Chapter 128 Are You Talking About Humans?
Xiping County, Suihe Shouzhuo City.

When Li Xuan was planning the Battle of Li River, a "big battle" was taking place here.

After Lun Xinuluo learned about Lun Xinuoza's experience at Lishui, he immediately ordered his troops to abandon the fortified camp and go out of Chiling to Suihe Shouzhuo City to fight with the Tang army.

At first, Lun Xinuluo thought that the Tang army was deliberately making a fuss and that there were not many Tang troops relying on Pingyi to defend the city.

First it was a tentative attack. The Tang army deployed three thousand powerful crossbows and five thousand bows and arrows, and shot them like rain.

The camps were densely packed, the shields were like mountains, and the spears were like forests.

The Tibetan soldiers were difficult to shake in a short period of time. After 3,000 soldiers were killed or injured, Lun Xinuluo immediately ordered a retreat.

He has confirmed that there are no less than 20,000 Tang troops guarding this place.

There were too many powerful crossbows and the defense was tight, so it was impossible for his more than 30,000 soldiers to capture it.

As a result, the Tibetan army surrounded Suihe Shouzhuo City. Lun Xinuoluo requested to mobilize soldiers from the Qinghai area to cross Chiling, with the cavalry going first.

Lun Xinuluo was unable to support Lun Xinuoza and could only force the Tang army to return for support by besieging the Longyou base camp.

At the very least, it is necessary to ensure that the Tibetan soldiers and Tuyuhun soldiers led by Lun Xinuoza leave safely.

If the expeditionary army were defeated in Anxiang County, it would not only deepen the conflicts among the Tubo thousand households, but would also alienate the subordinate Tuyuhun.

The reason why it was difficult for Tubo to attack Suihe Shouzhuo was that the Tang army's Anren army sent out 5,000 troops, the Jishi army sent out 4,000 troops, and the Heyuan army, Lintao army, Suihe Shouzhuo, and Hechuan Shouzhuo all gathered together.

At the same time, another 5,000 soldiers from the Baishui Army, Weirong Army, and Anren Army were also patrolling the Qinghai front line, ready to defend against invasion from that direction at any time.

If Tubo does not conquer Pingsui and Shouzhuo, it will not be able to advance deeply.

Because there is the Huangshui Bridge outside the Huangshui City, it is easy to defend.

After receiving Li Xuan's urgent letter from seven hundred miles away, Fu Menglingcha decided to send 20,000 cavalry from the Chishui Army to provide assistance.

The Chishui Army was the most powerful independent branch of the Tang Army, with more than 33,000 people.

There were 13,000 horses allocated by the imperial pastoral supervisor alone, not to mention the private horses and captured horses of the Chishui Army.

Fu Menglingcha had already conquered Mohedagan and killed him a few months ago, and there were soldiers available in Hexi.

Fu Menglingcha was a famous general in the Western Regions. In the first year of Tianbao, he succeeded Wang Ju as the governor of Hexi.

He knew Li Xuan's reputation, and he also knew that Li Xuan was deeply trusted by the emperor. If he did not send troops, he was afraid that Li Xuan would impeach him.

Moreover, Li Xuan promised that the Hexi Army would benefit regardless of whether they fought or not.

The cavalry from Hexi came out from the pass of the Great Snow Mountain and then passed over the bridge outside the Weirong Army City.

When the Hexi army arrived at Shanzhou City, the Qinghai cavalry sent by Tubo to support had also arrived at Chiling.

At the same time, Tibetan scouts saw a large number of Tang cavalry in the Shanzhou area.

And tell this news to Lun Xinoluo.

"Those must be the reinforcements from Hexi!"

On Xinuluo's speculation about the identity of the cavalrymen who entered Longyou.

He was not sure whether there would be any infantry coming from Hexi.

If so, even if their infantry came to support, it would be difficult to complete the strategy.

"The Tang army has too many fortresses in its cities, making it difficult for our army to advance. Should we engage in a full-scale war with the Tang army?" the deputy general asked Lun Xinoluo.

"This time we sent a large number of troops to Tang Jun's Anxiang, hoping to break through the situation, but we were ambushed by the Tang army. Now our army can only recruit more than 60,000 soldiers within a month. It will take at least three months to recruit soldiers from other thousand households. Attacking and defending with the Tang army in the wilderness is very disadvantageous to our army. So we need to be cautious!"

When the Tang army's troops from Hexi arrived, Lun Xinuluo gave up the idea of ​​continuing the attack.

"Then should our army still confront the Tang army in Suihe Shouzhuo?" the deputy general asked again.

"We have to see how the battle goes in Anxiang County, not to mention that Dalun is on his way here."

Lun Xinuluo was worried. There had been no news for several days. He didn't know how the battle between Lun Xinuoza and the Tang army was going.

The great theory he mentioned is Moluqiongsangwoermang, which is one of the three major theories of Tubo at that time.

He was also the first person in Tubo who served as prime minister as a relative of the emperor. After Chidai Zhudan killed Weida Zhagonglu, Moluqiongsang Woermang was the person Chidai Zhudan trusted the most.

Moluqiongsang Woermang presided over many Tibetan winter and summer leagues and formulated various laws and regulations. At the same time, he personally led the army to fight in the south and the north, and was called "General".

The reason why Tuyuhun is so honest now is that it has not been pacified by Luqiongsang Woermang. He has also visited the border of the Tang Dynasty many times to command the army to fight.

The current situation is not good for Tubo, and Chidai Zhudan must send someone who can calm the situation.

Lun Xinuluo hopes that after the arrival of Dalun, he can provide better strategies to help them solve their difficulties.

Just when Lunsinoluo was anxious, a soldier suddenly ran to Lunsinoluo and reported: "There is a rider who claims to be a subordinate of Marshal Lunsinoza and wants to see the general."

"Bring it up!"

Lun Xinuoluo frowned and waved his hand.

After a while, a pale, dishevelled Tibetan man was brought into the camp.

This Tibetan soldier was not wearing armor. On this cold winter day, he only wore a thin leather coat. Judging from his spirit, he must have caught a cold.

"I am a general of the Nagqu Army with 500 cavalrymen, and I am here to see you, General!"

The five hundred Tibetan soldiers trembled and bowed to Lun Xinuluo.

"Tell me what happened."

Lun Xinuluo asked Da Wubai.

"General, our army was defeated and almost completely wiped out. The marshal and general Xinuogu were captured by Li Xuan himself, and the generals Tongyahu, Xiegong, and Xijiazang were beheaded by Li Xuan. The Tuyuhun prince and two thousand-household leaders were also captured by the Tang army. All of our thousand-man leaders were killed or wounded, and in the end, there were probably less than 2,000 people who escaped from the Tang army. When many people fled, they abandoned their helmets and armor, and even abandoned food, and died of exhaustion and hunger in the cold weather..."

As the cavalryman spoke, he shed tears and bowed his head to the ground.

There hasn’t been such a brutal battle in many years!
Even if they escaped, many did not return to the tribe alive.

"hiss!"

Lun Xinuoluo took a breath of cold air. He never expected such a thing to happen.

How long has it been since?

Even if the infantry were defending in formation, they wouldn't be defeated so quickly, let alone be completely wiped out, right?

"How many soldiers did the Tang army recruit to encircle and suppress us in Anxiang?"

On the key point raised by Xinoluolu.

"They only have 7,000 to 8,000 cavalry and more than 15,000 infantry!"

Da Wubai said with sobs.

"what?"

On the great earthquake in Sinolog.

Twenty thousand defeated more than sixty thousand. Similar records are not uncommon in history.

But he had never heard of 20,000 troops wiping out more than 60,000 troops in such a short time.

"What did Synozza do?"

Although Lunsignor had no authority over Lunsignorza, he was very angry at the moment.

He had always expected the worst outcome, but it wouldn't be this!
This failure will not only have an impact on the Tuyuhun area, but will also affect Qinghai and Jiuqu.

In terms of Xinuoza, he is simply a sinner of Tubo!
"The Marshal is helpless! That Li Xuan is too powerful. He killed our Ye Ru's most powerful general, Tong Ya Hu, with one blow. He also blew up the armor of Tuyuhun's most powerful general, Xi Jia Zang, and sent him flying several feet to his death. He moved freely among the army as if there was no one around. He stabbed people with his spear and threw corpses several feet high at will. Arrows and stones were blocked by his weapons. He jumped on his horse and drew his bow, and would kill our warriors within a hundred steps. He could kill hundreds of people in an instant. Our cavalry was unable to resist, and the infantry went deep into the enemy's territory alone. Failure was inevitable!"

After several days of escape, Da Wubai also understood the difficulties of Lun Sinuza.

"Bold, are you talking about a human being?"

Lun Xinuluo became even angrier, he didn't believe that there was such a powerful general.

The Great Five Hundred refers to the gods in their Tibetan legends. Can a mortal body compare to a god?
"General, please forgive me! Everything I said is true. You can ask the other cavalrymen who escaped back."

Da Wubai bowed again quickly.

"Li Xuan is the commander-in-chief of the Longyou Army!"

Lun Xinuoza frowned, and then he reacted.

No wonder the Tang army's defense in the Hehuang area was still so tight. It turned out that Li Xuan only took a few thousand cavalry away, and the main force was still guarding the military cities and fortresses.

Apart from thinking that Da Wubai exaggerated Li Xuan's bravery, he believed what Da Wubai said.

As a famous general, Xinuluo had great ambitions and aspirations.

He was an advocate of seizing Hexi, connecting the grasslands, and annexing the Western Regions.

In Lun Xinuolu's mind, only by occupying the Hexi Corridor and blocking the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains, would they, Tubo, truly have the strength to compete with the Tang Dynasty.

He put aside his contempt for Li Xuan and carefully asked Da Wubai about the details of the battle...

"Li Xuan must be a master of Sun Tzu and Wu Tzu, and he knows how to use his troops in a fake and real way. He is also very brave and daring, daring to attack our 60,000 with only 20,000 men. Such a famous general is more difficult to deal with than Huangfu Weiming. It is said that he is only 17 years old. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty placed him in Longyou, obviously wanting him to follow the example of Huo Qubing."

The more Xinoluo listened, the more frightened he became.

Li Xuan is both wise and brave, and will definitely be a great threat to Tubo in the future. But after this battle, his vitality was greatly damaged.

They had to mobilize troops from various internal thousand-household units to garrison the border between Tang and Tubo, otherwise Jiuqu's grain and livestock would be in danger of being taken away by the Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, Tuyuhun had a history of many rebellions, and this time Tuyuhun also lost more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, so it was certain that they were dissatisfied with Tubo.

Although Tubo and Tuyuhun were in marriage, if we really talk about marriage, the Tubo Zanpu was still Li Longji's "brother-in-law"!

"Withdraw troops, retreat to Chiling, and defend the fortresses."

On the military order issued by Xinuluo.

Li Xuan won a great victory, and there was no point in them staying here.

Maybe Li Xuan is now heading back to the Helong area, and they will be in danger if they don't leave.

He believed that when the great theory came, he would give the same order. Lun Xi Nuo Luo would explain it clearly to Mo Lu Qiong Sang Wo Er Mang.

Li Xuan was in control, so they had to mobilize more troops in Jiuqu and Qinghai areas.

This time, luring the enemy deep into the territory has proved Li Xuan's ambition. Even the border commanders such as Wang Jue and Huangfu Weiming knew to take the initiative to attack, let alone a young and energetic commander like Li Xuan.

The Tibetans withdrew their troops, which was quite regretful to Wang Nande, Li Feishouyu and other generals.

Reinforcements from Hexi have arrived, and they hope that Tubo will attack the camp to the death and gain military merit.

But Lun Xinuoluo of Tubo was a rational general.

The king had no choice but to send a cavalry unit and watch the Tibetan army retreat to Chiling and out of the mountain pass.

Only the Stone Fortress hangs high!
Wang Nan thought that the Hexi Army had not crossed the river, so they had no ability to pursue. Moreover, Li Xuan had not given them the order to pursue!

……

Time goes back to five days ago, two days after Li Xuan won the Battle of Li River.

"General, based on the words of the generals and the commander, the battle report has been drafted!"

Liu Dan handed the battle report to Li Xuan.

The title of this battle was "Congratulations on the Defeat of Tubo at Lishui".

Li Xuan took the congratulatory letter, which contained more than 3,000 words.

As expected of the number one scholar, his calligraphy is beautiful, his writing is brilliant, and his description of the battle situation is as if you were there in person.

At the beginning, a large amount of space is used to criticize Tubo, arguing that all the faults were caused by Tubo and that the Tang Dynasty was the army of justice.

Other things including regions, rivers, scenery, and weather are described in great detail.

It also depicts that the enemy is numerous and we are few, but the soldiers fight tenaciously and tirelessly.

It also describes Li Xuan's bravery, in which he killed several enemy generals in battle and was unstoppable. Through the captives, the names and positions of these Tibetan generals were clearly written to highlight Li Xuan's bravery.

If an uninformed person saw this, they would think that Liu Dan was flattering Li Xuan and exaggerating the description. After all, Li Xuan's bravery in the congratulatory letter was like that of an inhuman being, and he even used the rhetoric of "killing a thousand enemies".

But Liu Dan, Gao Shi, Cen Shen, Yang Wan and other assistant officials did not think it was an exaggeration. They took a small boat to the other side of the Li River and saw Li Xuan's brave performance. They lamented that they had seen too little before. Even Xiang Yu in "Records of the Grand Historian" was not like this!

At the end of the congratulatory letter, Liu Shan listed the gains tallied over the past two days and reported to the emperor the casualties of the Tang army.

In this battle, more than 2,000 Tang army's light cavalry, elite cavalry, and heavy cavalry were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.

More than 3,500 infantrymen were killed and 2,500 were wounded.

A total of 45 of Li Xuan's personal guards were killed and 30 were injured, several of whom were unable to fight again.

Although compared with the victory, the casualties ratio is very small.

But Li Xuan felt very uncomfortable.

This was the war he started, and the deaths of the soldiers were directly related to him.

Later, Li Xuan would frequently launch wars for his ideals, and more soldiers would die in foreign lands.

He only hoped that he could eventually complete his plan and ensure that the soldiers' deaths would not be in vain.

"Judge Liu, this congratulatory letter needs to be revised."

After reading the congratulatory letter carefully, Li Xuan said to Liu Dan.

"Li Shuai, if you find any mistakes or inappropriate parts, I will change them right away!"

Liu Shan said nervously that this was the first time he drafted a battle report for the governor to be presented to the saint, and he took it as seriously as he did the imperial examination.

"It's not that Judge Liu's congratulatory letter is wrong. On the contrary, I think it is beautifully written. But I hope you can write a little more praise for the saint at the beginning and put more words into it."

Li Xuan instructed Liu Shan.

Since it is a reward for reporting merit, Li Longji should not only be happy in his heart, but also be happy in spirit.

Only when Li Longji was happy would he send large amounts of rewards to the army.

"I have mentioned some of this in the article."

Liu Dan thought that Li Xuan did not see the few words praising the saint's wisdom.

"That is far from enough. I think we should quote classics, praise the saint's martial arts, and admire the saint's ability to identify talented people. At least one-tenth of the space should be used to praise the saint." Li Xuan understood what Li Longji liked.

"My subordinate understands!"

Liu Dan thought that a man like Li Shuai would not be so particular about this, but he did not expect that Li Shuai was so delicate in his mind.

Only a minister who is skilled in political tactics would do this.

But as a judge promoted by Li Xuan, Liu Dan obeyed Li Xuan's orders.

He spent another day revising and rewriting it.

When Li Xuan saw the new "Congratulations on the Defeat of Tubo at the Li River", he nodded with satisfaction and ordered the post soldiers to rush it to Chang'an over a distance of 700 miles.

This time Li Xuan will definitely arrive before the military supervisor.

Because the military supervisor Zhang Daobin was guarding Suihe, only two young eunuchs followed Li Xuan.

Only after they take the battle report compiled by the Jiedushi Mansion to see Zhang Daobin can they report it secretly to Li Longji.

As for the report of achievement from his generals, they will be sent out when Li Xuan returns to Huangshui.

After all, there is still a battle to be fought in Suihe and Shouzhuo City.

In addition to recommending Gao Xiuyan as the military commander of Longyou, Li Xuan also wanted to recommend higher ranks for some generals.

In addition to his military exploits, Nan Jiyun also shot and killed a Tibetan captain, and Xin Yunjing captured a captain.

Others such as An Sishun, Qianer Dafu, and Che Shensai are also very important. They all need to be promoted to official positions.

In the few days after the war, Li Xuan focused on comforting the soldiers and civilians and burying the soldiers who died in the battle.

He had already learned the news from the Hehuang area through the messenger. The two sides had only collided lightly and were still in a state of confrontation.

When the news of Lunxinuoza's defeat came, Tubo's withdrawal was inevitable, and there was no need for Li Xuan to go back in such a hurry.

Three days later, Li Xuan received the message from the messenger as expected: Tubo was withdrawing its troops!

Li Xuan led his personal guards to inspect the border of Anxiang County.

Along the way, Li Xuan saw the corpses of Tubo and Tuyuhun soldiers, some of whom died of hunger and cold.

Once the situation stabilizes, these bodies will be collected.

He saw the magnificent mountains and rivers, and realized that this was actually not a good route for Tubo to enter the Tang territory.

However, he was deceived by Li Xuan and had to cross mountains and rivers.

The border of Anxiang County is the territory of Tuyuhun, which is also the place where Li Xuan will plan in the future.

Li Xuan then went to the border garrisons, looked at the beacon towers, and encouraged the soldiers stationed on the frontier.

Under normal circumstances, they are responsible for providing early warning.

After Li Xuan had been patrolling the frontier for three days, it suddenly started snowing and Li Xuan had to return to Anxiang City.

Zhang Wenyan, deputy envoy of the Longyou herdsman, and Liu Xilai came to see Li Xuan. When the Tang army was competing with Tubo, they were also very panicked, after all, they were not far from the battlefield.

"Li Shuai, we have already contacted the Li Te tribe in the Western Regions. We have offered a higher price, and they are willing to transport the Western Regions' fine breed horses to the Tang Dynasty."

Zhang Wenyan reported to Li Xuan.

"Well! We accept all who come. No matter how many stallions they have, we will buy them at a high price! If the stock of silk, money, gold and silver in the animal husbandry supervisor's inventory is not enough, I will prepare it for you from Longyou."

Li Xuan replied.

As long as they establish connections and attract those profit-seeking Western Region merchants, the Kushan people will have plenty of ways to transport good horses to Longyou.

Thousands of gold to buy horse bones!
After seeing the sincerity of the Tang Dynasty's pastoral supervisor, more of the Kut people from the Nine Zhaowu Clans would rush to the Tang Dynasty.

After Zhang Wenyan reported some of the pastoral situation to Li Xuan, he told Li Xuan something else: "General Li, there is a Li Te caravan that wants to see me. They are transporting more than 50 good horses from the Western Regions to the Tang Dynasty. When they passed through Hexi, they were taken away by the local tyrants. They asked me to help them get the good horses back, but I am powerless. I am worried that this incident will affect my pastoral purchase of good horses."

(End of this chapter)