Han Hai Tang Ergui

Chapter 805

Bai Congxin won a big victory, and Huguang was not idle here. Long before Bai Congxin's army set off, Huguang sent people to Saman Persian Stone City Governor Amir to extort food.

right!It was extortion. The envoys sent in front of Amir clamored unabashedly for Amir to supply 20 shi of military rations, and even put on the expression of the kingdom of heaven, treating the entire Saman Persia as a vassal of the Great Zhou. .

Originally, with Bai Congxin's reputation of killing gods that gradually spread, he extorted [-] to [-] shi of rice and grain, and Amir might give it back as soon as he gritted his teeth.

But he was so unceremonious, almost using the way the master gave orders to the servants, and asked for 20 shi, which Amir would never give.

But he didn't dare to do anything to the messenger, because at this moment, it seemed that the memory of his ancestors had suddenly worked on Amir.

He suddenly remembered that for thousands of years, the favorite thing for these messengers of peach blossom stones was to speak out to provoke the king and city lord of a certain place to kill them, and to create excuses for the army to come to massacre and loot.

Therefore, Amir was very 'wise' to serve the envoy with good food and drink, but he didn't mention the food at all, and sent him away.

However, it didn't take long for Amir to hear about Bai Congxin's expedition to the Creek Ministry with an army of thousands of miles, and he immediately recalled what was going on.

It turned out that it was not to provoke myself to kill the envoy, to provide an excuse for the army to attack, nor to extort food, but to scare Lao Tzu from moving you during your expedition, right?
This thing is more uncomfortable than being blackmailed. Amir only feels that his IQ has been greatly insulted.

He was furiously thinking that if the Zhou people failed to conquer the Creek tribe, he would immediately mobilize [-] soldiers and horses to beat the dogs in the water, without giving them any food.

Amir knew very well that the biggest weakness of these Zhou people who defeated Guo Guangyi was that they did not have much supplies.

Originally, the areas around Talas and Baishui City were relatively prosperous, but after several years of fighting, tens of thousands of troops fought back and forth, and the food reserves were almost consumed.

In addition, people from Zhou came from far away, and they were completely outsiders. It would be good for them to be able to distinguish the southeast from the north, and they didn't know which places in the local area were rich, and where the herdsmen and farmers could squeeze the most oil and water.

Therefore, after Talas and Baishui City were brought down, the nearby herdsmen and farmers all ran away.

Originally there were 4 or 3 people in Talas and around Baishui City, but now it is not known if there are still [-] to [-] people.

And when 10,000+ people come here, they will soon be unable to support themselves.

Amir felt that as long as he could defend Shiguo City, he would be able to starve the Zhou people away, and he might have a chance to get Baishui City.

So, um, the governor of Shiguocheng who felt that his IQ was insulted, in order to prevent the food from being looted by the rangers of the Zhou people, directly issued an order to let the officials and Ikta collect the food collected this year. Concentrate as much as possible in walled towns.

The ancients often said that it is up to people to plan things and heaven to make things happen. This is what it means.

Originally, as Amir expected, Huguang must have come to loot Shiguocheng’s food, but the way of looting may be different from what Amir thought.

What Amir was thinking was that the Zhou people were going to expedition against the Creek, and now they could only send a small number of rangers to the south to plunder.

And there will be heavy snow soon, as long as these 20 or [-] days are carried over, the Zhou people will not be able to get a grain of food, and they will be starved away before the more severe winter arrives.

Looking at it this way, it must be the safest way to concentrate food in towns with walls, because according to the excellent matching mechanism in the Hezhong Region, towns with walls can generally be guarded for a long time.

But what he didn't know was that Bai Congxin could bring only 3 fine cavalry for his expedition of thousands of miles. These [-] people were enough to defeat the Ogusye Protectorate.

Therefore, in Huguang's hands, in addition to guarding the troops in various places, he can also calmly mobilize [-] cavalry, all of which are elite.

In this way, Huguang didn't need to send rangers to the countryside to plunder food at all. It was the most convenient to rely on the strong siege ability of the Han people to take down towns one by one.

This is the arrangement of the heavens. Under relatively unfavorable circumstances, Hu Guang met a rich and generous head giver.

. . . .

Shiguo City, that is, Tashkent, the capital of later Uzbekistan, was also the residence of the Dawan Governor's Mansion in the Tang Dynasty. It was once called Tuoshigan and Tuozhi City. These are both transliterations of the same Turkic word, meaning Stone City.

The reason for its name is that Tashkent is located in the impact plain of the foothills. It is the most important city in the Chilchik Valley formed by the Chilchik River, an important tributary of the Syr Darya River, rushing down from the snow-capped mountains.

When the Chirchik River came rushing, it brought and polished a large number of pebbles. The residents of Tashkent polished these pebbles and used them as the main material for building the city.

Therefore, in a sense, Tashkent and Shiguocheng have the same meaning. The reason why Tang Dynasty called Tashkent as Shiguo is because there are many cobblestones here, and cobblestones are also used as the main material for building the city.

The Chilchik River Valley where Shiguo City is located is also one of the most affluent areas in the river. The annual precipitation here is more than [-] millimeters. There are also Chilchik River, Syr River, etc. water.

In the records of the Tang Dynasty, there are more than one records that Shiguo City is surrounded by flat hillocks on all sides, with extensive trees, millet and wheat, long running water, and dense residents.

Besides, besides Shiguo City, there are at least 5000 or [-] wealthy towns with more than [-] people in this valley.

The Chirchik River Valley and the banks of Yaoshashui, which is under the jurisdiction of the governor of Shiguocheng, have more than [-] residents, farming mixed with nomads, rich in grain production, and strong folk customs.

Historically, half of the strong Saman Persian army came from around Shiguo City, and half from the hinterland of Persia.

This is also the reason why the governor of Shiguo City dared to challenge the emir of Bukhara City with only more than [-] people.

However, this folk style is strong, and it is still based on the Hezhong region. Let alone moving to the Central Plains, even if it is moved to the Mobei grassland, it is not enough.

Huguang sent envoys to deliberately blackmail with an arrogant attitude. His original intention was not at all what Amir thought. It was to paralyze him and cover the army to attack the Creek Ministry. In fact, Huguang wanted to cover up his next surprise attack.

On September 25, when Bai Congxin was about to start a decisive battle, Hu Guang suddenly rode [-] steps southward.

Yao Yuanfu personally led a thousand elite riders as the vanguard and ran 180 miles all day and night, pulling out the sentry posts that Amir had placed along the way, and cutting off Shiguo City's external connections.

It wasn't until Hu Guang's army arrived more than 20 miles outside Shiguo City that Amir knew that Zhou's army had gone south.

And if it weren't for the astuteness of Amir's general Mahmoud, Yao Yuanfu would have almost snatched Shi Guocheng directly.

Governor Amir didn't realize the seriousness of the matter at this time. Seeing that there were only Huguang's [-]-step cavalry outside, he immediately lit up the smoke at the top of Shiguo City, and summoned the Ikta knights from the surrounding countryside to lead the cavalry to Shiguo City. 'Qin Wang'.

On Huguang's side, he was a little worried about the food issue, but he captured a small town of several thousand people and immediately seized more than 4 shi of grain, which almost shocked Huguang's eyes.

Seeing that one can get tens of thousands of shi of grain by breaking down a small town, and seeing that the water transportation around Shiguo City is convenient and the irrigation system is complete, he thought that this place is already rich enough to be compared with central Shu, Huainan and Huaibei.

With the food, he didn't panic anymore. Hu Guang picked up the map and studied it carefully, which strengthened his determination to take down Shiguocheng.

Because Shiguo City happened to be stuck between Juzhanti and Baishui City at the most southwest end of Ningyuan, if Shiguocheng was captured, the passage from Baishui City to Juzhanti could be opened.

In this way, a complete closed loop can be formed from Suiye - Talas - Baishui City - Shiguo City - Juzhanti - Kesai City - Shule - Suiye.

Holding the Ningyuan Basin, Shiguocheng Valley, and Suiyechuan three river valleys and basins in hand, with rich products and a large population, it is enough to completely overthrow Saman Persia and the big food behind Saman Persia in the future.

On the first day of October, Hu Guang was impatient to wait, and Amir, the governor of Shiguocheng, finally summoned his army of "King Qin", with a full [-] steps.

They took the initiative to cross the Chirchik River and attack a small town that Huguang had just laid down.

The tactics are still the same old ones, basically the same as Bai Congxin's defeating Ye Huguo's army.

Hu Guang hid [-] elite cavalry in the city, led by Yao Yuanfu, and personally led the army to defend this small town built on a hill surrounded by only wooden fences and a section of low earth wall.

Amir personally supervised the [-]-strong army to attack on all sides, but it was clear that although the Zhou army was few in number, its combat effectiveness was stronger. The two sides surrounded the town and fought for several days. The Shi Guocheng army almost broke into the city several times, but was finally driven out.

The fight lasted until the seventh day of October, when both sides were tired and horses were exhausted. Hu Guang saw the right time and ordered Yao Yuanfu to lead [-] elite cavalry to attack suddenly at Maozheng ([-] o'clock in the morning).

At that time, the Shiguocheng army was making breakfast, and they were very tired after fighting for several days, so they didn't organize any effective defense at all.

Although Governor Amir escaped by crossing the Chilchik River under the escort of his own soldiers, Yao Yuanfu directly cut off Amir's banner in the army tent, and Huguang in the city also took the opportunity pop out.

The Shiguocheng army was defeated, with more than [-] casualties, most of whom were taken away by the icy water when they crossed the Chilchik River.

On October [-]th, Hu Guang's troops approached Shiguo City and tried to attack Shiguo City.

However, the foundation of this city is very solid built of stones, and the compacted loess on it is quite in the style of the Central Plains.

After arresting some people, I found out that after the defeat of Talas, the big cannibals captured the prisoners of the Tang army and built and strengthened them with the method of ramming earth in the Central Plains.

Hu Guang was speechless, and observed for a long time. The foundation was built of stones, and the city wall was more than one foot thick rammed earth. The only way to break the city should be to blow up the city gate with gunpowder.

But now, he only has 1 people, and there should be more than 2 soldiers and [-] to [-] young men in the city. If you blow up the city gate and enter, you can't get much. That Amir must find a way to escape. Might as well wait until next year to come again.

Sure enough, a few days later, heavy snow fell, and the weather suddenly turned extremely cold. Hu Guang pretended that he couldn't eat the hard bone of Shiguo City, and retreated back to Baishui City with tens of thousands of people and 10,000+ stone grains.

(End of this chapter)