After daybreak, the sandstorm had subsided, and Hu Biao and others were about to follow the Tang army back to the city.
But it was only then that I discovered that the sky full of sand brought by the sandstorm last night made everything in sight gray. When walking, it would bring up the dust, which was quite choking.
Hu Biao could only follow the example of other Tang soldiers, tearing off a piece of his dirty underwear and covering his mouth and nose.
In addition, even if some protection was taken in advance last night, about twenty war horses suffocated to death after the sand and dust blocked their mouths and noses; there were also some camels that broke free of their ropes and ran away when the wind and sand were the strongest.
In this way, everyone in the cave cannot ride alone.
The scar-faced man frowned and thought for a moment, then shouted loudly to Hu Biao and others:
"Falling into the hands of these Turkic bandits who are like lost dogs, you must have suffered a lot these days.
So now I will give you a chance to take revenge and teach them a lesson. Some barbarian bastards dare to enslave me, the sons of the Han family."
When saying this, the man's tone was full of indescribable arrogance and determination.
It seems that this kind of thing is fair and just, and it should be like this in the first place.
As soon as the voice in his mouth fell, Hu Biao and others rushed towards the Turkic natives frantically, and began to punch and kick them without mercy.
The grievances and frights I had suffered in the past few days were completely vented at this moment.
By the time they stopped, about a dozen Turkic natives were left, all curled up on the ground, with bruises on their noses and faces, and many black footprints on their bodies.
Some people even had mottled blood stains on their bodies.
But with a feeling of gratitude after revenge, he looked at Tang Junshi who was watching.
Hu Biao and the others could clearly see that the faces of these Tang soldiers had complex expressions of disgust, helplessness, and annoyance, and seemed to be somewhat disappointed.
Without waiting for Hu Biao and others to ask, what did he fail to do well?
As the scar-faced man waved, the other man opened his mouth, and the man with bright front teeth took a few people into action.
He drew out the horizontal knife from his waist and stabbed them one by one, stabbing all the Turks to the ground in the blink of an eye.
When the last Turkic native bent his body like a prawn after being stabbed in the lower abdomen, the man with the scarred face scolded Hu Biao and others with a tone that said he hated iron but could not make steel:
"When a group of cowards have seen clearly, this is called a lesson. Only such a lesson can convince them."
Amidst Scarface's high-pitched scolding, Hu Biao and others looked at each other and could not say a word; their chests and abdomen were even a little churning, and they almost vomited out the mutton soup they had eaten last night...
****
'devil'
Under the setting sun, looking up at the city gate about six or seven meters high, after the two city names "Qiuci", Hu Biao instinctively read out this sentence.
The voice just fell, and it was said that there was a fellow from Hunan Province from Xingcheng beside him.
In the modern dimension, he is a salesperson of prefabricated materials in the construction industry. It is said that Yang Dongli, who knows a little bit about everything because of his extensive knowledge, immediately started to complain:
"Lao Hu, did your physical education teacher teach you Chinese? These two characters are called 'Qiu Ci'. It seems that we have really reached the boundary of the Western Regions during the Tang Dynasty."
Although he was complaining, it was obvious that Yang Dongli was still in a very relaxed mood.
This is indeed the case. Although Zhang Tiezhu and other Tang soldiers have not completely believed in them, whether they can stay in the safe city and hug the Tang army still needs Commander Guo to make a decision.
But their treatment was like going from hell to heaven, completely transformed.
They said they still had to watch over them, that is, they were just not allowed to run around, and even the ropes tied to their hands and feet were loosened.
Even if the food tastes a little worse, I can still eat and drink enough.
Even when he followed the Tang army back to the city, he no longer had to walk arduously on the way, and each of them was assigned a war horse.
The only problem is that among all the netizens present, none of these losers know how to ride a horse. After being taught by several Tang Jun for a while, they then explored on their own for a while.
Later, on the way back, I was very nervous while riding on horseback.
The war horse can only be made to walk slowly and cannot gallop at all.
So much so that it greatly slowed down the Tang troops' return to the city, which was not much faster than walking; it was said that the journey back that could have taken just half a day actually took a whole day.
When it was almost dark, the city of Qiuci appeared in front of us.
Kucha City is a city built on a large oasis. There is a large mountain twenty miles away.
According to visual inspection by Hu Biao and others, the city is about three to four kilometers long and four kilometers wide, and the whole city is an irregular quadrilateral; it is not as large as a slightly larger town in the modern dimension.
The city wall looks gray in color and should only be built with earth.
The highest city gate is only six meters high, and other places are even shorter, only over four meters high, which is like one floor high in the modern plane.
Anyway, compared with the city walls made of bricks and stones in Hu Biao's impression, they were far inferior both in appearance and function.
Fortunately, there is a moat seven or eight meters wide outside the city next to the city wall, which adds some defense.
Perhaps it was because the sandstorm had just passed and not many people could be seen in the city.
Except for some Tang soldiers who could be seen guarding the city gates and walls with their heads and faces covered with only a pair of eyes exposed, there were not many people at all in the city.
Even these defenders, without exception, wrapped themselves up tightly, leaving only a pair of eyes outside.
However, when the camels trampled on the layers of sand and passed by on the main road, Hu Biao and the others could see the low houses on the roadside.
Between the gaps between the doors and windows, there were pairs of eyes looking at them nervously, as if they were worried about something.
It is precisely this situation that casts a shadow over the mood that Hu Biao and others had just relaxed for a long time...
After entering the city, Hu Biao and the others were quickly taken to a military camp in the west of the city and placed in a large earthen house. After Zhang Tiezhu's team told them not to run around, they left in a hurry.
.
Thinking of the soldiers of the Tang Army holding swords at the entrance of the military camp, Hu Biao and the others also gave up any other idea of taking a stroll.
After eating some food called Hu Bing, which should be made of flour.
These people lay down on beds made of licorice one by one. The bumps and tension caused by riding horses during the day were finally relaxed, and each of them quickly fell asleep.
I didn't even take a shower, let alone brush my teeth.
So, the stinky problems of insomnia and being unable to fall asleep before midnight are simply because these things from the modern plane are not tired enough.
Or maybe it's a bad habit that comes from a good living environment.
Another point that needs to be explained is that in this shabby room, each person was actually assigned a quilt.
Among them are either linen quilts with reed stuffing inside, or simply large leather quilts sewn with several sheepskins.
Whether it's linen quilt or sheepskin, it all looks very old.
It can be seen from this that the Tang Army's logistical supplies do not seem to be abundant.
It's just that after many days, I was finally able to live in a decent house, and it was a decent house that was safe and I was shocked. Many netizens didn't care about it at all...
At the same time, in a room filled with the strong smell of sweat and feet, with loud snoring and grinding of teeth, Hu Biao and a group of 21 others fell asleep in darkness.
In the palace of the largest city lord in Qiuci City, Prince Wuwei of the Tang Dynasty, the Great Protector of Anxi, and the Jiedu Observer of the Four Towns, Guo Xin looked at a map on the table and frowned.
All in all, he remained like this and didn't speak for a long time.
In the position of his subordinates, all of the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Army chiefs, Sima, military officers, captains, captains and other subordinates showed no intention to speak.
They were sitting on their knees together in the large hall with solemn expressions, making the atmosphere seem unusually dead.
There is no way! The last few thousand soldiers of their Anxi Army are facing a huge crisis at this moment.
According to the latest news they received, the Tubo army had 50,000 troops, together with Tuyuhun, Sogdians, Turks and many other barbarian forces in the Western Regions.
There are more than 100,000 people in total, and the so-called 200,000-strong army is currently fighting its way towards Kucha City.
It only takes four or five days at most to appear outside the city.
With the strength of the troops and weapons in the city, it is definitely impossible to defend the city of Qiuci; but if we do not defend the city, where can everyone retreat?
The road back to Chang'an has been cut off by the Tubo people for many years since the fall of Hexi.
We are thousands of miles apart from Chang'an, so it is impossible to fight all the way back.
Let’s talk about it! In the past, the Tang army was so powerful that the cities controlled by the Anxi Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate were now conquered by Qiuci, the last city.
Once the city of Qiuci is lost, the vast Western Region will no longer have a foothold for people like them.
Without the emperor's order, they dare not and cannot withdraw.
What to do? Faced with such an almost unsolvable problem, they have discussed it several times since they received the news yesterday. Guo Xin and others have not been able to come up with a better solution until now.
No matter how they plan, there is no hope for their Anxi Army.
Finally, late at night, Guo Xin sighed and said:
"Forget it! Since there is no way to the sky and no way to the earth, then let's fight to the death in Kucha City. If we want to take the city, let the Tubo people pay for it with enough lives.
Let them know that none of us in the Tang Dynasty are cowards.
Immediately, the people in the city were mobilized to help repair the city wall, prepare wood, rolling stones and gold juice, and the entire army also polished their weapons and prepared for a deadly battle.
We need to make these people from the Western Regions remember a hundred years later that the Tang people were not so easy to mess with."
The voice fell, and everyone started to take orders. Just when they were about to go down and do their own business, one of Guo Xin's personal guards came in.
It was reported that team leader Zhang Tiezhu met and brought back Hu Biao and others when he went out for inspection in the city, and asked for instructions on how to arrange them.
If it were normal times, Guo Xin might still be very interested in why these seemingly strange people are here.
We will conduct careful interrogations with people to prevent us from falling into the Tubo people's schemes.
The problem is that now that the entire Anxi Army has entered a countdown, Guo Xin no longer cares about many things.
After pondering for a while, Guo Xin made arrangements: "The Tibetan army is so powerful that it can easily capture the city of Kucha without any tricks at all, and it is unlikely that such redundant means will be used.
Besides, they couldn't find so many Tang people with accents from Guanzhong and other places within Guanzhong.
Therefore, their identity as Tang people is probably true. As for why they appeared here, they are too lazy to care about it at this time.
Just stay and join Zhang Tiezhu's cavalry unit directly.
No matter what, they are always our Han men, and we can take care of them if we can; even if our situation is extremely bad, we can always live a few more days than if they were alone outside."
After hearing this, the bodyguard immediately went down and handed over this handling opinion to Zhang Tiezhu who was waiting outside.
