Chapter 743 The decisive battle between Tang and Tibet (6)
The dragoons who returned to the packhorse team had been running back and forth on the battlefield for more than two hours. Both the men and the horses were very tired.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to replenish ammunition, the dragoons dismounted one after another and began to take a short rest on the spot.
The leader of the Dragon Cavalry Army is from Anxi, originally a member of the Twelve Tribes of Yanqi, named Long Qi.
Many years ago, Long Qi chased the horse bandits in Liangzhou City and was captured by the Zoroastrian. Later, he was rescued by Zhou Jun and moved with his tribe from Dunhuang to Yanqi.
In the Second Battle of Talas, Zhou Jun, who was the governor of Anxi, led the Tang army to fight against Dashi, while Long Qi led the Twelve Dragon Rangers and made great achievements.
After the battle, Long Qi was promoted to the deputy military envoy of the Yanqi army due to his merit. Not long after, the Tuqishi and Geluolu people started a rebellion in the north of Yanqi.
Long Qi led three thousand light cavalry, cooperating with the Han navy of the Beiting Protectorate, and attacked for seven hundred miles. In only eleven days, he killed King Tuqi Shi and defeated Ge Luolu's army.
Due to this achievement, Long Qi officially became the envoy of the Yanqi Army and began to train and prepare the dragoons. During this army mobilization, he followed Guo Xin to the Chang'an battlefield.
Turning over and dismounting, Long Qi opened the cotton armor prepared by the dragoon, revealing an iron claw-shaped instrument connected to the broken arm.
He took out the water bag, skillfully opened the lid with his iron claw, and poured a few big sips into his mouth. Long Qi took a breath and asked behind him: "Has the scout come back?"
The deputy general of the Dragoon Army, Wukedi, who was in charge of inspection, took the map from his subordinates, walked to Long Qi, unfolded it and said: "Both A Ten Fire and B Ten Fire are back, go to the Bing Ten Fire in the southeast."
Haven’t come back yet.”
Long Qi: "What do the people who come back say?"
Wu Kedi: "A Ten Fires and B Ten Fires have come to report that the Tibetan front army and two wings have been basically defeated and can no longer pose a threat to us. Our army's forward is cleaning up the battlefield and will be able to advance in two quarters of an hour.
Ten miles away, we will face off against the Tibetan army."
Long Qi assessed the situation and said: "The Tibetan army has a camp to defend it. It has just been reinforced with sandbags and stones, making it impossible for muskets to penetrate. I am afraid it will not be easy to attack by force... At the moment, it is better to rest where we are and wait until I
When the main force of the army arrives, we will attack together."
Wu Kedi nodded and conveyed the general's decision to the other dragoon generals.
Taking advantage of the break, Long Qi looked at Wukedi and asked, "If I remember correctly, you once followed General Uncle Shen and participated in the expeditionary force that attacked Dafeichuan?"
Hearing this question, Wu Kedi recalled the tragic war and nodded slightly.
Long Qi: "The early stage of that battle went smoothly, but the reason why it was defeated was that the retreat was cut off by a group of Tubo barbarians named Shankai Army?"
Wu Kedi: "Yes, the Shankui army is an ancient mountain people of Tubo, and they can walk on the foothills as if they were on level ground. The Tang army was accidentally cut off by the Shankui army, and was ultimately defeated... After the defeat of General Shen Shu, there was no one left.
Yan returned to the Tang Dynasty again, insisted on staying behind, and ordered me to lead his troops to leave. Unfortunately, he died in the end..."
Long Qi sighed.
Wu Kedi thought of Uncle Shen's voice and appearance before leaving, feeling sad and speechless.
Seeing this, Long Qi wanted to talk about something else, changed the subject, and asked: "I heard that you got married last year?"
Wu Ke was stunned for the first time and replied: "Yes, my wife's family is in business, and she is what the official calls a matchmaker."
Long Qi: "Do you have a child?"
Wu Kedi: "When I left home, my wife was already six months pregnant. I'm afraid the child is already able to walk now."
Long Qi: "In a situation like yours, you don't need to join the army."
Wu Kedi hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to tell the truth: "Compared with the peaceful Anxi, I would rather come to the Central Plains to fight... Every night, as soon as I close my eyes, what enters my dreamland is Dafeichuan.
That failure, and the scene before the death of the robes. If I choose to live my life like this in Anxi, even if I die of old age one day, I will not be able to close my eyes before I die."
Long Qi could understand Wu Kedi's thoughts and said nothing more.
After Wu Kedi finished talking about himself, he turned to ask curiously: "General, what about you?"
Long Qi: "Me?"
Wu Kedi: "You have been in the army for so many years, and I heard that you have never married. Don't you have a good woman?"
Hearing this question, Long Qi first smiled and then said: "There was a woman I liked in the past, but she was unwilling to settle down and kept running around every day."
Wu Kedi: "Where is she now?"
Long Qi: "It seems that I went to Tianshan Mountain to look for something... I don't know what happened now."
Wu Keti paused for a moment and asked: "Isn't the general planning to find her?"
Long Qi raised his head and looked at the sky. He was about to speak, but he paused and said in a deep voice: "Not good!"
Wu Kedi didn't understand why Long Qi was panicking. Just when he was about to ask, he suddenly felt a chill on his face.
A trace of rain slid down his skin.
Long Qi stood up suddenly and shouted to the cavalry general beside him: "Musket, gunpowder on oilcloth!"
Sensing that the rain was getting heavier, all the soldiers of the Dragoon Army began to protect their muskets and gunpowder from moisture.
At this moment, a scout rushed over and shouted to Long Qi: "The Chinese army has an order. All troops must gather into formation, strengthen the offensive, and defeat the enemy as soon as possible!"
Long Qi got on his horse and shouted to Wukedi: "Everyone get on the horse and quickly go around to the Tibetan rear camp!"
After resting, the dragoons mounted their horses and galloped towards the Tibetan camp.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, making the ground muddy and difficult to walk on.
The cavalry only traveled a few miles when some horses got stuck in the mud with their iron hooves and broke their legs, forcing them to withdraw from the battlefield.
The dragoons could only change their behavior and move slowly, slowly approaching the Tibetan camp.
At this time, the main force of the Tang army, which had completely penetrated the Tibetan front army and both wings, had arrived in front of the Tibetan army's central formation.
Heavy rain and muddy ground caused the Tang army to completely abandon their artillery and cavalry camps, and all formed into infantry.
Due to the permeability of water vapor, the strings used in crossbows will become soft and lose tension after being fired many times.
If crossbowmen want to maintain long-range projection capabilities, they must carefully maintain their weapons or replace bow strings on site, which greatly reduces the power of weapons such as bows and arrows.
Under such circumstances, the Tang army and the Tubo army unanimously adopted the standard decisive battle formation of diagonal expansion.
On the battlefield filled with heavy rain, a shield array like a city wall was erected in the battle line between the Tang army and the Tibetan army.
The noisy sound of firearm explosions has disappeared, and the sound of wind and rain caused by bowstrings has gradually been overwhelmed by the sound of wind and rain. There are only swords, guns and shields here, and everything has returned to the most primitive form of human warfare.