Chapter 487: Bloody Battle Qiemo (Part 1)

Qiemo City was originally a small city. Since the first year of Wu Zetian's longevity, after the Tang Dynasty general Wang Xiaojie recovered Anxi, the Tang court has rebuilt Qiemo City intermittently. More than ten years later, Qiemo City has become a medium-sized city with a circumference of nearly twenty miles and a city of five meters high. Especially after the Battle of Sabize three years ago, Li Qing'an ordered the walls of Qiemo City to be heightened and reinforced.

At this time, Qiemo City had become one of the majestic cities in Anxi, as high as seven zhang, the city was five zhang wide, and three carriages could be used in parallel, especially the moat outside the city, which was connected to the Qiemo River, three zhang wide and two zhang deep. The two city gates in the north and south had high suspension bridges, becoming a city that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. At this time, the Tang army had realized that the Tubo army would launch an attack on Anxi. They gave up the garrison of Lancheng, Niran City, Nouzhi City, Dianhe City, Qitun City and other small cities, and concentrated all their troops to Qiemo City. At this time, there were more than 7,000 Tang troops in Qiemo City, and they had stockpiled a large amount of military food, which was enough to defend the city for a year.

Shortly after the Tang army in Sapi City withdrew from Qiemo City, the Tang army scouts heard news that the 30,000 Tubo army had reached twenty miles away.

‘Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!’ A harsh alarm sounded throughout the city. The Tang army climbed the city wall from all sides. At the four corners of the city wall, the Tang army set up forty heavy catapults, and mobilized more than 4,000 men in Qiemo City, put on the Tang army's armor and uniforms, and threw them into the city's defense. There were thousands of young women who would deliver water and food to the soldiers and civilians on the city. This was a crucial battle. If Qiemo City fell, the Anxi territory south of the Tulun Desert would be occupied by the Tubo people.

A quarter of an hour later, the figure of the Tubo army had appeared at the end of the oasis. Thirty thousand Tubo troops were divided into three square formations and marched towards Qiemo City in a dark way. Three miles away from the city, the Tubo army began to set up camp tents. It was obvious that they were going to fight to siege the city.

The Tubo army's siege battle was not their strength, and they were unable to make excellent siege equipment. However, in recent years, the Tubo army has learned a lot of advanced technology from the plundered Han craftsmen, and they can also make some large siege equipment.

This time, Tubo came from a long journey and needed to climb over high mountains, so that they could not carry heavy siege weapons such as catapults and siege rams, and only carried hundreds of broken ladders.

Although Tubo was unwilling to attack the city, the metropolitan city was an obstacle they could not bypass. They could not place the enemy's heavy troops behind them. This would not only seriously threaten their supplies, but also cut off their retreat.

The Tubo army busy setting up a camp three miles away and assembled a ladder. The Tubo general Shang Jiasu approached the city under the escort of hundreds of Tubo elite soldiers to check the defense status of Qiemo City. Shang Jiasu is an experienced veteran. Qiemo City's strict defense made him frown. To capture the city, he had to cross the moat first. Secondly, the city wall as high as seven feet makes it extremely difficult for them to climb the city. But these Tubo troops can overcome it. The key is that they know their own and not their enemy. How many troops does the Tang army have in Qiemo City?

He squinted his eyes and looked at the Tang army on the top of the city. His location was in the south city. The city was densely filled with soldiers, with as many as four or five thousand. He had just seen thousands of soldiers on the east city wall, which made Shang Jiasu take a breath of air conditioning. According to calculations, the Tang army should have tens of thousands of soldiers in the city.

Attacking the city at a ratio of three to one is very unfavorable to the Tubo army. Shang Jiasu secretly cursed Shang Xi Dongzan. Originally, if 70,000 people came to attack Anxi, it would be no problem to capture Qiemo City with a ratio of seven to one. But now, Shang Xi Dongzan himself attacked Tucharo and asked him to chew the hard bone of Anxi. He only had 30,000 people. Even if he took Qiemo City regardless of casualties, he would have lost at least half of it. What happened? What did he use to attack Yutian and what would he use to attack Shule?

Shang Jiasu pondered for a moment. If he had not fought a fierce battle, Shang Xidongzan would never have agreed to increase his troops. Thinking of this, he turned his horse and headed towards his camp.

On the top of the city, He Lou Yurun was also watching the movements of the Tubo army. His most worried was that the 30,000 Tubo army in front of him was just a front army, and the real main force was behind. This is the characteristic of the Tubo army fighting. He liked to send some front army to attack first, while the main force was behind. If 30,000 people were just a front army, then the Tubo army behind would have at least 70,000 to 80,000.

With Qiemo City and his seven thousand troops alone, they could not withstand the attack of the 100,000 Tubo army. If Qiemo City was really captured by the Tubo army, then Anxi would be in danger. He Lou Yurun had been worried about this for several days and sent a pigeon letter to the Hexi prefectures. He hoped that Li Qingan could receive his express and come to support Qiemo City as soon as possible.

But a few days passed, and the Tang army scouts never received any news about the main Tubo rear army. They were all this army of 30,000 people from beginning to end, which made Helou Yurun's heart ignite another glimmer of hope. If there were really only 30,000 people, then he had the ability to protect Qiemo City.

At this time, a small black dot appeared in the sky, hovering over Qiemo City. Helou Yurun suddenly saw the small black dot, and his heart was filled with surprise. This was the pigeon that reported the message was back.

"General Helou!"

A soldier ran towards him with a pigeon letter, "It was a letter from Suzhou, and the general came with news."

"Give me a letter!"

He Lou Yurun stepped forward a few steps and took the pigeon letter from the soldier. The slender tube was red, which meant that the situation was urgent. There was a circle of gold above the tube, which was the symbol of Li Qing'an, the governor of Anxi. So the soldiers could recognize at a glance that this was a letter from Li Qing'an. In addition, under the tube, the origin of the pigeon letter was usually engraved, and the words "Suzhou" were engraved on this tube.

In fact, without reading the letter, He Lou Yurun had already inferred the general military situation. Li Qing'an had arrived in Suzhou, and was nearly a thousand miles away. When he opened the Ge letter, he saw that it was Li Qing'an's handwritten letter. There was only one short sentence: "Defend Qiemo City for four days, be promoted to one level, and the three armies were rewarded with great rewards. If you can't defend it for four days, you should be killed!"

Just one short sentence made He Lou Yurun's blood surging. Li Qingan gave him a four-day deadline. He would fight to the death no matter what.

At this moment, a rumbling drum sound came from the Tubo army camp. Thousands of Tubo army rushed out of the camp. They held swords and bows, their spears sharply, holding long ladders and wooden boards, rushing towards the city like a tide. The Tang army's war drums were also sounded, and the four thousand Tang army was deployed on the southern city, waiting for it in a strict manner. The first tentative offensive and defensive battle officially kicked off the attack two hours after the Tubo army arrived in Qiemo City.

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One hundred and eighty miles south of Sabize, it was not yet bright. In the clearing of a pine forest, Lin Mu led 15 Tang army patrol soldiers to surround a pile of soil. A dead Tang army soldier had just been buried in the soil. This was the sixth dead Tang army soldier in their team.

The night before yesterday, they unfortunately encountered a plateau wolf pack. After a bloody battle, the wolf pack left more than a hundred wolf corpses and ran away, but the patrol also paid a heavy price. Four soldiers were bitten to death and two soldiers were seriously injured. The two soldiers finally survived the night and died one after another.

According to the rules of the Tang army, all the soldiers who died were burning the bodies on the spot and bringing the bone colonies back to his family. However, after the Tubo army had just passed, it was very likely that the Tubo army would be nearby. The black smoke from burning the bodies could be seen dozens of miles away, which would undoubtedly expose their target.

"Let's burn incense!" Lin Mu said in a deep voice.

He inserted a wooden strip into the grave, and then the other soldiers also inserted the wooden strip into the grave, which was their unique way to pray for their dead comrades.

Sixteen Tang troops surrounded them and silently looked at the six comrades who were sleeping in the pine forests of the plateau. The piles of graves would also be their destination.

After a while, Lin Mu took out a leather bag and handed it to the Huo Chang of the fallen soldier, saying, "Put all his things! Don't forget to bring his hair with him."

Lin Mu sighed and walked out of the pine forest. He sat on a big rock and looked at the snow-capped Kunlun Mountains in the distance. His deaths made him feel a little heavy.

Lin Mu always had a premonition that the Tubo army would not have only 30,000 people, they would definitely have a brigade behind them. This premonition made him unwilling to give up his mission, but continued to search southwest. Even if he could not find the Tubo army, he should have found the location of the Tubo army's logistics base.

According to the habit of the Tubo army, an army of 30,000 people will go to the expedition, and will inevitably follow a large herding army of the same number, both old, weak, women and children. This is actually the entire tribe who follows their young and strong men to expedition, but their speed is a little slow and will land in the distance. They often choose lakes to live, about a hundred miles away from the Tubo army.

Lin Mu knew that there was a Wulan Lake twenty miles ahead, and there was geothermal heat in the lake. Affected by geothermal heat, the grass there was particularly lush. Even in winter, the sheep could find the pasture for winter. Lin Mu suspected that Wulan Lake was the logistics base of the Tubo army.

At this time, the soldiers came out one after another, and Huo Chang said, "Guo Zheng Lin, you have packed up, let's go!"

Lin Mu nodded, stood up and said, "Let's go! Go to Wulan Lake."

Sixteen Tang soldiers boarded their horses and rushed to the southwest.

Eight miles away from Ulan Lake, the Tang cavalry rushed to a low hill. The Ulan Lake, which seemed to be sapphire, appeared in front of them. The Tang soldiers all stopped their war horses and looked at the situation ahead in shock.

I saw tents on the edge of the Ulan Lake, and there were groups of cattle and sheep everywhere. It seemed that this was indeed a major logistics location for the Tubo people, but this was not the reason for their shock. It was a black Tubo cavalry team that was rushing towards this side, with a total of five or six miles long, at least 20,000 people.

Lin Mu became excited. As expected, he guessed it right. The Tubo army brought another 20,000 reinforcements, so the Tubo army that was about to be launched into the attack on Qiemo City would have 50,000.

This is an extremely important information, Lin Mu shouted in a low voice: "Go away!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several cold arrows suddenly shot up. A Tang soldier screamed and fell from his horse. He saw a large group of Tubo cavalry surged out of the woods not far south. A team of Tubo cavalry rushed to the north of the Tang army, with two armies of 1,560 people.

They were the outer garrison troops of the Tubo camp. When the Tang army sentries were running in the wasteland more than ten miles away, they were discovered by their spies hiding in the woods. They were not in a hurry to intercept them. When the Tang army approached Wulan Lake, they attacked from north to south, cut off the retreat of the sixteen Tang army sentries and surrounded them.

Although Lin Mu was shocked, he was not panicked. He glanced left and right and saw less than a hundred Tubo troops blocking their way in the southeast corner. Perhaps because there were 20,000 Tubo troops in the southeast that were rushing towards this side, relatively speaking, the number of people there was the smallest, and there was a forest on the side that broke through them.

"Come with me!"

Lin Mu roared, waved his spear and rushed towards the southeast corner. More than a hundred Tubo soldiers, like black charcoal, screamed and waved their swords to fight. The spears and swords hit each other, and when they clanged, Lin Mu was extremely powerful. One spear pierced the chest of a Tubo centurion, knocked him down, then pulled out the horizontal sword and slashed sideways. The knife was as fast as lightning. Another Tubo soldier screamed, his forehead was split and his plasma was spurted out.

At this time, the Tubo army's arrows were like rain. The five Tang soldiers and mounts running in the last were shot and fell down. The Tang soldiers rolled to the ground. Hundreds of Tubo soldiers rushed forward and dismembered the five Tang soldiers.

The last ten Tang soldiers were already on the front line of life and death. Only by fighting a path of blood can they have a chance to survive. The ten Tang soldiers were like crazy tigers, following their teams fighting to the death in the dense Tubo army.

Their spear pierced the chests of the Tubo people and cut off their necks with a horizontal knife. When the spear was broken, they slashed with swords, bites with teeth, and stabbed them with daggers. Their eyes were blood-red and their roars were like thunder. In a moment, more than 30 Tubo soldiers in the southeast corner were killed, but the Tang soldiers were also constantly shot by the cold arrows of the Tubo army. They screamed and fell off their horses, and then their heads were cut off by the fierce Tubo army.

More than 200 Tubo troops also entered the battle group. They were extremely cruel and formed a dozen teams to continuously attack the Tang soldiers, trying to break them away and then surround them and kill them.

The youngest Tang army soldier was unfortunately knocked down by a war horse. He rolled to the ground, and immediately dozens of Tubo soldiers rushed over like wild wolves. Each of them looked ferocious and stared at his head. The young Tang army was only sixteen years old. In the face of death, he was so scared that he cried: "Dad, mother, save the child!"

Lin Mu shouted: "Don't cry!"

He tried hard to kill a Tubo army, trying to save the young Tang army, but only a long scream was heard, he gave up. The swords of dozens of Tubo army had already cut the young Tang army into a bloody state. A Tubo soldier raised his head and heart high and laughed proudly.

At this time, there were only four people left in the Tang army. Looking at the tragic death of the young Tang army, Lin Mu and the other three Tang soldiers bit their lips. They shouted like crazy, burst out with the last force, slashing the spear, fighting bloody battles, killing one enemy after another, and finally breaking out of a bloody road and breaking out of the encirclement in one fell swoop.

But the team leader Lin Mu deliberately slowed down and blocked the pursuit of the Tubo army for three subordinates. At this time, he was already three arrows, his stomach was split open by a sword, and his intestines were flowing out. He covered his stomach with one hand and waved the knife to kill the other hand. His war horse was covered in blood and could no longer support it. With a "puzzle!", his front hooves fell to the ground, overturning Lin Mu to the ground. He could no longer stand up, and he half-kneeled hard, supporting his body with a knife.

The three Tang soldiers who had already rushed out of the encirclement were shocked and turned around to come to rescue them. Lin Mu cursed: "Get out! Get out quickly! Go back and report to me."

Three Tang soldiers roared and turned around and rushed into the woods. At this time, more than 30 Tubo soldiers surrounded Lin Mu. They raised their swords high and walked towards him step by step. Lin Mu smiled terrified and said to himself: "I will never die in your hands."

He turned the horizontal knife and stabbed it into his chest.

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Chapter completed!