Tibet

The lamb incident was just a fuse. In fact, the Dangxiang people had been waiting for an opportunity. Since they were relocated to Guannei Road during the Sui Dynasty, they had never submitted to the central court. They had been patiently waiting, while secretly developing their own strength and establishing a complete military system.

Because of their low profile, the court did not pay attention to them until An Lushan rebelled and led an army of 200,000 to besiege Lingzhou. The Dangxiang people saw with their own eyes the incompetence and weakness of the Tang Dynasty and the lack of manpower of the Tang army. They saw the opportunity for the Dangxiang people.

The Dangxiang people were also divided into two factions, one belonging to the hardliners who advocated the establishment of a country, and the other belonging to the moderates who advocated autonomy.

Ten years ago, the Dangxiang hardliners had the upper hand and had decided to establish a country, but at the critical moment, the Helong Army came out and occupied Longyou, Hexi and Shuofang, shattering the dream of the Dangxiang hardliners to establish a country.

At the same time, the moderates made progress. They successfully persuaded the emperor Li Heng by paying homage to him. Li Heng gave them greater autonomy, and the moderates began to gain the upper hand.

The Dangxiang people began to endure for another ten years, but as the old moderate chiefs died one after another, the tough young people came to power.

The Tang army launched the Liaodong War and the Western Regions War successively. The Dangxiang people saw the opportunity. They were ready and decided not to be patient. Just when the 100,000 Tang troops went to attack the Shiwei, the Dangxiang people began to make trouble by taking advantage of the lamb incident.

The local government and the court thought that it was the Dangxiang group's dissatisfaction with the demands, but in fact it was the beginning of the Dangxiang nobles' founding of the country.

Their goal was clear, to occupy Lingzhou and Fengzhou, to establish a country in Lingzhou, and at the same time to make a feint to the east and attack the west, using Yanzhou to attract the Tang army.

In Yanzhou, thousands of Dangxiang cavalrymen were escorting thousands of carts along the northwest official road, each cart carrying dozens of cans of kerosene.

The Dangxiang people were not fools. They would not wait for the Tang army to come before moving kerosene. While they were pretending to attack Yanzhou, they were desperately moving kerosene, using all kinds of means, such as carrying it by manpower, mules and horses, and pulling it by carts.

There was even a waterway. Hundreds of large rafts, carrying tens of thousands of barrels of kerosene, entered the Yellow River from Qingshui River and headed north. This batch of kerosene by water was heading to Lingzhou to support the Dangxiang army besieging Lingzhou.

The convoy passed a low hill, and suddenly, a horn sounded on the hillside, "Woo--"

Then, a cavalry of more than a thousand Tang army appeared on the hillside.

The general of the Dangxiang army drew his sword and shouted: "Fight and protect the convoy!"

Thousands of Dangxiang cavalry rushed up the hillside, and the Tang cavalry turned around and left.

At this moment, a hundred Tang cavalry appeared on the other side. They lit arrow mines and shot arrows at the convoy together.

Hundreds of arrows and thunderbolts fell into the convoy, and a series of explosions sounded, with flames bursting, thick smoke rising, and thunderous noises.

The convoy was immediately in chaos, and the mules and horses pulling the carts were frightened and fled desperately in all directions. The kerosene tanks on the carts were smashed in the collision, and the kerosene was scattered everywhere. Then the Tang army fired dozens of rockets and ignited the kerosene.

The burning kerosene blocked the official road. The convoy ran to the open space on both sides in the chaos. After only running a dozen steps, the carts overturned, and the kerosene fell to the ground and shattered. The kerosene flowed all over the ground and was soon ignited by sparks. Thick smoke billowed everywhere on both sides of the official road.

The drivers fled desperately in the wilderness, and the carts were not needed.

Zhang Guangsheng saw that the Dangxiang people transported kerosene by multiple routes, so he also adopted the method of harassing by dividing his troops. Zhang Guangsheng's strategy was very clear. He did not fight with the Dangxiang people first, but first prevented the Dangxiang people from transporting the kerosene, and would rather destroy it than let the Dangxiang people get it.

On the Yellow River, hundreds of huge rafts were moving along the shore, and nearly a hundred trackers were dragging long ropes and shouting as they walked along the Yellow River.

Thousands of Dangxiang cavalrymen followed them. At this time, countless boats suddenly appeared on the river, lined up in a row, and came downstream to the south.

The Dangxiang cavalrymen on the shore panicked and rushed to meet them, shooting arrows at the boats with bows and arrows. The soldiers on the boats also raised crossbows to fight back, and Dangxiang soldiers were constantly shot and fell to the ground.

Soon, the boats surrounded the rafts, cut the ropes, tied the ropes to the boats, and dragged them to the other side of the Yellow River.

More than a thousand Dangxiang cavalrymen watched hundreds of rafts being dragged away.

The emergency action of the Tang army dealt a heavy blow to the Dangxiang's attempt to rob kerosene. Of course, the Dangxiang people did not gain nothing. They still robbed thousands of barrels of kerosene through early mule and horse transportation.

In the wilderness west of Fushi County, Yunzhong Governor Zhang Guangsheng led 8,000 cavalrymen to fight against 30,000 Tangut troops. Amid the rumbling drums, the two armies fought fiercely on the west bank of Qingshui River.

The leader of the Tangut army was Tuoba Wen, the Khan of the Tanguts in Xiazhou and Yinzhou.

Tuoba Wen was responsible for the task of leading the Tang army, but that did not mean he did not want to plunder Yanzhou.

He planned to plunder the wealth and women of Fushi County before the Tang army in Chang'an came, and then retreat back to Xiazhou.

Unexpectedly, a Tang army suddenly came, shattering Tuoba Wen's plan, and making Tuoba Wen angry and ashamed. He immediately assembled 30,000 troops to annihilate the Tang army.

Zhang Guangsheng, the main general of the Tang army, was about 40 years old. He was a typical Confucian general. He had both the bravery of a general and the knowledge and elegance of a civil official. He was also the focus of training by Emperor Li Ye.

Last year, Gao Xiuyan retired from office, and Zhang Guangsheng officially took over as Yunzhong Governor.

This time he personally led 10,000 troops to rescue Yanzhou.

Zhang Guangsheng did not go to Lingzhou because he knew the importance of Yanzhou. Once the Dangxiang occupied Yanzhou, the cavalry could enter Guanzhong in three days.

The Dangxiang’s road to Guanzhong must be cut off.

Zhang Guangsheng led 3,000 cavalrymen in the central army to form a cavalry formation, using strong bows and crossbows to withstand the main attack of the enemy army, while General Zhang Fu led 3,000 cavalrymen to attack the left wing of the Dangxiang army infantry, and another general Li Jiuhuan also led 2,000 cavalrymen to attack the right wing of the Dangxiang army infantry.

The Dangxiang army was not all cavalrymen. There were 10,000 infantrymen on each wing with simple equipment. The Tang army launched an offensive on the left and right wings with the advantage of highly mobile cavalry.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The exciting drums resounded across the west bank of the Qingshui River, and the shouts of killing shook the sky. The excellent equipment made the Tang army not at a disadvantage even though it was fighting with fewer troops.

"Prepare bows and arrows, shoot!"

Three thousand arrows soared into the air and shot at the 10,000 galloping central army.

The Tang army's arrows shot head-on, and the Dangxiang army raised their round shields to resist, but this time they were not resisting arrows, but terrible explosives.

The explosive arrows hit the shields and exploded instantly, not only blowing the shields to pieces, but also breaking the hands holding the shields, and even blowing off the heads of many soldiers.

The charging cavalry group exploded, the smoke filled the air, and the Dangxiang cavalry was in chaos.

At the same time, the left and right wings of the Dangxiang army were also attacked by the arrow mines of the Tang army. Teams of cavalry rushed past when they were more than a hundred steps away from the infantry formation, and the overwhelming arrow mines shot at the Dangxiang infantry formation.

The arrow mines exploded in the crowd of infantry, and the poisoned iron balls splashed everywhere. The infantry suffered heavy casualties, and the army was in chaos and began to flee.

The other side of the Dangxiang army began to be exposed. They were not professional soldiers, but ordinary herdsmen or farmers. They had never seen firearms on the battlefield for the first time.

When thousands of arrow mines exploded in the crowd and hundreds of thousands of iron balls burst out, the effect of this intensive killing was enough to make ordinary Dangxiang soldiers collapse.

The collapse brought chaos.

Li Jiuhuan led his army to attack again and again. Gradually, the Dangxiang army became thinner and thinner, and the flag of the central army could be seen.

Seeing the opportunity coming, Li Jiuhuan immediately shouted loudly: "Pass my order, whoever cuts off the enemy army flag will be rewarded with a thousand strings of money!"

The morale of the Tang army was greatly boosted, and the offensive was like a tide, rushing towards the enemy flag. A general waved an iron stick and rushed through the enemy army. There were corpses everywhere he passed. Under his iron stick, either the brain burst or the bones were broken. The state of death was shocking. He killed a bloody way and rushed towards the big flag, invincible all the way.

The flag was inserted on a carriage. The flagpole was as thick as a wrist and about two feet high. It was a green flag with two big characters "Dangxiang" written on it.

Seeing that he was about to kill in front of the big flag, the general roared and swung his stick to hit the flagpole. The heavy iron stick hit the flagpole, and the flagpole broke with a "crack!" and fell down with a bang.

At this time, the Tangut cavalrymen who attacked the Tang army began to turn their horses around and flee, and the infantrymen were in even greater chaos, running around like headless flies.

If the powerful firearms of the Tang army were the root of the Tangut army's defeat, then the breaking of the general's flag was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The 30,000-strong army was completely defeated, and Zhang Guangsheng led the Tang army to chase and kill them, killing the Tanguts for dozens of miles. Only a few thousand cavalrymen escaped back to Xiazhou from the 30,000-strong army, and the rest of the soldiers were all mercilessly killed by the Tang cavalry.