Rasul's biggest regret was that he had no autonomy and had to report everything to his superiors. The person who accepted his report was Ziad, a general who was younger and more skilled than him.
Ziad is Abu's top general, and he is even slightly better than Abu in terms of tactics. Abu is a leader, possessing natural virtues and the ability to respond to everything. Ziad is the one who is truly proficient.
A master of tactics. It’s just that masters have some bad habits. They like to boss around and set rules for others. As Ziad’s subordinate, he must strictly follow his words. No matter what he does, he must report it to him first and get his permission.
to be able to execute.
Therefore, if Rasul wanted to attack the Ningyuan Kingdom, he had to get the permission of Ziyad who was now in Samarkand. He immediately wrote a letter to Ziyad, explaining from many aspects that the Tang Army had a new commander, and the new commander
He was a coward. He also forwarded the letter sent by Li Siye to him, and waited hopefully for the order given to him by Ziad.
Half a month after the letter was delivered, Ziyad of Samarkand finally received a reply. A messenger team arrived on camels and handed Rasul a parchment roll in a wooden tube.
Rasul pulled out the wooden tube and took out the parchment scroll. There were only a few words written on the huge scroll: Don't make any move, just wait for me to come."
His ambitions were suddenly suppressed by Ziad, and he was not allowed to move. Wasn't it because he was afraid that he would threaten Ziad's status after making great achievements? This is the method used by veteran generals to suppress new young generals who are ready to make a difference.
.
Rasul really didn't dare to move, so he had to wait patiently. After a month, General Ziad finally arrived in Talas City, and Dashi's garrison here finally reached 50,000.
Although he expressed contempt in his heart for Ziad's step-by-step approach, at least he did not dare to show it on the surface. He could only use some sophistical words to conceal his true purpose. So he once again proposed to Ziad that he would attack Ningyuan, an ally of the Tang Dynasty.
country, and in such a tone.
"General Ziad, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has been placed at our feet. The generals of the Tang Army were afraid of war and asked for peace, and took the initiative to propose to us to divide the region. How can we miss such a good opportunity? General, please do not be fooled by the arrogant Gao Xianzhi and the recent gains of the Tang Army.
We were frightened by the victory. As far as I know, they never dared to fight us. During the Umayyad Dynasty, they tried their best to avoid conflicts with our army. All this is enough to show that they only dared to deal with some projectiles from the Shi Kingdom.
As a small country, faced with such a powerful force like us, their war may lose the four towns of Anxi."
The bright prospects shown by Rasul did not convince Ziad, but he was considered to be talking nonsense. The other party, riding on a camel, asked coldly: "Have you ever fought against the Tang army? Have you ever won a victory? What is the battle loss ratio?"
"
This question stopped Rasul. In fact, I had already wanted to attack Tang Jun, but you wouldn't let me.
While Rasul was speechless, Ziad then said: "Never underestimate your enemies unless you have defeated them many times. When facing an army that has never been defeated and you don't know their details,
, all regard them as formidable enemies.”
Rasul still thought he was very reasonable and asked Ziad: "The general is the soul of an army. Their generals have written letters of peace to us. What do you think they have to fear?"
Ziad added: "Seeking peace does not necessarily mean he is afraid of war. Maybe he really loves peace and is opposed to war. This doesn't mean anything."
In the next few months, the two sides faced each other from afar between Talas City and Kesai City. Li Siye always maintained a strength of 10,000 troops, and another 10,000 people led by Duan Xiushi continued to transport food back and forth here. They
In addition to food, military supplies also include a type of highly explosive material called fire thunder.
Li Siye ordered a battalion of the Tang Army to be equipped with this kind of equipment, and asked them to train bomb-dropping techniques, so as to be ready to go into battle at any time as a surprise force.
At this time, the numerical advantage became apparent during the confrontation between the two sides. The troops jointly sent by Anxi and Beiting were only 20,000, so the pressure on supplies was much less. The Dashi Army sent five troops to Talas in two waves.
Ten thousand people, the supply pressure of these 50,000 people is unprecedentedly huge, and the militiamen at the rear need to continuously transport food and grass. At this time, whether to passively go into battle or continue to wait, the commander needs to carefully consider.
Li Siye continued to send people to spread false news. Some businessmen from the east spoke ill of the Tang army, saying that they oppressed the people and were idle everywhere. They were simply a rabble made up of rubbish.
Ziad did not believe such rumors. A year ago, they went on an expedition to the Jishi Kingdom and defeated their opponents. Although the sizes of small countries and large countries were naturally different, the Tang army should not be as simple as he imagined.
Until a piece of news that he had no hope for appeared, which made him completely determined to attack Ningyuan Kingdom and attack the Tang Army.
He sent envoys to Ge Luolu many times, using money and land as bait to induce Ge Luolu to make a sudden rebel attack when the Tang army was fighting fiercely. No one could guard against this cruel move. This was his victory.
The real trump card.
In the seventh month of Tianbao's tenth year, Ziyad led the 50,000 troops of the Abbasid dynasty to suddenly go south and launch an attack on the Tang army stationed outside Kesai City.
The weather was exceptionally clear that day, and the air visibility was very high. Standing on the hill here, you could see the cavalry and infantry combined with the surging army from the opposite side. They were holding black flags in their hands, like a black cloud.
, pressing towards the direction of Kesai City.
The Tang army led by Li Siye formed the Liuhua Formation, and they appeared on the gentle hillside. Li Siye ordered Yabi Bishen to wave the flag and issue orders to each square formation, changing the Liuhua Formation into the Fish Scale Formation. The Tang Army's cavalry was behind the Fish Scale Formation, and Ge Luolu
Their cavalry was on their right wing, and Ningyuan's army was on their left wing.
The Dashi Army was arranged into nine square formations, two of which were Sogdian Hu people recruited from the nine countries in the river, and their cavalry riding Arabian horses accounted for two square formations, with a total of more than 10,000
people.
Ziad took the lead in ordering the infantry phalanx to advance forward. His initial plan was to first let the infantry engage in a stalemate with the Tang army, and then send cavalry to outflank the two flanks.
The ram's horn made of sheep's horns made a whining sound. As soon as the deep sound ended, the strong suona tone sounded from the array of the Tang Army on the opposite side. The soldiers of the Anxi Army then shouted for death, and muffled thunder rolled on the horizon.
The Great Food Army began to advance forward, with three arrows of meadow separating the two sides. Their attack was not chaotic at all, and they still maintained their formation. The soldiers in the front row held large shields in their hands to provide cover and protection for the archers in the rear.
When Li Siye saw that the opponent had entered the firing range of the Fuyuan Crossbow, he immediately ordered the military formation to push the Fuyuan Crossbow to the front row and formed a spectacular long row. Each Fuyuan Crossbow had two strong men with waist strength.
After loading the bow, the crossbowmen adjusted their position and aimed at the formation of the slowly approaching food army. The guards raised their swords high.
"One, two, shoot!"
The sound of Fuyuan's crossbow string vibrating was sharp and ear-piercing. The first wave of arrows were thrown into the sky, and then fell from the sky, like hailstones swept side by side.