Rolling yellow sand and mighty long rivers cover the sky in this vast and vast Western Region.
The two armies fought in the Gobi desert along this ancient Silk Road. One side fought and retreated, while the other slowly advanced...
Xue Rengui rode his horse, raised his spear, and marched in the middle of the army.
Now he not only does not have to boost morale and lead his soldiers to fight the enemy bravely, but he has to constantly comfort these arrogant generals who are already red-eyed by the military achievements they are about to receive, lest they become red-eyed by the military achievements and ignore them.
The soldiers suffered casualties and pursued and killed the Arab troops who were fleeing in embarrassment...
He is a commander-in-chief, not a general. He must not ignore the strategy of the entire Western Region for the sake of temporary military success.
Without the powerful armored cavalry, once the two sides fall into a melee, casualties will inevitably increase sharply.
Up to this moment, his goal was not to annihilate the invading Arab army, to win a vigorous victory, to achieve unparalleled achievements and to be promoted to a higher rank.
Even the Arab soldiers who were fleeing in panic were not a group of harmless rabbits. On the contrary, the trapped beasts still fought, and the dogs jumped over the wall. Once the Arab army on the verge of despair realized that there was no hope of escape, they would definitely fight to the death, and the casualties of the Tang army would greatly increase.
As for the Tang Army, the heavy cavalry lacked the ability to run long distances. In terms of durability, it was not even as good as the infantry who relied on the soles of their feet to travel long distances. It was impossible for them to pursue and kill like the light cavalry.
A lose-lose outcome is definitely not what Xue Rengui wants.
He wanted to ensure that the Anxi Army had enough strength to deter the countries in the Western Regions, especially the Western Turks who were always ready to make moves and were unyielding in their evil intentions.
When the Eastern Expedition was about to begin, the imperial court had no time to look westward and could no longer recruit troops from the Western Regions. As Sima of the Anxi Protectorate, his first duty was to ensure the stability of the Western Regions.
This is the most important thing.
Therefore, he had to reject the requests of his generals to pursue the victory again and again, which made one of the generals feel unhappy and their eyes turned red with anxiety...
…
The Arab infantry fled across the desert, while the light cavalry, led by Mu'awiya's son Yazid, gritted their teeth and defended the infantry's rear formation and both wings, and from time to time pursued them with enough strength to kill them.
The Tang army fought hard to resist.
The Tang army harassed them all the way, neither launching an all-out attack nor giving up the pursuit. They just hung at a distance and gathered their strength to rush in for a while, which made the Arab cavalry have to maintain a high degree of vigilance from beginning to end, which was extremely painful.
The two parties stopped and walked like this, playing for a while and resting for a while, and gradually walked out of the foothills of Yili Mountain along the direction of Suiye Water.
Xue Rengui looked at the foothills of the West Tianshan Mountains not far to the south, and ordered his generals: "Continue to chase the Arabs one after another. Only harassment is allowed, no fighting to the death, otherwise they will be severely punished! I will lead people to Suiyeshui Mountain Pass to check whether
There are scouts from our army who should fight to the death!"
"Here!"
The military orders were overwhelming. Although these arrogant generals were eager to catch up with the Arabs and kill them while grabbing military glory, no one dared to resist Xue Rengui's unquestionable order.
After Xue Rengui gave some instructions, he led a group of soldiers to break away from the main army and headed south, walking on the rolling yellow sand, approaching Suiye Water Mountain Pass.
The foothills of the West Tianshan Mountains lie across the Gobi Desert. After crossing several oases, when you approach the foothills, you can see the mighty river rushing down between the foothills.
On the sunny side of the foothills is the hot sea that never freezes all year round and has mighty waves. It is also the birthplace of Broken Leaf Water.
Xue Rengui rode up the river bank, which was getting higher and higher. The terrain on the river bank was getting narrower and narrower. By the time they reached the mountain pass, their eyes were blood red from the horror in front of them!
The river flows at the mouth of Suiye Water Mountain, and the peaks on both sides stand towering in the middle like a ghost axe.
And right in this mountain pass, on the mountain wall on the difficult side, the ground is the black and gray scorched earth left after the thunder explosion, and the ground is covered with rubble.
The ground was covered with broken corpses. Some corpses had their armor pulled out, leaving them lying naked on the ground. Their bodies had been chewed beyond recognition by wild wolves or other wild beasts, and some were probably blown up by thunder.
Broken limbs and broken arms were scattered everywhere.
Xue Rengui and more than a hundred soldiers behind him just sat blankly on their horses, staring blankly at this hell on earth.
As a soldier, life and death have naturally been put aside for a long time, and the body wrapped in horse leather is also well prepared.
They were fighting in the battlefield and wallowing among the dead. What a bloody scene they had never seen before? However, the extremely tragic scene in front of them shocked them all!
Xue Rengui jumped off the horse, took two steps forward, knelt down on one knee, and struck hard on his left chest with his right hand. His eyes were red and he was choked with sobs.
More than a hundred soldiers also dismounted silently and knelt on the ground one by one behind Xue Rengui. Their hearts were filled with grief and anger, and tears filled their eyes!
Under the scorching sun, the corpses of the Tang army were eaten by wild beasts and the remaining corpses exuded a horrible rotten smell, but no one felt disgusted.
Xue Rengui stood up silently, stretched out his hand to pick up a broken arm, walked slowly to an open space in front of the mountain pass, put the broken hand there, then turned back and picked up a broken leg...
The soldiers also stood up, followed his example, and began to gather together the broken bodies of the fallen soldiers bit by bit.
The wind swept over the mountain pass, making a whistling sound like a whimper.
The river is rolling and flowing without stopping for a moment.
After they saw the mountain pass and the path hidden among the thorns by the river, an indescribable sadness suddenly struck their hearts.
It is not that this scout team has no chance to escape, the road is right behind them, leading directly to the east.
But they were all facing the west, with their backs to the mountain pass, facing an enemy a hundred times their size, fighting to the death and never retreating!
Xue Rengui used a spear to pierce a vulture that was standing on the corpse and refused to leave. He took a deep breath of the unpleasant air and said in a deep voice: "More than fifty soldiers, there is a road behind them, but they are fighting hard."
Therefore, they would rather die than retreat. They must block the Arabs with their flesh and blood, so as to buy enough time for Paoze to pass the news of the Arab invasion to Gongyue City, so as to prevent the main force of the army from being unaware of it.
, was severely wounded by the enemy."
He firmly held the spear in his hand and slammed the stabbed vulture on the mountain wall. His tone was full of grief and anger: "They are all warriors and heroes of the empire! However, this general wants to know
, where is the messenger who made them risk their lives to protect them, where is he now?"
A messenger who can take orders in the face of danger must be an elite person recognized by everyone. Such people have extremely strong ability to survive in the wild, and for the sake of insurance, it is absolutely impossible to send just one person back to Gongyue City to report the news. Even if an accident occurs,
It is impossible for several people to encounter an accident at the same time.