In the southwest of Hezhou, countless mountains rise and fall, and above the vast clouds and mists, there seems to be another world.
Under the clouds and mist, among the mountains and steep mountain walls, hundreds of people were moving forward at great speed.
The black hook was thrown forward with force, and the hook rope that was tens of meters long extended. The hook claw had already caught a large rock in front, and the hook rope tightened instantly.
A black figure flew past in the blink of an eye and landed on the mountain wall in the distance.
Immediately afterwards, one figure after another emerged through the rock wall, appeared hundreds of meters away, and quickly disappeared.
I raised my sight and looked southwest. There seemed to be an invisible line between the countless cliffs. It came from the Tubo Plateau, extended here, and then spread towards Linxia, Hezhou, and penetrated into the city of Hezhou. .
High in the sky, a goshawk followed closely behind.
…
In the afternoon, Li Xuan opened her eyes, a hint of haze flashed in her eyes.
There was a hint of fragrance floating in the huge tent, which made people feel comfortable, but Li Xuan could not relax at all.
After the curtain, Li Xuan had already sat up. He was just taking a short break at noon. He routinely explored everything in Hezhou. Unexpectedly, he was lucky enough to see something unexpected.
But he is not very lucky. Now the entire Hezhou is under his watch. As long as those people enter Hezhou, they will immediately fall into the eyes of the eagles all over Hezhou.
According to calculations, these people can reach the state capital within two or three days.
Maybe even faster.
"I have long heard that Lun Qinling has a shadow army left by Songtsen Gampo. They are powerful. I didn't expect to see it today." Li Xuan sneered slightly at the corner of her mouth. These people should be here for the Blenzan Blade. came.
Regarding the situation of this shadow army, it was Princess Wencheng who reported it back. At that time, not much was confirmed by the DPRK and the Central Government, and many people did not even believe it.
According to Princess Wencheng, Songtsen Gampo fought in the east and west, moved the capital to Lhasa, quelled civil strife, subdued the Yangtong tribe, and unified Tubo... Behind these achievements was an extremely mysterious and capable army. This army was like Hidden behind Songtsen Gampo like a shadow.
No one knows the name of this unit, and perhaps Songtsen Gampo never even existed.
According to the secret letter, Princess Wencheng only accidentally discovered it after arriving at the Tubo Palace. However, after several searches, it was found that this shadow army had only appeared in a handful of wars. With clues, more things were investigated. come out.
Most of the troops established by Songtsen Gampo were selected from the Goba tribe of the Twelve Rock Gang of the original Shangshung Dynasty.
Its people are martial and good at fighting, not afraid of death, their folk customs are strong, they are good at using poison, and their nature is like that of wolves.
This shadow army is short and capable, with a strength of between 10,000 and 20,000 people. They learn various plateau warfare techniques and ranger swordsmanship techniques. At the same time, they also learn some strange and secret methods of the local Tubo religion, and are very powerful.
Songtsan Gampo deliberately organized all the young and strong men of the Goba tribe into a secret shadow army, which was not announced to the public, did not set a number, and was trained secretly. They could not be sent out unless there was a particularly important task; and once these people were dispatched, they would immediately destroy everything. , quickly ended the battle, and then disappeared without a trace,
Therefore, even many Tibetan court ministers were unaware of their existence.
When the news reached the Tang Dynasty, many people were interested at first, but these were all secrets in Tubo, let alone the Tang Dynasty.
Even the Secret Guards and the Ministry of War's official departments only finally confirmed it after encountering them very occasionally after a long time.
In the Battle of Dafeichuan, although Guo Daifeng was suspected of disobeying orders, he was also a general who should not be underestimated, and he could not be surrounded and annihilated so easily.
Guo Daifeng was the second son of the famous Zhenguan general Guo Xiaoke. When Guo Xiaoke was alive, he was a trusted general of Li Ji. He even captured King Yanqi of the Western Regions alive and captured the royal city of Qiuci.
Guo Daifeng was a Jinshi during the Xianqing period. Later, he was enshrined in the Hongwen Hall of the imperial edict. In the first year of Qianfeng, during the third Eastern Expedition of the Tang Dynasty to Goguryeo, Guo Daifeng was appointed as the general manager of the Jili Road march. He was under the control of Li Jijie and led the boat division. He crossed the sea and went straight to Pyongyang. He was promoted to General Zuobao Taowei and made outstanding achievements.
In the first year of Xianheng, the emperor attacked Tubo and appointed Xue Rengui as the general manager of the Luosu Road march, and Ashina Daozhen and Guo Daifeng as deputy general managers.
Guo Daifeng, the deputy general manager, is somewhat similar to Li Xuan now. Both of them are responsible for transporting military rations.
Although the grain transport soldiers under his command were similar to those Li Xuan had now, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were not that easy to mess with. However, they were still defeated by the sudden appearance of the mysterious troops in a very short period of time, which ultimately led to the tragic defeat of Dafeichuan.
This mysterious force is so secretive that outsiders don't even know they exist. Most of the time, they are dormant around the Tubo Palace, protecting the Tubo King.
Therefore, even considering the strength of the Qinling family, they could only serve as the Prime Minister of Tubo.
However, when Tubo encountered an important crisis, the leader of the Tubo Kingdom would still send out this secret force.
Dafeichuan was like this back then, and it is still like this today.
Li Xuan also didn't expect that Lun Qinling would send out these people for the Brenzan Blade.
You know, even in the hands of Lun Qinling, the number of these people may not exceed a thousand.
There are probably less than a few hundred people who can climb high mountains like this as if they were walking on flat ground. Now that there are 30,000 regular troops in front of Qinghai Lake, he dispatched a hundred people to come out. He really paid some attention to Li Xuan. .
"You think I am Guo Daifeng!" A slight sneer flashed at the corner of Li Xuan's mouth. Although he, like Guo Daifeng, was destined to send food and grass, he was completely different from Guo Daifeng. His behavior was But he is much more cautious than Guo Daifeng.
Grabbing the Eight-sided Han Sword placed on the soft couch, Li Xuan walked out of the tent wearing a black robe with gold threads.
In the large tent, the three thousand infantry were divided into several areas. Some were resting, some were training, and they had begun to resume their usual rhythm.
After traveling a long distance from Chang'an and resting in Huangniwan, Li Xuan's soldiers began to quickly regain their fighting strength.
However, these Hangzhou soldiers and the Yongzhou soldiers who were originally on the right guard were still somewhat separated from each other.
Li Xuan did not force the Yongzhou soldiers and the Hangzhou soldiers to merge into one. They only killed people in front of the army for military glory and food and salary, not to make friends on the battlefield.
Moreover, Li Xuan also has different methods of using Yongzhou soldiers and Hangzhou soldiers. Forcing them to be combined together will only mislead others and themselves.
At the gate of the camp, groups of cavalry rushed out of the camp quickly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Li Xuan's tent is slightly behind. After all, he is only the deputy commander.
The commander's tent is in the center of the army. After Li Jinxing left, Li Xuan handled the official affairs of the right guard here. He was in charge of 1,400 right guard cavalry, 100,000 cattle guards, 100 Jinwu guards, and 3,600 infantrymen. Death.
…
After opening the big tent, a huge sand table was placed flat in the center of the tent.
Taozhou, Hezhou and Lanzhou have all been completely displayed on the sand table.
There were more than a dozen soldiers around, and the staff officers and civil servants were busy non-stop.
Yu Ze and He Zhizhang stood in the corner, seeming to be arguing about something. When they saw Li Xuan, they came over immediately. Li Xuan waved his hand, indicating that they were discussing their own.
Li Xuan walked to the far west of the sand table, and his eyes fell on a certain position in the southwest mountains, where the group of Tubo shadow soldiers is now.
At the pass where the southwest mountains enter Hezhou, there are already hundreds of cavalry waiting in full formation.
In other words, in the mountains to the west, five hundred right-guard cavalry were patrolling back and forth. Their purpose was to block all the spies who tried to rush into the mountains, cross the mountains, and send secrets to the Tibetan army, but there was no such thing. I thought of encountering Tubo's shadow troops and charging in.
"Instructions are given that the third battalion of cavalry will withdraw from the southwest mountain pass tomorrow, patrol south for one day, and return to the mountain pass to station in the evening."
"Instructions are given that the fourth battalion of cavalry will move to the southwest mountain pass tomorrow and night, and will join the third battalion of cavalry. The day after tomorrow, the lines of defense will be exchanged."
Li Xuan's cold voice sounded in the tent, and soon, a group of five thousand cattle guards left to deliver the order.
"Send the order, the day after tomorrow..."
One order after another was passed on in an orderly manner, and the entire camp began to operate slowly like a machine.
Li Xuan's eyes finally fell on Bingling Lake in the northwest. Bingling Lake is an impact lake formed by the Yellow River rushing down from the backyard.
"Bingling Lake has a vast surface and clear water. Compared with Zhoucheng, it is more suitable for Hangzhou soldiers to be stationed there."
Yu Ze and He Zhizhang walked up from behind, followed by Yuan Wei.
After Yu Ze finished speaking, Yuan Wei immediately continued: "Students have been to Bingling Lake more than once. To the west of Bingling Lake, although the Yellow River course is steep, it is relatively smooth. However, after thirty miles, the river course immediately becomes There are nine twists and turns and eighteen bends, but it’s still a small amount even if you think about it.”
"With nine twists and turns, coupled with the undulating terrain and rapid rivers, it is indeed not a good place for boating." Li Xuan nodded slightly, then smiled and said: "The Ministry of War deliberately transferred the Hangzhou Guards to the Yellow River. I'm afraid this idea is going to be wrong."
"But there is always hope. It is better for southerners to transport grain and grass along the Yellow River than for northerners who don't know the nature of water." Yu Ze shrugged indifferently.
"The Hangzhou soldiers came to the plateau not just to transport food and grass." Li Xuan sighed softly and said, "Guo Daifeng must have had this idea back then, and that was why the Tubo people took advantage of him."
"That's why the court transferred the prince here because he is a rare cautious and steady person in the court today." He Zhizhang handed over his hand seriously.
Li Xuan glanced at He Zhizhang in a funny way, waved his hand and said: "Brother Ji Zhen, there is no need to praise him so hard. There are many mature and steady generals in the court. Brother Yu still knows the importance. In today's war, we still have to put food and grass first and take risks. This king will not do anything like that."
Li Xuan is much more sober than Guo Daifeng, because he knows that so far, the real difficulties in the army's campaign against Tubo have not yet arrived.
Looking at Yuan Wei who was eager to try, Li Xuan asked in surprise: "Brother Yuan Xian, don't you also want to go to the front line? I can't make the decision in this matter."
Yuan Wei immediately smiled wryly and raised his hands, saying: "Your Majesty, this student has discussed this matter with his father Jiaci, and the two elders are not too opposed to it, but..."
Li Xuan asked curiously: "Just what?"
Yuan Wei took out an invitation from his sleeve and handed it to Li Xuan. At the same time, he solemnly said: "My father would like to invite the prince to visit the palace tomorrow night."
Tomorrow night, at the banquet, Li Xuan frowned slightly.
The next moment, he had already received the invitation.
When he lowered his head and opened it, a coldness flashed deep in the dark eyes.
The Tubo Light Army is a real shadow army
(End of chapter)
