Tibet

Chiling is today's Riyue Mountain to the east of Qinghai Lake. For a long time, Chiling has been the dividing line between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. However, in the thirteenth year of Tianbao, the Tang army defeated Tubo in succession, and the border counties between the two countries continued to It moved hundreds of miles south, including the West Sea, Dafeichuan and Jiuqu areas of the Yellow River, and became the territory of the Tang Dynasty, all the way south to the Chaka Salt Lake.

There is a gap several miles wide in the middle of Chiling, which is the natural passage for the Tibetan army to enter Hehuang. It has an extremely important strategic position. There are two natural platforms on the high mountains to the east, and the Tang army built them with big rocks on the platforms. The two military cities are the famous Shibao City and Dingrong City.

These two military cities guarded the Chiling Passage and could cut off the logistics supply lines of the Tang Army or the Tibetan Army at any time. Therefore, Shibao City has always been a strategic location that the Tang and Tibetan armies competed for, and it changed hands several times.

Li Ye's army arrived at Chiling. Looking at the two castles on the mountain, Li Ye ordered people to find the logistics general Gao Xiuyan.

"This is a humble post, Your Highness!"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said, "How does it feel to visit your old place again?"

Gao Xiuyan smiled bitterly and said: "Things have changed and people have changed. I am filled with emotions!"

Li Ye pointed at Shibao City and said: "In the eighth year of Tianbao, you led the army to capture Shibao City. What experience do you have?"

Gao Xiuyan shook his head and said, "Reporting to your highness, that was the most brutal and bloody battle in my humble life. The Tang army lost more than 15,000 people. We captured the castle city with the bones of the fallen soldiers on our heads, but there were only more than a hundred Tubos on the mountain." Soldier, it’s so heartbreaking.”

Li Ye nodded, "I asked craftsmen who are familiar with Stone Castle to make a model, and I asked General Gao to give me some advice."

"I don't dare take it! I'm in a humble position, so I can give you some suggestions for your Highness's reference."

The group of people came to the big tent. There was a large model on the table in the middle of the tent. It was carved by craftsmen from a huge stone. The mountain shape, mountain road, platform and castle were exactly the same as those of the two stone castles.

Gao Xiuyan looked at it for a moment and said: "Shibao City is the name of Tubo, and our names are Zhenwei Army and Dingrong City, but in actual combat, we all call them Big and Small Shibao City. The attack on Shibao City is divided into three stages. The first section is called Mopan Valley. Three miles from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside, this section is a spiral climb, just like pushing through a millstone, so it is called Mopan Valley.

After going up, there is a flat road for about a hundred steps. The Tubo army will definitely set up the first defensive point here. Mopan Valley is the best to attack. Of course, it is only easier to attack than the later sections, but it is not easy at all.

The second section is called Tongtian Road. This is the most difficult place and the place with the heaviest casualties. More than 7,000 people died on the 300-step-high Tongtian Road. "

"Why?"

"Because this is a section of cliff, the rock is steep and straight, and there is no road at all. We dug some stone pits on the cliff and climbed up the rope ladder. But Tubo cut the rope ladder, so we could only drive piles section by section. But dozens of Tibetans hid on the side of the cliff and used ropes to sling rocks with great precision. The Tang soldiers who were climbing on the rocks were knocked down one by one and fell to pieces. We don't know the reason, because everyone who climbed up died. No one survived.

After thousands of people died, we learned that the Tibetan soldiers were ambushing us and attacking us with stones. We specially made 300 sets of armor made of rattan for the city. We were not afraid of the stones. Although we could withstand the stones, it was still useless. Dozens of Tibetan soldiers used their long armors to With spears poking at the top of the mountain, the soldiers had no chance to drill holes in the rocks. "

"How did you capture it later?" Li Baozhen couldn't help but ask.

"We found more than 20 soldiers with strong martial arts skills and shot them with flying knives. We shot and killed more than 30 Tibetan soldiers, but there were only two soldiers with strong martial arts skills left. Perhaps the Tubo army thought that we had many such soldiers. The soldiers thought that their casualties were too high and uneconomical, so we withdrew all the soldiers from Tongtian Road. Then we occupied Tongtian Rock, made rope ladders and lowered them down, and asked the soldiers to climb the rope ladders up the cliff, a cliff three hundred steps high. You cannot look down the cliff, many soldiers were so frightened that they fell off the cliff."

"Can't we use crossbow arrows?"

Lei Wanchun asked: "For example, a hand crossbow can shoot arrows with one hand."

Gao Xiuyan shook his head, "After shooting an arrow with the hand crossbow, I still have to pull the string and load the arrow, but I only have one hand free, so I can't do it, so I can only use a flying knife."

Li Ye asked again: "There is only the Way to Heaven, is there no other way?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, the same goes for other roads. At least there are ready-made stone holes on the Tongtian Road. If you drive the wooden stakes in, you can hang up the rope ladder. The first two hundred steps are safer, but the last hundred steps are impossible to avoid Tubo. The soldiers stoned.”

Li Ye thought for a long time and said, "Maybe I have a way!"

At nightfall, three hundred soldiers with high martial arts skills were ready. At the forefront was the Tiger General Yu Changyang, known as the "Desperate Saburo". He held a shield and a short spear, and carried a crossbow on his back. His task was to lead the three hundred soldiers. Capture Mopan Valley.

Li Ye fully learned the profound lessons of Ge Shuhan's capture of Shibao City, and no longer used the human sea tactic. Instead, he learned the Tibetan army's tactics of capturing Shibao City and used elite soldier mode.

When Ge Shuhan used the human sea tactic, the Tang army suffered extremely heavy casualties. Five to six thousand people were killed or injured in the attack on Mopangu alone. However, Li Ye believed that most of the soldiers died meaninglessly.

Of course, this does not rule out Ge Shuhan's scheming to seize Stone Castle City at a heavy price to show his great achievements. Many times, the task is too easy to complete and is not taken seriously by the superiors. Only by winning in a fierce battle can we achieve the greatest success. The commander's aura is displayed above.

Especially for an emperor like Li Longji who loves great achievements, winning in tragedy is his favorite way.

In fact, it was precisely because of the tragic victory in capturing Shibao City that Emperor Li Longji awarded Ge Shuhan many awards, and Ge Shuhan's status was thus established.

It's a problem just thinking about it. Tens of thousands of people were crowded on the Mopan Valley mountain road. If a huge boulder fell down, it would be surprising if dozens or hundreds of people were not killed.

The best way is for the opponent to defend the mountain with dozens of people, then you also send more than a hundred troops. This is the real strategy for attacking the mountain. The number of people should be equal to or slightly more than the opponent's.

The Tubo army used this strategy of elite troops to capture Shibao City twice, with only a few hundred casualties. They were not as tragic as the Tang army.

Yu Changyang waved his hand, and three hundred soldiers followed him, clinging to the inner wall and running towards the mountain.

The biggest advantage of staying close to the inside is that they are not afraid of rolling logs and boulders. If the opponent uses arrows, they use shields to block them and shoot back with crossbow arrows.

When they were still half a mile away from the top of the mountain, the Tibetan soldiers discovered them and immediately sounded the alarm bell, "Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!" The alarm sounded loudly on the mountain.

Pieces of rolling logs and rocks rolled down the mountain path. The soldiers clung to the inner wall as rolling logs and rocks whizzed past them.

In the first round, hundreds of rolling logs and rocks were thrown down. The hillside was steep and at an angle of nearly 80 degrees. The momentum of the boulders and rolling logs was very strong.

If thousands of people attack Mopan Valley, this round of rolling wood and stones will kill and injure at least hundreds or even thousands of people.

It is a pity that the Tubo army faced the extremely experienced Helong Tang army. They clung to the stone wall, and huge rocks and rolling logs could not hurt them at all.

Taking advantage of the short gap, the three hundred Tang Army soldiers continued to run upwards, running for more than a hundred steps. After passing the last corner, a loud noise suddenly came from the front. The soldiers immediately clung to the stone wall and protected their bodies with shields.

This was the second wave of rolling logs and rocks, and more than 300 huge rocks and rolling logs came down, rolling violently and volleying towards Tang Jun's head.