Tibet

Chapter 270: Night Sneak Attack
In the early morning, two monks on horseback rushed to Talas City and shouted to the city in poor Chinese: "We want to see General Li!"

After a while, Li Ye hurried to the top of the city and asked, "Where are you monks from?"

"We came from Bukhara, Anguo, and we are here to inform the general!"

Li Ye immediately ordered: "Open the city gate!"

The city gate opened, and two monks rushed into the county seat.

There are of course Buddhists in the Sogdian countries in the river, and there are quite a few of them. The expansion of the Great Food Sect to the east is not only a disaster for Zoroastrianism, but also for Buddhism. To help Tang Jun in various ways, passing information is an important part.

After entering the city, the two monks put their palms together and bowed to Li Ye: "We came from Bukhara, and the five thousand Sogdian troops from Bukhara are coming towards Talas City. It is estimated that they will arrive in two days. Please, General be prepared!"

The news came too timely, and Li Ye asked again: "Did a riot break out in Bukhara?"

"Exactly! The Great Food Army wants to demolish the Guangming Temple in Bukhara, triggering strong resistance from the people of Bukhara, but it has been suppressed and thousands of people died. The Great Food Army has 5000 troops stationed in Bukhara, of which 5000 people came to Talas City."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Li Ye asked the soldiers to take [-] gold coins and give them to the two monks, but the two monks refused repeatedly, so Li Ye had to give them dry food and water, and the two monks left immediately.

Li Ye pondered for a long time, and sent someone to find Pei Xiu. He said to Pei Xiu: "The enemy only sent [-] cavalry to kill Talas City. I guess their intelligence was wrong, thinking that only the first [-] troops were in Talas. This is our chance."

"What is the general going to do?"

"You lead five hundred troops to defend the city, and I will pull the troops out to ambush and kill the enemy by surprise."

Pei Xiu nodded, "The humble official must guard the city of Talas!"

Two days later, five thousand Sogdian troops marched to the city of Talas in mighty force. The chief general of this army was originally Airot, but the disastrous defeat of Bakhana caused Abu Muslim to depose him as the chief general and appointed another Said, a general, will be the main general, and Airot will be the deputy general.

Said looked at the tall and strong city of Talas, and frowned. They didn't carry siege weapons, how could they take this city?
It was already afternoon, Said immediately ordered: "The whole army is camped outside the west city!"

The Great Food Army is generally cavalry, but the cavalry of the Umayyad Dynasty is very different from that of the Abbasid Dynasty. The cavalry of the Umayyad Dynasty are all served by nobles. They are more luxurious. Each cavalry will be equipped with a Servants, servants have to put armor on the soldiers, take care of the horses, and carry supplies, so the servants lead two camels, with tents and supplies on them.

The cavalry of the Abbasid dynasty were mainly low-level civilians. Basically, they did not have the habit of taking servants, and they could not afford servants.

And this Sogdian cavalry is actually the cavalry of the Umayyad Dynasty. They are generally wealthy and all have servants. In the past, Airot was the chief general, and he resolutely did not allow the soldiers to bring servants.

Therefore, in the battle of Rahana, the soldiers brought servants were not seen.

But now the general was replaced by Said. In order to win the hearts of the army, Said agreed to the Sogdian cavalry to restore the tradition and allowed them to take their servants to the expedition. This order to restore the tradition also won him the support of the entire army.

Therefore, the five thousand Sogdian food army was actually 1 people.

Each soldier had his own little tent, and servants slept outside on blankets and looked after the horses and camels.

Although Airot couldn't stop the soldiers from bringing their servants, he still worked diligently and arranged the camp and defense. As soon as he arranged the camp, some soldiers came to him, and the Lord General wanted him to do something.

Airot hurried to the main tent, bowed and said, "The general is looking for me?"

Said nodded and said, "I heard that you sent [-] cavalry to go out on patrol?"

"Exactly, the situation here is unfamiliar, I think it's better to be cautious!"

Both are generals with similar qualifications, but they are from different factions. Said is a direct confidant of Abu Muslim, while Airot is a member of the caliph's brother Mansour.

Therefore, Abu Muslim dismissed Airot on the pretext of defeating the army, but he could not be completely dismissed, so he was appointed as the deputy general.

It is precisely because of this relationship that the relationship between the two is rather subtle. On the surface, they seem very polite, but they are wary of each other.

Said said again: "What we mean is, why don't we send hundreds of people to find the woods, get back at least one battering ram, and break down their city gates. There are only a few hundred people in their city, and we can win in one battle. But is it too cautious for you to arrange 300 patrols?"

Airot nodded, "That humble officer will send [-] soldiers to look for the woods, and [-] soldiers to patrol."

"No! Two hundred soldiers will go to the woods, and a hundred cavalry will suffice!"

Airot had no choice but to change the order. The [-] patrolling soldiers were replaced by [-] patrolling soldiers, and [-] soldiers went around looking for woods and cutting giant trees.

Li Ye led [-] cavalry to hide in a mountain depression ten miles to the south. This place is very close to the Qianquan Mountain Range. Talas City is actually not far from the foot of the mountain. Standing on the top of the city, the background is the majestic mountain. .

The Qianquan Mountains are very fragmented, with a large number of ravines criss-crossing, and there is no green in sight. The silver mine, which represents wealth, is hidden in these ravines.

So to find the woods, they could only go to the east and north. Even when they came from the west, they didn't see any green along the way.

As night fell, the soldiers who went looking for the woods came back. They found the woods fifty miles to the east, but the trees were not strong enough to make battering rams, but there seemed to be woods further east, but it was getting late. Planning to go see it tomorrow.

The big camp of the Great Food Army occupies a large area, and the densely packed small tents cannot be seen at a glance. It is really not enough for a hundred patrols to guard the periphery. The big camp is too wide, and many places are hard to defend.

However, it is really unrealistic to use fire to attack the tents of the Great Food Army. They are not like the big tents of the Eastern Army, which are next to each other, and all of them are burned down in one fire. into one piece.

Li Ye immediately stood on the hillside a few kilometers away. Not far in front of him was the Talas River. The river reflected the moonlight and shimmered. His gaze was fixed on the big food tent under the moonlight. Seeing seven or eight large tents, it is estimated that that is where the enemy commander is.

"What time is it?" Li Ye turned around and asked.

"Report to General, it's almost two o'clock."

Li Ye nodded and said: "Notify the whole army, attack at the third watch!"

Time gradually came to the third watch, and the three Tang armies were already in place. Captain Zhang Dan led [-] cavalry to the east, Colonel Yang Qing led [-] cavalry to the north, and Li Ye personally led [-] cavalry to the south. .

"Rocket launch!"

Li Ye gave an order, and nine soldiers fired nine rockets into the sky. The burning rockets shot into the sky, which was the signal to attack.

Li Ye waved his spear and shouted, "Attack!"

The [-] cavalry behind him suddenly mobilized, and hundreds of cavalry followed him closely and rushed towards the enemy camp several miles away.

The [-] cavalry of the Tang army in the three directions of east, south, and north mobilized together, like a flood that broke a dike, sweeping towards the enemy camp from three directions.

As soon as the Tang army was dispatched, they were immediately discovered by the guards of the Dashi army. They turned their horses and rushed back to call the police, but Li Ye didn't care about them calling the police. Even if they called the police, it was too late. camp.

The Dashi army camp was in chaos. The reason why Li Ye arranged to attack in three directions was mainly because the enemy camp was too large and might enter from the south. The soldiers from the north and west had already lined up, so he wanted to break through in multiple directions and bloom in multiple directions. , Killing the enemy army by surprise.

In fact, the army of the Umayyad Dynasty was most afraid of surprise attacks. Why did they bring servants? One very important reason was that it was too troublesome for them to put on their armor and leather boots. , have their own slaves, so the army allows each of them to bring a servant with the army.

The army of the Umayyad Dynasty was repeatedly attacked by the Abbasid army, and was defeated in World War I. One of the important reasons was that the soldiers were too extravagant.

Of course, servants have many functions, but wearing armor for their masters is the most important thing. With servants, soldiers must take off their armor when they go to bed at night. Mosquito bites.

After getting up the next day, it took more than an hour to put on the armor, which was more time-consuming than a woman's makeup.

When the Tang army rushed into the barracks, how could these Dashi soldiers have time to put on their armor and escape in a hurry?

The cavalry of the Tang army smashed into the enemy's camp like a sharp axe. Wherever they passed, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and corpses were everywhere. Dashi soldiers and servants yelled and cried.

Li Ye didn't care about beheading the enemy soldiers. His horse flew straight towards the enemy general's camp. He saw dozens of soldiers rushing out of the tent guarding a general.

Li Ye hung the long spear on the saddle bridge, drew out his bow and arrow, stretched the bow and set the arrow, and shot out, only to see the enemy general [-] steps away swayed, turned over and fell off his horse, and the arrow shot through his head.

The person shot and killed by Li Ye was not the general Said, but the leader of Said's own soldiers. He disguised himself as a soldier and successfully deceived Li Ye's sniper.

But Said was also frightened, and he galloped towards the west without caring about the other soldiers. At this time, it would be considered good for him to escape his life.

(End of this chapter)