Chapter 124: Reforming the Arrow

Fuqi City was originally the capital of Tuyuhun. After Tuyuhun was destroyed by Tubo, Fuqi City also became an important town west of Tubo (Qinghai). It is located between Dafeichuan and Datong Valley, like a button, connecting the Tubo heavy army in the two places. Therefore, it is an extremely important logistics base for the Tubo army and stores a large amount of food in the city.

There were about 3,000 troops in Fuqi City, but not many troops. This was because the heavy Tubo troops blocked the passage between Wenmucuo and the lower ends. The Tang army brigade never came from Dunhuang. Only in the fourth year of Tianbao, Fu Meng Lingcha, the governor of Anxi, sent a sentry of more than 100 people, but the entire army was wiped out.

The sentry would not pose any threat to Fuqi City. Therefore, the Tubo people did not intend to station heavy troops in Fuqi City.

That night, in a forest about ten miles away from Fuqi City, Nan Jiyun squatted on a dense tree, staring at a path dozens of steps away, and his ten subordinates were distributed on several other big trees.

They were ambushed here since noon. From noon, Tubo soldiers rode horses past the road one after another, but they were all walking in groups and no one was left alone. Nan Jiyun patiently waited for the opportunity.

Suddenly, a bird scream came from a distance. Nan Jiyun was excited and looked into the distance. When he came, three Tubo soldiers rode their horses and ran towards him, only three people!

Nan Jiyun immediately whispered to several other archers, "Shoot the horse and catch people!"

He pulled out an arrow and put it on the bow. The bowstring slowly opened. Under the moonlight, the three Tubo cavalry were getting closer and closer, and no soldiers followed him. These three were their targets.

The wolf-tooth arrow broke out, and several Tang soldiers next to Nan Jiyun shot out almost at the same time. Seven arrows rushed towards three war horses at the same time. The three war horses neighed and all fell to the ground. The Tubo soldiers on the horses were thrown out. Before they could get up, Nan Jiyun's second arrow arrived again, shot through one of the thighs and nailed him to the ground. Then the second person, the third person, were shot in the legs by the arrows, and the three screamed incessantly.

Ten Tang soldiers jumped off the tree and rushed towards the Tubo soldiers. They moved extremely quickly, knocking the Tubo soldiers out of their way, tied them up and put them in sacks, and dragged three war horses into the forest. They carried the sacks and ran into the forest. Taking advantage of the cover of the night, the scout team led by Nan Jiyun disappeared into the vast wilderness.

After the confession was found, two Tang soldiers who knew Tubo asked about Fuqicheng piece by piece from the prisoners and summed them up into a complete piece of information.

The Tang army's garrison had moved to a clearing in the forest. The Fuqi River slowly flowed through here, and dozens of tents were built along the river. Among the largest tents, several Anxi generals gathered together. Li Qing'an hung a sketch of Nan Jiyun on the wooden board and said to everyone: "This is an opportunity. There are only 3,000 troops stationed in Fuqi City, but there are more than 300,000 stones of food. If Fuqi City is attacked, the Tubo people will not sit idly by if they are not in chaos."

Bai Yuanguang smiled and said, "Qilang's real intention is to lure the tiger away from the mountain!"

"That's right!"

Li Qing'an smiled and pointed at the distance between Fuqi City from north and south and said, "Although Fuqi City is located between Datong Valley and Dafeichuan, it will take nearly 100 miles to Datong Valley. If Fuqi City is attacked and the Tubo people ask for help, eight out of ten are to ask for help from Datong Valley. In this way, the troops in Datong Valley are reduced and our chance will come."

At this time, Li Fei Shouyu, who had been silent, said: "Qilang, we can't think too much about things. How do we know that the Tubo soldiers in Datong Valley will definitely come to help?"

"Second, you're too worried, didn't Qilang say that? The Tubo army in Datong Valley is closest to Fuqi City. If your house is burned, would you run to the river outside the city to fetch water, or would you fetch water in the well in your own yard?" Li Fei Yuanli said in an insult.

"It's not what you think!" Li Fei Shouyu retorted him with some displeasure: "We don't know the internal subordinates of the Tubo army. If the Tubo army in Fuqicheng is under the jurisdiction of Dafeichuan, even if it is two hundred miles away, they can only ask for help from Dafeichuan."

Li Qingan was silent. He suddenly realized that his consideration was a bit inadequate enough. He was thinking about the Tubo army in the Datong Valley coming to help, but he didn't expect that what if the Tubo army in the Datong Valley didn't come to help? And even if they came to help, would they definitely pass through the Datong Valley? Will the Tubo army spread a hole to allow them to pass through safely for one thousand of them?

A series of questions made Li Qingan feel that he could not be too arbitrary. He nodded and said, "Okay! Let's not make a decision for now, and we will talk about it after the information from He Yanming comes."

The first meeting for war ended. Li Qing'an walked out of the tent and sat on a big rock by the river and stared at the river in thought. At this time, Li Fei Shouyu walked to him and smiled and said, "Why, do you have no confidence when I say it?"

Li Qingan shook his head and smiled and said, "How is that possible? I have also fought dozens of wars of all sizes. Is this small problem rare for me?"

"Have Qiluo thought of any solution?"

"Not yet, but many things can't be thought of by thinking about them."

Li Qing'an stood up, and at this time, a burst of laughter from women came from the forest in the distance. The rescued female slaves were sewing clothes for Tang Jun. Li Qing'an smiled and said to Li Fei Shouyu: "It's only a few days, many of them are like a transformation. Thinking about the scene when they first met them, they felt like ghosts crawling out of the underworld. If we could rescue more Han slaves in this trip to Hehuang, we would not be in vain."

"General!"

Someone was calling him in the distance. Li Qing'an turned around and saw that the coach He Yingchuan was waving to him.

"What's the matter?"

"General, come and see, we have some gains here."

"Go! Go and have a look."

Li Qing'an and Li Fei Shouyu came to a small open space in the forest. This was the place where the Tang army killed lambs and barbecue. Now a blacksmith stove was set up. More than a dozen Tang army blacksmiths were hitting something. The old Han slave Zhang Pingbo was pointing at them, and at their feet, there were a pile of arrows.

Li Qing'an walked forward and found that they were transforming arrows and transforming triangle arrows into streamlined shuttle arrows.

He Yingchuan pointed at Zhang Pingbo and said, "General, this old man Zhang has been a blacksmith for the Tubo people for ten years. He is very clear about the structure of the Tubo army's chain mail and is guiding us to transform arrows."

Zhang Pingbo hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "General, I am willing to do my best for the Tang army."

Li Qingan was very interested. He picked up a modified arrow and looked carefully. The arrow was thinner and longer than the armor-transparent arrow of the Tang army. Six medicine grooves were opened horizontally at the tip of the arrow. The appearance of the medicine groove was a bit like a file bar in later generations.

Zhang Pingbo introduced: "General Li, since last year, the Tubo army has transformed their chain mail against the Tang army's armored arrows and added a thin net into the chain mail. The hole is very small, and the Tang army's armored arrows cannot be shot in. Even if they squeeze in hard, their power will be greatly reduced. Therefore, to break through this thin net, the arrow must be sharp and long, but this is not enough, because the arrow shaft cannot be entered, so when we blacksmiths made these thin nets, we thought of a way to crack it."

Speaking of this, Zhang Pingbo stopped timidly when he saw Li Qing'an not saying anything. Li Qing'an woke up and said quickly: "Continue talking."

"The way to crack it is to open a medicine tank on the arrow and feed poison. As long as the tip of the arrow is shot into the body, the poison will explode quickly. Even if the arrow shaft cannot be shot in, it will be enough to kill the Tubo army."

Li Qingan felt that the medicine slot was a little strange, so he asked with a smile: "Then why do you open this medicine slot horizontally?"

Zhang Pingbo also smiled and said, "The general does not understand the Tubo soldiers. These Tubo soldiers are very strong. When they are shot by arrows, they will immediately draw the arrows. Generally, the poison applied cannot dissolve immediately and is often ineffective. Therefore, the medicine tank is reversed. When they draw the arrows, the poison in the medicine tank will fully rub against their flesh and blood, and will remain in their bodies at the maximum dose."

"Okay, great!" Li Fei Shouyu blurted out.

Li Qingan also nodded secretly. The Tang army usually used armor-piercing arrows to deal with the Tubo army. The arrows were streamlined like bullets, but this production standard had not changed for decades, and the Tubo people could not change their hundreds of thousands of chain-piercings, but they could line a thin net inside. By slightly modifying the armor-piercing arrows of the Tang army, it could greatly reduce the power of the armor-piercing arrows of the Tang army. Unexpectedly, the solution to the Tang army was actually a Han slave whom he accidentally rescued. It seemed that there was indeed God's will in the dark.

Thinking of this, he asked again, "Where is that poison? Where is it?"

Zhang Pingbo picked up two artemisia plants from behind and said, "General, these two grasses, one is called the Drunk Grass and the other is called the Jiupoxie. They are distributed many by the Qinghai Sea and there are many in the forest. Their rhizomes are actually ordinary poisons, but the Tuyuhun people often mix them together and become an extremely fierce poison to deal with wild wolves on the grassland."

Li Qing'an immediately said to Li Fei Shouyu: "Are you arrange for brothers to go to the forest to collect these two herbs, remember not to act dispersedly to prevent being attacked by wild animals."

Li Fei Shouyu immediately went to make arrangements. Li Qing'an pondered for a while and asked the blacksmith again: "How many arrows can you make in a day?"

"General, the five of us can transform 1,500 arrows a day."

This time each of their soldiers brought 200,000 armor-draft arrows and 100,000 ordinary wolf-tooth arrows. Even if it only takes 30,000 for the time being, it will take twenty days to complete. Time does not allow it!

Zhang Pingbo knew Li Qing'an's concerns, so he smiled and said, "General, there is a small city called Haixi City thirty miles south of Fuqi City. Where did the Tubo people gather two thousand Han slaves to build this city. Many of them are blacksmiths inside. Several of my former disciples worked there."
Chapter completed!