In the city of Talas, as a group of elite cavalry wrapped in black shirts and holding pure black flags rumbled into the city, Ali Dulav, the governor of Tashkent in Saman Persia, finally arrived at this city that had been completely overwhelmed by the atmosphere of war.
The famous city in the river is shrouded.
Countless supplies have been continuously transported from the city of Tashkent in the southwest. Ever since their humiliating defeat at the hands of the Karakhanids four years ago, the Samanid Dynasty has been continuously hoarding supplies in Tashkent.
Initially, it was to prepare for Saktu to send troops from Talas to attack the hinterland of the Samanid Dynasty, which would later become the Amu Darya and Syr Darya river basins in Central Asia.
This place is the hometown of the original nine surnames of Zhaowu. Bukhara, Samarkand and other traditional wealthy cities of the Samanid Kingdom are all in this area. It would be bad if the Kara Khanate rushed in and plundered it.
But the Karakhanids, who were on guard and on guard, showed no sign of going south.
Later they learned that although Saktu, the Bugla Khan of the Kara Khanate, had recovered all the territory east of Talas, due to religious reasons, the old Karakhan nobles in Balasagon refused to recommend Saktu
For Alslen Khan.
Being stuck in the middle by Balasagon, a city that did not surrender, Saktu was unable to mobilize his army to invade south.
Although later, Saktu mobilized a large army from Shule and captured most of the Fergana Basin, the Samanid monarchs and ministers breathed a sigh of relief.
Because the core rich area of the Samanid Dynasty was not in the Fergana Basin, which they called Maryi Nang.
Their core are the three cities of Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent.
Moreover, the Karakhanate's army failed to capture the city of Juzhanti at the mouth of the valley, so they could not easily enter and leave the basin to harass the river.
At the same time, fighting together for a war also made the Samanid dynasty see clearly the weakness of the Kara Khanate's ability to attack fortresses.
Therefore, in the next few years, the more they defended, the more experienced they became. Instead, they used the mouth of the valley to block the Karakhan army in the basin.
Ali Duraf looked at the mountains of supplies piled up in Talas City and couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction.
But who would have thought that a few years ago, he was one of the people who opposed the hoarding of supplies in Tashkent.
Because he felt that by doing so, he was almost giving directions to the Karakhanites, and clearly telling the bandits.
'Come on! We have a lot of good stuff here, you can eat it for years if you grab a handful!'
This is simply child's play. With so many supplies stored, it would be great if they were captured by the Karakhanids. With these supplies, they could use Tashkent as a base to continuously harass the hinterland of the kingdom.
Fortunately, what Durav was worried about didn't happen in the end, and it actually helped him a lot today.
Because without the supplies he had hoarded over the years, he would not have been able to gain a foothold in Talas. This famous city on the river had experienced two large-scale wars in five years, and had become very poor and could no longer support the supply of the army.
"Your Majesty the Governor, there is news from Bukhara that the rebellion provoked by the Khawalij faction has been suppressed!"
A postal officer hurried over and said to Durav who had just entered the city.
Postal officer, this strange official position, is roughly equivalent to the collection of Chinese supervisory censors and imperial guards stationed outside Beijing.
It was originally the center of the Samanid Dynasty, used to supervise local governors and haqqim (similar to governors) and other high-ranking local officials.
However, in recent years, as Emir Nasr II continued to mess around and indulge in his old age, the postal officer's original responsibilities were gradually deprived of him, and his status quickly declined.
From being the most feared eyes and ears of the court for local officials, he has become a subordinate official of the governor and Hakeem. This is the case in Durav, the governor of Tashkent Province.
"Why so fast? Could it be...?" Ali Duraf was shocked. There were rumors that Emir Nasr II intended to convert from the Routine sect to the Shiye sect. Did it really happen?
The postal officer nodded. Although he had become a subordinate of Governor Ali Durav, the postal officer still had his way. He even knew about the changes that happened in the Bukhara court earlier than the governor of Tashkent Province.
.
Throughout the Persian Samanite period, the distribution of sects within its territory was divided into the East and the West.
Starting from the capital Bukhara as the dividing line, the territory to the east is the territory of the Routine sect, and the west is the territory of the Shiye sect.
The Khawarij sect is a primitive sect of Tianfang religion outside these two major sects. Its basic believers are located in the west of the Saman Kingdom. Although there are not many believers, they are well-organized and come out to cause trouble from time to time.
Nasr II has always wanted to completely eliminate them, but failed several times because Nasr II himself believed in the Regularists, and the west was the territory of the Shiite sect.
For the people here, they all have to pay taxes to the kingdom and even do corvee work, but if they are asked to go into battle to attack the Khawalijs, they will never do it.
Therefore, the several disturbances caused by the Khawarij sect were due to the uncooperation of the Shiite believers in the west, and the Bukhara court was unable to successfully suppress them.
But this time, the trouble was put down after less than a month, so there is only one possibility: Nasr II really converted.
This is not a trivial matter. Everyone knows that Tianfang Sect is cruel to outsiders, but in fact they are even more cruel to their own people.
For hundreds of years, the wars against heretics have been much more bloody than the wars against heretics.
Ali Duraf took a deep breath, knowing in his heart that the kingdom was in serious trouble, because the anger of the regularists was more dangerous than the troubled Khawarijs.
Because the Khawarij sect is a primitive sect that emphasizes asceticism.
The head must be knocked open during worship, and it is an honor to have the head bruised and develop sores.
When reading the "Gunan Sutra", you have to talk about acting skills, sometimes crying, sometimes lamenting, and they prohibit all entertainment activities, even mourning the dead.
Who can stand this thing for a long time?
If you hit your head and get a sore, it will become inflamed if you are not careful. In this day and age, if you get inflamed, you may end up belching.
The ban on all entertainment activities, especially the ban on mourning the dead, can almost always be related to anti-humanity.
Therefore, although this sect initially followed many people, no one could stand it anymore, and now it has declined.
If it drags on for a few years, he might just perish. It's not worth raising an army to crusade, and even resorting to such drastic measures as converting to the Shiye Sect.
Ali Duraf actually vaguely guessed what Nasr II was thinking. In addition to converting to the Shi'a sect, he could quickly defeat the Khawalij sect, and it could also absorb the hearts of the Shi'a believers in the west of the kingdom and stabilize the west.
The role of borders.
Because Ali Bouveshi, the leader of the Delam people in the mountainous area to the west of the kingdom, has been taking advantage of this incident in recent years to instigate the Shiye people in the west of the kingdom to leave the kingdom, so Nasr II wanted to use himself to convert
, to stabilize the west side.
But he forgot one thing, that is, the east side represented by the river area is the foundation of the kingdom.
At the same time, the regular church members in the Hezhong area are very radical and tough.
In particular, the Turkic people, who had just converted to Christianity less than a hundred years ago, were in the fanatical stage of rising faith. Nasr II's conversion was probably regarded by them as a kind of betrayal.
Duraf felt that Nasr II ruled the Samanid Dynasty for too long and too smoothly. In his hands, the Samanid Kingdom had only slightly shrunk in territory in recent years.
These successes were an honor, but they also quickly made Nasr II swell.
He may have felt that his personal conversion did not represent the royal family and would not anger the traditionalists in the east, or that the traditionalists did not dare to resist and could only accept it.
But Ali Duraf knew that would not be the case. These people would definitely rise up and make trouble. Once they made trouble, it might not be so easy to suppress them.
However, this also strengthened Ali Durav's determination. He ran from the political whirlpool in Braha to Talos just to avoid the upcoming political turmoil.
Moreover, he had already found out clearly that Bugla Khan Saktu of the Kara Khanate had been defeated and retreated by his own subjects, those stubborn pagans.
At the same time, these heretics had just been defeated by local believers in the city of Julan, dozens of miles away. They suffered heavy losses and were at the end of their fight.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! As long as he leads the army eastward, he should be able to take advantage of the opportunity and capture Balasagon.
With the large territories of Balasagon and Talas, he could seal off hundreds of Dehkan (lords) and thousands of Mulks (small and medium-sized landowners who could send troops).
With these Dehkan and Mulk, he could in turn firmly control the land between Balasagon and Talas.
Maybe... Ali Duraf's forehead jumped a few times. Maybe when the turmoil in Bukhara got out of hand, he could still find an opportunity to go south and achieve something successful.
....
"Confused!" He Liucheng, Guo Xuanli slapped the table hard, interrupting his fellow brother Guo Xuansu's words.
"Since we have promised to follow the Zhangjun Public Security Bureau, Balashagon, we must change quickly and don't hide it.
Why should we save something at this time? If we win, there is no point in keeping this little thing. If we lose, the few people and things we keep are not enough to protect ourselves."
After saying that, Guo Xuanli sighed heavily. He had never expected that Duke Zhang would be so good at inspiring people.
That day, hundreds of Guo family members ate and drank wildly with him, singing poems and articles all night long. Not to mention those young people, even Guo Xuanli was very excited.
Most of these disciples were trained by Guo Xuanli, and almost all of them knew 180 characters, and 30% of them had a high level of education.
They were originally reserved talents for Nestorianism, but when Zhang Zhaoyi encouraged them, the sense of honor of being Tang'er and the pride of being the descendants of the Iron-Blooded County Queen suddenly burst out in everyone's heart.
Cultivate my sword and spear, drive away the barbarians in the north, and become powerful in Anxi.
Ju Yi returned eastward, opened up Ganliang, and returned to his homeland.
This is Zhang Erlangjun's promise to everyone. They must first repel the attack of the Persian Samanid Kingdom, frighten the barbarians, and restore Anxi to the land of China. Then they will gather together and return eastward, return to their homeland, achieve success and fame, and enjoy all the wealth and honor in the world.
.
Compared with such a grand goal, becoming a monk who can only wear linen clothes, escaping to Jiedan Mountain for refuge, etc., is simply unbearable.
What's more, Zhang Erlang's bureau is not just nonsense, because he has a record of defeating 20,000 to 20,000. It is still the elite Gulam Guards of Bugra Khan Saktu, which is far from the Persian army.
Now Mr. Zhang Erlang has 300 armored soldiers, 800 armored soldiers, and 600 elite cavalry. If the Guo family can help each other, plus Master Titsigu from Balashagon and a group of Yehu, he may not be unable to fight.
In other words, the chance of winning is not small.
So Guo Xuanli had no choice but to take a gamble. He had no choice but to gamble. Zhang Zhao had already taken away the souls of the young people of the Guo family.
If you die, you will be worthy of your ancestors. If you don't die, you can enjoy all the wealth and honor in the world. For the young people of the Guo family who are so poor that they can't even eat two meals a day, there is no future more tempting than this.
Perhaps, Guo Xuanli felt that the biggest reason why he was willing to cooperate with Zhang Erlangjun was because the slogans and future proposed by Zhang Erlangjun were his dreams!
"Father, do you really want to send the map of Zhongzhenku to Duke Zhang?"
Guo Guangsheng was a little confused. After all, he was in his forties. When his younger brother Guo Guangcheng left his pregnant bride behind and wanted to have a fight with Zhang Erlang to be rich and worthy of his ancestors, he had already woken up from his fanaticism.
.
The burial point of Zhongzhenku is said to be divided into five parts of the map, so that the four major surnames except the Lu family and Shule Kaiyuan Temple can jointly control it.
But after all, the Guo family has been the leader of the Anxi Army for hundreds of years, so in addition to the detailed map divided into five parts, they actually also have a sketch in their hands.
This was copied by their ancestors. Although it is a bit blurry, Zhang Zhao already has the map of Kaiyuan Temple and the Li family. If he adds the map and complete sketch of the Guo family, he can already reveal the treasure.
, so Guo Guangsheng was a little reluctant to part with it.
"Give it! Why don't you give it? You should give it earlier. This is a great contribution to my Guo family, and if you don't give it to Duke Zhang, do you dare to go and get it out of the loyalty treasury?"
We didn’t dare to dig out the treasure forty years ago, and we dare not even do so now!
Hundreds of sets of armor and tens of thousands of kilograms of iron, if we get these into the clan, the clan will be wiped out immediately!" Guo Xuanli said loudly.
"Go to Balasagon again and tell your third uncle that he must fully support Duke Zhang.
Then tell Duke Zhang that in ten days, I will take 800 troops of light cavalry to Balashagon to join him!"
....
In the city of Balasagon, Zhang Zhao just held a meeting with all the big and small Yehus and sect leaders to unify their thoughts, because the news that the Persian Saman Kingdom was coming to attack Balasagon has been confirmed.
After the meeting, the rest of the people had gone back, and Zhang Zhao only left behind the ancient Buddhist master Titexi and the Nestorian majestic master Xuanqing, who was Guo Xuanli's younger brother Guo Xuanqing.
There is also Hu Duwuxi, a descendant of Li Sizhong who has taken refuge with Zhang Zhao. He has now changed his name to Li Guoshou.
Finally, there was a man named Pugu Naluo. This man was the largest leaf guard in Balasagon. He could dispatch two to three hundred cavalry with some simple leather armor, and more than a thousand infantry who had been trained, and had some strength.
As soon as everyone arrived, Zhang Zhao didn't hesitate and sat directly on the main seat. There were so many people in the meeting that he definitely couldn't reveal the specific battle plan, but he can do so now.
"According to intelligence, Ali Duraf, the governor of the extension city (Tashkent) of the Persian Samanid Kingdom, has mobilized 13,000 troops from various places, with at least four to five thousand soldiers. It is not yet known how many elite armored soldiers there are among them.
The number of divine warriors as servants is estimated to be no less than this, which means that the invading enemies will be at least 25,000."
Master Titsigu first reported the information he had obtained to Zhang Zhao, which was also what the Buddhists west of Balasagon tried their best to find out.
"Is the news highly credible?" Zhang Zhao asked.
There are 25,000 people. It is estimated that the armor wearing rate including leather armor is only one-third. It is not too outrageous, and it is not easy to deal with. It is within the range that Zhang Zhao can bear.
"It should be very high. This was passed down by the Zoroastrians in Bukhara. Many of their people were recruited to transport food and supplies because they knew more about it."
Zoroastrianism is not completely extinct in Saman Persia at this time, and there are even many believers.
Almost all of them were concentrated in cities, and they were the best targets for the Samanid Kingdom, so they were not driven out to death.
Even for the sake of sustainable wool harvesting, Nasr II appointed some Zoroastrian officials and let them manage their own people.
"That's good! Now issue an order!" Zhang Zhao nodded.
"Feng'en camp officer, Quanyoudu Yuhou Ma Jirong!"
"The last general is here!" Ma Jirong is the younger brother of Ma Furong, the Taiwei of Khotan. He is quite heroic and one of Li Shengtian's most trusted confidants. Therefore, he was sent here by Li Shengtian at a young age to command the Khotan Palace.
Defended.
"You allocate one hundred men from the first right general of the right capital of Feng'en camp to a certain person, and then you will lead the rest to assist Master Titsigu and Puguye in guarding the city.
This mission is very important. Whether we can defeat the enemy depends on whether you can hold Balasagon."
"Here!" Ma Jirong stepped in and sang with a solemn expression.
"Captain Cao!" The second person Zhang Zhao shouted was Cao Yanming.
"My subordinate is here!" Cao Shishi came out of the queue to respond with panda circles under his eyes. He studied gunpowder until midnight last night, and then fooled around with his Orchid until the early morning, so he was extremely tired.
"I will give you all the Qingqi of General Ashina. The distribution of the money is very important, so you must protect it!" Zhang Zhao looked at Cao Yanming seriously.
Cao Yanming nodded. He knew what Zhang Zhao meant. The task of defending the city was heavy this time, and the miners from Jindu would probably follow Shi Chongmin to defend the city.
But at the same time, the secret of the gunpowder in Jindu was of great importance. Even if Balasagon disappeared, Cao Yanming and the dozen apprentices he trained could not be compromised.
Therefore, Zhang Zhao asked Ashinasili's Qingqi from the Basimi tribe to enter the city, not to help defend the city, but to see if the situation was not right. If the city could not be defended, he would have them escort Cao Yanming to escape.
"Master Titsi! From the city of Ashbulai to the clear wilderness of Balashagon, it depends on you! Remember, not a single grain of food can be left behind."
Ashbulai City was later to be the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. About 80 kilometers from here to Balashagon was the death passage left by Zhang Zhao to the Persians.
"Young monk understands!" Titsigu nodded heavily.
"Pugu Yehu, the two great masters of majesty, you also shoulder the important task of guarding the city. When the great master of prudence arrives, you two will listen to his arrangements!"
Zhang Zhao decided to appoint Guo Xuanli as the commander-in-chief of the city defense of Balashagon, because he himself would definitely have to go out of the city to fight the raid.
As for the specific combat plan of Fengtian Camp, Zhang Zhao will definitely not talk about it here, as this is a matter that must be kept strictly confidential.
