The Tang army camp is outside the north city, Li Shatuo led more than 100 scouts to walk hard in the wind and sand, until they go around to the northwest of the Tang army camp, here is a tailwind, the wind is strong, people are unstable, if you don't squat, as if you will be blown away by the wind.

The scouts found a few stone walls, squatted down behind the wall, this was originally an abandoned mansion, eroded by wind and sand for many years, only a few sections of ruins remained, more than a dozen baggage soldiers unloaded several bundles of heavy objects from the three camels, this is a small catapult, was dismantled into several parts and transported by camels, can throw more than a dozen pounds of heavy stones more than 100 steps away.

The baggage soldiers were quickly bundled and installed, and soon assembled into a high-pitched catapult, when a scout came from the darkness, pointed to the southwest and said: "The Tang army camp is a hundred paces away, and the spear from the outside is about fifty paces away from the big tent inside, and there are a lot of thistles scattered on the ground. ”

Li Shatuo sneered, the way the Tang army camped was still the same as that of the Central Plains, and did not take into account the actual situation in Dunhuang, let them taste the power of the night wind in Dunhuang tonight, he immediately ordered: "Prepare the fireball!" ”

The scouts took out more than a dozen black fireballs from the camel box, which were wound with oil cloth, the size of a bucket, and the core of the ball was a cast iron pellet, so that its weight reached ten catties, and it could project about 100 steps in a windless state, but on a strong night with strong wind, it could project a hundred and fifty steps away, enough to throw it into the camp tent of the Tang army.

A fireball was put into the iron pocket, dozens of soldiers pulled the trebuchet, the two-foot-long throwing rod was bent to the limit, and one soldier ignited the fireball, the fireball burned rapidly, and pulled out a long tongue of fire in the strong wind.

"Put!" Li Shatuo gave an order, and the fireball soared into the air, forming a bright dot in the gray night sky, flying towards the Tang army camp.

The fireball flew past the watchtower, over the dense spear thorns, and flew into the Tang army camp, 'Boom! ' The fireball hit a large tent, and the soldiers in the tent were awakened and rushed out of the tent in panic, and then the tent was set on fire. With the help of the wind, it burned rapidly.

"When! While! While! The alarm bell on the sentry tower rang urgently, and in the piercing siren, another fireball streaked across the dark night sky and flew into the Tang army camp, this time smashing to the ground, and the fireball rebounded. Rushed into a large tent, and the soldiers in the tent crawled out of the tent, and the fireball reflected the curtain of the tent red, and the fire soon burned from the tent.

The fireball shot into the northwest corner of the Tang army, which was the camp of the infantry, and at this time the soldiers woke up from their dreams and ran out of the camp tent in great terror, gathering in the open space outside the tent. Many were still barefoot, shivering in the cold wind, and hundreds of soldiers were beating on several large burning tents. Li Xiaogong also hurried to the northwest corner and shouted, "What's wrong?" ”

"Your Highness, look!"

As soon as Li Xiaogong looked up, he saw a fireball roaring in the sky, several personal soldiers hurriedly pushed him away, the fireball swept over his head, and smashed into a camp tent, the big tent burned a big hole in a moment, the fireball fell into the tent, and the tent curtain quickly burned.

"Extinguish the fire. Don't let it spread! ”

Li Xiaogong shouted an order, he rushed to the big tent in a rage, and a soldier pointed to the faint bright spot in the wind and sand, "Your Highness, it's there!" ”

Li Xiaogong stared for a moment, then turned back to a general and said, "Speed a thousand cavalry to suppress the fire source Sui army!" ”

The general turned and ran. At this time, another fireball smashed into the camp tent, this is the seventh fireball, although the Tang soldiers desperately put out the fire, but the wind is too strong, the fire borrows the wind, the rope of a big tent is burned, the fragments of the burning tent are blown into the air, and seven or eight camp tents are ignited in a row, and the fire begins to burn into a ......

In the darkness, the Sui soldiers put another fireball on the trebuchet, and at that moment, a sentry rushed to the scene and shouted, "Hurry up!" The cavalry of the Don Army came out. ”

Li Shatuo immediately ordered: "Destroy the trebuchet and withdraw immediately." ”

The Sui soldiers drew their swords and slashed, and in a moment, the trebuchet collapsed, and they flew on their horses with the last few fireballs, ran north, and soon disappeared into the wind and sand.

After a short time, the cavalry of the Tang Army found the place of attack, and except for a damaged speculator, the rest of the people and goods were nowhere to be found.

In the big tent of the Tang army, Li Xiaogong found that the situation was so serious that the fire could not be extinguished at all, and more than 100 tents in the entire northwest corner were ignited, and the flames were in the air, burning in the howling wind, and he knew in his heart that either the entire camp was burned down, or half of it was self-destructed.

"Tear down all the tents!"

Li Xiaogong rode a horse and ordered that to deal with this kind of fire, there must be at least two hundred steps of quarantine area, and he pointed to a camp tent two hundred steps away from the fire, "Demolish this side first, and separate the quarantine area!" ”

At this time, Shi Wanbao rushed up and said, "Your Highness, we must prevent the Sui army from taking the opportunity to sneak attack!" ”

A sentence reminded Li Xiaogong, and he hurriedly ordered: "You lead 4,000 cavalry out of the camp to defend, if there is any movement, no matter who it is, I will shoot it with arrows!" ”

"Yes!" Swanbao turned his horse's head and hurried to gather the cavalry, while the infantry soldiers busily dismantled the camp tents, and the large group of soldiers fled to the southwest corner, at this time, the fire grew bigger and bigger, and hundreds of large tents were set on fire, which was the entire area of the infantry camp, which was burning in the strong wind, forming a sea of fire.

Li Xiaogong rode to the southwest corner, where six or seven thousand infantry had gathered, most of them had no armor, many of them were barefoot, wearing thin middle clothes, curled up in the cold wind, and could not see the shield spear, about half of the people had a horizontal knife in their hands, Li Xiaogong looked back at the sea of fire, the weapons and equipment of the soldiers were basically engulfed in the fire, he let out a long sigh, how could he fight this battle?

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The city was full of Sui soldiers, and the fire in the Tang army camp three miles away was fierce, clearly visible in the night, and the soldiers were talking about what kind of fighters this sudden fire would give them, Su Ding sneered, and when he arrived in Dunhuang on the first day, he found that the night in Dunhuang was very conducive to a sneak attack with fire, and he was considering a sneak attack on Li Zhaojin's camp at that time, but he did not expect to use it on the head of the Tang army in the end.

Although this fire did not cause heavy casualties to the Tang army, it could at least give the Tang army a heavy blow to morale, causing them to suffer huge losses in military funds.

The fire burned until a little more and was extinguished, and death silence returned to the outside of the city, except for the sharp and piercing howling of the wind. The sky was full of sand and dust, obscuring the view.

The next day, the sky was getting brighter, and the wind was much lighter. The field showed its dark yellow color, and in the hazy morning light, the Tang army camp could be faintly seen, and the camp tent was gone, leaving only a scorched black.

At this time, a scout galloped on horseback and shouted under the city: "General Su! ”

Su Dingfang probed and asked, "How is the situation of the Tang Army?" ”

"Report to General Su. The Tang army is gone, they have been evacuated overnight! ”

Su Dingfang was stunned for a moment, what was going on, he came violently, but he fled overnight, and a sneak attack-like fire attack scared them out?

"Is there anything left?"

"General Hui, except for hundreds of burned tents, there is nothing left. Food, tents, spears and spikes were taken away by them. ”

Li Shatuo was overjoyed, "General Su, the enemy army fled in panic. It's our chance to hunt down, give the order! The subordinates were willing to lead the cavalry in pursuit. ”

Su Dingfang shook his head, the Tang army did not leave any supplies, indicating that they retreated in an orderly manner, their five thousand cavalry did not suffer any losses, and they all left the camp last night, with Li Xiaogong's caution in leading the troops, he would never be careless, and would never leave himself a chance to pursue, maybe this was his plan to lure the troops.

"Don't chase it! Pass my orders. No opening of the city today! ”

Behind a sand dune dozens of miles away, 5,000 cavalry lined up neatly, Li Xiaogong wore a golden helmet, silver armor, and a horse lance in his hand, looking coldly into the distance. Behind them, the Tang infantry had already gone away, but Li Xiaogong was not in a hurry to retreat, he was waiting for the pursuit of the Sui army, maybe he could still seize the last chance, the real Sui army was only three thousand people, and the rest of the army was Li Zhaojin's Liang army, the time for their reorganization was too short, it was not enough to form a strong combat effectiveness, and the Tang army still had a chance.

Li Xiaogong waited patiently until noon, and in the distance, a Tang army scout rushed in, "Your Highness, the Sui army has not moved, and the gate of Dunhuang City has not been opened until now. ”

Li Xiaogong sighed helplessly, he knew that his ambush plan had been seen through by the other party, and the other party refused to fight hard with him, so he had to turn around and order: "Withdraw the army!" ”

The 5,000 cavalry turned their horses and marched in the direction of Changle County, and the Tang army came with hope, but retreated with great disappointment.

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Chang'an City, the negotiations between Tang and Sui reached an impasse, the two sides mainly on the status and belonging of Dunhuang County, the two sides disputed, the Sui Dynasty believed that Dunhuang County has always been the territory of the Great Sui, stolen by Li Rail, and now the Sui Dynasty sent troops to drive away the Liang ** team and recapture Dunhuang County, which is a matter of course, and Dunhuang County should be part of the Sui Dynasty.

However, the Tang Dynasty insisted that Li Liang's Liang State had surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, so all the land of the Liang State should belong to the Tang Dynasty, which should also include Dunhuang County, so Dunhuang County should belong to the territory of the Tang Dynasty, although it was occupied by the Sui Dynasty, but the Tang Dynasty did not recognize it, and the Tang Dynasty believed that Dunhuang County should be a disputed territory, and the settlement agreement reached did not include it, nor did it include Yiwu County.

The two sides insisted on their own opinions, did not give in to each other, and could not reach a settlement agreement, counting, Du Ruhui has been in Chang'an for half a month, and the two sides still have no sign of compromise, and in two days, it will be December.

Early this morning, Du Ruhui had just gotten up, and there was a hurried knock on the door outside the door, only to hear Wei Zheng shouting anxiously outside: "Du Xiangguo, Taiyuan urgent news!" ”

Du Ruhui put on his shoes and stepped forward to open the door, and when he saw Wei Zheng's face full of excitement, he asked with a smile: "Wei Shilang is so happy, but what is the good news?" ”

"Exactly!"

Wei Zheng took out a letter and said impatiently: "I heard from the messenger that the Tang army has been forced to evacuate Dunhuang County, and now Dunhuang County and Yiwu County are completely under our control. ”

Du Ruhui's eyes lit up, and he laughed, "If that's the case, the day we go home is almost coming." ”