In the early morning, the vigorous morning sun erupted from the fish-scale clouds, and the fiery red morning sun spread all over the Hexi corridor, and the mountains, waters, and fields were all covered with a fiery gauze coat.

The morning glow was also sprinkled on He Lou Wuji's solemn face, his angular face seemed to turn him into a statue in the glow, the young general immediately in front of the ruins of Huixi Fort, silent for a long time, three years ago there was an earth-shattering bloody battle here, six thousand Tang troops all sleep here, now the ruins are overgrown with barren grass and artemisia vines, large pieces of bluestone are buried by dense bushes, and have become the home of snakes, rats, and ants.

Behind him, the banner was unfurled, and the 50,000 army led the horses to line up on the vast Gobi in front of Huixi Fort, the black pressure was like a black curtain covering the earth, and the murderous aura in the sky permeated the beginning of the Hexi Corridor.

"General Helou, let's go!" Speaking is the veteran Bai Guangyuan, Bai Guangyuan is sixty years old, he once accompanied Gao Xianzhi to the south and the north, and then for Li Guangbi will participate in the pacification of the Anshi Rebellion, in the past few decades, he fought at most or the Tubo army, Qingzhi two years, Tubo general Ma Chongying, Shang Jiexi rate 100,000 troops to attack Longyou and Guanzhong, the veteran Guo Ziyi was in danger, and Bai Guangyuan at that time was Guo Ziyi's deputy general, he defeated the Shang Jiexi Department in Longxi County, annihilated more than 20,000 enemies, Shang Jiexi hastily withdrew the troops, and laid the victory for the final Tubo strategic failure.

This time he was entrusted by Zhang Huanzhi to fight in Hexi with the Western Route Army, but he did not hold any military position, so as not to hinder He Lou Wuji's exercise of power, his real role is in Anxi, Bai Guangyuan is the son of the king of Qiuci in Anxi, and enjoys high prestige among the Qiuci people, for more than ten years, he has written to the imperial court several times to recover Hexi and Anxi. But to no avail. This time, Zhang Huan's army went west, and he had 120,000 passions and wanted to see the return of his homeland in his twilight years.

He Lou Wuji nodded, he turned over and dismounted, jumped on a boulder, and waved his hand to the army, the banner of the army converged, the birds were silent, and countless pairs of eyes stared at the commander.

"Soldiers! Our six thousand brethren were laid to rest under the ruins of the fort of Huisi. Their relatives still wail under the iron hooves of Tibet, so that their souls will not be scattered; The Tibetan iron horsemen flew unscrupulously from their side, making them angry, and they were looking forward to today and us day and night, for three years. I, He Lou Wuji, have been waiting for today all the time. It's the same as the bluestone brothers. Angry, tossing and turning, today we once again set foot on our homeland, set foot on the birthplace of our Xiliang Army, soldiers, we want to wash away the shame in blood, this will be our revenge battle, the Tang Dynasty man would rather die standing up. Never fall to life! ”

"Revenge!" The officers and men of the three armed forces were all enthusiastic. They raised their arms and shouted, "Revenge! Revenge! Revenge! ”

The roar ranges from sparse to dense. From one person to 50,000 people, and finally together, a low roar echoed between heaven and earth, and the earth shook the mountains, as if even the water of the Yellow River and the Qilian Mountains changed color.

He Lou Wuji's blood is stirring, the morale of the 50,000 army is like a rainbow, the preparation of the soldiers and horses in the past three years, all of them are for today, excitement is excitement, but He Lou Wuji is not the vanguard officer who cut the pass and seize the village, he is the commander of the Hexi side entrusted by Zhang Huan with full authority, as early as three years ago, Zhang Huan set the strategy of seizing Wuwei and even the entire Hexi.

When he saw that the time had come, he immediately ordered: "Where is General Li Guozhen?" ”

"The last general!"

A tall and thin general with sharp eyes appeared in front of He Lou Wuji, he was the scout team leader who had been captured by Ma Chongying before the Battle of Hehuang, and now he has been promoted to the captain of the first battalion of scouts.

Here needs to be briefly introduced, after the capture of Hehuang and the number of troops exceeded 200,000, the previous military positions were too narrow, Zhang Huan once again rectified the military system, and divided the Longyou Army into three types, one is the tooth army, that is, Zhang Huandi's direct army, about 50,000 people, this is the most elite troops in the entire Xiliang army, most of them are veterans and the sharpest weapons and equipment, such as the Modao army and various special battalions; The second type is the government army, which is stationed in the counties, and this type of army has the largest number, about 100,000 people; The third type is the garrison, which mainly refers to the defenders of various passes, such as Stone Fort City, Jishi Fort, etc., these troops are about 50,000 people.

In terms of army structure, it is divided into six levels: army, team, regiment, battalion, army, and guard, and the corresponding official positions are the commander of the army, with ten people; The team is the team and has jurisdiction over 100 people; The regiment is a lieutenant and has jurisdiction over 500 people; The battalion is a lieutenant, with 2,000 people, of which the deputy is the left and right Guoyi lieutenants; The army is a general, with jurisdiction over 10,000 people, of which the deputy is the left and right generals; Wei is a general, with 50,000 people, currently only Zhang Huan, deputy general, now only He Lou Wuji and Wang Siyu two, this time He Lou Wuji went out, is the acting general.

This expedition to Hexi is the real highlight, for which Zhang Huan specially transferred the Modao Army in his direct army and part of the god battalion, chariot battalion to participate in the battle, according to the established strategy, the Qiang King Li Jinge entered the Wuwei region as early as ten days ago, his task is to plot against the Qiang people in the Hexi region, this matter began a year ago.

When He Lou Wuji saw Li Guozhen stepping forward, he ordered him: "You lead the headquarters first, and I will limit you to take it down and hand over the castle to me before dawn the day after tomorrow." ”

The scout camp is a special camp, with only 500 people, but all of them have special skills, and they are the best of the best.

"Obey!" Li Guozhen turned over on his horse, pointed his horsewhip to the west, and yelled, "Brothers, follow me!" ”

The five hundred horsemen were like a small piece of an iceberg split, broke out of the army of 50,000, and rushed to the northwest like a gust of wind, leaving only the dust in the sky for a long time.

"The army is marching!" He Lou Wuji looked at the beacon fire on the Wusheling Ridge that had been lit, and he gave an order, and the army slowly started, marching towards Wuwei City.

After Wuwei County was taken by Trisong Dezan three years ago, 20,000 heavy troops were stationed here, and another 7,000 Qiang people were recruited to garrison the counties, but just ten days ago, the Hui army attacked Anxi, and the governor of Hexi immediately transferred 10,000 Tubo troops from Wuwei County to Dunhuang to assemble.

The commander of the Tubo army who guarded Wuwei was called Shang Zabu, the nephew of the great minister Shang Yuxi, about forty years old, and he was cautious and timid. This morning. He was inspecting the city, and because the Hui attacked Anxi and transferred 10,000 men, Shang Zab was extremely nervous, and on the one hand, he sent more scouts, and on the other hand, ordered the beacon to be vigilant day and night.

Suddenly, there was a loud uproar on the street, and everyone pointed to the black sheath ridge, and looked up at Zab. Frightened, he was so frightened that his soul flew away, only to see the wolf smoke rising to the sky on the beacon tower, and what he had been afraid of day and night finally happened.

"Assemble the army! Assemble the army! He roared loudly, turned around and ran towards the barracks, which were in the south of the city. It was originally a place where military families lived. There are neatly built wooden houses. But since the fall of Wuwei, the Han people were either killed or enslaved, and the military household and wooden houses became the military camps of the Tubo people.

Shang Zab rushed into the barracks and immediately summoned several of his henchmen to discuss countermeasures, and according to his ideas, it was best to abandon Wuwei and return to Zhangye to join up with Xi Zhizang.

"General, never!" A commander of a thousand heard that he had such a ridiculous idea. Hurriedly objected: "The general fled back to Zhangye. Will the Cheek Hide let you go? ”

Shang Zab woke up and learned that Cheek Zang was the same as Ma Chongying. are all his uncle's political enemies, when Zanpu ordered himself to guard Wuwei, it was to ask him to monitor and discuss the cheeks, if he gave up Wuwei and fled, wouldn't he just be killed by him by grabbing the handle, but there were only 10,000 defenders in his city, how could he hold the city, he was anxious and afraid, and sweat flowed down his forehead.

At this time, another commander said: "General, don't worry, I have a solution." ”

Shang Zab was overjoyed, and hurriedly grabbed him and said, "Tell me quickly, what is the solution?" ”

"We can make a two-handed plan, first send someone to ask for help from the Confession, if he refuses to send troops, that is, he will take care of the loss first, even if the city is lost, the general can also question him, secondly, we have to concentrate our forces to defend the city, the general can transfer the Qiang soldiers from all counties back to Wuwei, and capture the Han people as hostages, see if they dare to attack their own people?"

"Very good, pass on my order and order all the county garrisons to withdraw to Wuwei!" Shang Zab suddenly hesitated, if Wuwei City was broken, would he still be able to survive? Thinking of this, he looked forward to Ai Ai and said: "Why don't you come to defend Wuwei, I'll go to Tianbao County to garrison!" ”

"No way!" Several commanders objected in unison.

Guzang County, here is the place where the Qiang people are concentrated, among the seven thousand Qiang troops, there are 3,000 people stationed here alone, some of the original Wuwei Qiang people died in battle, some fled to Longyou with the Han military households, in order to make up for the lack of population in the Wuwei area, the Tubo people moved a large number of Qiang people from Zhangye and Jiuquan, since last year, many Qiang people in the Hehuang area have moved to Wuwei one after another because they are dissatisfied with the rule of the Han people, and most of them are also arranged in the area of Guzang County, specifically for the Tubo people to raise horses.

Since the news of Hui Hui's attack on Anxidi came, the atmosphere in Guzang County has also become tense, and that evening, in front of a military camp in the south of Guzang County, several Qiang soldiers who had eaten dinner were gathering together to talk quietly.

"I heard that 10,000 Tubo people have been transferred to Dunhuang, is this true?"

An elderly soldier was a little worried: "I heard that it is true, I am afraid that we will be transferred to Anxi, what will I do with my wife and children?" ”

Another soldier also said angrily: "Who says it's not! Originally, we had a good life in Hehuang, and the Han people did not interfere with us, so I really don't understand why the chief had to move to Hexi? ”

"Listen to me." Their centurion was obviously an experienced veteran, and he whispered: "If you really want to transfer us to Anxi, I will let everyone slip away quietly, the grassland is so big, where can it not be accommodated." ”

When everyone heard this, their hearts warmed up, and they scrambled to speak, shouting into a ball.

"The general is here!" One of the soldiers saw their leader, Ali, striding towards him, and the soldiers scattered.

Ali is a young Qiang general, not tall, red face, but Ali is his name before he came to Hexi, his real name is Ugao Geri, that is, the son of Li Jinge, the king of Qiang, three years ago, after Li Jinge returned to Zhang Huan, he selected 10,000 of the strongest men from the clan to hand over to Zhang Huan, the establishment of the West Qiang Army, Lang General is Wu Gaogeri.

He was ordered to move to Wuwei at the end of last year, and he moved with Li Jingedi's younger brother, who was also a tribal chief, and the Tubo people selected more than 1,000 people from it to form a thousand-person team, and the commander of the thousand commanders was renamed Ali Wugaogli, and among the 1,000 troops under his jurisdiction, more than 300 people were Qiang people in the Tang army, most of whom occupied the position of officers, and many Qiang people in the Tang army were disguised as herdsmen. Always on call.

Ten days ago. Li Jinge quietly came to Wuwei, and with his high prestige among the Qiang people, he persuaded some of the Qiang leaders to defect to the Tang Dynasty, while many remained neutral and waited for changes.

As soon as Ugaogli received an order from above, ordering the Qiang soldiers to immediately withdraw into Wuwei City, he immediately realized that this was most likely the beginning of the Tang army's westward expedition, and Ugaogli strode over. He saw that the soldiers who had gathered together just now were scattered, so he gave a look to the centurion, who was also a Tang Army officer disguised, and he held the position of captain in the Xiliang Army, he came over and asked in a low voice: "But the governor has started the westward expedition?" ”

Ugaugri nodded. "It should be. I just received an order. The Tibetans ordered us to withdraw to Wuwei immediately. ”

The centurion's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "General, this is an opportunity!" ”

"I also knew it was an opportunity, so I consulted with you." Ugaogli looked to both sides, and said in a low voice: "I have already arranged, on the march, we will take advantage of the night to replace all the soldiers. ”

Night fell quietly. The gray-white Jiaojiao Castle is shrouded in a huge projection of Qilian Mountain. Between two countries or two hostile forces, Xiongguan Pass Fort has always been a battleground for soldiers. But once a country is invaded and occupied by another country, or a force is eaten by another force, the Xiongguan Pass Fort will lose its defensive significance, such as how important Shanhaiguan was in the late Ming Dynasty, but when the Qing army entered the customs, Shanhaiguan also became an ordinary pass.

Jiao Castle is the same, when Wuwei is the last territory of the Tang Dynasty in Hexi, it is the border between Tang and Tibet, and now, it is just an ordinary sentry card to collect taxes from passing merchants, saying that it is a tax, in fact, there are no merchants passing by, the forcible seizure of the Tubo army has made the Hexi Corridor has become a point of no return for merchants, if it is more than ten years, it will be gradually abandoned like Jishi Fort.

At present, there are a total of 100 garrisons in Jiao Castle, most of them are Tubo soldiers, and the Tang army of that year, three years of peaceful life has gradually paralyzed the defenders, drinking and gambling money, thinking of going to nearby villages to find women, and even secretly going to Tianbao County to have fun, is the daily life of these defenders, although recently reported to attack Anxi, but after all, it is thousands of miles away, just like the moon.

At the first watch, after two days and one night of forced marching, Li Guozhen's scout camp finally arrived near Jiao Castle, they had also been stationed here, where there was grass and trees, a mountain and a stone were all familiar to the chest, he lurked a mile away from Jiao Castle, and Li Guozhen stood on a mountain rock and watched the movement of Jiao Castle.

Was forced to become the Tubo army is Li Guozhen's life of shame, after the battle of the Knight Valley he returned to the Tang Army, in order to wash away this shame, he has since made an oath, one day he will also become a general like He Lou Wuji to command the army, soon after returning to the team, he and the team deputy Xianzhu and Liu Shuai were sent to the military academy to study, where he spent a year, he was hungry to learn the art of war, Tao strategy, every day to study hard until midnight, it is his hard work and learning to apply, He participated in a total of six military exercises, won five times, and left the military academy with the first place, and he was appointed as the general of the first battalion of the ten scout battalions of the Xiliang Army, and was directly subordinate to Zhang Huandi's Ya Army.

Hush! A sharp whistle on the ground, as if a night owl pounced into the forest, Li Guozhen's spirit perked up, only to see a black shadow flying down from the mountain rock like an ape, three scurrying and two jumps and running in front of him, this is a soldier who went to investigate the situation, strong in martial arts, especially as light as a swallow.

"Report to the general, the number of people who handed over the castle is still a hundred, and a group of three is on duty, but now only two groups are patrolling, and the rest are sleeping soundly."

"I see." Li Guozhen beckoned, and his old partner, that is, the Qiang people, stepped forward to listen to the order, and first wished Ren Guoyi Duwei, who was still his lieutenant.

Li Guozhen ordered him: "I will personally lead three hundred brothers to seize the fort, and you will bring others to answer for me." ”

"Yes!"

Li Guozhen was about to set off, when suddenly there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves in the distance, and he immediately heard that about five or six horsemen were rushing towards him.

"General, it seems to be a Tibetan messenger." A sentry from the top of the hill ran down to report. "Kill them!" As soon as Li Guozhen gave the order, fifty crossbowmen immediately took off the steel crossbows, took out three special crossbow arrows, loaded them, and scattered them on both sides of the road.

These fifty crossbowmen are equivalent to snipers in later generations, all of them have no missing arrows, especially the crossbow arrows they use are also special, there are gunpowder arrows, poison arrows and ordinary armor-piercing arrows, today they use poison arrows, which are boiled with a very powerful poison, and seal their throats with blood, which is especially effective for people and horses in motion, and they don't even have the opportunity to scream.

In a moment the messengers galloped towards them, drawing nearer and nearer, and turning a corner, they appeared fifty paces away, five men in all, all looking intently ahead, not one of them paying attention to the bushes on either side.

"Forty steps, thirty steps, twenty steps.......

With a sharp cry of the night owl, fifty arrows were shot out at the same time, breaking through the air, shooting like lightning at the five Tibetan soldiers, as if they had made an agreement, ten arrows to take one person, shoot people but not horses.

Suddenly there was silence again, the five horses were still running forward, but there was no one on the horse, and at the other end of the canyon was where the Tang army hid the horses, and someone over there would naturally stop the horses.

"General, this is their letter." A soldier searched for letters from the bodies of the Tubo soldiers who had been shot, all five of them were present, and they all sent letters with the same content, and a soldier who knew the Tibetan language read it to Li Guozhen, which was an order written by the Tubo Hexi Governor Xi Zang to the Wuwei guard general Shang Zabu, ordering him to abandon Wuwei and withdraw all the troops to Zhangye.

"General, what do you mean by the Tubo people?" Xianzhu asked with some puzzlement.

"This means that there are not many Tubo troops in Zhangye, and you send someone to send the letter to General He Lou quickly." Li Guozhen immediately waved his hand and ordered: "The first, second and third teams, follow me to take the castle!" ”

The 100,000 troops that followed Zhang Huan's march to Luo were mainly troops stationed in the Hehuang area and the Jiuqu area, and the logistics supply of the army was set up in Baigu City.

The topography of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is high in the south and low in the north, the high altitude makes the Tibetan have a natural defense, the strong altitude sickness and the difficult distance make it difficult for most of the army to reach the center of the Tibetan region, in fact, if there is no supply from the Jiuqu region, the Tibetan army has reached the edge of the river and has been strong, and it is simply unable to compete with the Tang army.

It's already September, if Zhang Huan's army can really cross the plateau and reach Luo, it will already be December, in the ice and snow under the ground, the logistics supply has long been cut off, even if the Tang army has experienced plateau training, no matter how many people there are, they can't compete with the Tubo people who have lived here for generations on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the strong altitude sickness is enough to consume most of the people's physical strength, just like the Tubo people can't fight with the Jianghuai people in the big river.

In fact, Zhang Huan did not plan to expedition to Luo at all, he led the army to the south with great fanfare, but it was just a false shot.