Just as Li Ji had calculated, after Da Du She was defeated, Yi Nan went on the full defensive, with 70,000 to 80,000 troops stationed in Qingshan to wait.

Li Ji said: "He wants to fight us directly and defeat us with superior strength."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly and said: "We only have 20,000 people. Counting the 6,000 cavalry of Prince Huaihua, there are only 26,000 people. Judging from the data, we are indeed at a disadvantage."

Li Ji said: "But many times the number of people means nothing. The outcome depends on the morale, weapons, strategies, etc. of both sides."

"Except for the number of people in this battle, we have the upper hand in everything else. Yi Nan wants to decide the outcome with us, and why don't I want to do the same."

Five days later, the rested and recuperated army under the command of Li Ji set out for Qingshan and set up camp thirty miles away from Xue Yantuo's camp.

Yi Nan was also prepared to prepare for Li Jing's arrival.

But what he was most concerned about was another thing: "Did you see clearly? Did the Tang army carry cannons?"

The spy affirmed: "We sent several groups of spies and found nothing that looked like cannons in the Tang army."

Yi Nan felt relieved and said, "That's good. The Tang army sent troops urgently this time, and the cannons are too heavy to carry."

"That must be why we didn't carry it, and this is our chance."

"Everyone, the time has come to decide who owns the grassland. This battle can only be won, not defeated."

"Yes." Everyone stood up and shouted.

Before the battle began, Li Ji and Yi Nan met in front of the two armies' formations.

Yi Nan accused the Tang Dynasty of placing their enemies, the Eastern Turks, in Monan, out of distrust and disrespect for Xue Yantuo, and asked the Tang Dynasty to take the Turks away.

Naturally, Li Ji didn't accept his trick and said: "The whole world is not the king's land, and the shore of the land is not the king's ministers."

The whole world belongs to me, the Tang Dynasty, and I can place the Eastern Turks wherever I want.

Then he came over and accused Yi Nan of ignoring the emperor's order to send troops to attack Monan and sheltering traitors from the Tang Dynasty. He was really worthy of death.

He was asked to plead guilty to the emperor, hand over the traitors, and return the deed to Bi Heli.

The two sides exchanged words, and naturally neither could convince the other.

However, neither side expects to be able to convince the other party with words. All this is just courtesy first and then fighting.

Now that things have developed to this point, this battle must be fought.

The two naturally parted on bad terms, and then began to prepare for war.

On the sixth day, each side sent 3,000 cavalry for a confrontation.

In the early stage, the Tang Dynasty won a complete victory. However, during the pursuit, the Xueyantuo people suddenly dismounted their horses and formed a formation. They counterattacked with a volley of bows and crossbows and caught the Tang army by surprise, causing a large number of casualties.

Seeing this, Li Ji quickly raised money and retreated his troops. Xue Yantuo's people also saw that they were doing well and retreated without pursuing them.

"It is said that Yi Nan is a hero, and it turned out to be extraordinary when I saw him today. I learned the tactics of the Central Plains people in dealing with cavalry and used them to deal with us."

Seeing so many casualties at once, Li Chengqian felt very distressed and said, "I wonder how the British Lord is prepared to deal with this?"

Li Ji stroked his beard and said, "Let's dismount too."

Then a strange scene happened. The Tang army completely gave up the cavalry and faced the enemy with an infantry square formation.

The Xueyantuo people, who were good at riding and shooting, also gave up riding and shooting, and instead used foot combat to fight the enemy.

The Tang Dynasty was also on the offensive side, while the Xueyantuo people tried to rely on the large formation they had formed in advance to meet the enemy.

Then Yi Nan saw what weapon substitution was.

Li Jing assembled ten catapults in front of the formation, but what was fired was not stones, but explosive shells.

It is true that he did not carry any artillery. It was unrealistic to drag something weighing several thousand kilograms into the field.

But no one said that cannonballs must be fired by artillery, and the same goes for trebuchets.

The all-wooden structure is built on site, dismantled into parts for transportation, and assembled at the local location.

When Yi Nan and others saw the trebuchet, they did not realize the seriousness of the matter. They just asked the cavalry to prepare and find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack and burn the trebuchet.

However, when the first artillery shell fell and made a loud noise, and seven or eight people around him were either shocked to death or killed by shrapnel, Yi Nan's heart sank.

I never expected that the Tang Dynasty's firearms could be used in this way.

The psychological pressure caused by the unprecedented weapons on the Xueyantuo people was far greater than the actual lethality.

Ten catapults were fired continuously, and the roars came one after another. The morale of the Xueyantuo people dropped at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Yi Nan knew that he would definitely lose if he continued like this, so he made adjustments.

Turn defense into offense.

Since defense is not possible, I will take the initiative to launch an attack with superior force. As long as I break through your military formation, no matter how powerful the weapon is, it will be useless.

Li Ji held a telescope in his hand and kept observing the movement on the opposite side, and immediately judged Yi Nan's plan.

He laughed and said, "I finally caught you out...ordered the Shenji Battalion to prepare for battle."
Chapter completed!