On the afternoon of the fifth day of the ninth lunar month, Zhao Ziliang led his army to Maratang and joined Duan Xiushi's army. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Duan Xiushi led his generals to greet him, "Congratulations to the king!" ”

Zhao Ziliang stopped and raised his hand and said, "General Duan and the generals are exempt, let's go into Maratang!" ”

"Yes, the ministers have prepared wine and meat to reward the generals and soldiers, the king, please!"

The army entered the Malatang in turn, which is located at the bend of the river, the land is fertile, the water and grass are abundant, the Malathang people grow barley, graze cattle, sheep and horses, and there are stone houses and wooden houses everywhere, and there are still no city walls.

Duan Xiushi and others accompanied Zhao Ziliang and introduced: "There are more than 13,000 people from Maratang here, and 1,500 people from Qianhu have been defeated by us, more than 600 people have been killed, and more than 800 people have surrendered!" Qusanda is on the north bank of the Yalu River, a hundred miles north of here! If our army wants to attack, we must cross the river, and Qusangda's Tubo army is afraid that we will not cross the river easily! ”

Zhao Ziliang squinted his eyes and said, "Since it is not easy for us to cross the river, then we will not cross the river, let them cross the river, how good is it for us to wait for work?" If the left is as follows, there are still Qusangda, Gongtang, and Sidazang garrisons, we don't have to be too anxious, and the altitude here is already more than 13,000 feet, and the soldiers and war horses have already felt breathing difficulties when marching, we must slow down and give the soldiers and war horses time to adapt! ”

Duan Xiushi agreed: "Yes, what the king said is very true!" ”

After the army set up camp, Zhao Ziliang set up the Chinese army's tent in the Thousand Households in Malatang, which is the largest house in the whole Malatang, and the decoration is also the best, spacious and bright.

The soldiers had dinner early to rest, and Zhao Ziliang convened the officers and men of the army to discuss the matter after inspecting the garrison and patrol affairs.

Zhao Ziliang sat on the main seat and said to the generals and officials: "Next, we will capture the two places of Gongtang and Sidazang, and after capturing these two places, let the soldiers rest, at most ten days, at least five days, in short, let the soldiers fully adapt to the altitude and climate here, and then decide on the future march route and strategy!" Which general is willing to lead his troops to capture Gongtang and Sidazang? ”

When the generals heard this, they all stood up and expressed their willingness to lead the troops, but they all refused to give in to each other, and even quarreled.

Zhao Ziliang looked at the generals, his eyes fell on Xuanyi, and said: "Xuanyi, you lead five thousand veterans and three thousand mountain soldiers to capture Gongtang and Sidazang, and after completing the combat mission, you will be stationed on the spot, if the Tubo army surrenders, surrender them, and if you can recruit local Tubo youths, try to recruit as much as possible, we need more servant troops to assist in the battle!" ”

"Yes, my lord! Wechen takes the order! Xuan stood up with joy and hugged his fists in agreement. According to Zhao Ziliang's previous strategic concept, after the capture of the left and the lower divisions, the army will be divided into two parts, the main army will march east along the Yalu River to capture the surrounding Tibetan settlements along both sides of the river, and the partial division will march upstream along the Yalu River to capture the Zhangxiong, Yangtong, Maga and other areas under the jurisdiction of the left and the above, until it borders with Dabolu, and the men and horses who captured Gongtang and Sidazang are very likely to undertake the task of attacking the left and the above.

Seeing that this errand was snatched away by Xuanyi, the generals all retreated to the side.

Zhao Ziliang said: "So far, our grain and grass are quite sufficient, but the soldiers on the march to fight eat a lot, the consumption is also large, and the loss on the way from the country is quite large, this king thinks about it, in addition to the necessary ordnance and equipment needs to be transported from Xinjing, part of the grain and grass and other military materials are transported from Tianzhu, and the other part is purchased or exchanged with the local Tubo people on the spot, especially grain, lamp oil, wool, fur and so on, many Tubo people need gold and silver, We can exchange the seized cattle, sheep and other things with them, or we can send a message to the merchants in China to sell daily necessities to do business with them, and we can buy them from the merchants! ”

Zheng San stood up and arched his hand: "King, our military can do business with the local Tubo people, so why should we leave it to the businessmen?" Isn't this for nothing to let them make money? ”

Zhao Ziliang said with a smile: "Of course, this king's decision is considered. Prime Minister, the local people may not necessarily believe that the military will be honest, after all, for them, we are invaders! Would you trust an outsider who broke into your home? Secondly, the military's transportation capacity can bear such a large volume, and the merchants will do this, as long as they can make money, the merchants will try to increase the transportation capacity and transport more goods from the country of Western Qin; Again, if the military were to do this, it would require a lot of manpower, which would be time-consuming and labor-intensive! And leave it to the businessmen to do it, we only need to set up a purchase station in a fixed location, and the businessmen will transport the materials we need, and the businessmen save trouble and effort, although they make money from the military, but they also have to pay taxes to the government! When commerce and trade are developed, the treasury will be full, and agricultural income alone will not be able to fill the treasury, nor can it meet our financial needs! ”

Zheng San hugged his fists and said: "Yes, the minister will let the logistics transport team send the news back later, and let the merchants quickly transport the goods that the people of Tubo need."

The head of the servant army was supplemented by more than 800 people, and he already had 2,300 servant troops under his command, all of whom were Tibetan soldiers who had received military training in Tibet, although they came from different places, but after all, they all received the same military training, and their battles were still good.

In the next few days, the main army of the Western Qin Army rested and adapted to the climate and terrain in Malatang. Zamu organized his army of more than 2,300 servants to reorganize and train, reorganized them, replaced the centurion and the commander of the 500, and trained them again.

Xuanyi was ordered to take 5,000 veterans and 3,000 mountain soldiers to attack Gongtang and Sidazang, Sidazang is the capital of Gongtang, since many years ago Tubo Zampu was killed by Zhao Ziliang with an arrow, Tubo fell into civil strife, Zampu's brothers and uncles cut the land in all parts of Tubo as the king, and in Gongtang this position there is a Zampu brother cut the land and called the king, called the Gongtang Dynasty, Gongtang is the meaning of the flat land in the middle, that is, this place is located in the middle of the snow mountain, here is also called Mangyu, is the meaning of the land of cream.

Further north, the Nari region, near Beitianzhu and Xiaobolu, is now occupied by a brother of the former Tibetan Zampu called the Guge Dynasty, where the former Zhangzhung Ancient Kingdom was located. The Guge Dynasty had nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses, while the Gongtang Dynasty had only about 10,000 soldiers and horses.

After the army rested in Malatang for five days, the soldiers had basically adapted to the climate, terrain and altitude here, and no one had symptoms such as chest tightness and shortness of breath, dizziness and dizziness, Zhao Ziliang immediately ordered the army to advance to the unexpected Yalu River a hundred miles to the north.

During the march, Xuanyi sent people to deliver good news from the Gongtang area.

"Report to the king, the West Route Army fought with the army of the King of Gongtang in the east of Gongtang, defeated the army of the King of Gongtang in one fell swoop, killed more than 4,000 people, captured more than 3,000 people, the King of Gongtang led the remnants to retreat to Sidazang, our army is continuing to advance to the west and northwest, and has approached Sidazang a few days ago!"

Zhao Ziliang took the good news and looked at it, handed it to the noble man beside him, and instructed the soldiers who reported the news: "You go back and tell Xuanyi, let him not be greedy for merit, and be steady!" If there's a war, send someone to report it immediately! ”

"Yes, King!"

At noon on September 12, Zhao Ziliang led the Western Qin army to arrive at a distance of thirty miles near the Yalu River, and the scout battalion in front sent a probe to report to the horse: "King, the Tubo army of Qusangda has sent 5,000 cavalry to cross the Yalu River, and is currently camping on the bank of the south of the Yangtze River, as if waiting for our army to fight!" ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and instructed Chen Qing: "Order the whole army, slow down the march and approach the Tubo army camp, and the scout camp will send someone to report the movement of the Tubo army at any time!" ”

"Yes, King!"

With Zhao Ziliang's order, the Western Qin army slowly approached the Tubo army by the river, and the scout posts of the Tubo army also seemed to have discovered the actions of the Western Qin army, and the news quickly spread back to the Tubo army camp, and the Tubo army in the camp immediately began to act.

After the Tubo army was ready to face the battle, Zhao Ziliang ordered the army to camp twenty miles away from the Tubo army's camp, with some soldiers and horses responsible for guarding, and others quickly setting up camp.

This will be the second time that the Western Qin army has engaged in a head-to-head battle with the Tubo army since it entered Tibet, and Qu Sanda's Tubo army may not know that the Western Qin army has sent a partial division to attack the Gongtang Dynasty, even if they know it, they will not pay attention to it, and now everyone is doing their own thing, and no one can take care of anyone's affairs.

The scouts of the Tubo army found that the Western Qin army was camping and had special soldiers and horses to be on guard, and immediately transmitted the news back to the camp, and the Tubo generals hesitated for a moment after learning of the situation and immediately ordered the soldiers to eat and drink enough to prepare for the battle with the Western Qin army in the afternoon.

After the Western Qin set up the camp, he also began to make a fire to make food, after a lunch, followed by an hour's rest, before the end of the afternoon, Zhao Ziliang left 3,000 infantry to guard the camp, and led all the cavalry and servant army to approach the camp of the Tubo army, and the Tubo army then dispatched the whole army, and the 5,000 army marched to the West Qin army.

Half an hour later, the two armies finally met, halted two miles apart, and began to line up their own troops.

Zhao Ziliang sat on horseback and observed the layout of the Tubo army's military formation, and beckoned to the side, "Come on, call Zamu over!" ”

"Yes, King!"

Zamu quickly rode over and saluted Zhao Ziliang; "See the King!"

Zhao Ziliang pointed to the Tubo army formation with a horsewhip and said: "Zhamu, this king has given you a combat mission to attack from the right flank of the Tubo army with your people, do you dare?" ”

Zhamu looked at it and found that the right flank of the Tubo army was only 1,500 horsemen, and he immediately agreed: "Why don't you dare to do this? Please watch the villain's performance! ”

"Fight hard, if you win, this king will be rewarded!"

"Yes, King!"