Chapter 163 Li Shimin's true and false marshal tactics, the Modao Army is formed

"Yes, sir. The wheat harvest is good this year. We have enough food in Longyou. Even if the troops from Hexi arrive, we will not be short of food."

Liu Yan replied to Li Xuan.

"Reporting to General Li, recently our scouts discovered that Tubo has built seven cities in Qinghai and Jiuqu. We learned from the captured Tubo people that Tubo has summoned Tuyuhun, Bailang Qiang, Dangxiang and other tribes to work for them, building eight cities including Kubahai City to prepare for our army's attack."

Liu Dan told Li Xuan this important matter.

"It's a pity that it's too late. And if they continue to recruit Tuyuhun as laborers, it will make the Tuyuhun tribes even more resentful. The Dangxiang and Bailang Qiang will also be dissatisfied with Tubo."

Although the Dangxiang, like the Tuyuhun, migrated to the interior of the Tang Dynasty many times, there were still many people in their hometowns.

The Bailang Qiang was a tribe originating from the upper reaches of the Yak River. Due to the fall of Tuyuhun, like the Dangxiang, they were forced to be conquered by Tubo.

At this time, all the Bailang Qiang were south of Jiuqu, but had not crossed the Yellow River.

Building eight castles in a row, even small ones, would require a lot of labor.

It would be easy if we were the victorious side.

But Tubo was the defeated party!
Li Xuan believed that the Tibetans would sooner or later become alienated from these subordinate tribes.

"Check whether the troops of the army are complete!"

Li Xuan asked Liu Dan again.

"To reply General Li, all the troops in Longyou are now fully staffed. Especially the Lintao Army, the newly recruited soldiers are mainly those who are proficient in riding and shooting. After several months of training, they will become elite soldiers." Liu Shan replied.

He was responsible for recruiting soldiers and then allocating them to the various armies.

The relationship between the Jiedushi and the soldiers is so deep that the soldiers' training and military pay are all approved by the Jiedushi's office.

Although the military power and funding of the Jiedushi were granted by the imperial court.

But many soldiers only recognized their commander-in-chief, not the imperial court.

Afterwards, Li Xuan discussed other matters with his subordinates.

Liu Yan, Liu Shan, Gao Shi and others were all very capable. When Li Xuan was away, they handled the affairs of the Jiedushi, the Zhidushi and the Yingtian in Longyou perfectly.

Li Xuan does not need to ask for compensation and can just work normally starting tomorrow.

After listening to the reports of his subordinates on many matters, Li Xuan ordered his subordinates to leave, leaving only Li Mi, Liu Yan, Liu Shan, Gao Shi and Yan Zhenqing in the hall.

Before Yan Zhenqing left Huangshui City, he temporarily participated in the meeting to allow him to have more contact with military affairs.

On the Hexi side, there were officials such as Yang Wan, Cen Shen, and Duan Xueshi, all of whom were talented.

"Sir, we only have two months to deploy our troops. You know my strategy. Come back and look at the map. Do you have any good ideas?"

Under the gaze of everyone, Li Xuan asked Li Mi.

Tactical preparations need to be made now. We cannot wait until the war starts to think about what to do.

"What the general desires is the land of Jiuqu. After occupying Jiuqu, we will control Hongji Bridge and take the Yellow River as the boundary line to swallow up Jiuqu and the borders to the west and south of Jiuqu."

"In addition to the Tibetan soldiers and horses stationed in the farms and pastures, Jiuqu also has five castles: Shudun City, Damomen City, Baigu City, Wanxiu City, and Hongji City. Among them, Shudun is on the west side of the Yellow River. These cities must be taken down, otherwise we will not be able to completely control Jiuqu, and the Tibetans will counterattack."

"General, please tell me how many troops can be mobilized for this battle!"

After Li Mi told Li Xuan about Jiuqu's background, he asked him about the military strength.

"Hexi and Longyou can mobilize 120,000 troops to participate in the battle if nothing unexpected happens."

Li Xuan replied that only one to three thousand soldiers would be needed to garrison the important cities in Hexi and Longyou.

"General, you want to take Jiuqu, but you don't want to waste the people's strength to go out of the border. Jiuqu has many Tibetan cities, and if hundreds of thousands of troops rush in, you have to mobilize the civilians in Hexi and Longyou. And if we do it openly, Tibetans will be prepared. If Tibetans have more soldiers and horses than ours, they will hold the city to the death, and we will not be able to take it down before the Great Cold arrives."

Li Mi expressed his views.

"The only way is to divide the troops!"

"Or we can attack Qinghai..."

Yan Zhenqing, Gao Shi and other colleagues expressed their suggestions.

"I have long had the idea of ​​dividing the troops. I plan to take down some of the garrisons on Chiling before the battle, and then surround the road down the mountain from Shibao City. Let the Tubo mistakenly think that our army is attacking Shibao City. Their reinforcements will surely come, and then our infantry will be arrayed at the mountain pass to guard against the fierce attack of the Tubo. I will lead 20,000 cavalrymen of the Lintao Army to raid the Jiuqu area and head straight for the Tubo cities. But I am worried that the Tubo offensive will be too fierce and will break through our infantry defense line in the Chiling area..."

Li Xuan told Li Mi, Liu Yan, Gao Shi and others about his concerns.

Historically, when Geshu Han attacked Shibao City, he attacked day and night for ten days without stopping, and almost killed Gao Xiuyan and Zhang Shouyu who were in charge of the main attack, in order to deter the morale of the army.

The Tang army that was trying to block Tubo from the outside was at risk of not being able to hold out.

At that time, Tubo was fully prepared and claimed that "the whole country would come to help."

Fortunately, after thirteen days of fighting day and night, they successfully captured Shibao City and forced the Tibetan reinforcements to retreat!
If there was a mistake with the main force, it would be useless even if he led his cavalry to capture Jiuqu.

When Li Xuan finished speaking, his subordinates also frowned.

They were all worried that the main force would be vulnerable when Li Xuan was away.

"General, you can follow the example of Emperor Taizong and send 20,000 cavalrymen from Hexi to Qinghai with your banner to deliberately expose your whereabouts. Your reputation is well known in Tubo. If they see you leading 20,000 cavalrymen, they will certainly send more people to Qinghai for support. Our infantry in Chiling can be relieved of a lot of pressure. With 70,000 to 80,000 infantrymen and cavalrymen in Chiling, even if Tubo sends out an army of more than 100,000, it will not be able to break through."

"At this time, the general can lead more than 20,000 Tao cavalry to raid Jiuqu. But the general can pretend to be the commander of the Lintao army."

"And the 20,000 cavalrymen from Qinghai are roaming around without attacking, always close to our territory. The Tibetans are afraid of your power, and even if they deploy 30,000 cavalrymen, they will definitely not dare to take the initiative to attack."

"This is just my humble opinion. I hope you can come up with better tactics."

After Li Mi finished speaking, he bowed to Li Xuan and his subordinates.

To this day, Li Xuan's big banner can indeed scare people.

Since Li Xuan often defeated thousands of troops and fought ten to one in each battle, the Tubo people were afraid of Li Xuan like a tiger. Seeing the big banner, they must have many concerns.

Even though they were afraid that Stone Castle would be captured.

But they were more afraid that Li Xuan would lead 20,000 cavalry to attack the Tibetan army in Chiling.

In that case, not only would Shibao City be lost, but the main force might also suffer a major defeat.

"Clap clap..."

"Great idea, great idea..."

"Sir, you are very talented. This plan can only be implemented if General Li is the commander-in-chief."

"Fighting on three fronts, with real and fake situations, Tubo will be in a state of panic."

After hearing Li Mi's plan, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Yan, Gao Shi and Liu Shan clapped their hands and said.

They thought this plan was brilliant just by imagining it.

"Good plan! If we can make a detailed plan, we can start mobilizing the troops from Hexi in August and start the war in September."

Li Xuan pondered for half a minute before clapping his hands in admiration.

Li Shimin's tactics of true and false marshals are similar to the "anvil and hammer tactics" of later generations.

Its essence lies in the coordination of frontal containment and rear raid. In this tactic, one side is usually used as the "anvil", that is, the solid front-line troops responsible for attracting and bearing the enemy's attacks; while the other side is used as the "hammer", usually the more mobile cavalry.

Li Shimin had a troop of black-armored cavalry, and he often led them to raid the enemy in this way.

The "anvil and hammer tactics" they implemented were more sophisticated.

The Tang army had 60,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry as the "anvil".

But on the surface, the "Iron Hammer" was not the cavalry that attacked Qinghai.

Instead, it was the Lintao cavalry led by Li Xuan himself.

With the bait of Shibao City, the main force of Tubo will inevitably be "sucked up".

Although Shibao City is a mountain city, it can only accommodate more than a thousand soldiers at most.

There were steep cliffs on three sides, and only one small path leading up the mountain. The thousand-plus people had enough food, water, bows and arrows, and stones, so theoretically they could hold out for a very long time.

But precisely because it was easy to defend and difficult to attack, the Tang army blocked the path and more than a thousand Tubo people could not come down!

And it only takes a few hundred people to block the trail.

After considering it, Li Xuan felt that this could be prepared as a tactic.

"Recover Jiuqu this year!"

After everyone discussed the details, Li Xuan clenched his fists.

This is a very important battle for him.

Several cities in Jiuqu of Tubo stored large amounts of food and equipment.

There were many arable lands there, and the Tubo people grew wheat and barley.

There are also many pastures with herds of cattle and sheep.

"The Tang Dynasty will win, and General Li will win."

Gao Shi, Liu Shan and others also responded in unison.

Conquering the Wolf's Lair and expanding the territory thousands of miles away is the greatest honor for a soldier.

They are implementing it.

Only Li Mi was still looking at the map hanging in the main hall.

He looked toward the northwest of the river, thoughtfully.

……

Li Xuan gave Liu Yan another task alone. He asked Liu Yan to temporarily serve as the judge of salt and iron in Hexi and Longyou, establish the Changping Salt Warehouse, and manage salt and iron.

Several of the financial reforms that Li Xuan proposed to Li Longji were the masterpieces of Liu Yan after the Anshi Rebellion.

Li Xuan told Liu Yan some key points of reform and asked him to study the strategies and implement them in his spare time.

Li Xuan will also participate in his spare time.

The main reason was that the war was approaching, and Li Xuan had too many positions to take into account, so he could only delegate power.

But he did not delegate power indiscriminately. For every position, he needed a talented person to be his deputy.

For example, Lu Sigong was promoted to be the chief officer of Wuwei County.

Shangguan Qing was appointed as the Chief Clerk of the Military Governor's Office of Xiping County.

Zhang Wenyan was the deputy envoy of the Longyou herdsmen.

Li Xuan was also investigating the deputy envoy of Helong Yafan and the deputy envoy of Hexi Changxing Transport.

Finally, Li Xuan summoned the yamen guard Murong Xihao.

"Meeting General Li!"

After Murong Xihao entered the hall, he bowed to Li Xuan.

"No need to be so polite. How is the training of the 7,000 Tuyuhun soldiers under your command going?"

Li Xuan asked Murong Xihao directly. These are also a card under his command.

There are also Tuyuhun tribes in the Jiuqu Land and to the east of the Jiuqu Land.

With these 7,000 Tuyuhun soldiers, perhaps those tribes could be made to lose their resistance.

If Tuyuhun surrenders, Dangxiang and Bailang Qiang will also become rebellious.

"Replying to Commander Li, they are soldiers. They can participate in battles after the first day of training. They are now able to complete square formation attacks. Using the combat methods of our Tang Dynasty, their combat effectiveness will be even better."

Murong Xihao replied to Li Xuan.

"Can people's hearts be trusted? They won't make mistakes, right?"

Li Xuan asked again.

"I guarantee with my life that they will definitely fight for the Tang Dynasty. If they encounter Tuyuhun soldiers, they will sing Tuyuhun songs together, which will definitely influence those Tuyuhun people who have been enslaved."

Murong Xihao replied to Li Xuan solemnly.

"Singing ballads is a good idea."

Li Xuan nodded slightly.

Tuyuhun rebelled in the late Kaiyuan period and was easily suppressed by Moluqiongsang Woermang.

Although it has not been a few years, the royal family and nobles of Tuyuhun are the minions of Tubo, and they have a deep marriage relationship with Tubo. This is evident from the fact that the little king of Tuyuhun can become a great minister of Tubo.

But the common people of Tuyuhun had already been boiling with resentment. The last straw that broke the camel's back was probably the moment when Li Xuan led the Tuyuhun infantry to attack.

After discussing with Murong Xihao, Murong Xihao invited Li Xuan to inspect the Tuyuhun military camp.

Li Xuan agreed. He had been there once before and would go again to see the training results of the Tuyuhun soldiers when he had time.

After all, the military camp is thirty miles west of Huangshui City, which is not very far.

At dusk.

When Li Xuan returned to his residence, his housekeeper Shen Ji said to him, "Master, a few days ago, a Sogdian named Kang Jiahong came to see you. After I told him you were in Chang'an, he left temporarily. Before he left, he said he had something to report to you."

"What exactly is it?"

Li Xuan asked.

It was difficult for a Sogdian merchant to meet a military governor of the Tang Dynasty. Li Xuan was one of the few military governors who was willing to interact with merchants.

Although the Tang Dynasty had regulations that officials were not allowed to interact with merchants.

But Li Xuan had his reasons for purchasing good horses from the Western Regions.

"He didn't tell me, nor did he leave any letter."

Shen Ji replied.

"I understand. If he comes again, tell him to come to the governor's residence to find me."

Li Xuan gave Shen Ji an order.

He planned to find some Hu people from the Western Regions to ask if he could get a large amount of cotton seeds.

He wanted to let the people try to grow cotton in the Helong area.

Although all cotton except "American" is of very poor quality, poor quality and no quality are two different concepts.

Before cotton from America was introduced here, the cotton from the Arab world was considered good cotton.

Although cotton was introduced to the Tang Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it was only used as an ornamental plant. In fact, there was not much cotton in the Tang Dynasty.

It was not until the Song Dynasty that cotton began to be cultivated on a large scale.

Li Xuan plans to conduct trial planting in the frontier areas first. Once it becomes popular, it will greatly reduce the probability of people getting frostbite or freezing to death.

Shen Ji agreed, and Li Xuan entered the mansion.

"General, your tea..."

After Li Xuan returned to his room, Chang Li prepared tea for him. She knew that Li Xuan usually read books at the table after returning from the Jiedushi Mansion, and tea refreshed his mind.

Chang Li finally understood that the legendary General Li's fame throughout the world was not due to his "genius" as it was said.

Whenever he was in Huangshui City, Li Xuan got up early and went to bed late, every day like this.

Don't look at any other mundane things too much.

"Changli, help me prepare paper and ink."

Li Xuan did not plan to read today. He recorded the tactics discussed today and tried to draw a troop deployment map and marching route.

Li Xuan was already familiar with the contents of "The Marching Record".

With the above records of terrain and the help of the map, Li Xuan could even roughly deduce in his mind where to deploy the infantry.

"If we occupy Jiuqu and destroy Hongji Bridge, then Tubo will have no choice but to row boats to Jiuqu before winter arrives..."

Li Xuan used a pen to draw a cross on Hongji Bridge on the Yellow River.

"No, it cannot be destroyed, and we must ensure that Tubo will not destroy it."

Li Xuan crossed out the cross again.

More than three hundred years ago, during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, Western Qin built a flying bridge across the Yellow River north of Anxiang Junfuhan, which took three years to complete.

The military records show that although the Hongji Bridge was far inferior to the flying bridge, it still took two years to build.

And it is tall and sturdy!
If it is completely destroyed, it will be much more troublesome the next time we want to attack Qinghai, and it will not be conducive to future development.

"The city of Shudun is beyond Hongji Bridge. We must break through the bridge, capture Shudun City, and defend Hongji Bridge! It is necessary to deploy heavy armored infantry, powerful crossbows, and Mo Dao in front of the bridge!"

Li Xuan made a secret decision in his heart.

After writing and drawing on the map, Li Xuan recorded the information.

Until late at night, seeing Li Xuan yawning, Chang Li gently reminded him: "The general has just returned from Chang'an, so you might as well go to bed early."

She kept preparing tea for Li Xuan in case he got thirsty.

"Yeah! That's right, I'm a little sleepy."

I have almost finished recording. I think it is already midnight.

"Okay! You should go and rest too!"

After Li Xuan put away the recorded books, he gave an instruction to Changli.

"Yes……"

I have to say goodbye after a long separation.

"Changli, can you dance "Que Ta Zhi"?"

Li Xuan suddenly stopped Changli and asked.

"Slave meeting!"

Changli was proficient in this kind of Han dance, but she was just curious why Li Xuan asked her at this time.

"When you're free, dance for me."

Li Xuan said.

"As ordered!"

Changli nodded and left, no longer disturbing Li Xuan at this time.

……

The next day, it was dawn.

Li Xuan changed into military uniform, which meant that he did not want to go to the Jiedushi Mansion.

He led dozens of Shen Ce Guards out of the city and headed straight for a horse farm in the north of the city.

Although the horse farm here is large, there are only a thousand soldiers.

They are the Modao Battalion, the military unit that Li Xuan relies on the most.

We started to form the team last year and forge specialized inner armor and body armor.

During the process, craftsmen from Hexi were gathered together, and it has been a full year now.

Their armor and inner armor were finally completed.

In addition to the Mo Dao that each person carried, there were also 500 spare Mo Daos.

It can be said that these one thousand Modao warriors were carefully selected from the 150,000 troops in Helong, and each of them was over six feet tall.

The inner armor is designed to prevent Modao warriors from being directly killed by horses, and it can alleviate the impact force.

In addition to the neck protection, their helmets also have exquisite face protection.

It can provide limited protection against arrows attacking the face.

Because it is too tight, you cannot fight in the hot summer, otherwise you will fall down from heatstroke before the enemy rushes over.

Each soldier of the Modao Army has four horses.

Generally, Li Xuan would prepare one thousand heavy armored infantry and one thousand crossbowmen for the Modao generals.

Moreover, the Modao Army needs at least fifty craftsmen to repair the Modao at any time.

In every battle, even a small one, the Mo Dao must be maintained and kept sharp enough.

Therefore, it is impossible for Mo Dao to have equipment worth tens of thousands.

Even if there are tens of thousands of people who are six feet tall and have strong endurance, it is difficult to find them.

"Meeting General Li!"

Zhang Xing, dressed in black armor, greeted Li Xuan outside the military camp.

Li Xuan informed us last night that we would come to watch the Mo Dao training today!

"No need to be polite."

Li Xuan asked Zhang Xing to stand up.

Afterwards, under the leadership of Zhang Xing, Li Xuan came to the Modao training ground.

A thousand neatly-organized Modao soldiers.

They wanted to perform Mo Dao skills for Li Xuan before the sun came out.

Everyone wore a face shield, all in black armor, and carried a terrifying blade.

You can't see their expressions, but just standing there gives you a huge sense of oppression.

(End of this chapter)