Li Yunze stayed in Niyang City for several days.
The main purpose was to rebuild the city wall that had been blown up, and to clean up the city and throw the defenders into the swamp.
They collected the remains of the Tang army that had been killed before, left behind the defenders and supplies, and gave instructions for city defense and many other matters.
Like Qiemo and other places before it, Jingjue here goes north and deep into the vast sea, and there are also a series of oases extending to the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the north.
These oases in the desert are like winding curves, outlining a north-south, railway-like movement route.
Of course, it is impossible to deploy defenses across the vast vast sea.
Blocking the entrances and exits of these green channels is the most effective way to cut them off.
If there were not so many Tibetans in the north, Li Yunze would not dare to divide his troops like this.
But it was precisely because of the large number of Tibetan regiments that were gradually being surrounded in the North that far exceeded the carrying capacity of the oases along the way that Li Yunze dared to boldly blockade the entire line.
Further to the south on the plateau, there were no reinforcements to send. After all, Tubo's troops must have been used to their limit.
At the foot of the world, there are a large number of Tibetan troops who are preparing to destroy the reinforcements. When they realize that something is wrong and want to escape, as long as the commander is not a fool, he will inevitably divide his troops and run along several green passages.
Troops were deployed everywhere and blocked at every turn. Except for the route that Li Yunze came from, no other route could provide drinking water for tens of thousands of people.
The chaos when the army was defeated, the competition and betrayal, the march that lost its organization and formation, and other factors came together, and all kinds of soldiers and horses were trapped in the vast desert.
Li Yunze continued to march westward along the southern edge of the Hanhai, defeating many large and small groups of Tibetan soldiers and horses along the way, and did not care if they went to report the news.
The Tubo people did not have telegrams. By the time the main army under the command of the world got the news, Li Yunze had already arrived in Shule.
Before arriving in Shule, Li Yunze had only the last important town left in front of him, Yutian, which was also one of the four towns in Anxi.
Although Khotan is only a small country, it has a long history of more than a thousand years.
Here is the desert to the north, the Kunlun Mountains to the south, and rivers in the middle.
Generally speaking, Khotan is actually the largest oasis south of the Hanhai.
Because the desert rivers are constantly changing their course, many criss-crossing rivers are left in Khotan.
In these rivers, there are many precious jade deposits, which are called Hetian jade.
That's right, Khotan is Hotan.
Li Yunze personally led the vanguard troops and horses along the rivers that were dry in the dry season and surging in the rainy season. The scout horses in front came quickly to report that they had made contact with the local indigenous people and learned that there were about 10,000 Tibetans stationed in Khotan. People, and the leader is still spitting
Fan's famous general.
"Famous general? Which famous general? Lu Dongzan?"
Regarding Tubo, Li Yunze only knew Lu Dongzan.
This person is very thoughtful and capable of bending and stretching. He is definitely a character.
Tanma didn't know, nor did the locals. They only knew that the Tubo people called him a famous general.
Li Yunze, who was very cautious on the battlefield, decided to slow down his advance and get closer to the soldiers behind him.
In this way, whether the front army encounters an enemy or the rear army is attacked, it can receive support as soon as possible.
After all, he is a famous general, and there is nothing wrong with being cautious.
Unexpectedly, when they were still dozens of miles away from the capital of Khotan, they would encounter an overwhelming Tubo army.
Looking at the Tibetan soldiers and horses on the opposite side who were shouting to cross the river, Li Yunze looked solemn. He felt that the Tibetan people's quick response was already the key to mobilizing a large army to reinforce the most critical and important logistics supply line in Khotan.
The soldiers and horses in front of them are here to attract their attention. The main force of the Tibetan people may cross the river at a suitable ferry upstream and downstream, and they want to attack from both front and rear.
However, to Li Yunze's surprise, the elite detective horses were exhausted from running up and down the river for dozens of miles, but they could not find even a hair on the Tibetan people.
The river valley environment here is not suitable for an army to ambush at all, which means that there is really no Tibetan army on the side.
Looking at the tumultuous Tubo people arrayed across the river with a little doubt, no matter how you look at them, they don't look like they can imitate the overlord of Chu, who destroyed 300,000 people and defeated 300,000 people.
By the time the Tubo soldiers and horses rushed over with noisy shouts, Li Yunze was sure that this so-called famous general was probably out of his mind.
Fighting with your back against the water is actually to put yourself in a dead end first, relying on the morale burst from the desperate situation to destroy the enemy on the opposite side.
The reason why Chu Overlord is talked about is because in countless back-to-back battles from ancient times to the present, only a handful of times have been successful, and Chu Overlord is the one who has done the best.
The Tibetan soldiers and horses on the opposite side numbered more than 10,000, while the forwards beside Li Yunze only had 6,000, but among them were 4,000 Tang Dynasty cavalry.
After confirming that the famous general on the opposite side was a parallel import, Li Yunze did not hesitate to directly command the cavalry to attack from both sides, and the infantry phalanx resisted the impact of the Tibetan soldiers head-on.
The morale of the Tang army, which had been victorious all the way, was extremely high. At the same time, their equipment was at least several generations ahead of the Tibetan soldiers.
Basically everyone here in the Tang Army has iron armor, while here in Tubo there are not many leather armors.
The whole battle was lackluster, and the Tang army's infantry formation easily withstood the Tibetan attack.
Immediately, the cavalry detoured on both wings and rushed into the Tibetan army's formation. They galloped horizontally and easily destroyed and defeated them.
When the war started, the Tibetan soldiers roared like thunder and had a shocking momentum. After being defeated, they quickly fled.
The front and both wings were sealed, so the only option was to turn around and flee into the rushing river.
The Tang army easily caught up and drove most of them into the river.
As for the result, naturally there were countless floating corpses.
"Is this a famous general?"
Li Yunze shook his head and arranged to clean the battlefield and build a floating bridge to cross the river.
The main force of the Tibetan soldiers stationed in the capital of Khotan was wiped out by their famous generals. After the arrival of the Tang army, the remaining ones were unable to form effective defense capabilities at all and were defeated in a siege.
Li Yunze seized a large amount of supplies here.
The most important thing is livestock, and the other is highland barley.
With the end of the Ice Age, temperatures have become warmer and crops can be grown even on the plateau.
Then there are a lot of furs, as well as weapons, arrows, tents and other various military supplies.
These were sent down from the plateau and prepared to be sent to the Tianshan front line.
The Tubo people were not defenseless. They left more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Khotan. If they were to garrison the city, they would be enough to hold on for a long time.
What they didn't expect was that despite the worldwide attack on the Tang Dynasty, the Tang army was still able to mobilize large-scale reinforcements in a short period of time, and brazenly crossed the vast sea to cut off their supply line from the south.
According to their thinking, it would be at least a few months before the Tang army arrived at Chang'an City, where they were raising troops and horses to send reinforcements.
By that time, the Tang army on the southern front was basically finished, and the soldiers and horses mobilized by Tibet later could drive the livestock down the mountain to enhance the defense on the southern front.
They never expected that the Tang Army would be able to get the news so quickly, and the reinforcements would arrive in such a short time as if they had wings and flew over.
Finally, the famous general stationed in Khotan clearly had a city but did not hold on to it. Instead, he went out to fight outside the city.
As a result, Li Yunze defeated them in one fell swoop with 6,000 forwards, and even the most important logistical supply points were captured.
In the final analysis, the Tang army's reactions and actions were too fast, completely disrupting the Tibetan people's rhythm.
Khotan is extremely important. Going north, you can follow the desert river Yuhe all the way deep into the vast sea. When the desert river disappears into the desert, you can also rely on the oases along the way to go north to Gumo Kingdom and other places.
This is also the main logistical supply line for the Tibetan Northern Front.
Going west, crossing the Shache Kingdom, you will reach the important town of Shule. Another legion of the Tubo people is cooperating with the nine surnames of Zhaowu to besiege it.
The supply line over there also goes here.
In such an important place, Li Yunze simply left 7,000 troops to garrison in order to completely cut off the Tibetan people's retreat.
By the time he escorted a large supply convoy to Shule, there were only ten thousand soldiers left around him.
However, this time, Li Yunze changed from his previous slow pace and matched the marching speed of the supply convoy. Instead, he left 4,000 infantrymen to guard the supply convoy while he led more than 6,000 cavalrymen. Ten days of rations, one man and two horses heading towards Shule madly
Soar.
His favorite tactic is the rapid assault of the cavalry group. It was not used before because there were too many targets along the way and they were all defensive battles.
Now, only Shule, the final target, is left, and it is also a rescue battle. Naturally, we have to show off our special skills.
A thousand miles from Khotan to Shule, Li Yunze showed strong execution ability and arrived at Shule in seven days at a speed that was close to Xia Houyuan's "five hundred in three days and one thousand in six days."
There were only a few hundred Tang troops left behind along the way, and the exhausted horses were less than a quarter of the total.
Considering the forced march conditions of this era, it was already very good.
Li Yunze, who had eaten dry food all the way, stopped to repair in Yandu Prefecture, which was only a few dozen miles away from Shule.
The sky was dyed with red clouds. In the evening, the soldiers lit up the fire, set up the iron pot and started cooking hot food.
The soldiers of the Tang army and their horses all had a feast.
Tan Ma, who went to Shule to inquire, came back and reported to Li Yunze that there were huge crowds of people outside Shule City. There were messy camps of the nine surnames of Zhaowu and miscellaneous people from all over the place. All they saw were people with high noses and deep eyes.
As for the Tubo people, their camp is located outside the south of the city. The camp is very large and can accommodate tens of thousands of troops.
"It can't be tens of thousands."
Li Yunze shook his head repeatedly, "There are really so many. They have already driven the bastards to fill the city and kill ten or twenty thousand horses. Their main force must be heading towards Kucha."
After thinking for a while, Li Yunze issued the order: "The whole army goes to bed, prepare food at three o'clock in the Chou hour, and send out troops in the Yin hour!"
In other words, we cook at almost two o'clock in the morning and send out troops at three o'clock.
There is no doubt that this is a night attack.
The coalition forces besieged outside Shule City numbered at least 100,000 troops.
It would be very difficult for Li Yunze to fight head-on with these thousands of Tang troops.
In this case, night attack is the best option.
Here in Tang Jun, because of long-term nutrition, there is almost no night blindness.
"Send a report to Cheng Chumo in Shule City." Li Yunze once again asked, "Let him pay attention to his cooperation. Our army will launch an attack around midnight."
Transmitters are very rare, so Cheng Yaojin's Southern Route Army only has one.
And he left this transmitter in Shule City, which was appropriate considering Shule's important status.
It's just that everyone who understands Cheng Yaojin's thoughts knows that he is really a good father.
