Tibet

Everyone rushed to the top of the city and saw a black line on the snow-white ground from a distance. Guo Xin said anxiously: "Li Dutong, we must hide all the camels to the north as soon as possible!"

The military city was too small, and more than a thousand camels were crowded into Guancheng. A single shot from the opponent's bow and arrow would kill most of the camels. This was the basis for their return to Anxi, and Guo Xin valued it very much.

Li Chenghua took out her clairvoyance and looked in the east and west directions. She soon saw a few small black spots in the snow, both in the east and west directions. These were enemy spies. She shook her head and said, "Now take the camels." It's too late to send him out of the city, it's a sheep entering the tiger's mouth."

Guo Xin also discovered the other party's spies, and he suddenly became worried. Li Chenghua smiled slightly and said, "Maybe we can scare the enemy!"

She immediately turned back to her opponent and ordered: "Prepare the big yellow crossbow and thunder arrows!"

The three hundred inner guard soldiers carried one hundred and fifty large yellow crossbows, and there was exactly one for each of them.

At this time, Qu Afeng, the female captain of the Internal Guard, stepped forward and suggested: "Capital Commander, I humbly recommend lighting another fire!"

Qu Afeng was originally An Jia's deputy. After she suddenly came to her senses and returned to the Tang Dynasty, Li Chenghua appointed her as the captain of the female internal guard camp. This time she followed Li Chenghua to Suiye to investigate.

Seeing that Dutong was a little puzzled, she explained: "Zoroastrianism believes in fire. The army of the Saint Sisters is also called the Army of Light, and they are also devoted to fire. If they are hit hard in the fire, they will think it is Ahura." When a great god gets angry, they will immediately lose their fighting spirit, and the opposite is true. If they win in the fire, their morale will be boosted.”

Li Chenghua thought it was reasonable, so he said to Guo Xin: "Please ask Governor Guo to light a fire on the top of the city immediately."

There was plenty of firewood in the city, and the soldiers immediately lit a bonfire at the top of the city.

The ten thousand camel cavalry are getting closer and closer. The Sogdian army likes to call itself the Army of Light. Their battle flag is a blazing flame.

The main general is called Kang Dingli, and he was originally a general of Kang State, but was poached by the Holy Women's Association with a high salary.

After rigorously interrogating the Tang army's scouts, they learned that 600 to 700 remnants of the Tang army were hiding in Yibo City. Commander Kang Fulai immediately ordered deputy general Kang Dingli to lead an army of 10,000 to annihilate the 600 to 700 remnants of the Tang army.

On the vast snowfield, ten thousand camels were galloping. When they were still five miles away from the military city, a low horn sounded, and the team gradually slowed down their running speed. When they were three miles away from the military city, the army finally stopped. Come down.

The wall of the military city is not high, only two feet. The perimeter of the city wall is only about six miles. It is long from east to west and short from north to south. It is a very standard rectangle.

General Kang Dingli looked at it for a moment, then turned around and ordered: "General Zewa, you can lead 3,000 people to attack the city. The city wall is not high, and you can take a ladder up to the city!"

The Sogdians' approach to city siege was similar to that of the Persians. If the city wall was too high, they would attack the city gates and use big logs to break open the city gates. If the city walls were not high, they would either throw rope ladders to go up the city, or just use human ladders.

Yibo Military City is only two stories high, about six meters high, and can be climbed up with four levels of ladders. Generals with a little experience will choose this option.

Three thousand people rode camels and continued galloping in the snowy field. They had to reach the city before they could get off their camels to attack. Otherwise, they would not be able to get through the thick snow three miles away.

There was a raging fire burning on top of the city, which seemed quite strange to the Sogdians. Fire was their belief and totem. It should be burning on their own position. How could it burn on the other side's city? Could it be that the other party has also converted to Zoroastrianism?

It was Ahura who was still protecting the Tang army.

The three thousand soldiers were very surprised. They ran closer and closer, and gradually came within 500 steps.

On top of the city, Zhan Yannian shouted, "Launch!"

One hundred and fifty thunderbolts flew into the sky, shooting into the galloping camel warriors with a puff of green smoke.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

One hundred and fifty arrows and thunder exploded in the crowd, fire burst out, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and smoke filled the air. Hundreds of people were killed, thousands were injured by shrapnel, and there were screams and wails.

Sogdia had never seen such a powerful firearm. The soldiers behind him were so frightened that they shouted: "Hu Da is angry! Hu Da is angry!"

The remaining more than a thousand people turned their camels and fled. At this time, a second round of arrows was fired and exploded among the wounded soldiers. Many of the soldiers' bodies were blown away. The Sogdian soldiers behind were frightened and looked at the city in horror. Fire on the head.

This kind of fire and thunder that they had never seen before reminded them all of the great god Ahura Maz. The Tang army must have been protected by the great god, so that they suffered the divine punishment of fire and thunder. In the teachings of Zoroastrianism, there is this kind of fire and thunder. The combination of fire and thunder means that the great god is angry and punishes the world.

Seven thousand soldiers retreated one after another, and the general Kang Dingli was also frightened. What he thought of was not that Hu Da was angry, but that the Tang army had such powerful weapons and they were no match for them.

Kang Dingli also lost his fighting spirit and ordered: "Retreat Broken Leaf!"

The seven thousand camel cavalry retreated. The Tang army opened the city gates, fought out of the city, killed the wounded and surviving soldiers, and confiscated strategic items.

The dead soldiers were piled up together, burned and buried deeply. The dead camels and injured camels were all used as food, as well as thousands of bags of dry food and bread.

Three generals in the army were captured and brought back to the city for interrogation to learn the inside story of Suiye's sneak attack.

Li Chenghua was pacing back and forth in the room. At this time, Qu Afeng came and handed her a confession, "Du Tong, this is the confession given by the other party!"

Li Chenghua sat down and took a closer look, and then he roughly understood the whole story.

The cause was the struggle between the Holy Maiden Society and the Illuminati. The Illuminati controlled male believers, while the Holy Maiden Society controlled female believers. The kingship of the nine Sogdian countries was basically related to the Illuminati, not the Holy Maiden Society. However, since Jin Shanling took control of the Holy Maiden Society ten years ago, the Holy Maiden Society began to expand. First, it made a lot of money in the East-West trade, and then pushed the princesses of Shiguo and Bukhara to the throne. The Holy Maiden Society controlled the rich gold and silver and Shiguo and Bukhara.

At this time, the Illuminati had an internal conflict, and the new leader was supported by the Holy Maiden Society. In return, Jin Shanling was promoted to the Holy Maiden of Light. Soon, the new leader died of illness, and the Holy Maiden of Light concurrently served as the leader of the Illuminati. In fact, the Holy Maiden Society annexed the Illuminati.

In order to protect their own interests, the kings of the six countries of Kangguo, Anguo, Shiguo, Miguo, Caoguo, and Heguo secretly formed an alliance against the Holy Maiden Society.

At this time, the Holy Maiden Society began to build an army in order to consolidate its rule. The Six Nations Alliance seized this opportunity and sent a large number of soldiers to join the Holy Maiden Society army in their personal names, and actually controlled the 50,000 troops of the Holy Maiden Society.

These 50,000 troops obeyed the command and dispatch of the Holy Maiden Society on the surface, but in fact they were secretly loyal to the Six Nations Alliance.

But why they attacked Suiye, the confession did not say. The captured general was only a middle-level general. He knew about the Six Nations Alliance when he was drinking with his cousin who was a senior official. He did not know the confidential information of attacking Suiye.

In addition, their army came from Bukhanna and did not stop. They launched a sneak attack on the night they arrived in Suiye. There were a total of 20,000 troops stationed in Suiye.

Li Chenghua handed the confession to Guo Xin and asked, "What does Governor Guo think?"

After reading the report, Guo Xin frowned and said, "The attack on Suiye should be the order of the Six Nations Alliance. This army is stationed in Bukhara. They attacked Suiye, and the Saint Maiden Society should not know about it. The distance is too far, and winter is coming soon, and trade has come to a standstill."

Li Chenghua also stayed in Suiye for several years and knew Bukhara better. She asked, "The king of Bukhara is Alole! How could his sister seize power?"

Guo Xin sighed and said, "After the death of the old king of Bukhara, Murdo, Alole became king. Her sister Adele came back from the Saint Maiden Society. She is a saint and cannot marry for life. Alole felt sorry for his sister, so he made her the general manager of the palace. Later, Alole married the princess of Dongcao. As a wife, how could she know that the princess of Dongcao Kingdom was also a member of the Saint Maiden Society, and colluded with her sister Adele. She was poisoned to death in less than half a year. Alole had no son, and Adele became the queen of Bukhara with the support of the Saint Maiden Society.

Soon, the Shi Kingdom followed suit, the king of Shi Kingdom died suddenly, and the princess of Shi Kingdom became the queen of Shi Kingdom. "

Li Chenghua smiled and said, "Since the 20,000 garrisons were controlled by the Six Kingdoms Alliance, why didn't they launch a coup to overthrow the queens of Bukhara and Shi Kingdom and restore the orthodoxy? There are also troops attacking Suiye, how could the queen of Bukhara not know?"

Guo Xin smiled bitterly and said, "There may be deeper hidden secrets in this, I don't know."

Li Chenghua nodded, at least she could send the first report to the emperor.