A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 449 Hell Opens

Inside the central command tent,
Dou Jiande's hand, gripping the gold-flecked challenge letter, bulged with veins.

"If he wants war, then let us fight! Today we will fight him to the death!" King Xia roared.

"King Xia, you mustn't!" Ling Jing, the Grand Master of the Imperial Academy, stepped forward and remonstrated. "King Xia, if you wanted war, you should have fought a decisive battle at Xiangzhou a hundred days ago, when the Tang army first entered Hebei. Now our army has suffered repeated defeats, with heavy casualties and low morale."

Now that Mingzhou is surrounded on all sides, fighting a decisive battle here would be the worst possible strategy.

Your Majesty, I request that you lead your army to break through the encirclement and reach Beizhou and Jizhou, the places where Your Majesty rose to power, to regroup your forces and then engage the Tang army again.

"We must not engage in a decisive battle at this time."

Dou Jiande stood up abruptly, his iron armor clanging. "Since I raised an army in Zhangnan, have I ever avoided battle? Whether it was Guo Xuan, the prefect of Zhuojun, or Yang Yichen, the Minister of the Imperial Stud, or later Generals Xue Shixiong and Li Jing, I always defeated the many with the few and triumphed over the strong with the weak!"

"Although our army has suffered several defeats, we still have 80,000 troops, which still outnumbers Tang Jia Li Tong!"

"King Xia, our army previously numbered over 100,000, twice the size of the Tang army, yet we still couldn't win. Now we only have 80,000 left, how can we possibly win? Let's break out. As long as we're alive, we can always rebuild."

"Report!"

"Zhang Shigui came to the camp again to provoke us, and even had his men sing a folk song: 'Dou Jialang, Kunmingshui, Shibazi, Zuomingtang.' The soldiers were furious and shouted for battle!"

Wang Cong, the Right General of the Martial Guard, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the morale of the army is high, and we can fight."

Ling Jing continued to plead with him.

Left Minister Fan Yuan glanced coldly at Ling Jing, "Master Ling, have you been scared out of your wits by the Tang army? Since our Hebei army rose up, we have never had a coward who is afraid of death."

Dou Jiande looked at Gao Yaxian, Liu Heita, and the other generals.

Gao Yaxian said bluntly: "King Xia, we cannot retreat. The entire army is on its last breath. If we retreat now, that breath will dissipate, and retreat will turn into a rout. How can we fight then?"

Besides, Beizhou has no natural defenses. If Li Shimin, Luo Yi, and Li Yi besiege it again, where will we retreat to? We might as well fight a desperate battle, putting ourselves in a do-or-die situation. If we defeat Li Shimin first, then capture Mingshui City, and then head north to attack Luo Yi, there will still be a glimmer of hope!

Dou Jiande slammed his hand heavily on the imperial desk.

"Well said! Let's fight! Today we will fight Tang Tong to the death! Brothers, our lives and our fates are decided today!"

Ling Jing was left alone in the imperial tent, muttering to himself, "Today is the Ghost Festival, the gates of hell open, what an ominous day."

The city of Mingshui stands tall, surrounded by the Mingshui River like a silver snake coiled around it, its shimmering waves dazzling the eyes.
The scorching sun baked the earth, and the heatwave distorted the air.

Driven by a hundred war drums, the Xia army...
They launched an attack from their camps, arraying themselves south of Mingshui City. Eighty thousand troops marched out in unison, their spears and halberds like a forest.

There wasn't a breath of wind in the air.

The heat wave rose,

Xia Jun was fully armed, clad in armor and wielding weapons. In no time, he was drenched in sweat. His armor was scorching hot from the sun, and his inner uniform was completely soaked.

Even soldiers wearing leather armor were sweating profusely.

Countless banners hung low, unable to flutter without wind.

"Cheer up, everyone!"
The war drums continue to beat!

Dou Jiande sat in the central army, wearing iron armor and holding a long sword. The armor was neither gilded nor decorated with fancy patterns.

However, the golden banner behind him signifies his status as the commander-in-chief of the entire army.

The army spread out on the plain. Although the sun was scorching, the Xia army was well-trained. Each hundred-man battalion was twenty paces wide and long.

The vanguard, numbering 13,500 men, was further divided into three parts: left, right, and right. Each part, when deployed, stretched for one li and two hundred and seventy paces.

Each of the three vanguard divisions had a phalanx formation with a depth of 170 paces.

After the entire army of 80,000 was deployed, the battlefield reached an astonishing width of 12 li and a thickness of 3.5 li.

The Xia army's formation was actually quite close together, which was a conservative formation given the Xia army's current disadvantage. Otherwise, some square formations would be separated by a mile or so, and then 80,000 men could spread out to a width of 20 miles.

It's hot and there's no wind.

The 80,000-strong army was packed together so tightly that it became even more stiflingly hot.

The sound of the cowhide war drum seemed to have difficulty traveling through the heat wave, and the sound was muffled.

The thick armor worn by the front-row Mo Dao soldiers, even with a battle robe over it, couldn't block the scorching sun; the iron armor was as hot as a branding iron.

The knight stood in the sunlight, leading his horse.
Suddenly, a horse collapsed, foaming at the mouth, and the entire cavalry squad became agitated.

Dou Jiande had an umbrella to shield him from the sun.

But the soldiers could only stand in the sun in the middle of the formation.

Why hasn't the Tang army made a move yet?

Time passes little by little,
The sun is getting stronger and stronger.
Many of the soldiers were already feeling dizzy from the sun.

Many soldiers had repeatedly taken out their water bladders to fill themselves with water, but the water had long since turned to scalding hot from the sun, and swallowing it did not quench their thirst at all.

On the contrary, drinking a lot of water makes you feel uncomfortable, but being in the sun makes you want to drink water to quench your thirst.

"Give the horse water."

Dou Jiande gave the instructions.

The Tang army camp in the west of the city was silent, and tens of thousands of Tang soldiers seemed to be taking a nap in their tents to escape the summer heat.

"King Xia, is the Tang army playing a trick on us? They deliberately challenged us to a decisive battle, but instead left us exposed to the scorching sun while they lay in their camp to avoid it."

"Why don't we retreat?"

Several generals discussed the matter before the emperor.

Although Dou Jiande had a canopy, he was still drenched in sweat from the suffocating armor. He was irritable, but he gritted his teeth and persevered.

If we retreat now, and the Tang army launches an attack, we are giving them an opportunity.

Furthermore, he longed for a decisive battle.

If we don't fight now, Luo Yi's 50,000 troops will arrive, and there will be no chance of turning the tide. Ling Jing said that breaking out is useless if we don't defeat the Tang army; no matter where we break out, it won't make a difference.

"hold on!"

The sun is getting increasingly scorching.
The Xia army, which marched out to form ranks at Chenshi (7-9 AM), was already wilted like frostbitten eggplants by noon.

Left Minister Fan Yuan led the vanguard. The Mo Dao (陌刀) squad at the very front could no longer stand. They knelt in the shadow of the shield bearers' large shields, and all the eighteen-foot Mo Dao were thrown to their feet.

The shield bearers and the long-handled sword bearers were like brothers in arms, standing close together, all for the sake of the shadow cast by their shields.

The cavalrymen under Cao Dan's command also hid in the shadows of their warhorses, wishing they could strip off their armor to cool down.

On the other side, Gao Yaxian was wiping his long sword, which was a gift from his adopted son Su Dingfang. It was crafted by a master craftsman, but unfortunately, his adopted son had been captured by the Tang camp.

"King Xia, the brothers have been exposed to the scorching sun for two hours, and many have already suffered heatstroke and fainted."

Dou Jiande also saw it. The troops began to line up, standing in neat rows. After two hours of being exposed to the scorching sun, the Xia army was basically all sitting on the ground.

Although no one dares to lay down their arms yet, morale has already plummeted.

“Some brothers have drunk all the water they brought and are now asking for more.”

Dou Jiande gazed at the Tang camp north of the city; it remained eerily quiet.

"Send three thousand men to the Tang camp to hurl insults and challenge Li Shimin to come out and fight!" Dou Jiande's lips were cracked, and his voice was hoarse. Wang Xiaohu received the Xia King's order and jumped up excitedly.

He swallowed hard, patted his sword, and shouted at his listless subordinates, "Come with me to the Tang camp to challenge them and curse those cowards!"

The three thousand men from Hebei immediately jumped up in excitement.

They pounded their spears and swords, roaring; all they wanted now was to fight.

Three thousand infantry and cavalry charged toward the Tang camp several miles away.

As they ran, a breeze finally arrived, and Xia Jun from Hebei, who had been feeling dizzy from being in the sun for two hours, felt the breeze was so refreshing.

In the Tang army camp, apart from those on duty, everyone else was resting in their tents.

Although they were also wearing armor, and the tent was very stuffy, it at least blocked the direct sunlight, making it much more comfortable than the Xia army, who had to stand in formation under the scorching sun for two hours.

Three thousand Xia soldiers and cavalry charged in.
The riders immediately reported back.

In fact, the watchtowers of Tang Camp had already seen it.

Three thousand infantrymen stood a hundred paces outside the camp, shouting and cursing at the Tang camp with all sorts of slang and vulgarities. These burly men from Hebei seemed to have become like shrewish women, only wanting to vent their dissatisfaction with cursing.

The camp gate suddenly opened.

A massive army surged forth from the camp.

The leading cavalry general, clad in black armor and riding a black horse, was like a black whirlwind.

Dark clouds rolled in.

No one expected that the Tang army would directly deploy armored cavalry in response to the three thousand Xia infantry and cavalry who came to challenge and insult them.

The heavy cavalry of the Qin King's Xuanjia Cavalry.

A thousand cavalry charged out.
The earth shook and the mountains trembled.

A thousand heavy cavalrymen, their men and horses completely encased in iron armor, leaving only their eyes visible, charged wildly, their thousand black lacquered lances carving a bloody path through the Xia army.

The front row thrusts forward and then sweeps diagonally across the flanks.
The second row slipped in through the gap, while the rear row flanked from the opening.

Today, the one leading these thousand heavy cavalry is neither Qin Qiong nor Cheng Yaojin, but Yuchi Jingde, the top henchman by the King of Qin's side.

The spears of Wang Xiaohu's infantrymen were as fragile as straws in front of these iron lumps; they were broken when they were thrust at.

The spear broke, and the man died.

A thousand heavy cavalrymen cleaved through the blood, tearing three thousand Xia soldiers in two.
Another thousand men charged out of the camp, a thousand archers led by Zhang Shigui. They rode and shot arrows, relying on their fast horses and sharp bows to fiercely attack the Xia army that was being cut down by the heavy cavalry.

Three thousand infantry and cavalry

They arrived full of fighting spirit, eager for a satisfying battle.
As a result, two thousand Tang cavalrymen charged out of their camp and instantly routed them.

No one could withstand the charge of a thousand heavily armored cavalry, and the mowing down of a thousand elite horse archers.

Wang Xiaohu fled in a sorry state towards his own lines.

Xia Jun also ran wildly, disregarding everything.

It's only a few miles away.

They seem very close.

Despite repeated attacks from a thousand heavy cavalry and a thousand archer cavalry, half of them still failed to escape.

The soldiers at the front of the Xia army watched helplessly as their three thousand men were trampled and slaughtered by the Tang army.

Left Minister Fan Yuan's expression changed drastically.
Roaring repeatedly,

"Prepare for battle, Tree Shield!"

"Raise your spears!"

"Archers, prepare!"

"The enemy was within a hundred paces when we fired."

······
The Tang army pursued the Xia army to within a mile of their formation before halting their advance.

They watched as the more than a thousand defeated Xia soldiers fled back in panic.

Yuchi Gong carried a Xia army captain directly on his horse spear. With his immense strength, he carried an armored enemy general weighing over 200 jin (approximately 100 kg) and rode in front of the battle to demonstrate his strength.

Fan Yuan really wanted to lead his army to attack.

But the Xia king sent someone to deliver the order.

The military formation should not be moved lightly.

Yuchi Gong and Zhang Shigui killed hundreds and captured over a thousand. After showing off, they returned, and also cleaned up the battlefield.

They beheaded the Xia soldiers who had died in battle, stripped them of their armor, took away their warhorses, confiscated their weapons, and tied the captured Xia soldiers together and led them back to their camp.

Cheers erupted from the Tang camp.

Xia army's grand formation,

But there was only a deathly silence.

Three thousand people went to challenge them, but they were defeated by two thousand.

Although the Tang army deployed heavy cavalry, the Xia army was still defeated.

Dou Jiande sent a messenger to the Tang camp to issue another challenge.

"Why did the King of Qin challenge you to battle, yet hesitate to fight?"

At three quarters past the hour of Wei (1-3 PM)

The sun was still scorching.

After a period of rest, Zhang Shigui led three thousand infantry and cavalry out of the camp again, seemingly in response to Dou Jiande.

Three thousand men appeared on the left flank of the Xia army.
These Tang soldiers, carrying bows and spears, maintained a safe distance from the Xia army, circling just outside the shield wall on their left flank.

He kept turning around and shouting insults.

"The Xia bandits of Hebei, our mighty soldiers of the Great Tang Dynasty, shall fight!"

"Xia thief, come and fight!"

"Come and fight!"

One curse after another,

This was stirring up Xia Jun's nerves.
A Xia army captain couldn't resist drawing his bow and shooting at the Tang army. The arrow pierced the air, but ultimately landed far away from the Tang army.

The Tang army continued to shout and curse as they headed southeast.

Cao Dan watched this scene with gritted teeth, unable to bear it any longer. He mounted his horse, raised his eighteen-foot black lacquered spear, and shouted, "Follow me, let's wipe out these three thousand Tang traitors!"

(End of this chapter)