Tibet

After a moment, Yang Li came running with a team of scouts, dismounted, knelt down on one knee and reported, "Report to the Commander-in-Chief, the enemy is ambushing Hu Liuze forty miles ahead, with about nine thousand people!"

Li Ye nodded and asked, "How many war horses does the opponent have?"

"They are all infantry. I only saw a few dozen horses. They should be ridden by the generals."

As he expected, the cavalry's horses were easily exposed, allowing the enemy to use infantry to ambush them.

"Does the other party have a logistics fleet?"

"There is no logistics. I saw them carrying dry food bags and water bottles, and there were not many of them. They were traveling lightly."

Li Ye basically expected it, and he asked again: "Have you met Governor Li?"

"We met in the humble position. They should arrive in Dunhuang County before dawn. Governor Li said that he is going to send people to sneak into the city from the underground river and cooperate with both inside and outside to seize Dunhuang City."

Li Ye smiled and said: "Judging from the time, they should have captured Dunhuang County by now. I wonder if the Tibetan army has discovered it?"

"On the way here, I also found a group of Tibetan spies. They should be here to investigate our main army."

Li Ye smiled lightly and said, "Then don't let them down!"

He immediately shouted: "Send the order for the whole army to set off!"

The main force of the Tang Army set off again and marched towards Dunhuang County in a mighty manner.

In the afternoon, the Tang army was still twenty miles away from Hu Liuze, and the army stopped moving again.

At this time, Lun Xipo had already learned that the Tang army had captured Dunhuang County, which made him shocked, angry, and a little at a loss. He vaguely realized that he had been fooled.

The main force of the Tang army lured itself out, but sent another army to detour and attack Dunhuang City. This was a typical plan to draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron.

The grain, grass, materials, copper and iron tools they had hoarded in the city were all obtained by the Tang army. They themselves had nothing, not even thousands of war horses in the city.

'what to do? Fight or retreat? ’ Lun Xi quite didn’t know what to do for a while.

If he retreats, the commander will definitely kill him if he can't spare him. If he fights with the Tang army, he might be able to defeat the Tang army.

Lun Xipo always had illusions about the Tang army's general. He always felt that the opponent was a young royal family and must have no experience. He was not familiar with the army. In a fierce battle, his nine thousand troops could defeat the sixteen or seven thousand Tang troops.

If the Tang army can be completely defeated, it doesn't matter whether Dunhuang County is needed or not. He can directly enter Beiting.

Thinking of this, Lunxi gritted his teeth and waited patiently.

After waiting for most of a day, the spies he sent out also came back and reported to him that the main force of the Tang army was already twenty miles away, but had stopped advancing. Lun Xipo immediately realized that the other party had probably discovered an ambush.

Now that they are here, the Tang Army cannot run away. He shouted: "The opportunity to annihilate the Tang Army is just ahead. Brothers, follow me and fight up."

"Woo——"

The deep trumpet of the Tubo army sounded, and nine thousand Tubo troops rushed down the hill, following Lun Xi's mighty force and killing twenty miles to the north.

Unexpectedly, they fought twenty miles away, but the Tang army disappeared. Soon a spy came to report, and the Tang army withdrew to the north twenty miles away.

Lun Xi was a little hesitant. At this time, Lieutenant General Zha Derenci stepped forward and reminded: "General, our dry food may not last long!"

Lun Xi Po suddenly remembered something and suddenly broke into a cold sweat. They only carried two days of dry food. The ambush site was very close to Dunhuang County and could be replenished at any time. There was no need for them to bring too much food.

Now that Dunhuang County has been lost, the food supplies are gone. They only have one day of dry food left. Where can they go to resupply?

They looted all the food and livestock outside Dunhuang City. In order to strengthen the walls and clear the country, they also drove all the surrounding people and monks into the city.

Now they have trapped themselves in a cocoon, leaving themselves alone and clearing the wilderness. It will take at least fifteen days to walk from Dunhuang County to their logistics supply point, and they have already starved to death halfway.

Lun Xi quite realized the seriousness of the problem, and immediately summoned all the generals and said to them: "Now we have only one way, to fight the Tang army desperately. If we don't fight hard, we will all starve to death!"

All the generals shouted together: "If you want to die, die on the battlefield. I would rather die in battle than starve to death!"

The army cheered up again and chased the Tang army twenty miles away.

But Li Ye's strategy was to cut off their logistics and put them in a situation where they were running out of ammunition and food. How could they possibly fight with them.

They continued to retreat, and the Tubo army chased them desperately, but still failed to catch up with the Tang army. When it was dark, the Tubo army chased them for sixty miles in one breath and reached Liuyuan Town. The Tang army was still twenty miles away.

Liuyuan Town is the junction of Guazhou and Shazhou. It is a small town with only about thirty households. It is surrounded by barren beaches and deserts, with rolling mountains in the distance. The name is Liuyuan. In fact, there is no grass and no water. It was very precious, and we had to drive a carriage to transport water more than ten miles to the west.

But the location here is very important. A hundred miles to the west is Xingxing Gorge, and to the east is Jiuquan. It happens to be the intersection of the east-west and north-south official roads, and it is also the only way for caravans from the Western Regions to pass.

So there is Liuyuan Town, where dozens of families make a living by working as caravans.

Hundreds of Tibetan soldiers, hungry and thirsty, rushed into Liuyuan Town, but they found nothing, no one, not a grain of food, not even a drop of water.

Lun Xi was helpless, so he ordered the demolition of civilian houses and obtained some wood. He used the wood to light bonfires. He also ordered dozens of the generals' horses to be killed. He gave each soldier a sip of the horse's blood to moisten his throat and began to grill the horses. Meat satiates hunger.

Lun Xipo sat in front of the bonfire with a dull gaze, feeling extremely bitter in his heart. He had completely understood that he had been fooled. The other general was not an inexperienced bird at all.

On the contrary, the other party was a cunning bastard who set up a trap and used his spies to deliver false information to trick him out. As a result, he sent people to sneak attack Dunhuang, and now he doesn't fight himself at all.

what to do? Do you really want your entire army to be destroyed in Shazhou? He was simply despairing.

At this time, the deputy general Zaderenci held a map in his hand and stepped forward and said: "General, after looking at the map, I have an idea, and maybe there is a glimmer of hope."

Lun Xipo seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and said quickly: "Speak quickly!"

"General, we don't want to chase the Tang army, otherwise we will only be led by their noses. One hundred and eighty miles from here to the north is Daze. Over there is the pasture. First of all, there is water, and there are probably many herdsmen. We Once we can get the sheep and solve the problem of food and water, we will ignore the Tang army and turn around directly to Beiting. At that time, they will take the initiative to come to us for a decisive battle."

This is really a way to give Lun Xipo a glimmer of hope.

After the entire army had finished eating the horse meat, he immediately led the army to continue marching north.

Li Ye led the army twenty miles east of them, and the soldiers were also resting. They had enough dry food, water and horse feed, enough to last four or five days without any problem.

What's more, the Beiting Army all travels on horseback, not necessarily cavalry, but they all use horses instead of horses.

Those who are good at fighting have no outstanding achievements. Li Ye does not want to fight the enemy at all, hoping that they will fall on their own.

At this time, he received the scout information and the Tibetan army set off again, but not in their direction, but headed north.

This made Li Ye stunned. There was more than a hundred miles of desert to the north, and there were mountains blocking it. What did they want to do?

Liu Yong, the soldier and horse envoy, laughed and said: "I guess they want to go to Daze, thinking that there may be water and herdsmen there, but they are definitely not familiar with the terrain and have never been here. They think things are too simple. They I didn’t know that you have to cross the desert to go to Daze, and it’s autumn, which is the season when sandstorms occur frequently.”

Li Ye thought of the sandstorm he encountered when he crossed Shazhou to Anxi. The terrifying feeling, as if the end was coming, still left him with lingering fear.

He smiled and said: "Actually, they are not smart enough. Since there is a small town here, there must be a water source nearby. They sent troops to search everywhere, and they will definitely be able to find the water source. They actually went to Daze instead of the nearest, and the general's head was kicked by a donkey. .”

The generals laughed, and one general laughed and said: "A donkey was also eaten. It must be because there is no water to drink, and the brain is burned out!"

Li Ye stood up and said with a smile: "Call the whole army to get up and prepare to set off. We will wait for them at the edge of the desert. If they don't come out in two days, we will withdraw our troops and return to Jinchang County."