Chapter 180: Plateau Strange Soldiers (2)

The night sky was clear and the distant mountains formed a black arc, disappearing eastward in the distant sky. This was the Jiuqu area of ​​the Yellow River, which was originally the Tuyuhun. In the third year of Longshuo of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo destroyed Tuyuhun and occupied the rich Jiuqu area. This area became the logistics base for Tubo to attack the Tang Dynasty.

About three hundred miles south of Shibao City, less than twenty miles away from the Yellow River. The hills are low and the streams are rushing. The hillsides are densely forested, covered with fir, cedars and cypress trees with fragrant fragrance. Outside the woods are large areas of withered grass, spreading straight to the foot of Jishi Mountain. There are groups of cattle and sheep that spend the winter here everywhere on the grass. The scenery here is beautiful, and the night under the stars and the full moon seems peaceful and beautiful.

But to the north of a shallow lake, there was a Tubo army stationed, with a population of about 20,000 people. There were no fences, like a flock of sheep. The dense tents stretched for more than a mile. However, in the middle of the camp, there was a white tent that was like birds and eggs, which was guarded like stars and the moon. It was naturally the tent of Tubo Zamp Chide Zuzan. This army, that is, the 20,000 Tubo troops that supported Shibao City, led by King Tuyuhun of Chide Zuzan, the nephew of Chide Zuzan, who was stationed here and standby.

In a fir forest about two miles away from the Tubo camp, four pairs of bright eyes were staring at the Tubo army camp with bright eyes. Under the moonlight of Yinhua, they found the white camp tent like bird eggs. The four of them also burst into ecstasy. One of them hurriedly covered their mouths, afraid that their excitement would attract Tubo patrols. These four were scouts of the Tang army, one of the fifty scouts sent by Li Qing, disguised as grazing Qiang people. Their mission was to find the bird egg tent, which was the whereabouts of Chide Zuzan. The head of this scouts was called Jiuyanchang, the veteran Youzi of Yumen Pass, who had been promoted to the brigade. With his rich march experience, the scouts team finally found the Tubo army's base after searching for three days.

"Zhisanlang, you two will go back and report quickly. I'll be watching them here."

Jiu Yanchang sipped the heat in his hand, rubbed his ears that were almost frozen, and grinned in pain. He honestly and unceremoniously snatched the two of them's wine pots and said, "You are riding back to warm up your body, so your wine pots must be kept."

The two soldiers did not dare to disobey and quickly ran to the place where the horses were tied deep in the woods.

The Tubo camp was silent, the soldiers went to bed early, and Zanpu was also in the camp, and no one dared to make a loud noise. Teams of sentries patrolling the night were patrolling the tents, but stopped near the camp near Chide Zuzan and turned around. Nearly five hundred Tubo elite soldiers stood with their swords, their cold eyes were even more cold than the night.

The white tent looked very wide, and dozens of Zamp's personal guards were guarding the door. The tent was decorated with magnificent furnishings, and all kinds of utensils were made of gold and silver, exquisite and heavy. There were jade bottles like lamb fat on the table, and the walls were hung with fine arbors and yak tails. Several beautiful maids were packing up bedding. The ground and the bed were decorated with various colorful decorations.

At this moment, Tubo Zamp Chide Zuzan sat cross-legged in front of the small table and stared at the battle report in front of him. This was the latest battle situation of Shibao City (Tibo called Iron Band City, which is the unified name here). The Tang army has increased its troops to 30,000 and is attacking the city day and night. The Tang army killed at Shibao City is countless, and the army has lost more than a thousand people, but the Tang army still cannot take a step beyond the natural danger.

Chide Zuzan stood up silently, dipped his hand in a little water and gently patted his forehead. He walked out of the tent. The bitter cold wind made his forehead even more harsh, but his thinking also became clear. In the battle of Longyou, his purpose was not to passively defend Shibao City. His goal was the wealthy and warm land of Longyou. This was also the goal of every Zanpu. After decades of restoring energy, Tubo has reached its most powerful era, with hundreds of thousands of armored soldiers, and there is no reason not to take Longyou.

His plan was seamless. In Shibao City, there were 20,000 elite soldiers hidden but not exposed. In Dafeichuan, Mangbuzhi led 30,000 troops to attack at any time, and the 20,000 troops of Tuyuhun King were also on standby. It was a day's journey, as if two evil wolves were staring at the prey from afar and waiting for an opportunity to move.

Chide Zuzan was waiting for the opportunity to counterattack. At this time, the Tang army was exhausted. They seemed to have not realized that the danger had arrived and were still desperately attacking Shibao City.

‘It’s time!’ Chide Zuzan patted his forehead gently. Now was the best opportunity to attack. Thinking of this, he turned around and ordered, “The King of Tuyuhun came to see me!”

Li Qing's camp was more than 100 miles away, hidden in a valley. This was the western section of Jishi Mountain. Within 300 miles, people were deserted and crowded. The severe winter was approaching. Qiang people who lived by nomads moved to the relatively warm place of the Yellow River. However, Li Qing was extremely vigilant and the scope of the patrol extended to twenty miles away from the camp.

They marched hard all the way and took ten days to arrive here. The mountains are undulating, the terrain is complex, and there are many hiding places, about 400 miles away from Shibao City. At this time, Duan Xiushi discovered that Chide Zuzan had been twenty days and had long lost the trace of Tubo Zamp. However, since Chide Zuzan came to supervise the Battle of Longyou, he should be not far away, unless he had entered Shibao City, that's another matter.

Three days ago, he sent fifty scout teams to search everywhere, but just as dawn was approaching, Li Qing received reports from two scouts, and about 120 miles northwest, he found the target he was looking for.

The coldness of Jishi Mountain almost freezes people in the morning. The bare valley condensed with a thick layer of white frost. Nearly two hundred tents were densely next to each other. Outside the tent was filled with Tang army eating breakfast. In order to narrow the target as much as possible and to squeeze each other to keep warm, nearly thirty soldiers lived in each tent. The commander Li Qing was no exception. Li Siye, Nan Jiyun, and Bai Xiaode also lived in the same tent with him, sleeping on the ground like soldiers, with only a thin blanket on the ground.

At this moment, they had already gotten up and were sitting around the small table, eating breakfast while discussing the information they had just obtained. The breakfast was a cup of hot water, a handful of fried noodles and a piece of dried meat. Almost like the Tubo army, the long-distance marching was the only way.

"It took three hours for the scouts to return one hundred and twenty miles. If our army was at least four hours. If we set out from noon, we would arrive at that night. Use night attacks to catch him off guard."

Bai Xiaode gently pounded the table with his fist, and his eyes showed excitement of longing for a battle. If this battle could be killed in Tubo Zanpu, it would be a great contribution. It would not only change the situation in Longyou, but also affect the strategic trend of the entire Tang and Tibet. The excitement in his eyes turned into leisurely yearning.

Li Siye shook his head, "Not good! They have more than 20,000 people, but we only have five thousand people. A few scouts may not be able to find it, but we drove over five thousand people. Such a big noise would be noticed ten miles away. At that time, 20,000 people were against five thousand people, and we had a very small chance of winning. I thought we should be more cautious."

"I also agree with what Siye said." Nan Jiyun, who had been silent next to him, said in a deep voice: "We marched from Shazhou here and were not discovered by the Tubo people. It should be a lucky thing. I guess this is related to the transfer of Tubo border posts in the Longyou Battle, but not being discovered on the road does not mean that they will never be discovered. The closer we are to Shibao City, the more patrols there will be, and we need to be extremely cautious."

"Hmph!" Bai Xiaode snorted softly, raised his broom-like thick eyebrows and said disdainfully: "If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you get a tiger's son? If it weren't for killing Tubo Zanpu, what are we doing here? Will we cut off the food routes of the Tubo people?"

Li Siye glanced slightly, and saw Li Qing staring at the cup in front of him thinking, and he didn't seem to listen to the conversation between the three of them. He couldn't help but smile: "What are we fighting for? The governor must have made a decision, let's listen to him!"

The three of them looked at Li Qing together. Li Qing picked up the cup and drank water, looked up at the three of them, and smiled slightly, "Since you discovered Chide Zuzan, you must naturally take action, and you must be foolproof, but foolproof is not something that was thought out out of thin air, but relying on a lot of intelligence to analyze. I already have an idea, but it still needs Duan Xiushi's news to confirm it!"

"The governor told me what is the idea?"

Bai Xiaode was very interested when he heard Li Qing agreeing with his opinion. Just as Li Qing was about to speak, Nan Jiyun's face suddenly became solemn, "A war horse ran towards this side, about three miles away." Li Qing listened with his ears, and soon the sound of horse hooves came faintly in the distance.

"Here is here! The news I want is here." He stood up suddenly and strode out of the tent. He saw a war horse running into the entrance of the valley from afar. After being inspected by the sentry, he rushed straight towards him.

"It's Duan Xiushi's subordinate!"

Nan Jiyun had extraordinary eyesight. He blocked the strong light from the rising sun with his hands. Five hundred steps away, he could see the face of the visitor clearly. Soon, the war horses approached. It turned out that he was a scout under Duan Xiushi, and he was also dressed in a Qiang people.

"Governor! General Duan ordered me to deliver the letter."

Li Qing took the note and unfolded it. There was only one sentence inside, "Fifty miles northwest of Shibao City, 30,000 Tubo cavalry were found."

A bright color flashed in Li Qing's eyes. The news confirmed his speculation and also brought him a fighter opportunity, "Let's go! Let's talk inside."

"As I came along, I wondered why Tubo Zamp came to supervise the war in person. Is it just to defend Shibao City? It should not be that simple, so why is he?"

Li Qing looked up at the top of the tent with his hands behind his back, as if the answer was written on it. Then his eyes were flat, and there was a deep light flashing in his eyes. He smiled faintly and said, "I thought his purpose was to swallow the entire Longyou area and come to attack my Shazhou to divert the sight of my Tang Dynasty. Now we already know that there are two Tubo troops with a total of 50,000 people watching. The Tang army was in a hurry to attack the city, but they did not move. Don't you think it's strange?"

"Are they waiting for the fighter plane?" Li Siye suddenly inserted into the air beside him.

"right!"

Li Qing said affirmatively: "He must be waiting for the fighter plane, waiting for the most exhausted and anxious time of the Tang army, and then attacked in one fell swoop, working inside and outside. Even if all the 70,000 Longyou Army were pressing on me, I probably wouldn't be able to stop the Iron Cavalry of the Tubo people."

Everyone was silent, the governor was right, and they couldn't help but worry about Longyou's fate, but Li Qing sneered: "Didn't you expect it? If the enemy goes all out, who will protect their Zamp?"

He slowly walked to the tent and looked up at the sky. Although the sun was strong, in the distant west, dark clouds had already piled up into mountains and were slowly pressing towards this side.

"It's time for him to do it, otherwise the road will be closed when heavy snow comes!"

It was an early winter night. The sky was covered with dark purple clouds, but it was not snowing. The ground was wet, but it was not muddy. The army was moving silently. It was just by chance that the weak sound of war horses were heard. No loud conversations were allowed, no fire was allowed, and try not to let the horses neigh. A long black shadow was moving forward rustling rapidly. The sky was dark and suddenly drizzled with snowflakes in the middle.

About ten miles away from the Tubo camp, Li Qing's war horse suddenly stopped. Jiuyanchang, who had been ambushing near the Tubo camp, was brought over. He rushed back to report the latest situation, but happened to meet a large army halfway. This morning, 20,000 Tubo troops had already begun, and only about 3,000 people were left in the entire camp to protect their leaders.

"Start up and throw away everything that has nothing to do with war."

With Li Qing's order, the Tang soldiers threw away all the bedding, blankets and pots they carried with them, speeding up the march, like a long black arrow, shooting straight towards the Tubo camp without hesitation, without hesitation, the sword had been unsheathed and the arrow had been wound.

The war horses galloped on the vast plateau, rushing north like a torrent of a broken dam. Twenty miles away, towards the lightning cavalry, the Tubo camp suddenly appeared in front of the Tang army, the sound of horse hooves could no longer be concealed, and the Tubo sentry also discovered the situation and shouted and ran to the camp with a lifeless life.

"Kill in, no one left!"

Li Qing pointed his sword, and five thousand Tang troops rushed past him like a huge wave, roaring towards the Tubo camp. The army swept across the field, with loud horns sounded loudly, and three thousand Tubo guards gathered in a hurry to form a circle, surrounding their Zanpu in the middle. The Tang cavalry charged forward, like a wave of evil waves in the storm, and rushed towards him. The two armies collided, causing a tide and forced the dense Tubo army to open a gap, but the Tubo army was already as powerful as a mad tiger. In the blink of an eye, the gap closed and swallowed more than a hundred Tang troops who rushed into the gap.

The cost of hard rushing was too high. The cavalry "brushed!" to both sides, and the arrows behind were shot overwhelmed. A few layers of Tubo army were stripped of shells, and they were all hit by arrows. However, the rain of arrows of the Tang army did not stop, but became more dense. The round shield of the Tubo army could cover their bodies, but could not cover the war horses under them. The war horses neighed, either fell to the ground, or rushed forward with their cavalry madly, but they fell to the ground after a few steps. After a few rounds of arrow rain, the three thousand Tubo iron guards had lost nearly 40%, and the Tubo army's formation could no longer be maintained.

At this time, Chide Zuzan came out of the tent with his helmet and armor. He flew on his horse, his waist straightened, facing the rain of arrows and snow, he raised his sword and shouted loudly: "Roar up and kill a bloody road."

The Tubo army immediately started, and the horse's hooves rolled on the grass. They avoided the rain of arrows and escorted their Zanpu and rushed to the southeast. However, in front of them were the two thousand Mo Dao Army who had been waiting for for a long time. This was the most elite unit in Anxi. Li Siye stood upright, leaning on the knife pole in his hand, standing majestic in front of the team like a god. A murderous light flashed in his eyes. He stared at the Tubo cavalry rushing in front of him. He suddenly roared and flashed sideways. A cold light rose, and the legs of the horse were cut off. With a backhand, the cavalry head flew out.

Mo Dao hand had jumped off the war horses and gathered neatly and orderly into a mountain-like sword wall, blocking the way of the Tubo army. There was Mo Dao blocking the road in front and crossbows chasing behind. On both sides were enemy cavalry surrounded by enemy cavalry, as if there was no way out. Seeing the urgent situation, more than a hundred personal guards of Chide Zuzan surrounded Zanpu and left the brigade and turned around and rushed west. At this point, the Tubo cavalry formation finally collapsed, forming groups of them as they formed their own formations, fighting against the Tang army.

Li Qing's eyes were staring at the man wearing a golden helmet, and quietly pointed at him and made a gesture to Wu Xingsu beside him. Wu Xingsu's steel crossbow slowly raised, and the cold pointed arrow aimed at Chide Zuzan's back, gently pulled the spring off, and a armor-pushing arrow swept away silently, as if a fire flashed through the air. The arrowhead seemed to flash a flash of fire, hitting Chide Zuzan's shoulder blade. At the same time, another arrow from Nan Jiyun also arrived, but he shot the horse, and the strong arrow pierced the head of the war horse. The war horse neighed miserably and suddenly fell to the ground, lifting Chide Zuzan out of a distance. Before his personal soldiers could rescue, hundreds of cavalry of the Tang army attacked from all sides, swinging long spears, and fighting swords flew. In a moment, more than a hundred guards were killed to only ten, and they were on their backs to protect Chide Zuzan.

Under hundreds of long spears, Chide Zuzan smiled bitterly. The golden helmet and armor symbolized his extremely noble identity and could no longer stand. At this time, Li Qing urged him to come immediately. The cavalrymen dodged a way. Li Qing dismounted and walked to him, looking at him calmly.

Chide Zuzan half-kneeled on the ground, leaning on the sword in his hand, gasping for breath, blood and sweat flowing all over his face, but his eyes were still as sharp and unyielding as an eagle, staring at the enemy in front of him, as if he was about to tear Li Qing to pieces with his eyes.

Everyone's eyes turned to Li Qing. How to deal with Tubo Zanpu is of great importance. Li Qing's eyes stared straight into the distance, whether to kill or not, the consequences of killing and the consequences of not killing were difficult to balance in his heart. Killing him could disrupt Tubo's strategic deployment, and even civil strife in Tubo, so that the Tang Dynasty would not be disturbed by Tubo again within 35 years, but the political consequences he had to bear were also obvious; and if he did not kill, his own risk could be minimized, but the Tang Dynasty would have to let him go back in the end, and the repetition and untrust of the Tubo people were vivid in my mind.

Personal interests and national interests confronted fiercely in Li Qing's heart. He was really undecided. The shouts of killing on the battlefield gradually became smaller. The scattered Tubo cavalry were divided, surrounded and annihilated by the Modao Formation and the Arrow Formation. The cavalry surrounded Chide Zuzan and his remaining guards like iron barrels.

Li Qing suddenly sneered and faced the sharp gaze of the Tubo king without fear. Suddenly, the slowly-inspired blood of the Han people was awakened in his heart. His eyes became severe and terrible. His hands slowly but without hesitation.
Chapter completed!