Chapter 426: The Strange Soldier in the North of Mobei

The grassland in early summer is green like the sea, like a huge carpet laying under the sky. The Yinshan Mountains in the south are like a huge lying dragon, stretching for thousands of miles. At this point, it is the end of the mountain range. This is the southern end of the Mobei grassland, adjacent to Yunzhong County of the Tang Dynasty. This area has abundant pastures, blue sky, white clouds, and rivers are as blue as jade belts. A herder's tent is like mushrooms on the grassland, with smoke rising from the cooking pots, sheep, hunting dogs, and women milking in front of the cows, full of vitality.

In an instant, it was like a dark cloud suddenly changed. A black line appeared at the end of the endless grassland, and a faint thunder sounded. It was not the thunder in the sky, but the sound of horses galloping hooves. The herdsmen were frightened and panicked. Before they could pack up, they dragged their family to the north to escape. After a moment, the black line was getting closer and closer. It turned out to be a cavalry of ten thousand people. They came at lightning, like the whistling of the sea tide, and swallowed the green grassland in an instant, but they did not

Some herders who were slaughtering north fleeing, but whizzed past the tent and ran eastward. Looking at their equipment, they were obviously all Tang cavalry, with about 8,000 people, each with two horses, swords, spears, bows, arrows, shields, and neatly hung. The horses also carried the military blankets and sleeping bags for long-distance marching. Although they did not pursue the herders, thousands of sheep on the grassland suffered. They were plundered by the whistling cavalry and became their marching rations.

This army was an Anxi Tang army that came from Juyanhai twenty days ago, led by general Lei Wanchun. They traveled day and night, and along the way, they had already traveled thousands of miles by looting herdsmen's flocks as food. Their target was Fanyang, Youzhou, thousands of miles away. At this moment, they had arrived at the Mobei grassland parallel to Yunzhou, Hedong. After traveling hundreds of miles, they would turn the road and enter the border of Hebei. At this time, An Lushan's army was all in Hedong, Pass, and Hebei was empty. Their surprise troops would determine the direction of the entire Pass.

At this time, a team of scouts rushed from the south and intercepted the army going east. The scouts captain rushed to Lei Wanchun to report: "Report to the general, Yunzhou has a vacant defense of two hundred miles south of Yinshan, with no more than a thousand troops stationed, and less than a hundred passes."

The Yunzhou garrison, the Wu Yong's army who surrendered to the Anxi Army, has a deep relationship with the Anxi Army. To this day, their family and relatives are all near Yunzhou. It is most suitable to enter the pass from here. Lei Wanchun pondered for a moment, remembering what Li Qing'an had ordered to create momentum without killing the enemy, he immediately ordered: "The army turned around and headed south and entered from Yunzhou!"

The eight thousand Tang troops immediately turned their horses and rushed towards Yinshan hundreds of miles away. They instantly disappeared at the end of the world. It was May 20, the second year of the Dali period of the Tang Dynasty, and the war in the inner Taoist temple was in full swing.

After Anxi entered Yanzhou from Qingzhou, they stopped their operations. At this time, they were less than 100 miles away from An Lushan's army. A day's journey was only 130 miles away from the Yellow River. Li Qing'an ordered the army to be stationed on the spot. He was not in a hurry to fight with An Lushan's army. He was waiting for news from the north. An Lushan's army also stopped retreating and was stationed near Yanchuan County. The two armies had been confrontation for ten days.

The Anxi Camp is stationed on a high-level wilderness, covering a very wide area. Behind it is a shallow river, originating from a hill three miles away. The water flows are clear and sufficient for the entire army's drinking water. The entire camp is surrounded by thick camp gates. There are sentries up to ten feet high in four corners and on both sides. The view is wide and the distance can reach more than ten miles. A beacon tower was temporarily built on a mountain twenty miles away. In this way, Anlushan's army appeared thirty miles away, and the Anxi Army camp could get news. In addition to the sentries and beacon towers, the Anxi Army, which has always attached great importance to scouts, also sent nearly a thousand scouts to various parts of the inner road of the pass.

The camp was very lively, and there were bursts of cheers and cheers, and the drums were thunderous. In the middle of the open space that was fifty meters long and thirty meters wide, two polo teams were fighting fiercely, and the soldiers were crowded around. This was a match between the first team of Thunderbolt Polo and the Beiting Polo team, and it was also a polo competition between Lingxi and Lingdong. Both polo teams represent the highest level of Anxi polo, attracting nearly 40,000 soldiers to watch and cheer.

Polo competition is the tradition of the Anxi Army. For a century, it has been the best way for the Anxi Army to maintain morale during the foreign war. At that time, Li Qing'an was the best scorer of the Anxi Polo team. When he was expeditioning to the Guannei, the soldiers' lives were boring when confronting An Lushan's army. Polo competitions could indeed inspire the soldiers' spirit. For this reason, Li Qing'an also introduced the league system of the Chang'an Polo Competition, starting from the battalion, then going to the army layer by layer, and finally seven polo teams held the championship game. The championship prize was extremely generous, with 3,000 silver dollars from Anxi, and even as long as the bottom soldiers participating in the competition were rewarded with two silver dollars, it attracted a large number of soldiers to participate. The Anxi Army's internal war almost became a polo league.

On the northwest corner of the polo field, Li Qing'an and more than a dozen senior generals were also watching the game with great enthusiasm.

At this time, with the gong ringing, the half-time game ended, and the players will change horses and rest before playing the game. The current score is four to three, and the Thunderbolt Pole team is temporarily leading.

At this moment, I don’t know who started shouting first, “The general is coming!”

Then hundreds of people shouted, then thousands of people shouted, and then tens of thousands and even the whole audience shouted: "The general is over!"

The generals around Li Qingan all laughed, "General, brothers, let you show off your skills!"

Seeing the army's enthusiasm, Li Qingan laughed and said, "Okay! I'll give it a try!"

He strode out of the field and rode his horse. After a moment, the polo field was sensation. Applause was like thunder and drums were shocking. A cavalry team rushed in. The leader general was golden helmet and black robe, with a burly figure, and a horse under his crotch was extremely horse. It was their main general Li Qing'an. He held a club in his hand and raised it high. The soldiers immediately shouted, and the whistling sounded across the sky.

Li Qingan was once the number one scorer of Anxi polo. The fifty-step shooting record he created has become a masterpiece. In Anxi polo, he is like a god in his heart. The soldiers rushed forward, waved their hands, and shouted at the top of their lungs.

Li Qing'an rode his horse on the court. Wherever he passed, shouting louder and louder. The Arab war horse ran faster and faster, like a cloud of fog. He rushed into the center of the court and headed straight for the forty-step line. At this moment, a red polo was thrown out and headed straight for Li Qing'an's horse. He saw him sideways slightly and swing them out. There was only a crisp sound. The polo flew out a straight line, extremely fast and powerful. The ball came into the net, and the cheers were immediately like thunder. Forty-step shots were shots. This was a first-rate ball, but the cheers were not fierce enough. The soldiers were all looking forward to the legendary fifty-step shots, which were shots they had never seen before.

Li Qing'an turned his horse's head and ran away to the fifty-step line. The stadium was silent. Everyone was staring at their coach nervously, without blinking, and they didn't dare to breathe. At this moment, the dense drum beats sounded, and the more they beat, the hearts of tens of thousands of troops were about to jump out together. At this moment, the drum sounded abruptly.

A golden polo flew over, the angle of the ball was slightly tilted backward, and the bowler was nervous. The ball was obviously a pitching mistake and could not hit the ball at fifty steps, but Li Qingan did not give up. The moment the ball was thrown, he began to adjust the angle, and the horse retreated from time to time, and at the moment the drum stopped, his club swung out.

The distance, feel, and strength of the horse was done in one go, and a crisp sound of "bang!" was heard. With the scream of the three armies, the ball drew an arc and shot towards the goal quickly. The polo shot into the hole accurately.

The flag bearer raised the red flag to indicate that the ball entered the hole, and a scream like the sky and the earth burst out on the court. The excited shouts rushed to the sky. Just now, Li Qing'an's ball was shot out from sixty steps, which was another new record for Anxi.

This unparalleled shot completely conquered the Anxi soldiers who worshipped polo. The shouts went up and down, and for a long time, many soldiers who had just arrived did not see this wonderful scene and stamped their feet in annoyance.

Li Qingan raised his pill staff high, and the roar of applause sounded again on the court.

Unlike the bustling camp of the Anxi Army, the camp of the Fanyang Army a hundred miles away was deserted and shrouded in a depressing and uneasy atmosphere. The sound of the Khitan attack on Fanyang released by An Lu Shandong was spread into the military camp for some reason. This news spread rapidly among the soldiers, and people were panicked for a while.

In fact, from a straight line distance, their current location is only a few dozen miles from Hedong, but the Yellow River has distanced the soldiers' psychological distance, as if they are thousands of miles apart from Fanyang. Most of the troops brought by An Lushan are Hebei soldiers, all of which have been following him for many years. Most of their homes are near Youzhou. Although An Lushan asked the officers to explain to the soldiers repeatedly that the Khitans did not come, the soldiers were still worried that Hebei was empty, which is a well-known fact.

Although the news of the Khitan attacking Fanyang was a scam compiled by An Lushan, the atmosphere in An Lushan's central army tent was even more tense. In the tent, An Lushan hurried back and forth with his hands behind his back, frowned in a ball, and was extremely worried. Although the news of the Khitans' invasion of Hebei was he compiled, he had just received a quick report that a group of more than 10,000 Tang cavalry entered Yunzhou from Mobei and were heading towards Fanyang along the Sanggan River.

This news shocked An Lushan. It was an incredible thing to kill the Tang army from Mobei. There were only Uighurs and Turks in Mobei. How could there be any Tang army? This news seemed to make him bump into a ghost in the daytime.

He originally had an army of 200,000. In Hedong, he recruited another 100,000 people in one year, totaling 300,000. In addition to the Hedong army deployed in Hedong prefectures, he brought 90,000 troops to the pass, and 30,000 troops to attack the city in Tongguan. In addition, General Li Guiren led 50,000 troops to Xiangzhou in the south, and the troops were suppressed in Henan. There were 20,000 troops in Lulong to defend the Khitan. There were only 10,000 troops in Youzhou. His third son Anqing and commander were in charge of the weak army and his military strength was very empty. If the Tang army that came from the north of the desert was really conquered Youzhou's old nest, he would be unimaginable.

In addition to An Lushan, there were also several other men in the tent, including Gao Shang, General Shi Siming, Tian Qianzhen, Xue Song and General An Shouzhong. The surprise troops that fell from the sky were also incredible to them. No one would have expected that the Tang army would come from the north of the desert.

Gao Shang sighed and said, "Master General, if I guess correctly, this army is the Anxi Army. They should come from Juyanhai. I just calculated that they can indeed arrive in Yunzhou for more than 20 days of marching."

"But why didn't they encounter the Uighurs?" Shi Siming asked strangely.

Gao Shang smiled bitterly and said, "These Uighurs were ambitious to attack the Tang Dynasty at the beginning of last year, but were attacked by the Anxi army from behind and suffered heavy losses. They still had difficulty recovering their vitality. I heard that they were huddled in the Dulehe area. The Anxi army did not cause trouble for them. He was already grateful. How could they dare to mess with the Anxi army? Therefore, this Anxi cavalry must have come unobstructed."

"Li Qing'an is indeed courageous. He actually sent surprise troops from Mobei to attack Youzhou. It's amazing!" Tian Ganzhen also sighed very much.

At this time, An Lushan sighed and said, "Don't be ambitious to others. What should we do now? Do you think, should we fight or withdraw?"

Shi Siming bowed and said, "Master General, my subordinates thought that Li Qing'an was confronting us without fighting. He was most likely waiting for the news of this surprise soldier, but the news in Hebei was not as fast as us. He should not know it now. My subordinates suggested that we should retreat as soon as possible before the news reached the soldiers' ears."

"General Shi said it too simply. How to withdraw the troops? "

The person who spoke was Tian Ganzhen. He and Shi Siming have always been mortal enemies. As long as Shi Siming's proposal, he would basically object. He slowly walked forward and said, "Li Qing'an's garrison was obviously thoughtful. He was less than a hundred miles away from us and one hundred and thirty miles away from the Yellow River. It only takes one day to catch up. It takes at least three days for us to cross the Yellow River. In other words, Li Qing'an will arrive halfway through our crossing. I don't say what happened at that time, you also want to get it."

"Then what do you think should be done?" Shi Siming said dissatisfied.

Tian Ganzhen turned around and looked at An Lushan and said, "Master, the opinion of Huye is to fight. After all, we have 10,000 more people than the Anxi Army and have superior troops. We still have 10,000 Youzhou Iron Cavalry, and our combat effectiveness is not inferior to them. As long as the strategy is right and the soldiers use their lives, we may not lose in this battle. If the Grand Marshal defeats the Anxi Army, we will be famous all over the world!"

Although Tian Ganzhen was passionate, An Lushan's blood did not heat up as well. He was worried and waved his hand and said, "You guys retreat first! Let me think about it again."

Everyone retreated, and An Lushan stood at the tent and sighed. He shouldn't have been impulsive. Crossing the river and coming to Guan Nei. Now he has encountered the most difficult moment of his life. What should he do? He has wanted to compete with Li Qing'an more than once, but at this moment, he was a little timid again. Anxi's Modao Army and Tianhuo Lei were all strengths that he dared not face, but Tian Ganzhen was right. They really couldn't cross the river, and they would definitely lose crossing the river. Perhaps they could really fight Li Qing'an.

An Lushan thought about it and felt extremely confused.

At this time, a report from a soldier came from outside the tent, "Master General, Mr. Gao is asking for a meeting."

"Please come in!"

He just saw Gao Shang wanting to speak but stopped, and then he realized that he should have listened to Gao Shang's opinions. Although Gao Shang's plan failed to perfectly be perfect, he successfully led Li Qing'an out after all. The situation changed so strangely. When Li Qing'an was stationed in a dangerous place in Pinggao County, he tried every means to lead Li Qing'an out, but after successfully leading Li Qing'an out, he regretted it again. It would be great that Li Qing'an was still in Pinggao County now.

After a moment, Gao Shang walked in and smiled and said, "Is the Grand Marshal still difficult to make a decision?"

"Yes! I really don't know what to do? Should I fight or not this battle?" An Lushan held his big head like a pumpkin and lowered his head in pain.

Gao Shang advised him: "I am just worried that the general has not seen the situation clearly, so I came to persuade the general."

An Lushan raised his head and asked, "Sir, what's the situation now?"

Gao Shang sighed slightly and said, "The General has already known that the Anxi Army has attacked Fanyang by surprise. Then in one or two days at the latest, Li Qing'an will definitely know that when he spread the news, he will be full of morale. On the contrary, our generals are full of morale. Therefore, if the generals do not fight, the General must make a decision to implement it immediately. If the General cannot make a decision, then I will propose three plans for the General and let the General choose."

"You say, I'll listen."

"Let's talk about the worst strategy first. That's Shi Siming's suggestion. Withdraw troops immediately, the general can leave first. According to Li Qing'an's current journey, our 80,000 troops can successfully cross the river with 30,000, and the remaining 50,000 people will either be killed or surrendered."

"No!" An Lushan clearly objected: "I will never adopt this bad strategy."

"Okay, let me talk about Zhongce again. Zhongce, who is a humble official, sent 20,000 troops to pretend to be the main force to fight Li Qing'an's army. Our army retreated north overnight. The Anxi army will inevitably pause for a while, half a day or a day. If it is a day, then we can get two days to cross the river. We can quickly retreat to Yanfu County, Suizhou to cross the river. The best ferry in Jin Canyon, we can cross the 60,000 troops in just two days. Although we have lost 20,000 troops, we have saved the main force."

An Lushan did not make any statement and said, "Please tell me the best."

"Master, the best strategy is very simple. It is Tian Qianzhen's strategy to fight with the Anxi Army and use its strength to compete for the world's number one army."

An Lushan pondered for a long time before finally saying slowly: "I prefer Zhongce."

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was strong, the stars were dim, the sky was covered with dark clouds, the sky was beautiful, and the earth was dark. An army of 20,000 people left the camp of Fanyang Army and rushed towards the camp of Anxi Army hundreds of miles away. The army was waving and tremendous. It was a 60,000 main force, led by General Tian Qianzhen.

Just half an hour after this army left the camp, An Lushan's 60,000 troops rushed to the north. They left the camp in great haste, and they did not bring any supplies, food and tents. The soldiers only brought dry food for two days and drove lightly.
Chapter completed!