Chapter 165: Fire Attack Night Attack

Ma Jirong rushed to Zhang Mai's place. After a while, it was late at night. He shook his head and said to Li Shengtian: "My Lord, Special Envoy Zhang doesn't listen to the advice at all."

Li Shengtian said: "But your tone is not good?"

"How could that happen?" Ma Jirong said: "How dare I neglect what the Lord has given?"

Li Shengtian said: "Then I'll go by myself."

Regardless of Ma Jirong's dissuasion, he rushed to see Zhang Mai overnight. Zhang Mai and Murong Qiuhua directed the troops toward the river bank, and their actions were quiet. It was obvious that they were about to attack at night. Li Shengtian stopped him and said, "Brother, are you going to cross the Zhenzhu River at night to sneak attack Arslan?"

Zhang Mai said in surprise: "How come brother knows it too?"

Li Shengtian said: "Ma Jirong saw some clues from the mountain here, and it was not impossible to attack at night. It was just that this time, it seemed that he was not doing enough. I think it would be better tonight. If the situation was seen through by the other side, I would be afraid that there would be damage."

Seeing that Li Shengtian sent Ma Jirong to tactfully dissuade him, Zhang Mai came with him again, obviously very sincere, and couldn't help but feel moved. He took his hand and smiled and said, "Brother, I originally planned to do this quietly. Since my brother knows, let's go together."

"Go together?"

"Yes." Zhang Mai smiled and said, "Let's go and see how Qiu Hua defeated the enemy."

On the winding mountain road leading to the Talas region, after the last time the main force of the Tang army passed by, a road was formed. Although it was not smooth, its direction was very clear. After all, there were tens of thousands of people in the main force of the Tang army. When they were in action, they tried to be as careful as possible. However, the original path was much more convenient and widened in many places. The passage of the Tang army brought a lot of external news to the tribes along the way. It is said that "the road is connected to wealth". Once there was communication with the outside world, some natives who were originally peaceful and old, also became interested.

The Chongtian Fort was about 120 miles away from Ningyuan, blocking the only way to Ningyuan in the Talas region. When He Chunshan arrived here, He Ziying had already comforted the residents of the original tribe and established two military camps outside, two camps and one village, and one village left and right stream, building a mountain fort that can accommodate two or three thousand people.

After He Ziying drove here, in addition to transporting the necessary military rations for the two battalions, the rear brought some clothing and other items. The soldiers of the Tang army used these items to trade with local herdsmen to supplement some meat, or hired them to help build mountain forts. After a while, the mountain people from dozens of miles nearby depended on them, and some simply set up grass wards outside the mountain forts where the Tang army allowed them to live.

Although the conditions of the mountain fort were simple, the soldiers of the Tang army came through the most difficult situation and could still bear it. There was a person waiting in the guest house of the mountain fort, which was the "Satuk's messenger" mentioned by Zhang Mai - Su Lai.

He Chunshan was quite surprised by this and said after meeting, "Elder General Su Lai, I really didn't expect that Bogra Khan would send you here. I thought he would send you to Bukhara."

Su Lai's appearance was much older than a few months ago, and his head turned white. He looked up and down at He Chunshan: "Who are you?"

He Chunshan smiled and said, "I am He Chunshan, the director of the Anxi Protectorate. You don't recognize me, but I recognize you-I once went to Shule and saw you walking through the chaotic market in the crowd. At that time, you were very majestic, but I was still a penniless young man. I didn't expect that a few years have passed, but the situation has completely turned upside down. At that time, even a centurion under Bograhan was arrogant, but now even an important general like the veteran General Su Lai is not valued. It's really a pity to think about it."

Su Lai snorted, and guessed from He Chunshan's self-report that he was not an old dependent of Anxi, but a new person who surrendered, and said, "I ask for the Special Envoy Zhang to see him, so I will ask He Lu to inform him."

He Chunshan said: "Enter Zhang will not see you anymore. If you have anything to say, just tell me."

After Su Lai was defeated by the Tang army one after another, he also studied the official system of the Anxi Protectorate. At this time, he said: "Can you decide on diplomatic affairs just by recording?"

He Chunshan smiled and said, "Of course I can't make a decision, but it's impossible for you to meet Special Envoy Zhang. Now he is not available. But if you really want to meet someone who is worthy, I can show you a clear way."

"Oh? Who?"

He Chunshan said: "I am the Great Anxi Province protecting Sima, Liu An."

The highest-ranking generals of the Anxi Protectorate's Office are the Central Army General. Yang Yi and others can be said to be promoted step by step. However, the names of several key departments of the center remained unchanged, and their power and status increased. Among them, Liu An was the Sima of the Protector of the Great Guardian, who was the chief of staff of the Tang army. Although he was trapped in the enemy camp, Zhang Mai and others still retained his position. Li Bin had already entered the Sima Office from the scattered officials, but the name was only a newly established deputy Sima.

Su Lai knew that Tang Jun was setting the conditions as soon as he heard this, but this was also within his expectations and said, "Release Liu Sima,"

He Chunshan said: "When two armies fight, they don't kill the envoys. Liu Sima is not captured by you, but you are unreasonably detained when you go to your army to negotiate. You can even detain the envoys who visit. What kind of integrity can you say? Without sincerity and trustworthiness, how can people believe you? You should let him back unconditionally, otherwise there is no need to talk about anything else."

Liu An did voluntarily go to Satuk military camp, but Satuk believed that Liu An's arrival was part of the Tang army's fraud, so he kept detaining it. However, the situation had changed at this time, so it was reasonable for He Chunshan to say this.

Su Lai was also very pleased and said, "Okay, after I go back, I will release Liu Sima unconditionally."

He Chunshan said: "Enter Zhang has a message that the matters in the northwest will be fully responsible for Liu Sima, so if you have any suggestions, you can directly discuss it after releasing Liu Sima."

Su Lai originally did not intend to have too much entanglement with He Chunshan. Seeing that he was very skilled in dealing with things, he refused to give in every step, stared at him and said, "Although the Tang army is powerful at present, there are many worries. Ignoring my good intentions like this, I am afraid I will regret it in the future!"

He Chunshan smiled and said, "I heard that when the Tang army was still in Xinshuye City, the envoy you sent also said similar words. What's the result?"

Su Lai said: "I won't have this quarrel with you, but now your Tang army will have a big disaster in a blink of an eye. If you delay and do not introduce Special Envoy Zhang to me, when the disaster is coming in the future, I am afraid you will not be able to bear it."

"The veteran General Su Lai doesn't need to threaten me with great slander." He Chunshan said: "The so-called disaster is at most Samman. Arslan and you have agreed to three families to advance at the same time. Unfortunately, all this was already calculated by our Special Envoy Zhang. Even if you three families really raise troops together, Special Envoy Zhang would have a solution." He smiled strangely when he said this: "But veteran General Su Lai, do you really think Samman will advance eastward?"

Su Lai was so nervous when he was smiling. Although his face was quiet, he saw He Chunshan pointing out the "Three Families Advance at the same time" section, and he was gradually losing confidence. However, after all, he was Lao Jiang and was not panicked.

He Chunshan said: "If Bogra Khan really planned to attack Ningyuan, please send troops quickly. Special Envoy Zhang had prepared a force to wait for Chongtianzhai. But if Bogra Khan did make a decision, the special envoy had already given me an order to go to Talas in person to greet him. After Liu Sima arrived at Chongtianzhai, wouldn't he be able to negotiate with you? Senior General Su Lai, are you going to go back to mobilize troops, or lead me into the country to welcome Liu Sima?"

Li Shengtian followed Zhang Mai out of Yihei Mountain City. Although he was walking towards the shore, he did not wander down, but moved upwards. Li Shengtian was surprised, but he held back and refused to ask. When he arrived at the narrowest part of the river in the upper reaches, Zhang Mai said: "Brother, we are here."

In the darkness, Li Shengtian vaguely saw many things on the river bank.

What is it?

At this time, someone had already reported in the dark: "The special envoy is ready." But Murong Qiuhua came.

Zhang Mai said: "Okay! Get ready to cast it!" He took Li Shengtian to a higher stone platform and put down two chairs: "Brother, let's watch the soldiers defeat the enemy here."

The river bank suddenly lit up, but it was not that someone lit the torch, but that more than twenty fireballs burned at the same time. Li Shengtian looked at it and couldn't help but exclaim softly.

At this moment, dozens of catapults were placed on the river bank. Each catapult was filled with black things, half of which had been lit, which was where the light just now was!

It turned out that at dusk, Zhang Mai saw that the river surface was narrow, and the other side was piled with wood. More than 100 prepared rafts were tied to the shore, all of which were squeezed into one piece. After all, the Zhenzhu River is an inland river, and the width of the river surface is naturally impossible to compare with the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Although the water flow in this section was turbulent, the river surface was the narrowest. Zhang Mai asked Murong Qiuhua if the catapult car might hit the other side. After Murong Qiuhua observed that it was possible, the two of them immediately became busy.

The hand Murong Qiuhua led to arrive there before sunset, calculated the direction, angle and force of throwing, and marked the south bank. After it was dark, Guo Luo led the infantry and cavalry to move the boat and raft downstream, making the illusion of sneak attack. But Murong Qiuhua led the militia to resettle the catapult cart overnight. Forty-seven catapult carts were installed, and it was the second update.

This is thanks to the fact that most of these catapult cars were designed by Ningyuan's great mechanic Sadi and modified. Not only can some parts be disassembled and assembled, but the bases are also equipped with wheels, so it is easier to carry them. Otherwise, Murong Qiuhua would not be able to arrange this cannon array so quickly.

The shells ignited, and the south bank immediately lit up. In the darkness, more than twenty light spots suddenly appeared. It was eye-catching from other places. Murong Qiuhua did not delay and ordered: "Release!"

More than twenty casting cars released the fire balls. The fire balls crossed the river and hit the pile of wood on the shore, but some hit the raft on the shore. These fire balls were made of coal and wood chips. The outer layer was coated with oil paste, and gunpowder was placed inside. After it was blown to the opposite shore, the oil paste splashed and hundreds of points of Mars were splashed. At the same time, the huge impact force stimulated the fire balls into pieces. The coal chips inside flew away. After the gunpowder came into contact with the spark, it burned quickly. A large fire ball hit him and ignited a large fire!

The Uighurs on the other side were panicked. Although they also guarded against the Tang army's night attack, they were guarding against the Tang army crossing the river. On the shore, the Uighurs had already planted many rotating sentries to guard against the night. As long as there were Tang army ships approaching, they would shoot arrows. But they never expected that the other party would use long-range weapons directly. The width of the Zhenzhu River made the bow and arrow unable to directly form lethality on the other side, but the range of the catapult was enough to cross the narrowest river surface.

The Uighur army was panicked and shouted: "Get water! Put out the fire!" But how many buckets of water could be found in a hurry?

The rafts squeezed together and the wood on the shore were excellent fire-driven objects. More than 40 catapults started to rush and continuously ignited the bullets. Fireballs were sent over one after another. The fire became bigger and bigger. Li Shengtian sat on the high place and laughed. Then he said to Zhang Mai: "My brother had a clever idea. He pretended to cross the river from the downstream, but it was actually a void soldier. His real goal was to burn the raft wood back to the captive ship. It seemed that I was worried for nothing."

At this moment, more than thirty rafts were put into the water and pushed them over as the water was in full swing. When they reached the middle stream, they separated. It turned out that the more than thirty rafts were half-person and half-unmanned. The rafts with no one were also piled up with fire. The rafts carrying people from behind were approaching, and suddenly lit the rafts in front and pushed them towards the Uighur army's raft group, but they rode back to the south bank.

The north bank guarded against the Tang army's sneak attack and returned troops ran to put out the fire at this time, but they were not careful that the Tang army used this move. The fireballs kept flying down from the sky, and more than a dozen fire ships were sent on the water. As the two intersected each other, the fire was already hard to stop.

A general in the Uighur army shouted and cut the wood into two halves, thus saving the wood far away from the shore. As for the boat rafts and the wood on the shore, they were all swallowed up by the blazing flames.

The Tang army's fire attack targeted the Uighur ships and materials. Although the sky-storming fire did not kill many enemies, as long as the Uighur ship and raft were destroyed, the Tang army could occupy the dominance of the river surface for a long time. The Uighurs waited for the ship and raft to rush over to fight with the Tang army. Unexpectedly, if one was careless, his hard work for many days was destroyed, even Arslan was furious.

Seeing that Humama gathered more and more on the other side, Zhang Mai smiled and said to Li Shengtian: "Brother, let's go back to the mountain city. There is still a good show in the west."

Li Shengtianqi said: "There is still a good show?"

Zhang Mai smiled and said, "Yes, although this fire attack is not as good as it is, it will not disappoint my brother."

At this time, the fourth update was already in the fourth update, and the Tang army had stopped issuing the cannon. Zhang Mai left Murong Qiuhua to pack up the catapult cart, but took Li Shengtian's hand to climb Yiheishan City again. Looking north from the mountain city, the opposite side was pitch black except for the star-like lights. Humans' technology in this era was still very limited. It took a lot of fuel to create the dazzling light like a firewood boat raft just now. The range of illumination at night was very limited.

After the Tang army made such a fuss, all Hu horses rushed to the upper reaches of the Zhenzhu River, either to put out fires or to guard against them. Torches were required to march at night, so Zhang Mai and Li Shengtian could clearly see that there were torches moving from the west to the east.

No matter how strong the fire was, it was finally extinguished. Seeing that the firelight above gradually weakened, the north bank gradually returned to calm. For more than half an hour, there was no movement between the north and the south, and nothing happened. This boring silence made Ma Jirong feel unbearable, but the king was also waiting by the side, and he was embarrassed to even yawn.

Li Shengtian actually felt very tired, but since Zhang Mai said there was a good show, he had to wait.

After the fourth update, the sky gradually became whiter and the sun was about to get up. A riot suddenly occurred in the Uighur military camp on the other side!

"Huh?" Li Shengtian screamed, and then he saw a line of fire burning from the west, rushing straight to the big tent of the Uighur Army's central army, approaching Arslan's big slate!

"Another night attack?" Ma Jirong's heart was trembling: "Yes! So that's it!" He looked at Zhang Mai from the back of the diagonal: "Enter Zhang first sent troops downstream to prepare for a night attack on the river, but deliberately showed flaws to attract the attention of the Uighurs. However, he arranged artillery upstream, and cast in the air, destroying the Uighurs' boats and rafts. When the Uighurs were all led to the east, the void soldiers in the downstream turned into real sneak attack troops and rushed straight into the Uighurs' camp!"

Suddenly, the Uighur army had just relaxed and rested after putting out the fire. It was the most tired time when the Tang army suddenly came from the west and the room was defeated step by step.

Xi Sheng led his troops across the river this time. He used not many people, only more than a thousand people, but they were all elite infantry. After rushing into the enemy camp, they set fire and chopped and killed. In the chaos, the Uighurs didn't know how many soldiers and horses were attacking. Many of them were killed by the Tang army before they even had time to pick up their weapons.

Xi Sheng and Liu Heihu each led 500 people, and without leaving any troops, heading straight to the Arslan's big cage. The line of fire was approaching like a poisonous snake, and the Uighur generals on the other side actually shouted: "Protect the Khan! Protect the Khan!" A few sounds floated across the shore.

Shi Ba heard it on the shore and said happily: "Brother Xi rushed to the big flag! Could it be that he had already captured Arslan?"

Zhang Mai originally wanted Xi Sheng Liu Heihu to make trouble, but the current situation was quite unexpected.

Shiba shouted: "Enterprise! Take advantage of the victory and attack! Please order crossing the river!"

The generals also asked for battle, and Zhang Mai's hearts were also moved, but Guo Luo was in a state of concentration and walked on a step: "No! I will withdraw my troops!"

Shi Ba shouted, "Jing Jin now? That's a pity!"

Guo Luo shouted, "Ming Jin!" While sending Wen Yanhai to the reception.

Zhang Mai also nodded: "Ming Jin."

It was a pity that Shi Balian shouted, Guo Luo then explained: "It was the darkness just now, and the Uighurs could not distinguish between us, so Xi Sheng and others were able to achieve a battle record that was beyond their expectations. But now it is already dawn, and the battle situation will be tilted in a direction that is beneficial to the enemy as soon as the sky is clear. After all, our troops are relatively small. We did not intend to attack the entire army before, and the raft could not transport all the soldiers over at once. If we temporarily change the battle strategy and cross the river in a hurry, we would not be able to win. It would just cause more people to fall into it."

At this time, Xi Sheng and Liu Heihu had already retreated in the chaos. The midsummer sky was so bright that it was so fast. Not long after, the sky was already bright. Li Shengtian could see the actions of some Tang troops on the other side of Yiheishan City.

The Uighurs gradually gathered to chase Xi Sheng and Liu Heihu. When the last team of infantry in the Tang army jumped onto the raft, the Uighurs' cavalry chased to the shore. Fortunately, the two troops left early, and if they were one step late, they might be intercepted by the Uighurs' army on the shore.

Since then, Shi Ba has been convinced by Guo Luo's opinion. Ma Jirong looked at Guo Luo and thought to himself: "Enter Zhang's plan is certainly amazing, but it is more determined by General Guo, and he is not blinded by the sudden victory."

Guo Luo doesn't speak much on weekdays. When he was in Ningyuan before, Ma Jirong always felt that he seemed far inferior to Xue Fu. He thought that he could rank among the General of the Central Army and was still above Xue Fu because he was the son of the former Grand Protector. It was not until then that he realized Guo Luo's role in the Tang army.

That night, Zhang Mai launched two consecutive attacks, burning the Uighurs' crossing rigs in the first game. If Arslan had to cross the river, he had to start over. The second game was even closer to the big flag. Although he did not really "behead" to capture the enemy chief, Arslan was shocked to escape from the tent in disarray and lose his power.

After these two surprise attacks, the Uighur army on the north bank did not dare to underestimate the Tang army. Even the arrogant generals of Balashaguon were secretly agitated and put away their previous arrogance, thinking: "This Zhang Mai is indeed not easy to mess with. No wonder Maswude will die at his hands, and Bograhan will be defeated at his hands."

Arslan himself saw more. The Tang army's night attack was not only successful in strategy, but also showed the Tang army's advantages in military branches and combat readiness: the Tang army that had crossed the river sneak attack came and went on the rugged north bank of the Zhenzhu River, showing the attack power and action power of the Tang army's infantry; and those catapults left a deep impression on Arslan. Since the catapults could cross the river surface, if placed on Yiheishan City, it would naturally be no problem to smash the river surface from the far side and the near outside the city. Although the Uighur army had a large number of people, they would suffer a great loss in the face of such a powerful weapon to defend the city.

The Uighurs on the north bank for two consecutive days did not make any movement. On the third day, Zhang Mai sent an envoy. This time the Uighurs did not force him back with arrows and let him land. Arslan also received him. This time the envoy of the Tang army only brought a letter. Arslan did not know Chinese characters, so he asked the envoy to translate it on the spot. The envoy said: "The imperial envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Mai, the special envoy of Longyoudao, and Li Shengtian, the king of the Datang Kingdom of Khotan, the western Uighur Khan of the West: It is also a mountainous area, which is not conducive to galloping. You should return quickly, and you may be afraid of disaster."

Arslan snorted and said, "Get back and tell Zhang Mai that even if I cut off the Zhenzhu River and flatten Yihei Mountain, I will still report the humiliation I had last night!"

The messenger followed Zhang Mai's instructions and did not retort, but just returned honestly.

Li Shengtian said: "He actually said such words in public, and this is probably difficult to be kind."
Chapter completed!