Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 470 The Power of Thunder
The place where Li Zhi met Chen Qingsi was Taihe Hall, the palace closest to the Inner Courtyard.

In addition to him, there is also a chief of the Ministry of War named Yuchi Qin, who is staying in the Ministry of War today...

The Ministry of War is concerned with matters of national survival and cannot be separated from its personnel at any time.

Any military intelligence must first be transmitted to the Ministry of War, which then reports it to the prime minister or directly to the emperor depending on the urgency of the situation.

This time the military situation was obviously extremely urgent and there was no preparation at all.

Li Zhi was not even wearing casual clothes at this moment, he was just wrapped in a thick coat to keep warm.

At this time, his face was solemn, but also somewhat happy. Seeing Chen Qingsi enter the hall, he said, "The fish has taken the bait... but this time it is even more ferocious. The outer city of Fu'ai fell, and Commandant Xi was trapped in the city. Our garrison on Qinghai Lake was defeated by Tubo."

Chen Qingsi's heart couldn't help but twitch.

All of this could actually have been avoided, but if arrangements had been made in advance, Lun Qinling would not have taken the bait.

Chen Qingsi knew that as his status became higher, he would often encounter this kind of trade-off problem, but he didn't expect it to be so intense.

Ever since Chen Qingsi realized that the Tibetans were trying to kill Su Dingfang, he immediately sensed the danger and opportunity.

No one knew Lun Qinling's ability better than him. At least, in the period of history he was familiar with, he had never suffered a major defeat. On the contrary, many famous Tang generals had been defeated by him. In the Battle of Dayichuan, the Tang army lost 100,000 soldiers, and the famous general Xue Rengui only escaped with his life.

In the Battle of Qinghai, the 180,000-strong Tang army suffered a crushing defeat. If it weren't for Heichi Chang's extreme life extension, the 180,000-strong army might even have been wiped out.

In the Battle of Sulahan Mountain, Wang Xiaojie and Lou Shide were also severely beaten by Lun Qinling, resulting in the loss of no less than 100,000 soldiers and horses.

Even a figure like Pei Xingjian had to admit that they were no match for the Tubo army with Lun Qinling, and that they should defend themselves and wait for the opportunity.

Now Tubo is using Su Dingfang as a whetstone, wasting his life while honing himself. Considering Lun Qinling's talent, it is hard to say how much he has learned after being beaten by Su Dingfang over the years, but at least he will be stronger than the Lun Qinling in history.

Lun Qinling in history was already strong enough...

After Chen Qingsi noticed all this, he had a premonition that if he didn't kill Lun Qinling when Su Dingfang was around, this guy would have learned from the experience of being beaten and would have become an even more terrifying existence when he grew into a complete form.

It's not that Chen Qingsi was afraid of others' ambitions, it's just that Qin Ling's performance in history was too exaggerated. He suppressed the prosperous Tang Dynasty, defeated many famous generals of the Tang Dynasty, and destroyed at least 300,000 Tang troops...

In response to Tubo's plan, Chen Qingsi expected that they must be paying close attention to Su Dingfang's safety. If Su Dingfang really had any physical abnormalities, Tubo would definitely take action.

At least it won't give Su Dingfang a chance to recover from his illness...

Therefore, Chen Qingsi revealed his intention in the urgent letter to Su Dingfang, allowing Su Dingfang to take the opportunity to pretend to be sick, lure Lun Qinling to the south, and set up a trap to strangle him once and for all.

As the Minister of War of the Tang Dynasty, Chen Qingsi's grasp of the military intelligence of all parties is unmatched.

Chen Qingsi was very clear about one thing: if Su Dingfang was not ill, Qin Ling would not dare to go too deep into Qinghai.

With his military level, as soon as he realized something was wrong, he retreated in time, and no one could do anything to them.

Because of this, Su Dingfang was able to win in several battles, but it was difficult for him to cause effective and successful casualties.

Lun Qinling was too flexible and cunning in using his troops. He knew how to advance and retreat very well and would run away when the situation was not right.

On the plateau, affected by the climate, the Tang army's physical strength was not as good as the Tibetans, and the effectiveness of the pursuit was greatly reduced. They could not pursue too deep, which would give the enemy a chance to counterattack.

In order to achieve the goal, we must first lead Lun Qinling into the hinterland of Qinghai Lake and not give them the opportunity to withdraw to Wuhai.

Therefore, Su Dingfang must be ill, and there can be no extra defenses on the front line of Qinghai Lake.

That is to say, Xi Junmai cannot make unnecessary and unreasonable adjustments...

Xi Junmai has stationed troops at Qinghai Lake for many years, just across the plateau from Lun Qinling.

The Tang Dynasty and Tubo were like water and fire, and friction on the border was common.

There have been both unexpected events and intentional small-scale tests by others to test the defense factor. After all these years of contact, both sides have inevitably developed a certain understanding of each other.

If Xi Junmai knew the news in advance, even an unintentional change might arouse Lun Qinling's suspicion.

For a famous general like Qin Ling, his sense of smell on the battlefield is extremely sharp, and one carelessness may lead to all previous efforts being wasted.

There is a saying that goes, if you want to hide something from your enemy, you have to hide it from your own people.

Chen Qingsi did not inform anyone on Qinghai Lake of the plan. Now, hearing about the Tang army's defeat on Qinghai Lake, he felt very upset.

After calming down, Chen Qingsi said, "What is the situation now?"

Li Zhi asked the eunuch to pass the news from the front line to Chen Qingsi.

Chen Qingsi took it and looked at it carefully with a serious expression.

It turns out that in recent years, the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Tuyuhun has become increasingly harmonious.

The process of Tuyuhun's assimilation into the Han culture was extremely fast. Except for the common people who still lived a pastoral life, the upper nobles were no different from the Tang people.

Their noble children were all proud to study abroad in the Central Plains, and some directly stayed in the Central Plains to serve as officials, or returned to Qinghai Lake to serve as officials. They brought the customs they learned in the Central Plains to Qinghai Lake.

They used the Tang Dynasty's luxury goods, spoke the Tang Dynasty's official language, and celebrated the Tang Dynasty's festivals.

The whole city of Fu'ai is filled with the atmosphere of the Tang court. People who don't know the situation and accidentally enter the city will not think that Fu'ai is the capital of Tuyuhun, but a medium-sized city in the Central Plains.

The first day of the first lunar month is New Year's Day, one of the most important festivals in the Central Plains.

In order to thank the Tang army for defeating Tubo once again and protecting the peace of Tuyuhun, the Khan of Tuyuhun, Murong Nuohebo, held a large celebration banquet and invited Xi Junmai to Fu'e City to attend the banquet. He also sent people to deliver a lot of fine wine and food to the Tang army camp to celebrate the New Year's Day.

Xi Junmai knew it was difficult to refuse, so he went to the banquet and greeted the Tang army in the barracks.

Xi Junmai was not overly indulgent, but he was not too harsh either.

After all, it is New Year's Day, the first day of the year. It is reasonable for us to relax a little when we are stationed in a border area during the New Year.

So Xi Junmai made an arrangement to divide the army into five parts, one of which would celebrate without restraint, while the remaining four would continue to carry out their missions and take turns to relax and celebrate...

When Chen Qingsi saw this, he also agreed with Xi Junmai's approach.

He continued reading and soon realized where the problem lay.

The mole!

To be precise, it was a traitor from the pro-Tang faction.

There have always been three factions in Tuyuhun: the pro-Tubo faction, the pro-Tang faction, and the conservative faction.

As a country that was successively weakened by the Sui and Tang dynasties twice, Tuyuhun had the precious land of Qinghai but could not survive on its own and could only rely on the help of powerful countries to survive.

The two attacks by the Sui and Tang dynasties caused Tuyuhun to suffer heavy losses. Among them, Tang Jian, the Minister of Civil Affairs, once held a special envoy to "comfort" the people of Tuyuhun. To put it bluntly, he was the emperor, helping Murong Nuohebo, who was unable to convince the people, to "comfort" those unstable pro-Tubo factions.

The pro-Tibetan faction was often the target of purges in Tuyuhun...

However, the existence of pro-Tibetan factions has always been common, because conservatives are the blood of pro-Tibetan factions. Compared with the overbearing neighbor Tang court, the neighbor on the mountain is obviously more friendly.

The conservatives just want to maintain the purest Tuyuhun, a free country without control or restriction. But the bloody facts are in front of us, and a weak country is not qualified to make a choice.

Tuyuhun gave up some of its military forces, accepted the Tang court's garrison, and gave the money originally used to equip Tuyuhun to the Tang court.

This behavior made the conservatives despise the weakness of Tuyuhun Khan Murong Nuohebo, and they began to selectively side with Tubo, hoping to use Tubo's hand to overthrow Murong Nuohebo and drive away the Tang army.

Murong Nuohebo has done nothing in these years except suppressing the conservatives and pro-Tibetan factions, and the results are very obvious.

The talents who returned from studying abroad in the Tang Dynasty were more capable than those cultivated locally in Tuyuhun, and were more loyal to the Tang court.

The political situation in Tuyuhun is very good...

However, reality has proved one thing: the enemy standing on the opposite side is not scary.

What's scary is the enemy disguised as one of our own...

One of the Tuyuhun nobles who had first supported Murong Nuohebo's pro-Tang stance actually rebelled at this time and led the Tubo people to invade Fu'ai City.

Fortunately, there was Xi Junmai in Fu'ai City, who took over the defense of the inner city of Fu'ai at the critical moment and resisted the Tubo army.

Xi Junmai also arranged for his death squad to break out and head to the Tang army camp to have them defend the city, keep their troops in place, and wait for reinforcements to arrive before launching a counterattack.

However, Qin Ling was more skilled. When they attacked Fu'ai City, he deliberately exposed his whereabouts, so that the soldiers in the Tang army camp would support their beloved commander.

The soldiers in Tang camp fell into the trap and sent out reinforcements.

Lun Qinling did not eat the reinforcements directly, but sent people to stop them, giving the illusion that he was not going to let them rescue Fu'ai City.

Seeing that they could not break out, the Tang camp garrison commander sent out two groups of soldiers in succession, hoping to quickly defeat the Tibetan army that was blocking their way and to support Fu'ai City.

The result speaks for itself. Lun Qinling defeated three waves of Tang troops and then stormed the Tang army camp.

If the Tang army supporting Fu'ai City stayed in the military camp, even without Xi Junmai, the Tang army would still be able to hold out and wait for help.

Now that the commander-in-chief was not there and most of the soldiers had been killed, the remaining troops were not enough to guard the military camp, and it was forcibly broken through by Tubo.

Lun Qinling is such a formidable opponent. He cannot be given the slightest chance. Once he takes the initiative and seizes the opportunity, it will trigger a chain reaction like an avalanche.

After the great victory, Chunqiu's slackness gave Lun Qinling an opportunity to seize the opportunity, and his devastating blow almost destroyed the Tang court's plans for many years.

Chen Qingsi pursed his lips and continued reading.

The defeated Tang army retreated to Moli Posthouse, where they rested and waited for orders.

"Our people should act according to the plan!"

Chen Qingsi asked.

Li Zhi said: "General Heichi and General Cheng have split their forces into two groups to support Qinghai Lake as quickly as possible."

Heichi Changzhi was stationed in Lintao, while Cheng Wuting was in Shanzhou.

The fastest support route for Heichi Changzhi is to go directly from Lintao into the Nine Bends of the Yellow River, and then go from south to north to Qinghai Lake, while Shanzhou can go directly west through Shibao City to reach Qinghai.

Because Su Dingfang was "sick", the generals leading the troops this time were Heichi Changzhi and Cheng Wuting.

Li Zhi's palms loosened and tightened, this battle was a bit too serious.

Li Zhi did not expect that Lun Qinling's attack would be so fierce and turbulent without fear of Su Dingfang.

If we are not careful and go too far, and end up losing Qinghai, we will suffer greatly.

"I don't know if Lun Qinling will fall into the trap."

Chen Qingsi saw Li Zhi's worry and comforted him, "Of course he will. As long as his target is Su Dingfang, he will definitely test the authenticity. Even if Your Majesty does not trust me, you should trust Lord Su Xing. I only proposed a strategy, and he is the one who actually implements the details. If he did not think it was feasible, he would not have adopted it so readily."

Li Zhi immediately said, "My dear minister, why don't I believe you? It's just that the situation changed too quickly. The attack on Qinling was far beyond our imagination, and the losses of our troops were also so great."

Chen Qingsi also remained silent. Qin Ling's offensive was beyond his expectations.

Really awesome!

Qinghai Lake, not a river!
Lun Qinling looked at the familiar environment and the familiar battlefield...

He poured all the wine in his bag onto the ground, pointed to a piece of land and said, "Brother, this is where my brother died in battle. He was killed by Su Dingfang himself. It's a pity that my brother is incompetent and can't avenge him."

Zanpo's eyes also turned red.

Compared to Lun Qinling who was obsessed with military affairs, their elder brother Zan Xiruoduobu was a true all-rounder who was both civil and military, filial to his parents and respectful to his children. He was the most qualified son and the most qualified brother.

Zanpo's feelings for Zanxiruoduobu are even stronger than those for Lunqinling.

With red eyes, he followed his brother's example, poured the wine in his wineskin onto the ground, pointed to the sky and swore loudly: "Brother, wait here, I will capture Su Dingfang here. Even if he dies, I will dig up his bones, grind them here and scatter their ashes to offer sacrifice to your spirit in heaven."

Lun Qinling frowned slightly when he heard this, but did not say anything.

"Report!"

A rider came up on a fast horse and said, "There has been movement in the direction of Shanzhou. General Cheng Wuting of the Tang army has led 15,000 troops past Shibao City and is heading towards Qinghai Lake."

Zanpo was pleasantly surprised and said, "It really wasn't Su Dingfang. So, Su Dingfang is really ill? So ill that he can't lead the troops to kill the enemy?"

Zanpo's words just now were domineering, but when she heard that Su Dingfang was ill, she couldn't hide her joy.

It was all nonsense to capture Su Dingfang here. The most realistic idea was to dig up his bones and grind them into ashes after his death.

If he couldn't even defeat his own brother, how could I possibly be his enemy?

Lun Qinling had a profound expression, but in his mind he analyzed all the details of his trip to the south.

All the responses and actions of the Tang army were reasonable and did not seem like a setup.

At least it's safe for now...

At this time, another rider came.

"Report!"

"Report from Taozhou: Heichi Changzhi has led more than 10,000 soldiers into the Yellow River's Jiuqu area and is heading towards Qinghai Lake."

Listening to the movements of the Tang army, Lun Qinling raised his whip and shouted, "All Tibetan warriors, listen up. The Tang people have slaughtered many of our people. Follow me today to avenge our grievances and revenge our enemies. Crush them!"

Zanpo was excited and shouted, "Brother, does this mean we should just go the same way regardless of where we come from?"

(End of this chapter)