Early summer in the Western Regions is much cooler than in the Central Plains. Especially in the Shule Basin at the foot of the Pamir Plateau, the Pamir Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau block the warm current from the Indian Ocean. The melting water of ice and snow flowing from the Tianshan Mountains and Kunlun Mountains brings a little coolness. The temperature of early summer here almost seems to be as good as the spring and autumn seasons of the Central Plains.

The Shache Oasis and the nearby Shule Oasis also ushered in this time when the water and grass are the most abundant and the weather is the brightest. If you are not in it, you will feel that you are full of energy. Even the horse is full of energy and fat and strong.

Now is the best time for the soldiers to conquer and kill.

From last winter to the present, more than 200,000 troops from the Peach Blossom Stone have been in constant confrontation between Shache Oasis and Shule Oasis.

The war between the Song Dynasty and the Eastern Karakhan Dynasty also came to an end in this long confrontation. For Ahmaud, the "Chinese Lion King" who is entrenched in Kashgar City, he has been suffering from suffering every moment since the news of Balashaguen being captured by the Khitan in early winter last year.

The territory of the Eastern Karakhan Dynasty was divided into east and west by the Tianshan Mountains. The west was mainly the Seven Rivers, centered on Balashaguen, and it also occupied a little bit of the territory at the entrance of the Fergana Basin. The central cities were Balashaguen, Stone City and Talas. Among them, Balashaguen, which occupied the bottom of the Saiyechuan valley, was the most important, because the Saiyechuan Basin was first traded, from Saiyechuan to the east, you could enter the Tianshan Mountains, and along the mountain road you could reach the Turuatidaban Pass, and through the mountain pass you could reach the Shule Oasis.

Secondly, the Sailed Leaf Valley is also a rare farming land among the Seven Rivers. With irrigation facilities that began to be built in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it can provide stable wheat and barley harvests, and it can also accommodate many Ikta Knights.

Now most of these Ikta knights follow Lion Khan. Their wives and daughters probably let the Khitans sleep and their property belong to them... It's a bit like the four elements are empty. However, these guys can't see through the world and all cry and ask Lion Khan to take them back!

But how easy is it to fight back? Those are Khitans! More than ten times more terrifying than the Han people who are above the Peach Blossom Stone. How can they beat them?

Moreover, the Han army has been continuously driving to the Shache Oasis not far from Kashgar since last winter. Now there are no 100,000 or 70,000 or 80,000 people. And they are also practicing every day, making it clear that they want to fight against the Karakhan Dynasty.

So Lion Khan dared not move his nest at all! He was afraid that once he left Kashgar, before he could cross the Datulu Attidasaka Pass, the Han army would come out of the Shache Oasis and occupy Kashgar.

Kashgar is the last base of Lion Khan. If there is no more, he and his army can only cross the Pamir Mountains to go to Kanitz and Tianzhu to find a way out.

Oh, this life path is not easy to find. Ibrahim, who had just returned from Herat City, was sighing and reporting to me about Sanjar's deployment.

"Father Khan, those Turks are now stationing troops in Herat City. The Gulam warriors alone have gathered as many as 13,000 people! In addition, they also ordered states such as Gilstein, Ganiz and Gur to send troops together. And as long as the elite, don't mess around. Now I'm afraid that 30,000 elite troops will be stationed in Herat, blocking our way to the south to Tianzhu..."

The Kingdom of Heaven cannot go, and it is also a death to fight the Khitans through the Datulu Atitaban Pass. It seems that it is not reliable to take advantage of the territory of the Western Karakhan Dynasty. First, the Khitans may continue to attack Hezhong and Fergana; second, Sanjar may not agree to hand over his subordinate Xikarakhan Dynasty to the control of the Eastern Karakhan army.

Why do the 100,000 warriors of the Karakhan dynasty gathered in Kashgar have a bit of a desperate attempt?

"How long can food last?" Lion Khan asked.

"If we want to keep the food for the army to cross the Pamir Mountains, we can only last for three months at most. If we can't force the enemy back in autumn, we have to cross the Pamir Mountains..."

The ministers of the Karakhan Dynasty immediately told the Lion King the bad news. Although Kashgar is located in an oasis, no matter how green the oasis at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains is, it is like this. It is impossible to supply 100,000 troops, no less than 300,000 people crowded in Kashgar city, and refugees moved from Khotan, Shache and others.

So these days, the reserves in the granary in Kashgar City are being consumed rapidly, and it is reasonable that they cannot last long.

"But will Sanjar send troops to Kashgar?" Lion Khan asked uncertainly.

"Maybe," said Ibrahim, "this is how he promised..."

"Where are the pagans on the peach blossom stone?" asked Lion Khan, "How did they solve the problem of food and grass? Did they rely on the stolen cattle and sheep and grazing?"

“…”

No one can answer the question of Lion Khan. Because a large number of Xiliang cavalry are active near the Shache Oasis occupied by the Song army (Hexi army), which is enough to make it difficult for Lion Khan's cavalry to get close to.

So people in Kashgar City would never have thought that Zhang Yuan, the chief instructor of the Anxi Educational and Cultural Corps, was walking in the Pamir River (also known as Yeerqiang River) with a group of great Song military officers, while watching the soldiers wearing straw hats harvesting golden winter wheat.

The Song army actually sowed winter wheat in the farmlands of Shache Oasis for a season. Now it is time to harvest. After harvesting a season of wheat, it can be eaten by Zhang Yuan and Zhao Zhongshun until the end of next year.

Looking at the scene of harvest in front of him, Zhang Yuan finally showed a satisfied smile. It was his idea to let the troops carry wheat seeds and farm tools into the Western Regions! At that time, the military opportunities in the General Military Office were opposed by many. The supporting young forces of the Western Expedition Army carried strict plans for the items carried by the main force of the Western Expedition Army entering the Western Regions through the desert. Carrying a large amount of wheat seeds and farm tools would squeeze out other supplies.

Therefore, the military opportunity responsible for logistics has been debated with Zhang Yuan, an outsider. In the end, Zhang Yuan defeated the public and implemented this plan. Now it seems that it is completely correct to bring wheat seeds and agricultural tools into the Western Regions! The hundreds of thousands of acres of dry land here in Shache Oasis were all planted with wheat last winter. It is growing so well now that at least hundreds of thousands of stones can be harvested.

With these hundreds of thousands of stones, the 80,000 army can not only persevere in Shache, but also save a lot of cattle and sheep. Of course, the people of Khotan from the two oasis of Yochang "voluntarily" contributed to welcome the People's Liberation Army of the Song Dynasty! This kind of military ration with feet is a key material for the Hexi army to cross the Pamir Mountains and enter Gazni and Tianzhu.

Therefore, being able to save cattle and sheep and obtain hundreds of thousands of stones of wheat, the war against peach blossom stone is already sure to win.

Thinking of winning, Zhang Yuan was a little excited. He was about to write a poem impromptu, but Ma Zheng came out from somewhere to interrupt his elegant aura.

"Teacher, the envoy of Xiao Heda's army has just arrived at Shache Camp!"

"Xiao Heda?" Zhang Yuan frowned when he heard this name. Of course he knew what Xiao Heda had been doing in the past few months.

"Hasn't he surrendered to the Khitans?" Zhang Yuan asked, "Why are there any face to send envoys to Shache?"

"Teacher, his 17,000 army has arrived at the Datuluatidaban Pass!" Ma Zheng said, "This pass is located west of Kashgar, and is the main throat of Kashgar crossing the Tianshan Mountains to the west."

"Oh? What does he want to do?"

Ma Zheng did not answer, but then reported: "Xiao Heda's people also told us that the Khitans had reached an agreement with the Turks and would not interfere with the war between the Turks and us."

"What?" Zhang Yuan was stunned, "The Turks are going to cross the Pamir Mountains?"

Ma Zheng said: "If Xiao Heda did not deceive us, then most Turks would come to Kashgar to intervene."

Zhang Yuan lost all his interest in writing poetry.

The Turks now seem to be very powerful. They have mastered the real power of the Great Food Kingdom and are the overlords of the West. If they want to support the Karakhans trapped in Kashgar, Zhang Yuan would not be sure of winning.

"If the Turks come, this battle will not be easy..." Zhang Yuan looked at Ma Zheng, "It's better to send troops to fight immediately!"

"Actually, I'm not afraid of anything," said Ma Zheng. "The enemy has many soldiers and we have a lot of food. Why not just follow the Nanpanling River to guard the Turks and Karakhans and let the Turks and the Karakhans die by themselves!"

Zhang Yuan held his beard and thought, "It is better to go out to the south bank of the Chakmak River to build a base than to go out to build a base in the Chakmak River... There is no need to stay on the south bank of the Chakmak River. You only need to leave thousands of elite troops. You can also build a base every dozen miles along the way and lean as a stronghold."

"Isn't this the way to fight the city of Xia?" Ma Zheng immediately thought of the trick used by Zhang Dun's uncle Zhang Shi to deal with Empress Dowager Xiaoliang of Xixia. Build a strong city that can be defended by thousands of people, so that the opponent's army of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops failed to attack the city, and suffered heavy losses. Then he retreated in shame. He then chased them while the enemy was chasing them and caught them off guard.

"How is it?" Zhang Yuan asked, "Can it succeed?"

"Yes!" Ma Zheng thought for a while, "There is no problem building a city... After the wheat is finished, we will send 50,000 troops north and set off to fight to the decisive battle. Lion Khan relies on the strong support of the Turks and will definitely not fight to the decisive battle. In this way, we can build a one-night city on the south bank of the Chakmak River."

"Okay! Just fight like this!" Zhang Yuan said: "I personally led the troops to Shule Oasis in this battle! Do the general military aircraft think it is feasible?"

"It's feasible," Ma Zheng hurriedly praised, "The general army is aware of the army, so how can we not lead the army in person?"
Chapter completed!