Tibet

The Dangxiang people had three armies, the Qingzhou Army, the Yuanzhou Army and the Xiazhou Army, with a total of nearly 100,000 troops.

According to the Dangxiang plan and deployment, the 30,000 Xiazhou troops were responsible for attacking Yanzhou, while luring the main force of the Tang army to buy time for the Dangxiang army attacking Lingzhou.

The two Dangxiang armies had a total of 70,000 people attacking Lingzhou.

The two main commanders were Tuoba Chaoguang, the leader of the Dangxiang in Yuanzhou, and Tuoba Qimei, the leader of the Dangxiang in Qingzhou.

Following the 70,000 troops to Lingzhou, there were also hundreds of thousands of Dangxiang people.

They had long been prepared. Once they turned against the Tang Dynasty and rebelled, they would all move north to Lingzhou.

Of course, there was a more realistic problem. The Dangxiang army went north to attack Lingzhou. Once the Tang army raided their nest from behind and captured all the Dangxiang people, the army would collapse without a fight.

Therefore, the Dangxiang army had to bring their families with them for practical considerations, and also took away millions of sheep from the Tang army.

There are about 20,000 troops stationed in Shuofang, but they are relatively scattered, with 5,000 troops stationed in Fengzhou in the north.

Lingwu has 12,000 people, and Mingsha County has 3,000 troops.

The governor of Shuofang is Xin Yunjing, but unfortunately, Xin Yunjing is ill, and the army is currently led by deputy general Zhang Bingquan.

Zhang Bingquan is also an old deputy general who has cooperated with Xin Yunjing for many years. Although he is a deputy general, his official rank and title are very high. He is the general of the champion and the Duke of Tao, and he is on the same level as Xin Yunjing.

The Dangxiang army came too suddenly and caught the Shuofang governor's office off guard.

If they were prepared, they would move the people of Mingsha County to Lingwu County and then transfer the troops of Fengzhou back, but they were not prepared for this. They were defending against the nomads in the northern grasslands.

But they never expected that the Dangxiang people would stab them from behind.

Zhang Bingquan urgently asked the court, Hexi and Longyou for help while organizing the army to defend the city.

In order to seize Shuofang and establish a country, the Dangxiang people had been preparing for many years. They took advantage of the An-Shi Rebellion to stockpile weapons and purchased a large number of siege weapon parts and assembled them in secret.

Therefore, the equipment of the Dangxiang army was not inferior to that of the Tang army. The only thing they lacked was firearms, but they had thousands of barrels of kerosene.

Only two hours after setting up the camp, the Dangxiang army launched the first large-scale attack. Ten thousand troops rushed towards Lingwu City like a black tide, with a hundred siege ladders mixed in. This time, the Dangxiang army did not go all out, and the catapults, nest cars and siege hammers were not put into battle.

They were testing the strength of Lingwu City.

The Dangxiang soldiers held up their shields, and ten thousand siege soldiers held spears and swords with high morale. Behind them were ten thousand archers who were responsible for covering them. In the sound of the drums that shook people's hearts, they lined up in black and rushed towards Lingwu City.

Siege ladders moved rapidly among the crowd, followed by hundreds of people. Drumsticks hit the huge leather drums, making earth-shaking sounds. Accompanied by waves of shouts and cries, the Dangxiang army rose and fell like waves, with great momentum.

The Tang army dug three trenches two miles away from the city, one foot wide, but these three trenches could not stop the Dangxiang people. They put thick wooden boards on the trenches, making the trenches immediately useless.

One mile away from the city wall, the drumbeats suddenly became dense, and 10,000 Dangxiang troops shouted and rushed towards the city wall. The defenders on the city wall looked at the Dangxiang army nervously and expectantly, as if waiting for something to happen.

Twenty large catapults on the front wall began to creak and twist the thick ropes, and the long throwing rods bent backwards, and the accumulated potential energy reached its peak.

Outside the city was a field of weeds, knee-high. The Tangut army rushed in, and the thousands of people in the front suddenly shouted in fear. The weeds were on fire, and the fire spread rapidly.

They hadn't taken it seriously just now, but soon found out that something was wrong. The fire was raging, engulfing thousands of people.

The soldiers turned around and fled, and at this time they stepped on the thorns of caltrops scattered in the grass. This kind of caltrops has four one-inch long thorns. When it is scattered on the ground, there is always one thorn facing upwards. The caltrops have been tempered in a highly poisonous substance. Once pierced, it can cause disability at the least, or even death at the worst.

In addition to the caltrops, there were also hidden horse traps, in which a three-inch-long poisonous iron spike was inserted upside down. Many Dangxiang soldiers stepped into the holes, and the long spikes pierced their insteps. The attacking Dangxiang army was caught off guard, and more than a thousand people fell down and howled and cried, and there was wailing everywhere. What was even more terrifying was that their legs began to turn black and swell, and the pain was unbearable. Many people rolled and howled for a while, and then died of poison.

The fierce fire, poison needles and iron sticks caused thousands of soldiers to suffer heavy casualties.

But the other two thousand Dangxiang troops had rushed to two hundred steps away from the city wall. They carried siege ladders and rushed towards the city wall desperately.

At this time, a strange sound came from the sky, as if it was the sound of pigeons circling in the sky.

The Dangxiang soldiers looked up at the sky, and saw small black dots appearing in the sky, whistling and flying over their heads, getting closer and closer. A panicked shout suddenly broke out in the Dangxiang army. It turned out to be a piece of black iron ball. They ran away in all directions with their heads in their hands.

Large iron fire bombs weighing about 100 kilograms fell into the crowd and exploded with a loud bang. There were screams all around, blood splattered everywhere, and the nearest few people were blown into pieces of meat. One iron fire bomb killed and injured dozens of people, some seriously injured, and some lying dead. The Dangxiang army suffered heavy casualties. Then, the second wave of iron fire bombs came roaring.

With firearms overhead and murderous intent hidden on the ground, the main Dangxiang army was still one mile away from the city, and more than 3,000 people were killed and injured. Seeing that the situation was not good, Tuoba Chaoguang immediately ordered, "Retreat!"

Thousands of party troops retreated like a tide, and the Tang troops on the city cheered. ． ． ． ．

……….

The siege battle in Mingsha County was extremely fierce. The war started fiercely at night. Tuoba Qimei, the leader of Dangxiang Qingzhou, led a massive offensive of 20,000 Dangxiang troops. Mingsha County is not high and its defense capabilities are very weak. Once a war breaks out, Mingsha County's troops will be destroyed. People will go to Lingwu County to escape.

Therefore, Mingsha County did not have large-scale defensive weapons, nor kerosene and firearms. It never occurred to me that Mingsha County would be attacked.

This time the party members arrived so suddenly that thousands of people in Mingsha County had no time to move.

Siege ladders were built one after another on the top of the city, and the shouts of killing were loud. Twenty thousand soldiers of the party's Xiang Army climbed up the ladders, braving dense rain of arrows and rolling logs and rocks, fighting to the death to seize the city.

As long as they take Mingsha County, they will have the first foundation city, so they are bound to win Mingsha County.

Soldiers from the Tang Army kept screaming and falling from the ladders. A fierce battle was fought on the city top, with horizontal knives smashing into bones and blood dripping from the spear tips. There were less than a thousand Tang Army soldiers left on the city, but they still resisted desperately. All the men went to the city, and even women and old people went to the city to join the battle.

When daybreak was approaching, there were less than 500 defenders left on the city. They still resisted desperately and perished together with Dang Xiang's army.

At this time, the city gate was finally knocked open by the battering ram, thousands of party soldiers swarmed in, and Mingsha County fell.

In a small Mingsha County town, Dang Xiangjun actually paid a price of nearly 5,000 people.

Tuoba Qimei became angry and ordered a massacre of the city, killing all the people in the city.

……….

At this time, the 10,000 Tang soldiers who came from the clouds also reached the Yellow River, about two hundred miles north of Lingwu County. They happened to encounter 50 Tang soldiers stationed in Minghe Town in the north of Lingwu County.

These Tang soldiers had no time to return to the city, so they had to retreat to Fengzhou.

The leader of this group of Tang troops was a school captain named Feng Kang. He was brought to Yunzhong General Lu Yanming.

General Huben Lu Yan was originally called Lu Ye. To avoid taboos, he changed the word Ye in his name to Yan. This was his mother's name, so it sounded a bit feminine.

Feng Kang stepped forward, knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists, saying: "Feng Kang, a humble official, meets General Lu!"

Lu Yan nodded, "Thank you for your hard work, Lieutenant Feng. How is the situation in Lingzhou?"

"Reporting to the general, an army of 60,000 to 70,000 soldiers came to Lingzhou. We were caught off guard. The humble post and his subordinates had no chance to return to the county seat, so they had to flee north."

"You are stationed outside the city, what are you responsible for?"

"Report to the general, we will protect thousands of acres of melon fields and hunt wild boars!"

Lu Yan chuckled, "I understand, I want to know, where is the enemy's logistics?"

"The enemy's logistics came from the east. I heard some herdsmen who fled from the east said that there were hundreds of thousands of party members staying on the central grassland, and there were millions of sheep."

Lu Yan's heart moved. His 10,000 troops might not be able to deal with the 60,000 to 70,000 Dangxiang troops, but they could completely cut off the Dangxiang army's logistics, or hijack the Dangxiang people and move south.

Thinking of this, he immediately said: "Lead us to the central grassland!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

The 10,000 Tang troops immediately turned their horses and ran towards the central grassland a hundred miles west of Lingwu County.