Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 311 The time is ripe
Shao Shude rode out of the city on a war horse and inspected the vast oasis grassland.There were many iron cavalry soldiers patrolling outside the city, and they all cheered when they saw the commander-in-chief.

After many days of fierce fighting, the soldiers of the iron cavalry can still maintain a considerable morale, which is enough for Shao Shude to be relieved.

If it weren't for the fact that Liangzhou had very few soldiers and the enemy mostly consisted of cavalry, he would not have sent the cavalry to this battlefield to consume them.

Five thousand elite cavalry is not used in this way!
The Iron Cavalry is an independent cavalry unit that does not need to cooperate with the actions of any infantry group, that is the business of the cavalry of each army.They are well equipped with iron armor, long lances, and can't even use a horn bow-until your long lance is lost.It is a very "dull" cavalry, and it is also a cavalry that can be mass-produced.

The Leopard Cavalry Capital should be the heavily armed and upgraded version of these "dumb" cavalry.

But the cavalry is not.Long-distance raids, harassing food roads, intercepting messengers, ambushing bandits, etc., are their main combat tasks. Otherwise, what is the extravagant one man with two horses?
The freedom given to the chief officer is also very large. He can ignore the requests of the brother troops, and only needs to cooperate with the entire strategy, and does not need to cooperate with any tactical level fight.

It is indeed a pity that such a strategic force is used in the tactical scene outside Liangzhou City.

It's not that he didn't think about sending out the cavalry to attack Ganzhou by detour.That is, go to the Gobi desert north of Beishan (Mazongshan, Helishan, Longshoushan). There are some rivers and lakes Haizi for supplies. In theory, you can march.However, there are Hexi Dangxiang and the Tartarized Dangxiang nomadic tribe, who have a bad relationship with the Shuofang army. It is rumored that the remnants of the Tuoba clan have now moved south from the northern grassland and entered this area.

It was too risky to go here, so I finally gave up.

Marshal Shao is full of daring, but he is extremely cautious in using troops, which is quite contradictory.

"Commander, the Uighurs in Ganzhou are very slippery, and these few days are dedicated to letting Liugu Tubo die. The general guessed that they should want to slip away." Li Tangbin, who was following behind on his horse, said.

Li Tangbin has changed a lot in recent years.

He was originally a scruffy general who was born in the nest. Although he was brave and brave, he was relatively undisciplined.Since being taken prisoner in the Battle of Sanyuan, a lot has changed.

Look at his attire.

The iron armor assigned to him in the army was not used, but a pair of golden armor was privately made, and he wore it even in the winter, meticulously.

It's hard to wear the iron clothes of the guards!Wearing an iron armor in winter is uncomfortable, but he just endured it.

In terms of running the army, he can hardly see the color of the nest thief on his body, and everything is developing in a normalized direction.If you don't know his details, how can you think he is a general's son?

Words and deeds have also changed a lot.

He married a wife in Xiazhou.The original wife was trapped in the nest army, let's not talk about it.

The bride's family is the daughter of Xia Suiya General Linghu Jing who passed away just last year.The Linghu family can barely be regarded as a young general, and Li Tangbin's transformation may have been influenced by his wife's family.

Coincidentally.Also in the Tianzhu Army, the rising young general Wang Jianji also married a wife.His wife is the youngest daughter of Zhou Rong, also from the general family.

Represented by Linghu Jing and Zhou Rong, Xia Sui frontier veterans, under the increasingly marginalized situation, can only find another way, invest in promising new stars, and look forward to returning to the center of the stage one day—the one who was cast aside by the general Life is hard!
"Prairie people always eat when they have meat, and leave when they have no meat. It is unrealistic to expect them to gnaw hard bones." Shao Shude stopped his horse, took his whip to guide the mountains in the south, and said: "Liugu Tubo, if They are not forced to rush, how could they take the initiative to go north? They will only graze and farm in the valley. The only way for them to survive now is to abandon Liugu, where their ancestors lived for generations, and flee, as far away as possible. For a while, there will be a place where there is no time to cook, lingering, but I don’t know if they have this decision.”

"As long as the Commander-in-Chief gives the order, the final general will conquer Liugu Tubo, and the leader will come and surrender." Li Tangbin said.

Shao Shude smiled, and said: "There is a chance. I feel that Liugu Tubo may not be willing to leave."

Liangzhou is a place that is really hard for people to give up.If Wumu was elected, he would rather exchange Ganzhou for Liangzhou, and he would be happy without any hesitation, even though Ganzhou is second only to Liangzhou in the Hexi Corridor.

The water system originating from Guzang South Mountain and Daxue Mountain nourishes the land at the foot of Beilu Mountain, forming a large oasis fertile soil suitable for animal husbandry and cultivation.

Moreover, there are still many forests on the plain at this time.A lot has been destroyed after the Anshi Rebellion. If left unchecked, the forest area will shrink further, and it will be difficult to reverse it. War is an important factor in the destruction of forests.

During the Kaiyuan period, there were more than 3 Chishui troops in Liangzhou City, and 36 reclamation areas were established outside the city, totaling 1800 hectares.At that time, there were more than [-] Tang people in Liangzhou. It was the seat of the Jiedu envoy in Hexi. The Tibetans mostly raised livestock, but under the influence of the Tang people, they also began to grow crops.Correspondingly, under the influence of the Tibetans, the Tang people also began to herd herds, and the overall situation was in a state of simultaneous farming and animal husbandry.

At that time, Liangzhou could even grow mulberry trees and weave silk.

Of course, compared with farming and mulberry, the animal husbandry here is more attractive.

In 1050, the Liao army attacked Xia, and the Northern Route Army went to Liangzhou. They captured a million sheep, 20 camels, and [-] cattle, and captured many young and old.

There are no horses in the data, because they were transferred away by the Xia people.In fact, in the Hexi area, regardless of whether it is official or private, there is an important feature, that is, the proportion of horses is particularly high.During the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong, due to the corruption of the official horse administration, the herdsmen had only 40 horses, so they let go of private breeding. As a result, more than [-] horses were raised among the people, all of which were Liangzhou horses of higher quality than grasslands.

Before Xixia occupied Liangzhou, they also marched under the slogans of "plundering Tubo's horses in the west" and "taking back the sharp soldiers of the falcons in the north".At that time, the Tubo Liugu tribe had defeated Gamo in a long-term attack and controlled the entire Liangzhou, and the Uighurs in Ganzhou were their allies.

Therefore, there is no need to say much about the significance of Liangzhou.Liugu Tubo will not leave Liangzhou unless it is absolutely necessary, and it is not that the Uighurs really have no choice, and they will not give up their coveting here.

This greed and hesitation is their way of death.

"Commander, the cavalry army's broken army envoys sent people to report that the Tubo and Uyghur coalition forces have assembled in large numbers, and they seem to have a plan." The ten personal soldiers Lu Ming suddenly came to report.

"It's time to run!" Shao Shude sighed and said, "Why don't you stay for two more days? Send an envoy to Li Renmei, and say that my army is going south and invite him to fight."

"As ordered."

Of course Shao Shude did not want to fight the Uighur and Tubo allied forces at this time.Now that there is a backup player and a more secure strategy, of course we have to wait for the most favorable opportunity.

This will invite Li Renmei to fight, but it is just a strategy to interfere and delay the withdrawal of the Uyghurs on the spot, in order to keep them longer.

On the pastures near the East River Valley, Li Renmei had already made up her mind, no longer looking forward and backward, and began to move people, cattle, sheep, and goods westward.

When steppe cavalry entered Han territory, they always plundered.If the Han army doesn't come to stop them, then continue to go deeper. If the main force of the Han army comes, then withdraw and wait for the next opportunity.

It is their traditional military philosophy to avoid the real and attack the virtual and give full play to the advantages of mobility.

Groups of cattle and sheep were driven out of the valley, and groups of women and children were escorted out crying, as well as carts full of cloth, leather, grain, farm tools, gold and silverware, etc.

There are 4000 people in Dingkouzu, almost all of them come from Gamo and the small tribes attached to Gamo.If all of these were transported back to Ganzhou, the strength of the Uighurs would usher in a surge.

Zhebu Nian of Yangfei Gubu looked gloomy at the Uyghurs swaggeringly retreating.

What a shit ally!
Of the 3 people who were robbed, more than [-] were taken away by others. The Yangfei Gubu and Haomen Gubu who had their old nests taken away only got more than [-], and there were few cattle, sheep and goods, which is a big loss.

The only consolation is probably that the strength of the old enemy Yan Mo has been greatly weakened.Originally there were more than [-] people, and they lost a lot in the attack on Liangzhou. There were also many casualties in the battles these days. Now, there are only [-] people left.

There are also those miscellaneous small tribes such as Tuyuhun, Longjia, Sogdian, Tatar, Dangxiang, etc., there are about [-] to [-]. If they don't run away, they are basically Shao thieves.

Damn it, after fighting for so long, the one who has gained the most is Shao thief.

Uighurs who did not expend much effort also gained a lot.

"Resolutely" raided Liugu Tubo at the end of the river, but they were unable to make ends meet, and their losses were in a mess. I don't know how it happened.

Liugu Tubo originally had 7 to [-] people, but now there are still [-] left.Even counting the captured Dingkou, it is only more than [-]. If they go to Ganzhou, what will happen?

Independence is impossible to maintain.It would be nice to be a Uighur tribe like the Longjia tribe in Ganzhou.The worst thing is that it cannot maintain the status quo and is directly annexed by others.

Liugu Tubo, who repelled the main force of the Guiyi Army more than [-] years ago, how did it get to where it is today?
"There's smoke and dust there!" There was an exclamation in his ears, and Zhe Bu Nian suddenly turned his head and looked to the southeast.

There is the Hongyuan Valley, how can there be smoke and dust?Someone called?
"Send someone to investigate immediately!" Zhe Bu Nian ordered.

His palms were already sweating.

Tang Jun, one is in Haomen Valley, like a thorn in the flesh, it is very uncomfortable, but they have been locked in; the other is in Liangzhou, led by Shao thief, these days have been working to annex all the tribes Ding Kou's dirty work was also closely monitored.

Where did this force come from?
"Yesterday, did the Zhuanglang Valley Department send 200 people back to pick up the people?" Zhe Bu Nian asked suddenly.

No, he doesn't need the people below to answer, in fact he knows it very well.The two divisions of Hongyuan Valley and Zhuanglang Valley, which were far away, sent people back to bring the tribes, cattle, sheep, and goods. It was his own order.

If something happened to them too, it would be the end for Liugu Tubo!

Lord Wumu also immediately saw several streaks of smoke and dust rising into the sky in Hongyuan Valley.It is daytime now, and most of the Tibetans who stayed behind are warning.

On this occasion, he has two choices, one is to gather the Uyghur and Tubo allied forces and go to Hongyuan Valley for rescue, or the other is to leave directly. I can't keep it.

How to choose is all in one thought.

Lord Wumu chose the latter, but he also issued an additional order: Yeluohemocuo led five thousand elite riders to the north, and threatened Liangzhou.

Obviously, he wanted to leave and wanted to keep his property.

Of course, Liangzhou also saw the soaring plume of smoke from Hongyuan Valley.

Shao Shude ordered on the spot that more than 1 soldiers from the Liushunyi Army guard Liangzhou, and more than [-] soldiers from the Tianzhu Army, Iron Cavalry Army, and Leopard Cavalry are all mobilized, preparing to go south to chase the enemy.

This day was the fourth day of April in the second year of Wende, and the time for a decisive battle was ripe.

(End of this chapter)