To be precise, the Thirteen Tribes of the Western Mountains are just a small tribal alliance. Their internal cohesion and resilience to withstand external pressure are average.
The Motu tribe organized troops to attack the mouth of the gorge several times, but apart from dropping more corpses, they were unable to shake the rock-solid defensive array of Tongbai Mountain soldiers.
The Tibetan soldiers who were blocked inside the mouth of the gorge saw that the soldiers and horses outside the mouth of the gorge were unable to attack. They failed several times to break through. At dusk, some soldiers climbed the northwest cliff and fled deep into the west mountain.
The other Tibetan soldiers inside the gorge had basically lost their fighting spirit at dusk, and huddled in rugged and difficult corners, waiting in vain for rescue. After dark, the Tibetan soldiers and generals still thought of trying hard under the bright stars and moon.
Several offensives were organized from the inside, but each time there were only a few hundred people. After the battle, there were only a few casualties, and then they dispersed. Apart from sending a few heads, there was no threat at all.
The Fan cavalry outside the gorge was also worried that the Tongbai Mountain soldiers in Shuozhou City would sneak up and attack at night, so they withdrew to the Yushuchong Pass northwest of Shuozhou City overnight.
Xu Huai did not give Xishan Fanhu another chance to struggle. Early the next morning, he gathered two thousand armored soldiers to attack the Fan soldiers inside the gorge mouth from the east and west sides. In the end, only one or two hundred people escaped by climbing up the steep slope of the northwest cliff.
The remaining Tibetan soldiers either knelt down and surrendered, or were mercilessly killed. The entire war lasted until noon and ended completely.
There were a total of 600 Tibetan soldiers before and after. The Tibetan cavalry was shot dead at the mouth of the gorge, and 1,300 Tibetan soldiers were surrounded inside the mouth of the gorge and chose to surrender...
Xie Zhong rode his horse and rode out of Houerwu with Xu Huai, Xu Wuqi and others who had finally rested for a long time.
In the rugged gorge, the corpses of Tibetan soldiers with their heads cut off were piled into a pit, and blood was still seeping into the dry soil; thousands of prisoners tied their hands first, and then connected them with hemp ropes.
They were dispersed and driven to a designated location to assemble.
Seeing the situation, Xu Huai had no intention of escorting all these prisoners back to Shuozhou City and locking them up.
Yesterday, these prisoners were ferocious and violent Tibetan soldiers, but today most of them have become anxious and frightened birds; a few prisoners still have unruly eyes, but if they exceed the rules a little bit, the whip in the hands of the guarding Tongbai soldiers will be gone.
He was beaten mercilessly, all over his head.
Military officials would usually step forward to stop the prisoners, forbidding soldiers from beating the prisoners, and would also identify and take away prisoners who looked like tribal leaders.
Deep down in his heart, Xie Zhong couldn't help but sigh, sometimes victory is so easy.
However, such a victory is so far away from the Tianxiong Army that the generals and military officials of the Tianxiong Army no longer have many extravagant hopes and illusions about victory and first-level achievements.
Yesterday afternoon, in order to resist the Tibetan soldiers, the Tibetan cavalry attacked the mouth of the gorge from two wings. Xie Zhong originally wanted to send more than a hundred soldiers around him to participate in the battle, but these turtles and grandsons are usually fat and strong, and they can show off their strength in front of ordinary generals.
Yang Wu, at this juncture, tried to evade in every possible way, saying that it was not yet time for them to go to war, but in the end they did not leave Houerwu to participate in the war. Unexpectedly, one night passed, and the war that he thought would be tragic ended like this.
Xie Zhong himself felt ashamed. Fortunately, his battalion commander Zhou Quanyi, who was responsible for leading his troops to station in Dongzha Village yesterday, led two groups of soldiers to meet Xu Xin'an and fight out of the gorge yesterday, earning him some face.
Of course, what worried Jie Zhong even more was the dozens of spear throwers who briefly appeared outside the gorge mouth yesterday afternoon and then quietly withdrew from the battlefield.
Xishan is just north of Langu County in Lanzhou. Since Xie Zhong joined the army, he has been stationed in Langu County for half of his time. He is more familiar with the Wuchi tribe, Motu tribe and other Fanhu tribes in the thirteen tribes of Xishan than Xu Huai and others.
Months of intelligence gathering went even further.
Jie Zhong basically knew how many good players Xishan Fanhu had and who their leader was. He had even met and had contact with many of them.
For a long time, Xishan Fanhu has been smuggling tea, salt, iron, fur, and livestock from the west wing of Guanlui Mountain. This is actually an opportunity for the Imperial Army stationed in Langu County to make extra money; and the Tianxiong Army wants to spy on the Khitan's military intelligence on Xijing Road.
Buy Xishan Fanhu.
Even when the Xishan Fanhu rebelled against the Khitan in the early days, the Hedong Economic and Strategic Envoy Office did not fail to consider taking the opportunity to control the Xishan area, and secretly contacted the leaders of the Xishan Fanhu many times, but in the end they did not dare to tear up the newly signed peace agreement with the Khitan.
Xie Zhong knew that Xishan Fanhu might be able to gather a dozen powerful and skilled fighters, but they couldn't all be unfamiliar faces that he didn't recognize.
These experts cannot come from Xiao Linshi and Xiao Xinhan's subordinates.
After the fall of the northern part of Khitan, the remnants of the Khitan army wanted to establish a new emperor in Xijing Prefecture (Yanji) in Nanjing, but General Yunshuo in Xijing was in panic.
If they really want to join forces with Xishan Fanhu to attack the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain, they can just divide their forces and attack Shuozhou City. Why do they need to play other tricks?
Between the Dangxiang people and the Chihu people, Xie Zhong is of course more inclined to believe that these good players come from the Mobei grassland.
This was also a judgment that Xu Huai made very early, but what confused Xie Zhong was that from yesterday afternoon to this time, Xu Huai, Xu Wuqi and others did not raise this issue again, and even asked him to countersign, urgently
The victory letter sent to Kelan City did not mention this at all.
A fast horse came from the gorge road and rushed to Xu Huai to report: "The Wuchi Ministry sent people to Yuanzi. They want to surrender, but they want to negotiate terms with the military envoy in person!"
"Talk about the conditions for his mother-in-law to get a child, you are really a fool who is stubborn even if you are about to die," Xu Huai spat and then said to Xie Zhong and Xu Wuqi, "Let's go, let's go to Wuchi Village again.
Bar!"
…………
…………
Surrounded by more than a hundred cavalry, the crowd galloped toward Wuchi Village along the narrow and narrow gorge road covered with dust.
However, everyone's mood was completely different from when they came to Houerwu from Wuchi Village a few days ago.
A few days ago, Xishan Fanhu soldiers were numerous and powerful, and they had the advantage of war horses. However, at this time, the main force of Xishan Fanhu troops had been wiped out, leaving more than a thousand Fan cavalry to escape. It can also be said that they were frightened. They should no longer have the courage to fight against Shuozhou soldiers and horses.
I was grinning before.
Even if the Wuchi tribe surrendered or not, no one cared much.
The Wuchi tribe has been besieged for more than a month and a half, and its people have been severely deprived of water for almost eleven or two days. Even if they still want to defend the dangerous position at this time, it will not take too much effort to attack them. Even Xu Huai is more ruthless.
, it would not be a problem if all the more than 2,000 members of the Wuchi tribe died due to lack of water if the siege lasted for another ten days and a half.
On the way, Jie Zhong still approached Xu Huai and Xu Wuqi and asked his doubts: "The dozens of spear-throwing experts yesterday were obviously involved by the Red Husbands. You don't seem to have the intention to report them?"
"What's the use of reporting it?"
Xu Huai reined in the reins and walked slowly, and asked,
"If the Gonggun princes in the temple had any brains, they should have realized the threat of the Chihu people long ago. However, at this time, many princes, princes and ministers are in a daze, still dreaming of the spring and autumn dream of recapturing Yunshuo. We insignificant people,
Can we wake them up? No matter how much evidence we report, all we will get is scolding, and we may even be accused of demagoguery! Do we need to commit such a shame? If the People's Liberation Army envoy doesn't believe it, he can secretly report it if he has the opportunity.
Report this matter to the commander-in-chief of the capital, and let the general manager know about it and see what their reaction is!"
"..." Jie Zhong smiled bitterly. As the Marquis of Du Yu, let alone Cao Shixiong, he still had the opportunity to show his face in front of Liu Shizhong, but he felt that the situation Xu Huai mentioned was really possible.
They had long formed the habit of doing less than doing more, but they did not expect that Xu Huai had such a cognition and mentality at such a young age.
Xu Huai looked at the long white clouds in the distant sky and said to Jie Zhong: "We are actually trying hard to search for some evidence to confirm some speculations, but this is no longer an extravagant hope that the court will wake up, but more so that we can know more clearly.
Know what you should do next and what you can do.”
Xie Zhong fell silent.
Withdrawing from Datong, whether Zhu Hang was temporarily guarding Shuozhou or responsible for controlling the defense of Yangkou, Ningwu and other fortresses, Jie Zhongdu led his troops to follow him. It was inevitable that he would be subtly influenced by Zhu Hang and others.
Naturally, the attention and vigilance towards the Chihu people was much higher than that of other generals of the Tianxiong Army.
Now there is what he considers to be quite conclusive evidence, indicating that the Chihu people have been involved in Xishan Fanhu's restlessness in the past two or three months behind the scenes. How could he not be aware of the threat of the Chihu people?
However, in fact, some of his previous speculations and worries were isolated and even ridiculed within the Tianxiong Army, and were considered to be unfounded worries. After all, the Khitan people have not shown particularly strong expansion ambitions in Hedong and Hebei over the years - he
This time I personally led troops and horses to reinforce me, but I still wanted to have a chat with Xu Huai, Xu Wuqi and the others.
"Since you are so worried about the threat of the Chihu people, then the purpose of clearing out the Xishan Fanhu this time is not just for military exploits, right?" Xie Zhong asked after pondering for a long time.
"If the Red Husbands go south, their cavalry will be unstoppable in the world, and Shuozhou City has limited grain reserves. Once the Red Husbands are trapped in the city, it will be difficult to hold on for a long time - then this area can really be defended.
, only this Xishan!"
Xu Huai would not be in a hurry to discuss the loyalty issues of Cao Shixiong, Cao Shili and others with Xie Zhong, who was hesitant at this time.
This is very sensitive, and Xie Zhong may not believe it due to the limitations of his old thinking.
However, they have now severely damaged Fanhu in Xishan, and it is no longer difficult to expel Motu and other tribes from Xishan.
The next thing they have to do is to store more supplies in the Western Mountains and use the existing Hu villages such as Wuchi Village to conduct more military deployments.
It would be impossible to hide their intentions from anyone with a discerning eye, so he no longer had to hide anything from Jie Zhong at this time.
They even hoped that Xie Zhong would make more preparations at Guangwu Village in the south of Xishan Mountain and provide some convenience for them to transport supplies from Langu County.
In the future, they will bypass the Taiyuan, Kelan, and Ningwu lines, cross the slope valley at the western foot of Guanluo Mountain from Langu County, enter Fuzhou and Yanzhou, and use the dangerous and narrow gorge road in central and northern Guanzhou to transport people and materials.
Although the road has many twists and turns, it is also a new choice...
