Great Han Empire

Chapter 384 Flying into Chigu

"The Journey to the West"

Author: Scarlet Coral
Chapter 19 Flying into Chigu

In the early morning of August [-], the Han army took advantage of the autumn morning mist to launch a large-scale cavalry raid on the Guishuang army in the north of the city.Ma Chao led the Xiliang cavalry as the main attack, Lingtong's Yueqi battalion and Liu Tan's Changshui battalion were on the left and right sides, and the three-way cavalry broke through the periphery of the Guishuang people's northern camp with lightning speed.Although the Guishuang army tried to fight back with bows and spears, they were neither prepared nor strong enough to resist.After a symbolic resistance for a quarter of an hour, the Guishuang soldiers began to collapse and fled to the camp in the west of the city.When the main force of Guishuang arrived, the big Han cavalry had swaggered back to the city, leaving only the camp burnt to a pile of ashes.This incident made Guishuang's chief general, Jipu Nada, so angry that he yelled at him, and even withdrew several generals in charge before he gave up.

This raid made the Guishuang Army feel great humiliation from top to bottom, but they did not notice that a lightly armed Han cavalry broke away from the main force during the battle and galloped quickly to the north.

Five days later, Guan Ping led the surprise attack team to Chigu, the capital of Wusun, and camped in a nearby valley.Although the soldiers and horses were exhausted by the continuous long-distance raids, Guan Ping did not dare to delay.After simply settling down, he immediately sent Tuoba Feng to sneak into Chigu City in disguise with a few capable soldiers to meet with Wusun Neiying.The people waited in the valley for half a day, but they didn't dare to light a fire. They only ate some dry food and drank some mountain spring water to drink.When the sun was setting, Tuobafeng and his party finally returned to the camp with Wusun Neiying.

Major generals such as Guan Ping, Zhao Guang, and Liao Hua immediately summoned this important Wusun official.This person's name is Feng Xun, and he is currently serving as the chief official of Wusun's Shezhong.Fengxun was originally a member of the Da Kunmi tribe (for details about Wusun and Da Kunmi, see Chapter 6, Sanlu Ping Xice), and he is also Princess Haiya's capable confidant.Because he has been doing business in various places in the Western Regions all year round, and even went to Liangzhou in the Han Dynasty, he is familiar with the local customs and customs of various places, and he is also proficient in Chinese.He was eloquent, and as soon as he sat down, he began to talk.

It turned out that as soon as the princess returned to Wusun, the situation in the country was quickly reversed: Le Guangmi was a little apprehensive seeing that the princess had already won the trust of the Han Dynasty.Although he has become the king, he did not dare to continue to bully the Da Kunmi people too much for a while, and he did not dare to start negotiations with Guishuang immediately.After Haiya returned to China, she also found that after the defeat of Tianshan, the trust of Le Guangmi in various domestic ministries seemed to have loosened, so she deliberately tested some officials who originally supported Xiao Kunmi.

For hundreds of years, Wusun has established a unique political structure with reference to the regimes of the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu, and other countries in the Western Regions: in addition to the king called "Kunmi", there is a prime minister, a great fortune, and the left and right generals. One each, three marquises, one general and one captain, two supervisors, one official, two senior officials in Shezhong, and one cavalier.Since most of Wusun is still nomadic, although these upper-level officials are appointed and removed by the king in name, they are actually mostly served by the heads of various ministries.In this way, once the king's decision harms the interests of various tribes, it will easily cause dissatisfaction among officials at all levels.A few months ago, Le Guangmi suffered a disastrous defeat in the Tianshan Mountains. All tribes suffered serious losses. Some small tribes even lost more than half of their male population. This year's winter has become a problem.After escaping back to the country, Le Guangmi was naturally unable to fulfill the benefits he had promised to the various tribes in advance. Not only that, but he even intensified the pressure on the various tribes in order to restore the strength of his own tribe - in this way, the prestige and reputation he had established in the country over the years It was greatly discounted, and all the ministries now regretted supporting him on the throne at that time.When they heard that he was going to fall to Guishuang and use troops against the Han Dynasty again, many officials simply ran to complain to Princess Haiya.

Feng Xun said confidently: "Now there are many officials in the country who have pledged their allegiance to Her Royal Highness. Most of the officials sympathize with the Da Kunmi Department. Only Da Lu, the left and right generals who control the four guards, and the guards who control Lord Qi is still loyal to Le Guangmi. General You has recently withheld military rations, which made ordinary soldiers feel dissatisfied, and the princess’s people have linked up with some soldiers at the North Gate and West Gate to make trouble, and took the opportunity to launch a mutiny and lead the army into the city.”

After hearing this, everyone was delighted, and then asked Fengxun about the structure and defense of Chigu City. Fengxun knew everything, and the two sides agreed on the specific details of breaking the city.

After sending off Wusun's guests, Zhao Guang asked, "Brother Guan, do you have a plan in mind?"

Guan Ping nodded and said, "Ziyuan, you are clear about the situation. I have decided that you will be the main attacker tomorrow. Let me tell you a few points, and you must follow every sentence when you break the city. There must be no mistakes. First, tomorrow After nightfall, you divide your men and horses into two teams, one stays at the west gate, and the other goes to the north gate, waiting to break through the city. Second, regardless of whether the north gate is opened first or the west gate is opened first, your cavalry must rush immediately. Enter the city. At the moment of breaking the city, when you rush into the city, other troops and horses give way to your cavalry. Be quick, like an arrow on the string, without a moment's delay. This requires you to form a team at the west gate and north gate in advance. Wait. If you find out in the city and shoot arrows outside, don't mess up the team."

Zhao Guang said excitedly, "Yes, yes."

Guan Ping went on to say: "Thirdly, as soon as your cavalry rush into the city, they must immediately rush to the palace and occupy the four gates of the palace first. It is said that Wusun's palace was built after Chang'an Weiyang Palace, and it is very large. A rebellious soldier entered the palace and set fire to it and robbed it. Regardless of the army or civilians, anyone who dared to break into the palace and set fire to it and robbed it would be beheaded on the spot. Fourth, you have made arrangements in advance. There are cavalrymen constantly patrolling the streets and alleys. Burning, killing, killing, and looting are strictly prohibited. While patrolling, we pass on the prohibition to our army. If there is any violation, whether it is a defected Wusun person, or It is our own brethren, they all rectify the law on the spot, and the rest are the first to show it to the public. Fifth, King Le Guangmi of Wusun committed a heinous crime and must be captured alive. After breaking the city, he must escape from the palace. Regardless of whether they go to heaven or earth, they must be captured. !Although all the soldiers wanted to arrest Le Guangmi, your cavalry rushed into the city first and occupied the palace, so if there is no one from King Wusun, I will never agree, and you will be the only one to ask."

Zhao Guang replied: "Unless he has wings on his back, I will never let him escape!"

Liao Hua smiled and said: "Ziyuan, don't praise Haikou, if Le Guangmi escapes, be careful with the general's military law!"

Guan Ping gave Zhao Guang a stern look, and continued, "Sixth, Princess Haiya must be protected in time, and there must be no harm."

Zhao Guang said: "Yes, I will definitely protect Princess Haiya properly, and the rest of the defectors will not be hurt. But I am worried about the four city gates..."

Guan Ping said: "You only take care of the affairs of the palace. The east and south gates are guarded by Uncle Hua, and the west and north gates are guarded by Uncle Neng (Zhao Neng has been appointed as the military commander). If Le Guangmi escapes through the city gate , it's not your fault."

Late the next night, outside the north gate of Chigu City
Zhao Guang and Zhao Neng immediately stood several tens of meters outside the city, observing the movement on the city.Around one o'clock, there was a commotion on the tower: At first, only the soldiers on the west city were clamoring and walking towards the north city, and there were also people running and shouting in the north city, making a mess.After a while, someone shouted: "Make way for the old man! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" Another group of people hurried to Beicheng, apparently the "old man" came to resolve the dispute in person.Zhao Guang was impatient and asked Zhao Neng in a low voice:

"Uncle Neng, how about telling the brothers to shoot down the suspension bridge at this time?"

Zhao Neng replied calmly, "Don't worry, my lord. You will be able to enter the city soon without firing an arrow."

Zhao Guang said: "Now that the soldiers are clamoring in the city, our brothers shot down the drawbridge and set fire to the gates. There will be no resistance in the city. Wouldn't it be better to enter the city quickly?"

Zhao Neng listened attentively to the noise in the city, watched the movement in the city, and with a vague smile on his lips, he replied indifferently: "It's coming soon. Look at the moon in the sky. It's almost the second watch, right? Probably soon."

Surrounded by a group of personal soldiers, Dalu Yuzhao rode to the tower of Beicheng on horseback.Because of his panic, nervousness, and old age, he ran all the way down and gasped for breath.There are quite a few of his own tribesmen in the defenders of the west city and the north city, and he got a report that it was his nephew who threatened the right general and yelled injustice.He wanted to take advantage of the critical moment when the soldiers were just shouting, and personally rescue General You, so that the matter would not completely break down.When he approached the clamoring crowd, he saw the mutinies tightly twisting the arms of the general on the right, putting a gleaming broadsword on his neck, and urging him to quickly take out the rations and spare his life.General You was so frightened that his teeth chattered and he was speechless.Yu Zhao wanted to speak, but the soldiers were crowded and noisy, so he had no chance to speak.The chief supervisor next to Yuzhao shouted loudly: "Master Dalu Yuzhao is here! Don't yell! Don't yell! Speak well and don't be unreasonable!" Immediately, a soldier retorted angrily:
"Now that the cavalry of the Han Dynasty are under the city, why are you adults so arrogant? We left our respective tribes, cattle and sheep, and defended the city with all our strength. We don't take credit for our work or hardship. We don't have a share in promotion. Now even Don’t you have enough to eat? If we want to let go and go back to the grassland to graze, what does this ruined city have to do with us! Now that things are up to now, even if he is a great prince? Prime minister?”

An officer of the same clan was afraid that Yu Zhao would suffer, so he pushed him and said, "This is not the time for the boss to talk, please leave quickly!"

Some of Yuzhao's personal soldiers were clamoring among the soldiers, and some of them surrounded his mounts and went down the city corner path, and fled quickly.Someone raised a knife indiscriminately to cut down the right general, but was blocked by his own soldiers desperately, and he was seriously injured.The soldier was immediately killed by the mutiny, but the right general himself was rescued by the left and right in the confusion, and fled to the city.At this time, several mutinies on horseback in the city galloped from the west city to the south city, shouting at the same time: "The Han army has entered the city! The Han army has entered the city!"

A group of mutinies opened the north gate and yelled out: "Quickly enter the city! Quickly enter the city!" Seeing that the drawbridge had not been put down, Zhao Guang ordered his interpreter to shout loudly to the mutinies who opened the city: "Quickly let the drawbridge go! Hurry up! Hurry up!" At this moment, Guan Ping sent several soldiers on flying horses to the north and west gates, and passed down a command: After the city is broken, all civil and military officials in Wusun, big and small, in the city will not be attacked unless they lead the crowd to resist. Even if they were killed, they would not be arrested, but they were not allowed to leave the city casually.Guan Ping also ordered the soldiers entering the city to announce this military order to everyone in the city.After hearing this, the soldiers were all surprised and didn't understand why Guan Ping was so tolerant.Although Zhao Guang didn't fully understand Guan Ping's intentions, his army was the main force entering the city, so he immediately conveyed Guan Ping's military order to the whole team.He heard the soldiers chattering behind him, turned around and said, "Don't say too much! Just follow General Guan's military order!" The suspension bridge at the north gate came down, and Zhao Guang knocked his stirrups, waved his spear at the same time, and ordered loudly: "Go in." City!" He took the lead and led his soldiers across the suspension bridge and rushed into the urn city.The city tower was burning, and flying tiles and burning wood fell from time to time.A block of fire fell just in front of Zhao Guang, almost hitting the horse's head.With a wave of his gun, he knocked aside the fire blocks that fell in the air, and turned around and shouted: "Quick!" He rushed into the city first, followed by a large group of cavalry, galloping forward.Running to the crossroads near the Wusun Palace, Zhao Guang waved his hand again and said loudly, "Depart!" So the cavalry separated, and Zhao Neng led his men to occupy the city gate. To the north gate, led by Luo An and He Chong respectively, to carry out the assigned tasks.Zhao Guang himself led [-] cavalry and galloped directly to the gate of the palace.

But when Luo An led a team of cavalry to disperse the thousands of enemies gathered near the palace, they encountered difficulties.He had thought that it would be easy to kill the enemy, but unexpectedly, this enemy team had a clear banner, a well-organized army, and well-equipped equipment. They were obviously elite guards guarding the royal city, and they were well-trained.Luo An rushed to the front with his personal soldiers, and shot several enemies to death. Seeing the enemies, instead of running away in panic, they shouted more fiercely and advanced.He thought that the [-] cavalry around him were all lightly armed, and many of them were new to the battlefield, so he must not lead them into the enemy's line - not only would they not be able to win, but they would suffer heavy losses.He ordered the officers of the squadrons to be calm.All the brothers in the team should retreat slowly, and no chaos is allowed.He led his own soldiers to kill the enemy, and kept shooting down the enemy, forcing the enemy to only dare to chase slowly, not too close.When retreating to a main street, the terrain is slightly open, and it is easy for the cavalry to play to their strengths.He said to the hundred people around him:

"Look, the man on the red horse is a general. As long as you get rid of this guy, it will not be difficult to defeat this team of guards."

The hundred generals asked: "Then let's go straight in front of him and behead him?"

"No. It seems that he is a man of martial arts. If he can't kill him in one shot, our two hundred riders will be surrounded instead. Today our capital is not big, and the business is not small, so we can't fight recklessly, we must be very cautious."

"Shoot him with random arrows?"

"No, I want to capture it alive and present it to your lord."

"How to catch the law?"

Luo An smiled confidently: "Each of you holds three arrows in your hands. When I say shoot, you will shoot at his left and right soldiers, confidantes, and I will do the job of capturing him alive."

A large white flag of the Wusun Imperial Guard followed the red horse general, within seventy paces.Hundreds of people secretly glanced at Luo An's face, and asked in a low voice: "Shoot?" Luo An did not make a sound, hung the two-stone strong bow back on his back, picked up the short bow hanging from his waist, and took out three feathers. The arrow is buckled in the hand.The enemy had already entered within fifty steps, and began to use the open terrain to charge towards the Han cavalry guarding the street in three directions.The Wusun officer raised his knife and shouted, apparently wanting to command his soldiers to charge over.Luo An suddenly yelled in Hun dialect:
"Wusun fought against the Celestial Dynasty, and his crimes were heinous. Now that the Celestial Dynasty has sent ten thousand cavalry to attack, you are still not surrendering?"

Wusun had been neighbors with the Xiongnu for many years, and the relationship was very deep. Many people in the upper class knew the language of the Xiongnu.When the enemy general heard this, he was really taken aback, hesitated for a while, and looked around.Luo An immediately ordered: "Shoot!" At the same time, he shot three arrows in a row with a short bow: one shot hit the general's right hand, and the steel knife fell to the ground with a clatter; The law controls the mount, and cannot turn the horse's head to escape; the third arrow hits the eye of the big man on horseback who came to rescue him from behind, and falls off the horse.At the same time, Luo An's war horse was as fast as an arrow, and he had rushed to the leader of Lian Yong. He raised the knife with his right hand, grabbed his belt with his left hand, and threw the enemy off the horse. "Tie it up!" He ordered, and continued to rush forward, slashing the flag bearer who was panicking on the horse with a knife, and saw the flag fluttering and fell down.More than 100 Wusun soldiers rushed forward desperately to rescue their generals, but Luo An swung a knife and beheaded several people in a row.But at this time, Guan Xing was ordered by Guan Ping to lead a team of Yueqi to outflank the enemy's rear, and when he saw this, he took advantage of the situation and cut off his way back.Under the attack from two sides, the enemy was finally defeated. Regardless of whether there was a way or no way, they scattered and fled for their lives. Those who could not escape dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for mercy.

Luo An joined forces with Guan Xing and reorganized the team.This time, due to the coincidence of killing, although more than a dozen of the cavalry were killed, only three died.Luo An and Guan Xing led the victorious troops, escorted the captives, and brought many heads, and walked towards the square where Guan Ping immediately commanded the center.

At this time, Zhang Bao also defeated another stubborn enemy. In addition to beheading the hundred level, he also brought back a group of captives and a dozen horses.All the soldiers gathered in a square, lined up in five rows, collected the remains of more than [-] comrades who died in battle, and made arrangements for the wounded, and then beheaded all the captured Wusun guards, and hung their heads on In the trees on both sides of the road.After finishing all this, Guan Ping ordered Hao Sheng to take care of the leader of the imperial guards captured by Luo An, and put him under escort by a chief, and then led the whole army into the palace.

(End of this chapter)