After taking down Gusu, Fusu breathed a sigh of relief and said to Shen Bing: "Congratulations to the general for conquering another city. Fusu also said that taking down Gusu would be difficult, and he didn't want to be like digging into a bag under the general." "
Shen Bing smiled and replied: "It's actually luck. If it weren't for Xiang Shanjun and his army to help, I'm afraid it would have been a lot of trouble."
What Shen Bing said was not modesty, it was indeed the case.
Although the city wall of Gushi is not high, the problem is that the surrounding area of Gushi is a desert with no trees. Several oases originally had trees but they were cut down by Yang Duanhe.
If there is no aunt's army to open the city gate... Even if Shen Bing has tens of thousands of troops, he can't pile up corpses to attack the city wall!
On the other hand, Yang Duanhe's main force is actually not far from Gu Shi. Xuquan is only more than 80 miles away from Gu Shi. It only takes two days of urgent march to get there. Therefore, it can be said that it is extremely difficult to capture Gu Master. Disaster.
Ziyang looked at Shen Bing with admiration and said excitedly: "But we have captured it after all. Once I know my master, Loulan will be in danger. Yang Duan and his army will probably have to withdraw from the Western Regions."
Ziyang is right.
The reason is just like the problem faced by Shen Bing when he attacked Loulan.
When Shen Bing attacked Loulan, the route from Shazhou to Loulan was extremely difficult to walk because of the sandy mountains. However, the Huns were able to use Gushi as their base to ride south to harass this supply line, putting Loulan in danger.
This is also the reason why Shen Bing had to take his aunt before he could gain a firm foothold after taking Loulan.
Similarly, Shen Bing had already taken Gushi at this time, so the easy route from Shazhou to Gushi was cut off.
At the same time, Shen Bing can also send cavalry south to harass the Qin army's supply line... In fact, it is not harassment. Shen Bing is different from the Xiongnu cavalry.
The Huns cavalry were cavalry without saddles or stirrups. They could only attack from a distance with mounted fire and could not confront the infantry.
Shen Bing's cavalry is different.
What's more, there are still three thousand musketeers in Pu Lei's army.
If the Qin army sets up a spear formation to stop the cavalry... then use muskets to shoot down the Qin spear formation, and then use cavalry to attack when it is in chaos. How can the Qin army's supply team be able to defeat it!
Therefore, this is not a problem of harassment, but a problem of supply lines being cut off.
If Yang Duanhe was wise, he should abandon Loulan and concentrate on guarding the sandbank to keep himself in an invincible position.
If Yang Duanhe defends the sandbank, he can still hold it.
Because whether starting from Gu Shi or Loulan, it is a long way to the sandbank. It is dangerous for ordinary cavalry to cross this thousands of miles of desert. After crossing, they will have to face Yang Duanhe's main army... That is almost a sure defeat. Bureau.
However, Shen Bing shook his head and said, "Yang Duanhe can't go back!"
Ziyang nodded slightly, indicating that he agreed with Shen Bing's idea.
Fusu asked curiously: "Why?"
Shen Bing was right, Yang Duanhe really couldn't go back.
It's not like Yang Duanhe never thought about retreating to the sandbank to make the Qin army invincible. From a military perspective, there is no doubt about this.
The problem is...this is not what Zhao Gao and his party want.
Shazhou and Gushi, there are thousands of miles of desert before Loulan. It is difficult to defeat Gushi and Loulan from Gushi. It is also difficult to defeat Gushi and Loulan from Shazhou.
Therefore, if Yang Duanhe is allowed to lead the Qin army back to the sandbank, it will almost be like admitting defeat for Zhao Gao... Then when will it be possible to march into the Western Regions again?
Not to mention the year and month, rumors were already spreading in Xianyang at this time. Zhao Gao and Li Si were gradually losing control. At most, it would take more than a month before the news of Ying Zheng's death had to be released.
By then, Zhao Gao, Li Si and others would have lost the advantage of using the imperial edict to command the country, and they would still be Shen Bing's opponents.
This is what Shen Bing hopes for. When the time comes, Shen Bing only needs to wait and securely defend the cities of Gushi and Loulan to ensure that the Western Region is not in chaos, the Yuezhi is not in chaos, and King Youxian is not in chaos.
As time went by, Zhao Gao and Li Si's party had no choice but to confer heads.
How could Zhao Gao not understand this?
Therefore, when Yang Duanhe proposed to Xingchi to retreat to the sandbank, he was immediately rejected by Xingchi.
At this time, Xing Chi persuaded him kindly: "General, don't be so anxious. Your Majesty has already condemned General Meng Tian to bring an army of 100,000 troops for reinforcements. Therefore, not only should we not retreat, but we should attack the city!"
"Attack the city?" Yang Duanhe asked doubtfully, "The supervisor did you mean to attack the aunt?"
"Exactly!" Xing Chi nodded and said, "Shen Bing's army is at our master, and it is expected that Fusu is also at our master. This is a good time for us to capture Fusu and return to the emperor."
What Zhao Gao and his party want from beginning to end is Fusu's head, and for this they can do whatever it takes, regardless of casualties.
Yang Duanhe frowned and said, "But we have accumulated a lot of supplies in Gushi. Shen Bing's army has Gushi City to defend. We are extremely short of water outside the city. How can we easily capture it?"
Xing Chi said without thinking: "We will solve the problem by then. Surround my uncle first before talking about anything else. Wait for Meng Tian's reinforcements to arrive. Can the 300,000-strong army capture this little apprentice?"
Yang Duanhe just said "Alas" and reluctantly ordered to march towards his aunt.
I secretly thought that although he, Yang Duanhe, was still leading the Hanoi soldiers at this time, in fact, it was Xingchi who led the army, and he, Yang Duanhe, was just a messenger.
Just when Yang Duan and Chao Gushi were marching, Buzi had a supply convoy of the Qin army heading towards Gushi City.
This is due to Shen Bing's message blockade.
This is the advantage of the cavalry. Once a certain city is occupied, the cavalry can be sent around to inquire for information and block the information at the same time.
Needless to say, it goes without saying that the cavalry with stirrups and saddles can travel more than a hundred miles a day. With Gu Shi as the center, the movements of enemy and friendly troops within a radius of two hundred miles cannot escape the reconnaissance of Shen Bing's rangers.
The news was sealed that all the defeated troops who escaped from the battle would be killed... This was certainly not a difficult task for Shen Bing's cavalry. Originally, my uncle was surrounded, and it was not difficult for the defeated troops to escape from the city. If there are too many, they will all be killed after a while of pursuit.
Therefore, except for the main force led by Yang Duanhe, many Qin troops did not even know that Gu Shi had fallen into the hands of Shen Bing.
And Shen Bing asked Bai Tian and his team to wear armor and guard the city walls and gates... Bai Tian was already determined to surrender to Shen Bing when he was in Xiquan. After all, after being captured and sent away by his subordinates, he, Bai Tian, surrendered or not. If he surrenders, his family will not be able to survive.
When they, the Qin army officers and soldiers, stood at the top of the city and the Yang flag was raised high, they really couldn't realize that the Gushi city was owned by Shen Bing.
So the supplies transported from Shazhou to Gu Shi were cart after cart, including food, weapons, and even gunpowder that Shen Bing urgently needed.
Just when Shen Bing was overwhelmed with "receiving" supplies, Yan came up and lowered his voice and said: "General, here comes another supply team!"
"Come and take it, tell me what you want to do?" Shen Bing felt a little strange. You have to tell me such a small thing? This is not the first batch!
Yan said mysteriously: "Who do you think is escorting the supplies?"
"who?"
He answered word for word: "Yang Duanhe's daughter, Yang Ting!"