The struggle of the reborn prince

'Yiduhu' in the Tuque language means a happy monarch, but at this time, Bi Lege can't feel happiness at all.Since the conflict with the Song Dynasty last year and their return to Xiliao, they refused the Song Dynasty's caravan to pass through Gaochang. As a retaliation measure, the Song Dynasty not only sent troops to conquer, but also cut off its trade route to the Central Plains with Xixia.In desperation, Gaochang had no choice but to take the more difficult and dangerous Suiye Road, which not only had to endure the exploitation of various ethnic groups of the Tatars, but also paid heavy taxes from the Jurchens.But after the Song army captured Zhenzhou and defeated the Naiman tribe, this road was no longer feasible.

The prosperity of Gaochang is based on the thriving east-west trade, a considerable part of which is carried out in the form of "tributary". This year, in order to continue the trade with the Central Plains, Bi Lego instructed his vassal states to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty in their own way. in order to minimize losses.But the news that came back was extremely frustrating. Da Song refused to give them the status of tribute envoys. In this way, not to mention the huge rewards, they would not even be able to earn back the travel expenses. Legend has it that some "tribute envoys" even cost less than animals for transportation. The price is dealt with.

What made Bi Lege even more disturbed was that the Song Dynasty had sent a navy to Persia, preparing to sweep up the pirates along the way, punish the Seljuks who robbed the merchant ships of the Song Dynasty, and completely open up and control the maritime trade routes.He knew that once the Song Dynasty succeeds, sea trade will gradually replace land trade. Although the sea route is also risky, it will carry dozens or even a hundred times more goods than the land route. It will end Gaochang in a few years. Its irreplaceable position on the Silk Road, without commercial support, Gaochang will soon fall and become another abandoned city in the desert.

Leaving aside, Gao Chang is a little bit overwhelmed now.Since last year, caravans arriving in Gaochang from various places have encountered obstacles, causing panic. Bi Lege worried that these people would never return.He also thought that Da Song would succumb soon, so he ordered the purchase of a large number of goods from the caravan.Including horses, dromedary camels, big-tailed white sheep, room knives, iron swords, bows and arrows, armor, glassware, jade stones, jade stone bottles, sand, jade, jade Buddha, jade saddle, jade bridle, jade belt, jade Yue Axe, amber, ivory, emerald, pearl, berberine, fragrant medicine, jasmine.Stamen cloth, Su Ling, brown, sundries, etc.In addition, monks in Kucha offered Buddhist clips, Bodhi seal leaves, rosary beads, relics, Buddha bones and so on.

I thought it was to give hope to caravans from all over the world, so that they still go back and buy it at a low price. When the Great Song Dynasty business road reopens, they can sell it at a high price and make a fortune.Unexpectedly, the emperor of the Song Dynasty was so decisive this time and sent a large army to the west to destroy Gaochang. Naturally, these things fell into his hands, and they might become the spoils of the Song army, and they really lost everything.Bi Lege looked at the mountain of goods piled up in the warehouse and wanted to cry, his heart was bleeding!

And thinking of his allies, Bi Lege had nothing but helplessness.When he first learned that Da Song was going to join forces with Xixia to use troops, he sent an envoy to bribe Li Qianshun with a heavy gift, and asked him to dismiss Cha Ge, who was following Da Song, and gave Da Song a hard time, making him give up sending troops. plan.Then he bought off the Bubu and Naiman tribes to let them stop the Song army along the way, and promised them that they would have generous gifts to send to the Song Dynasty after they were done.Unexpectedly, Li Qianshun accepted the gift and did not do anything, and he regretted it after a while.And those two are even worse.Let Song Jun beat the shit out of him and basically exterminate the family, and save money, but he doesn't want to!

In fact, Bilge put his greatest hope on Xiliao, which was their traditional ally.He is also the strongest partner, he thought he could fight Da Song on par and keep himself safe.What I didn't expect was that it didn't matter.When the Song army traveled thousands of miles, it was a time when people were exhausted and horses were exhausted.However, the Western Liao army was killed by the Song army, and even Xiao Hanli, the king of the six tribes, was captured.In the end, Song Jun let them go, otherwise the whole army would be wiped out.It is said that it was only the Song Army's supply team that defeated the Western Liao Army, and the main force did not make a move at all.

But now even Xiliao may not be able to point to it. At the beginning of the year, Xiliao said that the Seljuk Empire would send troops to invade. Not only could it not send reinforcements, but even the troops deployed on the Qaidam River to defend Xixia had to withdraw.Bi Lege was shocked when he heard that, the Song army had already suffered enough for him, and Xixia copied his back again, and the country was still not destroyed!Immediately sent envoys to Xiliao, they gave gifts and pleaded for love, so they barely left [-] Xiliao troops. Now they have been fighting with Xixia army for a month, and the outcome is still unclear.

Bi Lege learned that after the Song army captured Beiting, the other two states sent people to ask for help, but the Xiliao people couldn't beat them. No matter how much he was an opponent, he could only order them to stand firm and wait for help. In fact, he had given up on the north of Tianshan Mountain territory.Afterwards, the mountain was covered by heavy snow and there was no news. After he endured a winter of restlessness and anxiety, as expected, all the north of Tianshan Mountain fell. Assuming that I can rely on the fortified city to stick to it, I will retreat after the Song army runs out of food and grass...

On the third day after the arrival of the Song Army, the Song Army's camp began to move forward and set up camp two miles in front of the city. From the top of the city, you can already see the continuous camps, and you can clearly hear the sound of drumming in the Song camp at night. But no attack was launched.Bi Lego couldn't sleep all night. He called himself 'Aslan Khan', which means the Lion King, but he was a cowardly monarch who was more conservative than aggressive.Think about it, if he has the courage of perseverance and enough military talent, he will not be inferior to others and be in a humiliating vassal position.

With such a leader, it is conceivable that Gaochang City was instantly on the verge of despair under the pressure of soldiers, and panic and depression fell on everyone's heart.A minister suggested that the army should go out of the city to fight the Song army to boost morale, but Bi Lege thought that he should take a look first, but the soldiers and people in the city needed to be appeased when they were frightened, so he led his ministers to the city to inspect the city defense in order to stabilize people , indicating that the king is with them.

Bi Lege leaned on the city wall and looked south. Although he was not proficient in military affairs, he had never eaten pork, but he had always seen pigs run away.I saw that the Song army's barracks stretched for several miles, with flags covering the sun, and there were cavaliers cruising around outside the camp to force them to the bottom of the city. If there were no moats to stop them, they might have reached the root of the city directly.And Song Jun didn't seem to be idle these days. They started digging trenches outside the city, as if they wanted to lock the city, but there was no movement in the other three directions. He was a little confused about what Song Jun was going to do. what.

"General You, seeing how densely packed the Song army's camps are, there should be no less than 5 people?" Bi Lege turned his face and asked. In the Gaochang military officer series, the most senior officers are Generals Left and Right, followed by Jianwu, Weiyuan, and Ling. The five generals Jiang, Dianzhong, and Fubo, and the ruler of the country came to the front line in person, so they naturally had to accompany them.

"Big Khan, according to my opinion, there should be no less than 10 people, and their luggage team is not ordinary civilians, so it should be counted!" General Youwei replied together.

"Then what is the purpose of the Song army only digging trenches in the south city? Are they trying to prevent our army from leaving the city?" Bi Lege asked again, and he felt a little guilty after hearing the reply.The population of Gaochang did not exceed 3, and the standing army was only [-]. After learning that the Song army captured Beiting, he mobilized all the defenders from Qiuci and Yanqi to Gaochang City, and ordered all the tribal armies to enter the city for defense. There are barely [-] people under him, and the strength of the two armies is very different, so he can't help feeling timid.

"Khan, I thought the enemy was timid to fight, and digging trenches is to prevent our troops from going out of the city to attack, so they dug trenches to stop them!" Hope is pinned on Xiliao's assistance.

"We are outnumbered, how do you think we will fight?" Bi Lege asked again.

"Great Khan, the enemy army has come from afar and is exhausted. We should go out of the city to face the battle before they have a firm foothold. They use trenches to block our way out of the city, so we can go out of the city from the east and west gates to attack!" He Ligai suggested.

"It's reasonable, but this king thinks that all the surrounding ministries will retreat to the desert. The Song army can't last for a few days without food and grass. As long as we stick to the city, they will definitely evacuate when they run out of food and grass!" Bi Lege said that it was reasonable, But my heart is still a little vague, and I still don't advocate going out of the city to fight hard.

"Khan's clever plan, we can send troops out of the city secretly, and set fire to all the vegetation in the oasis around the city before the grass sprouts. The enemy army will not be able to graze, and it will inevitably consume a lot of food..." Heli said half suddenly Hearing a bang under the city, a black shadow came head-on.

"Ah..." Bi Lege was listening to the following with his ears closed, when the fire flashed under the city, there was a loud noise that scared him back, something flew over the crown, and then he heard ' With a puff, something hot covered his face.He raised his sleeves and wiped his head to look back. The joint force behind him must have disappeared, and a dead body with its head missing fell behind him, making him scream out in fright.

"Protect Da Khan!" Before Bi Lege could figure out what was going on, a group of soldiers rushed up to protect him and ran towards the city.When he saw the corpses under the city, he realized that it was Song Jun who fired at them just now, and he dodged it. Heli should be unlucky. His head was smashed by an iron ball the size of a fist. For his brain, Bilge couldn't help feeling sick, and vomited 'wow'!

Before the battle started, he lost a general, and Bi Lege was also terrified by the tragedy of Heli. He clearly saw that the place where the Song army fired the cannon was three arrows away from the top of the city. If you can fight, it seems that the firearms equipped by the Song army are well-deserved. If you go out of the city to fight, you may be killed if you can't even get out of the city gate.Therefore, he never mentioned Kaesong to fight. He just ordered people to guard the city strictly and monitor every move of the Song army.And since the joint efforts of the DPRK and China, no one has advocated going out of the city to fight... (To be continued...)