Karahan's cavalry retreated, because if they did not retreat, they would not be able to leave.
They besieged Zhang Zhao, a simple military stronghold, for three full days. Surrounding this small land bag, the 1,500 cavalrymen initially adopted tactics of siege for twelve hours, cutting off water, reinforcements and intimidation.
Unfortunately, it rained heavily the day before, and a group of people relied on the rainwater to hold on!
Then the thousand and five cavalry dismounted and put on their armor, preparing to fight on foot to beat these guys who were surrounded.
As a result, in less than an hour, seventy or eighty corpses were left behind and rolled away.
The more than 6,000 Askars plus the divine warriors can't do it, and their 1,500 cavalry can't do it even more.
On the third day, Ittihad in the city pulled out the defenders who had regained some morale and surrounded them with the cavalry in preparation for a strong attack. However, only two hours after the two sides started fighting, the attackers retreated in a hurry.
The remaining 1,230 cavalrymen headed north, apparently heading directly to Balashagon.
Askar of Ittihad once again abandoned hundreds of corpses and retreated to Shule City. This time, he ordered people to block all the city gates with huge stones.
Less than an hour after they retreated, the Khotanese army, carrying the golden swastika flag and the rat-headed and rat-king flag, arrived in large numbers.
In thirteen days, Zhang Zhao defeated three large-scale attacks by the Shule garrison, killing and seriously wounding more than 700 Shule garrison and divine warriors, killing and wounding countless others. Ittihad's "Pull Out the Nail" operation completely failed.
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During these thirteen days, Li Shengtian personally led 30,000 troops to surround Esquesa Castle and launched a fierce attack regardless of casualties, and finally pulled out the most important nail outside Shule City.
And with the fall of Fort Esquesa, it was only a matter of time before the helpless Fort Yusuf fell.
When Li Shengtian saw Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhao, his subordinates Han Shandu and You Yi Jun Erlang were still in bright colors.
They were mentally exhausted, but their morale was high. Although everyone's lip skin had withered due to lack of water, as long as they replenished their water, they were still a lion that could continue to fight.
On the other hand, at least one-third of his five hundred palace guards fell ill because they drank the collected rainwater.
As for the Buddhists and people in Ya'erkan and Shule who he originally disliked, at least half of them started to get sick one after another because of unclean diet.
As soon as Li Shengtian looked up, he found Zhang Zhao looking at him with bright eyes. After a short pause, Li Shengtian waved his hand to Dian Chengzhi beside him.
"Send these people to the Jia Luo Lou Temple where Ya'er is watching, and let Zhou Sengtong prepare medicine for treatment. They are all meritorious ministers of our Kingdom of Jin. They should be given medicine, food and rice, and take good care of them from now on!
They are all subjects of my Kingdom of Jin!"
"The Son of Heaven is sage!"
"Kowtow to the emperor for his holy grace!"
Voices of praise came from one after another. After traveling long distances, digging trenches and building military strongholds, and then being forced to fight with the Karakhanites, they were finally defeated by heavy rain and unhygienic food. A large number of burdensome people were madly facing each other.
Li Shengtian kowtowed, completely forgetting that they had resented Li Shengtian not long ago.
But for the burdensome people, Li Shengtian could easily solve them with a few words, but not for Zhang Zhaoke.
The civil and military personnel who followed Li Shengtian could only see the tragic situation under Shule City and imagine how huge Zhang Zhao's contribution was during these thirteen days.
He relied on the burden of more than 10,000 people, which was basically a side effect, and with more than 100 soldiers, 500 palace guards, and hundreds of miners in his headquarters, he was able to hold back tens of thousands of people without any danger to defend Shule City.
Karahan's regular soldiers and divine warriors attacked in turn.
It can be said that without the bloody battle under Zhang Zhaoshule City, they would not have achieved the feat of successfully capturing Esquesa Castle in thirteen days.
"Erlang! My uncle saw you right! You are indeed my great horse!"
Li Shengtian held Zhang Zhao's arms, tears were already shining in his eyes, and his expression was so excited that he didn't look like a king at all. Zhang Zhao was a little unsure. Is Li Shengtian really showing his true feelings? Or is there some element of acting?<
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Zhang Zhao was guessing how much of Li Shengtian's excitement was true. The Khotan generals beside Li Shengtian kept thinking about the words "My horse is a thousand miles away".
Coming from the mouth of an uncle, well, it makes sense, but it seems a little too intimate, so intimate that one can't help but wonder.
You should know that Li Congde, the crown prince of the Jin Kingdom, is still studying in Dunhuang and has not lived in Khotan for six or seven years.
"The lonely king grew up under the care of his eldest sister. Now that the eldest sister's son has made such a great contribution to the lonely king, the lonely king decided to change the name of Ya'er Kanzhou to Fengtian Prefecture and the city of Ya'er Kan to Fengtian City.
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Zhang Zhao, the Huangmen Minister and Lieutenant of the Fengtian Army, was granted the title of Duke of Fengtian and inherited all the rights and interests of Princess Fengtian, the eldest sister of the solitary king, in the Kingdom of Jin.
The Duke of Fengtian is allowed to use the surname Yuchi! All the official taxes of Fengtian City belong to the Duke of Fengtian!"
Yuchi, to be precise, should be called Vi-ca, or Vijaya in Sanskrit. This is a very ancient Indo-European word, and it is also believed to be derived from Sanskrit.
It means victor, conqueror. Historically, many Hu ethnic groups used this word as their surname.
For example, the word Vica of the Turkic Viga Khan is actually the word Vi-ca. In later generations, the English word Victor, which represents victory, also has its root from this word.
I have to say that Li Shengtian is really very qualified politically. Zhang Zhao is Han, and Li Shengtian is half Scythian.
The surname Zhang is a common surname in the Central Plains, and the Nanyang Zhang family of Zhang Zhao is a prominent family in the Central Plains. Although the surname Yuchi began to be integrated into the surnames of the Central Plains as early as the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it is always a Hu surname.
Therefore, Li Shengtian did not say to give a surname, because if he said to give a surname, it would not be a reward, but an insult, so he announced that Zhang Zhao could use the surname Yuchi, which seemed very flexible.
On the one hand, it allowed Zhang Zhao to obtain qualifications similar to those of the Khotan royal family, which not only let others know Zhang Zhao's status in his heart, but also did not seem a bit insulting.
On the other hand, Li Shengtian and his son no longer have the surname Weichi. One is Li Shengtian and the other is Li Congde.
But it turns out that Zhang Zhao can not be called Li Zhao, but Yuchi Zhao, so it is very obvious to distinguish Zhang Zhao from Li Congde.
In short, Zhang Zhao has since had qualifications similar to or equivalent to the Khotan royal family, but there are very obvious differences from other Khotan royal families, especially Prince Li Congde, so that some careerists will not have the wrong understanding.
As for changing Ya'er's watch to Fengtian and giving Ya'er's official tax to Zhang Zhao, this is also a very clever move.
On the surface, the reward is so generous and glorious that it is unparalleled for a while. However, the fact that Ya'erzhan changed it to "Fengtian" does not mean that the award was given to Zhang Zhao.
Taxes in Khotan are divided into regular taxes and cloth taxes, corvee, corvee, etc. The regular taxes are about the same as the thirty-year tax in the early Han Dynasty. Many places cannot collect them or they are very small.
The textile industry in Khotan is very developed. The country's main tax is actually cloth tax. Not only does the textile industry need to pay cloth tax, but the field tax is also converted into cloth tax and then paid.
So the Ya'er that Zhang Zhao got was subject to regular taxes, huh! It sounds like Heaven's grace is extremely powerful, but it's only about one or two hundred coins a year, which is not that small, but it's definitely not as high-end as it sounds!
"The armies are ready to set up camp and go down to the stronghold. The traitor Ittihad has been severely wounded by Erlang. Let's take advantage of his illness to kill him, attack day and night, and capture Shule!"
Li Shengtian took Zhang Zhao and walked a few steps toward the foot of Shule City, then turned around and said loudly.
"Liu Zaisheng, your palace guards will still fight with the Duke of Fengtian. The previous death and injury pensions and rewards for military achievements should be assisted by the Duke of Fengtian in the creation of records as soon as possible. The lonely king will be rewarded heavily!"
"On behalf of the sons of Shandu, Youyijun, Shenjidu, and Fenjindu, my nephew would like to thank the emperor for the reward!" Zhang Zhao thanked the emperor cheerfully, and a look of understanding flashed in their eyes.
These people under Zhang Zhao are not Li Shengtian's army, but Zhang Zhao's own private army. Li Shengtian let him make the decision to create a merit record, which means that he does not interfere with Zhang Zhao's sovereignty, but it is also a disguised reward and care.
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Zhang Zhao then took advantage of this opportunity to devour the magical power and gold that had not yet been established despite being an army member.
There are currently eight or nine hundred miners in Fenjin City, and there are four to five hundred Zhitong in Shenji City. Although Zhang Zhao cannot accommodate them all, it is still possible to streamline them and keep three hundred people each.
At this point, Zhang Zhao finally gathered a military guard (800 people) from Xiazhechong Mansion!
This chapter has been completed!