Chapter 640: Shangdang Battle (2)

The beacon of help burning in the night sky alarmed the Shangdang camp. Li Guiren sent general Ashina Congli to lead his army to rescue Changzi County. When Ashina Congli led 10,000 cavalry to Changzi County, the Northern Tang army had gone far away and the battle had stopped. What Ashina Congli saw was a bloody scene like a slaughterhouse. The corpses of more than 5,000 Khitan soldiers were covered with the county town, and the heads had been cut off. The blood from the neck stained the earth red. Since there were no residents in the county town, in broad daylight, the whole county town turned into a dead silence like a ghost town, with no living person, and even injured people.

Groups of crows hovering in the sky, making harsh rattles. Although Asina was numb to the sight of the dead, the bloody scene in front of him made him feel creepy.

"Are you alive?" Asina asked sternly.

A lieutenant bowed and said, "Report to the general, there was no survivor, all of them were killed. There were 5,340 people on the list. We counted 5,330 corpses, only ten people apart."

"Damn it, no prisoners of war!"

Asanna conglided his teeth and said, but he forgot that they themselves did not leave prisoners of war, which was the revenge of the Tang army on them.

Asina was in his early forties, with a burly figure and a fat face, which made him look very ferocious. He was a Turkic from the Jiegu tribe. He led thousands of tribesmen to An Lushan seven years ago. An Lushan immediately celebrated his merits with the court, saying that he had killed the nomad who was preparing to invade the south. Li Longji did not distinguish the authenticity and immediately appointed him as General Guiren and gave him a purple goldfish bag.

Because of his high martial arts skills and brave combat, he has always been highly appreciated by An Lushan. However, he lacked qualifications and was unable to become a general independently. This time, Li Guiren was the head coach of the southern line, and An Lushan appointed his Li Guiren's deputy general.

Asina was cruel and ruthless in the manner of etiquette. Like other Northern Hu people, she regarded the Han people as pigs and sheep. This time, An Lushan rebelled, and he plundered a large amount of wealth, and women alone plundered hundreds of people.

The 5,000 Khitans in Changzi County, which the Tang army sneaked into this time, were not his subordinates, but his subordinates belonged to An Shouzhong. Since An Shouzhong returned to Zhaozhou to escort food, Li Guiren ordered him to come for assistance, but unexpectedly, what he saw was such a tragic situation.

At this time, a team of cavalry rushed over, and an officer bowed immediately, "General, we have found the surviving soldiers."

Asina was refreshed and he asked quickly, "Where are you? Come and see me."

After a moment, ten Khitan soldiers were led up, and the leader was a team leader. They came to Ashina, knelt down and burst into tears. The team was wiped out their tears and said, "Our brothers were killed too badly. Please let the general decide for us!"

Asina Congli was upset by their crying, and the horse whip cursed: "Damn it, what's the point of crying? Get up and talk to me!"

The ten soldiers did not dare to cry anymore. Asina asked them calmly, "How did you survive?"

The head team was politely saying: "Report to the general, we are the patrol team on the periphery, patrolling the south, and on the way back to the city, we saw the attack from the Tang army. We hid in the woods and were spared."

"Then let me ask you again, how many people are there in the Tang army?"

"About 10,000 people, all cavalry, very fierce. I saw hundreds of brothers escaping from the camp and preparing to escape into the woods on our side, but were chased by the Tang cavalry and chopped off the heads. Some brothers knelt down on the ground and surrendered, and were ruthlessly killed by the Tang army. They did not accept captives at all."

Speaking of this, the team seemed to have seen the situation last night again. He was so frightened that he was trembling all over. Asina was extremely angry from the lily, but he had no choice but to order: "Buried the body on the spot and return to Shangdang!"

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Li Siye's victory brought great excitement to the morale of the Tang army, and wiped out more than 5,000 enemy troops, and only more than 300 wounded himself. This brilliant victory undoubtedly gave the Tang army great confidence. Li Qingan immediately ordered to use the head to record the merits, each head to reward 30 stagnant, and the first level of merit. The soldiers who participated in the war were also rewarded with five stagnant. For a time, Li Siye's subordinates were full of joy, which made the other soldiers extremely envious.

In the tent, hundreds of senior generals above the Anxi Army General gathered together. Li Siye told Li Qing'an and other generals about the situation of this night battle. Unlike last night, Li Siye discovered that Li Guangbi was also present, which surprised him because Li Guangbi came from Changping Pass and must have passed Changzi County. They did not meet on the road. Although they were surprised, Li Siye continued to describe the situation of the battle last night to everyone.

"We were discovered by the other party when we were two hundred steps away from the other party's military camp. If we follow the training of our Anxi Army, the enemy was a hundred steps away, and the soldiers had to go out of the tent and line up. The crossbow army had been deployed, but the situation I encountered was completely different. The Khitan soldiers did not sleep with armor, and many people were naked. These were nothing. More importantly, I found that the Yan army had no experience in night battles, or had never been training for overnight battles. The enemy in the camp might not be prepared, but the Khitan army in the city was full of armor. They were defeated in a battle in the street market and were obviously not suitable for night battles. I think this is a major weakness of the Yan army. We might as well make full use of this weakness of the Yan army."

At this time, Li Qing'an saw that Li Guangbi seemed to have something to say, so he smiled and said, "Does Guangbi have any different opinions? Please tell me!"

Li Guangbi was only two hours earlier than Li Siye's army and came to report military information to Li Qing'an. He did come from Changzi County, but did not pass through the county town. Instead, he led a thousand personal guards to bypass thirty miles south of the county town, and did not find Li Siye sneak attacking Changzi County.

However, he did not agree with Li Siye's explanations. Seeing that Li Qing'an allowed him to speak, he stood up and bowed to Li Siye and smiled: "First of all, I want to congratulate General Siye on his first extraordinary achievements and killed 5,000 enemies, which greatly enhanced the morale of the Tang army. Although this battle is small, it is of great significance. However, there is one thing that I do not agree with General Siye's conclusion."

Li Siye and Li Guangbi belong to the same level. Li Siye is the governor of Hezhong, while Li Guangbi is the governor of Tochar, both of which are important forces in Anxi. After Li Qing'an left Anxi and went east, they secretly competed for the governor of Anxi. Although Feng Changqing won in the end, their relationship was not what outsiders thought. They had a good relationship on the surface, but they had competition in secret.

Li Siye bowed his fists and bowed in a deep voice: "Please give advice to General Guangbi!"

"I dare not give advice. I just think Siye is a little confused. It is true that the Yan army stationed in Changzi County is not good at night fighting, but it does not mean that all Yan army is not good at night fighting. You should know that the Yan army stationed in Changzi County are all Khitans, the Hu army supporting An Lushan, not An Lushan's Fan Yang army. I think it is a bit too early for Siye to draw a conclusion on this that the Yan army is not good at night fighting."

Li Siye's face gradually sank, and he clearly showed an unhappiness. He heard something in Li Guangbi's words, saying that he was blinding his eyes was just an excuse. His implicit meaning was to ridicule himself. If the Buddha said that it was just killing 5,000 Khitans, or not, a regular army, was it necessary to show off like this? This is his territory. It is obvious that he would not give him face when he sarcastically mocked him in front of so many subordinates.

Li Siye bowed his hands and said coldly: "How can General Guangbi know that it is not? Did General Guangbi have had a large-scale night battle with the Yan army? I don't think so! One winter, General Guangbi came and went on the frozen Yellow River, and finally retreated to Henan Road. We also hoped that Longyou Army would take over Wei Bo and kill Tian Chengsi's army back to Youzhou!"

Li Guangbi really didn't like Li Siye's big boast. However, after sneak attacking thousands of Khitans, he said that the Yan army was not good at night fighting, as if he had become the leader of attacking An Lushan. This made Li Guangbi very dislike. Moreover, although Li Siye was the governor of Hezhong, the battles in Hezhong were all fought by Li Qing'an. Li Siye never fought a battle at all. He picked up Li Qing'an's advantage for nothing and thought he was the nemesis of the cannibals. He boasted in the court that he was the second-ranked figure in Anxi, which made Li Guangbi very disgusted.

Seeing Li Siye ridicule him in public for crossing the Yellow River, but not saying that this was a major strategic deployment, he couldn't help but feel furious and was about to refute him, but seeing Li Qing'an looking at him with a cold look, Li Guangbi had to hold his breath back in his heart. Without saying a word, he bowed to Li Siye and sat down.

There was silence in the tent, and everyone could hear that there was a conflict between the two generals. Although their chief general was indeed a little proud, this place was Li Siye's place after all, and most of the tent was Li Siye's subordinates. Li Guangbi's provocation was undoubtedly a public provocation. However, Li Qing'an sat on it, no one dared to say anything, including Wei Boyu, the deputy general who participated in this sneak attack. He was even more angry. He wanted to get up and scold Li Guangbi, but was grabbed by Xi Yuanqing and whispered to him: "Pay attention to your identity!"

Wei Boyu glanced at Li Qing'an, and he didn't dare to say anything. Of course, Li Qing'an would be able to reconcile the conflict between the two commanders. Whoever jumped out now would be the scapegoat.

After a while, Li Qing'an said coldly: "I was still talking yesterday that we can take advantage of the conflict between Li Guiren and Li Huaixian. I didn't expect that there were two Li Guiren and Li Huaixian in my army today. I don't know if this is An Lushan's luck or if I, Li Qing'an, lead the troops without any reason, or I, should I buy wine to apologize to you both. Do you need it? Come on, set wine for me!"

Li Siye and Li Guangbi knelt down on one knee at the same time. Li Siye apologized to Li Qing'an and said, "I am arrogant and ignorant, and I am despised the general's high hopes. I am willing to be punished to calm the general's wrath."

Li Guangbi also said: "I don't care about the overall situation and have selfish thoughts. I am willing to be punished by the general. Please calm down my anger."

Li Qingan waved his hand and said to everyone: "It's late at night, everyone should go back!"

Everyone stood up one after another, bowed to Li Qing'an, and left the tent. Li Qing'an said to Li Siye and Li Guangbi again: "You guys go back too, I want to be quiet alone."

The two had no choice but to give a tribute and go out. Despite this, the two still did not reconcile in front of Li Qing'an, and did not speak, so they left alone.

Li Qingan looked at them walking away and couldn't help but shake his head. He had both become high-ranking officials of this level. Both of them were still as naughty as a young man and could not do superficial things at all, which made him feel a little disappointed.

Especially Li Guangbi, although he was right, the Khitans' ability to fight at night does not mean that Fan Yang's army could not fight at night. This is the reason, but he could tell himself privately, but insisted that he could not get out of the stage in front of Li Siye's many subordinates. Li Qingan didn't believe that he didn't even understand the minimum way of dealing with people. This only shows that Li Guangbi had a deep prejudice against Li Siye.

Li Qingan slowly walked out of the camp with his hands behind his back. The moonlight outside was bright, and the cold moonlight shone on his face, reflecting the elusive deep gaze in his eyes.

Frankly speaking, he knew the conflicts between these generals under him better than anyone else. He clearly remembered the unconcealable happiness in Li Siye's eyes when he transferred Duan Xiushi back to the inner road of the pass as a punishment. Duan Xiushi and Feng Changqing's relationship was also not harmonious. After Feng Changqing replaced Duan Xiushi, he first cleaned up some of the favorite generals promoted by Duan Xiushi.

In fact, Li Qing'an knew better than anyone else that the culprit of the conflict between these generals was Li Qing'an himself. The position of the Anxi Jiedushi is still empty and undecided. When he left Anxi, he once said that he would choose one of the Anxi generals and take over the position of Anxi Jiedushi.

The main generals of Anxi, Duan Xiushi of Shattered Ye, Feng Changqing of Xinde, Li Guangbi of Tochar, Li Siye of Hezhong, Cui Qianyou of Beiting, and Li Fei Shouyu of Hexi, all these six generals may take over his position, but it was him who delayed his decision that gradually led to a competitive situation between the six people, and coupled with some personal conflicts, the six people had a crack of competition and distrust.

It should be said that this was Li Qing'an's deliberate act. Before finding a good way to prevent separatist rule of the vassal states, he could not let one person dominate, nor could the relationship between these six people be too close, especially in the distant Anxi, due to space restrictions, the imperial court's control over the army was still relatively weak after all.

According to his plan, in the future, he would let Li Siye guard the river, Li Guangbi guard the Tocharo, Feng Changqing guard the Saiye, and Li Fei Shuyu guard the Xinde. The solution that Li Qing'an thought of was to rotate every two years and send a censor and supervise the army. But this was not enough. It would also cause conflicts between the generals so that they would supervise each other and not buy into each other, just like when Geshuhan secretly told Li Longji that An Sishun to recruit private soldiers.

As a leader, what he fears most is unity and harmony among his subordinates, which has been like this from ancient times to the present.

"General, are you upset about the two of you?" Aide Wei Qingping walked to him and smiled.

Li Qingan smiled and said, "It's nothing. The relationship between them has always been bad. I won't mind if there is a little conflict."

Wei Qingping sighed and said, "I only now understand why the general must come to Hedong and command the battle personally. Only the general can suppress them and coordinate their cooperation. Otherwise, the consequences will be very serious!"

"Yes! Although I believe they will not ignore each other, there will definitely be problems when they cooperate. If Li Guangbi is surrounded and Li Siye is one hour late, there may be an irreversible defeat, so I must come and command it myself."
Chapter completed!