The struggle of the reborn prince

Chapter 343 Soldiers enter Gaochang

After defeating the Naiman tribe, the Western Expeditionary Army of the Great Song Dynasty entered the Altai Mountains. The road in it was already rough and difficult, and I don't know how many people failed to get out.And God seemed to be on the enemy's side. It snowed heavily overnight, and the valleys that passed through were filled with snow, making it difficult for vehicles and horses to move.There are two roads ahead of them. One is to withdraw from the original road and wait for the next year when the ice melts and the snow melts; It is a road with an uncertain future to successfully cross when the mountains are covered by heavy snow.

Gao Chong and Zhao Li convened the generals to discuss where to go. The generals thought it was too shameful to return without success, and because of the kindness of the emperor, they unanimously decided to take the risk of crossing.But soon they understood what a difficult path they had chosen. They opened up the road while marching, and the speed must not be fast.In order to pack lightly, they only carried weapons, ammunition and food, disassembled heavy weapons such as artillery and carried them on mules and horses, and discarded carts and tents.

The army wandered around the mountain for two full months before they walked out of the mountain. At the same time, they paid a heavy price. Most of the livestock in the supply team was lost, and they had to use war horses as pack animals, and their food and grass were almost exhausted.At the same time, nearly a thousand officers and soldiers died of freezing, dying of illness, and fell off the cliff, and the number of injured was multiple.And the number of casualties in their fierce battles was not as high as this, which made Gao Chong and others very sad. These soldiers followed them for thousands of miles and did not die under the enemy's swords and guns, but died in the hands of bad weather.

"Commander, our army has just left the mountain. We are exhausted and need to rest urgently. Replenish food and fodder, and don't rush to fight!" This was the first night for the army to leave the mountain.The troops camped on the spot, Zhao Li discussed with Gao Chong.

"Yeah. But this is the edge of the Gurbantunggut Desert. It is sparsely populated and it is difficult to recruit the army. We still need to choose a camp!" Gao Chong nodded while looking at the map.

The place where the army is located is at the southern foot of the Altai Mountains, on the northwestern edge of the Junggar Basin.The terrain is oblique, long from north to south and narrow from east to west.It is adjacent to Mount Gayir in the northwest, the northern foot of Tianshan Mountain in the south, and the Gurbantunggut Desert in the east.The central and eastern parts are open and flat, but most of them are Gobi deserts. There is not enough water and pastures for grazing, and this place cannot support nearly 10 people even if it scrapes three feet of land.

"We have wandered around the mountains for more than two months, and we have already missed the time and place to meet the caravan. At the same time, we are cut off from domestic news, and we don't know the emperor's next plan. It is difficult to raise so much food and grass with our strength. !” Zhao Li sighed, the sudden heavy snow disrupted their plans and put them in a predicament.

"Gaochang is a rich place. There is no need to worry about finding food, but the most important thing is to replenish ammunition. Therefore, we must contact the people in the hall to solve the problem!" Gao Chong said, and his eyes did not leave the map.

"Yeah. The commander-in-chief is right. We have soldiers in our hands, and the soldiers have guns in their hands. I'm afraid that if we don't have food and drink, we will steal his mother!" Zhao Li understood immediately after hearing it.said with a smile.

"Haha, we really deserve to be taught by the emperor. Thinking about it together, besides, we are also robbing the enemy's country, and the courtiers can't say anything!" Gao Chong laughed. Zhao'er solved the food shortage problem and recruited a large number of refugees with the remaining food.

"The Marshal must have chosen a good place!" Zhao Li and the two hit it off immediately, and he must have already made up his mind when he looked at Gao Chong's appearance.

"It's here!" Gao Chong clicked on the map and said.

"Eric Lake, this is indeed a good place, but we still have to cross the Baili Desert, and the enemy's situation is unknown!" Zhao Li said, stroking the stubble all over his face.

Lake Erik is the only freshwater lake in this area. There are large grasslands around the basin, where many nomadic tribes have lived and thrived in history.In the Qin Dynasty, today’s Karamay was a nomadic place under the jurisdiction of Saizhong and others; at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the jurisdiction was controlled by the Dayuezhi people who moved westward; The territory under the jurisdiction of the Khanate; in the Sui Dynasty, the jurisdiction was the land of Tiele and other tribes of the West Turkic; at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it became the nomadic land of the Huluwu and other tribes of the Wudulu tribe of the West Turkic.

After the Tang Dynasty pacified the Western Turkic Khanate, the Yanbo Dudufu was established here, which was first under the jurisdiction of the Kunling Duhufu under the rule of the Anxi Daduhufu.Later, it was under the jurisdiction of Beiting Duhufu.At the end of the Tang Dynasty, this area became the nomadic land of Ge Luolu and other Uighur tribes, and later became the northeast territory of the Karahan Dynasty.When Yelu Dashi led his troops to move westward to Ye Mili, it was once designated as his territory, where it could be pastured and cultivated, and it was the only place for caravans to go to Beiting. The commerce was relatively developed, and it had become a blessed land in the sand sea. .

"The Gobi Desert is not exactly the same as the desert. There is still a small amount of vegetation on the Gobi Desert, and there may be people living in good places. Our food reserves can fully support the army to reach there. And there will not be too many troops stationed there, and they are definitely not our opponents. Are the cattle and sheep all over the place not enough for us to eat, and the caravans are also convenient for us to inquire about the news of Gaochang and the country!" Gao Chong said.

After the agreement, the army set off again to move southward. No one thought that the Song army would cross the Altai Mountain in this season. When they marched into the Erik Basin after three days of rapid march, the Koryo army stationed here was completely unprepared and only assembled in a hurry. There are more than 3000 horses.When they saw the mighty Song Army brigade pouring in, they didn't dare to fight, and they scattered before an arrow was fired. The Western Expeditionary Army took Yanbo City lightly and quickly controlled the entire area.

Although Gao Chong claimed to plunder Gaochang, he knew in his heart that blind killing would not solve the problem, so he restrained the army from killing indiscriminately, and paid the price according to the fair trade when collecting military rations.However, for those who do not cooperate or hoard and reluctance to sell, there will inevitably be forced purchases. In just five days, the Western Expeditionary Army confiscated 30 shi of grain, more than 5 livestock, and swept away the local abundant felt and fur. At the same time, thousands of carts were requisitioned, and the shortage of materials was alleviated to a certain extent.

While the Western Expeditionary Army was buying up supplies, they also visited merchants from the Song Dynasty to inquire about the news, and sent scouts to learn about Gaochang's defense situation, but the information they got was not much more than what they knew.Just when they were at a loss, the soldiers came to report that someone had come to visit. Gao Chong and Zhao Li were stunned. The merchants and people in the city were afraid that they would avoid them, so why would they come to their door and invite them in hastily.

"This... Isn't this Zhang Da shopkeeper's?" Looking at a fat man who hurried in, both of them were surprised. The person who came was Zhang Que, the big shopkeeper of Shenghetang. Gao Chong said he hurriedly got up to greet him.

"Shuai Gao, I've waited for you!" Zhang Que was very excited when he saw the two of them, and saluted.

"Shopkeeper Zhang, how dare I bother you to go out in person, just send someone to approach!" Gao Chong returned the courtesy, he and Zhang Que are both old people in the mansion, and they are naturally familiar with each other, but Zhang Que at this time is not the one who ran the business that day. With a thousand taels of money, the head of a caravan with hundreds of people and horses is now the super treasurer who is in charge of tens of millions of wealth and has traveled all over the countries in the Western Regions. He can affect the economy of a country with a single word, and no one dares to do so. underestimate.

"Everyone is working for the emperor, how to divide each other, and this battle is of great importance, the emperor has personally asked, how dare I neglect!" Zhang Que said with a slightly sullen expression, expressing deep dissatisfaction with Gao Chong for treating him as an 'outsider' .

"Treasurer Zhang, the domestic affairs have calmed down, how is the emperor?" Zhao Li said as he poured tea for Zhang Que himself.

"Things in the country have calmed down, and Brother Yong has led his army back to the country. They not only occupied Helandian, but also swindled Baozhou and Yuanzhou from the Koreans, forcing the Kingdom of Jin to seek peace and return the prisoners captured in Jingkangnian. Most of the courtiers. It’s just that there was no news for more than two months after you defeated the Naiman tribe, which made the emperor worry, and ordered several times to urge all parties to investigate!” Zhang Que briefly talked about domestic affairs.

"Hey, we encountered heavy snow as soon as we entered the mountain, so we had to find another way, and the mountain was blocked by heavy snow, so we couldn't send the news, which made His Majesty and everyone worry!" Gao Chong said with a sigh.

"Speaking of which, you two are courageous enough. Since ancient times, no one has dared to cross the Altai Mountains when the mountains are covered by heavy snow, and no one has been able to walk out of them. You can be said to be No. 1 in ancient times!" Zhang confirmed. , "I heard from Lord Xi that the emperor heard that the Western Expeditionary Army had entered the mountains in the snow, and it was hard to sleep or eat. We were worried day and night. How can we subordinates not share the worries for His Majesty? The Intelligence Department, the Military Intelligence Department and the Northwest caravans Even the Special Operations Brigade dispatched a search team to search for your whereabouts!"

"Hehe, our action this time was indeed reckless and disturbed everyone, but if we didn't take risks at that time, we would have to wait for the next year. Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded in the northwest to waste money and food. We also owed the emperor's great trust!" Zhao Li heard. Seeing the resentment in Zhang Que's words, they quickly explained that they didn't expect that a decision of theirs would provoke the emperor to go to war, and they were still very moved.

"The emperor thought that you might want to enter Gaochang as soon as possible, so he suppressed all the impeachments of the courtiers. However, your risky march was a blessing in disguise, otherwise you would not have arrived here so smoothly!" Zhang Que just complained, he knew With his own identity, he knew that military affairs were not something that he, a businessman, could participate too much in, so he finished complaining and took the opportunity to change the subject.

"What does shopkeeper Zhang say?" Gao Chong was attracted and asked, leaning forward.

"Gao Shuai won consecutive battles in Mobei, defeated the Zoubu Department and seized Zhenzhou. The news quickly spread throughout the desert. Naturally, Gaochang also knew about it. Bi Lege hurriedly asked Yelu Dashi for help. Xiliao mobilized the army The soldiers came out of the Alashan Pass, blocked all the passages in and out of the Altai Mountains, and set up ambushes in the mountains to wait for you to enter the ambush circle!" Zhang Que said... (to be continued...)

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