Fires shot into the sky and thick smoke filled the air.
Countless Tubo cavalry rushed out of the mountain road and rushed towards the Kuhai camp on the top of the mountain in a panic.
The north wind howled and thick smoke rose into the sky. The Tubo cavalry could not see the road under their feet at all. If they were not careful, they would be trampled to the ground by their own family members, and then trampled to death.
In the sea of fire behind, there was no telling how many people had been completely burned to death.
…
On the mountain road to the north of the Sea of Bitterness, Lun Qinling clenched his fists and looked at the raging fire burning on the mountain road in the distance. He couldn't help but tremble: "How could it be possible? How could it be..."
More than a dozen Tubo generals stood behind Lun Qinling, all bowing their heads in sorrow.
On Qin Ling's face, he looked terribly ugly.
Even he didn't expect that the Tang people would dare to set a fire on the mountain road high in the snow-capped mountains. How could they set a fire?
"Puff!" Suddenly, on the mountain road in the distance, the rearmost cavalry fell to the ground in batches as if they were cursed.
"That's..." Lun Qinling looked at that strange scene, his breathing suddenly became suffocated, and he roared instantly: "King of Nanchang."
A similar scene happened in the Qilian Mountains back then.
The flames burned rapidly, burning out the oxygen in the upper air, and eventually caused thousands of Tuyuhun soldiers to suffocate to death.
More Tuyuhun soldiers retreated frantically as if they had seen a ghost.
The king of Nanchang attacked from behind and killed most of his 30,000 soldiers.
Especially when they saw the King of Nanchang and his men in black again in the future, it was like seeing a ghost.
Qinghai Protector Shang Jiezan stepped forward slightly and persuaded in a low voice: "Prime Minister, although the soldiers entering the mountain road were attacked by fire, the mountain road is narrow and the team is very long. Now we order the entire army to retreat, at least half of them can If our people withdraw again and rely on the bitter sea terrain, we can still fight."
Lun Qinling turned his head expressionlessly: "Do you think they will give us a chance?"
"The Prime Minister once said that opportunities are not given by others, but are gained by our efforts." Shang Jiezan lowered his head, but his words made Lun Qinling look much more stable.
"First of all, we need to find out what happened?" Lun Qinling looked at the mountain road in the distance and gritted his teeth and said: "Yesterday morning, our army suddenly rushed down the snow peak and entered the mountain road at Garidang Peak. It was not that we encountered the enemy until we reached the Changshui Pass of the Tang Dynasty and were blocked by the Tang army's organs."
Shang Jiezan lowered his head slightly and said: "The army reported back that the Tang people's agencies were fierce. Thousands of our troops attacked the city and were wiped out."
"That's right." Lun Qinling gritted his teeth and said, "Liu Shenli, the Minister of the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty, and a former great craftsman, actually used only one month to construct the mountain road into a mechanism killing road. This is this Xiang did not expect this, so he increased his troops and planned to forcefully destroy this level..."
"But, a fire suddenly broke out in the middle of the night." Shang Jiezan's tone became serious.
"The fire has spread from the mountain path to the outside of the mountain path, and is still coming to higher places." Lun Qinling suddenly turned around, looked at Shang Jiezan, and asked: "Didn't you say that there is nothing that can ignite the fire on the mountain path?"
"No!" Shang Jiezan frowned tightly. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly paused and his face instantly turned ugly: "They are those dead leaves. There are none in the middle of the mountain road. That's because the original dead leaves were swept to two sides." Under the side of the mountain wall..."
"No, there shouldn't be so many dead leaves." Shang Jiezan, who was directly interrupted by Lun Qinling, gritted his teeth and said, "It's the Tang people. They spent a whole month secretly burying dead leaves on the mountain road."
"But how did they get so many dead leaves?" Shang Jiezan still couldn't figure it out and asked puzzledly: "With so many dead leaves, I'm afraid they all have to be transported up from the mountain."
In Maji Snow Mountain, the temperature on the top of the mountain is very low and almost all of it is bare.
As we went down to the vicinity of the Garidang Peak, there were more thorns.
Beyond the mountain road, there are more trees.
Most of the dead leaves are accumulated below the mountainside. It is not a small project to get so many dead leaves and spread them on the mountain road.
"That's easier than asking the soldiers to fight hard." Lun Qinling took a deep breath and gritted his teeth and said, "It's the King of Nanchang. He brought up the dead leaves from the bottom of the mountain with a water truck."
"But King Nanchang has never been to the mountain road before!" Shang Jiezan's face was already very ugly. Although the fact was before his eyes, he was still unwilling to admit it.
Since Li Xuan returned to Changzhou from Chang'an, it has been difficult for them to investigate inside Xinghai County, but outside Xinghai County, they still have some spies.
Although there was a distance of two hundred miles from Kuhai to the foot of the mountain, and the battle between the Tang and Tubo scouts in the mountains on both sides of the mountain road was extremely fierce, the Tubo people still succeeded in sending many spies to the foot of the mountain.
Of course, the patrols of the Tang people at the foot of the mountain were more intensive, but relying on some arrangements left before, they hid among the herdsmen.
Before Tang Ren's new pornographic registration started, they successfully hid.
Hidden on the mountain road from Xinghai to Dafeichuan.
But unfortunately, Li Xuan never left Xinghai to go to the mountain road, not even once.
He paid more attention to the internal affairs of Changzhou, grazing cattle, cultivating fields, and repairing roads.
The only thing related to the front line is the transportation of grain and grass from Xinghai, Qugou and other places to Dafeichuan.
"It's not him, it's Li Jinxing." Lun Qinling's mouth twitched slightly. He regarded Li Xuan as his enemy, so he put more energy on Li Xuan.
But at this time, Li Xuan secretly plotted against Chen Cang through Li Jinxing.
Li Jinxing is the deputy marshal and deputy general manager of Taochang March. When the general managers of all roads are absent, he takes command of the frontline troops as Duke of Yan and General Wei of the right-leading army.
Changshui Pass was also built by him from the beginning. At least the foundation was his, and he also made all the subsequent preparations.
After Li Xuan returned from Chang'an, he went to visit Li Xuan more than once.
After all, Li Xuan's status was higher than his, and she had just received the emperor's order.
Who knew that the two people had already arranged such an amazing plan after just a few meetings.
"The purpose of the King of Nanchang not coming to Changshui Pass is not only to attract our attention elsewhere, but also to give the military power to Liu Shenli, so that he can use the fire attack strategy without worrying about anything."
Lun Qinling gritted his teeth and said: "What a King of Nanchang, he will do anything to defeat us."
"Prime Minister, now that you have figured out everything, hurry up and reorganize your soldiers. We still have the strength to fight."
Shang Jiezan said seriously: "Even if we can't defend the sea of suffering, we will make them pay a huge price. This is our strategy in itself."
Tubo has never planned to defend the Sea of Bitterness. This can be seen from the fact that among the 20,000 soldiers currently defending the Sea of Bitterness, only 10,000 are Tubo people.
What's more, among the 10,000 Tubo soldiers, 5,000 were brought over by Lun Qinling after he returned from Luoche.
Otherwise, before Lun Qinling returned, there would only be 5,000 Tubo soldiers and 10,000 Tuyuhun soldiers here. Although their combat strength was considerable, it was not enough.
On the reason why Qinling quickly reinforced its troops was because the Tang army's commander had changed.
It was not Liu Rengui or Xue Rengui, but Liu Shenli, the former general and great craftsman of the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty who had little contact with Qinling.
Regarding Qin Ling, he somewhat looked down upon Liu Shenli, who was a civil servant after all.
Previously in the Qilian Mountains, if Li Xuan hadn't rushed to support them, the Shasu Dao and Ganliang Dao armies of the Tang Dynasty would not have been able to kill Qingxi.
Therefore, more attention is paid to Li Xuan when discussing Qinling.
"No, you are wrong. We don't have any strength to fight." Lun Qinling couldn't help but shook his head and said, "You forgot, there is a north wind tonight."
Shang Jiezan's whole body became cold instantly.
The north wind howls and the hot wind blows south.
The people of the Tang Dynasty did not have to worry about the fire rolling back. It was enough for them to follow the fire and drive away the Tibetan soldiers.
Moreover, Shang Jiezan had no idea that high temperature could greatly alleviate the plateau miasma of the Tang people.
But he knew that once they were driven away by the Tang people, these warriors in front of them would most likely become the sharp swords of the Tang people.
By then the entire Kuhai Camp may not be able to hold on.
"The front camp set up a checkpoint, allowing only three people to pass, and the rear camp left three thousand elites. After the Tang people attacked, they shot arrows and retreated." Lun Qinling raised his head, looked at the mountain road in the distance, and said softly: "Great army We will retreat to Wuhai, split into three groups, and then clear the road and let the swamps along the way clean up the Tang people for us."
Shang Jiezan's eyes lit up.
Kuhai and Wuhai are not small lakes. The middle ones are mostly small rivers and lakes formed by the accumulation of snow water left on the mountains.
In summer, the snow and water merge into one piece.
In winter, they separate, and there is grass cover in the direction of Wuhai.
Once you step down, no one knows whether you are stepping on grass, a lake or a swamp.
Even the Tubo people would have no chance of passing safely without those old people to guide them.
Not to mention, sometimes, the water flow, lakes, and swamps will change,
Of course, Xue Rengui suffered a lot from this.
It took a lot of effort to reach Wuhai.
"If Xue Rengui is here, I cannot evacuate immediately. But if Liu Shenli is here, I will weigh him."
Lun Qinling raised his eyes, looked down the mountain in the distance, and said softly: "There is also the King of Nanchang. I also need to weigh his strength. Is it just that his tactics are invincible, or is his killing power equally fierce."
"Prime Minister, wasn't the King of Nanchang lured to Xinghai?" Shang Jiezan asked cautiously.
"If all this is his game, then the truth is broken." Lun Qinling turned around and led the soldiers to quickly retreat to the rear camp.
Originally, the Qinling Plan and Liu Shenli had a good fight here, but unfortunately, his plan was foiled by Li Xuan.
…
"Everything is due to Duke Pengcheng. I just made a slight suggestion, but I didn't expect it to happen." Li Xuan smiled lightly and looked in front of her.
There were burnt marks on both sides of the dark mountain road.
Who knows how many branches they buried under the dead leaves.
Li Xuan rode on the horse and turned around and asked: "By the way, how many results did this battle have?"
Liu Shenli stood beside Li Xuan, and beside him stood Lou Shide, who was dressed in military uniform. He said softly: "More than 7,000 people were beheaded and 2,000 were injured."
"Two thousand?" Li Xuan couldn't help but look sideways at Liu Shenli, her eyes already ugly and terrifying.
The result of beheading more than 7,000 Tibetans was not as serious as the damage to 2,000 Tang troops.
"It's not the five thousand soldiers, it's the other soldiers who didn't support themselves in Shulenan Mountain." Liu Shenli smiled and said, "We must give them a chance to make meritorious deeds."
"The commander told me earlier." Li Xuan immediately relaxed. The number of soldiers selected from Shulenan Mountain who could withstand the plateau miasma was less than 5,000, and they could not be easily lost.
"It will be up to them to guard this sea of suffering from now on." Liu Shenli gently urged his horse and said, "Let's go up to the sea of suffering and have a look."
"Here!" Li Xuan, Lou Shide, Wang Xiaojie, Xiao Siye and others followed on horseback.
Outside the camp in the northern part of Kuhai, Li Jinxing, with his black teeth, was greeted by Li Duozuo and others.
Liu Shenli took Li Xuan, Xiao Siye and his generals on horseback and rode slowly. Li Jinxing and others raised their hands at the same time and said, "I have seen the commander-in-chief!"
"Where is Lun Qinling?" Liu Shenli waved his hand and asked in a low voice: "It has retreated to Wuhai, and the scouts have chased it, but..."
"What?"
"Half of the scouts were led into the grassy swamp." There was a trace of solemnity in Hei Te Changzhi's eyes.
Grass swamp is a dangerous place with grass on the surface and bottomless puddles below.
Between the sea of bitterness and the black sea, grass and swamps are everywhere.
Liu Shenli nodded expressionlessly and said, "Use the captured Tibetan prisoners to explore the way."
"Here!"
(End of chapter)
