At the end of the battle, Li Shimin, under the escort of Luo Shixin, Shan Xiongxin, Niu Jinda, Wu Heimin and other generals, rode through the corpses all over the field, and they entered the city directly through the gaps in the broken city walls. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Just by looking at the ruins of the castle, you can tell how large it was.

The whole city is an irregular square, divided into three parts: the outer city, the inner city and the palace city, which is very similar to the layout of many capital cities in the Central Plains.

The outer wall of this majestic city is four zhang thick, nearly four zhang high, and has a circumference of twelve miles.

The walls were made of rammed earth, each layer of which was up to three inches thick. In order to increase the firmness of the wall, a small amount of adobe bricks were mixed between each layer of rammed earth.

On these walls, there are twelve huge steel gates.

Xuande Gate, Jinfu Gate, Jianyang Gate, Wumen, etc., when the Tang army attacked this city, these twelve gates can be said to have made the Tang army suffer a lot.

The most annoying thing about the Tang army in the entire city is that there are three cities, and there are inner cities inside the outer city.

The inner castle is located in the middle of the outer castle, while Miyagi is located in the northern part of the castle.

Miyagi is also known as Khan's Fort.

The city was large and populous, with more than 3,000 monks in the city alone.

There are also many markets, workshops.

This is a city located in the south of the Tianshan Mountains, on the Mutougou River Delta at the southern foot of the Flame Mountain, just on the Silk Road.

This is the capital city of Gaochang, which is as famous as the ancient city of Loulan, and it is also an important gateway to the Silk Road.

Built 800 years ago, this city has a long history and was first developed in the Western Han Dynasty. In order to strengthen his rule over the countries of the Western Regions, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent the general Li Guangli to Tuntian here and set up Gaochangbi, a unit to manage the place.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, after the remnants of the Northern Liang destroyed the Cheshi Kingdom, Gaochang City quickly developed into an important political, economic and cultural center in the entire Western Regions.

About 100 years ago, Gaochang was founded, and because of its unique geographical location and developed trade, it was the capital here.

Li Shimin looked at the heavy buildings in the city and sighed, "I can't imagine that there is such a big city in this land in the Western Regions. ”

Fang Xuanling told the history of Gaochang Kingdom on the side.

"Your Majesty, the name of Gaochang is named because of the 'high terrain and prosperous people'. 'At the end of the Sixteen Kingdoms, after the collapse of the Cheshi Kingdom, which had occupied this land, Kan Shuang, the leader of an army, occupied the Gaochang region with the help of Rouran, appointed himself as the Taishou, and declared his independence from the rule of Northern Liang. ”

"The remnants of the Later Northern Liang were frustrated and reoccupied Gaochang, and Kan Shuang led the people to flee to Rouran for refuge. More than ten years later, Rouran sent a large army south to conquer Gaochang, killed Qu Wuxi's heir, Fuqu Anzhou, and helped Kan Bozhou, a member of the Kan clan in Gaochang, to become the king of Gaochang. ”

After Kan Bozhou established the "Kan Gaochang", he completely severed the official relations with the Central Plains Dynasty, and took Rouran as his protectorate, and used the "Yongkang" era name of the true Khan of Luobu for a long time. Internally, he developed the local economy and advocated the cultural traditions of the Han people.

With the important geographical location of the Silk Road, Gaochang Kingdom soon developed and became powerful. At this time, Gaochang established contact with the Central Plains, and each Gaochang king accepted the canonization of the Central Plains Dynasty. After Kan's Gaochang, it has experienced four dynasties: Zhang's Gaochang, Ma's Gaochang, and Koji's Gaochang.

Among them, the Koji dynasty ruled Gaochang for the longest time, for more than 100 years. After years of operation, it has finally become a dazzling pearl on the Silk Road, and the most prosperous city and commodity trading place in the west.

The economic prosperity made Gaochang once the political and cultural center of the Western Regions.

Gaochang was the hub connecting the Central Plains, the Western Regions, and Taixi, and merchants from Persia and other places brought alfalfa, grapes, spices, pepper, precious stones, and horses to Gaochang City, and took silk, porcelain, and tea from the Central Plains from here.

"Because of the prosperity of trade, the king of Gaochang also held a large gathering, where merchants from all over the world gathered, bringing gold coins from various countries, speaking different languages, and carrying a variety of goods. Back then, even Emperor Yang of Sui was shocked and came to visit. Later, Yang Guang even married his daughter to the king of Gaochang. ”

However, it was precisely because of the prosperity of trade and the wealth of the treasury that King Gaochang gradually became proud.

After the Sui Rebellion, King Gaochang was no longer satisfied with being a vassal of the Central Plains Dynasty, and after Tongyehu unified the eastern steppe, King Gaochang was even more allied with the Western Turks.

King Gaochang's ambition was very great, that is, to intercept the Silk Road, and in the future, the merchants of the Central Plains would have to pay heavy taxes to him if they wanted to pass through the Silk Road, and even could only sell their goods to them, and they would resell them to the merchants of the Western Regions. Or you can only buy Western Regions and Taixi goods from them.

Li Shimin sent troops to the Western Regions to destroy the Western Turks, and sent people to the king of Gaochang, Lu Wentai, to send troops to coordinate, provide grain and grass, and open the pass road.

But Ko Wentai said to the Tang envoy, "The eagle flies in the sky, crouches in the song, the cat swims in the hall, and the rat only finds its own place, so can't it be evil on its own?" ”

What this means is that depending on how rich the Tang Kingdom is, but as long as I stay here, I can rely on the advantages and national strength of the Gaochang Kingdom to resist the enemy thousands of miles away.

After hearing this, Li Shimin was furious.

He sent someone to send a message to King Gaochang.

"Gaochang soldiers and horses are like frost and snow, and the Han family soldiers and horses are like the sun and the moon. The sun and the moon shine on the frost and snow, looking back and self-elimination. ”

After delivering the letter, Li Shimin waved his troops to attack Gaochang.

Gaochang is indeed rich, and the city of Gaochang is indeed very large, it is a large city with tens of thousands of people, and there are countless business trips every day, and the goods of the East and the West gather here.

They also raised a force of 10,000 soldiers.

There was even an alliance with the Western Turks.

It's just that King Gaochang is still arrogant, and the army of 10,000 people, maybe in the Western Regions, can be unparalleled. But in the eyes of Tang Jun, it is not worth mentioning.

A whole month of siege warfare.

Li Shimin personally led an army of 100,000 troops, and also mobilized Xue Yantuo, Khitan, Xi, Murowei, Xi, Tuyuhun, Dongnu, Subi and other departments, and gathered a total of 200,000 troops.

Attacking day and night, Li Shimin also took out artillery.

No matter how strong the steel gate is, no matter how thick the rammed earth wall is, it can't withstand the 200,000-strong army's day and night attacks, as well as artillery bombardment and explosives blasting.

The city wall of more than ten miles is already full of gaps.

The resistance of the Gaochang people was also tenacious, and even the Kali Khan did not disappoint the Gaochang people and sent 50,000 Western Turkic troops to reinforce them. The two sides fought repeatedly under the city of Gaochang, a prosperous city of Gaochang, and finally hit the city to report the ruins.

Just last night, the Western Turks retreated in the night, and they suffered heavy casualties and were already unable to support themselves. The arrogant King Gaochang finally paid the price for his arrogance and fled away from the capital in disgrace.

Bands of Barbarian Soldiers, armed with swords, walked through the ruins of the city, mending the wounded and cutting off their heads.

There are also groups of soldiers, who are street by street, house by house, searching for the Gaochang people who have not escaped, searching for the booty.

Many places in Gaochang City were still burning, and the air was filled with black smoke.

More and more Gaochang people were driven out, and some were trying to escape, and then they were chased by the tribal warriors with a smile, knocked down, and finally driven together.

"Our harvest is very good, this time we have captured at least 20,000 prisoners, and there is a lot of commercial money." Xue Yantuo's Khan Yinan smiled and reported to Li Shimin.

Murong Fuyun, the Tuyuhun Khan, congratulated the Heavenly Khan loudly.

Li Shimin was in a good mood, and after this battle, the Western Turks were hit hard again, and now they are far west, fleeing to the north of the Tianshan Mountains. As long as the Tang army catches up and fights again, it will be able to completely destroy the Western Turks.

"It's a pity that such a Silk Road town is in ruins." Li Shimin sighed.

"Your Majesty!"

Luo Shixin arrived with a cavalry, "Han Jing is coming, sent by His Royal Highness the Prince, Han Jing has changed." ”

Li Shimin took the letter, opened it and only looked at it a few times, his eyes were dark, his body shook a few times, and he fell from the horse.

"Your Majesty!" Luo Shixin and others hurriedly stepped forward to catch it.

Li Shimin shook his head and clenched his teeth, "Spread my will, immediately convene the generals, and raise the account to discuss the matter." ”