Chapter 180: Plateau Warriors (2)

The piece is clear, the distant mountains form a black arc, disappearing to the east in the distant Liwan is the Yellow River Qu area, which was originally the land of Tuyuhun, Tang Gaozong Longshuo for three years, Tubo destroyed Tuyuhun and occupied the rich Qu area, and this area has become the logistics base for Tubo to attack the Tang Dynasty.

About 300 miles south of Shibao City, less than 20 miles from the Yellow River, the hills are gentle, the streams are rapid, the woods on the hillside are dense, overgrown with fir, cedar and cypress trees that are overflowing with the fragrance of fat, and outside the woods is a large area of grass that has withered and yellowed, and it reaches the foot of the distant Jishi Mountain, where you can see a group of cattle and sheep spending the winter here everywhere, the scenery here is beautiful, and the night under the starlight and the full moon looks quiet and beautiful.

But in the north of a shallow lake, there is a Tibetan army, about 20,000 people, no fence, like a flock of scattered sheep, dense tents have been stretched for more than a mile, but between the camps, there is a white, oval like a bird's egg tent, like the stars holding the moon is guarded, it is naturally the camp of Tubo Zanpu Chide Zuzan, and this army, that is, the 20,000 Tubo army led by the nephew of Chide Zuzan to support Shibao City, is stationed here at this time.

In a fir forest about two miles away from the Tubo camp, there were four pairs of bright eyes staring at the Tubo army camp, under the moonlight, they found the bird's egg-like white camp tent, the eyes of the four burst out of ecstasy at the same time, one of them hurriedly covered his mouth, afraid that his excitement would attract the Tubo patrol, these four people were the Tang army scouts, one of the fifty scout teams sent by Li Qing, disguised as grazing Qiang people, their task was to find the bird egg tent, That is, the whereabouts of Chide Zuzan, the head of this scout team is called Jiu Yanchang, that is, the veteran oil of Yumen Guanyi, has been promoted to the team leader, with his rich marching experience, this scout team finally found the location of the Tubo army after three days of searching.

"Thirteen Lang, you two go back and report quickly, I'm here to keep an eye on them."

Jiu Yanchang took a sip of warmth into his hand, rubbed his ears that were about to freeze off, grinned in pain, honestly and unceremoniously snatched the wine jug of the two, and said, "You are riding back on horseback to warm up, so your wine jug should stay." ”

The two soldiers did not dare to disobey and quickly ran to the place where their horses were tied deep in the woods.

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There was silence in the Tibetan camp, the soldiers went to bed early, Zampu was also in the camp, no one dared to make a loud noise, a group of night patrol sentries shuttled between the tents, but stopped near the camp tent near Chide Zuzan, turned around, nearly 500 Tibetan elite soldiers stood with swords in hand, and their cold eyes were worse than the cold air in the night.

The white tent is very wide up close, and there are dozens of Zampu's personal guards guarding the door, the tent is brilliantly furnished, all kinds of utensils are made of gold and silver, delicate and heavy, there are mutton-like jade bottles on the table, the walls are hung with fine argali horns, yak tails, several beautiful maids are packing up the bedding, and the ground and bed are decorated with all kinds of colorful decorations.

At this moment, Tubo Zanpu Chide Zuzan sat cross-legged in front of a few and stared at the battle report in front of him, this is the latest battle situation of Shibao City (Tubo called Iron Blade City, here it is called uniformly), the Tang army has increased to 30,000 troops, and is attacking the city day and night, the Tang army killed under the Shibao City has been countless, and the army has lost more than 1,000 people, but the Tang army still can't take a step beyond the sky.

Chide Zuzan stood up silently, dipped his hand in some water and patted his forehead gently, he walked out of the tent, the cold wind made his forehead even more biting, but his thoughts also became clear. Longyou battle, his purpose is not to passively defend Shibao City, his goal is the rich and warm land of Longyou, which is also the goal of every Zampu, after decades of recuperation, Tubo has reached the most powerful era, with hundreds of thousands of armor soldiers, there is no reason not to take Longyou.

His plan was seamless, in Shibao City, there were 20,000 elite soldiers hidden but not revealed, in Dafeichuan, on Mangbu led 30,000 troops to attack at any time, and Tuyuhun King's 20,000 troops were also on standby, all of which were a day's journey, as if two vicious wolves were staring at their prey from afar and waiting for an opportunity.

Chide Zuzan was waiting, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack, and at this time, the Tang army was already tired, they didn't seem to realize that the danger had arrived, and they were still desperately attacking Shibao City.

'It's time! Chide Zuzan patted his forehead gently, now was the best opportunity to attack, thinking of this, he turned back and ordered in a low voice, "Quickly order King Tuyuhun to come to me!" ”

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Li Qing's camp is more than 100 miles away, hidden in a valley, this is the western section of Jishi Mountain, 300 miles of barren people, the harsh winter is coming, the nomadic Qiang people have moved to the relatively warm Yellow River meander, but Li Qing is extremely vigilant, the patrol range extends to the camp 20 miles away.

They marched hard all the way, and it took ten days to arrive here, where the mountains are undulating, the terrain is complicated, and hiding places abound, about four hundred miles away from Shibao City, at this time, it has been twenty days since Duan Xiushi found Chide Zuzan, and he has long lost the trace of Tubo Zampu, but since Chide Zuzan came to supervise the battle of Longyou, he should not be far from here, unless he has entered Shibao City, then it is another matter.

Three days ago, he sent 50 scout detachments to search around, but just as it was about dawn, Li Qing received a report from two scouts that they had found the target he was looking for about 120 miles northwest of here.

The cold of Jishi Mountain in the early morning almost froze people, the bare valley condensed a thick layer of hoarfrost, nearly two hundred tents were densely placed next to each other, and the tents were crowded with Tang troops eating breakfast, in order to narrow down the target as much as possible, and also to squeeze each other to keep warm, nearly thirty soldiers lived in each tent, and the commander Li Qing was no exception.

He also lived in the same tent with him, and slept on the ground like the soldiers, with only blankets on the ground.

At this moment, they had gotten up and were sitting around the small table, eating breakfast while discussing the information they had just obtained, which consisted of a cup of hot water, a handful of fried noodles and a piece of dried meat, almost like the Tibetan army, and the only way to march long distances.

"One hundred and twenty miles, it took three hours for the scouts to rush back, and if it was our army, it would take at least four hours, and if we set out from noon, we would be able to arrive that night, and use a night attack to kill him by surprise."

Bai Xiaode gently pounded the table with his fist, his eyes showed the excitement of longing for a battle, if this battle can kill Tubo Zampu, it will be a great merit, not only will change the situation of Longyou, but even affect the strategic trend of the entire Tang Fan, the excitement in his eyes has become fascinated.

Li Siye shook his head, "It's not proper! There were more than 20,000 of them, but we only had 5,000 people, and a few scouts they might not be able to find out, but we 5,000 people drove over, and such a big movement was very likely to be detected ten miles away, and at that time 20,000 people versus 5,000 people, we had a very small chance of winning, so I thought we should be more cautious. ”

"I agree with what Si Ye said." Nan Jiyun, who had been silent next to him, said in a deep voice: "We marched here from Shazhou, and we were not discovered by the Tubo people, it should be a fluke, I estimate that this is related to the transfer of the Tubo border posts in the Battle of Longyou, but the road has not been discovered, it does not mean that it will not be discovered, the closer to Shibao City, the more enemy patrols, we need to be extremely cautious." ”

"Humph!" Bai Xiaode snorted softly, his broom-like thick eyebrows raised upward, and said disdainfully: "If you don't enter the tiger's den, you can get the tiger!" If it weren't for the killing of the Tibetan Zampu, what are we here for? Cut off the food route of the Tibetan people? ”

Li Siye's eyes glanced slightly, and when he saw Li Qing staring at the cup in front of him thoughtfully, he didn't seem to listen to the conversation between the three of them, and couldn't help laughing: "What are we fighting for?" The Governor must have made up his mind, and we will listen to him! ”

The three of them looked at Li Qing together, Li Qing took a sip of water, looked up at the three of them, and said with a slight smile: "Since I have discovered Chide Zuzan, I naturally want to start, and I want to be foolproof, but foolproof is not out of thin air, but relies on a large amount of intelligence to analyze, I now have an idea, but I still need Duan Xiushi's news to confirm!" ”

"Tell me, what do you think?"

Bai Xiaode couldn't help but be very interested when he heard Li Qing agree with his proposition, Li Qing was just about to speak, Nan Jiyun's face suddenly became solemn, "There is a war horse galloping towards this side, about three miles. Li Qing listened attentively, and after a while, the sound of horses' hooves came faintly in the distance.

"It's coming! Here's the news I wanted. He stood up and strode out of the tent, only to see a distant war horse galloping into the mouth of the valley, and after being inspected by the sentry, galloping straight towards his side.

"It's Duan Xiushi's men!"

Nan Jiyun's eyesight is extraordinary, he used his hand to block the strong light of the rising sun, five hundred steps away, he had already seen the face of the person who came, and soon, the war horse rushed closer, sure enough, it was a scout under Duan Xiushi, and he was also dressed as a Qiang people.

"Governor! General Duan ordered me to deliver the letter. ”

Li Qing took the note and unfolded it, with only one sentence inside, "Fifty miles northwest of Shibao City, 30,000 Tubo cavalry were found. ”

Li Qing's eyes suddenly flashed a bright color, this news confirmed his guess, and also brought him a fighter, "Go!" Let's talk about it inside. ”

"As I came all the way, I wondered why the Tibetan Zanpu had come to supervise the battle in person, was it just to defend the Stone Castle City? It shouldn't be that simple, so why is he? ”

Li Qing looked up at the top of the tent with his hand, as if the answer was written on it, and then his eyes were flat, his eyes flashed with a deep light, and he smiled faintly: "I thought his purpose was to swallow the entire Longyou region, and to sneak attack my Shazhou also wanted to divert the attention of my Tang Dynasty, now we already know that there are two Tubo armies with a total of 50,000 people watching from the sidelines, and the Tang army is attacking the city urgently, but they are not moving, don't you think it is strange?" ”

"Are they waiting for the plane?" Next to him, Li Siye suddenly interjected.

"Yes!"

Li Qing said with certainty: "He must be waiting for the fighters, waiting for the Tang army to be the most tired and anxious, and then kill it in one fell swoop, even if the 70,000 Longyou army is all pressed, I estimate that it will no longer be able to stop the iron cavalry of the Tubo people." ”

Everyone was silent, the governor was reasonable, they couldn't help but worry about the fate of Longyou, but Li Qing sneered for a while: "Didn't you think of it? If the enemy is killed, who will protect their Zamp? ”

He slowly walked to the tent and looked up at the sky, although the sun's rays were strong, but far to the west, the dark clouds had piled up into a mountain, and they were slowly pressing towards this side.

"It's time for him to do it, otherwise the road will be closed as soon as the snow comes!"

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It was an early winter night, the sky was covered with dark purple clouds, but there was no snow, the ground was damp, but not muddy, the army marched silently, only occasionally the faint hoofs of the horses could be heard, it was forbidden to talk loudly, it was forbidden to use fire, it was not allowed to neigh, a long black shadow, rustling and hurrying, the sky was dark and drizzling, mixed with snowflakes.

There are still about ten miles away from the Tubo camp, Li Qing's war horse suddenly stopped, and Jiu Yanchang, who had been lying in ambush near the Tubo camp, was brought over, he rushed back to report the latest situation, but happened to meet the army halfway, this morning, the 20,000 Tubo army has been opened, and only about 3,000 people are left in the entire camp to guard their leader.

"Speed up and get rid of everything that is superfluous and has nothing to do with the war."

Li Qing gave an order, and the soldiers of the Tang Army carried the bedding with them

The pots were all thrown away, and the pace of the march was accelerated, as if a black Tibetan battalion was shooting straight away, without hesitation, without hesitation, the sword had been unsheathed, and the arrow had been wound.

War horses galloped on the vast plateau, like a torrent of breaking the embankment to the north, twenty miles away, to the galloping cavalry in a blink of an eye, the large camp of Tubo appeared in front of the Tang army, the sound of horses' hooves could not be concealed, and the Tubo sentinels also found out about the situation, they shouted and screamed, and ran lifeless to the camp.

"Kill it, leave no one behind!"

Li Qing pointed at the sword, five thousand Tang troops rushed past him like a huge wave, roaring towards the Tubo camp, the army swept across the field, the horn sounded loudly, three thousand Tubo guards hastily assembled, surrounded into a circle, surrounded their Zampu to death, the Tang cavalry charged forward, like a vicious wave of the stormy waves, head-on, the two armies collided, stirred up a thousand waves, and the dense Tubo army slammed open a gap, but the Tubo army was already like a mad tiger, and the gap closed in a blink of an eye, Devoured more than a hundred Don troops who rushed into the gap.

The cost of a hard charge is too great, and the cavalry 'brushes' on both sides! 'The ground is divided, the arrows behind are overwhelming, a burst of people turn over on their backs, the outermost layers of the Tubo army like the shell peeled off, have arrows to the ground, but the Tang army's arrow rain did not stop, but more dense, the Tubo army's round shield can cover the body, but can not cover the war horse under the body, the war horse wails and screams, or the committee falls to the ground, or rushes forward with the cavalry like crazy, but does not take a few steps, or falls to the ground, after a few rounds of arrow rain, three thousand Tubo iron guards have lost nearly forty percent, the position of the Tubo army has been unable to maintain.

At this time, Chide Zuzan came out of the tent with his armor in his armor, and he flew on his horse, his waist straight, facing the rain of arrows and the flying snow, he raised his sword and shouted: "Rush forward, kill a bloody road." ”

The Tubo army immediately moved, the horse's hooves rolled on the grass, they avoided the rain of arrows, and guarded their Zampu to the southeast obliquely, but in front of them was the long-awaited two thousand Mo sword army, this is the most elite army in Anxi, Li Siye stood upright, holding the knife in his hand, as if the gods stood at the front of the team, his eyes flashed with murderous light, forcing him to look at the Tubo cavalry rushing in front of him, he suddenly roared, flashed sideways, a cold light rose, the two horse legs have been cut off, and then a backhand knife, Immediately the head of the cavalry flew out.

Mo knife hand has jumped off the war horse, neatly and orderly assembled into a mountain-like knife wall, blocking the way of the Tubo army, there is a Mo knife in front of the road, there are crossbow arrows in the back, on both sides is the enemy cavalry outflanked, it seems that there is no way out, more than 100 personal guards of Chide Zuzan saw that the situation was urgent, surrounded Zampu out of the brigade, turned around and rushed westward, so far, the cavalry formation of Tubo finally collapsed, forming a group of each other, fighting with the Tang army.

Li Qing's eyes have been staring at the man wearing the golden helmet, and quietly pointed at him and made a gesture to Wu Xingsu beside him, Wu Xingsu's steel crossbow slowly raised, and the cold sharp arrow was aimed at the back of Chide Zuzan, and gently buckled the machine spring, an armor-piercing arrow was silent, fast as lightning swept away, the arrow blade seemed to flash a firelight, and it was Chide Zuzan's shoulder blade, at the same time, Nan Jiyun's other arrow also arrived, but he was shooting a horse, and the strong arrow penetrated the head of the war horse, and the war horse neighed, and then fell to the ground, rolling Chide Zuzan out of a foot awayWithout waiting for his own soldiers to help, hundreds of cavalry of the Tang Army attacked from all sides, waving their lances and flying swords, killing more than 100 guards in a moment, and protecting Chide Zuzan back to back.

Under hundreds of long lances, Chide Zuzan smiled miserably, the golden helmet and golden armor symbolized his incomparably noble identity, he could no longer stand, at this time, Li Qing urged the horse to come up, the cavalry dodged a way, Li Qing dismounted and walked in front of him, looking at him calmly.

Chide Zuzan was half-kneeling on the ground, his sword in his hand, panting heavily, blood and sweat flowing all over his face, but his eyes were still as sharp and unyielding as eagles, staring at the enemy in front of him, as if he wanted to tear Li Qing to pieces with his gaze.

Everyone's eyes turned to Li Qing, how to deal with Tubo Zampu, the stakes are very high, Li Qing's eyes are staring straight into the distance, to kill or not to kill, the consequences of killing and the consequences of not killing are difficult to balance in his heart, killing him can disrupt the strategic deployment of Tubo, and even make Tubo civil strife, so that the Tang Dynasty will not be disturbed by Tubo within three or five years, but the political consequences he has to bear are also obvious; And if he doesn't kill him, although his risk can be minimized, Datang will have to let him go back in the end, and the repetition and untrustworthiness of the Tubo people are still vivid.

Personal interests and national interests clashed fiercely in Li Qingxin, he couldn't make up his mind, the shouting and killing on the battlefield gradually became smaller, and the scattered Tubo cavalry were divided, surrounded, and annihilated one by one by the Modao array and arrow array, and the cavalry surrounded Chide Zuzan and his remnants like iron buckets.

Li Qing suddenly sneered, and met the sharp gaze of the king of Tubo without fear, and suddenly, the slowly stimulating bloody nature of the Han nation was awakened in his heart, his eyes became grim and terrifying, and his hand waved down slowly, but without hesitation.

The snowflakes in the sky suddenly became larger, Li Qing stood proudly in the snowflakes in the sky, a pride that had never been filled with his chest, at the beginning of November of the fourth year of Tianbao, Tubo Zanpu inspected the battle of Longyou, but was attacked by Li Qing, the governor of Shazhou, who was attacking thousands of miles in the Yellow River, and the three thousand guards were annihilated, and Chide Zuzan was killed on the spot.

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Note: In the fourth autumn of Tianbao, Chide Zuzan camped to Yangzhuoyitang, and was discovered by the Tang army sentry sent by Meng Lingcha, the protector of Anxi, but unfortunately there were too few troops, but he was not able to kill Chide Zuzan, which is a pity.