On the east bank of the Great Xia River.
The sky turned white at dawn.
Li Ke rode his horse and stood on the shore.
He narrowed his eyes and tried his best to stare at the center of the river.
Two soldiers who were good at swimming were swimming to the other side of the river with hemp ropes wrapped around their waists.
The Great Xia River was turbulent.
Li Ke did not dare to relax.
After five days of secret marching, they cut through all the obstacles and cleared all the people who might have discovered their advance. Finally, they approached the first pass to the south of Jishi Mountain.
Tumen Pass.
As long as they took down Earth Gate Pass.
It was equivalent to opening the door to Jishi Mountain!
Tuyuhun had 17,000 soldiers stationed in Jishi Mountain alone!
This was because Tumen Pass was the only pass in the entire Jishi Mountain range that was most suitable for an army to advance through.
Although the other mountain paths could also be used for marching, it was already very difficult for thousands of people to march.
This meant that as long as he took down Earth Gate Pass, it would be equivalent to controlling Jishi Mountain!
Even if the Tubo people wanted to get involved, would they take those narrow paths and send troops into Tuyuhun?
Would Songzan dare?
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince asked us to make a big fuss along the way to attract the enemy's attention, but you…isn't that bad?”Xue Rengui finally couldn't help but give his opinion tactfully.
When Li Ke heard this, he retracted his gaze and said with a smile,"Right now, the Crown Prince and the others are still far away from Dafei River. As long as we cross the Great Xia River and attack Tumen Pass, we can still achieve our goal.”
" Your Highness, are you really going to cross the Great Xia River? Once we cross the Great Xia River, we will be stuck on the other side of the river…" Xue Rengui looked at Li Ke in surprise.
He vaguely understood that Li Ke wanted to use 10,000 people to take down Tumen Pass!
Otherwise, they would not have crossed the Great Xia River!
It was very dangerous after crossing the river.
If they couldn't take Tumen Pass and their escape route was cut off, they would either have to fight to the death or head south into Tubo to seek refuge!
"Big brother, you want to take down Tumen Pass?”Qin Huaiyu finally understood Li Ke's purpose and asked in surprise.
Li Ke waved his hand." No, everything depends on the progress of the battle. After crossing the river, I will also reserve troops here to guard the Great Xia River Crossing Bridge.”
"Big brother, we can cross the river now." At this moment, Niu Lu jogged over.
Li Ke left 500 men to guard the two simple ropes. He dismounted and led his soldiers to grab the ropes and start swimming across the Great Xia River.
It was the season of melting snow on the plateau, and the water flow of the Daxia River was rapid and cold.
However, he had no choice but to do so.
If the logging supervisor crossed the river, the commotion would be too great and it was very likely to attract attention.
Moreover, it would take too long.
After crossing the river.
Li Ke immediately ordered," Chumo, your battalion will be the vanguard. Remember to send out the most elite scouts. Make a big fuss and create the momentum of a vanguard of at least 5,000 people. All the villages and early warning fortresses along the way will be destroyed by me with lightning speed!"”
"Remember, no matter how many enemies there are, you must use the momentum of an elephant stepping on an ant!”
"Don't worry, Big Brother. I know. I'm just trying to make the barbarians think that our army is approaching.”Cheng Chumo patted his chest and said.
After Cheng Chumo left, Li Ke ordered,"Zhangsun Huan, lead five hundred men and stay here. Work with the brothers on the other side and use the fastest speed to cut down trees and build a wooden bridge.”
All the provisions, except for enough for three days, were thrown by Li Ke on the other side of the river.
"Don't worry, Big Brother!"
"Let's go!"
Li Ke led the remaining 8,000 men, wrung the water off their clothes, and started to chase after Cheng Chumo.
They chased along the way, and all the villages were empty.
As for the early warning fortresses, smoke rose and corpses were everywhere.
He immediately chased after Cheng Chumo for fifty miles.
At this moment, the sun was already in the sky.
They had been hurrying all the way through the wind and the sun, and their clothes were almost dry.
However, the soldiers were all quite cold.
When he stopped, even his lips turned blue.
Cheng Chumo ran out of a military fort, his face flushed and his forehead sweating. He boasted,"Big brother, I've dispersed all the villages along the way and destroyed the military fortresses. I deliberately didn't extinguish the beacon fires. More than ten military fortresses kept emitting beacon fires. Helian Tienan, who's guarding Tumen Pass, must have been frightened by the speed of the attack.”
"And just now, I deliberately interrogated a few enemy soldiers and told them that our 40,000-strong army was attacking, then deliberately let them take the opportunity to escape. This news should reach Helian Tienan's ears very soon.”
"Good!"
Li Ke patted Cheng Chumo's shoulder and said,"We're still twenty miles away from Tumen Pass. We can reach there in two hours. There's no hurry. Let's wait and see Helian Tienan's reaction first.”
"Send out scouts to investigate the situation. The army will rest on the spot. At least let our brothers drink some ginger soup.”
After the order was given, Qin Huaiyu sent out scouts from his headquarters and the army began to rest.
Tumen Pass.
"What? Forty thousand people! Didn't Murong Xiaojun send news that the main force of the Tang army was attacking him in Dafei River? Did he still need me to send troops to support him? Why did 40,000 people suddenly appear on our side?”
Helian Tienan drew his saber and placed it on the shoulder of the soldier who had returned.
"General, this lowly one is not lying. This lowly one can understand the Han language. When they were interrogating this lowly one, two Han generals accidentally revealed their military strength.”
"Leader, I'm afraid it's true. Over the years, our capital has never given up on the idea of annexing our Helian tribe.”A Tuyuhun general said in a low voice.
Clang!
Helian Tienan sheathed his saber. The Helian Clan was originally the owner of this land.
Ever since the Five Hu period, the Murong branch of Xianbei had risen. Murong Guishe's concubines had migrated 1,700 households to this place.
The Helian Tribe was constantly suppressed.
The Murong family of Xianbei used the first ruler Tuyuhun as their surname and clan name.
Murong Xiaojun of Dafei River was also a member of the Tuyuhun royal family, so the Murong family had always been a confidant of the Tuyuhun royal family.
The Helian tribe was different. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, their leader, Helian Ding, failed to resist Tuyuhun and was sent to Northern Wei.
Helian Tribe could only submit to Tuyuhun.
Even so, the successive Tuyuhun Kings had never given up on the idea of suppressing Helian Tribe.
They had been chased from Qinghai Lake to the Bai Hai Grassland.
After that, he rushed from Baihai Grassland to Jishi Mountain.
If not for the rise of Tubo, the northern part of the Central Plains would have been gradually unified during the Northern Wei Dynasty.
The geographical location of Jishi Mountain became important.
The strategic position of Tumen Pass occupied by Helian tribe had gradually become more important. Helian tribe would probably have been swallowed up by Tuyuhun long ago.
All these years, he had deliberately colluded with the Tubo in the open and in the dark just to make those people in the capital fear him.
In the words of the Han people, it was to raise bandits and respect themselves.
Helian Tienan had never thought of really turning to Tubo.
Tubo is more powerful and defends to Tubo. Tubo will be more ruthless than Tuyuhun.
"In other words, we are the main attack direction of the Tang army. Murong Xiaojun wants to take out the elites of the Helian tribe and watch us be destroyed by the Tang army!”
"But would the capital be willing to give up on Jishi Mountain?”Helian Tienan analyzed as his brows gradually furrowed.
"Tuyuhun doesn't have the capital to resist the Tang Empire in the Central Plains.”Helian Hua, Helian Tienan's nephew, said,""The capital wants to abandon Jishi Mountain and the entire grassland of the Baihai Highlands.”
"Whether it's the Tang army or the Tubo army, they will fight for it. If they use a bone that doesn't have much meat to start a war between the Tang and Tubo, Tuyuhun will be able to survive.”
Helian Tienan grabbed the little braid on his head and pulled it gently. After a long time, he sneered,"Tell Murong Xiaojun that the main force of the Tang army has appeared in the direction of Jishi Mountain. We can't reinforce him. At the same time, we have to ask for help from the capital. Otherwise, if we don't give them support and supplies, our Helian tribe will be unable to hold on and can only surrender to the Tang Dynasty!”
"Uncle, are we really going to surrender to the Tang Dynasty?”
"Of course not. They just want to use this war to obtain as many benefits as possible for our Helian tribe. Otherwise, we will suffer heavy casualties and defend Tumen Pass.”
"Helian Hua, leave the city immediately and personally go to Dadun Mountain outside the city. As long as Dadun Mountain and Tumen Pass form a corner, do you think the Tang army can easily conquer it? Dream on!"
"This Tumen Pass is the capital of our Helian tribe, do you understand?”
"Uncle, don't worry. Helian Hua understands that since Jishi Mountain is controlled by Helian Clan, our Helian Clan has the capital to bargain with the other forces!”
……
In the direction of Dafei River.
Li Chengqian's speed exceeded Li Ke's expectations.
Li Chengqian was really eager to make contributions and wanted to take down Dafei River as soon as possible to make a beautiful contribution.
However, reality had given Li Chengqian a hard blow.
Two days ago, he had begun to attack Dafei Chuan.
After two days of fierce attacks, the enemy general Murong Xiaojun defended very tenaciously.
He had lost 4,000 men, but he had only taken some unimportant mountains.
Murong Xiaojun made use of Dafei River's continuous hills to make it look like he was going to fight to the death with him one hill at a time.
He didn't dare to ignore these mountains and march forward.
There were not many enemies on each mountain.
There were at least five or six hundred people, and at most more than a thousand.
However, once he went around, the enemy would come down from the mountain fortress and attack his retreat.
"Where's Li Ke? What would he do if he was asked to lure the enemy to send reinforcements? Why was there no news at all?”
"I want to report this to Imperial Father! Sue him for delaying the opportunity!"
Li Chengqian's furious roar came from the commander's tent.
4,000 people were almost one-tenth of the army!
"And you, Li Tai! The next time we attack, if your Right Leader still dares to conserve his strength, don't blame me for being rude!”
……
At the same time, Li Ke had already set off once again with great momentum, pouncing towards Dadun Mountain.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。