Strong winds blew, gravel hit the surface, and the weather suddenly worsened.
"You've got to wait for the good weather!" Li Shaorong shouted and led his men out.
Yang Hongwang breathed a sigh of relief.
The Uighurs were a good opponent. After suffering a heavy loss from the armored cavalry charge in the south of Liangzhou City, they quickly thought of a countermeasure.
They realized their shortcomings in close combat, so they decisively opened the distance and relied on their excellent mobility to shoot flexibly. Some of their arrows were so precise that they could even hit the door directly in the face, making them heavy as turtles.
The cavalry was in constant distress and gradually became a vase in need of others' protection.
These Uighur cavalry are actually good soldiers!
If they can be recruited and properly trained using Chinese methods, they will become a powerful cavalry force.
In particular, some people with outstanding archery skills are astonishing and have the shadow of He Basheng in those days: "They are good at being in chaos, especially in martial arts. They can shoot flying birds on horseback and get five or six hits out of ten."
To deal with these elite Uighur soldiers who are trying their best to harass and delay them, rely on the cavalry of the sudden cavalry who are good at close combat and whose cavalry shooting skills can only be said to be qualified, which is probably not enough. Only those at Beiweidu who are good at mid-range mounted shooting,
Elite soldiers who can throw short spears at close range and are not weak in close combat are worthy of their opponents.
However, the wind will be strong and the dust will rise suddenly, and the situation will be different.
Li Shaorong drew his short horse rifle from the holster, and under the cover of the wind and sand, he rushed directly in front of a Uighur cavalry holding a riding bow. In his astonished eyes, he looked like an adult playing with a child, and gently poked the enemy soldier's corpse.
He immediately fell off his horse.
The sergeants from Tuqidu rushed over with shouts.
In this kind of weather, the power of bows and arrows was greatly reduced, allowing the melee cavalry to give full play to their advantages. Therefore, after charging for less than half an hour, the Uighurs abandoned dozens of corpses and retreated.
After the battle, Li Shaorong was not in a hurry to catch up, but ordered the formation to be gathered up and take a short rest.
They have already rushed to the West River Valley.
A full day has passed since the battle in the south of Liangzhou City. The Iron Cavalry, Leopard Cavalry and thousands of Momo Cavalry pursued all the way and defeated the Uighurs again near Hongyuan Valley, beheading more than 300 people.
Faced with this difficult situation, Lord Umu finally gave up the unrealistic idea of returning to Ganzhou with the loot, and instead invited Liugu Tubo to flee with them.
In order to protect their troops, they had to fight and retreat, harassing and blocking the pursuers. The scene before them was a glimpse of the delayed action of the Uighur and Tibetan coalition forces.
But is it useful?
It's not of much use, and you might end up cheating yourself in the end.
How could there be so many old, weak, women, children, cattle, sheep and property in the tribe running fast? Lord Umu still failed to give up completely, or he could not convince his Tibetan allies, which led to such a passive and constantly consuming force.
situation.
The rumble of horse hooves sounded in the distance. It sounded like there were more than a thousand riders. Li Shaorong's expression changed and he got on his horse again. The knights around him also followed suit and got on their horses one after another. They took out the horseshoes and hammers from their saddlebags.
Axes, sabers, maces and other melee weapons.
"The deputy general is one of our own!" someone said.
Li Shaorong was unmoved and had already taken out his bow.
Fortunately, it was really one of our own who came.
Yu Oritsugu ran over with a large group of cavalry.
"I've seen the military envoy!" Li Shaorong dismounted and bowed.
"Why did you stop? I wonder if Li Renmei is still running away?"
"Reporting to the army, the battle has been fierce for a long time, and the sergeants are in urgent need of rest."
"Why don't the Uighurs take a rest? No rest, keep chasing!" Oretsugu waved his hand and ordered.
The sergeants looked troubled, but they mounted their horses one after another. This was Marshal Shao's army. If it were the Hebei sergeants, the general would never dare to force them like this.
Watching the Tuqi capital soldiers disappearing gradually, Oritsugu Yu suddenly felt something.
If we want to defeat Ganzhou this time, we should advise the commander-in-chief to draw out the elite Uighurs and bring back Lingxia to join the army.
Since the Han Dynasty, the prairie cavalry has had three major advantages and three major disadvantages.
Excellent riding skills, accurate archery, and hard work are the three major advantages. Especially this hard-working Han army can run thousands of miles and is already very capable of enduring hardship. However, it was found that the Huns were more "animals" than them, and they were not exposed to wind, frost, rain, or snow at all.
Don't be afraid, endure hunger, crawl on ice and sleep in snow, it's just ordinary things.
It was tempered by the harsh living environment of the grassland.
Once the grassland people enter the Han realm, it won't take long for the second generation to basically lose this ability to endure hardships and stand hard work.
If all the elite soldiers of the Ganzhou Uighurs are taken away, on the one hand, it can prevent them from rebelling, and on the other hand, it can also provide the commander with capital for expeditions. Think about it, one person with two horses, or even three horses, can endure hunger and bear hardships.
Weathering wind, frost, rain and snow, maneuvering thousands of miles, and suddenly appearing from one battlefield to another, how big of an advantage is this?
"Continue the pursuit. The Uighurs will most likely abandon the Liugu Tubo and flee alone." Oritsugu Yu gave the order, and more than a thousand cavalry left the battlefield and continued westward, gradually disappearing into the wind and sand.
****
Outside Dunhuang County, the outgoing army has just received its rewards.
Fifty-nine-year-old Zhang Huaishen personally led the troops on the expedition, with a total of more than 7,000 Fan-Han troops.
This time, he faced huge pressure from the town, and the opposition was overwhelming, especially from Zhang Huaiding's group.
Originally, he even thought that he would not be able to send troops. But who would have imagined that at the critical moment, the Sogdians, who had a great influence in the town, actually supported him. I don’t know what he was thinking. Maybe he was interested in the Silk Road being moved to the southern front.
Finally, huge business wealth.
In the past, the Uyghurs had been robbing the passing business travelers. If they could seek peace, this road would indeed be a lot more peaceful.
There may also be other reasons, such as not wanting to see the local wealthy families Suo, Li, and Yin gain power.
But no matter what, the Cao family, the An family, the Kang family, the Zhai family and other large Sogdian families, as well as the Long family of the Long family, all expressed their support clearly. Zhang Huaishen had actually been in power for so many years, and finally overcame everyone's opinions.
The important matter of sending troops was decided.
Some vague news has come from the east.
Shuofang's army had occupied Liangzhou and had greatly defeated the enemy. Li Renmei, the Uighur Khan of Ganzhou, led more than 10,000 people to Liangzhou, joined forces with the Liugu Tubo, and watched the city, seeing that another war was about to break out.
Of course, these are only part of the reasons for sending troops. There are also some deeper things that Zhang Huaishen cannot explain clearly, but everyone knows it.
Today's Dunhuang City is undercurrents.
The imperial court granted Zhang Huai the title of envoy to Shenshazhou, which was indeed a powerful killing move.
It not only made some people in the town desperate and crazy, because Zhang Huaishen was indeed the official Jiedushi, but it also gave them hope, because he was just the Shazhou Jiedushi and only governed Shazhou.
It's more of an instigation than a reward.
Zhang Huaishen saw clearly that Dunhuang City was not very safe because the major families were intertwined with each other. Compared with this, the army was simpler. After all, it was a place he had worked hard for many years and had promoted over the past thirty years.
There are quite a few generals. These people cannot be said to be very loyal, but at least they have no intention of harming others.
Only by taking control of the army and leading troops outside can we get some people to take action and suppress even greater chaos.
The Suo family, the Yin family, and the Li family are not fools. If they do something in the city and Zhang Huaishen comes back with his army in the future, how will they deal with it?
There are 7,500 troops and more than 3,000 cavalry. After leaving Dunhuang, they will march all the way east and march 300 miles inside to Yumen Pass, near Jinchang County, Guazhou (now Kuyu City, Anxi County, Gansu).
Three hundred miles east from Guazhou, you can reach Lisuo Jiuquan County, Suzhou.
Zhang Huaishen personally led the cavalry first, and General Suo Xun walked slowly behind with the infantry, chariots and horses.
On the fifth day of April, the Guiyi cavalry arrived in Suzhou, but at this time the infantry led by Suo Xun had not yet reached Yumen Pass.
The governor of Suzhou, the leader of the Long family, Long personally came out of the city to greet him.
"Long Cishi, is there any news coming from the east?" As soon as they met, Zhang Huaishen asked him about the news he was most concerned about.
Long looked at Zhang Huaishen, who had wrinkled face, scattered silver hair, and a look of dust on his face. He shook his head and said, "I only heard that Shuofang's army was fighting with the Uighur and Tibetan coalition forces outside Liangzhou City. He didn't know anything about the rest. But Lord Wumu
It is true that he has not returned to Ganzhou yet."
The strength of the Suzhou Long Family is actually only slightly inferior to that of the Guiyi Army. They can still pull out more than 10,000 troops by gritting their teeth.
The Long family tribe is originally a Yanqi people, descended from the Tocharo people. Since the Western Jin Dynasty, King Yanqi has always been named Long: "When Emperor Wu was in Taikang, his (Yanqi) king Longan sent his son to serve."
The imperial dynasty set up a governor's office there, which was one of the four towns in Anxi.
More than thirty years after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the monk Wukong returned to his country from Tianzhu and stayed for three months on his way to Yanqi. The leader of his country was named Long Rulin: "Then he went to Wuqi Kingdom (i.e. Yanqi Kingdom). King Long Rulin, and the guarding envoy Yang Riyou stayed for three months.
.”
At this time, the four towns of Anxi were still in the hands of the Tang Dynasty.
But then a battle for Anxi broke out between Tubo and the Uighurs. The Uighur Huaixin Khan led his army to defeat the Tubo.
Jingguan.”
After the Tubo was defeated and retreated, Yanqi, which was once controlled by them, became a vassal state of the Uighurs.
However, some Yanqi people did not dare to stay there because they helped Tubo fight the Uighurs, so under the leadership of King Long Nongkuo, they fled with Tubo - well, they also ran away with the Shatuo tribe who once lived in Beiting.
, they are also the servants of Tubo.
The Tubo people settled Yanqi and Shatuo in Gan and Liang prefectures under the jurisdiction of North Delu.
After the brothers and sisters settled down, the leader of the Longjia tribe (who still called himself the king) was appointed as the general of Longdao under the command of Dalu in northern Tubo. The leader of Shatuo, Zhu Xie Jinzhong, was awarded the position of Dalu, but later ran away.
The reason is: "When the Tubo invaders border, Shatuo is often the vanguard."
The reason why the Yanqi people stayed was: "The sacred Zanpu meets every time, and precious gold and silk are given every year."
Two brothers in distress, one was consumed as a vanguard, the other was received by Zanpu, and received many rewards every year. The hearts of the Shatuo people should be broken.
After the assassination of Tubo Zampu and the chaos in the country, the Long family took advantage of the situation and rose up, controlling the Tumo, Tuyuhun, Dangxiang and even the Tubo tribe, and snatched Ganzhou and Liangzhou from the Guiyi army.
Later, the city of Liangzhou was controlled by troops sent by the imperial court, and Aimo rose again. The Long family's power was completely eliminated from Liangzhou, but there were still some Long family tribes in the local area, attached to Aomo.
Later, with the rise of the Uighurs, the Long family forces were eliminated from Ganzhou, and the local Long family tribe became attached to the Uighurs.
So the Long family fled to Suzhou and nominally paid tribute to the Guiyi Army.
Speaking of which, the Long family is actually quite good. They have many people and soldiers, but their fighting ability is average. Their strengths may be raising and taming horses. I don’t know how the history books say that “their people are light and sharp and good at fighting”.
, maybe I was very good at fighting in the past, but this meeting is really not good, and there are too many stable days.
"Ganzhou is empty. I am ready to fight this time. What kind of regulations does Long Governor have?" Zhang Huaishen and Long Jiu entered the city together and asked on the way.
"There were so many people talking just now, and some things are inconvenient to reveal." After returning to the yamen, Long dismissed everyone and said in a low voice: "Zhang Pushe came at the right time. Yesterday, a primary school student from Longyou Town came to Suzhou.
It is said that a large army will go out to pull out the valley and attack Ganzhou, and invites us to join the army."
Everyone in Longyou Town knows that it is a vassal of Shao Shude, the king of Lingwu County, and even the local army is Shuofang's army.
"It's more than five hundred miles from Suzhou to the east to Ganzhou, if all the cavalry is..." Zhang Huai pondered deeply and seemed to be a little moved.
The dragon said nothing and waited patiently.
"How many cavalry can the Long family provide?" Zhang Huaishen asked suddenly.
"If we want to conquer Ganzhou, we can send out five thousand cavalry." Long replied: "There are Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, Tubo, Uighur, and Han tribes in the state. If you are willing to gather troops, you can get 5,000 cavalry at your fingertips."
Zhang Huaishen's eyes narrowed. How could the Suzhou Long family recover so quickly? Can the Long family control all those tribes?
"How much can you get?" Zhang Huaishen asked.
"Five...five thousand." Long was a little embarrassed.
Zhang Huaishen knew it well. Although the tribes in Suzhou were dominated by the Long family, they were actually allies. It would not be that simple for them to send troops together.
"It would be better to have more soldiers." Zhang Huai said deeply: "Uighur men can be soldiers if they are taller than a wheel. Over in Ganzhou, someone thinks there should be five or six thousand cavalry to guard us. If there is a police force, they will recruit men into the army.
It will not be a problem to gather more than 10,000 cavalry. A certain person has brought 3,000 cavalry, and Long Jishi can provide 5,000 cavalry. If we can recruit another 5,000 cavalry from Tuhun and other tribes, supplemented by Shuofang who came from the big fight to pull the valley.
Army, that’s about it.”
"Someone has to figure this out." After pondering for a long time, Long suddenly felt confident and said, "The Uighurs have bullied us for so long, and it's time to settle the accounts clearly."