And the most important thing is that Liu Che and Li Shimin were not paid. This was called corvee labor, and the court would only provide them with two meals at most.

In addition to providing meals, the Song Dynasty also provided subsidies and wages, which was an employment nature.

Therefore, this trip was not only a waste of food, but also cost the national treasury a large sum of money. It can be said that the court had to spend millions of strings of cash just to fight this war, which was quite a loss.

But there is no way.

If Zhao Jun was not in a hurry to destroy Gaochang, he could have waited another ten years until the train was built to Dunhuang. Then it would have been easy to destroy Gaochang without consuming so much national strength.

But if that happens, it will affect other layouts.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Considering the long-term interests, promoting cotton in the Western Regions earlier can bring huge economic benefits and improve the people's ability to resist cold, so this is the only way.

The next day, the soldiers left Yumen Pass, pushing the baggage carts, and arduously stepped into the vast desert Gobi, bypassing the remnants of the Tianshan Mountains, and headed towards the distance under the guidance of many guides.

After about ten days, the Song army advanced slowly at a speed of fifty miles a day, crossing the desolate desert and the vast Gobi Desert, and was about to arrive in Yizhou.

However, their whereabouts were not kept secret. With so many troops traveling, it was impossible to conceal it from the enemy easily.

The most important thing is that they were taking a road that people in the Western Regions have often taken since ancient times. Along this road, there were many Western Region merchants and nomadic herdsmen traveling. Their whereabouts were easy to detect from a long distance.

Therefore, almost before the Song army arrived in Yizhou, Gaochang King Aqi Fuluo had already received the news of the Song army's departure, and even the reconnaissance soldiers had figured out the number of Song troops.

This is indeed easy to understand.

The Gobi Desert stretches as far as the eye can see, and the Song army's uniforms are particularly recognizable. The bright red color makes it clear that people might not know that these are groups of Song soldiers.

Except for about 20,000 soldiers in military uniforms, the rest were civilian laborers and auxiliary soldiers wearing ordinary clothes like ordinary people.

Therefore, an experienced scout could see at a glance that the actual strength of the Song army was only 20,000.

"Twenty thousand?"

In Gaochang, within the imperial palace, Aqi Fuluo learned that the Song army had only sent a mere 20,000 troops. He laughed and said, "The Song people are so arrogant that they actually want to attack us with only 20,000 men."

Hearing that the Song army was not numerous, several ministers breathed a sigh of relief. Minister Hu Duoge said, "Your Majesty, this may be the vanguard of the Song army. They are showing goodwill to us. Perhaps we can send people to negotiate with them."

"Goodwill? What goodwill?"

Aqifuluo was very puzzled.

Another minister, Turuhe, explained, "I've heard that the Song army has a million soldiers. If they really wanted to attack Gaochang, they wouldn't have such a small force. Even if they had a large force, they should have acted together. Now there are only 20,000, which means there's still a chance for Song to negotiate with us."

"Peace talks?"

Aqifuluo sneered, "What's the point of negotiating? This is our chance to demonstrate Gaochang's strength. As long as we defeat their vanguard, then unite with the Liao army and take advantage of their unstable morale to crush the Song Kingdom in one fell swoop, we can enter Yumen Pass and seize the territory that once belonged to Li Yuanhao."

Several ministers including Huduoge, Turuhe, Sijie and others were dumbfounded.

Don’t you have any idea how badly you, Aqifuluo, were beaten when Li Yuanhao was around?

Now that Li Yuanhao has been destroyed by the Song State, what can you use to fight against the Song State?

Do you still want to seize other people’s territory?

What's wrong with this brain?

"His Majesty."

Hu Duoge was about to persuade him again.

Si Jie interrupted, "Your Majesty, this is exactly what should be done."

"good!"

Aqifuluo stood up from the throne and said, "Pass my order to assemble the army. We will wait for the Song army to tire out in Yizhou and strike head-on! I will lead the army personally!"

After saying this, he spread out his cloak and hurried to the harem to find Princess Jingyang to ask for credit.

Several ministers looked at each other in confusion, then left the palace. Hu Duoge complained to Si Jie, "Why don't you try to persuade His Majesty?"

"There's a saying in the Song Dynasty: Even a damned ghost can't be persuaded with kind words."

Si Jie whispered, "You can see now that the king won't listen to any advice. He's been tricked by the queen and wants nothing more than to follow the Liao Kingdom. So why should we disobey him? We'll end up being executed by the king ourselves."

"So are we just going to watch the country fall into crisis?"

Tu Ruhe said.

"There's no way."

Si Jie spread his hands and said, "If we persuade him, we will die, and His Majesty will still go to war with the Song State. But if we don't persuade him, we will live. The only difference is whether we can survive. I advise you to stop thinking about this and think about what to do now. Pack up and prepare to escape as soon as possible."

"Forehead"

Everyone looked at each other and felt that it made sense.

They are Uighurs, and their sense of national identity is not very strong. In many cases, saving their lives is naturally the most important thing.

Everyone then went back and waited for the end of the war.

After Aqifuluo told Princess Jingyang about this, the princess was very happy. She praised the king highly and encouraged him to lead the army in person.

Aqifuluo was so excited by the queen's few words that he almost forgot his last name and immediately ordered the troops to be assembled.

Compared with Li Yuanhao's army of more than 100,000, the Western Region Uighurs were naturally not very strong. Their total population was only a few hundred thousand, and they were quite scattered. They only had the Uighur nation but no national consciousness.

In addition to the Gaochang Uighurs led by Aqi Fuluo, the Xizhou Uighurs were also divided into the Kucha Uighurs, the Yellow-headed Uighurs, the Hexi Uighurs, and so on, totaling more than twenty tribes.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!