A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 547 Blue Turks

When Jieli Khan learned of the defeat and retreat of the Sijie tribe, it was already the tenth day since Li Yi had entered Fanzhi City.

Sijie Awen had already led his seven or eight thousand men across the Hengshan Mountains via Ruyue Valley, quietly bypassing the northeast of Mayi, entering the west of Yunzhou, and exiting the Great Wall through the Cangtou River Valley.

When Jieli heard the news, he was eating meat and water in a basin.

It was hot, and the Han Chinese cooks they had captured made a delicious mutton soup, which was much better than roasted mutton.

This mutton soup uses carefully selected meat from the upper leg and lower belly of the lamb. The cooked meat is either lean and reddish or fatty and snow-white. The soup is clear but not thick, and it tastes fresh and refreshing, neither greasy nor bloating.

"Great Khan, Yuan Xiaowu from Canhekou at the Great Wall has sent an urgent report saying that Jielifa Sijie Awen of the Sijie tribe has led his people across the Great Wall and out of the pass. Awen said that he was ambushed by the Tang general Li Yi in Fanzhi County, and that there are Han Chinese insiders in the city."
After the fall of Fanzhi City, Sijie's tribe suffered heavy casualties. They intended to retreat to Yanmen, but Li Yi had laid an ambush, and they were defeated again. They had no choice but to change course and head north through the Hengshan Ruyue Valley to Shuozhou.

Li Yi's cavalry pursued relentlessly, blocking their path to Mayi. Their troops were routed and unable to maintain order, leaving them no choice but to retreat northwards.

Awen said that the Sijie tribe had suffered heavy casualties and all its members wanted to return to the northern desert, so he had no choice but to return to the northern desert to recuperate first.

Suddenly, Jieli felt that the mutton soup didn't taste fresh anymore.

After pressing for details about the timing of Sijie's defeat and retreat, Jieli frowned, his intuition telling him that there were many problems involved.

But there was no time to worry about that now.

Awen said that their tribe lost three to four thousand soldiers before and after Fanzhi, which was a devastating blow, and they had no choice but to return to the northern desert.

Maybe it's true, maybe there weren't that many casualties.

But the Sijie tribe, having been ordered to come south this time, mobilized 10,000 men. Now they have retreated back to the northern desert and have already crossed the Great Wall, making them impossible to catch up with.

Most importantly, Sijiebu originally occupied the Fanzhi and Wutai areas, which were his left wing.

They just withdrew so suddenly.
Moreover, he didn't find out the news until ten days later.

No wonder there's been no news from Fanzhi these past few days. Jieli hadn't paid much attention at first, but now he's starting to have a headache.

Originally, Li Yi was still at Pingxing Pass, more than two hundred li away from Yanmen City.

But now that he has captured Fanzhi City, it is only eighty miles away from Yanmen.

If Li Yi were to station troops in some of the fortified villages to the west of Fanzhi, they could advance another twenty or thirty miles.

A distance of sixty or seventy li (approximately 30-35 kilometers) can be covered by infantry in half a day with a forced march, let alone cavalry.

This has already become a threat to him.

boom.

Jieli slammed his hand heavily on the table, burning with rage.

"That damn Awen, I'll definitely twist his head off later."

Jieli let out a long sigh. He guessed that it was true that Awen had lost the city due to Li Yi's attack, but it was impossible that he was unable to control his subordinates, much less that he was unable to retreat to Mayi or Yanmen.
That damned guy must have taken this opportunity to return to the northern desert, and probably looted a lot. Besides, it must be that the old man kept begging me to send troops to attack Pingxing Pass and rescue his son because his son had been defeated and captured earlier, and I didn't send any troops, so he withdrew.

"Summon Gao Kaidao and Yuan Junzhang!"

Looking at the half-eaten bowl of mutton in front of him, he lost his appetite for the meat and soup and asked someone to take it away.

Gao Kaidao and Yuan Junzhang rushed over.

"Prince Yan, how much longer until the siege equipment is completed?"

"Reporting to the Great Khan, Yanmen City is high and fortified, with each gate having a barbican and a watchtower, and there are three additional fortified passes outside."

To capture Yanmen City in one fell swoop, we need to build more siege equipment.

"How much longer do you want?" Jieli said impatiently.

"About a month."

"Ok?"

"Speed ​​up, it should be finished in about twenty days." Gao Kaidao cursed inwardly. The Turks only had soldiers who could gather hay and grain, guard the camps and prisoners, but they did not have auxiliary soldiers who could build siege equipment and dig tunnels.

They relied entirely on finding artisans from among the Han Chinese people they had captured.

Yanmen City was heavily fortified, so the construction of artillery vehicles, siege ladders, and trench bridges all required a large scale. Just building one of those seven-spear artillery vehicles would require a lot of manpower, let alone building many.

And then there's that cloud chariot. It needs to have wheels to be able to move, a long ladder that can be folded and unfolded, and be covered with fireproof materials like raw cowhide. Which one of these is easy?

He was skilled at attacking cities, but he wasn't a craftsman. Even a skilled cook can't make a meal without rice. There was a shortage of craftsmen, materials, and technology. He was so busy with these things that he was about to go bald from scratch.

"Li Yi has defeated Sijie Awen and captured Fanzhi City; he's only eighty li away from us," Jieli said in a cold, iron voice. "Sijie's tribe has been defeated and retreated to the northern desert. Li Yi's forces have already crossed the Hengshan Mountains and entered Shuozhou territory."

General Yuan, Li Yi's troops have already reached your city of Mayi, how can you still be completely unaware?

Yuan Junzhang was greatly alarmed.

After Liu Wuzhou's death, he received support from the Turks and inherited the Yun and Shuo prefectures in Daibei from Liu Wuzhou, becoming the Grand Chancellor of Yang Zhengdao, the Prince of Dingxiang.

However, the Turkic Khan sent his sons and soldiers to guard the area, so his position was actually quite restrictive.

In such chaotic times, if he hadn't submitted to the Turks, Li Da'en would have killed him long ago.

"Great Khan, I request to lead my troops back to defend Mayi." Jieli waved his hand, "Go, guard Mayi and Yunzhong well, and don't let Li Yi take advantage of the situation again."

Yuan Junzhang led 20,000 troops to accompany Jieli on his southern expedition. In Shuozhou, he left his son Yuan Xiaozheng to guard the city and entrusted the general Gao Manzheng to guard it. In Yunzhong, he entrusted his son Yuan Xiaowen to guard it. In Canhekou, an important Great Wall pass in the northwest of Yunzhou, he entrusted his son Yuan Xiaowu to guard it.

There weren't many soldiers left to guard each location.
If Li Yi were to flank them, given his abilities, his sons might not be able to hold out.

Seeing that Yuan Junzhang was about to lead his 20,000 men away, Gao Kaidao became anxious.

"Your Majesty, I still need the help of Lord Yuan's soldiers and craftsmen to forge the weapons. If they all leave, I'm afraid we won't be able to complete the task on time."

Jieli looked at Yuan Junzhang and said, "Then you leave 10,000 men, including the artisans and auxiliary soldiers. You lead 10,000 soldiers back to defend Mayi. That should be enough."

Jieli reiterated to Gao Kaidao that the siege equipment must be completed on time, and waved for them to leave.

“Go and invite the leaders of the five tribes of Ashide, Sheritulli, Sunong, Zhishi, and Bayan to come here.”

The Turks valued indigo.

Its core tribe, also known as the Blue Turks, Ashina, means noble wolf and also has the meaning of blue.

Blue is its supreme color, and also its highest god, the Eternal Heaven.

The most prestigious tribe among the Turks was naturally the Ashina clan. The Ashide clan, on the other hand, was the traditional Khatun family of the Turkic Khaganate. The Ashina and Ashide clans intermarried for generations, and the Khatuns were mostly from the Ashide clan.

Further down the line, the Blue Turks also include four core tribes: Sheli Tuli, Sunong, Zhishi, and Bayan, who also belong to the Blue Turks.

Of these six tribes, only the Ashina clan was the royal family, and the Khanate could only belong to Ashina.

Below the Blue Turks, there were also the Black Turks, or the Azure Turks, who were their vassal tribes, but they were different from the Tiele and other tribes.

The Tiele tribe can only be considered as people of the Turkic Khaganate, not as a Turkic tribe.

The Black Turks consisted of twelve tribes, including the Helu and the Chuo tribe.

Jieli summoned the leaders of the other five tribes of the Blue Turks.
They were informed that Li Yi had suddenly dispatched troops and captured Fanzhi City on the left flank.

“Awen is incompetent and has retreated to the northern desert. I will hold him accountable for his crimes later, but for now we must send men to retake Fanzhi to prevent him from hindering our attack on Yanmen City.”

Jieli sat in the Golden Wolf Tent, pointing to the distant Yanmen City outside the open tent door, "This time we annihilated Hu Da'en and besieged Liu Shirang for over a hundred days."
I swear I will take this city.

Only after capturing Yanmen can we confidently launch a large-scale southward offensive to retake Taiyuan.

Li Yuan broke his promise, and this time the Turks must make him taste the bitter fruit of his betrayal.

"Of your five divisions, who is willing to retake Fanzhi City and protect the Left Wing?"

The five leaders were all somewhat surprised, and for a moment no one volunteered.

Li Yi's name was quite well-known among the Turks, and many Turkic tribes had already suffered at his hands.

At the beginning of the year, Gao Kaidao rebelled in Hebei. The Turks sent several small tribes, totaling 15,000 people, into Hebei, ostensibly to assist Gao Kaidao, but in reality, they were just taking the opportunity to plunder.

As a result, several tribes in Hebei were attacked by Li Yi's forces, losing nearly three thousand people in total.

For some small tribes, losing five hundred or a thousand cavalrymen could be a devastating blow.

They were shocked to hear that the Sijie tribe had suffered heavy losses at Fanzhi, losing three or four thousand men. The Sijie were a major tribe of the Tiele in the northern deserts, with 20,000 tents and a population of 100,000. They had sent 10,000 men this time, intending to plunder them.
As a result, three or four thousand able-bodied men have been lost, which is a huge blow to our strength.

The Sijie tribe, with its ten thousand men, suffered such heavy losses. While other tribes were no weaker than Sijie,

But none of them wanted to confront Li Yi head-on.

They came to plunder, not to deliver themselves to their deaths.

Jieli's gaze swept around.
Some were quite dissatisfied when no one answered.

"Zhi Shiyan, go now."

Zhishi Yan looked distressed. “Great Khan, my Zhishi tribe suffered heavy losses in Xinzhou City last time, and our strength was greatly depleted. I’m afraid we will be unable to bear such a heavy burden.”

Jieli snorted coldly, "You still have the nerve to mention Xinzhou City. I didn't hold you accountable for what happened last time, so you should atone for your sins this time."

The loss of the child was like the loss of one's parents.

This is driving him into a fire pit.

"Great Khan, without siege equipment, our troops are truly helpless when it comes to attacking the city. The Sijie tribe, with ten thousand men, defended Fanzhi City, but Li Yi defeated and captured the city. We have no chance of success in attacking it."

Jieli's wolf-like eyes stared at him.
“I will send Jia Bi Teqin Simo with 10,000 Sogdians and other mixed Hu to assist you. With your 20,000 troops, you can’t possibly do it.”

When Zhishiyan heard that he had been given an additional 10,000 men and that the Khan's respected senior official, Jiabi Teqin, had also been sent, he felt a little relieved, but on the surface he still said that there were no siege weapons.

"You and Simo will lead the troops there first. Fanzhi is just a small city; we can take it if we have the chance. If we don't have the chance, you will station your troops at the fortress west of Fanzhi to block Li Yi's forces and prevent him from getting close to Yanmen City."

Once I, the Khan, have captured Yanmen City, I will then lead my troops to breach Fanzhi City.

Upon hearing that there was no need to launch a direct attack on Fanzhi, Zhi Shiyan immediately accepted the mission.

The difference in difficulty between taking down a county town with 20,000 men and setting up camp with 20,000 men to block the Tang army from approaching Yanmen Pass is enormous.

(End of this chapter)