Tibet.

Chapter 1322 White Wolf Battle
On the last day of February, Guo Ziyi worshiped the god of horses and the god of roads, left 30,000 troops to guard Pingzhou, and personally led an army of 180,000 by land and sea, along the Liaoxi Corridor, and marched towards Liaodong in a mighty manner.

Among them, there were 170,000 infantry and cavalry. Xi Wanli led 30,000 cavalry and thousands of fortification soldiers as the vanguard, entered the territory of Yingzhou first, and attacked Liucheng.

The naval general Wang Xueguo led 10,000 naval troops and 300 warships from the Bohai Sea into the Liaohe River, blocked the Liaohe River, and intercepted the Japanese and Silla troops from supporting the Khitan.

Wang Xueguo is the eldest son of former naval commander Wang Xiaoru. Wang Xiaoru has a bad heart and has now retired to enjoy family life in Chang'an.

The Khitan is currently ruled by Su Khan, whose name is Yaonianbo. Among the eight Khitan tribes, the Daha tribe was initially powerful. The Khitan repeatedly invaded the Tang Dynasty, but was later severely damaged by the Tang army. The Daha tribe declined from then on, and the Yaonian tribe took its place and became the leader of the Khitan.

The Yelu tribe did not rise until the late Tang Dynasty, and was currently just a small tribe among the Khitan.

The Khitan headquarters was in the Songmo area, but in recent years the Khitan expanded rapidly. Not only did it annex the Yingzhou of the Tang Dynasty, it also subdued other tribes such as the surrounding Xi tribe, and continued to expand eastward, annexing the entire Liaodong including the Liaodong Peninsula, and the Yalu River was the boundary with Silla.

Starting from the second half of last year, the Khitan launched a fierce attack on the Bohai Kingdom. As a result, the Bohai Kingdom invited the Japanese army to invade and was destroyed. The main force of the Bohai Navy surrendered to the Khitan, and the Khitan withdrew its troops back to the west of the Liaohe River to prevent the Tang Army from expeditioning north.

There are currently more than 50,000 Khitan troops in Yingzhou. The chief general is Dieci Feng, who is over 30 years old and is the second-in-command of the Dieci tribe, another important Khitan tribe.

Diecifeng was very nervous and sent a large number of spies to investigate the movements in the Liaoxi Corridor. As a result, the Tang army came in a mighty force as soon as the river in Liaodong thawed. Diecifeng was shocked. On the one hand, he sent people back to Songmowang's tent to report to the Khan. On the other hand, he ordered his brother Diecizhen to lead 20,000 troops south to Bailangshui to intercept the Tang army.

Liaodong in the Tang Dynasty was not as densely populated as it is now. Yingzhou was mainly inhabited by low mountains and hills, with large tracts of forests, mountains and rivers. Small tribes of Khitans and Xi people lived near water, and transportation was extremely inconvenient.

During the Tianbao period, there were still tens of thousands of Han people, who mainly lived in Liucheng County and made a living by growing crops in the surrounding areas.

A straight official road leads directly from the Liaoxi Corridor to Liucheng, and it is necessary to cross the Bailang River. This is the first line of defense built by the Khitan army. The bridge has been demolished. It is spring, and the Bailang River is turbulent and the river is sixty or seventy meters wide, so it is not easy to cross the river.

Xi Wanli was still thirty miles away from Bailang River. He received news from scouts that a large Khitan army camp was discovered on the north bank of the water ahead. There were as many as 20,000 to 30,000 troops stationed there, who were guarding the Bailang River.

Xi Wanli ordered the army to camp on the spot and rest. There was a small stream next to it, and the soldiers fetched water to cook. No one drank the stream water directly. This was the military regulation of the Tang army, which was very strict, especially to prevent the Khitan from poisoning upstream, so even the war horses had to drink boiled and cooled water.

Inside a large tent, Xi Wanli was checking a sand table map. Ever since the sand table was promoted in the army, all generals were unwilling to use paper maps anymore, and all the generals had to use sand table maps when going into battle.

This was also the legacy left by Feilong. During the Kaiyuan period, he vigorously promoted the sand table. The Ministry of War spent nearly twenty years making sand tables in various places. Finally, it became an important military asset of the Tang Dynasty and was fully utilized by Li Ye.

Looking at the sand table, behind the Bailang Water is a hilly area covered with forests. The mountains are rugged and there is not even a path. There is a long canyon in the middle, and the official road passes through the canyon.

Do we have to cross the Bailang River by force?
At this time, the soldier at the door of the big tent said: "General, the guide is here!"

"Invite him in quickly!"

The guide of the Tang army was named Song Kuan, a constable recommended by the governor of Pingzhou. He was over 30 years old. He was actually a native Han Chinese from Yingzhou. When he was young, he was a hunter in Yingzhou. When the Khitans invaded Yingzhou, he fled to Pingzhou with his family. Because of his excellent martial arts and great strength, he was recruited as a constable by Pinglu County.

Because he was a hunter and was very familiar with the mountains and rivers of Yingzhou, Guo Ziyi simply recruited him into the army and appointed him as a staff officer and also as a guide officer.

Song Kuan walked into the big tent, knelt on one knee and saluted, "I pay my respects to General Xi!"

"General Song, there's no need to be polite. Please look at the map here!"

Song Kuan hurried forward and looked at the sand table map carefully. He nodded, "It's very detailed and very realistic. The terrain of Yingzhou is exactly the same as the sand table."

Xi Wanli pointed at the Bailang River and said, "I want to go around to the back of this river. Is there a way?" Song Kuan pointed at the hillock and said, "We can go over the hill, but the cavalry can't go there, and neither can the baggage. Only the infantry can go there!"

Xi Wanli pointed at the valley and asked, "How wide and long is this valley? Are the two sides suitable for an ambush?"

"Reporting to the general, this valley is called White Wolf Valley. It is about seven or eight miles long and about a hundred steps wide! There are dense forests on both sides, so we can certainly set up an ambush, but the slope is relatively gentle, so the enemy can easily rush up."

Xi Wanli called his deputy general Yang Qing, who was originally a subordinate of Lei Wanchun. Lei Wanchun led his troops to garrison Youzhou. This time, Lei Wanchun did not participate in the Liaodong battle, but part of his army was transferred away and was led by Yang Qing. Now Yang Qing has become Xi Wanli's deputy general.

Yang Qing walked into the tent quickly, bowed and said, "I pay my respects to General Xi!"

Xi Wanli smiled and said, "I have a task to give to General Yang!"

"Please give me your orders, General!"

Xi Wanli pointed at the White Wolf Valley and said, "You lead an army of 10,000 to the White Wolf Valley to ambush. Army Officer Song will take you to take a detour and ambush in the mountains and forests on both sides of the White Wolf Valley. Once I attack the Khitan army on the north bank of the White Wolf River, they will definitely retreat to Liucheng. You will ambush them in the White Wolf Valley!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Xi Wanli gave a few more instructions, and Song Kuan hurriedly followed Yang Qing.

Soon, Yang Qing led 10,000 infantrymen southward. After walking less than ten miles, he turned east and circled to the north bank of Bailang River. Then, under the cover of night, he crossed Bailang River about thirty miles away from the Khitan army and went directly to the hill.

As time gradually approached four o'clock in the morning, the Tang army arrived at the south bank of Bailang River. The Khitan army had deployed sentries. When the Tang army was less than ten miles away from Bailang River, the Khitan sentries discovered it and immediately sounded the alarm.

The 20,000 Khitan soldiers who were soundly asleep gathered on the north bank of Bailang River, while their commander, Diecizhen, nervously watched the situation on the south bank.

Soon, the Tang army began to appear on the south bank of the Bailang River, and placed hundreds of cyclone cannons in a row. The cyclone cannon was a small catapult carried by a camel, which could throw a 20-jin iron fire bomb one hundred and fifty steps away.

The Tang army also prepared pottery bombs and kerosene mud, which is a double-layer pottery jar. The inner jar contains kerosene slurry with arsenic added, and there is a little bit of explosives in the interlayer of the pottery jar. First, the kerosene inside will burn fully, and the interlayer explosives will explode in the air. The burning kerosene slurry will fall like raindrops, and when it falls on the skin, it will cause people to feel deep pain.

Of course, there are also traditional kerosene bombs, which will form patches of burning areas.

Without waiting for the enemy to see clearly, Xi Wanli gave an order, and hundreds of catapults fired at the same time, and hundreds of iron fire mines rushed towards the enemy's position, "Boom! Boom!"

Iron fire bombs exploded one after another in the enemy army, causing blood and flesh to fly everywhere, corpses to be scattered all over the ground, and screams and wails to fill the air.

This was a firearm that the Khitan army had never encountered before. It stunned everyone. Then, pottery bullets and kerosene mud flew out and exploded in the air. Sparks rained down from the sky, which was a spectacular sight. Unfortunately, this was poisonous kerosene. If it fell on the skin and burned, it would kill people in agony.

There were ghostly cries and wolves howling on the battlefield, and the commander, Die Cizhen, was extremely frightened. He had never seen such weapons before. They would not be able to defend Bailangshui at all, and would be completely wiped out by the Tang army without bloodshed. It would be better to save the troops to defend the city.

Thinking of this, he urgently ordered: "The entire army should evacuate and retreat to Liucheng County!"

The Khitan soldiers were already in chaos. Upon hearing the order, more than 18,000 troops hastily broke away from their positions and rushed towards the White Wolf Valley.

(End of this chapter)