Tibet

Just after dark, tens of thousands of Tang troops approached the city. At this time, Li Sheng received news that about a thousand troops in the city had opened the west gate to retreat, and the city was now an empty city.

Not long after, several scouts opened the east gate, and Li Sheng immediately ordered two thousand soldiers to enter the city for a thorough search to prevent the enemy from hiding sulfur and other igniters in the city.

Soon, a soldier came back to report that no igniters were found in the city and everything was normal.

Only then did Li Sheng order the entire army to enter the city.

The county town was full of Nanzhao houses, with bamboo and wood overhead structures. A small river ran through the city and was divided into several tributaries in the city. All the houses were built by the water, which was quite clean.

Li Sheng certainly had his plan. He had never thought of burning Yaocheng County. He wanted to seize Yaocheng County and give his army a place to rest and reorganize.

In a humid and hot place like Nanzhao, it is not enough to have medicinal materials alone. It is also necessary to give soldiers enough rest and keep them physically fit. This is the best way to adapt to the climate. In particular, the Yaocheng area is a rare plateau basin in Nanzhao. This area is hundreds of miles in radius and is full of fertile fields. It has always been called the granary of Nanzhao.

The Tang army occupied the Nanzhao granary and cut off the connection between Nanzhao and Kunzhou in the east. In two months, the grain will be ripe. At that time, it will not be themselves who will be anxious, but Nanzhao.

This is the difference between the third war between the Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao, and it is also the brilliance of the main general Li Sheng. He changed the previous Tang army's eagerness to fight a quick battle, but instead conquered a grain-producing area in Nanzhao to recuperate and prepare for a long-term battle.

If he left 10,000 troops and stationed them in Yaocheng for a long time, Nanzhao would collapse without a fight and surrender to the Tang Dynasty in less than a year.

Li Sheng ordered the whole army to rest in the city. The soldiers cheered. They lived in a clean and comfortable bamboo house with good ventilation and coolness. After lighting wormwood mosquito coils in the upwind direction, there was no mosquito harassment all night. They slept very sweetly all night and woke up in the morning full of energy.

In the morning, the soldiers ran along the ridges to exercise their physical strength. Camels delivered food and supplies from Huichuan County in batches. Tens of thousands of soldiers settled down in Yaocheng County. Although the capital of Nanzhao was less than 200 miles away, the Tang army showed no signs of moving westward.

At this time, Nanzhao was in chaos. The Tang army marched south, and people from all over Nanzhao flocked to Yangzhumie City and Taihe City. The city was overcrowded. Not only was the living environment crowded, but the food consumption was huge, which made the people and officials complain.

Outside the city, a team escorted Prince Yi Mouxun to inspect the people who had fled. Wherever he went, a group of people surrounded him, telling him about all kinds of inconveniences and dissatisfaction. Yi Mouxun was overwhelmed and had to comfort them with kind words. Finally, he found an opportunity and hurried back to the city on horseback.

In the Nanzhao Palace, the nearly 60-year-old Nanzhao King Ge Luofeng was listening to the report of the army general Ruan Shaofeng.

Yi Mouxun hurriedly walked into the hall and bowed, saying, "Grandfather, my grandson is back!"

Guluofeng nodded, "You are back just in time, the situation is a bit bad!"

Yi Mouxun is not only the heir to the throne now, but Geluofeng is old and has little energy, so he gradually transferred power to him. Yi Mouxun is now also the Grand Marshal of Nanzhao, holding military and political power.

Yi Mouxun is very ambitious. His dream is to annex Xichuan and Bozhou of the Tang Dynasty and establish a Nanzhao Empire that can compete with the Tang Dynasty.

He also made the same mistake that all small countries have made, fearing power but not virtue, and mistaking the tolerance of the Tang Dynasty for weakness.

After he took control of the military power, he promoted the hardliners in the army and drove the moderates out of the army, causing the Nanzhao army to become the most hardline force against the Tang Dynasty. Because they were too tough, they attacked the imperial court's prospecting team, killed 300 guards of the Tang army, and abducted more than a dozen officials and craftsmen, which eventually angered the Tang Dynasty and attracted the Tang army to press on.

However, in Yi Mouxun's view, this crisis of Nanzhao is also an opportunity for Nanzhao. If they can defeat the Tang army, take advantage of the victory to march north and sweep across the entire Xichuan, it is not impossible.

Yi Mouxun stepped forward and asked, "Grandfather, what happened?"

Yi Mouxun glared at Ruan Shaofeng with dissatisfaction. He actually dared to bypass him and report directly to his grandfather!

Ruan Shaofeng said hurriedly: "I am also preparing to report to the Grand Marshal. After the Tang army occupied Nongdong City, they stopped advancing westward and settled in the city. They even repaired the damaged part of the southwest corner of the city wall."

Yi Mouxun frowned and turned to ask the Qingping official Yin Choukuan who was sitting below: "Prime Minister Yin, what does the Tang army mean by this?"

Yin Choukuan bowed and said: "According to my observation, the Tang Dynasty may have changed its strategy. It used to attack us directly, but now it may have changed to a cutting tactic, occupying Nongdong, which made us lose Nongdong and Tuodong. Young Master, this is a very cruel method. We have lost the food in Nongdong and the salt in Tuodong. Nanzhao will be annihilated."

Geluofeng sighed and said, "Your Highness, you now know the Tang Dynasty's methods! They are cutting meat with a blunt knife, suffocating us to death bit by bit. Now quickly release the captured people and send people to apologize to the Tang Dynasty to see if there is any turnaround."

Yi Mouxun bowed and said, "Grandfather, why do you admit defeat before we even attack? We have more than 200,000 troops, and the other side has only 40,000 to 50,000. We can also let Tubo attack Huichuan first to cut off the Tang army's logistics supply and retreat. We will then have a large army and destroy the Tang army with powerful troops and war elephants. We have been successful before, why not now?"

General Liu Fangren also said: "Your Majesty, the young master is right. Secondly, this war is no different from the second war against the Tang Dynasty. I remember clearly that the Tang general Li Mi also occupied Nongdong City at that time. After a month of stalemate, he led his army to Erhai Lake. I think that as long as the Tubo army occupied Huichuan City, the Tang generals would have to send troops westward to find an opportunity to fight us."

Generals Meng Chengjin and Ruan Shaofeng also expressed their support for Yi Mouxun, which means that the entire military supports a battle with the Tang army and is unwilling to seek peace.

Several Qingping officials also believed that Nanzhao currently has an advantage in military strength and should not easily seek peace.

Ge Luofeng could not find supporters, and Zheng Hui was not there, so he could only sigh and said: "Okay! Please ask Tubo to send troops first!"

In fact, Tubo has already sent troops. Qizang Zhazha, the governor of Jianchuan, Tubo, personally led 50,000 troops to attack Huichuan Prefecture.

This was a tacit understanding between Tubo and Nanzhao. The Tubo army was responsible for cutting off the enemy, while the Nanzhao army was responsible for annihilating the Tang army that was advancing alone in the Nanzhao area. As long as the Tang army was annihilated in one fell swoop, decades of peace could be guaranteed.

Qizang Zhazha originally wanted to send only 30,000 troops, but the spies found that there were at least 20,000 Tang troops in Huichuan Prefecture, so he knew that 30,000 were not enough, so he simply led all 50,000 troops to attack Huichuan City.

That afternoon, 50,000 troops arrived in Huichuan City, and Jiannan Governor Qu Huan led 18,000 troops to wait for them.

Why were there only 18,000 people instead of 20,000 people? Because Qu Huan learned that the main Tubo army had arrived, he immediately sent 2,000 people out of the city first, went around to the west of the Tubo army, and cut off that extremely dangerous section of the road.

The 50,000 Tubo troops carried more than 300 siege ladders, and they set up camp outside the west city.

As night fell, Qu Huan stood on the top of the city wall, looking at the small tents dotted outside the west city. He was full of ambition and wanted to lead his army to attack tonight and kill the Tubo army, but reason told him that tomorrow was the time to kill the enemy and serve the country.

Qu Huan was born in a family of Guanlong military generals. Like Xin Yunjing, he had been guarding Shuofang and Hexi for a long time, but he was relatively low-key and not very famous.

But those who know Qu Huan know that he is brave and resourceful, brave and decisive, and he has a good way to lead troops and strict military discipline. He is a rare general.

Guo Ziyi specially recommended Qu Huan to Li Ye, and Li Ye appointed Qu Huan as the deputy governor of Jiannan the year before last, and promoted him to the governor of Jiannan at the beginning of this year.

"General, it's late, please go and rest! Get enough energy to face tomorrow's battle."

Qu Huan nodded and ordered several generals on duty: "Double the number of troops patrolling tonight and keep a close eye on the enemy. Don't be careless and let the enemy attack you!"

Several generals bowed together, "Yes, sir!"