Shao Shude rode his war horse out of the city and inspected the vast oasis grassland. There were many cavalry soldiers patrolling outside the city, and they all cheered when they saw the commander.
After many days of fierce fighting, the cavalry soldiers could still maintain considerable morale, which was enough to satisfy Shao Shude.
If it weren't for the fact that there were very few troops in Liangzhou and the enemies were mostly cavalry, he would not have sent the cavalry troops to this battlefield to consume them.
Five thousand elite cavalry is not used like this!
The cavalry army is an independent cavalry unit and does not need to cooperate with the actions of any infantry group. That is the matter of the cavalry of each army. They are well-equipped with iron armor, long horse stalls, and cannot even use horned bows - in your case
Before the long horse was thrown away, it was a very "dumb" cavalry, and it was also a cavalry that could be mass-produced.
Leopard Cavalry City should be a heavily equipped and upgraded version of these "dumb" cavalry.
But not the cavalry. Long-distance raids, raiding grain routes, intercepting messengers, ambushing bandits, etc. are their main combat tasks. Otherwise, why would they have the luxury of one man with two horses?
The chief officer is also given a very large degree of freedom. He can ignore the requests of his brother troops and only needs to cooperate with the entire strategy without having to cooperate with any tactical level fighting.
It is indeed a pity that such a strategic-level force should be used in a tactical-level scene outside Liangzhou City.
He had not considered sending the cavalry troops out to attack Ganzhou in a detour. That is to say, they would take the Gobi Desert to the north of the Beishan Mountains (Mazong Mountain, Heli Mountain, and Longshou Mountain). There were some rivers and lakes over there for supplies. In theory,
It sounds like they can march. However, there are Hexi Dangxiang and the Tatarized Dangxiang tribes who are nomadic, and they have a bad relationship with the Shuofang army. It is rumored that the remnants of the Tuoba clan have now moved south from the northern grasslands and entered this area.
It was too risky to go here, so I gave up in the end.
Marshal Shao is very bold, but he is extremely cautious in using troops, which is quite contradictory.
"Commander, the Uighurs in Ganzhou are so slippery that they have sent Liugu Tubo to their death these days. I guess they want to escape," said Li Tangbin, who followed behind on horseback.
Li Tangbin has changed a lot in recent years.
Born as a nest general, he was originally unkempt. Although he was extremely brave, he was relatively undisciplined. After being captured alive in the Battle of Miyuan, he has changed a lot.
Look at his attire.
He did not use the iron armor assigned to him by the army, but instead made a pair of golden armor by himself, which he wore even in the winter, meticulously.
The protective armor was too cold! Wearing iron armor in winter was not a pleasant experience, but he endured it like this.
In terms of running the army, there is almost no trace of the traitor in him, and everything is developing in the direction of regularity. If you didn't know his details, you would think he was a disciple of some general.
His words and deeds have also changed a lot.
He married his wife in Xiazhou. His original wife was trapped in the Chao army, so we will not talk about it anymore.
The bride’s mother-in-law is the daughter of Linghu Jing, the Xia Suiya general who just passed away last year. The Linghu family can barely be regarded as a minor general. Li Tangbin’s transformation may be influenced by his wife’s clan.
Coincidentally, in the Tianzhu Army, the rising young general Wang Jianji also married a wife. His wife was Zhou Rong's youngest daughter, who was also a general.
The veteran Xia Sui border gatekeepers, represented by Linghu Jing and Zhou Rong, are increasingly marginalized, so they can only find other ways to invest in promising new stars, hoping to return to the center of the stage one day - the ones who were left idle by the commander-in-chief.
Life is not easy!
"When the grassland people go to war, they always eat when there is meat and leave when there is no meat. It is unrealistic to expect them to gnaw hard bones." Shao Shude stopped his horse, took a riding whip and pointed to the mountains in the south, and said: "Six grains of Tubo, if
How could they take the initiative to go north if they weren't being forced? They would only graze and farm in the valley. Their only way to survive now is to abandon the Liugu where their ancestors had lived for generations and escape as far away as possible.
For a while, a place that has no time to take care of is just hanging on, but I don’t know if they have the decision.”
"As long as the commander-in-chief gives the order, the six valleys of Tubo will be conquered, and their leaders will come to surrender." Li Tangbin said.
Shao Shude smiled and said: "There is a chance. I feel that Liugu Tubo may not be willing to leave."
Liangzhou is a place that is really difficult for people to give up. If Wu Mu was given the choice, he would rather trade Ganzhou for Liangzhou, and he would be happy to do so without any hesitation, although Ganzhou is second only to Liangzhou in the Hexi Corridor.
state.
Originating from the Guzang Nan Mountain, the water system of the Daxue Mountain nourishes the land at the foot of the Beilu Mountain, forming a large oasis of fertile soil suitable for grazing and farming.
Moreover, there were still many forests on the plain at this time. A lot of them had been destroyed after the Anshi Rebellion. If left unchecked, the forest area would shrink further, making it difficult to reverse - war is an important factor in the destruction of forests.
During the Kaiyuan period, there were more than 30,000 Chishui troops in Liangzhou City, and 36 reclamation areas were established outside the city, totaling 1,800 hectares. At that time, there were more than 100,000 Tang people in Liangzhou. It was the seat of the Hexi Jiedu Envoy Office, and there were many Tibetan people.
Animal husbandry, but under the influence of the Tang people, they also began to plant crops. Correspondingly, the Tang people also began to herd under the influence of the Tibetan people, and the overall situation was a state of both farming and animal husbandry.
At that time, Liangzhou could even grow mulberry trees and weave silk.
Of course, compared with mulberry farming, animal husbandry here is more attractive.
In 1050, the Liao army invaded Xia. The Northern Route Army reached Liangzhou and captured millions of sheep, 200,000 camels, and 500 cattle. They captured many people, young and old.
There are no horses in the data, that is because they were transferred away by the Xia people. In fact, in the Hexi area, regardless of whether it is official or private, there is an important feature, that is, the proportion of horses is particularly high. During the Kaiyuan period of Xuanzong, due to the corruption of the official horse administration, many people
The livestock supervisors only had 400,000 horses, so they allowed private horse breeding. As a result, the private sector raised more than 300,000 horses, and they were all Liangzhou horses of higher quality than those from the grasslands.
Before Xixia occupied Liangzhou, they also marched under the slogan of "plundering the strong Tubo horses in the west" and "recovering the sharp Falcon soldiers in the north". At that time, the Liugu Tribe of Tubo had defeated Fumo in a long-term attack and controlled the entire
Liangzhou and Ganzhou Uighurs are allies with them.
Therefore, the importance of Liangzhou needs no introduction. The Tibetans and Tibetans will not leave Liangzhou unless they have to, and the Uighurs are not really helpless and will not give up their coveting here.
This greed and hesitation is their way to death.
"Commander, the cavalry army broke up and the envoy sent people to report that the Tibetan and Uighur coalition forces have gathered in large numbers, and they seem to have a plan." Lu Ming, the tenth general of the personal soldiers, suddenly came to report.
"You are going to run away!" Shao Shude sighed and said, "Why don't you stay for two more days? Send an envoy to Li Renmei and tell him that my army is going south and invite him to fight."
"As commanded."
Of course, Shao Shude did not want to fight the Uighur and Tibetan coalition forces at this time. Now that he had a back-up and a more reliable strategy, of course he had to wait for the most favorable opportunity.
This would invite Li Renmei to fight, but it was just a strategy to interfere with and delay the Uighurs' withdrawal on the spot, in order to keep them longer.
On the grassland near the Dongda River Valley, Li Renmei had made up her mind, no longer looking forward or backward, and began to move people, cattle, sheep, and goods westward.
When the prairie cavalry enters Han territory, they always carry out large-scale raids. If the Han army does not come to stop them, then they will continue to penetrate deeper. If the main force of the Han army comes, then they will withdraw and wait for the next opportunity.
This is their traditional military philosophy of avoiding reality and attacking virtual reality and taking advantage of mobility.
Groups of cattle and sheep were driven out of the valley, and groups of women and children were escorted out crying, as well as carts and carts full of cloth, leather, grain, farm tools, gold and silverware, etc.
There are a total of 34,000 people in Dingkou, almost all of whom are from Lamo and the small tribes attached to Lamo. If all of them are transported back to Ganzhou, the strength of the Uighurs will skyrocket.
Zhebu Nian from Yang Feigu looked at the Uighurs retreating with a gloomy face.
What a bullshit ally!
Of the 50,000 Dingkou that were robbed, more than 30,000 were taken away. The Yangfei Valley and Haomen Valley tribes who had their old homes taken away were only allocated more than 10,000, and there were also few cattle, sheep, and property. It was a huge loss.
The only consolation is probably that the strength of the old enemy Yan Mo has been greatly weakened. There were originally more than 100,000 people, but they lost a lot in the attack on Liangzhou. There were also many casualties in the battles these days. Now there are only 40,000 left.
That's not bad, most likely it will be swallowed up by the Shao thief.
There are also those miscellaneous Tuyuhun, Longjia, Sogdian, Tatar, Dangxiang and other small tribes. There are about 40,000 to 50,000 people. If they don't run away, they will basically belong to the Shao thieves.
Damn it, after fighting for so long, the one who gained the most was actually Shao Thief.
Even with little effort, the Uyghurs reaped rich harvests.
The "decisive" raid on the Liugu Tubo in the end of the period was unexpectedly unable to make ends meet and suffered a huge loss. I don't know how it happened.
There were originally 60,000 to 70,000 people in Liugu Tubo, but now I don’t know if there are still 40,000 left. Even including the captured Dingkou, there are only more than 50,000. What will happen if they go to Ganzhou?
It is impossible to maintain independence. It would be good to be a Uighur tribe like the Longjia tribe in Ganzhou. The worst thing is that it cannot maintain the status quo and is directly annexed by others.
How could the Liugu Tubo, who had defeated the main force of the Guiyi Army more than twenty years ago, come to this point?
"There is smoke and dust there!" An exclamation sounded in his ears, and Zhebu Nian suddenly turned his head and looked to the southeast.
That's the Hongyuan Valley. Why is there smoke and dust? Someone is calling?
"Send someone to investigate immediately!" Zhe Bu Nian ordered.
His palms were already sweating.
One Tang army is in Haomen Valley, which is like a thorn in the flesh. It is very uncomfortable, but it has been targeted by them; the other is in Liangzhou, led by Shao Thief himself. These days, they have been annexing various tribes.
Ding Kou's dirty work was also closely monitored.
Where did this force come from?
"Did Zhuang Langgu tribe send 200 people back to pick up the tribe yesterday?" Zhebu Nian suddenly asked.
No, he didn't need the people below to answer. In fact, he knew very well. The two tribes of Hongyuan Valley and Zhuanglang Valley, which were far away, sent people back to bring their tribesmen, cattle, sheep, and property. It was his personal order.
.
If something happens to them, Liugu Tubo will really be doomed!
Lord Umu also immediately saw several plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the Hongyuan Valley. It was daytime now, and it was probably the Tibetan people who had stayed behind to warn them.
At this opportunity, he had two choices. One was to gather the Uighur and Tibetan coalition forces and fight to the Hongyuan Valley for rescue. The other was to leave directly. The Liangzhou army had not yet been dispatched. They had plenty of time, but Dingkou could not save the money.
It can't be saved.
How to choose is all a matter of one thought.
Lord Wumu chose the latter, but he also issued an additional order: Ye Luohe Mochui led five thousand fine cavalry to the north to overwhelm Liangzhou.
It was obvious that he wanted to leave and keep his belongings.
Of course, Liangzhou also saw the plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the Hongyuan Valley.
Shao Shude ordered on the spot that more than 2,000 Shunyi troops were left to guard Liangzhou, and more than 12,000 Tianzhu Army, Iron Cavalry Army, and Leopard Cavalry troops were all mobilized to prepare to go south to pursue the enemy.
This day was the fourth day of April in the second year of Wende, and the time was ripe for a decisive battle.
