Li Xuan stood on the sentry tower, her eyes falling on the raft on the river.
On the south bank of the Yellow River, the rafts are connected horizontally, but the farther forward, the fewer the number of rafts, and even form a cone-like pointed shape.
In the dark night, vaguely, countless Tubo soldiers stepped on the makeshift raft bridge and rushed towards the north bank, regardless of life and death.
Above the head, a huge rolling stone fell, and with a "boom", a hole was smashed into the raft bridge.
The soldiers above fell into the water with a "plop".
At this moment, the Tibetan soldiers behind immediately threw down the raft on their shoulders, and then quickly connected it with the surroundings with ropes, and the soldiers behind quickly replenished it.
Even with rolling stones flying above their heads, these Tibetan soldiers were still operating coldly and orderly, with such indifference.
…
Li Xuan glanced sideways and asked in a low voice: "Do you see anything?"
He Zhizhang stood up slightly, stood beside Li Xuan, and whispered: "Reporting to the prince, the Tubo people plan to cover the entire river with rafts, and then use the rafts to rush directly to the north bank."
Li Xuan frowned slightly and said rudely: "Think again!"
He Zhizhang's eyelids jumped and he immediately said: "These connected rafts, pulled by the soldiers, can easily avoid the wooden piles rolling down from the upstream. At the same time, because of the large number of people on the rafts, the rafts sank in the water, and the fire attack also It’s hard to work…”
Li Xuan sighed, shook her head helplessly, and said: "This raft bridge is indeed convenient, but don't forget that they can use the raft bridge to kill them. Similarly, we can also release the boat from upstream and directly from upstream. Fall directly, and then touch the middle part of the raft bridge, or even on the south bank. In this way, we can easily cut off the connections on these ropes. By that time, the Tibetans on these raft bridges will all be nothing more than lambs to be slaughtered."
He Zhizhang was slightly startled, then nodded heavily.
It can be said that the Hangzhou soldiers brought by Li Xuan are all his fellow soldiers, and these people are quite strong in water skills.
Even without a boat, you can rush directly from the bottom of the water to the south bank.
But at that time, they will be exhausted and unable to support themselves.
But it's different now. With these raft bridges, they can rush up to the raft bridge and cut it off directly. Then the Tibetans above will all die under their arrows under the rapid river.
Thinking of this, He Zhizhang raised his eyes and asked in a low voice: "Why didn't the prince do this?"
"Because they didn't cross the river with all their strength!" Li Xuan took the lead and looked towards the south bank of the Yellow River.
Although the Tubo people on the opposite side seemed to be in a turbulent situation and rushing forward one after another, they were just bluffing and did not actually cross the river at all.
"They are consuming us, they are waiting!" He Zhizhang finally understood.
Li Xuan nodded and said softly: "Yes, the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo has reached its most critical moment. The greater the harm caused by the plateau miasma to us, the closer they will be to crossing the river with all their strength. The impact of the plateau miasma on us will be The less harm we do, the more they will deliberately avoid us, and Guide City is the same, bluffing and avoiding fighting."
When Li Xuan said this, He Zhizhang finally understood it completely.
Half a month ago, Li Jinxing, the right-leading army general Wei, had led his army to guide city.
With his strength, he could have entered Guide City on the first day, but he did not do that.
It was because he found that the number of Tubo people in the city, even the Tuyuhun people under the Tubo people, was seriously insufficient.
There are only a thousand people in total, and there are more ordinary Tuyuhun people in the city, and they have a serious shortage of food.
If he were a kind-hearted civil servant, he might have directly occupied the city. Then, when there was a serious shortage of food in the city, in order to win people's hearts, the general allocated part of the food of the sergeants, or all of it to the people of Tuyuhun in the city.
Finally, when their food and grass were cut off, the Tibetans fought back.
The Tuyuhun people in the city also immediately counterattacked, and in the end the entire army was completely annihilated.
Fortunately, Li Jinxing was not a good person.
He waited until all the Tuyuhun people in the city had run out of food and had to leave Guide City before suddenly attacking the city.
All the Tuyuhun people who came out of the city were killed at once.
Of course, these Tuyuhun people are all Tuyuhun nobles.
Only the Tyuhun nobles were able to withdraw in an orderly manner after the Tang army besieged the city for half a month.
There is no problem in letting them implement the Tubo people's plan and deceive the Tang people, but let others starve to death for the Tubo people's plan. These Tuyuhun people are not that stupid.
As for the ordinary Tuyuhun people who could not leave the city, when they were about to die from hunger, the Tang army gave them some survival rations. They should always be more grateful, but not too much.
Ever since the Battle of Tuyuhun, when Guo Daifeng was massacred by the Tuyuhun people led by Lun Qinling, the attitude of the Tang army towards the Tuyuhun people had completely changed.
Li Xuan told Liu Rengui at the beginning that he should no longer seek to rebuild Tuyuhun, but instead break up the Tuyuhun people and integrate them into the Tang army's system.
Although Li Xuan said this, many generals and sergeants of the Tang Army secretly agreed with this.
They would rather be tired themselves than entrust their backs to the Tuyuhun people.
During the Battle of Guide, Li Jinxing's proper handling also completely exposed the Tibetan people's plot.
After a long time, with heavy casualties, the Tibetan offensive on the Yellow River finally stopped completely.
It was not until midnight that the Tibetans launched another tentative attack, but they finally stopped again under the bombardment of the Tang army's catapults, which were on full alert.
At this time, Li Xuan, He Zhizhang and others had disappeared from the shore.
Only Li Duozuo was still on the sentry tower, staring closely at the movements of the Tibetan people on the other side.
All night long.
…
Qin Shi opened his tent, and the early morning sunlight poured in, with a hint of blood in the warmth.
Qin Shi's eyes crossed the tent in front and landed on the surface of the Yellow River.
Countless raft fragments floated on the river like ruins, but were quickly washed away by the river.
Only two hundred meters ahead on the south bank, there are large rafts floating on the Yellow River.
Even the rushing river water could not carry the rafts away, and the thick ropes behind them tightly bound them.
Qin Shi walked toward the Chinese army's tent. At this time, two sergeants stuck closely behind him.
Qin Shi nodded to the two of them. This kind of protection started the day before yesterday, which made it difficult for Qin Shi to do other things. Even contact with the Tubo secret guards was completely stopped. But even so, Qin Shi The waiter still had to find a way to complete his mission and explore the details of the progress of the grain road.
Back at the camp, the King of Nanchang had not yet arrived, and there was only a scholar named He Zhizhang, who was packing official documents with a few classmates.
Qin Shi once tried to spy on official documents when the King of Nanchang was away, but this guy named He Zhizhang kept a close eye on him and didn't give him a chance at all.
Whenever Qin Shi walked past the invisible line in the center, He Zhizhang's stern eyes would immediately stare at him.
This made Qin Shi's back feel like a thorn in his back, not to mention that he had to rummage through countless official documents to find news about the grain route.
Withdrawing his gaze, Qin Shi looked at his colleagues, one surnamed Wang and the other surnamed Li.
There is naturally no relationship between Old Man Wang and the famous Wang family in Taiyuan, at least not even a dime in the genealogy.
Old Man Li, on the other hand, is a real member of the Lintao Li clan. He even has a name on the genealogy, but he is only marginal and cannot be further marginalized.
Seeing Shi Qin coming over, Old Man Li cupped his hands slightly, then looked at Shi Qin with a worried look, leaned closer and whispered: "Brother Qin, I've been feeling stuffy in my chest recently and can't breathe. Do you think I'm... "
Qin Shi patted Old Man Li on the shoulder and said with a wry smile: "Brother Li, to be honest, we are all working for your Li family. How many years older than you are, my body is not as good as yours." , instead of hanging on here, even if you die here in the end, it will be regarded as sacrificing your life for the country. Brother Li, you can't retreat in the face of the battle and refuse to save me!"
"Brother, you are talking nonsense." Old Man Li's face was very ugly. In just one sentence, Qin Shi said several words of death.
Shi Qin had no choice but to shut up and smile, but his eyes captured Old Man Li's firm face.
Not long after, the King of Nanchang arrived. As soon as he arrived, he immediately went to check the official documents.
At this time, Old Man Li went to find Li Xuan, and he didn't know what he said. The two of them laughed, and then Old Man Li left happily.
Before leaving, he stood at the door and winked at Waiter Qin.
Two hours later, Qin Shi walked towards Li Xuan helplessly and held his hands: "Your Majesty, I wonder if it is possible to transfer Brother Li back. We really don't have enough manpower here. If not, we can transfer people from other places."
Li Xuan raised his head, glanced at Shi Qin coldly, and then waved his hand directly: "He will not come back again, and the merits he made this time will be completely wiped out. After returning to Lintao, all special treatment will be cancelled. That’s the fate of deserters.”
Qin Shi's eyes suddenly widened. If he remembered correctly, Old Man Li said that he should go down the mountain to correct himself for a few days before coming back up. Why did he suddenly stop using it completely? This King of Nanchang was too strict. That's harsh.
"But Your Majesty, this will definitely slow down our progress." Qin Shi's face was suddenly full of anxiety.
Li Xuan suddenly looked at him indifferently: "Slow down, just slow down, don't be in a hurry."
Qin Shi was stunned, and his heart skipped a beat. Could it be that...
…
During lunch, Li Xuan was the first to leave the Chinese army tent, and everyone else was kicked out.
After lunch, everyone in the back camp was required to take a forced nap to keep their bodies stable.
Qin Shi was a little suspicious that this was one of the methods used by King Nanchang to deal with plateau miasma. After all, he heard that King Nanchang was a famous medical expert.
However, he did not know that at this time, Li Xuan had quietly led his people to leave Longwu Village, then headed north, and finally arrived at the foot of the northeastern mountain of Jianzha County.
There is a small stream flowing down the mountain, and finally merges into the Yellow River.
There is a courtyard by the stream.
Everything inside and outside the compound was closely guarded by soldiers armed with swords and guns.
Ordinary people are not allowed to get even half a step closer.
Li Xuan got off his horse, handed the horse rope in his hand to the soldiers at the door, and then led Su Baotong, Li Zhu, and other Qianniu guards in black into the courtyard. In an instant, countless flowers of various colors appeared. Blooming in the courtyard, people's spirits are instantly clear.
Li Xuan's eyes swept over, and he only knew half of these plants. Songweed, Polygonum cylindrica, Fragrant green, Potentilla, goldenrod, black liverwort, donkey's hoof grass, pendant chrysanthemum, etc., all bloom in midsummer. Flowers of various colors including pink, yellow, blue and purple are colorful and extraordinarily gorgeous, and they are densely covered throughout the courtyard.
In the middle of these flowers and plants, a stream flows in the courtyard.
In the creek, there were forty or fifty pale middle-aged men sitting.
A trace of color has begun to return to most people's faces.
Li Xuan walked from the front yard to the backyard. The yard was full of flowers and plants, and the air was terrifyingly clear.
Surrounded by a creek, from the front yard to the backyard, there are more than two hundred people in total staying in the creek in this courtyard.
He raised his gaze and looked from a high place.
There are at least five such courtyards at the foot of the mountain.
(End of chapter)
