Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 245 Warrior Fights Elephant
Around Guangzhou, a large number of elite soldiers and war elephants from the Nanzhao Kingdom appeared.

In order to help the Tang Dynasty suppress the bandit army, the royal family of Nanzhao actually used all their resources.

Previously, the garrison troops stationed in Guilin had received intelligence that a large number of Nanzhao barbarian soldiers had entered Tang territory and were burning, killing, and looting.

The Nanzhao Kingdom and the Tang Dynasty had been negotiating peace for many years. Huang Chao's instigation of the Nanzhao army was not to persuade the royal family, but to send envoys to use gold and silk to persuade some tribal chiefs on the border who were not in control of the royal family to take action.

Upon receiving news of the devastating massacres and plundering by the Nanzhao barbarians in the western part of Lingnan, the Cao army naturally assumed that it was the chieftains recruited by Huang Chao who had launched their attack.

In addition, the rampant plague and the wavering of public sentiment inevitably led to a neglect of further investigation.

Unexpectedly, the main force of Nanzhao was caught up in the chaos, burning and killing all the way eastward, and then boarded the government fleet to come to the aid of Guangzhou.

In the Tang Dynasty, it was not uncommon for foreign troops to be allowed to burn, kill, and plunder one's own people as payment.

When Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan raised his army, he borrowed troops from the Turks to help him fight. During the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty borrowed troops from the Uyghurs. In return, after recovering Luoyang, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, the Uyghurs were allowed to loot the city and leave with their wealth and possessions.

Luo Juzi was a fierce warrior selected from the local militia of Nanzhao, and the selection criteria were extremely high.

The infantrymen selected as Luo Juzi had to pass five tests: "standing a flag on the top of Cangshan Mountain, first getting up to the flag, that's one pass; suddenly crossing a 13-foot pit, that's one pass; floating up 2,000 feet in a rapid current, that's one pass; wielding a sword, that's one pass; carrying 1.5 shi of rice for 40 li, that's one pass."

Cavalry selection required passing tests in horsemanship and archery. Because Nanzhao was a small country with few warhorses and a limited number of cavalry, its cavalrymen were also required to be literate and have a certain level of literacy.

The Nanzhao flag bearers tied their flags to long-handled spears, the blades gleaming coldly, which only accentuated the fierce and imposing presence of the banners fluttering in the wind.

During their charge, they did not forget to organize their ranks, forming large formations and moving forward with synchronized steps that made the earth tremble.

The war elephants galloping at the forefront were crushed wherever their giant hooves trampled.

With a single twist of its trunk and a thrust of its tusks, an elephant could smash a rudimentary stockade to pieces. Inside the sturdy elephant-drawn carriage were elephant handlers wielding extremely long spears, capable of stabbing enemies from above.

The common soldiers had never seen such a formation before. The troops under Chai Cun and Wang Chongyin were quickly routed and fled in disarray.

Seeing that the grass army's camp had been breached and the soldiers were scattering and fleeing, the leading Nanzhao general waved his flag and gave the order to unleash his cavalry in pursuit. Swords and spears flew, and the grass army soldiers were ruthlessly slaughtered.

"General Chai, everyone says the Nanzhao army is utterly weak. They were defeated by Commander Lei and Commander Yan, and even someone like Song Wei managed to gain merit by defeating Nanzhao." As Geng Biao fled, he turned to the old general Chai Cun beside him and said, "How come they've become so formidable today?"

Chai, who was sixty years old and had seen much of the world, couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh when he heard Geng Biao's question.

"Nanzhao was a small country with a population of just over one million. In the past, it was warlike and fought against the Tang Dynasty. All men under the age of fifteen were conscripted, and women farmed to feed the army. Although this allowed them to build a large army, the elite troops were quite limited."

Geng Biao suddenly realized: "Oh right! I just remembered that Nanzhao did have a great victory over the imperial court. Kang Chengxun, who was once known as a famous general, suffered a major defeat at the hands of Nanzhao, losing nearly 10,000 soldiers."

There was a significant gap in national strength between Nanzhao and the Tang Dynasty. Furthermore, the wars against Nanzhao were led by outstanding figures like Lei Shuai and Yan Shuai, so it's not surprising that Nanzhao suffered repeated defeats in its border raids.

Chai Cun nodded and said, "In the past, when the generals repeatedly defeated Nanzhao, only Lei Shuai Gao Pian was truly able to behead more than 10,000 people. Although Nanzhao sought peace, it did not reach the point where all its soldiers were killed. In the end, the national treasury was empty, the people could not bear the suffering, and it could not afford to wait any longer."

"Hearing what General Chai said, it's clear that Nanzhao is no ordinary force. They've concentrated their elite troops, and they're indeed a formidable opponent!"

The army's strength was far from enough to match the massive Tang Dynasty state apparatus. It relied entirely on its mobile and flexible tactics to attack a portion of the Tang army at a time.

The Nanzhao Kingdom dispatched nearly 10,000 of its elite troops to assist the imperial court, which was enough to pose a considerable threat to the rebel army.

Moreover, the army had just been attacked by the plague, and its fighting strength was greatly diminished.

The conversation between Geng Biao and Chai Cun made a lot of sense, but it couldn't solve the predicament of the Cao army's crushing defeat.

Originally positioned at the rear of the formation, the Nanzhao cavalry gradually surged to the front during the pursuit, attacking the fleeing grass army from both sides, intending to make them trample each other.

With their surrounding forces in complete disarray and morale shattered, and the enemy cavalry closing in ever closer, Chai Cun and Geng Biao felt a growing sense of despair. Just then, a valiant cavalry force suddenly charged out from behind the hills.

The leading cavalry general was none other than Li Tangbin, a subordinate of Shang Rang.

He had no more than a hundred cavalrymen under his command, divided into two teams of fifty each, to serve as the left and right flanks.

These knights were exceptionally valiant, galloping across the plains like lightning bolts struck by a thunderbolt, cleaving into the enemy ranks.

Seeing the unstoppable advance of the grass army cavalry, the Nanzhao cavalry spurred their horses and fled. Amidst the clanging of armor and clashing spears, in the blink of an eye, Li Tangbin led a cavalry force far smaller than the Nanzhao army, and fought several rounds of battle.

When Chai Cun, Geng Biao, and the others saw that the reinforcements had arrived, they breathed a sigh of relief and bowed to Li Tangbin's cavalry to express their gratitude.

The rout of the Nanzhao cavalry gave the fleeing Cao army a chance to regroup. Shang Rang had already arrived with reinforcements to meet them. Gaps were left in the formation, through which Chai Cun and Wang Chongyin's defeated troops retreated.

Shang Rang, holding a long spear, stood at the front of the army formation.

The war elephants of the Nanzhao army, like mountains, pressed down on the battle formation.

The chariots commonly used by the common army were effective against cavalry, but completely useless against war elephants. These massive beasts, weighing thousands of pounds, could overturn a chariot with a single roar.

Horses, too, will feel fear when facing war elephants and dare not charge.

At Shang Rang's command, a volley of crossbow bolts rained down on the elephants.

Two or three war elephants were wounded and stopped moving.

However, the Nanzhao elephant troops were well-trained, and the elephants were tough and thick-skinned. The remaining dozens of war elephants only slowed down slightly, but still advanced towards the grass army formation in an orderly manner.

"Brothers, charge forward shoulder to shoulder!"

Shang Rang's eyes were cold and sharp, like nails cutting through a railway track.

He was clad in light armor and wielded a long spear, leading the charge.

The elephants of Nanzhao were spaced about ten zhang apart, and infantry units would charge alongside them to fill the gaps.

Luo Juzi's infantry were certainly brave and fierce, but the warriors of the grass army who followed Shang Rang in the charge were all well-known experts in the Zhenyi Alliance. Their skills were already considerable, and after years of fighting, their combat abilities had also improved.

They fought bravely, sweeping away the infantrymen hiding between the elephants like a whirlwind, and surrounding the war elephants, throwing spears and arrows from all directions.

Shang Rang wielded a spear that was two zhang long, three times his own height, yet he wielded it with ease, thrusting it upwards at a mahout controlling an elephant.

Seeing the spear coming so fast, the elephant handler had no time to defend with his spear, so he could only draw his waist knife and slash, hitting the center of the spear shaft. The shaft bent instantly from the force.

Shang Rang's spear was made using the method of stacking bamboo and wood. The core material is a wooden rod, and the outer layer is wrapped with bamboo strips and reinforced by wrapping with silk thread, leather belt or rattan. Finally, it is coated with raw lacquer. It is not only tough, but the composite structure of bamboo and wood also gives it the characteristic of "bending without breaking".

The spear shaft, winding like a snake, pierced the elephant soldier's thigh through the gap under the elephant carriage. The elephant soldier screamed and fell down, only to be trampled into a bloody pulp by his own giant elephant.

For a moment, cheers erupted from the grass army ranks.

But elephants are, after all, giant beasts that even warhorses must avoid. Shang Rang and his companions fought against them with sheer courage, but inevitably some of them were caught off guard and were lifted up and thrown off by the enraged elephant's trunk, or trampled by its giant legs, turning into bloody mud on the spot, a truly gruesome sight.

The battle, where the two armies were locked in a stalemate, quickly became extremely fierce.

(End of this chapter)