Chapter 223: The army is approaching

On March 20, after capturing Wuwei County, another 30,000 Tubo troops came from Zhangye to support him. Chisong Dezan arranged a small number of troops to station in Wuwei, and personally led a 120,000 army to attack the Yellow River.

After three days of marching, the Tubo army finally arrived at the Yellow River. At this moment, there was no ship beside the Yellow River. The dock had been destroyed. The ship was gone, and no one was there. The refugees who could escape were transported to the other side. There was only an isolated fortress, Huixi Fort, which is now the last castle of the Tang Dynasty in Hexi.

There were still five thousand Tang troops in Huixi Fortress, and they were also the last army of the Tang Dynasty in Hexi. Without withdrawing, they were determined to live and die together with Huixi Fortress. The city gate had been blocked by huge rocks, most of the houses in the city had been demolished, and a large number of stones were obtained. Hundreds of stones were ready for battle, with 500,000 arrows, as well as a small number of gunpowder weapons and turbulent balls.

The county magistrate and military envoy Luo Youjun was standing on the city wall, looking coldly at the vast Tubo army in the distance. If the enemy had not crossed the river to the other side, they would have gone south along the Yellow River. If it were the latter, then Xibao would have been a very difficult task for them to crack.

The Tubo army did not rush to attack Huixi Fortress, but instead set up a camp five miles away from the castle. Tens of thousands of craftsmen captured from Zhangye and Wuwei were rushing to build large ships day and night.

Chisong Dezan came two miles away from Huixi Fortress after thousands of people guarded him. He looked at the solid castle that made Ma Chongying retreat with interest, and now the castle has become a stumbling block on his way forward.

It was only after Chisong Dezan learned that the Tang army in Longyou was attacking Hehuang after capturing Wuwei County. This unexpected news disrupted his original plan, which meant that he would not have ready-made ships to cross the river. He had to build a ship to cross the river, which would delay his opportunity to occupy Longyou. He immediately made strategic adjustments. Now he not only had to occupy Longyou, but also cut off the retreat of the Tang army in Hehuang, and annihilate all the main forces of the Tang army in Longyou in Hehuang.

At this time, General Shang Xidongzan knelt down and asked for an order: "Zanpu, I am willing to lead my troops to pull out this annoying thorn!"

Chisong Dezan didn't say anything. He looked carefully at the terrain around Huixi Fort, then smiled slightly and praised Shang Xidong: "Take 40,000 troops around the castle and go to Hehuang to cut off the Tang army's retreat for me. Ma Chongying will cooperate with you to fight. As for this castle, don't worry about it for the time being. When we take Longyou, it will naturally die."

Speaking of this, he ordered coldly: "I will wait for another ten days and I must build a hundred large ships for me."

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Under the city of Hehuang Stone Fortress, in the Tang army camp, Du Mei paced back and forth in the tent with her hands behind her back, while Zhang Huan stared at a corner of the tent like ice water. He had just received a quick message from Shancheng. The beacon fire in Hexi was lit and the Tubo people attacked from Hexi, but the specific situation was not clear.

Now Zhang Huan finally understood Ma Chongying's strategy. He lured himself into deep, which was to create opportunities for the Tubo army in Hexi, making his army deep, making it difficult to defend. But the question is how many Tubo army there are in Hexi, so that Ma Chongying even gave up the entire Hehuang to cover it. This is what worries Zhang Huan.

"Governor, I have a very ridiculous idea." Du Mei suddenly stopped.

"Tell me!"

"I was wondering if the Tubo people were preparing to attack us in a large scale, and we were also attacking Hehuang, and the two armies were intertwined."

"It's not ridiculous, I have the same idea as you." Zhang Huan shook his head gently and said, "Otherwise, Ma Chongying would not lead us deeper at the cost of giving up Hehuang."

He sighed. The Tubo people were indeed very accurate in taking the opportunity. The Guanzhong army suffered heavy losses in the battle between Shuzhong and he had just won Longyou and had an unstable foothold. Therefore, the large-scale attack was just a coincidence with his attack on Hehuang.

"If this is true, what should I do with Longyou? The court may be able to send reinforcements." Speaking of this, Du Mei suddenly remembered something and her face was pale. Only Hedong could save Longyou. However, it is easy to invite gods to send gods. Will the Pei family army or the Cui family army leave again after they come?

The atmosphere in the camp was solemn. After a while, Zhang Huan stood up and straightened his back. He smiled faintly and said, "A real man can bend and stretch. If you fall this time, you can get up slowly in the future."

He immediately ordered, "Appoint the troops in Longwu, Huangshui and Shancheng to withdraw quickly to Longyou, and then order the Tang army in Suirong City, Linfan City and Suihe City to move closer to me immediately."

After saying that, Zhang Huan slowly walked to the camp and looked at the towering stone castle city in the distance. He murmured to himself: "Ma Chongying, are you waiting for me to retreat in panic?"

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Night has fallen in Chang'an City,

At this moment, Chang'an City was still immersed in the joy of recapturing Hehuang, but a few senior officials had already obtained the news that Tubo launched a large-scale attack on Longyou from Hexi through various channels. The news was strictly blocked, but the emergency coordination between the senior officials was in full swing.

In Cui Yuan's quiet room, Cui Yu, the new right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was having a nervous discussion with Cui Yuan, the head of the family, about the situation in Longyou. The two had the same idea, that is, no matter what, Pei Jun would send troops to Longyou.

But when talking about the Cui family's plan to send troops, the atmosphere in the room immediately became a little solemn. Cui Yu walked slowly in the room with his hands behind his back. Unlike Cui Yuan, as the current right prime minister, he was more considering how to repel the Tubo attack. As for the interests of the Cui family, it was not important to him, at least not now. The most important thing was how to use this opportunity to build his personal prestige and get rid of his reality as Cui Yuan's puppet.

However, there is only one way to send troops to rescue Longyou, and there are only four plans to send troops. One is to send troops from Shu, but letting Zhu Li send troops is tantamount to asking a wolf to drive away the tiger. This plan is absolutely not possible; the second is Duan Xiushi of Lingwu, but he heard that there were only more than 5,000 troops left in his hand. He himself had accepted Cui Xiaofu's order and returned to Xishoujiang City under the conditions of support. Moreover, his drop in the bucket would be useless.

The third is to send troops from Guanzhong, either Cui and Pei; the two coalition forces, or Cui's family, and the fourth is to send troops from Hedong, which is the most feasible solution at present.

Apart from the first two unfeasible plans, the latter two plans involve the Cui family sending troops, but this cannot be avoided by Cui Yuan. Cui Yu had no choice but to discuss it with him.

"The head of the family, although the troops sent from Fengxiang are close, the Cui family in Guanzhong are too few, and it cannot be reduced anyway, so I think I can only send troops from Hedong. What do the head of the family think?"

Cui Yuan's body has gradually recovered and is as energetic as before, but his legs have lost consciousness and can never stand up. He sat in a special ring chair, with four specialists responsible for carrying him to walk.

At this moment, Cui Yuan was not in a hurry to answer Cui Yu's words. He was considering the feasibility of sending troops from Hedong. Since the Battle of Shuzhong, the Cui family has suffered heavy losses and was greatly injured. The Cui family's strength is weaker than the Pei family. In fact, this is not the most serious matter facing the Cui family. The serious matter is that there is a chaos within the Cui family. The 200,000 Qinghe Army in Shandong has been controlled by Cui Qinggong, and Cui Qinggong has always been incompatible with Cui Yu, and he hated Cui Yuan to remove him from his official position. Therefore, even Cui Yuan wanted to mobilize 60,000 Shandong troops to supplement Hedong, and he wrote a letter to coax him. Cui Qinggong barely emphasized that 30,000 troops were to Hedong.

This is an extremely terrible sign. If the matter is not resolved well, the Cui family will likely split like the Zhang family in Hedong. Cui Yuan also tried his best to conceal it. He knew very well that this was the consequence of his decades of using Cui Qinggong to control military power. He did not dare to act too quickly for the time and could only rely on time to repair it slowly.

But something happened in Longyou at this time, which exposed his embarrassment. He was unable to send troops to Longyou at all. The Shandong army could not be transferred. The Cui family had only 70,000 troops in Hedong, while the Pei family had 200,000 troops in Hedong, and could be transferred from Hebei at any time. Once Pei Jun knew that the Cui family was incompatible, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After pondering for a long time, Cui Yuancai slowly said: "You go to Pei Mansion now and tell Pei Jun frankly that the Cui family suffered heavy losses in Shuzhong. This time, the Cui family will not participate in supporting the Longyou Cui family. In addition, in order to prevent the Tubo people from attacking Guanzhong from Fengxiang, I decided to transfer 20,000 Hedong Army to supplement Fengxiang's troops and ask him to let the army pass through Tongguan as appropriate."

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The night gradually became deeper, and many people in Chang'an fell asleep. The Great Wall was silent. Suddenly, the fierce sound of horse hooves sounded on Zhuque Street, and dozens of war horses ran wildly from the direction of Mingde Gate. Pei Mingyuan and his group of ten rushed back to Chang'an after three days and nights. He was entrusted by Pei Ying to ask for help from his father.

The war horse turned around and rushed into Xuanyifang. After a moment, he arrived at Pei's mansion. From a distance, Pei Mingyuan saw countless people standing in front of the mansion. His father stood in front of the steps, as if he was seeing off the guests. He slowed down his horse and slowly approached the mansion gate. At this time, he had already seen clearly that his father was sending out the right prime minister Cui Yu. Pei Mingyuan simply stopped the horse and waited for Cui Yu to get on the carriage and drove away. Then he urged his horse to move forward.

Pei Jun had just negotiated with Cui Yu to rescue Longyou, and the court paid and grain. His Pei family sent troops from Hedong to cross the Yellow River to rescue Longyou. In return, Pei Jun agreed to the Cui family's 20,000 troops in Hedong stationed Fengxiang through Tongguan.

Just as Pei Jun smiled and was about to turn around and enter the mansion, he suddenly felt something. When he turned his head, he suddenly found that his son Pei Mingyuan was standing twenty steps away with a few followers. He was covered in dust and his face was haggard.
Chapter completed!