The tops of the snow-capped mountains are covered with snow-white glaciers, which look like shining crowns under the sun. Beneath the glaciers are yellow and rugged mountains that are not covered by trees and are directly exposed to the sky.
Although the distance was extremely far, Su Mung, who was sitting on the old saddle, still felt the coldness and desolation brought by the huge rock mass.
The foot of the mountain is covered with green and spreading meadows, and the black yaks look like black pearls scattered among the meadows from a distance. A group of yaks are riding on a hill in the distance, watching these yaks warily.
side.
"Damn it, there are still people wearing short coats in the Central Plains in September. The ghost wind blows here, and people are shaking a little!" Xu Zang glanced at Fanqi in the distance, and discussed with Su Miao about the cool weather.
Come.
The original plan was only for Su Mou to lead his troops into an armed merchant group and go south. However, after Xu Fan learned that the entire capital and Xiangzhou would resolutely implement the strategic thinking of center defense, he expected that there would not be many charges on the entire Rucai front this autumn and winter.
If there is an opportunity, we must follow him southward, life or death.
After several entanglements, Xu Huai finally let go, and Xu Zan was able to go south together.
It was already September. After Su Miao and Xu Zang went south, they had passed through the Dali Kingdom and entered the White Wolf Kingdom area during the previous dynasty.
This place is located on the southwest edge of the later Hengduan Mountains. The terrain is not so sharply cut, and the terrain is relatively open and closer to the plateau landform. Intermittent snow-capped mountains appear intermittently in the distance.
They were marching westward in the name of a business group, but their troops were large and their equipment was extremely sophisticated, so it was impossible for the Tibetan tribes along the route not to be vigilant.
Even though Xu Fang, Su Fan and others had stayed here to rest for several days, taking out the tea and salt cloth purchased from Shanju County and trading with the local tribes, there were always Fan riding around to monitor their movements.
"Su Junhou, Xu Junhou, and Wei Laobai should be back..."
One of the guards pointed to the north and shouted happily.
Su Mung looked to the north and saw a group of cavalry walking slowly toward them on the rolling wasteland.
Although the distance is far and the faces cannot be seen clearly, the formation of the cavalry formation is familiar. They should be the scouts and horses they sent out a few days ago——
There was no need for Su Mung, Xu Zang ordered, and soon a dozen cavalrymen galloped out from the camp and met the cavalry group from a distance.
Encountering a lot of harassment along the way, Su Mung calmly watched the dozen scouts galloping out quickly. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he met the cavalry team.
"Why are all the people back?" Xu Zan looked at the size of the people who came back. It should be that the soldiers and horses who went out to reconnaissance had returned. He frowned and asked Su Mi, "Do you think Wei Laobai and the others have found the princess and Zhang?"
Join them in the army?”
The rebel general Wei Tong and Wei Laobai led more than a hundred cavalry to the west for in-depth reconnaissance. Only six days had passed before they returned to their base. They should have discovered something.
The problem is, no matter whether traces of the Khitan advance troops are found or not, all the outgoing reconnaissance troops do not need to return. They only need to send a few or a dozen scouts back to report, and they will lead a large force to rush over to respond. "What you may encounter
The situation is a little complicated!" Su Miao said with some uncertainty, a dark cloud hung over his heart, and he didn't know what Wei Tong had discovered during his reconnaissance this time.
"Marquis Su Jun, we have found Princess Xiao and Zhang Canjun!"
Wei Tong got off his horse and happily walked to Su Miao and said.
Wei Tong was a general of the rebel army and was appointed under Xu Pan during the recruitment of envoys in Nancai.
Wei Tong was good at wielding heavy spears. He had a fair appearance in the early days. He was only slightly older than Xu Pang and Su Mung. He looked like a handsome scholar. He was nicknamed "White Dragon in the Waves" when he was in the Dongjing Allied Forces, but he was assembled in Biyang and went south.
Later, his fair face was exposed to the blazing sunlight, and over half a year later, it turned into a rough purple-red color. Xu Tan called him "Wei Laobai" all day long, and everyone followed suit and stopped calling him by his first name.
Wei Tong grinned, showing his white teeth and told Su Miao how he encountered the Khitan advance troops.
In the early years of the previous dynasty, the Tubo Dynasty expanded southward and once conquered the then Nanzhao Kingdom. After that, the Tibetan people and the barbarians in the southwest conducted commercial activities mainly involving tea and horses.
Activities along the Lushui River formed the famous Tea Horse Road in later generations.
Due to the rise of the Dangxiang people in the northwest, the connection between the Central Plains and the Tubo Highlands was once interrupted. However, after the founding of the country, Dali has maintained close commercial contacts with the Tubo people in the southwest.
After entering the Dali Kingdom, the business group spent a lot of money to find business travelers who had in-depth exchanges with the Tibetan people. They conducted in-depth investigations and analyzes on the Tea Horse Road and the Tibetan tribes and sectarian forces along the route, as well as the hinterland forces in the Tubo Highlands.
The Tea Horse Road is divided into north and south lines from Shanju County to the west. Theoretically, the Khitan advance troops and horses started from Taoyuan in the west of Minshan Mountain and went south, or along the upper reaches of the Yellow River, all the way around to Kangyanchuan, the old important town of the ancient Western Qiang Kingdom.
Convenient, and Kangyanchuan is located on the southern line of the Tea Horse Road.
Therefore, the armed merchant group entered Shanju County, and Shi Xun led some of the wounded to stay. Others, Wang Ju, and Shi Hu led the elite main force to go west along the southern line of the Tea Horse Road to search for traces of the Khitan advance troops; as a precaution, Su
Mushroom and Xu Zan led more than 500 cavalry to march westward along the northern route.
Unexpectedly, it was Su Mung and Xu Zan who led more than 500 cavalrymen who encountered the Khitan advance troops led by Xiao Yanhan on the northern front.
"Princess Xiao's men and horses were in a valley called Yunling Mountain three days away from us. They were surrounded by thousands of horsemen from the Pamba tribe gathered by the Lama of Buqu Temple. The valley and the external passages were all closed.
Being cut off by the Fan Cavalry, we did not rashly send people to infiltrate and contact Princess Xiao. We just found a few Khitan soldiers who were separated from Princess Xiao and the others in the periphery. Knowing that Princess Xiao and the others were not in good condition, we withdrew after that.
Come back. The lama of Buqu Monastery has noticed our whereabouts, but he shouldn’t think that we have anything to do with Princess Xiao!" Wei Tong said, "We quickly sent people to contact General Wang Ju to rescue Princess Xiao and the others.
Rescue!"
More than 500 years ago, the Tubo Dynasty expanded from the Uizang region, and the areas it conquered eastward were collectively called Duogansi. Later, Duosima was divided from the northern part of Duogansi.
Since Dali has always maintained good business ties with the Duogansi area, after Wang Ju entered Shanju County, although the merchant group was large in size and well-equipped, it also aroused high vigilance among the Tubo tribes along the route, except for bandits or disguised
Except for the attack by a small group of tribal soldiers and horses who became bandits, no large-scale bloody conflicts broke out. The journey was peaceful and smooth.
However, the Taoyuan area that the remnants of the Khitan moved to after they withdrew from Qinzhou was previously a horse-drinking land for the Tubo people. At that time, there were fierce and bloody conflicts with several Tubo tribes in Duosima, which generally caused widespread concern throughout Duosima.
The hatred of the Tibetan tribes in the Ma area.
Therefore, Xiao Yanhan, Zhang Xiongshan, Xiao Xun, Wu Sanrong and others led the Khitan advance troops across the Duosima area and headed south. Along the way, they encountered fierce pursuit and interception by the Tibetan tribes along the way.
Although Tubo was severely divided, in the end, more than a dozen larger tribes, under the leadership of Buqu Temple, the leader of the traditional sect in the western region of Duogansi, gathered seven or eight thousand Tibetan cavalry and surrounded the Khitan advance troops at the foot of Yunling Mountain.
Xiao Yanhan led the Khitan advance troops with about 9,000 people when they set out from Taoyuan. However, due to the harsh environment, climate and bloody fighting along the way, they were surrounded by Yunling Mountain???????????????
There are less than 4,000 people left, more than half of whom are women and children.
Wei Tong also wanted to mislead the Tibetan soldiers into thinking that they had nothing to do with the Khitan soldiers and horses. It was purely a merchant group that happened to pass by the place on its way westward, so he decided to return all troops and left no men to monitor near Yunling Mountain.
"When Uncle Qi and the others arrive, the day lilies are already cold, so we'll kill you immediately!" Seeing Su Mi frowning and thinking, Xu Zang shouted straight away.
"Will we be a little short of men and horses?" Wei Tong asked worriedly.
Now six to seven thousand Fan cavalry surrounded the Khitan advance men and horses - the Khitan advance men and horses could fight with less than two thousand men. In addition to being extremely exhausted, they also needed to protect the women and children who had retreated into the valley. They only had more than 500 horsemen and killed them directly.
, how to kill?
"We still have to fight, we can't wait!" Su Miao thought about it and said calmly.
The eastern area of Duogansi is the famous Hengduan Mountains in later generations. The terrain is severely cut by mountains and rivers. The north and south lines of the Tea Horse Road have to go all the way to the western area of Duogansi before they are connected by branch lines.
This means that after receiving the message from their messengers, the soldiers and horses on the southern front will most likely need to retreat from the southern front to Shanju County, and then rush westward along the northern line to join them.
However, it has been a month since they marched westward in two directions from Shanju County. Now they don’t know exactly where the soldiers and horses on the southern front have gone. How long will it take to wait until Wang Ju, Shi Hu, and Shi Xun lead the main force to join them?
?
How can the Khitan advance troops and horses survive until that moment when they are surrounded by several times the Fan cavalry?
Furthermore, the nearby Tubo tribe was not alert enough to the appearance of their cavalry, and thought they were merchant armed forces, but they stayed around and even had a larger merchant armed force.
Coming here urgently, how stupid must the Tubo tribe be to not think of it?
Su Fan thought about it and felt that Xu Fan's first instinct was right. Although they were small in number, they still had to kill them before Fan's cavalry was not alert enough to them...
