Shouchang County Magistrate Xue Shantong was actually right. Only 2,500 people arrived in Shouchang County in advance.

Because it is more than two thousand miles from the Royal City of Khotan to Zhongyun Kingdom and then to Shouchang, including thousands of miles of Taklimakan Desert. Passing two thousand people at one time is already the limit.

Because when Zhang Zhao came back this time, in addition to the armor and weapons and equipment on his soldiers and generals, he also had to bring back his treasure worth five million guan. The soldiers and generals combined also had more than 2 million guan of property that needed to be transported.

These things greatly limited the team's ability to carry other items, causing them to be unable to fill up with water and food, and had to rely on oases on the way for supplies.

But if five thousand generals and tens of thousands of mules and horses return at once, no oasis can afford this supply.

What's more, there are tens of thousands of Tang'ers who followed him from Anxi, including men, women, old and young. They cannot achieve the same physical strength, discipline, hardship and hard work as soldiers.

Therefore, Zhang Zhao could only divide the troops returning eastward into five groups. The first group of 2,500 people was led by him personally, and they were all elite soldiers.

There are three hundred armored cavalry, one thousand Bashimi and Broken Leaf archers, and the remaining one thousand two hundred people are all the most elite horse-mounted heavy infantry.

The second group of 2,000 troops was led by Yin Yaozi, and it is estimated that they have just set off from Khotan now.

The next three groups were arranged by Wu Yuan'er and Guo Guangsheng. They would first stay in Zhongyun country for a while and wait for Zhang Zhao to settle down before choosing to return eastward.

However, even these two thousand and five hundred elites are more than enough to protect themselves, not to mention roaming around Guasha.

The current population of the Guiyi Army, excluding the dependent nomadic tribes, is approximately 2.78 million.

The extreme mobilization can probably draw out 7,000 to 8,000 people, but this is only possible when a desperate bet is placed on the national fortunes.

On weekdays, the standing army only has more than 2,000 people, and the reserve mobilization force can also draw more than 1,000 people.

In other words, for a general battle, the size of the troops sent by the Guiyi Army is three thousand Guasha Han's heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, as well as one or two thousand light cavalry attached to the nomads, plus a few civilians to transport supplies, which is generally known as ten thousand elite soldiers.

.

However, there is one thing that needs to be noted. Although the Guiyi Army has only seven to eight thousand people at its maximum mobilization, almost all of them are wearing armor, and the ability to go into battle to kill the enemy is also passed down from generation to generation, and it is inherited.

Among them, the elite two to three thousand people are very powerful in combat. If they are placed in Anxi and fight against the twenty to thirty thousand Persians, there will be no problem.

Generally speaking, Gui Yijun is a bitter hedgehog with thorns all over his body. No matter if you are a tiger or a lion, if you want to eat him, he will at least prick you with blood all over his body.

As for the Ganzhou Uighurs, the old enemy to the east of the Guiyi Army, they are also this type of Xiaoqiang.

The core population of the Ganzhou Uighurs is slightly larger than that of the Guiyi Army, about 350,000 to 600,000. Since they are of nomadic origin, extreme mobilization can draw out 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers.

Moreover, they are all cavalry, but the armor coverage rate is not as good as that of the Guiyi Army, but it can still reach more than 30%.

These situations were all told to Zhang Zhao by Lady Cao Sanni, who was smiling sweetly beside him with squinted eyes.

In the past four years, Mrs. Cao Sanniang has not been idle. She has compiled statistics on all the situations of the Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs.

From the military to people's livelihood, and even the grudges and grudges between major families, everything is very detailed.

This thing, which was regarded as a military report for the time being, made Zhang Zhao gasp for air. He thought that he could easily handle it when he came back, but he didn't expect that these were two poor and unruly Xiaoqiang!

It's normal to think about it. For example, the Ganzhou Uighurs in history were a super little strongman who fought against Xixia and Liao for decades before being defeated.

You must know that although the Xixia Army has never been particularly strong in combat effectiveness, the Xixia Army during Li Yuanhao's period was not.

At the same time, the Khitan Liao Kingdom seemed a bit of a noob compared to the Turks, Xiongnu and other steppe peoples in its power period.

That's only relative. The Liao army during the period of Emperor Chengtian and Empress Dowager Xiao Chuo was still very powerful in combat effectiveness.

The Ganzhou Uighurs, who were alternately served by the two great powers of Liao and Xixia, managed to resist for more than thirty years with only these 300,000 people.

Especially in the year of its demise, Xixia came first and besieged Ganzhou for more than two months. Then the Liao army defeated Suzhou and besieged Ganzhou for four months but still could not capture it. The Liao army then withdrew. Xixia

They came again and beat me for two months.

The two powers took turns hammering hard for eight months without stopping, and finally defeated the Ganzhou Uighurs.

Zhang Zhao began to slowly make plans while listening to Mrs. Cao Sanniang's story.

The more Cao Sanniang looked at Zhang Zhao, the more satisfied she became, because Zhang Zhao had not touched Cao Sanniang since that time in the capital of Khotan.

For a widow like him who has been widowed for more than ten years, this is not a bad thing, but a good thing, because Zhang Zhao does not dislike her for being a widow, but treats her with courtesy.

"I wonder if you still have a bad cough? Write a letter for me and ask someone to take it back. If you still have a cough, don't rush to Dunhuang and take good care of yourself."

Zhang Zhao muttered as he wrote, "This feels really strange. I didn't think about it before I saw it, and I didn't feel anything special after seeing it."

But as soon as I left, I would think of it from time to time, and every smile seemed to be imprinted in my mind.

This time when he came back, neither Cao Yanmian nor Ayiguli took him with him, because his son and daughter were still young and could not withstand such a long journey. Even Li Ruoliu and Li Zhun, he was not prepared to take them with him.

With the horrific infant mortality rate in this era, it is best to be careful, so the only women who followed Zhang Zhao back were Cao Sanniang and Guo Waner, a little wild cat who didn't lay eggs.

"Okay, I'll write it when I get to Shouchang!" Mrs. Cao Sanniang nodded, but her heart had already flown hundreds of miles away.

I don’t know how her Nobunaga is doing now. Although he lost his father when he was two years old, he probably can’t accept someone who is only a few years older than him, right?

....

The sun was setting in the west, and the long remaining rays of the sun shone on the top of Shouchang City.

The men on duty at the top of the city today are the soldiers of the third general from the right of the fourth capital. The general is a Sogdian named Kang Rong.

He looked boredly at the direction where the sun was setting, feeling a little confused in his heart.

The life of a soldier is so boring. When there is no battle, he usually just stays around.

As the town soldiers of Shouchang Town, their garrison period is one and a half years.

During the year and a half of the garrison, they did not have to farm, and their wages, money, and rice grains were all provided by the public.

It's just enough to eat, and there is a little surplus, but few people can save it.

In the environment of three days of exercise, most of the soldiers in the military camp have some kind of bad habits, either gambling or whoring.

After gambling and whoring, what comes is emptiness, just like Kang Rong. Only now did he realize why he was looking at the sunset? His eyes stung when he looked at it, because he realized that what he was looking at was loneliness!

In a huge gamble yesterday, Kang Rong not only lost all three of his wages, but also owed more than five dollars.

This year's grain harvest is bad, and the five members of the family are relying on his three rations of salary to survive the famine. What should they do?

Suddenly! At the end of the dark golden sky in the distance, a large amount of smoke and dust appeared, followed by countless flags that seemed to suddenly appear on the horizon.

Groups of soldiers appeared under the setting sun. They rode tall horses, and the armor on their bodies reflected the golden light of the sun. There were dots of starlight on their fronts, which were bright or extinguished, and they looked like soldiers from heaven descending to earth.

"Knock...knock..." Kang Rong swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva before finally shouting loudly.

"Sound the alarm! Enemy troops! Massive enemy troops!"

The person who found out about Zhang Zhao's return was a confidant of Shouchang County Magistrate Xue Shantong. After getting the news, Xue Shantong hurried to Dunhuang to report the news, so the residents of Shouchang City did not know that Zhang Zhao had returned.

The sun was about to set, and the entire Shouchang Town was in chaos. Chickens and dogs were jumping on the streets. Children, women and children were crying and running to their homes. Strong men quickly ran towards the city with knives and guns.

But the key point is that after the Shouchang Town Envoy Luo Xianda was driven home to eat old rice, the Shouchang Town Army and even the entire Shouchang City military were under the agency of the County Magistrate Xue Shantong.

Now due to special reasons in Dunhuang, Xue Shantong can only go back to report the situation by himself. Once he leaves, the entire Shouchang City will be leaderless.

So much so that when Zhu Xianwei was snatched from the bed of the widow's house next door by the panicked soldiers, he didn't even have time to put on his pants.

When he ran to the city gate with his pants up, he was horrified to find that the city gate was not closed, so he yelled at Kang Rong.

"You're such a badass? Why don't you care about the city gate? Are you stupid for losing money?"

It turned out that the money Kang Rong lost was lost to the county captain. The unlucky Sogdian was so overwhelmed that he was frightened. When he went down howling, he beat and scolded the soldiers to close the city gate.

Later, the army from the opposite side also arrived.

"I'm your mother! My life is at stake!" The county lieutenant looked at the army that was only ten meters away from the city, and he couldn't even think of resistance in his mind.

The army under the city was in a very strict formation, even the colors of their armor were the same. Thousands of them could easily hold Shouchang City in the palm of their hand like an outstretched fist.

"Blind Kang! You farm slave! If your mother comes in, please open the door quickly!"

Zhu Niu'er? You're still wearing an official robe? This old pervert still has some luck.

Yuniang, Yuniang, are you at the top of the city? You see, I have made a lot of money, and I have come back to marry you!"

The one who did this had to be Ma Yaozi. He shouted and cursed, and everyone on the top of the city was stunned.

Kang Rong and Lieutenant Zhu Xian looked at each other. They felt that the people below looked familiar, but they couldn't remember who they were for a while.

"Kite? Are you Ma Yaozi? You suffered from the plague. Didn't you die in Anxi?"

At this time, someone recognized who the person below was, and Yu Niang cried and shouted as she was about to go down to the city.

She recognized that the one sitting on several boxes was Ma Haozi, the mistress who went to Anxi with Zhang Erlang.

"Hold her, hold her quickly!" Lieutenant Zhu County quickly asked someone to hold Yu Niang.

Shouchang City is located to the west of the Guiyi Army. Even when the Guiyi Army was at its weakest, it had not fought many battles.

The city gate is held up by a few big wooden bolts. If this crazy woman runs down, she can really open the door.

"Ma Yaozi, where did the athlete behind you come from? Is it Mr. Zhang Erlang's army horse?"

When someone grabbed Yu Niang, Lieutenant Zhu also recognized that the person below was indeed Ma Yaozi.

"You are a farm slave? What qualifications do you have to call Mr. Zhang Erlang? If they are not Mr. Erlang's soldiers and horses, are they yours?

Hurry up and open the door, Mr. Erlang has rescued all the descendants of the Anxi Protector who were trapped in Anxi in the past!"

Ma Yaozi did not let others call him Zhang Zhao or Zhang Erlangjun, but he could only call him Erlangjun.

Because according to the rules at this time, the Khotan Jin Kingdom also called itself the Dachao Dabao Jin Kingdom, and Dachao refers to the Central Plains Dynasty.

Therefore, strictly speaking, Zhang Zhao's appointment as deputy king of Khotan cannot be established, because the Jin Kingdom of Khotan is not qualified to be crowned king.

At the same time, his name Ju'er Khan is not very useful here. Zhang Zhao got the name Ju'er Khan as a result of the public recommendation by his Bashmi and Suiye tribesmen.

At the same time, he also defeated Bugla Khan of the Kara Khanate in Polu State, so it can be used in Anxi.

But in Hexi, the majority of the Uighurs are Ganzhou Uighurs. Unless Zhang Zhao can defeat or even annex the Ganzhou Uighurs like he defeated Saktu, his Ju'er Khan will not be able to stand in Hexi.

It can be said that Zhang Zhao currently commands an army of 5,000 people, but he does not have a legal identity.

On the top of the city, Lieutenant Zhu Xian raised his eyes and saw that the thousands of troops below the city were indeed carrying the sun, moon, star and three-chen flags of the Tang Dynasty, and those tough generals did look like Han people.

But he still didn't dare to open the door. It would be terrible if this bitch Ma Yaozi joined some foreign race to earn money for opening the city gate.
To be continued...