Xue Chongxun repaired in Shancheng for nearly a month, during which he transferred more than 10,000 horses and countless ordnance from the Helong Plain to rearm the Shence Army, and after the reorganization of the personnel who could not fight, there were 7,000 remaining soldiers, and more than 8,000 people were selected from various armies to be strong and strong, and the number was restored to the Shence Army. At this time, the armies of the towns near and far had arrived one after another, and Xue Chongxun had about 100,000 troops, and he had an alliance with the Tuyuhun Murong clan and the alliance was called 100,000 cavalry. Pieced together, he has become the commander of a huge army of more than 200,000 people.

At that time, the Tubo army had retreated to the vicinity of Wuhai City, still claiming to be 500,000 troops, but the actual number was not clear in the Tang Dynasty, and the strength of the two sides should be almost the same. The Tibetan army occupied part of the Jishi Mountains and the Jiuqu of the Yellow River as a logistics base, and confronted the Tang army.

At the end of September, Xue Chongxun led his army out of the country to join the Tuyuhun army near Dafeichuan to complete the assembly, and the main force of the Tubo army in the south remained still.

The Tang Dynasty allied with 200,000 troops, horses, cattle, sheep, and countless grains and grasses, and stretched for dozens of miles in the regional camp south of the West Sea...... The weather was cold and inconvenient, and Xue Chongxun, as the main general, couldn't figure out what his soldiers and horses were doing.

It happened to be snowing again these days, and the wind and snow were freezing in the wilderness, so that people shrank their necks and didn't want to get out of their tents. Seeing that winter had arrived early and was not suitable for combat, Xue Chongxun shivered with cold every day, and wanted to return to the division for a truce. Helplessly, this large group of soldiers and horses traveled a long way to gather together, and the enemy army did not completely retreat and still occupied the Yellow River area, so it was always a little unreasonable for him to run away without letting go of such an arrow.

The area where the army was stationed was not a good place for the Tang people, and it was nearby when Xue Rengui's 100,000 army was annihilated; Li Jingxuan's 180,000-strong army was defeated by the Tubo army, and it was not far from here near the West Sea.

However, the generals under his command are full of expectations, hoping to be ashamed before the snow, because last time at the celebration banquet, Xue Chongxun sang the sentence "Dafeichuan is still not snowing", obviously ambitious, who would have thought that he would change the words for a while and couldn't find the words to make it up? At that time, I didn't think of the deep meaning of "borrowed words".

The staff and subordinates put forward many methods of surprise attacks, some proposed a detour to sneak attack the grain, grass, cattle and sheep hoarded by the Tubo in the Yellow River Valley, and the Tubo army fought in the early stage until it was attacked by the Shence army and attacked the king's tent, and had previously robbed a large number of grain and grass from the Tang army's stronghold and Tuguhun's cattle, sheep and horses, many of which were placed in the rear. If the sneak attack can be successful, Tubo will have difficulty supplying, and then the Tang army will attack head-on again, and the chances of winning are very high. However, many generals felt that this method was not very reliable, because it was too difficult, the road was long and difficult to walk, and they were afraid that the sneak attack would not succeed but would be annihilated.

Some people also proposed to carry forward the Tang army's tactics of attacking the tiger from a long distance, and to launch a surprise attack with light cavalry to directly capture the Tibetan camp. But no one can say whether it can win or not, and it is easy to repeat the mistakes of the Battle of Dafeichuan after leaving behind the baggage.

Xue Chongxun looked to the south, but he couldn't see anything, only the endless snow and rain and the rolling hills and rocks. Of course, what he hoped most was that Tubo would come over for a decisive battle, and everyone would fight hard, and the Tang army would line up with its back to Dafeiling to wait for enough food and grass...... But Tubo ran far away, as if he was reluctant to come up.

Zhang Wulang said: "The Tubo people want to lure the enemy into the depths, and if we are fooled and a little battle is unfavorable, it will lead to a great rout." ”

"The road is so muddy, there is no condition to run if you want to." Xue Chongxun sighed and said, "Let's wait until the weather is good, and then I will say that the road will be difficult to go down, and the fortification will be repaired temporarily." ”

So the army was stationed in Dafeiling for several more days, but the weather still did not improve. If this year's wind and snow continue like this, this battle will not be fought, and the march will be even more difficult after the onset of winter. Many generals felt that after a while, the Tibetans would have difficulty in supplying them, and they might have to abandon the occupied areas and flee to the plateau for a truce. If that's the case, the two sides will work hard and lose money this year, and their respective armies will be in vain.

Xue Chongxun originally came to the northwest with the intention of making meritorious contributions and enhancing his prestige, but now although he won the first battle, he made little progress in the overall situation and failed to achieve a decisive victory. If this ended the Helong War, it was obvious that he would feel a little lost.

However, at this moment, he is more rational, and he does not dare to take the enemy too lightly, compared to a big defeat, a draw is also a good result. When he got along with the generals, he said: "If the weather is getting worse and worse if the sky does not help, our army should not fight in vain, and when the Tibetan army retreats, we will slowly recover the Yellow River valley and the Jishi Mountain Range, rebuild the stronghold and fortress, and send the general Tuntian to hold on, as a long-term plan." ”

The generals bowed and thought it was a safe way.

Unexpectedly, people are not as good as the sky, and within a few days, the wind and snow stopped one after another, and the sun reappeared overhead. Xue Chongxun stood on the dry and cold hills, looked up at the sky, and saw that the sky was blue and there were only a few white clouds, the sky here was really beautiful, the blue sky reflected the snow-capped mountains and the snow on the ground, and the environment was spotlessly clean.

The wind also stopped, and the breezy calm made people mistake it for early spring weather, otherwise how could it be so beautiful?

The civil and military generals also rode their horses up this hill and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the plateau together. A general who has been stationed in Longyou for a long time said: "This kind of weather will not suddenly cause vicious changes, and the sunny weather will continue, so it is a good time to send troops." ”

Hearing this, Xue Chongxun moved his gaze from the canopy of heaven and looked at the endless camps and tents under the hills, where one or two hundred thousand people were under his feet, and he had to be cautious, so he didn't say anything immediately.

A general clenched his fists and said: "I am willing to lead the army to attack the Tubo camp for the striker and catch him off guard!" ”

Zhang Wulang said disapprerovingly: "It's been wind and snow for so many days, and suddenly it's clear, and the dog Rong is still unprepared?" They have an army of 500,000 people, and if we send a few men and horses over, it will not be enough for people to plug their teeth, and we must have a large army to pass before they can be used. ”

Wang Changling frowned and said: "A month ago, we arrested so many noble ministers in Tuyuhun, and some of their subordinates will inevitably be dissatisfied...... Xue Lang thinks twice! ”

Some of the generals immediately persuaded: "The fighter plane has appeared, we must not miss the opportunity to patrol and miss the opportunity, if the Tubo people do not come, we should take the initiative to attack!" ”

Xue Chongxun pondered for a long time, and said in his heart that the Tubo army did not attack or retreat, and it was really depressing to spend there, this time the Tang army finally gathered so many men and horses, and it was always uncomfortable not to fight once. War is inherently risky, and victory or defeat is always unpredictable.

All the generals said how to fight, Wang Changling was not a general, he wanted more about the change of the situation, so he said: "If this battle is defeated, the situation in Longyou will be reversed immediately, Tuyuhun and other places will inevitably fall into the hands of Tubo, and the Helong Plain will also be in danger of being harassed by the Tubo soldiers for a long time." The Northwest Frontier will no longer be at peace for at least a few years......"

Zhang Wulang frowned and said: "Young uncle, you also think too much, what if you don't fight yet, you just want to lose, so what are we going to fight?" ”

Wang Changling said: "You are right, in the current situation, even if we don't fight and don't move, we can maintain the advantage of the Helong front, and the Tubo soldiers don't dare to come to the decisive battle, so we will consume until he retreats." ”

Li Kuiyong rarely interjected in this kind of scene of discussing the overall situation, and at this time he couldn't help but say: "Young Uncle said that he didn't fight, so why did our 200,000 army come here and drink the wind and snow for nearly half a month?" ”

"Because the Tubo people have hundreds of thousands of troops threatening Longyou on the opposite side, do they have to fight if they have soldiers in their hands?"

Everyone quarreled for a while, and everyone realized that Xue Chongxun didn't say anything, and only after enough of the quarrel did they turn their heads to look at him and said, "Xue Lang has an idea." ”

Xue Chongxun frowned and said, "Since the weather is good and you can fight, why don't you fight?" I would like to see if this decisive battle can be fought against the plateau cavalry...... The whole army marched out of camp and slowly approached south together, forcing the decisive battle of Tibet! If you can't fight, you won't be able to borrow your combat strength, and Lao Tzu will admit it! ”

The crowd was silent for a moment, neither opposing nor approving. It's not a good strategy to fight hard, and Xue Chongxun has not miscalculated a few times since he used it for himself, so everyone is naturally speechless. Xue Chongxun's subordinates really didn't have the talent to come up with a clever strategy in the military and convince everyone, and he himself was not good at scheming on the battlefield. So let him decide that there is only one way under normal circumstances: hard fighting.

He looked at the sky again and said, "There is no way to do it left or right, so it was decided, and the order was to march with enough food and grass and ordnance to pull out the camp." ”

The Tuyuhun coalition army of the Tang Dynasty was all dispatched, and they also carried all kinds of heavy ordnance, mules and horses, heavy vehicles, grain and grass, cattle and sheep, etc., and the march was very slow, at most dozens of miles a day, and the number of people marched swaggeringly...... In this way, even if the Tubo people are stupid, they can learn their whereabouts in advance, not to mention that the weather is rarely very clear, and the Tubo army has long been prepared.

In just one day, the Tubo king's account learned the news that the Tang army was pouring into the nest, and the emperor called the ministers to discuss countermeasures, but he did not discuss any way. The Tang people are fighting hard, and they are all forced to come up, what strategy do they have? There are only two ways: either a decisive battle is set up; Either withdraw the troops ahead of schedule, give up the occupied areas and return to the hinterland, and then make another plan.

If the Tubo people accept this move, then the biggest decisive battle between the two countries in decades will begin, and the consequences will naturally be severe.

But because the Tang soldiers came slowly, the Tubo king tent has not yet made a decision, and the opposition to the decisive battle is mainly the people of the Mo tribe, the leader of the Mo clan thinks: "We don't need to fight with the Tang people like this, the timing is not too good, the Tang army has concentrated the elite of the entire northwest border pass, we can avoid its edge, wait for its weak favorable opportunity to attack!" ”

Seeing that the Emperor Dezu was ashamed, the Lang clan followed his thoughts and said: "It is precisely because they have gathered the elite, once they are defeated, the results and benefits will be incalculable!" No one can afford to lose this battle, it depends on who can win, Xue Chongxun's approach is very refreshing. ”

Just as the disputes on Xue Chongxun's side when he made the decision, it was difficult for the Tubo people to make up their minds whether to fight or retreat, and Qide Zuzan was frowning and pondering and was silent, regardless of the disputes of the ministers. G