Chapter 1025

Songzhou.

Luo Xin was organizing the response to Tibet’s invasion.

On the third day after sending the battle report to Qingzhou, he received an order from the Emperor. He was authorized to handle all matters related to Tibet, and the ultimate strategic objective was to make Tibet completely submit.

“You will now mobilize all the military region’s hot air balloons and send them to Tibet. Cooperate with the hunter cavalry to scout Tibet’s movements and transmit the information at all times, so that we can intercept the Tibetan cavalry at important points.”

Similar to the barbarians, Tibet also used a cavalry plus slave soldier model. For many years, it was precisely by relying on the high-quality horses on the plateau that Tibet was able to harass the Empire at will. Coupled with the oxygen-deprived environment of the plateau, they rarely suffered a counterattack from the former Great Yu Empire, because soldiers could not adapt to such a high altitude.

The difference, however, was that the Great Yu Empire could block the barbarians on the grassland with the Great Wall, but Tibet had a long border with the Great Yu Empire. No one knew where Tibet would attack from, so this time Luo Xin had to use hot air balloons, hoping to grasp the movements of the large Tibetan army in advance through reconnaissance by hot air balloons.

“Yes, Commander Luo!” The reconnaissance company commander in charge of reconnaissance responded.

After watching the reconnaissance company commander leave, Luo Xin issued several more orders. This time, he arrived in Songzhou in advance to deal with Tibet’s actions, but in reality, the mobilization of troops had just begun.

He was currently mobilizing the armies stationed in the Bashu, Guangxi, and Yunnan regions to gather here.

According to his plan, 20,000 soldiers from the Southwest Army would participate in this operation. This batch of soldiers was now all equipped with Han-style rifles, the artillery used the new Imperial Guard field cannons, and the number of Changping-style machine guns reached 300.

The news of Qi Guangyi beheading Dolgor had already spread throughout the army. He, the commander of the Southwest Army, finally had a chance to achieve a great merit, and he did not want to disappoint the Emperor.

In the midst of the tense preparations, ten days later, two elite divisions of the Southwest Army were assembled in Songzhou. Luo Xin was not in a hurry to attack but had the soldiers undergo a half-month acclimatization training on the plateau, and at the same time, practice the coordination between different branches of the military.

Although he was confident that he could defeat the Tibetan army, he dared not underestimate the plateau reaction that he had learned about in the Army Academy.

While the Northwest Army was conducting large-scale exercises, Tibetan Zanpu Zaxi Dondrup was also paying close attention to the intelligence from Songzhou.

Inheriting the ambition of his predecessors, Zaxi Dondrup also dreamed of establishing a vast empire similar to the Golden Tent Khanate. For this reason, as soon as he became Zanpu, he began to covet the Great Yu Empire.

And with the decline of the Golden Tent Khanate and the disappearance of its military forces from the grasslands connected to Tibet, he finally could no longer hold back his ambition and led the Tibetan cavalry to seize control of the power vacuum left by the Golden Tent Khanate.

“Zanpu, the Great Yu Empire has gathered about 20,000 people in Songzhou. They have been training near Songzhou these past few days and have no intention of attacking us.” The commander of ten thousand men, Dengba, rode up to him and reported the situation he had scouted.

“A mere 20,000 people? Hmph, it seems they are just putting on a show, only worried that we will attack Songzhou. In that case, we will ignore them and directly attack Lingzhou.” Zaxi Dondrup laughed loudly, looking very arrogant.

Dengba nodded. News was scarce on the plateau, and he and Zaxi Dondrup both thought that the Great Yu Empire was not much different from before, so they did not take the 20,000 people seriously. After all, his 80,000 cavalry plus 100,000 slave soldiers would make even the Golden Tent Khanate wary.

After figuring out the number of troops in Songzhou, Zaxi Dondrup finally felt at ease. Looking at the long line of cavalry, his heart was filled with passion, and he pointed in the direction of Lingzhou.

If they could occupy this city west of Chang’an, they would be able to use Lingzhou as a boundary to control all the grasslands west of Lingzhou.

…

“Commander, the reconnaissance team has sent back information. The Tibetan army is advancing towards Lingzhou. They have now reached a low-altitude area, about a three-day journey from us.”

On the third day of acclimatization training, Luo Xin received detailed intelligence. This was the news sent back by the hot air balloon reconnaissance company. What they saw from the sky was more vast, and they were also not noticed by the Tibetans. It was precisely for this reason that the number of people Tibet had dispatched this time was clearly revealed by the reconnaissance company.

“Lingzhou? It’s Lingzhou after all. How many people did they dispatch this time?” Luo Xin asked. In the history of the Great Yu Empire, this was not the first time Tibet had set its sights on Lingzhou.

This city was far from Chang’an and went deep into the grassland, making it a key location for stockpiling food and supplies.

After being occupied by the Golden Tent Khanate, Tibet did not dare to provoke the barbarians, so they had been quiet for a long time. Now that the barbarians had withdrawn from Lingzhou and it was re-controlled by the Empire, Tibet was making a comeback.

“Reporting, Commander, a total of about 100,000 people, including 40,000 cavalry and 60,000 slave soldiers.” The reconnaissance company commander said loudly.

“Eighty thousand people? In that case, we will set up an ambush for them on their way back and annihilate them in one fell swoop.”

For Luo Xin, he did not care how many people Tibet had this time; what mattered was Tibet’s current route of action. After all, the elite of the Southwest Army, equipped with Han-style rifles, could easily eliminate enemies several times their number.

As for whether Lingzhou would be captured, he was not worried, because Lingzhou was now under Qi Guangyi’s jurisdiction. The barbarians could not gain any advantage from him, let alone Tibet, a cold weapon army that lived in a closed environment and had a narrow view of the world.

“Yes, Commander,” the generals shouted loudly.

Among the six military regions now, the Southeast Military Region had gone to Australia, the Northwest Military Region was fighting the barbarians, the Guandong Military Region was contending with Tsarist Russia for Siberia, and Zhu Sansi was preparing to go to North America. Only their Southwest Army and the Central Army had not been actively engaged.

The Central Army was guarding the capital, which was a task in itself, but it made them, the Southwest Army, very uncomfortable.

So this time, having finally gotten a chance to go to war, the generals were all invigorated. According to Luo Xin, a general who did not fight was better off going home to sell sweet potatoes.

Next, Luo Xin laid out the nearby map and assigned tasks to each general, preparing to complete this combat mission with the cooperation of the Northwest Army.

Lingzhou.

Feng Dongjin had already assembled 20,000 rifle cavalry nearby. Tibet was not within their jurisdiction, but Tibet’s northward attack on Lingzhou had something to do with them.

Therefore, they had sent telegrams for instructions these past few days. After receiving the order, they began to prepare, and on this day, they finally saw the mighty Tibetan army coming.

And at the same time he discovered the Tibetan army, Zaxi Donzhu also discovered Feng Dongjin’s rifle cavalry.

Looking at this cavalry force standing silently on the grassland, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart. This feeling made him uneasy.