In the fourth year of Shaoming Dynasty, on the first day of February, we traveled to Anxi Province, northwest of Gumo Prefecture, to Bodaling.
Yao Yuanfu tightened the cotton-padded jacket tightly, but it still felt like it was leaking a little, so he found two ropes and tightened the cotton-padded jacket a little tighter again until he felt that it was affecting his breathing.
Then, he put two large wooden boards tied with hemp ropes on his back, which were actually a pair of skis.
Don't think that this thing was invented by later generations. The ancients were not that stupid. It is so simple to walk on the snow and does not require much high-tech stuff. It has been figured out countless times in real life.
Badaling is the Bederi Pass in the northwest of Wushi County, Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the later Republic of China.
This has always been an important mountain pass on the Silk Road, but it was abandoned after the decline of the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo people cut off Hexi.
Guo Guangcheng was wrapped up like a rice dumpling. He smiled and held a small bag and handed it to Yao Yuanfu.
Yao Yuanfu took it and shook it. He could hear the sound of water and immediately grinned.
The cold wind in the Badaling Mountains in early February is biting, and the lowest temperature can reach more than ten degrees below zero. At this time, no matter how much water you carry, it will freeze. Only strong liquor will not freeze and make a sound.
Guo Guangyi, who claimed to be Khan in Suiye, was much smarter than Zhang Gao thought. Since his rebellion, he had been paying close attention to the movements in Shule and established ten ancient Tang Monk Roads from Shule to Suiye.
There are several checkpoints and a stronghold. Whenever there is any disturbance, Broken Leaf will be notified.
After Hu Guang arrived in Khotan, he immediately sent several groups of people to tentatively pass through the Tang Monk Ancient Road, but without exception they were all discovered and fought back. Even in winter, there were a small number of people guarding the ancient road.
After realizing that the opponent was already prepared, Hu Guang immediately changed his strategy and concentrated on training his troops.
This time he marched westward and only brought 4,000 cavalry with him. The rest of the army had to be recruited from Anxi and Beiting.
However, the military strength of Anxi and Beiting has declined rapidly since Zhang Gao returned to the east, especially after the Gaochang Uighurs were eliminated.
Because Zhang Gao took away most of the elites, especially the elite officers, and after that, all those who could fight in Anxi and Beiting were basically wiped out by Zhang Gao.
Since then, the Silk Road has continued to recover, and after two hundred years of war, a large number of people have been lost, and a large number of troops stationed in Ningyuan (Fergana Basin) have left, leaving the entire place sparsely populated.
This resulted in the entire Anxi and Beiting areas being filled with fertile fields for cultivation and fertile pastures for grazing, as well as prosperous trade routes, so how many people could settle down and engage in military preparations?
Everyone is busy seizing the good opportunity to make a fortune and have children.
You see, Li Shengtian and Cao Yuanxin didn't take maintaining military preparedness in their hearts. In order to fulfill their long-cherished wish to visit the Central Plains, the two father-in-law and their mother actually abandoned state affairs and ran away together. Li Shengtian even wanted to stay in the Central Plains and not return to Anxi.
.
If both of them are like this, how can the people below get better?
In addition to the barbarians from Anxi and Beiting, what can I say, they actually like to lie down and play leisurely.
So in just over ten years, throughout Anxi, the upper classes in Beiting were enjoying themselves and the lower classes were enjoying the wonderful life brought by the prosperous age, which was much better than that of the people in the Central Plains.
However, the consequence of this was that Hu Guang was originally here to quell the Suiye Guo family's rebellion, but he had to first arrest the three organizations of Anxi, Beiting, and Jin.
I was busy almost starting from scratch every day, recruiting troops, training troops, and building ordnance, and I had no time to lead an army to conquer.
No wonder Guo Guangyi dared to rebel. It turned out that Shule's deterrent to Suiye had almost disappeared. If Suiye had not had few people and he was afraid of Zhang Yan directly leading the army, maybe this bitch would have dared to go down the mountain to attack Shule.
In this way, Hu Guang trained his troops for five months at a time, and by the way, he fed the four thousand warriors who came to Anxi with him until they were fat and strong.
These four thousand people originally thought they were here to fight, but they fell directly into the honey pot.
Anxi and Beiting are prosperous, and there is endless beef and mutton to eat and endless peach wine to drink every day.
Moreover, this place has gone through hundreds of years of war. There are many women but few men. Hu Ji's style is open and open. In addition, she is envious of the appearance of the Han people. She goes around the military camp every day to ogle and seduce countless people.
Many families even gave them money and begged them to have sex for a while, just to change their species. Most of them were orchids with yellow heads and green eyes. Everyone hoped that the next generation of their family would have black hair and black eyes.
For five months, it was like being in heaven.
And Hu Guang did not indulge blindly, but grasped with both hands, and those who had no bottom line were quickly beaten by him.
The more unable to control the thing below, the stricter Hu Guang will be on him and the less rewards he will receive.
The more ambitious he is in his heart, or at least knowing that he is restrained, the more liberal he will be, and he will always reward him.
He raised them like this for five months, until the warriors themselves felt sorry for the imperial military pay and the kindness of General Hu, and then Hu Guang came out to assign tasks.
This task is that since Guo Guangyi of Suiye has blocked the Tang Monk Ancient Road and the road from Shule to Suiye is impassable, then find another one.
Go northwest from Gumo, cross the Bodal Ridge, find the Zhenzhu River (Nalen River), follow the Zhenzhu River, all the way to the southwest, and raid Suiye!
To this end, Hu Guang selected three hundred of the most elite men and assigned each of them to wear double armor.
Hu Guang didn't believe that everyone in Suiye's Guo family was willing to follow Guo Guangyi and become a barbarian at this time when it was obvious that Tang Er was becoming noble again.
He didn't believe that the Guo family had persisted in Suiye for seventy years without forgetting their homeland. After successfully returning home, they were willing to collectively betray their ancestors' long-cherished wish of two hundred years.
Of course, selecting 300 people does not mean that only 300 people will set out, but a full 2,000 people will set out.
However, the main task of the remaining 1,700 people is not to fight, but to serve as mules and horses for the 300 soldiers, helping them carry armor, weapons and other supplies.
Yao Yuanfu opened the wine bag and took a big sip. He instantly felt that his body was much warmer. Although this was actually a lie to his body, it was much better than resisting.
He looked back at the team that was swaying in the wind and snow, and said to Guo Guangcheng with a smile: "We have finally climbed over this mountain range. It is better than someone imagined. We are only missing more than two hundred people, not the five we thought."
More than a hundred."
Guo Guangcheng also laughed, "Yakong, you are an unparalleled general appointed by the saint. Whether we can win Broken Leaf in this battle depends on you and the hundred bears and tigers under your command."
The one hundred personal guards recruited by Yao Yuanfu were all fierce men who had fought against the Khitans in the Bai Tuanwei Village in the past, and had followed him to carry out righteousness outside Yanshi City.
Although these elite tooth soldiers from the Central Plains lack some rules, when they kill people on the battlefield, they are really frightening to see.
A tooth soldier happened to pass by the two of them. Hearing Guo Guangcheng's words, he immediately grinned.
"Guo Guanren, don't worry. The saint has given our mother thirty guan of pension money. After arriving in Anxi, General Tiger will fatten sheep and drink wine every day, and Miss Hu Ji will not stop. Of course, someone will repay the favor and kill those local chickens and dogs.
Rivers of blood!"
Another tooth soldier also smiled and said: "That is, when a certain family was in Qiuci, they had already enjoyed thirteen orchids, and at least nine of them were pregnant.
It doesn’t matter what his last name is or what he looks like in the future, but he has always left a seed, and the wine and beauty have also enjoyed it, and now he should repay the divine grace."
Guo Guangcheng was a little embarrassed, because what he actually wanted to say was, don't kill too hard.
Because there are not only traitors like Guo Guangyi in Suiye City, but also many relatives of his Guo family. If they were killed indiscriminately, he would not be able to cry.
Yao Yuanfu understood Guo Guangcheng's current embarrassing mood very well, and patted Guo Guangcheng's shoulder, "Don't worry, Erlang, someone knows what's going on."
....
Outside Suiye City, the work of repairing the city is still continuing. Just outside the city, a wide moat is drawn from the Suiye River and goes around the city.
On the edge of a plateau like Suiye, building a sub-city, Luo City, a large city with a complete moat is very wasteful of manpower and material resources.
Outside the city, foremans wearing long robes and carrying whips can be seen everywhere scolding, and a large number of civilians who can only wear single clothes in February are working hard.
From time to time, people fell down in the muddy ground covered with ice while walking. Some people got up after being whipped by whips, and some never got up again.
Guo Guangjie looked at all this without any sympathy in his eyes. What he cared about was when the city defenses in Suiye City could be fully constructed and the city could become a truly unassailable city.
According to the estimation of his brother Guo Guangyi, as soon as the ice and snow melt, Khotan's army will definitely come up through the Tang Monk Ancient Road again.
Although this ancient road is steep, it is too difficult to transport supplies and cannot be defended at all. So Suiye City is the best place to defend it.
Guo Guangjie thought with a smile on his face. If he could defeat the Khotanese army this time, his brother's position would be completely stable, and he would be able to successfully become the khan of Suiye and Talos, and then attack again.
Destroy Saman Persia and become the Juer Khan in the river.
Guo Guangyi is not tall, and can even be said to be quite short.
Zhang Gao was not sure how he suddenly appeared, and even Guo Guangcheng had no impression of this person. That was because Guo Guangyi was not at Suiye Guo's house at the beginning. He was sent by Zhang Gao to follow Li Guoshou to garrison Da.
Tang Qi, a member of Ross.
After defeating the governor of Tuozhe City in Saman Persia, Zhang Gao transferred 60,000 soldiers and civilians of Suiye tribe to Talas to garrison them, with Li Guoshou as the main guard.
He ordered a cavalry team trained by Bai Congxin in Suiye City as his guard. This cavalry was called Tang Cavalry by the Suiye tribesmen.
Guo Guangyi first stayed in Talos for a few years. Although he was not tall, he had superb riding skills and good shooting skills. More importantly, he was very good at getting things done, and he gained the attention of Li Guoshou.
Although Li Guoshou was promoted to a high position by Zhang Yan, he was not very capable. Gradually, he handed over all matters of Talos to Guo Guangyi.
Guo Guangyi lived up to Li Guoshou's expectations. He not only stabilized the situation of Talas, but also took advantage of its geographical location to make Talas more and more prosperous.
After that, Li Guoshou married his daughter to Guo Guangyi. Two years later, Li Guoshou's only son fell off his horse and broke his neck while going hunting. He didn't even leave a grandson for Li Guoshou.
.
From then on, Li Guoshou could only rely on Guo Guangyi, who was inseparable from him and had already mastered the power of Talos.
At this point, if Guo Guangyi is a Han Chinese who loves his hometown and understands the righteousness, he will at least be the king of a large vassal state in Zhang Yan's plan in the future, and he will also be a heroic figure in the history books.
But unfortunately, Guo Guangyi started from the bottom. In the past, in the Suiye Guo family, those who did not reach a certain height could not receive the cultural education of Tanger within the Guo family. Guo Guangyi had never experienced this.
Although he looks like a Han Chinese, his way of thinking is completely Uighur-style.
More importantly, he was born in Broken Leaf and grew up in Broken Leaf, thinking that Broken Leaf plus Khotan equals the whole world.
He had never seen the Tang Dynasty or the Central Plains at all, and he could only speak Chinese fluently, so he basically had no sense of belonging.
What happened after that was simple. This was not just a reconciliation between Li Guoshou and the Suiye Guo family.
Guo Xuanli and Li Guoshou have been fighting openly and secretly for more than ten years, and they cannot easily reconcile.
This is a careerist who annexed two powers and began to have a big dream of Spring and Autumn Period.