Chastity Layman

Northwest of Songzhou.

On the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, on the border between Songzhou and Fuzhou, Ningyuanjun Town.

The military town of the Ningyuan Army was established here. Although this place is not as important as Leiguan, it is also very important. It is not only the only way to go north to enter Fuzhou, but also to go west to Longyou Diezhou. The military town is built between Minshan Mountain and Songshan Mountain, which is also a watershed.

The water originating from the valleys of the northern mountains flows northward into the Bailong River, while the water originating from the mountains in the south flows southward into the Minjiang River.

The mountains are undulating, and there is a not-so-wide road connecting Songfu, but although there is a road to the west, it is more difficult and dangerous. You have to change the route in the mountains and valleys, cross many mountain streams and climb many mountains. Few merchants leading to Diezhou go this way, mainly for the mountain goods in the mountainous area here, and the mountain goods are mainly transported by ponies, mules and donkeys or human back in Yunnan.

Niang Shangnang divided his troops under Leiguan, led 50,000 soldiers and horses to go around in the mountains, trying to bypass the pass from the north of Leiguan and enter the Minjiang River Valley to attack Songzhou directly.

But they went around, but in the end they couldn't get around Ningyuan Military Town, and the military city stood on the road that must be passed.

When Niang Shangnang led the soldiers and horses over the snow-capped mountains, stepping on the snow up to the thighs and almost crawling over, she couldn't help feeling deeply that this ghostly place is really difficult.

You must know that in this season, several snow ridges are actually still closed. Even caravans will not climb the mountain in this season. During the six-month closed mountain season, the snow is thick, and even horse mules with amazing stamina Crossing over once, half of them may die. On such a mountain, once the mules and horses are killed or injured, the goods have to be discarded. Even people are sometimes in danger on the snow-capped mountains.

In the event of heavy snowstorms, the wind on the mountain pass can make people stiff, and it may take several days to climb over.

From Leiguan to Ningyuan town, it seems that the distance is not far away, but Niang Shangnang has been around for almost a month, and the team is constantly reducing the number of people along the way.

Although the Tubo people are resistant to cold and are not afraid of the climate on the high mountains, they still have a lot of downsizing. The cattle, sheep, tents and other materials they carry can only be discarded along the way, otherwise they will not be able to cross the mountains at all.

Before crossing the snow-capped mountains, they had to slaughter the cattle and sheep, cut off the meat and put it on horseback. A large number of flat cattle, yaks, and camels that were originally responsible for transportation could hardly cross the snow-capped mountains when the mountains were closed.

Niang Shangnang had never fought such a difficult battle, and wanted to give up several times.

"impossible!"

When they went through untold hardships and finally crossed the vast snow-capped mountains, and finally arrived at the source valley of the Minjiang River after twists and turns among the mountains and valleys, they were ambushed by the Tang army.

Obviously the vanguard had already explored the way and did not find Tang Jun, but when the vanguard passed by, the large army in the middle was suddenly attacked by Tang Jun when they were crossing the river.

The river was not too wide, but the current was relatively fast. The Tibetans crossed the river on sheepskin rafts carried by the army, and the speed was not fast. A large number of soldiers and horses crowded the riverside.

As a result, he was caught off guard by Tang Jun.

Not to mention the loss of thousands of troops, even Niang Shangnang's son was captured.

"who is it?"

Shang Nang's hands trembled in shock. After all, although the road was difficult and the snowy mountains were difficult to cross, it was just that the road was bad, but he never thought that there would be so many Tang troops here.

He predicted that the battle will start when they go straight to the city of Ningyuan's army, and it is estimated that there will not be many Tang troops defending the city at that time. .

Although Tubo is not good at attacking cities, there is still a good chance of attacking an empty city with tens of thousands, and it is acceptable to pay some casualties, but it has not yet reached the Ningyuan army, but was attacked by the Tang army?

"At least 10,000 soldiers and horses are coming."

Said the Tubo general who ran back to report.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible, where are there so many Tang troops? The entire Ningyuan army is only five thousand troops! Could it be the Qiang tribe? Those dog slaves!"

"It's not the Qiang tribe. Although there are Qiang soldiers among the attacking soldiers, the main force is the Tang army."

"impossible!"

Shang Nang said several impossibilities in one breath, trembling with anger.

Because the snow mountain is difficult to cross, even though Shang Nang led 50,000 horses and came here separately, only about 10,000 were strong enough to cross the snow mountain at this time, and more stayed on the other side of the mountain.

With more than 10,000 horses, Shang Nang still feels that he has the chance to win, how can he accept the news of defeat at this time.

"Who is leading the army, Songzhou Hanwei?"

"I don't see the Han character flag, but the Liu character flag."

"Liu? Is there a general named Liu in Songzhou Ningyuan Army?"

"The banner they played was General Liu, the leader of the left."

General Liu, the leader of the left army, Shang Nang couldn't guess which one it was, if it was Songzhou's Ningyuan Army envoy Han Wei, he would know it, but he didn't know about the others.

"Major Minister, the situation is unfavorable. Ningyuan Military City can no longer be attacked. The people of Tang have already prepared, and their troops are numerous and powerful. They are very elite. If we go again, we will be caught in the mouth of a tiger."

"It's better to retreat!"

Shang Nang was beaten head-on, he was shocked, annoyed and unwilling, he would not retreat lightly, he didn't even know what was going on in front of him now, he didn't know who the left leading general Liu was, so he just retreated like this How will I explain to Zamp when I go back?

Besides, his own son has already fallen into the enemy's hands, so how can he refuse to save him.

"Cross the river in three ways!"

Shang Nang gritted his teeth and said.

·······

"The son of Tubo Grand Minister Shang Nang, whose surname is Niang?"

In the military city of Ningyuan, Liu Lancheng, the general of the left leader and Duke of Pingyuan, couldn't help laughing after listening to his subordinates' report, "What kind of thing do these Tubo people have their surnames?"

A school lieutenant of the Ningyuan Army in Songzhou hurriedly said, "Tubo is a barbarian on the snowfield. It is said that many small states on the snowfield are run by women. This Tubo is not bad. It is a man in charge, but the surnames are messed up. This Niang family, in fact, was not a native of Tubo before, that is, Tubo, which was attached to Tubo in recent years, was originally one of the lords of the twelve small states of Subi, and later joined Tubo, and worked hard to conquer Subi for Tubo, that Niang Shang That's why Nang was granted the title of Prime Minister, and after their family returned to Tubo, they married the royal family."

"Niang Shangnang is the Prime Minister of Tubo, also known as Da Lun. It is equivalent to the Zhongshu Ling in our Great Tang Dynasty. Under Zanpu, he alone controls the court and has great power. This Niang Shangnang was born in Su after the Tubo conquered Subi. Commander Pi, this time the Tubo invaded, more than 200,000 people were gathered, five of them were sixty-one Dongdai, and this mother-in-law brought 50,000 of them to seek the bad luck of our Ningyuan Town, but Mr. Liu is mighty, and he won the first battle. Thousands of them were wiped out, and their son was captured alive."

Liu Lancheng laughed loudly, stroking his beard, "It's not that I'm so powerful, it's Duke Wei's ingenious calculations, who have anticipated the small tricks of the Tubo people, and arranged for me to sit here and wait for rabbits. If you want to say credit, the credit is naturally also from Duke Wei .”

Liu Lancheng, the general who led the left army, was a scholar general. He was a local official at the end of the Sui Dynasty. He returned to his hometown and helped defend the city. However, he was framed by the officials in the city. In a rage, he went out of the city to find the rebels. He made suggestions for them, fought back and seized the city, and later defected to Wagang.

As a member of the military upstarts of the Tang Dynasty, especially from the Wagang Sect, Liu Lancheng naturally had a good relationship with Qin Qiong and Qin Lang's father and son. He set up the merits of defeating Jieli by recruiting Yu She, and he was named the Duke of Pingyuan County, and he was added to the left as the leading general.

Before the invasion of Tubo, Liu Lancheng was transferred to Fuzhou governor. At that time, because of the Longyou War, the imperial court sent a general who could fight over, and asked him to change from Fengzhou governor to Fuzhou governor, and concurrently served as Sima of Songzhou Governor's Mansion.

Not long after arriving here, the battle in Longyou ended, but it didn't catch up, but Qin Qiong died of illness suddenly, and Tubo came again.

When Qin Lang rushed to the scene and was reinstated by the emperor, and led the battle in Jiannan, he certainly had no idle time with this fierce General Liu.

At this time, Liu Lancheng commanded 10,000 Fu and Songfan Han soldiers and horses, and guarded the Ningyuan Army Town. In the first battle, he was caught off guard and beheaded more than 3,000 people, which can be called a great victory.

"Although this Niang Shangnang's surname is Niang, she still has a bit of blood, and she didn't retreat."

After learning that Tubo crossed the river in three ways, Liu Lancheng analyzed the situation, and stopped insisting on intercepting, and simply returned to Ningyuan Military City in victory.

Ningyuan Military City was built on the cockfighting platform beside the Minjiang River. To the west is the Minjiang River. The Minjiang River flows from the mountains to this place and turns to the south. Behind the valley in the north, there are two rivers flowing northward. River and Swallow River.

In the southeast of Juncheng, there is also a Huangni River that flows into the Minjiang River from northeast to southwest.

Ningyuan Military City was originally located in this place, which is very dangerous. The Douji Terrace guards these valley passages, with high mountains behind it, facing the source of the Minjiang River, and river valleys on the left and right.

The location here is quite open, and there are many river valleys and plains that are conducive to reclaiming wasteland and farming. Across the river, it faces Gongjian Ridge and Huangnipo.

It was also because of the favorable terrain that Liu Lancheng simply retreated after winning with one blow, and did not continue to entangle with Shang Nang in the narrow and dangerous place in front.

Anyway, the task Qin Lang gave him was to guard Ningyuan City, block this passage, and prevent the Tubo people from passing.

three days later.

Shang Nang led more than 10,000 troops along the Minjiang River Valley to the Minjiang Plain in front of Ningyuan Military City. On the valley plain several miles wide, the Tubo army held high the frog flag.

"Your surname, are you still flying a toad flag?"

Tang Jun laughed one after another.

Beacon smoke was also ignited on Gongjian Ridge and Huangni Ridge, and the beacon tower on the mountain behind the Doujitai Army City also echoed with smoke.

A group of Subi warriors wearing tiger and leopard skins and straddling tiger and leopard leather saddles came to the military city to challenge and invite them to fight.

"What a show, a bunch of savages."

Liu Lancheng is quite special among the generals of the Tang Dynasty. First of all, he was born as a scholar, and then he was very fierce in battle, and he liked to carry a Mo Dao as a weapon. But he usually wears armor, and he especially likes to wear brocade robes on the outside, and his beard has always been well-groomed.

He is as fierce as Cheng Yao Jinniu Jinda in fighting, but he likes to drop his book bag and drag his words when he usually speaks.

"Blow the horn, send troops!"

Liu Lancheng led 5,000 troops out of Ningyuan Army City in Fighting Cock Terrace.

Immediately afterwards, the two forts of Gongjianling and Huangniling, ten miles away on the opposite side, also sent out an army each, blocking the retreat of the Tubo people from the left and the right.

The two armies, about 6,000 soldiers and horses from the Han and the Tibetans, lined up on the back of the mountains and rivers, blocking the retreat with layers of spears, spears, spears, heavy axes and shields, and riding lightly on both sides.

Liu Lan married and led 5,000 Han and Tibetan troops out of the city and down the mountain, and the Tubo people lined up in front of them.

He divided the 5,000 troops into five battalions, one thousand each, and lined up on the plain.

The Tang and Tibetan armies were not in a hurry to start the fight. Their respective cavalry galloped back and forth, shouting orders again and again, and slowly deployed in the open space of the river valley and plain. Both sides were ready to head-to-head.

They are all very confident in themselves.

Anyway, Liu Lancheng rejected the proposal of the generals under his command to defend the city. Would it be enough for the Tibetans to wear tiger and leopard skins? Among the barbarians around the Tang Dynasty, are there any stronger than the northern Turks? Back then, when he and Qin Lang were in Shuofang Hetao, they beat Tujue and Master Liang together, but now a few angry Tubo barbarians dared to provoke them.

presumptuous.

They must be defeated head-on, otherwise they really don't know what to do!

Although Niang Shangnang suffered a defeat, she firmly believed that the Tang people were treacherous and insidious. He believed that he would win when he faced the real swords and guns. Although he only had more than 10,000 people here, almost all of them were good soldiers at this time. Auxiliary soldiers.

These osmanthus are basically from the osmanthus on the Supi grassland. Almost all of them are warriors and cavalry who are good at riding and shooting. The previous defeat was due to the bad position of the battlefield. The advantage of the cavalry came.

Now on this wide and flat riverside plain, the Tang army still has an advantage in numbers, so how to fight, his nearly 15,000 Subi cavalry can crush the Tang army. After all, the Tang army has only 10,000 people and is divided into three groups. Some people actually want to encircle the majority with the few, which is really too arrogant.

And he discovered earlier that the three Tang armies had a total of tens of thousands of troops, of which the Qiang, Di and Fan soldiers still accounted for the majority, so Tubo will surely win this battle.

Shangnang originally had a total of 20,000 households, with 30,000 Yong and 50,000 legions. Because of the difficulty of crossing the snowy mountains, they fell behind along the way and more than 3,000 were wiped out by the attack, and there were more than 15,000.

After simple adjustments, the establishment of two thousand households is still maintained, divided into two armies, six thousand households each, and the remaining three thousand people will serve as his central army and reserve team.

Shang Nang is the marshal of the army, and his two sons serve as deputy commanders. Each unites the army, and below him there are deputy generals, as well as the commanders of thousands of Dongdai. The centurion below leads the centurions.

The entire army and horses are from Subi, and the thousands of men are also from the same clan. Each centurion is from father and son brothers of the same tribal family. They have a close relationship and cooperate with each other tacitly. These people are designated as Guihu Zhengbing. Usually there is a lot of training, light taxes, and self-provided equipment, which is similar to that of Datang's soldiers, and they all have high combat effectiveness and strong fighting will.

More than 10,000 people lined up on the plain.

Dongdai is next to Dongdai, and each Dongdai Qianhu Battalion has flags of different colors and patterns to distinguish them. Even their war horses are the same color as the flags.

This one is all red, that one is all black, that one is all white, and that one is all yellow. It has to be said that it is very imposing to line up there.

Lao Liu looked at the formation of the Tubo people, and then looked back at the Tang army behind him and the vassal Tibetan cavalry of Xie Cong, which was a bit chaotic in comparison.

"What's the use of all the bells and whistles?" Old Liu disagreed.

The Tubo people adopted the division of Guiyong military households and civilian households, and adopted the method of dividing accounts. The land they conquered was owned by the Tubo state, but all the floating wealth, livestock, population, etc. captured on the battlefield were divided among soldiers and soldiers, so the Tubo people fought. As fierce as the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, at this moment, these Tubo fighters were eager to try one by one.

Old Liu looked at the fighters who were also gearing up behind him, "In this battle, regardless of Han and Tibetan, all meritorious service will be recorded equally. All gains on the battlefield will be rewarded to the soldiers. If you kill more, you will be rewarded more, and if you pay more, you will be divided!"

Countless Han and Tibetan soldiers shouted together, the morale is so high!