The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 256: Spring Breeze Does Not Pass Yumen Pass

The wind and snow grew stronger in the evening. The sky was covered in silver white. Only the scattered torches and bonfires on the Jinchang city wall flickered with red flames, making the scene look lonely and desolate.

After a day of fierce fighting, nearly two thousand soldiers of the Mo Li army were killed or wounded, almost half of them. Some soldiers on the city wall were patrolling, while others were carrying the bodies of their comrades.

After Le Tinggui's wound was bandaged, he put on his armor and went up to the city wall for inspection.

Le Tingkui walked along, looking at the soldiers who were either dejected, discouraged, numb, or angry.

Walking to the corner of the tower, Le Tingkui heard low sobbing.

Le Tinggui asked Jiu Yue'er to bring a torch. By the light of the fire, he saw a soldier about seventeen or eighteen years old in the corner, with his hands on his knees and his head down crying.

The soldier was startled by the fire, looked up and found it was Le Tinggui, so he quickly stood up and tried his best to wipe away his tears, but found that the more he wiped, the more tears he cried.

"I'm sorry, General," the soldier apologized in a low voice.

Le Tinggui stepped forward, patted the soldier on the shoulder, and said, "Are you afraid? Tell the truth."

The soldier nodded and said, "I'm afraid. In just one day, the fire chief died, the eldest brother died... the third brother died. I am the only one left in our fire group. I don't know... I don't know... "

The soldier sobbed and could not continue.

"They are all heroes of the Tang Dynasty." Le Tinggui comforted him, "What's your fire chief's name?"

"Du Wanzhen," the soldier replied, "He is from Guanzhong. He has not been back to Guanzhong for seven years. He said that after the New Year, he can go back to Guanzhong, or even stay in Chang'an."

"He has already gone back." Le Tinggui replied calmly, and then said: "Your leader is Du Wanzhen, so you should be Zhao Siqi."

The soldier was surprised and said, "General, I am Zhao Siqi."

Le Tinggui said, "When I joined the army, I was not as old as you, only fifteen years old. I joined in Longyou, and just one month after joining, I had a battle with Tubo. I remember that it was in Mohuanchuan, the terrain was dangerous, and the Tubo people focused more on infantry than cavalry. The more dangerous the terrain, the more brave they fought. Therefore, I lost my first battle. I didn't kill a single enemy, and I was hit by a stone thrown by the enemy."

Tibetan soldiers despised horse archery because according to Tibetan legend, the bow and arrow appeared during the reign of the Dark Yaksha and were evil weapons. The sling was a holy weapon because it was invented by the divine king Mujiekuo, whose descendant was the Tibetan king.

The great Tibetan leader Songtsen Gampo did not use a bow to shoot eagles, but preferred to use a spear to stab yaks to show his bravery. Of course, there were many archery masters in Tibet, such as the legend of King Gesar, but Tibet still admired slingshots and spears more.

Among these slingshots, Wuduo is the most famous.

Wuduo was used by early herdsmen to hunt stray cattle and sheep. Almost every Tibetan soldier could use it. This weapon was very lethal in the hands of the Tibetans. The entire army was using it. More skilled soldiers could achieve precise strikes from thirty steps away.

Zhao Siqi knew that the Tibetans were very powerful in throwing stones, so he asked, "How could the general be safe and sound after being hit by a stone?"

Le Tinggui said earnestly: "The stone hit my arm, so I retreated to the rear as a wounded soldier. Because of this, I escaped when the front army was surrounded and killed, but I, like you, all my brothers in Yihuo died."

"This..." Zhao Siqi was stunned.

Le Tinggui continued, "Crying doesn't mean you're weak. As long as you're alive, you have to kill more enemies for your brothers."

"Yes!" Zhao Siqi wiped away his tears and replied solemnly.

Le Tinggui patted Zhao Siqi on the shoulder and said nothing more. He walked all the way to the observation tower and fixed the Tang flag. He looked at the Tang flag in silence for a long time, looking into the distance.

Letinggui was looking in the direction of Yumen Pass.

Wang Zhihuan once wrote in his Liangzhou Ci: "Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze does not reach Yumen Pass."

Guazhou is located west of Yumen Pass, right next to the Yumen Army. Letingkui feels that the only ones who can quickly rescue Guazhou are the Yumen Army.

At this time, in a camp one hundred miles north of Jinchang, Li Heng was also waiting for news from the Yumen Army.

"Your Highness, the Yumen Army sent a message saying that they encountered a severe snowstorm and it might take three days for them to arrive here." Hun'e, a military officer who went to deliver the message, reported.

Li Heng asked, "Who will lead the army?"

"It's the military envoy Guo Qianli." Hun'e replied.

Guo Qianli was the General of the Left Jinwu Guard and concurrently the Military Envoy of the Yumen Army, but he was not concurrently the Governor of Suzhou.

The General of the Left Jinwu Guard was of the second rank. With his second rank, he only served as a military envoy and not as a provincial governor. There was another hidden story behind this.

Li Heng hesitated for a moment and said, "I can wait for him for three days, but Guazhou and Shazhou can't."

Li Heng had already issued orders to the three military garrisons of Tianshan, Yiwulu and Yumen to prepare for battle and act immediately upon receiving orders.

Now the Tianshan Army and Yiwulu Army in Beiting have arrived, but the Yumen Army in Hexi cannot join them on time.

Zhang Guangsheng said, "Your Highness, the Tianshan Army and the Yiwu Army have joined forces, with 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. The Tibetan army in Guazhou now has more than 40,000 soldiers. Without the Yumen Army, our military strength is not superior."

Li Siye said: "Although we are not superior in military strength, we can't wait any longer. If Guazhou falls, not only will we lose the opportunity to coordinate internal and external forces, but Tubo will also lose Guazhou's supplies."

"I second General Li's words." Zhang Guangsheng echoed, "We must not miss this opportunity. General Gao once commented that the Tibetan cavalry is weak and the bows are weak, but the heavy infantry is exceptionally brave. Therefore, the Tibetan army likes to use tactics such as attacking and defending in dangerous places and encircling and annihilating the enemy. If we let them take Guazhou and use Jinchang City as a base, then even if we join forces with the Yumen Army, it will be difficult to recapture Jinchang. Moreover... the Yumen Army said three days, but if they don't arrive after three days, what should we do?"

Li Heng did not rush to answer, but looked at Tianshan Army Envoy Cen Shen and Yiwu Army Envoy Lai Zhen and asked, "What do you two generals think?"

Lai Zhen is Lai Yao's son. When fighting against the Arabs before, he followed Lai Yao to lead the Beiting Army.

Lai Zhen was also a brave general in history, but unfortunately he was suspected by Li Heng and was neglected and not valued.

After Li Yu came to power, Lai Chen offended the powerful eunuchs Cheng Yuanzhen and Wang Zhongsheng, and was demoted to the position of lieutenant of Bozhou County and was executed on the way.

Lai Zhen said: "In marching and fighting, it is not only about the strength of the troops, but also the momentum of the troops. Although the enemy army is large, their composition is complex. Our army is small, but they are all elite soldiers. Now Your Highness has anticipated the enemy's moves. If we catch them by surprise, we will surely win a great victory."

Cen Shen said, "I second the proposal."

Li Heng was very happy to see that none of the generals were cowards. He said, "What the generals said makes sense. We can still win without the Yumen Army. The Tibetan cavalry is weak and the bows are weak because most of their cavalry are second-class soldiers and slaves. Tonight we will march quickly, and when the Tibetans attack Jinchang, we will use cavalry to attack their flanks, and then use infantry to face the enemy head-on. General Li, you lead the cavalry to raid, and I will follow with generals Cen, Lai, and Zhang with the infantry."

"Yes." The generals obeyed the order.

(End of this chapter)