Four or five thousand horses that were still alive were all caught, and they were first brought back with all the ordnance, grain, and grass of the thieves.

At first, Huo Shouguang was still a little puzzled and puzzled, did the enemy really have 30,000 people?

Suddenly like a dream.

It wasn't until he saw the mighty horse team and the large amount of ordnance on horseback that he believed that all this was true.

Won the first battle and won a big victory. With such a real victory, who cares how they defeated the enemy?

Even if they used to tell a joke and make them all laugh to death, it would be fine.

Huo Shouguang hurriedly sent the order down and informed the whole city of the news of the victory in the first battle, so as to be majestic.

Five thousand copies of the seized scimitars and spears were allocated and distributed to the people who volunteered to protect the city. Bows and crossbows and nearly 50,000 arrows were all transported to the head of the city and directly put into defensive preparations.

In particular, these 50,000 arrows are simply too precious and timely for this defensive battle.

Both the people and the soldiers were greatly inspired. Huo Shouguang even saw a glimmer of light in his desperate heart.

From early morning until noon, the beacon fire continued, constantly reporting the route of the Oshi's army and the place of arrival.

From Big Stone to Talas, there are three routes to choose from.

One way is to take the oasis corridor on the edge of the northern desert of Talas, where the terrain is open and suitable for the march of large groups of men and heavy troops. But the distance is farther.

One way is to take a narrow valley north of the Broken Leaf River, called the Wolf Tooth Kendo, the narrowest part can only accommodate two or three horses passing in parallel, but the distance is very close, suitable for light cavalry to raid quickly.

The main river of the Broken Leaf River is also very wide, but the terrain is relatively rugged, which is suitable for slow marching of large troops.

"The enemy has 10,000 light horses, and it is the Wolf Tooth Sword Path, this one is the fastest, and it is estimated that there are still two hours to reach the Wolf Tooth Sword Path. ”

After the wolf's tooth sword, you can enter the Talas Plain after walking five miles, and you can rush to the city at dusk after a quick march for an hour.

"Their main force of 35,000 men traveled through the Broken Leaf River, and it was estimated that they could reach the Talas Plain in the middle of the night. ”

"Another 30,000 people will take the oasis corridor to the north, and will be responsible for carrying grain and hay, and it is estimated that they will be able to enter the plains of Taras by noon tomorrow. ”

"At present, there are 75,000 enemy troops entering the Tang Realm, and there may be more in the future, even exceeding the total number of 100,000 people mentioned in the intelligence. ”

"At the moment we are prepared, the enemy's 10,000 light cavalry will not be too threatening to us, and the fierce battle will begin in the middle of the night, when we will be directly surrounded by 45,000 men. ”

The scout officer has debriefed. Huo Shouguang was on the map, pointing to the direction of the Wolf Tooth Sword Dao, and muttered for a long time.

"It's just 10,000 light cavalry, not to be afraid, I think it's better to focus on midnight, arrange a force to do early defense, most of the men and horses are mentally rested, and the midnight is officially put into battle. Guo Xin suggested.

Huo Shouguang agreed with Guo Xin's proposal, but judging from the expression on his face, it was obvious that he had other thoughts.

"Father, child-" Huo Yun Shili stood up and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Huo Shouguang.

Huo Shouguang pressed his hand and motioned for Huo Yun to sit down. He emphasized Guo Xin's suggestion again, first arrange 10,000 horses to defend the city to resist the enemy, and then immediately eat and rest, and put all of them into battle at midnight.

Guo Hua and Dugu Huan looked at each other, the father and son looked wrong, Huo Shouguang obviously had other ideas, what his son wanted to say, but he refused.

He is a city guard, he is fully responsible here, and naturally he is in charge of everything, so he won't even refuse to say what he thinks in order to take care of Guo Xin's face, right?

What are these two people hiding?

The father didn't let himself speak, and Huo Yun didn't get angry, so he obediently retreated to defend the city. The corps in which he belonged served was responsible for the early defense.

Everyone continued to stay in the chamber, and when there was no military situation, they closed their eyes and recuperated, or chatted about family life, so as to relieve the tense and cramped atmosphere.

Guo Hua squinted and pretended to sleep, and his kung fu was not big, and a city gate official trotted over to report.

Huo Yun had already gathered two thousand elite soldiers when he joined the army, and rushed out of the city in the direction of the Wolf Tooth Sword Dao.

Listening to the meaning of the words of the gatekeeper lieutenant, Huo Shouguang knew about it, but he just replied back and forth, informing him that Huo Senjun had fulfilled his military order to carry out the task.

Huo Shouguang stood up suddenly, as if he had been greatly stimulated, and the muscles on his face tensed, and slowly relaxed again. After a moment, he waved his hand to signal the captain of the gate to step back.

"Ben will know, and you will wait for the good life to stick to the city gate and work hard for the brothers. ”

Everyone present was shocked.

Don't say that Guo Xin, Guo Xuan, and even those generals who have followed Huo Shouguang for many years are very puzzled.

Everyone was there just now, Huo Shouguang didn't say that, he wanted to strictly defend the city, didn't he say that he took the initiative to send troops?

This kind of thing can be big or small, and at least it can be to send troops privately - in a serious way, in a serious way, in a serious way, to lead troops to surrender to the enemy.

Guo Xin motioned for Guo Hua and the others to calm down.

Sure enough, the generals exchanged a few words, and some of the men who had been cool stood up and asked loudly.

"General, when did the young general give the military order when he led the troops out of the city, and what did he go to do?"

Huo Shouguang smiled very bitterly and explained, "Do you remember a few years ago, General Gao Xianzhi fought against the Dashi Legion in Talas?"

Of course the Admiral remembers. ”

"You, you, and you, and you-" Huo Shouguang became excited, and ordered a few subordinates, only then did he endure the sorrow in his heart and said, "The matter of you and me in the Wolf Tooth Sword Dao back then was his favorite story to hear, and he has always regarded us as an example-"

The battle of Talas was much the same as it is today.

It was also the Great Stone Army, which colluded with the Turks and suddenly attacked.

At that time, Huo Shouguang was just a guerrilla general, and he took the initiative to offer advice and led 2,000 troops to block the enemy in the Wolf Tooth Kendo.

They fought bloodily for two days and two nights, and actually wiped out most of the 20,000 enemy troops who came to attack, and bought Gao Xianzhi time to deploy troops.

In that Talas War, at the beginning, Datang won a great victory and gained the upper hand.

However, in that blocking battle, Huo Shouguang's soldiers and horses were almost exhausted. Only he was left, along with a few of his subordinates.

Chen Dalu, Guo Xiaofeng, Wang Jinxian, Sima Da, Liu Tianming, Zhang Jin, Zuo Qing.

Among them, Chen Dalu, Guo Xiaofeng, and Sima Da died one after another in the later battles. The rest are all in the council room, and life and death follow Huo Shouguang.

If Gao Xianzhi hadn't sent troops to help in time, even a few of them would have sacrificed their lives for the country.

"Earlier today, he proposed to me that if the enemy intended to attack by surprise, he would inevitably take the path of the wolf's tooth sword, and he would follow our example and lead his troops to stop it-"

"If I hadn't been this Talas general, but just a general, I would have gone even today, but he is my son after all—"

"General—hey, don't talk about this kind of thing sooner, I'll go out of the city and rush over to help the major general. ”

Wang Jinxian, Liu Tianming, Zhang Jin, Zuo Qing, all of them had blood gushing, clasped their fists together, and asked to fight.

"Nonsense-" Huo Shouguang was furious, slapped the table and drank everyone, "Everyone don't want to make trouble, keep Talas." ”

"But Yun'er, we grew up watching this kid grow up, we can't let him-" Zhang Jin was anxious.

"Can't you watch him go to death, can you? Confused, he asked for war in the morning, I didn't agree, I have already moved my own thoughts, I am ashamed of the favor of the court, today my son can die generously, I, as a father, you uncles and uncles, should also be happy for him. Besides—"

"Besides, this time is different from the past, it was still possible to mobilize reinforcements everywhere in the past, but this time it was not ten days and a half months, I am afraid that the reinforcements will not be able to arrive, and the generals must make up their minds to die as soon as possible. ”

In fact, everyone has known this for a long time. Huo Shouguang said this, and the generals didn't want to argue about anything.

Guo Hua and Duguhuan asked for help, but they were also stopped by Huo Shouguang.

Huo Shouguang inquired about Guo Xin and Magpie, and knew that Guo Yuhe and Dugu Huan had strange skills, and the safety of Talas City depended on them, and the two of them really couldn't leave.

Huo Yun is sixteen years old, and he has been promoted to join the army, not because of his father, but because of the accumulation of real military achievements.

Although Huo Shouguang is a scholar and a flower visited by Emperor Xuanzong, his son is disdainful of poetry and songs, and his mind is on riding horses and archery, and arranging troops.

At the age of six, he learned the art of riding and archery, and by the age of eight or nine, he was already able to shoot a good archery with one hand and a hundred paces.

When he was ten years old, he made a small suit of armor, knives and guns. Huo Shouguang saw that he was sincere, and took him to inspect the border for the first time.

At the age of eleven, he patrolled the border with Zuo Qing and shot three enemy scouts.

At the age of twelve, he led a team on his own.

When he was thirteen years old, he led a crowd of 100 people and encountered a small Turkic cavalry of nearly 200 people harassing the border.

Huo Yun relied on his familiarity with the desert terrain to lure the enemy into the quicksand and annihilate them all.

Later, he was tired and had military exploits. Last year, at the age of fifteen, he was promoted to join the army by the eldest grandson of the Beiting Metropolitan Protector and the Jie Du Envoy.

This kid is a master who doesn't talk much.

In the morning, I asked my father for advice, but my father didn't agree, and I wanted to say my thoughts in front of everyone in the council room, and forcibly asked for war, but I was refused, so this kid secretly made up his mind - to take someone secretly.

In the past two years, he has a lot of experience in leading troops independently, and he has a group of his own little buddies, mobilizing soldiers and horses, and leading troops out of the city, everyone is very familiar with him, and no one will suspect that he sneaked out.

He didn't know what to be afraid of, and even had a strange thought about death.

He often paints in his mind the picture of his father and several uncles blocking the enemy in the wolf's tooth sword.

The sunset is like blood, the corpses are piled up like mountains, and the blood of the people stains the sand and the grass red—how magnificent?

They brought dry food and water for three days, rode lightly on fast horses, and arrived at the mouth of the valley of the Wolf Tooth Sword Road in less than an hour.

This place was all too familiar to him.

Every grass and tree in the valley, every crack and bulge on the rock wall, he remembered it clearly.

Every time he passed by here, he would secretly wonder what he would do if he were asked to guard this place.

There is a gorge of about 50 paces, which can only accommodate three or five horses passing in parallel.

His plan was to occupy the gorge in its entirety and keep the enemy at the other end of the valley.

On the march, he shouted several times with the soldiers to boost their morale, and as soon as he arrived at the scene, he immediately took action.