Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 271 Iron Plate and Hammer

Suzhou, that is, Jiuquan City in later generations, Suzhou City is probably located in the Suzhou District of Jiuquan City.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Jiuquan and Fulu counties were set up in Suzhou. According to the data of the first year of Zongdali in the Tang Dynasty, there were 76 households and [-] people.

It seems a bit exaggerated, because there are only more than [-] people in the huge Jiuquan City, no matter how you think about it, it is wrong.

In addition to the sparse population in ancient times, another important reason is that the household registration statistics in the Tang Dynasty were very chaotic.

It was not comparable to the Han Dynasty or even the short-lived Sui Dynasty before, and it was not comparable to the Song Dynasty in the future, let alone clear.

Throughout the Tang Dynasty, some statistics could be carried out in the early stage, but in the late period of Emperor Xuanzong Kaiyuan, the household registration management was very chaotic, and there was no investigation and statistics for a long time.

It is quite similar to the fact that the GDP of the third brother of the later generations relies entirely on free play, and cow dung can be double-counted.

Suzhou is actually not outrageous here, but Liangzhou is outrageous. This city was not only an important border defense town in the west of Longyou River in the Tang Dynasty, but also the most important commercial port in the Tang Dynasty.

Its economic status is close to that of Chang'an and Luoyang, the eastern capital, and even the capital of Hexi.

Such an important stronghold, the population of Liangzhou according to Tang Ting's statistics is only 120,000, and Liangzhou City is only [-]. I don't know if this is only the population of Han people.

Moreover, it was 120,000 during the Tianbao period, and Liangzhou was about to fall into the hands of the Tubo people during the Zongdali period of the Tang Dynasty. The population on the official household registration was still 120,000.

It has to be said that the Li-Tang dynasty was extremely rough in some aspects of its rule. This is a dynasty with obvious shortcomings and advantages.

The purpose of Zhang Zhao's trip was to locate the Yumen Army Town in Suzhou.

At this time, Suzhou was divided into two parts. The upper Suzhou controlled by the Guiyi Army only had a small area around the Yumen Army.

The specific location is about ten kilometers northwest of Yumen City in later generations, not far from the foot of Dudeng Mountain, west of Jiayuguan.

Lower Suzhou, controlled by the Uighurs in Ganzhou, occupies most of Suzhou, and the county seats of Jiuquan and Fulu counties are all under the control of the Uyghurs in Ganzhou.

As for Suzhou, according to Zhang Zhao's observations, apart from the hundreds of town troops of the Yumen Army, the surrounding population will be less than 4000 people.

Moreover, the ecology of the Hexi Corridor at this time has not been destroyed on a large scale like it was after the Song Dynasty. The land is actually fertile and not very short of water. It is even more livable than Jiuquan in the Republic period.

Luo Tongda, the envoy of the Yumen Army, arrived at the Yumen Army more than ten days earlier than Zhang Zhao.

April is the season of spring plowing. The Ganzhou Uighurs endured the anger of the princess's murder until now before sending troops. Obviously, it was carefully calculated.

Because although they have settled down in Ganzhou and have already started farming like the Han people, as a people on horseback, nomadic herding is still the main means of life of the Uighurs in Ganzhou.

Choosing to launch the war in spring plowing, they only delayed a small amount of breeding time for cattle and horses, but they could greatly damage the production and life of the Guiyi Army.

But they miscalculated this time. This time, the Guiyi Army did not need to recruit soldiers on a large scale at all, because Zhang Zhao had more than [-] people in his hands, and almost all of them were off-duty soldiers, which did not affect production at all.

Moreover, this was the case when Zhang Zhao still had more than a thousand people in Khotan and Zhongyun Kingdom did not come. The scale and direction of this war were completely beyond the expectations of the Uighurs in Ganzhou.

However, Zhang Zhao is not without worries. Not counting the young generation who are willing to follow him for more than a thousand years in the Guiyi Army, it is Zhang Zhao's own supply of 4000 people, which is a very difficult problem to solve.

The population of the Guiyi Army is so large, and the addition of [-] mouths that can be used for nonsense, immediately tightened the supply of the Guiyi Army.

People at this time eat dry when they are busy and eat less when they are free, but soldiers can't do it. Not only do they have to eat enough, but they also need to eat a little better.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao's thousands of people had already been fed up with the food he provided in Anxi, Hezhong and Tianzhu. One person ate more than three ordinary farmers.

As soon as they came back, the large amount of gold and silver they carried had already raised the price of goods. In addition to the tight supply, the food price in Dunhuang had risen four times in just one month, which had already begun to cause public resentment.

This also fully proves that it is impossible for Guiyi Army to support Zhang Zhao's thousands of out-of-production soldiers.

"Military envoy, Uighur Prince Jingqiong of Ganzhou, led [-] cavalry into Suzhou five days ago. I heard that Renyu Khan announced that he would mobilize [-] cavalry to wipe us out!" As soon as Zhang Zhao arrived, the gray-haired Luo Tongda left Come and report.

"Hmph!" Zhang Zhao sneered, "Khan Renyu's vision is still low, why doesn't he claim to be one hundred thousand cavalry?

If we really want to requisition [-] riders, people in Ganzhou City will starve to death next year.How many people does Luo Weng estimate they will dispatch? "

Luo Tongda also smiled. The Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs had fought life and death for decades, and they knew each other very well.

"According to past habits, this time Prince Jing Qiong brought [-] riders into Suzhou City in advance. If they enlisted the Suzhou Dragon family to join the war, there should be about [-] riders!"

10,000 people, Zhang Zhao thought for a while, if it was [-] Persians or [-] Karakhanian cavalry, he would have rushed to fight directly, but Ganzhou Uyghurs could not.

Over the years, they have fought against the Guiyi Army in the east, and various ministries in the west, and sometimes even fought with the Tubo people on the Qilian Mountains.

Although there were not many major battles, there were constant small frictions, and they basically ended with the victory of the Uighurs in Ganzhou.

So although there are only 10,000 people, at least [-] Persians must be considered.

However, it seems that Renyu Khan of Ganzhou Uighur must not know that he is back, otherwise he would not have sent Prince Jingqiong to command only two thousand horses and start clamoring. reason.

"How is Suzhou's city defense?"

Luo Tongda's eyes lit up, and he already understood Zhang Zhao's meaning. He is also a brave general who likes surprises.

"Ten years ago, a certain Sui Linggong king captured Suzhou. The city defense of Suzhou, the old city before the Han Dynasty has long been abandoned. Today's Suzhou was built during the period of King Li Gui of Liang in the late Sui Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty strengthened it several times. At the beginning of Dali, Tubo fell into Hexi and was destroyed again.

After that, people's livelihood in Hexi was difficult, and Suzhou City was only repaired and repaired. It was only built with loess.

If there are [-] armored soldiers attacking day and night, there is no need to rush cars, ride cars, etc., and they can go down in ten days! "

"Okay!" Zhang Zhao clapped his hands, "It will take ten days to attack, not bad!
Luo Weng, pick up the soldiers in the Yumen Army, and I will give you 3000 people to go and surround Suzhou City. The momentum must be big, but don't attack the city with all your strength, and be prepared to defend firmly. "

There were hundreds of people in the Yumen Army, and Cao Yuanzhong enlisted another 1000 people. Adding Zhang Zhao's 3000 people, Luo Tongda could use around 5000 people.

However, there were only a few hundred defenders of the Long family in Suzhou City, and Prince Jing Qiong's 3000 riders were less than [-] people. Surrounding it with twice the force, as long as the city is not desperately attacked, it is enough.

Fortunately, there is no Jiayuguan now, otherwise it will be troublesome!

"The military envoy wants us to be nailed under the city of Suzhou, and then wait for the Uighur reinforcements from Ganzhou to arrive?"

Luo Tongda thought for a while, and expressed his guess.

According to Zhang Zhao's arrangement, his 5000 people seemed to be going to attack Suzhou City, but in fact they were serving as an iron plate under Suzhou City to attract follow-up reinforcements from Ganzhou Uighurs.

When the Uyghurs were hit with bloody heads, Zhang Zhao, who had a certain amount of armored cavalry, would suddenly kill them and crush them in one fell swoop.

Well, it’s not impossible, there are some dangers, but the main thing is to bully the Uighurs in Ganzhou without knowing that Zhang Zhao has returned from Anxi.

If the Uighurs in Ganzhou still regard their side as the original Guiyi army to fight, they will probably suffer a big loss.

(End of this chapter)