Shannan West Road, Shangyong (now Zhuxi County, Shiyan City).
Sitting in the large tent of the Chinese army, Li Siye carefully picked up the items in the brocade box and looked at them carefully for a long time.
The thing is made entirely of copper and looks like a tiger. It can be divided into two halves on the left and right. There are seal characters on the top and genus names on the bottom.
Li Siye: “I’ve only seen it in books before, but today is the first time I’ve seen it in real form.”
Duan Xiushi on the side said: "The tiger talisman existed in the pre-Qin period and was popular in the army during the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the court tabooed the tiger, so it was changed to the fish talisman and the rabbit talisman. Its original role of conveying orders gradually faded away.
Already."
Li Siye: "Half of this tiger talisman is in the hands of the emperor, and half is distributed to the generals. Is the imperial court using this thing again to avoid the same mistake as the military rebellion in Jizhou?"
Duan Xiushi: "That's true. Not only the tiger talisman, the imperial court also sent other things, all related to the deployment of troops."
Li Siye opened the brocade box and found that there were tokens and books inside.
Written on the token is information about mobilizing troops, including quantity, assembly, attack direction and deadline.
The book is even more interesting, including the enemy troop strength, terrain information, general resumes and even local customs in the Fangshan area under the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Li Siye looked at his head for a while and asked Duan Xiushi on the side: "In the past, when we led troops to fight, all the news related to the war was reported by the army Sima. How does the Privy Council, thousands of miles away, know this?"
Duan Xiushi gave Li Siye a silencing gesture and looked outside the tent again.
Li Siye was stunned at first, but soon understood.
Duan Xiushi: "Back then, the Hebei rebellion was ignored by the imperial court, which eventually led to a catastrophe. Now that the new emperor has succeeded to the throne, in order to avoid repeating the same mistake, he attaches great importance to news in the army."
Li Siye: "Just like this time, the Pugu family launched a rebellion in Jizhou. The army marched to the gates of Taiyuan City. Before the battle started, Shuofang Jiedushi had already ambushed there."
Duan Xiushi: "Yes, that's exactly it."
Li Siye touched his head: "Ignore the rest and think about how to fight first?"
Duan Xiushi: "Our army is currently stationed in Shangyong. Lu Jiong, the puppet general of the Tang Dynasty, leads an army of 30,000 troops and is stationed in Fangshan. Fangshan is an important passage from Shannan West Road to Shannan East Road. If we can seize it, we can then regain Shannan East Road.
The battle will be easier."
Li Siye lowered his head, looked at the map, and after a while said: "The terrain of Fangshan is dangerous, and it is surrounded by mountains. There is only one road that can lead to the top of the mountain."
Duan Xiushi: "Yes, and Lu Jiong's camp on Fangshan Mountain is covered by rock walls, and it is difficult for artillery to cover it, so we can only rely on the army to attack it."
Li Siye slapped the table with his palm and said in a deep voice: "In that case, what are you waiting for? Quickly order your troops. I will lead a vanguard army as the front army and attack first."
Duan Xiushi advised: "Lu Jiong is good at defending the city. If he attacks rashly, he may not be successful..."
Li Siye waved his hand: "Lu Jiong's fame is not as good as that of Ashina Chengqing. I can kill the latter without any effort, so how can I care about such an unknown person?"
Duan Xiushi frowned and said: "Ashina Chengqing is good at riding and fighting, but not good at defense. The biggest reason why you can defeat him is that you are unexpected. But Lu Jiong is different..."
Li Siye had just won the battle and was in the limelight, but he couldn't listen to Duan Xiushi's advice. He said he would be more careful, but he didn't listen at all.
Three days later, the Western Route Army of the Northern Tang Dynasty set off.
Heading east from Shangyong, you finally arrive at the Huye Ridge area at the foot of Fangshan Mountain.
Li Siye led the front army and encountered Lu Jiong's front camp at Huye Ridge.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Southern Tang army was unprepared, Li Siye led the Modao team and rushed directly into the camp, killing countless people.
The soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty faced Li Siye's tiger and wolf warriors with no resistance at all. Not long after the battle started, they began to retreat backwards.
When Li Siye saw this, he laughed loudly and led the front army to chase the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty and kill them all the way up the mountain.
Upon seeing this, Duan Xiushi quickly sent out messengers to remind Li Siye and persuade him to retreat back and regroup his army.
However, with the rise of Li Siye's killing, no matter how he was willing to retreat, he not only scolded away the messengers, but also led the front army to charge at full speed, gradually losing touch with the main force.
When they rushed to the mountainside, Lu Jiong of the Southern Tang Dynasty planned an ambush.
I saw countless falling rocks on the mountain, which were pushed down, and countless archers, who lifted up the grass boards to camouflage themselves, and threw a rain of arrows at the Northern Tang army.
Li Siye was not afraid of death. He used Mo Dao to break the falling rocks and used dead bodies on the ground as shields to resist arrows.
The ambush soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty originally thought that the soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty would be in chaos and flee down the mountain.
Unexpectedly, under the leadership of Li Siye, a fierce man, the Mo Dao soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty's former army not only did not retreat, but accelerated their pace and rushed directly into the array of archers, killing them.
Suddenly, the soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty who were originally in ambush were killed until their morale collapsed and they began to flee.
Lu Jiong, who was in charge of the command on the mountain, heard the news that the ambush had been broken. He couldn't believe it at first. After repeated confirmations, Lu Jiong lamented that Li Siye had bravely won the three armies and had no choice but to use his last trump card.
In the forest of the mountain road in Fangshan, Lu Jiong had hung jars filled with kerosene on the treetops in advance.
These kerosene jars had a rope knotted at the bottom. Once someone passed by, the soldier responsible for activating the trap could just pull off the knot and spread the kerosene onto the road, burning the incoming troops.
.
At this time, Li Siye followed the mountain road and charged all the way up.
The soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty on the mountain road, under the instruction of their superiors, waited for Li Siye's Modao Army to enter the attack range, then pulled the knot and launched a second ambush.
Li Siye rushed in the middle of the road and suddenly saw a bottle falling above his head, and then smelled the pungent smell of fire oil, spreading out.
The natural instinct of a martial artist caused Li Siye to lower his body and roll backwards subconsciously, avoiding the area where the kerosene was most concentrated.
However, others were not so lucky. Dozens of fire oil cans fell from the sky like hailstones. Not only was the entire path covered, but even the armor of the soldiers of the Northern Tang Dynasty was stained a lot.
When the fire broke out, dozens of soldiers who were at the forefront were killed in the sea of fire almost instantly.
When Li Siye saw this situation, his anger surged. He raised his weapon and jumped into the sea of fire to kill, regardless of the raging fire ahead.
The personal guard quickly grabbed him and urged him hard: "General, the fire is too strong and we can't charge forward! Leave!"
When Li Siye was hesitating, there were many soldiers of the Southern Tang Dynasty behind the fire, hiding in the mountains, shooting with bows and arrows from a high position.
Caught off guard, Li Siye was shot in the left chest by an arrow and fell to the ground.
The guards were shocked when they saw this, and quickly blocked the arrows, and then pulled the general back desperately.
Blood overflowed from Li Siye's chest, gradually contaminating his body. He stretched out his hand to grab behind the fire, and said bitterly: "I am going to die in battle, how can I retreat!"
At this point, the first battle of the Western Route Army of the Northern Tang Dynasty to attack Fangshan ended with Li Siye being seriously injured and most of the elite troops of the former army being lost.
This chapter has been completed!