Tang Qian, the commander of the army, stood on a high place and commanded 20,000 soldiers to besiege the city.
It is true that Liu Qiong led the army to quell the rebellion, but it does not mean that there are no other generals in the Western Army. The general who stayed behind was Tang Qian. He was a scout and paid special attention to intelligence.
Just a month ago, Tang Qian received important information that Liu Guangshi's soldiers were extremely short of soldiers and food. Tang Qian decided to set up a trap in Gaoyao, transport a large number of fake soldiers and food to the warehouse, and sent people to
to promote.
The Western Army had dealt with Liu Guangshi and knew that this man was greedy and liked to use surprise troops to make sneak attacks, so they took advantage of the opportunity when Liu Qiong led the army to quell the chaos and set up this trap.
Sure enough, Liu Guangshi got the news and thought there was an opportunity, so he personally led 20,000 elite troops to Gaoyao County in Duanzhou.
Liu Guangshi's troops burned, killed and looted all the way, and liked to rush into civilian houses to plunder property. Tang Qian discovered this characteristic, so he followed his suit and set up wine and meat traps in civilian houses, and as expected, more than 6,000 soldiers were poisoned.
At this time, eight thousand soldiers blocked the city gate with crossbow arrows. Arrows were fired like a storm at the fleeing enemy troops. Groups of enemy troops fell to the city gate, with desperate screams. Soon, in front of the city gate,
The corpses piled up like a hill. Many soldiers tried to climb over the mountain of corpses to escape, but they still fell into the pile of corpses.
At this time, the soldiers of the Western Army threw hundreds of cans of kerosene over, and a raging fire was lit in front of the city gate. The flames engulfed the corpses. Many soldiers who were lying on the ground pretending to be dead were unbearable by the fire and got up.
Howling and running away, he fell into the fire after only a few steps.
Thousands of people also climbed on the city walls. They waved and shouted, pleading for surrender. The only answer was ruthless arrows. These soldiers burned, killed and committed adultery. They were so guilty that they could only die to atone for their sins.
Many soldiers couldn't help but jump down from the city, waiting for them to be stabbed mercilessly with spears.
The fire burned from dusk to the next morning. All 20,000 enemy troops died in the city, and no one escaped. Even Liu Guangshi was buried in the fire along with his ambition.
Tang Qian did not stop, and he immediately led an army of 20,000 to attack Liu Guangshi's hometown Wuzhou.
Liu Guangshi's army of hundreds of thousands was really a mob. When they heard that their lord was dead, they dispersed and went their separate ways.
But Liu Guangshi's general Pan Wen thought this was an opportunity. The Western Army only had 20,000 people. If he could defeat the Western Army, he could replace Liu Guangshi and become the new King of Annan.
Pan Wen immediately led 50,000 troops to fight against the Western army that came from 300 miles away.
Wuzhou and Duanzhou are separated by Kangzhou and Fengzhou, but Fengzhou is very small. Fengchuan County, the prefectural government, is located in the southernmost part of Fengzhou, close to the Xijiang River, on the north bank of the Xijiang River about fifteen miles away from Fengchuan County.
In a wilderness more than twenty miles wide, two armies met unexpectedly.
The 20,000 troops of the Western Army are composed of 5,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry. Among the 15,000 infantry, there are 2,000 heavy armored infantry. They also carry thirty small trebuchets. This small trebuchet is only one person tall.
The throwing pole is two feet long and weighs five hundred kilograms. It is usually carried by horses. When used, it can be assembled very quickly. It can project a ten kilogram small iron fire thunder - an iron hedgehog a hundred steps away.
In addition, the Western Army also carried ten large iron fire mines weighing 200 kilograms, specially used to blow up the city.
The Western Army quickly lined up, with two thousand heavy armored infantry at the front, ten thousand crossbowmen and spearmen behind them, three thousand lancers and trebuchet operators, and five thousand cavalry at the end.
Pan Wen saw that the opponent was tired from afar, so he immediately ordered the entire army to attack, trying to use the human sea tactic to overwhelm the Western Army's formation.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The war drums beat like thunder, and 50,000 troops came like a tide. Pan Wen also knew that the opponent's bows and crossbows were sharp, but he didn't care much about the life and death of the soldiers. Soldiers could be recruited after they died, but it was not so easy to recruit soldiers and horses.
When he arrived, what he valued was the armor, equipment and horses of the 20,000 Western Army, as well as the huge reputation that defeating the Western Army would bring.
Another most important reason is that Pan Wen was a native of Guangnan and had never left Guangnan West Road, let alone fought against the Western Army. He was just a Song Army envoy and had a deep understanding of the corruption of the Song Dynasty army.
He equated the Western Army with the Song Dynasty Army.
Ten thousand crossbowmen are arranged into nine groups, with 1,100 people in each line. Their spears are placed at their feet. Once the enemy comes to kill them, they will carry their crossbows behind their backs and transform into a spear army.
Tang Qian didn't expect the enemy to be so direct, and the whole army came directly to kill him. Seeing the enemy troops coming like a tide, he shouted: "Ready the crossbows!"
Ten thousand military crossbows pointed upward at a forty-five-degree angle, their cold arrows flashing murderous intent in the sunlight. The enemy troops were getting closer and closer, already within the 150-step line.
Commander Zhang Heng shouted, "Shoot an arrow!"
A rapid bang sounded, and the first three rows of 3,300 crossbow bolts rose into the air, shooting rapidly towards the enemy crowd like a black cloud. The enemy soldiers raised their shields to resist, but their simple shields could not stop the powerful force at all.
The crossbow bolts were fired, and the enemy soldiers screamed and fell down one by one.
Immediately after the crossbow arrows from the fourth to sixth rows were fired, more than three thousand crossbow arrows were fired. The arrows shot into the enemy like raindrops. Countless enemy soldiers were hit by arrows and rolled down. At this time, the seventh row arrived.
The ninth row of arrows shot out, and the arrows were overwhelming.
In the first round, 10,000 arrows shot down more than 3,000 soldiers, but for an army of 50,000, the casualties of more than 3,000 people did not make a difference at all.
Tens of thousands of troops rushed to the 100-step line, and the second round of crossbow bolts began to be fired.
However, five thousand soldiers rushed westward from three miles away with a very obvious tactical intention, which was to get behind the enemy and attack the enemy from behind. At this time, it was too late for the enemy to turn back.
Pan Wen just wanted a quick victory, first defeating the Western army in front, and then turning around to deal with the cavalry.
Two rounds of arrows caused nearly 7,000 enemy casualties. More than 40,000 people were finally killed. Two thousand heavy armored infantrymen swung their three-pointed, double-edged swords and appeared in front of the enemy like a mountain.
Behind them were ten thousand soldiers who had just transformed from the crossbow army into the spear army. Hidden among the spears were thirty small trebuchets and 2,500 spear throwers.
The enemy troops crashed into them, and what greeted them was the gleaming Mo Dao. Under the blade, blood and flesh flew everywhere, heads rolled, and stumps and broken arms were scattered all over the ground. In an instant, the air was filled with an extremely strong smell of blood, but the heavy armor
The infantrymen were familiar with this, and the soldiers behind them were experienced in many battles and didn't care.
At this time, a soldier suddenly shouted: "Tang Dutong, there are elephants!"
Tang Qian turned his head and saw hundreds of elephants rushing out from the woods in the northwest, with soldiers riding on them, rushing towards the side of the Western Army's formation. Tang Qian shouted sharply: "The spear throwers are facing us!"
Two thousand five hundred gunmen rushed forward, throwing out extremely sharp steel spears, and streams of cold light shot out. The extremely sharp steel spears pierced the heads of the war elephants, and the elephants collapsed one after another.
In just a moment, more than 100 of the 500 elephants were killed. The elephants became frightened and tried to turn around and flee for their lives, but the mahouts above shouted loudly, forcing the elephants to charge.
The spear throwers immediately changed their targets and aimed their spears at the people on the elephant's back. They threw accurately. Each enemy soldier screamed and fell on the elephant. In a moment, hundreds of elephant drivers and soldiers were all killed.
assassination.
Without the threat of the mahouts, nearly 400 elephants turned around and ran into the woods.
At this time, Tang Qian saw that the time was ripe and ordered sternly: "The trebuchet throws fire and thunder!"
Thirty trebuchets were transported to the front and began to project continuously. Three iron hedgehogs were thrown into the enemy group one after another. Iron fire mines exploded in the crowd, and the poisoned iron nails flew everywhere, and the crowd screamed.
The enemy troops on Guangnan West Road had never seen such terrifying firearms. The soldiers were shaken, and countless soldiers from the front army turned around and fled.
At this time, 5,000 cavalry came from behind to cover up the enemy. The tens of thousands of troops could no longer be supported. The entire front collapsed. The soldiers cried for their fathers and mothers and fled in all directions. The Western Army's 10,000 spearmen and 5,000 cavalry came from behind to cover up the enemy.
Army corpses littered the fields and blood flowed into rivers. General Pan Wen was surrounded by the Western cavalry and beheaded under his horse.
Two months later, Liu Qiong and Tang Qian led the army to completely pacify the two roads in Guangnan, leaving 30,000 troops to garrison the two roads in Guangnan, and the army returned to the court.
