This is the military flag that Yang Yue made in Huizhou before his expedition. The letter reads: "The seven cities in Liangzhou beheaded the envoy Yang."
As for how the city defender and military judge of Liangzhou came to the Haomen Valley in the south, this is the fighting style of Yang Junshi.
Well, his style is: when an opportunity arises, he immediately pounces on it and bites it fiercely. If there is no chance, he creates an opportunity. Even if he takes risks, as long as he is 50% sure, it is worth the gamble.
When he fights, he can often achieve great results at a small cost. But if his adventure fails, he may suffer heavy losses. In short, this is the situation.
Fortunately, this time the Uyghur soldiers were in unknown numbers and were widely dispersed. The Tibetans in the Six Valleys also rushed back as if their buttocks were on fire. The soldiers were pressing down on the border, so Yang Dajun did not dare to continue gambling.
But he still used a trick to attract the main force of the enemy to surround him, creating opportunities for reinforcements sent by the Liangzhou tribes and even the commander-in-chief.
As for whether the enemy is also playing around and calling for reinforcements, it all depends on their own abilities. Whoever is stronger and plays well will be able to achieve his or her intentions.
Zhebu Nian was riding his horse around outside, looking extremely irritable.
The Tang army raided the Liugu tribe, but was stopped midway by allies who came to reduce the losses. This was a good thing. However, it happened that Yangfei Valley and Haomen Valley were plundered, resulting in heavy losses.
Watching the Tang army slaughtering their cattle and sheep to make preserved meat, I felt my heart bleed.
Isn't it just to expand the cattle and sheep and multiply the tribe's population by fighting for the pasture with all their strength? But how can it not be heartbreaking if the things that have been saved so hard once become the spoils of the Tang army? For this reason, the things captured from the Ammo people
Dingkou and beef and sheep don’t seem to be that fragrant anymore.
I robbed Weimo, and the Tang army robbed me. What does this mean?
Lord Wumu's tent was pitched on the bank of the Zamu River outside the Haomen Valley, but it was not in the camp at this time. Instead, it climbed up a high slope, overlooking the entire valley.
The people of the Tang Dynasty built their villages very rigorously, which gave him quite a headache.
This group of people seemed to be naturally good at digging the ground. They erected fences and built trenches. They dug antler guns and horse traps everywhere. They followed strict rules and had a tacit understanding of cooperation.
The Tubo people only tried to attack once, and they immediately understood the power of this hedgehog camp. After leaving four to five hundred corpses, they gave up completely.
If you don't want to kill people, the best way is to besiege.
However, the Tang people seemed unwilling to just defend the village.
On the flat valley grassland, two groups of cavalry fought fiercely.
One was the Liugu Tubo, with about 600 or 700 people, and the other was with the Tang army, but I don’t know which tribe they were, with about 500 people. The two sides actually killed each other evenly.
Lord Wumu suddenly disliked Shao Thief's troops.
Why do you, a prince from the Central Plains, have so many cavalry? The advantage of the grassland people is that the cavalry is erratic. They can fight when they want and leave when they want, making it impossible for your clumsy and slow infantry to catch up. But Shao Thief's infantry is elite and the cavalry is
There are also many, and they are not afraid of the grassland style of play at all.
Lord Wumu had also heard some stories in the history of the Han people, and knew that the Central Plains people liked to use car formations to defeat cavalry, so he also thought of a countermeasure. But when he encountered the Shao thieves, he had no way of using the method.
Shao Thief didn't build a sidecar! He just drove a large group of cavalry to charge forward, using his cavalry to defeat the cavalry, just like the hard-core style of a prairie Khan.
Lord Umu plans to withdraw from the siege.
More than 10,000 cavalrymen were all gathered in a nearby area of several dozen miles, and they were afraid that they would not be able to bear it. The Tibetan people also farmed in Liugu, and could provide some food, but it was not enough, and it was not necessary.
Cavalry besieging a city is the stupidest strategy!
When the prairie cavalry goes out, they always avoid hard bones and eat fat meat.
The fat meat in Liangzhou is in the mouth of the small tribes that have become frightened, and even the Liugu tribe can eat it. Beef, sheep, property, women, who is robbing is not robbing? Whoever is weak is robbing whom!
Lord Umu went down the slope and went to consult with his generals.
Yang Yue in the camp was also paying close attention to the enemy's movements.
To be honest, since the war started, both sides have turned a blind eye.
The Tubo and Uighurs didn't know how many people there were in the Tang army. Looking at the camp regulations and the number of people who were woodcutter and collectors every day, they estimated that there were about 10,000 men, half on foot and half on horseback.
Yang Yue knew even less about the enemy forces.
The strength of the Tibetan troops can be estimated to be no more than 10,000, but it is hard to predict the strength of the Ganzhou Uighurs. Their cavalry never appeared on the battlefield at the same time, and at most there were only more than 3,000 cavalry.
Yang Yue observed carefully and found several Uighur camps. It was estimated that the total force could not be less than 6,000 cavalry.
But he had no confidence in his own judgment, nor did he think that the Uighurs were just that small of a people. It was very possible that there would be more people out there looting.
"Fire test" is what both sides have been doing these days.
They sent cavalry to each other and fought seemingly aimlessly, but they were actually confirming their own ideas and revising their judgments. As for the people who died in the fighting, in the eyes of the generals of both sides, they were far less important than confirming their judgments.
A cautious, boring war! When there were only a few soldiers, Old Man Yang was quite capable of being a "turtle".
****
"Shao Shude wrote a letter inviting me to attack the Uighurs in Ganzhou. What do you think?" In the Dunhuang military mansion, Zhang Huaishen sat high and asked the generals for advice.
In fact, everyone already knows the matter.
It was impossible to attack such a big thing as the Uighurs in Ganzhou without being informed in advance. However, after a long discussion in private and different opinions, Zhang Huaishen lost his patience and prepared to discuss it publicly.
"Commander, this is a big matter and requires long-term planning." The first one to speak was still Suo Xun.
Zhang Huai took a deep look at him. Everyone has a position, and what he said represents his own position. Suo Xun had implicitly opposed sending troops before, and he could figure out some of the reasons. Isn't it because he supports the so-called orthodoxy?
.
Thinking of this, he turned to look at Zhang Huaiding, his younger brother and the son of his uncle Zhang Yichao.
Zhang Huai knew deeply that his uncle had always wanted to leave this inheritance to his parents and children.
When the uprising broke out at the beginning of that year, the imperial army marched westward and regained several states. As far away as Gaopian, troops were even stationed at Fenglin Pass, and the momentum was very strong. In order to gain the support of the imperial court, my uncle decided to send hostages to Beijing to stabilize the situation.
The heart of the court.
But hostages must be children or close relatives, otherwise they will have no weight. So, after deliberation, in the seventh year of Dazhong (853), their father Zhang Yitan, mother Suo Shi, and younger brother Zhang Huaicheng, who were the governor of Shazhou at the time, entered the court.
Once I left, I never came back.
It can be said that the fact that he was able to become the governor of Shazhou at the age of 22 was entirely earned by his parents and brothers as hostages, and he owed nothing to his uncle and his family.
In the eighth year of Xiantong (867), my uncle had no choice but to enter the court. Because he had a son very late, and the eldest son Huai Ding was not yet old enough, for the benefit of the Zhang family, he could only temporarily entrust the affairs of the town to himself, but he also
He left a lot of back-ups, including three sons-in-law: Yin Wentong was appointed as the governor of Zuomabu of the Guiyi Army. This was the result of his uncle's request from the court. He was "super-promoted" and became the second most powerful person in the town. After his death, he
The son inherited the position and also married the daughter of the Yin family to Zhang Huaiding; Suo Xun served as the governor of Guazhou for fourteen years and was recently dismissed; Li Mingzhen served as a marching Sima in another town.
How long did it take for you to slowly eliminate the influence of your uncle's family?
The imperial court's refusal to grant the imperial edict was due to its own mistakes, falsely claiming to be the governor of Hexi Province, and not submitting the imperial edict, but the internal chaos and fighting within the Zhang family was also a major factor.
There were even a lot of traitors in the mission to Chang'an to ask for the festival. Some people openly ridiculed "Pu She (Zhang Huaishen) has done a lot of work, so I'm looking for his jing" and "When you get the festival, the four of us will go against you."
.
How can such an undercurrent of the Guiyi Army not make people tremble with fear?
But now there is a way to break the situation.
As long as we defeat the Ganzhou Uighurs in the east, gain contact with Shuofang's army, and at the same time make good friends with them and draw support, we may be able to suppress the influence of many careerists in the town, such as my uncle's family.
"There are Gaochang Uighurs in the west, constantly raiding Guazhou, and there are Ganzhou Uighurs in the east, raiding the Longjia and Tibetan tribes in Suzhou. Aren't you worried about this situation?" Zhang Huaishen said: "Every time I think about it, I can't sleep at night.
sleep soundly."
Zhang Huaishen raised this matter and blocked many people's mouths.
Today is different from the past. The Uighur forces are rising day by day. Attacked from both sides, the situation of the Guiyi army has deteriorated unprecedentedly.
The previous attempt to annex Liangzhou was actually to break the dilemma of being attacked from the east and west at the same time, to gain more territory and population, and to deal with the threats on one side first.
However, the Uighurs in Ganzhou did not die after being defeated. Instead, they became stronger as they fought. Li Mingzhen was not promoted in Liangzhou for thirty years. After helping the imperial court regain Liangzhou during the Qianfu period, they were forced to withdraw due to internal and external difficulties. This road was completely blocked.
Already.
Zhang Huaishen was already desperate, thinking that the Guiyi Army might just sink. But he did not expect that Shao Shude rose rapidly in Lingxia, conquered east and west, and conquered a large territory. He had dozens of good generals and tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command. His strength was Guiyi's.
Several times that of the rebels.
Such strong support may be achieved.
"Commander, there are more than 100,000 Uighurs in Ganzhou. They are nimble, good at fighting, and hard to control. How can we defeat them? There are at most 10,000 Tibetan and Han soldiers in the town, who are not enemies of the Uighurs." Suo Xun continued.
Realistic difficulties tried to dispel Zhang Huaishen's idea.
"General Suo's words are wrong." Zhang Qiu, the judge of Jiedu and the secretary in charge, immediately said: "Shao Shude leads Shuofang's powerful soldiers. He wrote to the commander-in-chief and promised to command an army of 50,000 to conquer Hexi. Or it was a lie.
, but there are still 20,000 to 30,000 troops. The Ganzhou Uighurs have made enemies everywhere, including the Sumo, Longjia, Tuyuhun, Sogdians, Tatars, and Qiang people. Who has no enmity with them? If I return to the rebel army and send 10,000 troops, Suzhou Long
In order to avenge the great enemy, we can also send out ten thousand troops. With this army of twenty thousand, and the cooperation of Shuofang's army, we will definitely defeat it!"
"Shao Shude raided the whole town and probably had 50,000 troops, but how could he bring them all here?" Suo Xun did not dare to get angry with Zhang Huaishen, but he was not polite to Zhang Qiu. He only heard him say: "Shuofang's army claims to have defeated Aimo, but it is special.
Doubtful! If he wins, why would he personally lead the army to help? He must be worried about the unfavorable outcome of the war, so he lied to me to pull chestnuts out of the fire for him. I have seen this kind of tactics many times, and Judge Zhang may think highly of him."
"If General Suo doesn't believe it, he can send the Cao family and the Long family to make inquiries. These two families have many relatives and friends in Liangzhou, so it shouldn't be difficult to get accurate information." Zhang Qiu said: "A victory is a victory, and a defeat is a defeat.
There is no doubt that Shao Mo's army has been defeated at the foot of Liangzhou City. Next, Shao Shude is afraid that he will recruit other tribes and attack the six valleys of Tubo in the south. The Ganzhou Uighurs are friendly with them and are known as allies, so they will definitely lead troops to rescue them.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Suo Xun snorted coldly.
The big families in the town, such as the Cao family, the Li family, the Yin family, and the An family, were also hesitant.
The Uighurs in Ganzhou are very powerful. If they are really deceived by Shao Shude, then sending troops this time will definitely be unfavorable. They will suffer endless revenge from the Uighurs later, which will be a big trouble.
But on the other hand, if things come true, it is indeed a good opportunity to solve the problem of the Ganzhou Uighurs once and for all.
The temptations and risks are all here, making it really difficult to make a decision.
"What do you think, Congdi?" Zhang Huaishen suddenly turned to Zhang Huaiding and asked.
Zhang Huaiding is forty-two years old this year. He has served in the army and in politics, but he has never been outstanding. Moreover, he has a gloomy personality and is cruel, so he is not very popular with Zhang Huaishen.
But after all, he is the legitimate son of his uncle Zhang Yichao. He has many supporters in the town, so he has to be treated with caution and ask his opinion on everything.
"Brother Zhe, if you ask me, I will tell you straight away. No troops are allowed!" Zhang Huaiding said unceremoniously: "The Tuyuhun Murong clan in Guazhou has always been disobedient to discipline, and there are also tribes in Shazhou that defy the rules. There are also Gaochang Uighurs in the west.
We have invaded and plundered several times last year, and our military strength cannot resist it. In such a situation, if we send troops to Ganzhou, the victory will be enough. If there is a big defeat and the loss of troops and generals, do we still need these two states of Sha and Gua? Let’s first examine the foundation that we have created.
I want to see it destroyed."
Zhang Huaishen's expression was hesitant when he heard this.
What does this mean? Don’t others have a share in the foundation that my uncle raised his army to build?
My late father, Zhang Yitan, lost all his family wealth and recruited troops to support his uncle in attacking Tibet. At the same time, he also helped persuade many barbarians and Tibetan tribes to raise troops to respond. After the uprising was successful, he even entered the court as a hostage to reassure the court. This is not a credit.
What?
They sent troops to attack the Uighurs in Ganzhou, but it seemed like there was a lot of resistance.
But Zhang Huaishen still wanted to make a move. There was no other reason. If he continued to wait in such confusion, he could imagine what the outcome of the Guiyi Army would be.
Some opportunities, once missed, will never come again.