Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty-Six Battles for Grabbing Wheat (Part 2)
Fifty Tang soldiers fired arrows at the same time while running fast. Fifty arrows were concentrated on the leader of the opponent. The leader of the opponent was a leader of fifty. He never expected that dozens of arrows would all hit him. He was shocked.
He quickly dodged to avoid it, and although he escaped partially, he and his horse were still hit by more than a dozen arrows. The horse fell to the ground with a miserable hiss, and he himself was hit by five arrows in a row, and died after falling to the ground.
The leader was killed first, and the Tubo cavalry's offensive stalled. Han Qing shouted, "Kill them!"
Five cavalry teams rushed towards the enemy from three directions, and the two sides fought fiercely.
If it were an ordinary Tang army, perhaps they would be inferior to their opponent in terms of momentum. The ferocious appearance and fearless ferocity of the Tubo soldiers indeed made many Tang soldiers feel timid.
But what they encountered today was the most elite scout cavalry of the Hexi Army. They were all highly skilled in martial arts, cooperated with each other tacitly, and had equally strong willpower. Their riding skills were not inferior to those of the Tubo cavalry.
The casualties of the Tibetan cavalry were increasing, and one of the ten Tibetan commanders realized that if they continued to fight like this, their entire army would be killed, and they would not be able to send messages to the general.
He shouted a few words, and the Tibetan cavalry immediately woke up. They turned their horses, left the battlefield, and quickly evacuated to the west. The Tang army pursued them and killed five or six more people before stopping the pursuit.
The Tang army stopped their pursuit because they discovered Tibetan reinforcements several miles away, numbering more than a thousand people.
Han Qing immediately became vigilant. This place was only more than a hundred miles away from the wheat harvest area. The sudden appearance of the Tibetan army brigade here was definitely not a good sign. He immediately ordered: "Take your wounded and wounded brothers and evacuate!"
Han Qing's soldiers were divided into two groups. He left with ten soldiers to continue to monitor the enemy, while the remaining Tang army scouts left quickly with nine injured companions and the bodies of the dead, and rushed towards the wheat harvest area.
........
The Tubo army was about to attack the Tang army. Guo Song was not surprised. With the way the Tubo people did things, they would rather burn the wheat with a fire than leave it to the Tang army. They could not turn a blind eye forever, even if the Tubo army in Shanzhou did not want to
The Tubo court would not tolerate the war, and a conflict between the two armies was inevitable.
Guo Song ordered the wheat-harvesting army to continue fighting hard. He led 15,000 soldiers to the north. In the early morning, the Tang army arrived about fifty miles south of Longzhi County. On the left side of the official road was the endless wheat field of military garrison, while on the right was
Low undulating grassland.
At this time, Mengzi circled rapidly in the sky and made a sharp cry.
Guo Song immediately ordered: "The entire army should stop advancing and line up on the grassland!"
At this time, several scouts also rushed from a distance, rushed to Guo Song, bowed on their horses and reported: "I am reporting to you, the main force of the enemy's army was found twenty miles ahead, about 8,000 people.
They are coming towards this way very quickly!"
"What are the types of soldiers?" Guo Song asked again.
"About three thousand cavalry and five thousand infantry, with average equipment, all leather armor!"
Guo Song nodded, "Let's go to the outside to inquire!"
"Follow the order!" the scout turned around and sped away.
Fifteen thousand Tang troops quickly lined up on the grassland. This time Guo Song led eight thousand cavalry and seven thousand infantry. The seven thousand infantry had two thousand heavy armored infantry, including one thousand swordsmen and one thousand assisting soldiers.
The heavy crossbow army stayed in Dadou Bugu for defense, but the crossbow army consisted of two thousand people. They were both crossbow troops and contradictory soldiers.
Just as the Tang army was quickly arranging its troops, the Tubo army also appeared in the distance. This time Lun Shize went out to attack, mainly due to strong pressure from the Tubo country. Shang Jiezan sent someone to send him a message, bringing him
Zan Pu's order will never allow the Tang army to snatch wheat from Longyou.
Zanpu's order made Lun Shize feel like he was on pins and needles. Although he was also trying his best to harvest wheat, he had no energy to take care of anything else. Rushan collapsed. He had no choice but to arrange for two thousand soldiers to continue harvesting wheat. He led eight thousand soldiers to come.
To prevent the Tang army from grabbing wheat, he hoped that the Tang army would retreat after hearing the news, but in the end it turned out to be a situation that he did not want to face but had to face, and a war over wheat broke out.
‘Woo——’
The low sound of the horn sounded in the vast wilderness, the sky was overcast with low clouds, the cold air from the north wind swept across the land, the flags were fluttering, and the grassland became solemn.
Eight thousand Tibetan troops marched slowly in formation on the grassland, with three thousand cavalry in front and five thousand infantry behind. The Tibetan army's equipment was relatively simple. The cavalry had spears, the infantry had short swords and shields, and all wore leather helmets.
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The Tubo army also advanced slowly and stopped about two miles away from the Tang army. The two groups faced each other on the grassland.
Lun Shize looked at the Tang army's formation, and as he expected, two thousand crossbow troops were at the front. If he attacked with cavalry, he would inevitably be attacked by the Tang army's powerful crossbows. However, taking the initiative to attack has always been the style of the Tubo army. How could he do that?
Not fighting out of fear?
Lun Shize pondered for a moment, then suddenly ordered: "Cavalry attack both sides of the enemy's army!"
The three thousand cavalrymen immediately divided into two groups, like two long snakes, and charged towards both sides of the Tang army, one on the left and the other on the right. When the cavalrymen ran out a hundred steps, Lun Shize waved his sword and ordered: "Infantry attack!"
The five thousand infantrymen shouted and charged towards the Tang army like a surging tide.
This is a tactic to avoid the opponent's crossbowmen. The cavalry on both sides came first. Although the opponent's main force then attacked from the front, the crossbowmen had to withdraw from the crossbow formation, otherwise the cavalry would directly charge into the crossbow formation.
Already.
Guo Song saw the opponent's intention, and he sneered and ordered: "The cavalry will fight, and the crossbowmen will turn back to the contradiction soldiers to guard the Modao army on both sides!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The drums are beating to change the formation, and the command flag is waving. It is difficult to judge the coach's intention just by listening to the drum sound. At this time, it is necessary to combine the command flag with the command flag.
Eight thousand cavalry attacked, fighting the Tibetan cavalry from both sides, like two iron fists smashing into the wooden sticks coming from both sides.
The two thousand crossbowmen really had no chance to fire their crossbows. They quickly carried their crossbows behind their backs, raised their short spears and large shields, and divided their troops into two groups to rush towards the left and right sides of Modao's army.
The Contradictory Army of the Tang Army used short spears, not long spears of the cavalry, but even short spears were seven feet long, about two meters long. Such short spears were slightly lighter and could be held in one hand and a shield in the other.
Their role is to protect the left and right sides of the Modao army, while the thousand aid soldiers protect the back of the Modao soldiers. They are also the contradictory army.
The main force of the Tang army is still the Mo Dao soldiers. Whether they are facing Tibetan cavalry or Tibetan infantry, they are invincible and invincible. No army can stop their killing.
But heavy armored infantry also has weaknesses, that is, it is slow and not flexible enough. If the war occurs at high speed, then heavy armored infantry will not be able to keep up with this rhythm.
Therefore, other armies are needed to assist and compress the enemy troops to the area where the heavy armored infantry can exert its power. This is Guo Song's concept of deploying this war. All services fight around the heavy armored infantry, including those who protect him.
Weaknesses and playing to its strengths.
The eight thousand cavalry suppressed the expansion of the Tibetan army from both sides and never allowed the opponent to expand the battlefield. The five thousand Tibetan infantry could only rush into the frame drawn by the two cavalry teams. They inevitably encountered
A head-on attack by a thousand heavily armored infantry.
The cavalry was fighting fiercely on the outside, while the infantry was fighting in the inner circle. When Guo Song saw that the enemy infantry had already fought with the heavy armored infantry, he immediately ordered: "Pike infantry intersperse and attack behind the enemy infantry!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The war drums for mobilizing troops were beating, the black flags were waving, and the lieutenant general Xiao Lingfeng shouted, "Follow me!"
He led the last 3,000 spear infantrymen in the formation to run through from the side and kill behind the enemy. He formed a formation behind the Tibetan infantry and launched an offensive. The Tibetan infantry had to be divided into two and fought fiercely back-to-back with the two Tang army infantry.
It's just that the heavy armored infantry of the Tang army were too powerful. Mo Dao chopped down mercilessly, leaving blood and flesh flying and limbs everywhere. No matter how ferocious the Tibetans were, they were unable to resist. They were killed and retreated steadily. The heavy armored infantry advanced on the blood and flesh of the enemy.
Seeing that the opponent's Mo Dao army was too powerful, Lun Shize hurriedly ordered: "The cavalry attacks the sides and back of the opponent's heavy armored troops!"
The Tubo cavalry wanted to change their tactics, but they were held back by the Tang army's cavalry. Only a few hundred of them were killed, and they attacked the side of the heavy armored infantry. This was the shield gate for the heavy armored infantry, but both sides were already closely guarded by the Contradictory Army.
Hundreds of Tibetan cavalry encountered a sea of spears on Shield Mountain. They could not fight their way in. Instead, they were constantly picked off their horses and killed.
After all, the Tang army had twice the number of its opponent, and it was the most elite Hexi army. The Tang army quickly gained the upper hand. The Tubo army became smaller and more passive as they fought. After an hour of fierce fighting, the Tubo army saw that more than half of its casualties had been lost, and the defeat was certain.
Lun Shize sighed and said, "Withdraw the troops!"
He wanted to save part of his army and didn't want the whole army to be destroyed here.
‘Woo——’
The sound of antlers sounding like a bull's braying sounded, which was an order for the Tibetan army to retreat.
At this time, there were less than 4,000 Tibetan soldiers left. More than a thousand cavalry left the battlefield first, followed closely by the Tibetan infantry. However, Guo Song also issued an order to annihilate them to the end.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The attacking drum beat fiercely again, and the morale of the Tang army was greatly boosted. The cavalry and infantry shouted and chased the enemy.