This battle did not end until the early morning of the next day. The Sui army used a fire attack to annihilate more than 20,000 rebels outside the county seat of Zhang County. Although there would be fish that slipped through the net, Weizhou, Qinzhou, and Chengdu The large group of horse thieves at the turn of the state were completely finished. Just an inventory showed that more than 900 Sui soldiers died in this battle.
The main casualties in the battle were from the Weizhou Army. They lost more than 700 people in the fierce battle with the rebels, and less than 500 soldiers were uninjured.
In fact, the vast majority of soldiers did not die at the hands of enemy soldiers, but after falling off their horses during the battle, they were trampled to death by the hoofs of both the enemy and our own horses. This was also the most cruel aspect of the cavalry duel.
If we look purely at this tragic local war, the Sui army ended in a tragic victory; but when calculated from the entire battle, the casualty ratio was extremely small.
What makes Master Cui and others more gratified is that these surviving Weizhou soldiers and state soldiers are more ferocious than ever before. In the future, relying on these soldiers who survived the war, they can completely defeat the remaining Weizhou soldiers. The small group of horse thieves below were wiped out, which had a profound and immeasurable impact on their subsequent governance.
The people of Zhangxian County who were hiding in the cellar ran out of the city to help, and tears of excitement and gratitude rolled down their eyes. After this battle, these ordinary people of Zhangxian County who had been bullied by horse thieves could finally live a peaceful life. They knelt down and kowtowed with their children, expressing their most sincere gratitude to the soldiers who died defending their homeland, and took the initiative to help collect the remains of the soldiers.
The attitude shown was completely opposite to the indifference of yesterday, but despite this, no one can blame them. After all, they are just ordinary people, and what the soldiers eat is this bowl of rice that licks blood from the edge of a knife. Everyone The mission and responsibility is to fight. From the moment you embark on the road to joining the army, you have to tie your head to your belt.
Master Cui finished counting the losses and came to Yang Ji to ask for his orders: "To King Wei, our army has captured more than 3,000 intact and slightly wounded rebels. Please tell me how to deal with them."
In this battle, the Sui army killed and captured more than 20,000 people, but only killed more than 900 people. At least in Master Cui's career, this battle was definitely the most heart-pounding battle. And all of this is due to the layout of this young prince. Master Cui can't even imagine how hard it is to admire him.
Yang Ji glanced at the prisoners in the distance and said, "I won't take these prisoners away. The damage they have caused to Zhang County is too great. Let them build roads and cities for the rest of their lives!"
"Thank you, King Wei!" Master Cui was overjoyed. Adults in the Sui Dynasty had to spend twenty days doing hard labor every year. If these more than 3,000 captives worked for many years, it would be equivalent to one day of 54,000 adults. Years of hard work; such long-term labor will surely help Weizhou build many projects that benefit the people and facilitate the people. If he goes to suppress bandits later, he will catch more free laborers in the future.
Yang Ji also understood what he was thinking, because infrastructure has always been one of the achievements of local officials. Can Master Cui be unhappy about getting so much free labor? But Yang Ji didn't look down on such a small amount of labor. If Liangzhou didn't have enough, he could just grab people.
He asked Master Cui: "Do you know the origin of these people?"
Master Cui said: "The humble officials have been interrogated. They are mainly from Dangxiang Qiang, and the other part are horse thieves from Weizhou."
Yang Ji smiled and asked, "Dang Xiang Qiang?"
"Exactly!" Cui Shi quickly introduced in detail: "According to the prisoners' confession, the invading bandit army totaled 25,000 people, 20,000 of whom were party soldiers, and the leader was their leader Tuoba Ningcong. Unfortunately, the fire was so intense last night that no one can be sure whether he died in the fire."
"It doesn't matter." Yang Ji pondered for a while and said, "You give me dozens of party leaders, big and small, and I will deal with them when I get to Taozhou."
"Here." Master Cui responded, hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "King Wei, I wonder where the horse thieves that General Yuchi ambushed last night came from?"
"These are horse thieves from Qinzhou in the east. Unfortunately, these 'horse thieves' didn't even take any prisoners. All the lightly and seriously injured committed suicide by taking poison. The so-called horse thieves are actually more like dead soldiers." Yang Ji hoped that Master Cui would take yesterday's death. The battle process at night was reported to the court to contribute to the overthrow of Yuan Shan, so there was no intention to hide it from him.
"I understand the humble position." Cui Master secretly hated Yuan Shan, this evil neighbor. That guy kept asking him not to check the Yuan family who was passing through the border, but he never agreed. It seemed that he was still determined to be evil and was ready to put the blame on himself. ah! Fortunately, he won the battle. If he had lost the battle last night or something happened to Yang Ji in Weizhou, he would have been finished.
Yang Ji didn't care what Master Cui thought; anyway, Li Daliang, Zhang Chuchen and others had obtained a large amount of evidence of Yuan Shan's crimes; even if Master Cui did not want to conflict with Yuan Shan and did not mention the "horse thieves" in the East, it would still affect It’s not a fact that Yuan Shan wants to complete.
"I plan to leave today." Yang Ji said to Master Cui: "There is still a batch of supplies on the Wei River, which will be unloaded in Weiyuan County in a few days. We will have to ask Governor Cui to help us then."
"This is a matter of responsibility, please rest assured, King Wei."
. . . . . . . .
At the same time, an army composed of more than 15,000 cavalry was marching in Shanshan, controlled by Tuyuhun. Here, an army led by Xue Shixiong, the general manager of Yizhou of the Sui Army, came to assist Mai Tiezhang in the battle. This army consisted of three parts, including 5,000 Sui soldiers, 5,000 slave soldiers controlled by the Sui army, and 5,000 Gaochang elites.
The leader of Gaochang's army is Prince Qu Wentai of Gaochang. At the end of last year, on the orders of his father Qu Boya, he went to Tingzhou to visit Yang Ji, who was on patrol, and asked the Sui Dynasty to help Gaochang defeat the Western Turks, at the cost of Gaochang's surrender to the Sui Dynasty. However, Yang Ji believed in the supremacy of practical interests in diplomacy. Instead of being seduced by Qu Wentai's so-called "profession", he instead asked Gaochang to send troops to deal with Tuyuhun.
After Qu Wentai returned to Gaochang City, he discussed with his father and decided to send five thousand elite soldiers to follow the Sui Dynasty to drink soup. As long as he had this "friendship" with the Sui Dynasty, the Qu family could take advantage of the favor of the Sui Dynasty. Sitting firmly on the throne of Gaochang, they can also use the power of the Sui Dynasty to intimidate the Western Turks who exploited Gaochang. As for the half of the Gaochang Kingdom that the Western Turks allocated to the Sui Dynasty, they and their son did not even dare to mention it, so as not to anger Fenwu. The Sui Dynasty, which showed its power in the four fortresses, directly overthrew the rule of Gaochang State.
The path taken by the coalition forces was exactly the same as that of Mai Tiezhang. They first set off from Yizhou, crossed a gentle mountain pass in Moshan, and then walked for four days to reach Puleihai. Then they rested for a day and continued to flow Shanshanshui along the main stem of Boleihai. All the way south.
It was midsummer, when the wind in Shanshan was strongest. At noon, Xue Shixiong's eldest son, Xue Wanshu, suddenly pointed at the southwest sky with the horse in his hand and said, "Look, manager, the sky over there is dark."
Xue Shixiong looked around and saw that the sky dozens of miles away was as dark as ink, and a heaven-shaking storm was heading towards them.
In an instant, the expression of the general whose face remained unchanged as Mount Tai collapsed in front of him changed drastically.
Xue Shixiong was from Dunhuang, Guazhou, and actually had nothing to do with the Xue family in Hedong. His father, Xue Hui, made great contributions to the Northern Zhou Dynasty and became the governor of Zezhou. The Xue family then moved to Xianyang, Jingzhao to settle down. He was only a teenager. During this period, he was very fierce and aggressive, offending many powerful children, and was sent back to his hometown in Guazhou by his father to settle down.
Xue Shixiong, who grew up in Guazhou, is no stranger to sandstorms. He once encountered an extremely powerful sandstorm. It was so big that even calves and lambs were swept into the sky and then fell to death from the sky. Some herdsmen were drowned by the sand and died. die. So he knew that human beings were really insignificant in the face of this terrifying power of nature. Seeing the approaching storm at this time, he was so anxious that he loudly ordered: "Command the three armies to speed up the march!"
After the order was issued, all the soldiers in the army whipped the war horses, while the civilian husbands whipped the horses dragging supplies and galloped along the Shanshan River.
Fortunately, there is no desert around the Shanshan River, and there are dense Populus euphratica forests stretching for hundreds of miles on both sides. They are nourished by the river water and grow exceptionally strong and lush. They intercept most of the wind for this army. Although everyone in the coalition army was disgraced, when they took inventory after escaping from the storm area, they found that there were no losses, which finally made Xue Shixiong breathe a sigh of relief.
They walked like this for another three days; at dusk that day, Xue Shixiong ordered the army to camp and rest in the Populus euphratica forest by the river.
As night fell, the sky was filled with stars and the stars were shining brightly. Xue Shixiong stood on a hill and stared at the south, with a heavy look of worry between his brows.
They have traveled a long distance so far, but they don't know much about the situation in Shanshan. He only knows that Shanshan now has 50,000 elite soldiers. If the private armies of various tribal chiefs and the young men of the tribe are also included, there will be tens of thousands more capable warriors in Shanshan. As for the army of the Sui Dynasty, in addition to his more than 15,000 people, there is also the army in the hands of Mai Tiezhang. If the two sides join forces, there should be more than 20,000 people.
Xue Shixiong is not worried about the gap in military strength. What makes him angry and anxious now is that he knows nothing about the basic situation of the Tuyuhun army. He doesn't even know the most basic garrison situation, weapons and equipment, how many cavalry and how many infantry.
But Xue Shixiong couldn't alert the enemy. The only way was to meet up with Mai Tiequan first and then adapt to the situation. But Mai Tiezhang has been playing a cat-and-mouse game with Murong Zhao, the king of the sky wall, and Xue Shixiong doesn't know where he is hiding now.
This situation of blindness made Xue Shixiong angry and helpless. Since the guy Mai Tiezhang was unreliable, he had to find a way on his own. He ordered his second son Xue Wanshu, who acted as the commander of the personal soldiers: "Go and find me the guide." .”
"Here!" Xue Wanshu responded and retreated.
In a short time, a Huhua Han man in his fifties was brought over. The guide's name was Xue Min, who was from Yizhou. In Xue Shixiong's words, they were a family five hundred years ago.
Xue Min used to be a merchant in Shanshan, and he specialized in walking between Yiwu and Shanshan. He could speak fluent Chinese. After he was forty years old, he settled in the northern foot of Mount Mo and became a citizen of Yiwu country. Now he has become a commoner in Yiwu country. People of the Sui Dynasty. However, he still has business dealings with his former business partners. He goes to Shanshan City every year to do business. He knows the situation in Shanshan City well. He saluted Xue Shixiong and asked, "General Xue, what are your orders?"
"I want to know about the condition of the city wall of Shanshan City. Do you know about this?" Xue Shixiong asked with a smile.
"General Xue, Shanshan City is a city built by the ancient Shanshan Kingdom. Defense issues were taken into consideration when it was first established. At that time, in order to prevent the invasion of Qiuci, Yanqi, and Gaochang from the west, Shanshan City was not built next to the Shanshan River, but on the Shanshan River. To the east, there is a large sand moraine about forty miles wide between the two. We walk along the Shanshan River for about two hundred miles and there is a large lake called Shanshan Lake. There is a wide road from the lake to the southeast. Shanshan City, this road is more than forty miles long, with two small cities at the entrance and in the middle, named Putao City and Qitun City respectively."
At this point, Xue Min focused on introducing Shanshan City: "As for Shanshan City, although it is known as the largest city in Monan, it is not comparable to Yiwu New City in Yizhou. The only two-foot-high city wall is mainly to prevent wolves, and It is just a rammed earth wall, not a solid stone city, and the city is not large. The city is only about fifteen miles in circumference. The east and south of Shanshan City benefit from the melted ice and snow of the Altun Mountains, and are dotted with countless lakes and rivers. Due to good irrigation conditions, The Tuyuhun people have opened up all the flat land into fertile farmland, and the gentle mountains near the Altyn Mountains are used by the Tuyuhun people as pastures for grazing cattle. Therefore, most of the population is in the east and south of Shanshan, and there are not many people in the city, only more than 2,000 Only when there is a heavy snowstorm, people will go to the city to build tents to avoid the snow."
Xue Shixiong listened very seriously. When Xue Min stopped talking, he took the initiative to ask: "Are Putao City and Qitun City heavily guarded? Are the cities big?"
"Both cities were earthen cities built during the Han Dynasty. The city walls have long been washed away by rain and become low. People with good horsemanship can jump over them with their horses. Some places have collapsed. There are usually five hundred soldiers. Sitting in town, the horse thieves have been causing trouble recently, and King Tianbi has added a thousand troops each. However, after Shanshan fell into the hands of Tuyuhun, there has been no major war, so these soldiers are mainly intimidating the horse thieves, rather than fighting. Over time, they all turned into thieves who exploited passing merchants." Xue Min laughed and continued: "Since the Sui Dynasty and Tuyuhun were about to fight, the Tuyuhun people's army was mainly concentrated in the northeast to prevent the Yangguan Sui army. If you If we attack at night, the defenders of Shanshan City, Putao City, and Qitun City may regard you as horse thieves."
"How are their weapons and equipment?"
"The previous 20,000 defenders were equipped with spears, swords, bows and arrows, and leather armor. They were not much different from horse thieves. Only the generals who led the troops could afford to wear iron armor. The new 30,000-strong army has much better weapons and equipment. , the armors of many soldiers are very similar to yours. If the two armies fight together, even General Xue may not be able to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy." Xue Min thought for a while, and then said: "By the way, your helmets are different from those of Tuyuhun."
"Thank you!" Xue Shixiong suddenly smiled bitterly after hearing these last words.
Since the founding of Tuyuhun, there has never been a major war. During the melee in the Central Plains during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, they were on the offensive side for a long time. They used force to attack and live in peace to obtain a large number of weapons and equipment from the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In particular, the Southern Dynasties used a large number of weapons. The equipment was exchanged for Tuyuhun war horses, which eventually led to Tuyuhun possessing a large number of weapons and equipment produced in the Central Plains. The weapons and equipment of the Sui army were improved on the basis of their predecessors, but the changes were not significant, so the armor styles of the Sui Dynasty and Tuyuhun were indeed not much different.
Not long after Xue Min left, Xue Wanjun, who was brought by Xue Shixiong as a scout captain, rushed from a distance, stepped forward, bowed, and said joyfully: "Chief Inspector Qi, General Manager Mai has arrived."
Xue Shixiong was overjoyed, grabbed his son's arm, and asked loudly and impatiently: "Where is the person? Where is the person?"
Xue Wanjun replied: "General Manager Mai is in the big tent."
"Okay, okay! I finally got this guy here." Xue Shixiong was ecstatic and ran to the big tent as fast as flying.
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