Tibet

On the official road south of Nanyang County, the 30,000 Tang Army was marching north in a mighty manner, with no end visible at a glance. The 30,000 Tang Army consisted of 10,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, and was led by Li Ye himself.

Just two days ago, Li Ye received an urgent pigeon message from Yancheng. Thirty thousand Yan troops had left Yancheng and were rushing towards Tangzhou.

At the same time, intelligence scouts in Yecheng also sent pigeon messages. More than 100,000 troops gathered in Yecheng, and the war was about to break out.

Li Ye immediately ordered Li Baozhen to lead the 10,000 troops stationed in Nanyang to quickly go north to defend Luyang Pass.

Of course, Li Ye also wanted to guard against the enemy's sneak attack on Luyang Pass. He could not wait until the enemy troops set off before sending troops to reinforce Luyang Pass.

But Li Ye also wanted to prevent Nanyang from being attacked and occupied by the enemy troops from the east and cutting off the retreat of the Luyang Pass army. He personally led an army of 30,000 to block the enemy troops from the east.

The official road was filled with people from Dengzhou who were retreating southward in great force. Basically, they were driving in carts, loaded with their families and meager property. In addition to furniture, they also brought all the other pots, pans, bedding and clothes. The old man Sitting on the cart with the child, the couple sat on both sides of the cart and drove the mules forward.

The children were holding dogs or sheep, while the old people were worried, wondering what their fate would be.

All the official roads are filled with carts, and there are no people on foot. If you don’t have a cart at home, you can take the boats provided by the government and go south by boat. Therefore, there are huge fleets of boats in the river, and every boat is full. People, carrying big and small bags.

The people evacuating south stretch for hundreds of miles, with hundreds of thousands of people evacuating south. However, they are only avoiding the war. Once the enemy is defeated, they will return home, unlike the refugees who fled from the north.

At noon, Li Ye's army arrived at Pengjia Town, where the official road from Tangzhou intersected. The army immediately turned east and rushed toward Tangzhou along the official road.

Cui Qianyou led an army of 10,000 people all the way south, marched quickly, and reached Luyang Pass in only three days. Unfortunately, he underestimated Li Ye. Li Baozhen led an army of 10,000 people and arrived at Luyang Pass an hour earlier than him.

Li Baozhen is An Shouren. He is actually a Sogdian from Zhangye. His ancestors were from Sogdian Anguo. He gradually became a wealthy family in Zhangye. His great-grandfather An Xinggui was the founding hero of the Tang Dynasty. When he was very young, his grandfather gave him I gave my brother a Chinese name.

The elder brother An Chongzhang's Han name was Li Baoyu, and his Han name was Li Baozhen. After following Li Ye to guard Xiangyang, An Shouren changed his Chinese name to Li Baozhen, and Li Ye also officially changed his name in the military register to Li Baozhen.

Li Baozhen quickly took over the defense of Guancheng and deployed his troops to Guancheng. At this time, 10,000 Yan Army cavalry also arrived at Luyang Pass.

Cui Qianyou looked at the Tang army on the top of the city. He was secretly surprised. There were far more than 2,000 people on the city. Could it be that the intelligence was wrong, or that reinforcements from the Tang army had arrived?

A raid is based on the fact that the opponent only has 2,000 people. The soldiers attack the city desperately and take the city in one go. But if the opponent has far more than 2,000 people, the raid is meaningless. Haste makes waste, but will cause heavy losses to oneself. .

Cui Qianyou was experienced and extremely calm and rational. He did not intend to act recklessly. On the one hand, he urgently sent someone to report to An Qingxu. On the other hand, he ordered the soldiers to cut down a large number of trees in the surrounding areas.

General Li Zhongxing suggested: "General, don't we have Jun Tian Lei? Using Jun Tian Lei to attack the city may scare the Tang army and make them abandon the pass and flee."

Cui Qianyou shook his head, "There are only twenty Jun Tian Lei in total, which is too small. Unless we have a hundred thousand troops, we can first use our troops to frighten the opponent, and then use Jun Tian Lei to achieve the effect you mentioned. We only have one Ten thousand people, only twenty thunderbolts, they will not abandon the barrier and run away."

"Are you afraid that the prince won't be able to explain?"

Cui Qianyou glared at him fiercely, "We can't take Guancheng even if we lose our troops and generals, so why can't we explain it?"

Li Zhongxing lowered his head and dared not say a word.

Although Cui Qianyou did not plan to attack Luyang Pass by force, he still stood at a high place and carefully observed the pass, as well as the terrain and surrounding environment. Cui Qianyou was the general who captured Tongguan. In terms of attacking Guancheng, there were few in the Yan army. The generals are comparable to him. This time An Qingxu named him as his deputy general because he took a fancy to Cui Qianyou's ability in critical battles.

Cui Qianyou observed for a long time, and gradually formed an siege plan in his mind.

Li Ye's army arrived in Biyang County, Tangzhou three days later. Li Ye ordered the army to rest on the spot. As soon as the soldiers sat down to rest, scouts rushed over and knelt down on one knee to report, "Report to the Jiedushi Envoy, three The main enemy force was discovered ten miles away!"

This information came suddenly. Li Ye immediately ordered the entire army to assemble and stop resting. He opened the map and took a closer look. This area is a hilly area. In front of it is Biyang Gang, a long hill that stretches for about a hundred miles. The locals Also called Qinglonggang.

There is a three-mile-long canyon in the middle of Biyang Gang. The official road passes through the canyon, and Biyang Water also flows through the canyon. Li Ye pointed to the canyon on the map and asked the scout: "How wide is this canyon? Is it possible to ambush?”

The scout shook his head and said: "Ask the Jiedushi Envoy, the canyon is two miles wide, and the hills on both sides are very steep and rocky. There are no trees for cover. It is not practical to ambush the army."

Li Ye nodded, turned around and said to Pei Xiu, "General Pei!"

"I'm here to serve you!" Pei Xiu quickly stepped forward and clasped his fists.

Li Ye pointed to the map and said: "There is a valley thirty miles to the south, and there is an official road over there. You and General Nan Jiyun will lead 10,000 cavalry through the valley to the south to raid the enemy's rear. Don't force it. If it doesn't work, just do it." Fall back!”

Pei Xiu and Nan Jiyun bowed together and said, "Follow the order!"

Pei Xiu and Nan Jiyun rushed south with ten thousand cavalry.

Li Ye ordered again: "General Xu Zongran!"

Xu Zongran was the Black Spear back then. He was the heavy armored infantry commander and ranked third in the Jianghan Army, second only to Pei Xiu and Li Baozhen.

Xu Zongran stepped forward and saluted, "I'm here for my humble duty!"

"I'm preparing the heavy armored infantry to attack, let the brothers wear armor!"

"Follow the order!"

With the help of two thousand soldiers, two thousand heavy armored infantry put on heavy armor one after another. The army continued to move eastward and after walking for several miles, they came to Biyang Gang.

Li Ye ordered a formation to be formed at the entrance of the valley. In front was the Sword and Shield Army. Three thousand soldiers holding large shields and horizontal swords were arranged in a formation two miles wide, which just filled the entrance of the valley.

The main reason why the sword and shield troops were lined up was to attract the enemy's cavalry to attack.

But Li Ye used a little trick. Each of the three thousand sword shield soldiers carried a crossbow. They were actually a crossbow army.

Behind the sword and shield army are two thousand heavy armored infantry. They are the main force, hidden by the shields in front. Behind the heavy armored infantry are two thousand spear throwers.

With the seven thousand troops deployed, Li Ye ordered another six thousand troops to mount the hills from both sides, preparing to ambush the enemy troops coming over the mountains.

The 30,000 Yan troops coming from the east also discovered the main force of the Tang army. General Wu Lingyu ordered to slow down. He originally planned to lead his army to attack Nanyang, but he did not expect to encounter the main force of the Tang army in Tangzhou. This really surprised Wu Lingyu.

He was afraid that there was an ambush by the Tang army in front, so he went to investigate. After a while, the spies came back and reported, "Report to the general, the valley ahead is very wide, the rocks on both sides are steep, there are no trees, and there is no way to ambush. I have discovered that the Tang army is lining up at the mouth of the valley in the south." We formed a formation, with the Sword and Shield Army at the front."

Wu Lingyu also discovered the main force of the Tang army in advance. Knowing that the Tang army had no time to ambush and deploy, he thought for a while and ordered the generals He Chong and Jiang Hua: "General He led 3,000 people up the mountain from the north, and General Jiang also led 3,000 people from the south. Go up the mountain and you all occupy the top of the mountain. If there is a fierce battle between the two sides, you can shoot arrows at the Tang army!"

"Follow the order!"

The two men each led 3,000 people up the mountain from both sides of the valley. Wu Lingyu immediately ordered: "Advance the army into the valley!"