The news of Li Bai's death reached the palace. After Zhou Jun heard about it, he sat in the study for half a day without going out.
For Datang, Li Bai was not just a personal name, it represented more of a symbol.
A poet who can write "Clouds think of clothes, flowers think of face, spring breeze blows on the threshold and dew is strong" is an unreplicable humanistic emotion for an era, and is a swan song in the literary world that is rare to see in a thousand years.
On that day, the emperor posthumously named Li Bai the Duke of Chengji County, with the posthumous title Wenxuan, and wrote the words "Poetry Immortal" as an epitaph.
Half a month after Li Bai was buried, Sun Aying, the governor of Shuofang, led 30,000 Tang troops and defeated 70,000 Uighur cavalry in Baiting. Uighur left Shelangda Qi killed in the battle, and the six tribes of the Uighur family, totaling 71 nobles.
surrender.
After the good news reached the capital, Sun Aying personally escorted the prisoners to the imperial city to meet the saint.
After Zhou Jun heard the news, he was overjoyed and personally came to the tower of Deyi Gate to greet Shuofang's army.
As the sun rose, the sound of music and drums came from outside the city.
A mighty motorcade entered Liangcheng along the official road and slowly headed towards Deyi Gate.
Sun Aying, the governor of Shuofang, rode at the head of the formation and came to the gate tower of Deyi Gate. He led a group of Shuofang army generals to dismount first and then knelt down and kowtowed to the emperor's guard of honor on the tower, shouting "Long Live the Mountain".
Zhou Jun was so happy that he walked down from the city tower, came to Shuofang's army, and helped Sun Aying up with his own hands.
Sun Aying was originally the leader of Zhou Jun's personal troops, guarding Mobei alone to ensure the safety of Shuofang's gate.
After not seeing each other for several years, Zhou Jun helped Sun Aying up and was startled when he saw the latter's appearance.
There was a scar of about four inches on Sun Aying's right cheek, a vague wound on her neck, and her little finger and ring finger were missing from her left hand.
Zhou Jun read Shuofang's battle report and found out that the Uighurs were good at riding and shooting, and their numbers were overwhelming. Shuofang's army fought extremely hard in every battle.
Even though Shuofang's army was elite and had gunpowder and muskets as weapons, the casualties were still high in every battle.
In several battles, the Uighur army almost broke through Shuofang's defense line and entered the northern part of Liangzhou. It was only because Shuofang's army refused to retreat that they were able to repel the enemy.
There were no formalities or pleasantries. Zhou Jun just patted Sun Aying on the shoulder and said, "Aying, you have done a great job over the years."
Facing Zhou Jun, Sun Aying, who was usually stern and unsmiling, showed a rare expression of embarrassment: "Your Majesty, thank you for your praise."
After entrusting the counting of prisoners, distribution of rewards and other matters to the Ministry of Rites and the Internal Affairs Supervisor, Zhou Jun took Sun Aying and a group of Shuofang generals to the Yizheng Hall.
A banquet was held, and wine and food were served. Zhou Jun asked while eating: "I heard that after the Battle of Baiting, the Uighur people had internal strife. The Uighur Khan moved to another place and lost control of the army?"
Sun Aying: "Reporting to your majesty, the internal strife among the Uighurs had already begun before the decisive battle at Baiting. At that time, the old Khan of the Uighurs, Tu Lishi, died suddenly and violently. The cause of death was doubtful. The Uighurs originally opposed the immigrants.
Di Jian was dissatisfied. In addition, in the past few years, the Uighurs had been at odds with the Tang Dynasty, and daily necessities including tea, silk, oil, and salt were in short supply, and the Uighurs could not trade them, which made the antagonism between the Uighur tribes even more intense.
It’s serious. Last year, there were many Uighur tribesmen who completely fell out with Yidijian, and the whole tribe moved westward, entering Beiting and the land northwest of An, and mixed with the Geluolu people.”
Zhou Jun nodded, it was this group of Uighurs who migrated westward, and together with the Geluolu people, they invaded the trade routes between Anxi and Beiting.
Sun Aying: "In addition to moving westward, there were many Uighur tribes who simply went south to join the Tang Dynasty to help our army fight against Yidijian. Here, the Uighur prince Hedari also contributed a lot."
Zhou Jun looked at Sun Aying and asked: "I read the battle report. The Shuofang army fought with the Uighur cavalry. The battle was fierce. How did you defeat the enemy?"
Sun Aying: "The most difficult part of the battle with the Uighurs was the first six months. At that time, most of the Uighur tribes were united and there was no internal strife. Therefore, every time the enemy dispatched, they would attack with large numbers of cavalry.
Come. Shuofang's army can only use forts and beacon cities as defense lines, and then use gunpowder to defeat the enemy's offensive."
"At that time, there were too many Uighur cavalry, and the ones fighting in the front line were all the enemy's elites. Killing an enemy often had to be done at the cost of losing a Tang soldier."
Zhou Jun looked down at the severed finger on Sun Aying's hand and asked, "Did the wound on your hand come from that time?"
Sun Aying nodded and said: "In the cold winter of December last year, when the Uighur army approached Qikou, I ordered my deputy general Shi Fu to lead 12,000 soldiers to defend the Nuozhen River. I myself led 3,000 cavalry to bypass it.
Dingxiang Mountain, to attack the Huihe rear camp."
"The three thousand cavalry under my command successively captured the Heicheng, Mandu and Keluohai tribes, and finally ambushed the Huihe reinforcements at Wanglang Mountain... Because they were deep behind the enemy lines, the fingers of the soldiers under my command were frozen and they were unable to draw their bows.
, in order not to be discovered by the enemy, he gave up making a fire to keep warm, so he could only kill the enemy, disembowel him, and then put his hand into his abdominal cavity to melt ice to keep warm. Over time, the fingers were injured, and the root of the disease was found, so they could only cut them off.
."
Zhou Jun was filled with emotion when he heard this.
The three major battlefields of the Northern Tang Army were Jiangzhou, which fought against the Southern Tang Dynasty, Chang'an, which fought against the Tubo, and Shuofang, which fought against the Uighurs.
The battles in Jiangzhou and Chang'an were fierce and there were countless casualties. However, in these two battlefields, the total strength of the Tang army and the enemy was roughly equal, and it could be regarded as a well-matched battle.
However, the Shuofang battlefield is different.
The Uighurs initially had hundreds of thousands of cavalry, while Shuofang's army only had 42,000. Comparing the combat strength of the two armies, Shuofang was almost at an absolute disadvantage.
In the first six months, the entire Shuofang army fought to the death. Even Jiedushi personally led the army and went deep into the enemy camp alone, and was able to hold off the Uighur offensive.
From the beginning to the end, Sun Aying, the military governor of Shuofang, never complained to the court or asked for reinforcements.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Because Sun Aying knew in his heart that the imperial court's military strength in the north was already stretched thin, and Shuofang could only rely on himself if he wanted to defeat the Huihe people.
Zhou Jun was filled with emotion when he thought of this. He picked up the wine on the table and said to the soldiers of Shuofang Army: "This battle is extremely dangerous and dangerous. It is all thanks to everyone here that we can keep our country safe. I want to toast you!"
The generals of Shuofang's army raised their glasses and left the banquet, bowed and sang.
After Sun Aying drank the wine in the cup, he said to Zhou Jun: "After the first six months of the battle with the Uighurs, the fighting will become much easier in the future. In addition to the internal strife among the Uighurs themselves, the Anxi Arsenal sent
We bought some new ordnance, which helped a lot. Among them, there were mines buried underground to kill cavalry, telescopes with crystal pieces on both ends, and finally, powerful flintlock muskets."
Speaking of ordnance, Sun Aying suddenly became interested and said to Zhou Jun: "Your Majesty, that telescope can clearly see the flowers and trees several miles away. The cavalry can see the enemy's weaknesses in advance before attacking; and the flint
As long as the musket is operated skillfully and the horse's ears are blocked, the gun can be fired on the horse; the last mine can be used as an ambush if it is buried in some necessary roads before the war begins."
"With these three items, the cavalry can use a new tactic. First, lay mines on some narrow and only roads; second, use telescopes to search for enemy troops; third, attack. If you can use
If the enemy is defeated by the flintlock gun, then pursue them. If they cannot be defeated, they will pretend to flee and lead them into the mine formation. Finally, when the enemy triggers the mines and falls into chaos, our army can kill a carbine and completely defeat them.