Although he was very worried about the development of the battlefield on the eastern front, after all, the mountains were high and the roads were far away, and Li Jiangyao had no way to influence it. The only thing he could do was to pray silently in his heart, hoping that God would protect Shengtang and that his good brother Murong Xueqi would win.
At the same time, huge pressure from the Turks is approaching Western Xinjiang at this moment.
This time, Ashina Zhijin planned to take action for real.
After a year of preparation, the main force of the Turkic Golden Tribe made a comeback. The seven main legions totaled 250,000 troops, plus 140,000 troops from the Divine Eagle Tribe, Ghost Dou Tribe, Yunhe Tribe, Tianmu Tribe, Changsheng Tribe and Blood Wolf Tribe. The army, as well as 50,000 Western Xinjiang subordinate troops, 450,000 men, gathered in Liangzhou with great momentum.
Not only elite soldiers and generals, but also siege equipment.
Last time, the Turks suffered a lot from the huge crossbows and trebuchets of the Xinjiang Army. Ronya and Tanli jointly proposed to the Khan that they must increase their efforts to produce all kinds of large-scale weapons and shorten the investment in equipment as soon as possible. The gap with Li Jiangyao.
Ashina Zhijin attached great importance to this idea.
He immediately ordered the forced recruitment of skilled craftsmen from the Guanzhong area, who worked day and night to manufacture large combat equipment, and crazily stocked up on bows and arrows, giant crossbows and kerosene bombs.
In order to deal with Li Jiangyao, Ashina Zhijin even broke the combat tradition of the Turkic military and specially set up two giant crossbow divisions and two trebuchet divisions to train hard on long-range strike tactics.
Three hundred original eight-arm divine machine crossbows, plus two hundred imitation giant crossbows, and more than two hundred and seventy trebuchets were successively equipped to the four divisions.
In terms of ammunition reserves, the Turks have gone to the extreme. In this attack on Zijin Pass and Shengyuguan, the long-range weapons accumulated in Liangzhou alone included 200,000 giant arrows, 100,000 stone bombs and 20,000 kerosene bombs.
In Tanli's words: Even if it is a hard hit, Zijin Pass will be destroyed.
Compared with the organization of equipment and materials, Ashina Zhijin is more concerned about strategic and tactical deployment. He carefully studied the last attack on Zijin Pass, discussed and analyzed it with Temple Prince Ronya many times, and finally personally formulated the action strategy for this battle.
First of all, the Turkic army was divided into three parts: the main attack group, the auxiliary attack group and the relief group.
The main attack group consists of five Golden Clan legions, equipped with two giant crossbow divisions and a trebuchet division, plus the directly affiliated troops of the Ghost Dou Clan, Yunhe Clan, Divine Eagle Clan, and Changsheng Clan. The commander-in-chief of the cluster is still Prince Ronya.
Their goal is Zijin Pass.
The secondary attack group consists of a Golden Clan Legion, plus the troops directly under the Tianmu Clan and the Blood Wolf Clan, and a trebuchet division, under the command of the eldest prince Chili.
Their target is Sheng Yuguan.
Yun Qianxue led the Blood Guard Cavalry Corps as a rescue group and deployed it in the Dunhuang County area between the two passes to provide support to the north and south groups at any time.
In order to ensure victory in the battle, Ashina Zhijin also specially sent multiple secret envoys to quietly return to the Western Continent half a year in advance, mobilize the garrison remaining in the Turkic country, and wait for an opportunity to invade the Ghost Desert in Western Xinjiang and disrupt Li Jiangyao's rear.
Although the Turks' own garrison was small in number and weak in strength, the main force of the Zhenjiang Army had already rushed to the two passes at this time, and the hinterland of Western Xinjiang was empty of troops. There was still a high chance that they would succeed in a sneak attack.
Once the Western Xinjiang is in chaos, especially if the logistics supply line is severely damaged, the morale of the Zijin Pass defenders will definitely be shaken, and the situation will be very favorable to the attackers.
In addition to all this, Ashina Zhijin also made preparations: assassination.
Turkic soldiers have always attached great importance to their war honor.
For example, traditional military aristocrats such as Helianxiong, Ronya, Yun Qianxue, Durham, and Duolun firmly believe that fighting the enemy on the battlefield is the right way. What they despise most in life is conspiracy and assassination. That set.
Unlike them, Shu Xuan, the young master of the Ghost Dou clan, and others believe that as long as they can achieve final victory, means are not a problem.
When Ashina Zhijin faced the important moment of life and death for the Turks, he still tended to the latter's thoughts.
For the sake of victory, put honor aside.
In other words, only when you win can you be qualified to talk about honors.
He privately approached his brother Shu Xuan and secretly drew up an assassination list, which clearly listed the names of Li Jiangyao, Xu Youchang, Xie Tanzhi, Du Jian, Huo Liya, Yu Duoluo and others.
"Brother Shuxuan, no matter whether you are sure or not, you have to give it a try."
"Don't worry, Khan. No matter if the poison I refined is turned into gas or water, even a tiny bit of it will kill you. As long as my clan's ghost group can successfully sneak in, even if a hundred people die and only one person is left, there will be no chance of death." Enough to take the lives of everyone on this list!”
"Okay, go ahead and make the arrangements. Keep it confidential and don't let other generals know about it. There is another thing. Capture a group of Shengtang people and make them into poison soldiers. Let them act as scapegoats to attack the city and clear the way. Even if they are consumed, It’s also good to consume the defenders’ arrows.”
"Your Majesty, I have actually been making preparations for a five thousand scale attack."
Ashina nodded silently. After a long time, he sighed softly and said the words he said in Flame Maple Forest City:
"May the God of Fire bless you, and please grant victory and peace to the Golden Clan, and let me bear the endless evils in the world alone."
-
Ge Shuxuan left the imperial palace with a lot of worries. As soon as he returned to the medical clinic, he met Xikent, the elder of the Ghost Dou clan.
"Young Master, what's going on? What did the Great Khan say?"
Ge Shuxuan took the wet towel handkerchief presented by the servant, wiped his hands, and responded in a deep voice: "The Great Khan agreed. Elder, go arrange the assassins of the Ghost Shadow Group, divide them into more groups, and try to ensure the possibility of success. .”
Hikent nodded, looking like he was hesitating to speak.
Seeing this, Ge Shuxuan put down the medical textbook he had just held and asked curiously: "What? Is there anything else?"
Hikent hesitated for a moment and said, "Young Master, I just received news that someone saw Jin Xuelian."
Upon hearing the words "Jin Xuelian", Ge Shuxuan's eyes immediately lit up: "Is the news reliable? Where is it?"
Hikent responded: "It shouldn't be wrong. According to rumors, a member of the royal family of the Jingjue Kingdom in Western Xinjiang participated in the rebellion against the Holy Tang Dynasty and personally murdered the old king of the Jingjue Kingdom. Now, this matter has finally been revealed. It was found out, so he immediately fled with his wife, children and clan members in fear of crime and hid in Yongchang County, Yongzhou. The precious golden snow lotus was in his hands."
"Yongchang?" Ge Shuxuan thought for a moment: "I remember, that place is an area controlled by our Turks. Which army is it specifically?"
Hikent said: "I asked clearly. It is a brigade of the 26th Division of the Yunhe Clan stationed there."
Ge Shuxuan nodded when he heard this: "Oh, it turns out it's them. This is a bit difficult to handle."
Hikent frowned and sighed: "That's right. If it were the Golden Tribe or the Divine Eagle Tribe, none of those rotten people from the Yunhe Tribe would be good. Besides, even though Jin Xuelian's affairs are very secretive, since If we can receive this news, sooner or later others will hear about it, and things will definitely become very complicated."
They are both the eight pillars of Turks, the clouds and rivers are rich, and the ghosts are fighting against the poor. Due to the huge gap in wealth and psychology, the two tribes have always looked down on each other, and their relationship is not harmonious.
They wanted to ask the local garrison for help, not to mention that Ge Shuxuan and the others couldn't ask for help. Even if they proposed it, the 26th Division of the Yunhe Tribe might not be willing to buy it.
What's more important is that Golden Snow Lotus is a holy medicine for detoxification and healing. Everyone knows this. If the Yunhe tribe near the water tower knows about it, they will definitely take action first and take it for themselves.
For Shu Xuan, the "medical idiot", this is completely unacceptable.
He thought for a moment and asked Hikent: "How far is it from here to Yongchang, Yongzhou? How long does it take?"
"If you hurry up, it will only take four or five days." Hikent asked: "Young Master, what are your plans?"
Ge Shuxuan stood up and said, "It's only four or five days, so I'll go there myself. If the local garrison refuses to cooperate, I, as the young master of the Gui Dou Clan, won't dare to make any mistakes against them."
Hikent nodded: "That's great! Golden Snow Lotus is extremely rare. If it falls into the hands of our clan, it will definitely be of great use in the future. If the clan leader knows about it, he will definitely praise us. Oh, this is probably the biggest thing in this Eastern Expedition. What a harvest.”
Brother Shuxuan smiled: "Since you think so, then I have to work harder. Fortunately, that place is the territory of the Turks, and there is no major safety problem. Elder, after I leave, you should seize the time to do two things. One is to send the ghost group to set off, and the other is to arrange the transportation of poisonous soldiers to Liangzhou. There must be no delay, understand?"
"Don't worry, young master, I will do everything properly."
Ge Shuxuan was thinking about the treasure Jin Xuelian, so he immediately returned to the palace. On the pretext that he had to arrange in advance the tasks of assassinating the generals of the Zhenjiang Army and transporting poisonous soldiers, he applied to Ashina Zhijin to go ahead and rush to the west.
Ashina Zhijin didn't know what he had in mind, and thought that the young master of the Ghost Dou Clan was working hard for the empire and fighting against every second, so he praised him on the spot, nodded in agreement, and asked his brother Shuxuan to set off early.
Brother Shuxuan got the decree and was secretly happy. As soon as he left the palace, he led the guards and galloped directly out of the west gate of the imperial capital, and galloped along the Silk Road to Yongzhou.
Almost at the same time as him, the owner of a tavern in Anningfang, the imperial capital, quickly came to the backyard, took out a carrier pigeon from the bamboo cage, firmly fixed the parchment roll as thick as his little finger on the pigeon's paw, and then suddenly threw it away. to the air.
The homing pigeon spread its wings cheerfully and circled twice above the tavern, then made a vigorous turn and flew straight to the west.
It was extremely fast, and in a blink of an eye it had passed the Shili Pavilion in the west of the imperial capital. Below it, a horse team holding the flag of the Ghost Dou Clan had just arrived.
