Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 476 Death
Wang Xiaojie's heart was naturally on the side of his own commander-in-chief, and he was dissatisfied and said, "It is indeed remarkable that Minister Chen could come up with this plan, but if the commander-in-chief had not adapted to the circumstances and found out the loopholes, Minister Chen's plan would not have been implemented."

Su Dingfang did not object. It was true that Chen Qingsi's overall plan was just a general conception, and the details would definitely have to be changed by the operator according to changes in the situation.

Wang Xiaojie is usually a big and strong man, so Su Dingfang was a little surprised that he could say such words.

“When a man has been away for three days, he should be looked at with new eyes. This saying is true!”

Wang Xiaojie smiled shyly and said, "After following the Marshal for so many years, I have learned something. I will take over the battle of Wuhai City for you..."

Su Dingfang did not respond, but just looked at the foot of the mountain dimly and said, "At this point, it may not be possible to defeat Wuhai City?"

Wang Xiaojie looked at Su Dingfang in surprise.

Su Dingfang said: "We don't have enough troops to completely wipe out the Tibetan soldiers besieging Fu'ai City. Their remaining soldiers will definitely find Lun Qinling and inform him of our movements. Will Lun Qinling be aware of our true intentions? We can look forward to it!"

He glanced at Wang Xiaojie, who looked puzzled, and said patiently, "If the thieves are unaware of this trip to Wuhai, it will be twice as effective with half the effort. Now we will rescue Fu'ai City first, and then go to Wuhai. Let's not talk about whether Wuhai will notice it, but will Qinling really be unaware of it?"

"Although I set up a trap before leaving to lead Lun Qinling to Cheng Wuting's direction, buying us time to reach Wuhai...but the other party may not be fooled."

Seeing Wang Xiaojie's disapproving expression, Su Dingfang said solemnly: "Remember, the most taboo in military operations is to rely on the enemy's stupidity to win or lose. Lun Qinling is not an opponent that can be underestimated. We can't expect him to be so stupid as to be fooled by us."

"If he were really so easy to deal with, I wouldn't agree with Minister Chen's plan."

"Okay, let's continue heading towards Wu Hai!"

Su Dingfang glanced at the soldiers around him, observed their physical condition, and gave the order to continue on their journey.

Although Su Dingfang knew that if they could capture Wuhai as soon as possible, they would be able to trap the Tibetan soldiers in Qinghai Lake and kill them.

But he still did not speed up the march, but marched towards the plateau at a constant speed.

Wang Xiaojie was so anxious that he scratched his head and wished he could just carry Su Dingfang away.

However, on the second day after passing Zhonglong Post Station, bursts of shouting and killing were heard from behind.

Wang Xiaojie's face turned pale when he heard this, "The thieves are catching up with us? How come they are so fast?"

The entire road to Wuhai is from bottom to top. Su Dingfang looked back and saw an unknown number of cavalrymen appearing from behind. They were waving flags and shouting, and were approaching them quickly.

Su Dingfang smiled and praised: "What a great Lun Qinling, I was right about him!"

Wang Xiaojie thought about it carefully. If they were in a hurry to get to Wuhai, even if they arrived in Wuhai, they would not have much time to recover their strength to attack. Instead, they might be robbed by Lun Qinling who arrived in time.

Just when Wang Xiaojie was admiring Su Dingfang's brilliant strategy,
Su Dingfang said: "Don't worry about it. Order the crossbowmen to stay behind. When the enemy gets close, just shoot them away and continue on our way..."

He wanted to remind Wang Xiaojie, saying: "For Qinling to arrive here in such a short time, he must have marched day and night without rest. I don't know where they got the news, so they are either going to stop Cheng Wuting or Heichi Changzhi."

"The Tibetans attacked suddenly and quickly this time. They sent out troops in the first month of the year, attacked Fu'ai City by surprise, and destroyed the Tang camp. Given the court's speed of reaction, Cheng Wuting and Heichi Changzhi should have sent out troops by the 15th at the latest. Cheng Wuting is closer to Qinghai Lake, and as long as he passes Shibao City and crosses Chiling, he can reach the mountain."

"And Black Tooth will have to cross the Yellow River's Nine Bends, which is quite a distance."

"Qin Ling should first gather his strength to look for trouble with Cheng Wuting. If he wins, he will go to Heichi Changzhi. If he loses and the situation remains stalemate, he will go to Cheng Wuting..."

"There's a long distance to both sides..."

"With their hasty march, the soldiers will definitely lack the strength to fight again. In this situation, it is the most foolish thing for him to choose to fight. Moreover, this is not a battlefield suitable for fighting. Choosing to attack here is even more stupid. This is not something Lun Qinling can do. He just arranged some people to deliberately bluff and delay our march."

"Ignore him, continue on our way, act according to our ideas, and drag him into our plan instead of being influenced by him."

He didn't care whether Wang Xiaojie understood or not, and spoke a lot, which was rare, and it seemed more like he was forcing it on him.

Wang Xiaojie still doesn't feel...

From a God's perspective, Su Dingfang was hiding in Jishishan Mountain. He only had a brief exchange with Xi Junmai about the rescue of Fu'ai City, but he had a rough idea of ​​the battle situation. It was really terrifying.

In addition to having extraordinary talent in military affairs, one must also have sufficient experience as a foundation.

It just so happens that Su Dingfang has all of these.

Dragon Post!
Lun Qinling lay on the ground, gasping for breath like a dog in the heat. His breathing was louder than normal talking, and it seemed as if all the bones in his body were falling apart.

His back was directly pressed against the ground, and the solid feeling of his vest touching the thick earth made him so comfortable that he almost moaned.

In order to catch up with Su Dingfang, he traveled light, riding three horses in rotation. Except for the necessary rest times, he spent almost all his time on horseback.

When I feel tired and sleepy, I just lie on the horse's back...

Not until he really caught up with Su Dingfang did Lun Qinling dare to lie down and have a good rest.

"Ru Shuai!"

Hearing the voice, Lun Qinling blinked tiredly. His eyes were dry and painful, and he could hardly open them. He could only squint and asked, "What's going on?"

"Before our troops got close, they were shot back by the Tang army with crossbows. The Tang army ignored us and continued to rush towards Wuhai."

Lun Qinling smacked his dry lips, the feeling of powerlessness coming over him again.

Logically speaking, Su Dingfang would not be caught up by himself so easily at this time.

In all likelihood, he was conserving his energy to prevent himself from being caught up.

On this plateau, the Tang people and the Tibetans felt exhausted differently.

When the Tibetans run out of energy, the worst that can happen is that they will collapse like dead dogs...

The Tang people were not suited to the plateau climate at the time, and they might suffer serious illness and death due to exhaustion of physical strength.

Su Dingfang's military tactics were flawless...

"No need to harass me!"

Lun Qinling thought for a moment and said, "Order the entire army to rest for three hours."

He originally wanted to send people to harass the Tang army, delay its speed, and buy them half a day of rest.

Now that the enemy has not fallen into the trap, they can only shorten their rest time and delay the arrival of the Tang army in Wuhai through fighting.
-
"kill!"

"Marshal, the enemy is coming again. This group of people is so annoying..."

Wang Xiaojie's eyes were full of fire and his teeth were itching with anger.

It had only been half a day since the Tibetan cavalry attacks stopped yesterday, but early this morning they came again.

This time they were just pretending, as they had done before.

They retreated after firing the crossbow arrows. They used the cover of the terrain and launched a real attack after getting close.

But as soon as you stop to pay attention to them, they will retreat and have no intention of fighting a decisive battle.

Wang Xiaojie tried to pursue further several times, but was stopped by Su Dingfang every time.

Wang Xiaojie also knew that Lun Qinling wanted to influence their marching rhythm, and ignoring them was the right choice.

But they are just like disgusting flies, sticking to you, disgusting you, and even biting you when you are not paying attention.

The key is that you cannot fight back. Once you fight back, you will fall into the opponent's rhythm.

Su Dingfang looked at the approaching Tubo soldiers, and saw the two sides tangled together. As the sound of weapons clashing rang out, the smell of blood began to spread...

But when the battle was going on, the Tibetan soldiers began to retreat, leaving behind more than 50 corpses. The Tang army suffered no casualties, only a dozen wounded.

The current combat effectiveness of the Tang army and the Tubo army is completely incomparable.

Because the Tubo army had to abandon their armor and rush forward in order to hurry, they only wore simple light leather armor.

But the Tang army was fully equipped with armor...

Armor is the first factor that affects combat effectiveness on the battlefield...

Although the soldiers around Lun Qinling were all the strongest elite troops of Tubo, they could only passively take the beating when facing the fully armored Tang army.

But the Tibetan soldiers launched attacks again and again, and suffered heavy casualties again and again.

"This is stalling time!"

Su Dingfang looked at the bodies of the Tibetan soldiers on the ground and understood Lun Qinling's purpose...

But what's the point of delaying time like this?
Is this to give Wu Hai a chance to prepare?

If Wuhai City had been able to learn about the news from the front line, they would have known it long ago...

They had only one chance to learn the news from the front, that is, when they defeated the Tibetan army attacking Fu'ai City, some of the Tibetans who escaped the net slipped back to Wuhai City in a panic, thus allowing Wuhai to get some rest at the front.

But in fact, when the Tibetan army attacked Fu'ai City, he first arranged a hundred people to set up an ambush at Naluyi to guard against this.

Unless all the people slacked off together, there should be no reason for them to escape to Wuhai.

Moreover, even if there were some fish that slipped through the net and escaped to Wuhai, how would Lun Qinling know about it?

It doesn’t make sense!

Su Dingfang's mind raced, and suddenly a hint of enlightenment flashed in his eyes. So that's it.

What a great Lun Qinling!

"Ha!" Su Dingfang laughed first, then shook his head: "Such a talented person, what a pity."

Wang Xiaojie was like a fool standing next to Su Dingfang and didn't understand anything at all.

But he was used to it and was not embarrassed, so he asked directly: "Marshal, what have you thought of now?"

Su Dingfang looked towards the northwest and said, "I thought of someone..."

"Who?"

"Hou Junji!"

Wang Xiaojie asked, "The Marshal's senior brother?"

Su Dingfang shook his head: "Duke Wei did teach me a lot, but strictly speaking, it was not a master-disciple relationship. Duke Wei is not the kind of person who would accept a disciple. If Hou Junji had not been specially arranged by the late emperor, Duke Wei would not have accepted him."

Li Jing is too strong, so strong that it is terrifying.

Because of this, Li Jing might teach others military strategies and tactics, but he would not accept anyone as his disciple.

If he really wanted to open his door to accept disciples, with his prestige, Li Shimin would have no time to sleep.

But to be more specific, among the Tang generals taught by Li Jing, the most promising one was naturally Su Dingfang.

Su Dingfang said, "In the past, when Duke Wei was destroying Tuyuhun, in order to wipe out the root of the problem, Hou Junji once passed through the Luozheng Valley and reached Wuhai before the Tuyuhun Khan Fuyun and defeated his army. If I am not mistaken, Lun Qinling has led the Tubo army to break through the Luozheng Valley, intending to reach Wuhai before us."

The plateau is full of mountains. If they want to reach Wuhai from the main road, they have to go around the mountains and take a lot of detours.

However, the Po Luo Zhengu is a straight road that avoids the mountain roads and greatly reduces the marching time.

However, the Poluozhengu Valley is known as the Valley of Death. It is a two thousand mile long uninhabited area with no water, no grass, and almost no life.

Poluozhen Valley is a canyon between two mountains, with steep cliffs on both sides, and no sunlight can penetrate, resulting in snow all year round and a cold climate.

When Hou Junji broke into Luozheng Valley, it was March. Due to the weather in March, a thick layer of ice had formed in Luozheng Valley, and there was snow all over the ground.

The Tang army relied on people to bite the ice and horses to see the snow to get through the Po Luo Zhen Valley...

Even Li Jing praised it highly.

It is now the first month of the lunar calendar, and the environment in the Poluozhengu Valley is even worse.

The Tubo army dared to break into Luozhengu, and Su Dingfang had to admire their courage.

Su Dingfang did not ignore Po Luo Zhengu, but there was no need to do so.

They were one step ahead, so even if the Tibetan army succeeded in breaking through Luozheng Valley, they might not be faster than them.

Su Dingfang didn't believe that he couldn't deal with a group of exhausted soldiers who had just passed through the Poluozhengu Valley?
But now if Lun Qinling uses this method to delay their march, it is really possible that the Tibetan army that breaks through Luozhengu will overtake them.

Su Dingfang couldn't help but look up to Lun Qinling for being able to achieve this result in adversity.

Su Dingfang was stunned and made another decision.

Now he has two choices. One is to ignore Lun Qinling and force his way to Wuhai, heading to Xingxiu Sea at the end of Poluozhengu Valley, ambush the Tubo army and annihilate the enemy in one battle.

But this method escaped from Lun Qinling...

Ignoring the Tibetan army that had Poluo Zhengu under his control, and cooperating with Xi Junmai's strangulation, they trapped Lun Qinling to death here, thus eliminating one arm of the Tibetan army.

"Cough cough..."

Su Dingfang suddenly coughed twice and made up his mind to choose him.

All his heart...

Judging from the situation Tubo was facing and Qinling's current fighting style, Su Dingfang naturally saw the other party's intention. That was to use his own life to exchange for the survival of the Tubo army.

At this point, Su Dingfang no longer insisted on going to Wuhai as planned. There was Lun Qinling behind him, and a large Tibetan army was trying to break through Luozhengu.

Attacking Wuhai has absolutely no strategic significance...

When Su Dingfang changed his target, Lun Qinling immediately sensed the changes in the Tang army.

"Ha ha……"

Lun Qinling suddenly opened his arms, looked up to the sky and laughed wildly, tears overflowing from the corners of his eyes.

He succeeded……

The situation was originally expected to be annihilated, but now he used his life to exchange for the lives of Zanpo and more than 20,000 soldiers.

It was all worth it!

but……

It is not an easy matter to use me to judge Qin Ling's life.

"Brothers, the time to die is now... Those who are afraid of death, stay, and those who are not afraid of death, follow me to break through!"

(End of this chapter)