Chapter 192 Duan Xiushi meets with King Subi in secret, and the Tibetan king leads the army in person

Soldiers who participated in the battle received a total of 300,000 strings of cash, and each received a reward of at least two strings of cash, even those who did not actually fight.

Anyone who made meritorious contributions was rewarded with silk. As long as one enemy was killed, at least one piece of silk would be rewarded.

Those who perform well in jumping and swinging will be rewarded with at least ten pieces of silk.

Anyone who kills an enemy general will be rewarded with fifty pieces of silk.

The first person to reach the city will be rewarded with 100 pieces of silk.

The Lintao Army and the Chishui Army that participated in the Battle of Baitinghai can receive two copies.

These are rewards from the court.

There was still a lot of silk money in the Jiedushi's treasury, so Li Xuan took some of it to reward those who had made contributions.

The pensions for those who died in battle were paid by the Jiedushi's office.

Finally, there are the gold, silver and jewelry obtained from the Tuyuhun nobles, Tubo nobles and various cities.

Ninety percent was transported to Chang'an, and one percent was left behind.

There were too many soldiers, so only some brave warriors were rewarded, such as those who were the first to climb the enemy lines, those who broke through the enemy lines, and those who killed more than five enemies.

This can boost morale and encourage soldiers to fight for military merit.

In addition to promotion, there are also various rewards for making contributions.

For example, the leader of the team that first climbed Wanxiu City was originally an insignificant leader. Under the cover of Li Xuan's arrows, he stood firm on the city wall. In addition, he killed more than a dozen enemies in the battle and was directly promoted to Lang Jiang, skipping the yamen general.

He successively obtained 150 pieces of silk from the imperial court, 100 pieces of silk from the governor, ten taels of gold, and a gem.

This is the role model in the military.

Common people can therefore become rich and return home in glory in the future.

Li Xuan also did not treat the Hexi Huihe, Qibi, Sijie and other Hu tribes who came to help badly.

Li Xuan distributed 10,000 heads of livestock to each of their tribes.

All the soldiers from the Hu tribes who participated in the war received two strings of money. In Han territory, money was the universal currency.

There were also some Hu cavalry who killed Uighur cavalry in the Battle of Baitinghai and were rewarded with silk.

These Hu tribesmen were very happy. When they sent people to claim the reward, they told Li Xuan that they hoped they could be called upon to fight in the next battle.

Li Xuan agreed.

In this year's battle of Qinghai, 10,000 cavalrymen will be summoned from the various Hu tribes in Hexi to participate in the battle.

The rewards have been distributed. Let the armies send people to collect them.

At the same time, Li Xuan used the war horses seized at Baitinghai to replenish the Lintao and Chishui armies, and distributed the rest to other armies.

Each central army and main army is allocated at least one thousand war horses.

Li Xuan also left some mares to supplement the Huangshui Pasture Station and the ten newly built pasture stations in Jiuqu.

He also ordered Liu Yan to make clothes for the soldiers and ordered craftsmen to help the soldiers repair weapons and armor to prepare for the next war.

Recruiting soldiers was also in progress. As Li Xuan's heroic deeds spread, more and more aspiring people came to Helong to join the army, pursuing military merit and becoming famous throughout the world.

The plan is to fill the vacancies of soldiers killed or wounded in battle by May, and complete the recruitment of the Kimcheon Army and the Ningbyeon Army.

The newly formed army is not a purely new army.

Li Xuan transferred veterans from other armies so that half of the newly formed army was composed of veterans.

In this way, the new army can quickly form combat effectiveness.

As for food, Li Xuan didn't worry about it this time. The food stored in Wuning City was enough to feed an army of 100,000 for a year. Before going on the expedition, it was enough to prepare a little food.

There are hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep in the Jiuqu ranch of the Tang army, so there is no shortage of meat to reward the entire army.

Three days later, a fast horse from Suihe sent a report that smoke was rising from Yingshan Fort at the northwest mountain pass.

This means that Tubo is likely to seek to occupy the northeastern mountain pass.

When the Tibetan king Chidai Zhudan learned that Li Longji had asked him to come to Chang'an to pay a visit, he was so angry that he tore up the letter.

His surrender was insincere. It was to stop the Tang army from attacking Qinghai and to buy a breathing space. How could he possibly go to Chang'an?
Abandon your illusions and prepare for battle.

Chidai Zhudan ordered Moluqiongsang and Woermang to recapture Chiling before the decisive battle with the Tang army.

He decided to lead the army in person, mobilize the entire country, win the battle, and recapture Jiuqu.

He wanted to tell his people that Li Xuan was not invincible.

With the protection of the gods, he will surely be able to avenge his previous humiliation and establish his prestige on the Silk Road.

So, there is this action!

In addition to the 1,000 men of the Tang Dynasty's Suihe Shouzhuo headquarters, there were also 4,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry of the Anren Army stationed under the city of Suihe Shouzhuo.

At the moment the smoke of war rose, Li Xuan gave the deputy envoy of the Anren Army power and asked him to send cavalry to block the mountain pass first.

Suihe Shouzhuo City faces Chiling directly, and will be able to block the narrow northeastern mountain pass first.

At the same time, Gao Xiuyan would send the Chishui Army cavalry across the Hongji Bridge, pretending to march towards Qinghai, forcing Tubo to abandon the attack on the garrison on Chiling.

With this arrangement, the Tubo army was blocked at the mountain pass by the Tang army before they reached Yingshan Fort.

Tubo did not dare to attack the northeastern mountain pass by force, and when they learned that the Tang cavalry had left Jiuqu, they had no choice but to retreat.

A few days later, Tubo attempted to raid the Tang army's Hongyan Fort at Xishankou.

However, they were still discovered by Tang army spies, who lit a beacon fire.

This time, a thousand cavalrymen from the Anren Army City, which is closest to Xishankou, will cooperate with the defenders of Hongyan Fort to block the mountain pass, and the infantry will arrive later.

Once again, Tubo was defeated.

The Tang army tried their best not to give up any garrison on Chiling. Even if it was a small and remote garrison, Li Xuan would fight for it.

This thwarted Tubo's plan to retake Chiling by relying on Shibao City.

Li Xuan was fed up with the harassment from Tubo, so he ordered Li Feiyuanli, the military commander of Heyuan, to send troops to the eastern pass of Chiling.

When the defender of Shibao City, Xinuo Luo, saw thousands of Tang soldiers rushing towards him, he thought it was the same story as before, or there was some conspiracy, so he immediately lit three beacon towers.

This frightened the Tubo people greatly, so they selected 20,000 cavalrymen and planned to take the initiative and set up positions under the Stone Fortress.

But the Tang army calculated the distance well. When the Tubo cavalry rushed to Shibao City, the infantry had already withdrawn from the Chiling Pass and joined the Tang army soldiers below Suihe Shouzhuo City to form a camp.

The Tibetan cavalry did not dare to go out of the eastern pass of Chiling to the Hehuang area, for they were afraid of being ambushed by the Tang army.

Things are different now. Tubo only has one stone fortress left in Chiling, and all other passages are guarded by the Tang army. It is impossible to enter Hehuang as if entering one's own back garden as before.

After an unsuccessful battle and a stalemate that lasted for more than half a month, Tubo finally gave up attacking Chiling. They had to fully prepare for the next battle and fatten up their war horses.

……

Tubo, Subi, Domadongdai.

Dolma is also called Maduo, which means the source of the Yellow River.

Duoma was once a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty, but now it has long been under the control of Tubo.

The mountains here are tall and straight, and the grass and water are very lush.

A team crossed the river, passed through the mountain passages, and came to this endless wilderness.

They drove dozens of yaks and moved forward slowly.

Duan Xueshi, Li Xuan's secret envoy, was in this team.

Duan Xueshi and two Shen Ce guards were wearing leather coats, leather hats, and had Tibetan swords hanging around their waists, looking like Tibetans.

In order to make himself look more like a Tibetan, Duan Xueshi did not wash his face for more than a month and stopped trimming his beard.

Duan Xueshi also learned some commonly used Tibetan languages.

This yak team is there to provide cover for Duan Xueshi.

King Bailang Qiang had a daughter who married a Subi nobleman.

At that time, the Bailang Qiang gave dozens of Bailang Qiang slaves as dowry to their daughters.

They were servants of the daughter of the Bailang Qiang King. They took the opportunity of transporting yaks to bring Duan Xueshi to Doma Dongdai to meet the Subi King Mo Lingzan.

During this trip, the Bailang Qiang King also looked for a Bailang Qiang person who could speak Tibetan and Chinese for Duan Xueshi.

His name is Chang Qing, and he was previously the deputy general commanding the Bailang Qiang cavalry.

The fact that Chang Qing accompanied him shows how much the Bailang Qiang King values ​​him.

After all, one careless mistake would cause Bailang Qiang to lose a great general.

Another day later, they arrived at the area of ​​Meilingzan's tent.

They passed the journey safely. Chang Qing asked the Bailang Qiang slaves to bribe the Tibetan soldiers guarding the pass and let them into the grassland near the Subi king's tent without any inspection.

In name, these Bailang Qiang slaves were delivering yaks to a family.

Similar things happened from time to time, and the Tibetan soldiers never thought that the Tang people would come to Dolma.

What Duan Xiuxian has to do now is to meet with King Subi.

He ordered Chang Qing to hand a piece of gold to the guard of King Subi, and whispered something to Chang Qing. Then the four of them arrived at the fence of King Subi's tent.

"We demand to see the King."

Chang Qing spoke to the guard in front of the fence gate.

"Who are you? Can you see the king?"

The guards looked at Chang Qing, Duan Xueshi and the other three and ignored them.

"We are here to present gold to the king. There is a place with a lot of gold."

Chang Qing said this and placed a piece of gold in the guard's hand.

"Well! You wait."

When the guard saw the gold, he did not dare to delay and immediately informed Mei Lingzan.

Inside the tent, Mei Lingzan weighed the gold, became interested, and ordered the guards to invite these people in.

Who doesn’t love gold!

If we have a large amount of gold, we can win people's hearts and resolve the current dilemma.

In this way, Duan Xueshi, Chang Qing and two personal guards were brought into the tent.

Before entering the tent, their swords were temporarily confiscated. There were also more than a dozen sword-wielding guards in the tent to protect King Subi's safety. "You want to offer me gold? What is your purpose?"

Mei Lingzan knew that these people must have something to ask of him, otherwise they would not give him gold for no reason.

He wanted to see how difficult this task was and how much gold he could get!
"We have admired you for a long time. Here is the treasure map of the gold. Please accept it!"

Chang Qing took out a parchment scroll very decisively.

The guard stepped forward, took the parchment scroll and handed it to Mei Lingzan.

Mei Lingzan leaned back on the couch and opened the "treasure map" with great interest.

But the next moment, Mei Lingzan was stunned. There were no mountains or rivers, no routes on the treasure map.

There is only one Chinese character, Tang!
After a breath, Mei Lingzan suddenly looked at Duan Xueshi, Chang Qing and the other three.

His eyes were sharp and his facial expression was serious.

At this moment, Mei Lingzan could cut Duan Xueshi, Chang Qing and others into pieces with just a thought.

These are actually people from the Tang Dynasty.

Should we arrest them and send them to Luoshui City?
But now the Tang Dynasty has Li Xuan guarding it, and Tubo has suffered repeated defeats, with heavy casualties.

Even when he was in Doma, he could hear the Tibetan soldiers talking about Li Xuan with fear on their faces.

The soldiers pessimistically believed that Li Xuan was invincible.

Moreover, the Zanpu was too bullying. He was obviously the King of Suba, but he allowed Molu Zan to divide his power.

Duan Xueshi and Chang Qing were also very nervous, as their life or death depended entirely on Mei Lingzan's words.

If Ling Zan didn't take them down directly, it means they have a good chance.

The atmosphere was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop in the entire tent.

"You guys go out, I want to look at the treasure map with a few guests."

After a full half a quarter of an hour, when beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of Duan Xueshi and Changqing, Mei Lingzan finally spoke.

His words made Duan Xueshi feel relieved, as this meant that Ling Zan had no intention of doing so.

When the guards heard Mei Lingzan's order, they all left the tent.

"I have not found any place to store the gold in the parchment scroll."

Mei Lingzan flipped the parchment scroll left and right and asked the question even though he knew the answer.

"Isn't the place where gold is stored right above that word? This word is countless times more valuable than gold."

After Chang Qing translated this to Duan Xueshi, Duan Xueshi said with a hint of meaning.

When Chang Qing was about to translate, Mei Lingzan interrupted him and said angrily in Chinese: "Who are you? You are going to die here today, do you know that?"

"I am a secret envoy sent by Marshal Helong. I brought a way out for the king. How could I die here?"

Duan Xiushi laughed and spoke slowly.

At this moment he was not afraid of Mei Lingzan at all. If Mei Lingzan wanted to kill them, he would have killed them long ago.

"What a joke! Subi is one of the four tribes in Tubo and is one with Tubo. I am the king of Subi. How can there be any danger?"

Mei Lingzan said pretending to be calm.

"If we were truly one, there wouldn't be any divisions into the four inner tribes. As far as I know, it was you, the four inner tribes, who were exhausted to death when Tubo built the castle in Helong. Whenever Tubo went to conquer Helong, Suobei always offered the most food and livestock. This is not fair!"

Duan Xueshi hit the pain point of King Subi. Through his explanation and his understanding from Bailang Qiang, Duan Xueshi understood the power structure of Subi.

The King Subi in front of him has an opponent who has the blood of the Molu family.

The Molu family hoped to support Molu Zan as the new King of Subi.

Zanpu Chidaizhudan acquiesced in this matter, leaving Molingzan isolated and helpless, and very angry.

"I have heard of Li Xuan's name for a long time. The Tibetans all believe that he is an evil demon that may enter the snowy plateau at any time. Isn't he invincible? Why would he look for someone as insignificant as me?"

Mei Lingzan rubbed his forehead.
Li Xuan sent a secret envoy to find him, which caught him by surprise.

He had only been on the throne for a few years and was an unknown figure.

However, Li Xuan chopped off Lun Xijia Zang's head, making Chidai Zhudan, the Marshal of the Tang Dynasty, unable to sleep or eat.

He never lost a battle in his life, and he always won every battle and captured every city.

"Our Marshal said that heroes create the times, and the King is a hero. We can create achievements together."

Duan Xueshi said to Mei Lingzan.

"What if I don't agree?"

Mei Lingzan's eyes widened, but he thought quickly in his mind.

"If the king does not agree, we will die here today, and tomorrow the king and tens of thousands of Subi's soldiers will die in Qinghai."

Duan Xueshi held his head high and spoke with full energy, as if he didn't care about life and death.

"Then what's the point of me agreeing to your request?"

Seeing Duan Xueshi's arrogant words, he was very displeased.

Duan Xueshi meant that regardless of whether King Subi agreed or not, Tubo would undoubtedly be defeated in the battle of Qinghai.

"Our marshal loves his soldiers like his own sons. If there is a way to minimize the sacrifice, he will find a way to implement it. During the coldest time of last winter, when Tubo's troops were at their most depleted on the front line, our marshal had 80,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry. As long as he gave the order to enter Qinghai, the heads of Moluqiongsang and Woermang would be in Chang'an to accompany Lun Xijia Zang. But it was precisely because the weather was too cold that Tubo was able to survive in Qinghai. Now that Qinghai is undefended, our marshal only needs to reach out and gently hold Qinghai in his palm."

"Subi is the rear base of Tubo, so the king's opportunity has come..."

Duan Xueshi was still full of confidence, and his words and actions showed how powerful Li Xuan was.

When other generals were fighting, they were all thinking about how to kill more enemies.

When Li Xuan was in battle, he would try to find ways to reduce the casualties of his soldiers.

The most important thing is that Mei Lingzan didn’t think Duan Xiu was bragging, as if he acknowledged Li Xuan’s strength.

"What chance does the king have?"

Mei Lingzan stopped playing dumb and started asking Duan Xueshi.

"Supi will establish the Supi Kingdom in the 11th year of Dongdai. Your Majesty will become a true king. You only need to submit to the Tang Dynasty like the other countries in the Western Regions. The two sides will use the Dafei River and Jishi Mountain as the dividing line. The saint will personally grant the title of King Supi. If Tubo dares to attack Supi, the Tang Dynasty will definitely come to Supi's aid."

Duan Xueshi told Mei Lingzan his promise.

"Can you make the decision on this kind of thing?"

After hesitating for a while, King Subi was very tempted.

"This is what our marshal said himself. Our marshal is as good as his word and will never do anything without a purpose."

Duan Xueshi said seriously.

"The messenger, please take a rest first. Let me think about it."

Mei Lingzan felt that he should think about it carefully and not be so rash.

"it is good!"

Duan Xueshi nodded.

Anyway, in Subi's tent, his life was in the hands of Mo Lingzan.

Duan Xueshi and three others were arranged in a tent, and in the evening their entourage brought them roasted lamb and fine wine.

The next morning, Duan Xueshi was called into the big tent by Mei Lingzan.

"I agree to fight against Tubo together with Marshal Li!"

Mei Lingzan had panda eyes, obviously he had not slept all night.

He was fed up with such an environment and hated the injustice of Zamp and Moluqiongsang Woermang.

Become a true Subi King and don’t be suppressed everywhere.

If you can control your own troops, there will be no more rude demands in the country.

Mei Lingzan didn't want to see a small Tibetan tribute being able to tell him what to do.

He is a man who dares to fight.

Li Xuan's reputation further strengthened his confidence.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Duan Xueshi let out a sigh of relief. He had not slept all night as well.

With Lingzan's words, everything is worth it.

"Emissary, I can only summon 10,000 Subi soldiers at most..."

Suddenly, Mei Lingzan looked worried.

As a nomadic people, the Suobei had eleven Dongdai, 70,000 tents, and a total of 350,000 people including slaves.

Every citizen was a soldier, but Meilingzan only had 10,000 soldiers. There was no doubt that he, the King of Subi, was a failure.

"Ten thousand is fine!"

Duan Xueshi showed no emotion at all. They had long guessed that Ling Zan could not control the troops.

At the critical moment, the defection of 10,000 soldiers was enough to deal a fatal blow to the Tubo army.

"When will we do it?"

Mei Lingzan could not wait. His desire was aroused by Duan Xueshi, and he was determined to establish the Subi Kingdom.

"It's definitely not now. This time, the king took the initiative to ask the Tibetan king to come to the Qinghai front to help. When you hear hundreds of horns blowing together, and intermittently, immediately lead the Subi army to attack Tibet. After the battle begins, you will tie hemp ropes on your foreheads to distinguish between the enemy and us."

Duan Xueshi replied to Mei Lingzan.

Doing so can also prevent Su Bi from regretting or causing any unexpected events.

Because Su Bi had no idea about the Tang army's plan, he only knew to support the Tang army by listening to the intermittent sound of hundreds of trumpets.

"Okay, let's do it! I heard that this time Chidai Zhudan will go to the front line in person. He will first preside over the summer alliance, and then fight with the Tang Dynasty in Qinghai."

To show his sincerity, Mei Lingzan told Duan Xueshi about this matter.

"The Tibetan king is going to the frontline in person. In the 29th year of Kaiyuan, Chi Dai Zhu Dan came to our Tang territory with an army said to be 400,000 strong. This time he doesn't have that many troops."

Duan Xiushi didn't act very relaxed in front of Ling Zan, but he was thinking about going back quickly and telling Li Shuai about this...

(End of this chapter)