Han Shizu

Chapter 1090 The situation in the Western State is precarious

In all fairness, the defensive strategy of the Uighur monarchs and ministers cannot be said to be bad. Although conservative, conservative means safe. After all, the weight of the Khitan's western expedition has been weighed, and it is not easy to deal with and difficult to retreat.

Although Xizhou Uighurs have a sufficient population, it is not a problem to arm more than [-] troops, and their national strength is sufficient to support them for a period of time. However, it will take time. After all, Uighurs cannot be regarded as a centralized dynasty with a high degree of military and political unity, and their internal affairs are not monolithic.

At the same time, playing a defensive counterattack and relying on a strong city to defend is also the best solution they can choose.After all, the winding Tianshan Mountains run across the east and west and are Gaochang's natural defensive barrier. If the Liao army wants to advance from the Northern Court, generally speaking, it must attack Luntai from the west, then turn southwest, and walk the basin to Gaochang. On the basis of ensuring the capture of Luntai, break through the last gate of Gaochang, Baishui Fortress.

The other way is to go east, bypassing the dangerous obstacles of Tianshan Mountain, and entering the country from the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain. However, not to mention that it takes time and effort, there is still a roadblock in the road, Yizhou.

Therefore, just as the Uyghurs considered, although the Khitan army on the western expedition won the Northern Court and achieved a big victory, and strongly suppressed the Uyghurs' counterattack, the strategic progress was not optimistic.

Relying on the Tianshan Mountains, guarding Luntai in the north, and Yizhou in the east, is indeed a safe and extremely low-risk choice for the Uighurs.

However, delaying time and fighting for a long time is only wishful thinking of the Uighurs. Their opponent is Yelu Xiezhen, a rare commander in the Liao army who shined in the Han and Liao wars.

The Uyghurs had a good idea, but how could Yelu Xiezhen not think about it thoroughly? If the enemy wanted to delay, he just refused to give it a chance.But the objective problem is that it is really not easy to break through the defense line of the Uighurs.

However, there has never been a truly impenetrable city in this world. No matter how tight the defense line seems, there are loopholes.Accidents often happen where people are most confident.

After some planning, Yelu Xiezhen decided to take the risk. He had already climbed a golden mountain, and he was not short of a Tianshan mountain.After full preparations, Yelu Xiezhen in the winter of the 15th year of Qianyou, let the Liao general Yelugu lead [-] cavalry, and the same part surrendered, pretending to be the main force, with great fanfare and momentum, and marched westward to make a momentum. The appearance of the wheel platform.

And Yelu Xiezhen personally led the main force of the Liao army, under the guidance of the guide, along the Tianshan Mountain trail that had been explored long ago, and secretly crossed the mountain.

This kind of small path is narrow and dangerous, and it is not conducive to the march of the army. If the enemy is prepared, it can be easily rejected, and even cause heavy losses. However, it can often have an unexpected effect.

But this time, Yelu Xiezhen was right. Apart from the lofty mountains, there were no other obstacles at all. The Uighurs completely ignored this point.

Although thousands of soldiers were killed and injured, as well as many horses and livestock, when the Liao army successfully entered the Yigao Basin, the effect was another miracle.

Since then, the vast plains and land have become a horse riding ground for Khitan cavalry to gallop freely.After successfully overcoming the mountain, Yelu Xiezhen once again chose to go straight to the capital Gaochang, with the intention of a battle.

However, this time, the goal was not achieved. Although the appearance of Liao Qi was shocking and frightening, it failed to completely conceal the news. In addition, since the war started, Gaochang City's vigilance has also increased a lot.

The surprise attack was unsuccessful, but the previous round was also blocked by the enemy army under the Luntai city, and the sudden rush to the city caused a shock to Gaochang. It was like a dream, but it was a nightmare.

Uighur Khan turned pale with fright, and went up to the city himself, only to see the banners of the Khitan people lined up in the bleak east wind, the mighty warriors on horseback, and the aura that made them palpitate. The Uighur Khan of the war was in a trance.

In Gaochang City, from the Khan minister to the poor and the poor, they were all terrified in the face of the enemy's attack on the city, and they finally calmed down.

However, Yelu Xiezhen led his men around Gaochang City, and found that the city was really strong and difficult to take, and the army lacked equipment, which made it even more difficult to attack the city.

So he sent people into the city to persuade him to surrender.Surrender was obviously impossible, but the Uyghur Khan was also stubborn, angrily denouncing the unjust invasion of the Liao army, criticizing the crimes the Khitans had inflicted on the Uighur people, and finally sternly refused, driving the envoy out of Gaochang City.

Although most of the Uyghurs' main force was stationed in Luntai, there were still nearly ten thousand troops in the capital, and the total number of people and refugees accommodated in the city was more than one hundred thousand. Relying on the fortified city, it was definitely not something the Khitans could break through.

Of course, the Uyghurs have the confidence to defend the city, so they don't need to think about going out of the city to retreat from the enemy.

Facing the strong city, Yelu Xiezhen was not impatient. After crossing the natural dangers and entering the Turpan Basin, there was no need to worry. Because the enemy had food, although the Liao army had fewer troops than the Uighurs, it also represented less burden.

Therefore, Yelu Xiezhen personally led [-] cavalry to monitor Gaochang City, and at the same time sent another general to lead the rest to plunder Uighur towns and pastures, rob money, and collect food, horses, livestock, and young men.

All of a sudden, the flames of war spread across the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, and among Yigao, all the Khitans were raging.Under such circumstances, the Uyghurs seem to have been beaten, and they have no means of countermeasures. They can sit on strong cities like Gaochang and Yizhou.

The big cities can be protected, but the towns scattered along the Silk Road do not have sufficient defense capabilities. Except for a few who desperately resisted, most of them suffered.

This approach of the Liao army naturally aroused a lot of resistance. In the city of Gaochang, there were bloody people who couldn't bear the atrocities of the Liao army and challenged the Uighur Khan. The people in the city were also very angry.

Unable to bear the pleas from the crowd, Uighur Khan was bleeding in his heart when he saw the devastated land and people, so he sent troops to attack, hoping to take advantage of the scattered Liao army and make the Liao army slack off in front of the gambling city.As a result, Yelu Xiezhen had been prepared for a long time, commanded calmly, and then defeated the Gaochang Uighur.

That is to say, the Uighurs armed enough defenders in the city, and did not give Yelu Xiezhen the opportunity to enter the city while winning.The Luntai army who came to the rescue under the order of Uighur Khan was so frightened that they retreated halfway and retreated to Baishuifeng when they learned of the battle situation under Gaochang City.

Since then, the Uighurs have never dared to make any changes, they can only stand by the city, wait passively, and watch the Liao army wreak havoc.In terms of strength, the Xizhou Uighurs naturally have them, and they cannot be considered weak. However, when the enemy army approached, they could not effectively organize resistance and display their own strength.

There are a million households in the sky, but in the end they can only defend themselves, allowing less than [-] enemy troops to ravage the territory without being able to control it.They have not experienced a war of this scale for many years. Facing the invasion of the Khitans, the Uyghurs seemed at a loss from beginning to end and were passively beaten.

After turning Yigao upside down, Yelu Xiezhen began to order the Liao army to drive people from all over the city to Gaochang, especially the old and weak, women and children.

He also looked at Uighur Khan and said that the land of Yigao had all been returned to Daliao, and these people were homeless.

Regarding this, even if what Yelu Xiezhen said was true, Uighur Khan would not dare to agree.One is to worry about Yelu Xiezhen's cunning, and the other is that the city has already accommodated a large number of refugees before, and if they are brought in together, the pressure on food will be great.

With grain storage in the city, it doesn't matter if there are more than ten or a hundred mouths, but it's different if there are tens of thousands of mouths.As a result, a large number of Uighur people were refused to enter the city, and Liao cavalry forced them to retreat. In that winter, countless people died of cold and hunger under the city of Gaochang.

At that time, the civilians in Xizhou were not only angry at the killing and looting of the Liao army, but also resented the inaction of the Uighur upper class in Xizhou and abandoned them.

Afterwards, in order to survive, many Uyghurs took refuge in the Liao army with their families and horses. When it comes to the choice between life and death, most of them would simply and easily make a choice.

With the effectiveness of those Uighurs, the shortcomings of the Liao army in manpower are gone.Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yelu Xiezhen took the opportunity to take a rest, and at the same time gathered all the craftsmen of the Uyghurs in the controlled area to build ordnance and siege equipment, and made preparations to defeat Gaochang.

During this process, both Yizhou in the east and Yanqi in the west sent troops to rescue, and Yelu Xiezhen defeated them all.In the spring of the first year of Kaibao, no one dared to rescue Gaochang from the soldiers and civilians of the Xizhou Uyghurs, so Gaochang's life became even more difficult.

After getting enough rest and preparations, Yelu Xiezhen also officially ordered to attack Gaochang City, and the troops who attacked the city were mainly Uighurs who surrendered.However, Gaochang City is indeed strong, and the determination to resist is firm enough. Under the strong attack, thousands of people died.

Later, Yelu Xiezhen divided his troops and turned to attack Yizhou. During the previous rescue, Yizhou suffered a great loss of troops, and the city walls were not as tall and strong as Gaochang. The Liao army and its servants resisted the attack for half a month. The city is broken.

Yelu Xiezhen thus solved the hidden worries behind it, and from the east of Gaochang, it came under the control of the Liao army.Unless the Guiyi Army dares to come west and touch the Liao Army's ass.

After solving the troubles, Yelu Xiezhen besieged the city again, originally intending to trap the Uyghurs in the city to death, but through some Uighur civil and military men who surrendered, they learned that the food reserves in the city were enough to last for a year, and delaying it was not an option.

Therefore, Yelu Xiezhen finally decided to continue the strong attack, which was enough for the Uighurs who attacked the city.In this way, after two months of intermittent and powerful onslaughts, after Yelu Xiezhen sent the Khitans up in April, Gaochang City was finally broken.

After breaking the city, Uyghur Khan led his harem, heirs, and some civil and military forces to retreat westward to Yanqi City in the west, and escaped quickly and successfully.After a bloody and bitter battle, the Liao army needed to rest and enjoy the fruits of victory. If the pursuit was fruitless, there would be no deep pursuit.

After Uighur Khan fled to Yanqi, he did not stay long, gathered his troops, and continued westward to Kucha.After all, Yanqi Gaochang is not far away, and it is equally dangerous, while the Kucha Uighurs did not suffer much losses in the previous battles, and still retain a lot of strength, which can be relied on.

That is to say, after fleeing to Kucha, Uighur Khan realized that he would be destroyed by the Liao army sooner or later by himself alone, so he began to send envoys to ask for support
Among them, Pu Le from the east.

(End of this chapter)