Back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty to be the emperor

Chapter 369 Sudden changes in the battle situation (2)

"Your Highness, what happened?"

Seeing that Li Xian's expression was not right, the two veterans felt a slight turmoil in their hearts. After exchanging glances, Qibi He Li spoke first.

"Well, I'm afraid Hezhou is going to have a big mess!"

Li Xian took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his heart, and replied with a slightly heavy tone.

"hiss……"

"Huh? What does His Highness mean by this?"

Hearing Li Xian's strange words, Gao Yan couldn't help but gasped, while Qibi Heli questioned suspiciously.

"Gu just got a report that a Tubo cavalry has quietly covered up and killed less than [-] miles away from Hezhou. Whether Hezhou can hold it is still uncertain. If not, the battle situation may change!"

Facing the doubts of the two veterans, Li Xian did not hide too much, and directly revealed the news he had obtained.

"How did this happen? How did the Tubo army come here? There are hundreds of miles from Shanzhou to Hezhou, and there are dozens of beacon towers along the way. How can they not notice anything? How is this possible?"

Hezhou was under the jurisdiction of Gao Yan, and when he heard that the Tubo army had reached Hezhou, his eyes immediately turned red, he looked at Li Xian incredulously, and asked questions repeatedly.

How is it possible?Li Xian also hopes that this is impossible, but it is a pity that the wish is a wish after all, but the reality is extremely cruel—the Sala tribe of Hezhou secretly took refuge in Tubo, raised troops against the Tang Dynasty, pretended to be a caravan, and used the method of deception to lure the beacon towers along the way. All of them were captured, and they cooperated with the Tubo cavalry to surprise the Hezhou government in Fanghan County. If it wasn't for a "Ming Di" secretly sending out information, I'm afraid that Hezhou would be lost and everyone would be kept in the dark.

"General Gao doesn't know something. I have already learned the exact news. The Sala tribe has rebelled, and all the beacon towers along the way have been destroyed by him. Now the Yao Inspector's Office in Hezhou should also get the news. Maybe they can hold the city."

The matter of "Ming Di" is highly confidential, Li Xian is not easy to put it on the table, so he can only vaguely mention it, but he did not conceal the real situation at present, although he did not say it clearly, but the words However, it clearly shows that Li Xian is not optimistic about the prospects of Hezhou—Yao Wangshu, the governor of Hezhou, was originally one of the confidantes of the former prince Li Hong. He once gave Li Xian a knife in the book, and later he was promoted to the high position of minister of rites. After Li Hong died, he was demoted from the capital and took up the post of governor of Hezhou. Although he had a little literary talent, he was just He's just an out-and-out civil servant, and he doesn't know how to fight at all. It's obviously unrealistic to rely on him to defend Hezhou, at least Li Xian doesn't think highly of his ability.

"Damn, alas..."

Not only Li Xian was not optimistic about Yao Wangshu's ability, but Gao Yan, the chief official, was also not optimistic. Hearing Li Xian's words, he immediately punched his thigh in frustration, sighed, and his face was full of distress. ——Before Li Xian left Luoyang, he sent an urgent letter to Gao Xun, telling him to pay attention to the city defense of Hezhou, but Gao Xun didn't take it seriously. In his opinion, deep in the hinterland of Hezhou, there was a Shanzhou is in the way, and there are Kuo and Fang prefectures on the two wings as cover, so there is no need to pay too much attention to it at all. Since then, he has never paid much attention to Hezhou. There are more than a thousand garrison battalions of mediocre strength, and even the militias have not been mobilized. The defense force is really pitifully weak, and with a governor who doesn't understand martial arts, it is really difficult to keep Hezhou. If it was really as Li Xian analyzed, the four states would be in danger. If the four states were lost, as the chief officer, he would be unable to escape accountability, and his freedom would not be high, and he would be angry for it.

"Your Highness, since Gar Qinling has brought his idea to Hezhou, I am afraid that he really intends to seize the land of our four states. What should we do now?"

Although the four prefectures are not Qibi Heli's defense grounds, his lips are dead and his teeth are cold, and he does not want to fight against the Tubo army alone. Moreover, now that Hexi is one, if he loses the battle, Qibi Heli will not be able to do well. Go, at this critical juncture, I can't care about the little discord with Gao Yan in the past, and hurried to ask for advice.

"Just wait and see, Gar Qinling Xinye, the four prefectures alone may not be enough to feed his appetite, the two old generals, please gather the elite of each department to stand by, and you must see clearly before you go!"

Hezhou does not allow any mistakes. This is not only a matter of the responsibility of defending the territory, but also related to the plan for the final confrontation with Tubo in the future. Li Xian wished to raise his troops to rush to Hezhou immediately, but his reason told him that he might be punished if he acted like this. Gar Qinling is leading the way. If there is another loss elsewhere, the consequences will not be a joke. If you make a mistake, you will lose the whole game. After a moment of pondering, Li Xian still held back Overwhelmed with the urge to send troops immediately, he just ordered calmly.

"promise!"

Now that Li Xian is the official governor of Hexi, since he had given the order, the two veterans dared not neglect, they bowed to their promises, resigned, and were busy dispatching troops without mentioning it .

Hezhou, the key is still in Hezhou!After the two veterans left, Li Xianduan sat behind a few children and thought about it carefully. He still didn't quite understand the strategic layout of Gar Qinling, but there was one thing Li Xian was clear about, that is Hezhou absolutely cannot afford to lose. Even if the existing troops in Hexi are exhausted, Hezhou must be taken back. It's just that the soldiers and horses cannot be mobilized in time at the moment. He still had deep doubts about his strategic intentions. In this situation, Li Xian had no choice but to wait for news from Hezhou.

Hezhou, located in the south of the Hexi Corridor, covers a large area, but its population is pitifully small. It is said to be a state, but in fact it is only two counties, and they are both small counties with more than [-] people. Fanghan County doesn’t have a grand style to speak of, but the scenery is beautiful, with green mountains and green waters, and it has a kind of beauty like a peach blossom garden. However, it is not located on the Silk Road, and there are few merchants. The county is depressed and the city is low. Short and shabby, in terms of scale, it can't even compare with a small town in the Central Plains. It's obviously not a good job to be the governor in such a horny place, at least for Yao Wangshu, since he came to such a place. , Yao Wangshu never dealt with government affairs, and was drunk every day. Even if the news of Shanzhou's emergency came, Yao Wangshu couldn't get up a little bit of energy, let alone urgent preparations for war, even the curfew order After all, no, the sun has risen to three poles, and Yao Wangshu, who has not woken up from the hangover, still sleeps soundly with his concubine in his arms.

"My lord, Master Yao, it's not good, it's not good..."

Just when Yao Wangshu was dreaming again and again, a servant rushed into the inner room and woke Yao Wangshu up by screaming wildly.

"Bastard, what are you panicking about? Fuck you!"

Yao Wangshu sat up dizzily, seeing that the servant who surprised him to sleep peacefully, immediately became angry, without asking why, he raised his hand, and slapped the servant violently. He flew sideways and fell to the ground.

"Oh, my lord, it's not good, the Tubo army has come, and the city can't be defended anymore, my lord, let's go!"

Although the servant grinned his teeth in pain, he didn't dare to miss the big deal at the end, he rolled over and yelled loudly, regardless of the pain on his face.

"Ah, what? Where is General Zhang?"

As soon as he heard that the servant seemed to be telling lies, Yao Wangshu immediately became anxious. He didn't care too much, and jumped up shirtless. He didn't care about the etiquette or impoliteness, and asked anxiously.

"My lord, General Zhang has already climbed onto the city wall, saying that the enemy army is powerful, and I want my lord to make a decision early!"

Seeing Yao Wangshu's flustered look, the servants who came to report the news were immediately chilled, but they dared not miss the business and rushed to report.

"Decision? Decision? Ah, this, this..."

Yao Wangshu is just a literati, although he may not be powerless, but his military and martial arts skills are not at all, in this panic, he was immediately dumbfounded, wandering around the room shirtless, He kept chanting without knowing what to say, sweating profusely, but for a long while he couldn't find out why.

"My lord, I can't hold it any longer. Let's retreat quickly. If the bandit army enters the city, then..."

The servant was obviously not a brave man, seeing Yao Wangshu wandering around, he became anxious immediately, hurriedly approached him, and whispered a word of persuasion.

"Withdraw? Ah, no, we can't withdraw. Hurry up, send an order to close the city gates, and I will go to the city to defend against the enemy!"

Yao Wangshu wanted to evacuate from the dangerous place, but when he thought that it was King Li Xian who was in charge of the overall situation in Hexi, he shuddered, gritted his teeth, mustered up all his courage, roared, and was about to run out shirtless. Just when he reached the door of the room, he stopped hesitantly, his complexion changed erratically, sometimes resolute, sometimes sad, sometimes gritted his teeth and snorted coldly. All the people who came saw their eyes straightened... "Report, the gate of the city of Fanghan has been closed, and the city is in great chaos, please tell the general!"

In a forest less than five miles away from Fanghan County, Herzzan, who had rushed all the way, was stocking up his horsepower in preparation for the final siege. A scout came galloping from the direction of Fanghan City. Herzan, who was standing on a big rock beside the road, rushed over immediately. One of them swung the saddle very skillfully, and the man had already fallen from the horse's back. He touched one knee to the ground and reported loudly.

"En." Herzzan didn't rush to issue an order, but waved his hand to push the horse back. Then he turned his head to look at a burly man standing in the lower position with a smirk on his face, and curled his lips and said : "Ning Gusdu, have all your people been arranged?"

"Don't worry, general, as soon as the army arrives, there will be people from the last general to respond in the city, and the city of Fanghan will be destroyed sooner or later!"

This burly man is none other than Ning Gusdu, the leader of the Sala Tribe. Herzzan's troops were able to sneak here because of his cooperation, because of the countless benefits that Gar Qinling promised him. At this time Hearing Hertz's praise, Ning Gusi immediately patted his chest without hesitation.

"That's good, come here, send an order, the whole army will go straight to Fanghan, and go to the city to drink!"

Hezzan already knew that the defense of the city of Fanghan was empty, even if there was no internal response, he still had absolute confidence to win the city. He asked Ning Gusdu, but it was just a formality. He heard that Ning Gusdu gave a guarantee , without any further hesitation, let out a loud roar, jumped off the boulder, exerted force with his feet, and he had already taken advantage of the situation to get on the horse's back, swung his whip, and led a group of subordinates towards Fanghan like a rainbow. The city surged away.

(End of this chapter)