In Shancheng, in the Hehuang Governor's Mansion, Ma Chongying sat like a clay statue for half an hour, his face was calm, and there was still a cold smile on the corner of his mouth.

On the table in front of him, the distress letters that flew like snowflakes filled half of the table, there were as many as 100 letters, the earliest one was sent from Guangwu County ten days ago, but Ma Chongying was unmoved.

Ma Chongying fought against the Tang Dynasty decades ago, Wang Zhongsi, Ge Shuhan, Huangfu Weiming, An Sishun and other Longyou, Hexi successive Jiedu envoys are his opponents, he knows these fierce opponents very well, and even he himself has a deep study of the Han people's art of war.

Since the defeat in the battle of Huixibao last year, Ma Chongying no longer despises Zhang Huan, a young opponent, he has been paying attention to Zhang Huan's every move, until he suddenly sent troops to occupy Longyou and replace the Wei family, Ma Chongying, who is nearly seventy years old, knows that this will be the last opponent in his twilight years, and their confrontation will be inevitable, and the best way for Zhang Huan to get rid of political disadvantages is to attack Hehuang.

In fact, from the earliest time he learned that there was a rebellion of the party members in Longyou, Ma Chongying knew very well that Zhang Huan's real purpose was to attack Hehuang, and the so-called attack on the party members was just a smoke.

The development of things happened one by one as he expected, but Ma Chongying was not worried, everything he was worried about, what he was concerned about now was that the situation in Tubo was unstable, and there was news recently, Shang Jiexi and the Nang clan fought for Luo to stay, the two fought badly, and the Nang clan led the army to leave Luo in anger, Ma Chongying was very worried in his heart, if this matter was not handled well. It will become the root of the great chaos in Tibet.

At this moment, someone rushed in the distance, and a fierce quarrel broke out outside the door. "The generals of the Tang army are coming to the city, but you all governors are not moving, I will go to question him."

At this time, he had just returned to Shancheng yesterday to make the Tang envoy Shang Zanpo, and when he heard his anxious voice, Ma Chongying couldn't help but smile coldly, this Shang Zanpo didn't know the general trend, and he was still the second minister.

Outside, Shang Zanpo yelled more and more fiercely, and the guards couldn't stop it. Ma Chongying immediately stood up and walked outside the door with his hands in his hands, "What's the noise?" ”

Not long ago in Chang'an, the Empress Dowager of the Tang Dynasty and the new right minister also expressed to him the intention of friendship between the Tang and Tibetan countries for generations, and he was preparing to go back to praise Zampu to express his merits. But this time in the blink of an eye. Everything has changed.

Extreme disappointment and fear in his heart were intertwined, which was manifested in the appearance, that is, Shang Zanpo's restlessness, he saw Ma Chongying coming out, and immediately jumped up and said: "The vanguard of the Tang Army has captured Huangshui City, less than three hundred miles away from here, but you have no preparation, if Hehuang is lost, how can you explain to Zanpu!" ”

Ma Chongying looked coldly at this henchman who was still resting. This villain, who had slandered himself in front of Zampu more than once, snorted heavily and said: "I am the governor of Hehuang, and all military and political affairs here are decided by me, and you should not interfere in my military affairs." ”

"Interfering in military affairs?" Shang Tsangpo was furious, and he rebuked sharply: "If you really actively resist, I will not ask." But you clearly deliberately slacked the army. The Tuyuhun army and the Qiang army, you let them go up one by one, but they were eaten one by one. The Tang army has not yet arrived in Huangshui City, and you let the 5,000 defenders retreat on all fronts and surrender Huangshui City to the enemy, is this your military business? ”

Ma Chongying was furious, he pulled out his sword and pointed at Shang Zanpo's chest and said word by word: "If you dare to say more, I will kill you on the spot!" ”

Shang Zanpo laughed angrily, "In front of his own people, he is a lion and tiger, but in front of the Tang army, he is a coward, and you are still called the first general of Tubo by Zanpu, I don't think even a three-year-old child is as good." He slammed his feet on the ground! With a sigh, he turned away.

Ma Chongying looked at his back with disdain, a killing intent slowly rolled in his eyes, he immediately summoned the personal guard next to him, and whispered to him: "This person will definitely pack up and escape, you go and arrange it, let him die suddenly." ”

"Yes!" The guards will say yes and immediately go to arrange the inside line.

At this time, the deputy general next to him, Siddhazang, couldn't help but say: "Dudu, the vanguard of the Tang army marched extremely fast, three hundred miles, they only need to arrive in one day and one night, if we don't prepare in advance, we will really be in a hurry." ”

Ma Chongying glanced at him coldly, "Aren't you worried about me too?" ”

"The subordinates don't dare!" The vice general swept away his cold gaze, and was so frightened that he didn't dare to say a word more.

Perhaps knowing that his subordinates were worried, Ma Chongying's face was a little pale, and he explained lightly: "I have been fighting for nearly fifty years, can't I deal with a hairy boy who has just debuted?" Zhang Huandi's every move was already expected by me, you understand now! ”

Siddhartha thought for a while, and he suddenly realized, "Could it be that the governor is tempting the enemy?"

He bit his lip violently and didn't say what was going on.

"It's not as simple as you think." Ma Chongying smiled lightly, turned around and instructed left and right, "Follow me to the street and see the situation in the city." ”

After the news that the Tang army captured Huangshui City, there was chaos in Shancheng, it is said that the Tubo people in Huangshui City were killed a lot, which made the Tubo people in Shancheng more panicked, every family was packing up their things, there were carriages full of goods parked in front of every house, the carriages were running on the streets, and the Tubo people were sitting in the carriages and fled outside the city, shouting and scolding were endless.

At this time, a fast horse galloped from outside the city and reported in Ma Chongying's ear: "Dudu, the vanguard of the Tang Army has 5,000 cavalry less than 50 miles away from the city, and will be killed in two hours." ”

Ma Chongying nodded, and then said to his subordinates: "To appease the people of Tubo, just say that I have sent a large army to recover Huangshui City, and the Tang army will not call, so that they don't have to panic, and they don't need to leave the city." ”

Under the repeated explanations of countless soldiers, the frightened Tubo people gradually calmed down, after all, the loss of fleeing in panic was too great, since the governor said so surely, most people also believed it, and changed to wait and see before deciding.

Ma Chongying then came to the warehouse surrounded by hundreds of guards, and there was a lot of grain in the warehouse. Piled with copper coins and cloths, he looked around and ordered, "Close the storehouse." No one is allowed to move without my command! ”

The door of the warehouse was slammed shut, and the adjutant general next to him tried to tell him to burn the warehouse several times, but seeing that the governor's face was gloomy, he had to swallow it back into his stomach.

At this time, the guards will rush to report, "Dudu, Shang Tsangpo was so angry that she suddenly fell to the ground and died. The cause of death is unknown! ”

Ma Chongying nodded slightly, "It's a good job, remember to bury him before the Tang Army comes." ”

When he had given the order, he turned his horse's head and came to the headquarters again, when another fast horse came running from outside the city, and the soldier jumped off his horse. Urgently: "Governor." The vanguard of the Tang Army is less than thirty miles, and it will be killed in an hour, please make a decision quickly! ”

"I see, I'll go and see."

At this time, all the guards beside Ma Chongying were so anxious that they jumped to their feet, "Dudu, the situation is extremely urgent, let's withdraw quickly!" ”

"What's the hurry! Don't I know? Ma Chongying glared at them and entered the office unhurriedly, and everyone was helpless. I had to follow in, and there was a miasma of smoke in the office, more than a dozen civil officials were burning papers, and every room was full of messes.

"Governor, do you want to inform them to evacuate?" Adjutant General Siddharjang asked quietly.

Ma Chongying waved his hand. He whispered, "Tell everyone not to show panic." Inspect with me. ”

Ma Chongying paced slowly in the office with his hands in his hands, greeting everyone with a smile from time to time. "The Tang army will be killed in two days, there is still time, you must burn it thoroughly, and you can't leave any useful information for the Tang army."

The governor smiled kindly and the news that Tang Jun had arrived only two days later seemed to reassure everyone, and many people ran back to the house, took out some documents that were about to be given up, and burned them one by one.

Ma Chongying inspected a circle, and talked and laughed with some civil officials about their future arrangements, and then slowly walked out of the office, suddenly the sound of horses' hooves was like thunder, and a horse messenger rode like crazy to beat the horse and galloped wildly, without waiting for the horse to stop, he rolled off the horse, and said in a trembling voice: "Governor, the vanguard of the Tang Army has arrived ten miles away, and it will not take half an hour to kill, please let the governor go quickly." ”

Ma Chongying finally let out a long breath, he turned over on his horse, turned around and hurriedly ordered Siddhazang to say: "Pass my order, the garrison will retreat immediately!" ”

After a pause, he gave one last order to the guards: "Go to my mansion quickly and kill all my women, leaving no one behind." ”

A quarter of an hour later, the Tang Army's 6,000 iron cavalry, led by the vanguard general Li Shuangyudi, appeared outside the east gate of Shancheng in black pressure, covering the sky and the earth, and the sharp murderous aura permeated the heaven and the earth.

Two days later, Zhang Huan personally led the main force of 30,000 Tang troops into the center of the Tubo people's rule in Hehuang, which was also the political and military center of the Tang Dynasty.

The looting and killing had stopped, the corpses had been buried, the blood stains had been cleaned up, the city had been placed under martial law, and it seemed deserted, full of Tang army patrol soldiers, and some Han slaves who had regained their freedom and were still at a loss to hide behind the doors and windows, secretly looking at the mighty army that had entered the city.

Zhang Huandi's temporary trip was arranged in the Hehuang Governor's Mansion, which was the line of the envoys of the Tang Dynasty, and you can even see the well dug by Wang Zhongsi and the tree planted by Ge Shuhan; The ancients have passed, only today's people can recall, Zhang Huan walked slowly in the house with his hands behind his back, he walked through the small building where the emperor's concubine only Carita's concubine once lived, and walked through An Sishun's most cherished wine cellar, but after decades of time, the Tang Dynasty turned from extreme prosperity to extreme decline, and gradually recovered in the extreme decline.

After a long time of worship, a personal soldier ran to report, "Governor, the generals have arrived in the lobby and are waiting for the governor to pass." ”

Zhang Huan nodded and walked quickly back to the main hall of Xingyuan, at this time Li Shuangyu and Hu Cao participated in the military Cheng Duo and some other generals had already received orders to come.

"Sit down, everyone!" Zhang Huan waved his hand and sat everyone down, he glanced at everyone, and saw that everyone was excited, and it was indeed an exciting thing to recover Longyoujiedu.

"I asked everyone to come, first, I want to hear a report on the situation in the city, and second, I want to discuss the next course of action."

Zhang Huan glanced at Hu Cao Shen Military Cheng Duo, and said with a smile: "Cheng Join the Army, you say it first!" ”

"Governor Qiyu, the Tubo people seem to be defenseless, and their warehouses have not yet had time to burn, and I have sent someone to count them. There were 80,000 stone of grain, 200,000 pieces of money, and 150,000 pieces of cloth. There is also a large collection of gold and silverware

Cheng Duo was very surprised by the generosity of the Tubo people, from Guangwu to here, only one or two county warehouses were burned to the ground, and the rest were intact and not moved away by the defeated army, but as an official who managed the money and grain, the more money and grain left by the Tubo people, of course, the better.

"Also, the soldiers seized a large number of local books and account books in their offices. The population, land and taxation of each part of Hehuang are clear, and the account books recorded in Chinese are proprietary. ”

Zhang Huan nodded, and asked Li Shuangyu again, "How is the situation over there?" ”

Li Shuangyu half-knelt and saluted: "It is indeed a little strange, according to investigation, Ma Chongying did not withdraw until we killed a quarter of an hour ago, and many military supplies in the Tubo military camp did not have time to take away, when we entered the city." The people of the city woke up as if from a dream. It's really puzzling. ”

At this time, Zhang Huan caught a glimpse of Lin Jiuhan wanting to speak and stopped, so he smiled and said: "Since you called everyone here, I hope that everyone can speak freely and brainstorm, Lin Jiuhan, if you have anything to say, just say it." ”

Lin Jiuhan's face flushed, and he stepped forward and said, "Dudu, I thought this was an obvious plan to lure the enemy in. When we occupied Huangshui City a few days ago, we didn't encounter any resistance, and we took 10,000 steps back and said, even if Huangshui City was caught off guard, then Ma Chongying should know that we were going to kill us soon, and his warehouse should also be moved. I wouldn't have left a quarter of an hour ago. These are really unreasonable, so I thought Ma Chongying was tempting us to go deeper. ”

"I also agree with General Lin's opinion." Li Shuangyu said: "In fact, there are some strange phenomena. For example, Ma Chongying actually killed his own wife and concubine, he could have sent them away in advance, many Tubo people were already about to flee, Ma Chongying specially told them that the army had gone to Huangshui to fight us, it was simply to deceive them to stay, it was too unreasonable. ”

"Those Tibetan officials were also deceived by Ma Chongying, and they gritted their teeth with hatred." Hu Cao joined the military Cheng Duo and added with a smile.

Zhang Huan didn't speak, he lowered his head and paced in the lobby with his hands behind his back in contemplation, "All kinds of signs are indeed obvious plans to lure the enemy into depth, but if it is only explained as luring the enemy to go deep, it seems that Ma Chongying is a little too underestimated, is it the empty city plan he sang?" In fact, he has no troops in his hands, and he is afraid that my Xiliang army will chase and kill him, so he arranges suspicious soldiers to confuse me, is this really the case? But the scout's intelligence said that he still had 10,000 Tibetan elite soldiers in his hands, how can this be explained? And Wang Siyu, they haven't heard any news at all, could it be that they have captured Shibao City, and Ma Chongying has retreated in a panic? This is also impossible, if Wang Siyu captures Shibao City, Ma Chongying's retreat has been cut off, and it is even more impossible for him to leave Shancheng, it is really incomprehensible! ”

Just when Zhang Huan was puzzled, the soldiers shouted at the door, "Governor, Counselor Du is here." Zhang Huan was overjoyed, Du Mei's arrival, just to give him a detailed one, he walked quickly to the door, only to see Du Mei striding in, as soon as he saw Zhang Huan, he said loudly: "The governor can quickly send troops to chase, Ma Chongying is using the strategy of the empty city." ”

"Why?" Zhang Huan asked in a deep voice.

Du Mei didn't answer immediately, he walked to the desk, took out a map of Hehuang and unfolded it, he pointed to Dingrong City in the southernmost part and said: "I just intercepted the news of the scout at the door, Ma Chongying has retreated to Dingrong City, which is less than five miles away from Shibao City, it can be said that he has completely abandoned Hehuang, even if there are reinforcements in the Jiuqu area, then as long as we control the three strong castles of Suirong City in the west, Linfan City in the middle and Suihe City in the east, even if Jiuqu comes with 50,000 reinforcements, it is impossible to break through the defense line. This is equivalent to returning to the situation in Tangbo eight years ago in Tianbao, so I dare to conclude that Ma Chongying's strategy is to lay out suspicious troops so that we don't dare to go south easily to seize the fortress, and he is waiting for the arrival of Jiuqu reinforcements. ”

Zhang Huan pondered carefully for a moment, although there were still some puzzling points in the middle, such as why Ma Chongying only occupied one castle in Dingrong City, and did not occupy several other castles together, and where did the 10,000 Tubo troops go?

Thinking about it, it can only be this explanation, he is making a bold empty city plan, scaring himself not to go south, thinking of this, Zhang Huan resolutely made up his mind, "Pass my order, the army will set off immediately, and the troops will set off in Rongcheng!" ”

Note: Shibao City, Shancheng, Huangshui City and other place names are the name of the Tang Dynasty, after Tubo actually occupied Hehuang, it has been renamed, such as Shibao City called Iron Blade City, etc., one is not enough information, and the other is troublesome, all or use the name of the Tang Dynasty.