Chapter 364 Camp Robbery
When the Song Dynasty led troops to Jiangzhou to quell the rebellion, Gu Tingye led 30,000 soldiers and horses, crossed Hengshan and arrived at Hezhou City.
Zhao Xing gave Gu Tingye a secret order, allowing him to mobilize the three armies of Qinzhou.
The Qinzhou army had nearly 50,000 soldiers and horses, who were specifically used to guard against the Tubo in Hehuang.
According to the agreement between Wang Shao and Hehuang Tubo, the Song Dynasty sent troops to help Hehuang Tubo repel the attack of the Qiang people.
The Hehuang Tubo people paid tribute to the Song Dynasty and handed over the Weiyuan City, the gateway to Hehuang, to the Song Dynasty.
With Weiyuan, the three armies defending Hehuang no longer need to be stationed in Qinzhou.
Gu Tingye mobilized all the troops from the three armies and marched to Hehuang.
However, one of the armies was left in Weiyuan City by Gu Tingye.
After all, this is their retreat and they cannot afford to lose it.
The Tubo tribes in Hehuang had been defeated by the Qiang people. Naturally, they were delighted to see the reinforcements coming, and the leaders of each tribe personally welcomed the Song soldiers.
However, when they learned that Gu Tingye had only brought 30,000 soldiers, the Tibetan tribes felt cheated.
The Qiang people have more than 100,000 cavalry and infantry, but the Song Dynasty only sent 30,000 soldiers, including infantry. What use could they be?
At the welcoming banquet, the leaders of the various Tibetan tribes in Hehuang instigated their generals to launch an attack, accusing the Song Dynasty of taking benefits but not doing their job.
However, Gu Tingye said that the Song Dynasty would continue to send reinforcements, and he would help Tubo repel the Qiang people outside the city within three days.
The generals of the Hehuang tribes laughed and said that they would not send troops to help, and would wait and see how Gu Tingye would repel the Qiang.
Gu Tingye immediately stated that he did not want any help from Tubo.
The leaders of the various Tibetan tribes were secretly delighted when they heard this. In fact, it didn't matter how many troops the Song Dynasty sent. As long as the Song Dynasty intervened, the Qiang people would definitely have some concerns.
They were even happier when Gu Tingye volunteered.
Whether the Song Dynasty wins or loses, they are happy to see it.
If they win, they will repel the Qiang people. If they lose, the Song Dynasty will suffer heavy casualties and will inevitably continue to send more troops.
After the banquet, Gu Tingye and Wang Shao returned to the military camp with several military generals who were accompanying them.
"There are more than 100,000 Qiang soldiers outside the city. Why did you promise to repel the Qiang outside the city during the banquet just now?"
As soon as he entered the central military camp, Yuan Wenshao couldn't help but ask.
Just now on the way, he wanted to ask several times, but was stopped by Gu Tingye's eyes.
Since ancient times, all battles in which the outnumbered side won were due to one or more of the following factors: time, place, and people.
They were fighting away from home. Not only were they at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength, but the other side also had tens of thousands of cavalry. What could they use to defeat them?
"Brother Zichun, please explain this to Wen Shao." Gu Tingye said with a smile.
"Why do you think I can know what you are thinking?" Wang Shao said with a smile.
"If Brother Zichun didn't know, he would have stopped me just now." Gu Tingye said.
"Your Majesty has appointed this general as the chief commander. You are truly wise in identifying a talent!" Wang Shao praised.
"General Wang, please speak quickly," Yuan Wenshao urged.
"The Tibetan tribes do not trust us, and they have no good intentions. If we join them to fight against the Qiang, we have to be on guard against being sold out by the Tibetans."
"And to win over the Qiang people, we must first defeat them, so it is very beneficial for us to send troops alone."
Wang Shao looked at Gu Tingye and said, "General, am I right?"
"What Zichun said is exactly what I thought." Gu Tingye nodded.
"But how are we going to fight off the Qiang?" Yuan Wenshao frowned.
"Surprise attack!"
Wang Shao said, "Our army has just arrived. Normally, the Qiang people would be on guard. However, we are allied with Tubo. The Qiang people will never think that we will launch a surprise attack!" "That's right!" Gu Tingye said, "We only have 30,000 soldiers and horses. The Qiang people have won battle after battle and are in high spirits. They will not care at all. Tonight, the weather is dark and it is almost pitch dark. You should immediately select a thousand men from the army and follow me to rob the camp!"
When robbing a camp, the more people there are, the better. In ancient times, most people suffered from night blindness. Even if the night was good, they would be like blind people at night.
Most of the soldiers are young and strong, and their food is better than that of ordinary people, but not many can be seen at night.
Moreover, the main purpose of raiding the camp was to create chaos. At night, once there was chaos, the soldiers would run around in panic, and countless people were trampled to death.
Therefore, having a small number of people makes it easier to command.
"Yes!" Yuan Wenshao and others responded loudly.
That night, Gu Tingye personally led a thousand soldiers and horses, braved the darkness, and went out of the city to raid the camp.
Although Wang Shao supported the raid on the camp, he opposed Gu Tingye leading the troops personally.
Robbing a camp is a way of risking a small amount for a big gain; even if it fails, the loss will not be great.
Gu Tingye was the commander-in-chief. If he went there in person and something went wrong, he would not gain anything even if the raid was successful.
But Gu Tingye was very persistent. The reason why he promised to repel the Qiang tribe in three days was not because he made an impulsive choice after being squeezed.
According to the discussion between him and Wang Shao, in order to subdue the Qiang people, they had to hurt them first.
However, they had limited military forces, although they could write to Zhao Xing and ask him to send reinforcements.
But if you do this, not only will you have to wait, but unexpected events may also occur.
If Zhao Xing could increase his troops, he should have done so when the imperial edict came.
They will not be allowed to transfer troops from the British side.
Now that Xixia has ceased fighting on the plateau, once troops are transferred from the Duke of Ying, Xixia will most likely withdraw directly.
Therefore, the best outcome would be for them to use only the troops they had.
It will not only make Xixia relax its vigilance, but also paralyze the Qiang people.
But there were too few soldiers and it was very difficult to inflict pain on the Qiang people.
Even if the sneak attack was successful, it would be unlikely to cause much damage to the Qiang people.
The most important purpose of the sneak attack was to strike a blow to the morale of the Qiang people and boost the morale of the various Tubo tribes.
As one side gained strength while the other side lost strength, Tubo saw hope of victory. With the reinforcements from the Song Dynasty, Tubo was able to fight the Qiang people to the death.
Therefore, this sneak attack must be successful, Gu Tingye is worried about leaving it to others.
In the end, Wang Shao was persuaded by Gu Tingye.
Gu Tingye led a thousand soldiers and sneaked to the vicinity of the Qiang camp in the cover of night.
The Qiang soldiers were already exhausted from days of siege, and they did not expect the Song reinforcements to launch a surprise attack, so they were not prepared at all.
Moreover, because reinforcements from the Song Dynasty had arrived, the Qiang people retreated their original camp more than ten miles away.
This meant that the original fortifications and measures to prevent camp raids near the camp needed to be redone.
But because there was not enough time and we didn't think we would be ambushed, we didn't make any preparations at all.
This allowed Gu Tingye to easily reach the Qiang camp from the side.
After entering the camp, Gu Tingye ordered his men to set fires everywhere to create chaos, especially at the stables, where several were destroyed by the people sent by Gu Tingye. With the flames shooting up into the sky, the war horses were frightened and ran around in panic. For a moment, the entire camp was in chaos.
The Qiang camp was robbed, and such a big commotion naturally could not be concealed from the Tubo in Hezhou.
The leaders of the various Tibetan tribes sent people out of the city to investigate, and at the same time gathered together to guess what had happened in the Qiang camp.
At this time, Wang Shao came to ask for a meeting and told the leaders of the Tibetan tribes the news that the Song Dynasty had sent troops to raid the camp, asking them to send troops out of the city.
(End of this chapter)