Chapter 295: Uighurs arrive in the west

To the west of the castle is a wilderness with strong winds, and Xingxing Gorge suddenly becomes clear here. Under the clouds in the west, there is the boundless Beiting and Anxi that the Tang Dynasty once owned, and even the vast and boundless land west of the Palacioles.

Under the cloudy sky, groups of uneven cavalry appeared about three miles away. They did not have uniform armor, and the weapons they were carrying were messy and mottled. They hesitated between advancing and retreating, and were as anxious as a dog who was straying.

"General, that is the Shatuo cavalry." A Guoyi captain said to Wang Siyu.

The Shatu people were vassals of the Tang Dynasty. They lived in Shatuzhou north of Tingzhou for generations, and King Shatu was appointed as the governor. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty let go of control of the Western Regions. The Tubo people marched into Anxi, and the Uighurs marched into Beiting. The 6,000 tents of the Shatu people became vassals of the Uighurs and suffered from their rule. At the end of last year, although Tubo was in a military weakness, he achieved political success. He used the national policy of the Uighurs to advance west and won over the Gelulu people in one fell swoop, subdued the Turks and Shatu people in white, causing the situation on the battlefield to reverse. The Uighurs were forced to withdraw from Beiting. According to the prior negotiations of several parties, Beiting was divided by the three families, and the Shatu people occupied the land and fertilized Yiwu County.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. This time, the Uighur general Jiegangas led an army of 100,000 to fight. Ten days ago, he defeated 20,000 Shatu cavalry in one fell swoop in Shatuzhou. King Shatu was killed, and a large number of Shatu were captured as slaves. Some of the people who had moved to Yiwu County escaped and moved eastward, and more than 10,000 Shatu people fled into Xingxing Gorge. The cavalry with about 3,000 people in front of him were the remnants of the Shatu cavalry.

Above the castle, more than 2,000 Tang troops were on high alert, and more than 5,000 cavalry who had just arrived were also deployed on the side of the castle and were on standby to attack at any time.

Wang Siyu did not give any instructions, and he was still observing without showing any expression. From the momentum, this cavalry was at the end of his strength and could not constitute a threat to the Tang army. But Wang Siyu wanted to know what was behind these Shatuo cavalry?

"General, what should we do?" asked an impatient general.

Wang Siyu waved her hand and said, "Wait!"

After a moment, a Shatuo cavalry left the brigade and rushed towards the castle. While galloping, he threw away his sword and took off his shield. Finally, he came to the castle without any flaws and said fluently in Chinese: "Dear Han brother on the top of the city, my general ordered me to explain the situation."

Wang Siyu nodded, "Let him in!"

The gate of the castle was wide open. The envoy of Shatu entered the city and was taken to Wang Siyu. He bowed deeply. He said to the young Tang army general in words that were more beautiful than larks: "The Shatu people have always been brothers of the Tang Dynasty. In order to survive, we had to surrender to the Uighurs. Just when we wanted to return to our roots, the Uighurs came. The enemy killed our parents, insulted our sisters, took away our cattle and sheep, and burned our tents. We were like a wounded geese, whose family was broken and their people were about to die. Please open your compassionate heart and accept your homeless brother!"

"You answer my question first." Wang Siyu's doubts far exceeded his compassion. "Where are you fighting with the Uighurs? Where did you get rid of the Uighurs' pursuit?"

"Reporting to the general's questions, our 8,000 cavalry encountered a large army of the Uighurs north of Zheluoman Mountain. There were 30,000 people. We fought hard, but we were outnumbered and were still defeated. We retreated all the way, and finally they stopped chasing us in Yiwu County."

Yiwu County is about 300 miles away from Xingxing Gorge, and the horse is flat. Wang Siyu thought about it and smiled and said, "You are very good at speaking. I have been moved by you. You can enter Hexi..."

He saw the messenger ecstatic and waved his hand again, "Don't be too happy too early. I have the conditions. First, you must put down your weapons and leave the war horses. Second, you must pass the test one by one, and no more than three hundred people will be allowed to be."

Wang Siyu's conditions were a little harsh, and the joy on the messenger's face disappeared. He looked back in embarrassment and said, "The villain cannot make the decision on this matter. I want to report to the general and ask the general to wait."

"Go!"

The envoy of Shatuo gave a liar and hurriedly left the castle. Seeing that he was gradually moving away, Wang Siyu immediately said to his subordinates: "Since we have sent a large number of scouts, why didn't anyone come back to report before Shatuo's remnants escape? This is really unreasonable. I suspect they have no way back."

Everyone understood the general's meaning, and before he could order, they all began to prepare for combat, the cavalry retreated and sealed the city gate.

Bunches of arrows were brought to the top of the city, and crossbows that were specially designed to deal with building cars and ladders also pushed onto battlements. Not only that, black pots filled with tinder oil, fire-colored cavitation bottles containing gunpowder and other weapons were also transported out of the special warehouse, preparing to give the enemy a fatal blow. The castle behind was also on guard to prevent the enemy from circumventing the castle ahead.

Soon, the Shatuo messenger brought new news. They were willing to accept all the conditions and only hoped that the Tang army could allow them to find refugees who fled in advance. Wang Siyu agreed to this.

About a quarter of an hour later, the first team of about 300 Shatuo cavalry dropped their swords and arrows and slowly drove into Xingxing Gorge from the path next to the castle. They immediately handed the horses to the Tang army and ran towards the town on foot, followed by the second team and the third team.

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For an entire hour, Wang Siyu kept staring at them. Everything was normal. Shatuo cavalry was very connected, and some even jumped off their horses and saluted the castle to express their gratitude.

Wang Siyu was a little confused. He stared at the end of the earth with flying sand and stones in the distance. Was he really wrong?

"General, look!" A soldier suddenly pointed to the southwest direction of the slant, shouting. Wang Siyushun pointed at the direction of his finger and vaguely saw countless small black dots squirming.

Wang Siyu's eyes narrowed into a slit. If it were normal, these small black dots would have been considered a pack of wolves, but he now knew very well that this was the Uighur cavalry coming.

"Precaution the Shatuo people, if there is any abnormal movement, I will kill you no matter how hard you do!"

He was extremely calm and ordered, and the entire castle was undergoing emergency defense deployment. Dozens of command soldiers ran back, then transferred Jiuquan and Dunhuang troops to support, and at the same time issued an alarm to Longyou.

Finally, Wang Siyu ordered his deputy general Yang Han to lead a thousand cavalry to attack the rear of the Uighurs. The thousand cavalry rushed north and soon disappeared into a huge mountain shadow.

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The situation was far worse than Wang Siyu thought. It was not that two or three thousand people came, but that there were 70,000 people. The main force of the Uighur army came in full swing. A quarter of an hour later, the overwhelming Uighur cavalry began to appear five miles away, with dust flying and the earth shook. Gradually, the Uighur horse speed slowed down and finally stopped three miles away, forming several huge dark clouds, and the dense cavalry were several miles wide.

The Uighur general Jiegangas took the lead. Under a wolf-headed banner, he looked at the castle in the distance with his hands. Jiegangas was fifty years old this year. He was originally the governor of the Uighur Xialius area. He repeatedly brutally suppressed the uprisings of the Xialius people and was heavily in debt. However, because he was extremely strategic in fighting and had never lost his achievements in a series of battles against the West, he was also called the "Falcon of the Mobei".

This time, he led his army to go south with a large-scale attack on the east and attacked the west. He first sent 50,000 troops across Jinshan to feign attack the old nest of the Gelulu people. Sure enough, he transferred back the 30,000 Gelu people stationed in the Luntai area (today Urumqi). He immediately withdrew the feint attack army, and the two armies merged into one place and attacked Beiting. The Uighur army won three battles and three victories, defeating the army of the Baifu Turks and Shatu people. In just half a month, the 100,000 Uighur army swept across the entire Beiting.

Unlike Via Khan and Zhang Huan who formed an alliance with Zhang Huan to deal with the Tubo people, Jie Gangas did not believe that Zhang Huan would become his true ally. The other party had occupied Hexi. How could it be that Anxi, which once belonged to the Tang Dynasty, not his established target? Once he fought fiercely with Tubo, Zhang Huan would definitely take the opportunity to attack Beiting.

At this time, Jiegangas had received news that Tubo Zamp personally led his troops to support Anxi. He knew that this was very likely to be a long-lasting tug-of-war. In order to completely eliminate worries and seize Xingxing Gorge, blocking the Tang army in Hexi became his first strategy.

At the same time, Jiegangas had a deeper strategic purpose in seizing Xingxing Gorge. He considered that once he fought fiercely with Tubo, he could send an army to the south road of Kuktag Mountain and along the Chi River to the back of the Tubo people.

Whether it is to block the Tang army or to capture the Tubo people's retreat, it is imperative to seize the Xingxing Gorge.

"Mohe Ludagan." He ordered:

"Here!" A Uighur general came out.

"You will take five thousand troops from our headquarters to attack the castle quickly. Without my order, you will not retreat."

"Abide by the order!"

Moheludagan waved his hand, and five teams of thousands followed him and rushed out of the huge dark clouds, as if an iceberg had broken apart and rushed towards the castle.

"The army camped on the spot." Jiegangas gave another order to seize Xingxing Gorge, and he was not in a hurry.

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On the castle, thousands of Tang troops were ready. They were waiting for the first battle with the Uighurs. Behind the castle, five thousand cavalrymen stood with swords and spears, quietly lined up in a row. Just by waiting for the commander to give them the command, they would come out of the Xingxing Gorge.

Wang Siyu's expression was extremely serious at this moment. He already knew that he might not be able to protect Xingxing Gorge. The number of Uighurs' troops was far beyond his expectations. He was not an extreme person. In his opinion, the life of a soldier is far more important than the spirit of fighting to the end. As long as he preserves his strength, he still has a chance to fight back. He will never use the life of a soldier to enrich his reputation.

If you can't support it, you must retreat, but before retreating, Wang Siyu wanted to do a good job.

The westernmost castle is called Baiyun Castle. It is built with gray-white granite. From a distance, it looks like a white cloud. Hence the name. It was officially completed in March and was built on a low earth slope. It faces a mountain in the south and a deep valley to the north. A path about two feet wide is close to the city wall and leads to the depths of Xingxing Gorge.

The castle is about six meters high and one mile wide, and is extremely thick. The stone wall is covered with arrow holes. The front of the wall is polished very smoothly, and the large stones are densely built. There is no joint to be found for climbing. The top of the stone wall bulges out like a wooden barrel, making it very difficult to build stairs to the city. However, this castle also has its weakness, that is, the two gates between the east and west, without any moats. If there is a huge siege, you can directly knock the gate.

Five thousand Uighur cavalry rushed forward like wind and clouds. They rushed up the hillside, shot arrows on the city and turned around and rushed down the hillside, just like a large turntable, moving in circles, and it was more than 80 steps closest to the castle.

The city still had no reaction to the enemy's provocation, and did not even shoot an arrow, just like an empty city.

Wang Siyu stood above the city gate, and he looked coldly at the performance of the enemy troops outside the city. They wanted to test their firepower to determine the position of the attack!

After the three rounds of arrows, the Uighurs saw that they could not test the reality of the Tang army. They began to be unable to resist their nature and jumped off their horses and rushed to the hillside in groups. There was a stone step on the hillside, and the war horses could not jump up. The ferocious Uighurs held a shield and held a short spear in their hands, climbing up the stone steps hundreds of times, as if a gray-black wave rushed towards the city gate, and three huge bumps appeared in the crowd.

Sixty steps, fifty steps.

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There was still no response on the city. This silent voice felt an invisible pressure on the Uighur soldiers, and their pace couldn't help but slow down.

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Thirty steps, the counterattack finally broke out. Arrows were like rain, stones fell like hail, hundreds of people who rushed to the front were all shot into the ground, or were hit by the stones, and the Uighurs began to shake and retreat, retracting like a retreating tide, but were soon forced to come forward, and the horns were blowing, and the gray-black waves rushed over again. They held large shields, as if they had formed a black shell, and behind them were large groups of archers, shooting dense arrows at the top of the city to cover the attack ahead.

Under the black shell, more than two hundred people were holding a huge bumper wood and running towards the city gate, like a shiny centipede beetle. The arrows were shot down, and the lethality had weakened. The huge rock hit and smashed a pit of flesh and blood, but it immediately closed.

"One, two, three!" There was a loud bang, and the heavy iron gate shook, and the dull sound spread throughout the city.

"Come again!" a thousand-man shouted with red eyes. At this moment, dozens of large wooden barrels fell from the city. The barrels fell to the ground and cracked, black and pungent tincture oil flowed everywhere, and many Uighur soldiers were also poured with tincture oil.

A rocket rose from the city, drew an elegant arc, and shot into the thick tinder oil. The fire suddenly soared into the sky and the flames soared into the sky. The city was already a sea of ​​fire. The Uighur soldiers were unable to retreat, screaming and crying suddenly. Firemen were running around under the city, spreading their arms and hissing wildly, and were soon engulfed by the fire.
Chapter completed!