Chapter 439: Broken Leaf Fengyun (IV)

The atmosphere in the Zichen Hall of the Daming Palace was very tense. An important meeting for the preparation of the Shattered Ye were being held here. Emperor Zhang Huan of the Tang Dynasty and twenty important officials, including seven prime ministers, gathered together to discuss the upcoming Shattered Ye Battle. The Tang Dynasty had obtained exact information. Many small Western countries, including the nine countries of Zhaowu, brought soldiers to Ba Khan. Countless baggage teams transporting various materials from Khurasan were filled with ancient silk roads. Thousands of sails gathered on the Zhenzhu River. From the scale and quantity of materials transported were unprecedented. Various information showed that Da Shi was preparing for an unprecedented battle west of the Pamir Mountains. From the flow of Da Shi's materials to Ba Khan, it can be judged that the Da Shi war sword pointed to the Shattered Ye.

In the middle of Zichen Hall, there is a huge sand table map. The important officials are surrounded by a circle, listening to the emperor's statements while thinking about the impact of this battle.

"Everyone has also seen that Dashi controls the vast land and population west of the Pamir Mountains. In this battle, they occupied the time and geography. However, after our army destroyed Geluo, morale was high. We began to prepare in February. All kinds of materials were sufficient, and the Saiye Army was equipped with the most advanced weapons of our Tang Dynasty. Although there was a shortage of numbers, Shule still had 80,000 troops in the palace and had not moved, so they could all support Saiye. In this way, Saiye's troops could reach 140,000, which was enough to compete with the Saiye."

Zhang Huan glanced at everyone, pointed at the distance between Chang'an and Shuye with a wooden pole and said, "The biggest disadvantage of Shuye is that the journey is long and it is not easy to replenish supplies from the Central Plains. So I thought about it again and again that we really need to establish a long-term supply system along the way. So I decided to use Liangzhou, Shazhou, Luntai and Yuegong City as military reserve cities. Do you have good opinions?"

"Let me say a few words first!" Zhang Potian said first: "I have followed General Li Guangbi to fight the battle in Taiyuan and have some experience in defense. If it is a short-term defensive battle, the more people in the city, the better, and it will not be messed up for a while. But if I am besieged for a long time, there are many considerations about how to win this defensive battle, and many details need to be considered. General Wang has rich combat experience, so I will not be tired of explaining the specific tactics. I only give some suggestions here. This time, the Dashi is coming with great momentum and the scale is large. I think Dashi should have been prepared for this battle for many years. We cannot be at all careless.

It is early autumn now. According to the scale of the attack of the great cannibals, this winter will inevitably lead to a siege. Therefore, we need to make plans for a long-term battle. I heard that there are more than 300,000 residents in the Suye City, mixed personnel, which is not conducive to long-term defense. I suggest that some residents be transferred to Luntai or Shule, especially the elderly, weak, women and children. On the one hand, this can save food, and on the other hand, it is conducive to the army's control over the city. Secondly, the army guarding the city is enough. Shule's 60,000 troops are used as foreign aid, and not as internal responses. The attack between the inside and outside is the way to win. The above are my foolish opinions. Please refer to your Majesty."

Zhang Huan nodded. Zhang Potian deserves to be from a corps. He can see through the problems thoroughly. Eighty thousand government soldiers will indeed be more flexible outside. He immediately corrected his thoughts, "What Zhang Aiqing said is reasonable. Eighty thousand government soldiers will be stationed in Shule to be on standby at any time!"

He looked at everyone again and said slowly: "Who is the dear minister, please give it a good suggestion."

"Your Majesty, I have something to say."

At this time, Han Huan stepped forward and bowed: "The Broken Leaf has become the largest source of silver for our Tang Dynasty. We cannot lose it, but our opponent is the Dashi Kingdom, a Western empire that is no less powerful than ours. Baghdad is also far away from the Broken Leaf. This battle is frankly a contest of strength between two great powers. Over the past few months, the Tang Dynasty's grain and various resources have been continuously sent to the Western Regions. The Tang Dynasty's national strength is at the stage of just recovering.

Duan, far from being compared with the prosperous Kaiyuan period, we must also beware of the Uighurs taking the opportunity to invade. It can still be supported in one or two months, but it may not be able to continue after a long time. Therefore, I have always been worried about the long-term combat situation mentioned by Zhang Xiangguo, but this situation is very likely to happen. I plan ahead. I suggest that Your Majesty start from now on, and practice thrift across the Tang Dynasty, save limited financial resources, and support the war of Saiye."

"I agree with the words of Prime Minister Zhang and Prime Minister Han, and ask Your Majesty to adopt the suggestions of the two prime ministers." Chu Xingshui also bowed and said, "I am worried that the Great Food will take the opportunity to collude with the Uighurs and use the Uighurs to put pressure on the Tang Dynasty to consume the national strength of our Tang Dynasty. Although the Tang princess had married the Uighurs far away last month, in the face of interests, it is afraid that the marriage will not work. I suggest that we should take a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, we should use the influence of the princess to win over the pro-Tang faction of the Uighurs and let them convince the loyal Khan to give up the idea of ​​being an enemy of the Tang Dynasty. On the other hand, we should also go out of the Khikas step and order them to take action while the Battle of Saiye to restrain the energy of the Uighurs and make them unwilling to go south."

Zhang Huan pondered for a long time and finally nodded: "The suggestions of all my dear friends are good advice. I will consider them carefully, but the response to the Battle of Broken Leaf cannot be solved by one or two plans. I hope you will go back and consider the response plan carefully and submit me a memorial to me. Let's focus on our efforts and win this war."

Next to the Chi River in Kucha, on the wide and dusty official road, grain trucks covered with oil cloth, large trucks containing wheat poles and hay, supplies trucks, and huge floating bridge boats, swaying and squeaking forward. The sky above the official road was covered with a layer of dark yellow sand and dust, but after walking a hundred steps out of the official road, it was another scene of blue sky. It was the harvest season of clear autumn, and sheep could be seen everywhere eating grasslands leisurely, and the mountains in the distance showed a blurry outline.

The Tang army stepped on the dust, braved the flying sand in the sky, accompanied by shouting and cursing, with the crackling sound of whips and the creaking of the axles, and the sound of the dying animals or animals lying on both sides of the official road from time to time, and occasionally a large cart with wheels facing the sky. Sometimes a team of cavalry rushed into the crowd, so the soldiers kept shouting, cursing, and the horses stood up and screamed constantly. A cart full of food and grass would roll down the slope, and the people on the cart would also roll down.

In front, among the torrent of vehicles, soldiers came from Shazhou in a long queue and marched hard to move on the choking dust. The crowd was mixed with carriages carrying light weapons such as knives, guns, bows and crossbows. The escort soldiers were lying in the huts, and people kept running out of the line, crawling into the bushes, and squatting down.

In front of the cavalry, from time to time you can see several carriages mixed in the cavalry, with civil servants and military personnel sitting inside. After a while, they walked through a dense forest with springs, the cavalry got off the horse to get water, and then they set up their queues and crossed the White Horse River. Then the carriages from Kucha were loaded with food, hay and caltrops poured in from both sides. Occasionally, a small team of scouts and cavalry grabbed the front of the queue.

Two miles away from the official road is the Chihe River. Thousands of civilians conscripted from the Western Regions are struggling to pull a large ship with great difficulty, launching low, rhythmic, and shocking horns. The ship is loaded with food and various heavy city guards and firearms, unassembled giant stone cannons, bed crossbows, serial crossbows, thunderbolt chariots, and a row of huge grounds on both sides of the ship's side. There are also terrible gunpowder bullets, incendiary bombs, and buckets of gunpowder and tiny oil on the ship, all of which are guarded by heavy troops.

This team was the Shazhou Army and Suzhou Army from afar, with about 10,000 people and transported 500,000 stones of grain. The envoy was Yu Chonglou, the general of the Central Army. Their destination was Shule, thousands of miles away. The team had been from Shazhou for a full ten days.

It was already early August, and the battle between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi had entered the most critical moment. The Tang Dynasty mobilized the whole country to concentrate eight million stones of grain and countless military supplies, and mobilized nearly 100,000 carriages from various places, and sent these materials to the Western Regions continuously. At the same time, 50,000 prefecture soldiers were mobilized from all over the country to Anxi again. In this way, the Tang army in the entire Anxi region reached an unprecedented 250,000. The army divided the troops from Yiwu (now Hami) and rushed to Shule, one by one, walked north of Jinlong Road to Suye, the other by Luntai, crossed Tianshan Mountain to Gongyue City, and entered the Daqingchi River Basin along the northern road of the Silk Road.

But while the Tang army launched a large-scale reinforcement of Saiye, the cannibals were impatient and the war for Ashi Bulai City was first launched.

Twenty days ago, the Tang army captured the fortress Ashibulai City in the northern part of Saiye. After this incident reached Baghdad, Rashid was extremely furious and immediately dismissed the Governor of Bakhanna who had transferred the defenders of Ashibulai City to the south without authorization. At the same time, he transferred 20,000 people from the 50,000 Turkic slave army prepared to go to Bakhanna to attack Ashibulai City. He must seize this important castle before the September Battle of Saiye.

The 20,000 Great Food Army traveled north from Samarkand, crossed the road to the east through the city of Talas, and marched for nearly 800 miles. On that day, it finally arrived at the city of Ashibulai.

The Tang army of Ashibulai City has also increased to 2,500 people, almost reaching the limit of 3,000 troops. All the former Turkic residents in the city have been moved away, making Ashibulai City a pure military fortress. After nearly a month of intense deployment, the Ashibulai City has been built by the Tang army like a wall of iron.

Fifty newly developed giant trenchers were placed on the top of the city, and three hundred bed crossbows were installed, which were powerful tools for dealing with large enemy siege aircraft. In addition, there were 300,000 crossbow arrows and a large number of huge rocks used for throwing, and even hundreds of gunpowder bullets and incendiary bombs.

After dark, the scouts heard news that a large number of enemies had passed the city of Julan and were approaching Ashibulai. They were carrying a large number of siege weapons, neatly shaped army and well-equipped.

Julan City is eighty miles away from the west. It is a dirt city on the plain. It is mainly built for herders and cattle and sheep to escape from the snowstorm. It is very simple and has no danger to defend. Since the enemy has passed Julan City, even if it is slow to carry siege tools, it is not far from Ashi's failure to come to the city.

At dusk the next day, dark clouds were covered with dark winds. Shi Yang stood on the highest viewing tower in Ashibulai City, staring at the rolling clouds in the sky. Because of his contribution to seizing Ashibulai City, he had been promoted to the commander of Wang Siyu and led 2,500 Tang troops to guard Ashibulai City. However, no one expected that another war between Dashi and the Tang Dynasty would begin from them.

Standing next to Shi Yang was the commander of Guoyi Lai Jinlin. The Anxi Han man who had been making a living on business roads with his father since childhood was extremely familiar with the terrain of this area. He calculated and said, "General Shi, if the enemy is dragging the siege with war horses, they can usually walk twenty miles every hour. With the stop time in the middle, they should have arrived."

"You are right, they have arrived." Shi Yang looked into the distance with a blank expression. Under the sky, a long black line appeared at the end of the grassland.

"General Shi, what should we do?" Lai Jinlin, who had experienced a big battle for the first time, began to get nervous.

"What else can I do?" Shi Yang ordered coldly: "Ring the bell to warn you, and I will order my brothers to take your place!"
Chapter completed!