Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1593 Strategic Objectives
Persian-style castles are very different in appearance from European castles, but their internal structures are similar.

It can be roughly divided into the meeting hall (also used for banquets), the lord's residence (summer and winter), library (storage of books and manuscripts), reception room, small creator temple, prison, stables, armory, training ground , jewelry room, kitchen and other functional units.

Satuk is just the lord of a small town, and the castle is not big. When dozens of generals and officials sat in the meeting hall, it was already packed—basically everyone came, except Yuhou Yelik, the capital of the Flying Dragon Army. As a result, he led his army to attack the town of Quba (Quba) west of Woshi.

The imperial chef prepared a series of delicacies, which were brought to the table by the palace people.

The military musicians kept preaching, and the Persian dancers showed their heads and poses. The scene was harmonious, just like the banquet given by Gaochang last year.

"In Ershi's small place, the dancers are not very colorful. After the city of Thirst is conquered, I will have another feast to have fun with you all." Shao Shude picked up the wine glass and said, "Drink this glass first."

"Drink this cup full." Everyone shouted with joy in their hearts.

Since breaking into Rakhana, the booty has been quite a lot.

The soldiers got a lot of goods, mainly leather, gold and silver coins.As generals, they mainly took exotic handicrafts, gold and silverware.

In addition, Shao Shude rewarded a fine horse and two Turkic or Slavic slaves—female slaves, of course.

At this time, these things have been sent to Shule by the people of Khotan.It will be transported to Luoyang later, so that everyone can see that the saint defeated the thieves outside and captured a lot of people, which has a miraculous effect on stabilizing the situation.

After drinking for three rounds, Shao Shude put down his wine glass and meditated endlessly.

Everyone seems to be chatting and laughing happily, showing off their spirits, but they are all looking at the saint from the corner of their eyes.Seeing that the sage seemed to be about to speak, they all shut their mouths.

The field fell silent.

"I learned from the captive officer that Kesai City has six thousand Guram soldiers, and Juzhanti has more than five thousand Turkic soldiers. The other four big cities each have two to three thousand soldiers." Shao Shude said: " The news should have spread to the west, and you can discuss what to do next."

Everyone was deep in thought.

Yang Liang cleared his throat, and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you see how the thieves will deal with it first, Master Wang can just dismantle the tricks when he sees them."

"It's true to see the tricks, but there must be an overall strategy, right?" Privy Councilor Yang Jue said: "If the target is not clear, the battle is very dangerous. The goal this time is to rob Persia's wealth to benefit Anxi, so what should we do?" At which step will you stop? General Yang, I want to remind you that in less than two months, Congling will be covered by heavy snow. By then, the army will be cut off from the road and will not be able to return to Shule. If you want to go back to Anxi, you can only go to Bahana and detour to the north side."

"Walk around as long as you want, what can you do?" Yang Liang stared, not paying attention to the privy envoy at all.

"The news of the army from the north and the middle has not yet come. If they don't fight well, what will happen to the south?" Yang Jue asked.

"Two months is enough to break through them." Yang Liang said.

Yang Jue shook his head and said, "One and a half months at most, you still have half a month to retreat."

"Private Yang, isn't one month enough to fight?" Ma Sixun couldn't help asking.

"If I were a Persian, I would have to fortify the walls and clear the country, stand firm and wait for reinforcements, and preserve my army strength as much as possible. When the king's division retreats, I will pursue them vigorously, and there may be some gains." Yang Jue said expressionlessly: "For more than a month, you How many big cities can we conquer?"

Ma Sixun couldn't keep his face from being told, and said angrily: "Then I won't leave, and I will fight the Persians here."

"Do you want to put the saint in a dangerous place where there is no retreat?" Yang Jue said in surprise, "If you know that the mountain is covered by heavy snow and there is no retreat, what do you think of the morale of the army?"

"You spitting blood!" Ma Sixun stood up and said angrily.

"That's enough!" Shao Shude put down his wine glass, and said, "It's just a matter of discussion, why fight with red faces, like enemies."

"I know I'm wrong." Yang Jue, Yang Liang, and Ma Sixun stood up one after another and said.

"Your Majesty, I think we should set a return date first, and then wait to see how the Persians respond, so we can act as an enemy." Secretary Lang Cui Miao said, "We are making such a fuss, the governor of Persia may not be able to sit still. If he doesn't take any action, Even if we win the battle in the future, I'm afraid there will be no good fruit to eat. Therefore, there is still a chance to capture one or two big cities. I think it is impossible to take all six cities."

What Cui Miao meant was that the troops were dispatched a little later this year.

Gao Xianzhi had already arrived in Talas in July, but Xia Jun's pioneers only left in late July, so there was not enough time.

But there is no way, after all, they only defeated Satuk in late June, so they are not in a hurry.

If you stay in Fergana for too long, the enemy knows that you have no return, even if you don't consider the morale of the army, it will be a big problem.

Theoretically speaking, the Persians can mobilize heavy troops, or even summon jihads from other places, and encircle and annihilate you with superior forces.

"Your Majesty, I think that I will leave in mid-September at the latest." Yang Jue said, "If you really don't want to part with the results of the battle, you can send Yang Dutou to lead the troops to stay behind and respond to the other two armies, but the holy car must leave."

As soon as this remark came out, many people looked at Yang Liang and whispered.

Although Yang Liang was brave, he was not a fool, and he knew that Yang Jue had hit him gently.

"Boom!" Shao Shude patted the table.

The discussion stopped.

"A Chu, you mentioned the Khorasan Highway to me, you might as well tell others about the other roads and how to go from Bahana to Anxi." Shao Shude said.

The sage actually gave him a chance to show off. Ah Chuo was flattered, and immediately got up and said, "Khan, the nearby Khorasan Avenue is divided into two branches..."

Under A Chuo's introduction, everyone probably understood the direction of the Persian post road, and the core was in Samarkand.

Samarkand is an important city in Persia and an important commercial city on the Khorasan Avenue.

The scale of the city is very large, with three layers of castle, inner city and outer city. There are four gates. The BMW from Central Asia was buried with it, which shows that countries outside the region had access to the Qin State at that time. At that time, ancient India called China cina, which was the pronunciation of Qin. When it spread to Arabia, it became sin, and then it became Thin in Greece.

Of course, as early as Qin Mugong's period, there was a record of China being called "Qin" in Sanskrit in ancient India.

After all, it is one of the overlords of the Spring and Autumn Period, with great influence and located in the westernmost part. The countries in the Western Regions did not have the conditions to contact other overlords at that time, so ancient India thought that Qin State was the whole of China, and ignored Qi, Jin, Chu, etc. Other countries.

To the east of Qinmen, there is a small town called Zamin, which is the intersection of Khorasan Avenue.From here, go through Shash (Tashkent), Baishui City (Shymkent), Talas (Taraz), Kubal (Broken Leaf, near Tokmak) to Upper Nushejan, a total of 86 fares Sacher.

Upper Nushejan is the border of China in the eyes of the Persians, located in the Ili River Valley.

Farsach is a unit of mileage, about 6.24 kilometers.

Starting from Zamin, there is another road, that is, through Sabat, Juzhanti, Bahana, Guba, Woshi, and Uzkand, a total of 62 Farsah.After starting from Uzkand, we entered the poorly developed tribal area. After passing through Aitbash, we walked for a total of eight days and arrived at Upper Nushejiang, which is also the end of Khorasan Road.

On the whole, the second path is more difficult.

According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, this is actually the North Plains Route of Congling Mountain, the core point of which is Atami (Issyk-Kul Lake), which is also accessible in winter.

Consul General Zakharov in Ili, one of the Russian representatives in the [-]th century "Records of China-Russia Survey and Division of the Northwest Boundary", admitted: "The Chinese own the Issyk-Kul area, and here is the most convenient road from Ili to Kashgar. .”

Therefore, they did everything possible to seize Issyk-Kul.

After half of the Ili River Valley and Issyk-Kul Lake disappeared, the military traffic between southern Xinjiang and northern Xinjiang in the Qing Dynasty had to detour through the Tarim Basin, which was very troublesome, and the capital of Xinjiang could not continue to be located in Ili.

"Your Majesty, there are many mountain roads here, extremely rugged..." Cui Miao said immediately after hearing this.

Yang Jue didn't speak this time.

As a core executive, he certainly knows this way.In fact, the sage sent envoys to go this way the day before yesterday to contact Atami Turks.

This road can indeed be passed in winter, but in his opinion, it is no problem to take the caravan, but it is more troublesome to pass the army. The team will be very long, and the surrounding environment is complicated and dangerous.

Shao Shude also hesitated a little, but he soon came to his senses.

When marching and fighting, the most taboo is to look forward and backward, and the target is unknown.

Either make up your mind, don't go back at all, learn from the nomadic Khan, fight wherever you go, where you live, and move westward, regardless of casualties, storm the cities of Bahana and seize them one by one.Even if Persia sends a large army to encircle and suppress, it will also contact the army of the middle and north roads to fight the enemy decisively, which belongs to a stud.

Or simply retreat.What is the purpose of coming this time?robbery.Persia is not so easy to collapse, and now the harvest is not small, if you grab it again, the harvest will be even richer, you can accept it as soon as it is good, don't continue to be trapped in this place.

If you are really unwilling, come early next year and just keep grabbing.

There are too many robberies, and they may not be able to bear it given that there are many rebellions in Persia.And Xia Jun's repeated looting in Bahana will also boost the courage of careerists in Persia, making it even more difficult for the grand vizier Jayhani to suppress the rebellion.

This is the reason why quantitative change produces qualitative change.

"Order, as of September 1th, if there is no major victory in the middle and north roads, the whole army will retreat and return to Shule." After thinking for a while, Shao Shude made up his mind and said: "The property and livestock that have been robbed , slaves, and send them to Shule as soon as possible. The Khotan infantry don’t have to do other things, they just specialize in transporting supplies. Without [-] of them, I will still fight.”

"Follow the order." Everyone responded one after another.

"Send another group of envoys to Balasagon." Shao Shude added.

And just as he said these words, outside the city of Kulan (Kulan City), a raging wave of cavalry almost filled the space between heaven and earth.

They rushed into the villages and wiped out any enemies who resisted.

Tens of thousands of men, women and children were strung together in a string, stumbling towards the distance.

They rushed into the bazaar and slaughtered the merchants, soldiers, and common people. Everyone robbed several things and smiled happily.

They marched around the city to demonstrate, laughing.

The guard climbed to the top of the city, watching the shocking cavalry crowd in the wild, a word involuntarily appeared in his mind: natural disaster!
Then, he looked towards the direction of Talas in the west, worried.

He doesn't know what's going on in Talas, because the news has been completely cut off, not to mention that there are not many soldiers and horses there, and more than 1 people died, how many can be allocated to rescue them?
But—it’s not okay to let the enemy plunder the countryside like this.It won't be long, and there will definitely be nothing left in the wild. What will they eat then?When the envoys of Bukhara came, they might execute him.

Thinking of this, he sighed heavily, and had no choice but to try.

The cavalry outside the city were all prairie shepherds, with few armors.It's not that I haven't fought before, it's still very easy to deal with...

(End of this chapter)