Chapter 294: Seizing Xiao Bojin

Xiaobojin and Dabojin were originally one country, that is, today's Kashmir region, but later split due to the invasion of the Tubo people. Some of the pro-Tang Bojin nobles moved to the northwest to establish a new Bojin Kingdom. This is the Xiaobojin Kingdom. King Xiaobojin always surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and once respectfully called Li Longji his father.

Xiaobojin's strategic position was extremely important. Tubo once occupied the four towns of Anxi, but was recaptured by the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Zetian. The Tubo people who lost control of the Silk Road were not willing to accept it. In order to avoid the front of the Tang army, the Tubo people decided to open up a new path, and bypass Dabolu, enter the Secret Pass through Xiaobolu (now the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan), and cut off the Silk Road to the east and west. In the tenth year of Kaiyuan, the Tubo people sent troops from Dabojin to capture Xiaobojin and controlled more than 20 countries in the Tochar region.

Then, Zhang Xiaosong, the governor of Beiting of the Tang Dynasty, ordered Zhang Sili, deputy envoy of Shule Army, to lead 4,000 Hu troops to attack the Tubo army. They traveled day and night, crossed the Pamir Mountains, crossed the Pole River Valley, and arrived at the Xiaobojin territory. They attacked the Tubo army from north to south with the Xiaobolu army who came to meet. The Tubo army was defeated and killed and captured tens of thousands of people, which was more than 20 years earlier than Gao Xianzhi.

In the 25th year of Kaiyuan, the Tuqi and Shi people caused trouble to the Western Regions. The Tubo people took advantage of the Tang Dynasty's time to look south and sent troops to capture Xiaobojin again, cutting off the Southern Silk Road. Later, the Tang court failed many expeditions until the Battle of Xiaobojin in the sixth year of Tianbao.

Since the capture of Xiaobojin in the sixth year of Tianbao, Gao Xianzhi has rebuilt the Suiyuan Army in Xiaobojin, appointed Zhao Chongyi, the former Shule Guard, as the envoy of the Suiyuan Army, and led 2,000 troops to garrison Anuyue City. However, because the Imperial Kingdom surrendered to Tubo at the beginning of the year, the supply routes of the Tang army were cut off, and their lives were getting increasingly difficult, the soldiers were sick, and their combat power was low. In August, the Imperial Army marched into Xiaobojin, besieged Anuyue City, and sent people to build a new vine bridge in the Sayi Valley. It has been more than two months since.

A blood-red sun slowly rose from the sea of ​​clouds, and a new day was coming, but the Tang army in Anuyue City fell into a dark day. Today, the vine bridge on the Soyi River will be completed. Opposite the valley are the Tubo people as dense as an ant colony, and there are at least tens of thousands.

The food in the city had been eaten up and the war horses were slaughtered to the end. After several months of siege, the Tang army was already injured and sick, with only more than 1,200 soldiers able to fight, including the Five Hundred Lianyun Fort defenders who crossed Tanju Ridge to help. They were facing ten thousand fierce national troops, and they were able to barely defend Anuyue City with the dangerous terrain.

Before the people of the Imperial Army arrived, most of the residents had fled to various places, leaving only kings, a few nobles and thousands of old and weak people. The empty streets and houses seemed extremely desolate in the cold wind. On the city wall, soldiers gathered together in groups of three or three, staring blankly at a long vine bridge pulling up on the Soyi River. They seemed to hear the screams of Tubo people and wolves on the other side.

"General Zhao, do you think the general will send reinforcements?" Deputy General He Lou Yurun was worried. Seeing that the Tubo people were coming, he was extremely worried about his morale. When tens of thousands of Tubo troops attacked, the soldiers' fighting will probably collapse.

The Imperial Army's siege was weak and had almost no siege weapons, so they did not make large attacks in the past two months. They only dug trenches outside the city to prevent the Tang army in the city from breaking out and destroying the vine bridge.

Zhao Chongyi is about forty years old. He is thin and tall, with a yellowish face and a hooked nose. He looks suspicious and difficult to make a big deal. In fact, he regrets it. He has already seen that although the number of troops in the Imperial Army is large, his combat power is not strong, and he is even a weak brigade. Their purpose is not to attack, but to trap himself and thus repair the bridge across the Sayi River. If he fought hard with them without hesitation at the beginning, he might not lose.

Now, three trenches outside the city have been dug, and it will be useless to rush out. Zhao Chongqi sighed in annoyance, turned to look towards Tanjuling, and said in a trembling voice: "The General should have received the news, and reinforcements are coming towards us!" But from Kucha, the journey from here will take at least eighty or ninety days. You have to prepare, and spring will be the fastest.

All the soldiers around him heard his faint tone, which meant that he had no confidence. For a moment, no one spoke again, and only heard the sharp croaking of the goshawks above his head.

"General, Tubo Army! Tubo Army is here!"

A soldier suddenly pointed at the vine bridge and screamed in fear. Everyone looked south together, and their hearts suddenly sank into the abyss.

I saw a team of thick and long Tubo army starting to appear on the vine bridge, as if it was a giant snake with no end, its body was constantly squirming and stretching. On the other side, the dense Tubo army was still increasing, with at least 30,000 people.

They shouted low slogans, and the sound of skin drums beat rhythmically, and the murderous aura echoed on the Sayi River, making all the Tang soldiers feel desperate, hunger, and injuries have been tormenting these soldiers who are far away from their homeland. Now, the last hope has been cut off in their hearts, and some even covered their faces and sobbed in a low voice.

Suddenly, in the northwest direction of Anuyue City, a loud trumpet sounded in the valley, like a rooster crowing through the dawn. The sound was sharp and crisp. Hope finally came over Anuyue City shrouded by death.

The sound of trumpet! The sound of trumpets stirred in the dark valley. The brave Tang soldiers suddenly emerged from the valley. They were like a black dragon, and like a flood that broke into a dam, roaring and rushing, and murderous aura swept across the entire earth. Even the Mount of Hindu Kush trembled and changed color.

The Tang army on Anuyue City was shocked, the division army was shocked, and even the Tubo army, who had crossed the bridge, was hoarse and stopped at a loss. Should we advance! Or retreat? The newly built vine bridge began to twist uneasyly.

But the Tang army did not hesitate at all. Their target went straight to the newly built Vine Bridge, which was also a place where the Imperial Division guarded the heavy army. Li Qing's army arrived at Anuyue City yesterday, but he did not attack immediately. He was looking for the best fighter. The tiger running thousands of miles was never willing to eat meat. He disdained the weak Imperial Division. He wanted to relive the glory of Shazhou in the past. He wanted to make the Tubo army hate the Sayi River Valley, no matter if it was ten thousand or hundreds of thousands.

In front of the sharp elite Tang army, the fear of the Tang Dynasty began to arise in the heart of the army. Their legs were weak and they fought tremblingly, but what came to them was neatly arranged by the walls of people, and a pair of bright and bright swords flew in front of them. Although the number was only a few hundred, the momentum was like a mountain of fallen, flesh and blood, and broken limbs instantly flew in the air, wailing, and hysterical fear shouts.

This is the five hundred Modao hand specially brought by Li Qing, led by the Modao generals Tian Zhen and Li Fei Yuanli of Dou Lu Army. They are an iron fist and will play a special role in the attack. Li Fei Yuanli returned to the Dou Lu Army last year, but he was not allowed to be used by Bai Xiaode. He was frustrated for nearly two years until Li Qing returned. At this moment, he was like a violent tiger, splitting a bloody road in the Imperial Army and rushed straight to the vine bridge. His extremely ferocious appearance and cruel massacre made the enemy tremble.

The army of the Imperial Army deployed at the bridgehead was about 3,000, mostly infantry. Since the Tubo people began to cross the bridge, most of the Imperial Army had retreated to the camp and began to prepare for attacking Anuyue City. At this time, there were about 1,000 people left. This was the best fighter jet that Li Qing had waited for.

The sudden attack of the Tang army caught the army of the Imperial Army, who was left at the bridge head, off guard. In addition, the cowardice formed by the surrender to the Tang Dynasty for a hundred years was like a slave who was carrying the master. In front of the majestic master, they could not wait for the main force of the camp to come to help, and their minds collapsed in an instant. They threw away their armor and weapons and fled to the camp.

Li Qing didn't care about the Imperial Army. His focus was on the Tubo army. At this time, the Tubo people who were inspired to kill were about to rush to the bridgehead. The nearest one was less than twenty steps away from the bridgehead. They could already see their blood-red eyes, and they could hear vague and crazy shouts. It was too late to tear the bridge.

"Mo Dao hand blocks it! On the crossbow hand!"

"The sword and shield army protect the periphery!"

The order was short and rapid, but the Tang army immediately changed its formation quickly as the order was ordered, with clean and neat movements and accurate. Unlike the soldiers in the Central Plains, most of the soldiers in Anxi (including the Doulu Army) were hereditary military households, that is, professional soldiers. They were far more well-trained than ordinary soldiers and well-equipped, so although Anxi had few troops, they could dominate the Western Regions. This is why.

With Li Qing's orders, Wubai Modao hand rushed forward to the enemy and blocked the only passage of the Tubo army.

With a loud bang, the two armies collided violently, which stirred up not waves, but blood mist in the sky. The vine bridge shook violently, and from time to time, someone was killed and fell down the mountain stream, and screams echoed in the valley. Obviously, the terrain was more beneficial to the Tang army. The two-mile-long vine bridge was already densely packed with Tubo army. Their total force on the opposite shore reached 30,000, while the Tang army had only a few thousand. As long as they could rush ashore, the victory belonged to them.

But the current situation is definitely not that the number of people can win. The road is only narrow and 1 zhang wide, and at most five people can only pass side by side. Although they are wild and their anger is about to melt everything, unfortunately, opposite them is the most ferocious military branch of the Tang Dynasty, the heavy armor and long sword, which are unmatched by the Tubo people's long swords.

What's more, the thousands of crossbowmen were distributed on both sides. They had the most advanced bows and arrows in the world, especially the ones designed for the Tubo chain mails, which were sharper.

Nan Jiyun was on the left, Li Feishouyu was on the right, and the two were like a competition, each leading five hundred armed forces to fire arrows, thousands of bows were on the same line, and thousands of arrows were fired at the same time. In an instant, the arrows were like rain, and arrows were like locusts. Even if the Tubo people used their shields to protect them from the left and right, it would be difficult to resist the cruel blood-devouring of Fengdi. Within a hundred steps, there was no one on the Houtou Bridge. The Tubo army behind them was exhausted and turned around and ran away, but it was too late. The Tang army cut off the vine bridge. As the vine bridge fell, hundreds of Tubo soldiers were unable to escape back to the other side, and all died.

As the vine bridge was cut off again, the balance of war quickly fell towards the Tang army. Without waiting for the Tang army in Anuyue City to attack, Li Qing's Eastern Army had already defeated the Imperial Army like the autumn wind swept the fallen leaves and fled. In this battle, more than 5,000 troops of the Imperial Army were killed and 3,000 were captured. Less than 1,000 people fled back to the Imperial Army, while the Tang army lost only more than 200 people, which was a brilliant record.

At noon, there was silence outside Anuyue City. Li Qing stood on a hill to scan the battlefield. Some of the Tang army were counting supplies, some were rescuing the wounded. Teams of prisoners passed by the hill drooping and dejectedly.

"Governor, are you looking for me?" Li Fei Shouyu heard Li Qing's call and strode up the hill.

Seeing that he was full of excitement, Li Qing couldn't help but smile and asked, "I want to hear your opinion, how can this Xiao Bojin deal with the aftermath?"

Li Fei Shouyu was stunned, as if he didn't understand what Li Qing meant. They were here to rescue the garrison here and had nothing to do with the aftermath. Seeing that he didn't understand, Li Qing smiled and added, "Did you forget how I told you before coming to the Western Regions?"

Li Fei Shouyu suddenly realized that the aftermath of Li Qing was talking about how to deal with Xiao Bojin. He looked at the city gate that had just been opened, and several people were walking towards this side. It seemed that they were the chief generals stationed here by the Tang army. Li Fei Shouyu changed his mind quickly. He immediately understood what Li Qing meant. He wanted to stay in Xiao Bojin. Li Fei Shouyu immediately bowed and bowed and said, "I can let the governor give me the order!"

Li Fei Shouyu guessed correctly. Li Qing decided to let him stay in Xiaobojin. Xiaobojin's strategic position was extremely important. Once he controlled this place, not only would the Tubo people not be able to get involved in the Western Regions, but he also controlled more than 20 small countries around Tocharo and the southern line of the Silk Road. This laid a solid foundation for Li Qing's future development, so he had already planned and decided to take down the place when negotiating with Gao Xianzhi.

Li Fei Shouyu has been with him for many years, and is loyal to him, steady and smart and capable, so it is most appropriate for him to manage the place for him. However, as for Gao Xianzhi's rebound, Li Qing has his own countermeasures.

Li Qing pinched his shoulder and smiled apologetically: "You brothers resolutely followed me, but in the end they only acted as my generals, but you all have no complaints. I have always felt guilty about this and always wanted to have a chance to compensate you well. This time I asked Gao Xianzhi that he was about to get the right to appoint him, and that was to prepare for this. Shouyu, from now on, you will be the military envoy of the Suiyuan Army, and you will firmly control Xiao Bojin for me."

Li Fei Shouyu was overjoyed. Suiyuan Army's military envoy could at least be renamed Zhaowu's captain. This is second, and more importantly, this appointment means that he is Li Qing's number one confidant. With his success, his future is limitless. 'I have said long ago that those who dare to kill Tubo Zanpu will never be in the pool in the future.' Li Fei Shouyu exclaimed secretly and immediately bowed: "Please rest assured, the governor, my subordinates will never let the Tubo people cross half a step over Xiaobojin!"

At this time, Zhao Chongyan and He Lou Yurun had already walked up the hill. It was the first time he saw Li Qing, but he had heard of his name for a long time and did not dare to neglect him. Zhao Chongyan stepped forward and knelt down and saluted, "I will be the last general, Zhao Chongyan, the military envoy of Suiyuan Army, and will meet Li Dupu!"

Li Qing didn't smile. He glanced at Zhao Chongyi and said coldly: "Zhao Chongyi, do you know your guilt?"

Zhao Chongqi was in a panic and immediately said, "I don't know, please inform Li Du's name!"

Li Qing walked past him with his hands behind his back, glanced at him squintedly, and snorted: "I am not talking to you as a deputy guru, but as a imperial censor. Do you understand?"

Zhao Chongyi's face turned pale. Although the censor was just a name, he also had the right to impeach and did not even need any evidence. He could make a case clear after hearing the news. More importantly, Li Qing took out his identity and clearly did not be controlled by Gao Xianzhi, so that he could not use Gao Xianzhi as a shield.

"The General of the Mo dares not, but the Censor Li wants to convict the General of the Mo, at least he must take the charge, otherwise how can he convince the public?"

"Crime?"

Li Qing sneered and said, "Is this a crime to refuse the city and not fight, and let Tubo enter the country?"

"This~" Zhao Chongyan had nothing to say. He did not go out of the city to fight and watched the Fuji Bridge repair it. If reinforcements had not arrived today, Xiao Bojin would have been finished.

At this time, He Lou Yurun next to him stepped forward to defend him and said, "Mr. Censor, we are unwilling to fight. There are too many injuries and less than a thousand people can fight. How can we resist an army of ten thousand people? Instead of losing and losing the city, it is better to defend the city and wait for reinforcements. Please give me a clear guide!"

"General Helou, how can you know that you can't do it without fighting? If you lose in one battle and retreat to the city, I don't blame you, but you haven't had it in one battle. If I hadn't arrived in time, tens of thousands of Tubo troops would have entered the country. Who will bear the responsibility?"

He walked to Zhao Chongyan and nodded, "Maybe you have difficulties, maybe Gao Dashui will take responsibility for you, so I will not give up your position now, but you are indeed not suitable to defend Anuyue City and return to Kucha to report to Gao Dashui! I need to listen to Gao Dashui's explanation before making a decision!"

Seeing Li Qing give in, Zhao Chongqi relaxed and stood up quickly and bowed to thank him, "I will obey the order!"

Li Qing glanced at He Lou Yurun again and said, "Master Gao should be in the Imperial State now. You should accompany General Zhao to prevent him from talking about one side. I will temporarily clean up the mess of Anu Yuecheng!"

"The last one will obey the order!"

He Lou Yurun is a general of the Hu people. He is not like Zhao Chongyan, who is Gao Xianzhi's confidant. He can speak with Gao Xianzhi, but he cannot. Li Qing is the deputy commander of Anxi. Here, his words are orders, and He Lou Yurun dares not refuse to obey.
Chapter completed!