Li Ji and his men soon discovered the enemy's whereabouts, located in a canyon thirty miles away from them.
Li Ji and several Tang army soldiers hid behind a large rock and stared at the Tibetan army below. The prisoners of war's confessions were correct. They were indeed a Tibetan army of about 2,000 people. They brought more than 300 carts.
The carts were piled with food and other belongings, and the soldiers seemed very excited.
They seemed to have just returned from Yanji City with a full load. They were also eating barbecue, but it was mutton harvested from Yanji. They were chatting excitedly while eating. There were more than a dozen young and beautiful people sitting by the stream not far away.
The Hu women should be the women they captured from Yanji City.
Li Ji took a closer look at the equipment of the enemy soldiers. Compared with the Tibetan army during the Tianbao period, the equipment of this group of 2,000 Tibetan soldiers was generally poorer. They did not have the Tubo's famous chainmail armor and only wore ordinary leather armor.
, this also proves from one aspect that Tubo has been fighting for years, resorting to militarism, consuming too much resources, and the soldiers' equipment can no longer keep up.
However, the weapons of the Tibetan soldiers are still traditional short spears and swords. Although their combat readiness is not very good, these soldiers are strong in physique, fierce in appearance, and have strong personal combat effectiveness.
At this time, Li Ji's eyes fell on the dozens of large wooden barrels on the ground. They were wooden barrels containing wine. The air was filled with the strong and sour smell of kumiss. Soldiers kept wanting to go to the barrels after drinking the wine.
They went to get some wine, but were scolded by the leading general, and they had no choice but to leave in anger.
There are also many barrels like this in the cart. It seems that these wines are for the soldiers to drink on the road. Because they have to rush, the general does not allow them to drink more, but it is not that they are not allowed to drink. What about that night?
Li Ji found that many soldiers were drunk and went to molest more than a dozen robbed women. This gave Li Ji an idea.
He observed for a moment longer, then waved to the soldiers, who slowly retreated into the woods.
More than half an hour later, Li Ji returned to the Tang garrison. He dismounted and said to Guo Song: "Yes, they are indeed two thousand Tibetan cavalry. They returned with a full load and transported three hundred carts of food and property. They are in the northeast.
Thirty miles away."
"How's the combat effectiveness?"
"They look very brave, but their equipment is not very good. Like the Tuyuhun army, they all wear leather armor, have no shields, and only have short spears and swords."
Speaking of this, Li Ji whispered: "I had an idea on my way back from my humble job."
Guo Song laughed. Even the conservative and cautious Li Le felt that there was a chance. It seemed that this Tibetan army did have a big loophole.
"Tell me about it!" Guo Song said with a smile.
"I think it's best for us to move at night. I found that they drank heavily..."
The Tibetan army drove hundreds of carts at a relatively slow speed and could only cover more than fifty miles a day. It would take at least five days to reach Kucha City.
At night, two thousand Tibetan troops rested for the night in a valley. The valley was several miles wide. A small stream ran through the valley. There were large pine forests growing on the gentle slopes on both sides.
The Tubo soldiers lit ten bonfires at night. Although spring had already arrived in Anxi, it was still very cold at night. The Tubo soldiers almost always drank and ate meat around the bonfire at night, and then lay down directly beside the bonfire to sleep.
Two thousand Tibetan soldiers gathered around the bonfire to drink and eat meat. A dozen captive women were forced to dance for them. The Tubo soldiers whistled and their wild laughter could be heard constantly.
On the hillside more than a hundred paces away, Guo Song looked at the Tubo soldiers below. It was indeed a bit beyond his expectation that these Tubo soldiers could drink without scruples during the war. Perhaps they thought that Murong Bianlin would kill the Tang troops outside.
If they were completely wiped out, they wouldn't have any worries.
"Chang Shi, look at the third fire on the left!" Li Ji whispered.
Guo Song's eyes moved to the third fire. There were not many people here, only seven or eight people, but they all wore helmets and chainmail armor. A few soldiers were grilling them. These people should be the generals of the Tibetan army.
One of the Tubo generals had a young Hu girl in his arms and was drinking and laughing proudly. His clothes were different from the other generals, more sophisticated and detailed, and the shape of his helmet was also slightly different.
"This person is their commander-in-chief!"
Li Le whispered: "At noon, I found him reprimanding several other generals."
Guo Song nodded and said with a smile: "Leave this person to me. Let's think carefully about how to attack. Although we are small in number, we may not be able to take advantage of two thousand elite Tibetan soldiers, but I think it is more than enough to deal with two thousand drunkards."
.”
.......
Time gradually came to one o'clock, and the noise of the Tibetan soldiers finally subsided. Most of the soldiers were drunk and lay asleep next to the still-burning fire. There were only a few sentries around, rubbing their hands and breathing hard.
Stomping their feet, they wore very little. The cold night invaded like a knife, making the soldiers unbearable.
The Tibetan army arranged a total of six sentries, three in the north and three in the south. They were not to guard against enemies, but to guard against wolves and other ferocious beasts.
There was only one sentry in the southeast corner. He let out a long yawn and cursed in a low voice. At this time, an arrow shot out and hit his throat. The soldier grabbed his throat, shook his body twice, and crashed.
Fall down.
A tall figure rushed out of the darkness, very fast, like a powerful black panther, and rushed towards several small tents in the east.
The Tibetan army was highly hierarchical and treated very differently. When marching and camping at night, soldiers and low-level generals could only sleep next to the fire, while those of more than 500 people could rest in a small tent. There were four small tents in total, just for a few important generals.
use.
Guo Song got into the small tent, killed the general in the tent with a knife, and then rushed to another small tent...
At the same time, five sentries on both sides were knocked down and killed by Tang soldiers. Fifty Tang soldiers bent down and rushed into the enemy group. These fifty Tang soldiers were special soldiers recruited by Guo Song, although they were not necessarily strong in mounted shooting.
, but all of them are highly skilled in martial arts and their movements are flexible and light.
They held sharp daggers in their hands and struck hard. They covered the mouths of the sleeping enemy soldiers, cut the throats with one knife, and then inserted the knife into the heart. With clean and neat movements, fifty Tang soldiers killed hundreds of enemies in an instant.
.
In the distance, two hundred cavalrymen were waiting in formation. They held spears in their hands and reined in their horses. As soon as fifty Tang soldiers were discovered and made a noise, they would attack.
Each of the fifty Tang soldiers had to kill forty people. Although the number was large, it was actually not difficult. Most of the Tibetans were drunk and asleep. To use a more appropriate word, it was called "slaughter!" The other party had no choice but to kill.
He resisted and was killed by them.
Soldiers who were slightly uneasy were also dealt with by Guo Song. After Guo Song killed several generals, he wandered among the Tubo soldiers like the wind. His target was those soldiers who were not sleeping peacefully. He woke up in a daze.
At night, or sitting up hysterical soldiers.
These soldiers were all killed by him without mercy, creating conditions for other soldiers.
Half an hour later, all two thousand soldiers were killed by Tang soldiers. At this time, Li Ji led the cavalry into the Tibetan army, using spears to overthrow them one by one, and speared the soldiers who slipped through the net or were not dead.
The Tang army searched three times, including the driving soldiers who were sleeping on the cart. Except for a dozen young women who were kidnapped, the remaining two thousand Tibetan soldiers were all killed by the Tang army in their sleep.
It was getting daylight, and a dozen young women were sitting in a big car, shivering with fear.
At this time, a Tang Army soldier came forward and asked, "Do you have anyone who knows how to drive a carriage?"
An older woman raised her hand, and a Tang Army soldier led a carriage and said to them: "I'll give you this carriage. You can go back to Yanji by yourself! There are some property, sheepskins, and some food in the carriage. You can share it among yourself."
Already."
A dozen women gratefully got into the carriage and drove away.
The soldiers of the Tang army quickly cleaned the battlefield, dug deep pits and buried all the corpses of the two thousand Tibetan soldiers. They packed various supplies into the carriage and gathered the two thousand horses one by one. The soldiers of the Tang army drove the carriage and turned around to go north.
There was nothing left in the Tibetan army's camp except stains of blood. The two thousand soldiers seemed to have disappeared from the world.
In just a few days, the peripheral Tang army led by Guo Song had annihilated five thousand Tuyuhun soldiers and Tibetan soldiers, which greatly affected the strategic deployment of the Tibetan commander Lun Xianggui.
As the war situation worsened day by day, the balance of victory in the Battle of Kucha began to tilt towards the Tang army.