Bai Sunizhi and Ze Luo were already pale as death at this moment. The moonlight was scattered on the banks of the Peacock River, where a one-sided massacre was taking place.
A thousand cavalrymen actually beat the camel caravan without any chance of fighting back. Screams were heard one after another, from the time they were shot by bows and crossbows to the hand-to-hand combat between the two sides, which had never stopped. It was like hell on earth.
"Zhe Luo, you have to get to the gate of Loulan city before the sun rises tomorrow." Li Hong's face was also filled with murderous intent, and he stared coldly at Zhe Luo whose face was pale.
After saying that, Li Hong suddenly pulled the reins. The hungry dog seemed to see its fellows having fun there and could not wait to join in. It was considerate and patted its neck along with the reins. Immediately, like an arrow from a bow, it neighed happily and disappeared in front of the frightened Zhe Luo.
"Leave a hundred people to take the job, and the rest of you follow me immediately." Li Hong was protected in the middle by two hundred personal guards. When passing by the camel caravan battlefield, he gathered all the energy in his Dantian and shouted coldly.
"Yes, Grand Protector." Although Wufa and Wutan were still killing in the camel caravan, after hearing Li Hong's voice, they immediately pulled the reins and withdrew from the sparse camel caravan.
As Li Hong ordered, the entire Iron Pagoda of one thousand people cooperated well. At the brief command from Lawless, the one hundred people who were originally responsible for vigilance immediately rushed into the battle group.
The remaining nine hundred people immediately turned their horses around, abandoned the scattered manpower in the camel caravan, and began to leave quickly following Lawless.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves rang out everywhere, and the night seemed to be shaking. Together with Li Hong's 200-man personal guards, the total cavalry force was more than 1,100 people, which was even more shocking than the camel caravan's charge just now.
...
...
Bai Sunizhi and Zhe Luo's faces turned pale. They had long seen that these cavalrymen were extraordinary, but they never expected that they would be so orderly.
The cavalry raised choking dust like a whirlwind. Amid the rumbling sound, the cavalry galloped away, leaving only a hundred people behind to clean up the battlefield.
The population of Loulan City was no more than 20,000 to 30,000 at its peak. Late at night, there were not many people stationed on the city wall of Loulan City except for the sentinels waiting for the triumphant return of the camel caravan.
The earth was shaking, and as the deafening sound of the cavalry's hooves got closer and closer, the entire Loulan city seemed to be caught in an earthquake.
"So fast? The Tang soldiers are getting weaker and weaker."
"The people in the Tang Dynasty are all old, weak and sick now. We are lucky to be able to hold on now."
"That's right. The Western Regions are now in their hands. I'm afraid they are already shaky and in danger of collapse. Sooner or later, they will be occupied by the powerful Tubo."
The sentry on the city wall listened to the rumbling and pleasant vibrations and joked in a lighthearted manner about the combat effectiveness of the Tang Dynasty's cavalry.
"No, this is not the sound of a camel caravan, this is the sound of horse hooves. The hoof sounds of a camel caravan are not so dense." A man who looked like a leader, listening to the slowing sound of iron hooves, suddenly climbed up from the watchtower, walked to the city wall and looked out.
Outside the city wall, the sound of horse hooves gradually slowed down, not far from Loulan City. It seemed as if the cavalry, like a tide, were fan-shaped and slowly approaching the city wall.
The silent murderous aura was like mercury leaking on the ground, blowing towards the top of the city wall along with the cold wind. The silent murderous aura made the leader who was watching on the top of the city wall feel frightened, as if the cold wind had cut his neck like a knife. He was so scared that he sat down on the ground.
"The... the cavalry of the Great Tang Dynasty." The leader's legs went weak and he stuttered.
"What Tang Dynasty cavalry?" Another soldier asked curiously after hearing the stuttering and frightened voice of the fire chief.
"The cavalry of the great Tang Dynasty is at the gate of the city." The fire chief pointed outside the city wall with trembling lips.
As soon as Huo Chang finished speaking, he heard a cold voice coming from the tower: "Open the city gate immediately. The Grand Protector of Anxi Protectorate is here."
"Ah...what should we do?" The soldier hurriedly helped the fire chief up and asked with a pale face.
The fire chief carefully peeked out from the battlement, and after thinking for a long time, he realized that it would be best to report first, so he looked at the soldier and said, "Go and report to the commander, I'll wait here."
After the fire chief finished speaking, he immediately leaned against the top of the city wall and shouted to the sky: "Please wait for a moment, Grand Protector. When the garrison commander arrives, we will open the city gate for you."
Li Hong had a calm expression as he stared at the rammed earth city wall. Under the moonlight, the entire city wall seemed to be covered with a layer of silver armor, giving people a feeling of unpredictability.
"Attack the city." Li Hong said calmly as he exhaled hot air.
"Yes, Grand Protector." Wufawutian and the other man immediately drew their bows and crossbows, and the soldiers behind them also immediately drew their bows and crossbows following Wufawutian's movements.
Li Hong picked up the crossbow on the right side of his horse's back, and Xiaoxue immediately stretched out her little hand to help put a flare arrow on it.
Li Hong didn't even look at it. He raised the crossbow in his hand and shot it towards the sky. A sharp whistle pierced the night sky and echoed over the entire Loulan City.
Then a rain of arrows shot towards the city gate with a sound of breaking through the air, and screams rang out one after another on the city wall.
After several rounds of arrow rain, footsteps were heard on the city wall, accompanied by faint groans. At this moment, the city gate suddenly made a creaking sound and slowly opened.
"Wu Tian is heading straight for the inner city. We must find this man according to the portrait in your hands." After Li Hong finished speaking, he kicked his horse's belly and was the first to walk towards the city gate.
Several people slowly appeared at the city gate. The torches illuminated the city gate and also illuminated the people holding the torches. They were Jingzhe and Liebao.
"Your servant greets you, sir." The two of them, along with a few people around them, saluted with torches in their hands.
"Jingzhe, take Wutan to Anmo Shenpan's mansion and make sure to capture Garxiruo alive. You and I will stay in the outer city to prevent him from escaping. If you are unable to replace the garrison, start defending the city." At this time, Li Hong's face showed a trace of solemnity.
"Yes, sir."
As Wufa and Wutan each led their own 1,000 men away, Li Hong looked at Liebao with a faint smile on his face: "You have done a great job this time. Gal Xiruo must have come here to see how he can erode the land of the Tang Dynasty next year."
Most of the cities in the Western Regions are divided into inner and outer cities, and due to the vast territory, their cities are relatively much larger than the small cities in the Central Plains.
The people living in the outer city are naturally ordinary people, and the land of some nobles is also surrounded by the outer city.
The inner city is a city for living. The further in you go, the higher the status of the people living there are, and the further out you go, the lower the status of the people living there is.
During this era, Loulan, once one of the seven powerful states in the Western Regions, occupied the geographical advantage of the Peacock River which had not been diverted. At the beginning, it was eager to enclose all the people under its rule into one city.
Therefore, in the outer city of Loulan where Li Hong was walking, he did not see any house with lights on except for the torches just lit by the guards.
Li Hong rode on horseback, slowly walking on the road between the outer city and the inner city. Except for the forty people around him, the rest of the guards behind him had already formed into a column and began to patrol to see if anyone had escaped from the inner city.
"Where is Heng Qiao now? Why did he send you two here?" Li Hong asked as he tightened the fur coat that Xiaoxue had put on him over his armor.
"In reply to my lord, the Tubo Prime Minister Galdongzan (Ludongzan) returned to his hometown of Gayu after his eldest son set off for Loulan. Hengqiao was afraid of changes, so he followed him secretly and ordered us to meet you here." Liebao, who was also riding on a warhorse, said.
"Yes, the old guy Lu Dongzan is still alive. It was all his idea to annex Tuyuhun. The Tubo King Songtsen Gampo has been dead for more than ten years, and he has been in power for more than ten years. So after Songtsen Gampo died, his first goal was to take over his hometown Tuyuhun. Now, I'm afraid in Tuyuhun, in his hometown of Gayu, he can be called a local emperor." Li Hong said depressedly, braving the cold wind, puffing out white breath.
The areas of Gabu and Gayu of Tuyuhun are now all the fiefdoms of Lu Dongzan. Since the demise of Tuyuhun, Lu Dongzan has called on the Tang Dynasty for reinforcements to restore his country in order to prevent the Tuyuhun King Nuohebo and Princess Honghua from attacking.
Therefore, he had been stationed in Tuyuhun, and all matters concerning Tubo were handed over to his eldest son, Garsiruo, who was now trapped in Loulan City.
Li Hong got the news about Jingzhe and Liebao, and came to rescue Baisuniji. His main purpose was naturally Garxiruo in Loulan City.
Lu Dongzan is a shrewd person. Li Hong even feels that in this world, perhaps only his Dragon Mother Wu Mei can be better than Lu Dongzan in intrigue and conspiracy.
The marriage strategy was the most significant contribution Lu Dongzan made to Tubo over the years, and it was also the proudest work of his life.
The small country of Nepal was destroyed by this move of Lu Dongzan. He used his eloquence three times to persuade the king of Nepal to marry his princess Bhrikuti to Songtsen Gampo, and then destroyed the country.
Then he persuaded Emperor Li Shimin to marry Princess Wencheng to Songtsen Gampo, but fortunately, the Tang Dynasty was not destroyed by his scheme.
But the strength of Tubo was absolutely related to the many advanced agricultural technologies and manual techniques brought by Princess Wencheng.
If Princess Wencheng had not married him, the Tubo people would probably still be eating grass on the plateau.
When Li Hong thought of this, he wished he had been born a few decades earlier, if only he could stop his grandfather, the Emperor Li Shimin, from marrying Princess Wencheng.
Having tasted the sweetness of marriage alliances, Tubo seemed to know how to do the same. A few years ago, they even made a request to the emperor, hoping to marry another princess to him. Fortunately, they were rejected by the emperor.
"You're in your thirties, and you still have the nerve to crawl out of a dog hole?" Li Hong teased in the tone of Xinjiang lamb skewers from his previous life, looking at an inner city wall surrounded by the royal guards. Seven or eight people were coming out of there one after another under the care of torches.
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