Gaochang is an ancient city that has a long history and was not built by the Hu people.

In the first year of the Western Han Dynasty, in order to strengthen the control of the Western Regions, Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty built a barrier here, settled soldiers and civilians, and defended the Tuntian.

This place leads to Yiwu in the east, the rear of the Che Division in the north, passes through the Jiaohe River to Yanqi and Qiuzi, and reaches Loulan in the south, and the land is Guangping and fertile, and finally forms the military important place of gathering soldiers and horses - Gaochangbi.

The word Gaochang is taken from the meaning of "the terrain is high and open, and the people are prosperous", which is all Chinese.

Gaochang City has undergone changes such as Gaochang Wall, Gaochang County, Gaochang Kingdom, and Xizhou of the Tang Dynasty, until today's Gaochang Uighurs.

As the center of the Western Regions, since the Qin and Han dynasties, there have been a mixture of ethnic groups, such as the Xiongnu, Turkic, Qiang, Tubo, Uighur, Khitan, Tatar, etc., all of which have lived here, and many of them have multiplied here for thousands of years.

There are also a large number of Han people here, after all, when the city was built for Han rule, many soldiers left descendants, and there was a large-scale migration of Han people from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms.

At that time, the north was plunged into endless wars, and more than 10,000 Han families in the Hexi Corridor and Guanzhong Plain areas migrated to the Gaochang area little by little to escape the war, more than 10,000 households, not more than 10,000 people.

In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty, the king of Gaochang, Lu Wentai, formed an alliance with the Western Turkic Yibilu Khan, cut off the Silk Road, attacked the Tang Dynasty vassal Yiwu, and detained the merchants and envoys of the Western Regions who went to the Tang Dynasty through Gaochang.

Subsequently, Taizong sent Shangshu Hou Junji to lead an army of 100,000 to destroy the Gaochang Kingdom of the Koji clan, recovering three counties, five counties, and twenty-two cities, and the Gaochang region was reincorporated into the jurisdiction of the Central Plains Dynasty, opening up the channel between the Tang Dynasty and Central and Western Asia.

Then the Tang Dynasty placed Xichang Prefecture here, and later renamed Xizhou, which is also the origin of the name of the Xizhou Uighurs, Xizhou Prefecture border 895 miles from east to west, 486 miles from north to south, under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate, the state is located in Gaochang.

Subsequently, Xichang Prefecture implemented the same governance as the Central Plains, which made the local economy and culture enter a period of high prosperity, and the city was further expanded, becoming an important gateway from the Central Plains to the Western Regions, connecting the Central Plains with Central Asia, West Asia and Europa.

In the seventh year of Tang Xiantong, the nomadic Uighur leader of the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains, Fu Gujun, took advantage of the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty to lead his troops to capture Gaochang City, and the following year he took Gaochang City as the capital and established the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom.

At this moment, Zhao Ta's soldiers are only thirty miles away from Gaochang, and they report that the four gates of the city are closed, the city head is heavily fortified, the swords and guns are flashing, the flags are fluttering, and they look precautionary.

Zhao Ta smiled playfully, Yelu Dashi brought 15,000 soldiers over, Brother Bile opened the city gate and surrendered, his own 30,000 troops and horses, and went down to the two cities of Yizhou and Jiaohe, the other party did not surrender, but also made a resistance appearance, this is ...... Look at him?

He looked at Liyanazha: "I think of the Uighurs today, I only know Liao, but I don't know the Han and Song dynasties!" ”

Liyanaza glanced at him, didn't make a sound, and Xiao Zhao in front of the horse said, "Daddy, do you want to attack the city?" ”

Zhao Ta said: "Your grandfather doesn't open the city gate, and his daughter doesn't plan to let him in when she comes back, and he regards us as enemies, so he has no choice but to ...... Break into the city! ”

After a while, the army can already see Gaochang City, only to see the real big city, longer and wider than Xining, but visible to the naked eye, compared with the Central Plains big city is low, and not all brick city walls, but sand and gravel soil mixed with brick masonry, in terms of the degree of solidity, far less than Xining Prefecture.

The buildings in the Western Regions use less bricks, and some are mixed with stones, and the bad ones are directly soil and sand.

This is because not all soil is suitable for burning bricks, especially sandy soil can not burn bricks, some low-clay soil, even if the bricks are burned, it is not strong, and it is reluctant to build some flat houses.

According to the current firing technology, as well as the characteristics of many landforms in the Western Regions, it is impossible to burn here on a large scale, and it is unrealistic to transport it from other places, so the big cities are mixed with bricks and stones, and there are not enough bricks, stones to make up, stones to make up, and sand to make up.

Zhao Ta ordered the army and horses to stop and rest in place, but he had no intention of camping, and he was turned away from the city no matter what camp he set up, and he must be captured today, otherwise how could he save the face of the Great Light King?

More than half an hour later, Zhao Ta ordered to start the siege of the city, without using cloud ladders and the like, bed crossbows, eight-bull crossbows, flying guns, catapults, and catapults, and directly bombarded them.

Gaochang City has been built since it was built, although it has also experienced a lot of wars, but it has never encountered such a fierce attack, the Great Song Dynasty before the dynasty did not have such a thing as a bed crossbow and flying cannon, only catapults, how can the city wall withstand such a blow at this moment?

The Uighur soldiers at the head of the city were so frightened that some of them forgot to dodge and were immediately broken into pieces of pulp.

Some of the generals who originally commanded and defended the city were also dumbfounded, where had they seen this kind of scene, they had been at war with the Qarakhanid in the west for decades, or fought some small tribes in the south, and had never fought with the east at all, in the face of Liao's direct dependence and refuge, and in the face of Western Xia, they could endure it, spending money to buy peace, although they knew that the east was strong, but they were imaginary, and they didn't know the combat power of the Great Song Dynasty.

The generals in the city only came back to their senses at this moment, this is the destruction of the Western Xia army, the destruction of the party, how cruel is that? Yizhou and Jiaohe have been laid again, the military newspaper said, but for a few hours, it seems that it is not a lie, so terrifying, who can resist it? Gaochang City is bound to be lost!

Just when the generals and soldiers in the city were panicked and at a loss, they heard a loud "boom", and half of the city wall actually collapsed.

Originally, when he fought Yizhou and Jiaohe, Li Yanxian didn't use such a strong attack force, but now he is full of firepower.

Gaochang is the capital of the Uighurs, and it must be taken quickly in order to give the other party the greatest deterrent, and Gaochang would not surrender, which made Li Yanxian annoyed, he saw that Zhao Ta was a little unhappy, so he put all the equipment in front of him, and directly came a round of fierce blows.

Zhao Ta looked at the collapsed city wall, shook his head and said, "Yelang is arrogant, but that's it!" ”

At this time, Li Yanxian began to command the crossbowmen to patrol over, and a round of arrows rained down as if they didn't need money, which was even denser than raindrops, and a large area of the city had already run empty.

Gaochang City has been in chaos at the moment, the city is divided into three layers, the outer city and the inner city and the palace city, the palace city is also called the Khan Fort, the main hall in front of the Khan Fort is deliberating, Biler Brother is like an ant on a hot pot, walking back and forth in front of the throne non-stop.

The ministers did not speak, all of them were frightened and frightened.

"What to do! Let's talk about what to do! "Bileco is tall, but because of his perennial addiction to wine, his face is pale, and he looks a little out of strength.

Ministers, look at me, I look at you, what is there to think, even if several princes also hang their heads, hide to the side, and send Liyanaza to the East Qarakhanibhan's idea, several of them also have a share, they are afraid that Liyanazar will come back to liquidate them, but at this moment there is no other way to think of it.

At this moment, a general staggered in outside, and as soon as he entered the temple gate, he shouted: "Khan, Khan, no, the city wall has collapsed......"

"Huh?" Bilge took a few quick steps forward, reached out and grabbed the general's collar, "What did you say, what collapsed?" ”

The general hurriedly described the previous crossbow siege scene, and then wailed: "Khan, the Song army is powerful, I have never seen it, continue to do it, I am afraid that the entire city wall will not be able to protect, and when the time comes, the city will be broken!" ”

Hearing this, Brother Biler loosened the collar of the general's shirt and took a few steps back: "Why don't you hurry up and send troops to catch up, send troops to catch up......"

Outside the city, as the rain of arrows continued to be thrown, Li Yanxian asked people to hit the gate of Gaochang, and there was no Uighur army on this side of the city to defend it, so there was no need to completely knock down the city wall and use this place to enter the city.

The Gaochang city gate is not as strong as the Central Plains, and there are no soldiers above to prevent it, and the soldiers below are concentrated on impacting, and it didn't take long to knock the city gate open.

Seeing that the city gate was open, Li Yanxian gave an order, and the cavalry charged forward and went straight to the city to kill.

There is no such thing as a jack gate in Gaochang City, but there is still a door inside, but at this moment, the outer door has been broken, how can the inner door be blocked, three times five divided by two, it will also be smashed.

When the army entered the outer city, they were confronted with a group of Uighur cavalry, and they were colliding with Ruda to lead the team, and they scattered the Uighur soldiers with a direct charge.

After all, the Western Xia had the land west of the river to support people, and the Uighurs had good land on this side, and the deserts were intertwined, and there were oasis lands except for a few large cities, and most of the places were deserts or hard soil that could not be cultivated.

When the Uighur Empire was strong, it could be five or six hundred thousand, but the Uighur Empire collapsed for a long time, and the number of people on the eastern and western Karakhanid side was more than that of the Western Uighurs, and the number of soldiers on the Uighur side of Xizhou was only 100,000 at most, and that was still in the late Tang Dynasty, and now there are only 70,000 or 80,000.

These 70,000 or 80,000 are not all strong, both old and weak, and the part of the loss on the Wuchicheng side of the border with the Eastern Qarakhanid is distributed in some cities, and there are only 20,000 or 30,000 on the Gaochang side.

Really thinking about it, this is not as many people as Zhao Ta brought, originally no matter the armor and weapons, the combat power of the war horse, etc., is far inferior, but the number of people is not much, there is no way to fight at all, and the defeat is like a mountain.

There is a city wall between the outer city and the inner city of Gaochang, and there is also a city gate, but the outside is not strong, and the inner city is even worse, I don't know how much, but it was also broken in a moment.

The Uighur soldiers guarding the inner city immediately rushed forward, and the cavalry and infantry were all there, but they were also forbidden to fight like paper ties, and in a short time they were slaughtered everywhere, and blood flowed down the stream.

Zhao Ta sent part of the army to suppress the city, and the rest of the army went straight to the palace and surrounded the Khan Fort.

This time, the Khan's Fort in the palace city was built in the form of a half-city and half-fort, with a city wall outside, and all kinds of buildings inside were in the shape of a round castle.

This round fortress is not a castle like Europa, but a domed house, like a tall and round defensive castle like Europa, which the Uighurs could not build at the moment, on the one hand, without those bricks to build, and on the other hand, because of the topography, it is difficult to build so high.

So this Khan Fort is actually a domed house.

After the army surrounded it, he didn't attack immediately, and Zhao Ta looked at Liyan Nazha: "How do you think the princess should act?" ”

Liyanaza's lips trembled, and she said, "Why hasn't Father Khan come out ......?"

What she was going to say meant was that it was all in such a situation, why didn't Bilgohan come out and surrender.

According to her understanding of her father, although she will be stiff for some reason, but when the mountains and rivers are exhausted, she will never stand up again, she will not care about any face, and she will come out and surrender ten out of ten, but why hasn't she said it at this moment?

Before she could finish her complete words, she suddenly heard a loud call from inside the Khan's fort: "Stay in the heavenly army, live in the heavenly army, and the sinner will come out to ask for the guilt immediately." ”

Hearing this, Zhao Tan glanced at Liyan Nazha, who looked away with her eyes and said in a low voice, "It's my father Khan." ”

Zhao Tan nodded, there was no big surprise, if Brother Bile really had such an unyielding backbone, he would not agree to give Liyanaza to Dongkhahan, since he could do that kind of thing, how could he let go of the last opportunity to beg for mercy at this moment?

Then I listened to all kinds of musical instruments playing in the gate of the palace city, and it was strange and good, Zhao Ta didn't understand it in his heart and looked at Liyan Nazha again, Liyan Nazha whispered: "It's a song to surrender." ”

"Oh......" Zhao Ta touched his chin, and there were quite a lot of tricks.

At this moment, the two gates of the palace slowly opened, and a large group of people came out, led by a man of fifty or sixty years old, unarmoured and dressed in traditional Uighur clothes, but born with a dignified appearance, and must have been a handsome figure in his youth.

Seeing that his face was full of smiles, he first swept his gaze, peeked at Liyanazha, and then lowered his head at Zhao Ta.

"Venerable Heavenly God General, His Royal Highness the King of Light, the criminal minister Bilge greets him late, and I hope that His Highness will forgive your sins."

Zhao Ta narrowed his eyes when he heard this, didn't he want to ask for surrender? How did this turn into a greeting? It's clever and fickle enough.

He looked at Liyanazha, Liyanaza was expressionless, he thought for a few breaths, and coughed lightly: "Princess, it's not good to call King Khan like this, right?" ”

Liyan Nazha looked at Brother Biler, feeling angry, but she couldn't bear it, after all, it was her father, at this moment Zhao Ta opened her mouth and immediately jumped off the horse.

At this time, he saw that Bilge rubbed his eyes violently, revealing a surprised expression: "Isn't this my favorite Marika?" Why are you here, where did you run away the other day, so that Atta has been worried. ”

Marika means princess in Uighur language, and Atta means father.

Hearing this, Liyanaza immediately tightened her eyebrows, and her face was a little unsightly.

Zhao Ta blinked on the horse, and when he saw that Brother Bile raised his head at this time, his face was both surprised and respectful: "Could it be that the gods will be, they will be...... Marika's Jerim? How can the sinner minister be able to do it, how can Marika be the god of heaven and will be Jerimu. ”

Yarimu means husband in Uighur language.

Zhao Ta looked at Liyan Nazha when he heard this, and saw that Liyanazha's face darkened, and he couldn't help laughing: "Okay, okay, let's enter the fort!" ”

(End of chapter)