The army of Peach Blossom Stone finally arrived at the foot of Stone City.

Seeing their appearance, Mahmoud. Berry felt bad all of a sudden.

He was a highly trained Ghulam warrior and had considerable experience in the wars against the Western Qarakhanid, the Uighur and the Chalvand.

Therefore, he knew that an army that had marched more than 1,500 miles in the inaccessible plateaus, mountains, and deserts could still appear in front of the enemy with full morale and strict formation, singing war songs. Then there is no doubt that they must be the best of the best...... More elite than any army he's ever seen. It can almost be seen as an army with the Ghulam warriors as the main force.

And now the well-organized army that appeared under Stone City was at least eight or nine thousand people! Eight or nine thousand Gulam warriors...... It can't be, right? The Khan of Peach Blossom Stone could not be so rich, and the Seljuk Turkic sultans might not be able to come up with so many Ghulam warriors now.

And this time it's not the pagan Khan of the Peach Blossom Stone, if it's not a pro-conquest, there will be eight or nine thousand gurams, if it's a pro-conquest, how many gurams will have to be moved? Twenty thousand? Thirty thousand? Isn't that incredible? How rich is the Khan on the peach blossom stone? Earn a million silver coins a year (what?) A big house in Kaifeng is worth a million? It's not enough!

But the most so Mahmood. It was not that Berry was upset that the enemy had too many Ghulams, but that the supply columns that followed these Ghulam warriors...... They actually drove a lot of cattle and sheep!

Are they here to fight or are they here to herd sheep?

There are a lot of cattle and sheep, all over the mountains!

And there are many fat pastures around Stone Town, as long as the cattle and sheep are placed there, a lot of meat can grow every day. This is very bad, I am afraid it will be difficult to drive the enemy away from the stone town by starvation.

"Berry, they don't have any siege engines!"

Burke of Stone Town, the Knight of Iqtar named Yusufu, said in a relaxed tone, "Even if they drive cattle and sheep, there will always be a day when they will finish eating." And it's certainly not enough for them to eat for a year! ”

One year is certainly not enough. The cattle, sheep and cake cutting that Ma Zheng brought to Stone Town can last for a month at most, and some pack horses and horses can last for a month and a half.

But Stone Town definitely won't be able to support half a month......

"Defeat the enemy!"

"The last general!"

Just when the army was encamped, Ma Zheng had already summoned the preparation general of the engineer battalion, named Luo Gang, a young military attache who had defeated the enemy.

Luo Gang's appearance is a bit stupid and stupid, and he looks like a vulgar martial artist with little culture. But in fact, he is a top student of Yuntai Academy and Construction Academy, and he has also studied in the Knight Academy, and he is also a proud protégé of Huang Zhisheng, the secretary of Jiehe Construction Academy. Proper Jiehe Xueba!

"The siege and the demolition are all up to you!" Ma Zheng waved his hand and gave the order directly. "How many days can I break through Stone Town?"

In the past few years, the Knight Academy and the Construction Academy have not left behind the research on cavern blasting. Scholars specializing in gunpowder and tunnels found a relatively secluded place in Beicang Prefecture and blew it up every once in a while. Although hundreds of thousands of catties of gunpowder were wasted, enough data was obtained.

How to dig a pit, how to plant gunpowder, how to blow up the earth city, how to blow up the brick city, how to blow up the stone town, whether the gunpowder used for blasting should be a large package or a small package is better, all have been studied.

In addition, there has been considerable progress in the production of gunpowder. Now it is distributed to the sappers of the Great Education Regiment, but it is granular black powder of quite good purity.

"The chief military aircraft, the last general doesn't know yet." Luo Gang glanced at Stone Town, "When the trench is dug tomorrow, we will know the soil conditions around Stone Town, and we will be able to estimate the time when the city will be broken." ”

"Good!" Ma Zheng nodded, "Go ahead and do it." ”

"Whoa."

Rogan answered, turned around and went about his business.

In the military science of the PTZ department, both engineering and logistics are responsible for great responsibility. Logistics is not only responsible for transporting and collecting supplies, but also making plans for consuming supplies according to the situation, and is also responsible for the sanitation of the troops' garrisons, the health of soldiers and livestock, and the care of the wounded and sick to establish a military medical hall - this time in a high-altitude wasteland area, where the situation of water and soil adaptation is more serious.

So far, the number of non-combat attrition has exceeded 3,000 - this is the total number of soldiers, auxiliaries, and herdsmen - most of them are sick, and they can still be saved with good care!

The sappers were responsible for the construction of barracks and fortifications, the construction of engineering equipment, the management of gunpowder weapons, and the blasting and repair of the city walls.

While Rogan and his sappers and some of their auxiliaries were busy with the construction, on the Stone Town, Mahmud. Berry and Yusufu did not expect that they would soon be able to see Allah and his old man.

When the two of them saw the Song army under the city under construction, they felt a sense of relief.

The siege was to be expected! And they are not afraid of sieges...... There was a whole year's worth of food in the Stone Town, and because the city was on the banks of the abundant waters of Daammad, there was no need to worry about running out of water to drink.

If the Buddhist army on the peach blossom stone wanted to dig up the water source and force the city to surrender, the two of them would have been prepared. In Stone Town, there are not only wells with abundant water, but also pools for storing water, which can supply the defenders and civilians of the city as long as they are strictly controlled.

So what the two are worried about is the "Lion King" far away in Khotan. Before Mahmoud. Berry sent a team of Ghulam to inform him that he would be in Stone Town in a month...... I don't know if the elite soldiers led by the khan can defeat the eight or nine thousand "Gulam" outside the city?

……

In the ancient city of Khotan, Ahmad. Aslan Khan, the "Lion King of China", already knew that the Upper Peach Blossom Stone army had invaded his dominion. It's not Mahmoud. The last group of Ghulam sent by Berry arrived, but the messengers sent a few days earlier finally arrived in Khotan.

While the bad news is coming, there is some good news. It's that reinforcements are coming in a steady stream from all over the country!

Although the Lower Peach Blossom Stone Kingdom has been divided into two for many years. But Ahmad. Aslan Khan's control of the area was still very large, larger than that of the Western Khanate controlled by Mehmed II - in fact, the Western Khanate's prestige was greatly damaged by the defeat of the Seljuk Empire twice, and many of the tribes and Iqtar knights who had been loyal to the Western Khanate surrendered to the Eastern Khanate.

Now Ahmad. Aslan Khan's will to gather troops and horses has spread throughout the control area, and loyal Heavenly Sect warriors are rushing to Khotan City day and night!

In addition, the jurisdiction of the "Lion King of China" also includes part of the territory belonging to Afghanistan and Pakistan in later generations. There are many brave and warlike tribes living there, and they believe in the Celestial Religion. As long as the "Lion King" is willing to pay, he can hire a lot of mountain warriors.

So now, every day that passes, many warriors of the Heavenly Fang Sect arrive in Khotanese City.

Standing on the walls of the royal palace that originally belonged to the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan, you can watch the camp outside the city that is becoming more and more huge.

The "Lion King of China", who was a little worried before, has now become ambitious. Tens of thousands of armies have gathered under his royal banner! And there are more troops coming, maybe a hundred thousand in the end!

It won't take so many soldiers to defeat the invading Shangtaohuashi army, right? The "Lion King" thought to himself that after defeating the army of Shangtaohuashi, he might be able to take advantage of the situation to go north and eliminate the hateful heretics in Gaochang in one fell swoop.

After the Uighurs of Qocho were eliminated, the Qarakhanids could invade the territory of Upper Taohuashi! It is also necessary to let the people of the peach blossom stone know the power of the peach blossom stone......

……

At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, the place known as the Turpan Basin by later generations is now called "Xizhou", also known as Gaochang. It is the capital of the Uighurs of Khocho Chingu!

Although it was the Uighur family of Sugu who ruled Gaochang, the main inhabitants were Han Chinese.

That's right, in history, from the time when the Han Dynasty opened up the Western Regions to the Yuan Dynasty when it was conquered by the Chagatai Khan Duwa who believed in the Heavenly Sect, Turpan has always been the land for the Han people to work and cultivate.

The earliest Han people who cultivated in Gaochang were the soldiers of the Han Dynasty, and since the time of Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty, there were a large number of Han soldiers who brought their families to Tuntian. When Emperor Yuan, he built a city in his place, because "the terrain is high and open, and the people are prosperous", it is called Gaochang Wall. Hence the name Gaochang.

Later, during the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Gaochang continued to develop proudly and belonged to Dunhuang County, Liangzhou. In the later era of the two Jin and Northern Dynasties, Gaochang was also firmly controlled by the Han people. It has successively established the four kingdoms of Kan's Gaochang, Zhang's Gaochang, Ma's Gaochang and Ju's Gaochang. During this period, the Gaochang Kingdom was once strong, and King Gaochang Jujia sent his second son to become the king of Yanqi.

It was not until the Sui Dynasty that Gaochang was weakened by the Turks, and was later destroyed by the Tang Dynasty. After the Anshi Rebellion, it was gradually occupied by the Uighurs.

However, because the Uighur family of Gaochang practiced Manichaeism, a religion of family planning, oh, it should be said that they hated holding hands and procreation, the Uighurs who occupied the rich land of Gaochang did not grow. Instead, they encountered the problem of "declining birthrate", and the population became smaller and smaller, and by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was far inferior to the Han people who believed in Buddhism under their rule.

Because of the small population, the Qocho Uighurs have always been weak. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, relying on an alliance with Dabao Khotan and the Guiyi Army, he could barely maintain the situation. After the destruction of the Khotan and Guiyi armies, the Uighurs of Gaochang could only become vassals of the Khitan, relying on the support of the Khitan to barely compete with the relatively powerful Qarakhanid - in fact, the Qarakhanid was not strong, but they believed in the Heavenly Religion and did not have the problem of "declining birthrate", so the population was large......

And when Xiao Heda and Yelu Dashi led 18,000 Hexi cavalry (half of the soldiers and half of the auxiliaries) to Gaochang, the king Fugu Viga, who was deeply troubled by the problem of "declining birthrate", could only come out with valuable gifts.