Vertical sun.
Li Chengqian singled out five thousand elite soldiers among the Liangzhou soldiers, and then led his men to attack the Daxianbei Mountains.
Because some of the Liangzhou soldiers had followed Li Chongyi through this road before.
So this time, the difficulties Li Chengqian faced were much smaller than those faced by Li Chongyi.
And there is another very important reason.
That was when Li Chongyi led his army into the Daxianbei Mountains, it was snowing heavily, which made the march difficult.
But now, the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, and the people are marching much faster than when Li Chongyi led the troops.
At the same time Li Chengqian set off for the Daxianbei Mountains.
Li Tingxue also personally led 35,000 Liangzhou soldiers to continue heading north.
…
The Western Front Battlefield of the Tang Dynasty.
After the Western Turks joined the war.
It seems that the war on the northern front is no longer so important.
After all, in terms of national strength, the threat of the Western Turks to the Tang Dynasty was much greater than that of Goguryeo, a small land.
In order to fight against the invasion of the Western Turks, the Tang Dynasty not only sent two strong generals, Li Jing and Li Ji, but also troops from Shannan Road.
Perhaps when it comes to Shannan Road, others are a little unfamiliar with it.
They even forgot that Datang had a force called Bashu soldiers and Xiangyang soldiers in Shannan Road.
Of course, this can't be blamed on anyone else, it's just that Bashu soldiers have too few opportunities to appear.
The only time he made an appearance after the founding of the People's Republic of China was when Li Shimin was stationed in Yunzhou with Li Daozong during his nationwide crusade against the Northern Desert Turks.
But that time, because of Li Chengqian, Jie Li, who should have been captured alive by Li Daozong, got into Hou Junji's pocket.
This is also a big credit to Hou Junji for nothing.
And because of this, the soldiers of Shannan Road missed a good opportunity to make meritorious deeds.
As a result, even people within the Tang Dynasty have not taken the soldiers of Shannan Road seriously in recent years.
But they seem to have forgotten, thinking about which regiment was the one that fought across the Yangtze River and made Xiao Mian surrender...
Recall that at the beginning, Li Xiaogong and Li Jing led the Bashu soldiers to go down the river to attack Xiao Mian. On the way, they joined the Xiangyang soldiers led by Li Yuan, the king of Lujiang, and headed south.
Zhou Faming, a general under Xiao Xian who fought within one day, led the four states to surrender.
Later, they captured Anzhou and defeated Xiao Mian's generals Lei Changying and Lu Shan to surrender.
Especially in the battle at Qingjiangkou, the Bashu soldiers and the Xiangyang soldiers showed their daring and unafraid of death, fighting the enemy in a heart-stirring manner.
Not only defeated the enemy, but also captured thousands of warships.
Next, Li Xiaogong led the Bashu soldiers and Xiangyang soldiers to conquer Yichang, Dangyang, Zhijiang, and Songzi.
Attacked Jiangzhou and forced the general manager Gai Yan to surrender the city...
It can be said that without the bloody battle between the Bashu Army and the Xiangyang Army, it would have been at least a few years before the Tang Dynasty unified the world.
And this time, the two armies also had enough strength when they came to the northwest battlefield.
They also wanted the world to see that these soldiers from Bashu and Xiangyang were not living off the ground, and were not much worse than the soldiers from Bingliang and Liangzhou.
When Li Jing and Li Ji led their troops to the northwest, the Western Turks had already breached Yumen Pass.
And they have begun to gather troops and besiege Hecang City.
Faced with this predicament, Li Jing did not say anything, and immediately ordered five thousand cavalry, entered from the left wing of the Western Turks' military formation, fought out from the right wing, and fought straight to the gate of Hecang City.
There were originally fifteen thousand soldiers in Hecang City.
And because the Fengsui Fortress and Yumen Pass in the northwest have been breached one after another recently.
Many scattered soldiers who had escaped from the front line were also gathered here, totaling nearly 18,000 people.
After seeing the reinforcements coming, the defender of Hecang City was too excited. He mobilized his troops on the spot, leaving 3,000 people to guard the city, and then led the remaining 15,000 people to rush out of the city to fight with the enemy.
20,000 people joined forces in one place, and the 20,000 Western Turkic soldiers on the east side of Hecang City were defeated in just one charge. Groups of Western Turkic soldiers fled in disarray.
After hearing the news, the Western Turkic general did not lead his army to come to aid, but immediately ordered the entire army to launch a three-sided attack on Hecang City.
There were less than 3,000 people left in Hecang City itself. As a result, three walls were breached without even putting up any decent resistance.
Li Jing didn't have time to scold the general, so he quickly ordered the entire army to enter the city for rescue.
He originally planned to consume the enemy troops and find an opportunity to open a safe passage for the backup troops.
But I never thought that the commander of Hecang City would be so brainless that he would dare to lead his troops to fight out when the enemy was surrounding the city on all sides.
Fortunately, the recent victory allowed the Hecang City defenders to regain their lost morale.
Next, they followed Li Jing and started a fierce battle with the enemy in Hecang City.
The fighting lasted from day to night.
After a bloody battle by the defenders of Hecang City and the five thousand soldiers and horses brought by Li Jing, the city walls and gates captured by the enemy were finally recaptured.
But this time, a new problem came.
There was no safe passage. If Li Ji wanted to lead his troops in, he would have to kill him forcefully.
But in such a chaotic battle, no one can guarantee that they will have the last laugh.
Neither Li Jing nor Li Ji dared to do this.
Therefore, Li Ji, who arrived later, could only order the entire army to set up camp.
But this time, things became a little funny.
Li Jing and the defenders of Hecang City were besieged by the Western Turks.
Li Ji led the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty to besiege the Western Turks. No one could do anything to anyone, and the battle situation changed from an offensive and defensive battle at the beginning to a confrontation between 200,000 people.
…
Inside the Chinese military tent.
Li Ji looked at the map with a sad face.
Now even he doesn't know what to do.
After all, the confrontation between the two armies is not like a children's house game where you punch me and I kick you.
It's not like in a confrontation with thousands of people, once one party has the advantage, it can trample the other party to death.
In this kind of confrontation with hundreds of thousands of people, just a little carelessness will lead to a total loss.
If 100,000 people were defeated, it would be a real rout.
It’s unclear how many people would have to die along the way to stop the rout.
Li Ji didn't dare to gamble, and he couldn't afford it.
Similarly, the Western Turks did not dare to gamble, so the two parties could only confront each other like this.
However, the Western Turks have an obvious advantage. They are besieging Hecang City.
The tens of thousands of soldiers inside need to eat and drink. If time goes on, they will have no choice but to break out.
By that time, Datang had completely lost control of Hecang City.
Yumenguan and Hecang City are specially designed to protect the Hexi Corridor Silk Road.
If these two cities are lost, it means that Datang has lost control of the Hexi Corridor.
At that time, not only the Tang Dynasty would lose a lot of money earned through the Silk Road.
It will even cause Datang to completely lose its northwest barrier and fall into a situation where the enemy can attack whenever they want.
Li Ji looked at the generals in the field and said, "Everyone, has anyone thought of a good strategy to defeat the enemy?"
The generals looked at me and I at you, and finally they all lowered their heads.
Obviously, they did not dare to speak randomly at this time, for fear that if they lost the war, the fault would fall on themselves.
Seeing this, a young military general in the crowd chuckled and expressed disdain.
Immediately, he stood up, faced Li Ji and cupped his hands and said: "Commander, I will eventually have a good strategy to defeat the enemy..."
