After entering Songzhou City, Li Yan immediately felt a tense atmosphere before the war. The people coming and going were all in a hurry, with a look of worry on their faces. There was no vendor on the street. Fully armed soldiers appeared from the alley from time to time, and then disappeared at another alley. The heavy metal striking sound replaced the vendor's shouts on weekdays.

"Your Highness is exhausted, you must be tired. Let's go to Songzhou Camp first." Xue Rengui said when Li Yan's face looked a little tired.

Li Yan shook his head and said, "No, the war is urgent, I'd better go to Ximen to see the stationing of Tuyuhun troops first."

When Niu Jinda heard this, he showed admiration in his eyes, but it also flashed by.

Songzhou is the northwest gateway of the Tang Dynasty. Between the territory of Tubo and Tuyuhun, Tuyuhun is the southwest, and Tuyuhun is the northwest. Shu is mountainous, especially on the side adjacent to the plateau, with high mountains and dangerous roads. Songzhou is located on the only road leading to Shu on the Tibet Plateau, which can be said to have strangled the throat of the West to Shu.

The construction of Songzhou City is also based on its military characteristics. It faces east and west, and the city walls on the west are thick and high. Songzhou Daying is stationed in the west city, defending against threats from the west at any time.

"There are currently 1,500 archers, 500 crossbowmen, 3,000 cavalrymen, and the rest are infantry." When heading to Xicheng, Xue Rengui introduced the situation in Songzhou to Li Yan. "The Tuyuhun army outside the city still has any movement, as if they are waiting for something."

While talking, Li Yan arrived in Xicheng. There were obviously more soldiers here, and they were very busy. They kept shuttled and shuttled, holding arrows and carrying stones.

Niu Jindadao then added: "A dozen villages outside the city were burned by Tuyuhun. Hundreds of people were killed and injured. Now all the people there have moved into the city. Now that Tuyuhun wants to enter the hinterland of Chengdu Prefecture, he has to attack the city for one way, otherwise he will have to take a detour from Minzhou for more than a thousand miles. But there are heavy soldiers in the Tang Dynasty there, and Murong Fuyun knew this, so he planned to take a gamble. The reason why they were still waiting was that I thought they must be building siege equipment."

Zhu Youzhi secretly praised Niu Jinda as a veteran who had experienced many battles. He could see at a glance why Tuyuhun had not attacked the city for a long time. He said, "What General Niu said is very true."

Li Yan thought for a while and said, "Since that's the case, we can find a way to destroy all the siege equipment they built."

"We didn't expect this method, but Tuyuhun's army surrounded Songzhou City like an iron barrel. His Highness came up to the city and understood it when he saw it." Xue Rengui said.

The walls of Songzhou City are not high, only about fifteen meters, cast from bluestone. They look very strong. Following the two-meter-wide stairs to the city tower, Li Yan's vision suddenly appeared in a vast white tent. You can vaguely see someone walking in the tent. Li Yan estimated the distance, and the tents were at least three miles away from the city wall.

Seeing this, Li Yan understood Xue Rengui's words, the front could not be broken through. There were steep mountains on both sides of Songzhou City, and they could not enter outside, and they could not get out inside either.

"Rongda!" Li Yan called out at this time, and Rongda immediately said: "What are your instructions?"

Li Yan said: "Hook you around your neck and give me the things!"

Rongda suddenly realized that he took a metal object made of metal from his neck and had round holes on both ends and handed it to Li Yan. Before leaving, Li Yan specifically told him to keep it.

Li Yan asked Rongda to keep the Leopold military tactical telescope, which he spent 60,000 yuan to sell. In Li Yan's opinion, telescopes are particularly suitable for use in ancient times. Because the air clarity at this time was very high, even if the naked eye could see far away, many things in the distance could not be seen clearly. The telescope could solve this problem.

After taking the telescope, Li Yan picked it up and observed it at the Tuyuhun Camp three miles away. After adjusting the multiples and visual range of the telescope a few times, everything in the Tuyuhun Camp clearly reflected into Li Yan's eyes, and even the pockmarks on the soldiers' faces could be seen clearly.

Condescendingly, Li Yan could see everything in Tuyuhun camp clearly, dozing guards, horses eating grass, and soldiers roasting lamb legs around the fire.

From near to far, Li Yan looked back at the Tuyuhun Camp. In the white tent, he suddenly saw a few children running around. He looked elsewhere and found more children and some old people. Zhu Youzhi said it was right. When nomadic peoples were fighting, they moved like migrating. Herdsmen drove cattle and sheep to follow the army. This was just like the Tang Dynasty's army going to fight, and the people followed the food and grass. The so-called 80,000 people were just an imaginary number.

Li Yan held this strange thing and moved to Tuyuhun's camp. Xue Rengui and Niu Jinda had strange expressions on their faces, while Qin Huaiyu and Zhu Youzhi were both very envious. They learned from some modern books that this is called a telescope, which can bring things in the distance in their vision closer, and is an indispensable thing in marching and fighting.

After understanding the general situation, Li Yan handed the telescope to Zhu Youzhi. Zhu Youzhi observed for a while and then handed it to Qin Huaiyu. At this time, Niu Jinda finally couldn't help but say, "Your Highness, what are you doing?"

Li Yan explained: "This kind of thing is called a telescope, which can clearly see things from far away and is used to observe the enemy's situation."

Niu Jinda was still confused. At this time, Qin Huaiyu returned the telescope to Li Yan. Li Yan pointed the telescope at Tuyuhun Camp and said to Niu Jinda: "General Niu looks over these two round holes and try it."

Niu Jinda still walked to Li Yan, leaned his head to the telescope and looked inside. Suddenly, a soldier holding his nose appeared in front of Niu Jinda. Niu Jinda was startled and leaned back for a while, and then found that there was nothing.

"Your Highness, what's going on?" Niu Jinda was shocked, but Qin Huaiyu and Zhu Youzhi both laughed. Xue Rengui became more and more confused. He looked like Niu Jinda, and also showed the same expression as Niu Jinda.

Li Yan knew that it was impossible for them to explain the principle in a short time, so he said: "This is a commodity introduced from Luo'anguo. Like the wooden cattle and horse, it is an artifact invented by craftsmen. Its function is what you just saw."

Niu Jinda calmed down a little after hearing Li Yan's words, but his heart was still ups and downs. He fought countless times throughout his life, and instantly understood the effect of this thing on war, which was inexplicably shocked.

"Your Highness, can you let me use it again?" Niu Jinda said.

Li Yan generously gave the telescope to Niu Jinda, "Please, General Niu."

Niu Jinda took the telescope with both hands as if holding a holy object. Then he held the telescope and looked at the Tuyuhun Camp opposite him. Xue Rengui was also eager, but Niu Jinda was a veteran, so he was embarrassed to reach out and could only wait for Niu Jinda to use it.

At this time, Li Yan was thinking about how to break Tuyuhun's attack. His eyes swept across the mountains on both sides of Songzhou City and said, "There may not be no paths that can be passed on on these high mountains and ridges. Xue Rengui, now you ask the soldiers to post notices in the city and offer a large reward to find the paths leading from the mountain to the outside of the city."

"Yes, Your Highness!" Xue Rengui responded, called a commander Guoyi, and said a few words to him. The commander Guoyi took the order and left.

Zhu Youzhidao: "Is your highness trying to send elite troops to attack Tuyuhun Camp and burn their siege equipment?"

"Yes, their morale is strong now, and fighting now is very unfavorable for us. It is better to just drag it like this, exhaust their morale and find an opportunity to annihilate the enemy." Li Yan said his thoughts.

Zhu Youzhi hesitated, "It's okay to find a small path outside the mountain. If you can't find it, this plan will be difficult to implement. And even if you find it, you have to spend time figuring out where the Tuyuhun siege equipment is. It's probably not possible in a few days. At this time, we might as well take advantage of the night every night to send civilians to dig a trench a mile outside the city. After digging the trench, the infantry will guard it. If Tuyuhun leads the cavalry to attack, it will inevitably fall into the trench and lose the advantage of the cavalry. At that time, you can concentrate your superior forces to attack. If Tuyuhun's infantry approaches the trench, you can attack with bows and arrows."

Niu Jinda was also stole the secret at this time and heard Zhu Youzhi's words: "Trench? What is that?"

Li Yan couldn't help but nod and smile after hearing Zhu Youzhi's words. Unexpectedly, Zhu Youzhi really learned and used it. The method he used actually came from the famous war allusion of the war in Western military history. In 627 AD, Mohamed fought against the Mecca noble coalition with 3,000 people and dozens of horses. In such a huge gap in strength, Mohamed listened to the suggestion to dig trenches around the outskirts of Medina to defend. After the battle began, the Mecca coalition cavalry tried several times to pass through the trenches and were eliminated by concentrated forces, forcing them to retreat. When the infantry approached, the defenders used bows and arrows to shoot, and finally successfully blocked the coalition.

"The trench is a deep and wide ditche. It's not only necessary to dig, but also to dig a few more to let them fall into the pit after they fall down." Li Yan said, and then the two of them laughed like two foxes, and Niu Jinda was even more confused.

After discussing the countermeasures, Xue Rengui immediately summoned civilians and soldiers, preparing to go out tonight to dig trenches, and also began to collect straw. This was what Li Yan asked him to do. Since he was playing with the dark, he would play to the end and give the Tuyuhun cavalry a surprise. He asked the civilians and soldiers to cover the straw on the dug trenches and cover them with old soil at that time, so that the Tuyuhun cavalry would not notice the existence of the trenches. They would not fall all of them after they came, and they would probably fall without waiting for Li Yan's soldiers to attack.
Chapter completed!