In ancient times, there was actually another big river that was no shorter than the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and that was the weak water originating from the Qilian Mountains. After the weak water flowed to Juyanze, Ganzhou, it meandered eastward on the grassland, and finally merged into the Liao River in Liaodong. . It's just that this river is mainly made up of ice and snow melt water, with a small water volume and gentle water potential. In addition, there are problems such as strong wind and sand in the grassland and serious soil erosion... so the river bed of the weak river is getting smaller and smaller. It got smaller and smaller, and was finally completely replaced by patches of grassland.
However, countless rivers formed by melting water from ice and snow in the mountains and abundant groundwater are still nourishing the land. When they flow to low-lying areas, they eventually form huge lakes with groundwater on the grasslands, such as Ganzhou Famous large lakes such as Juyanze, Xiutuze in Liangzhou, Baitingze, and Qifubo in Shuozhou were all former weak-water rivers.
Although the length of Weishui is no longer what it used to be, the rivers and river basins it used to be are still fertile grasslands with abundant water and abundant pasture. At the same time, they are also the frontier of confrontation between dynasties and nomadic peoples in the Central Plains. When the Central Plains was strong and strong, the Hu people went south to claim vassalage; when the Central Plains was weak, the Hu people used this as a foundation, and then sent their troops southward. If they couldn't defeat them, they had no choice but to flee far away.
In order to prevent or deter the barbarians, the Central Plains dynasty stationed its troops north of the Great Wall whenever it was strong. When it was weak, it would shrink to the south of the Great Wall. Over time, many military fortresses were left on the grasslands. To the north of Liangzhou, the more famous military town is Madame Fan City, which was established in the Han Dynasty and is still in use today.
Mrs. Fan City is located northeast of Juyanze and southeast of Wulan Lake, surrounded by endless fertile grasslands. During peacetime, it was a very important trading market between the Sui Dynasty and the Turks, and was a popular place for Central Plains merchants, Turks, and Tiele people. The Sogdians and Sogdians all traded their goods here; if it came to war, it would be an important pass for the Liangzhou army to march eastward to the Turkic steppes and north to the Turkic Northern Khanate. The Sui army had no choice but to remove this nail. In order to ensure that the rear is not threatened.
When Ashina Lifushe's army was defeated, the news that nearly 100,000 troops had been wiped out spread quickly throughout the grassland, as if it had grown wings.
At the same time, the 50,000-strong army led by Wei Wang Yang Ji had already reached Yelang Lake, a hundred miles away. Wherever the Sui army passed, there was no grass growing on the grassland. They killed all men, women, old and young without mercy.
The strong attack of the Sui army made people in Madam Fan panic. All the people in the surrounding area also knew about the Sui army's attack. They responded to the chief's call and took refuge in the city with their families.
This is also the way of survival for the surrounding herdsmen. They are centered around Mrs. Fan City and are scattered around during peacetime. If a war comes, the herdsmen will immediately take refuge in the city. The young and strong will assist the army in defending the city, and the elderly and women will be responsible for cooking. This is also an effective way for various ethnic groups to strive to preserve their population during wars for thousands of years.
However, after this defeat, the western part of the Eastern Turks was crippled by Yang Ji. Although there are now more than 300,000 people concentrated in the city, these people are mainly old, weak, women and children. Although the young and strong are not counted one by one, Ashina It is already quite good that Lifushu can gather 30,000 string control people.
Although he had asked the 20,000 defenders of the Turkic Northern Khan Court to come to help in the battle, Yang Ji's advance was too fast. If the army arrived here, the city would have been lost.
What reassured Ashinatlifushe a little was that after receiving his request for help, his younger brother Ashinatlifushe immediately led 20,000 elite troops from the Duluo River Basin in the northeast to come to the rescue and arrived at noon. .
After Ashinabulish settled the army, he anxiously came to the city lord's palace. When he saw Ashinalifushe and Shi Shuhu Xi discussing it, he suggested loudly: "Brother, Mr. Shi, it is not necessary to defend the city." In my opinion, we should just go out of the city to fight for our strengths."
"How could I not know?" Ashina fled all the way here, and then prepared urgently for war. He became very haggard. He looked at his high-spirited younger brother and said with a wry smile: "But after the battle in the Great Lakes area, the courageous people around here have become very haggard." Po were all killed by the Sui army. At this time, they heard that Yang Ji led his troops to attack. They would rather starve to death in the city than go out to fight. How can you defeat Yang Ji with only your 20,000 elite soldiers? The victorious master?"
"Even if we can't destroy the Sui army, we should drive them back to Liangzhou!" Ashina Bulishe said proudly: "We can gather fifty or sixty thousand warriors no matter what. If we hide in the city like this, I, the Turks Where is the face?"
"You don't even have a soul, what kind of face do you need?" Ashina Chlifushu looked at his young and energetic brother, as if he saw himself before the expedition. He said bitterly: "The backbone and soul of us Turks have long been I was defeated by Yang Shuang, Yang Su, Yang Guang, Yang Ji and others. Father Khan originally wanted me to defeat Yang Ji and rebuild the courage of the Great Turks. But who would have expected that Yang Ji was so cunning and skilled? He defeated me again. If it weren’t for the protection of the gods, I would have died long ago.”
Ashinabulisu frowned and asked, "Then what do you think?"
"It is said that the Sui army marched north from Ling, Feng, Sheng, Yun, and Shuozhou respectively, and put on a war posture. I guess my father Khan was unable to send troops to help." After introducing the situation in the east, Ashina quickly said Feshe expressed his thoughts to his younger brother: "Now for us in East Turkestan, the most important thing is how to survive. In Mr. Shi's opinion, it is best for us to send someone to negotiate with Yang Guang. Say I will march The Great Lakes District actually helped the Sui Dynasty to eliminate Murong Bei. The reason for the conflict with Yang Ji was that Yang Ji suddenly caught us off guard for military glory. As long as Yang Guang is willing to end the war, no matter whether it is cattle, sheep, horses or gold, silver and jewelry , we can all give it to him.”
After hearing these words, Ashinabulish couldn't help but glared at Shi Shuhu Xi. If it hadn't been for this damn Sogdian profiteer, his father would not have launched this war. Now his brother has lost the war. , but immediately gave in and encouraged surrender. It's really disgusting, abominable and hateful.
He asked coldly: "Sui people are best at playing tricks, so how can they agree with this ridiculous explanation? What if Yang Guang disagrees?"
"If Yang Guang doesn't agree, then the only option is to fight. Fight until they are willing to negotiate." Shi Shu Hu Xi said slowly: "In addition to us, the enemies of the Sui Dynasty include Goguryeo in the northeast and Tuyuhun in the south; The Khitan, Xi, Ping, Mohe in the northeast, and Shiwei in the north and south are also afraid of the Sui Dynasty. We can definitely bring them over and fight the Sui Dynasty together."
"It's you who say I'll fight, and you who say I won't fight. What do you want?" Ashina Bulishe sarcastically mocked Shi Shu Hu Xi, and then said: "Goguryeo, Tuyuhun, Khitan, Xi, Lin, and Mohe , Nanbei Shiwei is not stupid, how could they be fooled?"
"They are not stupid." Shi Shu Hu Xi said: "But there are also smart people in their country. These people naturally know the truth of losing their lips and teeth. They may adopt a wait-and-see attitude in the early stages of the war, but as long as our Sui Dynasty drags it into the war In the quagmire, these people will definitely send troops."
Ashina Bulishu knew that this was a way out for the East Turks. He was silent for a long time and said: "The overall situation you are talking about is the future. But now, Yang Ji is about to kill him, and our top priority is to fight Beat him."
Shi Shuhu Xi shook his head: "Prince, it is not important whether we can defeat Yang Ji. What is important is to buy time for peace talks for the Great Khan."
"Buying time?" Ashinabulishe became even more confused.
"Exactly!" Shi Shu Hu Xi nodded: "Although the Sui armies from various states are heading north one after another, they seem to be menacing, but they do not have a unified commanding general. It can be seen that a war between the two countries will not break out for the time being. In Before the war broke out, there was still room for peace talks between the two countries. But Yang Ji was a huge variable in the peace talks. If we lost Madam Fan's city, he could go north to the Northern Khan's court. If the Northern Khan's court fell, then the Sui Dynasty would lose control. With the winning ticket in hand, there is no need for peace talks at all.”
"I understand what you mean!" Ashinabulishe said, "Winning or losing here doesn't matter. What's important is that we didn't lose the battle. Isn't that right?"
"Not bad!" Shi Shuhu Xi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The reason why he said so much was because he was worried that Ashinabulishe would be overheated. Now that he has realized the mission here, everything will be easier to handle. : "In addition, we also need to buy time for the herdsmen to move. Once all the herdsmen enter the city, Yang Ji will not be able to support war with war."
"Then tell me, what should we do now?" The overall situation was the most important thing, and Ashina Bulishe no longer argued, but began to ask questions seriously.
Shi Shu Hu Xi pondered for a long time and said: "Since Yang Ji is still more than a hundred miles away, we will take advantage of the cavalry's ability to leave with one strike and delay his journey."
. . . . . . . .
More than a hundred miles southwest of Mrs. Fan City is the Yelang Lake, a vast expanse of blue. At this time, there are dense tents scattered around the Yelang Lake, and a large banner with Sui characters stands out. To the east of the other military camp, there was a Turkic tribe that should have been prosperous and powerful, but at this time, it had been shrouded in fire. The Sui army and surrendered soldiers brought by Yang Ji were using simple flatbed trucks to drag carloads of corpses to the fire for burning.
Yang Ji led a group of soldiers to stand on a low grassy slope. He looked at the place where the fire was soaring, but his eyes seemed very calm, and there was no wave in his heart.
Originally, the Eastern Turks were a dog supported by the Sui Dynasty, but when the Sui Dynasty was at its peak, they all showed their ferocious fangs. If the Sui Dynasty was led by Yang Guang into troubled times, these Turks would be How arrogant and domineering?
Yang Ji really didn't dare to think about this consequence.
Otherwise, the Eastern Turks would grow stronger and become a powerful enemy of the Sui Dynasty. The only thing he could do was to try his best to weaken the Eastern Turks so that they could not become a threat to the Sui Dynasty. The most ideal situation in his mind is that even if there is chaos in the Sui Dynasty, the Eastern Turks will not be able to move south.
In this western expedition, Yang Ji had three main purposes: first, to take advantage of his illness to kill him; second, to train his troops in battle, first eliminating the weak ones among the surrendered troops in the north, and then using a good army to fight in the south; Third, it is natural to weaken the Turks.
But after he got here, Madam Fan City became a hard nut to crack, but it had to be cracked.
Originally, Madam Fan's City was not a large or dangerous city that was easy to attack but difficult to attack. However, after the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Dou Rongding, Yang Shuang, Yang Guang, Yang Su, Shi Wansui and others successively captured the city, and then used the city as a logistics center to march into the Turkic hinterland; while the Turks took turns to educate the Sui army. ' Under this, he finally realized the strategic value of this city, so he heightened and strengthened the city wall.
So when it was Yang Ji's turn to attack, he faced an important and dangerous city specially designed to defend the Sui army in Liangzhou. But he didn't bring any siege equipment, so he felt a little headache now.
At this time, a group of cavalry came from the camp and stopped in front of the grass slope. The brigade commander at the head of the cavalry raised his hands on his horse and said, "Your Majesty, General Yuchi and General Li are back."
"Okay!" Yang Ji rode his horse in the direction of the flag.
When he arrived outside the big tent, he saw several Sogdians being guarded by personal soldiers. He didn't know who captured them, but he just glanced at them and entered the tent.
When Yuchi Gong and Li Daliang saw Yang Ji, they stood up and saluted: "See you, Your Majesty."
"No courtesy!" Yang Ji glanced at the two of them and couldn't help but be startled. This time, he also divided his troops into multiple groups and ordered several partial armies to destroy the surrounding Turkic tribes. However, Yuchi Gong and Li Daliang seemed to have never fought before. Normally, there wasn't even a trace of blood on the armor. After he sat down, he smiled and asked, "Don't you have any fight?"
"It can't be said that there is no war!" Yuchi Gong explained without waiting for Yang Ji to ask: "I led the army to travel around, searching for possible tribes; unfortunately, since the Great Lakes District, the herdsmen nearby have They all ran to Madam Fan's City, and I spent several days searching before I met a few small tribes. These small tribes didn't have any decent generals, so I left them to the soldiers to kill them."
"It's the same with me all the way." Li Daliang also said with a wry smile: "I just slaughtered more than a dozen small tribes, and there are almost no living creatures left within more than a hundred miles nearby."
"It just gives us a chance to catch them all, and saves everyone from running around." Yang Ji thought of several Sogdians outside the door, and asked, "What's going on with the Sogdians outside?"
"I captured them." Yu Chigong said, "They are a caravan coming out of Madam Fan City."
Yang Ji was overjoyed when he heard this and ordered the soldiers at the door: "Bring them in."
"Here!" The soldiers went out to say hello, and the Sogdians walked in. The Sogdian leader anxiously led the crowd in salute and said in fluent Chinese: "An Ming meets the general,"
Yang Ji saw that several of them had tall noses, deep eyes, and curly hair, but they were somewhat different from the Sogdians of Shi, Mi, Shi, and Kang. The other party claimed to be "Anming" and obviously came from a more distant place. Anguo asked, "Are you from Anguo?"
An Ming raised his hands in fear and replied: "Report to General, we are from Anguo."
"You don't have to be afraid!" Yang Ji said pleasantly: "I am Yang Ji, and I have something to think about..."
"Plop!"
"Plop!"
"Plop!"
Before Yang Ji finished speaking, these Anguo people knelt down, each with their buttocks raised in the air, trembling all over, and kowtowing "bang bang bang bang", they were so scared that they couldn't even speak.
"..." Yang Ji glanced at Li Daliang speechlessly, giving him a look of "Am I so scary?"
Li Daliang and Yang Ji had known each other since they were young. They had a deep understanding. He understood the meaning in Yang Ji's eyes and nodded heavily - "You are famous all over the world as the murderous devil and are feared by everyone. Do you think you are the one who is the murderer?" Don't you have any skills? '
Yang Ji's face turned dark and he said to An Ming, "I'll ask you to answer. If you don't cooperate, I'll kill you!"
An Ming was obviously frightened to the extreme. He was so frightened that he could not even understand what Yang Ji said. He knelt down in front of Yang Ji and begged: "Your Majesty, we are just businessmen. We still have parents, wives and children at home. Please spare us." One life.”
"I have something to ask you!" Yang Ji repeated: "If you dare to tell even half a lie, I will kill you. Do you understand?"
An Ming secretly breathed a sigh of relief and stammered: "Listen, I understand! I, I will tell you everything."
"As long as you understand! Get up and talk!" Yang Ji asked: "Since you came from Madam Fan City, you must know the situation in the city very well?"
An Ming and others got up from the ground, but he did not dare to say anything: "Your Majesty, we do know a little bit about the situation in the city, but I don't know what your Majesty wants to know?"
"How many soldiers and horses does Ashina Qilifushe have?" Yang Ji's question is not unexpected, because he knows that the Sogdians are profit-oriented and profit-oriented. They are not only engaged in commodity business, but also shoulder the responsibility of spying on military intelligence; The information and customs of many places in their minds are more important than money in many places, so they can travel along the Silk Road smoothly and become guests of nobles from various countries.
The Sogdians also know that the intelligence and military information in various places are of great benefit to themselves, so wherever they go, they will try their best to find out, and then tell or sell it to those who need it.
"Report to the king!" An Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "Madame Fan City originally had 20,000 elite soldiers, but these people were later taken away by Ashina Qilifushe, and they were defeated with him. There were less than a thousand soldiers. After he came back, he urgently summoned the string controllers around to resist the king, so now there are about 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers."
"What else?" Yang Ji nodded. Although he ordered Xue Ju to follow Ashina Qilifushe into the Turkic prairie, the main army was more powerful than Ashina Qilifushe because of reorganization and supply of supplies. Ephesus was nearly ten days late, giving him ample preparation time. In addition, the Turks are a nation where all the people are soldiers, so the thirty or forty thousand people mentioned by Anming are more credible.
However, these soldiers are of mixed quality and have no formal training. Compared with the regular army, their combat effectiveness and fighting spirit are definitely inferior.
"At noon today, Ashina Bulishe's younger brother, Ashina Bulishe, led 20,000 elite troops to help. They have already entered the city." An Ming quickly replied: "This Bulishe is the center of the Turks. He Like Ashina Chirifushe, he is the supreme commander of a place, but this person's strength is far less than that of Ashina Chirifushe."
An Ming glanced at Yang Ji cautiously and continued: "Your Majesty, I have two more pieces of news that may be able to help you."
"you say!"
"The first news is that Ashina took away a large amount of weapons and equipment, especially the arrows, from Bei Khan Court, Madam Fan City and other places before he went on the expedition. He almost emptied them all. So back to After entering the city, he asked soldiers to go from house to house and take away weapons, arrows and other ordnance."
"This is indeed valuable good news. Where is the other one?" Yang Ji was suddenly surprised and happy. The Turkic soldiers only relied on cavalry and archery, and the rest was irrelevant. Now there is a shortage of arrows in the city. As long as he will Once these arrows are used up, it will be much easier to seize the city.
Now that An Ming had spoken, he no longer concealed anything. He said frankly: "There were many merchants from the Sui Dynasty in the city. They were inevitably oppressed by the Turks and Tiele people, so they gathered together to keep warm and recommended a man named Zong Luohu. He was the leader. This man was originally from Lanzhou and had robbed passing merchants in Ganzhou and Guazhou for a long time. Later, the king asked the army to clear out sand bandits and horse thieves in Liangzhou. This man was listed as one who must be punished by General Mai Tiezhang. After being repeatedly attacked by the army, they were unable to establish a foothold in Guazhou, so they fled to the Turkic grasslands with their tribe and continued to plunder merchants."
"Now, Zong Luohu is nominally a great merchant and the chief of a tribe, and accepts the rule of Ashina Qilifushu, but in fact he is still a big thief, and the objects of his plunder are mainly Turks."
"Why is this?" Yang Ji knew that Zong Luohu, like Hao Yuan, was the right-hand man of the Western Qin overlord in history, but he knew nothing about Zong Luohu's origin. When he heard what An Ming said, he Asked one more question.
An Ming said: "I heard that Zong Luohu's father was from the Xi Changru tribe of Gongda in Qichun County. In the second year of Emperor Kaihuang's reign, they fought a bloody battle with the Turks in Zhoupan. Zong Luohu's father died in the battle in Zhoupan. , and his relatives in his hometown were looted and slaughtered by the Turks, so he hates and hates the Turks very much."
"How many troops does Zong Luohu have?" Yang Ji asked again.
"Zong Luohu has about three thousand people!"
"Is he and his army in the city?"
"Yes! His current identity is the chief of Zongbu, and he is also a general."
"Yes, I understand." Yang Ji nodded. This was unexpectedly good news. If he could be contacted, he should be able to capture the city easily.
