Vol 2 Chapter 2703: Yang Guang’s third western expedition, Ji Chang and Li Siyuan

Chapter 2703 Yang Guang’s third western expedition, Ji Chang and Li Siyuan separatist rule

Chapter 2699: Yang Guang sent troops to the Western Regions for the third time, and Ji Chang and Li Siyuan separatized the Western Regions.

Li Jing originally thought that given Yang Guang's level of vigilance towards Da Qin, it would take at least three or four months, or even half a year, after the Central Plains War started before he could let go of his vigilance.

  After all, only such a long period of time would allow Sui Ting, headed by Yang Guang, to believe that Great Qin would devote all its power to the Central Plains, and only then would they relax their guard against Great Qin.

Li Jing had already made preparations to wait three to four months, or even half a year, before sending troops to attack Sui.

What Li Jing never expected was that just one and a half months after the start of the Central Plains War, Yang Guang could no longer hold himself any longer and relaxed his guard against Da Qin.

At first, Li Jing was a little doubtful whether Yang Guang was testing him, but Yang Guang suddenly decided to conquer the Western Regions three times, and the army had already entered the Western Regions. Only then did Li Jing conclude that Yang Guang was not testing him, but really pressed on. Can't stand it anymore.

Why did Yang Guang decide to suddenly attack the Western Regions? Naturally, he was frightened by Da Qin's offensive against the Central Plains.

You must know that after so many years of mergers and hegemony, the original thirteen states of the Han Dynasty now only have eight states: Qin, Wei, Song, Ming, Shu, Chu, Wu, and Sui. The Sui state’s strength ranking among these eight states is The weakest.

The Qin Dynasty had nearly a million troops, and the Eight Routes of Qin Dynasty came out together to single-handedly challenge Wei, Song, and Wu, three countries that were stronger than the Sui Kingdom. However, the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces were still defeated.

Yang Guang thought he would not be afraid before, but when this day came, he was still stimulated by this cruel reality.

At present, Da Qin has won many battles on the western front of the Central Plains, and Cao Wei has no intention of blocking Da Qin's offensive.

And once Cao Wei is defeated, or even defeated miserably, the Song and Ming countries will be isolated and difficult to survive, and it will only be a matter of time before they are defeated one by one. By then, the Sui Kingdom in Xiliang will definitely become the next target of Qin.

The three kingdoms of Wei, Song and Ming were all stronger than Sui. Even if the three kingdoms joined forces could not stop Qin, how could Sui alone stop Qin?

 The end is approaching. Yang Guang is also a mortal, how can he not be afraid?

Yang Guang was originally very optimistic about the Three Kingdoms Alliance, but the performance of the Cao Army and the Song Army on the battlefield was too poor. Although the performance of the Ming Army was better, it could not play a decisive role.

Yang Guang now has given up hope in the war in the Central Plains, but he did not have the courage to send troops to sneak attack the rear of Qin during the war between the Qin, Wei, Song and Ming Dynasties.

 The Qin Dynasty attacked the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains. Although it dispatched most of its troops, the remaining strength was still strong.

If the Sui Kingdom defends Xiliang, it will be safe, but if it attacks Qin, it will really take the initiative to rush in and kill people.

Given the size of the Sui State, conquering Qin alone is no different from seeking death, but joining forces with other forces to conquer Qin together? But no force will send troops.

Except for the Qin, Wei, Song, Wu, and Sui dynasties, Wu was invaded by Chu due to internal strife. Wu and Chu were engaged in a national war, so it was naturally impossible for them to send troops.

As for the Kingdom of Shu, it had just experienced the great defeat of Hanzhong, and had also lost several counties in southern Shu, and it had not yet recovered.

Even if the Shu State forcibly sends troops, it will still have to break through Hanzhong to threaten Da Qin. However, Da Qin has a large number of powerful generals in Hanzhong, and it is impossible for the Shu State to break through it with the current strength of the Shu State.

In addition to the eight countries of the Central Plains, foreign countries can also take advantage of it, but Yuan and Meng were violently beaten by Qin, and Jin and Manchu were still in civil war.

As for the Tubo Kingdom on the plateau, although it had the best relationship with the Sui Kingdom and the two countries were still allies, Songtsen Gampo was not a fool either.

If the Qin Dynasty wanted to destroy the Sui State, Tubo could send troops to rescue the Sui State, because saving the Sui State would mean protecting itself. However, Tubo would definitely not have the guts to jointly send troops with the Sui State to attack Qin. After all, most of the benefits of winning would be Sui, and if they lose, the country will be destroyed.

 The benefits are too small, the risks are too great, and they are completely out of proportion. How could Songtsen Gampo dare to join forces with Yang Guang to send troops to attack Qin?

 In addition to the four foreign countries of Yuan, Jin, Qing, and Tubo, there was also the Korean state established by Wang Mang.

Yang Guang did not take Wang Mang seriously at all, nor did he think that after the three Koreas were integrated, they would be able to rival the Sui State and threaten the strength of the Qin Dynasty, so he did not consider Wang Mang at all.

Yang Guang looked over the map of China, but couldn't find any force that could jointly send troops. The Sui family alone had no chance of winning if they sent troops to attack Qin, so he aimed at the countries in the Western Region. After all, you have to pick the weak ones. .

Yang Guang no longer has hope for the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains. Once the Three Kingdoms of the Central Plains are destroyed, the Sui Kingdom will definitely become the next target of the Qin Dynasty, which is why he is so eager to expand externally.

In Yang Guang's view, once all the three Central Plains Kingdoms are destroyed, and the Qin army points its finger at the Sui State, it will definitely be difficult for the Sui State to protect itself.

If we can destroy the countries in the Western Regions and occupy all the lands in the Western Regions, firstly, it can increase the strength of the country, and secondly, it can also leave a way out for the Sui Kingdom.

Even if Xiliang and Haizhou fall in the future, the Sui Kingdom can retreat into the Western Regions to survive without being completely destroyed.

 As for surrendering to the Qin Dynasty to save wealth and life? Yang Guang never thought about it.

 Among the kings in the world, the four kingdoms of Qin, Wei, Song, and Wu are related by marriage, so Cao Cao, Zhao Kuangyin, and Sun Quan can surrender to Ying Hao.

Even Liu Xiu, a member of the Han clan, and Liu Yu, who proclaimed himself emperor, could surrender, and would be favored if they surrendered voluntarily.

Of course it can be one thing, but whether you are willing or not is another matter.

Among all the kings in the world, only Yang Guang and Zhu Di could not surrender, because both of them and Da Qin had the hatred of killing their fathers.

 Zhu Yuanzhang, the father of Zhu Di, died under Ying Hao's sword. Although Yang Guang's father, Yang Jian, did not die at the hands of Ying Hao, he was plotted to death by Jia Xu.

Yang Guang has thoroughly found out the truth about the Xuanwumen Incident.

Li Shimin did trap Yang Jian, but he did not kill him. Instead, Da Qin's assassins took the opportunity to attack him, and threw the blame on Li Shimin, thus provoking a fight between the two major forces of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Yang Guang and Da Qin also had the hatred of killing their fathers, so it was naturally impossible for them to surrender to Da Qin, their enemy.

The road to surrender was completely blocked. Yang Guang could not see any hope of revenge, and he did not want the Sui State to be destroyed by the Qin Dynasty. In order to leave a way out for the Sui State, he set his sights on the Western Regions. Yang Guang knew that once the Qin attacked the Sui Dynasty, the Sui Kingdom would not be able to defend Xiliang and Haizhou. Although the environment in the Western Regions was a bit worse, with the Silk Road, it was not poor at all, and there was no strong force. .

If the Sui State could destroy all the forces and integrate them, it would also be a considerable force. Even without Xiliang and Haizhou, it would still be a powerful force.

As for whether Great Qin will focus on the Western Regions again? That's what happens next, it's too early to think about it now.

Yang Guang can barely care about the things in front of him, and he can't think about the future. He can only take one step at a time.

The Sui State also had great internal differences on whether to conquer the Western Regions.

The radicals headed by Yang Shuang believed that the advantages of sending troops to the Western Regions outweighed the disadvantages when they could not defeat the Qin Dynasty, so they supported sending troops to conquer the Western Regions.

The conservatives headed by Yang Su believed that the first two conquests failed to wipe out all the countries in the Western Regions, which showed that the Western Regions were not soft persimmons, and that the Western Central Plains was the top priority, and the Qin Dynasty might not necessarily devote all its strength to it. Central Plains.

If troops were sent to the Western Regions at this time, if changes occurred in the Central Plains, the Sui State would not be able to participate in it even if it wanted to.

 Hence, the conservatives led by Yang Su opposed sending more troops to the Western Regions and believed that they should wait and see for a while before it was safe.

Although Yang Su led his army to destroy the nine countries in the Western Regions and established the territories captured as Tianshan, Yizhou, and Gaochang counties, he still did not attach much importance to the foreign lands in the Western Regions.

Yang Su felt that the east was the center of the world. Once the Sui State's center of gravity shifted to the west, it would probably never be able to return in this life, so he was extremely opposed to Yang Guang's expedition to the west at this time.

  The opinions of the two factions within the Sui Kingdom cannot be said to be right or wrong. They can only be said to be two different choices.

Yang Guang has lost confidence in fighting against the Qin coalition, and also believes that the Wei, Song and Ming kingdoms will be destroyed by the Qin Dynasty. There is not much time left for him to prepare, so naturally he can no longer waste precious time.

Yang Su saw that Yang Guang did not listen to others' advice and insisted on conquering the west, so he could only agree with the Sui army to conquer the Western Regions, but he proposed to bring Ji (Ji) Chang and Li Siyuan together.

After Yang Guang heard this, he frowned. He already regarded the Western Region as his own, and naturally he didn't want Ji Chang and Li Siyuan to share his cake.

Although Ji Chang was forced to surrender to the Sui Dynasty, his identity was the prefect of Longxi in the Tang Dynasty. In addition, there were 30,000 Han and Qiang mixed troops under his command, so he surrendered and was granted the title of prefect of Yizhou by Yang Guang.

Yizhou County, also known as the Hami region in later generations, has a large territory but is sparsely populated, with a total of thirteen counties.

Although Ji Chang was named the prefect of Yizhou by Yang Guang, it was only in name. He had only one city under his jurisdiction and a small population, which was not enough to support an army of 30,000.

This shows that although Yang Guang accepted Ji Chang on the surface, he never let go of his guard against Ji Chang in his heart.

Yang Guang just wanted to wait for Ji Chang to enter the Western Regions, and use Ji Chang's food and salary or other political means to force Ji Chang to gradually give in until he completely gave up his military power and served himself. However, he did not expect that Ji Chang's methods were far more powerful than those of Ji Chang. What he expected was much better.

Among the kings, Yang Guang's political attribute was stronger than that of Sun Ce. It can be seen from the fact that he clearly occupied the Silk Road and was able to continuously obtain wealth through this trade route, but still made the Sui Kingdom so poor. His political methods are not very clever.

Ji Chang's political attribute is as high as 100 points, and he is a golden political level talent. Yang Guang is overestimating his ability if he wants to play politics with him.

Yang Guang refused to pay Ji Chang, so Ji Chang led the army under the banner of the Sui army to plunder the countries in the Western Regions to support the army. At the same time, it also aggravated the conflicts in the Western Regions and made Yang Guanglai take the blame. It can be said that he killed three birds with one stone.

 As for Yang Guang's other methods of coercion, they were all skillfully resolved by Ji Chang.

However, Ji Chang would be troubled by Yang Guang from time to time, and he had to be wary of revenge from the countries in the Western Regions. This shows that his life in the Western Regions was not easy, and even if he was not walking on thin ice, it would not be much different.

It was not until Li Siyuan also entered the Western Regions that Ji Chang's life became easier.

 Li Siyuan was the king of Longxi conferred by the Shu Han. This identity was not of much use in the Shu Han, but it was of great use to the Shu Han's ally, the Sui State.

The Shu Han was the only other force that the Sui State could win over in Kansai besides the Tubo. Under the banner of the Shu Han, Li Siyuan led 28,000 troops and 12,000 military dependents and craftsmen to take refuge. As an ally, the Sui State naturally You can't attack it.

Yang Guang had long guessed that Li Siyuan had evil intentions. After all, Li Siyuan only had 40,000 people, but he asked him for rations for 100,000 people. But what Yang Guang never expected was that Li Siyuan would focus on the Western Regions.

After Li Siyuan left Haizhou and entered the Western Regions, he refused to leave in the Western Regions. Moreover, he took the initiative to contact Jichang behind Yang Guang's back.

Ji and Li's family joined forces to deal with the local forces in the Western Regions. With lightning speed, they quickly destroyed two small countries and finally established a firm foothold in the Western Regions.

It was only then that Yang Guang realized that the Western Region, which he had always looked down on, was actually a treasure land in the eyes of many people.

 Ji Chang came before him, and Li Siyuan came after him. They all went to the Western Regions one after another.

This also made Yang Guang realize the importance of the Western Regions, so after being completely disappointed with the war situation in the Central Plains, he regarded the Western Regions as the fallback route for the Sui Kingdom and launched the third Western Expedition.

It's just that Yang Guang woke up a little late. Because of his laissez-faire, the Ji and Li families had formed a separatist regime in the Western Regions, and they couldn't lose their tail.

Yang Guang has regarded the Western Regions as forbidden territory, and also wants to suppress the Ji-Li Alliance. Naturally, he does not want to share the land and population of the Western Regions with them. However, Yang Su proposed to recruit Ji Chang and Li Siyuan to send troops together, which naturally made him very dissatisfied.

 I went to see The Wandering Earth II on New Year's Day. The plot and rhythm were quite good. Book friends who haven't seen it can check it out.