Chapter 512: Cut off the back path

Distance is the main reason why Li Qing'an cannot get the latest information. Chang'an and Tochar are thousands of miles apart. Even if they use the flying pigeon relay, it will be as fast as more than ten days. At this time, Anxi has already launched a war against the Tubo people.

Tocharo is bounded by the Amu River and is divided into two parts: north and south. The main cities and countries of Tocharo are distributed on both sides of the Amu River, but they are mainly on the south bank. On the north bank are countries such as Jie Su, Wang Tingguo and Gu Mo Kingdom. Among them, Jie Su Kingdom is currently occupied by the Tang army.

Jiesu is the southern edge of the Fergan Basin. It has mountains and a very complex terrain. It has snow peaks and icebergs, desert seas, and high mountain canyons that stretch for hundreds of miles can also be seen everywhere.

From the south of the State of Su, it was Wangting Kingdom. Wangting Kingdom was an extremely important country in Tochar, with a population second only to the Yuezhi Kingdom. The capital Bushicheng was the second largest city in Tochar.

Because the status of Wangtingguo is very important, the Tubo people stationed heavily in Wangtingguo, and more than 40,000 Tubo troops were stationed in various passes of Wangtingguo. The Tang army pointed at Tocharo, and the first battle was Bushicheng.

In March, the spring in Tochar has arrived. The spring breeze blew green on both sides of the Amu River. The ice and snow melted. The river water roared and rushed. The huge roar of the surge water hitting the riverbed can be heard dozens of miles away.

The Amu River turns north from Bushicheng, and the city and rivers are about ten miles apart. Standing at the head of Bushicheng, you can clearly see the turbulent river water in the east.

When Tubo was deploying troops, it was winter. A thick layer of ice formed on the river surface, and the north and south sides were convenient for communication. As the river melted, it became difficult for the Tubo army to cross the river. In order to strengthen the connection between the two banks and prevent the royal country from being split, the Tubo army used two thousand craftsmen to build a floating bridge on a relatively gentle river surface of the Julu River, a tributary of the Amu River. Forty flat-bottomed ships were connected with thick iron chains, fixed on the river surface, and boarded wooden boards between the floating ships. The Tubo army walked quickly on it. In less than a cup of tea, the Tubo army could travel to the north.

Therefore, this floating bridge became the focus of the Tubo army's defense. The Tubo army stationed 10,000 troops beside the floating bridge on the north bank. If the Tang army attacked the floating bridge, it would definitely not be able to take it down for a while, and the Tubo reinforcements would arrive immediately.

The main force of the Tang army was about 80,000 troops, and the troops were divided into two groups, one by one, 30,000 troops heading south along the Amu River and approaching the Bushi City. The other 50,000 troops quickly took Hulun City, and continued to go south to cut off the connection between Gumo and Wang Ting Kingdom, and approached the Bushi City to the west. In this way, the two armies formed a situation of encirclement of the Bushi City. The Tang army's intention was very obvious, which was to concentrate troops and wipe out the 40,000 Tubo troops near the Bushi City.

The situation in Bushi City was critical. The Tubo army general stationed in Bushi City immediately sent people to ask for help from Shang Xi Dongzan of Ayan City when he first discovered the main force of the Tang army. Three days have passed. At normal speed, the Tubo reinforcements could cross the Amu River the day after tomorrow.

Since Lu Xizhu, the chief general of the Tubo army, sent people south to report the news, he stood on the city every day and looked south to look forward to the arrival of reinforcements.

At this time, Li Qing'an, the commander of the Tang army, had arrived in the Tang army camp about thirty miles west of the Bushi City. From here to the west, it was a flat plateau area suitable for cavalry combat.

In the big tent, Li Qing'an was concentrating on checking the situation around Bu Shiguo in front of the sand table. Behind him were several generals, one of whom was An Lushan's surrendered general Tian Ganzhen.

After An Lushan failed to enter the inner road of Guan Nei Road, Tian Ganzhen led his army to surrender to Li Qing'an. At first, Li Qing'an was not at ease with him and ordered him to be the deputy general of Li Fei Yuanli to be responsible for the construction of the Tang straight road. However, as Li Qing'an returned west, the 10,000 Tang troops in Hexi also led Li Fei Yuanli to Anxi to assist the battle. Tian Ganzhen volunteered to go to Anxi to make contributions. Li Fei Yuanli agreed to his request and brought him back to Anxi. In the battle of Qiemo City, Tian Ganzhen led three thousand Tang troops to the first to break into the Tubo army and killed many enemies. It was in the battle of Qiemo that Tian Ganzhen won Li Qing'an's trust and promoted him to the General of the Central Army, and attacked Tucharo together.

Tian Ganzhen was a civil and military talent, and was good at fighting. He was called the second commander of Youzhou. In other words, his status in Fan Yang Army was second only to Shi Siming. Although he had been with An Lushan for a long time, Tian Ganzhen was a very ambitious person. He also longed to open up territory for the Tang Dynasty and be remembered for the eternal period.

Although Tian Ganzhen followed An Lushan to rebel and made great military achievements for An Lushan, the fate of Tian Ganzhen changed after the history of the middle Tang Dynasty turned a corner because of Li Qing'an's arrival. Whether it was Yan Zhuang, Cui Ganyou or Tian Ganzhen, they were all sharp swords. The sword itself was not guilty. The key lies in the person who used the sword. An Lushan's palm sword, this sword became a butcher knife that cuts to ordinary people, causing them to fall into the darkness of history, while Li Qing'an's palm sword, they became a battle sword that opened up territory for the Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, Tian Ganzhen was silently staring at the sand table. The information on the sand table was extremely detailed. The Tubo army stationed in each place was marked by small flags. Although Li Qing'an did not tell everyone, Tian Ganzhen understood Li Qing'an's strategy. After Tubo Zanpu was assassinated, many Tang army generals strongly advocated attacking the Tubo army immediately, including major generals such as Li Fei Yuanli and Heba Yurun, but Li Qing'an always held his troops, which made many people puzzled.

But Tian Ganzhen understood the reason why Li Qing'an was unable to control his troops. First of all, Zanpu was deceased at the beginning. The Tubo people were eager to take revenge and their morale was strong, so they did not fight for the time being. After the Tubo army calmed down, the internal divisions might be caused by the demise of Zanpu. If they were eager to attack at that time, the Tubo people would share the same hatred of the enemy and abandon the conflicts between them. Therefore, Li Qing'an had been unmoving. This was actually a clever strategy of using immobility to brake.

Secondly, Li Qing'an was waiting for the water of the Amu River to melt and naturally divided the Tubo army into two, so that the Tang army could concentrate its superior forces to defeat them one by one. This was also Tian Ganzhen's extremely supportive of the strategy. It was precisely because he understood Li Qing'an's strategy that Tian Ganzhen felt a sense of admiration for mutual appreciation. Following such a commander was more promising than following An Lushan. Although he was originally a general, but now he was just a general in the Central Army, Tian Ganzhen didn't care. He just hoped to have more opportunities to make contributions.

At this time, Tian Ganzhen could no longer help and whispered: "General, I suggest that we build a floating bridge immediately before the Tubo people discover our strategy, our vanguard can cross the Amu River first."

Li Qingan looked back at him and asked with a smile: "If we besiege the city and attack the aid, wait for the Tubo reinforcements to go north before destroying their pontoon bridges and cutting off their retreat, what do you think of this plan?"

Tian Ganzhen was stunned for a moment of confusion over Li Qing'an's bold plan, but he quickly calmed down and said, "I thought this plan was too risky and not too appropriate."

"Tell me, where did you take the risk?"

Li Qing'an stood up straight and smiled at everyone, "Everyone will listen, let's focus on your thoughts!"

Everyone around him surrounded him. With the encouragement of the commander, Tian Ganzhen blushed and said, "The key is that we don't know how many reinforcements the Tubo people come. If 10,000 or 20,000 people come, maybe we can fight. If they come with more than 50,000 people, then the comparison of troops will be detrimental to us. We divide the troops into two groups, and it will be easy to be defeated by them one by one. Moreover, after the Tubo army crossed the river, they moved the battlefield northward. At the same time, they will not be divided into two halves by the river, and the river water will lose its hindrance. Therefore, the humble official thinks that this plan is too risky, and the general adopts this plan, which will do more harm than good."

Heba Yurun next to him was a little dissatisfied, and put his hands on his chest and asked, "If there were only 20,000 to 30,000 reinforcements in Tubo, wouldn't it be better for them to cross the river?"

Tian Ganzhen shook his head and said, "It is impossible that there are only 20,000 to 30,000 people. The military strength of the Infantry City itself is 40,000. According to the principle of equal reinforcements, they will also send at least 40,000 reinforcements. If only 20,000 to 30,000 reinforcements are sent, the reinforcements will be meaningless."

"You have never fought a war with the Tubo people, how do you know the habits of the Tubo people?"

"Okay, stop talking about it."

Li Qing'an saw that the outstanding generals looked down on Tian Ganzhen. Knowing that because Tian Ganzhen was surrendered, he interrupted everyone and said, "I have received a Gexin from the scout. Shangxi Dongzan mobilized 50,000 troops to assist Ayan City in the north, which was already 130 miles south of the bridge. What I am worried about now is not that the Tubo reinforcements crossed Hebei, but that the Tubo army in the Bushicheng began to retreat south after the reinforcements arrived. At that time, we were passive, so I decided that we should destroy the floating bridge as soon as possible."

Speaking of this, he turned around and smiled at Tian Ganzhen and said, "General Tian, ​​there are only four thousand Tubo troops in Tawucheng. I will give you six thousand people. You will wipe out the Tubo troops in Tawucheng and build a floating bridge from there. If you can succeed, I will remember your great achievements."

Tian Ganzhen was excited and hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "I'm humble and obey my order!"

Li Qingan did not finish speaking, and he said lightly: "If you fail, I will pursue your defeat!"

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The pontoon bridge connecting the north and south of the Tubo army is located on the Julu River 30 miles south of Bushi City. It is composed of forty wide-sided flat-bottomed ships. The bridge is wide and can accommodate three war horses in parallel. This bridge can be said to be a life-and-death passage for the Tubo army. Ten thousand Tubo troops guard the surroundings of the north of the bridge and built a castle. Even if the Tang army uses fire to attack, their bows and arrows are difficult to shoot to the bridge deck, and there are also heavy troops guarding the south of the bridge.

At this time, the army guarding the bridge had received news that Shang Xi Dongzan personally led 50,000 reinforcements had been 120 miles south of the bridge. At most, the vanguard could reach the bridge. Shang Xi Dongzan ordered them to strengthen their vigilance and prevent the Tang army from destroying the bridge.

The Tubo army immediately sent more than a dozen patrols to investigate the surrounding situation and sent thousands of people to patrol the bridge to prevent the Tang army from destroying the bridge from the river.

The Tubo army thought it very carefully, and his prediction was not wrong. The Tang army was indeed going to attack the pontoon bridge from the river. At noon, it was the time when the wind was the least in the day. About two miles upstream of the pontoon bridge, two small boats suddenly appeared, fast and steady, and were quickly sailing downstream.

Since the pontoon bridge was built in a slightly smooth place, the gentle distance was not short, five or six miles long, but in the river upstream, there were rocky rocks and rapid water flow, so it was impossible to sail at all. Obviously, these two ships were taken off from two or three miles upstream.

The Tubo Army also expected this point. They deployed nearly a thousand sentrymen in this gentle distance upstream, but the wise men of the Tubo Army were worried about it, but they finally made a mistake. They did not consider the other side of the river. This was an instinctive idea. The Tang army was operating on the north bank and could not appear on the south bank.

But a Tang army scout launched an attack from the south bank. There was a Tang army soldier with excellent water properties in each of the two small boats, who were responsible for lighting the thunder in the small boat.

The boat was equipped with special hoods, with straw men in front, back and left and right, which could withstand the arrows and splashes of Tubo soldiers. At this time, the Tubo patrolling on the bridge had discovered the boat. They set their bows and arrows and treated them solemnly. Many people were carrying water basins, preparing to splash fire on the boat.

The two small boats were getting closer and closer, and they had already sailed within seventy steps. At this time, Tubo soldiers fired thousands of arrows at the boat, and the dense rain of arrows shot at the boat, and the arrows were jingling on the tent and on the straw man. In an instant, the two small boats were full of arrows, but they could not hurt the slightest part of the boat.

It was already thirty steps, and two Tang soldiers found that they had approached the floating bridge from the gap, and almost lit the thunder-shaking line on the ship at the same time. Suddenly, white smoke rose from the boat. As soon as they turned over, they fell into the river, and as soon as they entered the river, they dived desperately to both sides. They all knew the power of the thunder-shaking power.

The lead wire was only one foot and five inches long, exactly thirty steps away. In order to blow up the floating bridge, the Tang army scouts had experimented many times in the upstream. The bridge deck was filled with more than hundreds of Tubo soldiers. Each of them held a basin of water. Once the fire ignited, they would splash water to extinguish the fire.

When the ship touched the bridge deck, hundreds of basins of water were poured out together. At this moment, the two ships suddenly exploded, and there were continuous explosions. There were three thunders on each ship. A bright red light burst out from the ship. The huge shock wave shattered the ship and the floating bridge together. The explosion sounded like thunder, and the rolling black smoke rose into the air. The white waves surging, and the water column splashed more than two feet high. Many Tubo soldiers were blown to the sky, and their screams were drowned by the huge explosion.

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The Tubo soldiers on the shore were shocked, and veterans who participated in the Battle of Shibao City were shouting in horror, "Tianth Thunder! The Tang army's sky thunder is here!"

Countless Tubo soldiers knelt down and kowtowed to the powerful Thunder God, begging Thunder God for forgiveness!

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The smoke gradually dissipated, and the floating bridge was blown open two large holes of more than 20 meters long, breaking into three pieces. The long section was no longer bound and floated downstream with iron chains. The two outer sections were washed to the sides by the river water. The floating bridge had completely disappeared on the river surface. The river water was full of fragments of ships and the broken arms of the Tubo soldiers, floating along the water.
Chapter completed!