"Giddyup, giddyup, six horses, urgent report." Liangzhou was less than 20 miles away from Liangzhou's governing center, Guzang. Six horses were galloping.
At the second last relay station, the horses were left outside.
The courier was wearing a military coat and basking in the sun. The weather was still a little cold, but the grass on the ground had grown.
"Change yourselves." The courier did not care and called out.
The six people did not say much. When the horses approached, each of them threw out a sign.
The courier raised his hand to catch it and took a look. The six people had already dismounted and ran to the side of the horse that was strolling. They did not use the reins or the stirrups.
They put their hands on the horse's neck and their feet left the ground. They exerted force on their waists and landed on the horse's back. They clamped their legs. "Giddyup!"
The courier hurriedly threw the sign back. When the leader caught the sign, the horse rushed out.
When he pulled the reins again, the horse had already sped up.
"Good skills." The courier praised loudly.
"Brothers, the last relay station. It's only 5 pm now." The person holding the sign did not care about the tiredness of the continuous journey.
They were excited now. It was too comfortable to travel ten miles to one relay station.
On the way, they grabbed a handful of meat floss from the horse and drank water. It was considered a meal.
In less than five minutes, they arrived at another relay station. The horses here were good.
Sometimes, horses bullied people. Those who were not skilled needed others to hold the reins to fix the horse. It was difficult for them to raise their legs and step on the stirrups.
As long as such people wanted to get on the horse, the horse would slowly dodge, and the person would step on air.
There was a video of Li Yi. Every time he raised his leg, the horse happened to move to the side a little. That was bad.
When they encountered people who did not need to touch the reins and stirrups, the horse cooperated.
When it ran, it was even more desperate, like the wind.
In less than five minutes, they arrived at the city. There was a moat outside the city gate, and there was an arrow tower above the gate.
The arrow tower of Guzang City was written with the words "Liangzhou".
There were people going in and out of the gate. There were 50,000 to 60,000 people living in Guzang City of Liangzhou.
If there was a war, the people of the other counties would run to Liangzhou City. There were more than 100,000 people.
In theory, this place should not have been conquered. However, in history, Tubo took it.
In 763, they had just finished dealing with the An Lushan Rebellion, so the Tang dynasty did not have enough military strength.
At this moment, Liangzhou was bustling with activity. When the commoners saw a fast horse approaching, they hurriedly stepped aside.
Six people rushed in and went straight to the Jiedushi's official residence, the Jiedushi Courtyard.
Before long, they saw Guo Zhiyun. After handing over the documents from the imperial court, they were allowed to rest.
Guo Zhiyun checked the seal and confirmed that it had not been opened. He then took it out to look at it.
"Men, prepare to deploy the troops." Guo Zhiyun didn't dare to delay after he finished reading.
The entire Liangzhou began to move. Guo Zhiyun had over seventy thousand soldiers under his command.
The order given by the imperial court was for him to fight Jiuqu. At that time, Li Yi belonged to the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
Jiuqu was actually the closest to Longyou Jiedushi. Longyou Jiedushi also had over 70,000 soldiers.
However, it was Liangzhou's Hexi Jiedushi who sent out the troops.
That was how it was fought in history. Li Yi knew what it meant.
If Longyou's troops didn't move, Tubo's troops would think that nothing would happen.
In the end, the troops that really went to fight came from behind Longyou Jiedushi. Even if they didn't win and ran back, Longyou would be able to catch up and Tubo wouldn't be able to chase after them.
If Longyou Jiedushi didn't win and ran back, Tubo would chase after him and occupy Shanzhou, directly threatening the rear.
Next to Shanzhou was the Huangshui River. There were ships going up and down to transport supplies. Once Tubo occupied it, Tubo could even go down the river to fight.
This was the ability of the Tang dynasty's border generals at this time. They had thought of everything.
In history, Guo Zhiyun didn't get the imperial court's order to send out the troops. He saw that Tubo's troops were empty, so he discussed with Longyou Jiedushi Zhang Zhongliang.
Longyou Jiedushi didn't move, and Hexi Jiedushi's troops attacked Tubo's Jiuqu just like that.
Chang 'an couldn't do anything at all. The general didn't take orders from the emperor.
According to Li Yi's estimation, even if the imperial court didn't give the order immediately.
When Su Lu moved, Tubo and the Arabs would move. When Guo Zhiyun realized the situation, he would still send out the troops himself.
In fact, he was indeed preparing. The intelligence came from the northwest, passing through Liangzhou and using the relay stations from Liangzhou to Chang 'an.
When the battle started, he had to tell him.
Once the imperial court gave the order, there was no need to think too much.
The troops were gathering. They were wearing leather clothes, military coats, and carrying bags.
The bags were packed with compressed biscuits, carrots, chopped green onions, salt, pepper, and dried meat floss.
There was also a small bottle of alcohol, cotton wool, and gauze.
These things were sent over from Chang 'an before, and they usually couldn't bear to eat them.
An hour later, the troops finished gathering. They rode horses, drove carriages, and held torches. They circled around from the south and rushed all the way to Longyou Jiedushi's location.
The carriages were equipped with hot air balloons and diesel fuel torches. Originally, they were filled with alcohol. Later, they switched to gasoline for training. Gasoline was more dangerous, so they switched to diesel fuel.
The carriages also had small whirlwind cannons, bags of explosives, and homemade grenades that could be assembled.
Wang Junkui sat in the carriage and said to Guo Zhiyun, "If this battle goes smoothly, we can take the Land of Nine Bends in one fell swoop."
In front of the two of them was a map drawn by Li Yi. It was more than twice as good as the original map of the Tang dynasty.
"I heard that the ships have been used. If we take Jiuqu, the ships can sail back and forth." Guo Zhiyun agreed with the deputy.
He pointed to the west. There were two freshwater lakes at the source of the Yellow River, Zhaling Lake and Erling Lake.
The two lakes were connected by a river. If they took this place, they could get another Jiedushi.
No, not just one Jiedushi. There would be at least three, and more troops would be stationed there.
They could take the entire Yellow River from the source of the Yellow River. Baggage from the rear would be transported by ships. This would be enough to stabilize the situation.
Now the main target was the Land of Nine Bends. The Land of Nine Bends originally belonged to the Tang dynasty.
When Princess Jincheng married Tubo, Yang Ju, the General of the Left Guards who accompanied her, took a bribe from Tubo and said that he would give the Land of Nine Bends to Princess Jincheng as a bath place, which was also her dowry.
The imperial court of the Tang dynasty allowed it. As a result, the Land of Nine Bends became Tubo's base. In order to strengthen his strength, he frequently sent troops to attack the Tang dynasty.
Two years ago, Tubo led 100,000 troops to attack the Land of Nine Bends, but he was defeated by the Tang dynasty.
Then Yang Ju committed suicide. It was he who accepted the bribe and gave the Land of Nine Bends to Tubo.
Now the Tang dynasty would continue to fight, and Tubo would definitely not be safe.
"Let's see how we fight. We should make full use of the advantages of good weapons, especially the hot air balloons." Guo Zhiyun was very confident about this battle.
The things given by Chang 'an were too good. There were also binoculars. Tubo could arrange the battle formations however he wanted.
He should transfer a lot of troops to attack the four towns and Hugestone City. He hoped that they could hold on.
As long as he won the battle here, Tubo would definitely come back to help.
"If we don't lose too much, we can join forces with Zhang Zhongliang and Longyou to defend and not give Tubo a chance to recapture."
Wang Junkui was thinking. He was considering whether it was okay to station the troops here and not return to Liangzhou temporarily after the battle. He would wait for the imperial court to make arrangements.
"I'm afraid that the logistical pressure is too great. It's difficult to continue in Longyou." Guo Zhiyun was a little worried.
What he didn't know was that just as he was sending troops, the Salt Gang of Shu Di organized again.
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