Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 357 Rescue Strategy (Thanks to the monthly ticket of book friend 2018…8872/Gaozhan!)

While Chai Zongxun was busy selecting concubines in Bian Jing, the army leading the Western Expedition had already arrived at Zhangye, an oasis city on the Hexi Corridor, on August 17, the 27th year of Kaixi.

When setting out on the expedition, the Western Expedition Army carried half a year's worth of military rations, three thousand tiger squat cannons, and a thousand "Yan Su cannons". Subsequent supplies will be continuously transported by the Ministry of War to Basharagun in Central Asia.

The Great Zhou Straight Road from Bian Jing to the northwest had been built to Zhangye, so the army could complete the journey in just one month, which previously took three and a half months.

Kou Zhun had practiced the "Six Arts of a Gentleman" since he was a child, and was also proficient in riding and shooting, so he was able to support such a rapid march for a month.

In Kou Zhun's eyes, although Zhangye Prefecture was a small oasis town with a population of only over 600,000, it was a vibrant commercial city.

In the city of Zhangye, which is only seven or eight miles in radius, there are thousands of restaurants, inns, and they are filled with Chinese and foreign merchants who travel back and forth to transport goods, and eighty percent of them are merchants from the Great Zhou.

There are dozens of theaters, brothels, prostitutes, and gambling houses in the city, and almost all of them are packed with customers.

This is the result of the imperial court's strict control over the number of such shops.

Kou Zhun sighed and thought: Pornography and gambling are really ancient industries. They have probably existed since the birth of mankind.

Your Majesty, it is a good strategy for the Emperor to strictly control the number of such shops and impose heavy taxes on them, which can both minimize their harm and increase treasury revenue.

Kou Zhun wandered around Zhangye City for three days, and recorded everything he saw and heard in writing. It was time for the army to rest, so they set out west on August 21st.

Without the Great Zhou Straight Road, the journey slowed down suddenly. The distance from Zhangye to Gaochang was only a thousand miles, but the army took twelve days to arrive.

When they arrived at Gaochang City on September 3, Hu Lian, the pacification envoy of the Western Regions sent by the Longxiang Guard, and officials from the Gaochang Ministry of Rites had led a hundred of their subordinates to greet them five miles outside the city.

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Jingsheng, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition Army, declined Gaochang's invitation to enter the city, only accepted its supply of vegetables and fruits, and ordered the army to camp outside the city.

After the officials from the Ministry of Rites of Gaochang left, all the generals of the Great Zhou gathered in the commander's tent to discuss the current situation.

Hu Lian said:
"My Lord Commanders and Minister Kou, according to the latest news sent back yesterday, Commander Cao and Commander Yang, with two armies of 180,000 men, held fast to Bekara City, which was attacked by the 1.8 million Star Cult coalition forces.

Our army's "Tiger Crouching Cannon" and "Yansu Cannon" were of great power and killed many enemies. However, the enemy was too large in number and surrounded the city on all sides and attacked it with "Huihui Cannon", ladders, and siege vehicles. The Fourth and Eighth Corps on the city walls also suffered heavy losses. So far, more than 60,000 soldiers have been killed in battle.

The news sent back by Governor Cao and Governor Yang indicated that as long as there was one soldier from the Fourth and Eighth Corps, the border town of Bekala would not fall.

After hearing this, all the generals praised the two armies of Cao Bin and Yang Ye for a while, and looked at the map of Central Asia to discuss the strategy against the enemy.

Zhang Ning, the Grand Commander of the Fifth Corps, said:

"From Gaochang to our great peripheral city of Bekara, it takes only a month's march. A hundred miles south of Bekara is the city of Salu, which borders the Ghaznavid Empire.

In Pontus' opinion, the five major armies we sent to the west should bypass the city of Salu and raid the west of the Star Cult coalition forces that are surrounding the city of Bekara, cut off their retreat, and then join forces with the fourth and eighth armies that are defending the city of Bekara to annihilate the more than one million Star Cult troops!"

Zhang Ning's battle plan was bold and careful, and the strategic results after victory were extremely huge and tempting.

The Ghaznavid Empire was relatively easier to defeat. After the five major corps broke into its territory, they were unstoppable and then went north for more than a hundred miles to block the road from Bekaraxi back to the Samanid Empire. Relying on the fierce firepower of the thousand "Yansu Cannons" and three thousand Tiger Duncan Cannons carried by the army this time, and the coordination of the east and the west, it was not difficult to completely wipe out the 1.8 million Star Sect troops.

After Jingsheng pondered for a while, Kou Zhun said:
"My dear commanders, although I don't understand large-scale military operations, I think Commander Zhang's strategy, although the results are attractive, has overlooked a key point:
Although the Samanid Empire and the coalition forces of the Star Cult dispatched an army of 1.8 million to attack the city of Bekara, it was still not the entire force of all the countries. The Samanid Empire alone could mobilize an army of 400,000 to 500,000 people.

The number of troops that the Black Caliphate, Karakoram and other countries could mobilize could reach around one million.

If our army raids the enemy forces in Bekara City, the Star Cult countries will surely send troops to support us. Wouldn't we be in danger of being surrounded by the enemy?
If we delay for too long, the 4th and 8th Corps defending Bekara City will suffer heavy losses, which I am afraid Your Majesty will not like."

Kou Zhun paused and said:
"Of course, this is just my humble opinion. How to fight will naturally be decided according to the system established by Your Majesty and by the commanders-in-chief."

After Jingsheng and the other five military commanders discussed for a long time, Jingsheng finally spoke:
"Before we set out on the expedition, His Majesty instructed us:
The population of the Star Religion Alliance is close to that of our Great Zhou. Although their army is far less elite than ours, they have more than three million soldiers. We should not be impatient for complete victory in our war against them.

Our five armies are the first batch of troops sent by Your Majesty to fight against the Star Sect. Soon, when the five armies that conquered Beiming and the Tibetan tribes return to the capital, Your Majesty will send Governor Huyan and others to lead the troops.

Although Minister Kou is a civil servant, his analysis does make sense!
Our army's strategy this time is to go straight to the city of Bekara, defeat the Star Cult coalition led by the Samanids, and first lift the siege of Bekara. This is the safest strategy."

The four corps commanders, Zhang Ning, Guan Lin, Cao Guangshi and Liang Ying, saw that although the strategy of Commander Jing Sheng could not achieve great success quickly, it was safe and sound, and they all expressed their approval one after another.

After camping outside Gaochang City for one night and receiving a large supply of vegetables and fruits from Gaochang Kingdom, Jingsheng and other five major corps immediately set out for Bekara City.

Kou Zhun stayed behind with a hundred of his followers and met with Hu Lian, one of the "three pacification envoys" of the Longxiang Guard, and set off for the Roman Empire, far west of the Samanid Empire.

The Great Zhou Empire had stationed about 5,000 Dragon-Xiang Guards in the Western Regions, Central Asia and West Asia. This time, Hu Lian specially selected a thousand elite Dragon-Xiang Guards to complete the task of escorting the Minister of Rites Kou Zhun safely on his mission to the Roman Empire as assigned by the imperial edict.

After several days of preparation, Hu Lian, Kou Zhun and others dressed up as wealthy merchants of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Thousands of people escorted a batch of high-quality silk and set off for the Roman Empire.

The route planned by Hu Lian was to enter the Ghaznavid Empire from the southwest of the Central Asian territory of the Great Zhou Dynasty, then enter the territory of the Samanid Empire from the southeast, and then travel northwest for more than 20 days to reach Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire.

The day before leaving, Hu Lian personally went into Gaochang City, searched for ten beautiful prostitutes, and bought them at a high price.

(End of this chapter)