It took Li Xiang less than half an hour to make up his mind. Of course, if he was defeated, Li Xiang would probably have to come out of retirement himself.
The fabric passed through Chang'an City at an extremely fast speed and then headed towards the Western Regions in two ways.
The Tang Dynasty had only more than 20,000 troops in the Western Regions. Now Li Xiang ordered 50,000 people to march west, and most of them must be Gaochang's troops.
Cheng Yaojin's two sons were responsible for guarding the Western Regions. Li Xiang had already named Cheng Chuliang to lead the troops westward. Cheng Chumo was naturally dissatisfied. No one was willing to stay at home to guard the house, and no one was willing to lead the army to the battlefield.
"Don't worry, big brother. Someone has to stay behind to look after the house. His Highness also took your personality into consideration and thought you were more suitable to stay home. Isn't it because of your prestige that your younger brother can dominate the Western Regions? Don't be angry anymore."
Seeing that Cheng Chumo had a fierce face, Cheng Chuliang said all the nice things he could, but Cheng Chumo still felt uncomfortable. He had trained the army for such a long time and finally put together such an excellent army, but now he could not lead the troops to fight. If this commander was not his own brother, he would be even more upset.
"Alright, alright, stop being so naive here, you little brat. Do you think I don't know? Privately, you're practically jumping for joy. But I have to tell you something serious. Don't just look at General Moren's victory. That's because he's in our territory. Now we need to go to a farther place, where supplies may not arrive in time. I'll have my men deliver them to you as soon as possible. On the way, you must remember this: we're not afraid of any number of troops, but we must not go without food and water."
Although Cheng Chumo could not go to the front line, he still had a thorough study of the battles in the Western Regions. The most important thing was the supply of troops. As long as our supplies could reach 80%, no matter how the war was fought, we would basically win.
"Don't worry, big brother. We've built over 40 military stations across the Western Regions, storing a large amount of supplies. We've been busy during these peaceful years. Even if supplies from the rear can't be delivered, the supplies in these stations can be temporarily transferred. They're enough to last us for a while. Besides, the enemy has supplies there too, so we can just rob them along the way."
Cheng Chuliang didn't care much about this. After Li Xiang returned from the Western Regions, all parts of the Western Regions entered a period of large-scale construction. Military stations were built in many uninhabited places, storing a large amount of various supplies. This was so that the Tang army could mobilize supplies nearby when fighting. Now they finally came in handy.
"Your brain is all in your ass. The supplies in those ice packs are only for emergency use. Your 50,000-man army is 50,000 mouths to feed. I will do my best to move the logistics base forward when the time comes."
Hearing what his elder brother said, Cheng Chuliang immediately understood that you, the old man, don't want to stay in Gaochang, so you want to move the logistics base forward.
Whenever there is any loss on the front line, you immediately take your men there, which is equivalent to you going to the battlefield and not violating the orders of His Highness. But if that is the case, what should Gaochang do?
"Are you afraid of something happening here? Lord Xiao Shougui has been guarding this place for so many years. Although he's a civilian, he's no worse than us at leading troops. He just doesn't want to steal the limelight from us. As long as he's guarding Gaochang, nothing can happen."
Cheng Chumo said this, and Cheng Chuliang also gave a thumbs up. Xiao Shougui, although he was born as a civil servant, but in such a harsh environment as the Western Regions, can a civil servant be a good civil servant? That is absolutely impossible. Even if you go out to do business, you have to ride a horse. So after being an official here for a long time, how many people can't lead troops?
What's more, Cheng Chumo had observed from the side that Xiao Shougui was well-versed in military books, but he lacked the courage to make decisions. However, as long as his two brothers were not around, Xiao Shougui would have the courage. When there were others around, he would rely on others, and when there were no one around, he could only rely on himself.
"There's one more thing, brother. I think the nations of the Western Regions can't just sit there and watch. Although Your Highness hasn't said it, they've all surrendered. They're all vassal states of the Tang Dynasty. Now that the Tang Dynasty is at war, how can they not send troops?"
Cheng Chuliang is a guy with a lot of tricks up his sleeve. When His Highness was fighting in the south, the vassal armies took turns to go up, but our army did not make much progress. Now the strength of the countries in the Western Regions is still good. Although they have been weakened after rounds of weakening, each country can still gather a lot of troops.
Once our troops go to the front line, they will become an unstable factor if they stay in the rear. In this case, it is better to take their troops away directly. If you have other ideas, we will definitely not show mercy on the battlefield.
"I've been wanting to tell you about this idea for a while. Although the Western Regions have submitted to the Tang Dynasty, they still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. The Arab Empire's infiltration is a prime example. Regardless of what they say, we must take away at least one-third of their troops. Otherwise, the rear will be unstable. If we encounter any troublemakers, we can just take away two-thirds of them."
Cheng Chu thought for a while and said, we can use this matter to test the countries in the Western Regions. If you are willing, then we will naturally send troops smoothly. But if you are not willing, don't blame us for using you to practice sword skills before the war.
This will also allow those who are disobedient to jump out as soon as possible. As long as you dare to jump out, there will be no crisis. Enemies standing in the open will never be the opponent of our Tang Dynasty. Only those enemies in the dark will give our Tang Dynasty a headache.
"I will do this right away and try to finish it within a month, and arrive at the front line in a month and a half."
The most fatal thing about fighting in the Western Regions is that it takes too long. No matter how enthusiastic you are, this vast land alone is enough to take you a long time to walk. Even if the Tang army moves fast enough, it will still take months.
"Don't worry, it will only take two months. I've already sent a pigeon to General Moran. Their army has already begun to liquidate the countries in the Western Regions."
Not a single country in the westernmost part of the Western Regions can be spared...
