Puchanghai is a freshwater lake surrounded by lush water and grass, and is home to a small number of herdsmen. It is winter, the lake has frozen, and the pastures have withered. The herdsmen have all moved to warmer places, but a dozen large tents have not been dismantled.
The Western Expeditionary Army rested by the lake for two days. After most of the soldiers and horses recovered their physical strength, they were ready to set off.
Of course they were going north. The Red River flows into the northwest of Puchang Sea. The Red River is the Tarim River. They walked westward along the Red River and walked more than a thousand miles to Qiuci.
Early that morning, more than a dozen cavalrymen came rushing over, carrying a man on their horse. The man was wearing Tang army armor and was hanging limply on the horse.
The soldiers gathered around one after another. Military doctor Xue Changshou stepped forward to check on the soldier. Guo Song also came out of the tent, glanced at the Tang army soldier lying unconscious on the ground and asked, "What's going on with this man?"
"
The patrol team came forward to report: "Reporting to Chang Shi, we met this man by the lake. We found him unconscious and brought him back."
Guo Song asked the military doctor again, "How is he doing?"
"He is very weak, with an arrow wound on his back, and is suffering from hunger and cold. If we had not met him, he would not have lasted three days."
"First carry him to the big tent, feed him some water and batter, and then treat his arrow wound."
Several soldiers carried the injured Tang soldier into the tent. Yang Xiaoyan, who had just arrived after hearing the news, exclaimed: "It's Brigade Commander Zheng!"
"Do you know this person?" Guo Song asked.
Yang Xiaoyan nodded, "He is Zheng Ju, the general of Nuzhi Town, and one of Guo Duhu's favorite generals."
Why did the defender of Nuzhi City appear in Puchanghai?
Guo Song vaguely felt that something might have happened to Nuzhi City.
At noon, Nuzhi Town General Zheng Ju finally woke up from his coma. The inflammation of the arrow wound on his back was under control. He ate some batter and drank water, and he felt much better.
When he heard that the Tang army who rescued him was a special envoy from Chang'an, he was extremely happy and asked for advice from the commander-in-chief, Shi Guo Song.
Not long after, Guo Song, Guo Chongqing and Li Ji walked into the big tent. Zheng Ju was weak and bowed slightly and said: "Zheng Ju, who is in a humble position, cannot give a big gift to the chief minister. Please forgive me, the chief minister!"
"Just lie down, you're welcome."
Guo Song asked him to lie down and said: "I heard from Yang Xiaoyan that General Zheng is the general of Nuzhi Town, why is he here?"
Zheng Ju wept and said: "Five thousand Tubo and Tuyuhun coalition forces launched a large-scale attack on the five cities of Qiemo. Qiemo City, Nuzhi City, Dianhe City, and Qitun City have all been captured. Now there are only a few hundred soldiers left to defend Putao City. I will
I rushed to Qiuci to ask for help, but my injuries worsened and I collapsed in Puchanghai. Thanks to Chang Shi’s men for saving my life, I begged Chang Shi to go and support Pu Tao City.”
"It's still winter, and the enemy is coming in force?"
"The enemy never looks at the weather when they come. In fact, they came last fall. The battle with us has lasted for more than two months. They have taken away one city after another. We have only four thousand defenders left.
More than a hundred people."
Guo Song was silent for a moment and said, "You have a good rest and we will discuss it."
Guo Song called Li Ji and Guo Chongqing to the big tent next door. He asked, "Tell me, should we go to rescue Pu Tao City?"
Li Ji pondered for a moment and said: "I think it's God's will. Since we met Zheng Zhi, it means God asked us to rescue Putao City, otherwise we would just go north."
Guo Chongqing also nodded and said: "Although the opponent has five thousand troops, we still have a chance. The opponent does not know our existence. Just like we attacked the Xueyantuo people's logistics camp last year, we used surprise troops to win."
Guo Song took a few steps with his hands behind his back, and finally nodded and said: "Whether it's God's will or not, we are both in the Tang Army, and if one of us is in trouble, we have to help!"
The Five Qiemo Cities are five military cities built by the Anxi Protectorate in southern Xinjiang, including Qiemo City, Nuzhi City, Dianhe City, Qitun City and Putao City. They are important lines of defense against the Tubo and Tuyuhun invasion of Anxi from the north.
However, over the past twenty years, the Tubo army had already entered various parts of Anxi and occupied most of the oases. The power of the Tang army in Anxi continued to shrink, and finally only a few cities remained.
It was also because the Tubo army and the Uighur army were competing for the vast land west of Congling that they had no time to concentrate their forces to annihilate the Tang army in Anxi, allowing the Tang army to defend several isolated cities to this day.
The main force attacking Qiemo's five cities this time was Tuguhun's army. Tuguhun planned to use the Qiemo River as their base in Anxi, so the five Tang army military cities became a thorn in their side.
Tuyuhun sent 4,000 troops, plus 1,000 Tubo troops. After more than two months of continuous fighting, the Tuyuhun coalition forces had captured four military cities. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. Tuyuhun suffered nearly 2,000 casualties. The Tang army also reduced its number from 1,000 to more than 400.
, defend the last Peach City.
Guo Song led 300 Tang troops to march westward along the Qiemo River. Although the Qiemo River was frozen, patches of Populus euphratica and Elaeagnus arborescens forests could be seen on both sides from time to time, and the ground was still faintly green. For the Tang troops, marching by the river was
It was a thousand times more comfortable than marching in the desert, and the marching speed was extremely fast. After three days, the expeditionary army was only thirty miles away from Putao City.
Guo Song led his army into a large forest of Populus euphratica to rest, and Li Ji personally led five scout soldiers to explore the information.
The soldiers sat in the Populus euphratica forest to rest. At dawn the next day, Li Ji finally returned with the soldiers.
In a temporary marching tent, Li Ji reported his investigation to Guo Song.
"The situation is quite serious. Several military cities captured by Tuyuhun have been basically razed to the ground. Only one Putao City is left. Putao City has not been captured yet, but the situation is not good. There are many large gaps in the city. They
It couldn't be repaired, it was just poured into ice with water. Once the ice and snow melted, Putao City could not be attacked without attacking. The enemy army also saw this problem, and they were not in a hurry to attack the city, but set up a camp two miles away from the military city."
"Do the Tang troops in the city know about our arrival?"
Li Ji nodded and said, "I have already sent an arrow to the city. They should know about it."
"Tell me more about the enemy's situation."
Li Ji took out a sketch and spread it on a big tree stump. He pointed at the sketch and said: "The enemy's camp is composed of hundreds of tents. There is no camp fence around it, but there are many patrol posts patrolling day and night. The precautions are very good."
tight."
Guo Song looked at the sketch and asked, "Where are their logistics?"
Li Ji pointed to the sketch and said: "Their camp occupies a large area. There is a military camp in the front and a sheep and horse pen in the back. Their real logistics is probably a hundred miles away to the south."
Guo Song turned around and said to a soldier: "Go and find Yang Xiaoyan!"
After a while, Yang Xiaoyan entered the tent, bowed and saluted, "See Chang Shi!"
"Let me ask you, how do the Tuyuhun people or Tubo generally arrange their logistics?"
"Looking back at the long history, the oases in Anxi are basically occupied by the Tubo people. Their logistics come from various oases. There are also many Tubo herdsmen along the Qiemo River where we came. Now because it is winter, they have moved south to the Altun Mountains.
Even though it’s cold down there, there’s still grass under the snow.”
Guo Song smiled and said: "I understand, thank you General Yang!"
Guo Song asked Yang Xiaoyan to go down. He looked at the drawing for a moment and asked, "You said the camp is quite big. How big is it exactly?"
"About 500 acres, most of which are sheep and horse pens."
Guo Song laughed and said: "It actually covers an area of five hundred acres. How many patrols are needed? But the opponent only has more than 3,000 people. Will their defense have no loopholes?"
Next to him, Guo Chongqing also said: "Chang Shi is right. According to the usual practice, they can only send out about 300 patrols at most. A patrol of 300 people will definitely not be able to defend the 500-acre camp. There must be loopholes!"
Li Ji quickly explained: "The term humble is not accurate. It is because the military camp is relatively strict, especially the defense of Pu Tao City. We took the opportunity to shoot arrows into the city at the fourth watch last night, but the defense at the sheep and horse pen was relatively loose.
There is definitely a chance.”
Guo Song nodded, "Let the soldiers prepare, we will take action tonight!"