Chapter 422: Broken Leaves Build the City

The Gelulu people have been a branch of the Turkic people since ancient times. For more than a hundred years, they have lived in the vast land west of the Jinshan Mountain in Beiting. They live by nomadic life. They are mainly divided into three major tribes: Moula, Pofu, and down-to-earth power. They are also called the three tribes. The leader of each tribe is Yehu. Under the three tribes, they are composed of countless small tribes, or thousands of people, ranging in size. After the rise of the Uighurs, the Gelulu people gradually split. One branch attached the Uighurs and became a tribe of the Uighurs, while the other branch moved west to the south of the Yibohai. In the ninth year of Tianbao, the Gelulu people became a mercenary of the Tang Dynasty, participated in the Battle of Talas, and betrayed the Tang army in the war, resulting in the Tang army being defeated. After the war, the Gelulu people occupied the Suiye River Basin. As a large number of Turkic cavalry and Shi people surrendered in the Suiye River Basin, the Gelulu people gradually became stronger and began to peek at the land of the Uighurs in the east.

Since the tenth year of Qingzheng in the Tang Dynasty, Tubo launched a war against Dashi for Tochar, which led to the deterioration of the situation in the Western Regions. Dashi then took back the Suye City, causing the Gelulu people to move back to the west of Jinshan, and looked at Beiting. In the war between Tubo and Uighurs for Anxi, they succeeded in the attack on Beiting, which defeated the Uighurs' army back to the north of the Mobei.

Four years ago, the Gelulu people encountered the Tang army on the Western Expedition and were defeated by the Tang Dynasty, resulting in the thunder of 40,000 elite cavalry. The Gelulu people suffered an unprecedented blow. Under the strong expansion of the Tang Dynasty, they were forced to give up the land west of Jinshan and moved back to the Yibohai Basin. Then the tribe's three surnames had internal conflicts, and the Gelulu people fell into a trough. However, after four years of energy conservation and full support from the Great Cannibal, the Gelu people grew sharp claws again and completely became big cannibal lackeys. They were ordered by the Great Cannibal to move south to the north of the Qing pond, posing a huge threat to the broken leaves.

The Geluo people have been relocated and never able to get their stable capital. At present, they have built their den in a small town of Haitus. The current chief of the Geluo people is named Asherland, about fifty years old. He was originally Ye Hu of the Assassination tribe. Three years ago, he was named King of Geluo by the Dashi Caliph and served as the governor of Chuhe. Chuhe is also the governor of Shuye River. Although he is called the governor, he actually cannot get an inch of land on both sides of Shuye River.

On the morning of that day, Hattosh welcomed a distinguished guest: Uighur national teacher Surman. Surman was respected in the Uighur national religion Manichaeism. In addition, he was born in Persia and had a good relationship with the Great Food, which was deeply loved by the Sogdians. In this way, he had two major forces, Manichaeism and Sogdians, and his status in the Uighur country was very important. This time, the mission was based on the disaster in the Uighur country. The Sogdians were dissatisfied with the Uighur tendency to the Tang Dynasty. The loyal Khan ordered him to borrow food from the Gharou people. Then he would go to Baghdad to ask for assistance from the Great Cannibal, which could be regarded as balancing the contradictions between several domestic forces.

"My old friend, we haven't seen each other for two years!" From a distance, Surman opened his robe like black wings. His pale face shone in the sun, like a black bat, making the surrounding soldiers feel gloomy. Surman and Arthur king Arthuran are old acquaintances. Arthuran's eldest son Atru was Surman's eldest disciple. He died in the operation to steal the Tang Lei three years ago

Under the sword of the Tang Dynasty, Surman went to Geluo to kneel down and apologize to Arthuran. Arthuran forgave Surman and asked his beloved third son Atre to worship Surman again. After all, the Gloru people lived under the eaves of the Uighurs. The shield of the big food could prevent the Uighurs' open guns, but it might not be able to prevent their hidden arrows. In this way, Surman transformed into Geluo's future leader.

Arthuran also opened his arms to meet him. The two laughed and hugged each other tightly. They patted each other's backs. After the embrace, they held their arms intimately and walked towards the tent together.

"National Master, how about my son in Han'er Duobali? Did he satisfy the national master?"

"Atra is a brave eagle. I believe that under my training, he will definitely fly higher and farther."

"Then I will work hard for the National Master."

The two walked into the Arthurian tent, which was magnificently arranged. The ground was covered with thick Persian carpets, the walls were hung with big food tassels covered with gems, the table was covered with the most luxurious Tang Shu brocade, which was filled with various exquisite goldware from Byzantium, and more than a dozen coquettish and beautiful women were half leaning in the jewel spirit, with a terrifying smile in their eyes.

The two of them sat down after the bill. A maid gave them fragrant horse milk tea. Several young and beautiful women sat behind them and gently kneaded their shoulders. Surman waved his hands and signaled that he didn't need to knead. Seeing that Surman's face was a little heavy, Arthuran whispered: "You all come out!" More than a dozen charming women stood up and ran out of the tent with their long skirts.

Seeing that they were all gone, Arthuran lowered his voice and asked, "Master, what happened?"

"Do you know why I came?" Surman took out a letter and threw it on the small table. "This is a handwritten letter written to you by the loyal Khan. You can take a look at it yourself!"

Arthuran took out the letter and read it quickly. His face immediately changed. His hands trembled and said in a trembling voice: "We Gelu people have serious shortages of food. Not to mention 500,000 sheep, even 5,000 sheep are taken out!"

Seeing him nervous, Surman snorted, "What are the chiefs afraid of? We Khan didn't want your sheep in vain, we just borrowed it and will pay it back in the future."

‘Borrow? What is the difference between the Uighur people’s loans and the need for them? Did they borrow less in the past?’ Arthuran smiled bitterly and said, “It’s not that we don’t borrow, but that we have suffered a snow disaster. The national teacher should know that it has started to snow since September, and there are really no sheep in our hands!”

Surman glanced at the luxurious decorations around him and smiled faintly, "How can you explain to Khan if you want me to go back, saying that the chief is too poor to lose his fault?"

"This..." Arthuran's face turned red and he said embarrassedly: "They are all things stolen by my subordinates, and they can't be eaten as food. If the national teacher likes it, I will give them all to the national teacher."

"Our Mani doctrine has always advocated thrift. What do I want these messy things to do? The chief should think about how to make a sheep and explain it to Khan!"

The Geluo people gradually became stronger after the Battle of Talas, but after Beiting was defeated by the Tang army, they fell into internal strife and their strength was greatly weakened. Although they could still mobilize more than 100,000 men, they were still much weaker than the Uighurs. They could not afford to offend the Uighurs, but there was no unnecessary explanation for the sheep. Arthuran's forehead had already started to sweat.

"Okay! For Atre, I've thought of a solution for you." Surman sighed and said, "In fact, I know you can't get the sheep, so I think all the way."

Arthuran was overjoyed, and he quickly thanked him deeply, "I knew the national teacher would plead for me."

"In the face of the survival of the Uighurs, no one can plead for love." Surman shook his head, "I will set off to Baghdad to borrow food from the Great Cannibal. What I mean is to let the Great Cannibal give this food for you."

"But half a hundred thousand sheep, can the big trotters be willing to give it?"

Surman laughed, "The big cannibal will not make it by himself. The Caliph issued an order to send it to Zhaowu Jiuguo. Of course, they were to give this sheep, but...."

Speaking of the word "but", Surman narrowed his eyes and smiled gloomyly. He stared at Arthuran and said, "But you have to express something, to make the Caliph happy. Do you understand what I mean?"

Arthuran was speechless. Of course, he knew what Surman meant. There was only one way to please the Caliph, that was to attack Saiye, but they were not ready to go to war with the Tang army? Moreover, three months ago, one of their tribes secretly went to Jinlong Road to attempt to rob Hu Shang. As a result, they encountered the Tang army's silver team. Three thousand people were wiped out. Even the chief was dead. The fear of the Tang army seemed to be cast in Arthuran's heart. After a long time, he sighed and said, "It's not that I don't want to attack Saiye, but that I'm not ready. The big cannibal also knows that the siege equipment they promised has not been sent yet. How can I attack the city? Forget it! I don't want this favor from Dashi. I will personally write a letter to the loyal Khan for explaining this matter. If there is no, it's not. What should he do?"

"If you don't give it to me, Khan will certainly not do anything to you? But have you ever thought about it? Atreko is in Han's ear Bali." Surman said coldly.

Arthuran couldn't say a word. Surman grabbed his weakness. Surman suddenly smiled sinisterly and said, "Actually, you don't have to really attack Sailye on a large scale. The key is that you have to make a gesture and let the Caliph know that you are very obedient. This is enough. Brother Arthuran, do you understand?"

"You mean..." Arthuran suddenly understood the so-called posing.

Surman nodded slowly, "I heard that the Thunder Ye is building a city north of the Qing Dynasty. Can you make an idea from this aspect?"

The shaved leaves are located in the shaved leaves valley northwest of the Daqing Pond. It is still dozens of miles away from the Daqing Pond, so there are some small cities near the Daqing Pond, such as Yezhi City, Heli City, Peiluo General City, etc., but most of these small cities are distributed on the west and south of the Daqing Pond, and in the north and east of the Daqing Pond, there is a gap in defense. So three months ago, a Geluo cavalry could not move south to rob the caravan without any obstacles. Although the patrol was strengthened afterwards, just patrol could not form an effective defense system. In order to solve this problem, Cao Hanchen decided to slow down the mining of silver mines and concentrate manpower to speed up the construction of the defense city.

The plan to build a defense city was approved by the court as early as last year, but due to insufficient manpower, it has been delayed until now. Now, as the pressure of the Gelulu people to go south increases, building a defense city has become an urgent task. According to the plan, the Tang Dynasty will build two cities in the north and east of the Daqing Pool, two cities, Canglong and White Tiger, and two cities, Canglong and White Tiger, and Xuanwu City and Zhuque City are built on the north of the Daqing Pool. Each city is twenty miles apart, which can echo each other and serve as a supporter. Among them, the closest to the Gelulu people is Xuanwu City, and Xuanwu City has become the city with the most manpower and material resources. It is less than five miles away from the Daqing Pool. Standing on the top of the city, crossing a large forest, you can faintly see the sparkling lake water.

Early in the morning, Shi Yang and his 100 subordinates came to Xuanwu City to build a city with 3,000 prisoners of war. Now this young officer is a cavalry commander under the Thunder Ye Army. He killed the most enemies in the battle to annihilate the Geluo cavalry in the Golden Dragon Road, and finally killed the enemy chief and made great contributions. According to the military merit standards of the Tang Dynasty, he could be promoted to two levels, that is, he would go directly from the sergeant commander to the sergeant commander. However, when calculating his merits, Cao Hanchen ignored him as the commander of the Tianqi Battalion, but started as a small soldier. In this way, he would become a team commander with one hundred brothers and two hundred war horses under him.

Perhaps out of guilt, when Cao Hanchen filled out his resume, he quietly changed his age to 18 years old so that he could lead a hundred great men. However, this seemed a bit too much to worry about. Not to mention that Shi Yang himself was born with an old face and a mature mind, more importantly, the tradition of the Anxi army has always been to rank qualifications with military merits and abilities, but he did not value age very much. Shi Yang quickly won the respect of his soldiers with his outstanding achievements in killing 67 Geluo cavalry. In addition, his elusive shooting skills and white-haired archery skills made his subordinates admire him and turned their attention to him.

The fortifications for the construction of the city have begun. All the workers have entered their posts. Some mix mortar, some drag big stones, and some are chiseling square stones. The stones are taken from Mount Uzman and then they are manually chiseled into square stones. On the edge of the city wall, two high hanging towers made of wood are responsible for transporting the big stones to the top of the city. After two years of construction, Xuanwu City has been built one after another. Battlements have been built on the city wall, and shelves have been built. A man-made moat has three meter deep and four meter wide. The suspension bridge was just built yesterday, but the city gate has not been installed yet. If the entire city is completed, it will be able to accommodate 5,000 soldiers and become a solid fortress north of the Qing pond.

Several simple wooden bridges were built on the moat, and the river water connected to the Daqing Pond. Since the Daqing Pond did not freeze all year round, the moat still had a thin layer of ice, but the ice layer was not thick and could not walk on the ice. More than a thousand prisoners of war carrying stones were coming and going, very busy. These prisoners of war were all captured in the Battle of Anxi, including Tocharis, Great Cannibals, Zhaowu people and Egyptians. There were originally more than 50,000 people. After the war, some Zhaowu people were released, leaving more than 30,000 large cannibals, Tocharis and

The Egyptians, last year, the Caliphate Caliph sent special envoys to Chang'an to negotiate prisoners of war. In the end, the two countries reached an agreement to exchange prisoners of war. The Caliphate released more than 4,000 Tang army prisoners of war in the Battle of Talas, and the Tang Dynasty also released 10,000 Dajia people, but more than 20,000 Tocharis and Egyptians were willing to collect ransoms, but Dajia refused to pay the ransom and ignored the lives and deaths of these prisoners of war. The court decided to send them all to Shayeye to mine silver mines and release them after five years of hard labor.

Shi Yang and more than 20 soldiers were patrolling along the moat. There were a total of 500 garrisons in Xuanwu City, mainly supervising thousands of prisoners of war who worked, and preventing the invasion of the Geluo people from wandering their wrestles.

Five hundred people were divided into five teams, led by a captain named Fang. Today, the captain Fang led more than 200 people to take more than a thousand prisoners of war to Uzman Mountain to transport stones. There were still three hundred Tang troops left in Xuanwu City, and the three teams were each responsible for the construction of a section of the city wall.

As soon as Shi Yang walked to the northwest corner, a noise suddenly came from the top of the city. Some people in the city also threw down their work and sat on the ground and shouted loudly. Shi Yang looked up in surprise and saw that more than a thousand prisoners of war on the top of the city stopped working, sitting on the top of the city and shouting to the sky.

Shi Yang immediately turned around and ordered several soldiers and said, "Go and see, what happened?"

Three soldiers rode away. After a while, the three of them ran back. "The team is in line!" The three cavalry rushed forward, one of them carrying a prisoner of war in his hand and threw it in front of Shi Yang. "This Tatarum incited the prisoners of war to slacke in work."

The prisoner of war who was causing trouble was about forty years old. His name was Tatarum. He was dark-skinned and not the kind of sun-tanned one, but was born with black, thick eyebrows and thick eyes, and a typical Tocharian. He was a senior general named Torae. His duty was to cooperate with the Tang army to manage prisoners of war, and he did not work. He had been in good cooperation for four years and would be released by October next year.

Perhaps it was about to be released, the prisoners of war began to pay attention to their bodies, and tried to eat and sleep as much as possible. They did not work so hard. It turned out that 20,000 people were rich in silver mines, so they could not tell if they were lazy. However, this time the construction of Xuanwu City was different. Due to the tight time and not many laborers, the Tang army decomposed the construction volume to every day in order to speed up the progress. They were not allowed to eat and sleep if they could not finish their work. At this moment, the prisoners of war complained and began to get upset after more than ten days. Today, it was this Tatarum who incited slacking off work and asked the Tang army to shorten the working time.

After staying in the silver mine for nearly four years, the Tatarmu had long become an old fry. Seeing that the Tang army officer was just a small team and was very young, he couldn't help but snorted contempt in his heart, lying on the ground, preparing to refuse communication because of language barriers, and wait for the other party's senior general to come.

"Train him to chop him up, and the heads are shown!" Shi Yang had no intention of negotiating with him at all. He waved his hand and ordered his subordinates to kill people. Several soldiers rushed over, grabbed his arm and dragged him to the top of the city. Tatarum was scared and jumped up and raised his hand and shouted: "Okay! OK! I'll tell them to work."

Several soldiers stopped and looked at Shi Yang, but Shi Yang seemed to hear nothing and shouted loudly: "Cut him!"

A soldier cut him over with one knife, and screams like a pig slaughtering sounded. Another soldier then cut off the head of Tatarum with one knife. Shi Yang looked at the end of the execution coldly. He waved his order and said, "Go, take his head to the public. Whoever dares to make trouble again will be killed immediately!"

When the head of Tatamu was lifted on a bamboo pole and made high on public display, a small tide of labor caused by catharsis was immediately calmed down, and the busy work began on the construction site again. Shi Yang no longer appointed any prisoner of war officers to assist in the management, but instead gave each Tang army soldier a whip, and anyone who dared to be lazy would beat him hard.

The day passed quickly, and in the section of the northern city wall where Shi Yang was responsible, the work that had to be done until late at night was completed ahead of schedule.

"The team is in charge, today's progress has been completed." A soldier came to report.

Shi Yang looked up at the sky. The sun was hanging obliquely in the west, half an hour before darkness. "The team is in the right place, it's still early, why don't they do it for a while?" A sergeant suggested carefully.

"No!" Shi Yang flatly denied the sergeant's suggestion, "Let them eat and rest and continue working tomorrow."

"Yes!" The sergeant immediately ran to announce the end of work. More than a thousand prisoners of war sitting on the city wall waiting for orders cheered together. When teams of prisoners of war lined up across the city wall, laughing constantly. Only the heads of people who were standing at a corner of the city tower were swaying lonely in the cold wind, and no one was willing to look at it.

The night gradually became deeper, and the other sections of the city wall also accelerated the construction progress under the influence of the North City Wall, and all ended today's project ahead of schedule. The prisoners of war returned to the prisoner's camp to eat one after another. Many people were exhausted, and they fell to the ground and slept soundly. Xuanwu City under the night sky became quiet again.
Chapter completed!