Tibet

The Tibetan soldiers were all extremely strong and their arms were very powerful. Although they used daggers, the daggers were very thick and heavy. Each dagger weighed at least ten kilograms, so that every blow made by the sword was very heavy and sharp.

Moreover, the Tibetan soldiers had far more physical strength than the Tang army, and were particularly good at fighting. Sometimes the Tang army's soldiers clearly outnumbered the enemy, but after a fierce battle for more than a while, the Tubo soldiers became more courageous as they fought, and the Tang army's soldiers were exhausted and would suddenly collapse. The army was defeated.

In the early Tang Dynasty, Xue Rengui's army was defeated by the Tibetan army. In the end, the entire army was destroyed, and even the commander Xue Rengui became a prisoner of war.

Therefore, when the numbers of the Tang and Tibetan armies were similar, the Tubo army looked down upon the Tang army. In terms of individual fierce battles, the Tang army was indeed inferior to the Tubo soldiers. Once the Tubo soldiers avoided the short spears of the Tang army soldiers and fought at close range, the Tang army soldiers would be in danger. .

But the soldiers of the Tang Army also had their advantages. They were good at formations. Often a dozen soldiers would gather into small square formations, back to back, cooperate with each other, and use collective strength to fight against the Tubo soldiers. No matter which direction the Tubo soldiers rushed up, they would always be Encountering the Tang army's short spear, it was impossible to avoid it.

The two sides fought evenly in this battle, with heavy casualties. A Tang Army soldier was pierced in the lower abdomen. Seeing that the opponent was about to chop off his head with a sword, the Tang Army soldier roared, threw down the opponent with all his strength, and pulled out The dagger pierced the other's throat, and at the same time, his chest was pierced by the dagger, and they both died together.

After fighting fiercely for half an hour, suddenly a rapid horn sound came from the direction of the county town. This was a signal for help. The Tibetan army general Lun Boxi was shocked. He only left 300 people to defend the city. Once the city was lost, they would have no food. .

"Retreat back to the city!" Lunboxi immediately ordered.

"Woo! Woo!" The retreat horn sounded.

The Tibetan soldiers indeed fought to the death. If they retreated privately, not only would they be executed, but their family members would also be implicated as slaves. If they were killed in battle, their family members would also be supported.

But this does not mean that the Tibetan soldiers cannot retreat. They must give an order from the commander-in-chief. When they hear the retreat horn, they must quickly evacuate the battlefield.

Nearly three thousand Tibetan soldiers quickly left the battlefield and ran toward the county seat. Although the Tang army had suffered casualties of up to a thousand, they did not lose momentum. Their morale was still high. Under the order of the leader Zhang Bingquan, the army chased after them.

Three miles away from the county seat, a cavalry force of 3,000 people suddenly came out from behind a low hill and charged into the Tibetan army. The Tibetan soldiers suddenly fell into chaos, and then an army of 5,000 people came out from the opposite side.

Seeing that he was about to be surrounded, Lunbosi shouted: "Retreat! Retreat!"

He led his soldiers to break out of the encirclement to the southwest, cut a bloody road, led less than two thousand troops to fight out, and ran wildly. The Tang army's cavalry chased behind them, constantly stabbing the Tibetan soldiers to the ground.

The remaining defeated Tibetan troops fled for more than 20 miles in one breath and rushed up a high slope. The Tang army's cavalry could not rush up, so they turned their horses and retreated.

Lunboxi looked back at his soldiers and saw that there were only 1,3400 soldiers left. He sighed and ran towards the Momen Military City ten miles away. It was a small military city with a little food and the Tubo army was stationed there. Hundreds of people, if there is a trust eagle, they can ask for help from Shanzhou.

The Tang army once again returned to the prisoner-of-war camp canyon. They used the carriages collected from the county to transport male and female prisoners of war to the county in batches for recuperation. Although the prisoners were weak, they were very conscious and looked at the people who came to rescue them. Many of the soldiers of the Tang Army hugged the soldiers of the Tang Army and cried loudly. They never thought that they would still survive.

At the same time, a flying eagle hovered in the sky for several weeks and flew to Shanzhou three hundred miles away.

The leader of the Tubo army in Longyou is none other than the famous general Dazalugong, whose Chinese name is Ma Chongying. He is currently in Huangshui County, Shanzhou. Ma Chongying has just taken office less than three months ago, and his predecessor is still dead because he failed to intercept the Tang Dynasty in time. The emperor and his ministers of the Tang Dynasty fled into Hanzhong. As a result, Shang Jiexi was dismissed by Tubo Zanpu and replaced by Ma Chongying as the governor of Helong.

Ma Chongying's position is very similar to Li Ye's, but his jurisdiction is wider than Li Ye's. His jurisdiction includes Shuofang.

New officials usually have three priorities when they take office. Of course Ma Chongying also has his three priorities. His first priority is to change generals. From the emperor to the courtiers, from ancient times to the present, there are no exceptions, from the country to the company. The same goes for Ma Chongying. He has been busy changing generals in the past two months.

Ma Chongying's second fire is to eliminate all resistance forces in Longyou and Hexi. This fire is almost over. The Tianlang Fort has been destroyed, and the only thing left is the last long castle. Once the castle in Longyou is destroyed, He will go all out to attack Qinzhou.

Attacking Qinzhou and Shazhou in the Hexi Corridor was his third priority.

He will use half a year to complete his three fires, and then there will be his three-year plan, which is to conquer Helong, based on Helong and Shuofang, attack Guanzhong, occupy Chang'an, and destroy the Tang Dynasty.

Ma Chongying is now thinking about the millions of refugees in Qinzhou. The reason why his predecessor Shang Jiexi has not captured Qinzhou is because he is worried about the millions of refugees in Qinzhou. The Tubo court is still arguing about how to deal with these millions of refugees. middle.

Several nobles in Tubo hoped to move millions of refugees into the hinterland of Tubo and become their slaves. Shang Jiexi supported this idea, and he did the same. Nearly 200,000 refugees from Huangzhou were moved into Tubo as slaves. Nearly half died in winter.

This made Tubo Zanpu very angry. The cattle and sheep could survive, but the people died.

Zanpu's idea was to repatriate them to their respective hometowns, register them as Tubo citizens, cultivate the land and pay taxes, and become a stable tax source for Tubo. Ma Chongying also had the same idea. Building an official government and absorbing the population was the way for Tubo to occupy Helong for a long time.

In the afternoon, a general rushed into the governor's office and shouted loudly: "Captain, Taozhou is calling for help!"

Ma Chongying was startled, "What's going on?"

The general saluted and said: "Xin Yunjing led his army to attack Taozhou and captured the Tang camp. He took away more than 37,000 prisoners of war. They are now in Lintan County."

This news made Ma Chongying's eyes brighten. When he attacked Tianlang Fort in Lanzhou, Ma Chongying suspected that Xin Yunjing would come to the rescue. He also ordered the Weizhou garrison to closely monitor Qinzhou. Unexpectedly, Xin Yunjing did not rescue Tianlang Fort and actually took Tao directly. State Tang camp.

Isn’t this giving yourself a chance? Just when I wanted to sleep, I came to the pillow.

But Ma Chongying did not rush to give the order. He sent for a Tibetan official in charge of the Tang camp, who happened to come to Shanzhou to report on his work.

The official came hurriedly, saluted with his hands in front of his chest and said, "What are the orders from the Governor?"

"I just received news that the Tang camp in Taozhou was captured by the Tang army this morning. How many prisoners of war are there?"

"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, there are 31,000 male prisoners of war and 7,600 female prisoners of war. But Commander, don't worry, they can't escape!"

"Why?" Ma Chongying asked in confusion.

"They were all reduced to skin and bones from hunger. Without ten days and a half of recuperation, they would never have thought of crossing the mountains and returning to Qinzhou!"

"I see!"

The biggest mystery in Ma Chongying's mind was solved. It turned out that the prisoners of war could not leave, so the Tang army stayed in Lintan County.

Ma Chongying sneered, a God-given opportunity, how could he not seize it?

He immediately issued an order: "Send an order to the 10,000 troops from Minzhou and Weizhou to occupy Qinzhou immediately, and the millions of Han people are not to be killed until I deal with it!"

Ma Chongying issued a second order, and 5,000 Tibetan troops from Didao and 5,000 Tibetan troops from the river immediately rushed to Taozhou for rescue.

He immediately ordered his deputy general Lun Mangre to lead an army of 10,000 to continue to support Taozhou, while he himself led an army of 20,000 to march towards Qinzhou.

The first batch of troops was an emergency rescue and emergency occupation of Qinzhou, while the second batch of troops was to calmly consolidate the situation in Longyou.

At this time, Ma Chongying did not know that Li Ye had led 80,000 Helong troops to Longyou.

This is the information gap between them, and it is also a fatal information gap.