Chapter 268 Iron Plate and Hammer

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Suzhou was later known as Jiuquan City, and Suzhou City was probably located in Suzhou District, Jiuquan City.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Jiuquan and Fulu counties were established in Suzhou. According to the data of the first year of the Dali of Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty, there were 2,230 households and 8,476 mouths.

It seems a bit exaggerated, because the huge Jiuquan City has only more than 8,000 people, so it is wrong to think about it.

In addition to the sparse population in ancient times, another important reason is that the household registration statistics in the Tang Dynasty were very confusing.

In the past, it was not as good as the Han Dynasty or even the short-lived Sui Dynasty, and later it was not as good as the Song Dynasty, let alone the Qing Dynasty.

Throughout the Tang Dynasty, some statistics could still be carried out in the early stage. By the late Kaiyuan period of Xuanzong, household registration management was very chaotic, and no surveys and statistics were done for a long time.

The so-called "not deregistered even after death, naturalized even after birth" means that each year we just estimate the population growth rate on paper based on the previous year's household registration, and then report it.

People are added in good years and reduced in bad years, which is quite similar to that in certain periods of the Republic when GDP was calculated by Bureau of Statistics staff using calculators.

Suzhou is actually not too outrageous. What is outrageous is Liangzhou. In the Tang Dynasty, this city was not only an important border defense town in Longyou and Hexi, but also the most important trade port in the Tang Dynasty.

Its economic status is close to that of Chang'an and Luoyang, the eastern capital, and it is even more important as a metropolis in Hexi Province. It is connected with Western Tibetan and Chongzuo countries. Business and travel exchanges are endless. It is a strategic point in the world and a vassal guard of the country.

For such an important stronghold, the population of Liangzhou counted by the Tang court was only 120,000, and the city of Liangzhou was only over 40,000. I wonder if this only counted the population of Han people.

Moreover, during the Tianbao period, there were 120,000 people. By the time of Emperor Daili of the Tang Dynasty, Liangzhou was about to fall into the hands of the Tubo people. The population in the official household registration was still 120,000.

It must be said that the Li and Tang dynasties were extremely rough in some aspects of governance. This was a dynasty with clear shortcomings and advantages.

The purpose of Zhang Zhao's trip was to where the Yumen Military Town in Suzhou was located.

At this time, Suzhou was divided into two parts. Shangsuzhou controlled by the Guiyi Army only had a small area around the Yumen Army.

The specific location is about ten kilometers northwest of Yumen City in later generations, not far from the foot of Dushan Mountain and west of Jiayuguan.

Xia Suzhou, controlled by the Ganzhou Uighurs, occupies most of Suzhou. The county governments of Jiuquan and Fulu counties are both under the control of the Ganzhou Uighurs.

As for Shangsuzhou, according to Zhang Zhao's observation, apart from the hundreds of Yumen Army soldiers, the surrounding population is at least less than 4,000.

Moreover, at this time, the ecology of the Hexi Corridor had not been destroyed on a large scale as it had been since the Song Dynasty. The land was actually quite fertile, and it was not very short of water. It was even more livable than Jiuquan during the Republic period.

Luo Tongda, who served as the envoy of the Yumen Army, arrived at the Yumen Army more than ten days earlier than Zhang Zhao.

April is the time for spring plowing. The Ganzhou Uighurs endured the anger of the princess being killed and have not sent out troops until now. This is obviously a careful calculation.

Because although they have settled down in Ganzhou and have already started farming like the Han people, as a people on horseback, nomadism is still the main means of life for the Ganzhou Uighurs.

By choosing to launch the war during spring plowing, they only delayed a small amount of time for breeding cattle and horses, but it could greatly damage the production and life of the Guiyi Army.

However, they miscalculated this time. This time the Rebel Army did not need to recruit soldiers on a large scale at all, because Zhang Zhao had more than 5,000 people in his hands. Almost all of these people were retired soldiers, which did not affect production at all.

Moreover, this was despite the fact that Zhang Zhao and more than a thousand people from Khotan and Zhongyun had not yet come. The scale and direction of this war were completely beyond the expectations of the Ganzhou Uighurs.

However, Zhang Zhao is not without his worries. Not counting the thousands of young people who are willing to follow him, including the supply of 4,000 Zhang Zhao himself, it is a very difficult problem to solve.

The population of the Guiyi Army is so large, and with the addition of four thousand mouths that can eat everything from the sea, the supply of the Guiyi Army will immediately become tight.

At this time, people can eat dry when they are busy and eat sparsely when they are free, but soldiers cannot do that. Not only do they need to eat well, but they also need to eat a little better.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao's thousands of people had long been fed by him in Anxi, Hezhong and Tianzhu. They could eat more for one person than three ordinary farmers.

Gu Zhen

As soon as they came back, the large amount of gold and silver they brought with them had already raised the price of goods. Coupled with the tight supply, the price of food in Dunhuang had risen four times in just one month, which had begun to arouse public resentment.

This also fully proves that the Guiyi Army cannot afford to support thousands of retired soldiers like Zhang Zhao.

"The military envoy, Jing Qiong, the Uighur prince of Ganzhou, led 2,000 cavalry to Suzhou five days ago. He heard that Khan Renyu announced that he would mobilize 20,000 cavalry to wipe out us in one fell swoop!" As soon as Zhang Zhao arrived, Luo Tongda, who had gray beard and hair, left.

Come and report.

"Hmph!" Zhang Zhao sneered, "Khan Renyu still has low vision, why doesn't he claim to be one hundred thousand cavalry?

If we really need to recruit 20,000 cavalry, people in Ganzhou City will starve to death next year. Luo Weng estimates how many people they will send out?"

Luo Tongda also smiled casually. The Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs had been fighting to the death for decades, and they already knew each other very well.

"According to past habits, Prince Jing Qiong brought 2,000 cavalry into Suzhou City in advance this time. If they recruit the Suzhou Long family to join the war, there should be around 10,000!"

Ten thousand people, Zhang Zhao thought for a while. If these were ten thousand Persians or ten thousand Karakhan cavalry, he would have pounced on them and started fighting directly, but not the Ganzhou Uighurs.

In recent years, they have been fighting against the Guiyi Army in the east, and against the various tribes in the west, and sometimes they have also fought against the Tubo people in the Qilian Mountains.

Although there were not many major battles, small frictions continued, and they basically ended with the victory of the Ganzhou Uighurs.

Therefore, although there are only 10,000 people, they must be regarded as at least 30,000 Persians.

However, it seems that Renyu Khan of the Ganzhou Uyghurs must not have known that he was back, otherwise he would not have sent Prince Jingqiong to lead only two thousand cavalry and start shouting. At least he should have waited until the army was assembled and commanded it himself.

reason.

"How is the city defense in Suzhou?"

Luo Tongda's eyes lit up, and he already somewhat understood what Zhang Zhao meant. He himself was a brave general who liked surprises.

"Ten years ago, a certain king of Sui Linggong captured Suzhou. The city defenses of Suzhou and the old city before the Han Dynasty had long been abandoned. Today's Suzhou was built during the period of Li Gui, King of Liang in the late Sui Dynasty. It was reinforced several times in the Tang Dynasty. However,

At the beginning of Dali, Tubo fell into Hexi and was destroyed again.

After that, people's livelihood in Hexi was difficult, and Suzhou City was only repaired and built with loess. It was only three or four meters high and was not considered strong.

If there are three thousand soldiers attacking fiercely day and night, there is no need to rush chariots, parade chariots, etc. They can attack in ten days!"

"Okay!" Zhang Zhao clapped his hands, "It will take ten days to attack, not bad!

Luo Weng, call up the troops in the Yumen Army, and I will give you three thousand men to go and surround Suzhou City. The momentum must be loud, but do not attack the city with all your strength, and be prepared to defend it firmly."

There were several hundred men in Yumen's army, and Cao Yuanzhong recruited about a thousand more. Adding Zhang Zhao's three thousand, Luo Tongda could use about five thousand soldiers.

There were originally only a few hundred Long Family defenders in Suzhou City, and Prince Jing Qiong's 2,000 cavalry were less than 3,000. They surrounded the city with twice the strength. As long as they did not attack the city desperately, it was enough.

Fortunately, there is no Jiayuguan now, otherwise we would be in trouble!

"Army envoy, do we want us to be nailed under the Suzhou City and wait for the reinforcements from the Ganzhou Uighurs to arrive?"

Luo Tongda thought for a while and expressed his guess.

According to Zhang Zhao's arrangement, his five thousand men seemed to be going to attack Suzhou City, but in fact they were acting as an iron plate under Suzhou City to attract subsequent reinforcements from the Ganzhou Uighurs.

When the Uighurs hit their heads and were bleeding, Zhang Zhao, who had a certain amount of armored cavalry, would suddenly attack and defeat them in one fell swoop.

Well, it's not impossible, there is some danger, but the main thing is to bully the Ganzhou Uighurs who don't know that Zhang Zhao has returned from Anxi.

If the Ganzhou Uighurs still treat their side as the original Guiyi army and fight, they are likely to suffer heavy losses.


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