At the fourth watch, the sky is still dark, the moon hangs high and the sky is full of stars.
Yang Ben, Lu Xiaoyou and other generals rushed to the battle platform at Yingpan Mountain to report to Li Xia the situation of the two days of battle while the soldiers were still making fire and cooking.
"Our soldiers have not yet fully recovered, and although Tachaer's soldiers and horses are better, they are still very tired after chasing them all the way, so the offensive is not intense. The general will continue to reorganize his troops during the battle. As long as there is enough food and grass,
It will be impossible for Tachaer to attack the north."
After Yang Ben finished speaking, Li Xia asked: "You said hold on. But if you want to defeat Kublai Khan, are you confident?"
"The general's troops are exhausted, and it will be difficult to create a chance for a great victory in the north."
Li Xia then looked at Lu Xiaoyou and asked, "Can a gap be opened in the western battlefield?"
Lu Xiaoyou said: "It's not difficult to defeat Ba La Ji and Hu Lan Ji. What's difficult is that the Yuan army still has Kublai Khan's cowardly Xue cavalry raiding the formation behind them..."
The three of them discussed the situation on the battlefield for a while, and Li Xia made a preliminary estimate.
"It doesn't make much sense to repel the Yuan army. It was just like that in Sichuan and Shu. If we repel them this year, they will come again next year. To create results, we have to divide our troops and occupy various arteries. In addition, we need to add frontal troops and horses.
Increase the number of troops by 50,000."
Thinking of this, Li Xia nodded and said to himself: "Almost, we have the strength."
"Yeah?"
After a long time, they finally passed through the array composed of 30,000 yuan troops and reached the front.
He clicked on the map.
"No chaos..."
Yang Ben leaned forward, trying hard to see clearly. Finally, he was stunned and murmured: "What is that?"
"Ever seen an elephant?"
"Long live! Long live!"
The momentum is majestic and has the courage to conquer the world.
"Fire the arrow!"
Kublai Khan turned his head and gave instructions to the herald under Xiangyu.
"Calm down." Li Xia whispered to himself, "Don't be fooled."
"Does he know everything about the situation west of Helan Mountain?"
Wu Lu suddenly left in a hurry.
You can still see it with a telescope from four or five miles away. It is obviously a huge thing.
After that, he would break through the Tang army's camp within five days.
A brief military discussion was held in the early morning, and the discussion was still about how to win. It was believed that the key to the battlefield was at the three passes. As long as Li Zengbo could hold on until reinforcements arrived, he would be victorious.
This is the Dead Man's Mountain on the Sanguankou Post Road. Li Zengbo had just set up camp when he received a report from the scouting horse, saying that a large group of Yuan army cavalry was coming from the northwest.
There are two elephants in front of these four elephants, which are used to clear the way, raising their long trunks from time to time.
"The general understands. Those coming behind us are infantry. We must hold back the Yuan army as soon as they find reinforcements."
"Remember, no one can be trusted."
"Boom!"
"Yang Ben will huddle up and defend, letting your soldiers support you with arrows from behind."
The war songs of the Yuan army were getting closer and closer, and then a burst of cheers suddenly broke out.
Kublai Khan sat on the elephant carriage with the attitude of conquering the world, observed the battle formation with a telescope for a long time, and finally said: "Li Xia didn't mobilize an elite force to concentrate on attacking this Khan."
"The key is, when will we arrive?"
"elephant?"
I saw them rolling up the wood with their noses and throwing it towards the Tang army's formation.
"When the troops from Sichuan and Yunnan arrive in Guanzhong, there will be reinforcements. When the reinforcements arrive, we will turn from defense to offense. We will not give the Yuan army time to move the battlefield."
This was the elephant keeper's first attempt, and it failed to cause any casualties to the Tang army, but the battle was terrifying.
Yang Ben quickly noticed the difference between today and before.
~~
"How long until reinforcements arrive?"
If Tachar was commanding alone at ordinary times, perhaps the Yuan army would have fired arrows at each other with the Tang army at this time. But Kublai Khan had already broken through two lines of defense.
On the battlefield at Yingpan Mountain, Li Xia also tried to identify that figure.
"..."
In the sight of the lookout tube, something gradually appeared in the dust and smoke. Under the nine white banners, surrounded by thousands of troops, it was slowly advancing.
The war drums of the Yuan army became louder and louder.
Brother Busa said: "The Golden Family already has too many wine bags and rice bags. In comparison, the Han army is more reliable."
It was good luck that Kublai Khan despised him after all.
After saying this, Li Xia suddenly turned his head and looked east, feeling scared for a while.
Kublai Khan turned his head and glanced at Brother Manla lightly.
"That's because Tuohu is too incompetent."
He glanced to the north, made a mental calculation for a while, and said: "We only need to deploy five thousand cavalry to cover the general, and the general can lead his battalion to charge forward to kill Kublai Khan."
Mongolian is mixed with Chinese, and the sounds are not neat, but noisy and loud, as if the dust and smoke in the sky are stirred up by this sound.
And the subsequent troops and horses were indeed mobilized early. Li Xia's order to Chang'an was to fight with the entire nation.
"Sweat! Sweat!"
When I raised the lookout tube, what I saw was the tall nine-shaped white flag slowly moving forward.
The soldiers of the Yuan Dynasty set up shields to protect them.
"Kublai Khan?"
At the same time, the Yuan army's scouting horses began to circle the camp to test, and the Tang army responded with arrows.
Finally, it stopped, right behind the 30,000 yuan military formation.
It was the first time for many soldiers of the Tang Dynasty to see such a huge creature. They were shocked and panicked.
"Look, there are 20,000 people commanded by Tacha'er. There are 10,000 Xue cavalry raiding the formation, and there are more than 10,000 Xue guards around Kublai Khan. It is only possible to dispatch 5,000 cavalry to fight.
.And as long as everything goes smoothly, the battle situation..."
Li Zengbo was also frightened. He thought that if he stayed at night for another half day, he would have to let Shi Tianze and Zhang Hongfan take the third pass first.
The battle situation has become very clear. They urgently need the follow-up troops to arrive to help Lian Xixian defeat Yang Wen'an and Li Zengbo to defeat Shi Tianze and Zhang Hongfan. After that, the army will go north to counterattack Kublai Khan.
"All generals from Mongolia, Khitan, Shatuo, Goryeo, and Han people have disappointed me. To defeat powerful opponents, we cannot rely on them. We have to rely on me."
"His Majesty?"
"If I remember correctly, you were defeated by him and became a prisoner before you escaped."
"No, the morale of the Yuan army is too high, and it is too dangerous to go to war now."
The dust and smoke dissipated a little, and Li Xia could vaguely identify what it was.
Huo Xiaolian was slightly stunned, then she bowed and left.
~~
"what is that?"
The weakness of Mang Ge La is that he is young and lacks ability, so to defeat Mong Ge La, he needs to defeat his main body; Kublai Khan himself is the powerful existence, and to defeat him, he needs to cut off his branches and leaves.
The morale of the Yuan army was strengthened and they charged again.
"Here!"
After saying this, Yang Ben and Lu Xiaoyou hurriedly left again and rode towards their respective camps.
"Your troops and horses are needed to be ready for support at any time."
Accompanying Kublai Khan was Mang Ge La, who was also very surprised by this. He himself was defeated because Li Xia gathered troops to attack his central army.
He suppressed the adventurous thoughts that arose again in his heart due to Huo Xiaolian's suggestion.
Their steps are heavy and they look clumsy and slow, but in fact they are not walking slowly at all.
"Here."
And they also sincerely believed that the great khan or emperor who could ride in such a vehicle must be the true lord sent down from heaven.
In the evening, the messenger sent by Lian Xixian finally arrived.
"Father, God is mighty, so of course Li Xia wouldn't dare."
Li Xia observed the battlefield for a while, then walked to the map to think about it, took two deep breaths, and shook his head.
"Logically speaking, we should have arrived three days ago."
"Lian Gong is currently stationed at Pingqiang Fort south of Xingqing Mansion. Since Yang Wen'an is guarding Xingqing Mansion, Lian Gong has to confront him to protect the baggage route."
"All right."
Seeing this situation, Yang Ben once again ordered the retreating formation, abandoned the outer defense line, and retreated one mile to defend.
Li Xia shook his head.
He is not satisfied yet.
"Boom!"
Li Xia then said to Huo Xiaolian: "The Selection Camp is also ready to provide support at any time."
Of course, the Yuan army took a detour after all, and the distance was farther.
It was as if Kublai Khan heard this conversation and deliberately used force.
Although they are far apart, it feels like they will trample all the enemies they see under their feet.
~~
The cheers from the Yuan army never stopped.
The voice of "Long live" is endless.
Soon I heard the cry of the elephant, and the other two elephants in front of the elephant began to walk forward.
If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, it would be hard to believe that Kublai Khan would create such a thing.
Wu Lu was stunned and did not answer Li Xia. After a while, he rubbed his eyes and said, "The morale of the Yuan army is too high."
"Understood. Duke Lian ordered me to hand this letter to Marshal Li..."
All in all, it was a false alarm. Li Zengbo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, sat down on the rock, and calmed down for a while before arranging military affairs.
"No, it's not that he didn't dare." Kublai Khan said: "He felt that the chance was too slim and would lead to the defeat of the entire army. Because he thought that if he defended, he would have a greater chance of winning."
If Kublai Khan had used an elephant to supervise the battle yesterday, and Hong Junqi had taken the opportunity to sneak attack his baggage, the situation would obviously have been much worse than today.
It should be a battle platform carried by four elephants.
"What's the chance of winning?" Brother Busy said: "Waiting for Shi Tianze and Zhang Hongfan to capture the third pass, Li Xia doesn't even have a way out, so how can he still have a chance of winning?"
He wanted to completely destroy Yang Ben's northern defense line today and push the Tang army into the Dingyuan camp. In this way, the Tang army would lose its scope of activity and would be completely strategically passive.
"What's this?!"
This time, the opponent was Kublai Khan, not Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan's command was smart and prudent, leaving no chance for him to charge in and out.
This morning was very hurried. Not long after, the sky was bright and the sound of war drums could be heard in the distance. It was the Yuan army starting to attack.
Li Zengbo took it and took a look. First of all, it was a map, with concise and to the point content.
"The premise of a surprise attack is that the opponent is negligent, not that the opponent is conspicuous." Li Xia added.
After a while, Li Xia finally put down the telescope and turned to look at Uluru Hunai.
Huo Xiaolian first received the order and then asked: "Your Majesty, Kublai Khan is sitting on such a conspicuous thing, we can determine his location. Your Majesty only needs to give it to the general..."
"The general has sent someone to contact Mr. Lian in advance. I believe we will get a reply from Mr. Lian within a day or two."
Yang Ben murmured, and the pressure increased.
Xiang Yu is still moving forward.
The earth was trembling slightly.
"Go get ready."
First of all, the drums and war songs were louder, and the morale of the Yuan army was obviously much higher. Yang Ben frowned, realizing something was wrong, got off his horse, and strode to catch up with a watch carriage.
"Marshal Li, please see, this is a transfer order. Soldiers and horses from Shaanxi and Sichuan are already on their way, such as General Xu Kui, General Huhu, General Gao Nianfeng..."
Only then did the aloof Kublai Khan speak his mind.
The majestic elephant made them admire, and the admiration heightened the atmosphere and excited people's spirits, thus creating great motivation.
Li Zengbo was stunned for a moment and then asked: "Then where are they?"
"There is no news yet. Mr. Lian has sent a horse to supervise."
"As soon as possible." Li Zengbo looked at the dust and smoke at the bottom of the mountain and said to himself: "We should have arrived three days ago?"
Rather than this answer, he would rather hear how many days are left until the agreed date.
~
(Mention the elephant in this chapter. Kublai Khan did have an elephant chariot and once rode an elephant out into battle to intimidate the enemy. "The superior had no intention of killing the elephant, so he personally controlled the elephant and supervised the battle, hoping that when he saw the chariot, he would kill it")