Defend the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 87
Yandu is the southernmost Jimi prefecture of Yele Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, with a population of only three or four thousand, and most of them are slaves of the Dawa tribe.

However, the territory is very large, so large that there is no clear boundary to the east and south.

Uskul Valley is located in the southeast corner of Yandu Prefecture, about 320 miles away from Baisha City and 370 miles away from Yele City.

The grasslands, river valleys and oases within two to three hundred miles to the southeast are the territory of more than [-] Qiang tribes and [-] Tubo warriors.

There has been no war in this large, cold and barren wasteland for five or six years, but in the past six days, there have been killings everywhere within a radius of three hundred miles, causing bloody storms one after another.

The frontier army of the Tang Dynasty either did not go out, but once they went out, they would be thunderous.

Zuo Xiaowei Zhonglang General Wang Qingxiang personally led the army to continue the conquests, exterminating more than [-] tribes like the autumn wind sweeping leaves, killing many people, robbing many slaves, horses, cattle and sheep, food and grass, and burning many houses and tents.

Now there are only nine Qiang tribes and seven small Tubo tribes left, and most of them fled south with their families. Only one small Qiang tribe and three small tribes of Tubo survived.

It seems cruel, but it is the law of survival in the southwestern frontier.

Those Qiang people and Tubo people are similar in appearance, language, and customs, so there is a saying that "Qiang and Tibetans have the same origin".

If you don't act first now, when Mazha Tata issues a call-up order, those Qiang people will be called up and become fearless Tubo slaves, rushing to the front to lead the battle for Mazha Tata, when the time comes Those who killed were the frontier army of the Tang Dynasty and the Jimi tribe of the Tang Dynasty.

The central army and the right army fought for days, and they were not only very tired but also suffered many casualties, especially as many as [-] people died of frostbite.

The wounded soldiers had to be sent to Yele City to recuperate, the uninjured ones urgently needed to rest, and the spoils of war had to be disposed of quickly. The heavy responsibility of defending the Uskul Valley fell on the shoulders of the left army and the left wing left army.

Han Pingan put on heavy armor, and under the protection of Gu Sili and other Turkic warriors, together with Chen Biao, the brigade commander of the night watch team, rode on horses and went forward for more than [-] miles to search for and kill the Qiang tribes that had escaped to the north. And the Tubo scouts who appeared frequently.

The clairvoyance I made in Guishu six years ago finally came in handy. I was stationed on a relatively high gentle slope, and I held up my clairvoyance to observe the south. I saw two night watchmen chopping off a warrior wearing leopard skin.

Another samurai was shot by an arrow and was staggering eastward.

However, he couldn't run as fast as a horse, and was soon overtaken by the two night watchmen.

"Chen Lushuai, Tubo isn't good at horse fighting either?" Han Pingan put down his binoculars and looked back at Chen Biao.

"In Tubo, like us, there are very few real cavalry soldiers, and most of them dismount and fight on foot when encountering enemies."

Chen Biao looked at the south, confirmed that the two subordinates were fine, and added: "They rely on slaves to fight the war. The slaves usually either herd or farm. It is impossible to stay on horseback every day."

Gu Sili had never fought against Tubo, but when he was in the Xuebu, he heard a lot of people talking about it. He couldn't help but say: "Tubo's war depends on the number of people. Let the slaves and the small tribes that depend on them take the lead. A wave In a wave of charging, you are only allowed to advance and not retreat, and the ones in the front will continue to charge after they die, so that you can't even cut them."

Han Pingan pondered: "It seems that fighting with them is courting death."

Chen Biao fought against Tubo seven years ago, and he didn't think Tubo was too difficult to deal with. He said lightly: "If there are enough elite horsemen, they can't stop them."

Han Pingan asked curiously: "How much is this enough?"

"That depends on how many slaves they send out."

"What if they dispatched [-] slaves?"

"Two thousand horsemen are enough."

"One for five?"

"almost."

Han Pingan thought for a while, and then asked: "How does the combat power of Tubo servants compare with Tiaodang?"

Chen Biao said without hesitation: "Diaodang can take one against three."

Han Pingan asked: "Where is Mo Dao Shou?"

Chen Biao made some calculations, then raised his head and said, "As long as the formation is not chaotic, it's easy for one to fight against three. In fact, there are no rules and regulations in fighting in Tubo, it depends on the large number of people and strict military orders."

"But as far as I know, their morale is very high."

"Tubo pays great attention to military achievements, and is proud of dying in battle, and ashamed of being greedy for life and fear of death. Warriors who sacrifice their lives will wear tiger and leopard skins, and will hang fox tails on the heads of those who are greedy for life and fear of death."

Chen Biao looked at the two subordinates who were rushing back from a distance, and continued: "Although they are not as rewarding as ours, they have imitated our Tang Dynasty and made a set of confessions. As long as they have military merits, they are warriors." , Be a centurion or even a thousand household leaders, and you will have territorial slaves.”

The incentive system is perfect, unlike the honored officers of the Tang Dynasty, they are not worthless, but worthless.

Han Ping'an was thinking that the Yele Department should also have a practical military merit system in the future, when there was a rush of hooves behind him.

Looking back, a Sogdian personal guard came galloping.

"Report to the long history, Su Da's governor urgently reports!"

"it is good."

Han Pingan took a small letter tube made of sheepskin from the Sogdian guard, and pulled out a note from it.

"Have you reported it to General Wang?"

"Inspector Suda went to report the news as soon as he received the news."

"You go back to the camp first, I'll see if I've caught anyone alive, and I'll go back later."

"promise!"

Sogdian's personal guards turned their horses' heads, rushed down the gentle slope, and headed straight for the camp.

Han Pingan looked at Su Dasushi's letter again, raised his head and said, "The old bastard Mazha has moved."

Neither the elites of Yele Town nor the guards of Baisha City, including the warriors of the Jiji tribe, are not used to the climate of the plateau, so they fought within a radius of [-] a few days ago, not daring to go further south.

The Xuebu scouts from the west of Congling Ridge originally lived in a place with high and cold terrain. Although they could not compare with Tubo, the place where Mazhabu lived was not very high, and most of them could adapt to the climate, so those who went south Relatively far.

The enemy of the enemy is the friend.

Thinking that the military situation that his friend found out was not comparable to those of his night watchmen, Chen Biao was no longer as calm as before, and couldn't help asking: "How many soldiers did Maza Tata summon?"

Han Pingan took a deep breath, and pretended to be relaxed and said: "That old guy went crazy and summoned all the warrior slaves he could summon. It is not clear how many he summoned, but it is estimated to be no less than [-]."

"No less than thirty thousand!"

"What the scouts saw was the vanguard. There was a sea of ​​people, densely packed, all over the mountains and plains, and they were marching very fast. They were about [-] miles away from us at noon yesterday. It is estimated that they will soon reach the Kela Mountain Pass."

"With so many slaves dispatched, what do they eat?"

"Drink horse milk and eat mutton. Each of them has five or six horses, and the horses are all tied with mutton and horse feed. In order to find out these, Su Da's second brother lost a dozen scouts."

"Five or six horses, how much horse food do you need to eat a day..."

"It can't be counted from when they set off. They can supply supplies on the spot all the way to the Kela Mountain Pass. It can only be counted from today."

Chen Biao calculated: "A horse needs to eat ten catties of hay and five catties of concentrate a day, and six horses can eat sixty catties of hay and thirty catties of concentrate a day. One horse can carry three hundred catties, and five horses can carry [-] catties. It is not counted as human food, but as horse feed that can be carried, and they can only last for half a month at most."

Han Pingan rubbed the corner of his mouth, turned around and said, "People eat four or five catties of mutton for a day, and they can kill horses. Even if they don't arrange follow-up food and grass, they can last for 20 days."

Chen Biao murmured: "To carry so much mutton and horse fodder, you can travel fifty miles a day at most. But you can't calculate the bills like this. They have a lot of people, so you can send 6000 to [-] people to attack lightly."

"Their scouts have already touched here, and there is not much time left for us. It is estimated that they will be able to see their forwards the morning after tomorrow."

"Chang Shi, is there enough time for what you said to be strong and clear?"

"There are only about [-] small tribes in total, so there should be time."

Just as they were talking, the two night watchmen rode their horses up the gentle slope.

As soon as he reined in, he threw the corpses of two Tubo warriors lying on the horse's back to the ground.

"According to the long history, the humble position is incompetent, and no one was caught alive."

"Are you injured?"

"I got stabbed here, but fortunately, I was wearing a thick coat and lined with chain mail, so I didn't get hurt."

Han Pingan took the knife captured by the night watchman, flicked it lightly, touched the blade, and then leaned over to look at the corpse:
"These two are warriors who are not afraid of death. It is not so easy to catch them alive, as long as they are not injured."

The tall night watchman cupped his hands and said, "Xie Changshi is sympathetic."

"Take off their armor."

"promise!"

The knives of the Tubo warriors are indeed better than the knives of the Tang Dynasty, and they look a bit like they are made of iron.

I don't know whether the iron ore and technology used for forging the knife came from Tianzhu or Dashi, but one thing is certain, it will definitely not be able to compete with Tubo, who has come from behind in equipment.

Han Pingan returned the seized knife to the night watchman, and the night watchman saw that Gu Sili hesitated to speak, so he simply handed the knife to Gu Sili.

"Uncle Xu, what a shame, you captured this..."

"Use it first, the big battle is imminent, there are plenty of opportunities to capture it, and return it to me when it is captured."

"Thank you Uncle Xu."

Gu Sili happily took the knife, swiped it several times in succession, his heart bursting with joy.

Everyone rushed back to the camp, and the river valley, which was still chaotic when they came out in the morning, was much deserted.

More than a dozen Sogdian caravans took away all the horses, cattle, sheep and slaves that could be taken away, and the wounded soldiers were also transported away, and even the grooms recruited before disappeared.

There were more than 5000 soldiers at most, but now there are less than [-] soldiers left.

Han Pingan returned to his tent, bumped into Su Dasushi, changed his clothes, and took Su Dasushi straight to the tent of the Chinese army.

Wang Qingxiang was discussing countermeasures with Anushi, Yuan Jingang and other chiefs of the Jimi tribe. When he saw the two of them, he asked eagerly, "Sanlang, have the Yandu tribes withdrawn?"

"General, the old, weak, women and children of the Dawa tribe have been evacuated to Baisha City. The leader of the Dawa tribe, Dawahannuo, understands the righteousness and is willing to lead two hundred warriors to serve in the army. The humble official wants to fortify the wall and clear the country just like Daman and Yaojian However, Deputy Envoy Xu and Yu Canjun didn't have many guards under their command, so they asked Davahano to lead his troops to serve Deputy Envoy Xu."

"Mazhata Tower is coming very quickly. Daman, Yaojian and other prefectures must pay close attention to clearing the walls. Anyone who dares not follow will be punished as an enemy."

"promise!"

Wang Qingxiang also did not expect that the Mazha tribe would come out in full force. He looked around at the crowd: "Everyone, although there are many Tubo soldiers, it is not a bad thing. If we can hold them back for a day, we will have a better chance of winning. Whether we can accomplish all our merits in one battle depends on the This move!"

The reason why Master Anu was willing to send troops was not just to take advantage, not just to make friends with Wang Qingxiang, but also to take this opportunity to avenge his hatred.

20 years ago, Tubo invaded Anxi on a large scale, and his father died tragically in the hands of Tubo.

He knew very well that he could not avenge him with his own strength, and now Wang Qingxiang was the only one who followed suit, and immediately bowed and said, "The general is wise!"

"The governor doesn't need to be polite."

Wang Qingxiang smiled slightly and looked up at Han Ping'an: "Sanlang, Uncle and the governor of Anu Shida will fight and retreat as agreed before, and retreat all the way to Yingzui Cliff. You and Su Da don't need to follow us, go back and prepare. Tomorrow morning, lead the left army and the left wing left army to Yinma beach."

"Uncle Wang, once we leave, you will have fewer soldiers here."

"Uncle won't be so stupid as to fight them head-on. A few hundred more people is the same as a few hundred less. Compared with Uncle's side, Yinma Beach is more important. Uncle is worried if you and Su Da can't go there. "

"Okay, Uncle Wang, take care, uncles, take care!"

"As long as there are no changes at Yinmatan, there will be nothing wrong with Uncle. Uncle has prepared 5000 draft horses for you, and left enough cattle, sheep, and food for 20 people for [-] days. They will be taken away tomorrow morning." .”

"promise!"

"Yele City Night Watch Team and Yele City Play Team will also go with you."

"Uncle Wang..."

"Uncle retreats to Yingzui Cliff and he can resist danger and defend. Let alone [-] to [-] soldiers, even if another [-] to [-] soldiers come, Maza Tata can't do anything to Uncle. But in the end, the battle can only be won by fighting. You can't win it. Whether you can win this battle depends entirely on you."

The terrain of Yingzui Cliff is dangerous, and it can be said that one man should guard the pass and ten thousand men cannot open it.

The dozens of night watchmen You Yiren from Yele City followed, but it was really useless.

Han Pingan weighed it, and cupped his hands: "Don't worry, Uncle Wang, there will never be any changes in Yinmatan."

Wang Qingxiang was still uneasy after thinking about it, and looked up at Su Da.

Su Da Sushi came to his senses, and hurriedly said: "General, don't worry, if there is any change in Yinmatan, I will come to see you."

(End of this chapter)