Tibet

Qiemo Kingdom is one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Region, but it is a small country with almost no sense of existence. It only has one-third of an acre of land around it, which is far less vast than the neighboring country of Khotan.

But by the Northern Wei Dynasty, the ancient kingdom of Qiemo had been destroyed, and there were only a hundred households in Qiemo City.

By the early Tang Dynasty, when Tang Xuanzang passed by here, the ancient city of Qiemo was still there, but there was no one inside.

The history of cities in southern Xinjiang is basically a force fighting against the desert. The sand advances and people retreat, the rivers change their courses, ancient cities are abandoned one after another, and people leave for other places. This is the case with the ancient city of Qiemo, the ancient country of Loulan, and the ancient country of Jingjue. The same is true.

Not everyone leaves at the same time. That is something that only happens in novels. In fact, even giving up is a long process. It takes at least hundreds of years. Several generations of people continue to struggle, continue to despair, leave, and wait until the end. After the defenders also died, the entire city fell into complete silence.

However, Qiemo City did not disappear because of the invasion of the desert, but because the Qiemo River changed its course. After the river changed its course, the soil became desertified, the vegetation disappeared, it was inconvenient for people and animals to drink water, and the living environment deteriorated, so they would naturally abandon the old city and migrate. Go to the new river and rebuild the new city.

Although the residents still claim to be from the Qiemo Kingdom, in fact, the Qiemo Kingdom has been dead for hundreds of years. Qiemo City, Ruoqiang City, Puchanghai, etc. were all classified as Shazhou boundaries by the Tang Dynasty and became the official territory of the Tang Dynasty. .

Qiemo New City has a circumference of about ten miles. It can be considered a small county town in the Central Plains. There are hundreds of households living in the city, and most of the residents live outside the city.

This Qiemo City was built with the participation of the Tang Army. It is very strong and solid. The Tang Army once stationed a thousand troops here.

But in July, more than 10,000 Tubo troops suddenly arrived, and the Tang army guarding the four cities of Ruoqiang and Qiemo City was almost completely destroyed.

The Tubo army immediately retreated, leaving more than 2,000 people to control these five cities. Why should they withdraw? In fact, these five cities can only support 2,000 troops, and the same is true for the Tang army.

This is just like southern Tibet. Why did you give up and evacuate after you clearly captured it? Because if we don't withdraw, once the enemy's logistics supply line is cut off, the army will be completely destroyed.

The current Qiemo City is also occupied by the Tibetan army. Considering the logistics and supply issues, there are not many Tibetan soldiers in the city, only 800 people. Including the Tibetan army withdrawn from Dianhe City, there are more than 1,300 people in total.

At this time, the Tibetan garrison in Qiemo City was fighting the Tang army. This Tang army was not Li Ye's army, but a Tang army killed from Khotan Town. There were only more than a thousand people. Duan Xiushi, the deputy commander of Khotan Town, Commander.

Duan Xiushi advocated taking advantage of the opportunity of the withdrawal of the main Tibetan troops in winter to send troops to recapture Qiemo City and the four Ruoqiang cities, but the commander Wang Tao refused to agree, and the two had a fierce dispute.

In anger, Duan Xiushi led more than a thousand of his subordinates to Qiemo City, attempting to capture Qiemo City by force, and then use Qiemo City as a base to continue to capture the four cities of Ruoqiang.

But how easy is it to deal with the Tubo army? The Tibetan army in Qiemo City received the 500 soldiers who had withdrawn from Dianhe City, and immediately left 300 people to guard the city, and a thousand troops came out to fight.

The two armies fought fiercely on the sand west of Qiemo City. The Tibetan army was well-organized, and all the soldiers were brave and fearless. They fought to the death with the Tang army. Although the Tang army's cavalry was also brave and well-trained, they could not face the extremely tough Tibetan soldiers. , unexpectedly could not gain the upper hand, and the number of casualties exceeded that of the Tibetan army.

After nearly an hour of fierce fighting, the Tang army suffered nearly 400 casualties, and the Tibetan army also suffered about 300 casualties. However, both sides refused to withdraw their troops, and they fought until the sky was dark and the ground was dark, and yellow dust billowed.

At this moment, the troop closing bell rang out from Qie Mo, ‘Dang! when! when! ’ The bell sounded very quickly.

The Tubo army began to retreat in formation. Duan Xiushi saw that the opponent's formation was orderly and orderly, and there was obviously an ambush at the top of the city, so he stopped his men who were preparing to pursue.

The Tibetan army retreated back to the city, and the city gates suddenly closed. At this time, a low sound of horns was faintly heard in the distance. Duan Xiushi was startled, could there really be reinforcements?

He hurriedly sent a few cavalry to investigate. After a while, the cavalry came back and reported, "General Duan, it's the Tang Army. The new Jiedushi's army is here!"

Duan Xiushi was immediately overjoyed. They had received the news that the new military governor was Li Ye, the governor of Hezhong. Duan Xiushi also participated in the Battle of Talas and was very familiar with Li Ye.

When Li Ye arrives with his army, there is hope of recovering Qiemo City.

He hurriedly arranged for the wounded soldiers to be bandaged, and then he rode his horse to greet the new military envoy.

Amidst the deep sound of horns, the mighty Tang army came from afar and quickly took up formation at the end of the city.

Behind the team, hundreds of straight poplar tree trunks were dragged.

At this time, a scout soldier came to report, "Report to the Commander-in-Chief, Duan Xiushi, the Deputy Military Envoy of Khotan Town, is asking for an audience!"

Li Ye smiled and nodded, "Invite him over!"

After a moment, Duan Xiushi urged his horse forward, bowed and clasped his fists, saying: "Duan Xiushi, a humble official, is here to meet the Jiedushi!"

"General Duan, long time no see!"

Duan Xiushi smiled and said: "I heard that the envoy will be appointed as the governor of Anxi. I was looking forward to it. I didn't expect that at the most critical moment, the envoy would come."

Li Ye asked: "Is General Duan attacking Qiemo City?"

Duan Xiushi nodded, "I have led 1,200 people here, and I am indeed preparing to capture Qiemo City!"

Li Ye frowned, "Does Yutian Town only have more than a thousand troops?"

"No, there are three thousand soldiers in Khotan Town, but I can only lead my own army. The military commander Wang Tao refused to send troops, saying that without Bi Sichen's military order, he would not send troops. In anger, I had to lead When our headquarters went on an expedition, Wang Tao threatened to sue me and behead me for sending troops without authorization!"

Speaking of this, Duan Xiushi let out a long sigh and said: "The treacherous eunuchs harmed the country, and Bian Lingcheng was only interested in profit. He reused Bi Sichen and neglected the sealing envoy. This made the morale of the Anxi army low and people panicked. The Tubo army seized the opportunity and seized Ruo In Qiangsi City and Qiemo City, the two thousand defenders were completely destroyed. It is said that the Tibetan army surrounded the castle and used various strategies to defeat the Tang army, and the Tang army was completely wiped out. However, I did not lose a single soldier. It is simply a great shame and humiliation!"

Why didn't Li Ye use the same strategy to kill the Tubo army without losing a single soldier? This strategy of multiple castles and divided troops for garrison is a taboo for military strategists.

But at this time, Li Ye was more concerned about the internal problems of the Anxi Army.

"Where are Li Siye, Bai Xiaode, Xi Yuanqing and the others? Just watching the Anxi Army sink?" Li Ye asked dissatisfied.

Duan Xiushi smiled bitterly and said: "When Feng Shijun left, he repeatedly told everyone to put the overall situation first, not to have internal strife, and not to challenge the supervisory army's decision, otherwise it would easily be regarded as rebellion. There is no other way, everyone can only endure. Now Bi Sichen appointed people as relatives, and the soldiers and horse envoys in the four military towns were all his confidants. The senior officials in the Kucha army were also his people. Li Siye originally ranked second in Kucha, but now he is ranked fifth. Xi Yuanqing has been ranked Seventh, his confidants took over all the military power."

Li Ye nodded. This was what he expected. Bi Sichen was not a fool and would definitely seize the opportunity to firmly grasp the military power. Arranging his confidants to control the army was the most effective way.

"Thank you, General Duan, for informing me!"

Li Ye turned his attention to Qiemo City again, and he immediately ordered: "Make a simple siege ladder immediately and prepare to attack the city!"

Dozens of craftsmen accompanying the army began to get busy, tying the long and thick tree trunks together with belts and tendons, and nailing the rungs with long nails.

The craftsmen installed three iron hooks on the front end. It only took an hour to build two raft siege ladders one foot wide, three feet long and weighing about three thousand kilograms.

Li Ye shouted: "Get ready to attack the city!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The earth-shattering siege drums sounded.

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