The Tubo army has been a serious problem for the Tang Dynasty for a long time. In the early years of Tianbao, when the Tang Dynasty was at its strongest, it could only be evenly matched with the Tubo army. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty weakened rapidly, and the Tubo army continued to invade the Tang Dynasty, plundering and looting.
The large population and finances of Longyou, which was originally prosperous, were also wiped out. The Tang Dynasty court was as afraid of it as a tiger, and its expression turned pale when talking about Tibetan.
Although Tubo's national power was weak at this time, the strength of the Tubo soldiers has not decreased. They will fight to the end and will never surrender. Although the Tang army defeated the Tibetan army in the Battle of Bago, it was because of the Tibetan army who fought in the Battle of Bago.
The Tuyuhun people were the main ones, and they were completely different from the Tibetan army in front of them.
The 3,000 spear infantry were no match for the 3,000 Tubo sword and shield soldiers, and were defeated steadily. Guo Song had to urgently withdraw the 2,000 cavalry from the first battalion originally planned to intercept the Tubo defeated soldiers, and attack the Tibetan infantry from the rear.
Only by launching an offensive did the Tang Army's infantry reverse the unfavorable situation.
It was getting dark at this time, and the soldiers of the Tang Army, who had experienced many night combat trainings, had the upper hand. They killed the Tibetan army with dead bodies on their pillows, and blood flowed everywhere. In front of the heavy armored infantry of the Tang Army, corpses piled up like mountains.
The corpses were all in pieces, and they were extremely bloody and cruel.
Although the Tibetan soldiers resisted desperately, General Lunlituo saw that the Tang army had obviously conducted night training, and he knew that the situation was over. He shouted loudly: "The whole army breaks out to the west!"
To the south was a heavy armored infantry team, which they could not break through. To the east there was a vague army. He didn't know it was a medical rescue team, but thought it was an army ambushed by the Tang army. To the north, there were more enemy troops, and the only way to go was to the west.
Just have a chance.
Most of the five thousand cavalry had been killed, and less than two thousand were left to concentrate their forces to break out to the west. Guo Song also saw signs that the enemy troops were breaking out to the west, and immediately ordered: "Inform the first and fifth battalions to rush to the west.
Defend and block the enemy's breakthrough."
As night fell, the Tang army's spear infantry could defeat the opponent even without the help of cavalry. Liang Wu received the order and immediately shouted: "The cavalry follows me!"
The first battalion of nearly two thousand cavalry followed Liang Wu and ran westward to join the camp that intercepted the Tubo cavalry breakout. Guo Song then ordered a thousand heavy armored infantry auxiliary troops to go north to support the spear infantry.
The soldiers were infantrymen of the Sword and Shield Army. They were well-trained. They attacked the enemy's back from behind. The 3,000 Tibetan infantrymen suffered even more heavy casualties. Only 600 or 700 of them were left, and they were still fighting to the death.
This battle lasted from the afternoon to late at night, lasting nearly five hours. Except for a dozen Tubo cavalry who successfully broke through, the eight thousand elite Tibetan troops were finally wiped out by the Tang army. At this point, the fifteen thousand who invaded Shazhou
Thousands of Tubo armies were completely destroyed.
However, the casualties of the Tang army exceeded 4,000, and even the heavy armored infantry suffered nearly 100 casualties. This means that they killed 3,000 enemies and suffered 800 self-inflicted losses. The soldiers and horses of the Tang army were extremely tired, and the wounded soldiers were transported back to Dunhuang City.
The uninjured soldiers collapsed on the ground from exhaustion, and the battlefield was not cleaned up. Hundreds of soldiers were looking at the Tibetan soldiers and executed the injured enemy soldiers one by one.
A soldier turned over a corpse and suddenly shouted: "I found it!"
Several Tang Army soldiers gathered around and saw that the corpse was that of a Tubo general. Different from other Tubo generals, he had a gold seal hanging on his waist. Another Tang Army captain who knew Tubo writing stepped forward and tore it off.
When I looked closely at his waistband under the firelight, I saw that it was engraved with the words "Former Army Commander Lunli Tuo".
"That's him, the Tubo General!"
Regarding the discovery of Lituo's body, there is no way to verify how he died. It can only be said that he died in the rebellion.
Guo Song got the news and rushed forward, "Where is the enemy general?"
The captain hurriedly stepped forward to report, "To the Governor, it's in that mat!"
Guo Song saw the corpse of a Tibetan general lying on a broken mat next to him. The body was bloody and bloody. He should have been stabbed with spears during the breakout. This Tubo was wearing chainmail and a silver helmet. He looked like a high-ranking Tibetan general.
general.
The captain presented another leather bag and said, "Here are his military badges, gold seal, golden arrows and battle sword. Please take a look at it."
Guo Song took the skin bag and asked: "But Lituo?"
"It's him. His official position is former military governor."
This position is not low, equivalent to the general of the Tang Dynasty. It can be seen that this man has a high status in the Tubo army. Although he killed the main general Lunze, the Tubo generals did not dare to question his leadership status.
Guo Song immediately ordered: "Collect the identity badges and swords of all the Tubo generals and send them to the court."
Ordinary Tibetan soldiers did not have badges or even names. Only by collecting the badges and identity certificates of hundreds of Tibetan generals and sending them to the court would the court believe that they had truly annihilated an elite force of tens of thousands of Tibetans.
army.
When day finally dawned, the Tang army began to clean up the battlefield. They piled up the corpses of all the Tibetan soldiers and burned them. Then they dug deep pits to bury them. They also cremated the corpses of more than 2,300 Tang army dead soldiers, and put their bones into jars to be sent back.
Their respective hometowns.
It was already noon when the army returned to Dunhuang City. At this time, Shazhou Street in Dunhuang City was filled with temporary tents, filled with more than 1,900 wounded soldiers. Thousands of Dunhuang people took the initiative to take care of them.
Sima Liu Zi stepped forward and said: "There are still 420 soldiers who were seriously injured and died. General Dong Xueqing was too seriously injured and unfortunately died in battle."
The highest general killed in the Hexi Army was Lang General Dong Xueqing. He was Li Bing's deputy general. He was pierced in the abdomen by a short spear of the Tibetan Army during the fierce battle. In addition, three captains and eight brigade commanders were killed.
Guo Song nodded and asked, "Who is in Dong Xueqing's family?"
"He is not married yet, his parents have both died of illness, and he has an elder brother in Yuanzhou."
Guo Song pondered for a while and said: "Just bury him in Shazhou, and other fallen soldiers without family members will also be buried in Shazhou."
"Follow the order!"
Liu Zi left in a hurry.
Guo Song returned to Zhouya. Although he was exhausted, he still had to work hard to write two letters. One was a safety letter to his family, and the other was a slightly more detailed military report. He sent someone to deliver it.
Zhangye asked the Hexi Jiedu Prefecture to arrange for an eight hundred-mile expedited express to be sent to Chang'an.
After finishing the letter, Guo Song was finally exhausted, fell down and fell into a deep sleep.
........
It would take six days at the earliest for the 800-mile expedited express to reach Chang'an, but the news of the victory arrived in Chang'an three days later. The news that the Tang army in Hexi had recaptured Shazhou and annihilated 12,000 Tibetan troops immediately spread throughout the city.
Chang'an City suddenly burst into joy. Tens of thousands of people walked out of their homes, and countless people beat gongs and drums to celebrate the Tang army's recovery of the Hexi Corridor. Although the Hexi Corridor and Guazhou were not recovered, it was no longer important.
The loss of Anbeiting and most of the Hexi Corridor has always been an unspeakable shame in the hearts of the people of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the recovery of the Hexi Corridor has awakened the memories of the prosperous Tang Dynasty in the hearts of the people of Chang'an, and at the same time, it also satisfied everyone's long-lost little bit.
The dignity of a great country.
The name Guo Song once again became a household name in Chang'an, so that the front of Guo Ziyi's house was crowded with Chang'an people who came to congratulate him. Many gossips spread that Guo Song was Guo Ziyi's grandson. Although it was all gossip, the Chang'an people believed it.
No doubt, the Guo Mansion's repeated explanations were of no use, and Guo Ziyi had to ask his sons to come forward to thank the people of Chang'an for their love.
In the back hall of Guo Mansion, Guo Ziyi's eldest son Guo Yao said to his father: "The people were happy about the recapture of Shazhou, but the court was very silent. Many people thought that Guo Song was too reckless and broke the balance between Tang and Tubo. They were worried about the Tang Dynasty."
There will be a war with Tibet, and I am worried that Tibet will invade Longyou and Xichuan."
Guo Yao was also nearly sixty years old. He was appointed as the third-grade Prince Zhan Shi and Prince Shaobao, and was the highest official in the East Palace.
Guo Ziyi glanced at Guo Yao and asked slowly: "Is the situation you are talking about the thoughts of individual officials in the court, or is it generally thought like this?"
"I dare not say that all officials think so, but at least 70% of officials are worried. Before that, recovering the Hexi Corridor was once a taboo for the court. When Yuan Zai and Chang Gun were in power, no one dared to make it public.
When the topic of regaining the Hexi Corridor was discussed, no one would mention Shazhou by chance until Guo Song regained Suzhou and received the emperor's support, but only a very small number of people, and most officials did not agree to break the balance."
Guo Ziyi was silent for a moment and said: "You mean, when Guo Song regained Shazhou, although he gained a high reputation among the people, the imperial court did not treat him well. Is that what you mean?"
"That's why the child feels that he will lose points in his official career. It can be said that he has offended the entire civil servant group in this matter."
"It's not that serious! I heard that Han Huang and Li Mi supported him in regaining Shazhou."
"Father, I'm afraid Han Huang's phase has not been long gone."
Guo Ziyi was startled, "What do you mean by this?"