Chapter 179: Plateau Strange Soldier (I)

‘Squeak!’ The huge thunderbolt winch made a harsh sound. More than 200 Tang soldiers under the car pulled dozens of thick ropes hard, and suddenly shouted. The soldiers let go, and a huge rock rose into the air and smashed straight towards the castle towering on the cliff, but it was like a drop of water falling into the pond, splashing a trace of dust on the cliff, but the castle remained unmoved.

Immediately afterwards, ten, hundreds of huge rocks flew into the air and hit the castle, but most of them did not have enough range and could not touch the edge of the castle. They smashed on the suspended wall and rolled down. They peeled off large pieces of gray-white rock flakes. Occasionally, a few hit the castle, but their strength had disappeared without any effect. It was like a bribe-taking yamen runner who swung the board high and slashed it with the wind and rain, but there was no force on the flesh.

The siege car, nest car, and arrow tower are all useless here. The cliff a hundred feet high seems to float in the clouds. Only by relying on the flesh and blood of soldiers along the narrow path coiled by long snakes and building a castle on the cliff with cloud ladders can we break into the wall. However, these three links are more difficult than the other, and more dangerous than the other, and are as if they are as strong as the sky.

But there was no choice in the war. He knew that he was dead and he had to go on. He knew that he was a meat grinder and he had to put his head in without hesitation. The tragic siege had been going on for two days. The blood of the Tang army dyed the narrow path into a dazzling Chu Hong, and he could not even wash away the rain, as if this was a path to death paved with blood rocks.

The road was no longer visible, covered with layers of corpses, mixed with red rolling wood and rocks. The fire burned on the stone path, and more than a dozen cloud ladders had been burned to the point of being twisted and deformed. The wood and the corpses below were burned into the same coke. It was hard to tell which one was wood? Which one was a human?

The stone castle city seemed to be the old nest of a demon. It needed to be raised with human flesh and blood. The rumbling sound of attack drums sounded again. Thousands of Tang soldiers rushed towards the cliff with huge shields, waved their swords, resisted the ladders, and ran upwards with their companions' bodies, as if racing against time. The two-foot-long flying crossbow arrows were as dense as raindrops, and made a crackling sound on the city. This was the only effective weapon for the stone castle city, using huge

The crossbow shot out and fired ten arrows in a row, but it could not penetrate the thick city walls, and could only suppress the Tubo army and block the road with rolling wood or rocks. At this time, the only gap that the Tang army could use was to select hundreds of runners who were carefully selected to run desperately on the trail. When the flying crossbow arrow was shot, it was the time when they died. A flying crossbow arrow cost 500 meter, and the dense arrows like rain hit the national strength of the Tang Dynasty.

I have read countless comments that Li Longji is very happy to be successful and spent all the treasury of the Tang Dynasty. This is a big mistake. Shibao City, Jishiyu, Boxian Town, Nanzhao, and Talas. Which battle is not to defend the country's territory and interests, and which battle is not to be honored by the Tang Dynasty, unless Longyou and Hexi are handed over to the Tubo people, unless millions of children of the Tang Dynasty are sent to Tubo as slaves, unless thousands of miles of rivers and mountains in the Western Regions are given to Dashi, Tubo; this is definitely not a big joy of merit. This is the style of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, leaving a precious wealth for the descendants of later generations. On the contrary, today is really regrettable.

Come back first, hundreds of strong soldiers finally rushed to the cliff, but they were still far away from victory and out of reach. The Tubo army on the city had already leaned out, and dozens of kilograms of stones and logs fell densely like hail, smashing the Tang army that had just touched the city wall, submerging their hopes and thoughts, and their screams and despair in the cold stone chaos array.

After a storm of wood and stone rain, there was no other Tang army standing on the cliff.

The horn of the attack became dull, and the soldiers' footsteps stopped. When a blood-red setting sun shone on the demon castle, on the charred smoked broken wood frame, on the countless cold corpses that had lost their lives, the bell of withdrawal finally rang. Faced with the failure and powerlessness of the siege, the main general Chu Zhilian lowered his huge head dejectedly.

A cavalry of more than a hundred people ran through the dense forests on the plateau, crossed streams, and fled in all directions. The leader was about twenty-six or seven years old. His lips were slightly raised, his nose was cut like a knife, and his eyes were sharp, and he looked confident and strong. His dark and rough face became delicate and shiny during the rest of more than a month.

He was Duan Xiushi who was injured in the battle in Shazhou. At this moment, he had completely recovered his health. He was promoted to Guoyi Commander by the Ministry of War for his contribution to assassination of the enemy. Li Qing wanted to keep him by his side, but he insisted on being a scout general.

Duan Xiushi had already come out a month ago. His task was to draw a marching route map from the sandbank to the Jiuqu area. He knew the governor's meaning. In the face of a war, the governor would never want to be a dog guarding the house.

The map has been drawn, and it is clear at a glance which is the mountains, the canyons, the rivers, and the forests. However, next to a dense forest in the Jiuqu area, Duan Xiushi marked a heavy straight line in red. Five days ago, he found a strange Tubo army at the beginning of the straight line, with about 2,000 people. Their armor and robes were obviously more skilled than ordinary Tubo army. They did not look like they were fighting, but like some big figures guarding them. Amid them was surrounded by a carriage drawn with eighteen war horses. On the carriage was an oval tent, like a huge white bird egg.

With his keen intuition, Duan Xiushi immediately guessed that the tent was definitely not an ordinary Tubo general, and even if it was not Tubo Zanpu, he would be a senior official like the Tubo Grand Theory.

The governor had not given much time, so he could no longer track him, so he immediately returned to Shazhou. Before he could realize that it was sunset, Duan Xiushi and his party came to a low high ground. The clouds were drooping over the high ground, and the mist covered the sun. In the distance was the Ganquan water. Behind the black pine forest was the place where the governor ambushed the Tubo pioneers. After walking more than a hundred miles along the Ganquan water, Shazhou was.

"Boss, there seems to be movement behind the woods."

A sergeant of the Tang army, who was keen, noticed a strange phenomenon. A piece of blue smoke seemed to emerge from the woods, gently curling, and it looked very blurry under the setting sun.

"That's smoke!" Duan Xiushi immediately judged it and said to the sergeant: "Take a few brothers to see, be careful, don't disturb them."

He waved his hand and greeted the others, "Come with me the rest." Duan Xiushi turned his horse's head and led the scouts to hide into a forest.

Soon, the sergeant rushed over quickly, following five Tang soldiers behind him, but when he went there, he only brought three people. Duan Xiushi felt relieved, and the army must be the governor's army in the forest.

He guessed correctly that behind the woods was Li Qing's five thousand troops, who had already set up camp and were waiting for Duan Xiushi's return. The barracks were close to the Ganquan water, and the huge wooden fence formed a half-moon shape. Duan Xiushi entered the camp and saw rows of neat tents and sheds, rows of horses tied to piles, and huge weapons storage places. Clusters of erected swords and long spears standing together were like newly planted bushes, but there was no bonfire. The night wind blew coldly. There was a wooden high platform on both sides of the camp, and sentries were wrapped in thick coats and patrolling back and forth.

Duan Xiushi quickly walked outside Li Qing's tent, lifted the curtain and walked out of one person, but another scout Xiang Xuan. He had just returned, but his mission was to visit south, find the way for Tubo to attack north last time, and to monitor whether Tubo would attack Shazhou again.

"General Duan looked happy. He must have completed the task of the governor, which is gratifying!"

Duan Xiushi bowed and smiled, "What about General Xiang who completed the task by luck? Did he succeed?"

Xiang Xuan shook his head, his smile a little bitter, "I found the road, but I encountered a storm and snow, and I couldn't move forward, so I had to go back, I couldn't compare to General Duan!"

Hearing this, a trace of brilliance flashed in Duan Xiushi's eyes, "The governor must be overjoyed when he heard this news!"

Xiang Xuan's bitterness turned into pride. He nodded slowly, "In this way, the governor's worries will be gone."

"Is Duan Xiushi at the door?" Li Qing's voice came from the tent.

Xiang Xuan patted Li Qing on the shoulder and smiled and said, "Go! The governor is calling you! He is in a good mood today."

In the tent, Li Qing was carefully repairing his sand table. His sand table was rough at first, and many mountains and roads were wrong. In the past few months, he had sent people to survey the terrain and landform in detail, basically shaping the radius of 300 miles of Shazhou. Only then did he realize that the original jurisdiction was so large that even Lop Nur belonged to Shazhou.

After returning from Anxi, he immediately joined the preparations for war. Although the Ministry of War did not assign him a task, Li Longji issued a secret order to him, allowing him to act cheaply, but the premise was that Shazhou would not be lost. However, even if Li Longji did not give him an order, he would take action by himself. For this reason, he sent Duan Xiushi and Xiang Xuan to explore the way more than a month ago. Xiang Xuan brought good news. The road was blocked by the snow. The Tubo army could not go northwest to Shazhou and Anxi, which made Li Qing completely lose his worries, and now his eyes turned to him.

Longyou, about 2,000 miles from Shazhou to Longyou, mainly along the northern part of today's Qaidam Basin, passing through the big and small Chaidan, and finally arrived in Qinghai, which is today's Qinghai Lake. It crosses the Dafeichuan area to the south of Qinghai, and then arrives at Shibao City, which is the back of Shibao City. Theoretically speaking, the direction is right, but in fact, the road is snow-capped and the mountains are continuous, so it is not easy to find a marching road. If you want to find a way temporarily, it is probably already spring to reach Longyou, so Duan Xiushi's task is extremely important and urgent.

Calculated based on the time limit he limited, Duan Xiushi should come back to report in the past two days, but today, he just set up a camp and Duan Xiushi came back.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, Duan Xiushi's agile figure strode in and half-kneeled and saluted, "I will meet the governor!"

Li Qing waved and ordered his personal soldiers to carry the sand table aside. He waved his hand to Duan Xiushi gently and said, "No need to be polite, come! Sit down and talk."

Seeing Duan Xiushi sitting down, the personal soldiers served hot tea again. Li Qing looked at his eyebrows and eyes carefully. After he took two sips of hot tea, he smiled and said, "Your face should be worthy of my expectations. Take out the map quickly!"

Duan Xiushi quickly took out a thick stack of drawings from his leather bag, spread them on the table in turn, and pointed to a thick yellow line and said: "It's about ten days from here to Riyue Mountain, and the journey is deserted, but when he arrives at Dafeichuan, you will encounter scattered Qiang people. It's okay for these Qiang people to lead the way for me, and the most important thing is to avoid the Tubo army's wandering sentry."

While listening, Li Qing looked forward along the yellow line, and wanted to cross six rivers and a mountain concave. There were dense forests and many lakes along the way. Finally, his finger stopped on a red line. This red line was very strange, extending north from the middle of the yellow line, but the dotted line was drawn.

Li Qing frowned slightly, and his eyes were confused, "What does this red line mean?"

"Oh! This red line is about to be discussed soon."

Duan Xiushi walked over and pointed to the dot at the beginning of the red line and said, "When he returned, he discovered something strange. About three thousand Tubo cavalry guarded the oval white tent. He followed it all day and night, but it was too far away to see the people in the tent. However, based on his experience, the tent was either Tubo Zanpu or Tubo's great thesis."

"Then tell me, how did you judge? What did you find?"

Duan Xiushi thought for a while and said, "The subordinates can judge from three points. First, the general Tubo soldiers eat fried wheat and dried meat, but this Tubo army eats rice, which is completely different from ordinary soldiers. Second, their armor is exquisitely crafted and of excellent texture. The horses they ride are very majestic, and there are many ceremonial guards, which is also incomparable to ordinary Tubo soldiers. Third, they guard the white tent very strictly. Needless to say, there are 500 sleepless guards at night. You can imagine his importance. From the above three points, the subordinates can judge."

Li Qing was paced back and forth in the tent. The three points Duan Xiushi said could be completely inferred that it was Tubo Zanpu. What he was considering now was not this issue, but the significance of the appearance of Chide Zuzan to him.

He should be a surprise soldier who suddenly penetrated behind Tubo. They would never expect that he would rush to attack for a long distance. He already had nearly 7,000 people. In addition to leaving more than 1,000 Doulu army to defend Shazhou, there were five,000 people, three,000 elite troops in the Western Army, and two thousand cavalry teams reorganized by horse bandits. It should be a fierce army.

The thoughts in Li Qing's mind became more and more intense. At this moment, a huge opportunity was right in front of him. It was the time when he made achievements. If he didn't seize this opportunity, he would be stupid!

Thinking of this, his fingers hit the dot heavily and said to himself: "It's it!"

The next day, just as dawn, the water of Ganquan began to roar. On the vast plain on the shore, there were a group of Tang troops in bright armor, with a total of 5,500 soldiers. The infantry also rode on horseback. When they needed to fight, they dismounted and fought. The Mo sword was crossed on the saddle, with cold light flashing on both edges. The infantry general Li Siye stood with his head held high, majestic. Next to him was his deputy general Li Fei Yuanli, but a Xuanhua axe and a bloody mouth seemed even more ferocious, as if an evil ghost was on patrol.

One thousand and fifteen hundred crossbowmen were also riding on horses. They had horizontal swords on their waists and hips, round shields hung on their saddle bridges, and on their backs were crossbows made of fine iron, Fuyuan crossbows, Blazing crossbows, horn crossbows, single crossbows, different ranges and different combat effects. However, they were not only bowmen who brought bows. Like horizontal swords, bows were essential weapons for every soldier in the Tang Dynasty. The new crossbow soldiers were commanded by Nan Jiyun. This arrogant general who seized the first arrow of Doulu Army on Anxi Road will fully play the most sharp bowmen in the Tang Dynasty.

Most of the cavalry were reorganized from horse bandits. After brief training and advanced weapons and armor from the Tang army, it turned out that the powerful horse bandit had been transformed into an elite Tang cavalry. The main general of the cavalry was still Bai Xiaode, and the deputy general was Li Fei Shouyu.

Of course, the commander of this army is Li Qing, the governor of the Doulu Army in Shazhou. At this moment, his white horse was shining in the dawn dawn, and his long black hair fluttered under his high silver helmet. He looked so burly and majestic. His feat of leading his army to rush forward for thousands of miles made all soldiers deeply inspired by his fearlessness. His martial blood boiled in the bodies of every Tang soldiers, and their faces were filled with perseverance of dying.

The loud trumpet sounded, and the army in Shazhou began to move silently, heading towards the distant east, with no singing or piano sounds. They were a surprise soldier on the plateau, advancing! Let the iron hooves of the Tang Dynasty war horses fly over the Tubo territory; advance! Let the heads make wine glasses and drink the blood of the Tubo army; but let the flying generals in Longcheng be there, and it is not called Hu Ma to cross Yinshan!
Chapter completed!