Chapter 178: Long strike of Ge Hu

The wind and sand are everywhere, and the wind is strong on the grassland in May, sweeping the sandstorm from the southern desert, hitting people's faces and bodies. The resistance of the wind and sand and inner hesitation make the Geluo people very slow to march.

He was worried about trying to assassin Heishan. He didn't want to fight this battle, but he had to fight. The Tang army's decisive march gave him no choice. Moreover, the small number of Tang soldiers ignited a glimmer of hope in his heart. If he could defeat the Tang army, he might have the bargaining chips to negotiate with the Tang army.

"Start up and order all departments to prepare for combat."

Heishan issued an order to prepare for battle. The Gelulu people were excited and rushed to the south quickly. The Gelulu coalition was divided into two parts, the Uighurs were in the east and Gelulu was in the west. The two armies were heading side by side, and 30,000 people were in a mighty manner, and a huge carpet was released to cover the grassland.

At this time, several war horses ran from afar. The horses were immediately agile scout of the Tang army. Several cavalrymen stopped a mile away. One of them urged the horse to run until two hundred steps away from the Uighur army. He began to gallop horizontally. He set off a bow and arrow, and shot a long arrow with a letter at the Uighur army from a distance, and shouted loudly: "My envoy has a letter to General Ashina."

After shouting, he rode his horse back and ran back, met with the others, turned his head and galloped southward.

A Uighur soldier ran up to pick up the letter, which was written clearly in Turkic language, "General Ashina personally opened it."

The Uighur soldiers presented the letter to the chief Ashina. Ashina opened the letter in confusion and was shocked. The letter was written by Li Qing'an, the chief general of the Tang army. The letter read: "Half a month ago, the general of the palace, Pei Luodagan, was ordered by the Uighur Khan, sent a mission to my camp to discuss the division of Geluo with me. I have agreed, why did the Uighur betrayal and fight with Geluo together with the Tang army. If you plan the overall situation, you can turn the battlefield and attack the Uighurs together to realize the wish of the Uighurs to unify the Turks. It is of great importance. I hope the general will think twice. I am willing to retreat ten miles to show my sincerity."

Ashina was in a mess. He knew that Pei Luodagan went to Tang Camp, but he didn't know whether an agreement had been reached. If the agreement was really reached as the commander of the Tang army said, then wouldn't it be a big deal for him to fight with Geluo? But if the agreement was not reached, the Tang army formally wrote a book to ask, which made him puzzled.

"Chief, the Gloru people are here."

A subordinate shouted, and saw more than a hundred cavalry guards escorting the black mountain quickly towards this side. Asina was shocked and hurriedly put away the letter.

The face of the black mountain was as deep as water, and rushed to the front and asked, "General Ashina, I heard that the chief general of the Tang army sent a letter. What did it say in the letter?"

"Oops!"

A thought flashed through Ashina's mind like a lightning fire, "He was trapped."

He quickly explained: "It's nothing, the leader of the Tang army is talking nonsense."

"Is that true?" Mousaiheishan glanced at him and said coldly: "Can you give me a letter?"

If you don’t give the other party a letter, the situation will be worse. Asina had no choice but to take out the letter and hand it to Moussan. He explained repeatedly: "This is the Tang army general who wants to provoke the relationship between you and us, so you must not believe it."

"Have Pei Luodagan been to Tangying?"

"I don't know much about this. Tangren is cunning, it's been a day or two."

Toushi Heishan already understood in his heart. If Pei Luodagan had not been to the Tang camp, how could Li Qing'an know that the Uighur Khan was in the palace? What a Uighur, the aid was fake, and Tougelu was the real one. He was furious, but he said without saying a word on his face: "This may indeed be the instigation of the Tang army, and we should not be fooled."

As soon as he finished speaking, a spy rushed to report: "Report to the chief, the Tang army has withdrawn to the south."

Miaotao Heishan could no longer help but feel angry inside, and snorted heavily and said, "General Ashina, how do you explain this?"

Asina was sweating profusely and said anxiously: "This is the instigation of the Tang army, which has caused internal strife between you and us. The Black Mountain Chief must not believe it."

Moutao Heishan sneered, "I know whether it is true or not, I will know when I fight."

After saying that, he turned his horse's head and galloped towards his army. Asina looked at his back and gritted her teeth and said, "If you don't know the truth, I will just join forces with Tang Jun."

When Li Qing'an was six miles away, he ordered his troops to retreat ten miles. Although the risk was very high, this was nothing compared to the possible benefits he had obtained.

The Tang army slowly retreated with its foothold, and only two miles away. The alarm bell on the command tower rang, indicating that the enemy was five miles away. Li Qing'an immediately ordered the retreat to stop and the troops were ready to fight.

The crossbowman held back the ground, and a hundred bed crossbows were creaking and opened. The bed crossbow was stringed by two cows, and the iron pockets with twenty arrows were tied to the strings. Twenty arrows were shot out at a time, which was powerful. The cavalry raised their spears and tied the horses that were tapping back and forth. Three thousand Shatuo people were unsheathed from the sheath. He put on the helmet, leather armor and horizontal swords that were uniformly equipped by the Tang army, making them even more murderous.

The baggage chariots formed a circle, and the infantry battalions in the circle changed. Two thousand spearmen were outside, forming a square array, holding a gun in one hand and holding a shield in the other. In the center of the square array, one thousand spearmen temporarily converted into archers, forming a three-layer concentric circle. Under the cover of the baggage chariot and spearmen, a radial strike surface was formed. This is the cooperation between the spearmen and the archers.

Li Qing'an and 300 personal soldiers were also in the concentric circle, and five small throwing machines appeared in the circle. The personal soldiers took out two black iron boxes. This was his ace weapon gunpowder, but Li Qing'an did not want to use it very much in this battle. He wanted to see the strength of the Beiting Army with his own eyes.

At this time, he had already seen a black line appear at the end of the grassland. The Ge Hui coalition finally arrived. He couldn't help but sneer. What effect would his letter bring? He was full of expectations.

"Beat the drum!"

The huge leather drum was ringing, which was the drum that boosted military power, and the drum that boosted morale. Li Qing'an rode out and raised his sword and shouted loudly: "The time for the athletes of Beiting Army, it's time for us to make achievements. Let's use a knife to prove that the Tang Dynasty was the master of Beiting. Kill Hu and rewarded one acre of land and ten cents of money."

His high voice drifted with the wind and flew into the ears of every soldier. The morale of the Tang army was greatly boosted, and the desire to kill the enemy was boiling in his heart.

Gelulu and the Uighur cavalry suddenly accelerated three miles away, and the sound of horse hooves hit the ground in a dense manner, like thunder roaring, shouting, and shouting. Thirty thousand cavalry came overwhelmingly, without formations, and the Uighurs were still in the east and Gelulu was in the west, which was clearly divided.

Five hundred steps away, the Tang army's bed crossbows were the first to show their power. One hundred bed crossbows were fired at the same time, and two thousand long arrows roared at the Gelulu army's camp. It was extremely powerful. The Gelulu people running in the front were overturned and screamed everywhere. The long arrow shot through the cavalry's body. The war horse fell down and fell to the ground. They were tripped. In an instant, four or five hundred people were dropped. Then the second round of bed crossbows shot again. This time the distance was closer and more powerful. A crossbow arrow actually shot through the bodies of two cavalrymen, and blood and blood were flying, screaming in succession.

After three rounds of bed crossbows, Geluo's personnel reduced more than 2,000 people, and his spirit was a setback. The momentum of the attack was not as rapid as before. At this time, the Gehui coalition had rushed to two hundred steps away. The excited screams and ferocious faces were clearly visible. The crossbow chariot retreated to the two rears. The crossbow soldiers stepped forward, and three thousand crossbows were raised on the ground. Cold arrows pointed at the enemy troops coming from the sky and were about to break out.

Li Qing'an focused on the Hu soldiers approaching like waves. His expression was as calm as ever, but a trace of imperceptible pride flashed across his eyes. He saw that neither the Gelulu people nor the Uighur people were pressing against each other. In the northwest, about 8,000 Gelu people remained unmoved, and thousands of Uighur people in the northeast did not attack. They only invested more than half of their troops.

This is a bit different from the tactics of the entire Turkish army, which often pushes the entire army and uses the cavalry's storm to win the upper hand. Li Qing'an knew that this was not because they invented any new tactics, but because his letter worked. The Gelu and the Uighurs no longer trust each other. To be precise, it was not because his letter worked, but because the ambitions of the Uighurs were exposed.

"Beat the drum, crossbowmen fire!"

At the command of Li Qing'an, the golden drums were made, and the fierce drum sound urged the Tang army to launch. Three thousand crossbowmen were arranged in nine rows, three rows and one shot. With a sound of "Kum!", thousands of arrows broke through the air, weaving a net of arrows, and shooting towards the Gelulu people and the Uighur people in an extremely fast manner. In an instant, the rain of arrows turned into a small black dot and flew into the cavalry of the Gelulu people and the Uighur people.

Like the severe rain blowing the leaves, the dense Hu cavalry was shot down and shot through the head. They fell off their horses while running, and the screams of being caught in the arrow were heard.

Most of the Gelulu people wore rough leather armor made of cowhide, without helmets, and the shields were just made of wooden. Their shields and leather armor could not resist the powerful arrows of the Tang army. The only thing they relied on was their skillful riding skills, dodging the crossbow arrows shot by the Tang army left and right, but their team was too dense, and even if they could not hit people, the war horses could not avoid the rain of arrows. Almost half of the people were injured when the war horses fell.

The Tang army's arrow rain followed one after another, and the three thousand crossbow troops cooperated like flowing water. In a short distance of 150 steps, the Tang army shot out six rounds and ten thousand arrows.

The Han people's crossbows have always been the first weapon to deal with nomadic peoples. Under 18,000 arrows, the Gehui coalition lost nearly half of them. The ground was covered with wounded war horses and Hu people's corpses. The war horses galloped and trampled many people to death. When they rushed to fifty steps away, less than eight thousand people were left.

The drum sounded again, and Shatuo, who was crawling beside the crossbow arrows like beasts, rushed out. They had the bloody and barbaric nomadic peoples and the advanced equipment of the Tang army, which made them look like tigers. They washed down the dam like a long-accumulated flood, swept towards the Gehui coalition with an unstoppable momentum.

‘Boom!’ There was a loud bang in the ground, and two huge waves of human waves collided. The heads rolled on the ground, the flesh and blood flew across the board, and the broken limbs and arms were everywhere. The fierce battle began.

The Tang army kept changing the drum sounds and flags of command. The black flags were waving, and the crossbow army quickly retreated. They retreated to the back of the infantry battalion, turned on horses, blew the bow and arrow, and in the blink of an eye, they turned into archers and cavalry again. With the intense drum sound, they rushed forward in a geese and shot the enemy from both flanks.

Li Qingan watched the movements of the two subordinates Hu soldiers coldly. Seeing that Geluo's support cavalry had no intention of attacking for the time being, he immediately ordered: "The main cavalry came out!"

The red flag was waving, and the rumbling giant drum was ringing. The cavalry commander Li Fei Yuanli shouted, "Kill!"

The seven thousand Tang troops were like a river rushing, surging, with spears waving and swords flashing. They were like a huge iron fist, hitting the Hu cavalry whose morale had declined, and instantly rushing the Geluo cavalry and the Uighur cavalry to pieces.

The Tang army's excellent equipment and training were fully demonstrated at this time. The seven thousand Tang cavalrymen included 500 people as a battalion, 100 people as a brigade, 50 people as a team, and 10 people as a group. They fought together and cooperated with each other. When one person used a horizontal sword to fight against the enemy in close combat, a spear would immediately stab from the left and right, stab the enemy to death, and then change the target.

In contrast, the Gelulu cavalry basically had their own formations. They did not cooperate and fought against the Tang army with a brute force. However, in front of the Tang army with iron walls, their brute force was resolved by the Tang army's neat formation. Therefore, although the number of the two soldiers was similar, there was always a situation where the Gelulu people were one-to-many. In addition, the Tang army's archers attacked on both sides, killing the Gelulu people's corpses and blood flowed into a river.

"Empress, have you noticed that the Uighurs did not seem to have done their best."

Deputy General Han Zhi suddenly discovered the clue. During the fierce battle between the three armies, the Uighur cavalry was obviously preserving their strength. They hid behind the Geluo people. When the Tang army surrounded them, they retreated in one battle and would never fight to the death with the Tang army.

Li Qing'an had already discovered it, and he smiled faintly and said, "This battle will surely end with the withdrawal of the Uighurs."

On the other side of the battlefield, Tossad Ludu was furious and he couldn't figure it out. His father had only invested half of his troops. He was originally the number of troops, but in this way, the two armies were equal, but half of the Tang army's bows and arrows were eliminated, and their equipment was far greater than that of the Gelulu people. How could they win?

He shouted anxiously: "Father, let's kill the whole army! Otherwise, we will definitely lose."

He was extremely anxious to attack Heishan, but he did not dare to put the army into battle. He looked at Ashina from time to time. He had made an appointment to join the entire army of Gelulu and Uighurs, but Ashina only joined 4,000 troops and left one hand. He hoped that the Uighurs would sincerely help him and put the army into the battlefield. In this way, his reinforcements could be added, but the Uighurs were still unmoved.

At this time, a war horse ran towards him quickly. The soldiers who were going to ask the Uighurs to fight were back. Heishan asked hurriedly: "How is it, will Uighurs and I send troops at the same time?"

"Chief, Ashina said they had done their best, and if the situation of the war was not good, they would withdraw their troops."

"What!"

Mousai Heishan's eyes turned black and he almost fell off his horse. Several soldiers hurriedly supported him. Mousai Heishan stared at the battlefield ahead. His heart was already extremely confused. If he threw these 10,000 people in, would the Uighurs attack from behind? But if he did not send reinforcements, the front army would collapse.

At this moment, the sound of withdrawing troops suddenly came from the Uighur army, and the low sound of the horn echoed in the wind.

The Uighur army on the battlefield immediately turned around and retreated northeast. As the Uighur army fled from the battlefield, the remaining Gelulu people could no longer support it and fled one after another. In an instant, the Gelulu army collapsed.

The Gelulu people fled like wild ghosts. The Tang army was as powerful as a bamboo shoot. They were behind the scenes and tried to kill Heishan. They saw that the situation was not good, so they turned their horses to flee northwest, while the Uighurs fled northeast.

At this time, a fierce sound of golden drums came from the command tower, and the attacking red flag pointed at the Uighur army. The cavalry commander Li Fei Yuanli waved his sword and shouted loudly: "Kill all the Uighur people!"

The Tang cavalry actually let go of the Geluo people and concentrated their forces to kill the Uighurs. The Uighurs were defeated. The Tang army chased for more than 30 miles, killing the Uighurs to make blood flow into a river and corpses were thrown all over the ground. Ashina ran away to the death and finally brought only less than a thousand remaining troops back to the north of Jinshan.

The Tang army rectified its army and continued to advance towards Xuanchi for two days. On the afternoon of the fourth day, the Tang army was less than fifty miles away from Xuanchi.

"Qilang, why did you let the Geluo people go?" Li Fei Shouyu asked in confusion.

Li Qingan smiled and asked him back: "In your eyes, is the Geluo man a wolf or a dog?"

Li Fei Shouyu smiled, "I used to think that the Geluo people were so powerful, but today I realized that they were far inferior to the Tubo people. They were vulnerable and could only be considered a local dog."

"Since that's the case, isn't it good to leave this native dog to show us the North Gate? Only then can we safely fight for the Broken Leaf."

Han Zhi next to him also smiled, "This time the Uighurs couldn't steal chickens and lost a handful of rice. The Geluo people would no longer believe them."

Li Qingan also smiled and said, "The Geluo people are not stupid. They should know which one is more important than that."

At this time, a team of scouts rushed from a distance, clasped their fists to Li Qing'an and said, "General, Chief Geluo was planning to stab Heishan and more than 200 nobles, five miles ahead, and want to apologize to the general!"

"He reacted very quickly!"

Li Qingan snorted softly and turned around and ordered: "The army camped on the spot!"

The Tang army began to set up camps. A quarter of an hour later, a team of people came from afar, with men and women naked. It was Chief Geluo who was trying to stab Heishan with his wife and children and elders from various ministries to apologize to the Tang army.

They knelt down in front of the Tang army camp and said in unison: "The slaves from the border wilderness beg for crimes from the Celestial Empire!"

Li Qing'an walked out of the camp with a group of civil and military officials, and planned to stab Heishan to crawl a few steps, crawled at Li Qing'an's feet, begging: "I am overestimating my abilities and violated the power of the Celestial Dynasty's military. I am willing to die to beg the Celestial Dynasty for forgiveness of Geluo."

"There is no need for the chief to die, but Ge Luolu despises the Celestial Empire and uses rash weapons, and must pay a certain price."

"We are willing to offer 300,000 sheep and 30,000 horses, and give up the Kingsoft Ranch."

Li Qingan shook his head and said, "Apart from these, it's not enough!"

To stab Heishan hurriedly said, "Please open the golden mouth. As long as we can take it out, we will definitely offer it."

"Beiting will build five castles south of Yibohai to Duotan Ridge, but we are short of manpower. I ask Geluo to produce 30,000 civilians to help us build a city."

Touta Heishan sighed secretly, the Tang Dynasty built a military city south of Duotan Ridge, which means that Gelulu's actual control line will move northward and there is no hope of touching the broken leaves again.
Chapter completed!