Outside the post road at the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains, Long had just received a report from the rangers, and a large group of Uighur cavalry appeared.
He was frightened on the spot.
The Uighurs left a deep impression on him. When the Long family was still in Ganzhou, the Uighurs invaded repeatedly and defeated them until they could not stand. The Long family, Tuyuhun, Tubo, Dangxiang, and Tatars united and
They were all defeated by the Uighurs' riding and archery skills. The forced Long family even wrote to the leader of Liangzhou, threatening them to attack Liangzhou together with the Uighurs if they did not send troops to rescue Ganzhou.
"If you don't come, I, Ganzhou, will join the Uyghur family to ask you to eat the food, and there is no way you won't repay it."
Of course, before Su Mo finally decided whether to come or not, the Long family couldn't bear it anymore and fled Ganzhou City with hundreds of people. They even left the tribe behind and went to Suzhou to survive and rely on the Guiyi Army.
They were really scared!
Thousands of Uighur cavalry are coming from the west. What are they going to do?
According to the news just received, the Uighur Khan Umu Zhu was defeated east of Xiedan and fled to Ganzhou. As a result, the local tribal troops (mainly Han, Tubo, and Qiang people) rebelled, and Umu Zhu led hundreds of
People are running north to the sand moraine, but for the time being they don't know where they are going.
The tribal army that took control of Ganzhou City sent people to ask Shao Shude to surrender. The situation in Ganzhou was now completely clear.
Long actually had some ideas before.
It would be good to march eastward with the Guiyi Army and take advantage of the situation to capture Ganzhou and control some tribes and lands.
In Ganzhou, there are only two counties: Xiedan and Zhangye, so the latter is a matter of course.
Zhangye, like Suzhou, has "pines and cypresses, five trees, beautiful water and lush grass" on the plain at the northern foot of the Qilian Mountains.
Of course Jiedan is also good. The nearby Jiedan Mountain, also known as Yanzhi Mountain, has rich water and grass. After the Xiongnu were defeated in the Han Dynasty, Nai Ge said: "Destroy me in the Qilian Mountains, so that my six animals cannot breed; lose me in the Yanzhi Mountain, and
Make my women colorless.”
There are two counties in Ganzhou. If you can get one of them, you will make a lot of money. If you can get both, it can be said to be complete.
When the Uighurs occupied Xiedan and Zhangye counties, Long certainly did not dare to make a mistake. But weren't the Uighurs severely beaten by Shuofang's army now? With their strength greatly reduced, they might not have any chance.
Shao Shude will always focus his energy on the east, and it is impossible to devote too much effort to the west. If Suzhou shows enough respect and actively provides livestock and goods, then Shao Shude will be happy and hand over Ganzhou to the management of the Long family.
The possibility is quite small.
But what is the reason for these Uighur cavalry suddenly coming out from the west of Ganzhou? Could it be that they did not want to be controlled by Shao Shude and rushed west collectively? If this is the case, then you have to be careful. There are also many in Jiuquan and Fulu counties in Suzhou
There are still 20,000 Uighur tribes in total, but don't let them join forces, that will be very troublesome.
Long then ordered hundreds of Long's elite soldiers, galloped out of the group, and went forward to check in person.
The Uighur cavalry were still wearing green clothes, with various short-armed weapons hanging next to their saddles, and holding horn bows. However, there were also a few who carried Tibetan spears that they got from unknown sources. The horn bows were placed next to the saddlebags without being strung.
"Whoosh!" An arrow landed a few steps in front of the horse.
The dragon was startled and then furious. He immediately sent people forward and reprimanded: "Lord Wumu robbed merchants, oppressed various tribes, and committed lawlessness. Both humans and gods were angry. Now my family, Long family, and Zhang Pushe of Shazhou have sent a total of 50,000 troops."
, to conquer these rebellious people. Are you trying to help Zhou by blocking my way? It should be noted that the king of Lingwu County in Xiazhou has defeated the Lord of Wumu, and the soldiers may advance westward at any time. When the two sides attack, you will all be reduced to powder.
That’s it.”
A sergeant who understood Chinese translated it in Uighur. After hearing this, all the soldiers in Silver Spear City laughed.
Some people even rode their horses to surround them, shouting and shouting, which made the Suzhou soldiers nervous. They drew their bows and knives one after another and put them on alert.
"Da da..." Another sound of hoofbeats sounded, and hundreds of horsemen galloped from the east. The leader was a general, wearing gorgeous armor and holding a long horse spear, looking majestic.
This armor looks a bit familiar!
Long took a closer look and found that it was very similar to the Persian armor sold by the barbarian merchants. There were many such armors in Lord Umu's warehouse. Of course, the protective power was no problem. He spent a lot of money on them, but the price was also high.
Even if it is expensive in the sky, it may not fit you. Only the brave ones are rewarded.
"Shuofang Town Huizhou Lushi joined the army. Wang Chong, the ten generals of Yinqiangdu, is here. On the orders of Hexi Observer Shao Shuai, he came specially to greet Suzhou Long Shijun and Shazhou Zhang Pushe. The sons and daughters here are all Yinqiangdu sergeants.
, Don't be surprised." The general in gorgeous armor sat on the horse and said loudly.
"Silver Spear Capital?" Long Jiu glanced at the Uighur sergeants in green clothes again, seeming to have some understanding.
These are all recruited Uighur soldiers!
There are too many Uighurs serving as soldiers for the Central Plains Commander. Let’s not talk about it from afar. Ten years ago, in the battle against Li Guochang and his son, Hedong Commander Dou Han sent the Uighur cavalry to fight. Although they lived in the Yinshan area
The Uighurs who moved westward to Ganzhou and Beiting are different from those who moved west to Ganzhou and Beiting. But Uighurs are Uighurs. They work hard and fight for whomever. Aren't they the same?
Shao Shude solved the matter of deleting the elixir so quickly? Long felt that something was wrong.
His morale has not been much since he was defeated by the Uighurs and left Ganzhou. Now in Suzhou, there are a lot of powerful tribes who are not very obedient. They always follow the rules and do not give face.
If Lord Wumu was not too ambitious, he would have attacked Suzhou sooner or later. If Zhang Huaishen, the military governor of Shazhou, had not taken the initiative to send troops and set an example, and if Shao Shude, the king of Lingwu County, had not strongly invited him and promised many benefits,
Each tribe may not be willing to send troops.
Even so, it took a lot of bargaining, and finally five or six thousand tribal soldiers were gathered. The Suzhou Uighurs sent no one at all, and they did not take the Long family seriously at all.
Such a "wild" tribe actually obeyed as soon as the Lingwu County King's army arrived and after a series of great victories!
"What does Prince Lingwu mean?" Long calmed down and asked.
"The commander-in-chief has given orders to meet the dragon governor and Zhang Pushe by the salt pond," Wang Chong said.
Salt Lake is located to the west of Ganzhou and north of Kongtong Mountain. It was later named Minghai Lake. One hundred and ten miles to the west, you can reach Fulu County, Suzhou. The nearby water and grass are rich. It used to be the pastoral area of the Longjia tribe, but now it is home to the Uighurs.
In this territory, people from other tribes have always been prohibited from grazing.
"In that case, I will discuss it with Zhang Pushe." Longjiu replied.
"Don't delay, leave as soon as possible!" Wang Chong reminded.
Seeing his arrogant look, Long felt a little annoyed, but he didn't dare to get angry. Isn't the governor of Suzhou just a subordinate official of the Hexi Observation Envoy? It's natural for people to manipulate you, and there is no problem at all.
Long quickly went to Zhang Huaishen's tent.
"Long Shijun has clearly made a decision, why did he come to see me again?" Zhang Huaishen was looking through a stack of documents and asked with a smile.
"In the past, the Uighurs in Ganzhou caused great harm. The Long family could not resist it, so they had no choice but to enter Suzhou to hunt for grain. This was all due to Zhang Pushe's virtue." Longjiu replied: "Now that Shuofang's army is in full force, we must first pacify Liangzhou and then conquer it. Ganzhou is about to attack Su, Gua, Sha and other states. Even if I don't plan for the Long family, I still have to think about Zhang Pushe."
Zhang Huaishen looked at him with a half-smile but said: "It's four hundred miles from Ganzhou to Suzhou. If you take the northern route, it's more than five hundred and thirty miles. It's another three hundred miles to Guazhou. From Guazhou to the west, More than three hundred and seventy miles to Shazhou. Why should I worry about such a long road? In fact, the distance of five hundred miles from Liangzhou to Ganzhou is already very long. If Lord Wumu didn’t jump around, Shao Shude Come to Ganzhou after eating enough? And the two roads leading to Liangzhou, whether starting from Lingzhou or Huizhou, are more than 400 miles away. Shao Shude, it will be good if you can manage Liangzhou well. Ganzhou Most states are not very efficient, let alone Suzhou?"
From Lingzhou Huile to Shazhou Dunhuang, the post road is nearly two thousand miles. This distance is undoubtedly very far. As long as Shao Shude is not fainting, it is unlikely that he will try to attack the Guiyi Army, unless he does not want to march eastward to fight for hegemony in the Central Plains. Peace of mind When you become a northwest separatist warlord, you can not only attack Shazhou, Xizhou, Shanzhou, Kuozhou and even Hexi Dangxiang and other forces, you can try to subjugate or even destroy them.
But in fact it is impossible for him to do this. His center of gravity is always in the east, perhaps more likely in Shuzhong. But no matter which direction, it has nothing to do with them.
After thinking about it for so long along the way, Zhang Huaishen has almost figured it out. What Shao Shude wants is nothing more than a stable rear. Liang, Gan and other states have many horses and a large population, and they are different from traditional grassland herdsmen. Half pastoral and half farming, relatively easy to govern.
The land of these two states and four counties will be of great help to Shao Shude in his struggle for hegemony. He certainly does not want to see frequent rebellions in the area or be attacked by neighboring forces.
Then, it became the right thing to make good friends with the Guiyi Army, Suzhou, and even the Hexi Dangxiang in Shaqiu, and the many Tubo tribes in Shanzhou. A fire in the backyard is not a fun thing!
"What Zhang Pushe said makes sense. However, Shao Shude mobilized all his troops and marched westward with the Uighurs as the vanguard. What is the meaning of this?" Long Jiu was still a little worried and asked.
It is true that he has also analyzed with his staff that Shao Shude will not invest too much energy in Hexi. But when it comes to his wealth and life, is he really so sure? The so-called Silver Spear City is quite obviously hostile.
There are some things you can bet on, and there are some things you can bet on that make you feel confused and restless.
"It's just using power to pressure people and asking for benefits." Zhang Huai smiled deeply and said.
"The general trend is overwhelming..." Long pondered for a moment, and then said: "In the past, some of my family's children went to the Central Plains to do business. They all said that after losing the land of Helong, the commanders of the towns and vassals were short of horses, and even we couldn't see it.
The bad horses on board were forcibly taken away and distributed among the cavalry. However, Shuofang's army was not short of horses. Jin Deliang and Ganzhou were even more powerful, with tens of thousands of horsemen easily able to support them. If he insisted on marching westward, he would be in big trouble.
"
Zhang Huai understood what Long Jiu meant.
If the Shuofang Army were replaced by another Central Plains army, such as the Xuanwu Army, he would not be afraid even if there were 100,000 troops. Horses could eat grass in times of emergency, but people could not eat grass. Food had to be transported over long distances. A hundred thousand infantry troops could defeat them in one day.
Thousands of tons of rice and noodles require 150 large carriages to transport. This is only the amount for one day. If we pursue safety and collect food for three months on the front line, how many carriages, horses and camels will be needed to transport it? Not counting the losses during the journey.
Woolen cloth!
The transportation line of two thousand miles is full of flaws. As long as tens of thousands of cavalry are sent out to harass your food routes, can you handle it? With a hundred thousand troops, the probability of the whole army being annihilated is extremely high!
But as Long said, Shao Shude's fighting style is different. He is now more and more like a grassland khan, attacking the enemy for food everywhere, robbing tribes of grain, cattle and sheep, and then driving the livestock into the army.
It’s not that no food is transported at all, the main thing is that at critical moments they can kill sheep for meat and wait for the food channel to be opened again. When they encounter places without water, they can also drink some goat milk for emergency. Although it can only be used for a short time, but
The fault tolerance is much greater, and the grain path is no longer so fragile.
The grassland people were also very confused about such a vassal commander. If Shao Shude was really determined and ignored the successive rebellions that might last for many years afterwards, he could indeed assemble tens of thousands of cavalry and capture all of Suzhou, Guazhou, and Shazhou.
Even capturing Xizhou, which was once controlled by the Guiyi Army, is not a problem.
"Don't worry, from what I can see, Shao Shude is not like those mindless warriors." Zhang Huaishen advised: "What good is it to eat sand in Hexi? In addition to cattle, sheep, horses and camels, there are only some Hu merchants here. We guarantee him
He should be satisfied with the benefits. Unless he has no great ambitions and just wants to separate the northwest, otherwise, the main thing for us is to have a good relationship, so don't worry, Dragon Commander."
Long nodded slowly.
Zhang Huai took a deep look at him and sighed secretly. The problems within the Guiyi Army were far more serious than the threats from external enemies. If he wanted to solve the troubles of Zhang Huaiding and his family once and for all, he might have to rely on the power of the giant Buddha, King Lingwu.
I don’t know if this is the right thing to do, in case a wolf is attracted into the house...