Chapter 345: Uighurs attack the border

Spring on the grassland has arrived. The endless grassland is like a huge green carpet on the fertile land. Various insects have woken up and are busy weaving the vibrant spring scenery. Snakes, rats, antelopes, deer and other grassland animals can be seen everywhere. Groups of snow-white sheep are eating grass leisurely on the grassland. Under the blue sky, horses are galloping. The herdsmen shout loudly and chase the horses. A loud cry came from the tent. This is a newborn born in spring.

This is the grassland where the Uighur tents are located, and it is also one of the most abundant areas on the grassland. Twenty miles south, you can see dense and endless tents. There are more than 100,000 Uighurs living here, and Gele Khan's golden tent is located in it.

Although the grassland was bright and bright, the peaceful spring breeze did not seem to blow into the golden tent of the Uighur Khan. The golden tent was still full of murderous winter, with murderous intent. More than 20 senior Uighur generals and Ye Hu, the chief of various tribes, were gathered together. They were full of anger and were discussing the war against the Tang Dynasty. Last year was the most angry year for the Uighurs. In the western part of the Uighurs, a large number of tribes were driven or slaughtered, and their property was robbed, making thousands of miles of grassland a deserted and empty area. This violated the fundamental rights and interests of the nobles of the Uighur tribes. Although the occupation and killing were done by the three tribes, the Uighurs did not think so. They believed that the three Western tribes were just the dogs of the Tang army, and the arguments directed by the Tang army behind the scenes became a one-sided consensus.

He clamored to fight against the Tang army of Beiting, and became the highest tone of the Uighur tribes, but Gele Khan never said a word. He didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about Anxi's use of troops. Although the Dashi Caliph sent someone to contact him at the end of last year, hoping to join forces with the Uighurs to deal with the Tang army of Anxi, Gele Khan knew better than anyone else. Now the Uighur tribes are not superior. Although the strength of the Uighur tribes is slightly stronger than the three Western tribes, if 200,000 Tang troops in Anxi participate in the war, the Uighurs' strength will be at a disadvantage and he is not an opponent.

Although Dashi invited him to attack Anxi, he refused to take action first. Gele Khan was as cunning as a wolf on the grassland. If he wanted to fight, Dashi would fight first. When Anxi was empty, he would take action again. Although the big tent was quarreled, Gele Khan was unmoved. His eyes looked at Pugu Huaien, the chief of Pugu's tribe. A few days ago, Pugu Huaien had a deep conversation with him and told him clearly that the Uighur tribe is far from the opponent of Anxi's Tang army. Pugu Huaien also participated in the Battle of Talas. He knew that the Tang army had a very powerful secret weapon. If the Uighur tribe rashly moved troops to Anxi, the Uighur tribe would inevitably cause a catastrophe.

Gerkhan believed in Pugu Huaien's words. He did not want to use force against Anxi at all, but he also knew that the chief Luo of the tribes in the tent was extremely angry with the three tribes of Anxi. He had to take action to calm the anger between the tribes, otherwise he would be unable to control the grassland.

Gerkhan knew what to fight, but he didn't want to say it, so he gave Pugu Huaien a wink. Pugu Huaien understood, stood up and coughed heavily, and said to everyone: "Everyone, be quiet, please listen to me."

The tent gradually became quiet, and everyone looked at Pu Gu Huaien. Everyone knew that Pu Gu Huaien had been a high-ranking official in the Tang Dynasty and was very familiar with Anxi's situation. His suggestions might be something new.

Pugu Huai'en's face appeared with anger, and he said hatefully: "I led 15,000 Shuofang Army to Anxi, and finally Li Qing'an took away military power and wanted to kill me to silence me. I have an irreconcilable grudge with Li Qing'an. If I don't take this grudge, my Pugu Huai'en will not be a human being."

"Well said!"

The generals in the tent applauded one after another. They all loved to hear what Pu Gu Huai'en said. Pu Gu Huai'en took off his hat and bowed to everyone. He continued: "However, there are many ways to take revenge. One is to seize the city and plunder the village, and he was invincible, killing his enemies with his hands without any damage; the other is to fight to the death, and although he killed his enemies in the end, he lost all his children and wives; the other is to die before he was revenge. The enemy fell down first without touching a hair, and the enemy took his wife and daughter to enjoy his life... "

Before Pugu Huai'en finished speaking, he scolded him in the big tent, "This is the act of a fool! Is this still called revenge? It's simply to lose the face of the grassland warrior. The first way is to do it."

The tent was noisy and chaotic, and these Uighur generals were shouting and scolding. Pugu Huaien and Gele Khan looked at each other, and Gele Khan nodded in praise. Pugu Huaien guided him well. Pugu Huaien smiled proudly. When the tent was a little calm, he continued to whisper: "But if we go to attack Anxi now, then we will be the third type of revenge. Not only can Anxi not fight, but the Tang army and the other three tribes will eat us."

The tent suddenly became quiet, everyone looked at each other, with a look of suspicion on their faces. Ge Qiluo, the chief of Bayigu's troops, asked, "What is the basis for you to say this?"

"Basic?" Pugu Huaien sneered and replied: "Do you know how many troops the Tang army in Anxi have? Tell you, at least 200,000, but more than that, because 200,000 is the upper limit of the Tang Dynasty's approval of Anxi to have military strength. In fact, last year, the Central Plains moved 100,000 households from all over the country to Anxi. According to the one soldier per household, that is, 100,000 new troops, and the forces of the countries in the Western Regions are not counted. If the total is combined, I estimate that at least 350,000 or 60,000, and how many troops our Uighurs have?"

No one spoke in the tent, but Ge Qiluo, the chief of Bayigu tribe, said: "All of us Uighur warriors can do ten, even if they have too many people, what are you afraid of? Can those Han people compete with us for cavalry? Can we attack immediately?"

"Yes! Our Uighur cavalry is invincible in the world. Each of us warriors has grown on horseback since childhood. Can these Han farmers who farm with hoes compare with them?"

The Uighur generals in the big tent responded to Ge Qiluo's point of view. If Pu Gu Huaien is so arrogant and his courage is destroyed, everyone will not be happy.

"It's really a ignorant person who is fearless!"

Pugu Huaien shook his head and said, "You all should know about the Great Food Army! The powerful army that swept the river back then, were they defeated by Li Qing'an in the end? Even the river was lost, and there were also the Anxi Mo Dao Army. You should be familiar with it! There are already six thousand people now. If you don't even know the Mo Dao Army, you should be familiar with the three divisions of Geluo, Tongluo and Shatuo! They also grew up on horseback, drinking the same milk and eating the same meat as you. They had more than 40,000 people in total, and Xia Gasi also secretly colluded with them. Even the Tang army did not have to send troops. Even these four divisions could compete with us. You said, if the war against Anxi, what would be the third result?"

The generals were silent. Although they were still angry, they had to admit that Pugu Huaien made sense. They were indeed no match for the Anxi Army. The tent was silent. Everyone was indignant. The anger in their hearts was hard to extinguish. They were killed too hard in winter and could not swallow this tone.

At this time, when Gel Khan saw that the time had come, he stood up and said, "Okay! I'll say a few words."

Pugu Huaien sat down. His mission was completed. He and Gele Khan had reached a consensus. Anxi and the others could not afford to offend him, but in order to calm the public anger, they had to express that Pugu Huaien did this because Geshuhan secretly wrote a letter to him, hoping that he could persuade Gele Khan to put appropriate pressure on the Tang Dynasty. Geshuhan would thank him more. Pugu Huaien and Geshuhan had a very good personal relationship. In terms of personal friendship, Pugu Huaien was willing to help Geshuhan, not to mention that Geshuhan was the two major governors of Longyou and Hexi. Pugu Huaien also had to consider leaving a way out for himself. Therefore, he tried his best to convince Gele Khan. At this time, Dashi sent an envoy. Pugu Huaien pointed out that it would be better to sit in the mountains and watch the tiger fight and let the Anxi army fight with Dashi. It would be better to fight both sides. Uighurs finally fought against cranes and clams, and the fisherman benefited.

It was this strategy that convinced Gele Khan. He finally adopted Pugu Huaien's suggestion and sent troops to Shuofang. Gele Khan also knew that Shuofang had not many troops. A Shibaocheng Battle and an Abus rebellion seriously damaged Shuofang's vitality. Although the Tang Dynasty would replenish its troops, it would not be so fast. Now Shuofang has only 30,000 troops at most, and Longyou's army is mainly stationed in Hehuang. It can be said that Guanlong is empty. If pressure on Guanlong, it might be effective. Gele Khan remembered the humiliation he suffered when he sent an envoy to Chang'an last year, and he couldn't swallow the anger.

When the generals in the tent saw Khan speaking, they stopped talking and quietly waited for Khan to make the final decision. Ger Khan slowly said: "I know that everyone has suffered losses this winter. We have to get it back. We are not asking Anxi to ask, but asking the Emperor of Tang that the dog bites us. Of course, we have to ask the owner for treatment. Do you think so?"

When everyone heard Khan compare Anxi to a dog, they laughed and said, "It's right! The dog runs fast and we can't catch up, so we'll find the owner."

The victory of Aq's spirit made them feel depressed just now again. Gele Khan snorted coldly: "Last winter, the Anxi army bullied us in all kinds of ways. I sent an envoy to Chang'an to ask for an explanation, but our envoy was humiliated by the Tang court. This made me understand a truth: relying on begging for mercy is impossible to get any explanation. If you want to get an explanation, just rely on a knife! Relying on our cavalry to ask for it, listen to my orders, each unit will immediately reorganize its troops and march towards Helan Mountain ten days later!"

The war machines of the Uighur tribes started. They were all soldiers. The men put on leather armor and picked up swords and guns. The cavalry of each tribe and team gathered from the Uighur tents from all directions. Ten days later, Gele Khan gathered 80,000 troops and rushed towards the Tang Dynasty. For a time, the Tang Dynasty's border was full of beacons, and the alarm flew to the Shuofang Jiedu Mansion.

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The Tang Dynasty did not rely on the Great Wall to defend northern ethnic minorities like other dynasties in history. The Tang Dynasty did not rebuild the Great Wall. It mainly relies on the three surrendered cities in the west, middle and east of Yinshan to defend against the attacks of the Northern Hu. In fact, in the early Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin personally led a large army to attack the Turks in the north. For more than 100 years, the Tang Dynasty never passively defended the Northern Hu, but relied on its own powerful cavalry to actively conquer. However, in the middle Tang Dynasty, the country's strength was weak and it was attacked from all sides. In addition, the land annexation became increasingly serious, resulting in the corruption of the military system, and the Tang Dynasty no longer had the power of the founding of the country.

According to the division of the Jiedushi, the defense of the northern nomadic peoples invaded the south mainly depends on the Fanyang Jiedushi in the east, the Shuofang Jiedushi in the middle, and the Beiting Jiedushi in the west. This time, the Uighurs invaded the south, and the Shuofang Jiedushi in the middle, facing the enemy from the Shuofang Jiedushi in the front.

At present, the governor of Shuofang was An Sishun. He originally had an army of 70,000, but he borrowed 30,000 troops from the Battle of Shibao City and never returned it. In addition, Abus led his troops to flee west last year, which greatly damaged Shuofang's vitality. Although he had been recruiting troops, his troops were still seriously insufficient. At present, there were only 36,000 people. However, this number of soldiers was divided by Li Longji's imperial skills since last year. He appointed his son Li Yan, the King of Bian, as the Grand Duke of the Shanyu Protectorate and the Deputy Envoy of Shuofang's Jiedu, and was in charge of Jiuyuan, and led a total of 15,000 troops from Jiuyuan, Hengsai Army, Yanran Army and Xishoujiang City, and all of them were under Commander Li Yan. Li Yan himself was also in charge of Jiuyuan, preparing to seize An Sishun's army when the time was right.

When the Uighur army crossed Yinshan, the beacons on the border immediately lit the beacon. Due to the huge power of the Uighur army, the army of the Uighur army was defeated by the Uighur army, and the defenders retreated in panic. In mid-March, the Uighur army crossed the Yellow River south of the Xishoujiang City, occupied Hetao, and plundered, and continued to advance towards Jiuyuan City. However, at this time, the Uighur army slowed down the pace of attack. Their hinterland was empty, and Gele Khan did not dare to go too deep. He wanted to prevent Li Qing'an from taking the opportunity to advance east, and was also afraid that An Lushan would send troops from Fanyang.

In fact, Gele Khan's real purpose was to blackmail a lot of money in the Tang Dynasty to make up for his losses last winter and to truly attack the Tang Dynasty. He did not have the courage and strength to do so.

Jiuyuan, which is today's Baotou, is the largest city in the north of the subway. There are more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in the city. The city is high and thick and extremely strong. Li Yu, the King of Bian, who is in Jiuyuan, is the son of Wu Xianyi and the youngest son of Li Longji. He is only eighteen years old this year. He lived in the deep palace since childhood and grew up in a pile of makeup. He is very fond of literature and hates martial arts. Although he is not a playboy, he is also a weak scholar. When he learned that the Uighur army had crossed the Yellow River, Li Yu was so scared that he panicked and prepared to abandon the city and flee.

The city of Jiuyuan was already in chaos, and the streets and alleys were filled with panic people. They took their wives and children, carrying their own property, and the rich drove the carriage, cried and shouted, and the streets were in chaos. At this time, all kinds of rumors were flying everywhere, saying that the Uighur Gele Khan led an army of 300,000 to go south to slaughter Longyou in Guanzhong. There was also news that the King of Bian had abandoned them and fled, and the people became even more chaotic, and even the soldiers were panicked and had no intention of defending the city.

The Bian Wang Mansion, located in the north of Jiuyuan City, was closed, but the back door was opened. Li Qi put on his makeup and became a civilian. Under the escort of dozens of guards, he slipped out of the back door and prepared to escape from the south gate. At this moment, more than a dozen cavalrymen rushed over from a distance and blocked Li Qi's retreat. The leader was a veteran general in his sixties. He was Guo Ziyi, the prefect of Jiuyuan, and he was also the right military envoy of the Shuofang Jiedushi. Jiuyuan's military was originally commanded by him. After Li Qi arrived, he was seized from military power. The situation was critical. Guo Ziyi did not care about being the best and rushed to stop Li Qi's escape.

He stepped forward, bowed deeply to Li Yu, and said anxiously: "Your Highness must not leave. Once your Highness leaves, Shuofang will lose."

At this time, Li Xu was scared to death. He begged with a crying voice: "The veteran general, the 300,000 Uighur army is coming, and we only have 15,000 people. How can we resist it? If I stay, I will die. The veteran will let me go!"

Guo Ziyi shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, don't believe those rumors. I have specially confirmed to General Yue of the west surrender city that the Uighur army has only a maximum of 70,000 to 80,000, and I dare to assert that they dare not really invade the Tang Dynasty in the south. Please relax your heart."

Li Qi calmed down a little panic, and he hurriedly asked, "How did the old general know that the Uighurs did not really invade the Tang Dynasty in the south?"

Guo Ziyi smiled and said, "It's very simple. If the Uighurs attacked Tang with all their strength, his rear would inevitably be empty. Aren't they afraid that Li Qing'an would pick up their nests from the west? I just saw that the Uighurs' army had slowed down its attack, so I knew that they were actually unintentional to attack Tang. Please don't panic."

Li Yu heard his analysis and felt relieved. Guo Ziyi stumbled while the iron was hot and persuaded: "We have 150,000 military and civilians in Jiuyuan City, with sufficient food and a strong city. As long as the military and civilians are united, they can be completely defended. Moreover, the Uighurs are only good at field battles and are never good at siege battles. It is easy to defend Jiuyuan."

Li Yan was finally persuaded. He took off his outer robe and said with shame: "I have lost my composure. Thank you for your advice from the old general. Otherwise, I really can't explain to my father that I am not good at defending the city, so I will leave everything to the old general."

Guo Ziyi smiled and said, "Your Highness is too humble. Your Highness is still the one who will be the one who will be the one who will be the one who will help you to give your Highness an advice and run errands for you, that's all."

Li Yan was secretly grateful, and he said happily: "Then please give me advice from the old general, what should I do now?"

"Now we need to stabilize the morale of the army and the hearts of the people. Please go to the city tower."

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The Tang army did not open the city gate, and the streets were in chaos. Tens of thousands of people were crowded at the south gate, begging and scolding. At this time, drums were rumbling on the city tower, and the drums were like thunder, shocking the chaos under the city. A large group of people surrounded by King Bian, Li Yan, wearing silver helmets and silver armor, appeared at the top of the city. Seeing that King Bian did not escape, many people ignited hope in their hearts. They slowly calmed down and looked up at the young prince and the old general Guo Ziyi behind him.

Li Yan whispered loudly: "There are less than 50,000 Uighur army. They do not have weapons to attack Jiuyuan? There are more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians in my city, with sufficient food and brave soldiers. But I refuse to guard the city for a year. I am the prince of the Tang Dynasty and I am not afraid. What are you afraid of?"

His voice was loud and spread far away. Many young and strong men who were crowded at the door lowered their heads in shame. Seeing that everyone was willing to listen to him, Li Yu increased his confidence and shouted again: "If the Uighurs cannot capture the city, they will walk around the city. Can you escape barefoot and escape from the Uighurs? You can only escape from the city to die, leaving the resistance alive, and those who abandon the city will die. Follow me and hold on to the city!"

"Stay on the city!"

The soldiers waved their swords and guns together and shouted loudly, with a rainbow of momentum. The people under the city were gradually infected, and raised their arms and shouted: "Stay on the city!"

"Stay on the city!"

The outer gate of Jiuyuan City was closed, and more than 100,000 soldiers and civilians began the battle to defend the city under Guo Ziyi's deployment.

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Chapter completed!