Songzhou was located in the west of Xichuan, Jiannan Road in the Tang Dynasty. It was an important gateway established by the Tang Dynasty in Tuyuhun, between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty!
Songzhou was not only an important military center of the Tang Dynasty, but also an important city for material exchange and trade between the Tang Dynasty and the Tuyuhun, Tubo, Dangxiang, Qiang and other ethnic minorities in the southwest frontier.
Because we understood the importance of Songzhou, in the early years of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, the construction of Songzhou City was a top priority. After combined with the efforts of countless people, Songzhou City was built into a strong fortress integrating offense and defense!
However, due to the internal chaos in Tubo in the past few years, as well as Tuyuhun being beaten and scattered several times by the Tang Dynasty, and the surrender of Dangxiang and Qiang people, Songzhou's vigilance was somewhat relaxed, and the soldiers' training was not as diligent as before.
It is precisely because of this inertia of being at ease that when the Tubo army captured Tuyuhun and marched north, Songzhou Governor Han Wei hastily assembled more than 10,000 loose troops and passively and hurriedly greeted them outside Songzhou City.
The enemy was unexpectedly defeated by the well-prepared Tibetan soldiers without any effort.
After the first battle, the Songzhou soldiers, who were the home team, returned to the city, and the number of troops left behind, including all the disabled, was less than 7,000!
Fortunately, Songzhou City was built relatively solidly and was not easily broken. Han Wei also learned from his previous experience, not seeking merit but seeking no faults. He defended the city tightly and waited with peace of mind for the arrival of the imperial reinforcements.
It has to be said that Han Wei is very suitable for defending the city. When a thousand troops led by Fang Yiai arrived at Songzhou, the Tibetan soldiers launched no less than ten siege battles, but Han Wei managed to survive them all without any danger.
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On the other hand, it must be attributed to Han Wei's usual diligence. Not only did the granary be stocked full and wealthy as required, but the military supplies for the city defense were not withheld or relaxed. Except for the training of Songzhou soldiers,
In addition, in other places, Han Wei has done a very practical job.
When Fang Yiai and his people arrived at Songzhou, they were catching up with a new round of siege by the Tibetan soldiers.
Hearing the roar of the battle in the distance, Fang Yiai's chest surged with uncontrollable blood, and his heart beat uncontrollably faster.
Fortunately, Fang Yiai knew not to be impulsive at this time, let alone just rashly join the battlefield without knowing the specific situation on the battlefield. That would be reckless and would allow these thousand people to die in vain!
Fang Yiai ordered everyone to sneak around, and asked Cao Da to call over Wu Hao, who was going to the front to urge the scouts to find out the news.
According to the news reported by the scouts, the base camp of the Tibetan soldiers was divided into three camps, shaped like a Chinese character, and were stationed fifty miles southwest of Songzhou City.
The man sitting in the Chinese army's tent was obviously Tubo Zanpu's abandoned clan Nongzan, with 80,000 of his direct soldiers under his command.
Sitting in the military tent on the right is Lu Dongzan, the right prime minister of Tubo. Under his command is a miscellaneous army composed of soldiers drawn from various tribes on the plateau. These miscellaneous troops have just been conquered and educated.
, only Lu Dongzan can be intimidated. The number of people is at least 60,000 or 70,000!
Sitting in the military tent on the left is Suolang Pubu, the direct younger brother of Qi Zong Nongzan. The 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers under his command are composed of the tribal soldiers who first surrendered to Qi Zong Zanpu.
Zampu has been in contact with them for a relatively long time, and they are considered to be the group of people closest to Zanpu on the plateau. As Suolangpubu, they can also command them.
Thirty miles southwest of Songzhou is the vanguard camp of the Tibetan soldiers, with a total of 30,000 soldiers. The leading vanguard officer is a powerful Tibetan general named Gyatso Pu Yong, a red-faced and strong man in his late thirties.
Han, good at wielding a broadsword, and a direct descendant of Tubo King Qizong Nongzan.
"How many troops did Gyatso Pu Yong lead to attack the city this time? How long has it been fighting?" Fang Yiai asked after listening.
"Back to the general, because of the failure to attack the city several times, the 30,000 troops of the Tubo forward army have lost at least 5,000 to 6,000, and the number of disabled people is no less than 3,000." Wu Han said, "Maybe it's because the base camp is at the Pioneer Camp.
Twenty miles behind, Gyatso Puyong only left his previous troops and horses to look after the food and wounded, and the remaining 20,000 troops were all used to attack the city."
"Looking at the situation on the battlefield, it should have started around 1:30 pm. It is now 3:00 pm, and the battle has been going on for almost an hour and a half." After Wu Hao finished speaking, he looked at Fang Yiai and waited patiently for Fang Yiai to speak.
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"Since the beginning of the war and the defeat of the Han Wei Governor, has he been stationed in Songzhou City and never gone out to meet the enemy?" Fang Yiai asked.
"According to the people fleeing on the road and the scouts at the front who learned from the captured prisoners, after the defeat of the Han Governor in the first battle, except for the messenger soldiers who sent messages to the capital, no more Songzhou soldiers left Songzhou.
City." Wu Hao said.
"Very good." Fang Yiai nodded and said, "Counsellor Wu, please have someone explore the landforms between the Tibetan forward camp and the base camp, as well as the places where the grain and grass are stored in the four base camps. Report before sunset!"
"General, take your orders!" Wu Hao's eyes lit up and he left.
"Cao Da, send the order, tell the brothers not to light the fire, and make do with the cooked and dry food that was prepared earlier to fill their stomachs, have a good sleep, and there will be big business when they wake up at night!" Fang Yiai said.
"Yes, General." Cao Da responded excitedly, turned around and left.
"Wait a minute! Call Chen Dayou, Wang Mu, and Gong Chengjun!" Fang Yiai stopped Cao Da and added.
"The last general to see you, general!" After a while, Chen Dayou, Wang Mu, and Gong Chengjun ran over and said to Fang Yiai with their hands in hand.
"You three, go back and ask the people from the archery team to prepare all the arrows for me. After eating, go to bed early and have work to do in the evening." Fang Yiai ordered.
Chen Dayou, Wang Mu and Gong Chengjun took the order and went down.
Fang Yiai then sent an order to the few soldiers around him. After entering Jiannan Road, he asked the scouts to help collect some flammable resin and distribute it together during the night operation.
I don’t know if the Tibetan soldiers thought that the Tang army would not leave the city to attack the camp, or that if the Tang army came, they would not be able to escape from the enemy’s vanguard camp and base camp. Or what, during the twenty miles between the two camps, there were actually
There are five or six miles of valleys!
After midnight, Fang Yiai let the soldiers who had slept well eat a little more food, filling their stomachs to seventy percent full.
Fang Yiai took Cao Da and a dozen scouts, as well as Chen Dayou, Wang Mu, Gong Chengjun and 150 archers under the control of the three of them. They brought enough bows and arrows, resin and fire sticks, and took advantage of the night.
Under the cover of the enemy, they quietly sneaked towards the Tibetan forward camp.
The most difficult time for the human body is not the midnight hour, but the transition between the Chou hour and the Yin hour, which is around three o'clock in the middle of the night!
Anyone who stays up late knows that people are often quite energetic when they stay up until after one or two o'clock, but around three o'clock, a tingling warning starts to appear in the brain, and the whole person will be attacked by sudden fatigue.
Therefore, the time Fang Yiai chose to attack the camp was when Chou Shi and Yin Shi intersected!
Fang Yiai personally led Wang Mu and his fifty archers, and with the guidance of two dexterous scouts, silently wiped the necks of the Tibetan defensive soldiers who were a little tired.
Then, in an unobstructed manner, each person was responsible for two piles of grain and grass from the Tibetan vanguard camp, lit them almost at the same time, and then evacuated quickly and silently!
It has to be said that the Tibetan soldiers collected their grain and grass very well. In this humid southwest mountain forest area, their grain and grass were not affected by moisture and were still extremely dry. When exposed to fire, they began to burn quickly!
When the sleeping food guards woke up from their dreams and realized something was wrong, most of the food and fodder in their forward camp had been burned!
By the time they beat gongs and drums, shouted and summoned people to get the daily water stored in the camp, and sent people to fetch water from the distant river to put out the fire, the food and grass were basically reduced to ashes, and all the food and grass were reduced to ashes.
Due to the wind direction, even the nearby tents were on fire!
Fang Yiai hid in a big tree on a hill not far from the Tubo camp, watching a strong man walk out of the middle tent.
When he saw the man leaving the tent in disheveled clothes, he grabbed the person outside the tent who was hurriedly replying with a strong aura, beat him and scolded him, and angrily kicked the people next to him in the direction of the fire.
Judging from the performance of that person, it is estimated that he is probably Gyatso Puyong, the pioneer officer of Tubo.
Next to Fang Yiai, Chen Dayou carried a hard bow for him, stringed the arrows, aimed in the direction of Gyatso Puyong, and shot three arrows in a row. He didn't look at the results after shooting, and called the people around him to go.
Withdrew into the woods toward the valley.
It is said that Gyatso Pu Yong was unlucky. When he attacked Songzhou this time, he thought he could conquer it quickly like when he came from Tyuhun, so he volunteered for the position of pioneer officer.
When they first attacked Songzhou, the Songzhou soldiers led by Han Wei were indeed not as good as the plateau warriors under him. This made Gyatso Pu Yong very confident and felt that he should stop talking about conquering Songzhou in a short time.
Down.
Who knew that after Han Wei's battle, no matter how they insulted and shouted at them, Han Wei ignored them all and stood firm in the city without fighting!
As a result, Gyatso Puyong attacked Songzhou City several times, but he always lost troops and generals, but without any success!
After the failure to attack the city again today, Gyatso Pu Yong was a little impatient. According to past practice, he felt that Han Wei still did not have the courage to leave the city. He only sent scouts to keep an eye on the movements of the various gates of Songzhou City and did not reinforce the military camp.
alert.
In order to relieve the depression in his heart, Gyatso Puyong drank a jar of strong wine during dinner. With the strong force of the strong wine, he fell into a deep sleep in the middle of the night, like a dead pig.
Therefore, when he heard that the soldiers came to report that the food and grass were on fire, Gyatso Puyong was sleeping soundly. He was woken up after being called several times. In his unhappy mood, he even sent the soldiers who reported the arrival of the food to him.
He kicked him out of the tent, causing the opponent to vomit a mouthful of blood.