readx; Since the late June Longyou Tang Army officially declared war, the battle of the Eastern Front is like a bamboo, Geshuhan pressed on the whole line, the troops are divided into two routes, one route is the general Wang Rare led 20,000 Tang troops to attack Wuhai, which is an important pastoral area of the Tubo people, living in a large number of herdsmen, and stationed 5,000 Tubo troops, the Tang army with many defeats, defeated the Wuhai Tubo army in one fell swoop, beheaded more than 4,000 people, tens of thousands of Tibetan men and women were captured by the Tang army, and captured 400,000 cattle and sheep. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

And Geshuhan personally led 50,000 troops to attack the Jiuqu area, here was originally the territory of Tuyuhun, is an important grain production area of the Tubo Plateau, after Tuyuhun was annexed by Tubo, it also became the logistics base of the Tubo army to invade the Tang Dynasty, Tubo gathered 30,000 heavy troops here to defend, here is also the focus of Geshuhan's attack, although the Tang army is superior in numbers, but in the plateau fighting, the personal ability of the Han people is not as good as the Tubo people, the two sides fought a few battles, each has a victory or defeat, and is in a stalemate for a while.

A battle had just ended, and both sides retreated, and in the distance was the Tubo Hongji City, which fought against the city and once again thwarted the Tang army's plan to capture Hongji City.

The remnant sun is like blood, the red sunset is sprinkled on the plateau and valley, on the gravel beach by the hillside and the riverside, there are thousands of dead Tang soldiers, there are thousands of people everywhere, there are pools of dazzling blood everywhere, the undead war horses are still lying on the ground and twitching, and the soldiers who died in battle are lying on the ground, holding swords, arrows and shields in their hands, sleeping in this cold land.

The corpses of the Tubo soldiers had been carried away, and hundreds of Tuyuhun old men hired by the Tang Army were struggling to carry the corpses of the Tang soldiers, and in groups of three, they put a corpse on a stretcher, slowly lifted it, and staggered towards the Tang army's position in the setting sun.

The large camp of the Tang army was stationed on a higher ground, and a simple wall was built with huge stones to prevent the surprise attack of the Tubo cavalry.

On a lookout tower, Ge Shuhan stared at the Hongji City in the distance expressionlessly, and took this city, and half of the Jiuqu region was captured, although the two armies of Tang and Tibet were in a state of stalemate, but Ge Shuhan was confident of winning the battle, at the beginning he found that the strength of the Tubo army was not as much as he imagined, at first he thought it was Dazaru Gong's plan to lure the enemy into depth, lure the Tang army to go deep and then attack the logistics of the Tang army, such as Baishi City and other places, for which he increased the defense of Baishi City, increased the number of troops, and increased the city wall, But after a few days of fighting between the two sides and the constant scout information, he gradually found that the situation was not what he thought, Tubo was indeed insufficient troops, and even Wuhai, their important population gathering place, was captured by the Tang army without much effort, even if Dazarugon lured the enemy deeper, he would not risk it with Jiuqu and Wuhai, Tubo lost food and population, what else did it have?

Ge Shuhan gradually guessed seven or eight points, this may be a problem within the Tibetans, it can be seen from their logistics and material transportation, his scouts found that since the beginning of the war, the Tubo army has not had any materials to transport, all relying on a little bit of resources stored in the Jiuqu region to support it, that is to say, Dazarugon has no backup, just with that little bit of materials, they can't last long.

In order to prevent the Tibetan army from really using the strategy of luring the enemy to go deep, Ge Shuhan implemented the strategy of taking a battalion step by step, laying down a place, consolidating a place, never being greedy for merit, and ensuring the smooth supply of food and other materials to prevent being cut off from support by the Tubo army.

It should be said that his strategy is completely correct so far, although they have not captured Hongji City, but he has mastered the initiative on the battlefield, it is a matter of time before he captures Hongji City, as long as Anxi's Tubo army does not come to attack his rear, then he has ninety percent certainty of winning this battle, and now it seems that Li Qing'an has dragged the Anxi Tubo army, and he cooperates very tacitly.

On the contrary, the Tibetan commander Dazaru Gong was already on fire, and the large-scale attack of the Tang army had actually been expected in advance, but he was helpless when he expected it, and the 200,000 troops of Tubo were gathered in Luo, in the hands of Dalun Nang Xie Dazan, no matter how he sent a letter for help, Nang Xie Dazan just did not send reinforcements, and even did not send weapons tents, so if this continues, Tubo will not only lose the Jiuqu region, but even nearly half of the land will be lost, of course, the Tang army will not adapt to the highland ice field, but what about the population? The Tibetans have lost their most precious population, and their vitality has been greatly damaged, will they still have a chance to rise in the future?

Dazaru Gong is worried, he hates the Tang army to take advantage of the void, but he hates the sac association Dazan for his own selfish interests and misled the country, now he is most worried about the Wuhai side, if the Wuhai side can not hold, the Tang army will take advantage of the south, Jishi Mountain is not guaranteed, Baihai is not guaranteed, they have no way to retreat, now Dazaru Gong is facing a dilemma, whether to hold on to Jiuqu and wait for reinforcements, or to preserve strength, retreat south to Baihai, or directly retreat to Luo, it is impossible to return to Luo, Nangxie Dazan will take the opportunity to kill him, and defending Jiuqu has long been annihilated by the Tang army, If Sagase Dazan really cares about Jiuqu, now he will not have no reinforcements, only to retreat to Baihai to wait for reinforcements, I believe that Sagase Dazan does not want the Tang army to fight Luo.

Dazaru Gong was in a dilemma, the wheat in the Jiuqu area would be ripe in two months, so he gave it to the Tang army for nothing, he was really unwilling in his heart, but he couldn't go if he didn't go, he knew very well in his heart that the five thousand Tubo army would not be able to hold Wuhai no matter what.

Dazaru Gong looked at the direction of Wuhai for a long time, and finally, he made up his mind, and slowly ordered to the left and right: "Pass my order, at the second watch, the whole army will retreat south to Baihai!" ”

In the middle of the night, 20,000 Tubo troops gave up Jiuqu and withdrew to the south, they crossed the Yellow River fifty miles away in the south and retreated in the direction of Baihai.

Ge Shuhan was not in a hurry to go south to Baihai, but built a city, mobilized the army, connected Wuhai and Jiuqu, and ordered the logistics and food resources to be continuously transported to Hongji City, he then visited several major Tuyuhun tribes, promised that the Tang army would protect their property, would not rob them of food and land, and formed a Tuyuhun army of 3,000 people, stationed west of Qinghai, this gesture was actually a tacit approval of the Tuyuhun people's restoration of the country.

It should be said that the strategy of the Tang Dynasty was extremely correct, the Tang army could not garrison the plateau for a long time, and supporting the Tuyuhun people was equivalent to establishing a barrier on the plateau, so that the Tubo people could not directly threaten the security of Longyou.

The attitude of the Tang army was supported by the Tuyuhun people, they drove the Tubo people one after another, and returned the Han slaves to show their sincerity, they formed a self-defense army, and more than a dozen tribal leaders gathered in Jiuqu, and unanimously elected the younger brother of the former Tuyuhun king, Dolde, as the new king of Tuyuhun, and Geshuhan sent people to send the new king of Tuyuhun to Chang'an to make a pilgrimage to Li Longji to discuss the restoration of the country.

At this point, the first step of the Tubo campaign plan has been achieved, the strategic advantage is further tilted towards the Tang Dynasty, in early July, Geshuhan immediately deployed 50,000 troops on the front line of Wuhai, waiting for the opportunity for the final decisive battle.

．．．．．．． Contrary to the smooth progress of the Tang army on the eastern front, the battle on the western front was extremely tragic, and the Khotanese military town was the most important military town south of the Anxi desert.

As soon as the day dawned, the heat wave swept the Gobi land like a flowing fire, although the earth was scorched hot, but the low horn sound was still blown west of Khotan Town, the black pressure of the Tibetan cavalry appeared on the horizon again, the battle has been fought for three days and three nights, nearly 1,000 people were killed and wounded on both sides, although the Tubo army wanted to bypass the Khotanese town several times, but they were discovered by the Tang army scouts, and thus intercepted by the Tang army, in fact, the belonging of Khotanese town is no longer important, even if the Tubo army captures Khotan town, it is useless, The important thing is that the Tibetan army should break through the blockade of the Tang army and go north.

The Tang army still has nearly 3,000 people, in the Tang general Zhang Yongqing led the following formation in the vast Gobi Desert, behind is the yellow sand desert, about two miles away is the Jade River, the river is sparkling and shining in the hot sun, by the convergence of two tributaries originating in the Kunlun Mountains, has been flowing to the depths of the desert, in the winter will be cut off, but in the summer when the water is abundant, the Jade River has not been broken, flowing across the desert, has been flowing into the north of the Red River, it is called the River of Life, along the Jade River can go all the way to the city of Bahuan.

The 3,000 Tang troops lined up in a gun and arrow array on the Gobi Desert, that is, the front was a thousand crossbowmen, and the back was the lancers, and the crossbowmen were actually cavalry, but they did not ride horses for the time being, and lined up in an infantry way, so that they could hold the crossbows and shoot farther.

The Tubo army still has more than 4,000 troops, the strength of the two armies is not much different, the number of the Tubo army is slightly superior, but the weapons are the Tang army's superiority, especially the Tang army's bow and crossbow are extremely sharp, three days of fighting, the Tubo lost 2,000 people, which is twice the Tang army.

The general of the Tibetan army is called Jiazha Sanji, he is about forty years old, and he is also an experienced veteran, especially familiar with the terrain of Anxi, this time the Tubo army is light and fast, each only brought half a month's dry food, and it will take at least half a month to cross the desert, and they have spent five days on the road, that is, their dry food is no longer enough to support them out of the desert, of course, they can kill horses to replenish, but that's it, their dry food is also very tight.

If they could not break through the Tang army's defense line in these two days, or if there were more than 1,000 dead and wounded soldiers, their northern expedition would end in failure.

The Tibetan army was not afraid of heat and cold, and the unusually hot desert climate made them a little unaccustomed to it, and only a moment in the morning could keep them vigorous, and after another hour, they would not be able to endure the scorching heat of the earth, and their combat effectiveness would drop sharply.

Jiazha Sanji silently looked at the Yuhe River in the distance, and held a breath in his heart, he had to rush over today no matter what.

"Kill!" He roared, and more than 4,000 Tibetan cavalry launched, they raised their shields, their horses galloped, rolled up the rolling yellow sand, and the murderous aura filled the Gobi, sweeping towards the Tang army.

The Tang army was in full swing, and Zhang Yongqing ordered in a hoarse voice: "Crossbowmen prepare!" ”

A thousand Tang cavalry has dismounted, everyone holds a Tang crossbow, back crossbow quiver, they lined up in three rows, under the order of Zhang Yongqing, a few steps forward to open the distance, the range of the Tang army's hard crossbow is about two hundred steps, and the effective killing range is one hundred and twenty steps, when the Tubo army rushes close to thirty steps, the crossbowman will retreat and mount the horse, and the cavalry behind will take over, within the ninety steps of the Tubo army rushing into the killing range, the general soldiers can send two arrows, and the trained crossbowmen can send three arrows, the Bahuan battalion responsible for intercepting the Tubo army are veterans, After strict training, they can send three arrows, that is, a total of 3,000 arrows, plus the two thousand cavalry in the back row are equipped with bows and arrows, they can also shoot a round in a short time, so that in fact, five thousand arrows are shot, and the threat to the Tubo army is great, but the strength of the bow and arrow is not enough, and it can't shoot through the shield of the Tubo army, and most of the time it can only hurt the horse, while the crossbow arrow is different, it can penetrate the shield of the Tubo army.

In the blink of an eye, the Tubo cavalry rushed into the firing range, a thousand crossbowmen brushed the ground to raise the Tang crossbow, at a 30-degree angle upward, the enemy army is getting closer and closer, the yellow sand fills the world, covering the sky, the figure of the Tubo army has been completely invisible, only to hear a drum, the first row of Tang army's three hundred and thirty arrows rose into the air, whistling to the diffuse yellow sand, immediately the first row of arrows, the second row of shots, followed by the third row of shots, a round of three rows of arrows, a thousand crossbow arrows like an arrow net weaved, overwhelmingly shot at the Tubo cavalry.

Suddenly there were screams in the yellow sand, and there were constantly people with arrows in their horses, the horses fell, and the cavalry rolled out, and the powerful crossbow arrows penetrated the wooden shields in the hands of the Tubo people, and shot into the faces and chests of the cavalry, but the Tubo people had already killed the red eyes, regardless of life and death, and rushed on their horses, at this time the bows and arrows of the Tang cavalry also followed out, the arrows were like rain, the arrows were like flying locusts, and a cruel bloody battle was generated.

Five thousand arrows shot over more than 600 people, the Tubo cavalry swept in, and the Tang cavalry also raised their guns to each other, getting closer and closer, and the two sides even saw the anger on each other's faces clearly, but the faces of the soldiers in the front changed in an instant, and they became terrified, but they couldn't stop, only to see them close their eyes in despair amid screams.

In an instant, there was a loud bang, and the two armies collided, and countless people at the front died tragically in this collision, their bodies shattered, and their helmets and broken spears flew into the sky, and a fierce battle began.

War horses catch and fight, guns and bayonets split, shouting and killing, screams, the click of bones being cut off, and the gurgling of the throat before death, one after another, a Tibetan centurion is fierce and abnormal, he holds a thirty-pound sword in his hand and fights, and he is fighting against a young Tang army, inexperienced, he grabbed the war horse, backhanded a sword, and cut the Tang soldiers into two sections, the internal organs rolled out, and the blood arrow spurted out of the zhang.

Another burly Tang army commander was furious, he rushed silently, stabbed from behind, the force was strong, and a shot pierced the chain mail of the Tubo centurion, the tip of the gun leaked through the chest, Tang General roared and raised him high in the air, the Tubo centurion turned his back and glared at Tang Jiang, and used his last strength to chew his tongue and spray at the person who killed him.

The sun rises higher and higher, the blazing sun sprays the flames to the ground, as if the earth is scorched and melted, the heat wave is soaring, people seem to be in a steamer, it is breathless, on the Gobi Desert, the fierce battle between the two armies is still continuing, but the physical strength of both sides is rapidly declining, sweat and blood are mixed, many people faint due to excessive physical exhaustion, but both armies have lost their command, and they can't get rid of each other in the melee, and they don't know when this battle will end, maybe they have to fight until everyone faints.

But at this moment, a loud horn suddenly sounded in the distance, the horn sound was like a gust of wind blowing away the pressing heat wave, but also blowing the hearts of the Tubo people, only to see a thousands of Tang cavalry galloping towards this side, a big flag embroidered with the word 'Shule', this is Shule's Tang army arrived.

The morale of the Tibetan army completely collapsed, they no longer had the fighting spirit, they scattered and fled, and Shang Xi Dongzan's plot to sneak attack the hinterland of Anxi was completely shattered.

．．．．．．．．． The battle at Khotan was only a small episode, but the battle that really decided the pattern of the Western Front was unfolded in the steppe on the banks of Sabitze.

Sabite's 15,000 Tubo army was cut off by the Changqing army to cut off the road to the east, 50,000 Tang troops one east and one west, blocking the Tubo army in the Sabize Basin, the Tang army was not in a hurry to attack, Li Qing'an knew that most of the cattle and sheep in Sabize had been transferred, and the remaining cattle and sheep were only enough for the Tubo army and people to survive for half a month, he used the method of encirclement to slowly consume its morale, and after ten days of siege, the Tubo army finally began to break through.

Shang Xi Dongzan had no way out, so he asked for the surname to select all the men among the tens of thousands of herdsmen who accompanied the army, and all men under the age of 60, as long as they were teenagers taller than the wheels, were all incorporated into the army, so that the army that Shang Xi Dongzan could command jumped from 15,000 to 40,000 at once, and was ready to break through from the west to Wulaulan Lake.

On this morning, the Tang army scouts discovered the movement of the Tubo army, and the drums of the Tang army camp suddenly sounded.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

The drums are loud and high, inspiring, nearly 25,000 Tang troops are lined up on the vast grassland, this is another large-scale battle of the Tang army in Anxi after the Battle of Talas, if the Tubo army can be completely annihilated, the Tubo people will not be able to attack Anxi in the short term, which allows the Anxi army to deal with Dashi with peace of mind, compete for Sindh and Punjab, get a stable food supply base, compete for Tocharo, drive the forces of Dashi across the west of the Amu Darya River, and restore the power structure before the Great Food Eastern Crusade, which is Li Qing'an's first step goal.

Li Qing'an has confidence in winning this battle, he has the main force of 50,000 Anxi Army, and the other party only has 15,000 people, as for those herdsmen who have been temporarily organized, he didn't pay attention to it at all, although Shang Xi Dongzan made a surprise army, trying to surround Wei to save Zhao and disturb his rear, but Li Qing'an thought that this was actually Shang Xi Dongzan's defeat, and split the already limited number of troops, and his strange troops may not be effective, there is no point in capturing Khotanese Town, and it is a long way to attack Qiuzi and Bahuan City, even if it is successful, When the news comes, I'm afraid that the war here has already ended, and far water can't quench the thirst, not to mention that he has already sent troops to intercept it, and even ordered Shule's Lifei Shouyu to send troops to help, and the Tubo soldiers will not play a big role.

On the contrary, if he is still in Dongzan, he will use the golden cicada to shed his shell, leaving a small number of troops in Sabize, and let the herdsmen pretend to be troops to live in tents, while the main army will pretend to be herdsmen and retreat south to Wulawulan Lake, so that when the Tang army finds out, the main force of Tubo has already gone away, and maybe it can go to support Longyou and hit Geshuhan's back.

But Shang Xi Dongzan did not adopt this strategy, this is his mistake, one wrong step, the Tubo army will pay the price of annihilation.

Li Qingan sneered, Shang Xi Dongzan had no chance, he immediately ordered: "The army is arrayed!" ”

The 25,000 Tang troops quickly formed a huge glaive formation, with flags waving and fluttering in the wind, with the bow and crossbow army lined up in front, followed by the cavalry team, and finally the infantry team, and two chariot armies, a total of 300 vehicles.

This is the first time Anxi put into the battlefield of the chariot, each chariot is pulled by five horses, the war horses are covered with armor, with two drivers, the shape of the chariot is quite like the container of later generations, the wooden structure and wrapped with three layers of cooked cowhide, the internal structure is complex, there are shooting holes on both sides, the top plate and the rear plate can be opened, the car is five Tang army hands, and equipped with one or two small throwing weapons, or bed crossbows, or small throwers, or chain crossbows, because the enemy applied, this time to deal with the Tubo army, most of the chariots are two chain crossbows, one arrow twenty, Shot from the shooting holes on both sides, some of the chariots were equipped with bed crossbows, which were mainly used to strike the enemy from the flanks, which was extremely powerful, but its weaknesses were also obvious, mainly because they could not be left alone, and they must be guarded by cavalry.

When the Tang army lined up, the distant Tibetan army also appeared, they had no formation, the black pressure was overwhelming, there were 50,000 or 60,000 people, all on horses, they were mixed together, it was difficult to distinguish who was an ordinary herdsman and who was a Tibetan soldier.

"General, I'm afraid the Tubo people are not here to fight us, they are trying to escape!" The deputy general Tian Zhen saw the intention of the Tubo army and whispered to Li Qing'an.

Li Qingan shook his head and said, "Don't be careless, beware of the enemy army using this posture to confuse us!" ”

He ordered again: "Pass the order to Feng Changqing, he can attack from behind." ”

The Tang army immediately flew up a few eagles, flapped their wings and flew to the east, Feng Changqing was in the east of Sabize, and Li Qing'an was more than 20 miles away, and they were contacted by falcons, but at this time Feng Changqing also began to launch, less than ten miles away from the Tubo people.

"Woo! ~~" The horn sounded suddenly, and the Tubo people three miles away launched, only to see thousands of people screaming and rushing towards this side on horseback, they were getting closer and closer, Li Qing'an's eyes suddenly narrowed, he saw clearly, all the people who rushed were women.

(To be continued)