Start from the thief

Chapter 581: Ruined City

Because of the existence of spiritual energy in this world, the lifespan of ordinary people is longer than in the ancient world, but it is limited. It has only been increased from an average of around thirty (yes, the average lifespan of ancient people in the Central Plains was only thirty years old, and in some dynasties it was even lower...) to forty. The rich and powerful can live a dozen years longer because they eat well and can afford medicine, but living to be sixty or seventy years old is still rare.

Ye Ruru Benbuno was also an outstanding warrior when he was young. He had participated in many wars with the Tang Dynasty and even destroyed several small countries in the Western Regions with his own hands.

An outstanding warrior who is not a monk means that he has hidden injuries that cannot be cured.

Doji is his only son, and he is afraid that it will be difficult for him to have another son in this lifetime.

Doji is even more important to Ye Ru than Bunuo himself.

Songzhou City has fallen. Buono sat in the lobby of the government office, listening to his men constantly reporting the results of the battle, but there was no trace of joy after the victory on his face.

Songzhou cannot be defended, this is a fact that everyone has already confirmed. For 400 years, the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo has never stopped. Songzhou has always been the front line of the war between the two countries. Tubo has invaded this place nearly ten times and even attacked Chang'an City three times.

Every time they captured Songzhou, Tubo would destroy this fortified city, and then rebuild it after the Tang Dynasty took it back, and this cycle would repeat.

Therefore, there is nothing to be happy about after the city was captured; the key point is to kill as many new Tang troops as possible.

But who would have thought that six thousand soldiers would simply abandon the city and run away!

Whether these 6,000 people run to Jianmen Pass or Chang'an, the subsequent siege plan will be increased by an entire order of magnitude, especially Jianmen Pass.

That broken place had never been conquered by Tubo before. If we added 6,000 defenders, we would have to sacrifice the lives of 60,000 Tubo warriors, which no one could afford!

"Has anyone been caught?"

"Master, not yet."

"The cunning mice hid in the holes in the ground. Even the eagles couldn't do anything to them."

Bu Nuo stamped his feet in hatred. Six thousand of the reinforcements fled, and after the city was broken, the rest used their familiar terrain to engage in street fighting. The last time the city was rebuilt was entirely for the purpose of street fighting. It was a contrast to the neat and tidy market style of Chang'an and Dongdu. The streets were crooked and built exactly the same. The Tibetan soldiers who came for the first time couldn't even figure out the direction.

This resulted in tens of thousands of his troops being forced to spread out like a fishing net, and they dared not relax anywhere.

It is necessary to completely clear Songzhou City before Ganbu's main force arrives, and then suppress Jianmen Pass so that Ganbu can attack Chang'an calmly.

Bu Nuo rubbed his brows and asked: "Duoji hasn't arrived yet?"

"The last messenger was three days ago, saying that they had received the young master, but there were too many chaotic troops on the road, so they might have to avoid them for a while, and they will arrive a few days later."

"Well, how about the people who went after that old man?"

"It should go smoothly. Lord Cai Bang is leading three Dongdai (thousand households) to follow closely. A defeated army of only a thousand people cannot escape."

"Okay, we must kill as many as possible before they escape to Jianmen Pass. Tell Cai Bang not to stop after eating that old man, but to push him directly to Jianmen Pass. I will send troops to support them immediately."

The subordinate bowed and left. Buno breathed a sigh of relief. Tubo had come with all their might, and the Tang Dynasty was torn apart. There was no way to stop Tubo. It was only a matter of time.

Songzhou prefect Hai Sheng was sitting upright with his eyes closed. The sun was shining brightly outside, but it was very dark here, with only a few oil lamps for lighting.

Just as Bruno said, they are now like rats, hiding in the underground caves that extend everywhere in Songzhou.

"My Lord, please bear with it."

A doctor took a short knife and roasted it over the fire. With a "swish" sound and accompanied by Hai Sheng's groan, a bloody wolf-tooth arrowhead was picked out.

"How many more of us are there?"

Hai Sheng was sweating profusely as he watched the doctor bandaging him. He opened his eyes and asked a deputy general.

"There are still five hundred people we can contact."

"Five hundred. That old fellow Bruno has at least forty thousand men up there."

"No, some of them went after Lord Liu, and some of them should have gone north. We killed so many of them under the city, so there should be more than 20,000 at most."

"Hey, five hundred, twenty thousand, one against forty, that's not impossible, ha, hahaha, cough cough cough."

Haisheng laughed out loud, and the laughter touched the wound, causing him to cough.

"Sir, is there really no reinforcement?"

The deputy general's face was covered in blood mist. He had wiped the blood off his sword over and over again, and there were already several cuts on the blade.

"If there are any, they won't come. As long as the chief officer of Yizhou still has some brains, he will definitely station his troops at Jianmen Pass. If we send them now, they will just be swallowed up bit by bit."

The deputy general sighed: "It looks like he will die."

"Death is not worth regretting."

"It's not a pity to die. I hate the nobles in Xijing and Yizhou. They should have received our request for help a month ago. Why didn't they say anything and just watched Songzhou fall? Your Majesty!"

"Shut up!"

Hai Sheng shouted angrily: "I eat your salary, worry about your worries, and die."

Hai Sheng looked at his subordinates who were bowing their heads in anger but dared not speak, and closed his eyes helplessly: "The only thing is death."

On the official road, more than a hundred cavalrymen were dragged away, and Zhao Yushu forcibly left behind a bow, several pots of arrows and a spear.

The horses are tall, and although I can chop them with a sword, it is not as convenient as using a long weapon.

Zhao Yushu did not wait there, but continued to move forward, approaching Songzhou step by step. With his eyes open, he could vaguely see the long black spots in the distance.

There were a thousand soldiers in the Dongdai of Tubo, and these were regular soldiers not including auxiliary soldiers and serfs.

Cai Bang is Bruno's number one general, and the three Dong Dai are Ye Ru's strongest soldiers, enough to fight on equal terms with the Tang army of the same number.

This is not a disparagement. You should know that although Tubo has broken through Songzhou many times, they were always outnumbered. The first time Tubo invaded Songzhou, it was an army of 200,000, with the power to destroy Tuyuhun. At that time, there were less than 10,000 people in Songzhou, and the reinforcements that came later were only 30,000 to 50,000. In the end, Tubo was blocked at the gate of Songzhou and could not advance an inch.

Therefore, even at the end of the dynasty, those who could fight the Tang army in a one-to-one exchange ratio could definitely be called the elite among the elite.

Cai Bang looked coldly at the more than a hundred cavalrymen who were retreating.

"How many troops do you think the other side has?"

"One, one, but he is a cultivator, a cultivator of the Third Heaven!"

Cai Bang laughed: "One person, a mere Third Heaven cultivator, fought off my entire army of a hundred men head-on, and they were the best army of a hundred men? I even gave you two fucking cultivators!"

The two monks lying on the stretchers turned their heads and closed their eyes, pretending not to hear.

"Where is the man?"

"Ahead, about fifteen miles."

"Go, let me see who is the one who dares to block my way."