When talking about Liangzhou, people in later generations usually subconsciously think that it was Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu in later generations.
But in fact it is not. Liangzhou is the Wuwei of Gansu in later generations.
This is a rather lonely city in the Republic. If the name Wuwei didn't sound so majestic, many people would not have any impression of this remote city at all.
In later generations, the entire Wuwei City had a population of less than 1.5 million, and a GDP of only over 50 billion.
The total population of Liangzhou District, the core city of Wuwei City, is only 880,000, and the population of Wuwei urban area is even less.
No matter in terms of GDP, population and popularity, it has little sense of existence.
But at this time, Liangzhou was the capital of northwest China. Politically, it was the essence of the Five Liangs and the metropolis of Hexi. Geographically, it was connected with Tibet and controlled other countries. Economically, business and travel exchanges were endless, and militarily, it was the leader of the world. Important point, national vassal guard.
Since Huo Qubing regained the Hexi Corridor, Liangzhou has been the heart and logistics base for the Central Plains regime to attack and defend the nomadic regime in the northwest.
In the Tang Dynasty, facing the military pressure from Tibet, Liangzhou became an important town for the Tang Dynasty to restrict Tibet.
This is not only because of Liangzhou's important geographical location, but also because of the martial customs of Liangzhou's people.
Zheng Taichuan, a book of the Later Han Dynasty, said that the counties in Guanxi are well versed in military affairs. Since then, they have fought several battles with the Qiang. Women still wear halberds, wield spears, and carry bows and arrows, so that their strong and brave men should fight recklessly. Human.
The Xiliang army at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was even more brave and invincible, and the Tang Dynasty continued the bravery of generals from Kansai.
Zhang Zhao once read in later generations that a family member said that the sign of the complete decline of the Tang Dynasty was not the Anshi Rebellion.
Because even though the Anshi Rebellion caused heavy losses to the heart of the Tang Dynasty, and all the governors in each town wanted to support their troops and respect themselves, on the whole, the prestige of the Tang court had not been lost.
The fact that there are many vassal towns does not mean that they can not listen to the court's call, nor does it mean that there are no loyal ministers and righteous people who care about the court.
At this time, the country can generally maintain its stability. As long as there are no more stupid moves, and if there are one or two wise kings, the country's power can even be restored.
But then Tubo captured Liangzhou, completely ruining the possibility of the Tang Dynasty's revival.
After losing Liangzhou, Hexi, Anxi and Beiting were completely isolated from the Tang Dynasty. The Silk Road was cut off by Tubo. Chang'an lost its largest financial source and was extremely passive militarily.
After occupying Liangzhou, the Tubo cavalry could threaten Chang'an at any time. Bai Juyi once lamented that Liangzhou had fallen for forty years, and Helong invaded seven thousand miles. Usually Anxi is thousands of miles away, but today the border guard is in Fengxiang.
With the Silk Road cut off, the vassal towns arbitrarily cutting off taxes, and the Tubo invaders from time to time, the Tang court, which could only firmly control Guanzhong, finally came to an end.
But now, Tubo has suffered a cliff-like decline, and even after thousands of years, it has never regained its former glory.
The Central Plains Dynasty never really controlled the essence of Wuliang and Hexi City. Historically, it finally fell into the hands of the Xixia people.
It is a pity that the Xixia people embarked on a road of no return from the beginning. When the founding hero Li Yuanhao, known as the Son of Qingtian, became so abnormal in his old age, Zhang Zhao even doubted whether he was the reincarnation of Gao Yang.
After Li Yuanhao's mistake, Xixia no longer looked like a normal country.
Otherwise, the Xixia Kingdom will definitely become a dynasty that will cause extreme pain to the Northern Song Dynasty, and the threat will probably be greater than that of the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, in view of the unique and excellent conditions in Liangzhou, Zhang Zhao reluctantly gave up the temptation to take down the Ganzhou Uighurs first, and instead took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take Liangzhou first.
Liaoquan defended the capture of the battle, although Zhang Zhao felt very depressed, because Ganzhou Renyu Khan, who had become a turtle in the urn, completely escaped.
But in fact, the results of the battle were good. More than 400 of the 18,000 cavalry recruited by the Uighurs in Ganzhou were killed on the spot and more than 3,000 were captured.
If their losses in the Suzhou battle are included, the entire Ganzhou Uighurs lost more than 8,000 men.
For a tribe with a core population of 300,000, and a maximum recruitment of 300,000 to 40,000, this was a very heavy loss. Counting the loss of armor and equipment, they were almost on the verge of national subjugation.
If the Guiyi Army's plate was not too small, Zhang Zhao could not fully utilize the resources of Guasha and Liangzhou, and there was a more attractive Liangzhou waiting for him to capture, in half a year to eight months at most, Zhang Zhao would have the confidence to take over. Ganzhou Uighurs digested it.
Devour
The sound of horse hoofbeats was heard, and hundreds of cavalrymen carrying several bright flags escorted a woman wearing men's clothing over.
This is not Ganzhou City, nor Liangzhou City, but Baitinghai, north of Liangzhou, located north of Minqin County, later Gansu Province.
Zhang Zhao did not go directly from Ganzhou to Liangzhou, but first detoured to Juyanhai north of Ganzhou, which was later known as Ejina Banner, and then drew an N shape from the grassland, and finally arrived at Baitinghai.
Liangzhou is not that easy to get into!
Pei Yuan had already gone to Liangzhou Jiedu and Li Wenqian returned. At the same time, Zhang Zhao also sent Zhang Liecheng to lead two hundred Sogdians who came back with him from Ningyuan, pretending to be merchants from Anxi. Luo Yu'er led more than a hundred soldiers of the Yiyi Army. , pretending to be the second batch of tribute envoys from the rebel army and entered Liangzhou City.
"Jiro, where is Nobunaga? Have they not come back yet?"
Lady Cao San jumped down from her horse with agility. Before she even landed, she was asking about her precious son.
"It should be soon! Don't worry, his boy, with five hundred fine cavalry and a thousand Ganzhou Uighur captives, is just going to mop up a few small tribes of Dadan people. He will be back soon."
Zhang Zhao patted Madam Cao San on the back of her hand and said to her, "Your son is always unconventional and wears white robes on the battlefield. He is not afraid. What danger can there be in attacking a few Dadan tribes?"
This is also the second reason why Zhang Zhao chose to cross the grassland. In the battle with the Ganzhou Uighurs, Zhang Zhao selected a thousand people from the captured prisoners.
Then, with the help of these thousand people, they swept away the grassland tribes north of Juyanhai and Baitinghai.
He planned to establish a light cavalry force of about 3,000 men dedicated to doing dirty work.
"Has the covenant between Lao Taishan and Renyu been concluded? Has your twelfth aunt been rescued from Ganzhou City?" Zhang Zhao asked.
After Renyu Khan successfully ran back to Ganzhou City, Zhang Zhao was no longer interested in besieging Ganzhou City.
It's a waste of time to go there. If we really want to fight, the Ganzhou Uighurs will fight to the death. It won't take two or three months to defeat them. He doesn't have that much time.
Just at this time, Cao Yuanzhong got the news that Zhang Zhao had captured the entire Suzhou and defeated the Ganzhou Uighurs. He could not sit still. He risked affecting the spring plowing, recruited 2,000 people, and rushed to Liao in person. Quan Shou catches.
After Cao Yuanzhong arrived, Zhang Zhao found that brothers Cao Yuande and Cao Yuanshen were among the team, and he immediately felt relieved.
His father-in-law was quite smart. No wonder in history, after his father and two brothers passed away one after another, he was still able to hold the power of the Guiyi Army for thirty years under the suppression of the Ganzhou Uighurs.
So Zhang Zhao left 2,000 men with Cao Yuanzhong, and handed over to Cao Yuanzhong the matter of reuniting with Renyu Khan of Ganzhou.
He only made two demands, that is, the ransom of 300,000 guan promised by Renyu Khan, not a single big sum less.
Cao Yijin's twelve daughters and three grandchildren married to Aduyu Khan must be handed over.
The former is to weaken Renyu Khan to a greater extent, because the Yaogeluo family alone cannot afford these 300,000 coins, and will inevitably have to be shared with other tribes.
You Renyu lost your troops and lost your territory. When you come back, you still want to plunder your subordinates. Your prestige will definitely be greatly reduced.
In this case, Yao Geluo Tongli, who is also disgraced and has no idea where to go, will not be completely powerless to fight back, and the internal fighting in Ganzhou will not stop.
The purpose of asking for the return of Cao Yijin's daughter and grandson was to prepare for the complete surrender of the Ganzhou Uighurs.
People are like this. If there is a step to deceive themselves and others, many people will choose to use the slope to get off the donkey.
At the same time, the return of his daughter can also greatly alleviate Cao Yijin's guilt.
After all, he had only married his daughter for more than three years before his son-in-law A Duoyu was killed, and his daughter's life was almost ruined here.
"The covenant has been made!" Lady Cao San said with a smile: "Erlang, you really got it right, that Renyu Khan turned out to be a cruel and ruthless master.
He didn't even care about his son, Prince Jingqiong, and closed the four gates of Ganzhou. He also wanted to send cavalry to cut off our food routes, hoping to consume my 6,000-strong army! "
"That's for sure, 300,000 guan! This kid Renyu doesn't have my family background, 300,000 guan can kill him!
Not to mention letting A'duoyu's son go, that would be a major event with endless consequences. So why did you agree to it later? Zhang Zhao asked doubtfully.
"This is all thanks to Liu Di, Erlang's chief craftsman. This man is very talented. He commanded the craftsmen of Huolei Yamen, and together with Shi Shi, four trebuchets were made in ten days, and they only bombarded the Ganzhou city wall. In less than two hours, Renyu Khan surrendered obediently!"
Lady Cao San burst out laughing when she thought of this, but she smiled and her eyes began to sparkle with tears.
Zhang Zhao sighed and took her hand and squeezed it. Madam Cao San must have thought of the tragic situation when the Ganzhou Uighurs attacked Dunhuang City and the death of her cousin Suo Sanlang.
"Don't worry! After I take over Liangzhou, I will definitely attack Ganzhou again. Let them repay us tenfold for the insult they gave us back then!"
