Love Affairs in Chang'an - Chapter 410

Chapter 410 Make Preparations For War

Just like Chang’an’s West City, where there had never been a lack of beautiful women and drunkards hanging in the streets, Lanzhou Military Town had the sound of horseshoe phoenix bells and unwilling boiling hot blood at any time.

Smoke setting sun, mountains and rivers magnificent!

Tens of thousands of troops had gathered. Armor was like a city, swords and spears were like a forest.

Qin Mubai rode the Fire Cloud Raging Horse in his military uniform. He walked through the army formation and finished the parade. He then climbed onto the dial-a-general platform.

On the stage, the Jiangxia King, Li Daozong, had already prepared all the sacrifices. Once Commander-in-Chief Qin Mubai arrived at an auspicious time and finished sacrificing the Heaven and Earth Ghosts and Gods, the army would be sent to Dafeichuan.

The sixty thousand troops that accompanied him were well-armored, and their morale was as strong as a rainbow.

After the ceremony, Li Daozong handed over the Axe Cheng Handsome Flag to Qin Mubai and said, “Great Commander, everything is ready. After an incense stick is Huang Daoji, the army can start!”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Qin Mubai handed Xiang Xiangxiang, who was the absolute authority in the Elephant Army, to the Central Military Division, and the Handsome Flag to the Flag Commander Zhang Tong. Without further ado, he pulled out his saber and commanded the entire armament machine to mount immediately.

‘”Major Marshal, please wait a moment” Suddenly, a soft cry interrupted Qin Mubai. It was Princess Wencheng, Li Xueyan.

“What does the princess have to say?” Qin Mubai turned around and said.

“Major Marshal, forgive me.” Li Xueyan bowed and said, “The army is about to start, but I have a reluctant request.”

Qin Mubai glanced at Li Daozong and saw that he was expressionless and had no hints, so she could only say, “Princess, please speak.”

“When I was in Chang’an in the past, I heard that Major Marshal could play a good song called ‘Ten Faces Ambush’.” Li Xueyan said, “I’m afraid that no one else can play this song except Major Marshal today. Even the musicians in the palace have not learned it. May I ask Major Marshal, is there anything about it?”

“Yes.” Qin Mubai said, “At that time, His Majesty sent musicians from the palace to learn, but he only learned one song, Overlord Destroying Armor and Spring River Flowers and Moonlit Night. I rarely played the Ten-Faced Ambush myself.”

“I’ve heard people say that this song is impassioned and domineering. It’s the most powerful military music, isn’t it?” Li Xueyan asked herself, “If that’s the case, why don’t Major Marshal play a song to strengthen the military’s might when the army is about to start?”

Qin Mubai knitted her eyebrows, her expression ugly. At this time, who would have the mood to engage in this kind of performance art?

‘”Yes, Major Marshal, why don’t you play a song for us so that we can strengthen our military might?” Jiang Zuo echoed.

“Yes, Major Marshal …”

Li Xueyan took a few steps forward and whispered, “I’m sorry, Major Marshal. I know you’ve sworn that you won’t play again unless you’re offering sacrifices to Yao’er. I also admit that I’m being selfish. I really want to hear you play the pipa again, even if it’s one more time.”

“Why?” Qin Mubai said.

‘”No reason” Li Xueyan smiled miserably and said, “I know it’s rude and inappropriate, but … just treat it as if I’m begging you, okay?”

The word “beg” made Qin Mubai feel a little awkward.

Qin Mubai nodded and said to the left and right, “This isn’t a difficult matter. I’ll play it well. Someone, take the ashes of my father, Marshal, and Yao’er … Just treat it as a sacrifice!”

When everything was ready, Qin Mubai picked up the ancient wooden pipa that he hadn’t touched for a long time and closed his eyes.

Everyone held their breath and stared at him as they listened.

Suddenly, a series of high-pitched and unrestrained sounds rang out. Everyone felt their minds swing, their entire bodies flashing like a torrent, their minds clear!

“Yan’er, why did you let him play the pipa at this time?” Dao Sect Li moved closer to his daughter and asked in a very puzzled voice.

“The yellow sand is endless, thousands of troops and horses. Hearing the pipa startles the strings, the nine heavens stir in silence!” Li Xueyan was already engrossed in her thoughts and did not answer her question.

Li Daozong was stunned, “What did you say?”

“Father … I’m very lucky. I’m his best friend.” Li Xueyan frowned slightly and said softly, “I just want to know what he is thinking.”

“Then do you recognize it?”

“Mm” Li Xueyan suddenly turned her head and looked at her father with a serious expression. “Father, Qin Mubai’s calm exterior conceals a wild heart that has been trapped for a long time, and her veins are filled with unrestrained fervor and unrestrained fervor from the gods! Listening to his music was like seeing the millions of masters buried in his chest and the arrogance of daring to seek justice from heaven and earth! The current Qin Mubai was no longer the Qin Mubai of the past! He completely released himself. He’s going to do whatever he wants! ”

Li Daozong did not show any surprise. He only lightly nodded his head and said, “After this battle, Qin Mubai will either soar to the heavens and cover the entire world, or he will never be able to survive. Whether he is a coward or a warrior will soon be known.”

“Everyone likes to judge heroes by their success or failure, but in my opinion, Qin Mubai is no longer worthy of the reputation of a man, regardless of whether he wins or loses this battle.” Li Xueyan stared at Qin Mubai, who was focused on playing the song, and said leisurely, “How many people in life can be as lofty as him without any regrets?”

“So what?” Dao Sect Li glanced at Li Xueyan and coldly threw these four words away.

Li Xueyan’s expression instantly dimmed a little. She muttered softly, “Nothing much … It’s just like loving a flower. You can reward it with a good look of pity. You don’t have to take it off and put it on your head …”

‘”Hmph” Li Daozong snorted sullenly and said, “Then you really should learn from Qin Mubai. In his words, ‘flowers blossom and break straight, don’t wait for no flowers to break branches’! He even dares to snatch women from the Emperor! What are you afraid of?”

Li Xueyan was speechless, but her eyebrows were tightly knitted.

“Bang–”

The Returning Righteousness Saber was unsheathed, and a cold light suddenly appeared.

“Battle–”

Tens of thousands of troops let out earth-shattering roars and rushed towards the west!

Qin Mubai sheathed his saber, turned around and handed the pipa to Li Xueyan, saying, “Your Highness, this lowly official will take your leave!”

Li Xueyan took the pipa and whispered, “Take care and win …”

Qin Mubai could not tell that her expression was unusual, but she only said to Li Daozong, “Your Highness, after I leave, everything in Lanzhou will be troublesome to you. When the Imperial Court decrees are issued, there will be another area. Before that, please do not leave your Highness and take care of the rear.”

“Don’t worry.” Dao Sect Li only said these two words.

Qin Mubai rolled his eyes and saw a few parked horses on the distant hillside. Although he could not see them clearly from afar, he could clearly feel that there were a few strands of gazes landing on him without stopping for a moment.

Qin Mubai raised his hand and waved it in that direction, causing countless tears of farewell.

Princess Gaoyang, Wu Meiniang’s family, Chen Yan, Su Lianqing, and the Tantai sisters all watched as Qin Mubai got on his horse and led his eye-catching guard, the Snow Condor Army, out of sight.

“Thief Military Academy, smelly man … Why can’t you take us to Dafeichuan? Are we just that burdensome?” Princess Gaoyang’s eyes were red as she cursed softly.

“Stop complaining. If it weren’t for Sister Yan and I pleading for mercy for you yesterday, you would be on your way to Chang’an by now.” Wu Meiniang sighed and said.

“He is ruthless!” Princess Gaoyang couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. Her tears rolled down like broken beads. She sobbed and said, “If it weren’t for the fact that I was pregnant and inconvenient to move, he would have driven me back to Chang’an!”

“Princess, don’t blame Mubai.” Chen Yan said, “The reason why I fell in love with him is because he actually resembles me in many places. I would hide to raise Little Lou’er alone, and he would also rush to the battlefield to bathe in blood alone. It’s not that he doesn’t trust or care about the other party. On the contrary, he just doesn’t want us to be involved with him.”

“Yes, yes, yes. All of you have spoken the truth. I am the only one who is unreasonable!” Princess Gaoyang said hatefully, “I like to live and die with him. Is that wrong?”

“That’s right.” Chen Yan said indifferently, “You have the right, and you’ve done it more than once in the past. But now you don’t have the qualifications, because you have a child in your stomach.”

Princess Gaoyang was speechless and could only let her tears flow down.

Wu Meiniang subconsciously gently touched her stomach and whispered, “Yeah … who doesn’t want to accompany him? However, we are all going to be mothers, so we can’t do as we please …”

Li Xueyan kept looking sideways in the direction where Wu Meiniang and the others were standing, her eyes full of thought.

“What are you thinking?” Dao Sect Li asked, “Are you jealous of them, or do you want to join them?”

Li Xueyan blushed and smiled bitterly, “Father, daughter is not as old-fashioned as you think. She only wants to be jealous of her sons and daughters.” I admit that I admire him. In the past, my daughters would pursue him without regret and love him deeply like them. But at this moment, he was able to control himself, and his daughter knew her own priorities. This war between the Great Tang and Tibet, although it wasn’t all because of me, has something to do with me. I was wondering, what can I do at this moment? ”

“There’s nothing you can do.” Dao Sect Li said coldly and resolutely, “At the beginning, you shouldn’t have jumped out foolishly and bravely wanted to marry off to the plateau! Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a disturbance, and you would have fallen into a laughing stock!”

Li Xueyan glared at him, her eyebrows lowered and her lips bit tightly. She slowly shook her head and said, “Even today, I still don’t regret my decision.” Even in the future, I will do my best to resolve the calamities and reduce the number of wars. Even if I knew, my strength was so humble. “People, no matter who they are, it doesn’t matter if they are Han people or Tibetans. It’s good to have one less dead …”

“I’m too lazy to talk about you! You’d better go back to Chang’an and serve your mother as soon as possible!” Dao Sect Li let out a muffled snort and left with a flick of his sleeve.

Li Xueyan’s entire body trembled slightly as she stared at her father who had strode away. Her eyes were already filled with grievances and stubbornness.

“I, will not give up …!”

Tens of thousands of soldiers prepared their horses and supplies, and Qin Mubai’s army advanced at an extremely fast speed. In less than three days, they had already arrived in Shan City, only three hundred kilometers away from Da Fei Chuan.

Here, Qin Mubai received a military report from Yuyang Second Pass Guard General Su Dingfang and Xue Wanche, saying, “Second Pass is as stable as a rock. Please rest assured, Major Marshal.”

However, Qin Mubai knew that these few words were the promises made by countless guards with their blood and lives.

The two brothers of Garqin Mausoleum had clearly been sworn by his brother to take down the Yuyang Second Pass. As a result, from the first day of the battle, more than 50,000 Tibetan troops had put on a posture of being caught in a net of death. They did not hesitate to go all out to tackle the key problems, so they almost climbed up the city stairs on the meat ladder made of corpses.

There were a total of 20,000 soldiers and horses in the Tang army guarding the Yuyang Pass, and their grain was limited. Because of the difficulty of transporting the goods over a long distance, it was very difficult to supply them afterwards. However, in Su Dingfang’s letters, he never mentioned asking for grain or reinforcements. The two words he said the most were “Don’t worry”.

With Su Dingfang’s words, Qin Mubai was really relieved. Secondly, he was deeply ashamed and in danger.

“We must capture the Thief and King and defeat the main force of the Garqin Mausoleum as soon as possible!” This was the only thought left in Qin Mubai’s heart.

Three days later, Qin Mubai led his troops to Dafeichuan, where General Xue Wanjun welcomed them.

Looking at the situation, before Qin Mubai could arrive, Xue Wanjun had already fought a few battles with the Tibetans. There were already wounded soldiers in the camp, as evidenced by the atmosphere of facing the enemy before the war.

As expected, this was the case when he was questioned.

There were still five days left before the Mid-Autumn Full Moon, which was scheduled to battle in Gaer Qinling. However, in recent days, Gaer Qinling had sent three vanguards to the Tang army camp to incite the battle. Xue Wanjun also wanted to test the strength of Gaer Qinling’s army first, so he sent out a few rounds of soldiers to fight against them, each with a victory or defeat.

The scale of the battle had never exceeded three thousand people. It could be seen that both sides were more cautious, just testing.

Xue Wanjun said that the Tibetans were serious this time. Gaer Qinling had already gathered 250,000 troops one after another. Perhaps Zan Pu and Qizong Nongzan of Tibet had already arrived to guard the army. Moreover, the Tianshan Cavalry under Gaer Qinling was indeed a big tough one, and their combat strength could not be underestimated. During these few small battles, Xue Wanjun had mostly sent out veterans who had been through hundreds of battles for the rest of their lives. They had also arranged their troops carefully. However, their own army still had more victories than they could take advantage of, and their casualties were far greater than their opponent’s.

As a result, Dafei Chuanli seemed a little nervous, and his morale was slightly low.

Qin Mubai was not surprised by this, nor did he have any intention of blaming Xue Wanjun for taking the initiative to fight. It was necessary to find out the other party’s background before the battle.

Originally, the Tibetan cavalry’s combat strength was indeed strong. If the Tang army were to fight against the Japanese on an equal footing, they would not be able to gain much advantage.

However, Qin Mubai had no intention of confronting Gaer Qinling on an equal footing. In his mind, if a person wanted to take care of a wild beast, could it be that he had to fight with his bare hands to compete with him?

“The Tibetan cavalry are very powerful in battle, especially in Dafeichuan and Qingluo Plains. They are mostly plain grasslands, which is more beneficial for them to give full play to their advantages. We have to avoid their sharp edges and attack their weak spots. We cannot touch them head-on.” Qin Mubai said to the generals, “From now on, hang up the exemption token first. There is no need to be instigated by it to leave the camp to fight. Let me carefully plan before making a decision!”

“Yes!”

Once Qin Mubai arrived, even if Da Feichuan had a backbone, the soldiers of the two armies would join forces to form a camp and prepare their horses. They could only wait for him to give the order. Even if this unprecedented battle started …