Lunituo learned his lesson and no longer divided his troops. Instead, he concentrated eight thousand troops, collected all food and weapons, and abandoned the main camp. The Tibetan army's main camp was stationed at a high place. It was a board-walled building with guaranteed drinking water.
Being in a commanding position, it was easy to defend but difficult to attack. Unfortunately, they had no food, so they had to give up the advantage of their large camp and move to Shouchang County.
As soon as the Tibetan army was dispatched, the Tang army scouts who were exploring the periphery immediately sent an eagle message to notify Dunhuang City thirty miles away.
In Dunhuang City, 15,000 Tang troops have been assembled and on standby. Liang Wu's 2,000 Tang troops have other tasks. Guo Song left 2,000 soldiers to guard Dunhuang City, and sent another 1,000 soldiers to rush to occupy Shouchang County. Even if the Tubo army killed
There is no point in going to Shouchang County.
"Your Majesty, the scout eagle message has arrived!"
A messenger rushed over and presented an eagle's message to Guo Song. Guo Song opened it and there was only one sentence on it, 'The main force of Tibet has left the camp and is taking the southwest route, with about 8,000 people.'
The southwest line is the abandoned official road that a thousand Tibetan cavalry took in the morning. It is now afternoon, and the main Tibetan force is leaving camp now, and it must be to seize Shouchang County. Shouchang County is now the only hope for the Tibetan army.
Guo Song immediately ordered, "The whole army leaves the city and goes north!"
Fifteen thousand troops marched out of the city from the north gate and rushed north at high speed.
The Tang army was not entirely cavalry. Five thousand of them were infantry, including one thousand heavy armored infantry. One heavy armored infantry was followed by an auxiliary soldier. This auxiliary soldier was a sword and shield soldier, and the other three thousand were
They were spear infantry, who protected the heavy armored infantry on both sides.
The 10,000 cavalrymen were the main force of the Tang army, and they were responsible for fighting against the Tibetan cavalry.
Information from Tang Dynasty scouts continued to arrive, and Guo Song kept track of the movements of the Tibetan army at any time. The Tibetan army continued to march south along the abandoned official road, marching very fast, and obviously wanted to occupy Shouchang County at nightfall.
But the Tang army was one step ahead of them. Fifteen thousand Tang troops had already set up a formation more than ten miles away.
At this time, the Tubo outpost also discovered the main force of the Tang army in front, and hurriedly reported to the general Lun Lituo. Lun Lituo understood that the Tang army had already grasped its movements and was waiting for him!
He knew very well that once the main forces of the two armies met, a big battle would be inevitable. The retreat of either side would cause a serious blow to morale. Moreover, their food supply could not last for a few days. He was looking forward to this battle even more eagerly than the Tang army.
"Command the entire army to form formations and move slowly!"
The biggest feature of the Tibetan army is that it has good physical strength, is generally powerful, and is good at infantry combat. However, this time there are not many Tibetan infantry, only 3,000, and the other 5,000 are cavalry.
The Tibetan army quickly organized itself, with 3,000 infantry as the main force in the center and 5,000 cavalry as the left and right wings, and began to advance.
At this time, a general stepped forward and said: "General, it is already afternoon. If we fight until dark, it may be detrimental to our army!"
Because they have lived on the plateau since they were young, Tubo soldiers generally have poor night vision and will suffer losses in night battles. Lunli Tuo looked at the sky and saw that it would be dark for at least an hour and a half. He shook his head and said, "If we withdraw now, we will suffer."
The enemy's pursuit is detrimental to our army, so we strive to defeat the Tang army in the shortest possible time and end the battle."
Lituo still had the confidence to say this. They defeated the powerful Shatuo Army in two hours last autumn. He believed that he could also defeat the Tang Army.
The two armies gradually approached and were one mile apart. Both sides stopped advancing. Lunli Tuo found that the formation of the Tang army was different from the tradition. There were no archers and crossbowmen. There were dense spear troops in front and on both sides.
The cavalry, on the other hand, did not find the sharp Mo Dao army of Dadou Bagu.
Both sides were unwilling to take the initiative to charge and faced each other on the battlefield. Time passed by and Lituo couldn't wait any longer. It would be dark if he waited any longer, which would be extremely detrimental to the Tibetan army.
He drew his sword and shouted loudly: "The cavalry on the left and right attack the infantry of the opponent!"
The war drums of the Tubo army suddenly sounded, and two cavalrymen, one on the left and one on the right, rushed towards the Tang army like two sharp short spears. Li Tuo's tactics were obvious. He saw that the Tang army were all infantry. Compared with
Weak, they wanted to concentrate their superior forces and defeat the middle army of the Tang army first, causing the entire Tang army to be defeated.
However, Lituo never imagined that this was a tactic used by the Tang army to deliberately conceal their strength and show their weakness, using three thousand spear infantry to cover up the one thousand heavy armored infantry behind them.
The Tibetan army was getting closer and closer, only two hundred steps away from the Tang army. Like a rushing torrent, its momentum was overwhelming. The horse's hooves stirred up billowing yellow dust, and the dust filled the sky.
Guo Song resolutely ordered, "Mo Dao soldiers attack!"
'Boom! Boom! Boom!' The drums were beating loudly in the Tang army. Three thousand spear soldiers retreated quickly and ran to both sides. It was like a curtain suddenly opened, and a thousand heavy armored infantry suddenly appeared in front of the enemy.
In front of them, the Mo Dao that was originally placed on the ground suddenly stood up. They were half-kneeling on the ground, pressing the handle of the knife against the solid soil.
The sudden appearance of a thousand heavy armored infantry shocked Lituo so much that his scalp was about to explode. He never expected that Tang Army Mo Dao was hiding behind him. It was too late to change his tactics now. He could only watch helplessly as the five thousand cavalry collided with each other.
Toward the Tang Army’s Mo Dao formation.
The Tubo cavalry also saw the sudden appearance of the Mo Dao formation. Their faces were so frightened that they were deformed. They were extremely frightened, but they could no longer escape. Many soldiers had to close their eyes and screamed as they ran into it.
"Boom!" With a loud noise, thousands of Tubo cavalry were the first to hit the Mo Dao formation. The forest-like Mo Dao pierced the bodies of the horses and the cavalry. For a time, blood mist filled the air, and hundreds of
The corpses of the cavalry were piled up in front of Mo Dao's formation.
Commander Kang Bao saw that the enemy's impact had been shattered. He roared, stood up and slashed at an enemy centurion with his sword. The sword penetrated from the shoulder, killing both his man and his horse.
into two halves.
The Mo Dao soldiers also stood up one after another, waving their sabers neatly towards the enemy, advancing like a wall.
At this time, Guo Song ordered: "Cavalry attack!"
Two groups of cavalry, each with 5,000 men, rushed out from the left and right. They galloped along the perimeter of the enemy cavalry, like two closed gates, cutting off the retreat of the 5,000 Tibetan cavalry.
Lunli Tuo led 3,000 infantrymen to charge forward, but met an equal number of 3,000 spear infantrymen from the Tang army. The two sides fought fiercely.
The Tubo soldiers held shields and short swords and were very brave and good at fighting, while the Tang soldiers charged with spears from far away and slashed with swords at close range. Although the Tang soldiers were not as brave as the Tubo soldiers individually, they were well-trained and cooperated with each other tacitly, and they fought well with the Tubo soldiers.
It's hard to distinguish, and it doesn't fall behind at all.
Guo Song had previously received intelligence that this Tubo army was transferred back from Tochara. It was an elite force of Tubo. It was very strong and brave in combat, and very tenacious. It never gave up on defeat and would often fight to the last man standing.
Last autumn, an army of 10,000 troops defeated 20,000 Shatuo cavalry, killing more than 7,000 of the enemy. The Shatuo cavalry itself was very powerful in combat, and was actually defeated in the first battle. This shows how powerful the fighting power of this Tibetan army was.
Although the Tang army had twice as many troops as its opponent and was well-equipped, it was not easy for the Tang army to defeat the Tibetan army.
Realizing this, Guo Songcai particularly strengthened the army's physical training and night combat training to prepare for this moment.
There is a team hidden in the distance, consisting of more than 300 carts. There are military doctors and young men from Dunhuang. Once the injured soldiers from the Tang Army are brought in, the military doctors will immediately stop the bleeding and bandage them, and then the young men from Dunhuang will rush to the hospital.
The car was sent back to Dunhuang City for further treatment. This is the experience of the Ganzhou Army, which can greatly reduce the death toll of wounded soldiers.
After a quarter of an hour of fierce fighting, the first batch of Tang Army wounded soldiers came over. There were about forty people, accompanied by more than a dozen soldiers. They were all cavalry. They were pierced by the short spears of the Tubo cavalry. The injuries were relatively serious, while the minor injuries were minor.
Basically not on the battlefield.
More than a dozen military doctors quickly used hemostatic cream to stop their bleeding, briefly bandaged them, and then put them in several large vehicles, driven by young and strong civilian men and speeding away to Dunhuang City.
This measure cannot completely prevent the death of wounded soldiers. Severe injuries will still occur, but it can only reduce the fatality rate of serious injuries by half.
The two sides had been fighting fiercely for more than an hour, and the sky was gradually getting dark.