The Tuyuhun people simply couldn't understand it.

Just because he took the wrong step when entering the palace, he attracted the attack of tens of thousands of Tang soldiers!
When the Grand Elder learned of the news, he committed suicide on the spot.

Unfortunately, his death was meaningless.

National strategy will not be shaken by the life or death of an individual.

Having gained Li Erfeng's trust, Li Jing led a large army straight towards Tuyuhun.

Without Lin Dao's assistance this time, they had to take responsibility for their own logistics.

Li Jing, riding his horse, looked at the vast and continuous army of bicycles and nodded to himself.

"Master Lin's batch of 28-inch bicycles arrived at just the right time."

"By the way, why is it called a weird name like 'Two-Eight Bars'?"

Shake your head to dismiss the thought.

Li Jing, who led his troops into battle, was no longer the political idiot in Chang'an, nor the cunning but misguided card player who made repeated mistakes.

Li Jing on horseback is a god of war!

"All bicycles and horse-drawn carriages shall travel on the Tang Straight Road."

"The cavalrymen dismounted and walked away."

"Pass on my military order: 120 li per day!"

Upon hearing this, the deputy general, Duan Zhixuan, the Left Valiant Guard General, was greatly surprised: "General, how could it be so fast?"

Under normal circumstances, the maximum distance a soldier can travel is 30 to 40 li (approximately 15-20 kilometers) per day.

Going any faster would cause a lot of people to fall behind and create chaos.

Covering 120 li per day is comparable to Xiahou Yuan's miraculous march of 500 li in three days and 1,000 li in six days during the Three Kingdoms period.

That was an all-cavalry unit, and they were indeed fast on a forced march.

However, Li Jing's army consisted of a large number of infantry and later supply trains.

Li Jing, holding the reins, stared coldly at him. "Are you going to disobey military orders?"

Duan Zhixuan smiled wryly and bowed, "I accept the order."

Once Li Jing left Chang'an, he was no longer the composed and peaceful man he once was.

He is decisive in his actions, and his aura is one of ruthlessness.

Duan Zhixuan sensed that if he refused to listen and continued to argue, he would probably be subjected to military law.

Li Jing took out the map given to him by Lin Dao, and with a pen in hand, he carefully wrote, drew, and made calculations on the map.

"From Chang'an to Lanzhou is 1,370 li, and from Lanzhou to Fusi City is 880 li."

"The Tang Straight Road was built to Lanzhou and was fully usable, allowing travel to Lanzhou in thirteen days."

"Lanzhou Yellow River Floating Bridge"

Li Jing recalled the passage volume of the pontoon bridge and then calculated the size of the army and supplies he had brought.

"The entire army must cross the bridge within two days!"

"The Tang Straight Road from Lanzhou to Fusicheng was only less than two hundred li long."

"The remaining seven hundred li will all have to be covered by unpaved roads."

He complained slightly, "The road is being repaired so slowly."

Thanks to the road construction technology and high-quality tools provided by the forest road, as well as the participation of a large number of young and middle-aged laborers.

Li Erfeng's ambitious super infrastructure project, the Tangzhi Road with its three horizontal and two vertical trunk lines, is progressing relatively smoothly.

The section from Chang'an to Lanzhou is a key project, since it will be the route to the Western Regions and even further west.

There is no doubt that the supply of materials and personnel is fully met, and construction is being carried out with overtime work.

As for how many prisoners of war and able-bodied men from defeated countries died from exhaustion while building roads, no one cares.

After passing Lanzhou, the main force of road construction shifted to building along Lishui towards Liangzhou.

The repairs are now almost complete, reaching places like Yangguan and Yumenguan.

The other branch line, leading to Fusi City in the valley on the west bank of Qinghai Lake, was being built much more slowly.

After all, the Western Regions were Li Erfeng's next major target.

"Ten days."

Having precisely calculated the distance and the amount of provisions, Li Jing put down his pen.

"It will take at most ten days to cross the Yellow River and reach Fusi City!"

"I will crush the Tuyuhun within a month!"

He was going to wage a blitzkrieg, a blitzkrieg where the Tuyuhun people wouldn't even know that war had been declared before his army was already at the city gates.

The Tang emperor has already issued an edict to attack Tuyuhun.

The fact that the Grand Elder, who was acting as an envoy, committed suicide and failed to send the message back in time was a matter for the Tuyuhun people and had nothing to do with Li Jing.

If you want to complain, go find the elder who stepped out with his left foot first at the banquet.

Li Jing looked up at the sky.

The air is already filled with the scent of early spring.

"We're in a rush, we have to make the most of our time."

"Once the playground thaws, it will become a muddy swamp, and bicycles will be unable to ride."

He was going to launch a blitzkrieg this time, abandoning the slow-moving laborers.

Each of the significantly improved heavy-duty bicycles carried a month's worth of food and supplies.

The accompanying four-wheeled, rubber-tired carriage carried an extra month's worth of supplies.

Li Jing must capture Fusi City before the grasslands thaw.

After careful consideration, Li Jing felt more confident knowing that the Emperor and the court had spent a lot of money to purchase supplies from Lin Dao.

"send troops!"

Lin Dao returned to the Wude era, more than a month after his last visit.

The main story is set in the Chongzhen era, where people are busy cleaning up the monkeys on the Spice Islands.

Lin Dao arranged for reinforcements, transported supplies, and ordered all the islands to be cleaned up, etc.

There are too many things to do, and I'm too busy to get away.

After finally finishing up and coming back, I heard some shocking news as soon as I stepped outside.

"Li Jing won?"

"It's normal for Li Jing to win; it would be a problem if he lost."

"A month?"

"They marched a thousand miles to raid Fusi City and annihilated Tuyuhun in one battle."

"From the moment the troops were dispatched to the capture of Murong Fuyun, the Khan of the Tuyuhun, it only took a month." Lin Dao exclaimed in astonishment, "This does have some resemblance to the surprise attack on the Turks on a snowy night."

The victory over Tuyuhun was beyond doubt.

The Tuyuhun were a large territory, but their strength was not great.

After all, it is a remote and frigid place with a small population and only animal husbandry as its main industry.

Furthermore, they split into eastern and western parts, further weakening their already weak strength.

If the Tang Dynasty, with its advanced forestry technology and material support, were to fail in its campaign against the Tuyuhun, then something terrible would surely happen.

What truly amazes people is Li Jing's thousand-mile raid.

They attacked too fast.

They destroyed the Tuyuhun tribe within a month of launching their attack.

However, considering that Li Jing in history also defeated the Turks through a surprise attack from a thousand miles away, it doesn't seem so shocking anymore.

"Li Jing stationed troops in ambush at the city."

When he met Li Erfeng, the Tang emperor made no attempt to conceal his ambition: "After resting and preparing, we will send troops to Shanshan."

Several years ago, after the Tuyuhun Khan Murong Fuyun restored his kingdom, he divided the country into two.

The east side was guarded by him and his son Murong Shun, with Fusi City as its core.

In the west, his son Dayan Mangjiebo led the establishment of the Shanshan Kingdom, with Shanshan as its core.

What Li Erfeng found most unacceptable was that Dayan Mangjiebo had actually submitted to Tibet.

Lin Dao, however, had a different opinion.

"I think that dealing with just Shanshan is too narrow a scope."

"As mentioned before, we selected soldiers who could adapt to altitude sickness, equipped them with medicines such as Rhodiola rosea, and sent them straight to the plateau to wipe out the Tubo in one fell swoop and eliminate a major threat."

"Now is a good opportunity to send Li Jing to wipe out the Tibetans."

Lin Dao urged, "As for the Western Regions, you should make another trip and personally lead the expedition to secure the territory for the mighty Han."

These words really appealed to Li Erfeng.

Recovering the former Han territory would be a glorious achievement.

However, there are also concerns.

"Two major battles are being fought simultaneously."

"The national strength of the Tang Dynasty may be insufficient."

Lin Dao readily agreed without hesitation, saying, "I will pay for the war expenses."

"Hahaha~" Li Erfeng was overjoyed. "Thank you so much for your help, Brother Zihou!"

For Lin Dao, the Wude era was already largely established.

The most likely future for this time and space is a struggle between the Tang Dynasty on World Island and the New Tang Dynasty on the former territory of the Yin-Shang Dynasty.

He wasn't interested in participating and wanted to go to the new timeline.

The fact that the portal to the new timeline has not yet appeared means that there are still things left to be done.

After careful consideration, only Tibet and the Western Regions remain, with the Western Turks possibly added as well.

Leveling these areas should be enough.

After that, this place will become a dumping ground for goods in the forest.

Goods can be sold in all aspects of life, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

Clothing, shoes, socks, and hats produced in various times and places can be sold in the Tang Dynasty.

Surplus grain after a good harvest can also be sold.

The most important thing is road traffic.

The territory of the Tang Dynasty will become extremely vast, even extending into the distant Abbasid Caliphate.

We can still rely on the Tang Straight Road and bicycles.

Then railways and steam locomotives can be sold.

If you want technological advancement, there are plenty of business opportunities to be made.

With Lin Dao bearing the enormous military expenses, Li Erfeng did not hesitate to mobilize a large army.

Most of his famous generals were taken along on the expedition.

Three hundred years.

China lost the Western Regions three hundred years ago.

Every participant would feel honored to have been involved in such a momentous event as the reconquest of the Western Regions.

Such a large-scale war, because it did not require carrying supplies or arranging supply lines, greatly shortened the preparation time.

The main task was to conscript soldiers from various prefectures and counties.

Soldiers from various regions marched in a grand procession along the Tang Straight Road to Liangzhou.

They assembled in Liangzhou, and then split into two groups, heading out of Yangguan and Yumenguan respectively, towards the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.

Each of the small countries along the way was defeated in a single battle.

Most small countries, with their entire population combined, did not have as many soldiers as the Tang army.

Li Erfeng personally led the Southern Route Tang Army, marching along the southern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, sweeping across the land.

Li Shiji, who was unwilling to be outdone by Li Jing, was now called Li Ji, because he wanted to avoid using the character "Shi" from Li Shimin's name.

He led the Tang army on the northern route.

Li Ji went all in.

He followed Li Jing's example and launched a long-distance raid, leading tens of thousands of cavalry to the foot of the distant Golden Mountain, where he directly destroyed the royal court of the Western Turks!
When the news arrived, Li Erfeng's eyes turned red.

People from both the north and the south were vying with him for the credit of conquering a country.

Li Ji launched a surprise attack on the Western Turks in the north, while Li Jing swept through Tibet in the south.

Li Erfeng, who was away on campaign and considered herself a general rather than an emperor, was getting desperate.

They directly divided their troops, sending each general with a separate force to fight the war of annihilation in different places.

Yuchi Jingde, Luo Shixin, Wang Junkuo, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Qiong, Hou Junji, Li Shentong and others all had the merit of destroying a country.

In the Tang Dynasty, if you were a general and didn't have the merit of destroying a country, you would be embarrassed to greet people when you went out.

As for Li Erfeng, she went to fight Loulan Kingdom, a weak and insignificant country, at Lin Dao's urging. Loulan Kingdom was so weak that it was not even comparable to a county in the Central Plains.

Li Erfeng didn't understand why he had to personally come and fight such a small country.

Lin Dao's response was simple.

"If we don't fight now, we'll miss our chance."

(End of this chapter)