Chapter 120: Tubo Ye Ru's First General
Tubo and Tang had been fighting for a long time and did not dare to advance rashly.

Therefore, the Tubo Marshal only brought fifty people with him to investigate.

Gao Xiuyan even killed his own people, which shows that he truly defected to Tubo.

Without the Tang army's spies guarding the border and without soldiers lighting beacons, their army could march straight in.

"General, please take me to see the commander of your army!"

Gao Xiuyan waved the Tibetan flag in his hand and spoke to the cavalry leader.

"can!"

The cavalry leader agreed to Gao Xiuyan's request.

Gao Xiuyan left his men here and rode away with the Tubo cavalry leader.

Not far away on the slope, a man in plain clothes saw Gao Xiuyan waving the flag frequencyly and shrank back.

After running for several hundred meters, he untied the two horses under a tree and then galloped away.

The border between Tang and Tubo is towering into the clouds, and you can see the snow-capped Dalijia Mountain below. There are horses and cattle all over the mountain, and teams of Tubo infantry are lined up in rows, with various animal flags fluttering, armor like clouds, and spears like forests, extending endlessly.

In addition to Tubo, you can also clearly see soldiers whose attire does not match Tubo's. They are under the command of the Tuyuhun tribes affiliated with Tubo.

The Anxiang Army was adjacent to the territory of Tuyuhun. How could they not respond to the call for cannon fodder like Tuyuhun when they were sent to Anxiang?

"Reporting to the Marshal, Tang General Gao Xiuyan is here."

His subordinates reported to the commander of this operation, Lunsignoza.

"Ask him to come over!"

Lun Xinoza already knew Gao Xiuyan's "sincerity", and ordered his cavalry and infantry to speed up their passage through the hilly area.

Lun Xinuozha was a minor tribute from Tubo, also known as "Xibianchebu".

This position is the military and political chief in charge of the territories conquered by Tubo.

Not only did Tuyuhun have to obey the orders of Lun Xinuoza, but even the Tubo troops and thousand-household units on the border were also under the control of Lun Xinuoza.

It can be said that Lun Xinuoza was the commander-in-chief of the army who was in charge of leading troops and joint defense affairs. He was an official of Tubo second only to the prime minister, deputy prime minister, minister of government affairs, and the four Rubens, and was granted a jade-lettered certificate.

Although his status was lower than that of ministers such as Mangbuzhi and Lunxinuoluo, Lunxinuoza had a great reputation in Hequ and Tuyuhun areas.

Therefore, this offensive was led by Synozzano himself.

"Gao Xiuyan pays respect to the Marshal!"

After seeing Lun Xi Nuo Za, Gao Xiu Yan bowed to him.

"Please stand up. Li Xuan is blind and does not recognize the precious jade. It is a blessing for Tubo that you can abandon the dark and join the light. When our army occupies the south of the Yellow River, we will set up a thousand households here, and the general will be the head of the thousand households, and the position will be inherited by the generations."

Lun Xinuoza asked Gao Xiuyan to stand up and promised to treat him well.

Because the Tang people took in many Tibetan rebel generals, even the son of the Tibetan war god Lun Qinling, Lun Gongren, surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and made great military achievements for the Tang Dynasty.

This made the Tibetans despise traitors from the bottom of their hearts.

But they must treat people like Gao Xiuyan well in order to attract more Tang generals to join them.

"Thank you, Marshal! Li Xuan is jealous of talented people. I challenged him once like a warrior, but he kept belittling me. It's really hateful. Even if I have to go through fire and water, I will die for Tubo and the Marshal!"

Gao Xiuyan looked very grateful to Lun Xinuoza and bowed again.

In fact, all the generals of the Tang Dynasty knew how powerful and prosperous the Tang Dynasty was.

Even though Tubo learned from the Tang Dynasty in all aspects, it was still looked down upon by the Tang Dynasty's scholar-official class.

Although the Tubo army seemed to be similar to that of the Tang Dynasty, the gap was not on the same level.

The Tang Dynasty recruited 490,000 soldiers from the frontier. Most of them were ambitious and brave.

All Tubo people were soldiers, a large proportion of whom were slaves, of varying quality.

In addition to the gap in armor and weapons, Tubo could only win by numbers.

"It is said that Li Xuan is a fierce general who is invincible. Even Wang Nanzhi cannot compare to him. Is he as amazing as the rumors say?"

Of this, Synozza inquired.

After the battle of Jishi Army, Zanna and the soldiers who returned mentioned Li Xuan with horror on their faces.

It is said that Li Xuan led only a dozen cavalrymen and charged into the army of thousands, causing tens of thousands of people to flee in fear.

The brave captain was stabbed to death by Li Xuan at the first sight.

"I am ashamed. Li Xuan is indeed stronger than me."

Gao Xiuyan smiled awkwardly.

He was the best wrestler in the army, but he was like a baby in front of Li Xuan.

"clang!"

"It's a pity that Li Xuan is in Huangshui City, otherwise I would have hung him on my spear."

A disheveled man, six feet four inches tall, tapped the stone with his spear, making a crisp sound.

When Gao Xiuyan heard such arrogant words, he glanced sideways and suddenly found that the spear was made of pure iron.

Judging from the length of the iron spear, it must be more than 40 kilograms.

If this man could use this spear on horseback, he would be extremely brave.

"His name is Tongyahu, and he is the most courageous general in Yeru. He has the strength of a tough yak. ​​If Li Xuan meets him, he will be assassinated on the spot."

Lun Xinuoza said proudly: "Once we take over the area south of the Yellow River, we can cross the Yellow River at any time and attack Huangshui City from both sides. His defeat is only a matter of time."

"Tibet will win."

Gao Xiuyan smiled. Although it was an exaggerated metaphor to say that he was fighting a yak, the fact that he was the most powerful general among the strongest ones was enough to show the courage of Tongyahu.

People like Lang Zhidu cannot be compared to him.

"Has Anxiang City been taken over by General Gao?"

Regarding Xi Nuo Za, he asked Gao Xiu Yan again.

"Reporting to the Marshal, Anxiang City has been controlled by my trusted men, and the four gates are closed. The people and officials in the city are not allowed to go to Fuhan to report the news. As long as your divine army goes there, we can cross the Anxiang Bridge and capture this important city without bloodshed."

Gao Xiuyan also took out a map, on which were marked Anxiang City, Li River, Anxiang Bridge, as well as Pingyi Shouzhuo City to the north of Anxiang City, the Zhenxi Army’s garrison city of Fuhan City, and the various pastoral prefectures around Shimen Mountain, Jinjian Mountain, and Daxia Mountains and waters to the east and north of Anxiang City, all clearly displayed.

"General Gao is very thoughtful!"

Most of the Tibetan nobles were familiar with the Chinese language. Since he could understand this map, he couldn't help but look up to Gao Xiuyan.

They had actually drawn maps before, but none of them were as clear and specific as Gao Xiuyan's map.

"Marshal, you are too kind." Gao Xiuyan did not accept it.

"When we march today, I will directly send the cavalry to raid Pingyi Shouzhuo. We will seize Pingyi Shouzhuo with speed. Then we will occupy Anxiang City and attack the Tang Kingdom's various pastoral supervisors, forcing the Tang Army's Zhenxi Army to leave Fuhan City to fight. Then I will cooperate with the infantry and cavalry to destroy the Zhenxi Army."

The journey had already begun, and Lun Xinuoza no longer hid the secret from Gao Xiuyan.

"Please forgive me for speaking frankly. A direct attack on the Tang Kingdom's Shepherd's Office will take several days to give the Tang army a chance to support us."

Gao Xiuyan knew the Tang army's strategy, but pretended to be considering Tubo.

"We have deployed a large army in Chiling to contain the main force of Huangshui City. If the Tang army wants to mobilize reinforcements, they need to ask the Hexi Jiedushi. By the time the Tang army's reinforcements arrive, our army will have achieved its strategic goal, and they can only face us across the river."

As for Synozza, he already had a perfect plan.

"Marshal is wise!"

Gao Xiuyan laughed in his heart. Li Shuai was already preparing to encircle and annihilate the Tubo army outside Anxiang City. Although the Tubo strategy was grand, it was bound to be difficult to accomplish.

Lun Xinuoza ordered one of his captains (commander of ten thousand men) to lead 6,000 cavalry to raid Pingyi Shouzhuo. In addition, Tuyuhun prince Xilongcan also led 4,000 Tuyuhun cavalry to follow.

As soon as they arrived at Pingyi Shouzhuo, they immediately assembled ladders to attack the city.

Tuyuhun had a warrior with great strength named Xijiazang, who was adopted as a son-in-law by the Tuyuhun king and also followed the army to the expedition.

Xie Gong, the envoy of the Tibetan army in Nagqu who went on this expedition, was also a fierce general. When Huangfu Weiming attacked Shibao City this year, he bravely captured Jibazhai Fort, causing heavy losses to the Tang army.

In addition, Xinoza's younger brother Xinogu once killed a tiger with an axe. Although his bravery was not as good as Tongyahu, he was also one of the top three brave generals in this trip.

Tongyahu and Xinuogu have golden certificates of status.

Xie Gong and Xi Jia Zang have ordinary golden-lettered official titles.

Tubo and Tuyuhun sent a total of more than 65,000 troops, including 20,000 cavalry and 5,000 heavy infantry, which Tubo was proud of.

The reason why Synozzaner believed he would win was that he had many soldiers and brave generals.

……

Fenglin County.

Li Xuan went down along the west bank of the Li River from Fenglin Pass.

At the same time, Li Xuan ordered An Sishun to lead 10,000 Zhenxi troops down from the east bank of the Li River.

Pingyi Shouzhuo was on the west bank of the Li River.

Anxiang City is on the east bank of the Li River.

Therefore, Li Xuan could lead the cavalry to Pingyi Shouzhuo, and An Sishun could lead the soldiers to Anxiangcheng.

Although most of An Sishun's men were infantry, they were deployed across the Li River and Tubo was unable to do anything for a while.

Qian'er Dafu will lead the Momen Army and support An Sishun.

Two days later, early in the morning.

The leaves were withered, the wind was cold, and the Li River seemed to be covered with cold mist.

"Ding Dong..."

The elite cavalry in bright armor kept making the sound of metal and iron. They marched down in a long line at a rapid pace.

There was determination on the faces of the soldiers.

General Li will lead them to achieve unprecedented military merit and gain wealth and honor.

The heavy cavalry was in the rear, with one man riding four horses, followed closely by the elite cavalry and light cavalry. When any situation arose, the men and horses would put on heavy armor and charge at the Tubo formation.

"Reporting to General Li, the scouts have found tens of thousands of Tibetan cavalry, less than 20 miles away from the Pingyi Guards."

The scout came running to report to Li Xuan.

"The Tubo wanted to capture Pingyi Shouzhuo by surprise and occupy the south of the Yellow River."

Li Xuan said to his subordinates.

They had anticipated this.

If Tubo wanted to plunder the herdsmen, in addition to Anxiang City, Pingyi Shouzhuo City, which had 3,000 defenders, must be captured. Pingyi Shouzhuo City was low and relatively easier to attack.

The Tibetan cavalry must have prepared ladders to climb the city walls. When they arrived at the foot of the city, they immediately assembled the ladders and climbed up wearing iron armor.

Although the Tang army marched south for two days, Li Xuan let the soldiers rest at night and travel during the day to recuperate.

"The Tibetan cavalry attacked first. Their infantry should not be far from Anxiang City. Our army needs to wipe out the Tibetan cavalry guarding Pingyi as soon as possible."

Gao Shi said to Li Xuan.

They have been estimating and controlling the marching distance.

"The Tibetan infantrymen are close to Anxiang, and it will be difficult for them to withdraw. They think that our army only has more than 10,000 infantrymen and they attacked suddenly, so they must underestimate us. We will catch them by surprise and defeat them."

Li Xuan is very confident in his arrangements.

When the Tibetan army was besieged, they did not know the exact number of Tang troops, and if the heavy cavalry rushed over, there was a chance that they would collapse.

"We must first disperse the Tibetan soldiers attacking Pingyi Shouzhuo. Their cavalry is on the road. After we kill them, the Tibetan mobile cavalry will be even fewer. General Che, when you are ten miles away from Pingyi Shouzhuo, the heavy cavalry will put on armor and charge first."

Li Xuan gave instructions to Che Shensai again.

He had ordered the personal guards of the God of Chess to lead a thousand cavalry to charge.

"As ordered!"

The god of cars obeyed the order.

Du Yuhou shouldn't have done such a thing. This was his own initiative.

"General Xin, you lead 3,000 light cavalry to go around to Pingyi to guard the rear, and use roving fire to block the Tibetan cavalry's retreat, disrupt their formation, and create opportunities for the armored cavalry and elite cavalry to charge."

Li Xuan gave instructions to Xin Yunjing again.

"As ordered!"

Xin Yunjing accepted the order.

The last elite cavalry was led by Nan Jiyun.

Li Xuan led the Shen Ce team to play on their own.

He chose to launch a surprise attack when Tubo began to attack Pingyi Shouzhuo City.

……

Pingyi defended the city.

The envoy who was supposed to capture Cao Shengning had received the news long ago. The four gates were closed, stones were piled up on the city walls, hot water was boiling inside the city, powerful crossbows were ready, and archers were in place at any time.

With three thousand guards and sufficient preparations, it would be difficult for Tubo to break through even a small city in a short time.

"Warriors, assemble the ladders and ascend the city immediately."

Tuyuhun prince Xilongcan gave orders to the soldiers in his tribe.

In this situation, it must be the Tuyuhun who would be the first to climb up, braving the arrows and stones.

This branch of Tuyuhun was not the original royal family, but gained their status through intermarriage with Tubo and opposing the Tang Dynasty and becoming pro-Tubo.

Their leader was the "Little King of Tuyuhun".

Therefore, they were mortal enemies of the Tang Dynasty and could only obtain the protection of Tubo by showing loyalty to Tubo and continuously intermarrying with it.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the Tuyuhun soldiers had set up ladders to climb the city walls.

"Listen to the war drums and prepare to attack!"

The Tibetan captain stood with Xi Nongcan and ordered his soldiers to get ready and attack from all four gates at the same time.

The captain also dispatched 500 archers to each side of the city wall to form a formation to suppress the Tang army on the wall.

"Captain, the Tang army on the city wall seems to be well prepared."

Xi Nongcan frowned and said.

Powerful crossbows, archers, densely packed soldiers, and long spears pointing outward.

Although the city wall is less than two meters high, it looks very difficult to cross.

"We are rushing here with tens of thousands of cavalry. The Tang army must have heard the noise a long time ago. The Tang army must be timid. They are surprised why our army is here. As long as the soldiers are not afraid of death, they can capture Pingyi Shouzhuo City in one go."

The Tubo captain said this solemnly, asking the Tuyuhun prince not to worry.

"Boom boom boom!"

The war drums sounded, and the Tuyuhun soldiers carried the ladders and rushed forward desperately.

Cao Shengning, the commander of Pingyi, stood on the southern wall and gave the order: "The crossbowmen should shoot at the enemy's archers, the archers should shoot at the enemy's soldiers attacking the city, and the spearmen should prepare to stab the enemy. We are in a high position and have a huge advantage."

The enemy was sweeping in like a mighty force, but the soldiers knew that reinforcements were very close and they did not feel the slightest bit of fear.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

The soldiers were ready for battle. When the Tuyuhun soldiers were one hundred steps away from the Tang army, they fired their powerful crossbows.

"Pfft..."

"Pfft..."

One by one, the Tuyuhun soldiers were hit by crossbow arrows and fell to the ground.

Pingyi Shouzhuo City, each wall has a hundred crossbows.

After one crossbow was fired, the crossbowmen drew the arrows and continued shooting.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

When they were fifty steps away from the city wall, the archers showed their power.

Two hundred archers drew their arrows at the same time, causing some hindrance to the Tuyuhun soldiers.

Tuyuhun had been given a death order, so naturally he would not retreat.

They were numerous and quickly arrived at the city wall despite the arrows.

The archers sent by Tubo also moved within fifty steps of the Tang army.

The Tang army's powerful crossbowmen are now mainly targeting Tibetan archers.

Only a dozen Tibetan archers could be killed in each round, and the shooting of the Tibetan archers could not be hindered.

“Ding-ding…”

The Tang army was defending the city, hiding behind the parapet, making it difficult for arrows to hit them.

When the Tuyuhun soldiers were preparing to climb the ladder, the Tubo archers had to approach the city wall.

They could only aim and shoot from under the city wall, otherwise they would accidentally injure a large number of their own soldiers attacking the city, which would greatly affect morale.

"Don't be afraid of death. Push on. There are only a thousand Tang soldiers guarding the city. Once you capture the Tang army city, you can plunder the property and women in the nearby towns at will."

A Tibetan centurion, holding a large shield, stood behind to boost morale.

A ladder was first hooked onto the city wall.

Under the Tibetan human wave tactics, within a quarter of an hour, the Tang army's city walls were filled with ladders.

A Tuyuhun soldier held a spear in one hand and began to climb with his eyes looking upwards. He was wearing chain mail and knew that when he was about to reach the top, the Tang army would definitely stab him with their spears.

He must stab the Tang army back before the Tang army stabs him.

"Oh!"

But this Tuyuhun soldier was obviously unlucky. A huge rock weighing dozens of kilograms fell from the sky and hit him right on the forehead.

The next moment, he fell from the ladder with blood all over his head.

His body also hit two Tuyuhun soldiers.

Some of the other Tuyuhun soldiers were shot to death by arrows, and some were crushed to death by huge rocks.

The Tang army also had a way to deal with the Tibetan ladders. Two Tang soldiers held specially made long sticks and pushed down the Tibetan ladders.

Although there is a hook on the ladder hooked on the city wall, as long as the soldiers hold the place where the hook connects to the city wall, several people can definitely push it down with the combined efforts.

However, some Tang soldiers were unfortunately shot and killed by the Tibetan archers below because they showed up.

"First up, first up!"

A Tuyuhun soldier shouted the slogan of "first to climb" and was about to climb up the women's wall.

"Pfft!"

The Tang army soldier shot him with a spear, piercing his neck, causing him to fall from the city wall and knock down his companions.

Since ancient times, in siege battles, countless soldiers were most likely to shed their blood on the parapet.

At this time, the Tibetan archers no longer dared to shoot arrows at the city walls.

The Tang army's crossbowmen can retreat.

Whoever shows his head will be shot.

Climbing the city wall is a strenuous job. You have to climb up despite the stones and arrows, and then hold on to the battlements.

The ladder cannot be placed directly on the battlement, as it would be easily overturned by the defenders.

Only by hooking onto the city wall under the battlements can it be easier to attack.

The shouts of killing were deafening, and the siege soon lasted for half an hour. Although some Tuyuhun soldiers climbed up the city wall at one point, they were either stabbed to death by spears or shot to death by crossbows.

There was a layer of corpses piled up under the city wall, and the morale of Tuyuhun was not as high as at the beginning, because they found that it was a tough nut to crack to defend the city of Pingyi.

"Why do they seem to be prepared? They haven't thrown all the stones in half an hour?"

Tuyuhun Prince Xi Nongcan frowned and said.

He suddenly realized something was wrong.

It was as if the city walls were piled with stones, waiting for them to come.

"After noon, we will surely be able to capture this Tang border town."

The Tibetan captain clenched his fists. He also found that Pingyi Shouzhuo was more difficult to deal with than he had imagined, so he comforted Xi Nongcan: "In another half an hour, I will let my subordinates replace yours."

"understand!"

Xi Nongcan could not refute it.

Siege warfare, whether it was the Tang Dynasty or Tubo, mostly cost human lives.

Some important cities were attacked day and night without giving the defenders a chance to breathe, until the defenders' morale collapsed.

(End of this chapter)