Tibet

Li Ye asked directly: "Where were you ambushed?"

"In Olijing!"

Li Kairan found Daliu Well on the sand table, "It's right here. There is a large red willow forest here, seven or eight miles long. The Tubo army was ambushing in the forest. When we passed by, they ambushed us with bows and arrows, and then they came out and killed our army. Everything was three, the morale of our 10,000-strong army collapsed at that time, and everyone fled in panic!"

Li Ye planted a red flag on Daliu Well. He looked at the distance and said, "It seems that we just entered Shazhou not long ago!"

Li Kairan nodded, "Exactly, this place is about eighty miles away from Dunhuang County and about one hundred and twenty miles away from Jinchang County."

Li Ye sneered: "Why didn't the governor think about how the other party would ambush eighty miles away from Dunhuang County?"

Li Kairan sighed: "We never dreamed of an ambush there. We usually only heighten our vigilance and prepare for an ambush when we are about thirty miles away from Dunhuang County. We never imagined that the Tibetan army would actually ambush in Daliujing!"

Li Ye shook his head, "The governor didn't understand what I meant. I was saying that the other party must have spies in Jinchang County to know in advance that the Tang army was leaving!"

"Chen Feng and I have also discussed that the other party may have scouts, but they may not be in the county."

"No! It must be in the county town. The Tibetan scouts are only a little faster than you. You must be anxious to save your son. You guys are marching very fast, aren't they?"

Li Kairan nodded, "The march is indeed very fast. We will set off after lunch and march quickly all the way."

Li Ye said calmly: "So if it is the Tibetan scouts near the camp, the main force of the opponent cannot be eighty miles ahead of time anyway, so I am sure it must be the flying pigeons in the city who have sent the message, and they also know your departure time in advance, at least in advance. A pigeon letter was sent out in half a day to inform the Tibetan army at Dunhuang.

When the other party received the pigeon message at noon, you just set off, and then they also set off at the same time. They arrived at Daliujing in advance. You were just forty miles away at this time. If the letter was not sent in advance, the Tibetan army would not have been able to make it in time. "

Li Kairan was dumbfounded. Just from the ambush of the other party in Daliujing, eighty miles away from Dunhuang County, Li Shijun actually deduced so many details. It was completely reasonable and watertight, which really convinced him.

Li Ye said to him again: "In fact, I have already deployed it. We must find this intelligence point and use it."

Li Kairan suddenly realized, "There are rumors in Jinchang County that the envoy is from the royal family of the Tang Dynasty and is only twenty years old. Could it be that the envoy arranged for people to publicize it?"

Li Ye smiled lightly and said: "I am originally from the Tang royal family, but I want the Tibetan general to know this."

Li Ye was convinced and bowed: "What should I do in this humble position?"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "I may need you to cooperate with me in a play!"

There is a leather goods shop near Beicheng Gate in Jinchang County, called Longyou Leather Goods Shop. It opened at the end of last year. It was opened by a Han from Longyou. The three waiters are also Han from Longyou.

The business of the leather goods store was average, and there were usually no customers. The shopkeeper explained to the neighbors that he collected fur goods here to avoid taxes and sent them to Longyou for sale.

Everyone understood that because the Xingxing Gorge entering Beiting had a tax card, and goods were taxed when entering and exiting, so the store was opened in Jinchang County, which is closest to Beiting, and some leather goods that had been evaded from Beiting could be sold directly to him.

This is a good idea.

In fact, this Longyou leather goods store was an informant planted by the Tibetan army in Jinchang County. Shopkeeper Ma was from Lintao and was taken to Tubo since he was a child. He was favored by the Tubo people and was trained as a spy. He changed his name to Ma. Lintao is responsible for the intelligence investigation of Shazhou and Guazhou, and the three guys are also his subordinates.

Not only that, he also bribed the shopkeeper of Jinchang Restaurant with a lot of money to collect information for him. The information about Li Kairan's last troop dispatch was collected for him by the shopkeeper, allowing him to know in advance the time when the Tang army would send troops.

At night, the restaurant owner Yang An came to the leather goods shop, and he brought some important information.

In the room, Yang An, the owner of the restaurant, said to Ma Lintao: "I'm sure, several of his soldiers were drinking in the restaurant and leaked the secret. This Marshal Li is called Li Ye. He is just twenty years old. He is the grandson of King Ning, Si Ning." The king's son, Gao Xianzhi, is the prince's son, so the emperor of the Tang Dynasty plans to use Li Ye as the governor of Hexi Province to replace Gao Xianzhi. This is the first time he will lead troops in battle."

"Is the news accurate? Is this indeed his first time leading troops?"

Yang An nodded, "His soldiers are very worried, saying that although he has learned the art of war for several years, he has no actual combat experience."

Ma Lintao took note of it and asked, "What other information is there?"

"Also, the army came from Beiting this evening, with fifteen thousand people."

The information brought by Yang An, the owner of the restaurant, was not much, but it was very useful. The first was that the reinforcements came from Beiting, with about 15,000 people. Including the original army, the Guazhou Tang Army currently numbered more than 20,000 people.

Secondly, the leader of the Tang army is called Li Ye. He is very young, less than 20 years old, and is the great nephew of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He is currently a county king and is leading troops for the first time. Due to the power struggle between the royal family, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is planning to replace him with him. Gao Xianzhi.

Shopkeeper Ma took out a bag of silver and pushed it to him, "This is three hundred taels of silver. Next, I want the Tang army to send troops. You must tell me the exact time!"

Yang An weighed the heavy amount of money and his eyes widened with a smile, "Don't worry, there will definitely be news for you!"

Shopkeeper Ma nodded, "I'll come find you after dawn and send the message out!"

Shopkeeper Ma paid a lot of money to buy Yang An, not only because he had good information, but more importantly, Jinchang Restaurant had carrier pigeons that could be delivered to Dunhuang County, which was very important to Shopkeeper Ma.

"Okay! I'll take the first step. Come over at dawn!"

Shopkeeper Ma opened the back door, took a look, gave Yang An a wink, and slipped out of the back door.

Yang An held a heavy amount of money in his arms and did not dare to take the main road. He always took the alleys to the restaurant. He lived behind the restaurant.

When he walked to an alley, a man suddenly jumped out of the wall and looked at him with a half-smile. Yang An was so frightened that he turned around and ran, but he bumped into a man and was blocked behind him.

"I'll give you the money, but spare your life!"

The person behind him grabbed his neck and said with a smile: "You toasted me just now, but you don't recognize me so soon?"

Yang An slowly raised his head, and suddenly recognized the person in front of him. He was actually the leader of the soldiers who had just eaten in his restaurant. He suddenly realized it. Thinking of the consequences, he collapsed on the ground in fear.

"Don't be so desperate. If you cooperate with us, you still have a chance to survive."

Yang An's eyes suddenly lit up.

At the fourth watch, Li Ye was awakened by the soldiers. He put on his clothes and walked to the outer tent. The soldiers saluted at the gate and said: "This is to inform the governor, I have identified the other party's spies."

Li Ye indeed sent a personal team to find the spies in the city. Of course, he didn't realize that there were spies in the city after talking to Li Kairan.

As early as in Chang'an, Li Ye realized that Tubo must have planted a large number of spies in Dunhuang, so he could coordinate internally and externally and easily capture Dunhuang County. The same should be true for Jinchang County.

As a person with the knowledge of later generations, Li Ye is well aware of the importance of information. His ancestors have long said that if you know yourself and the enemy, you will never be in danger in a hundred battles. They also said that 'a soldier never tires of deceit'.

Of course, Li Ye wants to dig out the intelligence point in Jinchang County and make full use of it.

Li Ye smiled and said, "Tell me in detail!"

"My humble duty is to search for pigeon spots in the city in accordance with the requirements of the governor. There are three places in total. One is Guazhou Prefectural Government, which is impossible here. The second is the county school, which is not very likely. The third is Jinchang Restaurant. The possibilities are greatest here.

In the past few days, Beizhi has been keeping an eye on Jinchang Restaurant, and he has been sending his subordinates to pretend to be drunkards to spread the news. Beizhi found that the shopkeeper Yang An was quite suspicious. In the evening, Beizhi and several of his subordinates went drinking, deliberately leaked some information, and then targeted Yang An. install.

In his humble position, he found that he sneaked into a Longyou leather goods shop. We have arrested Yang An and interrogated him. He admitted that the Longyou leather goods shop was the intelligence point of the Tibetan army. He was bribed by the other party with a lot of money to specialize in Collect intelligence for the other party, and then tomorrow morning, the other party will come to the restaurant to send a pigeon letter to Dunhuang County. "

Li Ye nodded, "Quiet this Yang An, I will continue to use him!"