Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 19: Zhangye City
"In a quarter of an hour, the whole regiment will be in armor!"

At noon, as the 13th Regiment successfully crossed the river, the wet Zhang Huaishen turned around and continued to give orders.

Faced with his military orders, no one in the 13th Regiment had any complaints.

After crossing the Ganzhou River, they would be in the territory of Tubo. If the foreign cavalry launched an attack, the more than 200 people would be killed in a short time.

Only by wearing armor and forming a battle formation to lead the Hexi army can they become invincible.

Soon, the rustling sound of armor pieces could be heard, but the Tibetan cavalry, as usual, did not dare to leave the city to stop the Shazhou army.

With their armors neatly donned, the 13th Regiment of more than 200 men formed a battle formation, laying a solid foundation for the troops from Hexi to cross the river.

Seeing this, the soldiers of Shazhou in Hexi also began to cross the river.

Horses, fodder, carriages...

The soldiers from Hexi guarded these important supplies and transported them to Hedong bit by bit.

The team of more than 3,700 people worked from noon to 4 p.m., spending an hour to transport all the supplies to Hedong.

It then took another half an hour to put the reins on the horses and load the supplies onto the carriages. By the time the army was able to march, it was already 15 p.m.

Without any time to waste, the army headed north as Liu Jilian had expected.

An hour later, a hint of khaki appeared on the horizon, and the central army received an order to set up camp.

With the war approaching, Liu Jilong didn’t have too many thoughts in his mind. Now he just wanted to have a good sleep.

As the camp was set up, he led the third group to cook and rest after eating and drinking.

But that night, he was the only one who could sleep peacefully. The other members of the third group were either too excited to sleep or too nervous to fall asleep.

Fortunately, Liu Jilong's snoring affected them. Soon everyone's eyelids began to ache, and finally they fell asleep unknowingly.

At the same time, the city of Zhangye was brightly lit and everyone was preparing supplies for defending the city.

The temperature difference between day and night in the northwest is very large. It is extremely hot during the day and cold at night.

Standing at the camp gate, Zhang Yichao, wearing a cloak, gazed at the fire on the horizon for a long time without saying a word.

Suddenly, footsteps were heard behind him.

Without looking back, he knew from the sound of footsteps that the person coming was his nephew.

"Isn't uncle asleep yet?"

Zhang Huaishen, wearing a cloak, walked to Zhang Yichao's side and looked at Zhangye City with him.

Zhang Yichao shook his head and spoke after a moment's silence: "Zhangye has plenty of money and food. If the bandits in the city put up a desperate resistance, we won't be able to gain any advantage."

"Uncle, rest assured. When I lead my troops to attack the city tomorrow, I will definitely be the first to ascend!"

Zhang Huaishen comforted Zhang Yichao and bowed to him, saying, "You haven't had a good rest in the past half month. Please listen to my advice and have a good rest tonight."

"Ugh……"

Zhang Yichao sighed: "If Huaiquan and Huaiding were half as sensible as you, I would feel relieved."

The people he was talking about were his sons Zhang Huaiquan and Zhang Huaiding.

Zhang Huaiquan is of mediocre ability, and Zhang Huaiding is ambitious but incompetent. Neither of them can succeed him. Only his nephew Zhang Huaishen is capable of succeeding him.

However, Zhang Huaishen is still his nephew, not his son, so even if he wants Zhang Huaishen to succeed him, he will still face considerable difficulties.

It was for this reason that he brought Zhang Huaishen with him on this eastern expedition and indicated to Zhang Huaishen that he should gain credit in capturing Ganzhou.

Only in this way can Zhang Huaishen accumulate merit and win the support of the people.

"Zhangye City is 20 feet high, the base is 26 feet thick, the top is 16 feet high, the four city gates are all tall and solid, and there is no shortage of water in the city."

"If we besiege the city, the foreign bandits will have no shortage of anything except firewood."

Zhang Yichao instructed Zhang Huaishen: "When you attack the city tomorrow, even if you cannot recapture it, you must make a strong impression and don't lose to Suo, Li and the others."

The uncle and nephew knew very well what Suo Zhongyi, Li En and others were thinking. Since Zhang Yichao had promised to reward people according to their merits yesterday, the sons of the powerful people in Shazhou would do their best to show themselves in the next few days.

If Zhang Huaishen's achievements cannot convince the people, then for the sake of the overall situation, Zhang Yichao will not be able to hand over Ganzhou to him for management.

"Uncle, rest assured. The one who conquers this city tomorrow will definitely be Zhang!"

Zhang Huaishen made a promise. Zhang Yichao nodded and turned to walk into the camp.

Zhang Huaishen escorted Zhang Yichao back to the big tent to rest, while he himself sharpened his long sword in the 13th Regiment's tent for the whole night.

As the sky gradually brightened, the city of Zhangye, which lies in the middle of the Hexi Corridor, was also exposed to the attack of the Shazhou army.

Of the more than 6,000 households in Ganzhou, nearly 70% lived in Zhangye City, so the scale of the city was more than twice that of Dunhuang, Changle, Jiuquan and other cities.

The city is more than 800 steps from north to south and more than 600 steps from east to west, and can accommodate tens of thousands of households.

Outside the city, along the moat of Zhangye City, large areas of burned farmland exposed the ground.

Obviously, in order to prevent the Shazhou army from obtaining any food and fodder, the Tibetan generals defending Zhangye were very decisive and burned all the crops outside the city in midsummer.

All the crops in the farmland more than ten miles away from the moat of Zhangye City were burned down.

In this case, even if Zhang Yichao and his men could capture Zhangye, they would still face a difficult problem, that is, how to feed tens of thousands of people in Zhangye City.

"Fan thief..."

Looking at the scene before them, all the soldiers who left the camp gnashed their teeth. Even Zhang Yichao, who had rested for a night, had a face so gloomy that water could drip from his face...

"Jie'er, look at these Han slaves. They must be shaking with anger now, haha!"

On the top of Zhangye’s south gate tower, a skinny Tibetan man in his thirties wearing a general’s armor was mocking the Shazhou army outside the city.

Beside him, a Tibetan with a burly figure and a higher official position did not relax his vigilance, but said in a deep voice: "It was this rebel army that killed Bu Bo and his men."

"But they look very ordinary." The thirty-year-old general touched his chin which had little beard.

"In any case, we still have to be careful. After all, their numbers are many times ours."

After the burly general finished speaking, he turned around and instructed the generals and officials behind him:
"Keep an eye on the people in the city. If anyone dares to rebel, the whole family will be beheaded and the neighbors' feet will be cut off!"

"Yes!" Many officials and generals responded one after another, and the burly general also turned his gaze to the outside of the city.

Under his gaze, the Shazhou army was divided into four parts, driving the horses pulling some parts of the siege equipment and began to rush towards the other city gates of Zhangye.

Outside the city, Zhang Yichao was also making final arrangements for the generals.

"It is consistent with the results of yesterday's meeting. Li En, the three of you will lead your troops to attack the North City. Suo Zhongyi and the four of you will lead your troops to attack the West City. Huai Shen and Huai Rong will lead your troops to attack the East City. I will lead the attack on the South City!"

"The Jie'er stationed in Ganzhou is Dazha Lubu, a descendant of Ludazha, the great prime minister of Tubo during the Kaiyuan period. He suppressed the rebellions of the Huihe several times and should not be underestimated."

"If your attack on the city is not going well, you should withdraw for the time being, take a short break and then attack the city again. Don't get carried away. Do you understand?"

Zhang Yichao finally explained that the "Jie'er" he mentioned was a military position set up by Tubo in the Hexi occupied area.

After Tubo occupied Hexi, it set up Qiliben (the head of ten thousand households, equivalent to the Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty) in Hexi. Under Qiliben, there was Jieer (the head of a thousand households), who was in charge of the entire state.

The subordinate officials of a Jie'er include minor Jie'ers, generals and other officials. Normally, the army under a Jie'er's command is around a thousand people. However, Ganzhou is a populous province in Hexi, so it cannot be generalized.

The Tibetans stationed 4,000 troops in Ganzhou, but 1,000 of them were wiped out by Zhang Yichao in Fulu City, so only 3,000 were left.

Judging from the flags on the city walls, the number of foreign soldiers stationed in Zhangye City would not be less than two thousand.

It goes without saying that it is difficult to attack a city garrisoned by 2,000 people with less than 2,000 people.

But even so, Zhang Yichao had no way out.

Only by taking the two cities of Ganzhou could he organize a line of defense in Hexi.

After the thought came to his mind, Zhang Yichao glanced at Zhang Huaishen and the others with a calm look.

"Siege!"

(End of this chapter)