The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 161: Red Water Army

Li Siye wanted to anticipate the enemy's moves, but such a high-level operation could only be entrusted to Li Heng.

So he turned his gaze to Li Heng. Gao Xianzhi and the others also looked at Li Heng, waiting for Li Heng's instructions.

But Li Heng didn't know either.

Because of his influence, some parts of current history have deviated from their original track.

Take the Tang-Tibetan War for example. Originally, it should have been Huangfu Weiming who fought. Although Huangfu Weiming failed to capture Shibao City, he still fought back and forth and would not have suffered such a terrible defeat.

Now Dong Yanguan went into battle ahead of time and was defeated miserably. As a result of the decline of one side and the rise of the other, Tubo became stronger and naturally would not follow history.

After thinking for a while, Li Heng asked, "Which routes do you think Tubo is most likely to use to march into Hexi?"

Li Ying threw the question out.

Gao Xianzhi thought for a while and said, "There have always been five routes for Tubo to enter Hexi. They are Dadouba Valley, Sanshui, Zhangye, Jiankang, and Yumen. The Dadouba Valley route can take you to Liangzhou in the east and Ganzhou in the west. The Zhangye and Sanshui routes go directly to Ganzhou. The Jiankang route goes east to Ganzhou and west to Suzhou. The Yumen route goes east to Suzhou and west to Guazhou."

Li Siye continued, "The Dadou Army has more than 7,500 soldiers and more than 2,400 horses. The Jiankang Army has 5,300 soldiers and 500 horses. The Yumen Army has 5,200 soldiers, and the Zhangye Shouzhuo Army has 500 soldiers. We have troops guarding these five routes. If Tubo wants to invade, I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

"No." Feng Changqing shook his head. "The Tibetans always like to concentrate their superior forces to attack one place. This time, they will probably use a large number of troops to attack one or two of them."

"That's right." Gao Xianzhi agreed. "Chide Zuzan is very ambitious. He is the Zamp. This time he will lead the army personally and take the rich land. The richest place in Hexi is Liangzhou. I think that Tubo will march from the Daduba River Valley this time. Even if they fail to plunder Liangzhou, they can still plunder Ganzhou."

Wang Jue added: "The Dadou Army did have more than 7,500 soldiers before, but they lost the previous battle and now only have more than 4,300 soldiers. If Tubo really concentrates its superior forces to enter Dadouba Valley, the Dadou Army may not be able to cope with it. The strongest force in Hexi is the Chishui Army of Liangzhou. After the previous defeat, Chishui still has more than 25,000 soldiers. Not only is the number huge, but its individual combat effectiveness is also the strongest in the Hexi Army. If the Chishui Army can be mobilized to prepare for war in advance, it will surely be able to fight Tubo."

After Wang Jue finished speaking, Gao Xianzhi suddenly realized and said, "Your Highness's silent entry into Hexi is not just to visit incognito, but also to keep Tubo unaware of Your Highness's movements. Tubo does not know that Your Highness has arrived in Hexi, so naturally they will not predict the deployment of the Chishui Army."

At first, Feng Changqing thought that Li Heng went incognito only to understand the real administration and border defense of Hexi, but he did not expect that Li Heng actually had the intention of secretly dealing with Tubo. He could not help but admire his foresight.

Feng Changqing pondered for a while and said bluntly: "Can Deputy Commander Wang make the Chishui Army obey orders?"

Feng Changqing's question was quite straightforward, but seeing the crisis ahead, Feng Changqing could not care less and could only focus on the overall situation of the war.

Wang Jue was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He smiled awkwardly and said, "I dare not hide anything. I can only speak kindly to the Chishui Army, but I cannot enforce their orders."

Although Wang Jue was not particularly capable as the deputy commander of a military governor, he was able to speak his mind honestly and without deception, which was very rare.

During the reign of Li Longji, there were three strongest field corps.

They are the Chishui Army in Hexi, the Tianbing Army in Hedong, and the Jinglüe Army in Fanyang.

The Tianbing Army and the Jinglüe Army have 30,000 regular troops, and the Chishui Army has 33,000 troops. The difference is not big, but this is only the military strength.

If we add the horses, the Chishui Army has 13,000 horses, the Tianbing Army has 5,500 horses, and the Jinglüe Army has 5,400 horses. In this comparison, the Tianbing Army and the Jinglüe Army are far inferior to the Chishui Army.

Therefore, the Chishui Army can be said to be the strongest field army in the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Li Longji.

But this strongest field army is also the most difficult to control.

As for why it is difficult to control, we have to start with the establishment and development of the Chishui Army.

The establishment of the Chishui Army can be traced back to the second year of Wude.

In the second year of Emperor Gaozu's Wude reign, An Xiuren, one of the Nine Zhaowu Clans, took the initiative to submit to the Tang Dynasty and helped Emperor Gaozu to successfully suppress Li Gui. Emperor Gaozu, in recognition of his merits and with some compromise with the Hexi clans, established the Chishui Army. Afterwards, Emperor Taizong of Tang conferred titles on 43 meritorious officials after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, among whom were the brothers An Xiuren and An Xinggui. This shows that the initial establishment and development of the Chishui Army was closely related to the Tang emperor.

In other words, the ancestors of the Chishui Army were all close to the emperor, and they once performed the function of defending Hexi alone. The later military garrisons such as Dadou and Zhangye were all separated from Hexi, so their status can be imagined.

And because its establishment began with the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu, most of the soldiers of the Chishui Army were from the Hu ethnic group, and most of the military envoys were Hu people.

Geshu Han's father Geshu Daoyuan and Li Guangbi both held this position.

With his extraordinary status and the presence of Hu soldiers and generals, an ordinary Jiedushi, without real ability, would not be able to defeat this group of ferocious soldiers.

This situation was not only known to Li Heng and his people, but even Li Longji who was far away in Chang'an was well aware of it. Therefore, when Li Longji appointed Li Heng as the governor of Hexi, he also appointed Li Heng as the commander of the Chishui Army.

His intention was to hope that Li Heng could keep the Chishui Army firmly in his hands.

Therefore, Li Heng did not blame Wang Jue, but just asked: "Who is the deputy commander of the Chishui Army now?"

Wang Jue said: "Qibi is loyal."

"Qibi Zhong?" Li Heng was not very familiar with this name.

Wang Jue explained: "Qibi Zhong's grandfather was Qibi Heli, a famous general of Emperor Taizong, and his elder brother was Qibi Song, the former military commander of the Chishui Army."

"So that's how it is." After Wang Jue said this, Li Heng roughly understood.

Li Heng thought for a while and said, "In that case, let's go to the Chishui Army camp and take a look."

"Yes." Wang Jue, Gao Xianzhi and others responded in unison.

The Chishui Army was in Liangzhou City, and soon Li Heng and his party arrived at the military camp.

With Wang Jue leading the way, Li Heng and his men encountered no obstacles along the way until they reached the military headquarters.

Qibi Zhong, the deputy commander of the Chishui Army, came to see him in a hurry, but he did not meet Li Heng. He only saluted Wang Jue and said, "Greetings, General Wang Jie."

Wang Jue returned the greeting and looked at Li Heng.

Li Heng said: "Call the whole army."

"Yes." Wang Jue accepted the order and asked Qibi Zhong to beat the drum to summon the entire army.

Qibi Zhong did as he was told. After a while, the soldiers of the Chishui Army swarmed in, but some of them were still late.

"Is this the world-famous Chishui Army?" Li Heng asked Wang Jue.

Wang Ju was startled by the question and turned to ask Qibi Zhong: "Is this the world-famous Chishui Army?"

Qibi Zhong did not know Li Heng, but looking at Wang Jue's attitude towards Li Heng, combined with Li Heng's age and the several distinctive people around him, he roughly guessed Li Heng's identity.

Qibi Zhong broke out in a cold sweat and quickly explained to Wang Jue: "Reporting to the deputy commander, the previous battle was lost and the army's morale was unstable, so some soldiers became lazy."

(End of this chapter)