The troops of the Hexi Jiedushi were moving forward. Huangshui County was the headquarters of the Longyou Jiedushi, not the frontline.
The road from Huangshui County to the front was very difficult to walk on.
There were many ravines and ravines before they could reach the frontline after crossing a group of mountains, a pile of ravines, and a river.
The two sides of the Yellow River were the garrisons of the Ningxia Border Army and the Jishi Army. The former was north of the Yellow River, while the latter was south.
During Li Yi's time, this place was open to traffic, including the G2123 highway, G06121 highway, and S306 highway.
Further south was the S202 highway. The Tang Dynasty's Longyou Army chose the same place as the others.
There were garrisons in front of the strategic location, and behind them were mountains and rivers.
Some of the elite troops of the Hexi Army would go there. Once the battle started, the troops behind would go there one after another. From a small-scale raid to a large-scale battle, they would finally occupy the place.
The troops in front also flew hot air balloons to scout the Tibetan Army.
The scouts and cavalry from both sides would come into contact almost every day.
The difference was that the Tubo scouts, who dared to head a few miles away from the Tang Dynasty's army at the beginning, now retreated to 30 miles away.
The Tang Dynasty's border army had hot air balloons tied to a rope to fly high. The scouts from both sides could be seen clearly from the hot air balloons.
The Tang scouts would bring a telescope to look back at the flag signals in the sky.
Then, a few scouts would circle around and ambush the Tubo scouts. If the Tubo scouts had too many troops, the Tang Dynasty scouts would run back.
The Tubo scouts were having a hard time. There was no way for them to fight. They were discovered from far away in the sky, and they didn't even know how they were surrounded.
Usually, when the Tang scouts were spotted, their troops would enter the circle.
The Tang scouts brought binoculars to spot the enemy in advance. They moved outside the enemy's field of vision, reached the predetermined position, and closed in.
The Tubo scouts suffered losses again and again. In the end, they ran back and left the range of the hot air balloons.
The advantage was that they did not suffer losses. The disadvantage was that the hot air balloons' field of vision blocked the Tubo battlefield.
The Tang Dynasty's troop movements could not be seen by Tubo.
Guo Zhiyun rode his horse along the mountain path. From time to time, a messenger would translate the flag signals for him.
Where were the troops in front of his team? Where was the Baggage? Had the carriage broken down? A horse had accidentally fallen into the valley.
Hearing the voice of the messenger, Guo Zhiyun's heart did not waver. Even if the soldier fell, he was still indifferent.
When marching to war, it was normal for non-combat casualties to occur.
Old Madam Wang Junkui looked at the small dot in the sky, "We have enough gasoline and diesel for the time being. We don't have any in Shu County. I'm afraid that we won't be able to transport them in time from Chang 'an."
"There's enough time for us to use. I believe that Li Yi has made arrangements. I heard that the lighting in Chang 'an at night is diesel. "
Guo Zhiyun did not consider the issue of fuel. He believed that Li Yi knew better than anyone else the purpose of the hot air balloon ahead of them.
Wang Junkui smiled and nodded. "They said that the production of diesel is high and the kerosene is easy to use. Li Yi sold it for money."
"Rumor has it that gasoline, diesel, and kerosene are made by boiling oil with paraffin. Kerosene is the least and diesel is the most. Didn't Tubo and Tujue find some paraffin? "
Guo Zhiyun wanted to laugh when he talked about this. The Tang dynasty collected paraffin from all over the country and sent it to Li Family Zhuangzi.
Li Family Zhuangzi sold it. The news spread. Tubo and Tujue looked for it and found it to boil in a pot.
After boiling it, they said that it was better to use it to defend the city and make torches. It could be used to cook rice.
None of the oil they were looking forward to was produced. Instead, many people fell sick from the smoke.
Wang Junkui pulled the reins with one hand and put the other hand into her pocket. She took out a handful of fried hazelnuts and handed them over. "In war, besides the bravery of the soldiers, it's also about money and skills."
Guo Zhiyun reached out and took a dozen hazelnuts. "You still have pine nuts? Others eat them, but you don't want to eat them. You only want to keep them with you. "
"If you see me, Non-commissioned Officer, give me one. He's risking his life, unlike me who's just giving orders."
As Wang Junkui spoke, she handed the remaining hazelnuts to the soldier beside her.
"Thank you, Deputy." The soldier took it happily.
They couldn't eat it. They only had canned food, meat floss, salted dried tofu, and compressed biscuits. There were no dried fruits.
There weren't many dried fruits sent from Chang 'an. They were distributed to the generals and there was none left.
They couldn't bear to eat canned food. They used it for war. It was fine as long as they had food to eat.
"I heard that a large number of pine nuts were obtained from Li Family Zhuangzi's team in Bohai Sea. Li Yi didn't sell them and sent them to us."
Guo Zhiyun threw a hazelnut into his mouth and bit it gently.
"It's a gift from Her Majesty. Everything was given by Her Majesty." Wang Junkui reminded him not to say anything wrong.
In name, it was given by Her Majesty.
"Her Majesty!" Guo Zhiyun repeated.
…
In a place further northwest than the Longyou Army, an army was resting. There was a hot air balloon flying in the sky.
Zhang Xiaosong drank some water first, then took out a handful of meat floss and stuffed it into his mouth. He chewed slowly and tasted it.
The other generals and soldiers also took out meat floss to eat to replenish their strength.
They found the Tibetan Army's Baggage Team and went to fight after resting.
From the hot air balloon, Tubo's military supply team looked like a small dot moving around, but with the help of binoculars, Tubo's military supply team was very small.
With binoculars, the small people couldn't see anything from the hot air balloon.
The hot air balloon had no sound and was sky blue in color.
Unless it was dark clouds, the sky blue hot air balloon would become a small light-colored dot.
However, the hot air balloon wouldn't rise when the clouds were dark. Otherwise, it would be struck by lightning.
The Baggage Team had cars and civilian workers. To be precise, they were slaves.
There were local slaves from Tubo and slaves from the Tang Dynasty. When they exchanged captives in Songzhou, some people didn't give them to them.
There were also 1,000 Tubo cavalrymen protecting them. They kept scolding and whipping the slaves with their horsewhips.
The Tang Dynasty's people worked hard. Even so, the Tubo cavalrymen didn't like them and still beat them.
After being beaten, the Tang Dynasty's people didn't make a sound and continued to work with their heads down.
They were mainly responsible for repairing the vehicles and lifting the wheels when they got stuck in the soft soil and sand.
However, when they were working, they would occasionally look at the Tang Dynasty's people. Both sides had brief eye contact.
Now that they had left Tubo's territory, they were ready to escape.
As long as the front line was attacked, they would find an opportunity to escape. If they could escape, they would be lucky. If they couldn't, they would accept their fate.
After an hour, the team continued to move forward.
However, the leading general found that something was wrong. It seemed that … two groups of scouts hadn't returned.
After waiting for another quarter of an hour, he was sure that something was wrong because there were four groups of scouts that hadn't returned.
"Prepare for battle." The general chose the safest method. The team gathered and protected the Baggage Team well.
"Quick, report to the front. Tell them that we've been ambushed." The general called over a captain and shouted while pointing to the front.
"Follow me." The captain waved his hand and 150 cavalrymen rushed out.
They knew that it was useless for them to stay when the enemy attacked. Telling the front line wasn't just for them to rescue.
Perhaps it would be too late by the time the rescue team arrived. They wanted to tell the front line that the Baggage Team was gone.
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