Li Siye smiled and nodded in agreement: "What Gong Xu said is exactly what I want, now that we are no longer rebellious, we represent the imperial court, and naturally we must do what the imperial court should do." Tubo advanced to the west of the Longyou River, occupied Shanzhou and Shicheng, and controlled the Baiting and Jiaocheng guards, which broke the connection between Wuwei and Zhangye. In my opinion, it is better to recapture Baiting and Jiaocheng, and completely open up the Hexi Corridor is the right way. ”

"Besides, there are many Hexi disciples in this army we lead, and I vowed to bring them back in the past, so naturally I want to free Hexi from the siege of the Tubo people, and it is the army's desire to attack Baiting and Jiaocheng."

Bai Xiaode came to his senses, and crossed his hands towards Li Siye and Xu Bin: "What the military master said is that Xiaode is a rough person, and he is naturally not as meticulous and thoughtful as you when thinking about things, so you decide where to fight, and I will knock over one by one with the soldiers." ”

Li Siye stroked his palms and smiled: "In this case, Xiaode, you personally lead the Flying Tiger Cavalry, and I will lead the Xuanwu Artillery Battalion, and we will lead the two offensive and defensive weapons of the Hexi disciples, first attacking Baiting, and then Jiaocheng." ”

The Flying Tiger Cavalry and the artillery battalion have been sharpened in several battles in the Central Plains, and various tactics are also perfectly coordinated.

The two armies quickly advanced to Baiting to guard the city, Tubo Dongdai Dongben stood on the city wall and looked into the distance, and the Hexi army was pressed by black, and there was a momentum of black clouds pressing the city.

He immediately sent Yang Tong scouts to Su Biru's left wing commander stationed in Shanzhou to ask for help, and said to the left and right that he was not panicked at all: "Yang Tong scouts rode two camels to ask for help, but they can travel 600 miles day and night, and in seven days, tens of thousands of iron horsemen of my Su Biru will rush here to wipe out the Tang army who dare to go out of Liangzhou City here, and then conquer Liangzhou City, and the entire Hexi is the pasture of my Subi people!" Hahaha. ”

Dong Dai Dongben obviously didn't realize the seriousness of the problem, he thought that with the low city of Baiting, he could hold on for more than half a month, which was enough to support the arrival of reinforcements. I think that the Hexi Tang Army, which had more than 1,500 people, held on to the city for two whole months before it was taken by Tubo. They are only stronger than the Tang Army, and they will definitely be able to hold out for a longer time.

Li Siye waved the trumpet flag in his hand, the left and right wings of the Flying Tiger Cavalry retreated to both sides, and the two hundred guns of the artillery battalion slowly pushed to a distance of five hundred paces, a distance that made the bed crossbows on the head of the city no longer have any lethality.

Li Siye ordered in a loud voice: "Load me with flower shells and shell for an hour." ”

The soldiers of the artillery battalion divided the labor and matched, charged, twisted, and reloaded in one go. The gunner personally adjusted the elevation angle, lit the twist at the rear end.

As the rumbling cannon sounded, puffs of white smoke rose from the rows of cannon muzzles, and the flowering shells exploded on the head of the city guarded by the White Pavilion, and several Gui archers were pushed off the city wall by the air wave without warning.

Dongben was blown up and staggered, shouting loudly and hiding in the castle tower.

"What the hell is going on? Did the Tang army borrow the heavenly thunder from the Thunder Celestial God? Hide for me, don't let the thunder split! ”

Li Siye looked at the smoke and sparks that exploded on the top of the city expressionlessly, and turned his head to look at the sundial on the ground from time to time.

After an hour of shelling, the city of Baiting has been blown to the ground, and it is time to give the order to attack.

"Push the battering ram forward and break through the gates."

The battering ram they made was different from ordinary battering rams in that instead of a heavy hammer in the front, they had a hollow coffin filled with powder kegs made of iron cans, and large stones were hung behind them as counterweights.

Hundreds of soldiers of the Hexi Army pushed the siege vehicle to the bottom of the city, put the coffin against the city gate, and nailed the rear into the earth with wooden stakes against the wheels to ensure that the impact of gunpowder could withstand the impact of gunpowder and squeeze the city gate in the reverse.

Tubo Dongben was completely panicked, and on the one hand ordered the soldiers to shoot arrows at the city to kill and injure the Tang army, and on the other hand, he ordered the team guarding the city gate to use trees against the city gate to block the impact of the Hexi army's battering ram.

Unexpectedly, these Tang soldiers put the battering ram against the city gate, and after throwing down the torches, they fled backwards quickly, as if they were trying to avoid something terrible, his sluggish face was completely confused, and a trace of foreboding surged in his heart.

There was a rumbling sound from the feet of the Tibetans, a huge crack was directly opened in the city wall, and one side of the western corner collapsed directly, and some soldiers sat on the earth landslide. Even the people on the head of the city were lifted to stand unsteadily, and the city gate under the city wall was directly pushed to the ground, and the door of the white pavilion was wide open.

Li Siye drew a horizontal knife from his waist, raised it in his hand and shouted: "Brothers, follow me into the city!" ”

Bai Xiaode took the lead, carrying a spear and leading hundreds of horsemen to rush into the doorway, defending the city Dongdai knew that he could not resist, so he had to surrender on his knees.

Li Siye ordered the rear troops to escort these Tubo people to continue to advance, and uproot the Jiaocheng garrison in the northwest of Liangzhou.

He sent people to escort Dongdai Dongben with a horizontal knife to shout under the city gate, and the Tibetan language did not sound easy to understand, but fortunately there was a translator in his team who was fluent in the Liubo language.

Dongben's words of persuasion to surrender have not yet been shouted, the Tubo people have already shot sharp arrows from the city, Dongben had to turn around and flee, Li Siye ordered people to come forward and shout again, hoping that the other party can take the initiative to surrender the city, otherwise after breaking the city, all the Katsura archer warriors will be killed.

The Tibetans ignored their warnings, and Li Siye immediately ordered an attack, and the sound of cannons shook the earth, mixed with the sound of drums, and the whole city crumbled.

The siege process was the same as before, first using artillery to suppress the will to destroy the enemy's army, and then sending people to launch a large blasting hammer against the city gate to destroy the city walls. The cavalry finally stormed the city. The Tibetan lord felt that surrender was inevitable and died, so he hurriedly abandoned the city and left, but was still chased and killed by the Flying Tiger Cavalry.

Li Siye ordered people to distinguish between Yong and Gui in the Tibetan troops guarding Jiaocheng, and the proportion of Yong was generally about five times that of Gui, and Yong not only drove yaks to graze to supply the basic supplies of Gui archers, but also took care of Gui Archers' horses and lives in the form of subordinates, and even assisted Gui in battle.

Therefore, the Gui in the Tibetan army was the main source of its combat effectiveness, and they were generally born from middle- and upper-class slave owners and small landlords, and did not need to carry out production activities, but only trained and fought. The combat effectiveness of the individual soldiers of the Tubo army Gui is still quite strong, and the armor is also quite sophisticated.

Of course, the promise he made before cannot be broken, and when he comes out to fight, he must be trustworthy, saying that he will kill all the Gui shooters, and naturally he can't let any of them go. Bai Xiaode personally presided over the execution ceremony, escorted these Tubo Gui shooters to the river in the east of the city, and were beheaded one by one with horizontal knives.

After Li Siye occupied Baiting and Jiaocheng, he was able to relieve the traffic threat from Liangzhou, but he did not directly lead his troops to Liangzhou, but stationed between the two garrison cities, waiting for the arrival of a truly powerful opponent.

This truly powerful opponent was the Subiru, who controlled the Qinghai region, and unlike the other four Ru, they were a mixed ethnic group. Among them, the Yangtong and Subi races have a large number of cavalry, as well as the Qiangtang and Tuyuhun, and even a small number of Han Chinese living in Qinghai, are also part of this group.

The remaining four are mostly for the control of all parts of Tubo, and only Su Ruru is the sharp blade for the Tubo Dynasty to expand outward, so as long as Li Siye defeats Su Biru, he can curb the pace of the Tubo army's westward advance.

The controller of Su Biru is the prince of the Su Vi tribe, and there are many retainers and generals under him, and the power of the five generals is very large, far exceeding that of the Tang Dynasty.