The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 287 No suspense
It was snowing heavily and the sky was covered in white.

Amid the rolling mountains, Li Heng personally led the troops and rushed towards Shibao City in the biting cold.

In the early morning, the army marched to the foot of Shibao City.

When they arrived at the city, Li Heng divided his troops into three groups. One group, led by Li Siye and the cavalry, blocked Ding Rongcheng's reinforcements. The other group, led by Bai Xiaode and Li Chengguang, made a feint attack from the northwest road of Shibao City to attract the attention of the enemy troops in Shibao City.

The other route was commanded by him personally, with Zhang Guangsheng and Cen Shen as his deputies, and they built simple fortifications under the Shibao City.

Most of the soldiers led by Li Heng had participated in the last attack on Shibao City. They had ample time to prepare, so they were all in good order.

As for the Tibetan side, because all the soldiers defending Shibao City were wiped out last time, the Tibetan soldiers in Shibao City had no idea how Li Heng was going to fight.

However, even though they didn't know, they were still very vigilant. They lit the beacon fire and beat the drums to report the news as soon as possible.

When the Tibetan garrison near Shibao City saw the news, they immediately summoned soldiers for support.

Apart from Dingrong City, the Tibetan army closest to Shibao City is the Moli City garrison, followed by the Momen City garrison.

The Tibetan garrisons in these two cities were similar to the Tang Dynasty's garrisons. The Moli garrison had 4,000 soldiers and 500 horses, and the Momen garrison had 3,000 soldiers and 400 horses.

The infantry and cavalry of the two cities came out in full force one after another and rushed to provide assistance on a snowy night.

But when they were halfway there, they encountered an ambush by the Tang army.

Gao Xianzhi and Lai Zhen led 3,000 cavalrymen and ambushed outside Moli City, waiting for the Tubo Moli army to come out and then attack them.

Lai Zhen took the lead and rushed into the Tubo formation, fighting back and forth. Soon, the Tubo cavalry were dispersed. Lai Zhen led his troops to continue the attack and ran into the Tubo heavy infantry head-on.

The Tibetan heavy infantry was the elite among the elite and belonged to the personal soldiers of the nobles. Logically, they should not appear here. However, since Trisong Detsen knew that Li Ying took over Helong, he strengthened the defense of Shibao City and specially recruited heavy infantry to defend Shibao City.

The Tibetan heavy infantry were all wearing leaf armor, with only their eyes exposed. They could withstand several arrows without falling, and the ordinary Tang army's swords and spears could not penetrate their armor.

But this time, Li Heng transferred to Gao Xianzhi and Lai Zhen the elite cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, including heavy cavalry.

Heavy cavalry was more popular during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. At that time, both the minority regimes and the Han people who migrated south had elite heavy cavalry.

But in the Tang Dynasty, heavy cavalry was not prominent. The reason was that the investment in heavy cavalry was large, but the return was small. In addition, due to the complex terrain of the Tang Dynasty and the neighbors who came and went like the wind, the fast and mobile light cavalry was more useful. Investing in heavy cavalry was not as good as investing in heavy infantry.

However, in certain circumstances, heavy cavalry can also be very useful, such as now.

The Tubo Moli heavy infantry formed a battle array and blocked the first wave of attack from the light cavalry led by Lai Chen. But soon after, Gao Xianzhi arrived with heavy cavalry. The weapons used by the heavy cavalry were not swords or guns, but heavy clubs.

Gao Xianzhi led the charge, riding his horse towards the Tibetan cavalry, and swung his club to hit the first Tibetan soldier he encountered on the head. The soldier's head under the helmet shattered immediately and he fell to the ground.

The heavy cavalry behind followed closely and instantly broke through the "iron lump" of the Tubo front army.

Lai Zhen, unwilling to be left behind, charged into the Tibetan formation with his light cavalry and used his silver spear to pierce through the leaf armor of the Tibetan heavy cavalry, killing dozens of people in a row until his spear broke, then he switched to a long sword.

The Tubo general Moli had never seen such a battle, so he quickly withdrew his troops. Lai Zhen chased the Tubo remnants all the way to Moli City before he gave up and returned. Returning to the battlefield, Lai Zhen said to Gao Xianzhi: "If I had another 3,000 soldiers, I could take Moli City tonight."

Gao Xianzhi was in high spirits after the victory. He laughed and said, "Your Highness only asked us to stop the reinforcements, not to attack the city. General Lai, do you know why?"

Lai Chen said: "Please give me some advice, Deputy Commander."

Gao Xianzhi said, "As long as we take Shibao City, it won't be difficult to take Moli City. Although it is exciting to capture cities and territories, it will always involve sacrifices. The best strategy is to attack the enemy's plans, the next best is to attack their alliances, the next best is to attack their troops, and the worst is to attack their cities. Your Highness values ​​the lives of his soldiers, so he will not attack their plans and alliances, and will not attack their cities."

"So that's how it is." Lai Chen suddenly realized and said respectfully, "I will learn from you."

"It is only after I have followed His Highness for a long time that I have come to this realization." Gao Xianzhi said modestly, and then said: "General Lai is invincible. Given time, he will surely become the most powerful general in the Tang Dynasty."

Lai Chen said: "Deputy Commander, you are too kind. I only hope that I can follow you and Your Highness in the future."

Gao Xianzhi smiled slightly and patted Lai Ting on the shoulder.

On the other side, Ma Lin and Li Sheng led 3,000 cavalry to block the Tubo Momen army.

The reaction of the Momen army was slower than that of the Moli army. Ma Lin and Lai Chen waited for half a day but did not see anyone.

Ma Lin couldn't help but complain: "If they don't come again, Your Highness will take over Shibao City."

Li Sheng had not participated in Li Heng's last attack on Shibao City. He felt that even if Li Heng was a master of military tactics, it would be difficult for him to capture Shibao City within a day. He could not help but ask, "Does the military envoy trust Your Highness so much?"

Ma Lin was young and full of vigor, and he was relatively pure, so he found it difficult to understand Li Sheng's suspicion. He said, "You have never followed His Highness, but you have followed Marshal Wang Jie. Even if Marshal Wang Jie was here now, he would believe His Highness."

The General Wang that Ma Lin was referring to was Wang Zhongsi. Although Wang Zhongsi was no longer a general, Ma Lin valued righteousness and admired Wang Zhongsi, so he retained the original title for Wang Zhongsi.

Li Sheng was about to speak when he heard a tiny explosion. Confused, he looked around and saw flames rising from the Stone Fort City.

Li Sheng was shocked and asked, "Are you using fire attack in winter?"

"It seems that Your Highness is well prepared!" Ma Lin said with emotion.

At this time, the Tubo Momen army came galloping from the snow. Upon hearing the sound, Ma Lin was overjoyed. He immediately gripped his spear and prepared for battle.

When the Tibetan Momen army approached, Ma Lin led his troops to charge out, and in a short while the Tibetan Momen army was defeated and fled, leaving their weapons and armors in disarray.

Without the support of reinforcements, Shibao City was captured by Li Heng again without any suspense, and the 2,000 Tibetan defenders of Shibao City were completely wiped out.

That night, Li Heng led his soldiers to clean up the battlefield and stationed troops for defense at the foot of Shibao City. It was not until the next day, when the fire in Shibao City was extinguished, that he rebuilt fortifications on the city. At the same time, he ordered the Longyou Army to move forward and build a defense line.

Another day later, a large number of Tibetan reinforcements rushed to Shibao, but Shibao City had already been captured by Li Heng. In addition, the Longyou army moved forward, forming a pincer attack. The Tibetan reinforcements arrived in a hurry and did not have the ability to capture the fortified city. They had to return empty-handed and temporarily retreated to Moli City to rest, while sending the news back to Tibet.

The Tubo King Trisong Detsen and Li Longji received the battle report at almost the same time. Both sides were in an uproar, but one side was excited and the other side was angry.

(End of this chapter)