A relatively crude map was laid out on a large stone slab. There was no way around it. The lack of information at this time was so unbelievable.
Zhang Zhao spent three months collecting information and could only get a rough idea.
"If Ma Yaozi's information is correct, then Yusupu, who broke out from Andukang five days ago, should have arrived safely in Kesai City. What should we do next?"
The Fergana Basin, known as the Bakhna country, now has three very important cities.
They are Andu Kang in the northeast, which controls the main road from Shule into Bahanna.
The southwest leads to Juzhanti, the hometown of the nine Zhaowu surnames such as Bukhara.
As well as the original Bakhna country on the northwest bank of Yashashui (Sir Darya River), they all blocked the city.
Among these three cities, all are in the hands of Samampos, so if Yusup wants to retreat, there is only one place to go: Kesai City.
Yan Jin sniffed, with an expression of envy, jealousy and hatred on his face. Ma Yaozi knew that he could become a beggar's version of Ban Dingyuan, and Yan Jin certainly knew it too.
"Your Majesty is right. Compared with Andukang, the city wall of Kesai City is taller and thicker, and the moat formed by using medicine to kill water is also wider. It is also Yu Supu's lair.
Without knowing where the troops and horses led by Ma Yaozi came from, abandoning Andukang and fleeing to Kesai City is still the act of a strong man cutting off his wrist."
Liu Zaisheng nodded and said, this once handsome palace guard general has completely lost his handsomeness under Zhang Zhao's torture.
The top of his right eye was blown open by gunpowder, and there was a long scar on his forehead. He quickly transformed from a little fresh meat into a frightening-looking killer.
"According to common sense, Liu Bingmashi's analysis is correct, but we have to see one thing, that is, Yu Supu does not have the entire Bukhan Kingdom in his hands!"
Yan Jin said as he pointed at the mouth of the valley in the southwest, which is the direction from the Fergana Basin to the hometown of Zhaowu's nine surnames.
"Ju Zhan Ti is not in Yu Su Pu's hands. If Yu Su Pu has Ju Zhan Ti, he can use Kesai City as a barrier to stop our army, because the great plain where Ju Zhan Ti is located can provide him with sufficient food and grass supplies.
supply.
But Yu Supu didn't mention it all, so if he gave up An Dukang so easily, it wouldn't be the end of a strong man's arm, but the burning of his body. How could he easily let the flames of war reach his own nest?
The atmosphere at Zhang Zhao's military conference is still very good, because he never cares about who speaks at the military conference, even if he is said to be wrong, it doesn't matter, as long as he is not talking nonsense.
Of course, as the commander-in-chief of an army, whether you can listen or not is another matter.
Therefore, Liu Zaisheng was refuted by Yan Jin, who in his eyes had a much lower status than him. He did not feel angry or unhappy, but seriously considered Yan Jin's words.
"What Brother Chengjie said makes sense, but in this case, isn't this Yu Supu too stupid?
I don't believe that someone who was selected by Saktu as the governor of Kuzhanti and dared to decisively betray him in the end would be a fool.
What is the difference between him doing this and giving us the entire Bukhanna? Could it be fake news released by Yu Supu to lure us to Kesai City?"
Bai Congxin has been very active recently, because the descendants of the Bai family of King Qiuci and the Lu and Luo families were destroyed by Saktu and could not survive. The authentic descendants of the Bai family withered away, almost extinct.
His ancestor, Bai Xiaode, the king of Changhua County, was the younger brother of Bai Xiaojie, the king of Qiuci. In other words, Bai Congxin had already obtained a weak claim from the king of Qiuci.
In the eyes of ordinary people, it has been almost a hundred years since the Bai family of King Qiuci perished and the country was destroyed. The city of Qiuci is still in the hands of the powerful Gaochang Uighur Khanate. What is the use of a descendant of the royal family with such a weak claim?
But Bai Congxin didn't think so. The descendants of the Gaochang Uighur Khan's ambush of the Anxi Army had such a great hatred. He always wanted to take revenge. How could the king not take revenge if he had a grudge?
Besides, in the future, when they return to the east to open up Ganliang, the uncles and nephews of the Great Sage of the Jin Kingdom and King Zhang of the Guiyi Army will definitely want to monopolize the oil and water of the Silk Road. How can they allow the Gaochang Uighurs who are caught in the middle to continue to share the benefits?
When the time comes, who can be given the position of King of Kucha? Is there a better choice than Bai Congxin?
Now on the Qiangtang Plateau south of Shazhou, the Qiuchi people who were moved there by the Tubo people have multiplied to as many as 70,000 to 80,000. Don’t they want to return to their rich hometown from the snow-covered plateau in June?
Thinking of this, Bai Congxin felt as if his heart was being burned by a ball of fire, and his whole body was itching, and his mind was wide open.
"Your Majesty, I have a guess. Since Brother Chengjie thinks that Yu Supu's return to Kesi City without Ju Zhan was a fool's errand, is there another possibility? That is, Yu Supu has defected, or
Decided to join the Persian Samanid Empire!"
As soon as Bai Congxin's words came out, the entire military meeting hall began to buzz with discussion, because although what Bai Congxin said was speculation, it was not unreasonable.
If Yusup mistook the more than 20,000 horse kites under the city of Andukang as a large army sent by the Khotan Kingdom to attack him, it would indeed be possible for him to become ruthless and join the Saman-Persian Kingdom.
"If this is the case, Your Majesty, we must travel day and night to reach Qisai City, and we must not let Yusup defect to the Persian Samanid Kingdom.
If they join forces, they can pull out at least 50,000 people, but we don't even have 20,000, and we have to attack the city, and then we will be in trouble!"
The bearded Governor Pei immediately became nervous, because they, the Amo clan, had staked their fortunes on this expedition. Who knew King Zhang was so good at fighting?
They smashed in all their possessions, a full 7,000 horse infantry, and more than half of the armor rate.
Moreover, they even have to bear half of the food and grass themselves, and they are also responsible for all the compensation for casualties. If they fail to defeat the Bakhna country this time, I don’t know how many Amos will go bankrupt.
Zhang Zhao stared at Governor Pei's thick legs and seriously considered whether he wanted to cheat these Amo?
Because they are issues left over from history, such completely independent vassals are still in the heart of a country. The stronger the country becomes, the less it can tolerate the existence of such vassals.
During the expedition, Cao Yuanxin even gave Zhang Zhao a subtle hint, reminding him that he could not allow these Amo tribes to continue to grow.
This kind of thing is not something that a queen like Cao Yuanxin can decide. Li Shengtian must have had this intention as well.
Zhang Zhao believes that as long as he fights slowly for three or two years and consumes more food and supplies, these Amozhi will be taken care of by Li Shengtian.
But this is not in his interest! It took a long time to pull the sweat, so how could he return eastward?
Besides, he helped Li Shengtian clean up the country too much. As a deputy king with a fiefdom, wouldn't he be too conspicuous?
Of course, the most important thing is that these conspiracies and machinations on the battlefield are very uncontrollable.
For example, the Gaoliang River Chariot God a few decades later just wanted to use the Khitans to consume the proud soldiers and generals who had survived from the fifth generation.
As a result, he lost his temper and got an arrow in his butt, causing the donkey cart to drift and leaving his name for posterity.
So after pondering for a moment, Zhang Zhao still shook his head and said, "We can't be so hasty, Guo Guangcheng, you lead the 300 soldiers of the main camp, and Liu Zaisheng, you can also recruit the elite of a regiment to go with him."
When you go, let Fanquan storm Andukang City, but it can only last three days. After three days, Pegasus will tell you the result, and then stand still and wait for my instructions."
Pei Cishi blinked slightly at the corner of his eyes, and then he slowly exhaled a breath as if he had let go of something on his mind.
"Your Majesty, the Amozhi army under the last general can also dispatch two hundred people. We may not be as good as your king's elite in combat, but we Amozhi are better at using servant ants to attack the city."
Zhang Zhao unexpectedly glanced at Pei Jishi, this is also an old Jianghu! He immediately saw Zhang Zhao's intention.
He asked Guo Guangsheng to lead people to attack Andukang, which was actually a test.
If hundreds of elites can attack a big city like Andukang within three days, then it is very likely that all the elites in the city have been transferred away by Yusupu. This guy must have the intention of seeking refuge with Samampos.
If the city resists resolutely and cannot be defeated within three days, then Yu Supu must be simply stupid.
Moreover, within three days, not many siege equipment could be built at all. To attack the city, the only way to attack the city was to rely on crowds and a fierce attack regardless of casualties.
Under such circumstances, it is the best choice to bring the Beishan tribes who have come to seek refuge outside the city to the front line.
"What Governor Pei said makes sense, so work hard and send two hundred people from the Amo army to join us!"
....
Kesai City was formerly the capital of the Bakhna Kingdom. The history of this city can be traced back to the early Western Han Dynasty.
At that time, Li Guang aggressively attacked Dawan and stormed Guishan City, the capital of Dawan, for more than 40 days, which is now Kesai City.
After more than a thousand years of development, today's Kesai City has become the largest city in the Fergana Basin where the entire Bakhna Kingdom is located.
The city has high walls and thick walls, and is surrounded by more than ten satellite cities and fortresses. The city has a population of more than 50,000, and there are hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land outside the city. It also has the convenience of medicine and water, making it extremely wealthy.
But today, in the royal city of Kesai City, the ruler of this city, Yu Supu, who was ready to call himself the Great Khan, was in a very bad mood.
As a confidant of Saktu, the former Bugla Khan of the Kara Khanate, Yusupu was an ambitious but very good at hiding. This can be seen from the fact that he dared to betray Saktu decisively, and Saktu did not expect it at all.
“Dear Yusup Dikhkan! Honorable Nasr Amir is glad that you made the right choice.
Once you help the Samanid Kingdom regain the entire Bakhna, His Highness the Emir will appoint you as the governor of the Bakhna District, and the entire Bakhna, including the city of Kuzhanti, will be ruled by you."
The envoy from the Persian Samanid Kingdom, wearing a black turban and a gorgeous satin robe, was gushing compliments.
What he is talking about is nothing more than how many benefits he Yusup will get after surrendering to the noble Emir Nasr.
But in Yu Supu's eyes, the black turban on the envoy's head seemed to have turned into a long black rope, wrapping around his neck. This was not making a wish for an official, this was killing him!
"Brother, it seems that the Persians are indeed sincere. As long as we defeat the Kingdom of Khotan with their help, and then own the city of Juzhanti, we can really close the door and become Khan ourselves!"
In a daze, Yusupu forced himself to send away the messenger of Saman Persia. His younger brother Musa behind him had already lowered his voice impatiently and spoke, waving his fists as he spoke, looking very excited.
!
Yu Supu sighed longly. He walked too hastily. He should not have executed Hassan and the others so early. He should at least have defeated the Khotan Jin Kingdom before doing this.
Otherwise, we wouldn't be surrounded by such mediocre people. Although it's reassuring, but... it's really too stupid.
"Musa, why do you think the Persians want to hand over Juzhan to us?"
Musa, who was talking incessantly, suddenly noticed that his brother's face was not very good. He looked at him strangely, and his face once again lit up with excitement.
"Because as long as we are willing to surrender, Nasr Amir can claim that he has recovered Bakhna which was taken away by Kara Khan.
Didn’t our spies in Bukhara clearly describe the character of this emir? As long as he has a bright face, he is still very generous.
After that, let’s bribe the three Wazirs of Bukhara. Brother, it won’t be difficult for you to become a provincial governor with military power like Ali Duraf, right?”
"Hmph!" Yusup sneered, "Ali Duraf is from the Samani royal family, what should we compare with him? Besides, have you ever bribed Wazir?"
Musa chuckled, and then shook his head, "Of course we can't bribe now. We haven't formally negotiated the surrender yet? How can we throw away money without negotiating? Our treasures don't grow in the ground."
"So you know that we didn't give any bribes! Without giving any bribes, the envoy from Bukhara took the initiative to hand over the war to us. Don't you think it's strange?"
This time Yusupu stopped sneering. He looked at his brother Musa and for the first time felt that he looked like a pig.
"That's right! They took the initiative to submit the war to us before we even gave them a bribe. This proves that Emir Nasr needs us! Now we can even avoid bribing Wazir!"
When Yu Supu heard this, he almost spit out a mouthful of old blood!
Now under such a situation of being attacked from both sides, the Persians had originally only promised to their own family to permanently control Andukang, and had also sent their eldest son to Bukhara to study scriptures. Suddenly, the Persians were willing to include the entire army in the war against Bukhanna.
It's completely illogical to leave it to him.
This was not a benefit at all, it was just to stabilize himself. Yu Supu believed that as long as he agreed to let the Persian army enter the city and the Khotan army retreated, that would be the day he died.
"Mahemu, please go and inform the Persian envoy, tell me about the emir of Yusupjumunnasr, and hope that I can go to Bukhara to pay homage in person at the right time.
In addition, select two teams of Gulam to go to Sarai and inform General Ali to let them withdraw to Qisai City."
Yusupu was too lazy to look at his younger brother Musa, and instead gave orders directly to the guard captain Ma Heimu.
Since the Persians were determined to get rid of him and made random promises, he might as well draw a big pie.
Going to Bukhara to pay homage in person, this condition is definitely much better than the Persians trying their best to control the city of Qisai.
As long as the Persians believed in his intention to go to Bukhara, they would delay Yi Er's risky plan to send troops to Qisai City, and he could gain some time to make arrangements.
There is an elite force of 6,000 people stationed near Sarai. This city is only more than ten miles away from Andukang and can support Andukang's defense at any time.
As long as the people here evacuate, the people in Andukang City will definitely be in chaos, and its rapid fall is certain.
When the time comes, the Khotanian army pursues them outside the city of Kesai, and the Persians will desperately come to rescue them. Then they can sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and maybe they will have the last laugh.
As for the Persians not coming, well, that doesn't matter. There is no difference between going to Bukhara and going to Khotan.
Maybe Khotan will be better off, because he is still valuable and can help the great sage emperor Khotan to poach Bugla Khan Saktu. After all, he has experience in doing this.
....
"Made! It's really a scam!" Zhang Zhao casually showed the military newspaper he had just sent to a group of officers.
"After Guo Guangcheng arrived with 800 reinforcements, Fanquan successfully captured Andu Kang. He didn't even use a catapult and just used a ladder to attack."
"It seems that Yusupu has indeed taken refuge with the Persians. What should we do, Your Majesty? Should we work day and night to capture the city of Kesai before the Persians do?" Yan Jin raised his eyebrows and asked first.
"No need!" Zhang Zhao shook his head, "Give the Persians a little more time and make sure they make great efforts to save the city.
Instead of letting us capture Kesai City and then attack Jiuzhanti, we can lure them out and complete the victory in one battle!"
That's right! I, King Zhang, am ready to come to the encirclement point for reinforcements!
This chapter has been completed!