Tibet

The Tang Dynasty did not build the Great Wall to defend the nomadic grassland troops like the Sui Dynasty. Instead, it built a defense system in the Hetao area with three surrendered cities as nodes. Including Shuofang Jiedu Mansion, a total of about 100,000 troops were invested.

At this time, the three surrendered cities were no longer guarded by the Tang army, and all the forts and beacons were abandoned. The Tang army no longer existed in the Hetao area. The Tubo army and the Uighur army took the opportunity to fill the sphere of influence that the Tang army had given up. The Uighur tribe appeared in Fengzhou, and a small number of Uighur troops were also stationed in Fengzhou.

The Tubo army occupied Lingzhou. At this point, the Tang Dynasty almost completely gave up on the entire north of the Great Wall.

However, even if the Tang Dynasty gave up, Uighur and Tubo had only just intervened. The intervention was not deep and far from the point of real rule. That's why Li Ye was able to easily recapture Shuofang. He then sent Yingshilang General Tian Wanli to lead 2,000 cavalry. Go north and recapture Fengzhou and Xishoujiang City.

Fengzhou is the topmost cross-section of the Yellow River, located to the west of the top cross-section. The Yellow River divides into upper and lower parts here. After flowing for hundreds of miles, they merge into one, forming a rope-like area. , this is the origin of the Hetao, that is, Fengzhou.

Like Lingzhou, Fengzhou was also initially occupied by the Uighurs. Two tribes migrated to occupy the east and west areas with rich water and grass. Tang Dynasty officials in Jiuyuan County, Yongfeng County, Feng'an County and Xishoujiang City have been driven away , replaced by Uighur officials, the Tang people in the city did not have to move, but they had to change their allegiance to the Uighur Khan and pay taxes to the Uighurs.

That afternoon, Tian Wanli led two thousand cavalrymen, led by a guide, to swim from a shallow river across the Lower Yellow River and into Fengzhou.

Of course, Li Ye had his own strategy, and would not foolishly confront the Uighur army. He used the method of recovering the land of the Tang Dynasty to drive the Uighur forces out of Fengzhou and Xihou Jiangcheng. He beat the younger ones, which naturally attracted the old ones. of.

It seems that Li Ye is regaining his homeland, which is a matter of course, but in fact, he is trying to attack Huihe in a planned and step-by-step manner. Conflicts will gradually escalate, and large-scale conflicts will soon break out. In this way, Li Ye sends troops to fight. Then the name can be justified,

As soon as the team crossed the Yellow River, several Tang Army scouts and cavalry rushed towards the opposite side. These were Tang Army scouts who had come earlier and had been waiting for them here.

Tian Wanli ordered the army to rest on the spot and let the horses drink water and eat grass. He and several generals listened to the report of the leading scout.

"Currently, there are about a thousand Uighur troops in Fengzhou, and all the troops are stationed in Jiuyuan County. There is no army in this area, but there is a Uighur tribe in this area, with about 700 dome tents, just thirty miles to the north. There is also a county called Yongfeng County, seventy miles away in the northeast. People of all ethnic groups live together in the county, with Han Chinese accounting for about 40%. The former county magistrate was a Han but was driven away. The current county magistrate is a Uighur. .”

Tian Wanli asked carefully about food supplies and other issues, as well as possible troubles on the terrain, and received answers one by one. He thought for a moment and decided not to alarm the snake for the time being. He would first knock out Jiuyuan County, and then turn around and kill Xishou Jiangcheng. , these herdsmen and officials would run away on their own without him expelling them.

Tian Wanli ordered the scouts to lead the way and ran all the way towards Jiuyuan County.

Jiuyuan County is located in the middle of Fengzhou. Although it is the seat of the state capital, it can only be regarded as a middle county. The county has a circumference of about 20 miles and a population of only more than 10,000. People of various ethnic groups live together, with Han people accounting for about half. Basically, they are all family members of the army, but the army has been deployed to fight, and life or death is uncertain. Only the family members remain in the county, relying on farming to survive, and have nowhere to go.

The Uighur defender in Jiuyuan County obviously did not expect that the Tang army would come back. He only knew that there was civil strife in the Tang Dynasty. Lingzhou in the south was occupied by Tibet, and Fengzhou, which was so far away, must have given up.

At night, there were not many guards on the city. Only a few fires were burning on the city. Those were the soldiers who were on duty at night gathering to barbecue and drink.

There are dozens of Tang army scouts near Jiuyuan City, and their leader is the captain Li Xiaoguo. They were scouting for intelligence in Shuofang and are now sent to Fengzhou.

After everyone deliberated for a while, Li Xiaoguo volunteered to seize the east city gate. He had been here for more than ten days, knew Jiuyuan City well, and was already eager to try.

At two o'clock in the night, the hustle and bustle on the city had stopped. The fire was still burning, but it was much smaller. The Uighur Army soldiers were very experienced. They would keep the fire burning until dawn so that they could keep warm at night. People were lying around the fire. The soldiers were full of drunken soldiers. After eating and drinking, they lay drunkenly next to the fire and fell asleep.

Fifty Tang Dynasty scouts, led by Li Xiaoguo, rushed to the east city wall. The city wall was only two feet and six feet high. It was an earth wall, but it was tamped relatively firmly.

Li Xiaoguo threw a long rope to the top of the city, and the noose happened to be put on the battlements. He bit the sword in his mouth, jumped up slightly, and quickly climbed to the top of the city. These are the basic skills of a scout, three times He climbed to the top of the city in two steps.

Li Xiaoguo took the sword from his mouth and looked to both sides. He turned back and waved down. The soldier threw a rope ladder to him. He grabbed it and hung the rope ladder on the top of the city. Then he jumped up to the top of the city. He rolled forward and reached the other side of the city.

It was very quiet on the top of the city. The Uighur soldiers on night duty were mainly concentrated in the North City and the West City. There was not a single person in the East City.

Soon, fifty of his soldiers climbed up the rope ladder to the top of the city and squatted in a long row on the ground.

Li Xiaoguo waved his hand to everyone, and he led fifty people and ran towards the city tower. There was a fire on the other side of the city tower. Ten Uighur soldiers were lying drunk on the ground. The ground was in a mess, with wine jars, wine bags, and unfinished wine. of mutton and an unquenched fire.

Everyone took action together, tied up the hands and feet of ten Uighur soldiers, gagged their mouths, and took away their weapons. This was Li Ye's decision. At first, he was to be polite before fighting, try not to kill anyone, and drove all the Uighur soldiers out of the country.

Of course, this does not mean that killing is absolutely prohibited, but that in principle no killing is allowed. If the Uighur soldiers rise up to resist, they will be killed without mercy.

Soon, the Uighur soldiers all woke up and screamed, but unfortunately they couldn't move.

The city gate slowly opened, and two thousand cavalry rushed into Jiuyuan City like a tide, heading straight towards the Huihe Army camp inside the city.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Alarm bells rang loudly in the city, and a Uighur sentry spotted the Tang Army cavalry rushing into the city, but it was too late.

The cavalry of the Tang Army rushed into the Uighur camp and killed nearly a hundred Uighur soldiers who struggled to resist. The other soldiers raised their hands and surrendered.

Ten days of continuous cleanup began in Fengzhou, involving more than 8,000 people, including disarmed Uighur soldiers, Uighur officials, and Uighur herdsmen, bringing their sheep, tents, and carts, as well as the elderly and children.

They were all driven to the north by the cavalry of the Tang Army. The Tang Army did not kill them. After leaving Xihou for a hundred miles, they released them all and expelled them.