Tibet

Li Ye's thousand troops have been marching into Xue's territory for five days, but they have not encountered any small tribes, including the logistics tribes originally north of Xiakou Mountain, who also got the news and fled.

After walking for five days, all you can see are vast grasslands and hills. The hills are relatively gentle, but they are covered with big trees. The original ecology of thousands of years is almost all patches of temperate primeval forest.

Only a small part of the 60,000 sheep were eaten. They also brought dry food. There were plenty of wild fruits in the forest. There were clear rivers and rich aquatic plants along the way, so there was no shortage of food and grass.

At this time, the captain An Taixuan suggested: "The governor is likely to lead his army north. They will not be able to meet the tribes, and food and grass will be a problem. I suggest that we send our brothers to drive part of the sheep south to support them."

An Taixuan's suggestion was timely. Li Ye immediately ordered a brigade commander to lead 50 soldiers to drive 40,000 sheep back the same way. They only had 1,000 cavalry and 20,000 sheep were enough.

The team continued to move north. That afternoon, the soldiers rested in front of a forest. Hundreds of soldiers climbed dozens of fruit trees to pick wild fruits. This kind of wild fruit is also found in Hexi and is called Pinpo fruit. Li Ye recognized it at a glance. It was not an apple. ? Or little apple.

The fruit is small, but sweet and juicy. It is deeply loved by the soldiers. They eat mutton every day and rely on this pinpo fruit to relieve fatigue. Every soldier carries a bag of it.

At this time, two cavalrymen came galloping from a distance, dismounted, knelt down on one knee and reported, "Captain Qi, we have found the river!"

Li Ye was overjoyed. He had been looking for the big river along the way. If he found the big river, he would be able to find the tooth tent of the Xue tribe.

He immediately ordered the soldiers to make signs. On the grassland, just like the sea, it is easy to lose your way, so various signs are very important. They are actually road signs, usually made of high piles of stones or wood. Mongolian It's called Aobao.

The team walked west for more than a hundred miles, and a wide river suddenly appeared in front of them. It was this big river. Xue tribe always called it Yantuo River.

The team continued to go north along the Yantuo River. Just one day later, the Tang army discovered a small tribe with hundreds of tents. Every family had a sheepfold and raised flocks of sheep.

Li Ye unexpectedly discovered that the tribe was full of old and weak women and children, with no young and strong men in sight. Could it be that they knew he was coming and hid?

On second thought, Li Ye thought of the Jinshan tribe. The people hiding were young women, not men.

Although Li Ye was very murderous on the battlefield, it was just one of Li Ye's ideas, or principles. Kindness to the enemy was cruelty to one's own people. In the era of cold weapons, anyone who was soft-hearted towards the enemy , will bring disaster to themselves.

But Li Ye is by no means a murderous person. On the contrary, he is a modern man at heart, with modern concepts. He does not kill women and children, the elderly, or civilians.

The arrival of the Tang army filled the tribe with panic. Women and children screamed in terror, and everyone fled into the tent.

Not long after, soldiers of the Tang Army brought an old man. The old man on the grassland was actually only forty or fifty years old. This old man was about sixty years old, and he was already an extremely rare tribal elder.

Li Ye asked him directly in Tiele language: "Where have all the young men in your tribe gone?"

The old man was startled and quickly knelt down and said: "Report to the general, the chief sent people to recruit two days ago and summoned all the young and strong men in our tribe to the tent. They said that the Geluolu people were coming to seize our pasture. All young and strong men must defend their homes and pastures."

Li Ye narrowed his eyes and said, "Are you sure you are from Geluolu? Don't you mean Tang Jun?"

"They are from Geluolu. If we talk about the Tang Army, we may not necessarily go there. The Tang Army will not rob our pasture."

Li Ye nodded and asked again: "Where is the tooth tent?"

"Report to the general, you can see it if you walk three hundred miles along this river."

It’s still the same place as last year! Xue Bu's dental tent has not been moved, and Li Ye knows it.

He smiled slightly and said: "We have 20,000 sheep. Could you please ask your tribe to take care of them for us for a few days?"

"It's absolutely fine. We have a big sheepfold. Just put it in the big sheepfold."

Li Ye immediately ordered that only 2,000 sheep be brought as food for three days, and the remaining 18,000 sheep were temporarily stored in the tribe.

The team began to speed up and headed north. Three days later, the Tang Army's cavalry gradually approached Xue Bu's tent.

Li Ye immediately ordered the soldiers to rest where they were and eat a meal before the battle.

Li Ye knew very well that for decades, Xue Bu had been the younger brother of the Geluolu people. There was a huge gap in strength between the two sides. Xuebu had always obeyed the Geluolu people, and following the Geluolu people to invade Juyanhai was the best example.

If the Geluolu people want to annex the Xue tribe, the nobles of the Xue tribe will never dare to resist and can only kneel down and surrender, let alone gather young men to defend their homeland.

It was obviously an excuse. Chief Xue Feng's real purpose was to deal with the Tang army. It seemed that the Xue tribe was self-aware and knew that the Tang army would come and kill them.

Just as he was thinking about it, there was the sound of rapid horse hooves in the distance, and he saw several scouts running from a distance, waving red flags from a distance. Li Ye didn't understand why he was waving the red flag, but Ding Sheng understood, and his face changed. He changed and said urgently: "Captain, there is enemy situation in the north!"

Li Ye stood up and shouted: "The whole army packs up its armor and prepares to fight!"

The soldiers stood up from the ground and climbed onto their horses with spears in hand. At this time, three scouts had already rushed over. They clasped their fists and saluted on their horses and said: "Captain, we have discovered enemy cavalry fifty miles away, running southward." !”

"how many people?"

"About five to six thousand people!"

Several captains were a little worried. Even if there were 5,000 people, it would still be five times as many as themselves! I originally planned to defeat them one by one, but I didn't expect that the other party actually gathered together.

Colonel Zou Bo advised: "Captain, why don't we retreat south first, and after rejoining Governor Pei's main force, we can fight back in no time!"

Li Ye glanced at the crowd and asked sternly: "Everyone has sophisticated equipment, and everyone has been trained year after year, day after day, but facing a mob of thousands of herdsmen, some people are actually scared out of their wits." , are these still soldiers of the Heavenly Kingdom? Where has the bloodiness of the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty gone?"

Everyone lowered their heads in shame, and Li Ye said to everyone: "I once led eleven of my men in a bloody battle that was a hundred times more bloody than my Tongluo army. None of our eleven men flinched. I, Li Ye, will not force you. If you want to go back and join the main force, feel free to leave, I will never stop you!"

No one left, including Zou Bo who had retreated just now. He clasped his fists and said, "I know my mistakes because of my humble position. I am willing to follow the captain. Even if I die in battle, I will have no regrets!"

"good!"

Li Ye nodded and said to all the officers above the fire chief: "Although our military strength is not as good as the opponent's, there are many battles in history where we win with fewer people. All the winning battles have one thing in common, which is to shoot first. Horse, capture the thief first and capture the king first, so our strategy today is to form a fist and attack the opponent's central army directly. As long as the opponent's chief is defeated and flees, the opponent's entire army will collapse."

"The captain is right!"

An Taixuan, the captain of the school, said excitedly: "I have dealt with Hu soldiers on the grassland in humble positions. There are not many real professional soldiers. They are all concentrated around the chief. The others are improvised herdsmen. As long as we defeat the main force of the enemy, the herdsmen will not fight." Collapse!"

"Woo——"

At this moment, the sound of low-level horns came from the distance. Li Ye looked into the distance and saw a long black line appearing on the grassland in the distance.

Li Ye immediately ordered: "Send the order to the entire army to form a square formation!"

Nine hundred and fifty cavalry quickly formed a 30 x 33 cavalry phalanx, which was the most suitable phalanx for cavalry charges.

[Historically, this An Taixuan is no ordinary person]