Chapter 124: A look at the enemy

In late October, the reorganization of the seven Tang army prefectures came to an end, but the disputes within Shule were far from over. After this round of rectification, the Tang army and the civilians were backing the city and had no worries. The morale of the soldiers and soldiers of the various governments rose sharply. Although the weather was still cold, they were already shouting to attack.

Yang Yi strongly advocated early attack and said, "Thanks to this heavy snow, the Geluoling Pass was isolated, but now it is only early winter, and it is not yet the 39th season. If the weather suddenly warms up and the ice and snow melt, even if it only takes a few days to warm up, Satuk can drive eastward."

Zhang Mai was quite moved, Guo Luo said: "What Ayi said is right, but Shule City is strong and thick. Even if we want to attack, we have to wait until the enemy reveals its flaws."

After a while of discussion, Zhang Mai said: "Since entering Xia Shule, I have been listening to the war reports from my subordinates. Why don't we go and see it with our own eyes? "Yang Yi said: "It's great!"

The three of them, together with Li Bin, took Jialing and rode their horses out of the city. Shi Ba led twenty-four horses as guards. After all, Ma Xiaochun was young and was very well healed quickly. He tried his best to accompany him to serve him. Thirty-one people rode all sweat-blooded horses. Except for Zhang Mai's sweat-blooded throne, which was given by Xue Fu and Guo Luo and Yang Yi were captured by Guo Luo, the other twenty were spoils that blocked the sneak attack of the Sweat-blooded cavalry regiment that night.

Ma Xiaochun was seriously injured that night, but also received Zhang Mai's reward: a sweat-blooded horse. He thought it was a blessing in disguise. At this time, he stroked the mane of his beloved horse and smiled: "That Xue Fu, that night, I really lost a piece of rice and couldn't steal the chicken and rob the camp, but instead brought us dozens of thousands of horses."

Guo Luo smiled slightly and said, "He can cross Ayi's defense line with hundreds of riders and break into our camp in the wind and snow at night. It is also a skill, but if he wants to retreat calmly, he will underestimate us."

Li Bin glanced at Yang Yi's face was not upset after hearing this sentence, and hurriedly smiled: "The main reason is that Xiao Yang Commander has too few soldiers and horses, and the place where he guarded is not as narrow as Melki's terrain, otherwise Xue Fu would not have thought about coming."

Guo Luo was slightly stunned, and knew that he had made a mistake. He had violated Yang Yi. However, he had a deep relationship with Yang Yi, so he was not afraid that Yang Yi would blame him for this. Sure enough, Yang Yi was not annoyed by Guo Luo, but he exhaled his anger on Xue Fu's head and said coldly: "He just relies on his horse's power to be quick and quick. If he doesn't have sweat and blood, he will be nothing! Wait, there will always be a chance - sooner or later I will tell him to know what a real hero is!"

After joining the Tang army, Zhang Mai was used to going to bed early and getting up early. It was dawn that day. It was only ninety miles between Shule and Xia Shule. The sweat-blooded BMW had a quick foot strength and ran out more than seventy miles in just over an hour. For these BMWs, it was just a trot and no fatigue at all. The rider was even more relaxed and happy, so he just thought it was a escort on the snow.

Thirty-one cavalry first rushed to a high hill in the northwest, looking at the sacred warriors' garrison. When the sentries in the barracks saw it, they soon drove out a team of men to expel them. Yang Yi said, "Brother Mai, let's kill this team of cavalry before going back!" Shi Ba browed and was eager to try. The team of cavalry was only more than fifty. Although the number of thirty-one cavalry was small, they were tigers and wolves in the Tang army. Yang Yi, Shi Ba's hips rode a thousand-mile horse, and held bloodthirsty soldiers, all of which were enemies of a hundred people, so they did not take this team of cavalry seriously.

Zhang Mai laughed, not knowing whether it was not. Li Bin said, "I came here today just to see the situation. It doesn't matter if I cause trouble." Zhang Mai listened to him and said, "Let's go." The cavalry team did not chase after them, but went back.

Thirty-one riders walked around the east of the city and saw someone going out to cut firewood in the city. There were about a thousand people coming and going, with a variety of categories. Li Bin pointed to the east and said, "Shule is a three-way place. The west is our way, the southeast leads to Khotan, the northeast leads to Kucha, and Gaochang. Now it is heavy snow all over the sky."

"Wait, wait!" Yang Yi said: "Didn't you tell me before that Shule was sealed?"

"The seal is the Geluoling Pass and the road to Khotan." Li Bin smiled slightly and said, "The terrain of Shule is tilted from southwest to northeast, surrounded by mountains on three sides and a gap on the east, leading to the Sea of ​​Death (Takramakan Desert). This road will not be sealed, but after walking through it, it will be a vast desert of thousands of miles. The Gaochang Uighurs are thousands of miles away, and the Uighurs in the west of the Lingling have become water and fire, so they will not come at this time. So it is like the whole thing is sealed."

Yang Yi said oh, pointed to the civilians who collected firewood and said, "If you attack the city in the future, you only need a team of cavalry to call the back guards and cannot go out of the city to get firewood. In the cold winter, there will be no firewood and no fire. I will discipline them to freeze and die of death in the whole city."

"Little Yang said this and underestimated Shule's military reserves." Li Bin said: "There is not no firewood in the city, but those are emergency reserves. Hu Shagar doesn't want to use them for the time being. This is just like a rich man. Since his daily income can be used for expenses, why do he still use his principal?" He came out of Satuk's account, so he knew a lot about Shule's reality.

Zhang Mai said: "Is the same true for military rations?"

"In terms of military rations, the situation should be much more complicated." Li Bin said: "But although Hu Shagar is now forced to be in a hurry by us, Shule's strength is far from bottom. We have gained an advantage in field battles before and followed him to block his way out. It seems that he has the upper hand, but in fact he is only profiting outside the city. If we really want to enter the siege stage, even if we have more than ten times the strength of our troops, if we are not planning properly and just attacking hard, we may not be able to conquer him together."

Yang Yi said: "You mean that as long as the city gate is closed, we can't do anything to him. Is that true?"

Li Bin smiled faintly and said, "It's almost the same."

Yang Yi frowned, but looking at the tall and thick city wall, he could not refute for a moment. Zhang Mai took the telescope to see that Shule sentry tower had discovered them, and seemed to take action, and said, "Let's go back today."

After walking back for a few miles, he encountered a ox cart that was about to drive down Shule. Shi Ba cut it off. After asking, he found out that it was two merchants who were about to offer treasures down Shule. One called himself Zhou Cai and the other called himself Qin Jin. He had brown hair and black eyes, a short nose and wrinkled skin. He called himself Tang Min, but he didn't know whether it was true or false, but he could speak Tang Yan, who was not very fluent.

It turned out that Zhang Mai had something that Hu Shagar longed for - military rations, and there was something that Zhang Mai was interested in - gunpowder in Shule City.

In Zhang Mai's concept, gunpowder is a weapon of war. He knew the power of gunpowder and understood the prospects of gunpowder. Unfortunately, he couldn't make this thing himself. Because he heard that Li Bin said that there was such a thing in Shule City, he released a lot of rewards through Zheng Wei. However, he thought that this thing was a high military secret, so he only tried it out for the time being, and did not give much hope. Unexpectedly, two merchants heard that they had used various means to get two altars and smuggle out of the city.

At that time, when Qin Jin heard that the person who intercepted him was Zhang's envoy, he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down to offer treasures.

"Gunpowder?" After hearing Ma Xiaochun's retelling, Zhang Mai's eyes lit up. He went up to open the jar and saw that it smelled a very familiar smell. Although he had never had the chance to use military bombs, he still played with firecrackers since he was a child. Zhou Cai saw that Zhang Mai was interested, so he hurriedly took out one, which was wrapped in a small piece of paper and ignited it with a wick. With a loud bang, the cattle and horses next to him were slightly frightened.

Zhou Cai was a little proud of the paper scraps, but when he glanced at Zhang Mai, he saw a look of disappointment on his face and thought to himself: "Why doesn't he seem to be interested? It seems that this Shi Tian Cannon is not doing cleverly enough. Oops, this business will lose money this time."

It turned out that although there was gunpowder in Shule City, the power of the explosion was very limited. It was still a distance away from the gunpowder that could be used for military affairs in Zhang Mai. At this time, he saw the explosion of paper balls and thought that this was just firecrackers? It was of no use for war.

"No wonder they could smuggle out. This thing is just for fun."

But then I thought that if those craftsmen could make gunpowder, Shule's handicraft level should have reached a high level. If all craftsmen and workshops can be obtained and established relevant incentive systems and direction guidance, maybe skilled craftsmen can create what they need in the future.

He kept this thought in his heart, and said to Zhou Cai and Qin Jin: "You are still far from what I expected, but what I said will definitely be fulfilled. You can take it to the Military Office of Shule Zheng to receive the reward."

Suddenly, I saw someone tied up in the firewood, and pointed at me and asked, "What is this?"

Zhou Cai, Qin Jin was overjoyed, then was shocked again and said, "This is a thief. He hid in our car while we were unprepared. He probably wanted to steal our things. After we left the city, we found it and tied it up."

The monk Jialing pulled away the firewood and saw the young man curled up there and shivered constantly. He was very pity and said, "He looks cold and hungry, very pitiful, let him go."

Zhou Cai, Qin Jin did not dare to refuse to agree. Jialing took off the young man's stuffed mouth, untied the rope, took out some dry food from his arms, and stuffed it to him, "Let's go."

When Zhang Mai saw Jialing save someone, he didn't care. Seeing that the sun was about to come, Zhang Mai said, "Find a place to rest and cook, and then go back."

The young man looked at them and suddenly shouted, "Are you Tang Kou?"

He was talking about Tang Yan with a weird accent, and Guo Luo and Yang Yi frowned. The young man shouted again: "Are you Tang Kou?"

When Zhang Mai heard him speak, Tang Kou kept silent, he felt disgusted and immediately said coldly: "We are Tang Jun, so what?"

But the young man seemed to have no idea that Tang army and Tang Kou had a difference in praise and criticism, and said, "My name is Fengshu, you can eat me. You are good people, take me away! If you eat people, I will go with you."

Zhang Mai, Guo Luo and Yang Yi looked at each other, and his disgust towards him suddenly disappeared. He laughed and said, "It turns out he is a fool."

Jialing smiled and said, "We Tang Army does not eat people, you have some hands and feet. Go find a job to do, and you can't starve to death."

Feng Hundai asked: "Then are you my tribe members?"

Shi Ba looked at him and listened to his words, and remembered the situation he had just seen Zhang Mai. He was moved and took two steps to Lian Jie and said, "You are talking about Tang Yan. Although you have a weird accent and some Wu language, you should be our tribe member."

At this moment, Zhou Caiqin exclaimed, but a team of Uighur cavalrymen were in charge of approaching, with about forty or fifty people. They forced them to the vicinity and asked the Tang army what they did.

Zhang Mai seemed to have not heard of it. Shi Ba waved his hand and the twenty-four horses were divided into two sides. The sweat-blooded horse was far faster than the opponent. Although it was surrounded by a circle, it suddenly went around behind the opponent. When the cavalry was surrounded, they were slightly panicked. Shi Ba drew his sword in his hand and rushed in and slashed hard. This team of Uighur cavalry was just a second-rate product in the Shule army. How could they resist the elite of the Tang army? In a short while, they were killed and injured, and more than ten people escaped. Shi Ba shouted loudly: "You still don't abandon your weapons and surrender, are you really going to die!" The remaining ten people threw their swords and abandoned their horses, knelt on the ground and did not dare to move.

From the approaching of the cavalry to the end of the battle, Zhang Mai didn't ask, but just watched quietly from the side. After the battle, he came to ask Zhang Mai how to deal with these people.

When Wumu was watching the Uighur cavalry crawling on the place where Zhang Mai's horse hooves stepped on, he was stunned and suddenly jumped up and shouted: "You! You! You are so amazing! My great-grandfather said nothing wrong. He didn't lie to my father, and my father didn't lie to me either!"

Guo Luo and Yang Yi didn't know what he was talking about, Shi Ba asked, "What are your great-grandfather saying?"

"When my father was a child, he heard my great-grandfather say: Shule can make paper and gunpowder, all of them are from the Tang Dynasty. However, later everyone was beaten by the Tubo masters and the Uighurs, so they didn't dare to mention it, and gradually they all forgot. My great-grandfather also told my father that our tribe members were very powerful before, and others kowtowed us wherever they went, and even those Uighur masters had to kowtow to us... I didn't believe it yesterday, but I didn't expect to see it today... You are so awesome!" His face was full of admiration.

Zhang Mai was stunned when he heard this, and looked at Guo Luo again. Guo Luo stepped forward and asked, "Are you a Tang Min craftsman in Shule City?"

Fengtu nodded and said, "That's what my father said."

Li Bin remembered some things and said to Zhang Mai: "Shule, there are many craftsmen in Kangju City who are indeed Tang people." Zhang Mai thought of the Tang survivors in Tibetan Monument Valley, with a little sadness on his face and asked, "Why are you here?"

Fengshu told the whole story of the craftsmen leaving the city by themselves. Shiba heard that thousands of craftsmen were in danger. When he remembered his experience, he empathized with it and shouted, "Enterprise, we cannot ignore this matter! We have to help them!"

Ma Xiaochun said: "But this is just a side word of this bastard. Besides, even if he didn't lie, those thousands of craftsmen may be Tang Min's only a few families."

Shi Ba shouted: "Even if it is just a few families, I have to find a way to save them!"

Ma Xiaochun said: "How to save me? Send troops to attack Shule?"

The two quarreled endlessly, and Shi Ba shouted: "Brother Yang, do you think you should save me?"

Yang Yi was filled with chivalrous spirit and said, "It's time to save!"

Guo Luo pondered: "At present, this is Shule's internal affairs after all. I believe that Hu Shagar will not cause chaos in the city for this matter. He said he wanted to kill people, maybe it was just a scare."

Yang Yi said: "But what if he really wants to kill someone?"

"Then we can't do anything. Time is too tight." Guo Luo said: "According to the saying of "Then, Hu Shagar wanted to expel the craftsmen and suppress the craftsmen at dusk today. Now there are only a few hours left before dusk. Even if we want to save people, it's too late."

Yang Yi said: "Then let's attack the city by siege, and Hu Shagar has no time to kill people!"

Guo Luo said: "I'm afraid that Hu Shagar will step up his suppression when he sees the great enemy coming to the city. Wouldn't we harm others at that time?"

Yang Yi said: "Then what you mean is to ignore it!"

Guo Luoke couldn't say this, so he looked at Zhang Mai with Yang Yi. Zhang Mai had been talking many times when they were arguing. At this time, he said: "Shule's shortage of food is ultimately due to our siege. Seeing that his compatriots were about to behead their swords, even if there were only one household, we could not ignore it."

When Fenghu was staying in the local area, Yang Yi praised him loudly, and Shi Ba also shouted: "This is our Special Envoy Zhang." Jialing couldn't help but fold his hands together and shouted the Buddha's name: "Good, good! The Special Envoy is really the heart of a Bodhisattva!"

Yang Yi said: "I'll go and order the troops now!"

Zhang Mei grabbed him and said, "No! A Luo is right, this matter cannot be solved by engaging in troops."

"I have an idea!" Jialing said: "Didn't Hushagar just refuse to take out the food? Let's tell Hushagar that we will raise these three thousand people. Let him give food to the craftsmen first. How much relief has he provided, and we will return the food to him in the future."

Guo Luo and Li Bin couldn't help looking at each other at Smile. Although the Tang army could afford the three thousand craftsmen, not only the Tang army could afford it, but even Hu Shagar could afford it. He would give such an order, obviously there were other considerations. At this time, the two armies were hostile, so how could Jialing's proposal work? If we really told Hu Shagar like this, we were afraid that the three thousand people would die faster!

Zhang Mai also wanted to laugh, but with a clue, he said, "Good idea!" He asked Jialing: "Do you dare to go into the city and take a risk?"

Jialing combined ten words: "For three thousand lives, I went to hell, so why not say anything!"

Li Bin asked, "Enterprise, do you really want to come forward to plead with these thousands of craftsmen to Hushagar?"

Zhang Mai said: "No, if this matter is resolved, a third party must mediate. It is best to send the high priest Mubaid, or the Buddhist leader, to provide food and relief. How much food they have used, we will take it back and replenish them, just treat it as a business."

Li Bin's eyes lit up and he thought, "A clever plan!" He thought, "This matter can not only save people! It can also help you to promote the overall situation!" He rode his horse to Zhang Mai and whispered with him. The two of them discussed in a low voice for a long time. With the help of two soldiers, Li Bin got off the ground, took out his pen and ink, and wrote several letters on his horse.

Zhang Mai reminded Jialing and then recruited Zhou Cai again. Qin Jin approached: "Do you want to make another fortune?"
Chapter completed!