That night, the three ships went to sea with the west wind, and Li Qing'an left the Lifei brothers to guard the island, and he and Bai Yuanguang led two hundred soldiers to Xihai County.

At noon the next day, the big ship gradually sailed close to the northeast shore of Qinghai, this area is where the Xihai County of the Han Dynasty is located, the northwest is the remaining vein of Datong Mountain, the southeast is the beginning of the Chiling, the two big mountains converge here in a figure-of-eight shape, there is a plateau grassland about 100 miles wide in the middle, the Huangshui flows through it, the geographical location is very important.

Three large ships sailed into a small tributary, leaving a dozen Tang soldiers to guard the ships, and the rest of the Tang troops led ashore one after another.

This area is a highland meadow terrain, with the snow-capped Chase Mountains in the distance, large forests stretching down from the gentle foothills, and thick meadows between the forests, and small streams flowing down from the mountains to form large rivers, and finally forming Huangshui, which is the birthplace of Huangshui.

Li Qing'an raised his eyes and looked around, the autumn mood was strong, everywhere was a golden color, this area was inaccessible, and the forests and meadows were basically in a primitive state.

"Everyone rests in place, waiting for news from the scouts."

As soon as he gave the order, he heard the sound of horses' hooves galloping towards this side, and the sound of horses' hooves seemed extremely nervous, and Li Qingan immediately ordered: "Wait a minute! Don't slack off. ”

Everyone looked towards the sound of horses' hooves, only to see the two scouts they sent whipping their horses, looking extremely anxious, Li Qing'an took off his bow, and their scouts had just been sent out, indicating that something was happening nearby.

"General!"

The scout shouted from afar: "There is a ..... of the Tibetan army"

The Tang army was shocked, and they drew their bows and swords one after another, as if they were facing a great enemy.

"Don't rush!"

Li Qingan roared, he turned around and instructed He Yanming: "You go quickly and inform the ship not to go far, and answer it at any time." ”

He Yanming turned around and ran towards the mouth of the river, Li Qingan urged the horse to meet him, and asked the scout sharply: "How many Tubo troops are there?" ”

Before the scouts could speak, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded in the distance, and a cavalry team was galloping towards this direction.

"General, this is the Tang army patrol post, and about three hundred Tubo people are chasing after it."

Li Qing'an reacted very quickly, he pointed to the woods ten steps away, and ordered: "Everyone go into the woods and prepare to ambush the enemy." ”

The Tang army rushed into the woods in an instant, Li Qingan waved to the Tang army running in the distance, signaling them to continue to run forward, this is a twenty-person Tang army outpost, led by a high-ranking general, more than thirty years old, he saw a Tang army with a bow and arrows and hid in the woods, immediately understood their intentions, turned around and shouted: "Speed up, don't stop." ”

Twenty cavalrymen galloped from the ambush of the Tang army like lightning, and then the sound of hurried horses' hooves came from behind, only to see a group of black and oppressive Tubo cavalry struggling to chase behind, gradually approaching, you can already hear them shouting, see their hideous faces, they wear iron helmets, and their bodies are draped with gray chain mail.

Li Qing'an pulled out an armor-piercing poison arrow, the slender and sharp arrow flashed with a faint green light in a ray of sunlight, this is a new arrow transformed according to Zhang Pingbo's suggestion, I don't know how effective it is, just today you can test it with it, Li Qing'an's eyes were full of anticipation, he put the arrow on the black bow, his left eye narrowed slightly, the black bow gradually pulled into a full moon, and the slender arrow aimed at the Tubo officer headed by him.

On both sides of him, all the Tang troops stretched their bows and arrows, each aiming at the target, the woods were about fifty steps away from the place where the Tubo army must pass, and the Tubo cavalry was getting closer and closer, all with dark faces, and their eyes were shining with excitement, like a pack of black wild wolves.

'A hundred steps.... Eighty steps... Sixty Steps'

When the Tubo army just entered the range of sixty steps, Li Qing'an's string was loosened, and an armor-piercing arrow rushed towards the Tubo commander headed by lightning, the arrow only flashed in the air, and then shot into the head of the commander, the force of this arrow was so strong, from the center of the eyebrows, the back of the head penetrated, pierced the helmet, the commander fell from the back of the horse, Li Qingan suddenly realized that he should shoot his chain mail, he shook his head, and pulled out another arrow.

Li Qing'an's arrow was an order, and the arrows in the woods suddenly rained down, and the first round of 200 arrows roared towards the Tubo army, and before they could run ten steps, the second round of arrows hit again, and the Tang army had already shot three rounds of arrows in just fifteen steps.

The screams came and went, the war horses neighed, the Tubo army fell from the horses one after another, and in an instant half of the horses were lost on the horseback, and many war horses were also shot and fell, and the first few horses desperately raised their hooves and refused to run, blocking the way, and the Tubo cavalry was in chaos.

The Tang army rushed out of the woods, their arrows were like a rainstorm, precise and vicious, without the slightest stagnation, round after round of flowing arrows chased the Tubo soldiers, the screams were endless, and in the end only a dozen or so people remained on the horses of the Tubo cavalry of three hundred people, they were so frightened that their souls flew away, and they scattered and fled.

"Stop!"

As soon as Li Qingan waved his hand, the Tang army immediately stopped chasing, and at this time, the expressions of the Tang soldiers were extremely eager, but Li Qingan did not speak, and none of them dared to move.

Li Qing'an took an arrow and nailed to death a Tubo soldier who was still crawling on the ground, and said with a smile: "It's okay!" ”

The Tang army scrambled to jump off the horse, pulled out the horizontal knife, chopped off the heads of the Tubo army on the ground, and stuffed them into the pouch in blood, and in a moment, the three hundred Tubo soldiers became headless corpses.

"General, look at this chain mail."

A soldier handed a pair of chain mail to Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an unfolded it, and sure enough, a thin net was lined inside the chain mail, the mesh was very dense, and the improved armor-piercing arrow could just be inserted, but the arrow shaft could not enter.

Li Qing'an took an arrow and tried it, but fortunately, basically a bow and arrow of more than two stones could pierce it, and he immediately ordered: "Take off all the chain mail for me and take it away." ”

At this time, the twenty Tang army patrol posts turned around and returned, and the general at the head thanked Li Qing'an: "The soldiers and horses of the Shenwei army are rare to make the king, thank you for the rescue, may I ask the name of Engong?" ”

Li Qingan returned the salute and smiled: "I am Anxi Li Qing'an, and I have long admired General Wang's bravery. ”

"You are Li Qing'an?"

Wang was rarely stunned, he didn't understand why Anxi Li Qing'an appeared here, and after a while, he stammered: "Could it be that General Li is from the Datong Valley?" ”

"Definitely! I came by boat across Qinghai. ”

"By sea!"

Wang couldn't believe his ears, he could still come by sea?

"General Li, it just so happens that Marshal Geshu is nearby, please come with me."

"Good! I'll go. ”

Li Qingan turned around and waved to his subordinates: "Everyone follow up and set off." ”

All the Tang troops mounted their horses one after another and followed Li Qing'an to the east.

Li Qing'an and Wang rarely walked side by side, and he asked with a smile: "Isn't Geshu Marshal in Shanzhou?" How can it be nearby? ”

Wang said with a rare smile: "General Li may not know that two months ago, the Tang army built Shenwei City under the Chiling Mountains, and garrisoned 3,000 troops, and the marshal appointed me as the envoy of the Shenwei army. ”

"What was the reaction of the Tibetans?"

"Of course they are not happy to build a city under their noses, but there is no large-scale attack, only sporadic disturbance, mostly three or four hundred people, and the Tubo army ambushed by General Li just now is one of them."

The two of them quickened their speed, after running for about an hour, they approached the steep terrain of Chiling, Chiling is today's Yueyue Mountain, towering, stretching for hundreds of miles, it is like a huge barrier across the Tangbo ancient road, the Tubo army came from the east of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the Chiling condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the advance swept the Helong, the retreat is to hold the mountains, so that for decades, in the battle for the river, the Tubo has always held the initiative to attack, and the Tang army was passively beaten.

In the 29th year of Tianbao, Hexi and Longyou Jiedu made Gai Jiayun carelessly lose Shibao City, causing Li Longji to be angry and dismissed him, and since then he has disappeared in the political arena of the Tang Dynasty.

This battle of Hehuang was actually the battle for Chiling, Ge Shuhan knew that Tubo was deployed in Dafeichuan and Chiling with the army of the country, and it was difficult to capture Shibao City, so he made a detour to the side and went deep into Haixi County to build a city, in order to look for an opportunity to break the enemy from the beginning of Chiling and go around behind it.

Li Qing'an and his entourage turned a mountain col, far away, a castle appeared, the castle was built on a mountain ridge, and the majestic Chiling is far away, there are more than ten miles away from the castle, suddenly the yellow dust is rolling in the distance, and a team of military horses gallops over.

"It's the big handsome here!"

The king saw Shuai Qi from afar, shouted excitedly, and urged the horse to meet him.

The Tang army of the brigade roared in a blink of an eye, and stopped advancing dozens of paces away, and Ge Shuhan galloped out of the army, raising his whip and shouting: "General Wang, this commander is about to come to your aid!" ”

"Dashuai, the last will be chased by the Tubo army, and it is thanks to the rescue of General Anxi Li that he was spared."

Ge Shuhan had already seen Li Qing'an, and he was secretly surprised in his heart, how could he be here? Could it be that he came from the Datong Valley, impossible, the Datong Valley was heavily defended, and the Tubo people built a city to intercept it, how could he get by?

Ge Shuhan was secretly suspicious in his heart, and he smiled and said, "General Li, don't come to harm?" ”

Li Qingan urged him to step forward and hugged his fists and said: "Brother Shu, the last general was sent by the senior commander to assist in the battle, and he couldn't come early, please forgive me." ”

"Where! General Lee came at the right time. ”

Ge Shuhan looked at Li Qing'an's soldiers and horses, there were only two hundred people, he couldn't hold back the doubts in his heart anymore, and asked, "Is General Li from Haixi?" ”

"Exactly, the lowly post succeeded in the night attack on the city of Fuqi in Haixi, burned 300,000 stone grain in Tubo, annihilated 3,000 enemy troops, and seized the Tubo boat to cross the sea.

"I see!."

Ge Shuhan slapped his thigh fiercely, and said excitedly: "The scouts who went to explore Datong Valley reported that the city was in flames, I was saying that God has long eyes, it turned out that General Li did it, beautiful!" Burning 300,000 stone of grain will affect the situation of the war! ”

Ge Shuhan was so excited that he was a little incoherent, a few days ago, the Holy Shang sent an envoy to inquire about the progress of the battle, although he did not explicitly say that he was dissatisfied, but Ge Shuhan could hear that the price of rice in Chang'an had skyrocketed, and the pressure on the Holy Lord was very great, and he must have been dissatisfied with him, and he was worried that he had not explained, so he rushed to Shenwei Fort yesterday to try to make some achievements, but Tubo did not engage in the battle, which made him at a loss.

He hurriedly grabbed Li Qingan's arm and said affectionately: "Come on!" Come! Come! General Li will follow me into the city for a while. ”

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Shenwei City is made of huge stones, very strong and wide, can accommodate thousands of people, starting from March today, Geshuhan sent a large army to build the city here, currently stationed in the city 3,000 soldiers, respectively by the general Wang rare and the humble general Yang Jinghui as the main and deputy soldiers.

In a stone room in the city, Li Qing'an hung a few pictures and reported to Ge Shuhan on the battle situation in Haixi, "Humble shot Shang Xi Dezan, and disguised his army to deceive the ambush city, that night, most of the Tubo army did not wake up in a dream, and was attacked by the humble army at night, and the 1,000 Tubo army and 1,000 Tuyuhun troops in the city were all killed, and the Tubo army was burned with arson. ”

Li Qing'an hung up the map of the sea again, he pointed to Longju Island and said: "Dashuai, this island is two miles wide and about six or seven miles long, the terrain on the island is flat, and it can garrison troops, and it is located in the center of the sea, which can be inserted into the hinterland of Dafeichuan and cut off the grain route of the Tubo people. ”

Ge Shuhan looked at the map carefully, and then pondered for a long time and said, "General Li, have you considered the danger when Qinghai freezes?" ”

"Freezing?" Li Qing'an was a little stunned, he had never considered this question, it was already mid-September, and in November and December, it was feasible for the lake to freeze, so wouldn't the Tubo army be able to drive straight in? He suddenly found a major hole in his thinking, and he was silent for a while.

Ge Shuhan smiled and said, "But if it's frozen, I can transport supplies to the island and build a city on Longju Island." ”

He walked up to the map, pointed to Ryukoma Island and asked, "How many troops do you have on the island now?" ”

"Returning to the marshal, he brought a thousand people from his humble position, and rescued five hundred strong slaves from Haixi Fort, but in the battle of Fu Qi City, nearly three hundred people were killed and wounded in his humble position, and now there are about 1,200 wounded soldiers on the island."

"Well, you have fourteen hundred men in your hand, so be it! I will give you another 1,600 archers, gather 3,000 people, and give you all the food and military materials needed to build the city, you will build Yinglong City on Longju Island, and I will appoint you as the soldiers and horses of the Yinglong army, and after the ice and snow melt next spring, you will control the water surface of Qinghai and attack the rear of the Tubo army. ”

Li Qingan nodded, he half-knelt and saluted: "The humble post will definitely live up to the trust of the marshal." ”

Ge Shuhan hurriedly helped him up, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "In this battle of Fuqi City, I will definitely ask the imperial court for merit for you, and you can return to Longju Island with peace of mind, no, the sergeant and food will arrive, and you will send a boat over." ”

"Dashuai, I have one more important matter to report."

Li Qing'an took out a piece of chain mail from the Tubo army, spread it on the table and said, "I don't know if the marshal has noticed, the chain mail of the Tubo has been transformed, and a layer of fine net is lined inside." ”

Ge Shuhan looked at the chain mail carefully, and his face became extremely solemn.

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Li Qing'an did not go to Shanzhou, but met Ge Shuhan in Shenwei City, and with his support, Li Qing'an immediately returned to Longju Island.

From Longju Island to Xihai County, it was smooth sailing, and it arrived at the shore overnight, but it was not so smooth to go back, because it was a headwind, the boat traveled very slowly, and it took a full day and a night, only half of the journey, and when it was just dawn, Li Qingan was woken up by a shout.

"What's going on?"

When he walked out of the cabin, a cold wind rushed towards him, and the water was covered with fog, and it was white, and he couldn't see the sea from dozens of feet away.

"General, there is a small island in front of you, everyone thought it was to Longju Island, but it turned out that it was not."

"There's an island!"

Li Qing'an walked to the bow of the boat with great interest, looked carefully to the southwest, and faintly saw a black shadow, as the ship got closer and closer, he saw clearly, it was indeed a small island, to be exact, just a granite boulder, standing in the sea, with an area of about two acres.

He Yingchuan stepped forward and reported: "General, I seem to have seen this reef when I came, and we still have half the way to reach Longju Island." ”

Li Qingan pondered for a moment and asked, "When we came, could we see the coast from here?" ”

"It's faintly visible, but it's not very clear."

"If that's the case, I want to build a beacon tower here, if there is a Tibetan stepping on the ice to attack our Longju Island, we can ask Shenwei City for help, the two cities can respond to each other, and I will leave the construction of this beacon tower to you."

He Yingchuan hesitated for a moment and said: "General, I heard Uncle Zhang say that in the south of Longju Island, there is a small island, called Sanbian Reef, which is thirty miles away from Longju Island, and a beacon tower can also be built. ”

"Good! These two beacons will be handed over to you together. ”

"The last general obeys!"

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At noon the next day, the ship finally arrived at Longju Island, and Li Qing'an went to the island and began his deployment of the city, the mountains on Longju Island are all granite, easy to mine, and there is a lime mine belt on the island, Li Qing'an divided his soldiers and laborers into several groups, one part to mine stones and lime, and the other part is responsible for polishing the boulders into long strips of bluestone.

The quarrying is mainly concentrated on a cliff in the southeast, where there are several huge crevices, granite is easy to mine, and Longju Island is suddenly busy, and there is the sound of local stone chisels and soldiers shouting to open stones.

Li Qing'an looked for the most ideal place to build a city on the island, according to his idea, since the Tibetan army could come by stepping on the ice in winter, then the city could not be built on the grass and flatland, and must be built in a dangerous place.

Longju Island is half flat, half boulder mountain, and most of the mountains are steep cliffs, there is no large flat land for him to build a city, he searched for a long time, and finally found a mountain that can barely build a city, here is about 100 zhang high, three sides are seaside cliffs, only the north can go up the mountain, there is a winding path, the top of the mountain is a flat land covering an area of about 20 acres, but there is already a building on it, Yinglong Temple.

Li Qing'an pointed at the horsewhip and ordered: "Immediately demolish Yinglong Temple!" ”

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(To be continued)