The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 291 Defeat
Gao Xiuyan smiled heartily and said, "Once we take Fuqi City, we can control Qinghai Lake and then march to the Yellow River's Nine Bends. If we completely control these two places, we will have land for farming in Longyou. This will not only ease the pressure on logistics, but also make the burden on the Tang Dynasty much lighter. General Ma, this battle is very important, please do your best."

"Of course." Ma Lin replied seriously, "As a general, once you are on the battlefield, all you have in mind is the war. I will definitely go all out."

"Very good." Gao Xiuyan had seen Ma Lin's bravery and had a good impression of him. If it weren't for the political reasons, he would have wanted to become sworn brothers with Ma Lin. He paused and continued, "If this battle is successful, General Ma will have made an indelible contribution, and the court will definitely reward him according to his merits."

Ma Lin smiled back and was about to speak, but he felt a murderous aura coming from the valley ahead.

Ma Lin immediately stopped his horse, looked around, and said, "Deputy Commander Gao, this place is dangerous and very suitable for an ambush. If the Tibetans ambush here, it will be disadvantageous to our army."

Gao Xiuyan said, "General Ma, don't worry. I have already sent scouts to investigate and there are no ambushes."

Ma Lin was stunned, not understanding what Enlan Dazhalugong was going to do.

From the battles of Moli City, Momen City, and Shudun City, Ma Lin felt that it was too easy. The Tubo were defeated like a group of rabble. If he had not seen Tubo's heavy infantry before, he would have almost believed it.

But even though he had doubts in his heart, he had no definite information to support his decision and could only obey orders.

The army continued to move forward and after passing the pass, they came to a large grassland. There was no sign of spring on the plateau at this time and the grass had not grown, but this did not affect grazing.

There are herds of cattle and sheep on the vast plain.

The Tang army soldiers had been sleeping in the open air during this period, and when they saw the herds of cattle and sheep, they were overjoyed and rushed forward to grab the "trophies".

Gao Xiuyan was well versed in military affairs and knew that many battles were lost because soldiers fought over spoils of war, so he reined in his horse and shouted, "Don't fight. This time..."

Before Gao Xiuyan finished speaking, many "cows and sheep" suddenly stood up and turned into Tibetan soldiers, killing the defenseless Tang soldiers around them who were only concerned with fighting for the spoils.

Ma Lin was shocked and said, "There is an ambush, form a battle array!"

As he spoke, he rode his horse forward and blocked the arrow flying towards Gao Xiuyan.

Gao Xiuyan wanted to thank Ma Lin, but a scout suddenly came on horseback and reported, "Report, Deputy Commander Gao, a large Tibetan army suddenly appeared behind us, and we are surrounded."

Gao Xiuyan was startled and said, "Didn't you check before and say there were no ambushes?"

The scout said, "When we came to investigate earlier, there was indeed no ambush, only cattle and sheep."

Ma Lin reacted and said, "The cattle and sheep are the Tibetan soldiers. This is just a disguise."

Gao Xiuyan said, "That doesn't matter. If Tubo doesn't defend the city and dares to fight us on the plain, it will be courting death! General Ma, you lead the left wing to attack the front enemy, General Huoba, you lead the right wing to block the rear enemy."

"Yes!" Ma Lin and Huoba Guiren took the order at the same time and rode out with their troops.

Ma Lin took the lead, holding a spear in hand, and killed several Tibetan soldiers in front of him who were disguised as cattle and sheep, and then ordered the army to quickly form a battle line to meet the enemy.

Huoba Guiren rode his horse to the rear, ready to stop the enemy.

But when he saw the enemy's face, he was dumbfounded.

Thousands of Tibetan heavy infantrymen formed a formation in front of them and advanced step by step. They had already broken through the defensive forces in the rear of the Tang army, and their neat footsteps made a deafening sound.

Huoba Guiren knew it was over, so he ordered his deputy generals to form a battle array to block the enemy, and he ran back to the central army to report to Gao Xiuyan, saying: "Deputy General Gao, the elite Tibetan heavy infantry has cut off our retreat. If we don't break out now, we will be trapped and die!"

"What?" Gao Xiuyan was shocked and murmured, "I was wondering how they had the guts to fight us on the plain. It turns out they have brought in elite troops. We can't take Fuqi City. Let's retreat northward."

"Yes!" Huoba Guiren and other generals accepted the order.

Gao Xiuyan made a decision and immediately retreated north without delay. Ma Lin, who was in the midst of a fierce battle in the front, looked back and found that the central and rear armies had all fled, and he was completely stunned.

Ma Lin and his deputy general Ma Yuan hurriedly asked, "General, the army has already withdrawn. What should we do?"

Ma Lin sighed and said, "We underestimated the enemy and rushed forward rashly. We were doomed to failure. I am unwilling to die here!"

"General, let's retreat too..." Before Ma Yuan finished his words, Tibet's elite heavy infantry had already pushed over, shooting arrows from a distance, hitting Ma Yuan in the back.

Ma Yuan fell off his horse.

"Wulang!" Ma Lin was shocked. He jumped off his horse and stabbed the Tibetan soldier who came up to kill Ma Yuan with a spear. Then he carried Ma Yuan onto his horse and shouted, "Retreat!"

As Ma Lin spoke, he hacked and killed the enemies who were rushing over. After making his way out, he broke out of the encirclement and rode away.

Ma Lin fled all the way to Hainan Mountain, and finally got rid of the pursuit of the Tibetan soldiers. Looking back, he saw that there were less than fifty riders left around him. Looking down again, Ma Yuan had died.

"Fuck!" Ma Lin cursed, his eyes red.

After a short pause, Ma Lin dismounted, picked up Ma Yuan's body, and threw it between two large rocks at the foot of Hainan Mountain. He bowed to Ma Yuan's body, and thinking of the many years that Ma Yuan had followed him, he couldn't help but shed tears and said, "Forgive me for not being able to take you home now. If I have the chance, I will come to find you again."

After saying that, he turned around, mounted his horse, and continued to retreat northward.

It was not until midnight that Ma Lin finally caught up with Gao Xiuyan, but Gao Xiuyan's condition was not much better.

After Gao Xiuyan retreated northward, he encountered an ambush by Tubo and his large army was reduced to only a few hundred people.

Gao Xiuyan was now covered in dust and dirt. When he saw Ma Lin, he lowered his head in guilt and said, "We lost."

Ma Lin sighed and said quietly, "I hope Deputy Envoy Geshu can hold on."

Although Ma Lin said this, he had already anticipated the outcome.

Geshu Han was also besieged by heavy Tibetan troops and retreated all the way. The three cities of Moli, Momen and Shudun that he had previously captured were also taken away by Tibetans one after another.

……

The latest battle report from Longyou was quickly sent to Chang'an.

Li Longji looked at the battle report and suddenly jumped up, pushed all the memorials on the table to the ground, and said angrily: "More than 30,000 soldiers were killed or wounded, and we didn't advance an inch!"

Li Linfu said quickly: "Fortunately, Shibao City has not been lost. I think the most urgent task is to defend Shibao City."

Li Longji glared at Li Linfu and closed his eyes in thought.

Although the defeat was apparently caused by Li Linfu's slander, in the final analysis it was because he did not trust Li Heng and allowed Geshu Han to force his way forward, which he knew very well.

But he definitely couldn't admit such a mistake.

Li Longji pondered for a while before opening his eyes and said, "Let Geshu Han come back. From now on, Shiba Lang will be in charge of the war in Helong. If we need more warriors for the Long March, you, Right Prime Minister, will arrange it."

"Yes." Li Linfu bowed and accepted the order, sighing silently in his heart.

(End of this chapter)