Tibet

The soldiers brought a Han general of the Bohai Navy to Guo Ziyi, bowed and saluted, "Yang Yan, a humble officer, is the COFCO of the Bohai Navy. He came to contact the Tang army on the order of the commander-in-chief Ren Tianling. We are willing to surrender to the Tang army."

Guo Ziyi nodded, "Welcome the old Bohai Navy to return to the Tang Dynasty, but I will say some ugly things first. First, it is impossible for the Bohai Kingdom to recover, but the Tang Army will seek justice for the victims who were massacred in the Bohai Kingdom; secondly, After the soldiers of the Bohai Kingdom surrendered, they would become the Tang Army. As the war ended, the soldiers would gradually disband and return home to rebuild their homes; the senior generals in the army would go to the Chang'an Martial Arts Hall to further their studies and become ministers of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

Please tell General Ren that if you can accept the above three points, the Tang Army will accept the surrender of the Bohai Navy tomorrow morning. "

Yang Yan nodded, "I understand, I will go back and tell you immediately."

Guo Ziyi smiled faintly, "One last point, if you don't accept my three plans and are unwilling to surrender, then don't fight the Tang army in the end and go to the north! One of the main purposes of our Northern Expedition is to recover for the Bohai Kingdom It’s fair to say that if we start a fight with Bohai State’s army instead, we will make everyone in the world laugh at us!”

Yang Yan bowed deeply, said goodbye in a hurry and left.

Zhang Dian gave a thumbs up and praised: "The old general's last words are brilliant!"

Guo Ziyi smiled and said: "Actually, they have no choice. Give them a step up and at least preserve their meager dignity!"

Yang Yan rushed back to tell Ren Tianling and the generals about Guo Ziyi's request.

Ren Tianling sighed for a long time and said: "All the royal family have been killed, and it is no longer possible to talk about building the Bohai Kingdom. Everyone, let's be pragmatic!"

Everyone was excited and said: "As long as we can avenge our parents, wives and children who were killed, we are all willing to serve as ministers of the Tang Dynasty!"

The parents, wives and children of these generals were all in the capital, including Ren Tianling's two sons and two daughters. They all died under the sword of the Japanese army. If they had not been cut off from military rations, they would not have surrendered to the Khitan. At this time, there was hatred between the family and the country. With thoughts welling up in their hearts, everyone unanimously accepted Guo Ziyi's three conditions.

The next morning, on the vast grassland, two groups faced each other. Groups of Bohai troops came towards the Tang army. They put their armor and weapons on the grass in the middle and walked with bare hands. They were then led to another empty area by the Tang army's cavalry. On the ground, there were steamed broth and steamed buns. Each had a bowl of soup and two steamed buns. They all sat on the grass and ate.

Ren Tianling came forward with six generals, knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists and said: "Ren Tianling, the humble old general of Bohai State, led his men to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, and is willing to be the people of His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty!"

Guo Ziyi said quickly: "General Ren, please come up quickly. I believe that the Tang Dynasty will never let down its 60,000 soldiers!"

After accepting the surrender of 60,000 Bohai navy, the Tang army did not continue to go north. At this time, Guo Ziyi had received the news that the Khitan tribes had temporarily abandoned Songmo Mansion and moved to the north.

Guo Ziyi temporarily led his army back to Liucheng.

The Khitan can be placed at the end, waiting for the Tang army to pacify the Liaodong tribes, and then attack the Khitan finally.

He immediately divided his troops into four groups and ordered Nan Jiyun to lead an army of 30,000 people to conquer Silla. He also ordered Zhang Dian to lead an army of 50,000 people to go south to conquer the Xi tribe. Ma Lin led an army of 50,000 people to continue to defend Liucheng County, while Guo Ziyi led an army including Liuzhou. A hundred thousand troops, including Wan Bohai's navy, marched towards Bohai Kingdom in a mighty manner.

In mid-April, a large amount of medicine was delivered to Huichuan City.

Li Sheng ordered Qu Huan to lead 20,000 troops to guard Huichuan City to defend against the Tibetan army's attack on Huichuan City. Li Sheng personally led 40,000 troops to cross the Lu River and enter Yaozhou.

Yaozhou was the name of the Tang Dynasty. In the early Tianbao period, Yaozhou was changed to Yunnan County, and its administrative seat was Anning City, which is next to today's Kunming.

The pattern is very clear. The Tang Dynasty established Yunnan County, the area under the jurisdiction of the imperial court was in the Dianchi Lake area, and the Nanzhao tribe was in Dali. In the ninth year of Tianbao, Yunnan Governor Zhang Qiantuo intensified ethnic conflicts, forced Nanzhao to rebel, conquered Anning City, and killed Zhang Qiantuo. Qian Tuo.

Of course, people later blamed Zhang Qiantuo, thinking that he was greedy and lustful and forced the Nanzhao king Geluofeng to rebel.

In fact, history is not that simple. In the final analysis, it is still a struggle for interests. Nanzhao is becoming more and more powerful, the population is increasing, and the demand for salt is huge. However, the salt wells in Yunnan are controlled by the imperial court, which obtains profits through salt sales. The benefits were huge, but in Nanzhao's view, this was the imperial court's exploitation of them, and the conflicts between the two sides deepened day by day.

At this time, Tubo reached out and encouraged and supported Nanzhao from behind. It was also with the support of Tubo that Nanzhao Wang Geluofeng rebelled on the pretext that his wife and daughter had been humiliated.

Without the support of Tubo, how could a small southwestern tribe dare to confront the huge Tang Empire.

In the final analysis, the Nanzhao issue is still the struggle between Tang Dynasty and Tubo for the southwest region.

When the Tang army entered Nongdong Jiedufu, they were already close to the hinterland of Nanzhao. Nongdongjiedufu is today's Chuxiong area. The most important county is Yaocheng County, now called Nongdongcheng.

Nongdong Jiedufu is the east gate of Yangjumei City, the capital of Nanzhao, and was led by the army general Meng Chengjin.

Meng Chengjin was the brother of King Geluofeng of Nanzhao. He led an army of 10,000 to guard Nongdong City.

In fact, after the Tang army occupied Huichuan City, Nanzhao carried out strategic contraction. Of course, this was also Nanzhao's consistent tactic, and it had been tried and true. Once the Tang army went south, they concentrated all their troops near Yangjumei City. Then he used superior force to fight a decisive battle with the Tang army from afar, and at the same time asked Tibet to send troops to attack Huichuan City, cutting off the Tang army's logistics center and retreat route.

Finally, the hot and humid climate and difficult terrain were used to tire out the Tang army. Once the Tang army was in a state of disarray, low morale and exhausted, the Nanzhao army began a decisive battle with the Tang army.

Meng Chengjin also had another important task, which was to lure the enemy deep into the area and lead the main force of the Tang army into the Yangzhumie area, where the terrain was complex and heavy troops were gathered.

That afternoon, the Tang army arrived at Nongdong City. The weather here was indeed very hot and humid. Although it was only April, every soldier was sweating. Fortunately, every soldier had a hot and humid patch on his navel, and with timely hydration, his body could adapt to the climate here. Each soldier was also equipped with an wormwood bag to prevent mosquitoes, which was quite effective.

Nongdong City is Yao'an County in later generations. It is surrounded by mountains and ridges on all sides, with a vast plateau basin in the middle. The county seat is located on the bank of a river, and the county seat is surrounded by endless rice fields.

Forty thousand troops and thirty thousand camels were stationed in an open space.

Li Sheng looked at Nongdong City from afar. It was exactly a county town in the Central Plains, but a little old.

The official road passed through the city, and the county town had to be captured before continuing to go west.

The top of the city was full of defenders. According to the news from the scouts, there were about 10,000 defenders in the county town.

"Order, the whole army rests in place, and the city will be attacked at night!"

The Tang army now has five large catapults, but they need to be assembled temporarily.

Soldiers fetched water to boil water, buried pots to cook, and camels also lay on the ground to rest, chewing juicy leaves in their mouths.

On the top of the city, Meng Chengjin watched the Tang army several miles away. He was very alert in his heart. His nephew Cou Luodong had already escaped from Huichuan Prefecture and brought back some important information from the Tang army.

The Tang army was good at fire attacks. Huichuan Prefecture was burned by countless rockets of the Tang army, which made Meng Chengjin terrified. He first asked all the people in the city to evacuate, and all kinds of supplies were also evacuated.

Once the Tang army started a fire attack, his army had to evacuate quickly.

"General, according to the spies, the enemy did not carry siege weapons!" A subordinate reported.

Meng Chengjin nodded, that's right, the enemy must have used fire attack.

He immediately said to the deputy general Yang Maosheng: "You can lead 8,000 troops to retreat first, and I will lead 2,000 troops to retreat last!"

Yang Maosheng hurriedly said: "The general will retreat first, and I will lead 1,000 people to defend the city!"

Meng Chengjin was just talking. He was the main general and a royal family, so of course he should go first.

He then reminded: "Our mission is to lure the enemy deep into the city. Don't be brave or delay. Once the Tang army shoots rockets, retreat immediately!"

"I understand!"

Meng Chengjin immediately led 9,000 troops to evacuate quickly.

Soon, Li Sheng received the news from the scouts that the main force of the enemy retreated. He sneered and said to the general Han Qiu: "Arrange the brothers to shoot an arrow into the city and order the troops in the city to retreat before dark, otherwise no one will survive!"