Chapter 60: Gorge
"May I ask why General Li summoned me?"

When Liu Yan heard what Li Xuan said, his face became serious.

It was the time of the expedition to the Turks, and Li Xuan called him here, so there must be something.

"I just stabbed or shot the enemy's war horses last night. I will give you 300 horses to the people of Feng'an County. After the horse meat is distributed, send the horse hides to Feng'an Military City."

Li Xuan pointed to the three hundred dead horses by the Yellow River and said to Liu Yan.

There are less than 10,000 households in Feng'an County, and every household can get some.

After being processed, horse hide can be used to make armor, which is a strategic material and is not needed in Feng'an County.

"This... the general is kind and righteous!"

Liu Yan was moved and praised Li Xuan.

He had only heard of border residents offering livestock as tribute to the border troops, but had never heard of the border troops providing support to the border residents.

"Mr. Liu needs to organize the people to transport horses as soon as possible. Although it is autumn, meat still cannot be preserved for long."

Li Xuan reminded Liu Yan.

"I obey your orders."

Liu Yan was smart and capable, so he immediately resigned to Li Xuan.

Li Xuan nodded.

At first, I thought of saying something harsh to the new Feng'an Order, so that he would remember the lesson of the brothers Xu Jian and Xu Jun.

But after learning that it was Liu Yan, he gave up the idea.

In history, Liu Yan was compassionate to the people when he governed the local area and was deeply loved by them.

He believed that Liu Yan could divide the horse meat fairly and appropriately.

Li Xuan's simple act made the people of Feng'an County remember him, and the story of Li Xuan's elimination of the powerful became widely known.

So much so that many years later, the people of Feng'an still remembered that Li Xuan had treated them to horse meat and were willing to do things for Li Xuan...

……

The Jinglüe army crossed the river in the morning. Li Xuan ordered the soldiers to take turns to rest.

The next morning, the army set out.

The two thousand heavy infantry under Cui Zhan were at the front, and the three thousand soldiers wearing bright armor were on the flanks of the square formation.

Feng'an sent out 6,000 soldiers, and the remaining 2,000 stayed behind, with Judge Liu Xi in charge.

In last night's battle, two hundred living war horses were captured.

Li Xuan distributed these war horses to the remaining 200 crossbowmen of Feng'an Army who had no horses.

Li Xuan asked these crossbowmen to use the cavalry's war horses to train their horsemanship, so they all knew how to fight on horseback.

Li Xuan placed a thousand light cavalry on the right wing of the march, and five hundred heavy cavalry and five hundred crossbow cavalry on the left wing.

The other 4,000 infantrymen were arranged in eight square formations behind the Jinglüe Army, with the heavy infantry at the end.

By marching in such a phalanx, they could counterattack the Turkic cavalry at any time.

Turkic scouts frequently appeared around the Tang army's formation.

This is considering whether to launch an attack on the Tang army.

Gorge.

The mountains are like waves and the Yellow River roars.

"The Great Khan sent a message saying that the Uighur rebels have been attacking and killing the tribes around the yazhang, and they want us Turks to surrender. This is really too much."

Chief Apodagan gathered all the leaders and generals and spoke angrily.

"Back then, the Huihe people were just lowly slaves of our Turkic people. Now that they have grown powerful, they want to replace our Turkic people." Chief Duolu also gritted his teeth.

"Does the Great Khan want us to return to support the Yazhang?" Chief Yuledusi asked Chief Apodagan.

"The Great Khan knows our difficulties and that turning back will not save the situation. He hopes that we can defeat the Tang army. Only by driving the Tang army on both sides back to the Yellow River can we join forces to deal with the Huihe people."

Chief Apodagan said, shaking his head.

"The Tang army is well-equipped, and our army lost its fighting spirit first. The best way is to use cavalry to delay the Tang army. But now is the critical moment for the survival of the Turkic people, and we don't have time to stalemate with the Tang army." Chief Kara sighed, and they were in a dilemma. "Poli, more than 10,000 Tang cavalry and infantry are heading north to the gorge. We will do our best to disperse them."

Chief Apodagan asked his general Poli.

"Reporting to Dongsha, although the Tang army has only 20,000 people, the scouts saw that the front and left rows are all armored. Their chariots are densely packed, and the shields on them are piled up like a mountain. I suspect that all the armored infantry of the Tang army are concentrated there. If our army tries its best to stop them, it will be impossible to break through in one or two days. Once the Tang cavalry on the other side takes the opportunity to cross the river, our army will be in danger. If we send a group of cavalry to guard the gorge, it will be extremely difficult for the remaining cavalry to fight against the Tang army with armored vehicles like a forest."

Poli reported the truth to Chief Apodagan.

Chief Apodagan's position was Dongsha, a Turkic military officer with great power.

The position of other tribal chiefs is Shilifa, who can participate in major military and political decisions of the royal court.

This is a position that only large tribes can enjoy.

"Does the Tianshan God no longer bless us Turks?"

Chief Apodagan raised his hands, looked up at the sky, and said sadly.

Only the left wing tribes and the weak royal court were left.

Faced with sieges from all sides by the Tang, Uighurs, and Karluks, with no hope of winning, Chief Apodagan was so desperate.

"If it doesn't work, we will lead our tent to migrate to the northwest, away from the Tang Dynasty." Chief Yuledusi said this dejectedly.

"No. Our tribe is so close to the Helan Mountains. Even if we help the old and the young to get on the horses, what about our cattle and sheep? You don't think the Tang army can't catch up with our cattle and sheep, do you? Winter is coming, how many of our people will starve to death!"

Pauli stood up to oppose.

Now there were only two choices: war or surrender. The routes of the grassland had already been figured out by the Tang army, and it was too late to migrate with the tribe.

"We can't fight, and we can't migrate. Do we have to surrender?" Chief Dulu glared at Poli.

His tribe had recently sent a thousand cavalrymen to raid Tang territory, but they were almost wiped out by Li Xuan, and his younger brother was also killed by Li Xuan.

When it comes to surrender, he is the first to disagree.

"Polii, you can lead so many people, what do you think we should do?" Chief Apodagan was shaken and unwilling to surrender directly.

"When the Tang army goes on an expedition, they will definitely have a large number of laborers following them. We should leave this area first and go west of the Helan Mountains. When the Tang army's front line stretches out, we will send cavalry to go around the grain road, kill the Tang army's laborers, and burn their grain."

Poli made suggestions to the chiefs.

"Many grassland tribes have wanted to do this before, but at most they would just kill some Tang laborers, and it would be almost impossible to cut off the food supply." Chief Apodagan felt that this was a bad idea.

"We are different from the ancients. We dispatched 100 teams, each with 50 people, carrying dry food and water, wandering in the wilderness, looking for opportunities at any time. Not to mention cutting off the food supply of the Tang army, at least we can tie down tens of thousands of Tang army cavalry." Bo Li explained his strategy and said: "When the Tang army marches, there must be a vanguard. When the vanguard is a certain distance away from the main force, we will gather all our strength to defeat their vanguard first and boost morale. Then we will harass the Tang army day and night, and wait until the Tang army is exhausted, and then fight to the death with the Tang army."

"Okay, let's do as Paulie says. What do you think?"

Chief Apodagan thought what Pauli said made sense and asked other chiefs.

"agree!"

Several chiefs clenched their fists and agreed in unison.

They all thought about what to do if they failed.

After the Turkic tribes formulated a plan, they began to leave the gorge one after another, leaving only a few scouts along the way.

A day later, Li Xuan and Cui Zhan led their troops to the gorge.

Zhang Qiqiu was on the other side of the river and ordered his men to cross the river on horseback.

"I thought I could defeat the Turks at the gorge and replicate Li Weigong's feat at Qikou. Unfortunately, the Turks retreated."

Li Xuan and Li Guangbi stood on the canyon at the mouth of the gorge, overlooking the Yellow River.

Xiakou is the last mountain pass in the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

"General Li, why are you so anxious? Although the grassland is vast, where can they retreat to? When we reach their grazing land, they will have no choice but to surrender or fight our army."

Li Guangbi smiled.

"What Li Yuhou said is absolutely right."

Li Xuan nodded and looked to the northeast. It was not his goal to destroy only Apodagan and other tribes.

……

(End of this chapter)