Prosperous Tang Dynasty

Chapter 236 The Last Scorching Sun of the Great Tang Dynasty
In the Battle of Nanzhao, due to Yang Guozhong's deception, improper employment and blind command, Jiannan, Shannan, and Henan suffered heavy losses, and the people were in dire straits. potential.

However, there are eighteen Taos in the Tang Dynasty, after all, there are fifteen other Taos.

Among them, Longyou Dao is supported by other rich places such as Zhongchang'an and Jiangnan, and its military power is still at its peak, showing the strength of the afterglow of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

Longyou Road is the front line of Tang Dynasty against Tubo Kingdom.

Compared with the "farce" war between Jiannan Dao and Nanzhao Kingdom, Longyou Dao, under the command of Ge Shuhan, has achieved great victories against Tubo Kingdom.

When the Tang Dynasty was founded, there were constant conflicts with the Tubo Kingdom. Later, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin defeated the Tubo army, and Songtsen Gampo submitted to the Tang Dynasty. After that, the Tang Dynasty married Princess Wencheng and entered Tibet. Twenty years of peace without war.

However, more than ten years after the death of Emperor Taizong Li Shimin and Songtsan Gampo, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the conflict between the Tubo Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty resumed, and the decades-long battle between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo began.

The two countries competed for hegemony around Qinghai, the Western Regions, Longyou and other places.

In the seventh year of Tianbao, Tang Xuanzong appointed Ge Shuhan as the envoy of the Longyou Jiedu of the Tang Dynasty, and then the Tang Dynasty began a period of active attack on Tubo.

As one of the four famous generals of Emperor Xuanzong Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty, Ge Shuhan was tied with Gao Xianzhi, An Lushan, and Feng Changqing, and he was extremely capable of commanding troops.

After becoming Longyou Jiedushi, Ge Shuhan first built Shenwei City on the northeast side of Qinghai Lake. After being captured by Tubo, Ge Shuhan built Yinglong City on Longju Island, repelled the attack of Tubo army, and recovered the former The established Shenwei City firmly controls the side of Qinghai Lake.

With Yinglong City and Shenwei City as the horns, in the eighth year of Tianbao, Ge Shuhan commanded 3000 troops and stormed Shibao City on the southeast side of Qinghai Lake. After eight days of attack, nearly half of them were killed or injured. For a moment, the entire Qinghai Lake was under the control of Datang, and the soldiers of Datang pointed directly at the hinterland of Tubo.

Tubo was shocked. In the same year, Tubo assembled an army of tens of thousands to take back Shibao City.

However, Shibao City is a strong city, and it took tens of thousands of Tang soldiers to win it. Now there are Ge Shuhan and tens of thousands of Tang troops sitting in the town. Although the Tubo army has tens of thousands, it can only be a bitter battle.

In the end, Tubo not only failed to recapture Shibao City, but was defeated by Goshuhan, and the tens of thousands of troops were almost wiped out.

After defeating the Tubo army in Shibao City, Ge Shuhan took advantage of the victory to go down to Hongji, the two cities of the desert, and captured the important land of Jiuqu.

The Tang army led by Ge Shuhan repeatedly attacked, and Tubo not only lost Qinghai, but also lost the equally important land of Jiuqu, and it was impossible to be reconciled anyway.

After more than three years of silence, after the recovery of vitality, at the beginning of Tianbao's 12th year, the Tubo Kingdom once again assembled an army of 20 to fight against Ge Shuhan's more than [-] Tang troops in Qinghai and the land of Jiuqu.

This battle started from the early 12th year of Tianbao to the 14th year of Tianbao now.

In the vast Gobi Desert twenty miles west of Qinghai Lake, under the command of Ge Shuhan, the decisive battle between the Tang army and the Tubo army finally came to the end.

"kill!"

Ge Shuhan ordered Tang Jun to attack in front.

The Tang cavalry, Modao army and others broke through the Tubo army's formation, killing the entire Tubo army and began to defeat it.

"Boom——" the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty chased the fleeing soldiers of the Tubo army, and kept slashing and killing the soldiers of the Tubo army who were chasing.

The soldiers of the Modao army also ran and chased them with the Modao. Some soldiers of the Tubo army who were overtaken were cut into two by the Modao, and their death was extremely miserable!

The entire huge Gobi Desert is full of corpses of soldiers of the Tubo Army.

Under the disastrous defeat, the soldiers of the Tubo Army fled to the depths of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Ge Shuhan led the Tang army to pursue for more than 100 miles, and stopped at a snowy mountain pass to continue to penetrate.

In this battle, Tubo increased its troops several times, dispatching a total of nearly 30 troops, and Datang also increased its troops several times, dispatching more than 13 troops.

In the disastrous defeat of the First World War, the Tubo Kingdom lost more than 20 soldiers, which hurt its vitality again.

Although Datang is the victor, the so-called killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred is not much better, and the total number of casualties has reached nearly [-].

However, no matter what, the loss of the Tubo Kingdom far exceeded that of the Tang Dynasty.Moreover, as the victor, Datang completely controlled the two major lands of Qinghai Lake and the Land of Nine Twists, no matter what, it was an exciting victory.

At least Tang Xuanzong was very excited.

There was a "big victory" against Nanzhao before, and now Ge Shuhan, commander of Longyou, defeated Tubo again, killing and wounding more than 20 Tubo troops.

Tang Xuanzong's excitement is undoubtedly more than that. The 14th year of Tianbao is like the last scorching sun of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. In the Western Regions, since Gao Xianzhi lost to the Arab Empire in the Battle of Talas, the vitality of the Anxi Dufu of the Tang Dynasty was greatly damaged.

However, the Anxi Protectorate's Mansion is only a Protector's Mansion of the Tang Dynasty, and behind the Anxi Protectorate's Mansion is the entire Datang Dynasty.

With Feng Changqing succeeding Gao Xianzhi as the envoy of the Four Towns of Anxi, Datang also successively recruited soldiers to make up for the 4000 soldiers in the four towns.

Although the recruits were all new recruits, after all, there were still thousands of veterans left, and the recovery of combat power was not slow.Furthermore, Feng Changqing was also a very talented general, and under his command, the Anxi Protectorate was no weaker than Gao Xianzhi's time.

At the beginning, Gao Xianzhi suffered a disastrous defeat in the first battle of Talas, Datang lost the Tocharian Kingdom and the entire Central Asia, and its power in the Western Regions was greatly reduced.

In order to restore Datang's prestige in the Western Regions, Feng Changqing led the new soldiers out after training them.

Also in order to cope with Ge Shuhan's battle against Tubo Kingdom in Longyou, Feng Changqing turned his attention to Dabolu Kingdom, one of Tubo Kingdom's staunch vassal states.

Feng Changqing led more than [-] Tang troops in just a few days, and they fought four victories to Bodhisattva Lao City.Immediately after, they defeated Dabolu's reinforcements under Bodhisattva Lao City, broke through Bodhisattva Lao City, and directed their troops at the capital of Dabolu.

King Dabolu was so frightened that he surrendered to Feng Changqing after seeking help from the Tubo Kingdom.

After the Battle of Dabolu Kingdom, Feng Changqing took aim at the Ge Luolu Department again.

It was because of Ge Luolu's betrayal that the Tang Fan coalition forces led by Gao Xianzhi suffered a disastrous defeat to the Arab Empire in Talas, and Ge Luolu must be taught a lesson no matter what.

Feng Changqing led the four towns of Anxi almost all out, entered the grassland of Ge Luolu's tribe, and defeated Ge Luolu's more than 3 cavalry.It's a pity that the number of iron cavalry in the Tang Dynasty was limited, and Mo Dao soldiers were not suitable for chasing cavalry in the grassland, so after Feng Changqing's victory, he didn't go deep into Ge Luolu's troops.

However, during the two battles between Dabolu State and Ge Luolu, Feng Changqing once again gained the reputation of the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty. Afterwards, even during the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty mobilized most of the Anxi Army, and no one in the Western Regions dared to fight. Make chaos.

Apart from the joke-like 'big victory' against Nanzhao, Longyou and the Western Regions were both real victories.

Before An Lushan really raised the flag to rebel, the army under An Lushan was also the army of the Tang Dynasty.No matter what is going on inside Datang, at this moment, Datang's military prestige is prosperous around Datang.

The Xi and Khitan tribes were conquered, and the Tubo Kingdom suffered a disastrous defeat in the First Battle of Longyou, with more than 20 soldiers killed or injured.Feng Changqing of the Western Regions destroyed the Dabolu Kingdom, defeated the Ge Luolu cavalry to revive the prestige of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, even the Anton Governor's Mansion had Li Fei defeating the army of the Bohai Kingdom, approaching the capital of the Bohai Kingdom, forcing the Bohai Kingdom to surrender and become the Great Tang belongs to the country.

All these achievements, except for the Nanzhao Kingdom, seem to represent the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.

With the news of the success of the Western Regions, Tang Xuanzong was extremely excited.He even summoned Chang Qing and Ge Shuhan to enter the court for commendation.In addition, Ge Shuhan was conferred the title of King of Xiping County, and Chang Qing was also conferred the title of Yushi Doctor.

Inspired, Tang Xuanzong dissipated a lot of the haze accumulated in his heart because An Lushan could not be summoned repeatedly, and he became proud again.

He felt that Datang was so prosperous, as long as An Lushan was not a fool, he would not dare to have ambitions, betray Datang, betray him.

Tang Xuanzong was very firm in his heart. He confidently waited for An Lushan to return to Chang'an City this time to meet him.
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(End of this chapter)