The extremely sharp Mo Dao slashed through, cutting iron like mud, indestructible. Each spear was cut off. Twelve powerful Shatuo soldiers did not even have time to scream, and were cut into twenty-four pieces.
Immediately, the internal organs rolled out, and the stench hit his nostrils. The soldiers behind him squatted down and retched.
The soldiers who rushed up from behind were frightened when they saw the bloody scene in front of them. However, they had no way to retreat and had to rush forward. However, what awaited them was still a killing without any suspense, with sharp knives coming down and blood and flesh flying everywhere on the top of the city.
There were screams and wails, five rounds were killed in a row, and the corpses piled up at the top of the city. The soldiers behind were frightened and cowered and did not dare to step forward. A short gap appeared on the overpass.
The arsonist seized this opportunity and threw over a dozen earthen jars filled with kerosene. The jars shattered and the kerosene flowed all over the floor. A torch was thrown in, and the fire ignited with a loud bang and spread rapidly downwards.
The soldiers took the opportunity to throw bundles of hay in. When the dead branches of hay met the fire, they immediately burned violently. Dozens of Shatuo soldiers hiding in the siege vehicle were ignited by the fire. They screamed and the soldiers
They rolled and crawled out of the bottom, many of the soldiers still had fire on their bodies.
In just a moment, the siege vehicles were filled with smoke and flames were raging. Twenty siege vehicles were set on fire one after another. The soldiers of the Tang Army launched another crossbow offensive. Tens of thousands of arrows were fired from the top of the city, and the arrows were like a gust of wind and rain.
, the Shatuo soldiers below fell down one by one amidst the cries, followed by the second round of firing thousands of arrows, the third round, and the fourth round of firing ten thousand arrows in a row. The Shatuo army suffered extremely heavy casualties.
'Dang! Dang! Dang!' The withdrawal bell rang, and the remaining Shatuo soldiers ran for their lives, but they could not escape the arrows above their heads. They finally managed to escape from the range of the arrows, but they could not escape the trebuchet.
of blow.
Zhu Xie Jinhai watched the fleeing soldiers fall one by one, his heart was as sharp as a knife. He sighed, turned his horse and withdrew towards the camp.
In this battle, the Shatuo army suffered an unprecedented setback, which Zhu Xie Jinhai did not expect. Only 4,000 of the 15,000-strong army escaped, and nearly half were injured. More than 10,000 soldiers fell under Zhangye City.
The camp was filled with mourning, more than 60% of the 30,000-strong army suffered casualties, the morale of the army was almost broken, and morale was low.
Lieshan Alu lost control of his emotions. Only less than a thousand of his tribe's five thousand soldiers fled back. He shouted at Zhu Xie Jinhai: "This is the war you want. Even if the Shatuo Army has two
One hundred thousand people are not enough for you to squander. The Shatuo Army is not suitable for siege warfare at all. You have to give up your advantage to fight with the Tang Army. In just two days, you have suffered more than 18,000 casualties. How can you still
Do you have the dignity to go back and see the Khan?"
"shut up!"
Zhu Xie Jinhai slammed his fist on the table and roared like thunder, "If you dare to yell at me again, I will take your head!"
Several captains of ten thousand men quickly persuaded Lieshan Alu to leave the tent. Zhu Xie Jinhai was so angry that his eyesight turned black. He did not expect that in the last short half hour, the situation would suddenly get out of control. From the first siege vehicle,
From the time of the fire to the complete defeat of the soldiers, almost half of them died in the last period.
The power of the Tang army's crossbows was something Zhu Xie Jinhai never expected. This was also the main reason why the Shatuo army suffered heavy casualties.
In fact, they have repeatedly tested and found that their leather armor and helmets can block crossbow shots at a distance of 150 steps and bow and arrow shots at a distance of 80 steps. For this reason, they did not give each
Soldiers make shields. Shields have never been standard equipment for Shatuo soldiers. Only a few soldiers who protect the general will equip them.
If they specially made 30,000 shields, they would not be able to afford it financially, but the actual situation on the battlefield was completely different from the test results. Bows and arrows could still easily penetrate soldiers' armor at a distance of 120 steps.
In fact, it was because the Shatuo Army officers lacked experience in attacking cities. They didn't know that shooting arrows on the city top and shooting arrows on the ground were completely different. Arrows thrown from high places were much more powerful than arrows shot on the ground.
Zhu Xie Jinhai only realized this now. If they had known this, they would have made a batch of crude shields anyway. In fact, Zhu Xie Jinhai had not fully thought about it. Even if they made a batch of crude shields, they would not be able to stop them.
The powerful potential energy of the arrows thrown down from a high place, unless they have the same large composite shield as the Tang army, but they do not have this technology.
Zhu Xie Jinhai let out a long sigh and ordered: "Send the whole army to rest for the night and set out early tomorrow morning."
After a pause, he couldn't help but said bitterly: "Linglie Shanbu is on duty tonight, guarding the perimeter!"
Lieshan Aru dared to roar at him, then let his tribe bear the most tiring tasks, patrolling and being on duty all night without sleep.
At night, the south gate of Zhangye City quietly opened. Ten thousand cavalry, led by Guo Song, came out from the south gate and circled towards the enemy camp. Although most of the Tang soldiers were exhausted after a long day of fierce fighting,
After a short rest, he gathered his energy and followed the commander out of the city, preparing to attack the Shatuo Army camp at night.
Last year, the Tang Army's 10,000 cavalrymen were preparing to sneak attack the Shatuo Army, but were ambushed by the other party. Now the Tang Army is doing the same trick again, but it has happened at the same time. The other party does not have an army of 30,000, and they are also exhausted and have low morale.
The Tang army was discovered by soldiers on patrol outside, and the Shatuo people were no longer a match for the Tang army.
The ten thousand soldiers were led by five lieutenant generals, while the coach Guo Song led fifty soldiers with high martial arts skills around to the north. To the north is the Yangma Camp. This is the tradition of the grassland army. Xue Yantuo is like this, and the Shatuo people are no exception.
The Shatuo people did not need cavalry to attack the city. Thirty thousand war horses were placed in horse pens.
Guo Song led fifty of his men to wait in ambush for a long time, but did not see any enemy soldiers patrolling back and forth. This really surprised him. At this time, one of his men bent over and ran over, whispering: "Captain, are you there?"
There are patrols on the outside, but they are all fixed posts. There is only one person fifty steps apart, and many soldiers on patrol are sleeping."
This was obviously different from the heavily guarded defenses of the previous two days. The defense level was lowered. Guo Song couldn't figure out the reason for this, but it was God's will.
They led the soldiers and rushed forward. There was indeed a stationary sentry in front, sleeping with a blanket rolled up. Two soldiers from the Tang Army touched him and killed him with a knife. Guo Song waved his hand, and everyone rushed towards the sheep hundreds of meters away.
The horses ran to the pen.
There are 30,000 war horses in the long sheep and horse pen. The saddle on each horse's back is also the main reason why the Shatuo Army can quickly identify the ownership of the war horses. The color and number of the saddle enable the owner to find his own horse.
.
On the other side are 300,000 sheep, which is the food for the 30,000 troops for ten days. There are still more than 200,000 sheep, but Guo Song's target is not sheep.
Guo Song led his men to climb over the fence gently. Each of them carried a leather bag on their back. In the leather bag were twenty portable torches. These torches were very short, like bones, but heavy.
The weight is unclear, but they are all made of ash wood and jujube wood. The front end is wrapped with a strip of cloth and covered with oil, and it catches fire at the first sign of fire.
"It's almost time, let's do it!"
Everyone started working together and pushed a section of fence that was tens of feet long. Thirty thousand war horses were like a barrier lake finding a pouring hole, and they rushed out of the fence. Guo Song knew very well that these horses would be discovered soon. He and he
The men got on their horses and urged the horses to gallop towards the camp. Sure enough, several grooms ran out of the tent and noticed that the horses had escaped and started shouting.
Guo Song no longer cared about these grooms and rushed into the camp. They all lit a torch. They took out the torch and lit it and threw it on the big tents. The big tents began to burn quickly and spread very quickly.
One blow after another, and then the wind quickly spread to all directions.
Guo Song and others threw away more than a dozen torches, and then found that the fire had spread beyond them. Guo Song shouted, "Follow me and retreat!"
As they ran, they shouted in Turkic: "It's on fire. Go and report it to the commander!"
These shouts were indeed very confusing. Many Shatuo soldiers wanted to stop them, but after hearing their shouts, they quickly moved out of the way. For fear of delaying their report to the commander, Guo Song led his men and rushed out of the Shatuo camp like a gust of wind.
The fire inside the Shatuo camp was already raging into the sky. The fire was driven by the wind, and the wind helped the fire. The ropes of the tents were constantly burned, and they were blown up by the strong wind, burning in the air and floating far away, causing the fire to spread by leaps and bounds.
The camp was full of Shatuo soldiers running around, shouting and running towards headless flies. Many people fell headlong into the fire while running, and many wounded soldiers had no chance of doing anything at all.
Unable to escape from the tent, he was directly burned to death in the tent.
Countless soldiers fled to the sheep and horse pen, only to find that the horses were gone. They had to continue running northward barefoot. Little did they know that 10,000 Tang Army cavalry had laid a dragnet for them in the north.