Thousands of miles to the Rong machine,

Guan Shan Du Ruofei,

Shuoqi Chuan Jin Ji,

Ironclad in cold light.

A cavalry team of more than 1,000 people of the Tang Army galloped in the lofty mountains and mountains of Broken Leaves, this is the Tang Army that rushed thousands of miles to attack the city of Ashibula, they bypassed the trade route of the Broken Leaf River Valley, from the Gobi Desert in the north to the reckless mountains of Qianquan Mountain, day and night, walked for six days, late at night, the Tang army finally arrived at a valley about 50 miles away from the city of Ashibula.

The valley is more than ten miles long, it is an abandoned trade road, along the way you can occasionally see some old discarded objects, the valley is surrounded by bare mountain rocks, there is no green on the bare ground, the huge black mountain shadow is projected on the ground, the shape is like a majestic giant monster.

The night breeze was very cold, Tang Jun rested against the rock wall, and took a nap with his eyes closed, but Shi Yang couldn't sleep, he kept standing up and listening to the movement in front of him, the spies he sent should be back, why is there no news until now?

Shi Yang was the de facto commander of the operation, and he won the trust of Li Tianchen with his quick response, resolute style, and brutal methods, and stood out among dozens of candidates to accept this difficult and challenging task: to capture the city of Ashi Burai and hold it, making it another offensive fulcrum that echoes with Broken Leaves.

At this time, a young general with thick lips walked up to Shi Yang and sat down, and handed over the kettle in his hand with a smile, "Captain Shi, take a rest!" ”

His name is Lai Jinlin, and he is also a school captain, in his twenties, but he has been in the army for six years. Five years ago, he participated in the Battle of Anxi, he had been to Ashbulai City many times when he was a teenager, and he was quite familiar with the journey, so he served as a deputy general in this attack on Ashburai City, Shi Yang knew that it was useless to be in a hurry, so he nodded slightly, took the kettle and sat down side by side with him.

When Lai Jinlin saw him drink a few sips of water, he asked him with a smile, "Where is Captain Shi from?" Are your parents okay at home? ”

"I am from Hedong, and my parents died in the Central Plains Rebellion. My sister and I are the only ones who depend on each other. Speaking of this, Shi Yang suddenly remembered his sister Bailing. I don't know how she is doing with her adoptive mother? Do you want to think about yourself.

At that time, Pingping wanted to accept Bailing as his adopted daughter, but Shi Yang resolutely refused to agree at first, but Pei Ying said it for a long time, and he later considered that he was going to join the army. His sister will have no one to take care of, so he reluctantly agreed, and he suddenly remembered his sister's lonely figure, and unconsciously fell into a daze.

"Captain Shi! Captain Shi! Lai Jinlin called him a few times in a row, Shi Yang came back to his senses, he smiled apologetically, and asked: "I heard that Captain Lai came to Ashi Bulai City many times when he was a teenager, why is this?" ”

"My father used to work for a Persian caravan, and my mother died young. I had no one to take care of me, so my father took me with him. At that time, it was on the northern route, and the city of Ashi Burai was an important supply depot for the caravan, and it had to stop there every time. Lai Jinlin pointed to this canyon and said: "This road was originally very busy, and it was a shortcut to Huifu, but since the Tang army occupied Broken Leaves, the merchants no longer went here, but went along the Pearl River to Broken Leaves to transit, and looked for trade opportunities. ”

"What does Ashburai City look like?" Shi Yang asked again.

"Ashbulai City was originally just a small town, and later it was discovered by the Tang Army. And there he repaired the wall. In fact, it is a sturdy castle with a cliff in its back. The only canyon that can pass through the baggage vehicles in Qianquan Mountain is very important, and it can accommodate 3,000 garrisons, and there are more than 300 Turkic families living in it. ”

Shi Yang nodded, he slowly leaned against the stone wall, stretched his legs long, and yawned tiredly, Lai Jinlin smiled when he saw it: "Captain Shi might as well sleep for a while, I'll call you again if there is a situation." ”

"No, I can't sleep either, and it's time for the scouts to come back." Shi Yang said, if he felt something in his heart, he lay on the ground and listened to the movement in the distance, suddenly, he stood up, jumped on a big rock, looked carefully for a moment, and immediately turned around and shouted: "Everyone pay attention, there is movement ahead." ”

The Tang soldiers stood up one after another, the crossbow arrows were wound, the horizontal knives were unsheathed, and they watched nervously at the movement ahead, and for a moment, the sound of the war horses became clearer and clearer, and the two black shadows approached far away, and it was the soldiers who went to Ashi Bulai City to investigate the situation returned.

At this time, there were several cries of night owls from the top of the mountain, which was the news from the sentry soldiers, and there was no abnormal situation around, so the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and returned to sit down one after another.

The two scouts were all Broken Leaf Land Raiders, dressed as merchants to go to Ashbulai City to inquire about the situation, they turned over and dismounted, ran to Shi Yang's side, half-knelt and saluted: "Report to the captain, we have obtained the preliminary information of Ashbulai City, Ashbulai City and the west of the city of Julan were transferred south to Bahana half a month ago, now there are about 600 defenders in the city, a small number of them are big cannibals, most of them are local Turks, but the city is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the guards are tight, and the city gate is also cast with pig iron, Gao Gao was built on a narrow stone staircase, unable to use the striking wood, and the only way was to disguise himself as a merchant and cross the city and wait for an opportunity to seize the city gates. ”

Lai Jinlin next to him also said: "They are right, Ashi Bulai City is a male fortress, built according to the mountain, if there is no large siege weapon, it is extremely difficult to capture, I also recommend using outwitting." ”

It was one of their plans to disguise themselves as merchants to seize the city, for which they all brought the costume of the Turgish, there were no camels, and horses could be used to carry goods, and the short-distance merchants often used horses to carry goods, although he also brought more than 20 boxes of gunpowder, but before leaving, General Li repeatedly told him not to use gunpowder unless he was forced to do so.

Shi Yang pondered for a moment, then nodded slowly: "Okay!" We used Joe to disguise himself as a caravan to outwit the city of Ashburai. ”

Ashibulai City is located in the southwest of Qianquan Mountain (today's Kyrgyz Mountain), holding the west exit of the famous Qianquan Ancient Road, although there are many mountain passes in Qianquan Mountain, but most of them are rugged, or over the mountains, or rocky rivers, which can really transport large baggage teams through the mountains on flat roads. ^^^^ there is only the Qianquan Ancient Road, so Ashi Bulai City is also the only way for caravans.

However, in recent years, there have been fewer and fewer caravans crossing the border here, and most of them have been diverted to the southern region of Bahanna to break leaves, and it is rare to see a caravan for a few days, which makes many local Turks who have changed to business have to return to their old business and make a living by herding.

At noon that day, several soldiers defending the city were pacing back and forth on the top of the city in boredom, there were originally 2,600 defenders here, but the situation in Broken Leaf had been tense recently. The governor of Samarkand, Agush, transferred 2,000 of his troops south to the city of Thirsty Sai in the land of Bakhana, where he prepared to launch the Battle of Broken Leaves. The tension in Bakhana in the south contrasted sharply with the calm of Ashbulai in the north, but as the Tang army began to attack the Qarluqs, the defenders of Ashbulai were more or less on guard, and the Great Iron Gate was closed all day. The soldiers were also divided into three squads and patrolled the city day and night.

Suddenly, several soldiers ran to the city wall, and looked into the distance, and they saw a caravan coming from afar, about two or three hundred Turkish merchants, leading more than five hundred horses, and the horses were loaded with goods, which was the first large caravan in three days. Several soldiers were surprised and delighted, and the crossing of a large caravan meant that a large amount of taxes had been credited to their accounts. As they were to replenish food and water in the city, one soldier hurried down the city to report while the other soldiers rushed home to inform their families that they were ready to grab business.

Needless to say, this army was the Tang army disguised as a caravan, and there were more than 100 Turks in the Tang army, so they walked in front, and another 200 of the strongest Tang soldiers were selected to wear the robes of the Turks and follow behind, wearing the wide-brimmed hoods unique to the Turks and the Shi, and the rest of the Tang army was hidden in the valley road outside the three miles. Waiting for news from the ground ahead.

Shi Yang is also in the team. Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the city gate, he whispered, "Everyone hide your weapons." Don't show it! ”

At this time, there were already many soldiers on the top of the city, and an officer shouted loudly at the top of the city: "Stop! ”

The procession stopped, and a burly Turkish stepped forward and replied, "We are from the town of Atumu to buy and sell goods in Shiguo, and we ask the general to let us go." ^^, UC eBook, First Release ^^"

The big cannibal above looked at it for a long time, and didn't see any flaws, so he waved his hand and ordered the soldiers to go out of the city to check, and the heavy iron gate of Ashi Bulai City creaked open, but only one crack was opened, and three Turkic soldiers ran out of the crack to check the goods and verify the documents.

The three soldiers ran down the stone steps, looked left and right, looking for the merchant who led the team, this was their only chance to make a fortune, the tax was basically nothing to do with them, only extorted a sum of money when inspecting the goods, several Turkish people had been taught by Lai Jinlin in advance, they secretly made a gesture, indicating that the money was given here, the three Turkic soldiers were overjoyed, and suddenly mixed into the crowd of Turkish, and in the case that they could not see it in the city, each of them quietly collected twenty large food gold coins, He also pretended to look at the paperwork and some so-called goods, that is, Tang Jun took off his washed leather boots and the like.

The three of them turned back to the city and shouted, "General, everything is normal, the merchants from the town of Atumu have reported the value of 15,000 gold coins. ”

Fifteen thousand gold coins is 1,500 gold coins according to the tax rate of the ten taxes of the Great Food, plus the usual premium, this tax will earn at least 2,000 gold coins, and the Great Food Officer at the head of the city can't close his mouth, and hurriedly waved his hand and ordered: "Open the door and let them in!" ”

The gate finally opened with a bang, and the two soldiers went back to deliver the paperwork first, while the other soldier stood aside with a smile, watching the caravan enter the city, and gradually, his face began to show a surprised expression, the front is a Tuqi Shi people, how come the people behind are all Tang people's faces, what is going on?

Shi Yang in the middle of the team stared at him tightly, at this time, the Tang army who was walking in the front was still more than twenty steps away from the city gate, he saw that the soldier was about to reprimand, so he immediately took out a money bag and shook it at him, the money bag made a pleasant sound of gold coins colliding, he handed the money bag to him, the soldier was stunned, he pointed to himself, meaning that this money bag was given to him?

Shi Yang smiled and nodded, squeezed to his side, and stuffed the money bag to him, the soldier's hand sank, the money bag almost landed, he took the money bag in a daze, suddenly seemed to think of something, instinctively looked at the city, just when he turned his head, a sharp dagger against his waist, "Don't make a sound, I will kill you if I make a sound!" ”

The Turkic soldier was so frightened that he did not dare to move, he held the money bag in his hand. Walking forward mechanically with Tang Jun under his feet, Shi Yang held his shoulder with one hand, with a smile on his face, from a distance, the two of them seemed to be talking about something very intimately.

The team slowly entered the city cave, which is a typical Tang city structure, the city cave is long and deep, and the light is dim, waiting for Shi Yang to walk out of the city gate. The Turkic soldier beside him was gone, and he put away the bloody dagger with a blank face. Squinting at the city, they were still in the urn, and there was a gate in front of them, surrounded by high straight walls. The wall was full of soldiers with short spears, the Tang army did not panic, they all wore wide hats, their faces could not be seen from above, and they walked into the gate of the city of Wengcheng, and there were many Turks in the city in front of them, they were smiling and enthusiastic, and they were the shopkeepers who rushed to pull business after hearing the news.

At this moment, someone suddenly yelled. "Which of you is the head?"

I saw a big food officer rushing down from the city, standing on the steps and holding up their tax returns, and said angrily: "You are lying. Obviously there are 30,000 gold coins worth of goods, but only 15,000 are reported, are you trying to evade taxes? ”

Shi Yang smiled coldly and said in a high voice in Chinese: "I am the head!" ”

The Great Food Officer was stunned for a moment, followed the prestige, but was suddenly surprised, he did not see anyone, but saw a cold steel crossbow, and a black dot from small to large, and in an instant, it came to his eyes. A flash of cold light. It's a crossbow bolt! Only halfway through his thoughts, he felt a sharp pain between his brows. When it gets dark, I don't know anything.

The corpse of the big food officer fell down from the steps, an arrow pierced the brain, and there was not even a scream, this was the signal to move, three hundred Tang soldiers shouted, and ripped off their robes one after another, revealing a suit of armor inside, they pulled out the horizontal knife at their waists, as if chopping waves and killing the big food army on both sides, the instantaneous change made the big food army stunned, and after being cut down more than a dozen people in a row, they reacted, shouting and scolding loudly and raising their knives to fight with the Tang army, and the city wall also shouted and scolded, More than 100 short spears were stabbed down from the city without distinction between the enemy and us, and more than a dozen Tang soldiers and the Great Food Army were stabbed one after another, screaming everywhere, and several war horses were also stabbed by short spears, galloping wildly in the city, knocking over several Turkic merchants in a row.

At this time, a short spear stabbed at Shi Yang like lightning, he rolled, the short spear passed by, straight into the ground, the tail pole trembled non-stop, Shi Yang was furious, raised his hand is an arrow, a big food soldier at the head of the city fell with an arrow, dragging a long scream.

"Don't panic, everyone, take out your shields and crossbow arrows, and go up to the city."

The captain's words reminded everyone, everyone turned around and took out the round shield and crossbow arrows from the bag of the war horse, and immediately divided the troops into two ways, one side of the people raised their shields and rushed to the head of the city, while the other way of soldiers released arrows to the head of the city, the Tang army's crossbow arrows began to exert power, more than a dozen of the big food soldiers who stood on the outer edge of the city and threw short spears down one after another fell off the city with arrows, and the pressure of the Tang army attacking the head of the city suddenly decreased, and they rushed to the head of the city with all their might, and nearly 300 more than 300 food soldiers in the city also rushed up and fought with the Tang army.

At this time, the Tang army in ambush in the distance has already received the news of the war, under the leadership of Lai Jinlin, galloping to this side, the yellow dust is rolling, the sound of hooves is shaking the sky, the sound of the Tang army's stirring horse hooves has broken the gall of the big cannibal, the big food soldiers on the city head are desperately shaking the wheel, and the city gate begins to slowly close.

Shi Yang saw that the situation was critical, he threw away the steel crossbow, took a bow, pulled the bow like a full moon, arrow after arrow, the arrow shot at the closed big food army like a meteor catching the moon, he shot thirteen arrows in one breath, the arrows were not missing, the thirteen big food soldiers were all over the place, and the rollers that controlled the outer city gate were empty, and there was no big food army.

Shi Yang simply hid behind the battlements, using the cover of the battlements to cast cold arrows, his archery is called a magic skill, every arrow shot out of a big food army screamed and fell, when more than 700 Tang army reinforcements rushed into the outer city gate, he had already shot two pots of arrows, sixty big food soldiers died on the spot, the Tang army momentum was high, the big food army was defeated and retreated, many people saw that the Tang army's backup had entered the city, knew that the general trend had gone, and quickly shook open the other side of the city gate, and ran away in panic.

This battle took only one hour, 600 Dashi defenders except for more than 80 people who fled from the other side, the rest were all annihilated by the Tang army, Ashi Bulai City officially changed hands, the city head was planted with the Tang Dynasty dragon flag, hunting and flying in the strong west wind, since then, the Tang Dynasty has opened the gate to attack the nine kingdoms of Zhaowu from the north.

In July of the fifth year of Dazhi, the Tang army also launched the final attack in the demon dragon city, 20,000 Gelulu troops who were besieged for nearly a month were panicked all day, and were defeated by the Tang army with a blow, 20,000 Gelulu troops died or surrendered, Ye Hu Duotu also died in the chaos, the Tang army occupied the demon dragon city again, and drove the remnants of more than 1,000 Sogdians out of the demon dragon city, the three cities of the demon dragon city, Yili city, and Gongyue City officially became the three strongholds of the Tang Dynasty to control the Yili River valley, and the last piece of land of the Geluq people was also occupied by the Tang army, This means that the Tang Dynasty has completed the first step of the Western Regions strategy, Beiting, Anxi, and Broken Leaves, the three places are finally connected as one, and at the same time, as Ashi Bulai City falls into the hands of the Tang Army, the Tang Army has also formed a defensive and offensive trend west of the Green Ridge.

In August, the Great Cannibals began a comprehensive deployment, with the two strong brigades of Khorasan as the core main force, and the 50,000 Turkic slave armies deployed in Bukhara and Samarkand as the aile, and at the same time transferred nearly 100,000 local troops from Kang, Shi, Mi, He, Shiguo and other countries as support, and nearly 200,000 troops went to Bakhana.

The Battle of Broken Leaves was about to begin in September, but the pre-dinner aperitif had already been served, and on August 16, an army of 20,000 Turkic slaves marched from Talas to the city of Ashbula, where they wanted to retake the fortified fortress in the north. (Lao Gao pleads for commuter pass support!) ）