Chapter 62: Surprise Attack on Longxi (2)
At the third update, the small town of Longxi was completely immersed in sleep. The Uighur soldiers and the common people did not expect that the Black Eagle Army, the elite tax army of the Great Zhou Dynasty, had already lurked outside the city wall with a fierce look. As soon as the city gate opened, it would send a fatal blow.
Gaihe is the new commander of the Longxi Uighur Army. He is an old general of Tu Shaodu. Because of his white hair, he is called "white-headed general" by the Uighur Army.
After Gesa captured Lanzhou, he did not wait until the Lanzhou Uighur army fully recovered from the severe damage, so he concentrated his efforts to launch a full-scale attack on Khan Renyu. The white-headed general Gaihe repeatedly advised him not to rush to start a full-scale war with Khan. Gesa, who was smooth sailing, did not adopt Gaihe's opinion, but instead regarded Gaihe's opinion as cowardly. When Gesa was in the army, Gaihe was already a white-headed general. When Gesa became a general, Gaihe was still a white-headed general. Whether in terms of age or military age, he was a veteran. There are two meanings: one is old but useless, and the other is old but stronger. In Gesa's heart, Gaihe belongs to the old but useless category. Therefore, when Gesa mobilized the main force of the Lanzhou Uighur army and Khan Renyu's troops to fight in the north of Lanzhou, Gaihe was sent to guard Longxi.
Gesa was too eager to compete with Khan for a long time. When he returned to Lanzhou, he took away the Uighurs' elite tax troops stationed in Longxi, leaving only two thousand old and weak soldiers to Longxi. Gesa knew the importance of Longxi's position, but he was lucky. After all, the Central Plains army had not attacked Longxi City for more than a hundred years. As long as he defeated Renyu's army, he could quickly re-transfer the elite soldiers stationed in Longxi.
After Gaihe arrived in Longxi, he divided the two thousand Uighur troops into two parts, stationed in the east and south of the city. Although he was dissatisfied, he did not dare to take the responsibility of defending the city lightly. As soon as he entered Longxi, he found that the military discipline of the Longxi defenders was extremely relaxed and began to focus on rectifying the military discipline. He beat the illegal soldiers several times, but his hands were full of old and weak soldiers. It was really difficult to build this weak brigade into elite soldiers in one month. After all, elite soldiers were not refined in one day.
The guarding situation at the city gate at night was one of the many problems that the white-headed general Gaihe had not had time to investigate and rectify. According to the Uighur military rules, these twenty Uighur soldiers should be guarded at the city gate, but there was no war for a long time. I don’t know when, and there were only a few people guarding the city gate, and the rest of the soldiers hid in small rooms not far away to sleep.
Zhou Qing and Wu Jiaqiang knew this situation well. They divided the soldiers who had mixed into Longxi City into two groups based on the defense of the Uighur Army, one group led by Zhou Qing. The other group was led by Wu Jiaqiang to deal with the Uighur soldiers sleeping in a small room.
On the night when the Black Eagle Army launched the attack, four old soldiers from the West City Gate were wearing thick clothes, shrank their necks, and hid under the door opening. A sergeant filled some wine with his leather bag, and the four sergeants took turns drinking. They were hoping that it would be dawn early, and after dawn, they could go back to the hot kang and have a good sleep.
Zhou Qing and four people followed the city wall and quietly touched the door hole. They were wearing special soft-soled shoes and holding sharp Hou Family Knife. This waist knife was different from the horizontal knife used in the past. The horizontal knife blade was straight and narrow, while the Hou Family Knife was in a smooth arc shape, which was more conducive to chopping.
When Zhou Qing and others were about to touch the city gate, a few screams and Uighurs screams came from the small room. Several old Uighur soldiers were tasting fine wine. The peaceful life in the small town made the grassland men's reaction as sensitive as cheetahs. After hearing the screams, they stared blankly at the hut. After a while, they realized it, and before they could draw out the scimitar, a few black shadows rushed over with lightning speed, and the sharp blade easily cut off the thick clothes of the old soldiers.
An old Uighur soldier held a skin bag containing wine in one hand and a scimitar that was not too sharp in the other. He never figured out who attacked him until his death. The enemy was so fierce that his last sip of wine was still in his mouth, but he could no longer warm his body. Blood and wine flowed out of his mouth and slowly seeped into the frozen hard ground.
The battle in the small house, or the battle cannot be called a battle, is more appropriate, and it ends almost at the same time as the battle at the city gate. After Wu Jiaqiang came to the door of the cottage, he knocked on the door very calmly, and would speak Uighur language Chen Heilang said loudly in Uighur language: "It's so cold to open the door."
The Uighurs in the hut didn't know that there was a fraud. An Uighur came to open the door cursingly. As soon as the door opened, the Wu family slammed and kicked it hard. The Uighurs who opened the door were hit to the ground by a violent collision. Seven military camp soldiers rushed up and slashed at the Uighur soldiers who woke up from their sleep. Except for Chen Heilang, the soldiers were all reconnaissance cavalry in the Lion Camp. They didn't make any sound when they killed people, and they made a fortune. They even greeted the key parts of the Uighur soldiers.
Chen Heilang was also a brave man. He shouted: "Look at the knife", and stabbed the Uighur who wanted to hold up. The Uighurs hugged their heads and screamed in pain. He stepped forward and slashed at the Uighurs twice, slashing at the Uighurs. The Uighurs was severely injured and struggled constantly in the bed. Chen Heilang stepped forward and slashed hard again. The Uighurs slowly stopped rolling and blood sprayed Chen Heilang all over.
When Chen Heilang killed the Uighur soldiers, he was thrilled with the pleasure of revenge and looked around with a fierce look on his face, but was surprised to find that all the Uighurs in the hut had no sound. Wu Jiaqiang and the five soldiers looked at Chen Heilang who looked like a mad dog.
Wu Jiaqiang walked over, patted Chen Heilang on the shoulder, and said, "Crying during battle will waste your energy." After saying this, Wu Jiaqiang went straight out of the small house, and the soldiers followed them one by one, and everyone patted Chen Heilang on the shoulder. The last soldier said, "Killing someone requires only one knife."
Chen Heilang originally thought that his behavior was extremely brave, but the battle ended, and not only did he receive no praise, but also received two advice. He rumbled in the Uighur language: "Who are these people?"
After the city gate opened, the Black Eagle Army lurking outside the city rushed in. Five thousand Black Eagle Army divided into three routes, two routes besieged the Uighur army's camps in the east and south of the city, and all the way besieged the Longxi Yamen.
Guo Jiong followed the last unit into the city, and the battle was going on fiercely everywhere.
The Black Diao Army first captured the Longxi Yamen. There were only dozens of yamen runners in the Yamen. After the Black Diao Army shot a purposeless bow and arrow into the Yamen, an unlucky yamen runner happened to be shot into the big foot. The screams quickly prompted the yamen runners to open the door and surrender.
The second one to break through was the Northern Barracks. Although there were a thousand Uighur troops in the Northern Barracks, after the Black Eagle Army crossbows shot down the Uighur general who rushed to the front, the organized resistance of the Northern Barracks Uighur troops ended. The remaining Uighur soldiers fought alone but helplessly. Under the cover of the five hundred Modao Hands, the Black Eagle Army crossbow archers used dense arrow rain to harvest the lives of the Uighur warriors. A few Uighur soldiers rushed to the front and back of the formation to death. The Five Hundred Modao Hands were like huge rocks, killing all counterattacks to pieces.
When the battle in the Northern Barracks ended, more than 300 Uighur soldiers surrendered, and the rest were either shot to death by arrows or fell under the Mo Dao.
After hearing the shouts of killing, dozens of Uighur men ran towards the mountain with guns and sticks. The Black Eagle Army was very familiar with the situation in the city and arranged two teams of Black Eagle infantry to defend the passage to the south of the city. After the Uighurs came down, they were immediately attacked by fierce crossbow arrows. In an instant, more than 20 Uighur men were shot by crossbow arrows. Although the Uighur men were brave, they were not as organized and well-trained as the army. After being attacked by crossbow arrows, they ran back in a mess. The Black Eagle Army did not pursue, but just guarded the various crossings. The Uighurs blocked the Uighurs in their settlement area. After bravely rushing twice, they took dozens of lives in vain and never dared to act rashly again.
When the sky was bright, only the southern barracks in Longxi City were still shouting and killing. The leader of the Longxi Uighur Army, Gaihe, lived in the southern barracks. After the Uighur Army in the South Barracks counterattack for the first time, he was hit by a fierce crossbow arrow like hail, the white-headed general Gaihe ordered to stop the useless charge and ordered the troops to concentrate in his tent. Gaihe's tent was built at the highest point of the southern barracks, and the highest point was only a small hill of dozens of meters. The trees were dense on the hills. More than 800 Uighur soldiers gathered on the small hills like hedgehogs, surrounded by shields to form a simple defensive position, and shot against the Black Eagle Army from a high point.
In the night, the Uighur army barely blocked the attack of the Black Eagle Army with the help of woods, shields and other objects. The Black Eagle Army was quite damaged in order to capture this hillside.
At dawn, all the battles in the city ended, and the Black Eagle Army crossbow archers and Mo Daoshi gathered together in the South Military Camp.
There were less than 700 soldiers left on the hillside. Gaihe was very clear about the end of the annihilation of the entire army. When Gaihe arrived in Longxi, he brought fifty confidants. He sighed and said to his confidant guards who were following him: "The veteran general Tu Shaodu bowed his head to the Han people on the bank of the Wei River and lost his reputation for life. Geza's heart was too narrow and not enough to accomplish great things. God would not help me, Uighurs."
Gaihe stood at the highest point of the hillside and shouted loudly to the Uighur soldiers on the hillside: "The Black Eagle Army is the most dangerous army in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Now we are surrounded by them. There is only a dead end if we continue to fight. I, Gaihe, will never surrender. You are willing to surrender. I will never stop you. If you don't want to surrender, everyone will fight to the death, and even die like an Uighur warrior."
The Uighur soldiers were already in a low morale. When they heard Gaihe's shouting, their faces gradually showed a firm look. A personal guard behind Gaihe shouted: "Uighur men will never surrender." The guards followed with scimitars and shouted: "Uighur men will never surrender." Finally, all Uighur soldiers raised their swords and shouted: "Uighur men will never surrender."
Seeing this, Gaihe said angrily: "We Uighurs are all good men."
Under the hillside, the Black Eagle Army was urgently mobilizing its troops to prepare for the final attack.
Gaihe looked at the sky and whispered an elegy from the Golden Light Sutra:
What a disaster is this, my child
My beautiful little son,
Why is the pain of death?
Let's take you away first?
I'm willing to die before you,
Ah, my little sun!
I don't want to see this
Huge pain!
It is usually a matter for women to sing elegies to the Uighurs. Gaihe thought of dying on the battlefield. He couldn't help but think of his mother who had passed away for a long time. He sang the songs his mother had sang casually. The guards around him were all familiar with this song and sang it gently with him. Soon, seven hundred Uighurs sang this elegy together.
The song is melodious and low, and hundreds of people sang it together, which is a bit sad and decisive.
The Black Eagle Army under the hillside shot out the first wave of arrows after dawn in the singing. Although the Uighurs had a small number of shields, most of the soldiers were directly exposed to the attack of crossbow arrows, and suffered heavy casualties. At this time, all the Uighur arrows were shot. The crossbow arrows could no longer be used, and they were in a situation where they could only be beaten but not fight back.
Gaihe raised his scimitar and sang an ancient war song:
Let the clan standard be a blessing for us,
Let the wolf be our battle slogan.
Let our iron spears be like a forest.
Let the wild horses gallop on our hunting ground.
Let the river flow on our land,
Let the sun be a banner,
Lan Tian made a tent
I am your Khan,
You pick up your shields and bows and arrows and fight with me.
The Uighur soldiers who could fight behind him sang along the river, followed the white-headed general, rushed towards the Black Eagle Army with the determination to die.
There was no suspense in the battle. The battle was ready. The Black Eagle Army used accurate crossbow arrows to give the Uighur army a fatal blow. There were only 300 Uighur soldiers who rushed to the front of the Black Eagle Army's Modao Team. The Black Eagle Army's Modao Team raised the long Modao team to form an insurmountable city wall. The Modao hand held the Modao high. It slashed from above and down, and every knife was flying in blood.
When a Mo Dao appeared in front of Guo Jiong with the head of Uighur General Gai He in his hand, the rare sun in winter suddenly appeared in the sky.
After the battle in the city, the cavalry of the Black Eagle Army did not stop in the city. Under the leadership of He Wulang, they advanced northwest of Longxi to block the reinforcements from Lanzhou.
Guo Jiong issued several notices to safeguard the people, announcing that Longxi City had returned to the Great Zhou Dynasty. Several teams of Black Eagle Army were sent to maintain public order in the streets, and those who caused trouble would be killed. At the same time, according to the list provided by the military information camp, he found famous families of all ethnic groups in the city, and asked them to appease their tribes and unconditionally accept the management of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Under the high pressure of the Black Diao Army, the rogues among the Han people, Tubo people and Uighurs on the streets did not dare to go out to the streets and stayed at home obediently, for fear of hitting the blade of the Black Diao Army. After the war, there was no turmoil in Longxi City, and even the matter of slapping the catastrophe was greatly reduced.
In the afternoon, the messenger sent by Guo Jiong arrived in Fengzhou.
The Black Eagle Army Military Academy guarded the Zhuyuan Hall for a whole night and jumped up excitedly and cheered the sky.
Although Longxi is a small city, it is of great significance to capture it. This is the Black Eagle Army and the first land lost in the hands of the Tang Dynasty by the Great Zhou Dynasty. The captains and soldiers of Zhuyuan were all young soldiers with culture and vitality. Most of them were angry young people from the Great Zhou Dynasty and had a sense of historical responsibility than ordinary soldiers. When Hou Dayong walked out of the Zhuyuan Hall, their eyes were full of respect for the governor.
Hou Dayong was in a very good mood and said, "Thank you all for your hard work. Tonight, I will treat you to Zhengzhou cuisine and stay drunk."
The military academies cheered enthusiastically again.
The news of the capture of Longxi was as if it had grown wings and spread rapidly throughout Fengzhou City, and Fengzhou City was filled with joy.
When Envoy Geza heard the news, his face turned pale. He ran towards the yamen madly. The yamen officials who received him in the yamen were obviously in a good mood. They didn't care about the anger of the Uighur envoy, and sent the Uighur envoy away with a smile.
When the Uighur envoy rushed to the Jiedu Mansion, the cold bench of Erzhuxiang made the furious Uighur envoy slowly calm down. He originally wanted to question Hou Dayong, but when Hou Dayong appeared coldly in front of him, he didn't know when he would say goodbye.
The envoy handed over the letter from Gesadi. After reading it, Hou Dayong sneered and placed the letter on the table.
The envoy gritted his teeth and said, "General Gesa has always been friendly to the Great Zhou Dynasty. Why did the Jiedu send troops to attack Longxi? The Jiedu had an agreement with the old General Tu Shaodu. This time, General Gesa sent people to send two hundred handsome horses according to the agreement and was on the way to Fengzhou. I didn't expect that the Jieduan would ignore the agreement and break the trust of the world, which would really damage the reputation of the Jieduan."
Hou Dayong glanced at the envoy with a sharp look and said, "You are Gesa's envoy. You eat well in Fengzhou and live well. You are warmly entertained. But why did General Gesa kill my envoy? Is this a trustworthy act? There is an old saying in the Central Plains: Come and do not go, it is not a gentleman. Since General Gesa can kill my envoy, it is understandable that I took Longxi. Moreover, from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, Longxi has been the land of the Han family. Now it is the will of the people."
"The affairs of Envoy Liu were purely accidental." The Uighur envoy recounted the cause of the conflict that day.
"It takes only three days to go from Lanzhou to Fengzhou. Why do you tell me the truth of the conflict now? You, as an envoy, have acted so slowly that it has been a big mistake."
"On the day of the incident, General Gesa sent me to Fengzhou, but encountered bandit attacks on the border. I traveled in the mountains for a few days, so I delayed my trip. After arriving in Fengzhou, the envoy of the Session was not in Fengzhou City, so he had not sent General Gesa's letter to him for a long time." The Uighur envoy said that Hou Dayong had pushed the huge responsibility of triggering the war on his head intentionally or unintentionally, which made him angry and worried.
"Since it is a misunderstanding, please order the Jiedushi to order the Black Eagle Army to withdraw from Longxi. The war horses we sent arrived later. The Uighurs and the Great Zhou generations are friendly, and there should be no misunderstandings because of these trivial matters." The Uighur envoy was very clear in his heart that it was a fool to let the Black Eagle Army retreat, but as the Uighur envoy, he must say what he should say.
Chapter completed!