Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 308
The spring breeze blew across the earth, and the oasis was covered with green grass after the rain and snow had thawed.

The weeds that had been dormant for a winter emerged from the soil, greedily absorbing snow water and nutrients, and growing crazily at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The ground suddenly shook slightly.

Where the iron hoof trampled, the turf flew up and down; where the knife and ax chopped, blood sprayed left and right.

Li Shaorong leaned back to avoid the Tubo cavalry's killing move, then exerted his waist and abdomen, sat on the horse's back, held the iron mace tightly, and fought fiercely with another Tubo cavalry who was oncoming.

The iron cavalry arrived in Liangzhou three days ago.Along with it came a large number of camels, food and equipment carried by carriages, and even more than [-] newly sent prisoners from the Kanto region.

The iron cavalry army has been in the army for many years, and it has developed into a force with mature tactics and various styles of play.

Zhe Siyu, the military envoy, divided the troops into left and right compartments, with [-] riders in the left compartment, called Tuqi, and [-] riders in the right compartment, called Beiwei.

The left chamber is commonly known as "Tuqi Capital" in the Shuofang Army.This is a typical cavalry of the Tang Dynasty. During the Tianbao period, there were as many as 57 cavalry in the 16 national army, which is an astonishing proportion.

The cavalry is mainly deployed in frontier states and counties, and the Gein Horse Supervisor is mainly located in the northwest, so it is more convenient to recruit soldiers.

Before An Lushan raised his troops, he tried to transfer a large number of Northwest war horses to Fanyang.Therefore, the cavalry tradition here is deep in the bone marrow.

The sergeants of Tuqidu have gradually eliminated the long horse lances and switched to short horse lances (1.8-2 meters) that are as long as one person.

The tip of the lance faces upward, the handle of the lance faces downward, and is inserted into the holster beside the saddle, hanging side by side with knives, swords, axes, hammers, halberds and other short weapons on the left side.On the right side are hung horn bows, quiver and other miscellaneous items.

With the continuous wars throughout the year, the soldiers of Tuqidu are now more and more fond of using blunt weapons for close combat. Some people go to private blacksmiths to make such weapons, which has brought prosperity to many blacksmiths.

There were [-] riders in Beiwei, but it wasn't all Beiwei. Marshal Shao was not so insane, he just killed hundreds of people.Half of them were accompanied by the party leaders of the household Qimin, and the other half came from the Tubo tribes in the eight states of Longyou. The leaders, large and small, were ordered to donate a certain number of warriors to accompany them, and they moved to Lingzhou with their families. .

The battle of this army is another style of painting: going up and down hills, entering and exiting streams, steep dangerous roads, galloping and shooting.To put it simply, because the foundation of riding and archery is really good, the combat method is mainly based on riding and shooting, and they are generally equipped with short spears and javelins that are good for throwing. They are not equipped with long-handled horse weapons. saber.

These five thousand riders have been trained all year round, with skillful coordination and superb skills, and they are also very strict in replenishment.Especially in the capital of Beiwei, there are currently only six or seven hundred veritable recruits, but the commander-in-chief said that in the future, recruiting troops should focus on recruiting as much as possible.

This is to bring the backs and relatives of more than a hundred tribal chiefs, big and small, together!The training cost is someone else's, and in the end people use it for themselves, which is beautiful.

At this time, the Tubo cavalry was fighting against the Tubo cavalry, led by the deputy envoy Liu Zijing.Li Shaorong, who had already been promoted to lieutenant general, had beheaded two Tubo cavalrymen today, both of whom died under his spear. The next third person would most likely have to die in a different way.

Leaning forward, leaning back, leaning left, shaking right, all kinds of tactical movements, the whole body looks like it grows on a horse, even those warriors who claim to have ridden a horse since childhood are nothing more than that.

With a muffled sound of "Puff", the brave Li Shaorong escaped the attack of a Tubo family, and hit him in the face with a backhand mace, causing the enemy to fall.

"Being a lieutenant general, you still work so hard." On the small slope not far away, Zhe Siyu scolded with a smile.

"Military envoy, the Uighurs have not moved." Li Renfu, who had just been transferred to the Cavalry Army as the capital of Yu, said.

"Did you kill too hard yesterday?" Zhe Siyu was not sure.

Yesterday the Uyghurs became a little arrogant and pushed forward to the south of Liangzhou city for more than ten miles.The iron cavalry was ordered to fight, both left and right sides, but mainly fought from the right side.

The invincible Uighurs in Ganzhou have met their opponents.

The horse archers in Beiweidu are not bad at all, and after years of rigorous training, their skills have become more and more consummate.After the first battle, 300 enemies were killed, and our own casualties were less than half of the opponent's. This is because the Uyghur cavalry has a numerical advantage.

However, the casualties of more than a hundred people in Beiweidu also made Zhe Siyu feel a little heartbroken, and his impression of the Uighurs in Ganzhou was even worse.

Fortunately, the commander-in-chief stopped their active attack.

"Repel the bandit army and stop." Zhe Siyu looked at the thousands of Uighur cavalry in formation in the distance, and smiled contemptuously: "Take care of you sooner or later."

Li Renfu glanced at Zhe Siyu quietly.

The handsome brother-in-law is very confident.But how should I put it, the Uyghurs did not send elite soldiers over.A few days ago, there was a group of elite Uyghur cavalry on the battlefield. The number was around two thousand.

Perhaps, that is the standing army of Ganzhou Uighurs?With so many forces in the three prefectures of Hexi, the Uighurs were the last to come over, but they were actually the first to establish political power.Their so-called "capital" in Zendan was completely modeled after the original Uyghur Khanate's royal city. It was large in scale and was still under construction.

To put it bluntly, since the collapse of the Tubo Empire, large and small forces such as Yanmo, Liugu Tubo, and Suzhou Longjia have become more and more regressive. It cannot be seen that they are a regular force, a complete grassroots team.

On the contrary, the Uighurs managed their business with great vigor, built a capital city, established a government system, and translated many books.

Li Renfu even heard that the Uyghurs still wrote poems in their own language, which sounds a bit ridiculous, but I don't know if it is true.

The battle between Liugu Tubo and Tuqidu ended in the evening.The Tubo people lost more than [-] corpses, and they retreated slowly under the support of the Uighurs.

In the past few days, they went north and got some bargains.Several small tribes that were originally vassals of the Gamo people were copied, and a lot of people and property were lost. Most of them should be eaten by the Uyghurs, because some rangers saw the Uyghurs escorting a large number of old and weak women and children. The cattle and sheep and more than a hundred carts of goods returned to the south.

Can fight again, but also so smart, slippery without holding back.The Uighurs in Ganzhou have to think of a way to deal with them.

After the Tubo and Uyghur allied forces retreated, Lord Wumu learned about the battle situation immediately.

Fortunately, everything is under control!

There should not be many cavalry in the Tang Dynasty, and they only go out to battle when they are forced to.

Once the Tubo and Uighur coalition forces were repelled, they immediately hid back to lick their wounds.

Lord Wumu reckoned that the number of cavalry of the Tang Army should be comparable to that of the Haomen Valley area in the south, and they all looked like three or four thousand cavalry.However, it is much more elite than those tribal cavalry in the south, and it can be seen that they have been trained all year round.

Master Umm still has a trump card that he hasn't used yet.

The five thousand fine riders are all warriors selected by various ministries, and many of them don't even work all the year round, and specialize in fighting on horseback.

So far, this unit has only been engaged in one battle, and it faced the cavalry pawns of the Tang army who had just arrived.

When the two sides met for the first time, they were both a little proud and looked down on each other.As a result, after fighting, it was discovered that the other party was difficult to deal with. Many people were killed and injured, and finally they broke off contact tacitly.One side concentrates on bullying Yanmo, while the other side stares at Liugu Tubo, tacitly.

"If the Tang army can be defeated in this battle, the cavalry of the Tang people must be recruited." Lord Wumu looked at the battle flag with the white falcon painted on it, and said softly: "If you are so good at fighting, if you can win it, you can defeat Suzhou and Shazhou. I have a little more confidence."

"Khan, this year is the year of the rooster (the zodiac year of the Uyghurs). Chickens eat grains and will pick up dry grass, which is prone to accidents. Moreover, the first two lamb months have passed, and the pasture growth in the big month (March) is later than In previous years, the omens were not clear. Pindao suggested to withdraw the troops as soon as possible, and the behavior of the Tang people was a bit strange, and it seemed that they wanted to stick us here." Said Mani, a monk who was deeply appreciated by Khan.

This person is in his early 30s, and it is said that he has practiced Buddhism to a very high level.

Umm Lord Khan respected him and felt that Monk Mani was talented and learned, so he often took him with him and asked him about everything.

It is not clear how profound Mani's Dharma is, but his eloquence is indeed good.In history, he went to the Central Plains for exchanges, eloquently arguing with the group of monks, and he did not fall behind at all. He passed away in Taiyuan in the third year of Tongguang in the Later Tang Dynasty (925).

Monk Mani is proficient in Uyghur, Sogdian, Turkic, Chinese, and Tibetan, and he translated many books of Uyghur in Ganzhou.In addition, there are local Han people who are familiar with Uighur and Tibetan, and they have also translated many books.

Umm Lord Khan has a very good attitude towards the Han people.

Many Tianbao survivors lived in Ganzhou, farming and grazing for the Great Khan, and providing food and grass. They also participated in the design of Miyagi.

The highest status of the Han people should be the governor Zhou Yiyan.This person followed Lord Umm to kill the former Khan, and he was very trusted and had great military power—a Han general was given military power, and he could even command the Uighur cavalry. The broadness of the Long family may be an important reason why their khanate has lasted for 132 years and has repeatedly prevented Xixia and Liao from going south.

"If you miss this opportunity, the next time you get involved in Liangzhou, you don't know when it will be." Lord Wumu was still a little unwilling, and said: "The situation is not in the mood anymore, if we retreat now, the people of Tang can take care of it calmly." The last tribes, and then attack Liugu Tubo. What will happen next? Will Ganzhou be left alone? This is a big threat."

Monk Mani was silent.The truth is indeed such a truth, and it is indeed difficult to choose.

After all, Khan has great ambitions. If the tribes of Suzhou and Liangzhou can be annexed, and then take a few years to integrate, they can attack the Guiyi Army in the west and eat the two states of Sha and Gua.

In the five prefectures of Gansu, Gua, Sha, and Liang, there are many Uighur tribes who have established clan accounts and are connected with each other.Once it has its territory, it can establish a vast Uyghur Khanate to stand against the powerful Gaochang Uyghur.

Next, it is natural to have a showdown with the Gaochang Uighurs. Whoever wins can unify the tribes from Jinshan in the west and Dahe in the east, and restore the glory of the past.

Greed, anger, and ignorance are the three poisons, and the sweat can't see through them!

In Liangzhou City, Shao Shude faced a group of Liangzhou Tibetan tribe leaders who came to cry and complained.

Most of them are the prime ministers and governors of Gamo, and a small part are the heads of small tribes such as Sogdian, Longjia, Dangxiang, Tuyuhun, and Tatar.

Especially the latter.Those who retreated to the vicinity of Liangzhou in time could still be preserved, but those who procrastinated were miserable. They were beaten to pieces by the sturdy and nimble Uighur cavalry, and Dingkou, cattle and sheep suffered heavy losses.

"Great Khan, when will you send troops south?" Cui Su asked calmly among the leaders.

"The matter of compiling households and Qimin is progressing very slowly." Shao Shude sat on the tiger-skin chair leisurely, and said: "Cui Xiang might as well discuss with the heads of the tribes. The two counties of Guzang and Shenniao have only been compiled so far. [-] households, it’s too slow. Now it’s the season of spring sowing, and the governors are still holding on to the people, but you don’t think there will be any harvest for a whole year?”

At the end of these days, the various tribes have gathered a lot of scattered tribes.Now those who are registered in the two counties are basically the tribes that suffered serious losses in the Liugu Tubo raid, or they are weak, with only a few hundred people in the whole tribe. In order to seek asylum, they are willing to accept the registered household Qimin.

But the big tribe, still do not give up!Up to now, they are still making small moves, and even secretly annexed small tribes, robbing them of their cattle, sheep, and population.

You have to let Tubo and Uyghur endure this gang of killers!
These days of fighting, they have lost a lot of people, how long can they last?It doesn't matter, it will take time for Qi Min to be registered, so take your time, Marshal Shao is not in a hurry.

Cui Su frowned.The current situation really couldn't get any worse.

The desert in the north is the pastoral area of ​​Hexi Dangxiang and the Tatar tribe. It is fierce and poor, so it is impossible to go there.

To the east is the territory of Shuofang Army, to the west is Ganzhou Uyghur, and to the south is Liugu Tubo, there is nowhere to run!

Or even if they can run, most of them will be annexed by others, whether it is the Hexi Dangxiang or the Ganzhou Uighurs.If it is destined to be this fate, then it is better to let the Shuofang army annex it, at least you can be an official and get richer, alas!
Shao Shude picked up the tea bowl and tasted it slowly.

The war with Liugu Tubo and Ganzhou Uyghur has been going on, but it is mostly a fight between cavalry and the scale is not large.

In addition to fighting and retreating, the pressure on Yanmo and other tribes is increasing, and there are constantly small tribes who can't hold on, come to submit, and are willing to register as a household of Qimin.The leaders of the big clans joined forces day and night, but they still couldn't stop this trend.

The Ganzhou Uighur has become a knife in Shao Dashuai's hand, a knife that forces the Yanmo people to put down their posture and surrender completely.In today's world, if you want to ask for asylum, how can you do it without paying the price?
Well, these days, the matter of incorporating various ethnic groups and households of Qimin, I guess the Uyghurs are also aware of it.What is Lee In-mi thinking?Shao Shude is now afraid that he will slip away.

It’s all here, of course it’s best to cook it all in one pot.If he ran away and chased him to Ganzhou to fight, it would be unsafe.

You have to figure out a way to piss him off.

(End of this chapter)