Two days later, the Tang army occupied Qianquan City, which was the second largest city in the Shi Kingdom. However, all the people in the city were taken away by the Sabah army. The food and property in the city were also looted, leaving an empty city.
At this time, news came from Juzhanti that Juzhanti had been occupied by Li Fei Yuanli, and this 15,000-man army was not found along the way.
This was the first time that the Tang army made a misjudgment. Bai Xiaode believed that this army would definitely go south to Juzhanti, because Juzhanti was an important passage to Dashi and its strategic location was extremely important.
Bai Xiaode arranged for Lifei Yuanli to occupy Juzhanti first. When the army went south, they attacked from the north and south and wiped out the 15,000 troops. This was the main culprit of the sudden attack on Suiye.
Unexpectedly, this army did not go to fight together in the end, causing Bai Xiaode's deployment to fail.
In the big tent, Li Chenghua looked at the sand table for a long time. She pointed to the Zhenzhu River: "This army must have gone west along the Zhenzhu River. Their goal should be Anguo. As far as I know, the army leader Sabah was killed by the king of Anguo.
To drive out Bukhara, Sabah must have hated Anguo very much. He had no way to take revenge before, but now he has 15,000 troops, enough to defeat the Anguo army. They must have gone to Bukhara."
Bai Xiaode said bitterly: "It's really an advantage to him!"
Li Chenghua smiled and shook his head, "General Bai did not stop at Shiguo. As long as Shiguo is taken, there will be chaos in Sogdia. The lurking army in Dashi will take the opportunity to raise troops. Together with this Anguo hatred army, it will be enough for them.
If you drink a pot, it will also give us the opportunity to send troops."
Bai Xiaode nodded, "Then follow the second plan and continue to attack the Shi Kingdom to the west!"
The Qianquan Mountain in the Hezhong area is a treasure mountain, which is today's Kyrgyz Mountains. It is rich in gold and silver. The Qianquan Mountain Range lies across the Shi Kingdom and the Bakhna Kingdom. The Shi Kingdom mainly produces silver, and the Bakhna Kingdom is rich in gold. The Hezhong area was famous in the Middle Ages.
It is the capital of gold and silver, and 80% of the gold and silver in the Hezhong area is produced in Shiguo and Bakhna, and part of the silver is produced in Juzhanti.
Gold and silver from the Silk Road have always been an important source of finance for the Tang Dynasty. In the final analysis, the Battle of Talos was a battle between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi for the gold and silver in Central Asia.
This time the Tang Army's western expedition was also to capture the gold and silver-rich areas. The Sogdians who lost their gold and silver areas would not fall. They would continue to open up markets westward, earn European gold and silver, and move eastwards.
Buy silk and porcelain and you will go further along the Silk Road.
Three days later, the Tang army arrived at Tuozhi City. The Shi Kingdom was also controlled by the Saintess Society. The Queen of the Shi Kingdom was called A Lian. She was the elder. She was sixty years old this year. She was the sister of King Bahan Namodo and was the queen of the Shi Kingdom at that time.
The mother of the king's prince Shi Kun, her youngest son Chebi Shi died of illness a few years after he became king. She only had a little prince who was only three years old. A Lian became the queen of the prison country and was extremely powerful. Later she simply abandoned her.
She lost her grandson and became the queen herself.
Bukhan Adele imitated her and became the queen.
However, the Shi Kingdom suffered heavy losses in the attack on Bakhna and the subsequent Battle of Talas. It only had 2,000 troops left. Its military strength has not been restored to this day. The country's military strength is less than 10,000, which is the entire Sogdia.
The country with the smallest military strength in the region.
If it weren't for the full support of the Saintess Society, Shi Country would have been ravaged by countless countries.
In addition, there is another very important reason, that is, Tuozhi City, the capital of the Stone Kingdom, is extremely difficult to attack. It is like Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor Kingdom in "The Lord of the Rings". It is built on the mountain and has strong walls.
It is difficult to defend and attack. Even if there are 10,000 troops, they can still withstand the attack of tens of thousands of troops. Otherwise, Tuozhi City is known as the Silver City, and it would have been looted by Sabah's 20,000 troops.
Tuozhi City is known as the City of Silver, with five million taels of silver piled up in its warehouses, including the newly built Saintess Temple behind the palace, all built with silver.
There are also one hundred large trebuchets at the top of Tuozhi City. The atlas brought back by Shi Kun from the Tang Dynasty allowed the craftsmen of the Shi Kingdom to learn papermaking and various military equipment.
The Tang army set up camp three miles east of Tuozhi City. At this time, Xi Wanli came forward to ask for orders: "I would like to lead 10,000 cavalry to test the attack and attack the city gate with exploding arrows. Please give me permission from the general!"
Bai Xiaode nodded, "I agree to attack!"
Xi Wanli immediately led 10,000 cavalry and rushed towards the city. Bai Xiaode ordered Huben General Cao Lingzhong to also lead 10,000 cavalry to support him. Once the city gate was breached, they rushed in directly.
The 10,000 troops covering thousands of miles gradually approached the city. Suddenly, drums sounded loudly on top of the city, and hundreds of huge fireballs hit the heads of the Tang army's cavalry. The Tang army's cavalry dodged one after another. After the fireballs landed, a raging fire suddenly ignited.
Xi Wanli was surprised. Isn't this Tang Jun's kerosene bomb? There was a kerosene clay pot inside, and the outside was wrapped in wheat straw soaked in kerosene. It burned in the air, forming a huge fireball. When it fell to the ground, the pottery jar broke, and the kerosene bomb exploded.
It was splashed out, forming a burning field, which was very powerful. Fortunately, the Tang army was cavalry, highly mobile, and could avoid kerosene bombs. It would have been a disaster for the infantry.
Xi Wanli saw that the 10,000 Tang troops could not move forward, so he ordered the army to retreat one mile and ordered a cavalry force of 1,000 men to charge in.
The thousand-man cavalry was more flexible. They lurched left and right, and gradually approached the city gate. They were still a hundred steps away from the city gate suspension bridge. Wang Hui, the general of the army, ordered: "Fire with explosive arrows!"
While the cavalry were running, they drew their bows and arrows and shot at the suspension bridge. A thousand exploding arrows were shot at the suspension bridge and the city gate. A series of explosions and smoke rose everywhere. The suspension bridge was blown to pieces and crashed down. The city gate was also destroyed by hundreds of people.
The explosive arrows gathered together and blasted three large holes, but instead of revealing the dark city gate, a gray-white boulder was revealed. It turned out that the gate of Tuozhi City had long been blocked by boulders, and the power of the explosive arrow was too small.
Boulders cannot be exploded.
Helpless, Xi Wanli could only order to withdraw his troops.
"Woo——"
The horn sounded to withdraw troops, and a thousand cavalry quickly retreated, leaving the city and retreating a mile away.
Xi Wanli came back and clasped his fists and said: "General Qi, I'm humble and incompetent in my position. I can't break the city gate. Please punish me, General!"
Bai Xiaode waved his hand, "This has nothing to do with you, don't blame yourself!"
Bai Xiaode was also very depressed. They did not carry any siege weapons, and there were no trees for hundreds of miles around. They expected to use firearms to blow open the city gate and the army to rush in, just like thirsty to block the city. Unexpectedly, the opponent was well prepared and actually used huge rocks.
With the city gate blocked, not only are the explosive arrows useless, but the arrows and thunder cannot explode. If we attack with fire, the opponent's kerosene weapons are no worse than those of the Tang army. How can we fight this?
At this time, the supervisor Li Chenghua laughed and said: "General Bai, we still need to use artillery. Instead of blowing up the city gates, we can blow up the city walls. We can use explosive bombs to blow them up. If the city wall collapses, we can still get in."
Bai Xiaode nodded, this is indeed the only way to attack the city.
Bai Xiaode immediately ordered: "Transfer all ten generals and use explosive bombs to blow up the city!"
Artillery did not play a role in Kesai City, but this was Tuozhi City, which seemed to be the battlefield where artillery showed its talents.
