To the west of the castle is the windswept wilderness, where the Xingxing Gorge suddenly opens up, and under the clouds in the west sky, is the boundless Beiting and Anxi, which the Tang Dynasty once had, and even the more expansive land west of the Green Ridge.

Under a cloudy sky, I saw a group of unorganized cavalry about three miles away, they had no uniform armor, and the weapons they held were also disorganized, and the horses were mottled, hesitating between advance and retreat, panicking like lost dogs.

"General, that's the Shatuo cavalry." A Guo Yi lieutenant said to Wang Siyu.

Shatuo people used to be vassals of the Tang Dynasty, generations of people living in the north of Tingzhou Shatuo Prefecture, with the king of Shatuo as the governor, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty let go of the control of the Western Regions, the Tubo people marched into Anxi, the Hui people marched into the North Court, the Shatuo people 6,000 tents also became the vassals of the Hui people, and suffered greatly from their rule, at the end of last year, although the Tubo was militarily weak, it was politically successful, using the national policy of the Hui to move westward, in one fell swoop to win over the Qarluqs, the white-costed Turks and the Shatuo people, so that the battlefield situation was reversed, The Hui were forced to withdraw from the North Court, and according to the prior negotiations between the parties, the North Court was divided between the three families, and the Shatuo people occupied the land and fertilized Yiwu County.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, this time the Hui general Jiegan Garth led an army of 100,000 to go out, ten days ago, in Shatuo Prefecture in one fell swoop defeated 20,000 Shatuo cavalry, Shatuo King was killed, a large number of Shatuo people were captured as slaves, and some of the people who have moved to Yiwu County escaped and moved eastward, and there were more than 10,000 Shatuo people who fled into Xingxing Gorge, and the cavalry of about 3,000 people in front of them is the remnants of the Shatuo cavalry.

On the castle, more than 2,000 Tang troops were already in battle, and more than 5,000 cavalry who had just arrived were also deployed on the side of the castle. Always ready to strike.

Wang Siyu didn't give any orders, he was still observing quietly, from the momentum, this cavalry was already at the end of the crossbow. It could not constitute a threat to the Tang army, but Wang Siyu wondered, what was behind these Shatuo cavalry?

"General, what are we going to do?" An impatient general asked.

Wang Siyu waved his hand, "Wait!" ”

In a moment, one of the Shatuo cavalrymen left the brigade and galloped in the direction of the castle, throwing away his sword and taking off his shield as he galloped. Finally, he came to the castle without a long life, and said in fluent Chinese: "Respected Han brother at the head of the city, my general has specially ordered me to clarify the situation. ”

Wang Siyu nodded, "Let him in!" ”

The gate of the castle was opened, Shatuo envoy entered the city, was brought to Wang Siyu, he bowed deeply, he said to the young Tang army commander with words that were more beautiful than larks: "Shatuo people have always been the brothers of the Tang Dynasty, in order to survive, we have to take refuge in Huifu." Just when we wanted to return to our roots, the Uighurs came to kill us, and the enemy killed our parents, insulted our sisters, took away our cattle and sheep, and burned our tents. We are like a wounded wild goose, our family is ruined and we are 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 the Hui people?" And where did they get rid of the pursuit of the Uighurs? ”

"General Hui's question, our 8,000 cavalry encountered a large army of Uighurs north of Zheluo Manshan, they had 30,000 men, we resisted hard, but we were outnumbered and still defeated. We were defeated all the way, and it was only at Yiwu County that they stopped chasing. ”

Yiwu County is about 300 miles away from Xingxing Gorge, a horse Pingchuan, Wang Siyu thought about it and said with a smile, "You are very good at talking, I have been moved by you, you can enter Hexi."

When he saw that the messenger was overjoyed, he waved his hand again and said, "Don't be too happy. I am conditionally. First, you have to lay down your arms and leave your horses, and second, you have to pass the test in batches. No more than 300 people at a time. ”

Wang Siyu's conditions were a little harsh, the joy on the envoy's face disappeared, he glanced back in embarrassment, and said: "The villain can't call the shots in this matter, I want to report to the general, please wait for the general." ”

"Go ahead!"

Shatuo's envoy Shi Yili hurriedly left the castle, Wang Siyu saw him gradually walking away, and immediately said to his subordinates: "Since we have sent a large number of scouts, why did no one come back to report before the remnants of Shatuo's army fled?" It's unconscionable, and I suspect they have no way back. Everyone understood what the general meant, and without waiting for his order, they all began to prepare for battle, and the cavalry retreated, sealing the city gates,

Bundles of arrows were carried to the top of the city, and crossbows were also pushed onto the battlements to deal with building carts and ladders, and not only that, but weapons such as black clay pots filled with fire oil and fire-colored gall bottles filled with gunpowder were also carried out of special warehouses to deal a fatal blow to the enemy, and the castle behind was also on guard to prevent the enemy from bypassing the castle in front of them to attack.

Soon, the Shatuo messenger brought new news, they were willing to accept all conditions, and only hoped that the Tang army would allow them to find the refugees who had fled earlier, and Wang Siyu agreed to this.

About a quarter of an hour later, the first group of about 300 Shatuo cavalry put down their swords and arrows, slowly drove into Xingxing Gorge from the path next to the castle, they immediately handed over their horses to the Tang army, and ran in the direction of the town on foot, followed by the second and third teams

For a whole hour, Wang Siyu kept staring at them intently, everything was normal, the Shatuo cavalry was very cooperative, 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 rocks in the distance, was he really wrong?

"General, look!" A soldier suddenly pointed to the southwest direction of the slanted thorn and shouted, Wang Siyu looked in the direction of his finger, and vaguely saw countless small black dots squirming.

Wang Siyu's eyes narrowed into a slit, if it was normal, these small black spots would be thought to be wolves, but now he knows very well that this is the Hui cavalry.

"Take good care of the Shatuo people, if there is the slightest change, kill me!"

He was unusually calm and gave the order, and the entire castle was making emergency defensive deployments. Dozens of heralds rushed to the rear, and then the troops of Jiuquan and Dunhuang came to support, and at the same time issued an alarm to Longyou.

In the end, Wang Siyu ordered the deputy general Yang Han to lead a thousand cavalry to attack the rear of the Hui people, and a thousand cavalry galloped north. Soon it disappeared into the shadow of a huge mountain.

The situation was far more serious than Wang Siyu thought, it was not 20,000 or 30,000 people coming, but a full 70,000 people, the main force of the Hui army poured in, and a quarter of an hour later, the overwhelming Hui cavalry began to appear five miles away, the dust was flying, and the earth was shaken. Gradually, the speed of the Hui horses slowed down, and finally stopped three miles away, forming several huge dark clouds, and the cavalry was densely packed for several miles.

Under a wolf-headed flag, he beat the curtain and looked out at the castle in the distance, he was fifty years old, he was originally the governor of the Hui Xialius region, and he repeatedly and brutally suppressed the uprisings of the Xialius. He has a lot of blood debts, but because he is very strategic in battle, he has never been defeated in a series of battles against the West, so he is also known as the Mobei Falcon.

This time he led his army south. With the strategy of attacking the east and the west, he first sent 50,000 troops to cross Jinshan to feint and attack the nest of the Qarluqs, and sure enough, the 30,000 Qarluqs stationed in the Luntai area (today's Urumqi) were transferred back, he immediately withdrew the feint army, the two armies merged together, and directly attacked Beiting, the Hui army won three battles and three victories, and defeated the army of the Baifu Turks and Shatuo people, and in just half a month, the 100,000 Hui army swept the entire Beiting.

and Viga Khan allied with Zhang Huan. Different from dealing with the Tubo people together, Jiegan Jiasi did not believe that Zhang Huan would become his real ally, the other party had already occupied Hexi, and that step to recapture Beiting and Anxi, which once belonged to the Tang Dynasty, could it not be his Zhang Huan's established goal? Once he fights fiercely with Tubo, he Zhang Huan will definitely take the opportunity to attack Beiting.

At this time, Jiegan Gasi had already received the news that Tubo Zampu personally led troops to support Anxi, and he knew. This will most likely be a protracted tug-of-war. In order to completely eliminate worries, seize Xingxing Gorge and block the Tang army in Hexi. It became his first strategy.

At the same time, Jiegan Gasi had a deeper strategic purpose in capturing Xingxingxia, and he considered that once he fought a fierce battle with the Tibetans, he could send an army to kill the Tibetans from the southern road of Kuktag Mountain, along the Red River.

Whether it is blocking the Tang army or copying the back road of the Tubo people, it is imperative to seize Xingxing Gorge.

"Mohorudagan." He commanded in a deep voice:

"In!" A senior general of Hui Hui came out in response.

"You take 5,000 troops and horses from your headquarters to attack the castle, and you must not retreat without my order."

"Yes!"

With a wave of his hand, five teams of 1,000 men followed him, galloping out of the huge dark clouds, like an iceberg cracking into pieces, rushing towards the castle.

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

On the castle, thousands of Tang troops have been prepared, they are ready to fight, waiting for the first battle with the Hui people, behind the castle, five thousand cavalry horizontal swords, quietly lined up in a square formation, just waiting for the commander to give an order, they will be killed from the Star Gorge.

At this moment, Wang Siyu's expression was extremely serious, he already knew that he might not be able to keep Xingxing Gorge, the number of troops of the Hui people, far from 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 death, as long as he retains his strength, there is still a chance to fight back, he will never use the life of a soldier to fulfill his reputation.

If you can't support it, you will inevitably have to retreat, but before retreating, Wang Siyu wants to fight a good battle.

The westernmost castle is called Baiyun Fort, it is made of gray-white granite, from a distance, it looks like a white cloud, hence the name, it was officially completed in March, built on a gentle earth slope, facing the mountains in the south, a deep valley in the north, a narrow path about two feet wide clinging to the city wall, leading to the depths of the Star Gorge.

The castle is about six zhang high, a mile wide, unusually thick, the stone wall is full of arrow holes, the front of the wall is polished very smooth, the large stones are densely built, and there is no joint that can be climbed on the foot, and the top of the stone wall is bulging outward like a barrel, making it very difficult to build stairs to enter the city, but this castle also has its weaknesses, that is, the two gates of the east and west, there is no moat, if there is a huge siege weapon, you can directly break through the city gate.

The 5,000 cavalry had rushed forward like a whirlwind of clouds, they rushed up the hillside, shot an arrow at the city, and then turned around and rushed down the hillside, like a big turntable, moving in a circle, and the closest to the castle was more than 80 paces.

There was still no reaction from the city to the enemy's provocation, not even a single arrow was fired, as if it were an empty city.

Wang Siyu stood on top of the city gate, he coldly watched the performance of the enemy troops outside the city, they wanted to test their firepower to determine the location of the attack!

After three rounds of arrows, the Hui people saw that they could not test the reality of the Tang army, they began to be impatient, jumped off their horses, and rushed to the hillside in groups, there was a stone step on the hillside, the war horses could not jump up, the hideous face of the Hui army held a shield, holding a short spear, hundreds of climbs up the stone steps, as if the gray and black tide was rushing towards the city gate, and three huge crashing logs appeared in the crowd.

Sixty paces, fifty paces on the city still did not respond, this silence gave the Hui soldiers a kind of invisible pressure, and their pace couldn't help but slow down

Thirty paces, the counterattack finally broke out, arrows rained down, stones fell like hail, hundreds of people who rushed to the front fell to the ground with arrows, or were smashed by stones, the Hui people began to waver, retreat, like a receding tide, but soon they were forced to come forward again, the horn blew vigorously, the gray-black wave rushed again, they held large shields, as if formed a black shell, behind them were a large group of archers, shooting dense arrows at the head of the city, covering the attack ahead.

Under the black shell, more than 200 people held a huge bumping log, running towards the city gate, like a black and bright hundred-legged beetle, the arrow rain down, clanging, the lethality has weakened, the boulder fell, smashed out a flesh pit, but immediately closed.

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

"Come again!" A commander shouted with red eyes, and at this moment, dozens of large wooden barrels fell from the city, and the barrels broke on the ground, and the black and pungent fire oil flowed everywhere, and many Hui soldiers were also doused with fire oil.

A rocket rose from the city, drew an elegant arc, shot into the thick oil of fire, the fire suddenly rose to the sky, the flames soared into the sky, the city was already a sea of fire, the Hui soldiers could not retreat, screams, cries suddenly everywhere, everywhere there were fire people running for their lives under the city, spreading their arms and neighing, and soon they were engulfed in flames.

The soldiers behind turned around and fled, and the attack of the Hui people was shaken and retreated again, Wang Siyu saw that the time had come, he waved his hand coldly, and ordered: "Cavalry attack!" ”