Tibet

Two days later, the Tang army occupied Qianquan City, which was the second largest city in the Shi Kingdom. However, all the people in the city were taken away by the Sabah army. The food and property in the city were also looted, leaving an empty city.

At this time, news came from Juzhanti that Juzhanti had been occupied by Li Fei Yuanli, and the 15,000-man army was not found along the way.

This was the first time that the Tang army made a misjudgment. Bai Xiaode believed that this army would definitely go south to Juzhanti, because Juzhanti was an important passage to Dashi and its strategic location was extremely important.

Bai Xiaode arranged for Li Fei Yuanli to occupy Jiuzhanti first. When the army went south, they attacked from the north and south and wiped out the 15,000 troops. This was the main culprit of the sudden attack on Suiye.

Unexpectedly, this army did not go to fight together in the end, causing Bai Xiaode's deployment to fail.

In the big tent, Li Chenghua looked at the sand table for a long time. She pointed to the Zhenzhu River: "This army must have gone west along the Zhenzhu River. Their goal should be Anguo. As far as I know, the leader of the army, Sabah, was killed by the king of Anguo. To drive out Bukhara, Sabah must have hated Anguo very much. He had no way to take revenge before, but now he has 15,000 troops, enough to defeat the Anguo army. They must have gone to Bukhara. "

Bai Xiaode said bitterly: "He's really taken advantage of!"

Li Chenghua smiled and shook his head, "General Bai did not stop at Shiguo. As long as Shiguo is taken, there will be chaos in Sogdia. The lurking army of Dashi will take the opportunity to raise troops. With this Anguo hatred army, it will be enough for them." Drinking a pot just gives us the opportunity to send troops. "

Bai Xiaode nodded, "Then follow the second plan and continue to attack the Shi Kingdom to the west!"

The Qianquan Mountain in the Hezhong area is a treasure mountain, which is today's Kyrgyz Mountains. It is rich in gold and silver. The Qianquan Mountain Range lies across the Shi Kingdom and the Bakhna Kingdom. The Shi Kingdom mainly produces silver, and the Bakhna Kingdom is rich in gold. The Hezhong area was famous in the Middle Ages. It is the capital of gold and silver, and 80% of the gold and silver in the Hezhong area is produced in Shiguo and Bahanna, and part of the silver is produced in Juzhanti.

Gold and silver from the Silk Road have always been an important source of finance for the Tang Dynasty. In the final analysis, the Battle of Talos was a battle between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi for the gold and silver in Central Asia.

The Tang army's western expedition this time was also to occupy the gold and silver producing areas. The Sogdians who lost their gold and silver producing areas would not fall. They would continue to open up markets westward, earn European gold and silver, and move eastwards. Buy silk and porcelain and the Silk Road will go further.

Three days later, the Tang army arrived at Tuozhi City. The Shi Kingdom was also controlled by the Saintess Society. The Queen of the Shi Kingdom was called Alian. She was an elder and was already sixty years old this year. She was the sister of King Bahan Namodo and was the queen of Shi Kingdom at that time. The mother of the king's prince Shi Kun, her youngest son Chebi Shi died of illness a few years after he became king. With only a three-year-old prince, A Lian became the queen of the prison country and was extremely powerful. Later she simply abandoned her. She lost her grandson and became the queen herself.

Bukhanna Adele imitated her and became a queen.

However, the Shi Kingdom suffered heavy losses in the attack on Bakhna and the subsequent Battle of Talas. It only had 2,000 troops left. Its military strength has not recovered to this day. The country's military strength is less than 10,000, which is the entire Sogdia. The country with the smallest military strength in the region.

If it weren't for the full support of the Saintess Society, Shi Country would have been ravaged by countless countries.

In addition, there is another very important reason, that is, Tuozhi City, the capital of the Stone Kingdom, is extremely difficult to attack. It is like Minas Tirith, the capital of Gondor Kingdom in "The Lord of the Rings". It is built on the mountain and has strong walls. It is easy to attack It is difficult to defend and attack. Even if there are 10,000 troops, they can still withstand the attack of tens of thousands of troops. Otherwise, Tuozhi City is known as the Silver City, and it would have been looted by Sabah's 20,000 troops.

Tuozhi City is known as the City of Silver, with five million taels of silver piled in its warehouses, including the newly built Saintess Temple behind the palace, all built with silver.

There are also one hundred large trebuchets at the top of Tuozhi City. The atlas brought back by Shi Kun from the Tang Dynasty allowed the craftsmen of the Shi Kingdom to learn papermaking and various military equipment.

The Tang army set up camp three miles east of Tuozhi City. At this time, Xi Wanli came forward to ask for orders: "I would like to lead 10,000 cavalry to test the attack and attack the city gate with exploding arrows. Please give permission from the general!"

Bai Xiaode nodded, "Agree to attack!"

Xi Wanli immediately led 10,000 cavalry in formation and rushed towards the city. Bai Xiaode ordered Huben General Cao Lingzhong to also lead 10,000 cavalry to support him. Once the city gate was breached, they rushed in directly.

The 10,000-strong army marching thousands of miles away gradually approached the city. Suddenly, drums sounded loudly on top of the city, and hundreds of huge fireballs hit the heads of the Tang Army's cavalry. The Tang Army's cavalry dodged one after another. After the fireballs landed, a raging fire suddenly ignited.

Xi Wanli was surprised. Isn't this Tang Jun's kerosene bomb? There was a clay pot of kerosene inside, wrapped in wheat straw soaked in kerosene. It burned in the air, forming a huge fireball. When it landed, the pot broke and the kerosene spilled out, forming a burning field. It was very powerful. Fortunately, Tang Jun was The cavalry is highly mobile and can avoid fire and oil bombs, but the infantry will be in trouble.

Xi Wanli saw that the 10,000 Tang troops could not move forward, so he ordered the army to retreat one mile and ordered a thousand cavalry to charge in.

The thousand-man cavalry was more flexible. They lurched left and right, gradually approaching the city gate. They were still a hundred steps away from the city gate suspension bridge. General Wang Hui ordered: "Fire with explosive arrows!"

The cavalrymen ran, drawing their bows and shooting arrows at the suspension bridge. A thousand explosive arrows were shot at the suspension bridge and the city gate. There was a series of explosions, smoke and smoke. The suspension bridge was blown to pieces and fell down. The city gate was also concentrated by hundreds of explosive arrows, which blew open three large holes. However, the dark city gate hole was not exposed, but gray-white boulders were exposed. It turned out that the gate of Tuozhi City had been blocked by boulders, and the power of the explosive arrows was too small to blow up the boulders.

Helplessly, Xi Wanli could only order the troops to withdraw.

"Woo——"

The horn of withdrawal sounded, and a thousand cavalrymen retreated quickly, leaving the city and retreating to a mile away.

Xi Wanli came back and clasped his fists and said, "General, I am incompetent and cannot break through the city gate. Please punish me!"

Bai Xiaode waved his hand, "This has nothing to do with you, don't blame yourself!"

Bai Xiaode was also very depressed. They did not carry any siege weapons, and there were no trees within a hundred miles. They hoped to use firearms to blow up the city gate and the army rushed in, just like a thirsty city. Unexpectedly, the other side was well prepared and blocked the city gate with boulders. Not only were the explosive arrows useless, but the arrow mines could not be blown open. If they attacked with fire, the other side's kerosene weapons were no worse than those of the Tang army. How could they fight?

At this time, the military supervisor Li Chenghua smiled and said, "General Bai, we still have to use artillery. Don't blow up the city gate, blow up the city wall, use explosive bombs to blow up, and the city wall collapses. We can still kill in."

Bai Xiaode nodded. This is indeed the only way to attack the city.

Bai Xiaode immediately ordered: "Send all ten generals here and use explosive bombs to blow up the city!"

The artillery did not work in Kesai City, but this is Tuozhi City, which seems to be the battlefield where artillery can show its prowess.