Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 858 First Battle ([-])

The chief generals of the two armies were paying attention to the two thousand cavalry who were rushing towards them, but Ashina Association rate was cursing in his heart.

Just approaching the chariot formation, I haven't seen it clearly yet, suddenly hundreds of crossbowmen stood up behind the chariot, and thousands of crossbow arrows rushed towards them, and the frightened association quickly reined in their horses, how could there be such a thing? Many crossbows!
Of course, when fighting on the east side of the battlefield, the Chinese army has already changed its formation and formed a defensive formation with chariots as the periphery. Hundreds of guard cavalry around Li Shan.

Li Shan put the main force of the cavalry in the hands of Su Dingfang and Zhang Zhongjian who were outside the formation. The Chinese army had no ability to fight back, so he mobilized a large number of crossbowmen.

It seems that there is nothing to be tested. Just as this idea came to Ashina Sheer's mind, someone reminded him: "Khan, the west side of the Tang army has moved."

Ashina Sheer's heart tightened, and he drove his horse to the west. Within sight, the main force of the Tang Army's right army was moving forward rapidly under the cover of cavalry.

At the same time that the association led troops to attack the central army, Zhang Zhongjian, Wang Junhao, and Qu Silang had successfully swept the battlefield on the west side. Although there were more than 4000 Turkic cavalry stationed on this side, the terrain was too narrow, and there was a dense forest behind them. On the side is the Rushui River, and it is difficult to disperse in all directions.

It didn't take much time for the Tang army to successfully invade the Turkic army. Hu Yan, the governor of Ningzhou, who was accused of not daring to fight, was the first to enter the formation. Regardless of the cold arrows hitting his face, he slashed down with a long halberd.

The long halberd was useless unless it was powerful. When the long halberd fell, two Turkic cavalrymen were knocked off their horses. The other cavalry barely resisted, but his eyes were pierced by the small branch of the long halberd. Hu Yan pulled him over to block the incoming long knife, and with the other hand held up the long halberd to sweep across, four or five cavalrymen were swept down.

Seeing this scene, Qu Silang couldn't help clicking his tongue, remembering that Mr. Lang mentioned that this Ningzhou governor was more skilled than Yuchi, and bravely stepped up to Qin Qiong, he was really a mighty general.

Then Zhang Zhongjian, who led the main force to catch up, broke through the formation and cut the Turks in half. The Turks immediately scattered and fled... This is not a sign of admitting defeat, but the fighting style that the Turks are accustomed to. Instead of fighting close to each other, they try to draw distance.

But Zhang Zhongjian didn't care about the remnant army fleeing to the north side at all, and only cared about driving another part of the Turkic people to the Rushui River.

In such a chaotic battle, the speed, maneuverability, and shooting skills that the Turkic people held to dominate the grassland were completely useless. The Tang cavalry was divided into several groups and charged back and forth, all with heavy cavalry in iron armor as the vanguard. The cavalry caught up with the slashing and killing, and the blood in the low-lying areas of the killing pooled into a small pool, and there were many bones on the ground.

Fortunately, the remnant army on the north side had the support of thousands of Turkic cavalry to stabilize their position, while the other part of the remnant army had completely lost its organizational structure. Driven by the Tang army, it had to flee to the Rushui River, and even jumped into the river to escape... ...It's a pity that Dou Gui has already arranged troops on the opposite bank.

Although there were still many Turkic cavalry fleeing back and forth on the west side of the battlefield, there was no longer any threat. With an order from Dou Gui, [-] soldiers from the right army marched northward. In the rolling yellow sand, shield soldiers and crossbowmen were at the forefront. On the wings on both sides, the soldiers behind pushed the chariot desperately to move north.

The army moved, and the formation inevitably showed signs of being scattered. More than 2000 Turkic cavalry took the opportunity to pounce on it, trying to attack from the flank to cut off the right column of the Tang army.

However, more than a thousand cavalrymen of the Tang Army suddenly came out from behind the formation, and their horseshoes beat on the ground like a big drum, billowing up smoke and dust, and went straight to meet them. Wang Junhao stabbed four or five Turkic generals in a row with the horse in his hand. .

"It's someone who knows how to steal merit." Li Keshi complained in his heart, snatched the long spear from Guo servant's hand, shouted, and rushed out of the formation first, followed by hundreds of Tang cavalry.

Wang Junhao led the army to meet the enemy head-on. The Turkic cavalry who originally wanted to surprise the infantry of the right army had to expose the weakness of their flanks. Li Keshi led the cavalry to turn a corner and cut in from the side. The two thousand Turkic cavalry were in chaos.

"That's a smart one." Dou Gui, who was watching the battle not far away, also complained in his heart. There were five descendants of the Danyang family of the Li family in Longxi, and four of them except Li Ganyou fought on the battlefield.

The eldest son, Li Yaowang, was a general of the Twelve Guards in the former Sui Dynasty. He once went out to the fortress with Shi Wansui and defeated the Turks. Although he was dismissed as a civilian after the war, the killings were heavy, which was praised by Han Qinhu.

Only the third son, Li Keshi, likes to play tricks. Although he fought with the king of Qin, he always only fights against the wind, looking for the enemy's weakness and chasing after him.

If it wasn't for Li Huairen, why would Master Li Ke and his son be knighted... While thinking, Dou Gui loudly urged the soldiers to go north quickly, pushed the chariot to the periphery, and re-arranged.

"It's late, it's late." Ashina Sheer flicked his horsewhip bitterly, "Li Huairen is a good trick!"

The main forces of the Tang army lined up, and even took the initiative to divide them, luring the main Turkic forces to attack. Although Ashina Sheer was suspicious and only sent two thousand cavalry to test, he also had hope in his heart. If he wins, or even shakes the position of the Chinese army, he will lead the main cavalry to press up, defeat the Chinese army in one fell swoop, and defeat the Tang army.

Therefore, Ashina Sheer specially deployed troops on the east side to stare at Li Daoxuan and Su Dingfang, and then gathered most of the cavalry for backup. Who would have thought that the right army of the Tang army would suddenly go north, move forward hundreds of steps, and further block the space.

The battlefield was originally narrow, the main road on the east side was occupied by Li Daoxuan, and now the west side was also blocked by Dou Gui's advance, which made the space for the Turkic cavalry to move very small.

Tuli Khan over there also noticed the abnormality. He galloped forward with an ugly expression on his face. Although he didn't expect to defeat the Tang army in this battle, and could even tolerate a small defeat, he was so defeated by the Tang army, or by the King of Handan on the opposite side. It's too embarrassing to play.

"Can you beat it down?"

"Difficult, harder than the east side." Ashina Sheer said angrily, "It's just a formation of chariots, and there are Tang Qi lying on the banks of the Rushui River."

Tuli Khan was silent for a moment. Although he was young, he was also a veteran in the battlefield. The Tang army defended with chariots, and there was not much space around them.

The north side is a dense forest, but the south side is empty, but it is impossible to go around to the back of the formation, because thousands of elite Tang cavalry are just behind the formation by the Rushui River, and they can launch a surprise attack at any time, and it happens to be the flank of the incoming Turkic army .

"What exactly does he want?" Tuli Khan couldn't help asking.

"Can't you see it?!" Ashina Sheer yelled in a low voice, "It's nothing more than forcing me to wait for close combat!"

(End of this chapter)