After the surrender of Achulingya, Pulei County (today's Qitai) and Pulei Town surrendered one after another, and there was no major resistance force on this front.
Oretsugu divided half of the troops and led them himself, along the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, sweeping through various tribes and recruiting rebels - fighting on the grassland is not about conquering cities and territories, the most important thing is to seize the enemy's
Tribes, eliminate living forces, and even turn enemies into ourselves.
The other half of the troops were led by Liu Zijing, and in cooperation with Yang Liang and Li Sizhao, they marched westward and besieged Tingzhou.
On July 29, after cutting down part of the Populus euphratica forest and making simple siege equipment, Yang Liang led the Hexi Party and Tatar tribesmen to begin the siege.
Liu Zijing led the cavalry troops to loot the surrounding countryside and collect supplies.
Previously, the soldiers under Wang Yanzhang performed on the Uighurs the unique skills they learned after studying in Liaodong: hunting wild animals, driving the panicked Uighurs into piles, and then shooting in circles, focusing on young and strong men.
The soldiers of the government had nothing to do on weekdays. After eating and drinking enough, they had nothing to do but focus on martial arts. Therefore, their arrows were extremely cunning and vicious, and they bit the flesh with their arrows. They practiced this tactic to perfection.
The cavalry army played another set of traditional Han operas.
After the army rushed into the countryside, they first killed a wave of people and beheaded those who dared to resist. Then they loaded women, children, cattle, sheep and food into carriages and marched them into the military camp.
Well, I also found some "fun" things.
The Gaochang Uighurs are not a simple nomadic people. In fact, they are semi-nomadic and semi-agricultural. North of the Tianshan Mountains, the nomadic component is greater, and south of the Tianshan Mountains, the agricultural component is greater. Therefore, they have relatively developed agriculture and handicrafts, weaving their own cloth,
Smelting iron and even issuing gold, silver and copper coins.
There are many exciting things on the copper coins seized by the cavalry army. Translated from the Uighur language, it means "Uighur Sky Khan", "Issued by the king's order", "Accessed by the order of the governor", and there are even some with strong
Manichean style sun, star, moon coins.
Yiduhu is the royal title of the Great Khan of Gaochang Uighurs. After all, they are not of the Yaoluoge family, so they are not qualified to be called Khans, so they call themselves "Yiduhu", although everyone knows that they are the khans of Gaochang Uighurs.
.
"Trespass!"
"capital offense!"
"Kill them all!"
After hearing this, the Feilong Army military academies were filled with indignation.
Ahchu Linya, who came to persuade him to surrender, felt his heart skip a beat and said hurriedly: "Generals, please calm down. The coins with the words 'Uighur Heavenly Khan' printed on them were minted during the Uighur Khanate period a hundred years ago."
Someone translated the words.
The military officers pushed him staggering and cursed: "You are such a thief and you don't know what's going on. Shut up!"
"What's going on in this city? Why don't you come and talk about it?"
"The city of Tingzhou was not that big in the Tang Dynasty, right?"
The military academies were making a lot of noise, and Achu Linya was dizzy and could only say: "This city was built twenty-two years ago, and it took more than ten years to complete..."
After his explanation, everyone knew that Pu Gujun, the founding monarch of the Uighurs in Gaochang, fought with the Tubo for Beiting, and the city was seriously damaged. During this period, the nine surnamed Tatars betrayed the Uighurs, the Xigas people went south to sneak attack, and the Geluolu people
Due to the eastward invasion and other destructive events, Tingzhou changed hands repeatedly and the city was almost completely destroyed.
In the first year of Dashun in the Tang Dynasty (890), the second Khan of the Gaochang Uighurs launched a western expedition, defeating the Anxi Uighurs led by the descendants of Pang Teqin in one fell swoop, seizing Yanqi, Qiuci and other places, and pursued them westward to the Gumo Prefecture area, and returned with a great victory.
——After this battle, the Anxi Uighurs' land east of Congling was completely lost and became the Congxi Uighurs.
After the victory, Gaochang Khan sent 500 workers and 1,000 carpenters to take red soil from Zilimi (Yanqi) to rebuild Tingzhou and named it "Bielos Bali" (Five Cities), as the "Xia" of the Gaochang Uighurs.
All".
In other words, the Gaochang Uighur Khan would live in Tingzhou to escape the heat in the summer, and in Xizhou (Turpan) at other times - this year the war is raging, so this is obviously impossible.
And since it is the capital of Xia, Tingzhou is naturally not an idle person.
The city is divided into two parts: inner and outer. The outer city wall is built using the Tang method and is made of rammed earth, which is thinner. The inner city wall is thicker but not rammed, similar to many local city walls in the Western Regions.
There is a sub-city in the north of Outer City, there is Xiyan City outside the west city wall, and there is a small city (palace city) in the inner city, so there are outer city, sub-city, Xiyan City, inner city, and palace city, which are called five cities.
There are tall buildings and palaces in the city with "multiple trees". In addition to the palace, the most obvious building is the Manichaean temple. It was originally the residence of Mujia (shé), and later moved to Gaochang. The north court was managed by Fu Duodan.
.
Since the period of the Uighur Khanate in Mobei, Manichaeism has always occupied a very important position in the society of the Uighurs.
Manichaeism in the Uighurs belongs to its eastern diocese, and is led by a muja, who is equivalent to the bishops sent from the headquarters to each diocese, with Fuduodan as his subordinate.
However, in the past ten years, Buddhism, which has been fighting with Manichaeism for more than a hundred years, has gradually come to dominate the Uighur society.
Taking the capital of Xia as an example, there is a large temple in the city, which was funded by the Uighur royal family and built to enshrine the royal bones. Members of the royal family also chose this place when they became monks.
It is a wonder that the religious struggle for a small Gaochang Uighur can be so intense.
After listening to Achu Linya's explanation, the military academy members also felt a little emotional. They had underestimated the Gaochang Uighurs in the past. It turned out that they were not that kind of miscellaneous tribe, but a serious country.
"Everyone!" Yang Liang came over and said, "Did you hear everything clearly?"
"Listen clearly!"
"In the summer capital, there must be women and wealth."
"Du Tou, stop talking, I will send the selected vanguard to attack the city and I will take it down even if I die."
"If you don't beat the shit out of the Uighurs, they will be clean!"
"Ha ha!"
The rude military officers were frothing at the mouth, which made Achulingya feel that he was a cultured and cultivated person.
Damn it. In the land of etiquette in the Central Plains, when did these gang of killers appear?
After lunch, Yang Liang pulled the drummer off the high platform, stripped his upper body, and started beating the drum to cheer him up.
The Tatar soldiers rushed forward and collapsed.
Xiang Fan's troops from the Hexi party advanced again, but were defeated again.
Nuo Zhen Shui Ge Shu's men cheered up and rushed forward...
The fighting continued late into the night, and the attack was fruitless.
After getting up from his sleep, Yang Liang swung his heavy sword and killed several tribal chiefs. Everyone was in awe.
Then those who dug holes dug holes in the ground, those who persuaded them to surrender, and those who besieged the city continued to attack the city.
The Hun tribe, Zhuanglang tribe, Weicai tribe, Qibi tribe, and Tatars took turns to attack until dawn, and finally broke through the outer city.
"The saint has arrived at Haozhe Town. It's not very far from here." Yang Liang looked at the tired military academies and said, "If Tingzhou has not been destroyed when he arrives at the city, I will be disgraced.
, but before that, I will kill you, now, give it to me!"
The generals responded with a roar.
Li Sizhao did not care about killing or injuring his own sergeants, so he led two thousand elite soldiers of the black army. By conquering the outer city, when the rebel army was distracted, they rushed to the top of the inner city several times without caring about their own safety, even risking stones.
By evening, more than 700 people had been killed or injured.
Yang Liang was so angry that he kicked him to the ground. Then, regardless of the generals' dissuasion, he led more than a thousand soldiers to attack the city and fought until midnight, finally conquering the inner city.
At Yinshi, when Yang Liang, whose clothes were stained with blood and had three arrows in his body, was helped out of the city, he still had the heart to grin.
Whether they were the Imperial Army or the Tibetan soldiers, they were all impressed when they saw his brave appearance. Some people who were originally dissatisfied with him also restrained themselves a lot.
Li Sizhao, with his face red and his ears red, led his army into the inner city and killed them wantonly.
At daybreak, the thieves' last stronghold, Miyagi, was captured.
According to historical records, when the Uighurs built their palaces, they used "iron gates", which were actually wooden gates covered with iron. By this time, they actually lost their temper and reluctantly resisted. After realizing that they were unable to reverse the defeat, they dispersed one after another.
"Seal the treasury and do not disturb the palace people. Everything awaits the Holy Judgment." After giving the order, Li Sizhao looked at the palace steps covered with blood, feeling excited.
****
Shao Shude received the news of the attack on Tingzhou on the way to Tingzhou, and it was already the afternoon of the first day of August.
A few days before this, Wang Yanzhang raided Pulehai (Lake Barkol), beheaded more than 2,000 people, surrendered the Uighurs, and more than 10,000 Tatars.
At the same time, he also seized Fumaling (today's Uqtak), dispersed a group of Uighur troops, opened up the connection with Xizhou, and obtained many news from the south, and reported it to Shao Shude.
It turned out that Zang Dubao led his main force across the desert and arrived in Yinzhou in early July. After resting for a few days, he raised his troops and marched westward.
While the Uighurs sent their cavalry deep into the rear in an attempt to plunder the Xia army's food routes, they also roamed around, trying to tire out, lure, and block the enemy to buy time for themselves.
Zang Dubao was considered by many to be of average skill and not outstanding in combat. But Shao Shude knew that he was a man whose strength outweighed his reputation, so he entrusted him with an important task.
And he certainly lived up to his expectations.
On the eighth day of July, the main force of the self-lord took the northern route and defeated the Uighurs in Nazhi County (now Hamixi), beheading more than 3,000 people.
On July 22nd, they attacked Luohu City (today's Yanchi in the northeast and west of Shanshan County) and defeated the Uighur army that came for reinforcements. On the 25th, they broke into the city and killed 13,000 thieves - this number is quite large.
It's suspicious, because it's so big that Shao Shude can tell it's fishy at a glance.
Three days ago, they defeated the Uighurs again in Chiting Town (now Qiketai Township, Shanshan County), killing more than 5,000 bandits.
After these three battles, Zang Dubao judged that the Uighurs were frightened and suffered serious military losses, so he pursued them with cavalry and headed straight for Gaochang.
The news ended abruptly.
After Shao Shude read it, he had a deeper understanding of the overall situation.
Going west from Shazhou is actually not easy. There are deserts along the way, and many places are barren, making it very difficult to transport supplies. Zang Dubao marched steadily throughout June and July, closely guarding the grain road until he passed three battles and seriously
After weakening the Uighurs, they boldly pursued them.
No wonder he had a "quiet time" in Beiting. It turned out that someone was "bearing a heavy burden and moving forward."
At this point, the situation of the battle is actually very clear.
The two armies, one from the east and the other from the north, were like iron pincers, firmly holding the Uighurs by the throat.
As for the Khotan army on the southern front, Shao Shude has not received any news about them and does not know where they are.
But it doesn’t matter. The next step is to attack Gaochang from two sides and try to end the battle before it snows.