Talas, this city has had many names in later generations, such as Taraz, Zhambul, Mirzoyan, etc., but in the hearts of the Chinese, it will always be called Talas.
The reason why I was so impressed was that, in addition to the fact that the Battle of Talos was barely a direct collision between the two great empires of Tang Dynasty and Dashi in their heyday, it was also because the Anxi Army had never moved further west since the Battle of Talos.
And this step was the end of the entire classical China's westward expansion. Later generations almost couldn't even defend the Hexi Corridor. Not to mention the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, during the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, the Tianfang Sect had already spread all over Guanzhong.
But in reality, the Battle of Talas was a little different from what later generations thought.
In this battle, the losses of the Tang army were great, at least they were killed and three to four thousand soldiers were captured.
This should be the most painful defeat for the Anxi Army, which often defeated more with less and had a crushing record in Anxi.
But if we move to other places, thousands of people will die, which is only the loss of a medium battle.
However, due to various factors, the Tang army never advanced westward again after the Battle of Talos.
This was indeed disappointing, but no one expected that the following two Song dynasties would turn this disappointment into despair.
But today, this loss will be healed by the fifteen thousand troops commanded by Hu Guang.
Of course, this does not mean that Hu Guang is much better than Gao Xianzhi. On the contrary, from various aspects, Hu Guang is slightly inferior to Gao Xianzhi in the past.
But Hu Guang is destined not to fail Talos because his current environment is much better than during Gao Xianzhi's time.
In the old Tang Dynasty, although the Anxi Army was powerful and invincible, the relationship between the Anxi Army and the various ethnic groups in Anxi and the river was not actually very good.
The Tang Empire regarded Anxi as a cesspool, and threw all the virtuous people into Anxi. After these guys arrived, they were naturally not economical. What they did was comparable to what America did in Afghanistan.
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It's not that you can't squeeze him. In places like the river and Persia, you have to squeeze him hard so that he can know who his father is.
But oppression is oppression, and you can't really treat them like cattle, horses, and livestock! It is still necessary to be gentler in some aspects.
This was very good in the Zhangzhou Dynasty. Li Tang started from Hedong and laid his foundation in Guanzhong, so he paid attention to Anxi. But I, Zhang Shengren, simply started in Anxi. Strictly speaking, he returned to the Central Plains from Anxi.
Don’t underestimate this factor. If you ask any Anxi person, especially the Khotan Jin people, even if he is a silly boy herding sheep on the roadside, even if he has blond hair and blue eyes, he will tell you that he is Zhang Shengren’s son.
People from my hometown may also add in their hearts that the Great Zhou Dynasty was a great dynasty established by the people of Anxi.
Up to now, many civil servants, relatives, soldiers and generals of the Jin Kingdom in Khotan have served under Zhang Shengren.
With this incense love, Anxi can be said to be the moment when the relationship is closest to the Central Plains in history. It is far more than a few captains, military guards, and military governors from the Han and Tang Dynasties.
With the Khotan Jin Kingdom, a prosperous state in Anxi with a population of eight to nine million, as its foundation, the Zhou soldiers would receive support in Anxi that the Han and Tang Dynasties could not imagine.
In the past, when Gao Xianzhi was in Anxi, he could mobilize at most 30% of the people's power in Anxi, but Hu Guang, with Li Shengtian's authorization, could mobilize at least 70%.
Although it took several months to cross the Tianshan Mountains and Congling Mountains and head west from Suiye, Huguang had no worries at all.
Behind him, supplies of materials were continuously sent from Shule to Suiye, supporting his army in starting the conquest without worrying about anyone rebelling.
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Suiye actually has an old name, Suiyechuan. These three words well explain the topographic characteristics of this area.
The entire Suiye area is actually a valley about twenty to thirty miles wide and six hundred miles long sandwiched by the Tianshan Mountains.
In this valley, the terrain is relatively flat, it is irrigated by melted water from the Tianshan Mountains, and the high mountains block the cold wind, so it is a good farming land.
Suiye City is at the east end of this valley, and Talas City is at the west end of this valley.
There are hundreds of thousands of people of all ethnic groups living between the two cities. In history, Western Kara Khan, Western Liao Yelu Dashi, etc. were based here.
As the western end of the Broken Leaf River, Talos's geographical location is very critical, and it can be said to be easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Because it is not only protected by the Tianshan Mountains, but also has the vast Moinkum Desert in the northwest, which directly blocks enemies coming from the northwest.
From this, we can also predict how panicked Guo Guangyi felt after returning to Talas.
Because this Talas is completely a fortress-like transportation city. It is the head of Suiye River. Everything in the west can be easily captured by foreign enemies. Only the fertile land in the valley to the east can be protected by it.
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Therefore, if Talas wants to stand, it must rely on the Suiye River at the rear to provide food and grass support. If there is no Suiye River, then the Shiguo City (Tashkent) in the southwest must also be in hand, otherwise it will be difficult to support it.
But the tragedy is that Guo Guangyi has neither.
On the outskirts of Talas, Li Jixun's prediction was very accurate. Guo Guangyi led 40,000 cavalry to besiege Suiye. They fought for a month and a half, but failed to capture the city. Instead, their morale collapsed. By the time he returned to Talas, he had already lost 20,000 people.
They can't get it all together.
The reason is simple. Although he can recruit 40,000 people, these 40,000 people are not the kind to treat him as the Great Khan sincerely.
When there are benefits, we can barely maintain it, but when there are no benefits, people will disappear into the mountains as soon as they retreat.
But he was an ambitious man after all, and he could barely be considered a tycoon. Guo Guangyi's mind was very clear, and he quickly thought of a countermeasure.
There were more than 70,000 people around Talos originally, and nearly 100,000 people from various tribes of Suiye were moved there, and there were about 100,000 herdsmen of various ethnic groups who obeyed him.
Of these 270,000 people, only about 40,000 have truly benefited and are willing to follow Guo Guangyi.
Li Guoshou had only handed over the tens of thousands of people in Talas to him for less than a year, and his control was not firm.
Not to mention the 100,000 people who moved here from Suiye. The reason why Guo Guangyi wants to move them here is because these people are not of the same mind as him. They just have to cooperate with him because of his power. Otherwise, otherwise
, it would be better to leave it directly in the crushed leaves.
Moreover, it is impossible for Guo Guangyi to have the kind heart and insight of Zhang Yan. The relocated people also knew how to arrange supply depots in advance, calculate food and grass, etc. He just used swords to move roughly.
One hundred thousand people traveled 600 miles and were relocated in a few months. It is definitely an exaggeration to say that there were many corpses, but it is true that there were many casualties.
Moreover, after arriving at the place, the arrangements for the ranch and the farm were not in place, which made these people even more resentful.
With so many unfavorable factors, coupled with the fact that the army was forced to withdraw, Guo Guangyi's morale was unstable. When Guo Guangyi reached a place less than twenty miles away from Talas City, he refused to leave, or said he did not dare to leave.
After simply setting up camp, Guo Guangyi summoned his confidant generals and several tribal leaders who must be won over, as well as mercenary leaders recruited from Ogus and even Persia, into the tent.
After seeing all these people come in, Guo Guangyi immediately took out a parchment letter filled with Chinese characters, his triangular eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he roared in a low voice.
"I just received news that it was not 2,000 Han people who captured Suiye City, but 20,000 Han people.
We have all been deceived. It was the Guo family and the Pugu family from Suiye who deceived us. These traitors want to kill us!"
Although waving the so-called evidence of guilt, Guo Guangyi did not show this "evidence of guilt" to everyone. In his words, he attributed all failures to the people from Suiye who betrayed them.
Oh! I forgot to mention that Guo Guangyi’s surname is no longer Guo. He changed his surname to Guo Ge, so he can scold the Guo family without any psychological burden.
Several tribal leaders looked at each other, thinking that your attempt to blame others was too outrageous.
Considering the fighting strength of those Han people, there really must be 20,000 people. Their heads would have been chopped off and thrown into the sea of hot sea. How could they safely retreat here?
In the midst of confusion and Guo Guangyi's scolding, Guo Guangyi's trusted general suddenly stood up and spoke loudly.
"These Broken Leaf people betrayed King Khan. They failed King Khan's forgiveness to them. Now it's time for them to pay the price."
Those who could be summoned by Guo Guangyi at this moment were all human beings. When they heard what Hu Lunqian said, they immediately understood.
It turns out that King Guoge Khan is not just looking for a scapegoat, he wants them to loot and divide the 100,000 people who came from Suiye, so as to stabilize the morale of the army!
Suddenly, the atmosphere in the tent changed from confusion and uneasiness to surprise and excitement. You, the Khan, agreed, so why should we be so polite?
Within a few breaths, four or five tribes and mercenary leaders rushed to express their allegiance to Guo Guangyi, vowing to follow the Khan and fight the Han people to the end.
Guo Guangyi's heart was bleeding. In this river, it is very common for subordinates' subordinates not necessarily to be my subordinates.
Although he is the King of Khan, except for his own troops, he cannot interfere too much with the leaders below, let alone direct management.
He planned to digest and absorb these 100,000 people into his own tribe after defeating the Central Plains soldiers, but now, in order to stabilize the situation, he could only push them out and sacrifice them all.
Moreover, this alone was not enough, he had to hug a thick thigh immediately to eliminate the negative consequences of not being able to knock down the broken leaves.
In the tent, a little leader who was at the very back had a gleam in his eyes, and when no one was paying attention, he quietly moved a few steps out, as if he was looking for an opportunity to run out.