Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

October 25th was cloudy and windy.

To the northwest of Zhoushan, Li Shan, King Li Daozong of Rencheng, King Li Daoxuan of Huaiyang, Zhang Shigui and others led the Chinese army to camp here. On the east side, six to seven thousand Tang cavalry were led by Liu Hei'er and Qin Qiong, who took turns to advance or retreat. , or engage in small-scale battles with the Turks.

Both sides maintained a tacit understanding. The Turks obviously did not want to have a decisive battle with the main force of the Tang Army here, and the Tang Army did not want to attack the Turks here and attract a large-scale attack from the other side.

Generals such as Er Zhu Yichen, Wang Junhao, and Ma Sanbao led small groups of cavalry to cover the northern battlefield and hunt down the Turkic scouts... The Turks must not be informed of the approximate strength of the Tang army, otherwise the Turli Khan would be likely to become suspicious.

However, the Luliang Mountains were blocking the west side, and Li Shan deliberately led the Chinese army to block the northwest side of Mount Tiezhou, making it difficult for Turkic scouts to detect.

The entanglement between the two sides seemed to be endless, and Li Shan had no choice but to wait silently.

"The messenger came to report that Qin Wutong and Dou Jing have passed Chitang Pass with 5,000 infantry." Er Zhuhuan said in a low voice: "Based on the distance, we should go around Xiezhoushan before dusk today."

Li Shan nodded and made some calculations in his mind. Once Tuli Khan led his troops to retreat north, he would first have Qin Qiong lead his cavalry to seize Tanglingang, and then send his infantry northward... it might not be possible in time.

Han Liang, who was sitting on his mount, reluctantly spread out the map. Wen Daya on the side pointed at the map and said: "The infantry does not need to go through Xiurong and Dingxiang. They go straight north. Although there is Yunzhong Mountain, it is difficult for the cavalry to go, but the infantry can go."

Han Liang shook his head, "We may not be able to catch up."

"If we can't quickly take over Tanglingang and Yuanping, it will be difficult for the cavalry to go north to pursue." Li Daozong also shook his head and said: "Maybe Qin Wutong can lead the infantry to go north first, along the Luliang Mountains, and through Yunzhong Mountain, and the Turks will be difficult to stop."

"But it is difficult to escape the detection of Turkic scouts." Han Liang looked at Li Shan, "I am afraid of Tuli Khan..."

Li Shan nodded slightly. Once Qin Wutong was allowed to lead the five thousand infantry to go north first, Tuli Khan would probably guess the Tang army's intention.

The battles between the Tang Army and the Turks have always been with cavalry. Li Shan is not good at using infantry, and it is impossible to attack the Turks' flanks with infantry. Once he goes north... his intention is too obvious. It can only be Tanglingang, because there are only three in Xinzhou. County, there is only one important town in the north, Tanglingang.

Tuli Khan could quickly judge that the Tang army wanted to block him in Xinzhou... You must know that Li Shan only has more than 10,000 cavalry under his command, and it is difficult to stop the Turkic attack after falling into death.

By that time, if the fish is really alive, the net will be broken.

Li Shan was silent for a moment and then said: "Order Qin Wutong to set up a formation on the north side of the Chinese army to cover the battlefield, and then order Liu Hongji and Qian Jiulong to lead the infantry to the north quickly."

There is no way, the troops are insufficient, so we can only use infantry to resist... Once the Turks retreat, the infantry can still be of great use.

The most important thing is that once Tuli Khan passes Tanglingang and Yuanping, if everything goes well, Su Dingfang and Cheng Minzhen will cut off the retreat from the east and west sides... Li Shan hopes to attack the passage between the two states in the Xin Dynasty with infantry and cavalry. Otherwise, the losses will be very heavy.

Han Liang on the side thought, I guess Liu Hongji and Qian Jiulong were also very depressed... The two generals set out from Jinzhou and even Jiangzhou to go north. As a result, Wei Siwang led the cavalry to attack and fought all the way to Xinzhou. The two generals Not even a single battle was gained.

At this time, there were scouts approaching at high speed from ahead.

"Alang." Fan Feng got off his horse. After the Xuanwumen Incident, he transformed from a Ye Xianglang to Li Shan's personal guard. After Fan Shiyi was assigned to Yuchi Gong, he became the scout leader of the Chinese army. In fact, As early as the Sui Dynasty, he was a scout in the army.

"how?"

"Go east along Zhoushan, bypass Xiurong, and approach Dingxiang." Fan Feng took a few sips of the water bag thrown by Li Shan and continued: "The Turks drove a large number of people to transport grain and grass in carriages and livestock. Looking from a distance , the fleet is quite long, I’m afraid it won’t be able to transport them all in a day or two.”

Li Shan sighed and scolded: "Is Tuli Khan stupid?"

"We have been traveling around the country for more than a month, but we are only delivering food, grass and goods at this time!"

"What on earth was he doing for such a long time!"

Tuli Khan lingered around the state and refused to retreat, probably because he was waiting for Dubu Khan. Anyway, he blocked Queshu Valley and defeated the Tang army who came to help from Hebei. Li Shan understood this clearly, but he couldn't. Understand why Tuli Khan never sent away the looted people, food and grass.

Wen Daya, who was on the side, was from Taiyuan, but he knew it very well, and explained in a low voice: "King Si of Wei didn't know something. Turks plundered. Once they were sent outside the Great Wall in advance and arrived on the grassland, they would be suspected of being robbed... Back then, Jieli Khan It can’t be stopped either.”

Li Shan blinked and vaguely understood. Although under the rule of Jieli Khan, the Turkic Khanate was already a semi-feudal and semi-slavery country, each tribe still had a strong independence, so once they plundered and harvested, they would send them back. , even Jieli Khan cannot guarantee how much he can get.

Of course, the most important point is that whether it is Jieli Khan or later Dubu Khan and Tuli Khan, they all need to ensure their authority by distributing spoils of war.

Therefore, the Turkic Khan needed to ensure that a large amount of loot returned to the grassland with him, which also delayed the speed of the Turkic army's return.

Li Shan didn't understand this before. That's because after he took office in Daidi, the Turks never broke through Yanmen Pass again, and the Turks could not invade Hedong and plunder.

"Alang." Fan Feng suddenly spoke again: "On the south side of Dingxiang, I met the remnants of Daizhou Army, about dozens of them."

Li Daoxuan, who had been silent all this time, his eyes lit up, "They should have taken refuge on the east side of Zhoushan that day. One of them was the soldiers of Guo County and the other was the garrison of Yanmen Pass."

Li Shan asked calmly: "How many people are there?"

"About a hundred people." Fan Feng shook his head and said, "They are sallow and thin, they are quite haggard, and their armor is not uniform, so it is difficult for them to have fighting power."

Li Shan was a little disappointed. As far as the current situation was concerned, he really hoped that there would be some trouble in Dingxiang... Otherwise, even if Su Dingfang and Cheng Minzhen could block Yanmen Pass, Feihu Trail and the south side of Yuzhou, Tuli Khan would still stay at Xinzhou, that would be very fucked up and would put himself in crisis.

The scouts found out that there are at least 40,000 Turkic troops in Xinzhou now, and Tuli Khan can mobilize troops south from Daizhou at any time.

Li Shan's head felt cold when he thought about this possibility... He now felt that he seemed to be too confident.

Such large-scale outflanking strategies rarely occurred in ancient times because there were too many surprises in coordination.

It is a pity that the remnants of the Daizhou Army are too small, otherwise they can make some noise in Dingxiang... In fact, Li Shan guessed wrong. Li Daozong, the king of Huaiyang who saw the infantry rushing into Zhoushan that day, could not imagine that those infantry A considerable number of people who have suffered a stroke actually live quite well.

At this moment, in a small village in Wutai Mountain, there were Tang Army infantry inside and outside. At a glance, there were at least hundreds of them. In a large house in the middle, more than ten people were sitting on the ground without any manners. , eating meat and drinking wine at the same time.

A big man with a rough appearance drank the wine until his beard was covered with wine, and laughed loudly: "It is said that this Yuhuchun was brewed by the King of Handan... No, no, it should be King Si of Wei."

The man on the side laughed and said: "Xia City was first famous for Yuhuchun. His Highness King Wei Si used Yuhuchun to exchange for a large number of war horses from the grassland. Otherwise, he would not have been able to form the Daizhou Cavalry."

At this point, the room fell into a brief silence. The Daizhou army, which was famous for defeating the Turks three times in the world, was now in ruins. If Liu Shirang and Li Shiji of Shuozhou were also defeated, the entire army would be almost wiped out.

A big man sitting at the top took a dagger and cut a piece of mutton into his mouth, chewed it, and said vaguely: "Your Highness's kindness goes beyond Yu Hu Chun and War Horse. If His Highness hadn't farmed in Wutai, we brothers would not have been able to live here." This shelter.”

"Brother Dugu is right." The rough and powerful man sighed: "If this battle was led by King Wei Si, why would it be like this? Why would it be like this!"

The indignant tone made everyone couldn't help but nod in agreement. Most of these military leaders and junior majors in the Daizhou Army were Li Shan's old troops, and they all followed Li Shan to defeat the Turks, and they were proud of this.

Among them, Dugu De once followed Li Shan to defend Guji Town, and later broke the formation with Xue Wanjun in the Battle of Yunzhou, and cut off Jieli Khan's flag for the second time. He was a direct descendant of Li Shan, and was promoted to Dai after the war. State military primary and secondary schools.

There were about 2,000 infantrymen who rushed into Tiezhoushan that day. After holding on for many days, they were completely cut off from Bingzhou by the Turks. Some of them collapsed, and some crossed Tiezhoushan to the north. As a result, the Turks had already captured Chitang Pass and Shiling Pass. .

Only Dugu De led more than 500 people instead of retreating and advanced eastward along Zhoushan, bypassing Dingxiang County, crossing Muma River and Shah River, and returned to Daizhou and settled in the Wutai Mountain area.

In the early years, Li Shanming drove Zhang Gongjin to farm in Wutai County on behalf of the state, and allocated a large number of soldiers and cattle that had been eliminated from the army. Although Zhang Gongjin was later transferred, the farming was quite effective and continuously supplied Daizhou, Xinzhou, Food and grass in Shuozhou.

That's why Dugu De went north to Wutai Mountain and settled in a village that was abandoned or killed and robbed by the Turks. He attacked everywhere, plundering grain, grass and livestock... The Wutai County magistrate was timid and fled without a trace. Autumn Harvest Later, a large amount of food and grass reserves were seized by the Turks.

However, the Turkic troops were concentrated in Xinzhou, Bingzhou and other places, and the roads in Wutai County were rugged. The Tang army used boats to transport grain and grass along the Shahe River, but the Turks were not able to sail boats... Even after Dugu De went north to Wutai Mountain, he immediately burned it. There were so many ships that this Tang army became a worry for the Turkic army stationed in Wutai County.

Originally, the gap in strength was not big, and once the campaign was launched, Dugu De led his troops to flee into Wutai Mountain. Once the troops retreated, Dugu De attacked everywhere, grabbing grain, grass, livestock...so many soldiers became fat this month.

Dugu De took a sip of wine and looked at everyone, "Since the day before yesterday, the clouds have become thicker. There should be heavy snow in the next two days, and the Turks will inevitably return north."

"What does Brother Dugu mean?"

"The reinforcements have not been able to go north yet..." Dugude stabbed the dagger hard into the mutton, "Are we brothers just going to suffer here?"

"His Royal Highness King Si of Wei reorganized the Daizhou army and defeated the Turks several times. It was known as the strongest army in the world. Now it is so dilapidated. It has lost Yanmen Pass, Feihu Trail, Daizhou, Xinzhou and Shuozhou, and allowed the Turks to plunder several states. The soldiers The front went south to merge with the state, and now the Daizhou army has become a laughing stock!"

"Is everyone willing to do this?"

"Wutai County?" the rough and powerful man tried: "There are only more than a thousand Turks. We only have more than 400 people in our hands. Although there is no shortage of ordnance, it is difficult to face the enemy head-on."

Dugu De's temperament is a bit like Zhang Zhongjian's. He is eager to make contributions and is unwilling to give in. He said enthusiastically: "Even so..."

Before he finished speaking, there were rapid footsteps outside, and three or four people rushed into the house. The face of the leader, a tall and thin man, was full of excitement and surprise, "The King of Wei is here, the King of Wei is here!"

After a moment of silence, the room became chaotic. Everyone's face was full of surprise, and several people jumped up on the spot... Li Shan, who personally formed the Daizhou Army and defeated the Turks several times and revived Daizhou, had a great deal of interest in them. Strong influence.

Dugu De also looked excited and pulled the tall and thin man, "Where did you meet him?"

"We met a scout on the south side of Dingxiang County." The tall and thin man said happily: "The leader is the personal guard of King Wei Si. He personally mentioned that King Wei Si was appointed as the marching marshal of Hedong Road and marched in Jinzhou, Fenzhou, Bingzhou defeated the Turks several times, and now he led his army north to Xinzhou to confront the Turks on the northwest side of Mount Xiezhou."

"Okay, okay, okay, if you want to defeat the Turks, you have to be King Wei Si!"

"With King Wei's command, the Turks will not be able to return north safely!"

Dugu De licked his dry lips. He originally wanted to take back Wutai County, but now it seems... You must know that King Wei Si never values ​​family status. Su Dingfang, Zhang Zhongjian, Qu Silang, Wang Junhao, none of them Anyone who comes from a noble family will have to be plucked out of the grass by the King of Wei, who has made great achievements and been awarded a title!

Just look at Zhang Zhongjian and you will know. At that time, Zhang Zhongjian was just a small military leader under Yuan Junzhang, but now he is a noble prince and controls the Lingzhou Army!

When the news reached Daizhou that day, Dugu De gritted his teeth with hatred. Wang Junhao had asked him when he reorganized his bodyguard, but Dugu De still chose to stay in the army... But Qu Silang, who had a friendship with him, followed Li Shan. He went to Chang'an and is now a county official.

After asking carefully for a long time, Dugu De waved his hands and shouted several times, and the room suddenly became quiet.

"His Royal Highness King Si of Wei leads the army to the north, and the Turks will inevitably return north." Dugu De said eloquently, "The Turks will definitely deploy heavy troops in Xiurong County to confront King Si of Wei... They have not retreated so far because they are stationed in Dingxiang County. Food, grass, wealth.”

The tall and lanky man nodded vigorously and said: "The convoys transporting grain and grass are winding for hundreds of miles, and there is an endless stream."

The rough man slapped his thigh and said, "Fuck it!"

"Dry!"

"Burn those grains and grass, and the Turks will be in chaos!"

"With the flames soaring into the sky, the Turks' military morale will inevitably be unstable. King Wei Si will lead his army to attack fiercely, and he will definitely defeat the Turks!"

Dugude was thinking back and forth in his mind. It was certain that he would take this vote, but there must be a large number of Turkic soldiers in Dingxiang County, so he needed to plan carefully how to do it.

However, the Turks must be defensive on the east and south sides, but Mount Wutai is on the north side. It is not impossible to take them by surprise... Fortunately, they had left some ships to hide.

The ordnance is still complete, but to burn so much food and grass, there is not enough kindling and kerosene, so we have to think of a way.