Chapter 199: Besiege the Point, Strike the Relief

A relatively crude map was spread out on the great stone slab. There was no helping it — the isolation of information in this age was simply that hard to believe.

Zhang Zhao had spent three months gathering intelligence, and even so he had only managed to get a rough picture.

"If Ma Yaozi's information is correct, then Yusup, who broke out of Andukan five days ago, should have safely reached Kesai City by now. Let's hear everyone's thoughts — how should we fight the next step?"

The Fergana Basin, known as the country of Farghana, now has three cities of great importance.

They are, respectively: Andukan in the northeast, which controls the key route from Shule into Farghana.

Juzhanti in the southwest, which leads to Bukhara and the other former lands of the Nine Zhaowu Clans.

And Kesai City, the former capital of Farghana, situated on the northwest bank of the Yaxartes River (Syr Darya).

Of these three cities, Juzhanti is in the hands of the Samanid Persians, so if Yusup wanted to retreat, Kesai City was his only destination.

Yan Jin sniffed, his face full of envy and resentment. If Ma Yaozi knew he could become a budget Ban Dingyuan, then Yan Jin certainly knew it too.

"The Great King is right. Compared to Andukan, Kesai City has higher and thicker walls, and the moat fed by the Yaxartes is also much wider. It is also Yusup's old nest.

With no way of knowing where the troops under Ma Yaozi came from, abandoning Andukan and fleeing to Kesai City is not without the quality of a bold man cutting off his own arm."

Liu Zaisheng nodded as he spoke. This former handsome palace guard commander, under Zhang Zhao's ravages, had long since lost all connection to good looks.

The skin above his right eye had been disfigured by a gunpowder blast, and a long scar had been added to his forehead. He had swiftly gone from a fresh-faced youth to a frightening-looking battle-hardened killer.

"By ordinary reasoning, Troop Commander Liu's analysis is not wrong, but there is one point we must see clearly: Yusup does not hold the whole country of Farghana!"

As Yan Jin spoke, he tapped the valley mouth on the southwest side — that is, the direction from the Fergana Basin leading to the former lands of the Nine Zhaowu Clans.

"Juzhanti is not in Yusup's hands. If Yusup held Juzhanti, only then could he use Kesai City as a shield to block our great army, because the great plain where Juzhanti lies could provide him ample grain and supplies.

But Yusup does not hold Juzhanti, so his giving up Andukan so easily is not a bold man cutting off his own arm — it is inviting fire to burn himself. Who would so lightly bring the flames of war to his own old nest?"

The atmosphere of the military council here under Zhang Zhao was quite good, because he never made anything of who spoke at a council, even if someone said he was wrong — so long as it was not nonsense.

Of course, as commander of the army, he could listen, but whether he adopted the advice was another matter entirely.

So when Liu Zaisheng was refuted by Yan Jin, whom he regarded as far beneath him in status, he showed no anger or displeasure. Instead, he seriously considered Yan Jin's words.

"Brother Chengjie makes sense. But if that is so, then isn't this Yusup simply too foolish?

I do not believe that a man chosen by Saktu as governor of Juzhanti, who in the end dared to betray him decisively, would be a fool.

What difference is there between what he has done and handing all of Farghana over to us? Could this be false news put out by Yusup, with the aim of luring us to Kesai City?"

Bai Congxin had been very active lately, because the royal Bai family of Kucha, along with the descendants of the Lu and Luo families, had been destroyed by Saktu and had failed to hold out. The legitimate descendants of the Bai family had withered away, nearly to the point of extinction.

And his ancestor, Prince of Changhua Commandery Bai Xiaode, was the younger brother of Bai Xiaojie, King of Kucha. In other words, Bai Congxin had already acquired a weak claim to the throne of Kucha.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the royal Bai family of Kucha had lost their family and their kingdom nearly a hundred years ago, and the city of Kucha was still in the hands of the powerful Gaochang Uyghur Khaganate. What use was a weak-claim descendant of the royal line like him?

But Bai Congxin did not see it that way. The Gaochang Uyghur royal house had ambushed the descendants of the Anxi army — so great a grudge, how could the Great King, who always repaid enmity with enmity and grievance with grievance, possibly not avenge it?

Besides, in the future, when they returned east and opened up Ganzhou and Liangzhou, the Great Sage Son of Heaven of the Golden Kingdom and Great King Zhang of the Guiyi Army, uncle and nephew, would surely want to monopolize the profits of the Silk Road. How would they permit the Gaochang Uyghurs, squeezed in between, to keep taking a share?

When that time came, who could be given the position of King of Kucha? Was there a better choice than him, Bai Congxin?

Now, on the Qiangtang Plateau south of Shazhou, the Kuchans whom the Tibetans had relocated there had multiplied to seventy or eighty thousand. Did they not wish to return from the plateau where snow fell even in the sixth month, back to their rich homeland?

At this thought, his heart as if set aflame and his whole body burning and itching, Bai Congxin simply let his imagination run wild.

"Great King, your general has a conjecture. Since Brother Chengjie believes that Yusup's return to Kesai City without holding Juzhanti is a foolish move, then could there be another possibility? That is, Yusup has already submitted, or has decided to submit, to the Samanid state of Persia!"

The moment Bai Congxin's words left his mouth, the entire council tent buzzed with discussion, because although Bai Congxin was speaking of conjecture, it was not without reason.

If Yusup had mistaken the twenty-thousand-odd motley troops under Ma Yaozi before the walls of Andukan for a great army sent by the Golden Kingdom of Khotan to punish him, then it was indeed possible that he had hardened his heart and thrown in his lot with the Samanid state of Persia.

"If that is so, Great King, then we must travel day and night to reach Kesai City. We absolutely cannot allow Yusup to submit to the Samanid state of Persia.

If they combine their forces, they can field at least fifty thousand men. We have not even twenty thousand, and we would still have to storm the city — then we would be in trouble!"

The big-bearded Prefect Pei immediately grew nervous, because on this campaign, these amirs had staked their bets. Who could blame them, when Great King Zhang was so capable in battle?

They had thrown in their entire fortunes — a full seven thousand horse and foot soldiers, with more than half armored.

Moreover, they even had to bear half the cost of their own grain and fodder, and were entirely responsible for casualties and pensions. If this campaign failed to take the country of Farghana, who knew how many amir households would go bankrupt.

Zhang Zhao glanced at Prefect Pei's thick legs and seriously considered for a moment whether he should swindle these amirs.

Because they were a problem left over from history. Such completely independent vassals, located in the very heart of a country, were the kind of vassals a state could tolerate less and less as it grew stronger.

When they set out on campaign, Cao Yuanxin had even obliquely hinted to Zhang Zhao, reminding him that he must not allow these amirs to keep growing stronger.

This was not something Cao Yuanxin alone, as queen, could decide. Li Shengtian surely had the same intention.

Zhang Zhao believed that as long as he fought slowly for two or three years and consumed a bit more grain and supplies, these amirs would certainly be brought to heel by Li Shengtian.

But this did not suit his interests! If Farghana took too long, how would he ever return east?

Besides, if he helped Li Shengtian clean up the country too thoroughly, then he, a deputy king with his own fief, would become far too conspicuous.

Of course, the most important point was that playing such schemes and intrigues on the battlefield was extremely uncontrollable.

For example, the Chariot God of Gaoliang River a few decades later — wasn't he just trying to use the Khitans to wear down those arrogant, battle-hardened troops left over from the Five Dynasties?

And what was the result? He played it right out of his hands, ending up with an arrow in his buttocks and a donkey-cart drift that left his name to posterity.

So after pondering for a moment, Zhang Zhao still shook his head. "We cannot be in such a hurry. Guo Guangcheng, take three hundred armored men from the Baoda Camp. Liu Zaisheng, you also draw one regiment of elite troops and go with him.

Once you arrive, have Fan Quan assault Andukan with full force, but only for three days. After three days, send a flying messenger to tell me the result, then hold your position and await my orders."

Prefect Pei's eyes twitched slightly, and then, as if setting down some burden in his heart, he slowly let out a turbid breath.

"Great King, the amir troops under your general can also send out two hundred men. In battle we may not compare to the Great King's elite troops, but when it comes to using auxiliary troops to swarm the walls in a siege, we amirs are rather more skilled."

Zhang Zhao looked at Prefect Pei in surprise. This man was an old hand! He had seen through Zhang Zhao's intent at a glance.

His sending Guo Guangsheng with men to assault Andukan in force was, in fact, a probe.

If a few hundred elite troops like these could take a great city like Andukan within three days, then it was highly likely that the city's elite troops had all been drawn away by Yusup — and this fellow certainly harbored thoughts of submitting to Samanid Persia.

If within three days the resistance inside the city was resolute and it could not be taken, then this Yusup was surely simply a fool.

Moreover, within three days, there was no way to build many siege engines. To attack the city, they could only pile up men and assault it furiously, heedless of casualties.

Under such circumstances, pushing the various tribes of the Northern Mountains, who had come to submit outside the city, to the very front line was the best choice.

"Prefect Pei speaks wisely. Then let us make the effort — draw two hundred men from the Amozhi army as well and send them along!"

Kese City, the former capital of the Ferghana kingdom — this city's history can be traced back to the early Western Han.

In those days, when Li Guangli campaigned against Dayuan, the Dayuan capital of Guishan City, which he assaulted fiercely for more than forty days, is none other than today's Kese City.

And after more than a thousand years of development, today's Kese City has become the largest city in the entire Ferghana Basin, where the Ferghana kingdom lies.

Its walls are high and thick, surrounded by more than ten satellite towns and fortresses; its population exceeds fifty thousand, and outside the city lie hundreds of thousands of mu of fine farmland. With the added convenience of the Yaxartes River, it is exceedingly wealthy.

But today, within the royal city of Kese, the master of this city — Yusuf, who has already prepared to proclaim himself Great Khan — is in a very foul mood.

As a former confidant of Satuq Bughra Khan of the Kara-Khanid Khanate, Yusuf is a man of great ambition but also one very skilled at concealing it — as is plain from the fact that he dared to betray Satuq decisively, and Satuq never even suspected it.

"Honored Yusuf Dihqan! His Excellency the noble Emir Nasr is most pleased that you have made the right choice.

Once you help the Samanid state recover all of Ferghana, His Highness the Emir will appoint you governor of the Ferghana district. All of Ferghana, including the city of Khujand, will be under your rule."

The envoy of the Persian Samanid state, wrapped in a black turban and wearing a gorgeous silk robe, was lavishing flattery in an unending stream.

What he said was nothing more than how many benefits he, Yusuf, would receive after submitting to the noble Emir Nasr.

But in Yusuf's eyes, the black turban on the envoy's head seemed to transform into a long black rope, coiling toward his neck. This was no bestowal of office and promises — this was demanding his life!

"Elder brother, it seems the Persians are indeed sincere. As long as we borrow their strength to drive off the Khotan Golden Kingdom, and then gain Khujand City, we can truly shut the gates and make ourselves Khagans!"

In a daze, Yusuf forced himself to see off the Samanid Persian envoy. Behind him, his younger brother Musa could no longer contain himself and began speaking in a lowered voice, waving his fists as he spoke, looking extremely excited!

Yusuf let out a long sigh. His own steps had been too hasty — he should not have executed Hasan and the others so early. At the very least, he should have waited until after driving off the Khotan Golden Kingdom.

Otherwise, he would not be surrounded by such mediocrities now. Though they were reassuring, still... still they were truly a bit too stupid.

"Musa, why do you think the Persians are offering Khujand to us?"

Musa, who had been rattling on, suddenly noticed that his elder brother's expression was very grim. He glanced at him with some puzzlement, then the light of excitement surfaced on his face once more.

"Because as long as we're willing to submit, Emir Nasr can claim that he has recovered Ferghana, which the Kara-Khanids seized.

This Emir's character — haven't our spies in Bukhara written it all out? As long as his face is given luster, he is still quite generous.

Afterward, if we bribe the three viziers of Bukhara, then for you, elder brother, to become a provincial governor holding military power, like Ali Du'af — that wouldn't be hard, would it?"

"Hmph!" Yusuf sneered. "Ali Du'af comes from the Samanid royal clan. What do we have to compare with him? And besides — have you bribed the viziers?"

Musa chuckled, then shook his head. "Of course we can't bribe them now. The matter of submitting hasn't even been formally negotiated yet, has it? How could we scatter money around before negotiations even begin? Our treasures didn't grow out of the ground."

"So you do know we haven't bribed anyone! We've given no bribe at all, yet Bukhara's envoy on his own initiative proposed handing Khujand over to us. Doesn't that strike you as strange?"

This time Yusuf didn't even bother to sneer. He looked at his younger brother Musa and for the first time thought he looked like a pig.

"Right! We haven't even given a bribe, yet they took the initiative to offer us Khujand. That proves Emir Nasr needs us! Now we can even skip bribing the viziers!"

At these words, Yusuf nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood!

In the present situation, with enemies on two sides, the Persians had suddenly gone from only ever agreeing that his family could hold Andijan in perpetuity — and requiring his eldest son to go to Bukhara to study the scriptures — to handing him all of Ferghana, including Khujand. It was completely illogical.

This was no bestowal of benefits — it was entirely to keep him in place. Yusuf was certain that the moment he agreed to let the Persian army into the city, once the Khotan army withdrew, that would be the day of his death.

"Mahmud, go and inform the Persian envoy that I, Yusuf, have long admired the bearing of Emir Nasr, and hope at a suitable time to go to Bukhara in person to pay my respects.

Also, select two squads of ghulams to go to Saray and inform General Ali to withdraw them back to Kese City."

Yusuf could not be bothered to look at his younger brother Musa again, and instead directly issued orders to the captain of his guards, Mahmud.

Since the Persians were determined to eliminate him and were making wild promises, he might as well paint a big pie of his own.

Going to Bukhara in person to pay respects — this condition was surely far better than the Persians exhausting every scheme to control Kese City.

As long as the Persians believed he was sincere about going to Bukhara, they would delay, by a step or two, their plan to risk sending troops into Kese City, and he could win some time to make arrangements.

And near Saray was stationed an elite force of six thousand men. That city was no more than ten-odd li from Andijan, and could reinforce Andijan's defense at any time.

Once the men there withdrew, the people inside Andijan would inevitably fall into panic, and its rapid fall would be certain.

When the time came, the Khotan army would pursue to the walls of Kese City, and the Persians would surely rush to the rescue at any cost. Then he could sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight — perhaps he might even have the last laugh.

As for the Persians not coming — well, that was no great matter either. Going to Bukhara was no different from going to Khotan.

Perhaps Khotan would even be a little better, because he still had value there. He could help the Great Sage Son of Heaven of Khotan dig at the foundations of Bughra Khan Satuq — after all, in that line of work, he had experience.

"Damn! There really is treachery!" Zhang Zhao casually showed the military report that had just arrived to the assembled officers.

"After Guo Guangcheng arrived with eight hundred reinforcements, Fan Quan took Andijan smoothly — he didn't even use the trebuchets, and broke in directly with scaling ladders."

"It seems Yusuf has indeed gone over to the Persians. Great King, what should we do? Should we march day and night to seize Kese City before the Persians do?" Yan Jin raised an eyebrow and was the first to ask.

"No need!" Zhang Zhao shook his head. "Give the Persians a little more time. We must make them spend great effort to rescue Kese City.

Rather than have us take Kese City and then go on to attack Khujand, better to draw them out and settle it all in one battle!"

That's right! I, Great King Zhang, am going to lay siege to a point and strike the relief force!

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