Chapter 232 The situation in the Western Region is excellent
It was mid-summer, and half of the eighth year of Kaibao was almost over. The Han Dynasty's Northern Expedition was in full swing, and the two sides were fighting to the death along the thousands-mile-long border.
By late May, the war situation gradually entered a stalemate stage. Overall, the Han Dynasty still took the initiative. After all, the Han Dynasty had an obvious advantage in national power, and the Liao Kingdom had just experienced the shock of the transition between the old and the new, and everything could hardly be called stable.
, we have to forcibly turn the entire country onto the path of war.
The reason why the Liao Kingdom was able to arm-wrestle with the Han Dynasty to this extent was not only due to its strong military strength, but also because it had a young but wise emperor and a large number of heroes with civil and military talents. When the national crisis was approaching,
Reluctantly, we managed to unite as one and share the same hatred against the enemy.
However, no matter how hard the Liao Kingdom fought, the gap in national strength between the two sides could not be changed, and the disparity in hard power was irreparable. The Han side also produced elites and heroes in large numbers.
War may have a certain degree of contingency, and there is the possibility of miracles, but again, with the strong manpower, financial resources, and material resources, the Han Dynasty can be defeated once, twice or even three times. As long as the overall situation is not harmed, there is a chance to make a comeback.
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The same cannot be said for the Liao State. If it suffers a heavy blow, it may be out of control and may cause irreparable losses. Therefore, as the war progresses, the pressure shifts to the Liao State exponentially.
You must know that the Han Dynasty's spring expedition had a major impact on domestic production, not to mention the Liao Kingdom. As the war on all fronts unfolded, various battle reports were gradually summarized to the Privy Council. Emperor Liu even threatened to destroy the Liao Kingdom with its national strength.
Determination.
If we can't win in one year, we can fight for one year. If we can't win in two years, we can fight in two years, three years... Under this kind of war mode, the Liao Kingdom can't survive for three years, or even eight years.
, it will be very difficult to get through it smoothly, and this will only happen if the Han army does not make a major breakthrough.
In terms of military ability, Emperor Liu has not made much progress over the years, but in terms of vision, he is absolutely unparalleled. He is also most familiar with and likes this kind of bullying tactics. In the fields he is good at, Liu
Emperors are often as stable as an old dog.
Looking at the entire battle situation, from west to east, the Han army was in a full-scale offensive situation. On the other side of Hexi, Guo Jin, the Marquis of Bowang, led 10,000 cavalry out to the west and advanced into the Western Regions.
If we make a ranking list of the armies of the Han Dynasty, the Hexi army is definitely among the best, even better than the elites of the Forbidden Army. The fierce folk customs, high-quality soldiers, and year-round actual combat training have all contributed to the prestige of the Hexi army.
Although Guo Jin's march to the west was not strong in terms of military strength, his influence was huge. It put great pressure on the Liao army in the Western Regions. From the beginning of the Han army's western expedition, it had already shaken its unstable rule.
Already.
Countless victories have created the prestige of the Han Empire, and its influence has long penetrated into the Western Regions. However, the situation of the people in the Western Regions can be described in one sentence: it has been miserable for a long time!
With the Han army as their backer, the people of all ethnic groups in the Western Regions who had suffered from the brutal rule of the Liao army became more courageous. After the Han army entered Yizhou, they revolted against the Khitans under various banners.
He ruled from Yizhou in the east to Yanqi in the west, watching the wind and shadow everywhere.
The most vocal among them is naturally the rebel army led by Pule, an old Uighur nobleman. In the changes in the Western Regions in the past ten years, Pule is an unavoidable figure. The most important reason is the relationship between this man and the Han Dynasty.
The relationship is particularly close.
Emperor Liu personally met with him several times and admired him very much for his loyalty, wisdom and righteousness. In the past year and a half, Pule sneaked back to the Western Regions several times and organized several rebellions against the Khitan rule. Although in the end
Due to lack of strength, they were all extinguished, failed to achieve their goals, and failed to cause a big storm.
However, having the big man behind him and the big man's support also gave him enough confidence, the confidence to become more courageous every time he suffered setbacks, and the opportunity to start over again.
After Guo Jin's Western Expedition, Pule was the first to respond. At that time, he was leading hundreds of Uighurs who hated the Khitan rule to fight guerrillas near Yizhou. Thanks to his close contact with the Han Dynasty, he also had early plans for the Han army's westward advance.
After Guo Jin came to the west, he quickly sent people to spread the news of the Han's expedition to the west and rescued the people of the Western Regions, and spread fire everywhere in the Western Regions ruled by the Liao Kingdom.
In the past year and a half, although Pule's uprising has suffered repeated setbacks, it has also accumulated a lot of reputation. With this effort, his influence will naturally spread quickly.
Moreover, this time with the powerful backbone of the Han army, the resistance enthusiasm of the people of all ethnic groups in the Western Regions was naturally particularly high. Pule's troops alone recruited more than 3,000 troops within half a month.
These more than 3,000 people played a big role in cooperating with the Han army to attack Yizhou. The imperial court did not have rigid target requirements for the Hexi Army, but as the leading general, Guo Jin naturally did not want to play a supporting role.
, be a spectator.
If you want to make achievements in the Western Regions, Yizhou must be taken. Guo Jin led the army and headed north from Guazhou, heading straight for the city. Guo Jin had already made plans on how to capture Yizhou. It was very simple. The inside should be coordinated with the outside.
With the cooperation of Pule, the internal forces in the city, and the residents who had long been dissatisfied with the Khitan rule, it only took three days to deal a fatal blow to the Liao army in Yizhou.
The city of Yizhou was broken, and all the three thousand Liao troops garrisoned in the city were killed. Not a single one escaped. The ones who did it were, of course, those from the Western Regions. After reduction, in recent years, the Liao army deployed in the Western Regions had only less than
Thirty thousand people.
The annihilation of three thousand soldiers was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Liao's defense in the Western Region. With limited troops, the Liao army was in a serious situation if it wanted to defend the huge Western Region.
Moreover, the defeat of Yizhou opened the door for the Han army to march westward, and the strength of the troops commanded by Guo Jin was greatly improved. Pule's troops were directly recruited, and there were also rebels near Yizhou.
The people enthusiastically joined the army and gathered together under the banner of the Han Dynasty.
It can be said that the westward advance of the Han army completely ignited the enthusiasm of the people of all ethnic groups who had been oppressed and exploited for many years to resist. They were particularly active in taking revenge on the Liao Kingdom and fighting against the Khitans.
At that time, there were millions of Uighurs in Xizhou. After the conquest of the Liao army, the population dropped sharply to less than 40%. Coupled with the social unrest in recent years and the continuous oppression of the Khitan people, the population continued to decrease.
Even so, the remaining hundreds of thousands of people, combined together, are enough for the Liao army to drink a pot. And this is Guo Jin's biggest support in the Western Regions, Yizhou, which was easily captured by Guo Jin with only 10,000 infantry and cavalry.
, is proof that the capture of Yizhou also successfully influenced the overall situation of the entire Western Region.
After following Guo Jin, a large number of Xizhou survivors who fled to Hexi Province asked the Hexi government to prepare their own weapons, war horses, and rations to return to the Western Regions for revenge and fighting.
Faced with the enthusiasm of these Xizhou survivors, the Hexi government naturally welcomed them, but they could not make the decision. Lu Duoxun was still courageous and agreed to these people's requests by killing them first and then reporting them.
Therefore, more than 3,000 warriors with strong will to fight were added to Guo Jin's Western Expedition. By the time May entered, Guo Jin's Western Expedition Army had grown to more than 30,000 people and was approaching Gaochang City.
Under this situation, the situation of the Liao Army in the Western Regions became increasingly worse. Not only did they have to face the advance of the main force of the Han Army led by Guo Jin, but the entire people inside were in rebellion and were boiling.
In the vast Western Regions, except for a few major cities, the remaining towns and villages were either occupied by the Western Regions or under the control of the Han army. In particular, the retaliation of the Western Regions was cruel and bloody, almost replacing what they had suffered back then.
The suffering was returned tenfold and a hundredfold, forcing the Liao army not to disperse.
The Liao army in the Western Regions, unknowingly, fell into the same predicament as the Uyghurs during Yelu Xiezhen's Western Expedition. They could only defend the city walls, while everything outside the city fell. They were unable to do anything and could only let the Han army gallop.
Under this critical situation, conflicts also arose within the Liao army. There were three main people in charge of the military and political affairs of the Western Regions in the Liao State: the pacification envoy Yelu Yilayha, the recruiting envoy Yelusha, and the Wei King Yelu Dilie who was excluded from the center of power of the Liao State.
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Yelu Yilaiha was a confidant of Yelu Jing, the first emperor of the Liao Dynasty, and Yelu Sha was a battle-tested general. The three people had very different opinions. Yelu Dilie advocated concentrating his forces and taking the initiative to attack and destroy the main force of the Han army led by Guo Jin.
In Lie's view, as long as the Han army was defeated, the other rebels in the Western Regions would be nothing more than a ragtag group and not a serious problem.
Yelüsha and Yelüsha held clear objections. Yerüsha insisted on defending until the situation changed. Yelüsha was more decisive. He believed that the Western Region was no longer defendable and that there should be choices. Specific measures
, that is, abandoning Qiuci and Gaochang, retaining strength, shrinking to Luntai and Beiting in the north, and giving up the territory south of Tianshan to the Han army.
Compared with the north and south, due to geographical advantages, the Liao army had stronger control over the cities in the north. However, his opinion was opposed.
In the past few years when Yelu Ilaiha was in charge of the Western Regions, he felt that the Western Regions were in decline, human relations were greatly disturbed, and people's hearts were in turmoil. The people of all ethnic groups had accumulated hatred for Daliao, and they had already begun to restore the economy and develop people's livelihood, and had made some progress.
However, God did not fulfill his wishes, and the Han-Liao War and the Han Army's Western Expedition completely shattered his plan. In addition, the historical problems caused by the Liao's Western Expedition and the long-standing national hatred were difficult to resolve.
Amid these contradictory opinions, the situation of the Liao Kingdom in the Western Regions naturally inevitably declined. Under this situation, Guo Jin, after being fully prepared, also planned to launch a decisive battle, the Battle of Gaochang.
In the latest report on the war in the Western Regions received by the Privy Council, Guo Jin stated that within a month, all the land in Xizhou south of the Tianshan Mountains would be under the control of the Han Dynasty.
During the Western Expedition to the Western Regions, no one, including Emperor Liu, had high expectations. They only wanted to divert troops. However, unexpectedly, it was Guo Jinjun who was the first to make a breakthrough in the Liao War.
As long as you take advantage of the time, the people and the people, you will have no disadvantages!