The generals of both armies were paying attention to the two thousand cavalry that was rushing towards them, but Ashina Yushe was cursing in his heart.
We had just approached the chariot formation, and before we could see it clearly, hundreds of crossbowmen suddenly stood up behind the chariots, and thousands of crossbow arrows rushed towards them. The gangs were so frightened that they reined in their horses fiercely. How could it be like this?
Many crossbows!
Of course, when fighting on the east side of the battlefield, the Chinese army had already changed its formation and formed a defensive formation with chariots as the periphery. It mainly consisted of chariots, shield soldiers, spearmen, and crossbowmen. The cavalry only had
Li Shan was surrounded by hundreds of bodyguard cavalry.
Li Shan placed the main force of the cavalry in the hands of Su Dingfang and Zhang Zhongjian outside the formation. The Chinese army had no ability to counterattack, so a large number of crossbowmen were mobilized.
It seemed that nothing could be found through testing. Just as this idea emerged in Ashina She'er's mind, someone beside him reminded him: "Khan, the Tang Army has moved on the west side."
Ashina She'er's heart tightened, and he drove his horse to the west. Within his sight, the main force of the Tang Army's right army was moving forward quickly under the cover of cavalry.
While the association was leading troops to attack the Chinese army, Zhang Zhongjian, Wang Junhao, and Qu Silang had successfully swept the western side of the battlefield. Although there were more than 4,000 Turkic cavalry stationed on this side, the terrain was too narrow and there was a dense forest behind them.
On the west side is the Rushui River, making it difficult to spread out.
It didn't take long for the Tang army to successfully attack the Turkic army. Hu Yan, the governor of Ningzhou, who was accused of not daring to fight, was the first to rush into the formation, almost ignoring the weapons that were attacking him, and even
Ignoring the cold arrows coming towards me, I slashed down with my halberd.
The halberd cannot be used unless it is a strong general. The halberd struck down, and two Turkic cavalry were knocked off their horses. The other cavalry barely resisted, but his eye was poked by the small branch of the halberd. As soon as he let out a scream,
Hu Yan grabbed him and blocked the incoming sword. He raised his halberd with his other hand and swept across it. Four or five more cavalrymen were swept away.
When Qu Silang saw this scene, he couldn't help but clicked his tongue. He remembered that Lang Jun mentioned that this Ningzhou governor was more skilled than Yuchi and braver than Qin Qiong. He was really a tiger general.
Zhang Zhongjian, who then led the main force to catch up, broke through the formation and cut the Turks in half. The Turks immediately fled in all directions... This was not a sign of surrender, but the way the Turks were accustomed to fighting. They did not fight closely with their opponents, but tried to pull them away.
Open distance.
However, Zhang Zhongjian completely ignored the remnants of the army that fled to the north, and only focused on driving the other Turks towards the Rushui River.
In such a chaotic battle, the speed, mobility, and shooting skills of the Turks who dominated the grassland were completely useless. The Tang cavalry was divided into several groups and charged back and forth, with heavy cavalry wearing iron armor as the vanguard to break the formation.
The cavalry caught up and slaughtered heavily, leaving pools of blood in the low-lying areas and leaving corpses and bones on the ground.
The remnants of the army to the north were able to stabilize their position with the support of thousands of Turkic cavalry. However, the other remnants of the army had completely lost their organizational structure. Driven by the Tang army, they 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 other side.
Although there were still many Turkic cavalry fleeing back and forth on the western battlefield, there was no longer a threat. Dou Gui gave an order, and the eight thousand soldiers of the right army marched northward. In the rolling yellow sand, shield soldiers and crossbowmen were at the front, and the cavalry
Guarding the wings on both sides, the soldiers behind pushed the chariot to the north.
The army moved, and the formation inevitably showed signs of dispersion. More than two thousand Turkic cavalry took the opportunity to rush forward, trying to attack from the flanks and intercept the Tang army's right column.
But more than a thousand Tang army cavalry suddenly came out from behind the formation, their horses' hooves beat on the ground like big drums, raising clouds of smoke and dust, and they went straight up to meet them. They only met each other. Wang Junhao's horse spear in his hand stabbed four or five Turkic generals in succession. .
"He is someone who knows how to steal credit." Li Keshi complained in his mind, snatched the Changshan from Guo Pu's hand, shouted loudly, and took the lead to rush out of the formation, followed by hundreds of Tang cavalry.
Wang Junhao led his army to face the enemy head-on. The Turkic cavalry who originally wanted to attack the infantry of the right army had to expose the soft ribs on their flanks. Li Keshi led his cavalry to turn a corner and penetrated through the side. Two thousand Turkic cavalry were immediately in chaos.
"He's quite a smart one." Dou Gui, who was watching the battle not far away, also complained in his mind. There were five direct descendants of the Danyang family of the Longxi Li family, and four of them except Li Qianyou fought on the battlefield.
The eldest son, King Li Yao, was a general of the Twelve Guards in the former Sui Dynasty. He went to the fortress with Shi Wansui and defeated the Turks. The second son was Li Yaoshi, a famous general in the world. The fourth son, Li Zhengming, went to the fortress with Han Qinhu's younger brother Han Hong in the former Sui Dynasty. Although he was demoted from official position to civilian after the war, he killed so many people that he was praised by Han Qinhu.
Only the third son, Li Keshi, liked to play tricks. Although he followed the King of Qin in the south and north, he always only fought with the wind, looking for the enemy's weak points and pursuing them fiercely.
If it weren't for Li Huairen, how could Master Li Ke and his son be knighted... Dou Gui thought loudly as he urged the soldiers to move north quickly, push the chariots to the outside, and reorganize the formation.
"It's too late, it's too late." Ashina She'er waved his whip bitterly, "Li Huairen did a good trick!"
The main force of the Tang army lined up, and even took the initiative to divide it, luring the main Turkic force to attack. Although Ashina Sheer was suspicious and only sent two thousand cavalry to test, he also had hope that if the association rate could be improved. If he gains a victory or even shakes the Chinese army's position, he will lead the main cavalry to attack, defeat the Chinese army in one fell swoop, and rout the Tang army.
Therefore, Ashina Sheer specially deployed troops on the east side to keep an eye on Li Daoxuan and Su Dingfang, and then gathered most of the cavalry as backup. Who would have thought that the right army of the Tang Army would suddenly move northward, move hundreds of steps forward, and further block the space.
The battlefield was originally narrow, with the main road on the east side occupied by Li Daoxuan, and now the west side was also blocked by Dou Rail's advance, which gave the Turkic cavalry very little space to move.
Tuli Khan over there also noticed something unusual. He came running with a fast horse and his face was ugly. Although he did not expect to defeat the Tang army in this battle and could even tolerate a small defeat, he was so beaten by the Tang army, or rather by the King of Handan on the opposite side. It's really embarrassing to play around.
"Can you beat it down?"
"It's more difficult than the east side." Ashina She'er said bitterly: "It's basically a car formation, and there are Tang cavalry lying on the banks of the Rushui River."
Tuli Khan was silent for a moment. Although he was young, he was also a veteran on the battlefield. The Tang army was stationed in a car formation, and there was not much space around him.
There is dense forest on the north side, but it is empty on the south side, but it is impossible to get around to the back of the formation, because thousands of elite Tang cavalry are at the Rushui River behind the formation, and they can launch a surprise attack at any time, and they happen to be on the flank of the incoming Turkic army. .
"What exactly does he want to do?" Tuli Khan couldn't help but ask.
"Can't you see it?!" Ashina She'er shouted in a low voice: "It's nothing more than forcing me to wait for close combat!"