Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 860 First Battle ([-])

From morning to noon, Li Shan's legs were numb while standing on the chariot. Fortunately, he had such an experience in his previous life. At the beginning, he was not allowed to follow the teacher into the operating room. He could only watch on the sidelines. Hours.

There were mouthfuls of steamed buns... Li Shan was still used to calling this stuff steamed buns, thinking in his heart that this war was protracted, and he probably had varicose veins in his lower extremities, like earthworms. Mother was startled.

However, after the morning's battle, Li Shan's nervousness has been relaxed, and the plan has been carried out flawlessly. Li Daoxuan, Dou Gui's left and right armies have successfully gained a firm foothold, and the Turks did not try to bypass the central army.

Bypassing the enemy's large formation is the most common and effective method for the Turks to fight against the Central Plains army. Today, there are only three possibilities.

The first is that Ashina Sheer has already withdrawn his troops on purpose, but this possibility is unlikely. The Turks managed to seize the main roads at the border between Yuanzhou and Jingzhou. It is said that it has taken the initiative.

Moreover, it is still mid-September, and it hasn't been long since the Turks plundered the three states, so it is unlikely that they will retreat to the grassland so early.

The second is that Ashina Sheer made up his mind to fight to the death here, and even if the damage was heavy, he would defeat the Tang army. This possibility exists. After all, according to previous intelligence, this time the Turks went south with more than ten troops. There are tens of thousands of people, and now the Turkic troops on the opposite side are only about [-] to [-]. If they gather troops and attack wildly without hesitating casualties, there is indeed a chance to defeat the Tang army.

But this possibility is not great, even if he is willing, will those clansmen under his command be willing?
How much would the Turks have to pay if they wanted to defeat the [-] elite Tang army under unfavorable terrain?
What's more, Ashina Sheerken, is Tuli Khan willing?

If Ashina Sheer attacked with his clansmen and tribes and suffered heavy losses, wouldn't it be cheaper for Tuli Khan?
Now the two khans seem to be very close, and they are going south hand in hand, but they should both know it well, and they will definitely have a fight in the future.

Ashina Sheer's strength has been greatly damaged, so isn't he afraid that he will once again form an alliance with Tuli Khan to kill him... After all, he is a close friend of Jinlan who has been sworn in for a long time!
Li Shan was so lost in thought that he didn't seem to feel his legs were sore. Zhu Wei pushed him aside and said in a low voice, "The county magistrate of Changxing is here."

"Oh, brother Guizhang is here." Li Shan threw down the steamed bun, "Has the Turk moved?"

"It's moving." Qian Jiulong hesitated, "Do you really want to mobilize the cavalry?"

"The former army is the vanguard, and Su Dingfang is ordered to lead the cavalry to either the rear or the side, it is up to him to choose." Li Shan said softly: "Don't worry, the Turks will not fight to the death."

Qian Jiulong nodded. The death of every Turkic will lead to his wife, son, and livestock being robbed by his tribe... This is also a custom on the grassland. That tribe may be his brother, his nephew, or even his own. Possibly his own son.

This makes the Turks tend to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages when fighting, and do not have the courage to fight to the end. Under the current situation, it is difficult for the Turks to make a comeback without paying a heavy price.

"If the Turks don't have a horizontal formation..." Li Shan pondered for a moment, picked up the binoculars and took a few glances, "Let Li Daoxuan and Dou Gui make a decision, or the car formation can move closer to the center, but don't act too hastily, and you need to beware of Turkic surprise attacks."

"Yes."

Qian Jiulong strode away, Li Shan thought in his heart, Ashina Sheer could neither retreat nor pay a heavy price, so there was only the third possibility left.

This is also what Li Shan is looking forward to.

More than a hundred shirtless brawny men stood outside the formation of the Chinese army, holding drumsticks. The heavy drumbeats grew from small to loud, from light to heavy, from slow to fast, and finally became a rumbling sound like thunder. .

Zhang Zhongjian called out loudly, and assigned the personal guards and the small school to command the formation, with Hu Yan and Hou Hongtao as the vanguard, He Fang as the left wing, Qu Silang as the right wing, and himself leading the main force behind, slowly marching forward.

On a hill three or four miles away, Su Dingfang, holding a binoculars, looked at it for a while, handed the binoculars to Duan Zhixuan, silently thinking in his heart, it would be impossible to win the first battle, but if Huai Ren wanted to lure the Turks In order to win the battle, the Turks must be beaten hard in this battle, and it is worthwhile for one's own side to suffer a little casualties.

Su Dingfang knew Li Shan too well, remember last year Huairen claimed that it was difficult for him to be a famous general like Li Yaoshi, and it was difficult for a soldier to be a chess piece with nineteen pieces, but Su Dingfang didn't think so.

Indeed, Li Shan has incomprehensible compassion and care for the people around him, but he is not so weak in the face of death... When Li Ting was attacked at night, the entire camp was almost burned to ashes, and countless corpses fell into the fire , how many soldiers could not stop beating when they smelled the smell of cooked meat, but Li Shan walked freely in the camp.

"It's too clear!" Duan Zhixuan muttered while watching, "I have long heard that the King of Handan is proficient in all kinds of skills, but I didn't expect to be able to make such a magical weapon. If I had a pair back then, the battle would be much more convenient. You won't be trapped by Zheng Jun outside Luoyang."

Feng Li snatched the binoculars half-eyed, took a look and said, "It's so clear!"

"It's reversed!" Duan Zhixuan sneered, "It's reversed!"

Feng Li turned around in embarrassment, took a few glances and was refreshed, "Although the Turkic formations are deployed, the range is not large. It can allow King Huaiyang to move the formation to the west."

"Order the personal guards to pass the message, first let Ma Sanbao lead the cavalry to go out to cover the formation, form a team every fifty steps, and don't mess up the formation." Su Dingfang strode down the hill as he spoke, got on his horse, and took the horses handed by the personal guards, "In armor."

Su Dingfang had a plan, and Zhang Zhongjian, who knew the inside story, had the same idea. This battle can only be effective if Ashina Sheer is hurt.

There was a rain of arrows coming towards him, Hou Hongtao lowered his head, only feeling a pain in his forehead, knowing that if it wasn't for the protection of the helmet, he would have died on the spot.

There was the neighing sound of war horses in his ears. Hou Hongtao knew that some of the cavalry's mounts had been shot. Although the forwards were all heavy cavalry, not only their own leather armor, but also the war horses were also armored, but the war horses could not protect all places. It is inevitable that there will be unlucky ghosts in such a dense arrow rain.

While praying in his heart, Hou Hongtao recalled Li Shan's complaints before he left Beijing... Those people from the Shaofu and the Weapons Supervisor are so worthless, are they just sitting and drinking tea every day, neglecting their duties, and actually the crossbow is so stupid? few!

Hearing such complaints, everyone from Su Dingfang, Zhang Zhongjian, Ling Jing to Hou Hongtao, Qu Silang, etc. were speechless. What if they emptied their stocks?
Hey, Li Shan is used to extravagance. In the Daizhou Army, the most elite cavalry, in addition to good horses, horseshoes, harnesses, lances, and long knives, will also wear a crossbow. The key is to prepare before the battle. There are always waves of crossbows... But Li Shan doesn't think about it, how expensive the crossbow is, how long the production cycle is, and the imperial court really cannot afford thousands of cavalry equipment.

Moreover, if the cavalrymen carry crossbows, they will be lost if one is not good enough. It is too wasteful. Li Shan was thinking of giving some crossbows to Su Dingfang and Zhang Zhongjian last night, but was stopped by Dou Gui and Li Daoxuan. The Chinese army did not have a large number of crossbows. I'm really worried.

He removed the shield from the side of the mount to block it for a while. Hou Hongtao peeked at it, calculated the distance in his mind, and clamped his legs to keep the mount at the current speed. After all, the biggest disadvantage of heavy cavalry is that it is difficult to last long Speed ​​up continuously, so the speed up needs to be used at the most critical moment.

It's almost there, it's almost there, Hou Hongtao straightened up suddenly, with his shield in front of the front door, and was about to shout to remind the cavalry, but unexpectedly, a violent shout like a thunderbolt sounded in his ears.

This is stealing my job!
Hou Hongtao watched speechlessly as Hu Yan suddenly accelerated past him, threw away the shield, held up the halberd in his hand, and smashed it down.

Hu Yan led, followed by Hou Hongtao and dozens of heavy cavalry. After several hours of seeing and testing, Tang Jun broke through the formation with heavy cavalry.

(End of this chapter)