The Great Tang General

The Uighur troops were unable to take care of both ends for a while.

They were worried that the Tang army would suddenly rush across the Wangjian River, and they were also afraid of another defeat on the front line and the cavalry would break into the camp.

"Whoosh whoosh..."

When the Tang army's sheepskin rafts reached the Wangjian River, they fired crossbows into the Uighur camp.

Although the casualties to the Uighur soldiers were minimal, they dared not approach the shore again.

More Uighur cavalry headed north.

At this critical moment, the defensive camp on the banks of the Wangjian River had no choice but to give up.

The Uighur cavalry was caught off guard by Pugu Huai'en's cavalry. The Uighur cavalry was composed of many ethnic groups and was difficult to unify effectively.

Li Guangjin ordered his soldiers to force a crossing of the Wangjian River and form a battle array, cooperating with the main cavalry to annihilate the Uighur cavalry.

The Uighurs finally organized a group of troops and once again clashed with the cavalry led by Pugu Huai'en.

The cavalry under Pugu Huai'en were just warming up.

Their formation remained intact and they charged forward fiercely, breaking through one line of defense after another, which frightened the Uighur cavalry.

They almost charged into the battle line and quickly reached the Wangjian River area, where they engaged in a battle with the scattered Uighur cavalry.

The chief of the Bayegu tribe relied on his bravery and brought his guards to fight against Xiang Pugu Huai'en's cavalry, ready to fight to the death.

Everyone could see that Pugu Huai'en's cavalry had become an anomaly on the battlefield. If the Uighur cavalry wanted to stabilize their position, they had to defeat the cavalry led by Pugu Huai'en.

"Follow me and kill him together."

When Pugu Huai'en saw that Chief Bayegu had killed several soldiers in succession, he became furious.

He shouted loudly and led his guards to charge forward.

He thrust forward with his spear, and anyone who came into contact with it was knocked down.

Soon they rushed to Chief Bayegu.

"General Tang will die!"

One of Chief Bayegu's personal guards wanted to kill Pugu Huai'en.

"Pfft!"

But as soon as he reached Pugu Huai'en, he was stabbed to death by Pugu Huai'en's spear.

"Stop these guards, and I will kill the enemy general."

Pugu Huai'en gave orders to his personal guards.

"As ordered!"

The guards roared, rode their horses and formed a battle formation, helping their general to hold back the enemy.

Even if there are some fish that slip through the net, they will be dealt with by the brave Pugu Huai'en.

After killing several more people, Pugu Huai'en was only a stone's throw away from Chief Bayegu.

"Well done!"

Chief Bayegu was not afraid of Pugu Huai'en. After killing one of Pugu Huai'en's personal guards, he rushed forward with a spear that could pierce armor.

He wanted to use the momentum of the war horse to kill Pugu Huai'en in one fell swoop.

The two horses were close to each other, and the spears broke through the air. His spear was obviously longer than Pugu Huai'en's spear.

Pugu Huai'en knew that he couldn't fight head-on, so he deliberately exposed his flaws.

When the spear was approaching, he turned around and avoided the fatal blow.

"Pfft!"

When the two horses were about to pass each other, Pugu Huai'en's spear arrived first and pierced the neck of Chief Bayegu.

Bleeding.

Pugu Huai'en drew out his spear, and the Yegu chieftain fell off his horse and died.

"The Chief is dead!"

Seeing this, Bayegu's cavalry began to flee in panic.

Only a few brave warriors dared to charge at the Tang army with gritted teeth, seeking revenge.

The battlefield had been disrupted by Pugu Huai'en. Under the cover of the Shenbi crossbow, the Tang army's infantry continuously crossed the Wangjian River on sheepskin rafts.

"Rumble..."

When the Uighur cavalry were fighting on their own, Li Guangbi led the main cavalry to attack.

The main force is divided into two teams.

Team One serves as the main attacking lineup.

One team continued to encircle and annihilate the remaining defeated Huihe troops to the west.

The army was in high spirits. Looking around, it was a sea of ​​black and dense troops.

"The Tang army is treacherous, and Kurunpo has been lost. Quickly send an order to retreat back to the grassland."

Meridagan beat his chest and stamped his feet. Seeing that the north was full of cavalry, he had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw.

At the moment of losing the tactical initiative, the troops and horses were inferior to those of the Tang Dynasty, and even if a god came, he would be defeated.

Now, we can only order a breakout and run back as many as possible.

"Woooo..."

The horn of retreat made the Uighur cavalry feel sad.

Even if they could escape from the pursuit of the Tang army, their families all lived in the Wangjian River area.

The elderly, the weak, women, children, cattle, sheep and other livestock will certainly not be able to escape the pursuit of the Tang army.

Having just gone through a cold winter, I didn’t expect it to be such a spring.

Even so, they had to try their best to escape.

Meridagan headed westward, escorted by hundreds of cavalry.

He wanted to escape directly back to Yu Dujun Mountain.

The Uighur cavalrymen were in groups of three or five, or at most dozens or hundreds of people, and most of them were facing west.

The remaining attempts circled back from the north.

After the clarion call for retreat, the morale of the Uighurs had collapsed. They had no will to fight and only wanted to escape.

In this case, they were fat meat in the eyes of the Tang army.

Under the fierce pursuit of the Tang cavalry, the Uighurs were constantly hunted down and had reached the point where they had abandoned their weapons and armor. Some of them even did not even bother to pick up their weapons.

The war horses kept neighing in panic, and every moment, a large number of Uighur cavalry fell off their horses and were ruthlessly trampled by the Tang cavalry chasing behind.

The battlefield was littered with corpses and broken limbs of Uighur cavalry, and large areas of grass were dyed red with blood.

Even Mildagan was held tightly by the second team of cavalry.

As the battle got fiercer, the number of cavalrymen around him became fewer and fewer.

"Whoosh..."

An arrow whizzed past, and Merida was so frightened that he fell off his horse.

With nowhere else to go, Miridagan, fearing death, fell to the ground and surrendered to the Tang cavalry.

The pursuit battle in other directions lasted from noon to night before it ended.

Li Guangbi used the tactic of repairing the plank road in public and marching through Chencang in secret, and won another great victory.

After those who escaped the net returned to their tribes, the Hu tribes were terrified.

Some fled the base overnight, carrying their elderly and children.

Some simply surrendered to the Tang army in exchange for a chance to survive.

At dawn the next day, Li Guangbi ordered the cavalry to take over the Hu tribes in the Wangjian River area.

If they escape, try to catch them back.

After conquering by force, it is the best time to establish Huzhou.

Moreover, Huzhou appointed Han people as officials to govern it.

For example, the Tang Dynasty employed Han officials in the Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, and Tongjia tribes in Qinghai Province, gradually established counties, and changed to using Chinese.

This is the significance of the new protectorate.

If, as before, we conquer a Hu tribe and allow it to govern itself, it would be like a country within a country.

If the situation changes suddenly, these Hu tribes can betray the Central Plains dynasty at any time.

This is the reason why grassland tribes have been able to "resurrect with spring breeze" for thousands of years.

There are also bloody lessons in history.

Ten days later, Li Guangbi summoned the grassland tribes, including Uighur captives, and prepared to build a rammed earth city on the north bank of Wangjian River.

After all, cities represent the Central Plains civilization.

The city is more of a symbolic meaning and a place for economic trade.

At the same time, Li Guangbi reported the battle situation in his jurisdiction to the court.

Please ask the court and Tiance Prefecture to start dividing the areas for this purpose and to formulate a control plan for the herdsmen.

……

When Li Guangbi defeated Bayegu.

Guo Ziyi led his cavalry out of Taiyuan to attack the Pugu tribe, the most powerful tribe in the north, and the Uighur cavalry stationed north of Taiyuan.

Wang Nandai led his cavalry out of Lingwu to attack the Huihe tribe led by Duolange.

They were all famous generals of the Tang Dynasty. They entered the grassland and were unstoppable. They won battle after battle and forced the Uighurs to retreat step by step.

They even retreated to the Small Sea (now Lake Baikal).

Guligan and Ate from Xiaohai came to help, but they were no match for Wang Nande's Tang cavalry. This made Yidijian in Shanyu City panic.

"Oh!"

"The damn Nine Surnames tribe actually refused to obey my orders."

In the palace of Shanyu City, Yidijian kept banging the table and cursing.

He believed that the eastern part of the Uighurs should not have been defeated so quickly.

However, many of the Nine Surnames no longer obeyed the call of the Great Khan of the grassland.

Especially after Meridagan was defeated at Wangjian River.

It seemed as if the defeat of the Huihe was inevitable.

The Nine Surnames tribe was originally the Nine Surnames Tiele, including the Huihe.

However, there were many tribal branches among the Turkic tribes, such as the Hun, Qibi, and Sijie. Faced with the aggressive attack of the Tang Dynasty, they treated the order of the Great Khan as waste paper.

This clearly indicates that the idea of ​​moving to another place for health preservation is doomed to fail.

"My Huihe royal court is at Yu Dujun Mountain, and will soon face a large army. We cannot move lightly. Wait until our army wins, and then punish them severely."

Mohedagan comforts Yidijian.

Now they learned that a large number of Tang troops had gathered at Baitinghai, and they seemed to be planning to attack Shanyu City.

Therefore, the main force of the Huihe troops around Yu Dujun Mountain did not move.

The most precious pastures of the Huihe people are in the areas of Yudujun Mountain, Ekun River, Xian'e River and Dule River.

This is the Selenga River Basin in later generations.

The area here is thousands of miles in radius, with abundant water and grass, herds of cattle and sheep, and a good place to raise good horses.

It has been a gathering place for grassland royal courts since ancient times.

Mohedagan believed that as long as this area was preserved, no matter how much they lost, they could always get it back.

In the east, we just need to delay the Tang army.

"Milida is also a good-for-nothing. He was defeated so quickly, otherwise we wouldn't be so passive."

Yidijian continued to curse.

A single move can affect the entire body. The failure of the Eastern Division was attributed to the incompetence of Meridagan.

"The Tang army is full of tricks. We should take them as a warning in the next battle."

Moheda Gan sighed.

They had just received the news that the Tang army was marching into Julunpo, and just three days later, they received the sad news that the Julunpo garrison was defeated.

"Prime Minister, will the Tang army gather together and surround the Shanyu City?"

Yidijian is worried about this.

Before he could even get comfortable in his new job, the depressing situation left him confused.

The main reason was that many tribes defected, causing the Uighurs to lose tens of thousands of troops.

Now in the area of ​​Yu Dujun Mountain, the Uighurs only have 75,000 soldiers left.

There were also 10,000 subordinate Xueyantuo people and 10,000 subordinate Qarlug people who ostensibly respected the royal court but were procrastinating, and the reinforcements were slow to arrive.

The Qalluk Khanate, the vicious dog raised by the Tang Dynasty, also showed signs of mobilizing troops, so that the Qalluk people who were under the jurisdiction of the Uighurs were ready to make a move.

"Don't worry, Great Khan. It's thousands of miles away to the east. It's difficult for the Tang Dynasty to travel this long distance in a short time. Our enemy should be the Tang army in the direction of the Hexi Corridor. According to observations, the Tang Dynasty has built granaries and warehouses in Baitinghai and Xiutuhai, and a large amount of grain is being transferred there. There are also many large pastures there, which should be the logistics supply base of the Tang army."

Mohedagan analyzed to Yidijian.

He believed that his opponents might be the Tang army's Wuwei Military Governorate, Dunhuang Military Governorate, Beiting Military Governorate, as well as the Hexi Hu and the Karluk Khanate.

"Report... The spies have returned and have important news to report to the Great Khan."

When Yidijian was about to say something, his personal guards came into the hall to report.

"Bring him in..."

Yi Dijian signaled to bring the spy in.

"Your Majesty, I have learned from Liangzhou that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty has personally led tens of thousands of imperial guards to Wuwei and then attacked Shanyu City. Liangzhou City is now on high alert to welcome the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."

A Uighur man dressed as a merchant entered the hall and immediately reported to Yidijian.

"what?"

Yidijian and Mohedagan were both shocked.

Li Xuan led the imperial guards and led the army in person.

At a time when the Uighurs were in turmoil, one can imagine the shock this had on them.

There will definitely be tribes that will change their minds and surrender to the Tang Dynasty because of Li Xuan's arrival.

The most important thing is Li Xuan!

This is the invincible god of war.

He destroyed Tubo in the south, attacked the Uighurs in the north, conquered the Arabs in the west, and suppressed the rebellion in the east.

As early as nearly twenty years ago, when Li Xuan captured the Great Khan of the Turks in the snow, he was already famous on the grassland.

It is said that he can enter an empty army as if he is in an empty space, and take the enemy commander's head as easily as taking something from a bag.

Mohedagan believed that the most important point in defeating the Tang army was that Li Xuan did not arrive.

Because Li Xuan is the emperor.

Since Li Shimin, no Tang emperor had ever led an army to war in person.

Including Li Longji, who reigned for nearly fifty years.

At first, Mohedagan thought that Li Xuan's reforms were not stable yet and he would not lead the army in person.

Unexpectedly, the thing I was most worried about happened.

"Prime Minister, what should we do?"

Yidijian lost his mind and asked hurriedly.

Li Xuan brought the imperial guards, and together with the troops from Dunhuang, Wuwei and Beiting, their numbers must be greater than that of the Uighurs.

Due to the deteriorating situation, it was impossible for the Uighurs to recruit troops from the east.

"The Shanyu City cannot be defended, and fleeing westward will not save lives. The only option is to fight to the death with Li Xuan."

Moheda Gan took a deep breath.

Shanyu City simply cannot support ten thousand guards.

If the Huihe people left Yu Dujun Mountain with their tribe, where could they escape to?

After all, the Western Regions were completely controlled by the Tang Dynasty, and the Karluk and Jiankun tribes blocked the way to the west.

If it were extremely cold, the number of Uighurs would be so small that they would lose their fertile grasslands and would probably freeze to death or starve to death.

It is also impossible for the Uighurs to be nomadic like small tribes.

Once they are reported by small tribes and the Tang army is attracted, they will collapse.

The power of the Great Khan is desirable, but under the rule of the Heavenly Khan, Yidijian cannot bear the weight of the crown.

At this moment, they felt the pressure brought by Li Xuan.

How do other tribes feel about Li Xuan?

"Once the troops learn of Li Xuan's arrival, their morale will be unstable."

After hearing about the fight to the death, Yi Dijian gritted his teeth.

"We Huihe people wandered on the grasslands for hundreds of years before we established the Khanate. The Great Khan had the ambition to be on par with the Xiongnu and the Turks, and Li Xuan was a threshold that we could not bypass. From the moment we disobeyed Li Xuan for power, there was no way back."

"Perhaps it was the guidance of the gods, who wanted Li Xuan to die on the grassland. I hope the Great Khan can personally lead the troops to the battle and boost morale until the final victory."

Mohedagan was very afraid of Li Xuan.

But after deciding on his path, he became more decisive than Yidijian.

Otherwise, when Prince Yehu returns, he will definitely be eliminated.

"Okay! I will lead the army in person and kill the Heavenly Khan. I am the Heavenly Khan!"

Yidijian clenched his fists and comforted himself with the deeds of his grandfather Guli Peiluo.

"Instead of sitting back and waiting for death, we should take the initiative. That way we have a better chance of winning."

Moheda Gan suggested.

"Does the Prime Minister have a plan?"

Yidijian looked at Mohedagan.

"Rong Chen will learn more about it and then formulate tactics."

Mohedagan did not answer immediately.

"The Khanate depends on the Vizier."

Yidijian held Mohedagan's hand and had great trust in his cousin.

On that day, a piece of news spread throughout Shanyu City and spread to the surrounding tribes and troops.

The wizard predicted based on the divination of the stars that Tian Khan will die on the grassland!
The Uighurs were greatly shocked.

Why would such a hexagram be drawn?

Sure enough, within two days, the news that Tian Khan had led the army in person spread throughout Shanyu City.

Tian Khan died on the grassland!
Among the grassland tribes, some believed, some doubted, and some scoffed at it...

This was Mohedagan’s first strategy to stabilize people’s hearts.

He thought of another plan and prepared to report it to Yi Dijian...

(End of this chapter)