Behind the Liu family's house is a small river, which leads directly to the Yangtze River. For two consecutive nights, more than 140 members of the Liu family's family left Jiangdu City by boat. They entered the Yangtze River from the main river, which was heavily guarded and could easily be captured.
After investigation, the Liu family relied on their contacts accumulated over the years and under the guidance of dozens of villagers, they sailed into the Yangtze River from a secret waterway and headed for the other side of the Yangtze River.
Although the government strictly blocked the news, the news that the Liu family moved to Chang'an still spread like wildfire, causing a big stir in Yangzhou and serving as an excellent example. More and more wealthy families followed suit and moved there.
Chang'an, this is something I won't mention later.
At the same time, Zhu Si's bone scraper was finally raised, and overnight, seven wealthy families in Yangzhou were raided, all charged with liaison with the enemy. The men were killed, and the women were no longer official slaves.
It was as if the cold winter had suddenly come, and the city of Yangzhou was filled with a chilling atmosphere. There was a rumbling noise everywhere, and everyone was in danger. The price of gold and silver on the black market soared. Many wealthy families had no time to sell off their property, so they packed up their soft gold and silver and fled to the other side of the Yangtze River to find a way.
Afterwards, we headed to Chang'an.
After the time entered March, Chang'an finally got the news about Broken Leaf. The news came through Sogdian merchants. Early in the morning, Shi Huan brought Kang Daqing, a Sogdian merchant who had just arrived in Chang'an, to Guo Song's official residence.
In the official room, Guo Song and several senior officials were sitting solemnly. Kang Daqing brought them the worst result. Suiye's entire Tang army was destroyed, Commander Ma Weijiang died in battle, and Suiye was occupied by the Khazars.
"The little man listened to the shopkeeper in the tavern. At that time, the Dashi army captured the city of Kesai in Bukhana. King Suiye led an army of 20,000 to counterattack the city of Kesai. The Khazars also agreed to send troops, but they took advantage of Suiye.
Kong, sent troops to occupy Suiye. King Suiye stopped attacking Kesai City and led his army back to rescue Suiye. However, he fell into an ambush by the Khazar army. The entire army was destroyed. King Suiye's head was chopped off. In Suiye City
It hung on the door for a month."
The Broken Leaf King mentioned by Kang Daqing was Ma Weijiang, the Commander-in-Chief of Broken Leaf. He hated Ma Weijiang's massacre of Ba Khanna very much, so his words were full of relief.
"Did all the Tang troops die in the battle?" Guo Songtie asked with a livid face.
Kang Daqing shook his head, "I heard that many prisoners of war were taken to the silver mines. I don't know the exact number."
Guo Song asked Shi Huan again, "Is there any news about your uncle?"
Shi Huan said sadly: "I just heard that the Khazars captured a group of businessmen with homing eagles and homing pigeons. My uncle is probably among them. In all likelihood, he was also captured to mine."
"What's the situation in Broken Leaf now? Where is the Khazar army to the east?" Pan Liao asked next to him.
"The Broken Leaf has not changed much. It feels the same as before. I have to pay all the taxes, but I don't have to pay more. The shops opened by the Han people are still there, but I heard that each family paid a large sum of money to escape."
.”
After a pause, Kang Daqing continued: "The Khazar army did not advance eastward. After passing through Fengcheng, the Khazar army was never seen again. There was grassland all the way without any army, all the way to Boda."
ridge."
"Are there troops stationed in Dundo City?" Guo Song asked.
Bodaling is the Lingshan Pass, the only way for Suiye to pass through Anxi. Before the Tang army occupied Suiye, it was the westernmost border of the Tang Dynasty. There was a military city there called Dunduo City, which was usually stationed there.
Two hundred soldiers, reduced to fifty in winter.
Kang Daqing nodded, "There are troops stationed, but they seem to know nothing about what happened to Suiye. Of course, we are the first caravan in spring today. It is normal for them not to know about what happened last autumn.
"
Guo Song asked for some more details, and then ordered the officials to send Kang Daqing and Shi Huan out of the Jin Palace.
Guo Song paced back and forth in the lobby with his hands behind his hands. He walked to the window and looked out the window in a depressed mood.
"Your Highness, are we ready?" Pan Liao asked.
Guo Song shook his head and said in a deep voice: "The number of camels from 50,000 to 40,000 has already reached 40,000. Food and supplies from Zhangye are being transported to Beiting one after another. Tingzhou's grain store has probably reached 200,000 dan, 30,000 sets of armor, and fire."
There are 50,000 barrels of oil and various war preparation materials, but I don’t know if they are ready.”
At this time, Du You said: "Let me give your highness a suggestion!"
"Du Sima please speak!"
Du You said calmly: "I think we have too many things to do. We need to eliminate Zhu Si and Li Na, and we need to solve the problem of the Chengdu court. These are our core tasks. As for Suiye Frontier, His Highness will either hand it over to
A general can solve it, or wait until the core business is over and then think about it slowly. It will have little impact on us, so there is no rush at this moment."
Pan Liao also said: "Du Sima is right. Broken Leaf is not stable. Dashi and Khazar have mutual concerns. If we send troops urgently, it may cause them to put aside their differences and unite to deal with us. But if we don't make any move,
Then they are likely to fight with each other, so let them fight first! When they are tired of fighting, we will send troops to deal with them."
Guo Song squinted at the white clouds in the distance. He was very worried whether the batch of firearms belonging to Sui Ye had fallen into the hands of the Khazars. But even if they fell into the hands of the Khazars, what would he do? The Khazars could imitate them.
?
...........
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of war drums resounded over Broken Leaf City. Ten thousand food troops lined up and stood hundreds of steps away, filled with murderous intent. Everyone's eyes were fixed on an army attacking the city gate.
The negotiations between the Khazars and the Great Eaters finally broke down. The Khazars refused to withdraw their troops from Suiye, nor from the city of Talas in the north of the country of Bakhna, which aroused strong indignation from the Great Eaters' army.
Wan Da Shi's army immediately launched a fierce attack on Suiye City.
Broken Leaf City has no moat or drawbridge, so the Food Army can rely on heavy battering rams to break open the gate.
Arrows rained down from the top of the city, and the overwhelming arrows shot at a giant battering ram. The battering ram was one foot and five feet high and five feet long. A giant log with a diameter of one meter was made into a battering ram, with an iron
The chain is hung on a wooden frame, and there are huge wooden wheels on both sides of the wooden frame, which are pushed forward slowly by thousands of food troops.
Hundreds of soldiers raised their huge shields high to protect other soldiers. Soldiers kept falling down after being hit by arrows, but others immediately came up to replace them.
On the top of the city, Khazar Governor Groling looked coldly at the approaching battering ram. He turned back and ordered: "Thunder God, prepare!"
The God of Thunder is the iron fire thunder of the Tang army. There are one hundred small iron fire thunders and fifty large iron fire thunders in Suiye City. When the Khazars succeeded in sneaking into Suiye and entered the city, all the iron fire thunders in stock were destroyed by the soldiers in time.
It was destroyed by flooding, but the logistical materials prepared to support the city of Kesei were seized by the Khazars, including thirty small iron fire mines.
The Khazar people have already experienced the power of iron fire thunder, and with this weapon to defend the city, they have the confidence to reject the Great Food Army.
At this time, the food army blew the passionate horn sound again, "Woo——"
Ten thousand cavalrymen waved their spears and were in high spirits. They were waiting for the moment to break open the city gate.
The eight-thousand-jin battering ram finally arrived at the bottom of the city. At this moment, five or six black iron eggs were suddenly thrown down from the top of the city. Some landed on the wooden boards of the battering ram, some rolled into the bottom, and some landed on the crowd.
There was white smoke coming out of it. Apparently Khasar didn't master the technique well and threw it down after lighting it.
The soldiers of the Dashi Army didn't know what it was, and they were still spitting out white smoke.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A series of violent explosions sounded, iron pieces flew everywhere, and the huge impact blew the battering ram chassis into two pieces. The huge hammer body lost its balance and suddenly tipped sideways. Dozens of people were unable to dodge and were crushed into pieces.
He ate the meat pie, his brain burst out, and his blood and flesh were blurred.
There was a chaos among the soldiers transporting the battering ram, and they all turned around and fled. At this time, arrows were fired from the top of the city. More than a thousand soldiers were hit by arrows and fell to the ground. Only less than a hundred people escaped.
All the soldiers of the Food Army took a breath of cold air. The arrogance they had just extinguished was extinguished. This powerful firearm made them fearful. Many people silently prayed to Allah.
Everyone looked at Ashley, the coach of the Dashi Army. Ashley stared at the fallen battering ram for a long time, sighed and said: "Withdraw the troops and return to Kesai City!"
He knew in his heart that if the opponent had such a sharp weapon, they would not be able to gain victory.
"Woo~woo~"
The trumpet sound became deeper, which was the signal to retreat. The food army beat the war drums and retreated slowly.
The Khazar army at the top of the city was in jubilation. Groling narrowed his eyes and said to himself: "What a good thing! It's a pity that the more you use, the less it will be. It must be developed as soon as possible."