Even if Xiao Linshi is very likely to lead his clansmen southward before the Chihu Hexi Military and Horse Governor's Mansion launches an offensive from Xizhou, even if the Tubo tribes of Duogansi and Duosima are torn apart, they dare not provoke the remnants of the Khitan, and the hundreds of thousands of clansmen
About 60% to 70% of the people there are old, weak, women and children, and they have to carry hundreds of thousands of livestock to survive. It is destined to be an extremely long and difficult journey.
What's more, the possibility of the Red Husband Cavalry going south to pursue them is not small, which will further slow down the journey.
It would be extremely smooth for hundreds of thousands of tribesmen to complete the transfer to the foot of Shenyu Mountain within one year. If the journey was delayed to two or three years, or even suffered an unimaginable tragic blow on the way, it would not be difficult.
imaginary things.
But no matter what, the advance troops must be prepared to stay at the foothills of Shenyu Mountain for a long time to respond.
Fortunately, the air at the foothills of Shenyu Mountain is not as thin as that in the upper reaches of Lu River, and the climate after winter is much warmer than expected. Except for a few of the more than 4,000 Khitan pioneers who died of illness, the others are resting for more than a month.
My body gradually recovered and was no longer as weak as when I first arrived.
At this time, Xiao Yanhan also asked the tribe to drive prisoners of war to build camps and collect supplies based on the slopes outside the mouth of the gorge.
The first batch of soldiers and horses went south from Taoyuan, accompanied by 60 craftsmen from Jingxiang (Chushan). Even though they were regarded as key protection targets, nearly 20 people died on the way south forever; not only that, the remaining
So many craftsmen, in addition to providing guidance on the construction of camps and houses, also started felling wood and burning charcoal, using ready-made iron materials or broken swords and broken halberds, forging arrow clusters, swords and shields, and repairing armor, which was barely enough.
The consumption of armor and arrows is very high, and if they cannot be replenished in time, the combat effectiveness will be seriously weakened; in addition, all kinds of medicinal herbs must be purchased by all means - as for food, a large number of livestock have been collected before, so there is no shortage.
Xu Xin'an's father, Xu Guanshan, the deacon of Zhufeng Hall, unfortunately fell ill while passing through the Nangqian tribe's territory, and was shot and wounded by a cavalry raid at the camp. Unfortunately, he died of illness before reaching the foothills of Shenyu Mountain - Xu Guanshan was also the capital of Beijing.
Xiang had been engaged in construction in the past two years, and one of the few high-ranking generals who died while avoiding the war.
In addition to building camps at the foot of Shenyu Mountain, generals such as Shi Hu, Sun Yanguan, Xiao Xun, and Xu Teng each led hundreds of elite troops to cruise north of Shenyu Mountain to expel the Tibetan soldiers on both sides of the Lushui River. At the same time, they sent messengers to contact Semo.
The Tibetan forces in Gang, Pangbo Gang, Mangkang Gang and other places ordered the remnant Khitan troops to cross the border to the south and annex Dayue. They ordered the Tubo tribes not only not to obstruct it, but also ordered the tribes to send envoys to the foothills of Shenyu Mountain to discuss the internal annexation.
Pay tribute and other matters.
A month later, Xiao Yanhan, Wang Ju, Shi Hai and others finally received further news about the remnants of the Khitan at the foot of Shenyu Mountain.
Two months ago, in early September, in Shihai, after Xiao Chunyu sent people back and pretended to have contacted the advance troops, there were still some tribal leaders who did not hesitate to split and firmly opposed going south.
The leaders of this group of tribes are mainly Xishanhu people west of Shuozhou. They have been drifting between Khitan and Dangxiang in their early years. They were brutally suppressed by Xiao Linshi because of their rebellion more than 20 years ago. They also conquered Yan twice in the north.
During this period, Xu Huai sent troops to defeat the Xishan Barbarians. Except for a few ethnic groups such as the Wuchi clan, which were absorbed by Chushan and eventually moved south to Chushan, the other Xishan Barbarians were integrated into the remaining Khitan tribes by Xiao Linshi.
Xishan Hu and some other vassal tribes do not have high personal recognition of Khitan and Xiao Linshi. Moreover, they have been traveling north and south over the years and have not found a place to live. They feel that surrendering to the Chihu people will not be better than going south.
Even worse.
Xiao Linshi decisively eliminated the opponents and led his clan southward before the Tao River froze.
The rise of Tibet in the previous dynasty led to peace or war with the Central Plains and close exchanges.
In the past two to three hundred years, whether the two places sent troops, trade, or made peace, they started from Guanzhong Chang'an, passed through Tianshui to the west, went out to Longyou, Hexi, and then from Hehuang to Shanzhou (or Xiningzhou, today's Xining) and so on.
Going south, you can reach Nangqian (today's Yushu) on the bank of Tongtian River (the upper reaches of Lushui River), which is the northern part of the famous Tang-Tibo old road.
After arriving at Nangqian, one way is to continue heading southwest, and you can go to Luoche City, the old road of Tubo, but that is the hinterland of the Uizang region, further away from the Dali Kingdom, and runs counter to the purpose of the Khitan tribe to move south.
The other road is to cross the Tongtian River and go south to Kangyanchuan (today's Qamdo). After reaching Kangyanchuan, you can follow the southern line of the Tea Horse Road eastward to Dali Kingdom.
This is also the key reason why Wang Ju and Shi Hu led the main reinforcements to take the southern route of Cai Ma Road to provide support.
It was just that Xiao Yanhan and Zhang Xiongshan were the first to send troops and horses to the bank of Tongtian River. Except when the river was raging, the Tubo tribes in Mangkang Gang had already assembled nearly two thousand cavalry waiting to work on the south bank. They were forced to fight hard along the left bank of Tongtian River.
Okay, and then finally met Su Mung and Xu Zang.
Xiao Linshi led the main force of the remnant Khitan army to go south, and relatively smoothly arrived at the left (north) bank of the Tongtian River east of Nangqian. There, he met Xiao Yanhan and others' messengers sent from the foothills of Shenyu Mountain, so he also decided to abandon the direction of Kangyanchuan and follow the Tongtian River.
Go south on the left bank of the Tianhe River.
After October, about two thousand Red Hussars chased into the wilderness, but they were also not adapted to the harsh alpine climate. They did not pounce directly. Instead, they stayed behind like a pack of wolves, waiting for a better opportunity to attack.
.
The Red Husbands did not send a larger cavalry force into the wilderness, nor did it exceed everyone's expectations.
The Chihu people conquered Dangxiang for a short period of time, and in the meantime they also experienced the turmoil of the succession of the Khan throne.
The General Administration of the Hexi Military and Horse Capital was established in a shorter period of time. In the early stage, it mainly tried to attack Wuzhou and other places and invade Sichuan and Shu. At the same time, it also dispatched a large number of troops and horses to take over the defense of Guanzhong.
The Chihu people probably haven't had time to seriously think about how to conquer the fragmented Tubo forces.
At this time, Xiao Linshi led 100,000 Khitan tribesmen and marched southward to the inaccessible wasteland, which should have been completely beyond Chi Huren's expectations.
Without adequate preparations, no initial exploration of the road, lack of guides, and the fact that whether they were friends or foes of the Tibetan tribes had not yet been determined, what would have happened if the Chihu people had hastily dispatched tens of thousands of elite cavalry to pursue them in the wilderness?
madness.
Of course, Xu Huai sent reinforcements all the way from Beijing to Xiangzhou, went around to Duogansi to support them, and successfully obtained a temporary place at the foot of Shenyu Mountain. This was a complete surprise to the Khitan people; it can even be said that they
The best outcome that can be expected - the Chihu people could not have expected this. Perhaps they expected that the remnant Khitan would be hindered by the encirclement and interception of the Tibetan tribes and destroy themselves, let alone send chasing troops in a hurry.
Although the large-scale southward migration of the Khitan people has attracted great attention from the Tubo tribes, and troops have begun to gather in places such as Mangkang Gang, Pangbo Beng, and even the distant Weizang area, the Tubo tribes have been divided for more than two hundred years.
The rift between them can be repaired immediately without the intrusion of a seemingly external force.
Otherwise, Xiao Yanhan and the others would never have been able to reach the foot of Shenyu Mountain, and they might have been surrounded and annihilated by multiple groups of cavalry in Nangqian.
It was precisely because the Tubo tribes were on high alert that Xiao Yanhan took the lead in sending troops and horses southward along the left bank of the Lushui River, located within the Semoggang area of Buqu Temple. Other Tubo forces chose to watch the fire from across the bank, and the Tibetan cavalry that Buqu Temple could mobilize in the early stage were
It is extremely limited and can only focus on harassment.
It was not until nearly half a year later that Buqu Temple gathered enough Tibetan soldiers to besiege Xiao Yanhan and the others in the canyon at the foot of Shenyu Mountain.
Now the Semogang Tibetan tribe has suffered heavy losses, and nearly ten times the size of the Khitan tribe has marched southward. The route they passed is still within the Semogang area ruled by Buqu Temple. The situation of other Tibetan tribes has not been clear yet.
, how could it really be possible to join forces to fight against each other?
Of course, there is no need to worry about the Tibetan tribes joining forces in the short term, nor the large groups of red cavalry chasing into the wilderness. However, the increasingly brutal alpine climate after winter has become the biggest obstacle for the Khitan tribe to move south.
A large number of tribesmen and livestock fell ill on the way, and groups of people and horses headed south along the rugged path on the left bank of Lushui River at an extremely slow speed.
But no matter what, no matter how much the price will be paid, the Khitan tribe's southward migration is already happening - as Xiao Linshi will continue to send some elite troops to meet at the foot of Shenyu Mountain, Wang Ju, Shi
Hu, Zhang Xiongshan, Sun Yanguan, Xu Zang and others also set out on their return journey first.
There is a shortage of elite cavalry in Beijing and Xiangyang. The Selection Front Army has a total of more than 5,000 cavalry. This time, in order to cope with the remnants of the Khitan troops going south, 1,200 elites and more than 2,000 horses were dispatched, accounting for almost a quarter of the Selection Front Army.
troops.
It is still unclear how the battle in the middle is progressing, and this elite combat force cannot remain empty in the southwest for a long time.
The remnants of the Khitan troops have established themselves in the southwest and do not lack this part of the cavalry.
In addition, Beijing and Xiang will provide continuous support to the remnants of the Khitan in the future. This will take a much longer route to Qinzhou than in the past, and the Production Department will need to invest a large number of people - and at this time, all aspects of the Production Department are full of manpower.
There is a shortage, so it is also necessary to reduce the number of personnel directly stationed at the foothills of Shenyu Mountain.
Of course, the remnants of the Khitan were incompetent in infantry warfare and in attacking and defending cities. Wang Ju, Zhang Xiongshan and others did not know whether Zhisi would assist the remnants of the Khitan in the southern area of Duogansi or assist the Khitan in moving to Guangxi and other places.
Needing the assistance of elite infantrymen, Shi Xun decided that Su Mi led more than a thousand infantrymen to stay at the foot of Shenyu Mountain, waiting for further orders from the production department.
Except for Xiao Linshi, the upper echelons of the remnant Khitan tribe not only completely eliminated their vigilance against Jingxiang (Chushan), but also realized that without strong subsequent support from Jingxiang, they would have less than 100,000 members (less said on the way south).
It is extremely difficult for external forces such as Duo Gansi to establish a foothold among the Tibetan tribes whose cultures and beliefs are highly similar, or to move to Guangxi through the Dali border.
.
They decided to repay the favor. This time, the three generals Xiao Xuan, Xiao Chunyu and Wu Sanrong led a thousand Khitan cavalry and four thousand horses to follow Wang Ju, Shi Hu and others to Jingxiang to participate in the defense against the enemies of Heluo and Jingxi.
