Chapter five hundred and eighteenth halfway through
In Shanzhou City, the people captured by the Tubo army from Longyou Prefecture and a large amount of grain and grass supplies were being gathered from all directions into this largest city in the Hehuang Valley.
On a mountain ridge not far outside the city, Zhang Yun watched a slowly approaching team in the distance. There were about thousands of people in the team, all Han people, supporting the old and the young, hobbling along. Everyone's eyes were full of joy.
Out of fear and despair for the future, they would be taken to the plateau to be slaves and would never be able to return to their hometown. Many people burst into tears as they walked.
The Tibetan cavalry next to them looked at these Tang slaves coldly with whips in their hands. Anyone who showed the slightest sign of disobedience would be whipped down without mercy.
Zhang Yun looked at the staggering people, and then looked at the sky. It was getting late, and there were still twenty miles away from Shanzhou City. He would definitely not be able to make it before dark. The Tubo army would not allow the people to continue marching after dark.
, so easy to escape, they will definitely gather them together and wait for dawn before leaving.
At this time, Zhang Yun made a decision. He would lead his men to infiltrate among the people and enter Shanzhou City. There was an opportunity in front of him.
He found ten of his men, whispered a few words to them, and gave them their armor, weapons and horses. The remaining ninety soldiers put on ordinary people's clothes and ran down the mountain separately. After dark, they
Their skills make it easier to blend into the ranks of the common people.
At dawn the next day, the ten soldiers who stayed behind saw from a distance that the people who had slept all night began to get up again. Each person gnawed on a piece of dry wheat cake as hard as a stone and trudged toward Shanzhou, which was twenty miles away.
Go to the city.
The soldiers found nothing unusual and did not see the leader or other brothers. They must have sneaked in.
Ten soldiers took a detour down the mountain and hid in the col with their horses. They could only wait until it got dark again before they could leave.
...........
According to the Tang-Tibet alliance agreement, the Tang army and Tubo each controlled half of the Dadou Valley. The northern area controlled by the Tang army was relatively open, with more than ten miles of pasture, while the southern area controlled by the Tubo was about twenty miles narrow.
Although there are many dangerous places on the mountain road, they cannot accommodate many soldiers, dozens of people at most. However, there are three military cities that can accommodate relatively large numbers of soldiers, namely Xiaotiantai, Lirenbao and Tianshi City.
The largest military city among them is Tianshi City, with 2,000 soldiers and a large amount of grain and grass stored here.
In fact, as long as Tiens City is captured, the other Tubo castles will be unable to defend themselves. Without food and material supplies, there will be only death in the end. Generally speaking, as long as Tiens City is lost, the Tubo army will quickly withdraw from Dadou Bugu.
Tiens City is not far from the dividing line between the two sides. There are two small forts in front of it. They serve as guard posts. Once a battle breaks out at the guard posts, the two thousand defenders of Tiens City will immediately enter a state of war.
When Guo Song arrived at Dadou to pull out the valley, the Tang army had already launched an attack, forcibly pulling out two small forts and wiping out more than a hundred enemies.
When Guo Song arrived at Dadou Bugu, all the generals came to greet him. Guo Song waved his hand and asked: "How is the situation in Tianshi City?"
Luo Daxiao bowed and said: "To inform you, the Tibetan army in Tianshi City is very vigilant and has deployed heavy troops to defend the city day and night. The terrain there is difficult and it is indeed easy to defend but difficult to attack."
"Let's go take a look!"
The generals surrounded Guo Song and rushed into Dadouba Valley. Soon they arrived at the border between Tang and Tibet. After walking another three or four miles, in the distance, a solid stone city appeared on the mountainside, just in time to reach the border.
Stay in the south passage. The passage under the city is very narrow. Just drop a dozen boulders and the road will be blocked. At this time, the road south has been blocked by countless boulders.
There is a very narrow upper city passage in the north and south, but the passage used to transport supplies was built in the north. In other words, this Tianshi City was actually built by the Tang Army.
Luo Daxiao couldn't help but cursed: "Those idiots in the imperial court actually gave the most dangerous castle to Tubo. I think their heads were kicked by donkeys."
Guo Song looked above the city again. Above the city was a steep and straight mountain, which even apes might not be able to climb.
"Didn't the Tang army discover its defense loopholes when they controlled this castle before?" Guo Song asked again.
Luo Daxiao summoned a captain forward. He had previously led 500 soldiers to guard the city. The captain was called Chen Li. He bowed and said: "Envoy Qi, there are indeed loopholes, that is, there is no water source. We were all
We use huge tanks to store water, which can be used for four months at a time, but we only have 500 soldiers, and now there are 2,000 on the other side. If we save well, we can use it for one or two months."
Guo Song nodded and asked Luo Daxiao: "Do you have a plan to attack?"
Luo Daxiao sighed and said, "Envoy Qi, the city is steep, and the mountain below is at least twenty feet high. There is no way to place a siege ladder under the city wall. We can only attack from the bottom of the mountain. But we don't have such a long siege ladder.
Or we can take the separate north-south road for supplies, but only a dozen soldiers and a pile of rolling logs and stones can block the mountain road there. If we attack by force, the casualties will be too high."
"I know, go back to the camp first, there will always be a way to capture it!"
The generals returned to their main camp. The Tang army's main camp was also in the Dadouba Valley. In the pastures of the valley, there were still more than a dozen households of Qiang herdsmen living here.
Walking to the gate of the camp, Guo Song took out a jade pendant, handed it to two soldiers and said: "You go to Xiedan County immediately. There is a Taoist temple in the northwest corner of the county called Xuanwu Temple. Find the owner of the temple, Chunlei Zhenren, and tell him
, I need his help, please come to Dadou immediately to pull the valley."
"Follow the order!"
The two soldiers got on their horses and galloped away.
Li Bing smiled and said: "I know Taoist Master Chunlei. It is said that he is also a descendant of the Li family in Hexi. He is a very weird person."
Li Bing was also born in the Hexi Li family, but the Hexi Li family was very large, with numerous branches and vines distributed throughout the Hexi Corridor and Longyou. It was normal for children of the same clan not to know each other.
Guo Song smiled and said, "He is one of my senior brothers who was seriously injured. I rescued him and has been recuperating at Xuanwu Temple. His injuries should be healed now."
"Can he capture Tianshi City?" Luo Daxiao asked beside him.
Guo Song shook his head, "If he comes to help, we will be more confident."
...........
While Guo Song was actively preparing to attack Tianshi City, six thousand Tubo troops had already reached Jincheng County in Lanzhou. General Lun Shize led his army into the county. To his surprise, Jincheng County turned out to be an empty city.
Not only did the people escape, but the official warehouses and weapons warehouses were all empty. Ling Lun Shize was furious. Their targets were nearly a thousand skilled craftsmen who made weapons in Jincheng County, as well as a large number of armor and weapons in the arsenal. Unexpectedly,
The men were gone, and the soldiers and armor were useless.
Lun Shize kicked over an empty bucket and said fiercely: "Search the whole city for me!"
Not long after, the soldiers captured an old man who was unwilling to leave his home and did not follow the people to escape.
Lun Shize grabbed the old man's clothes, gritted his teeth and asked, "I'm only going to ask you once, where have all the people in the city gone?"
The old man was so frightened that he said tremblingly: "Cross...cross the Yellow River and go to Liangzhou!"
"All of them went to Liangzhou?"
The old man nodded, Lun Shize threw him to the ground hard, and shouted: "Go to the Yellow River!"
Six thousand soldiers followed him and rushed to the bank of the Yellow River outside Beicheng. They had just crossed the Yellow River at Jishi Mountain to kill Lanzhou. They did not expect that the people of Jincheng County actually crossed the Yellow River and went north. If they had known that they would not have to
After crossing the Yellow River, we went directly from the Hehuang Valley to the north bank of the Yellow River.
The banks of the Yellow River were littered with boxes, cages and other items that could not be taken away, but there was no trace of a person, and the other bank was also empty with no trace of anyone.
"General, we also brought a raft!"
A general suggested in a low voice: "Should we cross the river and pursue him?"
Lun Shize pondered for a moment and then resolutely ordered: "Send the army to cross the Yellow River!"
After a long period of tug-of-war between the Tang Army and the Tuyuhun Army, Longyou itself has a small population. The hundreds of thousands of people in Shanzhou and Lanzhou account for nearly half of the entire Longyou population. If they escape, I really won't be able to go back.
Tell Da Xiang how much you can catch.
Six thousand Tubo soldiers filled up their rafts and rowed towards the other side. The Tubo soldiers were all infantry. They were six-person rafts, with one person sitting on each end and two people sitting on each side. The soldiers at the two ends were on guard, and the four people on both sides were on guard.
paddle.
Soon, the Yellow River was filled with dense dots. Half an hour later, the first batch of more than a thousand Tibetan soldiers was about to dock.
At this moment, two thousand Tang army cavalry suddenly appeared on the north bank, running toward the shore like lightning. They drew their bows and arrows while running, and fired dense arrows at the Tubo army's rafts.
The Tibetan army's rafts were deflated and folded up to carry around. The rafts were not used as the bottom board. The safety factor was very low. The soldiers had to keep their balance at all times after sitting on them. They were most afraid of fire and bows and arrows. Although the Tubo soldiers held up their shields to resist, they were still very safe.
The target of the Tang army was not them, but the raft beneath them.
An Rengui said sharply: "Shoot immediately!"
The cavalry of the Tang army no longer galloped, but lined up in a formation several miles long. They stretched their bows and set arrows, shooting at the enemy's hundreds of forward rafts.
'Whoosh! Whoosh!' The arrows shot out quickly, and each raft was shot through. It quickly began to leak air and water. The Tibetan soldiers screamed in horror and rowed desperately towards the shore, but they did not take a few steps.
The raft lost its balance and overturned one after another. The soldiers fell into the water one after another. Two thousand Tang army cavalry fired arrows into the river from the bank. Tibetan soldiers were constantly shot, and blood appeared on the river.
Many soldiers climbed ashore, but were mercilessly assassinated by Tang army cavalry on the shore, and their bodies were carried into the water with spears.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the Tibetan soldiers behind them all turned around and rowed towards the other side.
Lun Shize was so angry that he cursed at the south bank, but to no avail. In less than half an hour, more than 1,300 of his forwards were either shot dead by Tang army cavalry, or dragged into the river by heavy armor and drowned. Tubo had a smooth journey.
Unexpectedly, a huge disaster occurred in Jincheng County, and more than a thousand people were killed in the Yellow River.
After the Tang army's cavalry wiped out the enemy's forward, they turned their horses and galloped away.
Tubo did not dare to cross the Yellow River again, so they had to withdraw their troops and go to Lintao.