Outside Qingtang City, in the barracks of the Tubo army, the morale of the Tubo army was very low. The Tibetan commander Lu Dongzan sat at the head of the Chinese army tent with a gloomy face, looking at the generals under the tent in silence. The generals also lowered their heads, not daring to look at Lu Dongzan, because they didn't know what they should say to ease the awkward atmosphere. Because, just now, many generals proposed to withdraw their troops back to Luoxe City, but they were rejected by Lu Dongzan. Therefore, even if the generals have thoughts in their hearts, they dare not speak out anymore, lest Lu Dongzan get angry at them. They are very aware of the pressure Lu Dongzan is facing now, and they are very aware of Lu Dongzan's current situation. If Lu Dongzan achieved a great victory in the first military operation against the Tang Dynasty, it would prove his military ability. , then the second defeat to Li Ke was due to Lu Dongzan's carelessness, which is understandable. But what about this time? Facing Li Ke's general Su Dingfang, Lu Dongzan was defeated again. What does that mean?
Therefore, the generals did not dare to touch Lu Dongzan's bad luck.
"Why don't you speak?" Lu Dongzan asked coldly.
The generals still bowed their heads and remained silent.
Ludongzan has a very high status in Tubo, second only to the King of Tubo, Songtsen Gampo.
So, except for the four Tibetan generals, no one dared to look directly into his eyes, let alone under the current circumstances?
"Since you all have no objections, go down and prepare. We will continue to attack the city tomorrow!" Lu Dongzan ordered coldly.
"Yes¡ª¡ª" After the generals received their orders, they saw Lu Dongzan striding away from the Chinese army's tent.
At this time, the sun was setting outside the Tubo military camp, and the dim sunlight shone on the camp, which was quite vicissitudes of life and desolate.
Lu Dongzan was walking in the camp, his brows furrowed. In fact, in his heart he also agreed to withdraw his troops and return to Luoche City. Because he already knew about the war on the southern front. Getai died in the battle, the 100,000-strong army lost 50,000, and Yaze City also fell into the hands of the Tang army. Yaze City was the gateway to Pibo City and was captured. The Tang army in Yaze City could only fight directly to Pibo City, which was not far from Wangtingluo City. Therefore, returning to Shiluo as soon as possible is the wisest decision now. Another reason is that Qingtang City is too far away from Luoche City. Even if this city is captured, the Tibetan army currently does not have much backup force to support the defense task of Luoche City, and the food, grass and baggage will be exhausted due to the shortage of troops. It is difficult to supply in time, and this problem will become the biggest problem for the defending army. Therefore, it is still unknown whether it can be defended in this situation.
However, Lu Dongzan still did not adopt the suggestion of retreating.
Because, he had the thought of death in his heart, and he felt that if he failed this time, he would have no shame in returning to Luocheng.
Therefore, he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to fight against the Tang Army. Victory and defeat no longer meant anything to him. His purpose was to annihilate the Tang Army's Jingqi as much as possible, weaken the combat effectiveness of the Tang Army's Jingqi, and create a better future for the Tang Army's Jingqi. The Tubo Jingqi who fought against the Tang Dynasty had little chance of escaping.
The reason why Lu Dongzan is so pessimistic is because he sees the current situation clearly.
Comparing the current Tang army with the Tubo army, the Tang army has achieved overwhelming advantages in all aspects.
Therefore, the chance of defeating the Tang army in this case is zero. As long as the Tang army controls Qingtang City and cuts off Tubo's trade routes, the things the Tubo people need cannot be transported to Luosucheng or further away, and the Tubo people will If they don't attack, they will defeat themselves, and they will gather people to rebel. Why should the Tang army attack?
The real reason for Lu Dongzan¡¯s pessimism is that he always felt that he understood the Tang people, the Central Plains culture, and Li Ke. But now that he thought about it, he realized how pessimistic and naive he was. Because he clearly realized that he did not understand Tang Jun's thoughts, the culture of the Central Plains, and even less understood Li Ke's personality and character.
And this represents the biggest reason for his failure.
Because, his self-righteousness harmed himself and the entire Tubo people!
The next day, the Tubo army began a new round of siege battle.
However, the defenders in Qingtang City were well prepared, and the Tubo attack did not pose any threat to the Tang defenders in Qingtang City. The day's siege battle ended. Apart from throwing down three thousand corpses, Tubo did not make any progress in the siege battle.
Seeing the Tubo army receding like a tide, Su Dingfang on the Qingtang City looked solemn.
"Lu Dongzan wants to waste time with us!" Su Dingfang said.
"What do you mean, General?" Li Xianzhong asked.
"As long as his army doesn't move, we must defend Qingtang City with all our strength. In addition to Qingtang City, Tubo also has many cities. Is it possible to exchange a Qingtang City for the military deployment and strategic arrangements of Shuzuo City? Isn't it worth it?" Su Dingfang asked.
?"The general said yes! So what should we do?" Du Junchuo asked.
"If we take the initiative, we will only fall into Lu Dongzan's trap. He just wants to use these 100,000 troops to fight against us, consume the combat effectiveness of our army, and win more battles for the Tubo elite cavalry in Luoxu City. We have a chance to defeat us." Su Dingfang said, "So, we must use the tallness and solidity of Qingtang City to defeat Ludong, so that his 100,000 troops will continue to die in the siege battle."
¡°Then shall we continue to consume like this?¡± Cheng Mingzhen asked.
"When winter comes, Lu Dongzan's army will definitely retreat. Then will be our chance!" Su Dingfang said with certainty, "Besides, we still have a cavalry. Lu Dongzan's 100,000 people cannot return to Luoxue City. .¡±
"What do you mean by the general?" Li Xianzhong asked, but as he spoke, he also thought of what Su Dingfang meant by a cavalry force.
"Yes¡ª¡ª" Su Dingfang smiled faintly.
This is a war without suspense, and the balance of the war has tilted to the side of the Tang army.
"The reason why Lu Dongzan dared to continue to order the attack on Qingtang City was because he was just buying time.
Now the Tubo Royal Court must have been gathering defenders and young men from various places. Many of the defenders from various places are not under the royal court. Their combat effectiveness is not very strong, and the combat effectiveness of the young men gathered is even less than that of the guards from various places. military. Therefore, buying more time here for the new army in Luoxu City will allow the new army to get more training opportunities. Lu Dongzan thought it was worth it to exchange a hundred thousand troops for enough training time for three hundred thousand young men.
Because both sides have their own ideas.
This made the Tubo Jingqi and the Tang army take no other actions. The Tubo army still attacked the city during the day and rested at night, while the Tang army defended the city during the day and rested at night. The two sides maintained a good tacit understanding.
However, this time lasted until the middle of winter. Lu Dongzan looked at the less than 80,000 troops in front of him and began a plan to retreat.
He ordered the army to rest for a day and prepare to retreat back to Luoche City the next day.
On this day, in order to ensure that the Tang army in Qingtang City would not attack the camp at night, he deployed 10,000 fine cavalry in Qingtang City where the Tang army must pass.
After all this was deployed, Lu Dongzan breathed a sigh of relief.
In the evening, the Tubo camp seemed peaceful and peaceful.
Because, everyone knows that we can go back to Luoche City at dawn, and we don¡¯t have to risk our lives here to attack Qingtang City! In the Chinese army's tent in the Tubo military camp, Lu Dongzan was sitting in the position of the commander, looking through the military books. When he saw the tenth terrain chapter of "Sun Tzu's Art of War", he combined his past defeats and Got a new understanding.
And at this moment, faint shouts of killing came from outside the tent.
Lu Dongzan was about to summon his own soldiers to ask what was going on outside the camp.
"Prime Minister¡ª¡ª" His soldiers stumbled into the tent.
"What made you so anxious?" Lu Dongzan saw the anxious look of the soldiers, but he himself behaved quite calmly.
"Prime Minister, the Tang army has attacked the camp and has already entered the camp!" the soldier replied.
"Tang Army?" Lu Dongzan was shocked, "Where did the Tang Army come from? Are they the defenders of Qingtang City?"
"I don't know, this Tang army that entered the camp was wearing black clothes and black armor!" The soldiers reported to Ludong Zanhui.
For the Tubo Jingqi, after experiencing several defeats, Li Ke's black-clad guards became their nightmare.
Therefore, when it comes to the black-clad guards wearing black armor, the Tibetan soldiers often have lingering fears.