Chapter 169: The Battle of Baitinghai in the Windy Desert
Bai Tinghai.

During the Tang Dynasty, Baiting Lake had not yet dried up and was rich in water and grass, making it suitable for grazing sheep and horses. Not far away there was a mountain called Suwu Mountain.

This is where Su Wu once grazed sheep.

However, apart from this oasis, there is desert all around, so there are only some Tang Dynasty herdsmen in the Baiting Shouzhuo area.

Baitinghai is more than 500 miles away from the north of Liangzhou City. The Tang Dynasty set up Baiting Guard with 1,700 soldiers.

This is a relatively northern area of ​​the Hexi Corridor, facing the Juyan Sea across the desert from east to west. There is the Ningkou Army there, which changed its name from the Tongcheng Shouzhuo.

The Uighurs did not go to the Juyan Lake which was closer to them for the military parade, but went to the Baiting Lake which was closer to Liangzhou City. This was a direct move, and they wanted the Tang Dynasty to withdraw its troops as soon as possible.

After Li Xuan sent the scout general to convey the order to the various Hu tribes, the various Hu tribes did not dare to disobey. They immediately counted the numbers and gathered on horseback to the north of Liangzhou City.

After the gathering, An Sishun led 10,000 Hu cavalry and marched north along the Macheng River to Baiting Shouzhuo south of Baiting Sea.

"You have lived in the Tang Dynasty for generations, and all the talented people in your clan have participated in military affairs. General Li is waiting for you. Now the Huihe army has marched south to Baiting, eyeing us covetously. The Helong army has gathered between the Hehuang River and it is difficult for them to return. Now is your chance to show your ability to the Tang Dynasty. If the Huihe dares to enter the Tang territory, strike back immediately."

South of Baitinghai, An Sishun summoned the leaders of the various Hu tribes and spoke solemnly.

Also tell them when to start the war.

If the Uighurs cross into the Tang territory, we will go to war; if they do not, we will be on high alert.

"General, rest assured. We are also Tang people. We will do our best to defend our territory."

Fu Di Nan bowed and said to An Sishun.

He is the most complicated one, because his younger brother Guli Peiluo, whom he has not seen for nearly 20 years, may be in the oasis across the Baiting Sea.

Such a serious matter must have been caused by Guli Peiluo's son Moyanchuo leading the troops.

Fu Di Nan also knew that from the moment the Uighur Khanate marched south for a military parade, a rift began to appear in its relationship with the Tang Dynasty.

After Fu Di Nan finished speaking, other Hu tribesmen echoed him one after another.

They are most likely here just to make up the numbers, not to fight.

All the ambitious young people in the tribe, such as Lifei Yuanli, Lifei Shouyu, Qian'er Dafu and others from the Qiang tribe, are already in the Helong Army.

The others do not train regularly and their combat effectiveness cannot be compared with that of the Uighur army.

Afterwards, An Sishun deliberately stationed his troops in the northern part of Baitinghai.

Send more people to patrol the border to prevent Uighur scouts from crossing the border.

But the Uighur scouts had already seen the "Tang cavalry".

They saw no "armor", at most some ordinary leather armor.

In addition to the Tang army flags, there were also a variety of other battle flags such as the Uighur, Sijie, Qibi, etc.

Seeing that the number was about 10,000 cavalry, the Uighur scout immediately reported the news.

There is also a lake in an oasis more than a hundred miles away, but it cannot be compared with Baiting Sea.

What’s more, connected to Baiting Sea is Xiutu Lake, which is even larger than Baiting Sea.

"Reporting to Yehu, the Tang army has 10,000 cavalrymen coming to Baitinghai. Judging from their attire and flags, they should be from the Huihe, Qibi, Hun, Tuyuhun, Sijie, Qiang, Tuqishi and other tribes in Hexi."

The scout reported to Mo Yanchuo.

"I understand. The Tang Dynasty doesn't take us seriously and insists on attacking Tubo."

Mo Yanchu clenched his fists.

He was the commander-in-chief of this march, and his identity was the Yehu of the Uighurs.

Guli Peiluo was ill and naturally could not lead the army personally, so he took over.

The Uighurs only sent 30,000 Uighur cavalry and 20,000 affiliated coalition forces.

In addition, another 100,000 cavalrymen were ready to be assembled to defend against Wang Zhongsi's westward advance.

In their view, it was impossible for Wang Zhongsi to defeat the 100,000 cavalry guarding Yu Dujun Mountain with cavalry without sending infantry.

By the time Wang Zhongsi's cavalry arrived, it had already begun snowing, which the Uighurs were good at. They could then use their numerical advantage to encircle and wipe out the Shuofang cavalry and the Hedong cavalry.

The purpose of this arrangement is to prepare for a rainy day in case of a complete fallout with the Tang Dynasty.

The Huihe were originally the most powerful of the Nine Tiele tribes. After the Khanate was established, the Nine Tiele tribes submitted to it, and its power expanded greatly.

This is also the reason why they dared to prevent the Tang Dynasty from defeating Tubo.

But they did not expect that Li Xuan would recruit the subordinate Hu tribe to deal with it.

In fact, these subordinate Hu tribes were not taken seriously by the Huihe light cavalry, but Li Xuan was sure that they would use the military parade as an excuse and would not dare to attack the Tang Hu cavalry and Baiting Shouzhuo City.

"Yehu, you should jump over and defeat these Tang troops. I, the Huihe, have 200,000 soldiers, which is no less than the four garrisons of the Tang army."

A Uighur general came to ask for orders from Moyanchuo.

He was Alebu, a famous and fierce general of the Uighurs. He had followed Guli Peiluo in battles for more than ten years and made great contributions to the unification of the Uighurs.

So he was named "Apo", which means an officer in charge of troops and horses, and was a senior general of the Uighurs.

Because Aleb was good at fighting, he was always dissatisfied with the "weakness" of the Uighurs towards the Tang court.

At the time when Li Xuan was destroying the remnants of the Turkic royal court, he captured Usumish Khan, which Aleb always regretted and considered it a shame for the Uighurs.

"No, the Tang army is coming with all its might, so the Huihe can only flee westwards."

Mo Yanchuo decisively rejected Aleb's words.

Their purpose was to relieve the pressure on Tubo, not to completely offend the Tang Dynasty.

"The Tang State has already sent its subordinate Hu soldiers north. Either don't offend them, or cut ties with them. If you are so hesitant, disaster is bound to happen."

Aleb looked depressed. He thought that since it had come to this, he might as well go all the way and form an alliance with Tubo.

Although the Tang army often invaded the grasslands, they also suffered many defeats on the grasslands.

"Stop talking. Let the parade horses advance to 80 miles near the Tang army border and see if we can lure the Tang army back to defend."

Mo Yanchuo also planned to try again, to get his troops closer so that the Tang Dynasty in Hexi would feel a sense of crisis and send troops back to support and save Tubo.

"As ordered!"

Aleb had no choice but to obey.

He was loyal to Mo Yanchuo and his son, but he was unwilling to accept Mo Yanchuo's fear of Li Xuan.

Although Li Xuan was invincible, the Uighurs had just destroyed the Turks and Basmils and had not yet competed with Li Xuan.

He heard that Li Xuan rode a horse and held a spear, like a crouching tiger and a swooping eagle, but he always scoffed at it.

If he had pursued Usumish Khan at the beginning, Li Xuan would never have succeeded.

A day later, the Uighurs were only eighty miles away from Baitinghai, which shocked the Hu cavalry.

An Sishun comforted them, allowing them to feel at ease on the territory of the Tang Dynasty and be ready to fight at any time.

A few days later, the Uighurs did not advance again, which made the Hu cavalry breathe a sigh of relief.

The north wind is howling in the desert.

The air was filled with yellow sand, flying stones and billowing clouds, and the horses could no longer run.

Li Xuan led 30,000 cavalry, a total of more than 70,000 war horses, and marched forward with difficulty.

The soldiers looked haggard and had dry skin. When the wind was strong, the sand hit their faces and it hurt. They had to cover their eyes and walked with difficulty.

Fortunately, the Xinquan Army, who were familiar with the desert, led the way.

In the desert, there were already inscriptions left by the Tang Dynasty. Xinquan Military City was built beside the Yellow River, only a hundred miles away from Feng'an Military City, where Li Xuan first served in the army.

The Xinquan Army was a small "garrison-type" army with only a thousand officers and soldiers. Its usual mission was to patrol the border.

The desert is also a place they often visit.

Li Xuan did not arrive at Xinquan Military City, but instead notified Xinquan Military Envoy Chen Shi early and asked him to lead his men to a place more than 200 miles to the west and follow him into the desert.

There was no need for him to travel more than 200 miles to Xinquan Military City.

But the weather was not good. As soon as they reached the center of the desert, the north wind started to blow for several days, making it impossible for them to ride their horses. They had to get off and lead the horses.

Hundreds of war horses have died and hundreds more have been injured.

Dozens of soldiers also suffered non-combat casualties, and at least hundreds were sick.

In order to take them by surprise, they had to cross the desert.

But the nights were cold during this season, and although they carried a lot of firewood, it was not enough to keep them warm for long because it was used for cooking.

It was also very troublesome to make a fire. The tent cloth had to be used to block the wind and sand so that the soldiers could eat cooked horse meat and millet.

Fortunately, the Xinquan Army knew the location of the oasis in the desert, otherwise the horse fodder they carried would have been used up.

"Whoosh..."

"General Chen, how far are we from Baitinghai now?"

In the midst of the strong wind, Li Xuan asked Chen Shi, the commander of the Xinquan Army.

"General Li, according to the markings, the straight-line distance between our army and Baitinghai is 180 miles. According to your request, it will take nearly 300 miles to reach the vast area behind the enemy."

After Chen Shi took out the map and gestured, he answered Li Xuan.

"Tell the soldiers that this strong northerly wind is not God's way of stopping us, but God's way of helping us. In such weather, the Huihe people can't expect us to pass through the desert. Once our army appears behind the Huihe cavalry, military merit will be at our fingertips. We can sleep in the open now, and we can eat fresh mutton later."

Li Xuan called a group of generals, both big and small, to his side and asked them to go back and boost morale.

Even if the wind and sand blow again, they can complete the detour within three days.

After the general greeted the soldiers, their morale was greatly boosted.

They only rested for four hours at night, and marched in the wind and sand for the other eight hours.

The closer they got to the edge of the desert, the quieter the sandstorms became, and the soldiers had already mounted their horses.

They believed what Li Shuai said, that it was God helping them. When they reached the edge of the desert, Li Xuan sent scouts dressed as Uighur cavalry, led by Nan Jiyun and Li Sheng, to investigate the enemy's position. Some of them could speak the Uighur language.

The army was resting and waiting at the edge of the desert.

Two days later.

Nan Jiyun came back and used a map to draw the exact location of the enemy.

After learning that the Uighurs had already "paraded" to eighty miles north of Baiting Sea, Li Xuan immediately began to make arrangements.

They were located in the northeast of Huihe, more than a hundred miles away from Huihe.

Li Xuan ordered the troops to deploy separately, like a big net, and move towards the Uighur cavalry.

Two thousand heavy infantry, two thousand crossbowmen, and one thousand Modao generals, led by Cheshensai and Zhang Xing, went to deploy defenses in several high slopes and gullies where the Uighurs were most likely to escape.

Although it was two hundred miles away from the rear of the Uighurs, that distance was the easiest to ambush the enemy, and it would definitely be able to intercept a large number of Uighur fleeing soldiers.

The terrain in other directions is not so ingenious.

Once the Tang cavalry charged, with an enemy force of 50,000, they would definitely not be able to stop them, and a large number of them would surely escape.

The ambushed Modao, heavy infantry, and crossbowmen can intercept a large number of battle results.

Moreover, Li Xuan's subsequent arrangement was intended to "let them off the hook" and allow the Uighurs to run to the ambush area.

Li Xuan ordered Xin Yunjing to lead 7,000 light cavalry from the Lintao Army to attack the left wing of the Huihe Army, and ordered Li Zhushi to lead 5,000 light cavalry from the Chishui Army to attack the right wing of the Huihe Army.

Nan Jiyun led five thousand elite cavalry from Lintao and attacked directly from the rear.

Five thousand Red Water Elite Cavalry led by Li Fei Yuanli attacked from the side and rear.

An Zhongzhang led a thousand heavily armored cavalrymen to charge straight in the middle of the enemy.

Li Feishouyu led a thousand elite cavalrymen to intercept the enemy.

Li Xuan called all the generals to his side and marked their positions on the map, with strict requirements on when to rest, when to set out, and when to arrive at the designated location.

The generals did not dare to slack off and took note of it.

The heavy infantry, Modao troops, and crossbowmen were located farther away and were the first to set off.

They still went around the desert, led by the deputy envoy of Xinquan Army, and Li Xuan asked Liu Shan to accompany them.

Once exposed on the main road, the commotion of one man and four horses would definitely be discovered by the Uighur scouts, who would then inform most of the Uighurs of the news.

Li Xuan had to time his move well so as to intercept the Uighur cavalry when they were retreating.

A day later, before dawn, the army set out after cooking.

The war horses trotted at a fast pace, with riders constantly changing places.

Different types of soldiers, with 500 people in a large team and 50 people in a small team, keep the formation in order.

Once the location is designated, the formation will be deployed immediately.

……

The Uighur camp had not yet realized that the Tang army had already run across the desert to their rear.

Their so-called "military parade" was just sending thousands of cavalry to show off their military power.

It has been so many days, and the troops that should have been reviewed have already been reviewed.

More soldiers were resting in the tents.

The horses are in the stable.

They thought they were keeping an eye on the front and there wouldn't be any mistakes.

"After so many days, there is still no news!"

Mo Yanchu frowned in the big tent.

"Is the Tang army really attacking Tubo and treating us Uighurs as nothing?"

If the Tang Dynasty ignored the Uighurs' "large army approaching the border" and only focused on dealing with Tubo, the Uighurs would become a laughing stock.

"Ye Hu, it is said that the Silk Road of Tang State has been blocked. Perhaps they have returned to the military bases in Hexi, but we just don't know."

A Uighur official said to Mo Yanchuo.

"Their purpose is probably to confuse us and Tubo so that we don't know what happened in Helong."

Mo Yanchu was also very troubled. He always felt that Li Xuan would not return troops because of his strong character.

If Tubo was defeated, Li Xuan would probably use this as an excuse to attack Huihe.

Perhaps Aleb was right, he and his son were hesitant and lost sight of the big picture.

But they are the heads of the Khanate and must consider the future of the country.

If Li Xuan wasn't so powerful, even if Enlanda Zalugon said anything, they would not be willing to get involved in this mess.

"Yehu, don't worry. The outcome of the battle between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty is still unknown. Think about how powerful and domineering Xue Rengui was when he conquered Tianshan with three arrows. But he also suffered a defeat at the Battle of Dafeichuan. Tubo is now more powerful than before. The troops they can mobilize are no less than those of the Tang Dynasty. Even if they haven't built a castle yet, they still have the strength to fight the Tang Dynasty."

The subordinate officials advised Mo Yanchuo to relax.

After all, Tubo has existed for so many years, and the Central Plains dynasty has never completely defeated Tubo.

"I hope so!"

Mo Yanchu nodded.

"Report..."

Just as Mo Yanchu was about to stand up and turn around, a scout rushed into the camp, rushed to Mo Yanchu's tent, dismounted and went into the tent: "Reporting to Ye Hu, a large number of armored...Tang cavalry, tens of thousands of them appeared less than thirty miles behind our army."

This time the Uighur scout spoke hesitantly, obviously frightened by the scene.

"What did you say!"

Mo Yanchu immediately came down and glared at the scout.

"Report..."

At the same time, cavalrymen from another direction discovered the sound of Tang army's horse hooves and came to report to Mo Yanchuo.

"Report... Report to Ye Hu, there are several thousand cavalrymen, each with four horses, rushing towards our rear. I don't know what the purpose is."

In an instant, several scouts came to report the emergency.

"Hurry... The Tang army is about to launch a surprise attack on us. Hurry up and fight back. Let the horses run."

"Aleb, tell the generals to maintain their formation and retreat into the country."

After all, Mo Yanchu was the Khan's successor who had experienced many battles on the battlefield. After receiving the news, he suppressed his panic and gave orders to his subordinates.

There is only one explanation, the Hexi army came across the desert.

Those people are perverts!

The north wind was howling these days, and the sandstorms in the desert were even stronger. He never thought that the Tang army would cross the desert.

They didn't expect that the Tang army would come so quickly and launch a surprise attack on them directly.

This is very wrong.

There was no dialogue as imagined, only a confrontation when we met.

"I hope it's not him!"

This fighting style reminded Mo Yanchu of Li Xuan.

When they heard that the Tang army was only ten or twenty miles away from them, the Uighur cavalry hurriedly put on their armor, went to the stable to lead out their horses, and formed a battle formation under the leadership of the team leader.

Whenever a team of 100 people was formed, they would immediately rush to the front to avoid affecting other teams.

Also fairly well-trained.

However, the tribes affiliated with the Huihe had no unified command and were in chaos.

The order given by Mo Yanchu was to defeat one of the Tang army teams and then retreat to the royal court in an orderly manner.

But as the Tang cavalry got closer, the 50,000 Uighur cavalry, carrying more than 100,000 cattle and sheep for logistics, were simply unable to complete their formation by the time the Tang army arrived.

Even if Mo Yanchu personally took command.

……

After Bai Tinghai's Tang army scouts discovered the "chaos" of the Uighur cavalry, they immediately informed An Sishun of the news.

The various Hu tribes thought that the Huihe were going to attack them, and they were all terrified. Only An Sishun remained calm. He told the leaders of the various Hu tribes: "Everyone, prepare to fight the Huihe coalition forces!"

"It's not that we are afraid of death and don't move forward, but the enemy has 50,000 cavalrymen and we only have 10,000. The disparity in strength is huge!"

The leader of the Qibi tribe in Hexi said with a sad face that they thought they were being sent to their deaths.

"Don't worry, everyone. General Li has led 30,000 cavalrymen from the desert to the rear of the Huihe. Now that the Huihe are suddenly in turmoil, it must be that General Li has led the cavalry to launch a surprise attack. The cavalry under General Li's command, there are 20,000 iron cavalry alone. If they are caught by surprise, they will be crushed."

In order to embolden the Hu tribes, An Sishun told them about Li Xuan's arrival.

"Marshal Li leads 20,000 cavalrymen!"

When Fu Dianan and others heard that Li Xuan was leading the troops personally and had 20,000 cavalry, they all gasped.

What is there to hesitate about? Just rush over and get military merit.

At the same time, we must also leave a good impression on Li Shuai.

After the leaders of the various Hu tribes informed their subordinates of the news, their morale was greatly boosted.

A Hu knight rubbed his hands, took his bow and mounted his horse.

The army was divided into tribes, and with the 500 cavalrymen guarded by Bai Ting, they headed north...

(End of this chapter)