After a large number of Tibetan troops pulled out several fortresses built by the Tang army in the Jishi Mountains (present-day Armaniqing Mountain), they entered the upper reaches of the Yellow River through the Guò Mountains. To the northwest is the pasture area of Tuyuhun, where there is almost no danger to defend, and the Xianbei people (Tuyuhun) are not good at garrisoning; To the northeast and north were the Tang Dynasty's Hezhou, Langzhou, and Shanzhou regions, and the borders of each state were mountainous and mountainous, and the passes were all military strongholds of the Tang army, so it was not easy to directly attack and harass the Tang Dynasty. Most of the Han people were farmers, and their civil engineering skills were very mature, and their favorite thing to do in defense was to build fortifications and cities...... When the Han people were disgusted with the way the nomads were robbing and robbing, the nomads were also disgusted with the borders of the fortresses, and the rangers were obviously not very easy to attack the city. The Tibetan people sometimes think it is very miraculous, and it is really unreasonable to talk about how many forts can be built in the Gobi, where there is no one and no grass is there.

Therefore, after entering the Yellow River Valley, the people of the Zuzan family were ready to rob the Xianbei people first and make them surrender. First, it can quickly reduce a Tang Dynasty vassal army; Second, it can occupy large pastures, plunder a large number of cattle, sheep and horses, and prepare strategic resources for further competition with the Tang army.

It has only been a few years since he inherited the "crossbow and crossbow", and he was quite successful in quelling the civil strife with the help of his own forces in the early days, but the loss of Tuyuhun and the Yellow River valley two years ago was regarded as a great shame, and he always wanted to get it back. His age is only sixteen or seventeen years old, about the same age as Murong Xuan, the king of the Tuyuhun Han Dynasty, but he is very strong, less than twenty years old, and he has a shallow beard on his cheeks, and the Tubo people have no habit of picking off their beards, so he really doesn't look like a teenager at first glance.

They calmly drove cattle, sheep and horses into the Yellow River valley, and they were not in a hurry at all, because the Tang army was still on the road, and it was very difficult to assemble a field force that threatened their claimed army of 500,000 without a month. As for the so-called 100,000 people gathered by Tuyuhun, the Tubo people didn't take them seriously at all.

Sure enough, the army did not encounter any resistance after reaching Jiuqu of the Yellow River, and the Han herdsmen had already fled to the military strongholds of Xicangzhou and Guang'en Town in the north to seek protection; The main force of Tuyuhun fled into the direction of Qinghai Lake, and did not dare to stop the Tubo army at all. The Tibetans were able to monopolize the pastures, and then expelled the cavalry in search of cattle and sheep to loot. He liked to "hunt" and led his troops first, while a large number of main forces and slave herdsmen drove their cattle and sheep behind and slowly advanced to the northwest.

He led his troops northwest for a whole day, and the scouts found a pasture that Tuyuhun had not had time to withdraw. He immediately rushed over, rode his horse up a hillside, and looked down condescendingly, only to see dozens of tents, and at least a few hundred cattle and sheep on the grass.

Jide looked back and said: "We have clear grievances and grievances, and we didn't rob Xianbei people in the past because they had to give us gifts every year, and we sent troops to protect them, fair and just." But the Xianbei people did not keep their promises, and in turn helped the Han people to seize our stone castle city. What else are we polite? ”

The knights were very happy, burning, killing and looting was undoubtedly the most exciting and fun entertainment for the Tibetan people who lived in the bitter cold, and they could get the spoils of war, and there was a burst of cheers on the hillside.

At this moment, I saw a few Xianbei people on horseback running towards this side, and the person next to him said, "Maybe it's here to ask for mercy." ”

Another was dissatisfied: "It's originally our thing, what else are you talking about?" ”

He didn't speak, he quietly took off his bow and arrows, and when he estimated that the men were in range, he shot out with a "whoosh" at one of them, and a knight in the distance fell off his horse. This was followed by a rain of arrows, and people and horses in the distance were shot into hedgehogs. There was another cheer on the hillside, and then they rushed down on horseback.

Seeing this, the Xianbei horse team also ran out of the herd camp, helplessly preparing to resist. With the roar of the horses' hooves, the Tibetan horse team went straight to the herding camp, and then divided into two strands on the left and right and outflanked them like two floods, and the encirclement gradually formed in an irresistible situation. They also shot arrows as they ran, and the Xianbei people were so many of them that they made a symbolic return around the fence. Before they could begin to storm the Xianbei people, they were shot to pieces, and the horses ran between the tents.

Soon, a Tibetan cavalry in the center divided into more than a dozen teams and rushed straight away, smashing the rudimentary fence into pieces. A voice shouted in Tubo: "We surrender!" ”

But no one listened to him, and the cavalry drew their scimitars one after another, "Wow, wow", and rushed over and slashed excitedly, and the Xianbei horse team scattered and fled, but they were surrounded on all sides, and the people who were scurrying became live targets.

Soon the tent was blazing, the flames flickered, the smoke rose, and the women and children ran out of the tent with a shout. After a while of slashing and slashing on horseback, the Tibetan soldiers finally stopped killing, expelled the captives to the meadows, and then began to count the spoils.

All things, including people, are trophies, not to mention cattle, horses, and horses are the most important means of subsistence on the grassland, and people are also useful, men can be slaves, women can ...... It's clearly the loot that people love. The old and the weak and the children are useless, and it is obvious that they are killed, and some old men and women can solve it themselves without the help of the enemy soldiers.

The Tibetan soldiers whipped the captives with leather whips and laughed at the same time, amusing the slaves in fear of domestication. Children were sliced on the heads of spears, or thrown into the air with all their might, and then fell to their deaths. It was as if throwing a child was a recreational activity, just like playing polo, which made the conqueror happy for a while.

After counting the things, the main force of the Tubo soldiers continued to search on the grassland, so it was late two or three times, and then they set up camp and repaired.

There is no doubt that war can bring great joy to the nomadic men (if they can win the war), they can kill to their heart's content during the day, they can let go of their bellies and eat and drink what they have looted at night, they can make the lamb chew and drink as they please, and they can make the captive women strip naked and dance by the campfire.

The people with pigtails in their left hand wine bag and right leg of mutton were full of oil, laughing, happy, which dancing woman had a good twist in her waist, and pulled into the crowd to do it, so they shouted and grabbed the ground, and the more particular slave owners were resistant to the tent on their shoulders. He also had a lot of fun, he pulled a skin and walked into the big tent of the Chinese army, and took a leather whip while riding on a person, and he could also make it like a horseback to make the woman miserable, and when he finished tossing, the woman was already tortured to the point of dying and covered with whip marks oozing blood.

…… The Tibetan soldiers plundered the grasslands of the Xianbei people, and the herdsmen fled to the side of the royal city, because the main cavalry of Tuyuhun gathered in that direction.

The cattle, sheep and horses that needed to graze on the vast grassland suddenly gathered in a small area, and the grassland there was naturally not enough to carry so many livestock, and the Xianbei people were trapped there and had only a dead end.

At this time, sandwiched between the Tang Dynasty and Tibet, there are undoubtedly only two ways: with the Tang Dynasty or with the Tibetans.

The majority of those who advocate surrendering to Tibet and repaying taxes to the Tibetans are in the background, and the reason is in front of them. First, the Tang Dynasty also had to levy a tax of up to one-fifth of the harvest, which was not much less than that of Tibet; Second, the Tibetans were barbaric and ferocious, and their enemies suffered even more reprisals; Third, the Tubo people are already close at hand, and they can't fight and fight, but what other way can they do except surrender?

But the royal family and its supporters preferred to remain pro-Tang, and in their eyes the Tang Dynasty was undoubtedly the most powerful empire in the world, and an alliance with the Tang was a long-term plan. You can send troops to block and delay the Tibetan soldiers, and wait for the Tang soldiers to come to help.

The city was in chaos and quarrels, and as the grasslands became more and more crowded, pessimism spread around the royal city.

At this moment, the Xianbei envoy returned from Shanzhou, and Murong Xuan hurriedly summoned him to the king's tent to speak. The envoy brought a desperate "hope": the Tang soldiers of several towns were assembling in Shanzhou, and it was estimated that they could send 100,000 troops, but the time to go west would be at least August...... It's about a month from now.

The aristocratic slave owners were in an uproar and shouted: "In a month, the land has been eaten up by sheep!" Surrender to the Tibetans and do your best to get their forgiveness. ”

"What are the chances of 100,000 Tang soldiers against 500,000 Tibetan soldiers on the grassland? Tang Bingye has been defeated more than once, if we are defeated again this time, we will have to walk around with them! ”

Someone objected: "Didn't Tang Bing win two years ago? In case the Tang Dynasty wins again this time, the Tubo people will run back to the plateau, aren't we being capricious villains here? ”

"How did the Tang people win two years ago? Hiding in the fortifications and consuming, and only pursuing when the Tubo people can't consume it seems to have gained a lot; If they consume it again this year, what will we use to consume it? ”

The young and pale Murong Xuan was silent, but the prime minister Fu Lu on the side couldn't sit still, and said with a sad face: "Don't say it in the future, the eyebrows are already burning now, and the Tubo people are ...... under their noses."

A slave owner anxiously persuaded: "The prime minister hurry up and get an idea." In fact, we can't vote for the Tang Dynasty, the year before last, the Tubo people threw away all the Yellow River and Jishi Mountain, and we can't help it, and it is just an expedient measure to vote for the Tang Dynasty. Think about it, the Tubo people come from the west and are our land, and they may suffer every year, isn't it a special trip to the Tang Dynasty to be a shield for them? ”

Everyone echoed it, and there was a sudden commotion in the king's tent.

At this moment, a small voice was heard: "Everyone look at the whole ......"

It was the voice of Murong Xuan, the king of the Khan, although his strength was not as great as that of the Fulu family, but after all, he was the boss and he didn't speak often, so everyone quieted down one after another when they heard Murong Xuan speak, wanting to hear what the king of Khan wanted to say.

Murong Xuan looked at the chessboard in front of him with wooden horses and wooden people and said, "Sometimes it's too chaotic to look at the whole situation, just look at one particle: Stone Castle City!" ”

He just said a word and stopped. Everyone pondered the meaning silently, but in fact, the meaning was not complicated: whoever owns the Stone Castle City will be more likely to have the initiative. If Shibao City was in the hands of the Tubo people, it would be difficult for the Tang Dynasty to directly attack the hinterland of Tuyuhun, so there was no need to be too afraid of the Tang Dynasty; On the contrary, if the stone fortress city is in the hands of the Tang army, the result of the rebellion is that the Tang and the Tubo people can send troops to punish them at any time. G