As the deputy general of the march, Guo Yao temporarily took command of the Tang army when Li Siye was away.
When the remnants of the Yan army appeared in his field of vision, Guo Yao suddenly understood that Li Siye led the cavalry to a great victory, and the ambush was half successful.
However, what Guo Yao did not expect was that the Yan army in front of him, which had just suffered heavy losses, instead of being defeated and dispersed as imagined, instead gathered together and launched a charge towards the Tang army's main formation with a life-threatening momentum.
Guo Yao saw that the Yan army was approaching fiercely and had no time to think about anything else. He quickly issued an order to the forward army and asked the artillery team to move forward. He waited for the enemy to enter the range and then fired a salvo.
At this time, in order to guard against the Tang army's arrows, the Yan army deliberately placed their large shields in the front line during the charge, with Mo Dao and Tiao Dang following closely behind.
As everyone knows, the combination of Guo Yao's order to the artillery and the shield wall set up by the Yan army to defend against bows and arrows greatly reduced the effectiveness of the Crouching Tiger Artillery.
The ammunition fired by the Tiger Crouching Cannon shotgun is fine iron sand. It has a certain penetration effect on chain mail, leaf armor, plate armor, etc., but the damage it can cause to a strong shield is minimal.
.
Therefore, when the Tang army faced a tightly defended shield formation, before using the tiger crouching cannon to fire a volley, the general approach was to use hooks to pull down the shield wall first, and then bombard it, or to let the heavily armored soldiers directly attack the tiger.
The crouching gun is placed on the waist and fired at close range, causing huge damage to the enemy.
However, Guo Yao had not been exposed to artillery for a long time and was not familiar with artillery tactics. In addition, he was in a panic, so he gave the Tang Army's artillery an order to bombard the Yan Army's shield array.
When the Yan army's shield wall was less than twenty steps away from the Tang army, hundreds of tiger cannons fired at the same time.
Along with the deafening sound, iron sand like a steel storm suddenly swept across the entire battlefield.
The Yan army was frightened to a halt by the huge momentum, and the soldiers subconsciously hid behind the shield wall, not daring to show their heads.
The iron sand from the Crouching Tiger Cannon hit the big shield, making a crackling sound. It sounded quite intimidating, but the damage caused to the Yan army was almost negligible.
After a brief period of confusion, the soldiers in the front line of the Yan army were surprised to find that they had not suffered any major losses.
An Shouzhong, who was riding a horse, saw this situation and immediately recognized that it was the thunder that was mentioned repeatedly in the battle report.
He raised his horse and shouted to the soldiers of Yan Army: "Our army is blessed by heaven and is invulnerable. This is a good sign! Everyone, follow me and kill together!"
Seeing that the thunderbolts of the Tang army were ineffective, the Yan army's morale suddenly soared. They shouted to kill, and then rushed forward.
The Tang Army's Crouching Tiger Artillery was still loading at this time. Facing the oncoming enemy troops, the artillery had no time to fire a second salvo and had to retreat to allow the infantry to take over.
The two armies of Tang and Yan suddenly fought in a melee, and the sky was dark and the ground was dark, and rivers of blood flowed.
There were pursuers behind the Yan army, but it was a last-ditch fight. In addition, An Shouzhong personally went into battle, so the squatting tiger artillery failed to have a deterrent effect.
Therefore, the Yan army was stronger than the Tang army in terms of fighting will and morale.
Gradually, the Yan army began to explode with strong fighting power, but the Tang army led by Guo Yao showed its invincibility and gradually began to retreat.
The Tang army's formation slowly collapsed inward, and chaos began to appear.
Upon seeing this, An Shouzhong seized the opportunity and sent all his reserve troops to the vanguard position of the front army, allowing the army to concentrate a little and begin to break through the siege of the Tang army.
Finally, the Tang army's formation was penetrated by the Yan army, and a huge loophole appeared in the original defense.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, An Shouzhong could have expanded his results and completely defeated the Tang army, but the cavalry led by Li Siye was behind him. After comparing the two sides, he knew that it was more important to save his life.
Therefore, after An Shouzhong broke through the Tang army's defensive formation, he did not hesitate to fight and directly ordered to advance at full speed and rush to Tongguan as soon as possible.
An Shouzhong's army left the battlefield. Only half an hour later, Li Siye defeated the Yan army's rear formation, but it was late.
He sat on his horse and looked around, only to see that the Tang army responsible for sniping at An Shouzhong was completely devastated and in a mess.
A good ambush battle, in which he had the upper hand, actually ended up like this. The ill-tempered Li Siye was furious on the spot and planned to fire Guo Yao from his military post on the grounds of his inability to supervise the battle.
Other generals of the Tang Army quickly grabbed Li Siye and advised him to think twice. After all, Guo Yao was also Guo Ziyi's eldest son, and this reputation always had to be sold.
Guo Yao's military position was finally saved, but the impatient Li Siye couldn't swallow this breath. He ordered the generals to pursue An Shouzhong.
This order aroused doubts among many generals.
The majority of the 50,000 troops under Li Siye were cavalry, and they lacked sufficient siege equipment. Pursuing An Shouzhong meant attacking Tongguan, which was an almost impossible task.
However, in the face of doubts from other generals, Li Siye also gave reasons.
An Shouzhong led tens of thousands of Yan troops, and they only set out for less than half an hour. Calculating the distance, if the Tang army's cavalry set off now, by the time they arrived at Tongguan, all the Yan troops would not have time to enter the pass.
So, as long as the Yan army in front of the gate is in chaos, the Tang army cavalry can take advantage of the chaos to enter Tongguan and directly capture this most important barrier between Luoyang and Chang'an.
Although this plan sounds feasible, it is too risky.
As the commander-in-chief, Li Siye said that his troops were valuable and quick, so he finally made the decision directly and decided on this plan.
Therefore, Li Siye led the Tang army's two thousand ringed cavalry and six thousand light cavalry to get back on the road and began to march towards Tongguan.
The deputy general of the march, Guo Yao, also took the initiative to volunteer and participated in this pursuit in order to show his guilt and meritorious service.
When the cavalry troops of the Tang Army arrived at Tongguan, just as Li Siye guessed, only half of the Yan Army's troops entered the pass, and more than 10,000 people still stayed outside the pass.
At this time, An Shouzhong had already boarded the Tongguan Tower.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Next to him, Deng Wanzuo, the left-behind general in Tongguan, stood.
When Deng Wanzuo saw Li Siye's cavalry appearing on the plain, he was shocked and quickly said to An Shouzhong: "General, the enemy has arrived, you should close the city gate quickly!"
An Shouzhong stroked his beard and looked at the overwhelming Tang army cavalry in the distance, silent.
Deng Wanzuo said anxiously: "Tongguan only has three thousand defenders. The soldiers you brought have just experienced a big battle and are tired. How can we fight against so many fine cavalry of the Tang army?"
An Shouzhong: "The general of the Tang army is Li Siye. He is brave but not resourceful. He can do some planning."
Deng Wanzuo was stunned: "General, what do you mean?"
An Shouzhong whispered something to Deng Wanzuo, and finally asked: "Act according to the plan, do you understand?"
Deng Wanzuo was a little worried: "Is this possible?"
An Shouzhong: "Nine times out of ten, go get ready quickly."
Deng Wanzuo nodded helplessly.
When Li Siye led the cavalry to Tongguan, he saw that the Yan army outside the pass was in chaos, rushing towards the gate. He couldn't help laughing and said: "It's exactly what I expected! My sons, follow me to kill the enemy!"
The Tang army rushed into the plain outside Tongguan. At this time, the Yan army, which had not yet entered the pass, faced nearly 10,000 cavalry and had almost no power to fight back. The whole scene suddenly became a one-sided massacre.
Li Siye took the lead and rushed to the forefront. He fought vigorously and gradually pushed the cavalry army to the gate of Tongguan.
The Yan army at Tongguan Pass did not dare to fire arrows for fear of accidentally injuring friendly troops.
When Li Siye saw this, he felt even more determined.
At this time, a figure suddenly appeared inside the gate of Tongguan.
An Shouzhong was riding on his horse and was giving an order loudly: "Close the door! Close the door quickly! Don't let those cavalry enter the lockup!"
When Li Siye saw An Shouzhong appear and saw the gate of Tongguan slowly closing, he suddenly became anxious and without caring about anything else, he clapped his horse and rushed into the gate, shouting: "The enemy generals must not leave!"
When An Shouzhong saw Li Siye rushing towards him, he quickly turned his horse's head and ran towards the pass.
Li Siye followed closely and gradually broke away from most of the troops and entered the rear of Tongguan.
The terrain behind Tongguan is similar to a pocket formation, with the pass narrow and the outside wide.
Li Siye rushed into the pass with only a small number of Tang army cavalry, but he did not expect that thousands of Yan soldiers were waiting behind the pass.
At this moment, arrows were suddenly fired downwards from the tower of Tongguan without distinguishing between friend and enemy, and kerosene and other objects began to be poured down.
In a short time, the Tang army and the Yan army gathered near the pass suffered heavy casualties. The gate of the pass was also blocked by fire, making it temporarily impossible for people outside the pass to enter.
An Shouzhong rode his horse into the Yan army's formation at this time. Looking at the Tang Qi army rushing into the pass, he sneered: "Now that you are here, don't leave."
After speaking, An Shouzhong waved his arms, and the Yan army's bows, arrows, and crossbows were launched one after another. The arrows were like locusts, pounced on Li Siye and his cavalry.
The next second, the Tang Army's cavalry screamed, and dozens of them fell off their horses.
Li Siye relied on his superb riding skills to avoid the area where the arrows were concentrated, and used his weapons to deflect the stray arrows, and single-handedly rushed directly into the Yan army's formation.
A Mo Dao, which was about ten feet long, was in Li Siye's hand, carrying a lingering shadow. Wherever it went, the weapons were broken, and the men and horses were shattered.
It is hard to imagine that the Yan army of thousands of people would be killed by one horse and one sword, and gradually dispersed.
An Shouzhong looked at Li Siye, who was possessed by a murderous god, and sighed in an incredible tone: "There are such tiger generals in the world!"
However, one person's bravery will eventually come to an end when faced with an army.
Li Siye's horse could not bear the pain caused by the arrows, and finally fell to the ground.
Without his mount, Li Siye fell to the ground. Although he was still fighting bravely with a sword, his breathing gradually became heavier and his movements gradually became slower.
An Shouzhong saw that Li Siye was at the end of his strength. Although he couldn't bear it, he also knew that he really couldn't keep him.
Just when he was about to give the order to kill, a dozen knights galloped towards him from a distance.
Guo Yao led Tang Jun and rushed to Li Siye's side. The former got off his horse and used all his strength to lift the wounded and unconscious latter onto the horse's back.
Then, Guo Yao hit the horse's buttocks hard and shouted loudly: "General, go first, Guo will stop behind!"
Seeing Li Siye fleeing away on horseback, An Shouzhong felt nervous and quickly ordered to the nearby Yan army: "Catch up! We can't let him escape!"
Guo Yao, carrying his horse and more than a dozen Tang army cavalry, stood in front of the Yan army.
Guo Yao, whose face was covered with dust and whose body was stained with blood, stood with the Tang army who had finally survived. He looked at the Yan army in front of him, who was a hundred times his size, and said with a smile: "If you want to go over, ask someone first."
The weapon in hand..."
It is said:
Jingshan Zhonggu Fenglingdu,
The autumn wind blows away thousands of ancient things.
The dark clouds covering the sun cannot be pushed away,
The long journey of sorrow comes to Tongguan Road.