Ten days later, Guo Song personally led 20,000 elite cavalry, 3,000 heavily armored Mo sword troops and 3,000 heavy armored auxiliary troops to Shanzhou.

The reason why Guo Song wanted to personally sit in Longyou was that Longyou's salt tax and Zhangye's wine were too important, and they together supported Guo Song's military expenditure of more than 200,000 troops.

Shanzhou City has not come for many years, after many years of recuperation, Shanzhou City has gradually become lively and prosperous, business is prosperous, traffic is busy, although the Tubo army began to invade the border, but it has not affected Shanzhou City, the life of the residents of the city gate is still calm as before, and the waves are not alarmed.

Guo Song likes to look at the wealth of a place from the dress and mental outlook of ordinary people, if the buildings are carved beams and paintings, but the people are in tattered clothes and unkempt, it is very boring, the so-called warehouse is enough to know the etiquette is this truth.

The abundance and abundance of grain in the Hehuang Valley make the grain price in Shanzhou City extremely low, a bucket of wheat only costs ten yuan, and a beggar's income is more than ten yuan a day, so it can be seen that the pedestrians on the street are full of energy, their faces are ruddy, and most of their clothes are mainly made of fine linen fabric, which is similar to Chang'an.

Silk is mainly produced in Jiangnan and Bashu, Guo Song advocates frugality, promotes cotton cloth, in Chang'an is only women occasionally wear it, men almost do not wear it, in Shanzhou City is the same, silk and satin skirts are basically not seen on the street.

When the group came to the military office, Guo Song sat down in the lobby, he invited Zhang Feng and An Rengui to sit down as well, Guo Song asked, "How is the current situation in Tubo?" ”

An Rengui bowed and said: "Your Highness, the Tubo army is really a bit elusive, and I can't see their intentions. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Guo Song asked.

An Rengui smiled bitterly and said: "So far, our scouts have penetrated three hundred miles, and they have not found their army, that is, there are a thousand garrisons in the area of Salt Lake, but there are more than a dozen of them appearing, and there are six or seven hundred people in total, this is definitely not a thousand-person army sent by the outposts, so I am confused." ”

Guo Song nodded, "You think there should be a main force in Tibet, but you didn't find it, so you don't dare to send troops easily, that's the reason!" ”

"Exactly!"

Zhang Feng added: "Our army in Longyou has a total of 12,000 people, 3,000 people are distributed in each fort, and the rest of the army is distributed in various states, and Shanzhou garrison has 5,000 people. ”

Both Zhang Feng and An Rengui were a little worried that the King of Jin would hold them accountable, they knew the importance of the salt lake but their delay in sending troops would lead to the depletion of the salt tax, and they could not afford this responsibility.

Guo Song took two steps and said: "I discussed with you before I came, and everyone agreed that it was very inappropriate to put the salt field in a place where the Tubo people were easy to attack, so I have ordered the opening of the salt field in Baiyanchi, Yanzhou, and temporarily abandon the salt field of Lengquan, I led the army to come this time, not to recapture the salt field, we need to completely cripple Tubo, so that at least it will not dare to step into the thunder pool for at least 30 years." ”

Zhang Feng and An Rengui were very excited, and bowed together and saluted: "Please command, Your Highness!" ”

.........

Before dawn, An Rengui led 4,000 cavalry to leave Shanzhou City and march westward, their target was a thousand Tubo troops in Lengquan Salt Lake, the praying mantis catches cicadas, and the yellow finch is behind, Guo Song leads the army to take another road to Dafeichuan, once the scouts find the enemy's main force, they will copy the enemy's main force's back road.

At dusk, the army was resting in a valley, Li Bing came to Guo Song's side with a scout brigade marshal, and the scout brigade marshal knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See His Royal Highness the King of Jin!" ”

Li Bing said on the side: "Your Highness, he is the scout brigade commander that General An said, and he led twenty people to kill fifty enemy sentinels. ”

Guo Song smiled and asked, "What's your name?" Where are the people? ”

"Humble Yang Qi, ancestral home in Tianshui, but humble grew up in Zhangye."

"When will you join the army?"

"I joined the army seven years ago, and was selected by General Zhang Yun to join the scout army."

Guo Song nodded, and asked again: "Tell me about the details of what happened to you and the Tubo spies." ”

Yang Qi spoke clearly, and then he explained in detail the situation when they went to Cold Spring to check the enemy situation and encountered the enemy outpost.

Guo Song nodded secretly, this scout was very adaptable, and he asked again, "Why did you think of annihilating the enemy army in the woods?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, the humble duty is actually to make two preparations, the first is to avoid the pursuit of the enemy, the original intention of the humble duty is not to clash with the enemy army, after all, we are scouts, there is a task, if the enemy is in hot pursuit, we must go into the woods to fight to the end, then we can only accompany us, use the cover of the woods to annihilate the enemy."

"Of the twenty soldiers, only three were killed, and it seems that your tactics are being used well."

"Jungle cavalry combat is an important tactic that every scout has to train, and it is often encountered."

"Have you ever fought against the Tibetan army before?" Guo Song asked again.

"The last time I fought with the Tibetan army, I participated in it."

"Then what do you think is the difference between the Tubo army this time and the previous Tubo army?"

Yang Qi groaned and said: "The military discipline of the Tubo army is the same as before, never surrender, fight to the death, but the humble position still finds that the centurion of the Tubo army is inexperienced, if they are outflanked at both ends, instead of breaking through, at least more than ten people can be avoided from being shot, maybe this is just an example, but the combat effectiveness of the Tubo soldiers is weak, the training is insufficient, although they are strong and not afraid of death, but the combat skills are really bad, not as good as the original Tubo soldiers." ”

Guo Song said happily: "From now on, you will be promoted to captain, and you will take another fifty brothers to the south, hoping to bring important information!" ”

Yang Qi was overjoyed, knelt down on one knee and said, "The humble position will never disappoint His Highness's expectations!" ”

Yang Qi then led fifty scouts south, and Guo Song ordered the army to rest on the spot and set off on the fifth watch tomorrow.......

On the morning of the next day, the 4,000 troops led by An Rengui were the first to arrive at the Salt Lake, and the Tang army discovered the enemy's camp when it was still a mile away.

The Tubo army camp in the distance also sounded the horn, and the Tubo army also discovered the approaching Tang army, and a thousand Tubo troops seemed to have been prepared, and immediately rode out of the camp.

They rushed towards the Tang army, but slowed down at a distance of three hundred paces, and by this time, the four thousand Tang troops had already set up their formation, and a thousand crossbowmen raised their crossbows and waited for the battle.

A thousand Tibetan cavalry stopped advancing two hundred paces, and the muffled sound of trumpets was heard again in the ranks, and the thousand cavalry turned around and ran south.

"Commander, do you want to catch up?" Adjutant General Li Yan asked.

An Rengui sneered, it was the first time he had seen the Tubo army retreating without a fight, and this was clearly deliberately luring him south.

He immediately ordered: "Do not pursue, go and destroy the enemy camp!" ”

Hundreds of cavalry rushed to the camp of the Tubo army, the camp was empty, the camp tent of the Tubo army was generally relatively small, it was made of wool pressed into felt, so it was also called felt tent.

However, the cavalry of the Tang army accidentally searched out dozens of captured salt merchants from the big tent, and a total of more than 70 people were captured by the Tibetans, of which 30 were tortured and killed, and more than 40 people were also tortured to death.

Soon, the bodies of thirty salt merchants who had been tortured and killed were found, all of them were separated, and their heads were hung in a large tent, and they were all dead without blinking, which made the generals angry and demanded that the enemy army be pursued and killed.

An Rengui was very calm, and he said to everyone: "The Tubo army did this deliberately in order to provoke us, everyone calm down, we must avenge this revenge, but not necessarily now." ”

An Rengui sent the dying salt merchant back to Shanzhou City in a cart, and sent someone to report to His Royal Highness the King of Jin.

Guo Song's main army was only thirty miles away from Lengquan Salt Lake, but his army was very secretive, either hiding in the valley or in the woods, trying not to reveal his whereabouts.

At noon, Guo Song received a report from An Rengui, must be in the marching tent, Guo Song stood at the table and looked at the map drawn by the scout, the salt lake to the south is basically no man's land, although it is a plateau, but the terrain is complex, the mountains on the plateau are undulating, and the enemy has a place to hide.

He looked back again, would the main force of the Tubo army go around behind him and go directly to attack Shanzhou City?

However, it is unlikely that there are only two ways to enter the Hehuang Valley from the plateau, one is to the north of Qinghai Lake, where the Tang army has three lines of defense: Shenwei Fort, Anren Fort and Suirong City, and the Tang army in Dadou Ba Valley will cut off the enemy's logistics from behind.

The other road is in the east of Dafeichuan, that is, the road they came from, there are two dangerous passes on Shibao City and Anrong City.

As long as these dangerous passes are in the hands of the Tang army, it is basically impossible for the Tubo army to attack Shanzhou, so the strategy of the Tubo army is to attack the salt field, introduce the main force of the Tang army into the plateau, and fight a war of annihilation on the plateau.

But now he doesn't know anything about the situation of the enemy's main force, Guo Song is a little helpless, the map is too simple, and he can't see the possible hiding place of the enemy's main force from the map, he doesn't know where the enemy army will hide at all? Only rely on the news of the scouts.

However, An Rengui's decision was correct, don't be led by the nose by the Tubo army, as long as they don't move in the salt lake, the enemy army will send it to the door by itself.

Guo Song also calmed down, he believed that the Tubo army would definitely come to cut off the retreat of An Rengui's army.