Chapter 518 Tiger Might
Both sides had no intention of fighting recklessly, so Dangxiang Qiang retreated slowly and took the initiative to break the siege of Songzhou, while Qin Lang had no intention of pursuing them, allowing them to retreat ten miles to camp.
Hit the horse to welcome Qin Qiong and his party who are leaving the city.
"Grandpa!"
Father and son meet again.
Qin Lang carefully probed Qin Qiong up and down, watched for a long time and saw that he was still strong, and he didn't see anyone injured, so he was relieved.
"Why did you come here?" Qin Qiong smiled and hugged his son, stretched out his hand and patted his back. Anyway, Qin Qiong was very happy to see his son working hard to come.
Standing outside the city, the father and son had endless words to say.
After chatting for a while, Qin Lang realized that even if he came later, it would be fine. Dangxiang Qiang has been besieging Songzhou for almost a month, but he didn't make any money in the end.
Launched five offensives before and after, but each time Qin Qiong took advantage of the danger of the city to repel easily. He had almost no casualties, but the Qiang people lost a lot of troops.
Not long ago, Qin Qiong found an opportunity to launch a night attack with Qingqi Ye out of Songzhou. Tuoba Si couldn't stop attacking Songzhou for a long time, and he was a little slack. After all, Qin Qiong in Songzhou city Just passive defense.
In the end, Qin Qiong led the elite cavalry to kill him, and almost entered his central army tent all the way, beheading hundreds of people, and countless people were trampled to death in panic. The most annoying thing is that Qin Qiong even set fire to him Burned a lot of their food.
After dawn, Qin Qiong had already returned to the mountain.
Furious, Tuoba Sitou immediately retaliated and attacked the city. As a result, he stormed for half a day and lost many corpses.
Attacking cities and villages is not the strong point of these Qiang people, especially Qin Qiong is not waiting for death. He organized soldiers and civilians to build several stone watchtowers in Songzhou City, which are more than ten feet high, and put crossbows on them. . In front of the wall of the village, a row of wooden arrow towers was built with many sharp archers.
Still making catapults on the mountain day and night.
Throw some stones today, throw some fireballs tomorrow, and throw some dung juice the day after tomorrow. The Qiang people in the city will be restless day and night.
Tuoba Sitou also organized sneak attacks, night raids, etc., but it was useless.
Qin Qiong’s defense is watertight, the majestic God of War of the Tang Dynasty, to deal with a few sheep herders, that’s really the patriarch’s test student.
At this time, if Tuoba Sitou is rational, he should retreat.
After all, when encountering such a tough bone, it is impossible to force it, so we can only find another opportunity. If they really want to besiege, Tuoba Sitou may not have more capital.
There are many others, and the consumption is greater. Even if he brings cattle and sheep here, they can graze and graze, but the grass in one place will not last long. Their cattle and sheep can only be driven farther and farther, but this is just as dangerous. .
It's just that he is unwilling and unwilling to give up.
As a result, the Qiang people violated the taboo of fighting.
In the past, when the Qiang people fought against the Han people, the most common tactic was to attack and sneak in. Look for the gaps, stare at the weak defenses and fight hard, grab what you have, and leave when you are done grabbing, never love to fight, let alone attack any fortified stronghold.
If the Han army comes to attack, then they will retreat, or find opportunities to ambush and attack in dangerous places.
No matter which dynasty or generation the imperial army dares to go deep into this barren area, they will face problems such as unfamiliar terrain and difficult logistics supplies, and it is even more impossible to fight a protracted war with them.
So when you come, I will leave, and when you leave, I will come again. I will not come when your army is there, and I will invade as soon as your army leaves. It is a great magic weapon.
But for thousands of years, there have always been some stubborn people like Tuoba Sitou, who always think that because they have a lot of people, they can really do whatever they want.
In this era, not to mention the Qiang chieftain with Tuoba Sitou's ability, not to mention his troops, you must know that even in the later era when Tang and Tibetans were fighting for hegemony, both sides would dispatch an army of 100,000 to 200,000 at every turn, but they would often fight in succession. Not even a small fortress can be taken down.
Not to mention anything else, Datang and Tubo have fought against each other for a stone fortress city. Natural danger is difficult to attack by force.
Later, Tang Xuanzong insisted on sending a large army to attack for the sake of face. As a result, he took the lives of tens of thousands of people to fill in such a small castle.
Shibao City is actually much smaller than Songzhou, and the garrison is far inferior to Qin Qiong. The guard is by no means a rare famous general, but because of its remote location and dangerous terrain, countless famous generals sigh in front of him.
This kind of place is like a meat grinder.
Sitou wanted to attack by force, but he was really confused.
So Qin Qiong has been exercising his patience all the time, for fear of waking up Tuoba Si, and then ran away. How rare it is to meet such a stubborn fool.
"So I'm wrong."
"That's not too bad. My sentry rider grabbed a few tongues and got a piece of news. Because Tuoba Sitou couldn't attack here for a long time, Tuoba Chici has sent someone to deliver an order to let his confidant Tuoba Xigan take over. At the same time, Tuoba Chici also reached an agreement with Dangxiang Qiang Xifeng and others to persuade them to send troops together, and now Xifeng Bulai and others are leading tens of thousands of horses over."
Qin Lang smiled.
"It is true that they cannot attack Songzhou, but they can go around Songzhou to attack Fuzhou, Maozhou, and even threaten Yizhou."
Even the leader of the Dangxiang Qiang's second largest tribe, Xifeng Bulai, was dispatched in person. It can be seen that the Dangxiang people are indeed aware of the crisis this time.
They absolutely cannot tolerate Datang taking Songzhou back.
If this opening is made, then all the territory in the mountains of Minshan will be taken away by the Tang people.
The plains of the Shu land can be owned by the Han people, but the mountains and valleys to the west of the plains must be in the hands of the Qiang people.
For such a big common goal, it is rare for Dangxiang Qiang to reach an agreement this time and join forces.
"Don't let the party members go east across Songzhou, otherwise the people in the frontier will be caught in fire and water." Qin Qiong said.
"I sent 24,000 troops here, including government soldiers, township regiments, and volunteers. However, if I want to have a big battle in Songzhou, my preparations are not enough. There are not enough soldiers, food and equipment. Not enough."
Qin Lang prepared only the logistics of rescuing Songzhou and fighting a small-scale counterattack.
Now, according to Qin Qiong's words, this may be a joint attack by the entire Dangxiang Qiang. If the entire Dangxiang Qiang is mobilized, the elite Qiang soldiers can exceed 50,000. And with the strength of the Qiang people, their young and strong women, even the old and young, are also capable soldiers.
If the family and their families came here with their livestock, there would be more than 100,000 people.
Fighting in such a ghostly place, for the imperial court, the most difficult thing is actually the logistics supply problem. In a remote place like Songzhou, it would be no problem to provide thousands of people from Qin Qiong and the Bali Ministry. Even if you are besieged, you can persist for more than half a year.
But once thousands of troops come, the pressure of logistics, food, grass and equipment will be able to overwhelm Tang Jun himself.
"How long will it take for your Chinese army to arrive?" Qin Qiong asked.
"It will take at least ten days." Qin Lang replied, although it is only 500 miles from Gutaoguan to Songzhou, but this is a 500-mile mountain road, and it is still an extremely difficult mountain road.
Especially for the infantry with food and supplies, it is even more difficult to leave.
"Then we may not be able to wait any longer." Qin Qiong shook his head, "I have two thousand people, you have three thousand people, and we now have five thousand people, and there are about 20,000 horses on the opposite side, but the real young elite fighters, No more than eight thousand. If we really want to fight, we have a great chance of winning."
Qin Qiong planned to launch a counterattack against the exhausted and demoralized Tuoba tribe before the big Dangxiang Qiang army came over.
"Let the brothers have a good meal tonight, and then get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow we will defeat the Tuoba tribe first!"
the next day.
It's not yet dawn!
The gate of Songzhou Village has been opened.
The more than 3,000 light cavalry brought by Qin Lang, led by Su Dingfang, were the first to leave the village on horseback and lined up outside the city.
Immediately afterwards, Qin Meng Qin Biao and the three thousand Han Qiang Qingqi led by Bailibuli also rode out of the city to form an array.
Qin Qiong's soldiers and horses were supplemented with some Canlang and Qiang people.
Six thousand horses, regardless of foot riding, all ride horses.
After forming an array, they slowly moved forward, and soon reached the place where the Tuoba Qiang retreated and set up camp.
Horns burst out.
Still led by Xi Junmai, the Qing cavalry vanguard sentry cavalry first hunted and killed the Qiang sentry scouts between the two armies. When the two armies are at war, the role of sentry cavalry is actually very important. They are not only responsible for collecting enemy information, but also responsible for passing on military information.
The armies on both sides are deploying their troops, and the sentries in the middle are chasing and attacking each other.
Not long after, all the sentry cavalry of the Qiang people were suppressed and returned to the main formation, unable to get out again.
Xi Jun waited for his galloping horse to gallop, roaring in front of the Qiang formation, very complacent and arrogant, but none of the Qiang riders dared to come out again.
Qin Lang accompanied Qin Qiong to a **** at the foot of a mountain, where he set up the commander-in-chief flag of the Chinese Army. There was a mountain to rely on to prevent Qiang cavalry from deviously rushing to kill the Chinese army. Adjust the command at any time.
Qin Lang's personal soldiers guarded the left and right, and several hundred people served as the final general reserve to meet the needs of battlefield adjustments.
Looking forward from this high place, the flat valley extends straight to the edge of the Minjiang River, densely packed with Tuoba Qiang, stretching for several miles, and there are countless cattle and sheep mixed in it at the back.
"Twenty thousand people are about the same, and there are tens of thousands of cattle and sheep. If you can defeat them and swallow them in one gulp, then your more than 20,000 people will come here, and you won't have to worry about military rations." Qin Qiong said with a smile. When the war came, he directed If so, very easy.
For Qin Lang and Zhang Chao, the Qiang people on the opposite side were crowded with mountains and valleys, but for veterans like Qin Qiong and Lao Tieqiang, they could accurately judge the number of enemy troops at a glance, and even carefully It is important to tell how many elites the opponent has, how many are old and weak, and so on.
"Tuoba Qiang claims to be the largest department in the party. There are more than 20,000 elite fighters alone. But look at these people in front of you. Most of them are dressed in tatters, and they hold all kinds of weapons. They are pitifully small, much worse than their ally Tuyuhun, and even worse than the Turks."
Qin Qiong pointed at the enemy army, with a look of disdain on his face, "If you fight, you will fight. If you drag your family and drive livestock, is this a war? It's like two tribes fighting in groups. This is really going to fight. Those women, children, cattle and sheep, It is the best breakthrough, and it is their weakness."
(end of this chapter)