Rattle! The huge thunderbolt winch made a piercing sound, and the Tang army under the car struggled to pull dozens of thick ropes, and suddenly a shout broke out, and the soldiers let go together, and a huge boulder rose into the air and smashed straight towards the castle towering on the cliff, but it was like a drop of water falling into the pond, only a trace of dust was splashed on the cliff, but the castle stood still.

Immediately afterwards, ten, hundreds, one after another boulders flew into the air, hitting the castle, most of them were not long enough, could not touch the edge of the castle, smashed on the hanging wall and rolled down, peeling off large pieces of gray-white rock, occasionally a few hit the castle, but the strength has disappeared, there is no effect, as if the bribe of the servant, the board is high, with the wind and rain to chop down, to the flesh but not a trace of strength.

Siege vehicles, nest cars, arrow towers are all useless here, the cliff of a hundred zhang high seems to float in the clouds, only by relying on the flesh and blood of the soldier along the narrow path coiled by the long snake to rush up the cliff, on the cliff with a ladder to frame the castle, it is possible to kill the wall, but these three links, one is more difficult than the other, one is more dangerous than the other, and it is like ascending to the sky.

But there is no choice in the war, knowing that it is death, it must be done, knowing that it is a meat grinder, and not hesitating to stick your head into it, the tragic siege of the city has been going on for two days, and the blood of the Tang army has dyed the narrow path into a dazzling red, and even the rain can't wash it away, as if this is a road to death paved with blood rocks.

The road was out of sight, covered in layers of corpses, mixed with crimson logs and rubble, and fires burned on the stone paths. More than a dozen ladders have been burned and twisted, and the wood and the corpses below have been burned to the same charcoal, and it is impossible to tell which one is wood? Which is the person?

Stone Castle City seemed to be a demon's lair, it needed to be fed with human flesh and blood, the rumbling attack drum sounded again, and thousands of Tang troops rushed towards the cliff with huge shields, waving war swords and resisting the cloud ladder. Riding on the corpse of his companion and running frantically upward, as if in a race against time, the two-foot-long crossbow arrows were as dense as raindrops, striking the city trample with a crackling sound, the only weapon effective against Stone Fort City, and it was shot out with a huge crossbow. Ten arrows in a row, but it could not penetrate the thick city wall, it could only suppress the Tubo army, and could not block the road with rolling logs or stones, at this time, the only gap available to the Tang army, hundreds of carefully selected runners ran desperately on the trail, when the crossbow arrows were shot, it was when they died, a flying crossbow arrow cost five hundred, and the dense arrows like a rainstorm hit the national strength of the Tang Dynasty.

I have seen countless comments saying that Li Longji is so happy. The depleted treasury of the Tang Dynasty is a big fallacy. Shibao City, Jishi, Boxian Town, Nanzhao, Rus, which battle was not to defend the territory and interests of the country. Which war is not for the honor of the Tang Dynasty, unless Longyou and Hexi are given to the Tubo people, unless millions of Tang women are given to Tubo as slaves, unless the rivers and mountains of the Western Regions are given to Dashi and Tubo; This is by no means a great achievement, this is the style of the Tang Dynasty, leaving a valuable wealth to the grandchildren of later generations, on the other hand, today, it is really a sigh.

Come back first. Hundreds of soldiers finally rushed to the cliff, but they were still far from victory. Out of reach, the Tubo army in the city had already leaned out, and dozens of catties of stones and logs fell densely like hailstones, smashing at the Tang army that had just touched the city wall, drowning their hopes and thoughts, their screams and despair in the cold stone and wood formation.

After a stormy rain of wood and stones, there was no Tang army standing on the cliff.

The horn of the attack was dumb, the footsteps of the soldiers stopped, and when a round of blood-red remnant sun reflected on the demon castle, on the scorched black and smoking broken wooden frame, on the countless cold corpses that had lost their lives, the bell of the retreat finally rang, and in the face of the failure and powerlessness of the siege, the main general Chu Zhilian lowered his huge head in a dejected manner.

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A cavalry of more than 100 people galloped through the dense forests on the plateau, crossed the streams, and frightened the herds of antelopes into scattering and fleeing, the leader of the general was about twenty or seven years old, his lips were slightly upturned, his nose was like a knife, his eyes were sharp, he looked confident and strong, and his dark and rough face became delicate and shiny after more than a month of rest.

He is Duan Xiushi, who was injured in the Shazhou encounter, at this moment he has fully recovered his health, and was exceptionally promoted to Guoyi Lieutenant by the Ministry of War for his meritorious work in assassinating the enemy, Li Qing wanted to keep him by his side, but he insisted on being a scout general.

Duan Xiushi had come out a month ago, his task was to draw a road map of the march from Shazhou to Qu area, he knew what the governor meant, in the face of the war, the governor never wanted to be a dog guarding the household.

The map has been drawn, which side is the mountain, which side has the canyon, which side has the river, which side is the forest, all at a glance, but next to a dense forest in the Qu area, Duan Xiushi marked a heavy straight line in red, five days ago, he found a strange Tubo army at the beginning of that straight line, about 2,000 people, their armor and battle robes are obviously more elaborate than the ordinary Tubo army, they are not like the people who came to fight, but like a big man guarding some big man, and among them there is a carriage drawn by eighteen war horses, On top of the carriage was an oval-shaped tent, resembling a giant white bird's egg.

With his keen intuition, Duan Xiushi immediately guessed that the tent was definitely not an ordinary Tubo general, even if it was not a Tubo Zanpu, he would be a high-ranking official like the Tubo Great Theory.

The time given by the governor was running out, he could not continue to track, so he immediately returned to Shazhou, unaware that at sunset, Duan Xiushi and his entourage came to a gentle plateau, the dark clouds over the high ground were low, the mist covered the sun, and in the distance was the sweet spring water, behind the black pine forest, it was the place where the governor ambushed the Tibetan pioneers, and more than a hundred miles along the sweet spring water was Shazhou.

"Chief, there seems to be movement behind the woods."

A sensitively sensed Tang army commander noticed something unusual, and there seemed to be a cloud of green smoke rising over the trees, gently curling, and it looked very blurry in the setting sun.

"That's cooking smoke!" Duan Xiushi immediately judged it and said to the Wu chief: "You take a few brothers to take a look, be careful, don't alarm them." ”

He waved his hand and beckoned to the others, "The rest come with me." Duan Xiushi turned his horse's head and led the scouts to hide in a forest.

Soon, the Wu Commander came quickly, followed by five Tang soldiers, but when he went, he only brought three people, Duan Xiushi's heart relaxed, and it must be the governor's army on the other side of the woods.

He guessed correctly, behind the woods was Li Qing's 5,000 troops, already camped, waiting for Duan Xiushi's return, the barracks were close to the sweet spring water, the huge wooden fence was enclosed in a half-moon shape, Duan Xiushi entered the camp, only to see rows of neat tents and sheds, rows of horses bolted to piles, and huge weapons storage, clusters of Mo knives and long lances standing like newly planted bushes, but there was no bonfire, the night wind blew cold, there was a wooden platform at each corner on both sides of the camp, and the sentinels were wrapped in thick coats, Patrolling back and forth.

Duan Xiushi hurriedly came to Li Qing's tent, the curtain was lifted, and a person walked out head-on, but it was another scout general Xiang Xuan, who had just returned, but his task was to visit the south, find the road of Tubo's last sneak attack in the north, and casually monitor whether Tubo would attack Shazhou again.

"General Duan is happy, he must have completed the task of the governor, congratulations!"

Duan Xiushi arched his hand and smiled

Lucky enough to complete the mission, what about the general? Did you succeed? ”

Xiang Xuan shook his head, his smile was a little bitter, "The road was found, but it encountered a storm and snow, and it was impossible to move forward, so I had to return, I can't compare to General Duan!" ”

Hearing this, Duan Xiushi's eyes flashed with a hint of brilliance, "Then the governor must be overjoyed when he hears this news!" ”

Xiang Xuan's bitterness turned into pride, and he nodded slowly, "In this way, the governor's worries will be gone." ”

"Is it Duan Xiushi at the door?" Li Qing's voice came from inside the tent.

Xiang Xuan patted Li Qing's shoulder and said with a smile: "Go ahead!" The Governor has called you! He's in a good mood today. ”

In the tent, Li Qing is carefully repairing his sand table, his sand table was rough at first, many mountains and roads are wrong, in the past few months he has sent people to survey the terrain and landform in detail, basically the 300 miles of Shazhou square area has been molded, he only then knows that the original jurisdiction is so big, even Lop Nur belongs to Shazhou.

After returning from Anxi, he immediately devoted himself to preparing for war, although the Ministry of War did not assign him a task, but Li Longji gave him a secret decree to allow him to act cheaply, but the premise is that Shazhou does not lose, however, even if Li Longji did not give him an order, he will act on his own initiative, for this reason, he sent Duan Xiushi and Xiang Xuan to explore the road more than a month ago, Xiang Xuan brought good news, the blizzard closed the road, and the Tubo army could not go northwest to Shazhou and Anxi, which made Li Qing completely without worries, and now his eyes are on Longyou. It is about more than 2,000 miles from Shazhou to Longyou, mainly along the north of today's Qaidam Basin, through the big and small Chaidan and finally arrived at Qinghai, that is, today's Qinghai Lake, through the south of Qinghai Dafeichuan area, and then arrived at Shibao City, but it is the back of Shibao City, and theoretically the direction is right. But in fact, all the way to the snow-capped mountains, the mountains are continuous, to find a march road is not easy, if you want to find a temporary way, I am afraid to Longyou, it is already spring. Therefore, Duan Xiushi's task is extremely important and urgent.

According to the time he set up, Duan Xiushi should have come back to recover in the past two days, but today, as soon as he set up camp, Duan Xiushi came back.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, Duan Xiushi's vigorous figure strode in, and half-knelt and gave a military salute, "The last general will see the governor!" ”

Li Qing beckoned, ordered his soldiers to lift the sand table aside, and gently waved his hand at Duan Xiushi and smiled: "No need to be polite." Come! Sit down and talk. ”

Seeing Duan Xiushi sit down, the soldiers served hot tea again. Li Qing carefully looked at his eyebrows and eyes, and waited for him to drink two sips of hot tea. Then he smiled and said: "Look at your face, it should live up to my expectations, take out the map quickly!" ”

Duan Xiushi hurriedly took out a thick stack of drawings from his leather bag, spread them on the table one by one, and pointed to a thick yellow line and said: "It takes about ten days from here to Sun Moon Mountain, and the road is deserted, but when you get to Dafeichuan, you will encounter scattered Qiang people, these Qiang people are fine, they also led the way for me." It is important to avoid the outposts of the Tibetan army.

Li Qing listened as he pointed forward along the yellow line. To cross a river, and a large mountain recess, with dense forests and numerous lakes along the way, his finger stopped at a red line, which was strangely red, extending northward from between the yellow lines, but drawing the ground as a dotted line.

Li Qing's brows furrowed slightly, and his eyes showed confusion, "What does this red line mean?" ”

"Oh! This red line is about to be talked about shortly. ”

Duan Xiushi walked over, pointed to the dot at the beginning of the red line, and said: "The subordinates found a strange thing when they returned, about 3,000 Tubo cavalry escorted the oval white tent car, and the subordinates followed it for a whole day and a night, but it was too far away to see the people in the tent, but the subordinates judged from experience that this tent was either Tubo Zampu or Tubo Dazhuo." ”

"Then tell me, how do you judge? What did you find? ”

Duan Xiushi thought for a while and said: "The subordinates can judge from three points, first, the general Tubo soldiers eat fried wheat and dried meat, but this Tubo army eats rice, which is completely different from ordinary soldiers; Second, their armor is exquisite in workmanship and excellent in texture, and the horses they ride are very miraculous, and there are many honor guards, which is also incomparable with the general Tibetan army; Thirdly, they guarded the white tent very strictly, needless to say during the day, and even at night there were 500 sleepless guards, so you can imagine his importance. From the above three points, subordinates can make judgments. ”

Li Qing paced back and forth in the tent, Duan Xiushi said three points, and it could be completely deduced that it was Tubo Zampu, and what he was thinking about now was not this problem, but the meaning of the appearance of this Chide Zuzandi to him.

They should be a surprise army that suddenly inserted behind Tubo, they would never have expected that they would run a long distance, they already have nearly 7,000 people in their hands, in addition to leaving more than 1,000 Doulu troops to guard Shazhou, there are 5,000 people, 3,000 elite Anxi troops, and 2,000 cavalry teams reorganized by horse bandits, it should be a fierce army.

The thoughts in Li Qing's mind are getting thicker and thicker, the great opportunity is in front of him at this moment, it is the time for him to make contributions, if he doesn't seize this opportunity, he will be stupid!

Thinking of this, he tapped his fingers heavily on the dot and said to himself, "This is it!" ”

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The next day, just after dawn, the sweet spring water began to be noisy, on the vast flat land on the shore, gathered a team of brightly armored Tang troops, a total of 5,500 people, the infantry also rode horses, when they needed to fight, they dismounted to fight, the Mo knife was horizontal on the saddle, the two blades flashed with cold light, the infantry general Li Siye stood with his head high, majestic, next to his deputy general Li Fei Yuanli, but made a Xuanhua axe, a bloody mouth looked more hideous, as if the evil ghost was out on patrol.

Fifteen hundred crossbowmen also rode on horses, they had horizontal knives on their waists, round shields hung on the saddle bridge, and crossbows made of fine iron on their backs, Fuyuan crossbows, Zhang crossbows, horn bows, and single bows, with different ranges and different combat effects, but not archers only bring bows, and horizontal knives, bows are a necessary weapon for every Tang soldier, and the new crossbow commander is Nan Jiyun, the arrogant general who won the first arrow of the Doulu army on Anxi Road will give full play to the sharpest archers of the Tang Dynasty.

The cavalry is mostly composed of horse bandits, after a short period of training, with the advanced weapons and armor of the Tang Army, the original strong horse bandits have been reborn and become an elite Tang cavalry, the cavalry chief is still Bai Xiaode, and the deputy general is Li Fei Shouyu.

Of course, the commander of this army is Li Qing, the governor of Shazhou Doulu Army, at this moment, his white horse is shining in the dawn of dawn, his long black hair fluttering under his high silver helmet, he looks so burly, majestic, he wants to lead the army thousands of miles to run the feat, so that all the soldiers are deeply inspired by his fearlessness, the blood of the martial arts is boiling in the body of every Tang Dynasty soldier, and their faces are full of perseverance at the cost of death.

The bright horn sounded, and the army of Shazhou silently began to move, and drove towards the far east, without singing or piano, they were a strange army on the plateau, advancing! Let the iron hooves of the Tang Dynasty war horses fly over the land of Tibet; Advance! Make people's heads into wine glasses of blood; But to make the dragon city fly, not to call Huma to cross Yin Mountain!