The Lingzhou region is in the shape of a strip that is long from north to south and narrow from east to west. Within an area of eight to nine hundred miles from south to north, there are six counties: Mingsha, Feng'an, Lingwu, Huile, Hongjing, and Huaiyuan; since the Northern Wei Dynasty, Lingzhou has always been given special attention by the current dynasty because its strategic position is similar to that of Ganzhou. It also has a strategic road connecting the Great Sui Dynasty and the grassland. When the Turks invaded the Great Sui Dynasty in the past, they repeatedly sent partial troops to follow this route. March through the desert and Gobi Desert.
It was June, and the desert area west of Helan Mountain in Lingzhou was dry and hot, and the earth was on fire. However, it became very cool at night, which made the Sui army led by Duan Wenduan march very slowly. They traveled day and night, only covering fifty or sixty miles a day. They found a place to rest at the end of each day, and only broke camp and marched when the sun went down.
At noon that day, the sun was blazing, and 20,000 Sui soldiers and their war horses were hiding in an oasis to rest. The lush poplar trees blocked the furnace-like scorching sun, bringing some relief to the Sui soldiers under the trees. It was cool, and the soldiers who had just had lunch covered their faces with their helmets and lay on tree trunks to sleep. However, there were hundreds of scouts patrolling the surrounding area, vigilantly monitoring the surrounding situation to prevent enemy sneak attacks.
At this time, Wen Zhen was sitting in a tree with a crooked neck, looking at a map. Duan Wenzhen, who was in his early forties, had handsome features, a tall figure, and the three wisps of hair under his chin, which looked quite like a Confucian general.
"See the general manager." Several generals came over and bowed their hands to Duan Wenzhen. Their mission on this trip is very important, but the general Duan Wenzhen walked leisurely. These generals saw it in their eyes and were anxious in their hearts. If they continue like this, when will they arrive at Datong City in Ganzhou? However, the Sui army had a strict hierarchy, and subordinates only had the right to make suggestions, but could not question the general's decision-making. In desperation, everyone recommended Zhao Cai, the deputy general manager, to inquire on behalf of everyone.
Zhao Caiji was a native of Fulu County, Ganzhou. His ancestor Zhao Wei was the doctor of Yinqingguanglu and the prefect of Lelang County in the Northern Wei Dynasty. His father Zhao Shou served as the prefect of Shunzheng County in the Northern Zhou Dynasty. Zhao Cai himself was brave and aggressive, good at horseback riding and archery, and had a straightforward temperament, but he was not arrogant or rude. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Zhao Cai was promoted to the Third Division of Yitong because of his repeated military exploits, and served under Yang Guang. After becoming the crown prince, he was awarded the title of Marquis Youyu of the imperial court. Not long ago, he was appointed as the deputy general manager of Lingzhou in preparation for taking over the position of general manager.
As for Duan Wenzhen, the smart, wise, civil and military general manager of Lingzhou, both Yang Jian and Yang Guang and his son intended to transfer him to the Ministry of War.
This is because although there were many fierce generals in the Sui Dynasty, none of them had the brains to take charge of their own affairs. If you let them fight decisively and charge into battle, they might be invincible and invincible. But as the Sui Dynasty moved towards stability, the court needed more than just They are fierce generals who only focus on fighting, but there are also more Confucian generals and wise generals who are responsible for their own duties.
Although force is very important, if you want to stand alone, you must have a head that knows how to think; among the generals of the Sui Dynasty, after excluding the strong generals who only know how to fight, there are not many generals who have the ability to stand alone, even if they are like Da Xi Changru, Shi Wansui, Yu Juluo and others, as well as He Ruobi, who claimed to be the best in the world, although they fought bravely, when they encountered major events, they liked to act with emotion and could not calmly deal with what happened in front of them.
On the contrary, people like Duan Wenzhen, although not strong in force, have a calm temperament and a strong sense of the overall situation. Not only can they stand alone, they can also see more things from a war and make more decisions that are beneficial to the court. decision.
A top-level military department like the Ministry of War not only needs civilian officials like Xiao Jue to be in charge of daily government affairs, logistics and rationing, and other miscellaneous matters; it also needs intelligent generals who are good at fighting and have flexible minds to take charge of combat matters. Only Confucian generals and intelligent generals can respond to sudden changes in war. When an outbreak occurs, calmly judge the strength of both the enemy and ourselves for the emperor and the court, and formulate a complete battle plan in a timely manner.
Duan Wenzhen served as a general at home, and as the general manager of Yunzhou and Lingzhou outside. Not only did he have many military exploits, but he also managed the local area so that the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. During his tenure at the border, he also repeatedly proposed very good foreign strategies, which had long fallen into the hands of Duan Wenzhen. In the eyes of Yang Jian and Yang Guang, they were ready to let him take on important responsibilities in the court.
"What's the matter?" Duan Wenzhen looked up and saw the gathered generals, and asked with a smile.
"General Manager!" Zhao Cai looked at Duan Wenzhen's leisurely and contented look, and said anxiously: "There is a huge gap in the strength of the two armies in the Ganzhou direction. I and others are worried that the soldiers will not be able to carry it. If we delay the opportunity to fight, the consequences will be disastrous!"
"Are you worried that Datong City can't be defended?" Duan Wenzhen took the cold water from the soldiers, took a sip, and asked with a smile.
"Yes." Zhao Cai said with a worried hand: "If Datong City is destroyed, the Turks can cause irreparable damage to Ganzhou, Guazhou and other places. In serious cases, they can move eastward to Liangzhou, Huizhou and other places; more importantly, Unfortunately, Bujia Khan's position has become precarious due to repeated defeats. If these hundreds of thousands of troops are exhausted in this battle and return with another disastrous defeat, they will lose the ability to restrain the Turks and Tiele tribes. By then, The Turkic Khanate will definitely add chaos to chaos. But if he wins, the fame and wealth he gains will be enough to stabilize his position, and the stability of the Turks is definitely not a good thing for our Sui Dynasty. Therefore, I think our army should march as soon as possible, Contain the Turkic forces from the flanks of Datong City to reduce the pressure on Ganzhou soldiers, otherwise it will be too late."
"General Manager Zhao's concerns are not unreasonable, but from my perspective, Zhang Xutuo, Liu Quan, Zhang Dinghe, Yin Shishi and others are not mediocre people; especially Zhang Xutuo, although this person is unknown, he is It is extremely powerful. When he followed General Shi Wansui to put down the Kunzhou Rebellion, many tactics were formulated by this person. Although he had no experience in fighting Turks and was not familiar with the fighting methods of nomadic people, the Yinshi Master around him could It's not a good fight. With the cooperation of the two of them, plus the help of Liu Quan, Zhang Dinghe and others, the tall and thick Datong City can definitely cause heavy losses to the Turks."
Having said this, Duan Wenzhen suppressed the smile on his face and said bitterly: "Furthermore, this important military situation was delayed by those bastards in the court for more than half a month, which is not less than our time. "
Zhao Cai and others were silent after hearing this. The pressure in Ganzhou was huge, but there was a large group of people in the rear who were trying every means to detain the extremely urgent military situation. The dangerous situation of the Ganzhou army and the actions of the court officials made these frontier generals empathize with each other and felt in their hearts. Extremely sad and angry.
Zhao Cai took a deep breath and said, "But we can't do nothing, right?"
"Bujia Khan also wasted a lot of time. His army has not yet arrived at Datong City. It can be seen that they were awakened by the Yin Shishi and became scared. Some of them even wanted to retreat. How can such an army Can Datong City be broken? As long as Datong City can withstand a few days, the Turkic army's offensive will weaken day by day. Even if Datong City is broken, what can they do?"
Duan Wenzhen sneered and said: "The Great Lakes area attacked by King Wei is Bujia Khan's only core area in the east of Jinshan Mountain, and it is also his most fatal weakness. Once King Wei kills the Great Lakes area to a river of blood, Bujia Khan will be wiped out. If he wants to continue to gain a foothold east of Jinshan, he must return to the army for rescue. Even if he does not want to retreat or retreat, can the chiefs under his command not worry? If we continue to attack Datong City, wait for us and Shi The army of the general Qimin Khan has arrived, and he cannot retreat even if he wants to.”
Having said this, Duan Wenzhen returned the topic to his own army: "As the main force in this battle, Qimin Khan has been unable to defeat the Tiele army that intercepted him. And we only have 20,000 people, and our role is to kill The effect on the enemy is not great. If I go early, I am worried about scaring Bujia Khan away. In this case, not only will the army of the King of Guards be extremely dangerous, but also my strategic purpose of completing the Sui Dynasty in one battle will be defeated. For this reason, I Then we slowed down the march. When he is trapped under Datong City and he is in a dilemma, we and Qimin Khan will use the strength of the army and the sharp edge to kill him and leave his corpses scattered all over the field."
"It's because I'm anxious, or because the manager has seen through it all." Zhao Cai already understood Duan Wenzhen's tactics, and after thinking for a while, he frowned and said, "But Qimin Khan has been unable to attack Tiele's army, so I'm a little worried that they will cause trouble. "
"What Mr. Zhao said makes me uneasy." Duan Wenzhen stroked his beard and said, "I'm thinking now whether to help Qimin Khan kill Tiele's army first."
"Wonderful." Zhao Cai's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said with a smile: "This way we can deal with Bujia Khan as a whole."
"Not bad!" A general next to him said scornfully: "Qimin Khan has a hundred thousand elite soldiers, but he was blocked by soldiers from ten tribes. He is really incompetent. Even the humble officials think that we should help first. His one is more suitable.”
"You underestimated Qimin Khan! When I was the general manager of Yunzhou, I had contact with this man. This man looks loyal and treacherous, and seems to be timid and incompetent. In fact, he is using the power of my Great Sui Dynasty to strengthen himself. In my opinion, this person will do great harm to the Sui Dynasty." Duan Wenzhen sighed: "This is a figure similar to King Gou Jian of Yue. It is a pity that no one in the court pays attention to him. It is really strange."
"General manager, there is an urgent letter from Zhang Sima in Ganzhou 800 miles away!" At this time, one of several soldiers ran over.
Everyone was shocked when they heard the words 'Eight Hundred Miles Expedited'. Duan Wenzhen jumped off the tree trunk and quickly ordered: "Bring the letter."
"Here." The soldier then handed over the letter.
Duan Wenzhen looked at the ink pad, then opened the envelope and looked at it. His eyes suddenly froze.
Zhang Xutuo told him in the letter: Qimin Khan and the Tiele people may have reached some kind of tacit understanding. The reason why they were so inseparable in Naomugang was actually a show to show to Sui Dynasty and Bujia Khan. , the fundamental purpose was to preserve strength and avoid heavy losses in the war, and asked Duan Wenzhen to find an opportunity to defeat the Tiele people and break their situation, thereby forcing Qimin Khan, who had no reason to delay, to quickly advance westward.
At the end of the letter, he also wrote down the results achieved by Yang Ji one by one, and explained the consequences of Bujia Khan's escape after knowing about it. The so-called consequences were what Duan Wenzhen said before about Yang Ji being in danger and the Sui Dynasty being unable to complete the victory. In one battle.
Although it has not yet become a reality, Zhang Xutuo's bold speculation still convinced Duan Wenzhen and agreed very much. Although he did not expect that he would play with the Tiele people, he always felt that Qimin Khan was an ambitious man; Now the contrast between the two made him feel that I am not alone in the way.
And Zhang Xutuo's strategy of using the two of them to stage a surprise attack on the Tiele people made Duan Wenzhen feel even more wonderful. If this strategy succeeds, Qimin Khan, who "deceived" the Tiele people, will surely become Tiele's formidable enemy, and the two sides will turn from a possible alliance and integration into a life-and-death enemy. If this happens, there will be no peace in the grassland. Unite.
For the Sui Dynasty, a fragmented Turks would bring only a hundred benefits and no harm.
"Manager, what happened?" Zhao Cai felt that Duan Wenzhen was not looking right and asked urgently.
"Good thing!" Duan Wenzhen handed over the letter and said, "Zhang Sima's ideas coincide with ours."
"This is what heroes see in common." Zhao Cai looked over it quickly and said with a smile: "It seems that our worries about Datong City are a bit unfounded."
"Yes." Duan Wenzhen nodded and said: "They understand Bujia Khan's situation better than we do, and it seems that they are very likely to retreat without a fight. This also means that we must seize the time to deal with the Tiele people."
He looked at a relatively lean general and ordered: "General Huang Lang, you immediately send out scouts to closely monitor every move of Qimin Khan and Tiele's army, and find out more information for our army to defeat Tiele's army. Military intelligence.”
"I humbly obey my orders." Huang Lang bowed and bowed.
"General Manager Zhao!" Duan Wenzhen said to Zhao Cai: "Wake up the soldiers. In a moment, the army will set off."
"Here."
. . . . . .
At the same time, Qimin Khan was at the Chinese army's tent in Naumugang, discussing important matters with his sons and the chiefs of his ministries.
Qimin Khan's name was Ashina Ranqian, and he was the son of Sabolo Khan. Shabolue initially thought that his son Yongyulu was cowardly and incapable of commanding the entire Turkic Khanate, so he appointed his younger brother Chuluohou as the Great Khan. After Chuluohou came to the throne, he named himself Mohe Khan. After the death of Mohe Khan, Shabolu's son Dulan Khan Yongyulu came to the throne, and Rangan lived in the north as Tuli Khan.
Later, the two cousins fell into the Sui Dynasty's divorce plan, and Dulan Khan joined forces with Bujia Khan to attack Tuli. The defeated Tuli soldiers only had a few hundred men left. At that time, the Sui Dynasty saw that his power was weak and it was more convenient to take advantage of him. Therefore, Changsun Sheng planned to take Tuli Khan to Daxing City to surrender. After entering the fortress and surrendering to the Sui Dynasty, he was named Qimin Khan of Yili Zhendou by the Sui Dynasty, or Qimin Khan for short. Over the years, he relied on the Great Sui Dynasty to survive, and inherited the results of the Great Sui Dynasty's many Northern Expeditions, developing into a large tribe with more than 200,000 string-controllers.
People's ambitions tend to grow as their strength increases. Qimin Khan is no exception. In the past, he just wanted to survive, but as his strength increased, he gradually had the idea of breaking away from the Sui Dynasty. However, the leader of the Turks at this time was still the powerful Bujia Khan, and Tiele from the north was against him. The threat was huge, so he needed to rely on the power and reputation of the Sui Dynasty to annihilate these forces. This would make the Sui Dynasty suspicious, so he was more respectful than before.
When Chang Sun Sheng went to Baicheng with golden arrows and ordered him to fight Bujia Khan, he did not hesitate to order a hundred thousand troops to march westward. However, he was unwilling to fight hard with Bujia Khan to avoid exhausting his strength. However, when he was in a dilemma, Xue Xuecang, the chief of Tiele Xuexue tribe who came to fight against Bujia Khan on the order of Bujia Khan, took the initiative to find him and said that Tiele did not want to continue to work for Bujia Khan, as long as Bujia was defeated, and Tiele surrendered to Qimin Khan.
Qimin Khan was very moved when he heard this, and said that as long as he could become the master of the Eastern Turks, he would make Xue Xuecang the junior khan and control the nine Tiele tribes.
However, Xue Xuecang was worried that Bujia Khan would deal with them after he won a great victory and did not dare to surrender directly. So the two sides reached a staged consensus and sent tribes who were dissatisfied with them to fight every day, using the other party to achieve the purpose of eliminating dissidents. However, this was a private consensus between Qimin Khan and Xue Xuecang, and even their confidants did not know it.
"Father, at this rate, as long as we attack a few more times, we will be able to defeat the Tiele camp!" The speaker was Qimin Khan's eldest son, Ashina Duji. Ashina Duji was less than thirty. He has thick eyebrows and blue eyes, a tall figure, and particularly broad shoulders.
He was completely unaware of his father's plan and said excitedly: "At that time, our army can march straight into Ganzhou to defeat Bujia Lao'er and reunify the Turks."
"This battle is not easy!" Qimin Khan felt very bitter in his heart. He had been defeated in succession in the past few days. He had successfully sent some tribes who refused to accept his control to die, but he sent more than 30,000 warriors to die. , they are his subordinates no matter what. If he unified the Eastern Turks, these people would still be obedient to him and become the source of his taxes, but now they are all dead.
If all the opposition forces die out, what will be left behind will be a vast grassland with no one grazing. It may not be possible to recover without ten years of hard work.
After the victory of this battle, we should try our best to annex the large lake area with a large number of people. Otherwise, we will only rely on our current strength. Not to mention fighting against the Great Sui Dynasty in the future, I am afraid that even the verbally promised Hu Xuecang will not be able to control it. What makes Qimin Khan even more uneasy is that the Great Sui Dynasty seems to have noticed his silent accumulation of strength and has begun to be suspicious of him. If he is abandoned by the Great Sui Dynasty now, don't let him occupy the Great Lakes area. Even the most basic place for survival cannot be saved.
As for the dangerous matter of falling out with the Sui Dynasty now, Qimin Khan did not even dare to think about it. The Sui Dynasty was too strong and they could not match it. The only thing he could do now was to find a way to eliminate the suspicion of the Sui Dynasty. Only in this way can we take advantage of the momentum of the Sui Dynasty to take over the Eastern Turks.
He thought for a while and said to Ashina Duoji: "Duoji, you should go back to your tent immediately and bring over 30,000 troops."
This son is so capable of fighting that he must be moved away. If all the Tiele people are defeated, they will face the powerful army of Bujia Khan. And with Bujia Khan and other royal families hating him, if he appears On the battlefield, they will definitely kill them viciously.
"I think it's enough." Ashnadji said.
"This is far from enough." Qimin Khan leaned forward slightly, and said to his son with indifferent eyes and a heart-piercing heart: "Only by going all out, the sage Khan will believe that we are the most loyal servants of the greatest Sui Dynasty, and he will feel relieved. Let us take care of the grassland. Do you understand?"
Ashina Duoji is also a hero among people. He immediately understood his father's meaning of "big investment and big return" and quickly saluted and said: "I will go back and prepare."
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