Tibet

After a fierce battle with Duan Xiushi's army, there were only a little over a thousand Tibetan troops left in Qiemo City. Although the defense of the city was still stretched thin, the Tubo army had no way out. Faced with the serious threat of more than 10,000 Tang troops, they We can only fight to the death.

Due to the constraints of the desert environment of Qiemo City, the defenders on the city head did not have rolling wood or rocks, but only bows and arrows. In addition, they also had catapults unique to the Tibetan people. They were actually large slingshots, tied with leather with beef tendons and fixed on a shelf. It ejects fist-sized stones with a range of more than a hundred steps, which can kill or injure people, especially soldiers wearing heavy armor. Once hit, they will easily suffer internal injuries and lose their combat effectiveness. .

Hundreds of soldiers of the Tang Army advanced slowly on two rows of rafts and siege ladders, followed by five hundred heavy shield troops, and behind them were a thousand heavy armored infantry.

As soon as the Tang army approached the North City, arrows were suddenly fired like raindrops from the top of the city. The soldiers of the Tang army shouted and raised their shields to greet them. When the heavy armored infantry lined up and entered the hundred steps, more than a hundred stones fell like hail on the top of the city. It hit the heavy armored infantry with a crackling sound.

Dozens of heavy armored infantry who were hit by stones could not bear the severe pain and slowly squatted down and fell to the ground. Several soldiers had their ribs broken.

Li Ye frowned. Dozens of heavy armored infantry fell. This was something that had never happened before.

He immediately ordered: "Load the crossbow and hand it to me!"

A soldier immediately handed him a crossbow. Li Ye raised the crossbow and fired. His target was the soldier operating the ejector.

The arrows are like lightning, ‘Poof! 'A crossbow arrow hit a soldier, and the Tubo soldier fell down screaming. Li Ye threw away the crossbow, took another one, raised the crossbow and shot again. Another Tubo soldier fell to the ground after being hit by an arrow. One after another, like flowing water, in a very short period of time, Li Ye shot fifty-three arrows in one breath, and fifty-three Tibetan soldiers were killed. The other Tibetan soldiers were so frightened that they squatted down and did not dare to control the projectile. .

The soldiers were stunned and couldn't help but cheer in unison. More than fifty Tibetan soldiers in the core area were shot and killed, and the stones on the top of the city gradually stopped.

Soldiers have already carried out more than a hundred injured heavy armored infantry. This is the weak point of the heavy armored infantry. They are not afraid of swords and spears, nor are they afraid of bows and arrows, but they are afraid of heavy blows. Heavy blows will not hurt the flesh, but It can cause soldiers to faint and even damage their internal organs.

Three rounds of flying rocks caused more than a hundred heavy armored infantry to fall to the ground. Most of them were hit in the head. The concussion made the soldiers faint, but the ribs of three soldiers were also broken.

The soldiers carrying the siege ladders accelerated their running speed and put two large siege ladders on the top of the city. The iron hooks hooked the city wall. Dozens of soldiers were pulling the ropes desperately below, which greatly increased the weight of the siege ladders. The heavy weight made it difficult for the Tibetan soldiers on top of the city to overturn the ladder.

A thousand Tubo soldiers all rushed to the north city to fight the Tang army. They had completely abandoned the other three city walls.

At this time, dozens of soldiers of the heavy shield army rushed up the ladder. The Tibetan soldiers could not overturn the ladder, and their bows and arrows were ineffective against the heavy shield soldiers of the Tang army. They became anxious and rushed up the ladder one after another to rush towards the heavy shield soldiers. The heavy shield soldiers The soldiers retreated one after another, and the heavy armored infantry rushed up from behind. Several cold lights flashed, and several Tubo soldiers were chopped into pieces.

The Tibetan soldiers behind were shocked and retreated one after another. This was their instinct after being frightened. It was not that they were afraid of fighting. However, the Tubo leader was furious and killed two retreating soldiers. He shouted: "No retreat, retreat." Those who withdraw will be killed!"

The Tubo soldiers swarmed forward and used their bodies to block the Tang army's heavy armored infantry on the siege ladder. A group of soldiers were killed, and the soldiers behind them swarmed up.

Li Ye raised his sword and shouted: "Shoot with crossbow arrows!"

Two thousand Tang Army crossbowmen fired arrows at the Tubo Army soldiers on the top of the city. At this time, the Tubo Army soldiers had completely ignored the attack below the city. All their thoughts were on how to block the Tang Army's upper city. The dense arrows were like a storm. When the shot came, the dense Tibetan army on the city was in chaos. They became a living target of the crossbow army. More than 300 people were killed and injured immediately, and the Tibetan soldiers fell one after another.

The formation blocking the heavy armored infantry of the Tang Army also collapsed instantly as a large number of enemy soldiers fell down with arrows. Countless heavy armored infantry took the opportunity to rush to the top of the city, forming a wave of knives that rolled toward the Tibetan soldiers. The heavy armored infantry continued to attack in a torrent, There were screams and wailings on the top of the city. The death of the Tibetan soldiers was increasing, with only less than 400 of the 1,000 soldiers left.

At this moment, there was a muffled sound from the city gate, "Boom!" This was a huge impact, followed by another muffled impact, and the city gate was slammed open.

This was a battering ram prepared by Duan Xiushi in advance. He thought it would be useless, but unexpectedly it worked at the last moment.

Thousands of Tang troops swarmed into Qiemo City. They rushed up to the city and attacked the last few hundred Tibetan soldiers. The Tibetan soldiers fought bloody battles until the last man was killed, and no one retreated or surrendered. This is The fighting style of the Tibetan army is to fight until death. If anyone is timid, escapes or surrenders, their family members will become slaves. On the contrary, if they die in battle, their family members will receive preferential treatment.

It was this severe punishment and reward mechanism that involved family members that made every Tibetan army fight to the death and never surrender, becoming the most powerful foreign enemy in the mid-Tang Dynasty.

The war finally ended. In this war, Duan Xiushi's army lost more than 170 people and injured more than 140 people, while Li Ye's army suffered more than 20 casualties. The 1,300 Tibetan army was completely destroyed. No one survived.

At this point, all 2,200 Tibetan soldiers deployed in the four towns of Ruoqiang and Qiemo City were wiped out.

But the war was not over. After Li Ye ordered the army to rest for three days in Qiemo City, he ordered Duan Xiushi's deputy general Liang Hua to lead a thousand troops to guard Qiemo City and deal with the aftermath. Li Ye then led the army to set off to attack Ga in a mighty manner. Si grassland.

A few days later, the army arrived at Dianhe City, and Yu Chiguang brought several local herdsmen to see Li Ye.

"To inform the Governor, these herdsmen just returned from the Gasi Grassland not long ago and know the situation there!"

Li Ye looked at the simple faces of several herdsmen and felt a little suspicious. Could this be a Tibetan plot?

He asked quietly: "Why did you go to the Gasi Grassland?"

Su Ling was translating. An older herdsman said: "The herdsmen on the other side of the Gasi grassland want rams. The Tubo people selected dozens of strong rams and asked us to send them over."

This reason seemed pretty good. Li Ye nodded and asked Yuchi Guang, "After the war, will any herdsmen go south to the Gas Grassland?"

Yuchi Guang shook his head, and sent a hundred troops to station in Nuzhi City, which was the military city monitoring Washi Gorge. They blocked the road going south. No one went south, only a few of them returned from the south. "

"How many days after the war ended, did they come back?" Li Ye asked.

"Report to the Governor, they will come back on the fourth day!"

Li Ye asked Su Lingdao again: "How long does it take to ride horses from Nuzhi City to Gasi Grassland?"

Su Ling bowed and said: "About four days!"

Li Ye knew it well. He went to report the news for four days and came back for another four days, with at least eight days in between. If these herdsmen came back on the fourth day, they must have gone before the war broke out.

If this is the case, the Tibetan army in the Gasi Grassland should not know about the war in Anxi.

Thinking of this, Li Ye asked the leading herdsman: "How many Tibetan troops are there on the Gasi grassland?"

"I don't know the exact number of villains, but I estimate there are one or two thousand, maybe this much at most."

"Only two thousand people?" Li Ye was a little confused.

Liu Yong saw the coach's doubts and smiled from the side: "The Tubo people must have just started. They are also testing the Anxi Army's defense, so they will not invest too many troops!"

Li Ye nodded, "We don't have much food, so we have to go to the Gas Grassland no matter what!"