Tibet

In Taozhou, tens of thousands of Han captives rested for three days and were basically able to walk. After all, they were relatively young. As long as they had enough food and a few days of good rest, most people could recover their physical strength, even if a few people were not in good health. , but you can also ride a horse.

Xin Yunjing knew that it could not be delayed any longer, so he left the county and retreated eastward with his army, 38,000 rescued prisoners of war, and more than 10,000 Lintan County people.

The next morning, they crossed the Tao River from the pontoon bridge they had built before. This is the upper reaches of the Tao River. The river has a large drop and the current is fast. It is very laborious to build the pontoon bridge. The Tang army immediately burned the pontoon bridge.

At this time, a cavalryman galloped along the Tao River. When he came close, the cavalryman dismounted, knelt down on one knee and reported: "To General Xin, General Lei Wanchun led an army of 10,000 people to annihilate all 5,000 people in Minzhou." The Tubo army is currently in Yile County, Minzhou. There is food there and the people can be transferred to Yile County."

This news came too timely. According to Li Ye's prior arrangements, the Tang army's first step was to set the Tao River as the boundary with Tubo. Xin Yunjing immediately asked Zhang Bingquan to lead a large group of people to Yile County, Minzhou, a hundred miles away. He led 10,000 The army prevented the enemy from crossing the river.

The upper reaches of Taoshuang River are full of high mountains and deep valleys, and the only way to cross the river is through Guandao Ferry, which is where Xin Yunjing led his army and people to cross the river.

In fact, there is only one crossing point in the entire upper reaches of Taoshui River. Further north, there are two crossing points in the Taoshui River Valley. These are the three crossing points in total. It is not that you can't cross the river in other places. There is a lot of Taoshui River. The water flow here is gentle and there are large grasslands on both sides. It is easy to paddle a kayak to this place.

Although you can cross the river in these grassland areas, you have to climb mountains and ridges to get to the river. Logistics and mules and horses cannot cross the mountains. Therefore, you must be able to cross the river and cross the river. Both conditions must be met. , in Longyou, which is full of vast mountains, there are too few places like this.

The entire Taoshui River, which is more than 1,300 miles long, has only five official crossing points, one in the upper reaches, two in the middle reaches and two in the lower reaches.

The position Xin Yunjing held was the river crossing point upstream, called Heiyangxia Ferry.

In the afternoon, Huben Lang general Lei Wanchun led 5,000 soldiers to Heyang Gorge to cross the river, and brought back 10,000 camels loaded with food. Among his troops were 1,000 heavy armored infantry and 2,000 heavy crossbowmen. Specifically to defeat Taozhou's pursuers.

One thousand soldiers were responsible for guarding the ferry, and the other 14,000 soldiers began to build a city on the east bank of the ferry. According to Li Ye's plan, five military cities were built on the east bank of the Tao River to guard the official road across the river.

The next morning, scouts reported that there were more than 10,000 Tibetan pursuers west of the Taoshui River. They came to chase the escaped prisoners of war from the Tang camp. Lei Wanchun and Xin Yunjing immediately decided to hide their troops and beat the enemy half way across.

Sixteen thousand Tubo troops rushed to the west bank of the Tao River. The leader of the army was none other than Deputy Governor Lun Mangre. Lun Mangre was born into a noble family. He was young, promising, smart and capable. He was less than thirty years old this year. He was destined to be Ma Chongying's son. Successor, this is also true. During the Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Yu's period in history, Lun Mangre became one of Tubo's chief generals in the northwest, and later became the commander-in-chief.

Lun Mangre was only twenty-eight years old, but he had been in the army for ten years and participated in many wars with the Tang army.

He stood on the bank of Taoshui River and looked towards the other side. There were not many people on the other side, only a few hundred people. The Taozhou military envoy Lun Boxi whispered: "Deputy Governor, why not just build a pontoon bridge!"

Lun Mangre shook his head, "It's not wise to build the pontoon bridge first. The enemy will burn it down as soon as it's on fire. We need to seize the other side first. At least a few thousand people must go over there and control the other side before we start building the pontoon bridge."

Lun Mangre immediately ordered: "Zhuchadong led three thousand troops to cross the Tao River and control the other side."

Zhuchadong was the military envoy of Hezhou and led 5,000 troops to rescue Taozhou. However, he set out relatively late. When he arrived in Taozhou, Lun Mangre's 10,000 troops also arrived at the same time.

This made Lun Mangre very dissatisfied, thinking that he had delayed the military order, so Lun Mangre asked him to take the lead and lead the army across the river.

The Tao River is twenty feet wide, maybe less than sixty meters wide. It is not very wide, but the current is very fast, so if you use a raft to cross the river and don't pay attention, you will be swept away by the river.

But the Tubo army had their own way of crossing the river. A dozen soldiers with excellent water skills crossed the river first, each with a rope tied around their waist. After crossing the river, they tied the rope to the big rock on the other side. The Tubo soldiers were riding on rafts Tie a looper and hang it on the rope across the river, and the soldiers on the other side pull the raft across the river.

After the rafts were empty, the other party pulled the rafts over again. More and more rafts were hung on the ropes. One hundred and fifty Tibetan soldiers crossed the river at one time, and all three thousand soldiers crossed the river in twenty trips.

Just as the three thousand soldiers had just crossed the river and were unable to gain a firm foothold, tens of thousands of Tang troops who were ambushing on the other side suddenly appeared. Thousands of arrows were fired, and the overwhelming crossbow arrows hit the Tubo troops on the bank like a storm. The three thousand Tubo soldiers were caught off guard and were hit by arrows one after another. Falling to the ground, screams echoed across the river.

Lun Mangre was horrified and shouted: "The whole army retreats, retreats, retreats!"

But it was impossible. The arrows were too dense. All fifteen ropes across the river were broken by arrows. Even hundreds of soldiers on the west bank were shot by arrows, and they were also within the killing range.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Lun Mangre immediately ordered the army to retreat, and the Tibetan army quickly retreated to a mile away.

After five rounds of arrows were fired, there was no one standing on the shore. As soon as Xin Yunjing got up and stood up, Lei Wanchun grabbed him and said, "The enemy is still there!"

Xin Yunjing was startled, it was clear that all of them had been shot.

Lei Wanchun turned around and ordered: "Enter the heavy armored infantry"

A thousand heavy armored infantrymen of the Tang Army came out from behind, formed formation and walked towards the shore step by step.

At this time, the Tibetan soldiers lying on the ground stood up one after another. There were thousands of them.

Xin Yunjing then secretly admired Lei Wanchun's thinking. Of course, the Tibetan soldiers would not be shot while standing, and lying down was the best way to avoid them.

The last 800 or so Tibetan soldiers roared and brandished their daggers to kill the heavy armored infantry on the mountain wall.

In the north of Didao County is Kanglang Mountain. Two famous castles, Tianlang Castle and Chang Castle, were built on the south and north of Kanglang Mountain respectively.

At this time, the Tianlang Fort had been burned to the ground by a fire, and two thousand Tubo soldiers were still attacking the Great Wall Treasure in the north.

But no matter whether it is the Sirius Castle or the Long Castle, it is not easy to break it. It is built halfway up the mountain, with cliffs behind it. There is only one way up the mountain.

There was water in the castle, enough food and weapons, and a large amount of rolling logs and stones. Nearly a thousand people defended it for a year, and more than a dozen attacks ended in failure.

The Tianlang Fort was built because there was a large mountain that was not a cliff. The Tibetan army climbed up the mountain. Dozens of people took advantage of the cover of the night to hang ropes down from the mountain. They worked together inside and outside. The Tianlang Fort was attacked by two thousand Tibetan troops at night.

But the Long Castle did not have this flaw. Two thousand Tibetan soldiers attacked it for more than ten days, with more than 300 casualties, but to no avail.

That morning, the war drums were beating loudly, and a thousand Tubo troops were going all out to attack the castle. They never dreamed that a Tang army suddenly arrived, and Yu Changyang led three thousand cavalry into the Tubo camp.

Hundreds of Tibetan soldiers who were cheering at the foot of the cliff were killed with blood and flesh flying everywhere. Their heads were rolling, and the drums suddenly became mute.

A thousand Tubo soldiers who had attacked halfway up the mountain retreated hurriedly, but it was in vain. He became a target for the Tang army on the mountain. Thousands of Tang soldiers fired arrows at the same time. The Tubo soldiers had nowhere to hide. They were hit by arrows one after another and rolled down the mountain. .

Without even a chance to resist, they were completely wiped out by the Tang army.

The owner of Chang Castle is also a wealthy family in Jincheng County, Lanzhou. His surname is Yang. The wife of Li Ye's uncle Pei Jian is the daughter of the Yang family.

The master of the fort is called Yang Xiao, who is about forty years old and tall and strong. He was originally a member of the Lanzhou regiment. He is very skilled in martial arts and is good at defense.

When the Tubo people came to kill them, they had nowhere to escape, so Yang Xiao took nearly a thousand tribesmen and villagers and hid in the long castle. Fortunately, they were prepared in advance, and had thousands of stones of food stored in them and sufficient supplies of all kinds.

Yang Xiao led five hundred young men to form a fort defense army. After nearly a year of guarding the fort, everyone was exhausted physically and mentally.