Tang Dynasty: A Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls for Li Er at the Start

Chapter 161 Why have the Tang army's crossbows become so ferocious?
The messenger, his face covered in blood, staggered a few steps before finally reaching Ashina Mopi.

"They're all... all wiped out! Mei Lu, they're all dead!"

The messenger stared wide-eyed, pointing desperately into the distance.

Ashina Mopi's body trembled involuntarily a few times, and suddenly he felt a tightness in his chest, and a mouthful of blood gushed out.

Adding the troops lost on the west side, more than three thousand men were wiped out just like that?

It's only been half an hour.

"Is this gone?"

On the east gate city wall, Li Daozong was still not satisfied.

A hundred paces in front of him lay a group of Turks, most of them dead, and some wounded and lying on the ground, groaning in pain.

Just a hundred paces from Huizhou City, it seemed to be a line between life and death, and not a single Turk crossed it.

However, Li Daozong did not let any of them go.

Fortunately, there were only a little over a thousand people who came to his east gate. After he deliberately lured the enemy deep into his territory, three waves of arrows took away all the Turks.

They didn't even give them a chance to escape.

"This divine crossbow is indeed very useful. Although its range is similar to that of the crossbows we use every day, it is more powerful and lighter."

Previously, the crossbows used by the Tang army were heavy, requiring people to use their feet to apply force, which made the crossbow's firing rate very slow.

Another type is used on horseback, but it can only fire one arrow when pursuing an enemy.

The Divine Arm Crossbow is different. Not only is it lightweight, but it also saves effort. Originally, it could only fire one arrow in sixty breaths, but now it only takes less than thirty breaths. If one is more skilled, it may be reduced to twenty breaths.

When the Turks first encountered the divine crossbow, they thought it would take a long time for the Tang army to finish firing, so they rushed forward recklessly, only to suffer a great loss as a result.

“Prince Rencheng, it won’t be so easy next time. The Turks aren’t stupid.” Some generals worried that Li Daozong would underestimate the Turks.

If the Turks were really so easy to deal with, they would have been wiped out by the Tang Dynasty long ago.

Li Daozong glanced at the speaker and smiled, "Of course I know the Turks are not easy to deal with, but we are prepared. When they launch a full-scale attack, we will let them know what the might of the Tang Dynasty is!"

"Wan Sheng!"

I could hear cheers coming from not far away.

Li Daozong understood that the Turks had withdrawn their troops, but he suppressed his smile.

After this attack failed, Jieli will surely become even more frantic.

"Prepare immediately: eat, rest, and resupply."

During this lull, the soldiers on the city wall and those below completed their rotation.

Wen He, along with Li Chengqian, followed the cooks to deliver the food upstairs.

This time, the Turks didn't even get close to the city wall, so few of the soldiers who came down were injured.

Only a few unlucky ones were hit by the Turkic archers.

"It seems these Turks are nothing special."

A young soldier who had just received a serving of fried noodles from Wen He smiled dismissively: "I just shot at least three dead."

“What do you know, young man? That was the Turkic Eagle Division, their weakest. They’ll definitely bring in the Leopard Division and Tiger Division later.”

An old soldier who looked to be in his thirties tapped the young man on the head with displeasure.

"Everyone stay out of the way for a while, especially those from the Tiger Division. One out of every ten of them is an eagle archer. Do you know what an eagle archer is? It's someone who can shoot down a giant eagle or a hawk with a single arrow while riding a horse."

"Young master, are the Turks really that powerful?" Li Chengqian, who was serving soup to the soldiers, asked in surprise.

"Hey, this little kid knows his manners." The old soldier laughed, and the people around him couldn't help but cheer.

"However, I am not some young master, just a common soldier. If you don't mind, call me Uncle."

These soldiers didn't recognize Li Chengqian. Seeing that he was dressed in plain clothes, they assumed he was just some young man from the city who had come to help out.

Wen He stood silently to the side, letting Li Chengqian deal with it on his own.

“Uncle.” The latter smiled, his expression childlike.

The old soldier laughed loudly upon seeing this: "Alright, then let me tell you about the Turks. They are born knowing how to ride horses. In their own words, they are born warriors."

“They go out hunting when they are very young, and many of them learn archery in this way. For example, the most elite Tiger Division of the Turks, although small in number, are all good archers who can kill from a hundred paces away.”

"That's why they're all warlike. They kill, set fires, and plunder us all the time. These beasts can't even get enough to eat themselves, yet they come to harm us."

As the veteran spoke, a fire ignited in his heart, and he wished he could grab a knife and rush up to fight the Turks right now.

"Are you a local?" Wen He suddenly asked.

The veteran glanced at him, grinned, and nodded: "Yes, I'm from Huizhou."

Wen He understood; no wonder this veteran harbored such deep hatred for the Turks.

He glanced at Li Chengqian out of the corner of his eye.

He knew perfectly well why Li Shimin had sent Li Chengqian here this time.

Firstly, it was to give him some prestige in the army, and secondly, it was to make him hostile towards the Turks.

Only by truly witnessing the brutality of the Turks can we prevent such absurd events from happening again in history.

After all the food had been delivered, Li Chengqian went to rest with Wen He.

He remained silent the whole way, and only when they reached a secluded spot did he hesitantly speak.

"Sir, are those Turks really so cruel?"

Seeing Li Chengqian's puzzled look, Wen He knew what he was thinking.

"Well, the Turkic people at the bottom of society were also poor, often going hungry and lacking proper clothing. But their Khan and the nobles were ambitious and wanted to plunder the prosperity of our Great Tang."

"War is indeed cruel, but you must understand that officials can be kind, scholars can be kind, and even military men can be kind, but emperors cannot!"

His expression gradually became serious.

Li Chengqian's eyes met his, but there was still some confusion in his eyes.

"But those gentlemen said that one should be a benevolent ruler."

“A benevolent ruler?” Wen He suddenly thought of two people: Zhao Zhen and Zhu Gaochi.

He scoffed, "A benevolent ruler is one who serves the people and commoners of the Tang Dynasty, not foreign tribes. If you are kind to them, they will only see it as weakness and then plunder you even more." "Do you remember what I told you before?" Wen He asked.

Li Chengqian pondered for a long time before suddenly realizing: "A country that is large and fond of war will perish; a country that is peaceful and forgets war will be in danger."

"That's right, I hope you can keep those words firmly in mind."

Wen He patted his little head as a reward.

Li Chengqian was delighted, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.

"Let's go. The Turks could attack at any moment. We'll only cause trouble if we stay here."

Wen He felt somewhat helpless.

Unfortunately, he can't lift a knife now.

Otherwise, they would have had to go up the city wall and kill a few Turks.

Wen He's prediction was correct.

When Ashina Mopi arrived in a disheveled state at Jieli's central army, the latter angrily threw a bowl of milk wine over his head.

However, Jieli would never kill him.

With a major battle imminent, if he were to kill his trusted confidant, he would only become a laughingstock.

"Why have the Tang army's crossbows become so ferocious? I've never heard of them before!"

A tribal chief asked in confusion.

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze to Jieli.

His envoy is currently in Chang'an, but no news has been sent out.

"Khan, could it be that the Tang army was prepared all along?" another leader asked.

Jieli frowned.

How could he not see the current situation?

The Tang army must have been prepared, which is why they sent the new weapons to Huizhou.

But Huizhou only had a few thousand soldiers. Even with such powerful crossbows, what could they do?

"Even if the Tang army is prepared, so what? Our troops have penetrated so deep into enemy territory, yet Li Yi's side hasn't made a single move. There are only five or six thousand Tang troops in Huizhou. Do you think they can stop us!"

A general standing to Jieli's right questioned him dismissively.

Many people in the military tent also felt that what he said made sense.

If the Tang army had truly been prepared, they would have taken action long ago.

Is Li Yi of Jingzhou not afraid of their army attacking him?

“I think these crossbows must be for defense against us, but the Tang army probably doesn’t know we’re coming yet. Khan, I think we should go all out and send out five Leopard Divisions and three Tiger Divisions.”

A burly Turkic man on the right bowed.

Jieli glanced at him, then turned to look at the other leaders present.

“Fine, but I can send out five Leopard Masters and three Tiger Masters. What about you?” His sharp gaze swept across them.

Five Leopard Divisions, three Tiger Divisions, and 80,000 troops.

This is roughly half of Jieli's elite troops.

If these troops advance, he will only have the 15 Eagle Divisions with more than 70,000 ragtag troops and the two Leopard Divisions with 20,000 elite troops left on the grassland.

"Alright, since Khan Jieli has said so, our tribe is willing to contribute eight thousand!"

"We're willing to pay ten thousand!"

"Three thousand people!"

There were more than a dozen leaders, large and small, and a total of 80,000 people.

They dared not do what Jieli did and send all the people they brought out this time to their deaths.

If they all die, then they probably won't be able to return to the grasslands.

"it is good!"

Jieli suddenly stood up, drew his sword, and, to everyone's astonishment, plunged it into the mutton.

"Pass down the word: let the men finish eating the meat and drinking the wine, then go and seize that prefecture. Once the city falls, everything will be theirs!"

……

In Huizhou City.

Looking at the smoke rising from the Turkic army's cooking fires.

Li Jing, with a stern face, put down his binoculars.

"The Turks are about to launch a general attack. Inform all tribes to send men to the city walls, but remember, do not send additional crossbowmen."

This order sent a chill down everyone's spine.

Not deploying more crossbowmen would mean letting the Turks onto the city walls.

Then it will be a bloodbath!
Li Jing knew this very well, but he had to do it.

If he wanted to fight a decisive battle in Huizhou and inflict heavy losses on the Turks, he had to push them hard.

Let them charge forward recklessly, and then deliver the final, fatal blow.

"Report!"

Suddenly, a scout rushed up from below the city wall.

He went straight to Li Jing and handed him a bamboo tube.

Li Jing opened the bamboo tube, inside which was a piece of silk. After glancing at its contents, he was overjoyed.

"it is good!"

"Go and tell Duan Zhixuan that when the Turks are routed, he should fight his way out!"

(End of this chapter)