Chapter 288: Taozhou Chaos

The Tuyuhun royal family was surnamed Murong, which was a branch of the Xianbei Murong Department in Liaodong, and at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, its leader Tuyuhun led the tribe to move west to Caohan. Later, it expanded, ruled the Qiang and Di tribes in Qinghai and Longxi, and established a state. As for his grandson Yeyan, he began to use his ancestral name as a family name and country name.

Counting from the time of the Western Jin Dynasty, until now, Tuyuhun has ruled here for two or three hundred years, Dangxiang, Qiang, Di and other tribes are under its rule, and then the Great Sui conquered Tuyuhun twice, set up Heyuan, Xihai, Shanshan, and the last four counties, these tribes were taken in the Central Plains Bingwei, and then surrendered to the Great Sui. Later, Tuyuhun revived, and some tribes returned to its embrace, while the other part remained in the states and was ruled by the Tang Dynasty.

However, Tuyuhun has been operating here for two or three hundred years and has deep roots. Therefore, when Li Shimin ordered a crusade against Tuyuhun and wrote a text, these Dangxiang, Qiang and other tribes that belonged to the Tang Dynasty began to rebel, or led the tribal militia to Tuyuhun; or gather people to hold on and compete with the Tang garrison; or openly attack the city and plunder the land, and make the enemy of the Tang Dynasty. Suddenly, the entire Longyou states were in chaos.

This is the reason why Li Jing sent Zhang Yunwen to lead the reconnaissance battalion to arrive ten days first.

Taozhou is located to the east of Tuyuhun, where the Qiang people are very powerful. The population of Hezhou is three-four tenths of the Qiang people, and most of them are distributed in the south of Taozhou. Among them, the more powerful ones are the Wuluqiang entrenched in the Wulu Mountain, the Migongqiang entrenched in the remaining veins of the west of Kongtong Mountain, and the Taoshuiqiang entrenched in the upper reaches of the Taoshui and not far from the city of Taozhou. Each of these three Qiang has a scale of four or five thousand people, entrenched in one side, doing whatever he wants, and this Taozhou assassin can only turn a blind eye.

It has been a month since the document was issued in December of the eighth year of Zhenguan. In the past month, Kong Changxiu, the assassin of Taozhou, was always frightened, and almost every day he had to go to the camp of Taozhou City to check it, as if only when he saw these heavily armed and murderous soldiers, he could feel at ease!

There were only more than 1,200 Tang troops stationed in the Taozhou battalion, but the soldiers were all veterans of a hundred battles, and their combat effectiveness was very strong. It is precisely because of the deterrence of this army that those Qiang people dare not give birth to any big chaos.

However, Kong Changxiu did not dare to relax his vigilance, and while he stepped up the recruitment of the people of Taozhou City, he sent people to closely monitor the movements of the three major qiangs. Of course, this surveillance is also divided into primary and secondary, like what fog and dew Qiang, in the east of Taozhou, close to Minzhou, the farthest in Tuguhun, and Li Daoyan, the governor of Minzhou, is the head of the Chishui Road march, and gathered more than 10,000 men and horses in Minzhou, ready to go west to kill Tuyuhun. Therefore, Wu Luqiang is not the focus of Kong Changxiu's surveillance. The focus of his surveillance is on Tao Shui Qiang.

Taoshuiqiang is located in the upper reaches of Taoshui, closest to Tuyuhun, if the crowd migrates, but one day to arrive at Tuyuhun. And its chief has long been eye-to-eye with Tuyu. All these made Kong Changxiu extremely vigilant. So, he divided 300 soldiers and horses, and set up a large camp in the lower reaches of less than 30 miles of Litao Shuiqiang to deter Taoshuiqiang.

As for that Mi Gongqiang, Kong Changxiu didn't care too much, first, he was close to Minzhou, and he was also threatened by Li Daoyan's army, and secondly, it was a few days away from Taozhou City, and if there was a change, he could deal with it calmly.

Just when Kong Changxiu was vigilant and secretly sent additional troops to prepare for emergencies at any time, the leaders of the three Qiang also gathered on a hillside south of Taoshui.

This hillside is similar to the location of the three major qiangs, and it is only more than fifty miles away from Taozhou City. The leaders of the three Qiang gathered here, but their motives were worrying.

Although Kong Changxiu knew that these Qiang chieftains were gathering here, he could only send people to watch from afar. Send someone into the field, he thought, but the Qiang people would not agree; directly dispatched troops to destroy these people in one fell swoop, but he didn't have the courage or the ability to bear the consequences. Therefore, he had to send men and horses to monitor these Qiang chieftains from afar.

Among the three major Qiang, the first to arrive is Taoshui Qiang. As soon as his chieftain Wan Qiyan arrived, he immediately ordered his entourage to block the passage and not allow outsiders to enter within a radius of three miles.

As a result, the watchmen who had been far away had no choice but to climb a mountain and look at the situation on the hillside from afar.

It wasn't long before the chieftains of the Misty Luqiang and Mi Gong Qiang also came to the top of the hillside.

The three of them sat opposite each other on a pile of scattered stones. Wan Qiyan was the first to smile and said, "Two honorable chiefs, we haven't seen each other for a long time!" ”

The chief of the misty Luqiang replied with a smile: "Yes, Brother Wan Qi, the last time we met was ten years ago!" Now you and I are old! ”

The chief of Mi Gongqiang laughed on the side: "What are you talking about? I don't know about others, but you and I still know Brother Ba, you have to eat five catties of meat for every meal. and ten catties of wine, how can you say that you are old! ”

The "big brother" in his mouth refers to the chief of Wuluqiang.

The chief of Ba smiled and waved his hand, but asked Wan Qianyan, "Brother Wan Qian, I wonder what you have to say about inviting us here this time?" ”

Wan Qiyan looked around and whispered, "Have the two chiefs ever heard about the Hezhou Party?" ”

As soon as these words came out, Chief Naba's face suddenly changed, and he shook his head again and again: "I don't know anything!" Don't ask me! By the way, I still have some things to attend to in my tribe, and I have to go back! So saying, he stood up and went out.

Seeing this, Na Wan Yanyan hurriedly grabbed Chief Ba: "Brother Ba, what are you afraid of?" This neighborhood is full of people from you and me, and those Han people don't even have the slightest chance to eavesdrop! Let's be open and honest about what we have to say! ”

Chief Ba hesitated, was silent for a moment, and sat down again.

"Last year, the Tang Emperor ordered the western expedition to Tuguhun! Thinking of me Tao Shui Qiang, I am a person from Tuguhun, and the Great Khan treats me very well. Now that Tuyuhun has been cut down by the Tang Dynasty, how can I sit idly by and ignore it, and want to raise my clan to Tuyuhun to do my best. Well, I wonder what the two of you are going to do? Wan Qiyan was silent for a long time, and finally said these words.

After hearing this, Chief Ba said with a serious face: "Brother Wan Qi, as a former brother, I advise you, Tang Jun is not easy to mess with." If you are an enemy, be very careful! ”

When Wan Qiyan heard this, he snorted coldly and said, "Brother Ba Hugh wants to grow the morale of others and destroy his own prestige." I think I have 2,000 elite soldiers in the Taoshui Department, and then entangle other tribes, not to mention anything else, it is still certain to conquer Taozhou City! Brother, I'm just here to ask you, would you like to do it with me? ”

Chief Ba shook his head resolutely: "Brother Wan Qi, your tribe is very close to Tuyuhun, if you lose, just retreat to the west!" And my fog and dew department is different, not only far away from Tuyuhun, but also close to Minzhou, where there are now more than 10,000 Tang troops, if I dare to do the slightest misdemeanor, I will definitely be torn to pieces by these Tang troops, and there will be no chickens and dogs! So, Brother Wan, I can't do it with you! ”

Chief Ba's voice fell, but the remaining Chief Mi Gongqiang was a little hesitant, looking at Wan Qiyan for a while, and Chief Ba for a while, but he couldn't make up his mind.

As soon as he saw Chief Mi Gong's appearance, Wan Qiyan, who was already unhappy because of Chief Ba's refusal, suddenly said: "As a chief, being so hesitant and indecisive is really not the style of a chief!" ”

Chief Nami Gong gritted his teeth: "Brother Wan Qi, I want to do it with you, but I'm afraid that the elders of the clan will not agree!" In this way, didn't you just say that you are sure to take Taozhou? If Taozhou is defeated, then I will lead the tribe to follow the eldest brother! ”

Hearing Chief Mi Gong say this, Chief Ba couldn't help but show a deep look of disappointment.

"Good!" Wan Qiyan clapped his hands and said, "Look at me to take Taozhou City within three days!" ”

The sky was pitch black, and there was nothing glowing in sight except for thick clouds.

The Tao River flows quietly, making a gurgling sound.

At this time, it is the dry season, and the water of the Tao River is shallow, and the riverbed is even exposed in several higher places.

Taozhou City is on the north bank of the Tao River, not far from the Tao River. On the Tao River, a small wharf stands, providing a place for passenger and cargo ships to disembark and unload. A hundred Don troops were stationed on the docks. A flat official road leads from the wharf to Taozhou City.

A team of more than 3,000 people was making their way down the Tao River in the dark. They were the warriors of the Taoshui Qiang tribe led by Wan Qiyan and the rest of the Qiang, Dangxiang, and Di tribe soldiers he coerced. The murmuring of the Tao River drowned out the sound of their footsteps as they moved.

Seeing that they were about to arrive at the wharf, I saw that this team divided into 500 people and killed at the wharf, while the rest turned north and rushed straight to Taozhou.

The city wall of Taozhou City is not too high, only more than two zhang, it is made of mud and wood, and it is quite solid. When this army of more than 2,000 people arrived at the city of Taozhou, there were only a few dozen Tang soldiers patrolling the city.

Then the lights at the head of the city lit up, and the sharpshooter of these Qiang people shot an arrow at the patrolling soldiers. Several Qiang people who were agile and could climb the cliff climbed the city wall with their bare hands.

However, those sharpshooters did not shoot these Tang soldiers to the ground at the same time, and one or two Tang soldiers who were not shot let out a loud shout at the same time: "Enemy attack!" ”

At this time, those agile Qiang people had already climbed up to the tower. One by one, the ropes were lowered, and the Qiang people began to climb up.

The Qiang people, who had climbed the city wall first, rushed to the city gate, and after some fighting, finally opened the city gate before the arrival of the Tang army.

Bands of Qiang cavalry and foot soldiers swarmed in!

"What's going on?" Kong Changxiu grabbed a soldier who was passing by in a hurry and asked.

When the soldier saw that someone dared to stop him, he was about to attack, and when he saw that it was Kong Changxiu, his anger immediately disappeared, and he replied respectfully: "It is the Qiang people who have attacked the city,!" The lowly is about to go to war over there! ”

Kong Changxiu nodded, and was about to say something encouraging, when he saw the soldier's face change greatly, and he let out an exclamation: "Be careful, my lord!" I heard the neighing of horses, and then it was as if the back had been hit hard by a sledgehammer, and the whole person was knocked a few feet away.

Reluctantly opened his eyes, he saw a group of Qiang cavalry whizzing past him.

A snow-white scimitar slashed down against the surrounding lights.