The army finally arrived in Taozhou, Xue Shao didn't care about the recurrence of his back injury, and the pain was unbearable, so he came to Russell Khan Mountain to personally inspect the terrain as soon as possible.

This mountain is located in the northwest direction of Taozhou city, not particularly tall and not very precipitous, but it is an important natural military barrier of Taozhou city, and it is also the only way for the Garqin Mausoleum to go out of Qinghai and point to Lintao.

Xue Shao wore three days and three nights in the mountains and hardly slept much, and then left generals and soldiers in several important passages and passes, and asked them to deploy troops in strict accordance with the plan he designed. Xue Shao set up a total of seven camps and checkpoints, making full use of the geographical advantage to block the enemy's cavalry troops.

After everything was arranged, Xue Shao entered Taozhou City. Lou Shide is organizing people to strengthen the city wall and dig deep into the moat river, and according to Xue Shao's general order, he is evacuating the people of all the towns and villages under the rule of Taozhou, and sending troops to escort them to the southeast to Lingzhou, so that Di Renjie can settle on his behalf. All the crops in the field, whether ripe or not, were harvested by the sergeants. Even the grass that grew in the field was not spared, and everything that could be cut was cut away, and all the fires that could not be cut were burned.

Every camp and the military stronghold of each city dug deep wells and canals to store clean water, and all the livestock that could be slaughtered were dried into jerky. Xue Shao also issued an order, from now on, the whole army should be thrifty, save every drop of grain as much as possible, save as much military rations as possible, and be prepared for a fierce battle that will be trapped for a long time.

More than 100,000 people drove at full speed, and they were busy in full swing in the first line from Russell Khan Mountain to Taozhou.

The information on the movements of the Zhou army was continuously sent to the hands of the Garqin Mausoleum. After so many days of repairing, his army was almost recuperated, and the food and grass had arrived.

The Tibetan army finally walked out of Qinghai Lake and marched towards Taozhou. After hearing Xue Shao's movements, Garqinling was very cautious, not only did he immediately lead the army to rush to kill, but also quietly took the first step to visit Russell Khan Mountain, and investigated the camp under Xue Shao on the spot.

Late at night, the Garqin Mausoleum was hidden in the dark forest, looking at Xue Shao's first line of defense from a distance, and saw one torch and bonfire after another. After holding out until dawn, he saw groups of soldiers walking back and forth in the camp, and the battle flags of the neatly arranged barracks.

Garqinling looked at it for a long time, and said one word with a solemn expression, "Return!" ”

At this time, Xue Shao was listening to Guo An's report on the movements of the Tubo army in Taozhou City. They had already left Qinghai and rushed towards Russell Khan Mountain. According to preliminary estimates, they had 100,000 horsemen. With the speed of their march, they will be able to officially launch an attack on our barracks the day after tomorrow at the latest.

"It's coming so fast!" Xue Shao twisted his eyebrows, the mobility of the Tubo cavalry under the command of Garqinling is far superior to that of the Turkic cavalry!

Lou Shide said: "Xue Shuai, our army relies on the mountain to set up obstacles on the pass, or it can get twice the result with half the effort. But in this way, the military strength of our army is also dispersed and thinned. Is there a possibility that it will be broken by the Garqin Mausoleum? ”

"It's possible." Xue Shao said, "But to be precise, it is broken layer by layer, not by piece." ”

Lou Shide asked, "Please also ask Xue Shuai to teach, what is the difference?" ”

"The difference is that it is impossible for the Garqin Tomb to attack all seven of my camps at the same time. And my seven positions can echo back and forth to help each other. Xue Shao said, "If the Garchinling breaks through my first line of defense, my men can completely retreat to the second line of defense." And so on, if the Garqin Mausoleum wants to hit the city of Taozhou, he will first have to pay a painful price! ”

"I see...... Lou Shide nodded, "It's like a person wearing seven layers of leather armor." ”

"Yes." Xue Shao smiled and nodded, "The art of war is cloudy, and if you are together, you will be strong and weak, but this time I did the opposite." I'd rather divide my men and horses into seven divisions and let Garchinling fight seven times, rather than fight him to the death in a battle. ”

"Layer by layer attrition, delaying everywhere, I agree with this tactic." Lou Shide nodded approvingly.

Xue Shao bowed his hand to Lou Shide, "Time is in a hurry, I didn't even have time to enter the city to discuss with the deputy marshal before I made my own decision." Please don't be surprised! ”

"What did Xue Shuai say?" Lou Shide hurriedly got up and clasped his fists and bowed, "This is your army, your war." Lou is only a staff officer in case of trouble, no matter how big or small, Xue Shuai just decides! ”

"Lou Gong is magnanimous, Xue is grateful!"

Lou Shide nodded and smiled with satisfaction, and said in his heart that there are not a few talented people in the world, but there are really not many people who can be as talented and convincing as Xue Shao. Not to mention anything else, if Wang Xiaojie is in charge now, how can he have such a good face to show me? How dare I know everything and say everything in front of him?

After noon, the Galchinling returned to his camp. Before he could eat, he immediately went to the general meeting.

This is the first battle that the two armies are about to start, and the Garchinling attaches great importance to it, and the generals do not dare to slack off. The Garqin Mausoleum asked the attendants to bring two large basins to paste the mud with water, and then spread out a large board. With his memory, Garqinling used these thin mud on the board to roughly lay out the layout of Xue Shao's first line of defense.

"Generals, has anyone ever recognized this formation?" Garqinling pointed to the generals with muddy hands and asked.

"Father, the child recognizes!" On Gongren stepped forward and said, "This is the Taibai Camp Formation in the Central Plains Art of War!" ”

"Explain." Garchinling didn't talk nonsense, put his hand into the basin of water brought by the attendant, and washed his hands.

"Yes!" On Gong Ren's promise, he said to the generals: "The Taibai camp is arrayed, and the seven stars are three stars, and the ten stars are ten generals." One will be a thousand, ten will be ten thousand. 16,000 feet of land for every 1,000 people. Ten people and eight gates, the landlord Jukan, and the virtue Jugen, Gao Cong Juzhen...... The four middle is to open the door, and the four dimensions are to close the door! ”

"It's too long-winded!" Garqinling snorted dissatisfiedly, "Pick the important one!" ”

"Yes!" Gong Ren also found that he seemed to be a little tricky, because few of these generals who were born and raised on the plateau knew the art of war in the Central Plains, and most of the people present were already confused.

After thinking for a moment, Gong Ren said concisely: "Father, generals, the Zhou army has 2,000 people in this camp to win the decisive army, and the general who guards the camp personally leads 500 people to sit in Jingmen to command the battle, which is the hub of the whole battalion. As long as our army can suppress the Seven Gates of the Nine Directions, break through the middle camp and then attack Jingmen, we can break through the enemy formation! ”

"What's so hard about that? I'll go! The generals immediately shouted.

"It's easy to say." Garqinling said lightly, "I have been fighting with the Tang Army for thirty years, and it is the first time I have seen someone lead a group of farmers who were still farming half a month ago in such a short period of time, and build a Taibai camp map array so tightly that almost every mountain location has been fully utilized. Xue Shao is not simple, or the people who assist him are not simple. If you dare to underestimate the enemy, sooner or later you will die at his hands! ”

On Gongren and the generals are no longer clamoring.

"Gong Ren!" Garqinling's voice sank, "This first battle, you go and fight!" If you lose, come and see you! ”

"Yes!" On Gong Ren's loud promise.

All the generals were solemn in their hearts, and in the first battle of the Garqin Tomb, they sent their chief generals and their own sons to fight, and issued an order to die that they must win, which is really rare!

Early the next morning, the Tibetan army launched its first attack on the camp of the Zhou army.

Guarding this camp is Cao Renshi, the old general of the Tiger Division. Because Xue Shao had followed Wang Xiaojie to fight against Tubo and had rich experience, he specially ordered him to go on the expedition. Giving him the first line of defense this time is enough to show how much Xue Shao values him.

Cao Renshi is not Xue Shao's old department, but it is also a surprise that he can be named by Xue Shao to see the center this time. He was even more excited to learn that Xue Shao was going to let him guard the first camp, and he had already exhausted all his strength to do a big job.

The Tibetan army had about 10,000 horsemen to attack, and the momentum was very fierce. Although they were known for their cavalry, like the Turkic armies, one of the characteristics of the Tibetan army was that they were able to fight when they got on their horses, and they were not ambiguous when they got off their horses. The Garqin Mausoleum has been using troops for 30 years, and has thoroughly understood the characteristics of the military use of various countries, especially the Central Plains Dynasty. He knew that the weakness of cavalry was siege, so he worked hard to improve it over the years. To this day, the cavalry of Tibet will no longer be helpless in the face of the attack and defense of the city, and their cavalry will immediately turn into infantry, and they will dare to attack the city when they take up the siege weapons.

If it weren't for the fact that he had fought with Tubo many times earlier, Cao Renshi would really be taken aback.

At the foot of Russell Khan Mountain, there was a sudden shouting and killing and the golden drums sounded in unison. The scouts of the two armies kept reporting the battle situation to the rear commanders.

Xue Shao sat in Taozhou City, a little nervous in his heart. This was the first time he had fought with the Tibetans, and he had met a god of war like Garqinling. Although the opponent's 100,000 soldiers and horses are slightly less than the number of troops under his own command, it is the trump card iron army built by the Garqinling army for thirty years. Although he has 150,000 troops, plus no less than 200,000 people, only 50,000 Luoshui troops are trustworthy.

In fact, even if it is this 50,000 Luoshui army, they have not fought a real tough battle for a long time. Last time, they went on an expedition to the Black Sands, but there weren't many opportunities for them to actually fight. In the past, when they regained Fengzhou seven or eight years ago, they fought a tough battle with the Turkic army.

On the surface, the strength of the 150,000 Zhou army was far superior to the 100,000 iron cavalry of Tubo. But Xue Shao's heart knows better than anyone else that the gold content of this team under his command is actually very low. Compared with the 100,000 iron cavalry under the command of Garqinling, the sum of his real combat power may be less than half of his.

As it turned out, Xue Shao's concerns were not unfounded.

Cao Renshi's camp only held for three days, and it was broken by the fierce Gong Ren!

Fortunately, Xue Shao had already arranged a back route for Cao Renshi, and sent Xue Chuzhu to lead the jumping army to meet the retreat. Therefore, although Cao Ren's division lost the camp, half of the 10,000 horses in the headquarters could retreat to the second line of defense.

Cao Renshi was ashamed, took off his military uniform, tied himself naked, and knelt in front of Xue Shao to ask for death.

"General Cao has tried his best and has not made the slightest mistake. Victory and defeat are commonplace, and General Cao is not guilty! ”

Xue Shao hurriedly picked up Cao Renshi, and personally cut the rope on his body, and took off his cloak for him to put on. Then he asked Hu Cong to bring him wine and food, and asked him about the details of the battle.

At this moment, Lun Gongren had planted the banner of Tubo above the first camp, and then sent people back to report the victory to his father.

There was jubilation in the Tibetan camp. Garqinling just smiled indifferently, "Three days, too long!" ”

Until late at night, Xue Shao and Lou Shide were still discussing the war with Cao Renshi.

"Xue Shuai, let Lou guard the second line of defense!" Lou Shide took the initiative to ask for help.

"No!" Xue Shao waved his hand decisively, "Master Cao Renshi, it's better for you to go!" ”

"Huh?" Cao Renshi was directly stunned, "Xue Shuai, the general of the defeated army under his subordinates ......"

"Don't you want to regain your masculinity?"

"Go down!".

[Recommend the new book "Jinyi Spring and Autumn" in the desert, which should be easy for everyone to see, Chinese Net]