No one is a fool. Jieli Khan attacked Yanmen Pass so fiercely and suffered heavy casualties but still refused to retreat. Even though the tribal soldiers and other tribes were half-hearted, he did not hesitate to fill in all the king's tent soldiers and attack with all his strength.
This abnormal phenomenon quickly aroused suspicion from all parties, the most direct ones of course being Su Dingfang and Tuli Khan.
Both of them are on the battlefield. Naturally, they know that the Turks attack so fiercely. It seems that the battle is tragic, but the actual effect is very limited. If it goes on for many years, and Yanmen has no reinforcements, or even deliberately does not send reinforcements, it is possible to break through... for example, hundreds of
"Yang Wudi" later in the year.
Well, the person who framed him was also the white-faced traitor in the novel, Taishi Pang.
But now the situation is very different, and it is almost impossible for Li Shan, the nominal leader of Yanmen, to encounter such a situation.
He is loved by His Majesty and supported by Princess Pingyang. There are also many helping hands in Hedong Road...the most direct one is Li Daozong, the King of Rencheng.
The key is that Li Shan is not nominally involved in the fight for the heir, and there is no need for the DPRK or the rear to hold back... This is also the reason why Li Shan was determined to conceal his connection with Qin King Li Shimin when he decided to take office in Daizhou.
Well, in fact, Li Daozong also had this intention... No one wants to be the next Huaiyang King Li Daoxuan, and no one wants to have a figure like the former Duke Shi Wanbao behind him.
This is also a major reason why Li Daozong, who has been working abroad, has not chosen a side... If he falls into the situation of his cousin Li Daoxuan, there will not be a second Li Huairen.
Therefore, Yanmen Pass has sufficient backup in terms of troops, food, and ordnance. Jieli Khan must have had backup for such a vigorous attack.
Su Ding was able to be so sure because of his military intuition, but Tuli Khan was able to find actual evidence.
Ashina Sher, the second-largest figure in the Ashina tribe who was attached to Jieli Khan, quietly disappeared on the second day after arriving at Yanmen Pass.
Not only Ashina Sher, but also the elite cavalry of his tribe were missing. Tuli Khan even suspected that Jieli Khan had sent some of the royal troops.
Although Tuli Khan didn't know the inside story, he was sure that Ashina Sher was Jieli Khan's back-up man. He just didn't know where the back-up man was?
After thinking about it again and again, Tuli Khan sighed, that's all, that's all, it's best if you don't understand. What should you do if you find out?
Should he ask his cronies to take a detour to report the news?
If something goes wrong, he will be blamed by thousands of people, and Jieli Khan will definitely use this to cause a lot of trouble... It's better not to take this risk.
But although he was coerced to go south this time, he still violated the covenant he made a few months ago... How would Emperor Tang treat him?
How would the King of Handan, who made him fearful, treat him, and how would he deal with him?
Tuli Khan felt a headache just thinking about it, and he cursed in his mind, if you want to force Yuan Junzhang to surrender, why must you kill Yu Sheshe?!
It really doesn’t hurt to stand and talk!
If Yu Sheshe is not killed, how can Yuan Junzhang be forced to surrender to the Tang Dynasty? If Yu Sheshe is not killed, how can Li Shan and the court dare to trust Yuan Junzhang?
If you don't kill Yuan Junzhang, how can you provoke civil strife in the Turks?
You can't kill Ashina Yusumi, right?
He was the younger brother of Tuli Khan, and killing him would not provoke civil strife in the Turks.
Not far from here, Li Shan in Guji Town also thought of this, and it was highly recognized by Zhang Shigui.
The main Turkic force has been moving south for four days, leaving only more than 10,000 Turkic soldiers staring at Guji Town. Although Zhang Shigui did not dare to send cavalry to kick Jieli Khan's ass, nor did he dare to send troops to the southwest, these more than 10,000 Turkic cavalry
It's okay to keep an eye on Gu Jizhen, but it can't stop Li Shan and Zhang Shigui from inquiring about information.
The simplest way is to leave the fortress at night. Most of the Turkic soldiers are night-blind. At most, they can guard around the camp to prevent enemy forces from attacking at night, but it is impossible to cover the battlefield at night.
Of course, there are many inconveniences for scouts to go out at night to explore. However, there are more than a thousand cavalry in Guji Town. Zhang Shigui led the attack with Xue Wanche, Wang Junhao and others. The Turkic cavalry did not dare to confront them head-on and chose to retreat to avoid the front. The scouts were able to go smoothly.
Go to Yanmen Pass and Mayi to explore the military situation.
Over at Mayi... the garrison numbered about seven or eight thousand, of which only two thousand elite cavalry were from Yuan Junzhang's old troops. Overall, if the Turks did not use their main force to besiege, Liu Shirang's defense of Mayi would not be a big problem.
But when Li Shan listened to the scout's careful report on the battle situation in Mayi, he looked envious.
Well, if compared with the tragic Yanmen Pass offensive and defensive battle, Mayi's side can be said to be a fake war.
Moreover, it was a fake war with a tacit understanding between the two sides.
In the words of Zhang Zhongjian, who has made the most attacks, both sides often have thousands of cavalry, eyeing each other, but after a battle, the combined casualties of both sides may not exceed a hundred.
If it weren't for the lack of food and grass in Guji Town, Liu Shirang and Qin Wutong would have sent some troops to Guji Town.
"They don't know, right?" Li Shan was a little nervous.
Zhu Wei's old face twitched, "The scouts who went there are all Zhang Wuan's personal guards. Fan Shiyi and others have not arrived in Mayi."
Li Shan breathed a sigh of relief. If the people in Mayi knew that he was in Guji Town, there might be another incident.
In the past few days, Li Shan had been looking forward to Jieli Khan's fierce attack on Yanmen Pass, resulting in heavy casualties... You must know that on the grassland, for leaders to maintain their status, tribal population and livestock are both important, but the most critical thing is population.
Jieli Khan spent so much money to storm Yanmen Pass. If he failed to advance an inch, or if there was no hope, over time, food and grass would be insufficient, and withdrawal would be almost certain.
But now, Li Shanxin has doubts.
Jieli Khan made so much noise, even sacrificing his only son, and coerced Tuli Khan to go south. It is impossible for the thunder to be loud and the rain to be small.
Everyone was sitting on their knees in the house, not because there were no benches, but because there was no such a big table. There was a huge map on the floor, which was made of multiple sheepskins stitched together.
As early as last year, Li Shan had just taken up his post as Acting County Magistrate, and he started to make this calculation. He couldn't be ignorant of the territories under his command, right?
After that, Li Shan's scope of power and responsibility gradually expanded, but Xia City's business also grew bigger and bigger, so this map was created to expand Shuozhou, Daizhou, and Xinzhou.
Li Shan almost lay on the map and traced his fingers along the border between Shuozhou and Daizhou, "Is it a trail?"
"Isn't it possible?" Wang Junhao said hesitantly: "It can only allow one horse to pass through. Once it is blocked...and Brother Dingfang cannot fail to defend it. For example, at Xijingkou, Brother Dingfang sent 300 infantry to defend it."
Wang Junhao is from Hebei, Zhang Shigui is from Luoyang, and although Zhu Wei is from Guanzhong, he also moved from Henan and is not very familiar with the terrain of Hedong.
Sitting at the bottom, Wen Bang, who was born in the Wen family of Taiyuan, pointed at the map and said decisively: "It must be here!"