Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

The Xi royal court.

In the main hall.

Du He sat high in the main seat, Zhangsun Wuji and Xue Rengui sat on his left and right, and the four generals of the Central Army, Cheng Mingzhen, Xue Wanbei, Li Dejian and Luo Tong, sat on both sides below.

In the center of the hall, a Tang army scout dressed in Khitan clothing was reporting with a serious expression.

"Currently, all Khitan people are soldiers, with approximately 6 cavalry and 12 infantry."

"Among them, the Khitan have about 8 soldiers on the border with the Xi people, the Khitan imperial court has 4 soldiers, the Liaodong border has 3 soldiers, and the remaining cities have a total of 3 soldiers."

"The Khitans have mobilized their people and set up numerous fences and horse traps along the Xi border. If a large army attacks, they must be extremely cautious."

After listening to the scout's report, everyone's faces became extremely solemn.

The Khitan's attitude showed their determination to fight the Tang army to the death!

Their fighting spirit is probably several times stronger than that of the Xi people.

Du He said to the scouts, "You've worked hard lately. Take the brothers down and rest for a while. I'll have the firemen slaughter 30 fat sheep as a reward for you."

"Thank you, Chief Steward Du."

The scout captain saluted respectfully and left quickly.

Du He called Du Wu in and asked him to arrange for the soldiers to slaughter the fat sheep.

It was not only hard work for scouts to sneak into Khitan to gather information, but also a life-threatening situation.

During this period, no less than 50 war horses died from running, which shows how intense the campaign was.

A moment of silence.

Zhang Sun Wuji said in a deep voice: "It seems that the Khitan King Daha Kuge has long been planning a rebellion, otherwise he would not have made such thorough preparations!"

"They now have an army of 18, and their forces are extremely concentrated. This battle will be difficult to win!"

In the 643th year of Zhenguan (), the Khitan obeyed the order of the Tang Dynasty and sent troops to harass many cities in the north of Goguryeo.

For this reason, His Majesty also appointed Daha Kugo as General of the Left Guard to show his commendation.

At that time, Daha Kuge gladly accepted the reward and told the envoy sent to Khitan that he wanted to lead his troops to surrender to the Tang Dynasty.

I never expected that this was all a trick of the Khitans.

Luo Tong stood up and said, "General Manager Du, Deputy General Manager Zhangsun, although the Khitan's troops are nine times ours, their combat effectiveness is far inferior to ours."

"I believe we can adopt the tactics we used against the Xi people and attack their main force!"

When he led his army to annihilate the Yuanshizhe tribe of the Xi people, they faced tens of thousands of Xi infantry and cavalry at the same time, but in the end they won the battle with very few losses.

Although the Khitan's territory is twice that of the Xi, the combat effectiveness of their soldiers should not be much different.

According to his idea, there is no need to think too much, just find the main force of the Khitan and destroy it directly.

After Luo Tong sat down, Li Dejian also stood up and said

"Our 2-man army is entirely composed of cavalry. Their armor and bows and crossbows far outstrip those of the Khitan soldiers. We can find the main force of the Khitans and strike them at the right moment."

"Khitan is a grassland country with vast plains. Their few fences and horse traps alone are simply no way to stop our army."

Immediately afterwards, Cheng Mingzhen and Xue Wanbei also put forward their own suggestions.

The four of them had a relatively consistent view, which was to confront the main force of the Khitan head-on and crush them with force.

After listening to this, Du He and Changsun Wuji shook their heads slightly.

Gone!

After just one great battle, he completely ignored the Khitan.

Du He asked Xue Rengui, "Deputy Chief Xue, what are your tactics?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Xue Rengui.

More than ten breaths passed.

Xue Rengui clasped his fists and replied, "To avoid heavy casualties, I suggest using military tactics that are swift as the wind, slow as the forest, and swift as fire, to contain and destroy the enemy in mobile warfare!"

"We will first wipe out the weakly defended Khitan tribes and force Daha Kugo to send a large army to besiege us. We can then ambush them on their march!"

I have to say that the idea proposed by Xue Rengui is excellent.

In order to avoid the shortcoming of insufficient manpower, the mobility of the cavalry was used to gradually wear down the Khitan's military strength.

Du He asked Zhangsun Wuji, "Duke Zhao, what do you think?"

Changsun Wuji said in a deep voice, "I agree with the tactics proposed by General Xue. We should take advantage of the swiftness of the cavalry and devour the Khitans bite by bite!"

"But we can't disperse our forces too thinly in this battle. I suggest we split them into two groups, otherwise we won't be able to defeat the enemy quickly!"

Ever since he and Du He started swearing at each other, their relationship has eased a little.

Facing the war against Khitan, both of them dealt with it with all their strength.

Du He thought for a while, then spoke loudly.

"In that case, we will split our forces into two groups and use mobile warfare to wear down the Khitan forces!"

"Let's discuss the specific battle plan now!"

After deciding on the tactics, everyone began to brainstorm and come up with specific details of the battle.

Three hours later.

After some discussion among everyone, a relatively complete battle plan was finally formulated.

Du He stood up and spoke in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Generals, listen!"

Everyone stood up and looked at Du He with burning eyes.

Du He said loudly: "This general, along with Duke Zhao, Cheng Mingzhen, and Luo Tong, will lead 1 cavalrymen to attack the Khitan from the front of the Xi tribe."

"Xue Rengui, Xue Wanbei, and Li Dejian, lead 1 cavalrymen to bypass Liaodong Road and attack the Khitan from behind!"

"The battlefield situation is ever-changing. You must prioritize preserving your main forces. If the situation becomes critical, you can withdraw from Khitan territory!"

The Khitan territory was long and narrow, with a relatively large span from east to west.

The Tang army was divided into two routes, which could disperse the Khitan troops to the greatest extent.

Everyone responded in unison.

"As ordered!"

There was a pause.

Du He turned to look at Xue Rengui and said with a serious expression.

"General Xue, you will set out this afternoon. You must reach the Khitan border within two days, rest for one day, and launch a surprise attack on the Khitan tribes on the fourth day."

"I will take action in two days to attract the main force of the Khitan in advance."

Of their two armies, Xue Rengui's army had the strongest combat effectiveness.

So Du He was ready to tie down the main force of the Khitan and let Xue Rengui and his men kill without restraint.

Xue Rengui replied in a deep voice: "I obey your command!"

...

noon.

Under Du He's order, the fire troops slaughtered a lot of injured horses and fat sheep, so that the soldiers could have a full meal.

Two hours later.

Xue Rengui led an army of 1, carrying five days' worth of dry food and thick clothes, and left the Xi royal court from the west gate.

In order to avoid being discovered by Khitan scouts, Xue Rengui led his troops south and prepared to bypass Yingzhou.

the next day.

In addition to asking the soldiers to bring two days of dry food, Du He also asked them to bring thick clothes.

The soldiers were extremely confused about Du He's order.

It's only the end of September, and although the weather is a bit chilly, it's not to the point where we need to wear winter clothes.

Moreover, fighting with thick clothes will affect their flexibility.

Sunset West Mountain.

The sky was just covered by darkness.

Du He and Zhangsun Wuji personally put on their armor and set out. Led by scouts, 10,000 cavalrymen rushed to the Khitan border in the dark.

Under the howling evening breeze, the soldiers were shivering with cold. They finally understood the deep meaning of Du He's order.

After putting on the thick clothes, they immediately felt much more comfortable.

Central military position.

Changsun Wuji, wrapped in a fur coat, said with a smile.

"Lord Han, it's more comfortable to fight alongside you. I haven't had a hard time at all."

"I hope this journey into the heart of Khitan will not be too difficult."