On the chaotic battlefield, the Uighurs were completely broken up.
For the prairie cavalry, this was nothing. They could just run away, reorganize, and then fight back. They had long been accustomed to small-scale battles and fighting on their own.
But active and passive are completely different things.
Active dispersion is a tactic; passive dispersion is a failure.
The morale of the two is completely different.
The Uighurs had no intention of fighting at this time. The central army was easily defeated, and then the Leopard Cavalry who had been bypassed on the right wing attacked from behind, causing heavy losses.
Although the left wing fought well and put the tribes such as Momo in front of them at a disadvantage, but if the overall situation is like this, how can they be able to make a comeback?
Under the protection of hundreds of armored elites, the Lord of Umu fought his way out and fled in a hurry. However, the Tiande Army You Yi envoy Tian Xing's troops who arrived later intercepted 2,000 Fanhan soldiers and horses, and lost a lot of money.
In the end, they only took more than 500 horses and fled northward.
After arranging for the Weidu knights to go out in pursuit, Shao Shude got off the high platform and looked at the chaotic battlefield.
After Lord Umu retreated, the Uighur cavalry lost their will to fight and began to flee in all directions.
Some fled far away, without stopping for a breath, and quickly disappeared on the distant horizon. Others lingered in the distance, wanting to run, but worried and hesitant.
Of course, there were also a large group of people who had no place to run and were immediately dropped. There were more than 2,000 people in total.
The Uighurs in Ganzhou originally numbered about 80,000. According to the rules of the Tubo rule, if it was a "recruitment", one person from three households could send out five or six thousand soldiers; if it was a "dafa", it would be on the fifteenth day of the year.
Those above and below 60 are counted as soldiers, and can get between 18,000 and 20,000 soldiers.
They fought from Liangzhou and pursued them all the way to Ganzhou, killing three thousand riders and more than a thousand surrendering.
Today, there was a large-scale cavalry battle in the east of Jiedan City. More than 2,000 people were killed on the spot, and more than 2,000 people surrendered.
Of course, not all of these people are Uighurs, there are also Dingkou from the vassal tribes controlled by them. But as a group with strong combat effectiveness, the Uighurs definitely make up the majority.
At this time, the pursuit is still going on, and the Uighurs will continue to be killed and wounded. It is difficult to say whether the fleeing Uighurs will come back. But no matter what, it is a certainty that the Ganzhou Uighurs have lost more than one-third of their adult males.
It is already difficult to continue to suppress the nearly 70,000 Long family, Tuyuhun, Tubo, Han, Dangxiang, Tatar and other tribes who have been vassalized by them for many years.
The Uighur Khanate in Ganzhou collapsed on the eve of its rise and growth. Just like Xixia, just like Tubo when all the states in Longyou were scattered into one place.
The late Tang Dynasty was indeed a very special time point in Chinese history.
The unified empire was stagnant and gradually weakened. This was true not only of the main ethnic groups in the empire's ruled areas, but also of the ethnic minorities.
After experiencing the dark years of chaos, the Han people in the Central Plains and the Khitans on the northeastern grasslands re-emerged one after another. The Central Plains experienced five dynasties and eventually became the Northern Song Dynasty. The Khitans were blocked from going south and turned to attack and destroy the Bohai Kingdom. Then they marched westward and unified the country.
Most of the grassland.
These were the two fragments of the empire that were the first to "awaken", and each was spliced together to form the two largest fragments.
However, there are still some small and medium-sized fragments in the imperial heritage, such as Xixia, Ganzhou Uighurs, Jinshan Kingdom (Guiyi Army), Gaochang Uighurs, etc., all of which once established states. However, due to various reasons, such as geographical restrictions,
If the population and economy are not abundant, or it rises too late, etc., it has no chance to annex other fragments, and can only separate one party.
The Ganzhou Uighurs resisted the invasion of Xixia and Liao for a long time, fought many battles, and steadily established their country for more than 130 years. However, after experiencing consecutive defeats in the second year of Wende, they lost all the chips in their hands, and the national destiny
Just go away.
In fact, if he had waited another twenty or thirty years, Marshal Shao would not have had the confidence to defeat the Ganzhou Uighurs so easily. After all, their strength at that time was not comparable to what it is now. Not only were their population and wealth more abundant, but their systems were more complete. Just talking about internal affairs.
People's hearts are also more stable.
Therefore, we must seize the time, race against time, and strangle the enemy in his infancy!
After the main force of the Uighurs was defeated, no one could stop the Shuofang army's advance.
A large group of cavalry rushed into the outer city of Jiedan and firmly controlled it. In the inner city, there were still thousands of cavalrymen of all ethnic groups. After some fierce internal strife, the Han general Zhou Yiyan was finally
Kaesong surrendered.
If Lord Umu Khan had not escaped, Zhou Yiyan would of course have continued to be loyal to him. But in the current situation, to be honest, it was unnecessary. After such a tragic defeat, although the Uighurs were still the most powerful group, they were no longer there.
Even if Zhou Yiyan is willing to do so, there are many people who are unwilling to do so among the garrison's people.
When Xiedan surrendered, Shao Shude was meeting Tian Xing, the Tiande Army's Youyi envoy, outside the city.
"General Tian, why did you suddenly march eastward?"
"The last general led two thousand soldiers and horses of Tibetan and Han Dynasties. After going out to pull out the valley, he waited for a long time, but no return troops and Suzhou soldiers were seen. He sent an envoy to Jiuquan to contact him, but no clear reply was received. Waiting is not an option, so he retreated.
Unwilling to give in, he took matters into his own hands and marched eastward to plunder the tribes in Ganzhou to obtain supplies." Tian Xing replied: "After learning that the general was marching west from Liangzhou, he led his army to meet him and fight against the Crows together.
Mother."
"General Tian also made merit this time." Shao Shude was in a good mood after winning the battle, and said: "He made a decisive decision at the right time, with the style of a general. General Tian is good. When he narrates his merits, he should be rewarded."
"Thank you, Marshal, for the reward." Tian Xing said happily.
"The Guiyi Army and the Suzhou Long Family have too many ideas and too little ability. If they don't send troops, they won't send troops. I won't bother to care about them until I finish taking care of Ganzhou." Shao Shude said: "Next, what can General Tian do?
Pioneer, lead your troops to Ganzhou to recruit various tribes."
"The general will obey his orders."
In the case of Ganzhou, the key point is to eliminate Dan. Now that the Uighurs have been defeated and the remnants are insignificant, Ganzhou can probably be conquered without a fight.
Of course, for Marshal Shao, capturing the city has never been the highest priority. Population, farmland, cattle, sheep, and goods, which one is not more important than the city? If you control people, you control everything!
After Zhou Yiyan led his troops to surrender, Shao Shude ordered them all to leave the city and find a place to camp outside the city. Then, a large group of infantry moved in and took complete control of the small inner city.
Shao Shude's first step was to go to the inner treasury of successive Uighur Khans.
"Is this the Great Qin armor?" Shao Shude asked as he slowly admired the exquisite armor that was either placed in a box or hung on the wall.
There are many good things in the Uighurs' treasury. As far as Shao Shude himself is concerned, he still prefers those armors. They are of good quality and exquisite workmanship. They are so beautiful that they feel flashy and they have spent a huge amount of money and energy just to be in the armor.
Engraving various patterns and text on it, and adding various accessories that are not helpful for protection, but will greatly increase the manufacturing cost.
During the heyday of the dynasty, a lot of stunning and exquisite armors seemed to have been produced. It seems that both the East and the West were in the same boat on this matter.
However, from the perspective of businessmen, most people who buy armors have very strong financial resources and cannot lack armor at home. What they want is more aesthetics and is to be kept at home as a collection rather than simply used.
Chen Cheng, who was following Shao Shude, looked at the dazzling fine armor. He didn't understand it, so he said: "A certain person once heard Kang Fojin say that the Daqin helmets have nose protection. This should be it."
"Kang Fojin's good days are coming." Shao Shude smiled and said: "The Hu merchants were forced to go to the grasslands by the Uighurs. These people are really robbing. Hexi Dangxiang is even more barbaric than them.
, they also knew that they would be released after accepting the benefits, and even took the initiative to provide help. The Ganzhou Uighurs usually look down on the Hexi Dangxiang, but in the end they did things even worse than them."
Reopening the Silk Road was something Shao Shude had always wanted to do before he conquered Ganzhou.
The Ganzhou Uighurs are a real trap. Their existence has greatly hindered commerce on the Silk Road.
Many Hu merchants basically reached their limit when they reached the Guiyi Army, so that Dunhuang once became an inland commodity trading market with a strong international flavor.
If the Hu merchants want to continue eastward, they have to take the northern grassland. What a waste! What spending power do the grassland people have? Taking this route means that the Hu merchants have given up on commercial exchanges along the way and only
Doing business between two points: origin and final destination. From a business perspective, this is a huge waste.
International businessmen must be allowed to return to the Hexi Corridor. There are some who can barely pass through by paying tolls to the Uighurs, but the number is seriously insufficient.
Why should Dunhuang people and grassland people take away the huge commercial benefits? Shao Shude's initial idea was to set up a material distribution center in Liangzhou. The goods from Shuzhong would be transported to Liangzhou via Fengxiang, Qinzhou, and Huizhou, and arrive here.
foreign merchants to carry out trade, and then take over Dunhuang's business.
Winning the war will naturally bring dividends. The commercial benefits of the Silk Road are one of the benefits of the Western Expedition to Gansu and Liang. If this is done well, raising an additional 20,000 troops will not be a problem at all.
In the foreseeable future, Lingxia's food problem will be greatly alleviated, but the dilemma of insufficient goods will exist for a long time. The Silk Road is an excellent way to break this dilemma.
In this world, many countries and nations have accumulated huge wealth through buying and selling, and now Shao Shude also wants to get a piece of the pie. What's more, he does have a certain demand for foreign commodities, such as horses.
In the early years of the Kingdom of China, the state of Kang donated 4,000 horses, one of the close relatives of the sweat-blooded horse. These horses later became one of the horse breeds in Hexi Racecourse, but now they are all abandoned and are in urgent need of fresh blood. This can only be done through
Silk Road trade found a way.
"Carefully count the belongings and make a list, and then report it to someone. Who would have thought that the Uighurs in Ganzhou are so many times richer than the Amo in Liangzhou." Shao Shude casually grabbed a bag of pearls and said.
The pearls are very colorful and big. I don’t know where they come from. Maybe the Bahrain Islands in the Arabian Sea? There are many pearls there and they are famous far and wide.
"If these books can be translated, find someone to translate them. If they can be sold in the Central Plains, there must be a buyer, maybe they are bought by the Sogdians." Shao Shude ordered again.
The significance of the Silk Road may not only lie in commercial profits, but cultural exchanges are also very important. Working behind closed doors will not work. More exchanges and mutual promotion can also enrich the connotation of Chinese civilization.
"Commander, surrendered general Zhou Yiyan would like to see you." Lu Ming, the tenth general of the army, walked in and couldn't help but be startled when he saw the jeweled inner treasury.
"Mostly for the fate of the various tribes in Ganzhou. Don't focus on these treasures. During this Western Expedition, all armies will be rewarded. After the inventory is counted, military coupons will be issued to the sergeants and they can be collected after the war."
Shao Shude smiled and said, "Let's go and meet Zhou Yiyan."