Chapter 1061 Wolf smoke rises and Zanpu madness
In the distance, Fanqi came like a tide, overwhelming the sky and covering the earth.
On the rolling hills, on the beacon tower on the top of the mountain, the soldiers lit the beacon.
Wolf smoke rises.
On the piers and abutments on the peaks of the mountains, warning signals were raised one after another.
Eleventh year of Zhenguan, at the end of May.
The Tubo invaded the bandits in a large scale, and the soldiers pointed directly at Songzhou, the gateway to western Sichuan.
In the governor's mansion of Songzhou, he was revived by the imperial decree, and he was ordered to inspect the book order and the prime minister of the servant, and he was ordered to inspect the governor of Yizhou and Jiannan Road. , Qin Lang, who was in charge of the war, faced the challenge of a group of generals.
All the generals asked to lead troops to fight against Tubo.
We must defeat the arrogant Xiaofan outside Songzhou, and prevent the flames of war from burning into Songzhou.
"Minister Xuan, there are still 1,000 soldiers of our Ningyuan Army who have lost contact. Several castles such as Yak Fort and Zishan Fort are outside. How can we just sit back and watch? Please let us send troops!"
Qin Lang held the teacup in his hand, and let the generals call for battle furiously, but remained unmoved.
He blew on the two pieces of tea leaves floating on the tea in the teacup, and said in a leisurely manner, "Although Ning Yuan's army has a thousand soldiers and thousands of Tibetan troops, there will be no danger for a while. Whether it is Zishanshi Castle or the Yak Castle in Domi, they occupy a dangerous place. They are built on the mountain. It is completely fine to block enemies dozens of times stronger and stick to it for three to five months, or even a year."
At the beginning, Qin Qiong was guarding the Governor's Mansion of Songzhou, not only only cared about one acre of land in Songzhou, but also took care of party affairs, and even included Bailan and Duomi who were farther away on regular patrols. Later, it was even more straightforward. Fortresses and post stations were also built there, and troops were stationed there.
Although there are not many fortresses and soldiers and horses, the few fortresses that can be built are in important positions and are on the only way to pass, and they all choose dangerous places to build fortresses, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are enough food and grass equipment in the fortresses. Those who can support them for three years.
Don’t look at a fortress that usually has dozens or hundreds of soldiers, but if you add the nearby Qiang tribe’s allies, hundreds or thousands of people guard a fortress.
At the beginning, Qin Qiong’s arrangement was also very simple. These soldiers went there not only to declare the sovereignty of the Tang Dynasty, but also to protect the trade routes, and to maintain contact with the Qiangs.
Of course, it is also a defense against Tubo. With so many nails nailed there, small groups of Tubo troops will not dare to cross the border to attack. If a large army comes, it will be difficult to pull out these nails. If they bypass, these The fort is behind them, of course it can also play an important role.
Don't look at the fierce shouts of the generals of the Ningyuan Army now, saying that saving soldiers is like putting out a fire, but in fact, everyone knows in their hearts that those soldiers and horses outside guarding the fortress will be fine at all for a while. Just looking for an opportunity to lead the troops out to grab credit.
Qin Lang was very confident in the fortresses that Qin Qiong had built outside and the troops stationed there. Historically, the Tang Dynasty and Tubo had fought against each other for many years, and there were a large number of fortresses on the border. You fight for it and change hands several times.
It is said that Shibao City usually has hundreds of troops stationed there.
First, Li Yi led the army to make a long-distance attack, captured Shibao City, and then divided his troops to defend various places to contain Tubo, and changed his name to Zhenwu Army. Since then, the Tang army has attacked Shibaocheng several times, but failed to capture it.
Later, the famous general Wang Zhongsi guarded Longyou and defeated Tubo many times, but faced with the danger of Shibao City, he still refused the emperor's will to attack by force. The later emperor ordered Ge Shuhan, the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu, to lead a total of more than 60,000 troops in Hexi Shuofang and other towns in Longyou to replace Wang Zhongsi and attack Shibao City.
Ge Shuhan disregarded the danger of Shibao City, and gave the order to attack hard. In three days, the Tang army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and finally took Shibao City and captured more than 400 Tubo defenders.
Stone Castle is known as the Iron Blade City, and it is quite famous for its fortification. Of course, in the battle of Stone Castle in Goshuhan, the tens of thousands of troops were actually not only facing a dangerous small mountain city. In fact, Shibao City has a complete line of defense. Even when the Tang army came to pull out this important nail, Tubo also sent several troops to help. The two sides launched a series of battles in Shibao City and its surrounding areas.
The fortresses outside Songzhou Ningyuan Army are all guarded and dangerous. Although there is no system of friendly castles around like Shibaocheng, it is very difficult for the Tubo people to easily take them down. Building a strong small mountain city is more difficult than attacking a large flat city.
It is useless if you have too many soldiers, there is no place to deploy them. Most of those small mountain fortresses are selected with only one path to the mountain, and then there are cliffs on three sides, and the top of the mountain is a flat land.
Unless you force your life to fill it like Ge Shuhan, otherwise you can only block it.
Qin Lang is not the kind of ruthless and ruthless person. He will not leave the dozens of fortresses outside the pass to guard thousands of people. He is very clear that this battle will not last long, and the Tibetans are not really here. Attacking Songzhou City.
Qin Lang still wished that Tubo would really come to attack Songzhou City. This was a strategic deception by the Tubo people. Songzhou was just a cover, and they would retreat with a single shot.
The Tibetans may want to remove those nails, because these nails are obstacles to their annexation of Domi, Bailan, and Dangxiang Qiang, but they are not the first thing to bear the brunt.
They came to Songzhou first to attack and extort money. They definitely wanted to take advantage of it. Then they could use it to blackmail Datang and intimidate the Qiangs. Next, they will go back and deal with the Qiangs. What else might happen if there is no chance? Kill one as an example to others.
After the Qiangs surrendered, they could really free up their hands to deal with the fortresses that Ningyuan's army marched forward. At that time, they would blockade all around, and they would be completely alone.
"I know that you are all elites in all battles, but don't underestimate the enemy. We must be careful. You don't have to argue anymore. I can formulate a strategic countermeasure."
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Thirty miles west of Gansongling.
Rolling hills, winding river valleys.
Tubo Zamp Songtsen Gampo was riding on a horse, looking at the Tubo army winding through the valley, very proud.
Prime Minister Shang Nang led a group of nobles to surround the twenty-year-old monarch.
"Finally, we are approaching Songzhou, and we will soon be able to see the border city of the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains."
"Tang people are arrogant, this time we sent 200,000 soldiers, we must let Tang people know how powerful we are."
The Tubo army came all the way, and the Qiangs fled when they heard the news. None of them dared to fight against Tubo.
Although the Tubo vanguard generals underestimated the enemy, they attacked several Ningyuan army castles in a row, but they all failed, but it was only a small episode. To the more than ten thousand Tubo army who came, this is just a small casualty, which is not worth worrying about.
The young Zanpu didn't punish the vanguard generals who underestimated the enemy, but gave each of them a fox tail to hang on their helmets as a sign of humiliation and to keep them in their hearts.
As for the small castles of the Tang people, Zan Puling did not need to entangle, the army passed directly under the castle, and the Tang army who was hiding in the castle on the mountain did not dare to come down.
It's not too late to clean up when I come back.
"Songzhou City is not guarded by Qin Qiong, so why stop our great army?"
The Prime Minister Shang Nang said arrogantly, the full name of this Tubo Prime Minister is Niang Mangbujie Shang Nang, he is the Tubo Prime Minister, and he is the one with the most power under the Tubo Zanpu. He was credited with pacifying chaos and later pacifying Subi.
After Shang Nang led his army to defeat Su Pi's rebellion and resistance, he took the method of conciliation, publicized Songtsan Gampo's policy of accepting followers, and treated the people of Su Pi the same as the Tubo headquarters, which eliminated Su Pi's resistance and restoration of the country. Heart, and allowed the affiliated Subi nobles to retain their territory and pay tribute according to regulations, thus disintegrating the resistance of most Subi nobles.
Of course, Shang Nang's ability to be a prime minister is not only due to his achievements in supporting the establishment and calming chaos, but also his identity.
The Tubo nobles are not yet discussed.
The Shang family represents the family of relatives married by Zanpu, and there are four major Shang families.
And if the names or official titles of the Tubo nobles contain the word Lun, it means that they come from the Tubo Xiboye royal family and the Tubo Yuanxun family.
Shanghe theory basically holds the most important official position in Tubo.
Niang's family was originally an old aristocrat in Subi, and later voluntarily joined Tubo and led the way to destroy Subi, so they were also granted the status of Lun clan.
Zanpu of Tubo has always claimed to be the descendant of the gods, who came down to rule the people. The Xiboye family, based in the Yalong River Valley, claimed to be the son of the most honorable god, the youngest son of the "Six Kings of Heaven", and won the support of the clans. He became the co-lord of the whole Tubo, named Zanpu, and the rest of the clans served as Tubo officials, who were given fiefs by Zanpu and sued, and were able to shelter the clan members who did not hold official positions, thus forming the Tubo aristocratic ruling group.
The Tubo Dynasty used Shanghe theory to distinguish the aristocratic status of officials. Nobles from the royal family and Yuanxun family were called the theory.
For a long time, the Zanpu family of Tubo has basically only married the four major families such as Meilu and Cai Bang, so the four families are also called the four Shang families.
In Tubo before Songtsan Gampo, although Zanpu was the co-lord of Tubo, Tubo was in the era of clan alliance at that time, and the system of aristocratic discussion was adopted for major national events.
Up to now, in the Tubo Kingdom, there are three advocates and one theory plus nine ministers who are in charge of the five chiefs to assist the government.
Three respects and one theory were jointly discussed by three uncles from the father-grandmother clan and an elder of the royal family.
After Songtsan Gampo's father was poisoned to death, it was his uncle Lun Kerr and Lunchen Shangnang who supported Songtsen Gampo at that time.
Shang Nang became Prime Minister because of his contribution to Ping Supi, but the young Zanpu has also undergone several years of reforms, and has the power to exercise arbitrary power over state affairs. After the Tubo civil strife, today's Tubo is no longer a clan alliance. There is a rudimentary form of a centralized state in the Central Plains.
This Eastern Expedition was strongly advocated by Prime Minister Shang Nang after he learned of Qin Qiong's death, thinking that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When Qin Qiong was in Songzhou, he put a lot of pressure on Tubo and was unable to cross the Yak River.
Now that Qin Qiong is dead, Shang Nang thinks that he can take advantage of the opportunity to enter, first break Songzhou, frighten the Tang emperor, and then threaten Dangxiang and other Qiang to surrender to Tubo, and then use Hequ as a base to plan the next step to seize Tuyuhun.
The young Songtsan Gampo looked at the peaks in front of him, "Gar, Dongzan, I sent you as an envoy to go to Songzhou City first, to pay my respects to the old Duke of Qi, and tell the people of Tang Dynasty in Songzhou City by the way. They don't resist, open the city to welcome them, so as not to hurt innocent people."
(end of this chapter)