Tibet

The Tang army continued to march south, passed through the Dora Valley Road, and entered the backside of the Snowy Mountains. This area is the intersection of the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Karakoram Mountains. There are many mountains and canyons, and large and small rivers, most of which are fast-flowing. , it is easy for flash floods to occur, and the tops of the mountains are all covered with white snow.

The weather is getting colder day by day, thin snowflakes are floating in the sky, and Feng Changqing's face is getting gloomier. They are making plans based on last year's weather. Will it get colder earlier this year than last year?

On the ninth day after capturing the Golden Fort, the Tang army arrived at the Yasin Valley, which was also a strategic location and already belonged to the boundary of the Yushi Kingdom. After passing through this valley, the army arrived at Shangmi City, the royal city of the Yushi Kingdom.

The valley is a sloping terrain, and the topographic differences caused the river water to form large and small waterfalls in the valley. There is a path next to it where war horses and camels can walk, but the Tibetan army built fortifications above the path, forming a natural pass.

The hillside is about ten feet high, but there are soft mudslides at the feet. It is probably that a flash flood occurred and the road was washed away.

Li Ye looked at it for a while and then proposed a plan to Feng Changqing, "Chang Shi, I see that the surrounding trees are lush and there are many straight firs. We can cut down fir or pine trees to make plank roads and pave a road."

"But there are Tibetans above. They will shoot down arrows and roll down logs and rocks. How can we resist?"

Li Ye thought for a while and said: "There are two options. The first is to make a large shuttle-shaped shield with a sharp top. Even if a rolling log or stone hits it, it will knock down the side and disperse the force. The soldiers can We built a plank road under the protection of the enemy, and then we used bows and crossbows to suppress the Tibetan army. At most, only a small number of rolling logs and stones fell, and the impact was not big."

Bijiang Duan Xiushi said: "It is better to lay the big tree directly on the slope without removing the branches, and the soldiers can climb up the big tree."

Li Ye shook his head, "The branches are flammable and will definitely be attacked by fire from the Tibetan soldiers. Or instead of using a large fusiform shield, just lay the trunk with the branches removed and fix it with wooden stakes on both sides. The elite soldiers will climb up with the large shield in hand." "

Li Siye smiled and said: "Chang Shi, Supervisor Li's plan is practical and feasible, just like the wooden rafts we used to conquer Lianyun Fort. It is recommended to adopt it. I will send heavy armored infantry into battle!"

Feng Changqing nodded and immediately ordered the soldiers to cut down the wood. Soon, the soldiers cut down hundreds of fir and pine trees, simply nailed them together with large nails, and tied them with leather ropes to make more than a dozen super large rafts. , as long as you use two rafts to climb to the top.

Feng Changqing ordered brothers Li Fei Yuanli and Li Fei Shouyu to each lead a thousand crossbowmen to prepare to suppress the Tibetan army on the top of the mountain.

At this time, Ding Sheng came to Li Siye and said: "General, leave this battle to your subordinates and brothers!"

Li Siye nodded, "I'll leave it to your third battalion!"

"Fire the arrow!" Feng Changqing ordered sternly.

Two thousand soldiers fired arrows at the top of the hillside together. The arrows were like a rain of powerful arrows. The Tibetan soldiers on the top of the mountain were caught off guard, and dozens of them were shot down.

The commander-in-chief, Lunpo Ruoxi, was so anxious that he shouted: "Get down, everyone, get down!"

The remaining seventy or so Tibetan soldiers lay down one after another. With the cover of bows and arrows, the Tang army soldiers rushed up carrying huge rafts and spread them on the hillside. Each raft was seven or eight feet long and was made of fir trees that were thousands of years old. , only two wooden rafts can be laid on the top of the slope.

The raft has lots of logs nailed to it for stepping on, like a ladder.

Ding Sheng shouted, "Follow me!"

He led thirty heavily armored Mo Dao soldiers to climb up the raft to the top of the mountain. Ding Sheng and each soldier held a sharp shield in one hand and a Mo Dao in the other. This kind of sharp shield is also called a bamboo shield, which is similar to Li Ye's original plan. , not a flat shield, but a triangular shield tilted at sixty degrees like a roof, which can break up the power of boulders.

Li Ye felt a little worried and urged his horse forward, holding a bow and arrow in hand and watching the movement on the mountain.

The lying Tibetan soldiers pushed down dozens of large rocks and rolling logs with all their strength, and all the soldiers screamed in surprise.

Ding Sheng saw clearly and shouted: "Squat down!"

Thirty soldiers squatted down together, and boulders weighing dozens of kilograms rolled and fell. Several boulders hit the shield, and the shield was cracked, but Ding Sheng gritted his teeth and resisted.

The soldiers lined up in a long line. If Ding Sheng resisted, the soldiers behind him would not be hit. In fact, Ding Sheng used his body to protect his men.

At this time, Li Ye shouted: "Old Hei, go to the far left!"

There is no big boulder on the top of the far left. The Tibetan soldiers must get up to move the big boulder, so that they can be annihilated with arrows.

Ding Sheng felt that his arm was about to break. He changed his shield and turned around and shouted: "Follow me!"

The soldiers followed him and moved to the left. There was no big boulder above their heads. At this time, logs rolled towards their heads one after another. It was much easier to deal with the logs. The logs had patterns. Seize the rules of the logs and use your shield to pick them skillfully. With four ounces of force, the wooden log rolled over the shield and fell into the water next to it.

Dozens of rolling logs failed to play any role, and the Tang army climbed another five or six feet. At this time, a Tibetan soldier couldn't bear it anymore. He stood up, picked up a big stone, walked a few steps quickly, and prepared to throw it at the head of the Tang army soldier.

Li Ye was waiting for this opportunity and shot out an arrow, like lightning, 'Poof! ’ An arrow hit his forehead, and the Tubo soldier screamed and fell down the hillside with the man and the stone.

"Good archery skills!" Bai Xiaode gave a thumbs up and praised.

He simply took off his bow and arrow, spurred his horse to gallop, stretched his bow and nocked an arrow and shot up the mountain. A Tibetan soldier happened to poke his head around and said, 'Poof! ’ The same arrow hit the opponent’s forehead, the arrow penetrated the head, and he died instantly.

Li Ye also gave a thumbs up. He had heard for a long time that Bai Xiaode was one of the two great arrows in Anxi, and his reputation was well-deserved. The other one was Li Fei Shouyu.

Feng Changqing had no time to pay attention to the sympathy between the two of them. He immediately ordered: "Get on the second raft!"

Dozens of soldiers carried the second raft and ran towards the hillside. Suddenly, dozens of boulders were pushed down from the hillside and hit the raft heavily. The soldiers could not hold on and fell one after another and rolled down the mountain.

The second raft could not be sent up. At this moment, Ding Sheng threw away his shield, roared, jumped up, and ran towards the hillside with Mo Dao in hand.

Seeing that his body was shaking and about to fall, Ding Sheng inserted the Mo knife into the soil to support and stabilize his body. He roared again, ran hard for a few steps, rushed up the hillside, and swung the knife to kill the Tibetan soldiers.

The thirty men behind were greatly encouraged, and they also threw away their shields and climbed up bravely. One by one, they rushed up the hillside and fought with the Tibetan soldiers.

Thousands of Tang troops applauded, and Li Ye shook his head secretly. He was energetic, but not smart enough. The top of the shield was pointed. You could stick the shield into the soil and step on it to get up. Why throw away the shield?

However, going up by force is a bit clumsy, but more contagious, and it can also be regarded as a way to boost morale.

Li Siye shouted, "Follow me!"

They led more than a hundred heavily armored Mo-swordsmen, holding Mo-swords in hand, and rushed up the hillside with rafts on their shoulders. They boarded the second raft and hundreds of soldiers followed him and rushed up the hillside.

The hillside was littered with the corpses of Tibetan soldiers. After two rounds of fierce fighting between the general Lunpo Ruoxi and Ding Sheng, Ding Sheng cut them in two with a sword across the waist.

There were less than forty Tibetan soldiers left, and they were fighting fiercely with thirty heavy-armored Mo-swordsmen. As hundreds of heavily-armored Mo-swordsmen fought their way up the hillside, the last Tibetan soldiers were cut into pieces and killed by random blades. The Tang army It only took half a day to conquer this dangerous pass.

The army passed through the Yasin Valley, and an alpine pasture surrounded by mountains suddenly appeared in front of them. The pasture was very large, at least more than ten square kilometers, with gentle upward mountains and rich pasture. A city was built on the top of the mountain. Going up the chiseled road, various stone houses and buildings blend into the mountain. Below is a tall arc-shaped city wall that envelops the entire mountain city, just like a half moon.

This is Shangmi City, the royal city of Yushi Kingdom.

Historically, it was February, not autumn, of the ninth year of Tianbao when Feng Changqing led the Tang army to attack the Kingdom of Xu Shi. Lao Gao needed to revise the plot.