A red mailbox meant that the situation was urgent. Luo Daxiao strode out of the camp, took the mailbox from the soldier, took out a roll of Eagle Letter and looked at it carefully. His eyes immediately shined. Five thousand Shatuo cavalry had already arrived in Guazhou and were heading this way.
Come and kill.
Luo Daxiao received Ying's message yesterday that a group of 5,000 Shatuo cavalry left the Shazhou camp and ran north. However, he did not know the specific whereabouts of the enemy troops, whether to return to Shatuo or to kill him.
Now he could understand clearly that the enemy's target was him. Considering the time, the enemy cavalry would probably arrive here in the afternoon, and he had to make arrangements immediately.
"Send my order and all the troops must assemble!"
‘Woo--’ The horn sounded for the Tang army to gather.
.........
In Jinchang County, Guazhou, a group of 5,000 Shatuo cavalry who were killed from Shazhou were resting and eating here. The commander-in-chief, Zhu Xiebaozhen, was very anxious and kept urging the soldiers to eat faster. He was worried that this Tang army would retreat to Jiuquan after receiving the news.
City, their journey was in vain.
Before leaving, the coach Zhu Xiejinhai told him that the Tang army had a powerful secret weapon and it was unlikely to attack Dunhuang City. So beating the Tang army cavalry in Suzhou might be their only result. Zhu Xiejinhai asked him to capture
Seize the opportunity and attack decisively. The Tang army must not be allowed to escape back to Jiuquan. The powerful field advantage of the Shatuo cavalry must be used to completely annihilate this Tang army cavalry.
Seeing that the soldiers had almost eaten, Zhu Xiebaozhen immediately ordered: "Mount your horse and set off!"
Many soldiers had not finished their lunch, but the military order had been issued, so they had to get on their horses and eat while walking. Five thousand cavalry rushed away and soon disappeared at the end of the grassland.
Two hours later, five thousand Shatuo cavalry crossed Mingshui and arrived at the junction of Guazhou and Suzhou. They saw the Yumen Army garrison from a distance, but did not see the Tang Army cavalry.
Suddenly a soldier pointed in the distance and shouted: "General, enemy cavalry has been spotted ahead!"
Zhu Xiebaozhen also saw it. There was a black line several miles away. From his experience, the number of people should not be too many.
Nomads don't think too much when facing enemies on the grassland. Zhu Xiebaozhen brandished his sword and ordered sternly: "Kill them!"
Five thousand Shatuo cavalry launched and overwhelmingly attacked the Tang army several miles away.
There were only a thousand cavalrymen of the Tang Army in the distance, arranged in a line. They watched the Shatuo cavalry getting closer and closer, and led the Shatuo cavalry to a hundred steps away. They lit the porcelain fire thunder on their horses one after another.
Throwing it to the ground, it turned around and ran away quickly.
The cavalry of the Tang Army dropped more than a hundred chisel and smoking porcelain fire thunders and ran into the distance. Two miles away, the main force of the Tang Army's 7,000 cavalry was gathering together, waiting for the enemy to come.
The Shatuo cavalry also discovered the strange behavior of the Tang army, but they didn't know what those big porcelain bottles were?
They were all Zhu Xie's cavalry and did not participate in the battle to attack Dunhuang. They did not know what the explosive object was that scared the commander?
In their eyes, what the other party left behind were all exquisite porcelain. Zhu Xiebaozhen even misunderstood the other party's intentions. He thought the other party was throwing away property to attract them to rob, so he shouted loudly: "No picking up property.
Kill him!"
The cavalrymen stepped over the large porcelain bottles one after another and continued to run wildly on the grassland.
At this moment, the first porcelain bottle exploded with "Boom!", and the porcelain pieces and poisonous nails shot out in the sky. The warhorses and cavalry within fifty steps around were hit by the poisonous nails one after another.
They fell down miserably, the cavalry tumbled to the ground, and dense poisonous nails were fired in the crowd. More than half of the people and horses were injured.
Before the Shatuo cavalry could react, porcelain fire mines exploded in the team one after another. The Shatuo cavalry suddenly fell into chaos. Even Zhu Xiebaozhen was hit by a poisonous nail on the back of his neck, leaving a long bloody gash.
At this moment, the cavalry of the Tang Army blew the horn of attack, and the eight thousand cavalry launched. The thousand cavalry who had fled earlier also turned their horses and charged towards Shatuo's army.
The morale of the Shatuo cavalry was low. Under the urging of their commander Zhu Xiebaozhen, they bravely faced the Tang army and fought fiercely.
The cavalry of the Tang Army was well-trained and consisted of a team of a hundred people, including spearmen and crossbowmen. They cooperated with each other tacitly and did not fall behind in the fierce battle.
Soon, the Shatuo soldier who was shot by the poisonous nail began to suffer from a poisonous attack. The soldier's body began to feel extremely itchy, his vision was blurred, his limbs were weak and weak, and he quickly lost his combat effectiveness.
"It's the devil! The devil is here again!"
The Shatuo soldiers were all members of the Zhuxie tribe. They did not see the explosions of fire and thunder on the battlefield, but they witnessed with their own eyes the horrors of the injured soldiers when they were possessed by demons.
Having the same symptoms themselves, they suddenly woke up and started shouting.
The Shatuo cavalry collapsed in an instant, and countless soldiers were kicked off their horses by the Tang army's cavalry. The remaining cavalry were frightened, turned around and fled.
Luo Daxiao shouted: "Kill!"
"Kill--"
The morale of the Tang army's cavalry was high, and they pursued the Shatuo cavalry...
Eight thousand cavalrymen of the Tang Army pursued them for more than a hundred miles. The grasslands were littered with corpses and countless people surrendered. Most of the 5,000 Shatuo cavalrymen who went on the expedition lost most of their lives. The commander of the company, Zhu Xiebaozhen, died of poisonous attacks in the chaos.
Among the troops, more than 2,400 cavalrymen became prisoners of war.
Only a few hundred people were left and fled back to Yizhou in panic. In the afternoon of the same day, the Tang army arrived in Jinchang County.
The 500 Shatuo defenders in Jinchang County had also fled. The Tang army took the lead in regaining Jinchang County. Jinchang County is the only county seat in Guazhou. Most of the Han people living in and around the county seat were robbed by Shatuo to mine.
A few years ago, the Tang army had exchanged Shatuo prisoners of war back to Ganzhou. They did not dare to return to Jinchang, so they settled in Ganzhou.
Jinchang County is actually a military city. Apart from the garrison, there are only a few hundred Wusun people from the Western Regions living here.
Luo Daxiao ordered General Ma Wenxiu to lead a thousand soldiers to clear the battlefield and garrison Jinchang County. He then gathered the army and marched towards Shazhou. The Tang army turned from defensive to offensive, preparing to attack Shazhou together with the 12,000 Tang soldiers from Dunhuang City.
Tuojun.
.........
At dawn, Zhu Xie Jinhai received the express report from Suzhou. The news was like a bolt from the blue. He was stunned. He had been waiting for the good news of the five thousand cavalry, but he never expected that what he was waiting for would be like this.
A terrible news, more than 4,000 people were wiped out, and only a few hundred people escaped back to Shatuo.
Zhu Xie Jinhai suddenly felt a fear from his heart. The Tang army he faced was so powerful. If he did not withdraw his troops, I am afraid that his entire army would be killed here.
He couldn't wait for night, and immediately ordered: "Send my order, the whole army packs up and withdraws back to Shatuo!"
This wise decision made the war-weary Shatuo soldiers cheer, and everyone began to pack up and evacuate quickly.
There are still more than 11,500 people in the Shatuo Army, of which 3,000 are still poisoned and still have no combat effectiveness. They can only barely ride on war horses. They don't even have the strength to gallop. There are only eight soldiers with combat effectiveness.
There are more than a thousand people, but morale is low and war weariness is serious.
There were hundreds of thousands of sheep, and Shatuo's army also took them away. The tents were loaded on carts, but the camp fence could not be taken away and had to be abandoned. An hour later, Shatuo's army left the camp and was evacuated.
At this time, the general Yao Jin was standing on the city wall. He had just received a message from Luo Daxiao to annihilate all 5,000 enemy troops. He had led his army to Shazhou, hoping that the two armies could cooperate and annihilate all the enemies in Shazhou.
military.
This was of course what Yao Jin expected. He also realized that the Shatuo Army would definitely take action.
Yao Jin stood at the top of the city and looked at the Shatuo Camp in the distance. The Shatuo Camp was three miles away and he could see it clearly.
At this time, he saw the enemy troops leaving the military camp in a mighty manner, followed by carts and luggage, and the camp tents disappeared.
Yao Jin immediately ordered: "Send the order to the army, prepare to attack!"
Ten thousand cavalry have been assembled in the city, leaving only two thousand to guard the city. The other troops will follow him to pursue the enemy.
Tang Jun also rushed back to report, "We found that the enemy troops had evacuated. Except for the camp fence, the entire enemy camp was empty!"
Yao Jin nodded and ordered: "Kaicheng!"
The south city gate slowly opened, and Yao Jin led 10,000 cavalry out of the city. However, he was not in a hurry to pursue the enemy, but followed him from a distance of more than ten miles away.
In the afternoon, seven thousand cavalry led by Luo Daxiao also appeared on a hilltop a few miles to the north, watching the retreating Shatuo enemy troops from a distance.
A cavalryman came from a distance and reported: "General, the Tang army in Dunhuang is already ten miles away!"
"Blow the horn!" Luo Daxiao turned around and ordered.
"Woo——" Dozens of soldiers of the Tang Army blew the horns together, and the deep horn sound echoed between heaven and earth.
"Woo——" The sound of horns also sounded in the distance in response.
Luo Daxiao waved his sword and shouted sternly: "Kill——"
Seven thousand cavalrymen shouted in unison and charged towards Shatuo's army several miles away. At this time, Yao Jin led 10,000 Tang troops to attack from behind.
Two Tang armies formed a pincer attack on Shatuo's army. Shatuo's army lost all morale and collapsed without a fight. Zhu Xiejinhai had no intention of fighting and shouted: "Evacuate the whole army!"
He urged his horse to run away, and the armies behind him followed. Two Tang armies rushed in instantly, and dust flew up as they swept towards Shatuo's army...