Kowloon wins

Chapter 904 Taking the Stone Fortress by Cleverness ([-])

On the ninth day of June in the second year of Chengde, the First Battle of Duowa Grassland broke out. The Qing army, led by He Min, led [-] cavalry for hundreds of miles to attack the Luobu Zangdanjin Camp. Ambushed on the northwest line, defeated the Mongolian coalition forces, killed more than [-] enemies in the first battle, and captured more than [-] alive. Altintur, the guard of Laoyaguan, surrendered without a fight. He captured a total of more than [-] horses and countless luggage. , the leaders of various ethnic groups in Qinghai and the living Buddhas of various temples who participated in the rebellion were all in constant fear of it.

The defeat of the main force of Luobu Zangdanjin in the First World War is certainly a good thing to celebrate the last time, but Hongqing did not get carried away by it, and on the day he passed the old jaw, he divided his troops and attacked in four directions, except for the North Road. Junyue Zhongqi's Department was still in charge of suppressing the rebellious tribes such as Waixiersu. The Second Cavalry Division, Lu Yousheng, had more than [-] cavalry in its headquarters, and the Division of the Second Army's First Division, Li Mingliang's Department, used the large number of captured horses. Shuangqidi marched to the Qaidam Basin with all its strength, and did not give Luo Buzangdanjin, who had fled from the desert, the slightest respite; after the Tashan Department of the First Army passed Laoya Pass, it marched southwest, aiming at the source of the Yellow River In the Bayan area, all the rebellious Mongolian and Tibetan tribes were swept all the way. Whether it was temple forces or tribal forces, if they did not surrender, they would all be wiped out; the second army Zhang Miao led two divisions to march into Dari and Banma, and the task was also Suppressing rebels everywhere, but Hongqing himself handed over the defense of Laoyaguan and other strategic locations to Li Minxing, the admiral of Sichuan, and then led the Cheng Guiwu Division of the Third Army, the Artillery Division, and the main force of the First Cavalry Division along with the Second Cavalry Division. The direction of march slowly marched towards the Qaidam Basin as a backup.

The Qing army was divided into multiple groups. It seemed that each route had not many troops, but the fighting power was astonishingly strong. Wherever it went, all the tribes and temple forces that dared to resist were crushed to pieces by the powerful firepower of the Qing army. It took only two days. For a while, several armies were progressing very smoothly, and countless people surrendered after hearing the news, but Yue Zhongqi's troops, who took the lead in initiating the Battle of Qinghai, encountered a bit of trouble——Baba After Gongga returned from the defeat of the Sanchuan Battalion in Ba Nuan, he retreated in Xining City, closed the four doors tightly, and put on a stance of steadfast defense, echoing the garrison of Shibao City, and was actually preparing to fight a long-lasting battle with the Qing army. fought.

Xining is the capital of Qinghai Province, and it has been one of the important border towns since ancient times. The Tibetans raided and breached from the inside, and the city defense facilities fell almost intact into the hands of the mob of the Waisheersu tribe. Of course, this so-called strong city is only compared to the army in the cold weapon era. For the Qing army with sharp weapons such as heavy artillery and explosives, it is not too difficult to forcibly conquer Xining, but there is a rather tricky problem-the first division of the Qing army's first army has only 1 troops. The rest of them are all infantry, and the cavalry assigned to Yue Zhongqi's troops is only the remnants of the first cavalry brigade, more than [-] people. It is obviously impossible to encircle Xining City from all sides with such a small force. Soon, the problem appeared-the Qing army could break through the city of Xining, but it was difficult to stop the escape of the rioting Tibetans who were basically cavalry. If they wanted to achieve the planned strategic goal of quickly extinguishing the Qinghai Rebellion, it was bound to be difficult to achieve.

reason?It's very simple. The area of ​​Qinghai is really too big. It's okay for the rioting Tibetan army to hide in the city. Once they escape to the vast prairie, it will not be so easy to round them up. There is only one choice, not to attack Xining for the time being, but to take Shibao City first, close the west gate where the enemies of Xining escape, and finally catch the turtle in the urn and wipe out the Waixiersu tribe in Xining City in one fell swoop. Not bad, but the problem has arisen again—Shibao City is located eighty miles southwest of Xining. If the Qing army wants to bypass Xining to attack Shibao City, it must leave enough troops to restrain the enemies of Xining and send It is impossible to attack Shibao City with too many troops, but Shibao City is one of the most difficult passes since ancient times. The terrain is dangerous and the road is difficult, so it is not easy to go down.

Shibao City, also known as Tieren Pass, is located in the southwest of today's Huangyuan County. It has been an important military town since ancient times. During the Tang Dynasty, the Tang army and Tubo fought fiercely around Shibao City several times. The most famous battle was Tang Xuanzong. During the period, the Warlord Ge Shuhan stormed Shibao City, and at the cost of more than [-] casualties, he finally broke through Shibao City, which was only guarded by more than [-] people. The reputation of the famous general Shu Han shows how difficult it is to conquer Shibao City. Today, there are more than a thousand Tibetan troops guarding Shibao City. If the Qing army wants to capture this city, how many lives will it take to fill it up? ?
Undoubtedly, this kind of determination is obviously not so easy to make. Yue Zhongqi spent two full days in front of a large sand table in the city guard mansion of Banuan Sanchuanying before making the final decision. On June [-]th, he led his troops to leave the Sanchuan Battalion of Ba Nuan, and the soldiers did not move quickly. They arrived at the city of Xining two days later, but they did not launch a sudden attack. A fortress was set up at Sanli to restrain the defenders of Xining, and led the third brigade to ride around Xining on captured horses and head straight for Shibao City. Although the defenders in the city were aware of the Qing army He just sent a messenger to inform the defenders of Shibao City to strengthen their guard. Apart from that, there was no other action. Obviously, Bagongga didn't think that the Qing army could really take it down. Stone Castle is such a grand pass.

Shibao City is backed by Huashi Mountain and facing the Yaoshui River. It is located on a maroon cliff. The mountain road is not very open, as long as there is no shortage of wood and rolling stones, the defenders can block the attacking road of the invading enemy. If they attack directly, without tens of thousands of lives, it is absolutely difficult to take Shibao City Even if the weapons of the Qing army are advanced, there will be no exceptions. Without exception, the mountain roads are narrow and difficult to navigate. Not to mention that heavy artillery cannot go up, even light infantry artillery can hardly be mounted on the mountainside. Due to the problem of the elevation angle, it was also difficult to attack Shibao City. What stood in front of Yue Zhongqi was such a precipitous and incomparably majestic pass!

"Master, this pass city..."

Although he had learned a lot of information about Shibao City from the scouts in advance, when he saw the danger of Shibao City with his own eyes, Chang Shancheng, the commander of the third brigade, was still terrified. When the soldiers were busy setting up their camps, they moved to Yue Zhongqi who was silently looking at the grand pass outside Xuli with worried expressions on their faces, and babbled out half-spoken words.

"Why, you're scared, huh?"

Hearing Chang Shancheng's words, Yue Zhongqi immediately turned his head to the side, glanced at him coldly, and asked a question in a serious tone.

"Report to the commander, the last general is not afraid of death, but afraid of failing to complete the task!"

Although it was only a few months before Yue Zhongqi really accepted the First Division, with his sophisticated military management methods and Hong Qing's full support, his authority in the First Division has become increasingly apparent, and Chang Shancheng dared not be in the First Division. Speaking recklessly in front of him, hearing Yue Zhongqi ask such a question, he couldn't help being startled, and hurriedly stood at attention, expressing his attitude solemnly.

"Isn't that beautiful to say, hey, you always have no confidence or no confidence in Yue, huh?"

When Chang Shancheng said this, the sneering smile on the corner of Yue Zhongqi's mouth became stronger immediately, and she continued to ask further questions.

"The last general dare not, it's just that the city is closed..."

When asked by Yue Zhongqi, Chang Shancheng's black face turned red immediately, he hesitated and couldn't explain why, but the meaning was obvious - he had both!This is not surprising, but anyone who is a general will inevitably feel flustered when he encounters such a grand pass as Shibao City, especially at this moment, with only more than [-] troops under his command, Chang Shancheng himself can't think of attacking. I don't think that Yue Zhongqi can come up with a good idea in the face of such a great pass, of course, this is not very pleasant to say, so Chang Shancheng just dared to mutter in his stomach, saying yes He absolutely did not dare to say what he was going to say in front of Yue Zhongqi.

"Guancheng is right there. If you can't run away, let the order go down, and all the ministries will rest on the spot. After sunset, the chief officers of each battalion and above will go to the central army tent to discuss matters!"

Even though Chang Shancheng never made it clear what he said, Yue Zhongqi could hear what he said, but he didn't take the blame, and he didn't explain the strategy of defeating the enemy in detail, he just gave orders with a blank face.

"twitter!"

Chang Shancheng was still waiting for Yue Zhongqi to say something about the city, but never thought that Yue Zhongqi would stop there, he couldn't help but mutter in his heart, but he never dared to disobey Yue Zhongqi's order, so he could only respectfully respond With a sound, he went to arrange all kinds of affairs without mentioning it, full of suspicion.

"What is Qing Gouzi trying to do?"

"It's very strange. It's been so long, and there's no movement at all. It's really strange."

"That's right, attacking and not attacking, and siege is not siege, could it be that you want to trick me into waiting to go down the mountain?"

……

The Qing soldiers were all veterans of the march, and their ability to set up camps was not bad. It took only half an hour before and after, and a simple camp had already been erected one mile in front of the mountain. That's it, it's still far from dark, but the Qing army didn't even launch a tentative conventional attack. They went straight to the camp, and except for some patrols, they all got into the tent to rest. After leaving the pass, all the generals of the Tibetan army who were on guard at the pass were all dumbfounded, surrounded by the main guard of the pass, Bahe Dati, and guessed wildly...

(End of this chapter)