The Xueyantuo people made the same mistake at different times. The year before last, they thought Fengzhou had no defenders and wanted to plunder Fengzhou's population and property. Unexpectedly, Fengzhou had six thousand more troops, leaving 15,000
Thousands of troops were buried in a foreign land. This is the consequences of imbalanced intelligence.
More than a year later, when Xue Yantuo was preparing to annihilate Fengzhou's 6,000 soldiers with 22,000 men, they still suffered the consequences of imbalanced intelligence. They did not know that in just a few months, the Tang army in Fengzhou
The army surged from 6,000 to 17,000. Even if there were more than 2,000 casualties, there were still 15,000 fresh troops.
The Tang army outnumbered the Xueyantuo people. Regardless of equipment, morale or physical strength, the Tang army was also much stronger than the other side. All the Tang soldiers raised their bows and arrows, raised their crossbows, and waited for the commander's order to fire.
Guo Song watched the steady stream of Xue Yantuo soldiers descending from the outer city. More and more, they gathered under the outer city. Some of the soldiers rushed to remove the big stone holding up the city gate. The Tang army used more than a hundred pieces of stone weighing several thousand kilograms each.
Large rocks blocked the east and west outer city gates.
At this time, more than 8,000 Xueyantuo soldiers had come down from the city. Seeing that the time was ripe, Guo Song coldly ordered: "Shoot!"
‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’ A series of crisp bangs sounded.
Fifteen thousand soldiers on the top of the city shot at the enemy troops below the city at the same time. Thousands of arrows were fired in a volley, as dense as a storm. The soldiers below the city were caught off guard and were shot down one by one. The soldiers who were carrying the stones blocking the city gate were the focus of the attack.
, more than a thousand soldiers were almost wiped out.
One round of arrows killed more than 2,500 people. At this time, Xue Mantou discovered that there were densely packed Tang army soldiers on the opposite city wall, far more than 10,000 people. He was shocked. Who said that the Tang army only had 6,000 soldiers?
?
Xue Mantou immediately realized that they had made a big mistake. Maybe their army would be transferred to Fengzhou.
"Withdraw the troops! Withdraw the troops!"
Xue Mantou shouted at the top of his lungs, but he didn't know that the opponent had only set the distance between the inner and outer city one hundred and twenty steps in order to maximize the power of the Tang army's crossbows.
Guo Song had locked the enemy commander, who was wearing a golden helmet and surrounded by countless people, one hundred and twenty steps away.
He didn't know that he was Xue Yantuo Khan, just like Xue Mantou didn't know that he was the commander-in-chief of the Tang Army, but Guo Song knew that he was the commander-in-chief Xue Yantuo. Standing under the banner of the Golden Wolf Head, the only person wearing a golden helmet could not be a centurion or
Commander of a thousand men, shoot the horse first to shoot the man, and capture the king first to capture the thief. Guo Song's bow and arrow were aimed at Xue Man's head.
Just when Xue Mantou turned around to leave, Guo Song's arrow struck like lightning. In the chaos, Xue Mantou was completely unprepared. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his neck, and the severe pain made him scream.
He got up, but before he could react to what had happened, his vision went dark and he fell to the ground. Only then did everyone realize that Khan had been shot through the neck by an arrow.
"Khan! Khan!" the soldiers and generals shouted,
Xue Yantuo's soldiers were desperately climbing the ladder up to the city. At this time, the second round of arrow rain from the Tang army came, just like the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves. The Xue Yantuo soldiers on the ladder were hit by arrows and fell from the ladder. Then the third round
, the fourth round, the fifth round, the sixth round, the seventh round, the eighth round...
When the eight rounds of arrows were shot, no Xue Yantuo soldier could be seen standing up on the outer city wall or inside the city. 120,000 arrows were shot out, and more than 8,000 Xue Yantuo soldiers fell.
The soldiers of the Tang army cheered, and Guo Song gave the order, "Open the city gate and the cavalry will charge out!"
The inner city gate opened, the soldiers moved away the big stone blocking the door, and the outer city gate creaked open. Ten thousand Tang Army cavalry rushed out of the inner city like lightning, chasing thousands of Xue Yantuo's troops outside the city.
Three thousand Tang troops began to clear the battlefield, and the wounded soldiers who were not killed by arrows were mercilessly assassinated. Throughout the day, the number of Xue Yantuo's troops who died on the siege alone reached 13,000. Khan Xue Man was seriously injured in the head and fell into a coma.
In the middle, life or death is uncertain.
The morale of Xueyantuo's army completely collapsed. This is a characteristic of nomadic people. They are herdsmen themselves and have a somewhat brave and aggressive personality, but they are not professional soldiers after all. Once they fail, their morale will collapse quickly. Everyone just wants to escape back home.
, there is no longer any resistance.
Xue Yantuo's army was chased all the way by the Tang army, leaving more than two thousand corpses behind...
The singing and dancing *** celebration in Jiuyuan City finally ended at dawn. In the early morning, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, led by Guo Song, held a grand memorial ceremony for 1,500 fallen soldiers, and 1,500 coffins were used to collect them.
, and then send them back to their hometown for burial.
Guo Song ordered their names to be inscribed on a huge stone tablet, and then placed it in the Fengzhou Martyrs' Shrine in Jiuyuan County.
In the Tang Dynasty, it was common for soldiers to die in battle, but very few received such honors as Fengzhou. This was not only to commemorate the deceased, but also to appease the existing soldiers. In addition to receiving normal pensions from the court, soldiers who died in battle would receive
, the Fengzhou government gave a one-time compensation of two hectares of land to the family members of those killed in the battle.
After the memorial service, several scout cavalry sent the latest news to Jiuyuan City.
Li Ji quickly walked into the gate of the military office and came to Guo Song's official room. He saw Guo Song standing in front of a map and meditating. He coughed twice. Guo Song raised his head and saw that it was Li Ji, so he smiled and asked
: "Did you bring the latest information?"
Li Ji walked into the room and said: "I just got the latest news. Xue Yantuo's remnant army was surrounded and annihilated by 15,000 Shuofang cavalry when they were crossing the shallow water beach. Almost the entire army was destroyed. Our chasing cavalry captured a dozen Xue Yantuo people who fled back.
, there was a captain of ten thousand men inside. He said that their Khan died when he went down to the city, but the Shuofang army cut off the head, saying that they killed Xue Yantuo Khan. The envoy, Li Huaiguang, obviously came to take our credit.
"
Li Ji looked dissatisfied, but Guo Song didn't seem to pay much attention to this matter. He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his hands, and suddenly turned back to Li Ji and said, "Do you think this is an opportunity to completely eliminate Xue Yantuo?"
Li Ji was startled. He lowered his head and thought for a moment before nodding, "As the envoy said, this is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
Guo Song said with a smile: "I have been thinking about this matter. No matter whether Li Huaiguang is trying to gain credit or not, he sent troops to annihilate all the remaining troops, which is good for us in Fengzhou. I hope to cooperate with him and send troops to annihilate Xue Yantuo's tribe!"
"Is he willing?" Li Ji asked with some disbelief.
Guo Song smiled faintly, "Even if we send troops alone, we can destroy Xue Yantuo. I don't think he will give up this great opportunity to us. After all, he is Shuofang Jiedushi. I can agree to let him take the lead and I will lead the army."
Comply."
Li Ji sighed, "You are too generous!"
Guo Song shook his head and said: "I will not give in to the merits of the soldiers. I will definitely fight for them with all my strength. As for my personal merits, it is not important. I only hope that Fengzhou can have long-term peace and stability. As long as this goal can be achieved, I will give in every step."
Not for what?"
Li Ji nodded silently, and then expressed his position: "No matter what, I will fully support the envoy!"
.........
Li Huaiguang followed Duan Xiushi's example. He led 15,000 cavalry in ambush on both sides of the shallow water bank. When the opponent was halfway across the river, he attacked from the north and the south at the same time, killing all the soldiers on the bank. After the soldiers in the river surrendered, he ordered the prisoners to be killed.
Except for a captain of ten thousand who led dozens of people to break out of the encirclement, the remaining thousands of people all died in the hands of Li Huaiguang.
Li Huaiguang also accidentally obtained the body of Xue Mantou, the Khan of Xue Yantuo. He immediately beheaded him and sent someone to Chang'an to ask for credit, pretending that he had killed him.
At this time, Guo Song sent a letter from a scout, suggesting that the two sides join forces and take this opportunity to completely annihilate Xue Yantuo's tribe. Li Huaiguang was a little tempted.
In the big tent, Li Huaiguang walked a few steps with his hands behind his hands, and then asked Han Yu, the military staff member accompanying him: "Mr. Han, what do you think about this matter?"
Han Yu had already seen that Li Huaiguang was tempted. He thought for a moment and said: "In a humble position, you can lay out the pros and cons and let you make your own decision."
"you say!"
Han Yu bowed slightly and said: "First of all, there are obvious benefits. Xue Yantuo Khan is dead and the interior is in disarray. In addition, the main force has been basically wiped out. Twenty thousand Tang troops are enough to sweep the entire Xue Yantuo tribe. As long as the Xue Yantuo tribe is destroyed, the king will be granted the title
The king is just around the corner."
"Then what? Tell me about the disadvantages."
"The disadvantage is that joining forces with Guo Song will definitely make Chang Xiangguo dissatisfied. But if we deal with Xue Yantuo alone, we may encounter strong resistance from Xue Yantuo and suffer heavy losses. In short, this matter may
Makes Chang Xiangguo not very happy."
Li Huaiguang paced back and forth with his hands behind his hands, lowering his head and thinking deeply. He hugged Chang Gun's thigh and was able to serve as the governor of Shuofang. At this juncture, it was best not to offend Chang Gun, but he had longed for the title of king for many years, and he would not do it.
I will pass up this opportunity.
Besides, there was another reason that he couldn't talk about. He wanted to monopolize the credit for wiping out Xue Yantuo and didn't want Guo Song to share it with him.
Li Huaiguang suddenly asked: "You just said that 20,000 Tang troops can sweep Xue Yantuo's tribe?"
Han Yu quickly said: "I am just an estimate, not sure."
But Li Huaiguang made up his mind, "Guo Song can only send 10,000 cavalry at most, and the impact will not be big. Our Shuofang army has 25,000 people. I will use 20,000 people to attack Xue Yantuo, which is enough to sweep Jinshan. I have decided
, I don’t need Fengzhou’s help, I can just send the troops myself.”
Han Yu advised: "It is best to ask Prime Minister Chang for instructions again and use flying pigeons to send messages. When we are ready to set off, his pigeon messages will arrive and it will not affect our dispatch of troops."
Li Huaiguang nodded, "What you said makes sense, I will ask Chang Xiangguo for instructions now!"
Li Huaiguang immediately rejected Guo and Song's suggestion to send troops to Xue Yantuo together. He said that the Fengzhou Army had a heavy duty to defend the territory and should not leave without authorization, while the Shuofang Army would be enough to wipe out Xue Yantuo's tribe.