Over the next few days, both armies were on the defensive.

In the previous battle, the Tibetan army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, while the Tang army's casualties were similar, and neither side took advantage.

The Tibetan army marched to the ancient town the next day.

The ancient town is a town thirty miles away from Liangzhou City, and it is also the largest town in Liangzhou except Liangzhou City. It was usually a place where the Tang Dynasty could garrison troops, but now it is occupied by the Tibetan army.

Not far from the ancient town, there is also a Zhangyi Town, these two towns and Liangzhou City form horns with each other, which is a line of defense for Liangzhou to defend against Tibet.

However, now this line of defense has been taken by the Tibetan army. With the addition of the Tibetan garrisons in these two places, the number of the Tibetan army is about 120,000, while the Tang army is currently only more than 70,000.

However, the Tang army is currently on the defensive, and it is very difficult to attack the city in ancient times, if it is not for the strength of the enemy several times, it is basically a very difficult thing to attack the city. Now, the Tang army has more than enough to defend the city, and the counterattack is insufficient, and the two sides are in a state of stalemate.

Li Shan is not in a hurry, he is now at ease to make thunderbolts, as for whether to make cannons, Li Shan also thought about it, and put forward similar opinions to the Ministry of Industry when he was in Chang'an.

However, because the development of gunpowder had just begun, Li Shan was not good at firearms, and he had no idea where to start.

Fortunately, raw materials are not a problem, Gansu, Henan, Sichuan are provinces rich in natural sulfur, as for saltpeter, in Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Hunan, Sichuan and other places are also produced.

In ancient times, there was not much need for these two items, and most of them were used as medicinal materials, or as alchemists by Taoist priests.

And now what Li Shan has to do is to mine a large number of raw materials first, and the two thousand gold guards brought by Xue Wei are mainly used to engage in part of the work.

Due to the secrecy of the matter, it is more reassuring that only the emperor's personal soldiers can do these tasks.

As for the shell made by the blacksmith, I will leave it to the master.

During this time, Li Shan concentrated on finding the source of the mine, because then carried out secret mining.

Due to the huge amount of use this time, it was not available in pharmacies, so Li Shan personally took people to various places in Liangzhou to find mineral sources. In order to make gunpowder as soon as possible. As long as the thunder can be manufactured in batches, then the Tubo army will definitely not be able to compete with the Tang army.

This is the gap between cold weapons and firearms.

Li Jingxuan didn't have much time to pay attention to Li Shan, firstly, what Li Shan did was very secret, and it was ordered by the emperor to do it, Li Jingxuan did not dare to interfere too much, and secondly, he had to seize the time to find a way to deal with the Tubo army. He was still thinking about how to defeat the Tubo army before Li Shan made a thunderbolt.

A large number of informants and scouts are constantly being sent out in order to obtain favorable information.

At this time, the same thing was going on in the ancient town.

"Marshal, now that the reinforcements from Liangzhou City have arrived, it will be even more difficult to attack the city. If it goes on for a long time. I'm afraid we can't support our food and grass. ”

The Tubo Marshal also thought about this matter again, he had the opportunity to win Liangzhou City in one fell swoop, but what he was thinking about was not how many cities he would take. For war, the most effective annihilation of the enemy's living forces is the most important thing.

He was very confident in his calculations, and in the battle of Liangzhou, he could have taken down the enemy defenders and reinforcements in one fell swoop. But I didn't expect it to be a miscalculation, who is that young man who was born out of nowhere? He didn't mention this person in his previous information, it seems that he was newly sent, but he didn't expect that there would be such a brave person in the Tang army.

And then there's the thunder. In the past two days, he has received a lot of information sent back by spies, but he knows very little about the thunder. According to the descriptions of the soldiers present at the time, it seemed to be an extremely powerful missile, much more powerful than a trebuchet. And it seems to be more convenient.

However, it seems that it cannot be mass-produced yet, and if they have a large number of thunderbolts, they will definitely use them in the first meeting, not just for defense. But there's no guarantee that they won't be able to create more thunderbolts. The thought of such a tricky thing made him a little irritable.

In the short term, the Tang army should not use a large number of thunderbolts, and must take Liangzhou City before then. Maybe we can find a way to make the thunderbolt, and such a thing must be used by us.

Li Jingxuan, who is so happy and has no self-knowledge, seems to have to start from his side.

After thinking about it for a long time, the Tubo marshal began to give orders: "Order Da Langba to go to Liangzhou City every day to call for battle, but don't attack the city, lead them out." In addition, the towns around the military road were sent to buy grain, and the noise was more noisy. When the news was released, it was said that the Tubo army was short of grain and grass, and it was collecting grain from near Dafeichuan to be transported to the ancient town. ”

Dafeichuan is the place of Tuyuhun, the boundary of Qinghai, and the junction of the border of Tubo and Liangzhou.

Liangzhou City,

General Li Jingxuan discussed with his master again, "Now that Li Shan is no longer in Liangzhou City, we have a chance to deal with the Tubo army." Do the spies have any information in the past two days? ”

"General, the spies came to report that the Tibetan army seems to be running out of food and grass now. When we withdrew from the ancient town, all the grain and grass had been transferred to Liangzhou City, so if the grain and grass of the Tubo army had not been prepared before, it would definitely not last long. As long as we hold on for ten days and half a month, the Tubo army will naturally be self-defeating. ”

Li Jingxuan was overjoyed in his heart, waved his hand and said: "You are wrong, we can't just blindly stick to it." If the Tibetan army is short of grain and grass, they will definitely transfer grain and grass from Dafeichuan. And this is the only way for grain and grass to pass. Li Jingxuan pointed to Zhang Yizhen on the map.

The small walls of Zhangyi Town are low, easy to attack and difficult to defend, but it is indeed the only way for Tubo to march into Liangzhou. If the grain and grass want to be transported to the ancient town, it will definitely pass through Zhangyi Town,

"What does the general mean?"

"As long as we find the right time, when their grain and grass arrive, we can lead 20,000 cavalry to directly attack their grain and grass army and burn their grain and grass. At present, there are only more than 10,000 defenders in Zhang Yizhen, and they can't help us at all. Once their food and grass are cut off, the Tibetan army will definitely be in turmoil, and they can be defeated in one fell swoop. Li Jingxuan said confidently.

On the other side,

Li Shan and a team of people were mining in the mountains, "My lord, look. Gao Xianzhi came to Li Shan with the ore that had just been mined.

Li Shan looked at a pale yellow stone in Gao Xianzhi's hand and said with a smile: "That's it, finally the emperor lives up to his wishes." Alright, tell the sergeants to step up the mining, we need a lot of sulfur. ”

Li Shan looked into the distance, Shen Shixing's side should also be able to find saltpeter mines. As long as these two things are found, the defeat of the Tibetan army will be just around the corner. (To be continued.) )