Chapter 746 The decisive battle between Tang and Tibet (9)
The heavy rain gradually stopped.
On the frontal battlefield of the decisive battle between Tang and Tibet, the fog brought by the rain is slowly dissipating.
Looking down from the sky, the entire battlefield is bright red with corpses everywhere.
Soldiers, horses, flags, weapons, and armor were stacked together, forming hills one after another, filling every corner of the originally endless plain.
At one end of the battlefield, in the tent of the Tang Army's camp, Guo Xin heard the military report brought by the scouts and closed his eyes in pain.
When the 65,000 Tang troops defeated the Tibetan army's forward and two wings, they annihilated 70,000 enemies and suffered no more than 10,000 losses.
However, a sudden heavy rain prevented the Tang army from using firearms and cavalry when attacking the Tibetan army's main formation, and the battle losses skyrocketed.
Twenty-five thousand Tibetan troops were killed, but the Tang army paid a price of nearly 18,000. Beitinghan's navy's two full-scale jingling armies were beaten to the point of being destroyed, and the Anxi Yanqi army also suffered heavy losses.
Guo Xin also fought against the Tubo people in Longle Mountain in his early years, but in his impression, if the battle went unfavorably, the Tibetan soldiers would retreat and flee the battlefield.
However, in the battle of Changshou Temple, the fighting will of the Tubo people exceeded everyone's expectations.
Now that the matter has come to this point, it is useless to think too much about it.
Guo Xin calmed down and looked at the Tang army generals in the tent, planning to arrange military formations and start the next attack.
Suddenly, soldiers came to report outside the door, saying that thick smoke was rising in the direction of the Tibetan camp. The Tang army, which was confronting the Tibetan army, observed the enemy camp and found that the enemy troops were in chaos and were retreating.
Guo Xin was stunned, and the first reaction in his mind was a trap.
But after thinking about it carefully, he didn't feel like it.
The Tibetan army had just experienced a great war and suffered heavy losses. If they pretended to be defeated at this time, the morale of the soldiers would be unstable, and the false escape would probably turn into a real rout.
Kong You thought for a moment and said to Guo Xin: "General, there is an army that has been around the enemy's rear camp since the beginning of the war. Is it possible that it is them..."
Hearing this, Guo Xin suddenly realized and shouted quickly: "Order the troops!"
In the Tubo camp on the other side, Sang Chiruo stared blankly at the billowing smoke in the direction of the rear camp, his face turning pale.
The Tibetan generals around looked at each other, and finally someone plucked up the courage to say: "Big talk, the Tang army burned down the rear camp, the morale of our army has been greatly reduced, and deserters have appeared..."
Sang Chiruo turned around and asked, "Is Yin Tu really dead?"
Someone nodded and said: "There was a Tang Army cavalry officer who hung the head of General Shan Wei Army on the tip of his spear and walked around the camp. Many soldiers saw it. It must be Yin Tu."
When Sang Chiruo heard this, he couldn't help but roared loudly.
He picked up the machete hanging on the tent pole and slashed and destroyed everything around him as if he was crazy.
After venting for a while, Sang Chiruo finally calmed down, dropped his machete, and said, "Give me the order and prepare to break out."
General Shan Wei died in battle and the rear camp was lost. The Tibetan army would soon be attacked from two sides.
Even the stupidest Tibetans can see that this battle has been lost.
However, Sang Chiruo, a great Tubo scholar, knew in his heart that the Tang army's combat goal was only half achieved.
The ultimate goal of the Tang army was to capture his head.
Thus, a breakout battle officially began.
After burning the baggage of the rear camp, the dragoons led by Long Qi took advantage of the speed of the cavalry to continuously drive away the Tibetan soldiers, confusing them and driving them towards the main force of the Tang army.
Although the battlefield of Changshou Temple is a plain, it is surrounded by mountains on the north and south sides. If the Tubo people want to leave, they can only go in the east and west directions.
To the east, Xianyang and Chang'an will be trapped again, and it is naturally impossible for the Tubo people to choose this route; then, they can only go west, through the heavy siege of the Tang army, from Chencang to Jiulong Mountain, and finally to the plateau.
When the dragoons drove away the defeated Tibetan troops, they paid attention to the direction of the defeated troops and carefully observed the movements of the enemy troops.
Finally, three miles away from the Tubo camp, the dragoons discovered a Tibetan army with golden tent guards.
The Tubo people have few horses, but among this army, there are not only 800 mounted Golden Horde guards, but also more than 3,000 Tibetan soldiers guarding them.
Among the Tubo troops that could be seen everywhere, this Golden Horde Guard was not only not in chaos, but was well-trained and managed to break through several interceptions by the Tang army, which made it extremely conspicuous.
Upon seeing this, most of the surrounding Tang troops also guessed that there must be important figures in this Tibetan army, so they gathered one after another to intercept this enemy army.
The dragoons also caught up at this time, and cooperated with the friendly forces to bite the guards of the Tubo Golden Tent, gradually slowing down their escape.
Long Qi then sent the news to the Central Army of the Tang Dynasty with his fast cavalry.
After the general Guo Xin received the news, he immediately issued a military order and sent out a reserve team to assist the dragoons and capture the Tubo Golden Horde's guards as soon as possible.
After the reserve team left, Guo Xin put her hands behind her back and walked around the camp, anxiously waiting for news from the front line.
Whenever someone came to report, Guo Xin would always ask, "Have you ever captured the enemy chieftain?"
After a while, a military report came from the front line, saying that the Tubo Golden Horde Guards were resisting tenaciously, and even though they suffered heavy casualties, they still refused to surrender.
However, the enemy troops were heavily surrounded and could not escape.
When Guo Xin heard this, he took a long breath.
After waiting for another quarter of an hour, good news came from the front line. The Tang army broke through the Golden Guards of the Tubo army and killed countless Tibetan generals and nobles.
It is similar to Sang Chiruo, a great treatise on Tubo.
Guo Xin: "Dead or alive?"
The scout who brought the battle report said: "Report to the general, that man would rather die than surrender, and in the end his head was chopped off by the soldiers."
Guo Xin was a little disappointed: "Dead? It's better to die."
Kong You, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "Where is the head of the Tubo Theory?"
Scout: "It has been put into the box and will be sent back to the Chinese army soon."
Kong You nodded and said nothing.
After another time of burning incense, a cavalry soldier carrying a wooden box came to the door of the Chinese army's tent.
Guo Xin looked at the wooden box and knew that it contained Sang Chiruo's head. He couldn't help but smile and kept talking about the reward.
Kong You gestured to the soldiers to place the wooden box on the table.
After the wooden box was stable and the soldiers opened the lid, Kong You stepped forward, stared at the head in the box and looked at it carefully, and finally closed his eyes and sighed.
Seeing that something was wrong, Guo Xin quickly asked: "Zhongcheng, what's wrong?"
Kong You: "This man's appearance is similar to that of the Tubo Theory, but he is not Sang Chiruo himself."
When Guo Xin heard this, he stood there blankly.
After a while, Guo Xin quickly shouted to the generals under his command: "What are you still doing? Everyone get on their horses and search for me! Even if we dig through all the land near Changshou Temple, we still have to kill that Sang."
Find Chi Ruo for me!"
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the camp.
After finding a short stool, Kong You slowly sat down and looked at the head in the wooden box, with a tired expression on his face for the first time.
Kong You raised his head and looked at the faintly shining stars in the sky, his tone full of helplessness and desolation: "God forgives fate, shouldn't fate be cut off..."