These days there are no telephones or cell phone networks.
The transmission of information relies entirely on people walking and running, and it is really slow when the distance is longer.
The Mangbu branch, which was nomadic near the West Sea, quickly began to mobilize troops and horses to come for reinforcements after receiving the request for help from Shibao City.
When we set out, we didn't know that Stone Castle City had been breached, so we just wanted to rush on our way and didn't have a high level of vigilance.
When they were marching dozens of miles away from Shibao City, they were suddenly hit hard by the Tang army and could not react at all for a while.
The Tibetan soldiers driving the yak herd could not even organize a decent resistance, and were scattered by tens of thousands of Tang army cavalry.
Next, there was a crazy pursuit by the Tang cavalry.
Shibao City is located at the entrance of the mountain pass. Passing through Shibao City is the vast plateau.
The height here is not beyond the bearing capacity, and Tang Jun can also show good strength here.
The mountains and plains were filled with fleeing Tibetan soldiers and yaks running around unattended.
Ge Shuhan, who was agitated and determined to die for the emperor, led his soldiers and horses in a frantic pursuit. He really chased with his life until he vomited blood.
At the furthest point, he was almost catching up to the west coast.
The corresponding results are naturally very good. Ge Shuhan himself reported that tens of thousands of people were killed in the formation, and the leader of his unit, Mangbu Zhi, was not in the formation.
Tens of thousands of yaks and horses were seized, and there was another beef feast after returning to Shibao City.
Ge Shuhan, who had won a great victory, quickly promoted his title from Xiping Bo to Xiping Marquis. This really made everyone in the Tang army watch with excitement.
Everyone is clamoring to make contributions to the Tang Dynasty.
Naturally, Li Yunze would not cool down the soldiers' desire for war, and after a little repair, he sent troops to attack Kuozhou, which was the outpost of Shibao City.
Kuozhou was captured by Tibet a few years ago, and all the soldiers and civilians in the city were slaughtered.
This time Li Yunze counterattacked and came back, naturally wanting revenge.
Different from Shibao City, Kuozhou is a city built on a plateau.
Not only was the city wall low, but there were no defensive equipment at all.
However, after surrounding Kuozhou City, Li Yunze did not rush to order an attack on this city that seemed to be captured in one battle, and even let go of many messengers who were asking for help.
The generals in the army were puzzled by this. It was obvious that victory was within easy reach, so why did the emperor not allow the city to be attacked?
But Brother Shuhan saw Li Yunze's plan, which was to attract Tubo to come to the rescue.
The plateau covers a large area, and tribes scattered all over the place learned that the crucial Stone Castle was lost again, and they all hurried over to support.
Of course, the Tubo people were not stupid, and they would not go directly to the main force of the Tang Dynasty. They gradually gathered and formed a large army led by Langzhidu, the son of Zanpu.
As time went by, more and more people gathered around Langzhidu.
Faced with the constant envoys sent by Kuozhou, Langzhidu could not wait too long. After all, this was a war on their territory, and the pressure from all aspects was too great.
After hastily gathering tens of thousands of troops, they went straight to Kuozhou.
Li Yunze was waiting for reinforcements.
Surround the point to call for reinforcements. Calling for reinforcements is the key point.
History books said that Tubo had hundreds of thousands of troops at this time. Li Yunze did not believe this.
Although the climate of this era was mild and the production of highland barley increased, it was impossible for Tibet's national power to support hundreds of thousands of troops.
You must know that the national power of the Tang Dynasty, before Li Yunze expanded his army, was only 500,000 to 600,000 troops.
The only explanation is that all the people are soldiers, and as long as they are herdsmen, they are considered soldiers.
Li Yunze really didn't care about such an army.
What they relied on was the plateau terrain and lack of oxygen on the plateau.
In terms of terrain, after breaking through the natural chasm of Shibao City, the road is basically clear.
Even though there are countless lakes and mountains, there is no such dangerous place as Stone Castle with only one path. At least the soldiers and horses can spread out.
And altitude sickness, which is considered insurmountable, is what this era calls qi disease. In Li Yunze's view, it was not that magical.
He had been to the plateau before encountering the system. He didn't even have an adaptation period. He just went up. After going up, he wandered around and nothing happened. He felt no different from down there.
Some people are born with the ability to adapt, and those who cannot adapt no matter what, just don't go up.
In addition, with the help of rhodiola, saffron and other obvious medicines, gas diseases are not as terrible as imagined.
The soldiers and horses of Langzhidu drove a large group of yaks towards Kuozhou. They did not expect that when they were still a hundred miles away from Kuozhou, they ran into the main force of the Tang army very cleanly.
It was only at this time that Li Yunze ordered his own dragon flag to be played.
When he learned that the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had actually come here, Langzhidu's first thought was not, 'It's time to make a great contribution,' but, 'Why is the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty here? ! '
The Tang Dynasty dominated the world, defeating the invincible opponents around it.
With his illustrious reputation, the Emperor of Tang came here in person, and he must be surrounded by the most awesome army in the entire Tang Dynasty.
Just tens of thousands of herders like him.
Langzhi wanted to run away, but he also knew that the result of running away at this time would be that the entire army would collapse and be hunted down.
In desperation, they could only bite the bullet and step forward to fight, hoping for a miracle, such as a gust of wind blowing down the flag of the Tang army and killing their emperor. Or maybe the Tang Emperor's horse stumbled and threw their emperor to death.
The idea was naturally very wonderful. If he could defeat the Tang army and kill the Tang emperor, he would definitely become the next Zampu.
It's a pity that this can only be thought about.
The Tang army used the infantry as chopping boards to tightly entangle the Tibetan army formation, and used the cavalry as hammers to strike hard from both wings.
Facing the heavy attack by the Tang army, the Tubo army, which was mainly composed of herdsmen, was unable to resist and was destroyed like snow melting in spring.
The Tang Dynasty in this era was so powerful. As long as there was no emperor, and as long as there was no internal turmoil, the Tubo people would never be able to break through Chang'an City.
In history, the Tubo people invaded the city of Chang'an, burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of evil. They even established a puppet court and supported a puppet emperor.
Thanks to Guo Ziyi for regaining Chang'an City, otherwise Guanzhong would no longer grow food and would instead raise yaks.
After a great battle, even Langzhi, the leader of the Tubo army, could not escape, and more than 50,000 people fell on the battlefield.
The armies of the Song and Ming dynasties lacked horses and elite cavalry, which made it difficult to pursue and maximize the results even if they won on the battlefield.
The Tang Dynasty was different. The Tang Dynasty not only had elite cavalry, but also had many excellent horse farms, which could provide tall and strong horses.
These horses have outstanding endurance and can carry soldiers on their backs and even wear horse armor.
The Tubo cavalry collided with the Tang army's cavalry, and there was no possibility of victory.
Under the mad pursuit of more than 10,000 Tang army cavalry, more than 50,000 people brought by Langzhidu were almost completely wiped out.
After the great victory, the Tang army returned to Kuozhou and defeated it in one battle, cleaning up the entire city.
After that, basically no Tubo troops came again, and nearly 100,000 troops were lost one after another. The Tubo army was already exhausted, and they were busy mobilizing manpower to defend the capital, so they dared not fight again.
It doesn't matter if Li Yunze can't wait for the Tubo army. If you don't come, then I will go by myself.
He mobilized troops and horses from the rear, and almost all the elite soldiers from Longyou and Hexi were gathered up the mountain.
In more than two months, the Tang army near Shibao City and Kuozhou quickly approached 100,000 people.
Gao Shi, who served as the marching commander, approached Li Yunze and said very simply, "Your Majesty, we must withdraw our troops and go down the mountain immediately, otherwise we will all starve to death on this mountain."
With nearly 100,000 soldiers and horses, plus the food, drink and chewing of the civilians and livestock accompanying the army, the daily consumption is an astronomical figure.
Hexi and Longyou are not areas rich in food, and military supplies are transported over long distances from the distant city of Chang'an.
Now it's even more exaggerated, and they have to be transported from Longyou, Hexi to the plateau.
In Gao Shi's words, sending ten shi of grain would cost a man or an animal.
Datang's logistical support capabilities were simply not enough to support so many troops fighting on the plateau.
"I understand."
Li Yunze has been tested in battles for many years and is a true hexagonal warrior. Of course he knows the limits of his logistical support capabilities.
His original plan was to arrange for Ge Shuhan to be stationed here after conquering Shibao City, constantly harassing Tubo and weakening its war potential.
However, the Tubo people sent great gifts one after another, and the loss of nearly 100,000 horses had greatly weakened its war strength.
Li Yunze sensed the opportunity and immediately decided to destroy Tubo in one fell swoop, completely eliminating this huge hidden danger for the Tang Dynasty.
Tubo appeared almost specifically to deceive the Tang Dynasty.
In history, they not only conquered Chang'an City, but also encroached on the entire Western Region. From the Tang Dynasty to the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty never regained this area.
The story of the white-haired soldiers in the Western Regions has been circulating for a long time.
However, with the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo also fell into a state of decline. From then on, there were almost no bright moments.
What else can be said, it can only be said that Tubo was specifically trying to trick the Tang Dynasty.
Now that he has the opportunity, Li Yunze is determined to use his golden fingers to completely eliminate this hidden danger.
The cost of a hundred thousand troops plus civilians and livestock is nothing. The most indispensable thing in the industrial age is all kinds of materials.
"When I was dreaming, Emperor Taizong asked for guidance in the dream and told me that there was a Tibetan grain farm near the army."
Li Yunze smiled and asked, "Gao Qing's family can take people to transport all the military supplies back."
After hearing these words, Gao Shi looked at Li Yunze as if he were looking at a sand sculpture.
Emperor Taizong told him a dream, and he accepted it.
But Emperor Taizong knew the Tibetan people's grain farming land, which was really ridiculous.
To put it bluntly, even if Emperor Taizong knew that the Tubo people's grain harvesting ground was nearby, wouldn't it mean that all the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were blind?
The area near where the army is stationed has long been turned upside down. No one can see a target as big as a grain farm?
In the end, even if Emperor Taizong really entrusted him with a dream, even if the Tang army's scouts were all blind and couldn't see such a large land for grain cultivation, could the Tubo people be fools? This kind of place must either transport the food away or simply burn it down, and it is impossible to leave it to the Tang army.
Facing Gao Shi's eyes, Li Yunze said with a smile, "Let's go and have a look at the Qing family. If there is anything, then the army will continue to send troops. If not, how about we return to the court with our troops?"
Gao Shi, who felt that he was being treated as a fool, sighed helplessly, saluted and left the Chinese army's tent.
Leading a group of Tang troops, they went to a valley that Li Yunze mentioned out of boredom.
He felt that he was crazy for making such an agreement with the emperor. If it were recorded by the historian, he would become a fool who would be laughed at by future generations.
The valley Li Yunze mentioned is very close to the camp, which is about twenty miles away.
At such a distance, explorers would pass through basically every day.
Sighing, Gao Shi turned around the mountain col and came to the valley. Then he looked at the mountains of grain bags piled up in the valley, and fell off his horse as if he had been struck by lightning.
After sitting on the ground in silence for a long time, Gao Shi suddenly stood up and knelt down to pray to the sky.
"Emperor Taizong's gift from heaven helped the Tang Dynasty to annihilate Tubo. I beg Emperor Taizong for forgiveness. God bless the Tang Dynasty!"
(End of chapter)
