"Where did this Tang Army come from? How did it come from behind us? When Xue Yang was preparing to attack this Tibetan mercenary, the other party's big leader Sang Po also felt inexplicable, he originally planned to enter Khotan from here to see if he could take advantage of the winter to grab some supplies or something. Although their mercenary army is equivalent to semi-official, many of the middle and lower classes are the children of the nobles of the Ali royal family or the troops sent by the powerful Tibetan military to fight the autumn wind. However, the losses in the previous battle were too great, and more than 30,000 troops were almost annihilated by the Tiance Army in the first battle. After coming back, he finally collected some Tibetan bandits and robbers and gathered more than 10,000 people, but before he could train and integrate, he was bumped into by Xue Yang.

"Boss, what are we going to do? Forget it if we don't withdraw, no matter how this Tiance army appears in our Tibetan area, but the Tiance army, I think it's better to make less trouble. Standing next to Sanpo was one of his subordinates who had escaped death with him last time, and his beard swaying in the wind made his words at this time blown by the cold wind, but the fear and fear reached Sanpo's ears accurately.

"I'm afraid it's too late, you see that the other side has already set up a battle formation, and the troops on both wings have begun to outflank us." Sang Po shook his head and smiled bitterly, and then suddenly his voice became high-pitched, "Cangmu, you damn guy, hurry up and mobilize all your subordinates, let's not fight with them, go around the valley on the right." ”

However, Sang Po obviously underestimated the speed of Xue Yang and Xu Ying, and almost at the same time as Xue Yang gave the order, Li Yang's 15th Battalion, which had caught up from the rear, quickly occupied the position of the frontal battlefield, so that the mountain battalion and the 3rd Battalion quickly formed a huge encirclement for the left and right flanks, and began to outflank Sang Po's mercenaries from afar. And Li Yang's troops attacked as they advanced. The five-round reload of the new rifle and the essence of the breech gun determined the persistence and intensity of fire. Therefore, at this time, the Third Corps began to practice new tactics while deploying, and used a dense drum formation to bring into play the 33 tactics pirated by Li Xuanqing. Although the three-three tactics do not look as spectacular as the three-stage tactics, their firepower density is not inferior at all, and the soldiers cover each other in the process of running, and the tactical action of shooting on the ground also makes the gradually surrounded Tibetan mercenaries have little room to fight back. After the gunfire, countless Tibetan people and horses were knocked to the ground, and countless bullets erupted into bloody flowers, causing lives to quickly wither on this snowy plateau.

"This official rifle is really powerful, our soldiers only need to pull the bolt to shoot again without firing once, this is simply a supreme artifact for killing." Xue Yang and Xu Ying handed over their troops to Li Yang's command, and the two climbed a nearby high slope and pointed at the battle ahead. Xu Ying was amazed and amazed by the power of the Chinese formal rifle, and he wished that he could personally lead the charge in person, which was enjoyable.

"It's a lot more powerful, but the consumption of bullets is too great, and although we have adopted a new tactic, it is no longer the previous volley of fire, but the shorter the interval between the fighters firing, the greater the logistical pressure on us." Xue Yang shook his head, rubbed his frozen red cheeks and sighed: "That's why I sincerely admire the emperor and come up with a transportation killer like a train, otherwise we can't afford such a large consumption by relying on our people to carry horses." Moreover, it will seriously limit the range of our army that can advance and reach, thus shortening the pace of the empire's expansion. ”

"Yes, when we came, the railway line in the northwest was about to be repaired to Huqiu Pass, and out of Huqiu Pass is Ganzhou, and at most one year the northwest sandbar side will be able to open to traffic, and then a large number of materials in the Central Plains will be able to rely on trains to transport to the northwest front, and then Wan Dashuai will definitely fight more smoothly." Xu Ying nodded and said with a smile: "It's just that we are afraid that we will not be able to get support from the rear for a long time, and this little ammunition on hand can still be saved." After Xu Ying finished speaking, he asked the captain of the personal guard behind him to blow the charge horn, and ordered the entire Third Corps to charge, preparing to end the battle quickly. Xue Yang did not stop Xu Ying's movements, in fact, although Xue Yang was not at ease when he was leaving, he carried two more bases on the basis of the original ammunition again, and almost all the combat and non-combatants carried the ammunition boxes all the way over the mountains and mountains. But he was still worried, so almost as soon as the battle began, Xue Yang asked Li Yang to warn the generals of the various departments to save bullets as much as possible, and ordered that mortars should not be used without a signal from the headquarters. Therefore, the third corps used grenades as close support weapons in addition to rifles in its hands on the way to prevent the Tibetan mercenaries from taking advantage of the cavalry advantage to launch a counter-charge and escape from the encirclement.

However, although there is no mortar such as artillery, the perverted marching speed of the Third Corps effectively makes up for the lack of firepower, which is almost comparable to the cavalry in a short distance, so that those Tubo people who suddenly meet have no time to react to be surrounded, and as soon as the offensive signal from Li Yang's side is launched, the various divisions began to advance into the inner circle layer by layer like a noose, cutting off the retreat of Sangpo, and the Tubo people who were blocked in the encirclement attacked the position of the Third Corps several times. Attempts to use the speed and impact of the cavalry group's charge to open the breach were interrupted by the dense attack of the Third Corps, and the soldiers of the Third Corps almost never got up when attacking, and the Tubo who tried to break through in front of them to launch a cavalry shot were also scattered, and the large number of casualties made the rabble no longer able to support it, and quickly collapsed after two quarters of an hour of the battle, and the remaining thousands of Tibetan mercenaries began to scatter like headless flies, ready to find a way out and escape on their own.

"Order the departments to start capturing prisoners, and let's find some free grooms." Li Yang asked the people behind him to immediately send a signal to start grabbing prisoners all over the ground, so that the gunfire began to gradually dissipate. However, Sang Po apparently did not have the good fortune of the previous time, and after being captured, he tried to break free and was beheaded by a soldier of the Tiance Army as an ordinary prisoner. As soon as the leader died, the last spirit of this mercenary force quickly dissipated, and one by one they became honest, and they no longer dared to have other thoughts.

And Biaozi, who had been by Li Yang's side before, also got the information he wanted after interrogating several leaders at this time, walked up to Xue Yang and said: "It seems that this group of mercenaries is not simple, there is actually the shadow of the Tubo military in it, no wonder the strength is so strong, last time I dared to go to the sandbar to fish in troubled waters." This time I actually plan to go to Khotan, and I am worried that the Tibetan side also has plans to do something about Khotan. ”

Biaozi's words made Xue Yang's face froze, he only had 30,000 people, and after entering Khotan, he not only had to face the internal resistance forces in Khotan, but also faced opponents from all sides, and the difficulty was really unusual. And the most important thing is that his side also needs to cooperate with the strategic deployment in the east, at least until Cao Rengui takes the bait and successfully sends troops to attack the sandbank. Moreover, after the banner is raised, it is necessary to quickly calm the situation in Khotan, so as to suppress the covetousness of the surrounding enemies.

"Go and tell everyone, don't clean up the battlefield, except for food and war horses, everything else is thrown in place, don't clean up the corpses of those enemies, let's move forward immediately." After Xue Yang thought about it, he asked Xu Ying to go to pass the order immediately, and he took Biao Zi and his party to quickly go forward. Although this battle was not long, the soldiers of the Third Corps were very physically exhausted after a month of difficult trekking, and many soldiers showed fatigue after this battle, so Li Yang planned to find a place to camp and rest temporarily, and then continue to move forward through the mountains. The mountains in the green ridge area between Khotan and Tubo are complex, the altitude is high and the mountains are continuous, except for a few trails that the Tubo people have walked out of the Xuanyingwei probed, there is really no other road, and it is still the northwest of the harsh winter at this time, and it is too difficult to strengthen the march with wind and snow.

"What's wrong? Worried about the situation on the Khotanese side? "After marching for half an hour, the 3rd Corps found a leeward place and set up camp, and the whole army moved into repairs. Up to now, the weight of grain and grass brought by the army's logistics is also about to bottom out, if it weren't for the fact that he would be able to arrive in Khotan after reading the western section of the Ali Mountains, and Xuan Yingwei secretly collected some grain and grass in several oases in the south of Khotan, it is estimated that Xue Yang would have begun to worry about the problem of food. But today, fortunately, these thousands of horses were killed in the battle just now, and a large amount of horse meat was dragged to the camp by those captives, and then processed by the logistics personnel and then put into a cauldron to boil. After Xu Ying arranged all this, he entered the tent and saw Xue Yang sitting alone in front of the map in a daze, knowing that he was worried about the situation on Khotan's side, he stepped forward and said: "Actually, our current speed should have reached the requirements, and we can enter Khotan on time, Khotan's national capital Khotan City is in the northeast, and it will not be much of a problem to rush over according to the speed of our march." The question now is how long the Flying Eagle Brigade will be able to block the border once we enter Khotan, and if their intelligence blocking mission can be completed, then I don't think we will be discovered by Cao Rengui on Khotan's side. As long as he did not get accurate information from Khotan, then he could be prompted to take action against Shazhou as soon as possible. I have just asked Biao Zi to arrange for Xuan Yingwei's people to urgently deliver the news to Qin Kong and Su Xiaohu on the Khotan side, so that they can prepare as soon as possible. Although Xu Ying didn't know the overall battle plan of the Western Expeditionary Army, he guessed through the information he had so far, but what he didn't expect was that the Shi Jianjiao Corps that set out from Yizhou at this moment had already entered the eastern region of the Anxi Uighurs after the deliberate release of the Tiance Army, and they would be able to reach the Shicheng area in a few days. And according to the news from within Xuanyingwei, Cao Rengui's side has also been prepared, after hastily inserting the first batch of people gathered from Khotan into the previous troops, and then after breaking up and reorganizing, Cao Rengui also held the idea of using small-scale combat training to attack from Boxian Town to the east, planning to watch while fighting, and then wait for the arrival of the descendants of Zhaowu Jiu surnamed recruited in Shule and other places to enhance their strength. And after getting Cao Rengui's move, Zhao Si directly used Xunying to send a message to Qinkong, asking him to immediately send the Flying Eagle Brigade, led by Su Xiaohu himself, to the border between Khotan and Anxi, strictly block the border, and intercept and kill anyone who transmits information to Boxian Town. Although Qin Kong, who had disrupted his plan, had no way to use Su Xiaohu to make a backup plan, he also received a message from Biaozi later, and the timely arrival of the Third Corps also made him let go of the last worry in his heart, and began to wholeheartedly control the situation in Khotan, and began to fool the Buddhist temple in southern Khotan to set out the hidden grain and grass locations in the temple, and then pass it to Biaozi.

"I think Xuan Yingwei must be prepared, and once he knows where we are, he will definitely arrange it in advance. I'm not worried about this, I'm just worried about what we should do if the Safarid dynasty in southern Khotan, as the chief of staff said, sends troops to attack, and Cao Rengui retreats from the east into Khotan. Brother, don't forget, although the Dashuai confronted the Uighurs at Yizhou and the Uighurs in Gaochang to contain most of the main forces of the two Uighurs, the Anxi Uighurs still had a good strength to attack from the north on the Shule side. Xue Yang said while making a gesture on the map: "The location of Khotan is very important, taking Khotan is equivalent to getting the Green Ridge, relying on the natural danger of the Green Ridge can establish a solid rear base, if I am the Anxi Uighur Khan, I will definitely not let go of this place, taking Khotan is equivalent to providing a huge rear base for myself, and when the time comes, relying on the two places of Yizhou and Boxian Town to confront our army, it will inevitably make our army fall into a tug-of-war with the other party, and it is a taboo for soldiers to fortify the city. The opponent's cavalry can sneak attack the main force of our western expeditionary army at any time, and it will inevitably put our army into an extremely passive situation at that time. ”

"But we only have an army of 30,000, and even if one person is used as two people, we can't guard against the siege on three sides." Xu Ying scratched her head and smiled bitterly: "Is there any other way?" ”

"There is a solution, but it runs counter to our previous plan to capture Tibet and eliminate Tibet." Xue Yang shook his head and said: "Before leaving, the chief of staff said that after we finish solving the problem of the convergence of Khotan and the Western Expeditionary Army, we will reflexively attack Tubo and cooperate with the Southwest Army to completely destroy Tubo." If the implementation of other plans will inevitably lead to a change in the overall strategy, I am afraid that the General Staff may not agree to it, and we have no decisive power when it comes to strategic adjustment. Xue Yang said with a wry smile. In fact, the establishment of their Third Corps does not belong to the sequence of the Western Expeditionary Army, but belongs to the Fifth Army, which has not yet been made public, and is the main force in the northern battle to attack the theater. The plan for the Tibetan area was reported to Li Xuanqing for approval by the General Staff before the Imperial Conference. It may even affect the Fifth Army's plan to march into Tibet from the southwest, which is why Xue Yang hesitated.

"You tell me first, what do we total? Maybe there's the best of both worlds? Xu Ying was a little unwilling, he didn't react to Xue Yang's thoughts for a while, so he couldn't help but urge. But with Xue Yang's narration, Xu Ying's face began to change suddenly.