Tibet

The jurisdiction of Longyou Jiedu Prefecture mainly covers the area from the west of Longshan to the West Sea, with Lanzhou in the north and Wuzhou in the south. The core is Shanzhou in Hehuang area, which is today's Xining area. It is also the most populous area in Longyou area. It is the most prosperous and prosperous area with the most wheat fields, but it is also the area hardest hit by the invasion of the Tibetan army.

The climate of Longyou in the Tang Dynasty was mild and humid, which was different from today's climate. It was full of lush forests, crisscrossed by rivers, and teeming with various wild animals.

That afternoon, a Tang Army scout composed of thirty cavalry scouts, led by Lang General Zhang Dian, galloped through the Taoshui River Valley in southern Lanzhou.

Zhang Dian led the activities in Longyou and Hexi a month ago. He knew that he shouldered a heavy responsibility, which was related to the strategic choice of the entire army, whether to choose Hexi or Longyou.

They ran around to collect all kinds of information about the Tubo army. For more than a month, they traveled all over Longyou and Hexi.

He originally brought fifty men. He had previously sent twenty men to investigate Juyanhai in Ganzhou, so he led the other thirty men to Longyou.

Suddenly, Zhang Dian waved his hand, and the cavalry men behind him reined in their horses one after another. Everyone's eyes lit up, and they saw a group of fat sika deer bowing their heads to drink water by the river in front.

Zhang Dian gently waved his hands to both sides, and thirty of his men immediately divided into two teams and surrounded the deer. Thirty crossbow arrows were suddenly fired. More than a dozen deer were caught off guard and fell to the ground immediately. The rest of the deer were frightened. , immediately ran to the other side of the river and disappeared into the dense forest.

The soldiers cheered and ran towards the prey on the ground

In the open space in front of the river, the soldiers roasted venison and took big bites of the roasted delicacy.

They were not at war. There were many people nearby within a hundred miles, and fireworks could be seen everywhere. There was no need to worry that the smoke from the barbecue would alert the Tibetan army patrols.

Of course, they had also encountered a Tibetan patrol in Shanzhou before and had a fierce battle with the Tibetan patrol. Unfortunately, they were not able to annihilate all the Tibetan soldiers and three of them escaped.

But this doesn't mean anything. Qinzhou originally had five thousand Tang troops, so it was normal for Tang Dynasty scouts to appear in Hehuang.

More importantly, when the thirty Tang Dynasty scouts set out from Xiangyang, the negotiations had not yet begun. Except for General Zhang Dian, who had some information, the other Tang Army scouts did not know that the Jianghan Army was moving to Longyou, and thought they were supporting Qinzhou. Tang Jun.

Even if the Tubo army captured this Tang army scout, they would not be able to get any information.

After eating the venison, everyone packed up and were about to leave when suddenly a sentry in the tree shouted, "There's something going on in the north!"

Everyone was startled and led their horses towards the dense forest.

The scout cavalry hid deep in the dense forest and looked outside at the Taoshui River. After a while, they saw about fifty Tibetan cavalry escorting hundreds of Han people walking towards them. These Han people had their hands tied behind their backs and their legs They were strung together by long ropes. There were about a hundred people in one team, five teams in total, including men and women. They were basically young adults and children. There were a dozen young women holding children, but there were no old people.

A soldier suddenly recognized him, "General, he seems to be from Tianlang Fort. Isn't that big black man an iron cow?"

Tied at the front was a sturdy Han man, two meters tall, as strong as an ox, and with skin as dark as charcoal.

Zhang Dian recognized it. He was indeed from Tianlang Fort. The Fort has always been a characteristic of the Hehuang Longyou area. The people here have been fighting against the Tuyuhun people since the Sui Dynasty. The people here are fierce and martial. The powerful Han landlords here take advantage of Huishan. He planned to build castles one after another, and his family lived in them. Once the Tibetans attacked, the surrounding people would hide in the castles one after another. The young men armed themselves and fought fiercely with the invading enemy troops.

At the beginning, the fortresses could still function, but as the Tibetan army increased, each fortress was torn down, the old and the weak were killed, and young men, women, and children were sent to Tibet as slaves.

Tianlang Fort is one of the few castles in Longyou that has not been breached. The owner of the fort, Xin Ran, is from the Xin family, a wealthy family in Hexi, and is the second uncle of Xin Yunjing, the current military envoy of Qinzhou.

He led his two sons to guard Tianlang Fort. The second son, Xin Changwu, was the iron ox who was tied up and walked in the front. He was equipped with a pair of sledgehammers weighing more than 100 kilograms and had the courage of ten thousand men.

Before, Zhang Dian led his men to carry out supplies at Tianlang Castle, but he didn't expect that such a strong castle would be breached.

"General, do you want to take action?"

Zhang Dian nodded. There were not many people on the other side. There were only fifty people who could attack.

"Go and see if there is an enemy group behind you?" Zhang Dian ordered the sentry.

The sentry immediately climbed up a big tree and looked behind. After a while, he came back and reported, "General, there are only fifty Tibetan cavalry, not a large group of cavalry."

Didao County in the north is about sixty miles away from here. The main Tibetan army has returned to the county. These prisoners of war from Tianlang Fort should be taken to Taozhou. It is said that there is a concentration point in Taozhou where Han people captured from various places will be sent. They were concentrated in Taozhou and then sent to Tibet in batches.

Zhang Dian thought for a while, called the team leader Liu Tan, and whispered to him: "You lead five brothers to conduct a sneak attack first, kill a few Tibetans, and then escape into the woods. I will ambush you in the woods."

Zhang Dian already had a good understanding of the characteristics of the Tubo army. Once they were attacked by surprise and their comrades were killed, the Tubo army would definitely not give up and would fight to the death.

Liu Tan led five of his men out, and Zhang Dian ordered his men: "Everyone prepare poisonous arrows!"

Each scout cavalry will carry ten poisonous arrows. This poisonous arrow is different from the poisonous arrows used by the army. It can be said to be bloody and extremely poisonous. The number is very small. Only the most elite internal guards and scout cavalry will be equipped.

Zhang Dian had never used them, but today he realized that there would be a tough battle and decisively ordered the soldiers to take out the poisonous crossbow arrows.

The soldiers took out a bamboo tube and put it in the quiver. They took out a crossbow arrow from the bamboo tube and put it on the crossbow. They spread out in all directions and set up an ambush.

Suddenly there were several screams on the road, and three Tibetan soldiers were shot through the neck with a crossbow bolt by the Tang Army cavalry who suddenly came out, and fell from their horses.

The leader of the Tubo Hundreds saw it clearly and shouted a few times. Twenty Tubos shouted and chased after him.

The team stopped moving forward, and all the tied prisoners sat down on the spot. The remaining nearly thirty Tibetan cavalry were particularly vigilant with spears in their hands.

For a moment, a scream came from the woods. A Tibetan soldier ran out and suddenly fell to the ground. His face was black and he was foaming at the mouth.

The Tubo centurions realized that they had been ambushed, and they were a bit stuck. They chased them in. What should the prisoners do? If he was pursued, how would he explain himself when he went back?

Suddenly someone shouted: "Brothers from Sirius Fort, all get down!"

More than 500 people hurriedly lay down on the ground, and then crossbow bolts were fired intensively. The Tibetan cavalry hurriedly raised their shields, but the Tang army scouts shot the horses but not the people.

The war horses were hit by arrows one after another, neighing in pain, and soon fell to the ground. The crossbow arrows were so poisonous that even the war horses could not bear it.

In just a moment, only three horses of the thirty cavalry were still standing.

Thirty Tang Army scouts and cavalry came out and fought basically one-on-one. Tang Army scouts were selected from hundreds of thousands of soldiers. They were considered the elite among the elite. Each of them could fight one against five.

Zhang Dian swung his spear, and from a high position, he directly attacked the enemy's hundred-man army, and stabbed with the spear as fast as lightning.

The centurion had no horse, and his spear was also blocked. He pulled out his dagger and held a shield to block, but was killed by Zhang Dian, who kept retreating and yelling.

Suddenly the centurion screamed, and a spear tip pierced his chest, and he immediately fell to the ground and died.

It turned out that the black man Xin Changwu cut the rope on his wrist with the dagger on his war horse, picked up half of the spear, and stabbed the Tubo centurion in the back.