Tibet.

Chapter 1323 Siege the city and call for reinforcements
At this time, Yang Qing had led 10,000 troops to ambush in the mountains and forests on both sides of the White Wolf Valley, and 10,000 bags of kerosene were poured on the road.

When the crowd of people rushed over, Yang Qing decisively gave the order, "Light the fire!"

Hundreds of torches were thrown onto the road, and with a "boom!", a raging fire broke out on the road, quickly spreading for several miles. Eighteen thousand Khitan soldiers were caught off guard and were instantly engulfed by the flames, and the soldiers were immediately thrown into chaos.

Immediately afterwards, thousands of arrows were fired from the woods on both sides, shooting towards the Khitan soldiers on the official road like a rainstorm. Countless people were hit by arrows, and screams were heard on the official road.

Many Khitan soldiers, with flames on their bodies, fled to the forests on both sides, crying and shouting, but they were mercilessly shot down by Tang army arrows, or stabbed to death by Tang army soldiers who were ambushed on both sides.

At this time, the Tang army's fortification soldiers had quickly built a pontoon bridge and began to cross the Bailang River. In the front were two thousand heavily armored infantry. This was Xi Wanli's arrangement, as he knew that the Khitan soldiers would definitely flee back.

Two thousand Tang army heavy armored infantry rushed across the Bailang River and headed straight for the Bailang Valley, where they encountered countless Khitan soldiers fleeing back. The heavy armored infantry lined up in teams, wielding their Mo Daos and killing the terrified Khitan soldiers.

The sky gradually brightened and the fierce battle ended. Seventeen thousand of the 20,000 Khitan soldiers were killed, but about three thousand still escaped into the forest and took a detour back to Liucheng.

The Tang army soldiers burned the bodies of all the fallen enemy soldiers into ashes and buried them in deep pits.

It was almost noon when everything was done. By then, the Tang army had built three pontoon bridges, and more than 100,000 main forces had also arrived.

When Guo Ziyi heard that Xi Wanli led the way and annihilated nearly 20,000 Khitan troops, he was overjoyed. He noted the contributions of Xi Wanli, Yang Qing and others, and ordered the army to continue northward to surround Liucheng County.

Liucheng County was the Tang Dynasty's base camp in Liaodong and the seat of the Andong Protectorate, which governed Liaodong during the Tang Dynasty. Tens of thousands of Han people lived here, basically all of them were military families. During the An-Shi Rebellion, the Khitan took advantage of the lack of military forces in Yingzhou and occupied the entire Yingzhou and Liucheng.

At this time, there were very few Han people in Liucheng, which had dropped sharply from tens of thousands to thousands. Most of them fled to Youzhou, and some fled to Bohai Kingdom.

The Khitans did not immediately occupy Liucheng after the Tang army withdrew. They also observed for nearly a year and took advantage of the civil war in Youzhou to occupy Yingzhou.

It was this one-year window period that gave the Han people in the city the opportunity to escape. Ninety percent of the Han people were able to escape one after another, and the remaining Han people basically intermarried with the Khitan or Xi people and were not afraid of being persecuted by the Khitan.

Currently, there are about 150,000 people in Liucheng, half of whom are Khitans, the others are Xi, Goguryeo and Mohe, and the Han people are the smallest, only a few thousand.

In terms of scale, Liucheng is a large county town with a circumference of about 25 miles and tall and strong city walls. The Khitan army began preparing for war in Liucheng last year, raising and reinforcing the city walls, replacing all the city gates, and storing a large amount of food in the city.

Dieci Feng learned from the soldiers who escaped back that the 20,000 troops he sent out were almost wiped out, and his brother Dieci Zhen also died in the fire of the Tang army's ambush. He was furious and immediately ordered the entire city to be on war alert.

On the one hand, he sent people to ask for urgent help from the Songmo Royal Court, and on the other hand, he mobilized all the residents in the city to participate in defending the city.

Liucheng was not only important to the Tang Dynasty, but also vital to the Khitan. It was the southern gate of the Khitan. Once Liucheng was occupied by the Tang army, the Khitan's Songmo Governor's Office would be exposed to the Tang army.

It can be said that the Tang Dynasty established the strategic city of Liucheng in order to monitor the Khitan and Xi people.

Khitan Su Khan had already issued a death order, demanding that Liucheng be saved at all costs.

Guo Ziyi led an army of 170,000 to Liucheng. He was not in a hurry to attack the city, but set up a large camp ten miles away from the city. Guo Ziyi certainly knew the importance of Liucheng to the Khitan, and he also knew that the Khitan would definitely send a large army to rescue.

Besieging the city and attacking the reinforcements became the first tactic adopted by Guo Ziyi.

The Tang army's logistical supplies did not come from the distant Pingzhou, but from Juehua Island. The Tang army had already established a large warehouse camp on Juehua Island, storing 500,000 shi of grain and a large amount of other supplies.

The food supplies were loaded onto ships from Juehua Island and transported directly to Liucheng by water, which was very convenient. This was also the strategic intention of the Tang army in managing Juehua Island, in order to provide water supplies for the attack on Liaodong.

Therefore, even if the Khitan sent troops to attack the Liaoxi Corridor, it would be meaningless. The Tang army did not use the Liaoxi Corridor for supplies at all, and the Khitan army had no ships to go out to sea, making it difficult for them to attack Juehua Island.

The next morning, Ma Lin hurried into the central army tent and said, "General, I just received news that a 3,000-man Xi army captured Ruluo Shouzhuo last night!"

Ru Luo Shouzhuo is located a hundred miles away, which is exactly the end of the Liaoxi Corridor. From here, the roads diverge, with one heading northwest to Liucheng and the other heading northeast to Liaohe, which just cuts off the Liaoxi Corridor.

Although the capture of Ru Luo Shou Zhuo did not affect the logistics supply of the Tang army, it was still very important. First, it cut off the connection between the Tang army and Pingzhou. Second, it meant that the Xi tribe and the Khitan had joined forces.
Ma Lin whispered, "Could this be a trick to lure the enemy troops? We sent troops to rescue them, but their main force ambushed them halfway?"

Guo Ziyi nodded, "It is very possible. If this is true, we can take advantage of it."

Ma Lin hurriedly said, "Let me do it!" Guo Ziyi said happily, "I will give you 50,000 troops. I hope General Ma can bring me good news!"

It is only about a hundred miles from Liucheng to Ru Luo Shouzhuo, and the cavalry can arrive there in one day, but the terrain along the way is very complicated, with more than twenty hills of various sizes, as well as plains. The key is that the population is sparse and the trees are lush, making it easy to be ambushed.

In order to avoid being ambushed, or even to counter an ambush, the most important thing is intelligence. Knowing yourself and your enemy will ensure victory in every battle.

Ma Lin first sent out five scout teams to search for the traces of the Xi army.

One of the scout teams was led by a captain named Guo Qingyun, a native of Chang'an. In five years, he rose from a soldier to a captain and was very experienced.

He led a group of twenty men and headed south along a small trail.

They traveled south from Liucheng, and by nightfall, they had walked about sixty miles. It was already dark, and Guo Qingyun pointed to a pine forest on a hill ahead and said, "Let's spend the night in the pine forest!"

Everyone sped up their horses and rushed directly up the hill from the gentle slope and entered the pine forest, startling a group of roosting birds.

The pine forest was covered with thick pine needles, which were very soft. Everyone found an open place, sat down under a big tree, drank water and ate dry food. A sentry climbed up the tallest pine tree, holding a telescope in his hand to keep watch.

The Tang army's wartime dry food is also different from before. In order to maintain morale, the Tang army has invested heavily in military food. In fact, not only the current Tang army, but any army in all dynasties will do everything possible to ensure that the soldiers in combat are well fed. If the soldiers are hungry, no soldier will fight for you.

The Tang army's current dry rations are divided into two types of cakes, soft and hard. They are all mutton cakes with thick and juicy skin and more meat. A cake weighs at least half a pound and is very thick and delicious. If the march is only one or two days, then soft cakes will be provided and can be eaten directly. If the march is more than two days, then hard cakes will be provided and need to be softened and heated in a marching pot before eating.

Now everyone was eating soft biscuits, and they were eating, drinking water and chatting.

"Captain Guo, I heard that we still have to fight the Japanese army?" asked a soldier.

Guo Qingyun nodded, "It should be possible. The Bohai Kingdom was destroyed by the Japanese army. If we want to recapture the Bohai Kingdom, we must definitely kill all the Japanese troops."

"What does it mean to recapture the Bohai Kingdom? Let them restore their country?" another soldier was puzzled.

"How can the country be restored?"

Guo Qingyun smiled and said, "In fact, it is the Bohai Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty. The imperial court appointed the governor and county magistrate, and it is part of the Tang Dynasty."

Everyone laughed, and another person asked, "What do the Japanese army look like? Are they tall and fierce?"

"Tall ass!"

Guo Qingyun cursed with a smile, and said to everyone: "Let me tell you, when I was young, I saw the Tang envoys coming to Chang'an. There were hundreds of them at a time, basically all of them were children of nobles, and there were also some Japanese soldiers. They looked like nine-year-old children in our country, not just one or two, but basically all of them. If you see a group of adults with the body size of nine-year-old children on the streets of Chang'an, nine out of ten are Japanese, and they are very easy to identify."

Everyone laughed and said, "That's not fighting a child, it's not fair to win!"

Guo Qingyun shook his head. "These people are small in stature, but extremely cruel. They killed more than 100,000 people in Shangjing, Bohai State, not even sparing children. All women were tortured to death by them. So the emperor's order was to kill all the Japanese troops and leave no prisoners!"

"Damn it, that's so bad!" Several soldiers couldn't help but curse.

At this moment, the sentry came running to report, "Captain, I saw a fire!"

Guo Qingyun was overjoyed, "Take me to see it!"

Guo Qingyun hurried to the edge of the woods, climbed up a big tree, took out his clairvoyance, and looked in the direction of the sentry's finger.

I saw flashes of fire in the valley about ten miles away in the southwest.

He immediately came back and ordered: "Don't rest, set off immediately, we may catch a big fish!"

Everyone immediately gathered up their blankets, stood up, and led their horses down the mountain.

(End of this chapter)