Layers upon layers of corpses covered the entire bend of the Beida River. The most numerous were not the Guiyi soldiers or Uighur warriors wearing armor, but the Suzhou Long family members who only wore cloth robes.
As the main local ethnic group after the Han people evacuated Suzhou, the Long family suffered heavy losses in this battle.
I think at the beginning, they were the masters of the two states of Gansu, but after the Uighurs came to Ganzhou from the grasslands, the good life of the Long family continued to be destroyed, so much so that today, they are used as cannon fodder to fill gullies.
Most of the breastwork made of stones was demolished, and on the battlefield paved with the flesh and blood of the Long family, the decisive battle between the Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs officially began.
The armies of the Tang Dynasty and even the Five Dynasties at the end of the Tang Dynasty had a very obvious characteristic, that is, they did not pay attention to the use of shields.
Because the military combat effectiveness of the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty was very high, it was the last era in China where long-range throwing troops and melee combat troops were indistinguishable.
Archers at this time were all strong men who could shoot from a distance and dared to fight at close range. If you saw a soldier in the army who was not equipped with a strong bow, or was not equipped with a bow, then he must be a weakling.
Many people complain that the number of crossbowmen in the Song Dynasty army is too large and they cannot fight in hand-to-hand combat. Once they are charged close, they will collapse. This is actually not an equipment problem, but a problem of the quality of the soldiers.
If there was an army in the Five Dynasties of the Tang Dynasty that was fully equipped with strong bows and crossbows, it would be best not to touch them, because not only did they shoot fast and accurately, but they would also be too fierce in hand-to-hand combat.
In this era of all archers, the shield, which was still called Peng Pai at this time, was greatly weakened.
When the grassland people come, they first draw their bows and shoot at their enemies. When the enemy troops form a formation, they draw their bows and shoot their enemies first and then raise their shields? That’s what only cowards can do.
Moreover, the shield is not very useful in decisive battles involving more than ten thousand people. It is difficult to block the flat shots of crossbow arrows, and it cannot defend against the rain of projectile arrows falling from the sky. It is only used in small team battles and street fighting in small areas of the city.
Although there were thousands more Uighurs than the Guiyi army, Luo Tongda and Yan Jin looked at each other and felt calmer.
What they are actually most afraid of is that the Uighurs rely on Suzhou City to fight against them. In that case, all Zhang Zhao's previous plans will come to nothing.
"Soldier, it seems that your deliberate strategy of being a newbie on the battlefield has worked. These Uighurs are reluctant to let us go even if they feel a little abnormal!"
Yan Jin put on his armor and said to Luo Tongda, who was also wearing armor next to him.
"Of course I can't bear to do it. Without the envoys coming back from Anxi, these five thousand people will be all the fighting men of the rebel army. If we are eaten, the city of Dunhuang will have no choice but to open its gates and surrender."
Luo Tongda chuckled, pointed to the banner of Renyu Khan in the distance and said: "Actually, I am reluctant to let them go. If I can keep half of them, the Ganzhou Uighurs will be seriously injured. We can at least take them back to Suzhou."
....
The decisive battle was taking place outside Suzhou City, and Zhang Zhao was still waiting. The distance was eighty miles. If he drove forcefully regardless of horse power, he could arrive in one day, but he would only be able to get there without much combat capability.
So the key to this battlefield is that it will take more than a day and a half for Luo Tongda and the others to reach the most difficult time.
Because Zhang Zhao needed to travel sixty miles in one day, and then launch a surprise attack twenty miles away the next day.
"Military envoy, You Yiqi of Ganzhou Uighurs has retreated from the Golden Pagoda Mountain!"
Murong Nobunaga and a dozen knights of the Murong family galloped back for more than 40 miles. Before they even got off their horses, they started shouting wildly on their horses.
Zhang Zhao's hanging heart was finally relieved. Jinta Jiashan is a hill in the north of Suzhou City. Beyond this mountain is Baitinghai, which was built by Zhang Zhao's two thousand people.
If these Ganzhou Uighurs rode across the Golden Pagoda Mountains, they would certainly be able to find the footprints of a large number of livestock.
This would inevitably expose the secret, and Zhang Zhao would have no choice but to quickly capture and kill them, and then rush to the battlefield at all costs.
Fortunately, they only searched at the southern foot of Jintajia Mountain for a while and then returned.
"We will set off in two days. We must reach the point twenty miles upstream of the Beida River before dark. We must change horses without changing people!"
Zhang Zhao got on his horse, pointed at Li Cunhui and said: "You have three horses each, rush to Jintajia Mountain as quickly as possible, and disperse the Uighur You Yiqi who is patrolling there."
....
An arrow hit Dunzup in the chest. Even though he wore three layers of armor, he was still shaken by the arrow.
The severe pain spread all over his body instantly, so much so that Dunzhu didn't even throw out a spear in his hand. Needless to say, his chest must have been covered in bruises.
"Crossbowmen, the crossbowmen from the Uighurs' left tent are here! Let the divine arm archers come over here!" Behind the formation, Luo Tongda, who was riding a horse, quickly made adjustments.
The Zuotang Crossbowmen are an elite unit of the Ganzhou Uighurs, with about 400 people. They are often used to deal with heavy armored targets that are difficult to deal with.
Luo Tongda's eyes were red, because the founder of this army, the horned crossbows and related technologies they used were a past that the Guiyi Army would gnash their teeth when mentioning.
Guzhe
In 907, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Later Liang Dynasty. The banner of the Guiyi Army that united people's hearts collapsed. The Tang Dynasty was gone, so why did you return to it?
In view of this situation, Zhang Zhao's father Zhang Chengfeng chose not to honor Zhu Liang as Zhengshuo, established the Jinshan Kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty, and called himself the Emperor in White.
Unexpectedly, this move completely angered Zhu Wen. In my opinion, Quanzhong of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Keyong in Hedong, Yang Xingmi in Huainan, and Wang Jian in Jiannan can tolerate it for the time being. But your rebel army is alone in the west of Hexi, with only more than a hundred thousand people, and your trade routes depend on the Central Plains. How dare you show my face?
Therefore, with Zhu Wen's support and instigation, the Ganzhou Uighurs, who had originally intended to annex the Guiyi Army, began to frequently conflict with the Guiyi Army.
The Battle of Dunhuang Bridge, which led to Zhang Chengfeng's resignation, took place during this period.
In order to support the Ganzhou Uighurs in attacking the Guiyi Army, Zhu Wen not only did not allow people from the Guiyi Army to do business in the Central Plains, but most importantly, he sent officers to provide the Ganzhou Uighurs with crossbow instructors, horn-bow crossbows and other production methods to restrain them.
The heavy infantry that the Guiyi Army is good at.
These Zuotang crossbowmen trained by Zhu Liang, an officer who was a Jianghuai crossbowman, not only successfully gave the Ganzhou Uighurs a weapon to restrain the heavy infantry of the Guiyi Army, but also caused a huge blow to the hearts of the Guiyi soldiers.
Luo Tongda still remembers the first time he met the Uighur Left Tent crossbowmen on the battlefield. Those crossbowmen wielding Central Plains horn crossbows and attacking in formation in Chinese language made his pupils filled with blood and his eyes were about to split.
That kind of pain and anger, that kind of despair that everything has lost its meaning, are still clearly engraved in Luo Tongda's mind.
"Zuo Zhang Crossbowman! It's Zuo Zhang Crossbowman!" Shouts and roars resounded in the mouths of every Guiyi soldier. Even Yan Jin, a former junior officer in Shouchang Town, shouted.
In the battle between the Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs, other captive Uighurs might be released if their families had the money to redeem them, but if they caught the Zuo Zhang crossbowman, they would definitely be brutally killed.
Soon, one hundred and fifty divine arm archers were transferred over, and Luo Tongda had been waiting for this moment.
Zhang Zhao brought back more than 100 bows from Anxi, and Cao Yijin imitated nearly 50 bows, so now Zhang Zhao has 150 divine arm archers.
Renyu Khan smiled proudly. Of course he knew that the Zuo Zhang Crossbowmen had caused the Guiyi Army to feel hopeless about being abandoned and betrayed by their own people.
He couldn't help but admire the wit of his father Renmei Khan. With the help of the Central Plains Dynasty, he immediately turned the Guiyi Army, which was ambitious and aimed at conquering Hexi again, into a family dog.
Who calls you stupid? The Tang Dynasty will die when it dies. If you don’t quickly embrace the lap of the Qianliang Emperor, you still dare to show your face and call others traitors who usurped the throne. Who will be beaten if you don’t get beaten?
Now he wants to use a team of 150 crossbowmen to defeat his own 400 crossbowmen. This is simply asking for death.
Amidst the angry roars of the soldiers on both sides, the sounds of fighting on the rest of the battlefield seemed to have disappeared, leaving only the footsteps of the Uighurs' 400 left tent crossbowmen and the Guiyi army's 150 divine arm archers approaching each other.
Luo Yide stood in the first row. He was the commander of the Yumen Town Army, and Luo Tongda was his uncle.
The Shazhou Luo family is a family that has been passed down from the Zhang Yichao period to the present day by the Guiyi Army and established its clan through martial arts, so martial virtue must be abundant.
In the past, Luo Yide had no choice. He could only hang out in Yumen Town. But things are different now. His younger brother Luo Yu'er followed Zhang Erlangjun back from Anxi, which almost caused him to collapse.
With thousands of treasures, good horses, armor, and bows and crossbows, he married his younger brother when he came back and bought a generous dowry for his younger sister. Luo Yu'er herself wanted to follow Zhang Erlangjun to Lingyan Pavilion.
It was at that moment that Luo Yide suddenly discovered that there was another way to live life, so he asked his uncle Luo Tongda to follow Zhang Erlang to Anxi.
‘Boom!’ A long arrow covered with white paint flew out from Luo Yide’s hand.
"One hundred steps! Wind up! Squat in one row, stand in another row, and move forward continuously. If anyone dares to mess up the formation, go to the back and get a sword yourself. Don't hurt the big guy!"
As Luo Yide was measuring the distance, an arrow flew from the opposite side and was inserted in front of their formation.
This was shot by the Uighur officer in charge of school shooting. The Uighur officer wearing a leather hat and a chainmail waved provocatively at Luo Yide.
"Fuck you!" Luo Yide cursed fiercely, and all the blood in his body seemed to rush to his head.
Kill them, be sure to kill them all! There is nothing else in my mind, I just keep thinking about this sentence over and over again.
The most tense moment has arrived, and a large amount of adrenaline is secreted, making everyone's heads dizzy and falling into an indescribable state. It reduces the fear of death and even weakens the pain caused by injuries.
Luo Yide was the first to cross the Uighur's arrows, and the divine arm archers behind him also strode across.
There were shouts from the opposite side, and thick thighs passed by Luoyi De, who had just shot the school archery arrow.
"Bang! Woo!" A sound sounded like a swarm of bees, and arrows all over the sky shot out without warning. Luo Yide let go of his right hand, and the divine arm bow in his hand pushed the strung crossbow arrows angrily.
And out.
The moment the crossbow arrow was fired, Luo Yide was also hit by the arrow, and a huge force pushed him to the ground.
As if he had been punched in the chest, Luo Yide felt his chest empty, and warm blood immediately filled his chest.
