Early in the morning, a group of more than ten Shatuo cavalry rushed from a distance, and from where they went, it was obvious that they were going to Qilian Fort in the southeast.

Qilian Fort is located at the junction of Ganzhou and Suzhou, is a military city with a circumference of about five miles, condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the strategic position is very important, in the Tang Army and the Shatuo Army confrontation for more than ten years, Qilian Fort has been the northernmost defense point of the Tang Army, but has been captured by the Shatuo Army at present, and has become the southernmost offensive bridgehead of the Shatuo people.

When this group of Shatuo cavalry passed through a forest, dozens of arrows suddenly shot out of the woods, the Shatuo cavalry was caught off guard, and they were hit by arrows and fell off their horses, only three of the twelve cavalry were still on horseback, they turned around and fled, but it was too late, more than 100 Tang soldiers were killed from the woods, and they were surrounded in an instant.

The head of the Shatuo centurion shouted, waved his spear to the Tang army, trying to break through, Zhang Yun immediately waved his hand, more than a dozen spears stabbed out at the same time, and killed the Shatuo centurion on the spot, the other two Shatuo cavalry were frightened, and hurriedly dismounted and knelt down to surrender, not every Shatuo person is a warrior, or there are many people who can't stand the test of death.

The Tang soldiers quickly gathered up the corpses and horses, and escaped into the woods, and the grassland was calm again, only the pools of blood on the ground still hinted at the bloody battle that had just taken place here.

"General, here's a letter!"

The soldiers searched for a letter from the body of the centurion and handed it to Zhang Yun.

The letter is written in Turkic language, recognizing Turkic characters is one of the basic skills of scouts, Zhang Yun quickly browsed it, and was overjoyed, this letter turned out to be the plan of the Shatuo people to send troops, first 10,000 people arrived at Qilian Fort for preliminary preparations, and then the main army of 20,000 went south, and the above time arrangement was also clearly written, today is April 15, then the vanguard has set off from Jiuquan this morning, and the main force will set off from Jiuquan three days later.

Zhang Yun immediately ordered: "Return to Zhangye immediately!" ”

They disposed of the corpses, escorted the two Shatuo prisoners of war out of the forest, bypassed Qilian Fort, and rushed towards Zhangye City in Ganzhou.

In addition to the 18,000 regular troops, Guo Song also temporarily organized a militia composed of 3,000 young men, who were mainly responsible for carrying supplies, carrying wounded soldiers, and manipulating trebuchets.

In addition, there is a logistics support team of 2,000 young and strong women, who are responsible for cooking and delivering meals and caring for the wounded.

Guo Song has rich experience in defending the city in Fengzhou, he knows the importance of logistics support for defending the city, in the era of cold weapons, unless it is cut off or beheaded, the general soldier will not die immediately, but die in poor disinfection or excessive bleeding after being injured.

As long as it is treated in time, most of the soldiers can survive, on the one hand, it is a good medicine, the Tang army generally prepared a hemostatic ointment, which is mainly composed of notoginseng, and secondly, it is common to use salt water to clean the wound.

On the other hand, there was no concept of nurses in the Tang Dynasty, but it was a good way to mobilize women to take care of the wounded, and 500 capable women had undergone simple training, knew how to clean the wound with salt water, and then bandaged it with medicine, and took care of the wounded soldiers' diet.

This will greatly reduce the mortality rate of soldiers.

Under the head of the southern city, nearly 100 craftsmen are installing heavy trebuchets, there are a total of 40 trebuchets, which are transported from Liangzhou, this kind of trebuchet is as high as two zhang and five feet, the throwing rod is up to ten zhang, and a large wooden wheel is installed below, which can be moved, this is a relatively new type of heavy trebuchet of the Tang Army, with a winch to wind, just like a reel by the well, with three healthy oxen to pull, you can throw a hundred catties of boulder to 350 steps away.

However, trebuchets occupy too much space to be installed on the top of the city, but only under the city, and another advantage of installing them under the city is that they can be moved, no matter which direction the enemy attacks from, they can deal with it.

"Offensive and defensive warfare is also a kind of war, we seem to be passive, but in fact we occupy a condescending advantage, on the other hand, the Shatuo people have to give up their good cavalry combat to fight offensive and defensive battles with us."

Guo Song took a group of officials to inspect the installation of trebuchets and at the same time analyze the pros and cons of this war.

"This offensive and defensive battle must also be fought for the Shatuo people, they have been confronting the Tang Army for more than ten years, this is their best chance to seize the Hexi Corridor, I believe they will not give up, and similarly, they can't bypass Zhangye City."

Guo Song walked up to the city, looking at the north from afar, and Changshi Pan Liao said in a low voice: "Dudu, will the Shatuo people come back to attack Zhangye City in the autumn?" ”

Guo Song glanced at him and said lightly: "I'm afraid Pan Changshi still doesn't understand that this battle is equally important to us, our spring ploughing has been delayed, if the war is not ended before the end of May, we can't cultivate summer grain, we can't afford to delay, if the Shatuo army still has no news, then I can only take the initiative to attack, capture Qilian Fort, and force the Shatuo people to fight." ”

Just as he was saying this, a soldier rushed to report, "Governor Qiyu, Zhang Yun is back, bring important information!" ”

Guo Song nodded and smiled at the officials: "It is estimated that there is news, you continue to inspect, I will go and see the situation!" ”

He turned around and walked quickly towards the city, only to see Zhang Yun coming towards him, kneeling down on one knee and reporting: "See the governor!" ”

"Looks like it's rewarding?" Guo Song asked with a smile.

"I ambushed a Shatuo cavalry delivering a letter halfway, and got an important letter, please take a look at it!"

After speaking, he presented a letter, and there was a translator next to the letter, Guo Song read the letter and asked, "How much time does it take to march from Jiuquan to Qilianshu?" ”

"Qi Yu Dudu, the cavalry only needs two days to be enough, and if you carry baggage, it will take about four or five days to walk."

Guo Song nodded, the distance from Qilianshu to Zhangye is about the same, and after calculating that about ten days later, the Shatuo army will arrive in Zhangye City.

Guo Song's heart was a little heavy, it would be the end of April in ten days, and if the war lasted for more than a month, Xia Chong would definitely be delayed.

"What about the enemy's strength and equipment?" Guo Song pondered for a moment and then asked.

"The humble duty caught two spies and interrogated them in detail, the total strength of the enemy army is about 32,300 people, all of them are cavalry, equipped with leather armor, spears and war knives, and the humble duty has seen their weapons, which are generally one level worse than the Tang army, especially the bow and arrow, the range is about seventy or eighty steps, and the Shatuo army generally has no shield."

Guo Song had dealt with the Shatuo people in Beiting, and he knew a lot about the Shatuo people, Zhang Yun's description was basically the same as back then, it seems that the Hui did not give the Shatuo people substantial help, which also shows the weakening of the Hui people's national strength from one side.

"I see, you take the brothers down and rest for a few days, and then continue to investigate."

"Retire from your duties!"

Zhang Yunxing bowed and retreated.

At this time, Changshi Pan Liao and a group of other officials walked down the city and asked, "Governor, are the Shatuo people coming?" ”

Guo Song nodded, "The Shatuo army still has about ten days to come, and I'm worried that the war will drag on for too long and delay farming." ”

Pan Liao said with a smile: "On the issue of farming, we also discussed it just now, maybe there is a compromise solution." ”

Guo Song hurriedly said: "Long history, please speak!" ”

"The farmland in Ganzhou is mainly in the south, and it is not completely deserted, and the farmland in the south of Jiedan County is cultivated normally, mainly the farmland near Zhangye County is abandoned, about tens of thousands of acres, and I am thinking that it is too late to plant a season of beans, so the damage to farming by the war is actually not great."

Guo Song understood what he meant, instead of planting corn, he planted beans instead, he groaned and asked, "Is it too late to plant beans?" ”

"The beans are completely in time, and the grain in our warehouse is relatively sufficient, in fact, even if we don't plant anything this year, it is enough for us to hold on until tomorrow's summer harvest, not to mention that there is still grain planted in the south, which will not cause famine, please rest assured!"

Guo Song had to smile bitterly and said: "That's the only way, I hope to get some loot from the Shatuo people back." ”

Pan Liao and the others returned to the army, and Guo Song saw Zhang Yun appear next to him again, so he asked, "What else is there to General Zhang?" ”

Zhang Yun bowed and said, "There was an important matter just now, and I forgot to report it to the governor. ”

"What's important?"

"I interrogated the prisoners of war at a humble level, and learned that not all of the more than 7,000 Tang Army soldiers who were surrounded and annihilated by the enemy last year were killed, but less than 3,000 were killed, and most of the other soldiers became prisoners of war."

Guo Song's spirits perked up, and he hurriedly asked, "Where are they now?" ”

"I worked as a miner in a mine in Yiwu, and there were tens of thousands of miners there, all of whom were young and strong people who had been taken captive from all over Hexi."

Guo Song was immediately overjoyed, this news is very exciting, as long as people are still alive, there is hope to save them.

This unexpected good news was like a gust of spring breeze, blowing a little haze in Guo Song's heart without a trace, his heart became cheerful, and the sunshine in the sky seemed to become extraordinarily warm.

On April 20, the 30,000 Shatuo army arrived at the Qilian Fort, they took the Qilian Fort as a logistics center, rested for a day, and then marched towards Zhangye City.

The Ganzhou army had completed all its combat preparations, and for several days, the soldiers spent time in a tight battle, and they already knew that the Shatuo army had arrived at Qilianshu and was marching towards Zhangye City.

Early that morning, the fierce son flew in from the north and circled over the military camp in the city, making a sharp chirp.

Guo Song walked out of the door, looked up at the fierce man who was constantly circling, and he immediately said in a deep voice: "Inform the whole army, the Shatuo army is about to be killed!" ”

The alarm bell sounded in the barracks, and the soldiers rushed out of the barracks to assemble, and Guo Song rushed to the north city wall with dozens of soldiers.

On the north city wall, thousands of soldiers became nervous, only to see a black line appear in the distance, and a low horn sound was constantly heard, and the earth did not tremble, indicating that the other party was not galloping with thousands of horses, but walking slowly, carrying a large amount of baggage.

Guo Song sneered, and finally saw his 'old friend' again, he had been waiting for this battle for a long time.

Guo Song immediately ordered: "Act according to the original plan!" ”

He wanted to leave a pleasant initial impression on Zhu Xie Jinhai.

Shatuo's army stopped advancing three miles away, and Zhu Xie Jinhai ordered: "The whole army is stationed on the spot!" ”

The army of 30,000 Shatuo began to spread out, and Zhu Xie Jinhai led a thousand cavalry to run to the city of Zhangye.

Zhu Xie Jinhai looked up at the situation in the city, and saw that there were not many soldiers on the city, only four or five thousand, all of them with a look of horror, and the big flag planted at the head of the city was also crooked.

Zhu Xie Jinhai nodded, turned around and ordered: "Order the Eighth Army to prepare for the attack!" ”

Although the morale of the Tang army seemed to be low, Zhu Xie Jinhai still had to carry out a tentative attack.