Nine hundred and fortieth chapters take the opportunity to enter
Tubo invaded the Tang Dynasty mainly from five directions, Anxi, Hexi, Longyou, Jiannan and Nanzhao. Since Tubo was defeated by Guo and Song three times, they have been cautious in sending troops on the North and West roads.
There are many, but on the front line of Bashu, they are always looking for opportunities.
At present, Jiannan Jiedu Prefecture has an army of 10,000 people in name, but in fact it has less than 7,000 troops. It is common for the army to fill up vacancies. Although the Jiannan Army only has less than 7,000 people, they are not the direct army of the eunuchs.
, the border troops belonging only to the Southern Tang Dynasty, their treatment was much worse than that of the Shence Army. Their monthly salary was only 600 cash, their food was poor, and their morale was generally low.
The Jiannan Army is mainly deployed on the nearly thousand-mile border in the west of Xichuan, with dozens of outposts and major cities. In fact, 7,000 people are not enough to guard so many outposts and cities. The commander of the Jiannan Army, Wang Qingyang, does not care.
There were too many, and the troops were only deployed at a few important strategic nodes such as Yazhou, Zhezhou, and Wenzhou.
That afternoon, in the high mountains to the west of Yazhou, a mighty Tibetan army of more than 25,000 people appeared. This Tibetan army was led by Shang Dongzan, the rising star of Tibetan general.
In the past few years, great changes have taken place in Tubo. Under the auspices of Master Padmasambhava, Tubo fully converted to Buddhism. Last year, it sent troops to Tianzhu. Shang Dongzan led 20,000 Tubo troops to sweep across both sides of the Ganges. The small countries along the coast surrendered one after another and attacked in one go.
Entering the capital of Magadha, he not only seized the relics of the Buddha, but also surrendered a heavenly amount of wealth and slaves.
The war dividends obtained from this expedition to Tianzhu made the originally weak Tubo country suddenly strong. The warehouses were filled with wheat, the fields were filled with countless cattle and sheep, and millions of Tianzhu people were plundered as slaves. They
Grazing and farming freed countless young and strong Tibetan men from labor and joined the army. The number of Tibetan soldiers increased from 50,000 to 140,000 to 140,000 to 140,000.
After the strength was restored, Tubo Zampu Trisong Dezan's ambition burst out again, and he asked the Prime Minister Shang Jiezan to formulate a plan to conquer the Tang Dynasty eastward.
Shang Jiezan's eyes were fixed on the Southern Tang Dynasty. He saw the weakness and unpopularity of the Southern Tang Dynasty. At this time, the young emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty passed away and the situation in the court was unstable. Shang Jiezan seized this opportunity and ordered
His younger brother Shang Dongzan led an army of 25,000 to invade the Southern Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, he deployed another 20,000 troops on the Longyou front line, on the one hand to contain Guo and Song's troops, and on the other hand to prevent the Longyou army from encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao to relieve Chengdu's crisis.
As the general of the Eastern Expedition, Shang Dongzan's first target was Yazhou City, also known as Yandao County. By capturing Yazhou City, they would have the foundation to attack Chengdu, and at the same time, they would also open the western gate to the prosperous Chengdu Plain.
The army marched eastward along a river, with mountains and forests on both sides. At this time, Shang Dongzan saw the fish belly white on the eastern sky. It was still nearly 80 miles away from Yazhou, so he ordered: "Stay camp and rest on the spot.
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After marching all night, the soldiers were exhausted and lay down on the river to wash and drink water. Lieutenant General Lun Duosang and several generals came forward and asked: "General, why don't you go all the way to Yazhou? I believe that the Tang army in Yazhou will flee."
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Shang Dongzan patiently explained to him: "We did not carry siege weapons and could only rely on surprise troops to win. Although the morale of the Tang army was low and they would probably flee, there is another possibility. They defended the city. Yazhou City is tall and strong.
, once the opponent defends the city, we will be in big trouble, so we must be careful, travel at night and day, and not be discovered by the enemy."
Shang Dongzan's explanation convinced several generals, and they all saluted, "What the general said is absolutely true, we understand!"
The generals went to rest, but Shang Dongzan was a little worried. He wondered whether the people he sent could find the Tibetan spies installed in Yazhou City?
...........
Yazhou City is a large border city with a large population of nearly 100,000 people. A lot of border trade is carried out here. Business is quite prosperous. There are many shops opened by Tubo people, Qiang people, Tuyuhun people and Nanzhao people. The population structure in the city
It is also more complicated, but although the Han people make up the majority, there are also a large number of other ethnic groups living here, with the Tubo and Qiang being the largest.
As the west gate of the Chengdu Plain, the strategic location of Yazhou City is also very important. For a hundred years, Jiannan Jiedu Mansion has been stationing heavy troops here. Although Jiannan Jiedu Mansion is now seriously weakened, Yazhou's garrison still reaches 3,000 people.
There are so many, accounting for almost 40% of the current total strength of Jiannan Jiedu Mansion.
Similarly, as a defensive frontier town, Yazhou City was built tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The commander-in-chief was named Zhang Meng, and he was appointed as General Yunhui of the third rank. He just took office last month.
Zhang Meng was not a general of the Jiannan clan, but a general of the Shence Army, and he was also one of Dou Wenchang's thirteen adopted sons, known as the Thirteen Taibao, and he ranked third.
As a high-ranking military officer of the third rank, he went to a remote place like Yazhou to serve as a guard. Naturally, he has his own reasons. There is a lot of oil and water here. Although the actual garrison of Yazhou City is only 3,000 people, the number registered by the Ministry of War is 5,000.
People, the Ministry of War distributes military salary and food according to five thousand people, but there is actually free salary for two thousand people, which is a veritable fat vacancy.
Although a frontier soldier only has 600 guan per month, he has 1,200 guan of oil and water a month. In addition, he can sell the excess military food and supplies. There is no problem with 1,600 guan a month. He can honor Dou Wenchang half of it.
If he distributes the points to other generals, he can earn 500 guan a month, which is 6,000 guan a year. After serving as a guard here for ten years, he will really make a fortune.
Zhang Meng patrolled back and forth on the top of the city. He looked at East Street, the main road in the city. There were shops on both sides. People were coming and going. It was quite lively. Caravans leading mules and horses kept passing by.
Zhang Meng is planning a piece of land, which is a pharmacy opened by a Tibetan businessman. This piece of land is big enough. If he takes it and builds a restaurant, wouldn't the wealth come rolling in?
"Damn Tubo guy!" Zhang Meng cursed fiercely.
Zhang Meng made up his mind that in these few days, he would find an excuse to be killed by this Tibetan shopkeeper, saying that he was a Tibetan spy.
........
If Zhang Meng knew that the Tibetan businessman he was planning to slander as an enemy was really a Tibetan spy, I don't know what he would think.
This store is located in the middle section of East Street. It is a Tubo medicine shop. The store is called Yaoling. It has been opened in Yazhou City for nearly 20 years and covers an area of about ten acres. It is the largest store in the entire East Street and the location is excellent. It is almost the entire store.
The center of Yazhou City, no wonder the general Zhang Meng had thoughts about it.
The owner of the shop is a forty-five or six-year-old Tibetan named Mang Jia. He is a very kind man. He gave himself a Chinese name, Li Mang, but other people in the shop call him Uncle Mang.
Mengjia is mainly engaged in the medicinal materials and fur business. Medicinal materials from the plateau are very popular in the Bashu area. His business is good and he has many regular customers. After the summer solstice every year, a large amount of cordyceps, gastrodia elata, Fritillaria and palmata are shipped from the plateau.
, snow lotus, Ganoderma lucidum, antelope horns and other medicinal materials as well as furs. At this time, his customers will come from all over the country to purchase. After the medicinal materials are sold out, he will purchase a batch of living materials and send them back to the plateau. This has been the case for twenty years.
Come this way.
Because of the seasonal factors, his usual business doesn't look very good. The shop is always deserted except for Mengjia's dark face.
Mengjia is actually a Tubo official who has been ordered to open a shop in Yazhou for twenty years. He has been collecting information about Bashu and smuggling some contraband to the plateau, such as pig iron.
At noon, two young Tibetan men came to the medicine shop. They dazzled a bronze medal in front of Mengjia's eyes. Mengjia's expression suddenly changed and he quickly took the two men to the back room.
The leader of the Tibetan spies put the bronze medal on the table and pushed it to Mangjia for a closer look. Mangjia looked carefully and found that it was an army bronze medal. He immediately realized that there was going to be a military operation and quickly asked: "Zampu has decided to seize it."
Ya’an?”
The Tibetan spy said: "We are spies of General Shang Dongzan. The Tubo army is less than a hundred miles away from Yazhou City. They will attack tonight. General Shang said that you are ready. Let us come and see what is going on."
Prepare?"
Mengjia nodded and sighed softly, "I have indeed been preparing for several years, just waiting for this day, you come with me!"
He closed the shop, took two spies to the backyard, left through the back door, walked through several alleys, and came to the west city wall. He walked into a relatively shabby courtyard where his family lived.
There are six or seven rooms in the dormitory of the drug store for several clerks, and the last two rooms seem to be tightly against the city wall.
Mengjia led two spies to the back room. There were no windows in the room and it was pitch dark. He lit a lamp and the two spies saw it. They saw that the room was empty, with two large wooden cupboards placed against the wall.
Mengjia put the oil lamp on the table, called to a few waiters, and they all pushed the wooden cabinet hard. The wooden cabinet separated to both sides, revealing a large black hole, which was six feet high.
"This is..." Both spies were stunned.
"The inside of this is the city wall. We hollowed it out and used wooden boards to support it. Walking to the end is the outermost city brick."
Mengjia picked up the oil lamp and walked in. Inside were thick wooden boards and thick wooden pillars. The soil between the gaps could be vaguely seen. When he walked to the end, there was a wall in front of him. He patted the wall and said, "These wall bricks are actually already
If it's loose, it only takes a quarter of an hour for us to tear out a big hole."