On the eighth day of June, the main force of the Tang Army's Western Expedition had been stationed thirty miles east of Shanzhou City for three days.
After the main force of the Tubo Army retreated to Linqiang, there was still no movement.
However, in the past three days, five or six small groups of Tubo cavalry had not moved.
Constantly harassing Zhao Ziliang was the main force of the Tang army, but Zhao Ziliang arranged the detection posts and warning posts very tightly, and the small group of Tibetan cavalry failed.
Zhao Ziliang had often done this in the past, so he had quite a lot of experience and methods in dealing with it.
The five or six small cavalry groups of the Tubo Army retreated after failing to take advantage.
Originally, more than 3,000 people in the Tang Army suffered from altitude sickness.
After three days of rest, more than 2,000 people returned to normal, and another 1,000 people recovered.
Many people still haven't recovered.
Zhao Ziliang walked around the sand table in the Chinese army's tent with his hands behind his back.
The armor on his body rustled with friction.
The generals and staff in the tent did not speak.
The other three armies may have been affected by the road, weather and terrain.
There has been no news about the reason until now, which makes Zhao Ziliang and other generals a little anxious.
"No, we are too passive and cannot be led by Dazalukong."
Zhao Ziliang stopped and said.
Cen Shen cupped his hands and said: "Commander, the weather and location here are not conducive to our army.
If we act rashly, we may be in danger of annihilation."
Gao Shang also stood up and cupped his hands and said: "Commander, I also think that this matter cannot be done rashly and should be done steadily.
Aren't the previous deployments and arrangements of the commander-in-chief very good?
March slowly to give the soldiers enough time to adapt to the plateau.
"Reaction, now it seems that there is no problem with the commander's arrangement and arrangement, and the Tibetan army cannot find an opportunity to take advantage of it."
Zhao Ziliang shook his head and said: "This kind of deployment seemed to be no problem before, but now it seems that it is passive.
The Tubo army has no worries about altitude sickness and is very familiar with the terrain here.
Sooner or later, they will find the second route. and the Third Army If the main force of our army keeps marching at this speed, the Tibetan army will have enough time to deploy troops to encircle and annihilate the Second Route Army and the Third Route Army.
They will never allow our Second Route Army and the Third Route Army to cut off Their retreat now has no initiative.
In my hands, the Tubo people can attack the main force of our army however they want.
If we move forward, we will be surrounded by the Tubo army's sphere of influence.
You are right.
Now the time and location are not conducive to our army, but we At least the army still has people and people.
Our Tang Dynasty is in Long You, Hexi and Tuyuhun have been operating in their hometowns for so many years, and they are still very popular.
This is our only advantage here.
We must seize this advantage to win.
Otherwise, with the current state of our army, it will be impossible to win. possible" Gao Shang asked: "Could it be that the commander-in-chief has a better plan?"
Zhao Ziliang didn't say anything, just kept looking at the sand table, and suddenly asked: "How high and thick is the wall of Xiping City?"
Du Fu should have been responsible for this kind of thing, but when he entered Shanzhou, Du Fu also suffered from altitude sickness.
He has been vomiting, dizzy, and weak for the past two days.
He has lost a lot of weight and is still recovering and adapting.
There was simply no way to do anything.
The things he was responsible for were now in charge of Wang Wei.
Wang Wei cupped his hands and said: "Commander, according to regulations, the wall of Xiping City is three feet high and one foot six thick."
Although the imperial system stipulates this, it is hard to say whether officials will complete the city wall to the letter when they organize the people to build the city wall.
Some officials, in order to save expenses and practice, build the city wall to less than half of the regulations.
There are also some places where the walls are just shoddy construction.
The height and thickness of the walls of Xiping City are related to Zhao Ziliang's next plan.
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He must figure it out.
He immediately asked: "Are there any officials in the army who have escaped from Xiping?
Quickly find Xuan Wu.
How many Tubo people are there in Xiping City now?"
military garrison" Wang Wei immediately went out to look for someone.
Xuan Wu, who was in charge of the reconnaissance sentry, stood up and said, "Commander, there are 5,000 Tibetan garrison troops in Xiping City, and there is no change in strength."
The garrison of five thousand people is neither too much nor too little.
Zhao Ziliang looked at the sand table and was silent for a while and then asked: "Shanzhou City is still an empty city now.
The Tibetan army has not sent troops back to garrison."
"Yes, Shanzhou is still an empty city."
Soon, Wang Wei came in with an official and handed over his hands to report: "Commander, here we are, this is Yang Youping, the former aide of the Taishou Mansion of Xiping County."
Yang Youping raised his hands and bowed in salute: "The villain pays homage to the commander-in-chief."
Zhao Ziliang asked: "Mr.
Yang, do you know how high and thick the current walls of Xiping City are?"
Yang Youping cupped his hands and said: "Come back to Commander-in-Chief, Xiping was built as a city during the Han Dynasty.
However, several wars broke out later, and Xiping City was destroyed many times by wars.
After the founding of our dynasty, there was only one pavilion and post office in Xiping.
General Huangfu Weiming later wrote to the court.
It is recommended to build a city as a western barrier to protect Shanzhou and Xiping County was established to govern Linqiang, Huangzhong, Changning and other counties.
Therefore, the city wall of Xiping City was built.
According to regulations, it should be three feet high and one foot six thick.
But in fact, there is some difference.
According to the villain's memories and estimates , the height should only be 2.8 feet and the thickness should be only 1.2 feet.”
Cutting corners, this is definitely cutting corners, but there is no point in pursuing it at this time.
Zhao Ziliang asked: "How strong is it?
Is it built according to the specified materials?"
"Yes, Marshal, there should be no shoddy construction materials."
"Go back to the camp and wait.
I will summon you if something happens."
"No, I will resign, villain."
Zhao Ziliang walked back to his seat and sat down, looking at the generals and staff and said: "The main force of our army must put huge pressure on the main force of the Tibetan army.
We cannot let them encircle and annihilate our second and third armies respectively.
The commander decided to lead the north The Ting army had 15,000 elite soldiers, including 10,000 infantry and 5,000 light cavalry.
They set out overnight to attack Xiping City.
They captured Xiping and defended it.
After I left, the main force of the army was led by Li Shengtong.
Bai Xiaode guarded the left wing and Ma Sui guarded it.
On the right wing, you will quickly march to Shanzhou tomorrow.
After entering Shanzhou, you will rest and recuperate.
I will give you ten days to adapt to altitude sickness.
In addition, I will convey my order to Zheng San and Zhang Boji in Jincheng to use all manpower and material resources to transport the goods as soon as possible at all costs.
Ten days after enough food, grass and medicine arrive, if there are still people who have not adapted, then leave those people in Shanzhou, and the main force will reinforce Xiping at full speed.
I will wait for you in Xiping."
Immediately afterwards, Zhao Ziliang ordered 5,000 infantry from the Beiting Army's left army, 5,000 infantry from the right army, 2,000 light cavalry from the Youyi Army, and 3,000 cavalry from the escort army, making up a total of 15,000 soldiers and horses to accompany him in a surprise attack on Xiping City overnight.
In order to reduce the burden as much as possible and speed up the march, Zhao Ziliang also ordered that each soldier could only carry ten days of rations and the Huya Army was also ordered to follow them this time.
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It is nearly 140 miles from Shanzhou to Xiping City, and 170 miles from the army station to Xiping City.
In order to speed up the march, Zhao Ziliang ordered that all the infantry be equipped with war horses, siege equipment, camp supplies, etc.
All supplies that seemed to slow down the march were not taken with them.
The 15,000-strong army set out at dark, marching rapidly towards Xiping at a marching speed of thirty miles per hour.
Zhao Ziliang's personal troops served as forward sentinels to clear out all possible Tibetan army reconnaissance posts.
At midnight, Zhao Ziliang was riding in front of the army with weapons in hand.
A sentry came rushing towards him.
It was Liu Shi, one of his soldiers.
Zhao Ziliang immediately raised his hand to signal the army to stop advancing, reined in the horse and gave the order.
The soldiers immediately held up torches to convey the order, and the entire army soon stopped.
Liu Shi stopped and clasped his fists and saluted: "Commander, Xiping City is twenty miles ahead.
We have cleared the six Tibetan sentries around.
The army can approach Xiping City unimpeded.
There are no Tibetan defenders in Xiping."
Abnormal, they are all asleep.”
Zhao Ziliang nodded and said to Duan Xiushi next to him: "Give the order to go down and rest for two quarters of an hour.
Each department will count the number of people and count the number of people who have experienced altitude sickness, chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness and vomiting."
"Nuo" Duan Xiushi agreed with his fists clasped, and immediately sent someone to convey the order to the back.
Zhao Ziliang knew that the altitude around Xiping City was only more than 2,200 meters.
At this altitude, most people should not suffer from altitude sickness, but for people who have never been to such a high altitude, it is really hard to say.
They have not reached it before.
In Shanzhou City, more than 3,000 people suffered from altitude sickness.
Now that we have reached Xiping, who knows how many more people will suffer from this condition?
Twenty minutes later, each department reported the statistical results.
After Duan Xiushi got the results, he immediately reported to Zhao Ziliang: "Commander, after statistics, a total of 126 people in the army suffered from dizziness, vomiting, chest tightness and shortness of breath at the plateau."
Zhao Ziliang felt relieved after hearing this, and said to the surrounding generals: "After all, our Beiting Army officers and soldiers have all been active on the plateau, and their resistance to altitude sickness is much stronger.
Pass on the order, let these people stay where they are to rest for the time being, and give them Take some medicine and wait until we get to Xiping City more before sending someone to pick them up."
"promise" Half an hour passed quickly.
The soldiers basically ate some dry food to replenish their physical strength and meet other physiological needs.
Following Zhao Ziliang's order, the army set off and slowly approached Xiping City.
Just after midnight, Zhao Ziliang's army finally arrived three miles outside Xiping City.
At this time, the entire Xiping City was in silence.
A few lanterns hung on the gate tower of the city wall gave off a faint light, and could be faintly seen.
There was only the Tibetan sheepskin flag on the city wall, but not a single person could be seen.
The main force of the Tang army has been marching at a marching speed of thirty miles every day since its departure from Jincheng for more than ten days.
This gave everyone in the Tibetan army an illusion.
It is basically impossible for the Tang army to suddenly attack from more than 170 miles away.
Fight to Xiping City, because suddenly increasing the marching speed will inevitably lead to violent Altitude sickness, but the Tibetan army did not know that among the main force of the Tang army, in addition to the Central Plains Army, which had never been to the plateau, there were also 110,000 Beiting Army.
These Beiting Army were not people who had never been to the plateau. , the Tubo army's carelessness and underestimation of the enemy gave Zhao Ziliang the opportunity to make a surprise attack: