Chapter 524: Drive the wolf into Sichuan?

In mid-May, after nearly two months of long journey, the 100,000 Anxi Army finally arrived in Longyou. At this time, Ma Chongying's troops, who were hiding in the Yellow River Jiuqu, had already obtained some information about something wrong. He immediately led a 70,000 army to break through Jishishan and return to Luoshe. Li Guangbi expected that he would do this and immediately led his army to help Li Sheng's troops. The two sides fought fiercely in Jishishan. After three days and three nights, after the Tang army intercepted desperately, Ma Chongying was unable to break through the Tang army's interception, and suffered 30,000 soldiers and retreated sadly to the Nine Curves of the Yellow River. In this battle, the Tang army also suffered more than 10,000 casualties, which was the most tragic battle since the war between the Tang and the Tibet. It was this Jishishan battle that completely crushed the last hope of the Tubo people. With the main force of the 100,000 Anxi Army driving to Longyou, the Tubo people were completely out of sight.

In the early morning, a thin layer of white mist was shrouded in the Yellow River, which overflowed like milk across the banks of the Yellow River. At this time, a rapid sound of horse hooves shocked the quiet morning. A team of black Tang cavalry appeared in the white mist, with about a hundred people. They were galloping like lightning on the bank of the Yellow River and heading south.

Among this cavalry, the general was about forty years old, with tall eyebrows and deep eyes. He was wearing the bright light armor of the Tang army, carrying a knife and bowing on his back, looking majestic. He was Wang Sili, the chief general of the Tang army on the Hezhou-Weizhou line, and came to discuss military affairs under the order of Li Qing'an.

The 40,000 troops led by Wang Sili were actually Li Heng's Guanzhong army. In order to show his support for the Battle of Tang and Tibet, Li Heng ordered Wang Sili to lead 40,000 troops to fight in Longyou.

But Wang Sili has never fought with the Tubo army since entering Longyou, which made him feel unspeakable pressure and cowardice. In particular, the Anxi army intercepted the 70,000 retreat at 40,000 people, and drove the Tubo army back to the Nine Curves of the Yellow River at the cost of nearly 40% of the casualties. This tragic battle made Wang Sili even more ashamed. He knew very well that his 40,000 Guanzhong army might not be able to resist even 20,000 Tubo army.

So when Li Heng asked Wang Sili to withdraw from Guanzhong immediately, and at the same time, Li Qing'an's main force also arrived in Longyou and ordered him to come and discuss military information immediately. When the two orders arrived at the same time, Wang Sili still chose Li Qing'an. This was not only because Li Qing'an had saved his life in Tongguan back then, but also there was a general choice here. Between Li Qing'an and Li Heng, he was not optimistic about Li Heng.

As a soldier, for Wang Sili, strength represents everything.

Wang Sili whipped the war horse hard, and the war horse accelerated its speed and rushed towards the Tang army camp dozens of miles away.

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In the central army's tent, Li Qing'an had recovered his rationality from the joy of victory in Tochar. At this time, Tubo was no longer the focus of his consideration. Tubo, the country of the plateau, had been destroyed. His eyes swept through Tochar from the Amu River and crossed the entire plateau. Finally, his eyes were frozen in the east, which was the root of the world. The Tang Dynasty, where was his destination.

Years of political struggle have cultivated his rational and meticulous thinking, and years of war and killing have also given his blood a wolf-like nature unique to nomadic peoples, making his heart even more cruel and cold. At this time, he was considering a plan, which he had thought of a long time ago, but the time was not yet ripe at that time. However, since Li Qing'an received the secret report from Yang Guozhong, Li Longji had secretly sent an order to Li Heng and would pass the throne of the Southern Tang to him. At this time, the opportunity required by Li Qing'an finally appeared.

At this time, a soldier's report came from the door: "Report to the General, General Wang Sili is here."

"Please come in!"

Li Qingan immediately put away his thoughts. Wang Sili is very important to him and is a very important piece in his entire chess game.

After a moment, Wang Sili walked in quickly. He knelt down on one knee, clasped his fists to Li Qing'an and said, "I will meet with the general!"

Li Qingan quickly helped him up, looked him up and down, and smiled, "General Wang has worked hard all the way."

"The last general only walked a few hundred miles, so how could he talk about the word "hard work". However, the general marched tens of thousands of miles from Tocharo to Longyou. This is the hard work."

Li Qing'an nodded. Wang Sili was very good at speaking. He quickly smiled and said to Wang Sili: "Come on! Sit down and talk."

The two sat down and the personal soldiers served them tea. Li Qing'an asked him with concern: "How is the morale of the 40,000 brothers?"

"It's not high, but it's not sluggish. The general should know that the Guanzhong army lacks the training of a war. My most regret is that it has not fought a war yet."

"There are always opportunities to fight! General Wang will likely fight An Lushan in the future."

"Is that true?" Wang Sili's eyes lit up. His greatest hope was to fight An Lushan. In the battle of Tongguan, he was almost wiped out, which became a shame for his life. If he wanted to waste this shame, he would fight An Lushan's army again.

"There should be this opportunity. An Lushan now established a pseudo-Tang Dynasty in Youzhou and proclaimed himself the Minister of the Secretariat. He actually rebelled. The reason why he has not yet advanced south on a large scale is because he lacks troops and is still recruiting troops on a large scale. Once the troops are sufficient, he will inevitably march south on a large scale and march into Guanzhong under the pretext of attacking Li Heng."

Wang Sili nodded silently. He believed that what Li Qing'an said was true, and the truth was indeed the case. At this time, Li Qing'an said again: "But it is also possible that you don't have the chance to fight An Lushan."

"Why?" Wang Sili was a little surprised.

Li Qing'an looked at his gaze and said word by word: "I'm worried that you will enter Sichuan."

Wang Sili was silent. He understood what Li Qing'an meant. Li Qing'an had already made a choice for him. Whether to continue to be loyal to Li Heng or turn to Li Qing'an. This can be said to be Wang Sili's biggest decision in his life. But he was silent for only a moment before making a decision. He knelt down on one knee again and said in a deep voice: "I am willing to serve the general!"

In fact, Wang Sili had been thinking about it for a long time. He was excluded by Chen Xuanli and lost most of his military power. If Chen Xuanli had not been too arrogant and crazy, he would have been idle at home at this time. Li Heng was suspicious and mean, which had already made Wang Sili feel cold to him.

He had long wanted to defect to Li Qing'an, but he couldn't speak. Today Li Qing'an took the initiative to propose how could he let go of this opportunity?

"well!"

Li Qing'anlian said two words "good". He helped Wang Sili up and said to him sincerely: "When we fought side by side in Tongguan, I knew that sooner or later we would come together because we were the same people."

"The General of the Imperial Army understands that it is the greatest honor for the General of the Imperial Army."

Li Qing'an quickly walked to the sand table, pointed at the Jiuqu area of ​​the Yellow River with a wooden pole and said, "At present, there are still 40,000 Tubo army, so we are hiding here. Now our 100,000 army has arrived, and the final destruction of the Tubo army is just around the corner."

"But my subordinates are worried that the Tubo reinforcements will come."

Li Qingan smiled slightly, "Don't worry, the Tubo old nest Lushe cities have been captured by Feng Changqing, and Tubo Zanpu died in Tocharo, and their main officials have all surrendered."

Wang Sili was stunned. He could not believe what he heard. Tubo was over. Then the Tubo army that annihilated Jiuqu would be the last battle.

Li Qingan patted his shoulder and smiled and said, "You only need to do one thing now. Your 40,000 troops cut off the Tubo people's retreat and prevent them from escaping to Chengdu. This is very important. You must not be careless."

"I understand, I'll go now."

Wang Sili bowed his fists and bowed, and then said goodbye. As soon as he left, Li Guangbi hurried over.

"General, is General Wang Sili leaving?"

"Is there anything you need to ask him?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

"I think the general must have asked him to intercept Tubo and flee to Bashu!"

"You're right, that's how I arranged it."

Li Guangbi hesitated for a moment. He walked to the sand table, looked at the Tubo army's retreat, and said, "There is a saying, "I don't know whether to speak a humble position or not?"

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said, "You said that."

"I am thinking about why we can't let Ma Chongying enter Shu? Once his army enters Shu, Shu will inevitably be in crisis. Li Longji either asked the general for help or summoned Li Heng's army to enter Shu. I heard that the relationship between Li Longji and his son showed signs of easing. There is a great possibility of summoning Li Heng's Guanzhong army into Shu. As long as Li Heng's army enters Shu and Wang Sili's army returns to Guanzhong, wouldn't Guanzhong be the subject of the general's hands at that time?"

"You are called driving the wolf into Shu. I thought about it in the first place, but now I have given up on this idea."

"Why?" Li Guangbi was a little puzzled.

Li Qingan smiled and slowly walked up to point at Jiuqu area with a wooden pole and said, "This is a pocket we arranged, and put Ma Chongying's Tubo army uniform in. He now knows that something happened to him. He tried his best to return to the river several times, but unfortunately he didn't succeed, but he would not be willing to do so. Now that my 100,000 army is here, he will definitely not be able to withstand the pressure. He will once again think about escaping back to the Logigen, so his army is the only hope for Tubo to reverse the situation. In this case, I don't want to

Take a risk. If Gao Xianzhi still holds military power in Chengdu, maybe I will try it, but Gao Xianzhi has been deprived of military power. At this time, the military power is controlled by King Rong Li Wan. I know Li Wan very well. He is definitely not a match for Ma Chongying. Once the Jiannan Army is defeated, the Tubo army will occupy Chengdu. I am not worried about the Han people, but I am worried about the Qiang people, the Nanzhao people, and the people who are used by Ma Chongying. I will reorganize an army of 100,000 people to kill again. At that time, it will be too late to regret it."

Speaking of this, Li Qing'an straightened his waist and said proudly: "As for Li Heng's Guanzhong Army, I have never taken it to heart. Can they compete with my Anxi Hundred Battles Army?"

Li Guangbi was very ashamed. He thought he had thought of a clever plan, but he did not expect that this plan would probably backfire. Li Qing'an was right. He had a 100,000 Anxi army, so there was no need to use this trick.

"I understand, but I am still a little worried that Wang Sili's army will not be able to stop Ma Chongying."

"Don't worry! I just gave Wang Sili a chance to fight. In fact, I don't expect him to block the Tubo army. I have sent Li Sheng to lead 30,000 troops to the Xihunshan area, which is the only way for Ma Chongying to enter Shu. I believe Li Sheng will stop the Tubo army from retreating east."

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On May 16, the main force of the 80,000 Tang army crossed the Yellow River from Feiyun and rushed straight to Dushancheng where the Tubo army was located. As Li Qing'an judged, when 100,000 Anxi arrived in Longyou, Ma Chongying knew that the situation was destined. Now there was no way out for his north and south directions and west directions. He had to retreat eastward to Jiannan Xichuan, and then circled back to the more he went back. Although the risk was very high, he had only this way. Although he could not defeat the Anxi army, he might not be able to do the Jiannan army. It would be best to go to Nanzhao to get the support of Nanzhao's army to help him restore the country.

When Ma Chongying heard the news that the main force of the Tang army had crossed the river, he immediately made a decision and led his army to evacuate eastward.

From Dushan City where the Tubo army is located to crossing Taoshui is the first stage of eastward advance. There is a journey of thousands of miles in between. As long as you can reach Minzhou on the east bank of Taoshui, most of the strategic transfer of the Tubo army's eastward advancement will be considered successful.

But Li Qingan spent a lot of effort to win this Tang-Tibet war, and he even rushed to the scene thousands of miles away. How could he turn the tables at this critical moment? How could he not know that the Tubo army had the possibility of fleeing east?

Ten days later, when the Tubo army fled to a canyon called Juesheng Valley, a news that Ma Chongying was most reluctant to hear came, and an unknown number of Tang troops strangled the narrow valley road.

This is the remnant of Xihun Mountain. The surrounding mountains are steep and stretch for hundreds of miles. Only this valley road less than three miles wide and about thirty miles long can pass through the mountains. If they don’t want to walk from here, they have to retreat hundreds of miles, then go around the upper reaches of the Yellow River, and cross the Jishi Mountain from there. Of course, they can directly trace back from there, but they are already short of food, and the Tang army has arrived, and the Tang army has attacked each other forward and back, and they are all done.

"Master, what should we do?" several generals asked anxiously.

Ma Chongying frowned. He didn't know how many soldiers the Tang army intercepted were now. If there were not many people, maybe they could rush over.

"Transfer my order! The army sends an attack and presses it all. If I can't rush over, I will all die here."

The sound of golden drums of the Tubo people was rumbling across the plateau. Forty thousand Tubo troops fought against the water. Forty thousand troops were overwhelmed with shouts of killing like thunder. The desire to survive made them rush into the valley regardless of everything.

The Tang army had already built fortifications at the narrowest part of the valley. The valley was only one and a half miles wide. Thirty thousand Tang soldiers built a simple city wall with huge stones. The valley road was narrow and could not accommodate so many troops to defend at the same time. Li Sheng only deployed 15,000 crossbowmen.

The city wall was about ten miles away from the entrance of the valley, and deafening shouts echoed in the valley. The Tubo army roared like a flood that broke the dike, sweeping towards the city wall, only one mile away from them, covering the sky and the sun.

The Tang soldiers squatted halfway after the fortifications. They calmly pulled the strings and raised the arrows. Ten thousand Tang crossbows were lifted at the same time, pointing forward at a thirty-degree angle. Ten thousand Tang crossbowmen were divided into three rows, each row was about ten steps apart.

This is just the first defensive line. Li Sheng set up a total of three defensive lines. If this defensive line is lost, they will retreat into the second defensive line three miles away.

But as a young main general, Li Sheng would never take a step back unless he had no choice.

Two hundred steps.

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To be continued...