The military camp of the Western Expeditionary Army is located outside the city. It is a temporary training camp for the Hexi Army. It has more than a hundred large tents and is surrounded by barracks. Two soldiers stand guard back and forth in front of the camp gate.
In the temporary Chinese army tent, Guo Song was discussing the next itinerary with several major generals. In addition to Guo Chongqing and Li Ji, there were also three brigade commanders, Liang Wu, Zhang Jiang, Wu Wanning, and a special sergeant.
He was Yang Xiaoyan, the leader of the Kucha Tang Army's scout team who came to Chang'an from Anxi to deliver a message.
Guo Song spread out a map and said to everyone: "The situation in Anxi, Beiting and the Hexi Corridor is very complicated now. Another important reason why the Shatuo people withdrew from Ganzhou is the Geluolu people. They
The power has extended into the Beiting. If we go further east, we will reach Yiwu, the home base of the Shatuo people. We can no longer look at the Shatuo people with the old eyes and always think that they are puppets of the Uighurs. In fact, they have become a force of their own.
At the beginning of the year, the alliance they formed with the Uighurs was no longer a father-son alliance, but a brotherly alliance. This was a sign that the Shatuo people began to become independent.
In addition to the Shatuo people, Geluolu people, Uighur people, Tubo people, and Tuyuhun people, Anxi and Beiting also have the armies of various local kings, such as the King of Gaochang, the King of Qiuci, the King of Khotan, the King of Shule, etc.
There are also raging horse bandits, so every step of our journey westward is thrilling."
Next to him, Yang Xiaoyan said: "Guo Changshi is absolutely right. Although our Anxi Tang Army has not been annihilated, its power has been greatly reduced. We can only guard a few cities alone, and we share them with the local kings, such as King Qiuci, Shu
King Le and King Khotan were afraid of being annihilated and annexed by Tubo, so they formed an alliance with us to fight against the Tubo invasion. In fact, there was another important reason, that is, the main force of Tubo was fighting against the Uighurs to the west of Congling, which made us
I can persist to this day.”
Guo Song nodded and continued to tell everyone: "There are two ways to go west from Ganzhou. One is to go through Dunhuang, go west from Dunhuang to Qiemo Nuzhi City, and then go north from Nuzhi City to Qiuci, and the other
One way is to go to Yiwu. You can go to Beiting first, but you will definitely pass by the Shatuo people's lair. Let's talk about it!"
Li Ji pondered for a while and said: "We are not afraid of being far away, but we are afraid that we will be surrounded by heavy troops and we will not be able to complete our mission."
Guo Song said lightly: "My thoughts are similar to Captain Li's. Although the Dunhuang line is relatively far away, you may encounter a small group of Tuyuhun people, but you are unlikely to be surrounded by heavy troops. After all, we are not here to fight in Anxi.
I hope everyone can understand this!”
.......
"It's also unsafe to go north from Ganzhou. If you go north during the day, you're more likely to encounter Shatuo, but if you go north at night, you're more likely to encounter horse bandits. It all depends on your choice."
Zhao Tengjiao warned them all the way to send them twenty miles away. When they arrived at Yinmu Town, Zhao Tengjiao cupped his fists and said, "I won't send you away. Take care of yourself along the way!"
"Captain Zhao, take care!"
Guo Song clasped his fists in salute, led his army out of Yinmu Town, and headed west...
Among the five states in the Hexi Corridor, except Liangzhou and Ganzhou, which were in the hands of the Tang Army, the other three states, Suzhou, Guazhou and Shazhou, were occupied by the Shatuo Army. Since Zhu Xie was shot and killed in Weiming, the main force of the Shatuo Army has left the Hexi Corridor.
After withdrawing, there are currently only 8,000 garrison troops in the three states, but there are still more than 1,000 horse bandits, divided into three groups, wreaking havoc in the Hexi Corridor.
The expeditionary army marched day and night. At two o'clock that night, the team arrived at East Yumen Pass. There are two Yumen Pass, one in the east and one in the west. The famous Yumen Pass in history is the West Yumen Pass, located in Guazhou.
The Dongyumen Pass where Guo Song and others arrived is located in Suzhou. It is actually the Yumen Shouchuguan City set up by the Tang Army in Suzhou. Because it looks like a pass, everyone habitually calls it Dongyumen Pass.
The Yumen Shouguan City was also valued by the Tang Dynasty, and heavy troops were stationed here. However, the Shatuo people abandoned it as they were not interested in defensive city gates.
For some reason, Guo Song always had an uneasy feeling. After walking more than 700 miles from Zhangye, he didn't encounter a single Shatuo person or horse bandit. Perhaps it was because of winter. The Hexi Corridor was also a snowy world, but
There are no road closures due to heavy snow.
At this time, Li Ji, who went to check Dongyumen Pass, walked up quickly and said in a deep voice: "Something is wrong!"
"What's wrong?"
"The wells in Guancheng have been sealed, which is unreasonable."
As soon as Li Ji finished speaking, Guo Song saw four rockets rising from four directions at the same time. He sneered and said, "You are absolutely right. Someone has already prepared a banquet to entertain us!"
........
As Zhao Tengjiao reminded, the Hexi Corridor is the sphere of influence of the Shatuo people during the day, but at night it is the domain of horse bandits.
There are three groups of horse bandits in the Hexi Corridor, with a total of more than 1,000 people, and they are called the "Hexi Wild Wolves".
The composition of the horse bandits is very complex, including Shatuo people, Qiang people, Tuguhun people, and Han people from Longyou, but their leaders are all Shatuo generals. With the support of the Shatuo army, they have ravaged the Hexi Corridor for more than ten years.
, it can be said that they are actually a miscellaneous army under the Shatuo Army.
Guo Song's team was stared at by horse bandits as soon as they came out of Zhangye. The horse bandits were interested in the weapons, horses, supplies and heads of the Western Expeditionary Army. The heads of these Tang Army soldiers were handed over to the Shatuo Army, and each head was rewarded with ten sheep.
The reward for 300 people is 3000 sheep. How can they be willing to let them go?
The horse bandits waited until Dongyumen Pass before attacking the Tang army. They knew the Tang army very well. With the pass, the Tang army would rely on the pass and would not think of breaking out and going south. It would be like a group of sheep being locked up in a sheepfold.
In the darkness, countless black-clad horse bandits appeared from all directions, and three leaders gathered together. These three horse bandit leaders were actually three half-brothers, named Mo Yi, Chang Yu and Hei Guang. They had no surnames.
, so they took the Jinshan tribe as their surname. All three brothers had served in the Shatuo Army, and the eldest, Mo Yi, was also a captain of thousands.
The appearance of these three horse bandits in the Hexi Corridor coincided with the Shatuo people's rule of the Hexi Corridor. They were on opposite sides of the Shatuo Army. Many things that the Shatuo Army could not handle were left to the horse bandits.
"Brother, three hundred Tang troops have entered Guancheng. Should we attack them or trap them to death?" asked the third brother Jinshan Heiguang.
"First test the attack from three directions. If we can't attack before dawn, we will trap them to death!"
"Follow the order!"
The second child, Chang Yu, and the third child, Hei Guang, ran towards their respective teams, waiting for the signal to attack.
Three hundred Tang troops have quickly withdrawn into Yumen Pass. Yumen Pass is actually a city gate that can accommodate 500 soldiers. It is surrounded by a two-foot-high wall. The top of the city is about one foot wide. There are turrets and arrow towers, but the gate
But it's a bit old and decayed, and can't withstand a knock against wood.
There were originally three wells in Yumen Pass, but now all three wells were filled with mud and rocks. Unless the wells were dug again, the Tang army would not survive for three days.
Three hundred Tang troops have already come to the city, bows and arrows drawn, and they are ready to attack.
Li Ji stared at the dark snow in the distance. He said to Guo Song: "Chang Shi, we cannot stay at Yumen Pass and must evacuate immediately."
"Say your reasons!"
"If the horse bandits cannot attack Guancheng, the Shatuo Army will probably come after dawn tomorrow. Once we are surrounded, more than half of us will be killed or injured even if we break out. Under the cover of night, the enemy troops have not yet been fully deployed.
, we evacuate immediately and cannot rely on Guancheng."
Next to him, Guo Chongqing also said: "I agree with Captain Li's opinion. Although our supplies can last for half a month, the water can only last for three days at most. The sooner we evacuate, the smaller our casualties will be."
Guo Song nodded, "Then pass on my order, throw away the supplies, and break out lightly to the north!"
The soldiers of the Tang Army moved very quickly. They unloaded all the food supplies and water from their horses. They only carried dry food for two days and got on their horses one after another.
At this moment, a rocket was fired from the southeast, which was a signal for the enemy's attack.
Guo Song immediately ordered: "Get out of the city!"
The gate of Guancheng has been opened, and three hundred cavalrymen on two horses are running towards the northwest outside the city. More than three hundred horse bandits are coming from the due north. They are the army of Laosan Jinshan Black Light, preparing to attack Guancheng.
Unexpectedly, they collided head-on with the Tang army.
The Tang army used preparedness to counter unpreparedness and seized the opportunity.
"shooting!"
After Guo Song gave the order, the Tang army opened their bows and fired arrows one after another, and three hundred arrows were fired at the opponent.
The opponent also discovered the enemy's situation and quickly took his bow and arrows, but was still one step behind the Tang army. Under the intensive arrow shooting, the horse bandits were hit by arrows and fell off their horses. Guo Song's sharp arrows were even more accurate and powerful, and one arrow shot through Jinshan.
Black Light's helmet, Jinshan Black Light fell off his horse and died tragically.
There was a violent attack of arrows, causing more than a hundred casualties among the horse bandits. Even the leader was killed by the arrows. The rest of the horse bandits were so frightened that they turned their horses and fled toward the northeast.
The Tang army did not pursue him. Li Ji ordered his soldiers to pull dozens of horses and continued to gallop westward, quickly disappearing into the vast darkness...
In just a moment, Jinshan Mo Yi led a large group of cavalry to kill like a whirlwind. He saw corpses all over the ground, and many seriously injured soldiers lying on the ground groaning in pain. He also saw the corpse of his third brother, lying face down on the sand.
An arrow shot through his head.
Jinshan Mo Yi was so angry that he shouted, "Chase me!"
Nearly a thousand bandits on horseback chased toward the west at lightning speed.