Think about the beginning of the war, Ye Zide led 200,000 elite troops to come, with cavalry like clouds and infantry like rain, ambitiously stepping into the Western Regions, dreaming of conquering this land that the ancestral gods had never conquered, and occupying the Silk Road.
Along the way, he led his troops to Yumen Pass in the east, established a great cause, and laid the foundation for the successor of his empire.
However, fate was contrary to the dream, and the fate was not as expected.
In the battle at Suiye City, the "Sword of Allah" that his father relied on most was buried in the flood waves. The grain and baggage he carried were even burned in a sneak attack, and the morale of the army was severely damaged.
Then, although the army advanced strongly, they could only capture empty cities. There were no prisoners, no livestock, no food, and no grass... The Tang army moved away all the baggage that could be moved, and evacuated those that could not be moved.
At that time, it was completely burned with a fire.
For the Arab army, which has always relied on war to support war, such a "fortify the wall and clear the field" tactics immediately put them in trouble.
In order to raise enough food, they had to turn to the Hu people living in various parts of the Western Regions.
It's not that Yezid didn't understand that such an act of killing chickens and laying eggs would make the entire Western Region regard the Arabs as jackals, tigers and leopards. However, if there was not enough food, the 200,000-strong army would fall apart in an instant. How could he care about the Arabs in the future?
Is the rule in the Western Region stable?
However, after all, they had an absolute advantage in military strength, making the Arabs unstoppable. No matter how cunning the Anxi army was, they could not close the gap in strength between the two sides.
It seems that as long as Gongyue City is captured, the Anxi Army's last stronghold west of the Tianshan Mountains is taken away, and they are completely driven to the east of the Tianshan Mountains, then the Arabs can tightly hold the Ili Valley and cut off the throat of east-west traffic, all of which are intrusive.
He can attack, retreat or defend. Even if he doesn't think about making progress and demarcates the territory, this feat is enough to make him dominate the country. Compared with it, the guilt of losing troops and generals in the past is insignificant.
However, who could have expected that a mere group of Youtun guards who came from thousands of miles away to help would be caught off guard and inflict such great harm to themselves?
…
Yezid did not think that the Arab soldiers had poor combat effectiveness, nor did he think that his command was incompetent. He attributed the setback and defeat to the sharp weapons of the Tang army.
Firearms... really changed his inherent understanding of war.
Those powerful iron lumps are thrown into the camp, and the huge energy released by the explosion can not only easily lift a strong man and his horse away, but even its exploded shell instantly turns into countless short arrows.
It is extremely sharp and indestructible, even if it is wearing heavy armor, it can be easily penetrated.
How to resist such sharp weapons?
Moreover, compared with the powerful destructive power of firearms, the roar, fire, and gunpowder smoke produced when they exploded made the Arab soldiers who believed deeply in gods think that it was divine punishment from heaven.
The soldiers believed that this was just a powerful weapon - how could such a divine power be created on earth?
At this point in the war, the Arab army had an absolute advantage in strength, but could never find a good opportunity to fight the Tang army on the battlefield. The Tang army had flexible tactics and powerful individual soldiers, and was often able to create local battles through a variety of incredible tactics.
, and then achieved victory, bit by bit eroding the strength and morale of the Arab army.
If we continue to fight like this, I am afraid that all these 200,000 troops will be buried in the ice and snow of the Western Regions before the spring of next year.
Well, there are no more 200,000 left at the moment. Broken Leaf City has suffered countless casualties and suffered serious losses this time. It would be good if the elite troops can save 150,000 to 60,000...
Ye Zide sat behind the makeshift tent, frowning, and the cold wind blowing in from the cracks in the windows and doors could not dispel the depression in his heart.
Just as he was thinking about how to turn around the situation and win a few battles to boost his morale, he saw the soldiers entering in a panic and reported quickly: "Commander, the situation is not good! A cavalry force from the Tang Army has arrived in a surprise attack.
Break through the outer defenses and head straight for the camp where the weapons are stored!"
Ye Qide stood up suddenly and asked anxiously: "How many people are coming?"
"There are about a thousand people, strong soldiers and horses, very powerful."
"oh……"
Ye Zide breathed a sigh of relief, sat down and said: "No need to make a fuss, it must be just a raiding force sent by the Tang Army, pretending to attack, but in fact it is just to disturb the morale of our army, and will not seriously launch a fierce attack. Besides, with such a small force, even if it is launched,
A fierce attack will never come back."
He hated the Tang army's harassment tactics deeply.
Ever since he set foot in the Western Regions, he has been facing the harassment tactics of the Tang army. Every time they come, there are thousands or two thousand men. If you send people to stop them, you can't beat them if you have too few, and you can't catch up if you have too many. You can't send one
Send an army of 5,000 men to pursue them, right? That would just fall into the trap of the Tang people, causing them to worry about one thing but not the other, and be exhausted.
You can only let him pretend to harass you, ignore him, and he will retreat on his own. After all, he only has such a small force. If you are not careful, you will fall into the siege of the Arab army and be unable to fly.
Ye Zide replied to the soldiers and breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly felt that something was wrong...
He frowned and asked: "What did you just say? The Tang army went straight to the camp where the ordnance was stored?"
The soldier said: "Exactly."
Ye Qide asked curiously: "Isn't the camp where the ordnance is stored in the rear army? Could it be that the Tang army has bypassed the front army, the middle army, and reached the rear army? Impossible!"
How could a force of more than a thousand people, no matter how elite, be able to bypass the position of an army of more than 100,000 people and sneak to the rear?
The soldier's mouth twitched and he said: "The commander-in-chief didn't know that the withdrawal was urgent last night and there was no time to build a camp defense, so he directly bypassed the rear army and retreated here, using the rear army camp as a position to resist the attack of the Tang army. Therefore, before and after
The army has now become the front army, and where we are is the rear army..."
The ordnance originally stored in the rear army camp was naturally exposed to the attack range of the Tang army...
"Crack!"
Ye Zide kicked over a table next to him, stared angrily, and cursed: "Why are you saying it now?"
The soldier was speechless. He lowered his head and did not dare to refute, but he complained wildly in his heart: You are the commander-in-chief. Shouldn't the situation distribution of the entire camp be already in your mind? Besides, I just said that the Tang army is about to arrive at the camp where the ordnance is stored. It's you.
No reaction...
Ye Zide didn't bother to whip this "slow three beats" soldier. He didn't have time to put on his armor and strode out of the camp with a scimitar. He shouted loudly and asked the soldiers to bring the war horse. He got on the horse and took it with him.
More than a hundred soldiers went straight to the camp where the ordnance was stored.
But before he arrived at the place, he saw black smoke rising into the sky under the dark sky from a distance, and then being torn apart by the violent north wind...
…
Wang Fangyi led his soldiers and braved the wind and rain to advance wildly.
The cold wind mixed with snow foam blew towards the face, hitting the face like needles. The army went around the back of the military camp in front, and a fast horse rushed out of a mountain col, and merged together in the blink of an eye.
Wang Fangyi slowed down his horse slightly, and the other party came up and threw a sheepskin bag to Wang Fangyi. Then he turned the horse's head around with a rein and ran back towards the way it came. After a while, he disappeared.
After all, the Tang Army had ruled the Western Regions for many years. Although most of the Hu people were dissatisfied with the rule of the Tang Army, many of them relied on the protection of the Tang Army. This time, many Hu people either took the initiative or had no choice but to attach themselves to the Arabs and follow them to fight. Naturally, there were some people who had been there beforehand.
Contacted Tang army scouts and was willing to provide information about the Arab army.
In the final analysis, no matter how the Hu people resisted the Tang army, they always agreed that the Western Regions were ruled by the Tang army.
This is the advantage of home field...
On horseback, Wang Fangyi escaped from his leather bag and took out a piece of sheepskin. The nearby terrain was crookedly drawn on it, and the layout of the Arab camp was clearly outlined. The number of troops stationed everywhere was clear at a glance.
From the time Yezid led the army to retreat in panic last night, it has only been ten hours now, and he has already understood the layout of the Arab army clearly, which is indeed not easy...
After clearly seeing the map on the sheepskin, Wang Fangyi handed it to a team leader on horseback. The team member picked it up and looked at it carefully, then put it in his arms, tightened his legs on the horse's belly, and the horse suddenly accelerated to the front.
, immediately raised a flag, turned the horse's head south, and ran straight out along the Ili River.
The flag was raised, which was the order, and a thousand cavalry quickly followed behind, beating their horses and running wildly.
To encircle a point for reinforcements, any good general will do it...