Zhao Ziliang poured two pots of steaming mare's milk wine and barley wine in a row, warmed up his body, and walked around the camp tent, at this time, the chief of the guard, Malehan, who was covered in blood, opened the tent curtain and walked in, and reported to Zhao Ziliang with his fists in his hands: "General, all the Tubo soldiers in the camp have been killed, and more than 100 people have fled eastward along the Huangshui River. Our army suffered seventy-eight casualties, of which sixty-six were killed".

Zhao Ziliang listened to Brehan's report and turned around and ordered: "Pass the order, let the men make a fire to rebel, there are a lot of cattle and sheep here, all slaughtered, cook meat and soup for the soldiers, let the soldiers eat and drink enough within an hour, and make sauce and meat for those who can't finish eating, and after eating, send two hundred cavalry to replace Ma Lu and the one thousand infantry under his command to come and eat, and then deploy two hundred cavalry to the west coast and the Jinyintan grassland in the west. All the local herdsmen have disappeared, and no news is allowed to spread about this place! ”

"My subordinates understand!" Brehan bowed and turned to leave.

Soon, all the corpses of the Tubo soldiers in the camp were gathered and burned, and the corpses of the soldiers of the Tang Army were also sparked, and the ashes were collected and packed in clay pots.

Soon there were cheers for the slaughter of cattle and sheep in the camp, and it didn't take long for the whole sheep to be skinned on top of the fire, and a pot of beef and mutton soup was stewed and tumbled, and the smell of meat filled the entire camp, and the officers and men of the Tang Army, who were already hungry and cold, couldn't help but drool.

The well-fed and well-fed Tang soldiers found a place to rest in the camp by themselves, and the 600 cavalry were divided into three groups and sent to the direction of the Jinyintan grassland, the north bank of the West Sea, and the bank of the Huangshui River in the east.

Soon, Ma Lan arrived with a thousand infantry who had just experienced a battle, and the soldiers who had just arrived lined up to get beef and mutton and broth, and Ma Lan came to Zhao Ziliang's big tent after asking some soldiers.

Zhao Ziliang, Brehan and several cavalry battalion captains were all in the big tent, Ma Lan quickly stepped forward and saluted: "General Qiyu, the last general was ordered to lead the army to intercept the Tubo army fleeing eastward by the Huangshui River, more than 180 Tubo troops fled to our army's interception place, and were all annihilated by our army, our army suffered 23 casualties, none of them escaped, and now the last general will lead the army back!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and smiled: "Very good, the camp has prepared meat and broth, have the soldiers eaten it?" ”

"The soldiers are receiving food!"

"Okay, Ma Lan come and sit, let's talk while eating, there is a big battle next, we have to sum it up!" Zhao Ziliang beckoned Ma Lan and pointed to the next position and said.

"No!" Ma Xuan agreed, came to the back of the low table, picked up his robe and knelt down, picked up the steaming piece of mutton on the low table and ate it in a big gulp.

After several days of high-intensity running day and night, these generals are much more worried than the soldiers below, both tired and lack of sleep, Zhao Ziliang and his subordinates are all bearded and stubble, and their faces are haggard, at this time they are already hungry, and they eat without scruples.

After eating and drinking, Zhao Ziliang dropped a sheep bone, wiped his hands and asked Ma Lu and several lieutenants, "Have you all eaten well?" ”

The generals who had already eaten almost all said: "I'm full!" ”

"Good! Look here, everybody! Zhao Ziliang said and got up and let go of a sheepskin map hanging behind him, this map is the terrain around Qinghai Lake, he pointed to the ground and said: "Now I am waiting here, the original Longqi City, taking here and annihilating the Tubo army here is not the ultimate goal of our trip, let the soldiers have a good rest tonight, tomorrow morning we will set off, and then go south back to the north shore of the West Sea, and then go south along the north shore to the east coast, and turn to the east here, here is the mouth of the river that flows into the West Sea, We will march east along the Daochuan River to reach the Tangbo Ancient Road, and then take the Tangbo Ancient Road to the north to reach the Chiling Pass, if we march fast enough, we can reach the Chiling Pass about tomorrow late at night, we will spend the night at the foot of the Chiling Mountain, and then raid Shibao City at dawn the day after tomorrow, this is it! ”

As he spoke, Zhao Ziliang knocked the location of Shibao City on the map.

When a lieutenant heard this, he said, "General, if we march like this, we will go in a big circle!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and said: "Yes, it is indeed a big circle, but there is no other way to go, now there is a large Tubo army in Linqiang County in the east, we can only take this road to achieve the goal of taking Shibao City by surprise!" ”

Ma Lan couldn't help but say: "General, it's too dangerous to take this road, the heavy snow has been falling for several days in a row, knee-deep, the terrain on the east bank of the West Sea and the bank of the Daochuan River is dangerous, if our army takes this road, I'm afraid that the casualties on the march will be not small!" Can't we attack the Tubo army in Linqiang County? Now the Tubo people don't know that our army has copied here, we can launch a surprise attack overnight, raid the Tubo army in Linqiang County, as long as Linqiang County is taken, the Mangbu branch that confronted General Huangfu in Xipingting will inevitably be in turmoil, and it will definitely be defeated under the attack of our army and Huangfu's army on both sides, this will be a big victory, how can the general abandon such a merit? ”

Zhao Ziliang walked in the middle of the camp, looked at Ma Lan and a few other infantry captains and said: "You only saw how many Tubo troops we can eliminate if we launch a surprise attack, but you didn't see that we can actually achieve greater results, Shibao City is a strategic place for our dynasty and Tubo for more than a hundred years, if we recapture Shibao City, we can attack, retreat can defend, it is equivalent to grasping the strategic initiative, and the 30,000 Tubo army of Mangbuzhi who is confronting General Huangfu is equivalent to being surrounded by us on all sides!" As long as we tighten our pockets, these 30,000 Tibetan troops will not escape! ”

Shibao City is in the southwest of Linqiang County, and Mangbu Zhi confronted the Huangfu Weiming army in the east, in the north is Zhao Ziliang's deputy Liu Gong with Ge Shuhan, a total of 8,000 soldiers and horses, the west of Longqi City is also occupied by Zhao Ziliang, if you seize the strategic danger of Shibao City, Mang Buzhi and the 30,000 Tubo army he commanded is equivalent to becoming a turtle in the urn, Mang Buzhi wants to escape, there are only two ways, the first is to forcibly recapture the Shibao City that blocked him back to Tubo, the terrain of Shibao City is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, under the condition that the defenders are prepared, If you want to capture it, it is impossible to take it without paying tens of thousands of people; The second is to break through the Tang army's blockade to the west, capture the hometown of Longqi City, break through the Tang army's encirclement, and then go west to meet the Tubo army stationed on the northwest coast of the West Sea, but these two roads are full of dangers, if the pocket layout is completed, even if Mangbuzhi can escape back, I am afraid that there will be no more people left.

The generals stared at the map and listened to what Zhao Ziliang said, their eyes were wide open, and their eyes were full of light, and everyone was in high spirits, if they could really annihilate tens of thousands of horses in Tubo again, coupled with the nearly 100,000 Tubo troops that were eliminated half a year ago, Tubo's vitality was greatly damaged, and they would not dare to provoke the Tang Dynasty again for at least ten years.

Ma Lan stood up excitedly and bowed his hand to Zhao Ziliang and said, "General, please give the order, the last general is willing to lead the troops to raid Shibao City!" ”

The other infantry captains all knew that their weight was not enough to lead an army to attack Shibao City alone, so they didn't say anything, but they all looked at Zhao Ziliang one by one, and their desire to make meritorious contributions was revealed!

Zhao Ziliang looked at Ma Lan, returned to the map, pointed to a river in the west of Shibao City and said: "This is the Yaoshui River, from the north of Linqiang County to the south, here is Shibao City, it is in the east of the Yaoshui River, Shibao City has two large and small square platforms in the southeast and northwest, there are ridges in the middle of the connection, there is a path on the ridge to connect the large and small square platforms, the widest part is only one zhang, the narrowest point is only three feet, the east, west and south sides are cliffs, only the north and northeast have mountains to communicate to the bottom of the Yaoshui River, Shibao City is one hundred zhang higher than the Yaoshui River bed, The siege equipment is basically useless to it, without alarming the Tibetan defenders, it is impossible to climb up from the three cliffs in the east, west and south, so although there are only hundreds of Tibetan troops stationed in this stone fort city, it is not so easy to take it, this general wants to ask you, what method do you use to take it? Even if it is tens of thousands of people, it may not be able to take it down! ”

Ma Lu opened his mouth, he listened to what Zhao Ziliang said, he really couldn't think of a good way to capture Shibao City, this place was too evil and too dangerous.

Zhao Ziliang waved his hand: "Forget it, General Ben personally took a thousand infantry to raid Shibao City, leaving two thousand cavalry for you, and you will guard the passage for the Tubo people to flee westward. If you find that a large group of Tibetan soldiers are fleeing from the east to this side, you immediately bring a large group of cavalry to ambush on the hillside by the Huangshui River, just wait for the main force of the enemy to flee and immediately attack, you only have 2,000 soldiers and horses, and you are still cavalry, you can not stop the impact of the opponent's rout, you can only set up an ambush in the mountains and forests, and then chase and kill after the enemy army, do you know? ”

Ma Ling nodded and said: "The last general understands, the general will let him go, and the last general will not disappoint the general!" ”

"Excellent! Now that you all understand, let's go back, the infantry captains go back and prepare, and they will set off at dawn tomorrow, and one person is indispensable! ”

"No!"

At dawn on December 12, Zhao Ziliang led a thousand infantry to the north, returned to the west coast again, and then went east along the west coast, and then advanced south along the east coast of the West Sea under the heavy snow, the target - Shibao City. (To be continued.) )