Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 314 West Road
The wind blew, the gravel hit the surface, and the weather suddenly deteriorated.

"But wait until the good weather!" Li Shaorong yelled and rushed out with his followers.

Yang Hongwang heaved a sigh of relief.

The Uyghurs are good opponents.After suffering a big loss from an armored cavalry charge in the south of Liangzhou City, he quickly thought of a countermeasure.

They realized their shortcomings in close combat, so they decisively opened up the distance, relying on their excellent mobility, they galloped and fired nimbly.Some arrows are so precise that they can even hit the door directly, making them annoyed tortoise-like heavy cavalry, and gradually reduced to a vase that needs the protection of others.

These Uighur cavalry are actually good soldiers!
If it can be incorporated and trained with Chinese methods, it will be a strong cavalry army.

Especially those who are outstanding in archery, their skills are amazing, and they have the shadow of He Basheng back then: "Long in the chaos, especially martial arts, shooting birds on horseback, five or six out of ten."

To deal with these Uighur elite soldiers who are trying their best to harass and delay them, relying on the cavalry who are good at melee combat and can only be said to be qualified in cavalry and archery is probably not enough.Only those elite soldiers in Beiweidu who are good at mid-range riding and shooting, short-range throwing short spears, and not weak in melee fighting can stand up to their opponents.

But this time there will be strong winds and dust, and the situation will be different.

Li Shaorong pulled out his short horse from the holster, and under the cover of the wind and sand, he rushed directly in front of a Uighur cavalry holding a bow. In his astonished eyes, like an adult playing with a child, he gently stabbed the enemy soldier's body Suddenly rolled off the horse.

The soldiers of Tuqidu shouted and caught up.

In this kind of weather, the power of bows and arrows is greatly reduced, and melee cavalry can give full play to their advantages.Therefore, after a little charge for less than half an hour, the Uyghurs left behind dozens of corpses and were defeated and retreated.

After the battle, Li Shaorong was not in a hurry to catch up, but ordered to gather his formation and take a break.

They have rushed to the west of the Great River Valley.

A whole day has passed since the battle in the south of Liangzhou City.The Iron Cavalry, the Leopard Cavalry and thousands of Gamo cavalry pursued all the way, and defeated the Uighurs again near the Hongyuan Valley, beheading more than [-] ranks.

Faced with this difficult situation, Lord Wumu finally gave up the unrealistic idea of ​​returning to Ganzhou with the loot, and instead called Liugu Tubo to flee with them.

In order to cover the troops, they had to fight and retreat, desperately harassing and blocking the pursuers.The scene in front of me is a corner of the delayed action of the Uighur and Tubo coalition forces.

But is it useful?

It's not very useful, maybe in the end I still cheated myself.

There are so many old and weak women and children in the tribe, cattle, sheep and goods, how can it be possible to run fast?Master Wumu still couldn't completely let go, or he couldn't convince his Tibetan allies, which led to such a passive situation of continuous retreat and consumption.

The sound of rumbling horseshoes sounded in the distance, and it sounded like there were more than a thousand riders. Li Shaorong's expression changed, and he got on his horse again.The surrounding knights also followed suit, getting on their horses one after another, and pulling out short-range weapons, hammers, axes, sabers, maces and other melee weapons from their saddle bags.

"Lieutenant, it's one of our own!" someone said.

Unmoved, Li Shaorong had already taken out his bow.

Fortunately, it was really my own people who came.

Zhe Siyu rushed over with a brigade of cavalry.

"I've seen the military envoy!" Li Shaorong got off his horse and bowed.

"Why did you stop? I wonder if Li Renmei is still on the run?"

"Report to the military envoy, the battle has been fierce for a long time, and the sergeants urgently need to rest."

"Why don't the Uighurs take a break? Don't take a break, keep chasing!" Zhe Siyu waved his hand and ordered.

The sergeants looked distressed, but they mounted their horses one after another.This is the army of Marshal Shao. If he was replaced by a Hebei sergeant, the general would never dare to force him like this.

Looking at the soldiers of Tuqidu who were gradually going away, Zhe Siyu suddenly felt something.

If we want to flatten Ganzhou this time, we should make a suggestion to the commander-in-chief to extract the Uighur elite and bring them back to Lingxia to join the army.

Since the Han Dynasty, the prairie cavalry had three advantages and three disadvantages.

Excellent riding skills, precise archery skills, hard work and hard work are the three major advantages.Especially this one is hard-working, the Han army can run thousands of miles, it is already able to endure hardship, but found that the Huns are more "animals" than them, they are not afraid of wind, frost, rain and snow, they endure hunger and hunger, climb ice and lie on snow, and do ordinary things. .

It was tempered by the harsh living environment of the grassland.

However, once the grassland people entered the territory of the Han people, it would not take long for the second generation to lose this ability to bear hardships and stand hard work.

If all the elite soldiers of the Uighurs in Ganzhou were taken away, on the one hand, they could prevent them from rebelling, and on the other hand, they would also provide capital for the commander-in-chief's conquest.Think about it, one person, two horses, or even three horses, can endure hunger, withstand wind, frost, rain and snow, maneuver thousands of miles, and suddenly appear from one battlefield to another. What an advantage is this?
"Keep chasing. Most of the Uighurs will abandon Liugu Tubo and flee alone." Zhe Siyu gave an order, and more than a thousand cavalry left the battlefield and continued westward, gradually disappearing in the wind and sand.

******
Outside Dunhuang County, the expeditionary army had just received their rewards.

The 59-year-old Zhang Huaishen personally led the army, with a total of more than [-] Fan and Han troops.

This time, he was under tremendous pressure in the town, and the voices of opposition were overwhelming, especially Zhang Huaiding's family.

He didn't even think he would be able to send troops.But who would have imagined that at the critical moment, the influential Sogdians in the town actually supported him.I don't know what to think, maybe it's because of the huge commercial wealth of the Silk Road after it was transferred to the southern route.

The Uyghurs have been robbing the passing merchants before, if they can get peace, this road will indeed be much more peaceful.

There may also be other reasons, such as not wanting to see the local wealthy Sox, Li, and Yin gain power.

But no matter what, the Cao family, An family, Kang family, Zhai family and other Sogdian clans, as well as the Long family of the Long family, all expressed their support clearly. Zhang Huaishen has actually been in power for so many years, and finally resisted all opinions. The major event of sending troops has been confirmed.

The news from the east has already spread faintly.

Shuofang's army has occupied Liangzhou, and they have broken through the mountains. Li Renmei, the Uighur Khan of Ganzhou, led more than [-] people to Liangzhou.

Of course, these are only part of the reasons for sending troops.There are also some deep-seated things that Zhang Huaishen can't explain clearly, but everyone knows it well.

Today's Dunhuang City is undercurrents.

The imperial court awarded Zhang Huai the Shenshazhou Jiedu envoy Jingjie, which is indeed a powerful killing move.

It not only made some people in the town desperate and crazy, because Zhang Huaishen was indeed a genuine Jiedu envoy, but also gave them hope, because it was only a Shazhou Jiedu envoy, and it only governed Shazhou.

It is not so much a reward as an instigation.

Zhang Huaishen could see very clearly that Dunhuang City was not very safe, because the power of the major families was intertwined.Compared with it, the army is simpler. After all, it is a place he has painstakingly managed for many years, and he has promoted many generals in the past 30 years.These people dare not say how faithful they are, but at least they have no intention of harming others.

Only by mastering the army, and only when the leaders are outside, can some people be wary and suppress even greater chaos.

Suo, Yin, and Li are not fools, once they really do something in the city, how will they deal with themselves when Zhang Huaishen returns with his army in the future?
Seven thousand five hundred troops, more than three thousand cavalry.After leaving Dunhuang, we will head east all the way, marching [-] miles inside to Yumen Pass, near Jinchang County of Lisuo, Guazhou (now Kuyu City, Anxi County, Gansu).

From Guazhou to the east and another three hundred miles, you can reach Jiuquan County in Suzhou.

Zhang Huaishen personally led the cavalry first, and General Suo Xun walked slowly behind with infantry, chariots and horses.

On the fifth day of April, the cavalry of the Guiyi Army arrived in Suzhou, but at this time the infantry led by Suo Xun had not yet arrived at Yumen Pass.

Long, the governor of Suzhou and the leader of the Long family, went out of the city to meet him in person.

"Long Cishi, is there any news from the east?" As soon as they met, Zhang Huaishen asked him about the news he was most concerned about.

Long looked at Zhang Huaishen, who was wrinkled, silver-threaded, and dusty, and shook his head, saying, "I only heard that the Shuofang army was fighting the Uighur and Tubo allied forces outside Liangzhou city, and I don't know anything about the rest, but Lord Wumu Indeed, he has not yet returned to Ganzhou."

The strength of the Long family in Suzhou is actually only slightly inferior to that of the Guiyi army, and they can still pull more than ten thousand soldiers.

The Longjia tribe is originally from Yanqi, a descendant of Tocharian.Since the Western Jin Dynasty, the king of Yanqi has always had the surname of Long: "Emperor Wu Taikangzhong, his (Yanqi) king Long'an sent his son to serve."

Guochao set up the Dudu Mansion in its place, which is one of the four towns in Anxi.

More than [-] years after the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the monk Wukong returned from Tianzhu and stayed in Yanqi for three months. .”

At this time, the four towns of Anxi were still in the hands of Datang.

But then a battle for Anxi broke out between Tubo and Uighur.Uyghur Huaixin Khan led the army to defeat Tubo, "Tubo was in a wasteland and ran into Yushu. Surrounded on all sides...the corpses were filthy, unbearable, so they built a Beijing temple."

After Tubo retreated in a disastrous defeat, Yanqi, once controlled by them, became a vassal state of the Uighurs.

However, some Yanqi people did not dare to stay there because they assisted Tubo in the war against the Uighurs, so they fled with Tubo under the leadership of King Long Nongkuo—well, the Shatuo tribe who once lived in Beiting also ran away together. , They are also servants of Tubo.

The Tubo people resettled Yanqi and Shatuo to the Ganzhou and Liangzhou prefectures under the jurisdiction of Beidaolun.

After this pair of brothers and sisters settled down, the leader of the Longjia tribe (still calling himself the king) served as the general of Longdao under the jurisdiction of Beidaolun in Tubo. The reason is: "The Tubo border often takes Shatuo as the vanguard."

The reason why the Yanqi people stayed was: "The sacred Zanpu sees each other once, and the precious gold and silk are bestowed every year."

Two suffering brothers, one was consumed as a pioneer, the other was received by Zanpu, and they were given a lot of rewards every year.Shatuo people's hearts should be broken.

Tubo Zanpu was assassinated, and after the chaos in the middle school, the Long family took advantage of the situation to rise up, controlled Gamo, Tuyuhun, Dangxiang and even Tubo tribes, and snatched Ganzhou and Liangzhou from the Guiyi army.

Later, Liangzhou City was controlled by troops sent by the imperial court, and Yanmo rose again. The Long family power was completely cleared out of Liangzhou, but there were still some Long family tribes in the area, attached to Yanmo.

Later, with the rise of the Uighurs, the forces of the Long family were cleared out of Ganzhou, and the local Long family tribes attached themselves to the Uighurs.

So the Long family fled to Suzhou, nominally paying tribute to the Guiyi Army.

Speaking of which, the Long family is actually quite good.There are many people and many soldiers, but their combat effectiveness is average. Their strengths may be raising and taming horses.I don't know how the history books said "he is light and sharp, but able to fight". Maybe he used to fight very well, but this meeting is really not good, and there are too many stable days.

"Ganzhou is empty, so I'm ready to fight this time, what is the order of Long Shishi?" Zhang Huaishen and Long went into the city together, and asked on the way.

"There were a lot of people just now, so it's inconvenient to disclose some things." After returning to the state office, Long dismissed the crowd and said in a low voice, "Zhang Pushe came at a very good time. A small school from Longyou Town came to Suzhou yesterday. It is said that a large army will go out to pull out the valley and attack Ganzhou, and invite me to join the army."

Everyone knows that Longyou Town is a vassal of Lingwu County King Shao Shude, and even the local army is Shuofang Army.

"If there are more than [-] miles from Suzhou to Ganzhou to the east, if they are all cavalry..." Zhang Huai pondered deeply, and seemed a little moved.

The dragon did not speak, and waited patiently.

"How many pawns can the Long family produce?" Zhang Huaishen asked suddenly.

"If we want to conquer Ganzhou, we can send five thousand cavalry." Long replied, "There are also Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, Tubo, Uighur, and Han tribes in the state. If you want to gather troops, you can get five thousand cavalry at your fingertips."

Zhang Huai's eyes froze deeply.The Suzhou Long Family, how did their strength recover so quickly?Can the Long family control all those tribes?

"How much can we pay?" Zhang Huaishen asked.

"Five...five thousand." Long felt a little embarrassed.

Zhang Huai knew it all.Although the tribes in Suzhou are dominated by the Long family, they are actually alliances.It may not be that simple to let them send troops together.

"It's better to have more soldiers." Zhang Huai said deeply: "Uighur men can be soldiers if they are taller than a wheel. In Ganzhou, someone thinks that there should be five or six thousand cavalry guarding us. If there are policemen, they will wantonly recruit men into the army. It is not a problem to gather more than [-] cavalry. A certain person brought [-] cavalry, and Long Cishi can produce [-] cavalry. Army, that's about it."

"Someone has to find a way to do this." After pondering for a long time, Long's heart broke, and he said, "The Uyghurs have bullied us for so long, and it's time to settle the score."

(End of this chapter)