Tibet.

Chapter 1255 Fundamental Goal
According to Li Ye's thinking, he was not in a hurry to have a decisive battle with the Uighur army. He would never lead his army directly across the Juma River to fight a life-and-death battle with the Uighur army. Instead, he would defend and counterattack, gradually consuming the enemy's manpower. After the Uighur army was tired and exhausted, he would launch a strong attack and defeat it in one fell swoop.

In the morning, three hundred 5,000-dan ships slowly sailed in from the mouth of the Zhang River. These large ships were the fleet from Donghai Island, crossing the Bohai Sea and arriving at the mouth of the Zhang River.

The eastern section of the Juma River is called Zhangshui, not Juma River, because the Zhangshui River and Lushui River flow into it. The middle and western sections are called Juma River. In later generations, this section of Zhangshui River was renamed Haihe River.

Three hundred 5,000-stone warships were sailing on the wide water. At the same time, more than a thousand 1,000-stone warships were heading north along the Yongding Canal and were about to enter the Zhangshui River.

Using powerful water forces to intercept the main force of the enemy is a consistent tactic of the Guanlong Army, which was once very successful on the Han River.

This tactic was originally planned to be used on the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, but there was no chance to use it, and it was finally used on the Juma River.

Li Ye’s temporary marshal’s office was located in Mo County, Mozhou, about 100 miles away from the Juma River. The general tent of the army of more than 200,000 was also located here.

In front of the sand table in the central army tent, Li Ye summoned Guo Ziyi and more than a dozen senior generals to discuss battle strategies.

Li Ye pointed at the Juma River with a wooden pole and said slowly: "First, we must make a principle clear. What is our goal? I don't want victory, but to eliminate as many Huihe soldiers as possible, to physically eliminate them. So we have to use a knife to cut flesh and eliminate the enemy little by little, three hundred today, five hundred tomorrow, so that their number will continue to decrease, but they will not feel pain."

After a pause, Li Ye glanced at everyone and continued, "In order to achieve the goal of annihilating the enemy, we must implement the strategy of luring the troops. How to lure the troops? Simply put, we need to achieve three points:
First, we must show weakness and not scare the enemy, so we stop using our firearms. If the enemy uses kerosene, we will also use kerosene in an equal manner.

Second, we must defeat the enemy appropriately, so that he or she can taste the sweetness of victory, but of course, this is a defeat with as few casualties as possible."

Third, we should try not to destroy all the pontoon bridges built by the enemy, leaving them for the enemy to continue building and attacking.

In a word, we must keep the Uighur army in Youzhou and do our utmost to annihilate the enemy's effective forces.

The above are the three principles of the method of luring soldiers. Please feel free to speak freely and add your own comments! "

Everyone expressed their own opinions and put forward their own ideas. At this time, Li Ye saw Guo Ziyi was deep in thought and asked with a smile: "What do you think, old general?"

Guo Ziyi took the wooden pole and smiled slowly, "The Huihe army came here to plunder, to rob property and people. I guess when they are desperate, they will rob Youzhou, but will Your Highness allow them to take the looted property and people away?"

Li Ye immediately understood what he meant, "General, do you mean Juyong Pass?"

Guo Ziyi pointed at Juyong Pass and Feihu Pass with a wooden pole, and said slowly: "When the war reaches the later stage, we will use a surprise attack to seize Juyong Pass. The enemy will have no choice but to retreat via Feihu Pass. If we can find a way to block the enemy in Feihu Pass, then they will be completely destroyed."

Li Ye nodded and looked at Zhang Yun, "General Zhang Yun!"

Zhang Yun immediately stepped out and said, "I'm here!"

"You have been a scout leader for a long time, so you are the most suitable for this mission. I will give you 10,000 troops. When you return from Jingxing, you will be in charge of deploying the dragnet at Feihuxing. In addition, I will write a letter to Gao Xiuyan, asking him to cooperate with you so that he can send troops to seize Juyongguan."

Zhang Yun immediately bowed and agreed, "I obey your order!" This time, Li Ye fully mobilized the enthusiasm of all the generals and divided the army into six armies. Guo Ziyi, Lai Chen, Ma Lin, Ma Sui, and Li Feiyuanli each led an army and deployed them at five points where it was easier to cross the river. Then Xi Wanli led 30,000 cavalry as the general support. Whichever side had a crisis, he would be responsible for providing support.
Then Li Ye personally led an army of 80,000 and stationed in Mo County. If the Juma River was breached by the enemy and the Uighur army rushed out, he would be responsible for fighting.

Of course, there is still a problem here, that is, the troops are too dispersed. Once the main force of the enemy crosses the river, they will concentrate their forces to swallow up the five defense points one by one.

Li Ye also thought of this consequence, and the patch solution he used was to take advantage of the warships and cut off the enemy's army from crossing the river in time.

In the early morning, Li Ye and a group of generals appeared on the south bank of Juma River. Looking at the surging river, Li Ye said to everyone in a deep voice: "The battle of Youzhou is the end of our Tang Dynasty's domestic war, and also the starting point of our foreign war. The pressure of the northern nomadic cavalry has always been a sword hanging over the head of our Central Plains dynasty. From the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks to Huihe, there will be more in the future. We are always in a passive position, waiting for them to attack and kill us. I hope that our generation can solve this problem.

We should learn from the Han Dynasty. Anyone who offends us will be punished no matter how far away they are. But we should also surpass the Han Dynasty. Every war should gain a lot of wealth, rather than consuming wealth, which will eventually lead to the poverty of the people and the country. So I hope everyone will train successors well, so that our Tang Dynasty will produce talents, so that our young people can also take our place on the battlefield and plant the flag of the Tang Dynasty in the more distant west. "

Every general's blood was boiling, his eyes were looking into the distance, his heart was full of anticipation.

Two days later, the allied forces of Uighur and Fan Yang reached the Juma River. Of course, they also received intelligence that 200,000 Tang troops were deployed on the south bank of the Juma River, and there were Tang warships on the river.

For the coalition forces, the first thing is to select a location, then build a pontoon bridge as quickly as possible, and rush across the Juma River as quickly as possible. They cannot engage in a long-term confrontation with the Tang army at the Juma River.

Choosing a location was the responsibility of the Fanyang army. They were very familiar with the Juma River. Zhu Ci certainly knew that crossing the river in the middle part, where the water was not fast and the river was not wide, was the most suitable place.

Building a pontoon bridge was also the responsibility of the Fanyang army. Zhu Ci had been prepared for this. He brought a large number of rafts, connected the double-layer rafts together, and laid wooden boards on them, which became the best temporary pontoon bridge. This was how their army built temporary pontoon bridges when crossing the river.

Thousands of troops began to build a pontoon bridge across the Juma River, which happened to be Lai Zhen's defense range. Lai Zhen immediately ordered the deployment of three thousand archers on the opposite bank, ready to attack the enemy troops building the pontoon bridge with rockets.

The pontoon bridge was built very quickly and methodically. Soldiers drove a wooden stake into the water every thirty steps to provide support for the bridge.

At three o'clock in the morning, the three-meter-wide floating bridge was only one hundred and fifty steps away from the south bank.

Lai Zhen gave the order to shoot arrows. Three thousand crossbowmen raised their crossbows and fired into the river. Arrows fell like raindrops. The craftsmen turned around and ran. Sheepskin bags were pierced by arrows and fell into the water. There were also hundreds of rockets in between. The pontoon bridge began to burn.

On the north bank, Zhu Ci saw it very clearly. His brows were furrowed. The opponent's arrows were sharp and it was really difficult to deal with them.

At this time, the deputy general Dou Luqing suggested: "General, we can openly repair the plank road and secretly attack Chencang. We can pretend to lay a pontoon bridge here, and then send people to build a simple pontoon bridge from the other side. Kill a few thousand people and kill their crossbowmen. Then we can seize the opportunity to quickly build a bridge."

Zhu Ci nodded, "This is a good idea!"

At the same time, Lai Zhen also sent people to ask Xi Yuanqing for help fifty miles away. Lai Zhen had only 15,000 people on his side, and he was worried that his troops could not stop the other side from crossing the river.

(End of this chapter)