Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 73: Unpredictable
“Hahahaha…what a joy! What a joy!”

On the vast Ganzhou grassland, Suo Xun laughed wildly, and the Ganzhou cavalry behind him also laughed.

At this moment, the sky was already slightly bright. They successfully broke through under the leadership of Zhang Huaishen, and turned their troops to the west and began to make a detour.

Inside the battle formation, Zhang Huaishen's brows revealed happiness, but at the same time he also knew that simply attacking the central army camp would not cause much casualties to the Uighurs, and would only cause them to lose their composure.

Although they killed a lot of armored soldiers, as long as the armor is still there, there will be a steady stream of armored soldiers born, the only difference is whether they are elite or not.

He attacked the central Uighur army only to demonstrate his military strength and delay time so that Li Wei could lead his infantry back to Zhangye in time.

"Don't be proud, take back the four gates first!"

Zhang Huaishen reminded everyone, his eyes fixed on Liu Jilong.

He also saw clearly Liu Jilong’s bravery last night in the team.

Compared to the Battle of Zhangye, he knew better how to fight on the battlefield and how to save energy last night.

Although he didn't count them carefully, there were probably no less than twenty Uighur soldiers who died at his hands last night.

With such courage and strength, it is no wonder that he dared to charge into the battle with a hundred riders.

Zhang Huaishen withdrew his gaze and led the team to take a detour back to the north city of Zhangye.

After more than half an hour, the sky had become completely clear, and today was a rare day of good weather.

The dark clouds in the sky gradually dissipated in the northwest wind, and the elite cavalry from Ganzhou also saw Zhangye City in the distance while they were on the way.

They headed south to Zhangye City, and soon saw groups of tents ahead.

"Uuuuuu——"

"Beep--"

Horns and whistles sounded at the same time, and the Uighur soldiers left behind discovered Zhang Huaishen and his men, and Zhang Huaishen also ordered an attack.

"kill!!"

Under the guidance of the Sanchen Flag, eight hundred elite cavalrymen launched a charge, and their iron hooves shocked the Uighur soldiers who stayed behind.

Faced with 800 elite cavalrymen wearing heavy armor, the Uighur soldiers had no intention of fighting and just mounted their horses and fled.

Zhang Huaishen did not chase after the fleeing Uighurs, but led his team into the camp.

It was called a camp, but in fact it was just a few thousand tents, without even chevaux de frise or fences. The elite cavalry from Ganzhou could easily rush in and fight.

A large number of Uighurs fled, leaving behind their camps and herds.

They were dressed simply, basically like shepherds holding knives, with only fur coats to keep warm.

Eight hundred elite cavalrymen were chasing and killing the Uighurs who had no time to escape in the camp, and the defenders on the city wall also saw the Sanchen flag fluttering in the wind.

"It's reinforcements! Open the city gate!!"

A captain shouted excitedly and led his team down the city wall and rushed out of the corridor of the tower.

With the joint efforts of both inside and outside, the Uighurs stationed in the camp in the north city were completely defeated.

This battle became a one-sided massacre...

“Provincial Governor!!”

In the battle formation, the captain who was leaving the city was fighting while approaching Zhang Huaishen.

Seeing this, Zhang Huaishen stabbed a Uighur to death and shouted:

"Du Wanmeng, gather the herds and drive them into the city!"

"Yes!" Du Wanmeng responded loudly, and then began to instruct the hundreds of infantrymen beside him to gather the herds and drive them into the city.

"Light a fire and burn all these tents!"

Zhang Huaishen gave orders loudly, but when he looked back he could not help but clench his whip.

Except for Liu Jilian who led more than a hundred elite cavalrymen to follow him closely, the rest of the elite cavalrymen from Ganzhou were already blood-thirsty and spread out, chasing after the fleeing Uighurs.

"Liu Jilong!" Zhang Huaishen cast his eyes on Liu Jilong, who nodded and said, "Li Ji, you lead the second team to stay and protect the governor, and the first team will follow me to set the fire!"

"Yes!" Li Ji in the formation responded loudly, and then took more than fifty Shandan elite cavalry to guard Zhang Huaishen, while Liu Jilian led the team to set fire.

The Uighurs' tents are not cleaned all year round, and their disposal methods are backward, so they are very easy to ignite.

Liu Jilong led his team to run around and set fires in the camp. Soon, the area outside the north city of Zhangye was a sea of fire.

A large number of herds of cattle were driven into Zhangye City by Du Wanmeng. Cao Yiqian, who got up in a hurry, also came to the north city and took over the large herds of cattle.

At the same time, the Uighurs in the northeast also learned about the situation in the north city through the escaped Uighurs and continued to pour into the north city.

"Withdraw into the city!"

Zhang Huaishen felt that the time was almost right and immediately led his troops into the city.

The Ganzhou cavalry, who were blinded by bloodshed, also woke up because of the fire and quickly followed Zhang Huaishen's banner to retreat into the city.

Liu Jilian was the last to retreat into the city, so after he led his troops into the city, the north city gate was immediately closed, and the outside of the city had become "hell".

Hundreds of corpses and thousands of burning tents formed a "magnificent" scene. Seeing this, Cheng Le, who came with his troops to help, was so angry that he killed more than a dozen deserters.

"Encircle Zhangye City. I will attack the city today!!"

Chengle was so angry that he was dizzy. He was roaring like a madman and no one dared to step forward to dissuade him, not even Xili and Ponteler.

Under his command, more than 40,000 Uighurs surrounded Zhangye City and one ramming chariot after another and the cloud chariots were pushed out of the camp.

After entering the city, Zhang Huaishen immediately asked everyone to feed the military horses with horse feed and fresh water in order to restore their horse power. At the same time, he asked Cao Yiqian to prepare meals so that the elite cavalry of Ganzhou would be well fed and watered.

As for him, he took Cao Yiqian, Suo Xun, Liu Jilian and others to the East City Gate Tower.

"Does this group of barbarians want to attack the city?"

Cao Yiqian looked unhappy. Although Zhang Huaishen was exhausted, he managed to stay alert and said, "He doesn't have the chance!"

"Governor, are we still going to leave the city?"

Suo Xun saw what Zhang Huaishen was thinking and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

Assaulting a central army of several thousand people and charging head-on into an army of 40,000 are two different concepts. How could their 800 elite cavalrymen possibly deal with 40,000 people?

"Are you afraid?"

Zhang Huaishen didn't get enough rest, so he couldn't help but have a bad temper.

"I...this..." Suo Xun wanted to say something, but was afraid of appearing timid and losing face.

"Governor, there are only two thousand soldiers and horses in the city, and the elite cavalry are only the few hundred you brought back."

Cao Yiqian could not help but persuade him: "It might not be a bad idea to hold on and not go out."

"Ridiculous!" Zhang Huai glanced at everyone with red eyes:
"He bullied us today. If we only dare to hide in the city, then if the Long family and the people of Wumo see us, will they think that the Tang Dynasty is easy to bully?"

He glanced around and finally landed on Liu Jilong: "Liu Jilong, do you also think we shouldn't send troops?!"

Among the people present, Liu Jilong was the only one promoted by Zhang Huaishen, so Zhang Huaishen chose to question him.

If he couldn't even command Liu Jilong, his prestige would undoubtedly be destroyed because of this battle.

Facing his questioning, Liu Jilong resolutely raised his hand and bowed.

"Two thousand men is two thousand men. As long as the governor gives the order, I am willing to lead the troops out of the city to wipe out the bandits!"

"it is good!!"

In front of the city gate tower, seeing Liu Jilian's courage, Zhang Huaishen immediately glanced at everyone with pride.

Except for the two of them, the expressions of the others were very grim. After all, Liu Jilong, a guy who was born as a pastoral slave, had such courage, then how could those of them who came from powerful families be afraid of him.

They did not dare to blame Zhang Huaishen, but they all hated Liu Jilong.

If he hadn't been the first to agree, they wouldn't have been so embarrassed.

"Rest for an hour, and then go out of the city to meet the enemy after your strength is restored!"

After Zhang Huaishen finished speaking, he turned around and walked into the city tower. Two groups of armored soldiers guarded the tower on their own.

"Humph, General Liu is quite arrogant."

"It's just to attract people's attention."

"Just watch here and see how General Liu Bie repelled 40,000 barbarians..."

Outside the city wall, several unfamiliar sixth and seventh-rank officials openly mocked Liu Jilong.

In response, Liu Jilong just glanced at them, said nothing, turned around and walked down the city.

"Suo Guoyi, can't you even control your own men?"

Seeing that Liu Jilong ignored them, several officials immediately turned their attention to Suo Xun.

Facing their complaints, Suo Xun was also very annoyed, but he had his own confidence, so he glared and said:
"We led the Shandan army to repel Shang Yanxin's 5,000 armored soldiers and have made great contributions. Now we have been promoted to Zhangye. As for Shandan City, General Liu Bie will temporarily take over the position of Right Guoyi. I have no right to manage him!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and left. Everyone looked at each other, only then did they realize that the 5,000 armored soldiers sent by Lun Kongre had been repelled by the Shandan army.

For a moment, they had no time to be angry, but instead found the soldiers from Zhangye among the 800 elite cavalry from Ganzhou to ask.

Compared to going out of the city to fight, they wanted to know who was promoted in the Battle of Qilian City and whether their positions would be squeezed out. With this inquiry, the story of Liu Jilong's "hundreds of cavalry chasing the enemy" and breaking the battle array to seize the flag spread.

Since the Ganzhou soldiers did not know the specific process of Liu Jillian's breaking through the enemy's formation and seizing the flag, in their eyes, Liu Jillian's "a hundred cavalrymen chasing after the enemy" meant literally that Liu Jillian led more than a hundred elite cavalrymen to chase after Shang Yanxin's five thousand armored cavalrymen, and cut off the big flag in the formation and took it back.

Through word of mouth among the Ganzhou soldiers, Liu Jillong's deeds soon evolved into a story in which he led more than a hundred elite cavalrymen to single-handedly repel Shang Yanxin's five thousand armored cavalrymen. What's more exaggerated is that Liu Jillong almost challenged Shang Yanxin in the midst of the five thousand elite cavalrymen.

In any case, an hour later, when Liu Jilong walked out of a mud house after eating and drinking, the assembled Ganzhou soldiers looked him up and down with curious eyes.

"Has Governor Zhang given the order to leave the city?"

"No, the barbarians outside the city have stopped attacking the city."

Liu Jilong walked out of the earthen house and asked Li Ji. Li Ji shook his head and said:
"But Governor Zhang mobilized all the armored soldiers in the city and selected a group of horses from the herds that were just recaptured."

"There are estimated to be more than 1,200 armored soldiers gathered in East City, and there is also a regiment of armored soldiers guarding the top of the city."

"Two thousand and one?" Liu Jilong looked in surprise and indeed found that there were a lot more people.

It took three months to recruit more than 2,400 armored soldiers. I think it was because Zhang Yichao sent the armor produced in various states to Zhangye. After all, Zhangye was the gateway for the army to march east.

While he was thinking this, the Uighur troops outside Zhangye City were curious about the reason why the siege was temporarily suspended.

In a large tent among the 40,000-strong army, Cheng Legao sat in the main seat. He was no longer as frantic as before and had become much calmer.

"Great Khan, since you have already ordered the siege, why do you want to hold off?"

"Yes, Khan, take Zhangye. There are countless women and iron materials inside!"

"That Zhang Huaishen killed so many of us, I want him to pay with his life!"

Inside the tent, the various Yehu governors were talking at once, and some of them had red eyes, as if they had just cried.

Although Zhang Huaishen failed to kill Cheng Le in last night's raid, he killed a Yehu and three governors in succession.

You have to know that the Ganzhou Uighurs only have two Yehu and twelve governors, and now five of them have been killed. How could they let Zhang Huaishen go?

Chengle thought so at first, but was finally persuaded by Ponteler's words.

"Pontell, talk to them!"

Chengle looked at Ponteler, who nodded and stood up, looking around and said:

"In the two battles last night and early morning, we lost more than 3,000 people and 70% of our food tents were burned. More importantly, the unharvested food in East City and West City was also ignited by the fire."

"The most important thing right now is to harvest the grain from the North City and the South City. As for whether to attack Zhangye, my suggestion is..."

Pontell paused, took a deep breath, and then said, "No!"

"Wolf cub!"

"fart!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he was met with countless insults, especially from the newly appointed Yehus and governors whose fathers had died in battle.

Faced with the abuse, Ponteler was not angry, but said rationally:

"The Han people are good at defending cities. If we want to attack the city, at least 10,000 people will be killed or injured before we can capture Zhangye."

"If it takes 10,000 casualties to capture Zhangye, what's the point of taking Zhangye then?"

"Zhang Huaishen has already returned with his elite cavalry, so how far can the infantry be?"

"Besides, if Zhangye asks Suzhou and Shazhou for help, who among you dares to guarantee that you can capture Zhangye City before Zhang Yichao leads his troops here?"

As he spoke, he cast questioning glances at everyone. Although they were angry, they did not lose their minds.

If they wanted to take Zhangye, they could have done so eight years ago. After all, Tubo had already started to riot eight years ago, and it was at that time that they finally gained a foothold in the northern grasslands of Ganzhou.

The reason why they did not attack Zhangye was not because they were worried about not being able to capture Zhangye City, but because they were worried about not being able to defend Zhangye City after capturing it.

The same logic applies to us. Even if they can capture Zhangye City, do they have the confidence to defend Zhangye City against Zhang Yichao's troops?
This question stumped everyone. They did not think they could defend the city of Zhangye. After all, Zhang Yichao had killed more than 5,000 Tibetan soldiers on his eastward expedition, while they only had 4,000 soldiers.

If they take Zhangye and Zhang Yichao comes, they will not be able to graze or farm, and they will be doomed.

"Now is not the time to take Zhangye!"

Ponteler continued to speak, but a governor said with red eyes: "We can join forces with Lun Kongre!"

"Zhang Huaishen retreated so quickly that he didn't have time to fight Lun Kongre, or maybe Qilian City had already fallen, so he retreated."

"Correct!"

"That's right!"

As soon as this governor spoke, the other governors echoed him.

Facing his proposal, Ponteler shook his head: "To join forces with Lunkongre is undoubtedly courting disaster."

"Even if we take Zhangye, will he give Ganzhou to us?"

"This..." Several governors hesitated. They didn't think that Lun Kongre would give up Ganzhou, an important city in Hexi second only to Liangzhou.

Seeing that they did not speak, Ponteler saluted and said:
"Great Khan, I suggest harvesting the grain from the South and North Cities, and at the same time inviting Zhang Huaishen to come out of the city to negotiate peace."

"Talk about peace?" Cheng Le's face darkened.

He could choose not to attack Zhangye, but asking him to negotiate peace was absolutely impossible.

"Talk about peace?!"

"Pontell, you bastard!"

"Anyone who wants to negotiate peace must step over my dead body first!"

Ponteler's words made everyone furious. They could stop the siege, but more than 3,000 people were killed or wounded last night and today, including more than 1,000 armored soldiers.

How can the hatred be let go in such a short time?
"Yes, talk about peace..."

Ponteler remained unmoved and glanced at everyone.

"More than 3,000 casualties are a lot, but they all have armor on them. As long as there is armor, there will be an endless supply of armored soldiers."

"We looted so much food from Zhangye this time. It's easy to train more than a thousand armored soldiers. There's no need to hold on to them."

"If we give up the trade with Zhang Huaishen and his men because of such a small matter, the loss will undoubtedly be even greater."

"The 2,000 iron knives we agreed with Zhang Huaishen to produce each year can now be exchanged for 10,000 kilograms of iron materials each year."

"With this batch of iron materials, we can train three to four hundred armored soldiers every year."

Ponteler's meaning was very clear, which was to use this siege to force Zhang Huaishen to increase the volume of mutual trade.

As for the more than 3,000 people who died, it was not so unacceptable to him.

The Ganzhou Uighurs don’t have much else in common, except for their large population.

More than 3,000 men died, and recovery will take two or three years at most.

But if the mutual trade is cut off, they will have no channel to obtain iron.

Anyway, continuing to attack Zhangye would not be worth the cost, so it would be better to use it as a bargaining chip to force Zhang Huaishen to increase the volume of mutual trade.

His words made everyone look at each other in bewilderment, and even the Yehus and governors whose relatives had died could not help but calm down.

If they could really obtain 10,000 kilograms of iron from Zhang Huaishen every year, there would be nothing wrong with negotiating peace.

Just because we can’t take Zhangye today doesn’t mean we can’t take it in the future.

Three or four hundred armored soldiers every year, that would be three or four thousand in ten years, enough to double their strength.

If they really had nearly 10,000 soldiers, it would not be difficult for them to capture Ganzhou, let alone the entire Hexi.

"But will Zhang Huaishen agree?"

Among the many governors, one could not help but question, and everyone turned their eyes to Ponteller upon hearing this.

"Disagree?" Pontell laughed. "It's not up to him."

"If he doesn't agree, it will be very easy for more than 40,000 of us to destroy the farmland outside the city."

Hearing this, smiles appeared on everyone's faces.

Indeed, even if they did not attack Zhangye City, they had the means to force Zhang Huaishen.

The feces of 40,000 soldiers and horses was enough to pollute the large tracts of farmland outside Zhangye City.

Untreated raw manure is like poison to farmland.

"it is good!"

Cheng Le, who was sitting at the main seat, was already moved. He said happily, "I'll leave this matter to you. If it's done..."

Chengle glanced at the crowd, his eyes resting on the men whose fathers and brothers died in the battle: "Duogan, Bayegu, your tribes can get 500 kilograms of iron every year."

"Yes..." Although a few people were unwilling, without Cheng Le's support, they could not take Zhangye and could only endure his arrangements.

Seeing this, Ponteler also saluted to Chengle and then left the tent.

At his command, a team of elite cavalry rode to the east gate of Zhangye and shot arrows carrying signals from a distance of fifty steps.

(End of this chapter)