The mountains are undulating and the plateau is flat and wide.
Under the blue sky, a group of soldiers escorted grain and grass out of the Dongshan Canyon and quickly headed northwest.
Everyone's hands were on the hilt of the knife, and they looked around with vigilant eyes. The knife in their hands might be pulled out at any time.
Li Xuan rode at the front of the army, dressed in black clothes and black frame. Compared to the others, he was much calmer.
From time to time, two Jinwu guards came quickly from the plains in the southwest and whispered a few words to Li Xuan.
Li Xuan waved her hands slightly, and the two quickly turned and left.
The left guard messenger who followed Li Xuan looked at the scene in front of him with some surprise that was repeated more than once.
After setting off from Damomen City, Li Xuan dispersed all the thousand cavalry in his hands, leaving only a thousand foot soldiers driving mules and horses to escort the grain and grass.
The strange thing is that until now, for some reason, the Tubo cavalry that penetrated from the direction of Xinghai has not appeared in front of them once.
However, they did not ask Li Xuan what was going on. After all, although they were heralds of the Chinese army, their ranks were too far apart from Li Xuan's, and they were not familiar with each other.
Li Xuan ignored the feelings of the herald on the left guard behind him. Now, he was trying his best to memorize the surrounding mountains and terrain.
There is also the location of the Tibetan army.
After leaving Damomen City and entering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the first thing Li Xuan had to face was a completely unfamiliar terrain.
To the east and north, there are endless mountains and undulating mountains, with no limit as far as the eye can see.
They were now marching at the foot of the mountain, heading towards the Qabqa Valley.
Today, the main force of the Lanshan Road army is stationed in the Chabuqia Valley.
The destination of Li Xuan's grain transportation was also the Qabqa Valley.
The further you go, the more you enter the Qingnan Basin.
Above the vast Qingnan Basin, a Shazhuyu River divides the entire Qingnan Basin into two regions: north and south.
Today, almost all the main forces of the Tang Dynasty are gathered on the north bank of the Shazhuyu River.
The main force of the Tubo army was almost all scattered on the south bank of the Shazhuyu River.
The armies faced each other at a distance.
…
Lun Qinling should have left Wuhai at this moment and went down to the Qingnan Basin to observe with his own eyes the combat power of the Tang army.
It's a pity that I don't know where Lun Qinling is now.
Li Xuan turned and looked to the south. Among the undulating hills, a Yellow River came from the south, suddenly turned at Longyang Gorge, turned westward, and entered the Qingdong Mountains.
On the west bank of the Yellow River is the Yellow River Valley rushing down from the upper reaches, where the Tibetan east wing army is located.
To the northwest of the Yellow River is the Qingnan Basin. In the center of the basin, a Shazhuyu River directly merges into Longyang Gorge, and then goes eastward with the Yellow River.
When the Tubo army retreated from the Nanshan Canyon, they left many strongholds on the north bank of the Shazhuyu River, hidden among the hills.
On the south bank of the Shazhuyu River, people would forcefully cross the Shazhuyu River and enter the north bank from time to time, spying on the movement of the army, and even blocking the grain route.
What they blocked was the grain road that Li Xuan was currently opening.
Out of Li Xuan's sight, several groups of Tubo cavalry came from the south bank of the Shazhuyu River and rushed through the northern mountains to attack. However, suddenly, countless crossbow arrows flew up from the hills, and then struck fiercely. Falling into the group of Tibetan cavalry.
In the blink of an eye, most of these cavalrymen had fallen.
The sound of huge horse hooves thundered out from behind the hills, and in the blink of an eye, two hundred cavalry had directly charged past the east side of the Tubo cavalry.
The next moment, there were not many Tibetan cavalry left on the spot.
Such a scene was staged across a wide area of dozens of miles along the north bank of the Shazhuyu River, and not many people saw it.
Only the eagle eyes in the sky conveyed everything to Li Xuan's mind.
Unknowingly, the food and grass had been delivered to Moran Station.
In accordance with the military order, Li Xuan left three hundred stones of food and grass in Moranyi and continued on his way.
The following cavalry also gathered back at this time.
…
Ten miles away on the north bank of the Shazhuyu River, in the Chabuqia River Valley, a large camp rose from the ground, with countless soldiers moving back and forth in an orderly manner.
Li Xuan escorted the grain and grass and arrived at the Qabqa Valley at dusk.
The torches were already lit, and when they saw the rations arriving, the soldiers in the camp were almost in a state of excitement.
"The front army of the current army is stationed in Qugou, the middle army is stationed in Qabqia Valley, and the rear camp is in Moranyi. The grain and grass are transferred from Riyue Mountain and need to pass through the Nanshan Gorge Road for thirty miles to Moranyi, and finally transferred. On the front line, the road is rugged and difficult to travel, and there are even Tibetans hiding in the mountains, which is full of dangers. Now that the prince has transported the general grain here, we feel extremely relieved."
Xiao Siye, the left guard general wearing blue and black armor, led Li Xuan towards the depths of the camp, followed closely by Qianniu Guard and Jinwu Guard.
"General Xiao, you don't have to be polite. I am cousins with Xiao Xian, the son of Song Guogong, and I am no stranger to the Lanling Xiao family." In just a few words, Li Xuan had already skillfully closed the relationship with Xiao Siye.
Xiao Siye is a direct descendant of the Lanling Xiao family, and is even related to the former Empress Xiao of the Sui Dynasty.
Xiao Xian is the direct grandson of Xiao Yu, the Duke of Song Dynasty. Xiao Yu and Queen Xiao are brothers and sisters, from the same mother.
After all, Xiao Siye is still Xiao Xian's uncle and Li Xuan's uncle.
"I dare not." Xiao Siye was very polite and led Li Xuan and his Qianniu Guards and Jinwu Guards into several large tents, and then said apologetically: "The Marshal is currently busy with military affairs and cannot see the prince for the time being. Please wait a moment, Your Majesty, the Marshal will definitely receive Your Majesty tomorrow."
"General Xiao, you don't have to be polite. Just ask someone to prepare water and food. I know the importance." Li Xuan personally sent Xiao Siye away before taking the people back to the camp.
After settling the Qianniu Guard and Jinwu Guard properly, he rushed to the station of the right guard cavalry and infantry, and took care of all the food, grass, drinking water and other matters before Li Xuan returned to his camp.
Cui Ding, who had been following Li Xuan, had been frowning since he entered the camp.
After Li Xuan arranged the night watch inside and outside, she came back and looked at Cui Ding, and asked a little funny: "If you have anything to say, can you ask it now?"
"Here!" Cui Ding looked a little ugly, and said with a buzzing voice: "Your Majesty, I don't mean to be a villain, but after all, Your Majesty is the king of the county, the deputy marshal of the Taohe Road march, the deputy general manager, and the right guard general of the school. , and now they are escorting the army in urgent need of food and fodder, but Shangshu Pei has always avoided seeing him, which is too much."
"Haha!" Li Xuan smiled nonchalantly, waved her hands, and said: "You, although people have some spiritual thoughts, they don't have many spiritual thoughts. The things here cannot be explained clearly in a few words. You just need to remember, and take good care of yourself. Rest and prepare for battle. All questions will be answered tomorrow."
Cui Ding was slightly stunned. He realized that Li Xuan really didn't care. Could there be something else he didn't know about?
But soon, Cui Ding's attention shifted to preparing for battle, and then he quickly raised his hands and asked: "Your Majesty, is there going to be a battle tomorrow?"
"Okay, okay, you will know tomorrow." Li Xuan waved her hand again, and Cui Ding reluctantly left the tent.
Li Xuan smiled lightly, then took a deep breath.
Tomorrow, everything will begin.
…
In the camp, Li Xuan was sitting in the Chinese army's tent, Cui Ding and Su Baotong were on both sides, and ten Jinwu guards and Qianniu guards were standing on both sides.
For some reason, Cui Ding felt restless and looked at Li Xuan after the major case from time to time.
Li Xuan ignored him at all. He glanced at Cui Ding and then looked outside the large tent.
The soldiers of the right guard outside, under the command of their respective captains, are assisting in distributing food and grass to the left guard and right guard armies.
Last night, various ministries already knew that the grain and grass transferred from the Tao River had arrived, and many people were so excited that they didn't fall asleep in the middle of the night.
The left guard and the right guard were the main forces in this battle. They had come to Lanshan Road very early to deploy and adapt.
Also from the mouths of many veterans who participated in the Battle of Dafeichuan, I learned about the dangers of this battle, especially for grain and grass.
Even with Xue Rengui's ability to withstand the plateau miasma, he was not able to withstand the interruption of the grain road in the end.
Therefore, when the army goes out for battle, what the soldiers are most worried about is that the food routes are cut off.
Now that the grain from Taohe Road has been delivered, and even delivered to him personally, everyone's hearts are completely at ease.
This is the purpose of the army commander ordering Li Xuan to transport grain and grass.
After withdrawing her thoughts, Li Xuan lowered her head and looked at the map in her hand.
Last night he asked Xiao Siye for a map of the Qingnan Basin, but it was only this morning that the maps were delivered to him.
The original map in Li Xuan's hand was provided by the Staff Division of the Ministry of War, but the map in the hands of the Lanshan Road Army was drawn by scouts on the spot and was more detailed.
Li Xuan's expression had already become solemn.
The Qingnan Basin, Tuyuhun, Qaidam in later generations, the current Qiangtang land, Dafeichuan and Wuhai were all unfamiliar worlds to Li Xuan.
In the past, whether in Jiangnan or Qingdong, Li Xuan had the most powerful support from the imperial court.
Coupled with his own secret power, there has never been a problem with intelligence, but it is different now.
Among tens of thousands of troops, he himself only has a meager right to speak. That's fine. The key is the opposite. On the other side, Lun Qinling has tens of thousands of troops under his command. Even if Li Xuan has some means, he does not dare to use them easily.
Who knows how many capable people and strangers there are in our own army and the other party's army. If they make the slightest move, they may be exposed.
This resulted in Li Xuan knowing very little about the situation on the entire south bank of the Shazhuyu River.
Unclear information and dark vision are Li Xuan's biggest problems today.
Under this method, attacking is not advisable, and defense is the main priority, cutting off the possibility of the Tibetan people crossing the river...
"Dong dong dong" a rapid warning drum sound suddenly sounded outside.
Li Xuan immediately raised his head and said solemnly: "Command, all soldiers are wearing armor and holding swords, bows and crossbows are cocked, cavalry are mounted, and they are ready to attack at any time."
"Obey the order!" Everyone immediately sternly accepted the order.
Cui Ding looked at Li Xuan with surprise in his eyes.
Li Xuan had expected everything today.
…
Wearing red clothes and gold armor, holding an eight-sided Han sword in his hand, Li Xuan climbed onto the sentry tower on the left side of the camp.
Under the sentry tower, two thousand right-guard soldiers were on standby. As soon as the order from the Chinese army's tent came, they would rush out immediately.
On the sentry tower, the captain and soldiers of the Youtun Guards saw Li Xuan arriving, and immediately raised their hands and said, "I have met the prince."
Li Xuan nodded slightly and asked, "What's going on?"
The captain of the Youtun Guards immediately turned to look at the south bank of the Shazhuyu River in the distance, and said in a deep voice: "Just half an hour ago, 10,000 Tibetan cavalry appeared at Tiegailing, 20 miles southeast."
"It's the east wing army of the Tubo people." Li Xuan nodded.
Tiegailing is a series of low hills, with Longyang Gorge on the east side and the Tubo Xinghai East Road army behind it. Now they are dispatched.
"After that, an army of 10,000 appeared on the other side of Qugou in the southwest."
"That's the main force of the Tubo people in the middle." Li Xuan immediately outlined all the Tubo terrain in his mind.
The Tubo people claim to have an army of 300,000, but not all of the 300,000 troops are on the south bank of the Shazhu River. They are widely distributed in Tongde, Guinan, the south bank of the Shazhu River, Chaka Lake, Fuqi City, and to the west. The entire northwest mountainous area of the Qiangtang Basin.
Correspondingly, it is the vast area of the Tang Dynasty from Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Shazhou, Dunhuang, to the four towns of Anxi, Congling, and Dabolu.
In addition, there are Dafeichuan, Wuhai and other places in the rear.
They can be scattered at any time and can be gathered together at any time to deal with them greatly.
But there is no doubt that what is facing Li Xuan and the others now is the main force of Lun Qinling's army coming from Wuhai.
Lun Qinling naturally came in person.
(End of chapter)
