Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty Soldiers in the Back
Just when Guo Song and Li Chunlei caused chaos among the Tibetan troops on the city wall, the Tang army had already taken the opportunity to move away the large rocks blocking the road and opened a small path. Thousands of Tang troops quickly crossed through, including heavy armored infantry, heavy crossbowmen and three thousand
Cavalry, they are responsible for cutting off the enemy's return path, and also preventing the Tibetan army in the south from moving north to join forces.
At dawn, the two thousand Tibetan troops in the city finally found that the fresh water was exhausted. They suddenly panicked. Without water, they could not survive for a day.
The Tubo commander in the city had to give the order to abandon the city and break out of the siege. Looking south from the top of the city, he did not find the Tang army. There was a turn two miles ahead. It is possible that the Tang army was waiting for them at the turn. The blockade below the city wall
There were abnormalities in the huge stone on the road, but the Tubo soldiers could only take luck. In fact, they had no choice. They could either die of thirst or die in battle. At least the latter still had hope of breaking out.
The small city gate to the south opened, and two thousand Tubo soldiers swarmed out. The Tubo captain took the lead, and the soldiers behind were all infantry, following the general and running southward.
The scouts of the Tang army immediately reported to the commander Guo Song, who immediately ordered Luo Daxiao: "You lead three thousand spear soldiers to the south of the city to cut off the Tubo army's return."
"Follow the order!"
Luo Daxiao, who was already gearing up, immediately led three thousand spear soldiers and flew away.
Guo Song immediately ordered Captain Chen Li to lead 500 soldiers to reoccupy Tianshi City.
There were no defenders in the city. Five hundred Tang Army soldiers entered the city without any hindrance and re-installed the Hexi Army's red-bottomed black dragon flag.
At this time, the Tibetan soldiers who had just rushed a few miles away suddenly burst into chaos. Thousands of heavy crossbow arrows roared from the front. Even leather armor and shields could not withstand the penetrating power of the heavy crossbow arrows. Hundreds of Tibetan soldiers who were running in front were
The soldiers were shot through the body by dense heavy crossbow arrows and fell in a pool of blood. The leading general, including his men and horses, were shot by more than a dozen arrows and died tragically on the spot.
A Tibetan leader of 500 people shouted: "Kill out!"
The remaining 1,700 Tibetan soldiers shouted, holding shields and daggers to kill the Tang army in front.
The heavy crossbow soldiers retreated one after another, and a thousand heavy armored infantry appeared, five hundred people in a row, two rows in front and back, like two solid steel city walls stretching across the canyon, and the long swords flashed coldly in the sun.
, their whole bodies were covered in iron armor, and their expressions could not be seen, only their two eyes shot out sharp gazes.
‘Brush!’ Five hundred Mo knives were slashed straight out together, flashing a dazzling cold light.
The Tubo soldiers looked at the long swords in front of them, which were as dense as a forest, and felt frightened. But they had no choice, either to die in battle or to break out of the encirclement.
"Kill!"
The Tibetan soldiers braved the situation and rushed forward, shouting wildly, but what greeted them was a bloody one-sided massacre.
At this time, the heavy crossbow soldiers had been moved to the rear, and more than a thousand Tibetan soldiers who came to respond appeared in the rear. The thousand heavy crossbows were raised and aimed at the Tibetan soldiers who kept coming.
"Shoot!" Lang Jiang Yang Miao ordered.
‘Ka! Ka! Ka!’ A series of crossbow sounds sounded, and a thousand heavy crossbow arrows roared and shot at the Tibetan soldiers two hundred steps away. The Tibetan soldiers fell down in large pieces like weeds being chopped down.
Without waiting for the heavy crossbow soldiers to prepare again, Li Bing gave an order, and a thousand already impatient cavalry rushed out from both sides of the heavy crossbow soldiers and attacked the supporting Tibetan soldiers...
The Mo Dao Formation is like an unstoppable wild wave, advancing layer by layer. This kind of army is extremely difficult to deal with. It is invulnerable and uniform. The Tibetan soldiers are not facing one person, but countless unstoppable long swords.
The knives struck together, and the Tubo soldiers were killed. Corpses were scattered all over the ground, most of them chopped into several pieces. The scene was extremely bloody and tragic.
This kind of brutal Mo Dao soldiers have long been commonplace. They didn't take it seriously at all. They stepped on the enemy's corpses and continued to attack. In less than a quarter of an hour, more than half of the 1,700 Tibetan soldiers were killed, and the remaining
Less than eight hundred people were killed and they were retreating steadily.
But none of the Tubo soldiers surrendered. They fought desperately, and one group was killed, and another group came up. At this moment, three thousand spear troops from the rear came to kill, and the last few hundred Tibetan soldiers were completely in despair. The Tang army followed and retreated.
After a pincer attack, the last few hundred Tibetan soldiers were drowned in the massacre with spears and swords.
A thousand Tibetan soldiers who were responding from the south were also surrounded by Tang cavalry, and the entire army was soon destroyed.
This interception battle lasted less than an hour. The Tang army killed all 3,000 Tibetan soldiers at the cost of less than ten casualties. The Tang army then moved southward with overwhelming force. At dusk that day, they captured Dadouba.
Throughout the valley, a Tang Army cavalry group took the lead in appearing at the mouth of the valley in the south.
............
Coming out of Dadou Valley, there is a big river in front of you, called Haomen River. Haomen River is the upper reaches of Huangshui River. It can be several miles wide at its widest point. The river is gentle, but at its narrowest point it is only seven or eight feet long. The water is deep and rapid.
, after crossing the Haomen River, it enters the northern part of Shanzhou, and to the west of Dadouba Valley is the north bank of Qinghai, which is the traditional control area of the Tuyuhun people, but is now controlled by the Tubo army.
At this time, the main force of the Tibetan army has advanced eastward, and Shanzhou has become the rear of the Tibetan army. The city of Shanzhou has gathered more than 200,000 young and strong Han men and women captured by the Tibetan army from Longyou Prefecture.
After the first stage of the plundering campaign, they will be sent back to the Tubo Plateau as slaves together with a large amount of grain, pig iron, livestock and money. Two thousand Tubo soldiers will be responsible for guarding the Han people and supplies.
That night, 10,000 Tang troops began to use giant rafts to cross the Haomen River. The east bank of the Haomen River had always been the control area of the Tang Army. They built a large number of forts and military cities. Now they are all abandoned and the troops have evacuated. Dozens of them have been built.
No one could be seen in the forts and military cities. The Tibetan army had limited strength. After increasing the number of troops and fighting in the valley, they were no longer able to occupy these military cities and forts, so the Tibetan army directly occupied the more important county towns.
At dawn, 10,000 troops crossed the Haomen River, with 1,000 soldiers left on the west bank to support them. 2,000 soldiers were also left to guard the Dadouba Valley. Guo Song personally led 10,000 troops to quickly attack Shan, a hundred miles away.
Zhoucheng.
The army of ten thousand includes five thousand cavalry and five thousand infantry, but the five thousand infantry also ride on horseback.
At this time, 15,000 Tubo troops had gathered on the north bank of the Yellow River in Lanzhou. They had received intelligence that Liangzhou and Ganzhou in Hexi had various resources and populations they urgently needed. Although occupying Longyou was also their plan, that
This is the second phase of the plan. In the first phase, they must plunder enough people and resources to support war with war and support their second phase of actions.
But the plan failed to change. The Hexi Army unexpectedly intervened and transferred a large number of people and resources before them, making their plan a failure. Shang Jiezan was very angry and ordered the army to assemble and prepare to launch an attack on Liangzhou.
Shang Jiezan was about fifty years old. He came from a well-known Tubo family and had a tough character. He was called a moderate by the Tang Dynasty, but in fact, he was a rationalist. When the Tang Dynasty was not so easy to bite off, he advocated recuperation and recuperation. However,
When there was civil strife in the Tang Dynasty and there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, he would immediately show his sharp fangs and pounce on the Tang Dynasty without hesitation.
He himself did not want to attack Hexi, but the Hexi army took away a large amount of loot that should belong to Tubo. Shang Jiezan couldn't bear it anymore and ordered the army to attack Hexi. He not only wanted to regain the loot, but also plundered Liangzhou ruthlessly.
"The army sets out!"
Shang Jiezan gave an order, and 15,000 soldiers began to attack Liangzhou in a mighty manner.
.........
In the evening, 10,000 Hexi Tang troops arrived in a valley ten miles away from Shanzhou City. Guo Song ordered the army to rest on the spot while he waited for news from the scout commander Zhang Yun.
Around the first watch, Li Bing found Guo Song and reported: "Your Majesty, Zhang Yun's men are here."
Guo Song perked up and quickly sat up and asked, "How many people are there?"
"There are eleven brothers. Zhang Yun and the other ninety brothers have all sneaked into Shanzhou City. They seem to have been in contact."
Guo Song nodded, "Bring their leader to see me!"
After a while, two scouts were brought in. One of them was their leader, a scout brigade commander, while the other one entered the city with Zhang Yun and escaped when he was sent out to cut trees. He brought the situation in the city.
The scout brigade commander briefly reported to Guo Song the situation of Zhang Yun's entry into the city, then called another scout up and said to him: "You report to the envoy!"
The scout knelt down on one knee and saluted, "I'm sorry to see you, envoy!"
"What's your name and where are you from?"
"The villain's name is Xu Cheng. He is from Shanxian County in this state. He is familiar with the terrain in this area, so he can escape."
Guo Song waved his hand to him, motioning him to stand up, and said, "Tell me the details!"
The scout stood up and said: "We split up and blended into the team. It was easier to blend into the crowd and just pretend to relieve ourselves, but it was difficult to escape. We entered the city at noon, but when we entered the city, each of us had a mark on his shoulder...
....”
"Show me!" Guo Song ordered.
The soldier opened the clothes on his shoulders and saw a dark circular mark on his shoulders. Even though it was night, it still looked shocking.