At night, to the east of the first pontoon bridge, hundreds of people are building a temporary pontoon bridge on the shore. They string the rafts one by one and tie them tightly. When the length is almost the same as the width of the river, they then put them upright.
When you enter the water, one end of the north bank is fixed, the pontoon will move across the river along the current, and the other end will catch the south bank.
This is the fastest and most convenient way to build a pontoon bridge. There are more than a hundred soldiers lying on the pontoon bridge, and they firmly hold the ropes on the pontoon bridge.
After the pontoon was put into the water, it was quickly swept sideways by the current, and the middle part became curved. At the top were two soldiers with excellent water skills. They jumped into the water holding the rope, swam to the other side, and soon swam ashore.
He pulled the rope hard and tied it to two big trees not far away.
The pontoon bridge was cut into an arc by the current. Dozens of soldiers hurriedly drove two wooden piles into the river bottom to support the pontoon bridge and prevent it from being broken by the current.
At the same time, two thousand spear soldiers jumped onto the pontoon bridge and rushed to the other side at high speed. The pontoon bridge was only eight feet wide, less than one foot wide.
In less than half an hour, two thousand infantrymen quickly rushed to the other side without being intercepted by the Tang army.
Seeing that the crossing of the river went smoothly, Zhu Si immediately changed his plan and ordered another 8,000 soldiers to cross the river. At the same time, the pontoon bridge was widened and strengthened to facilitate the cavalry crossing the river.
Zhu Si originally planned to send 2,000 soldiers to attack the Tang army's crossbowmen, but now there is no need. The army directly crossed the river, and 10,000 troops were on the south bank to protect the pontoon bridge from damage.
Thousands of craftsmen invested in the process of widening and strengthening the pontoon bridge. They first drove piles, and every thirty steps they drove a wooden pile to firmly support the pontoon bridge, and then widened and strengthened it.
Of course, several steps were carried out at the same time. On one side, it was reinforced and on the other side, it was paved and widened. At the same time, soldiers were also running quickly on the pontoon bridge.
Lai Yi had already received the report. He left five thousand soldiers to guard the half-destroyed pontoon bridge. He personally led 15,000 soldiers to the newly built pontoon bridge thirty miles away.
At the first watch, Lai Yi led 15,000 men to the enemy crossing the river. Suddenly, a burst of arrows shot from both sides. The Tang army was caught off guard and hundreds of people were shot down.
Lai Yi was furious, and urged his war horses to attack the ambush. He slashed off dozens of arrows with his sword, and charged into the crowd with his sword. He saw a flash of cold light, the sword flying, heads rolling, and limbs broken.
Killed dozens of people in one go.
The soldiers of the Tang army swarmed up from behind and surrounded a thousand crossbowmen who ambushed them. The crossbowmen picked up the spears on the ground and fought fiercely with the Tang army.
The other party arranged a thousand men to ambush the Tang army in order to buy time for Fan Yang's army three miles away to assemble.
At this time, the number of Fan Yang's troops gathered had reached 5,000, and the soldiers behind him were still running across the river to reinforce the troops on the south bank.
Lai Ai also saw through the opponent's intention. He left 5,000 men to continue encircling and annihilating the enemy army, while he led 10,000 troops to rush towards the crossing of the river.
Five thousand Fan Yangjun soldiers shouted and went up to fight. The two armies fought fiercely by the river.
Soon, more than 4,000 Tang army soldiers arrived and joined the battle after annihilating the enemy.
The soldiers of Fan Yang's army fought tooth and nail to protect the pontoon bridge being installed. Three thousand people formed a semicircle and fought to the death with the Tang army. Troops were constantly added to the bridge.
Twenty thousand Huihe cavalry were also eager to try and began to prepare to cross the bridge.
All 10,000 Fan Yang troops had crossed the bridge. They were well-trained and fought fiercely, and they were inextricably linked to the Tang army.
The pontoon bridge had been reinforced and widened, and the Uighur soldiers began to lead their horses across the bridge. Soon, the first batch of 500 Uighur cavalry had crossed the river and began to engage in battle. The situation began to be unfavorable to the Tang army.
With the continuous addition of cavalry, the number of cavalry soon reached 2,000. The battlefield gradually reversed, and the Tang army began to retreat steadily.
At this critical moment, a low trumpet sound came from the distance, and Xi Wanli led 20,000 supporting cavalry to attack.
Lai Yi looked at the battle flag in the distance and shouted excitedly: "Our reinforcements are coming, brothers, please beat the war drums for me!"
"Dong! Dong! Dong!" The war drums of the Tang army were beating, and the morale of the Tang army was immediately boosted, and the Tang army began to counterattack.
However, the Uighur cavalry also increased to 4,000 people. They were not afraid, shouted loudly, and charged forward to fight fiercely with the Tang army's cavalry.
In terms of strength, the Uighur Allied Forces were not as good as the Tang Army, and they would be defeated sooner or later. But the problem was that the Uighur Allied Forces' tactics were obvious. They were trying to buy time to allow their troops to cross the river as quickly as possible.
The Uighur cavalry crossed the river significantly faster. The cavalry no longer dismounted and used their skilled equestrian skills to control their horses to run on the pontoon bridge.
Soon, another two thousand cavalrymen were added to the battlefield, and the cavalrymen on the pontoon bridge were still running across the pontoon bridge.
At this moment, a five-thousand-stone Tang army warship appeared on the river. The oars rolled, and the warship accelerated and collided with the pontoon bridge.
The soldiers of Fan Yang's army fired arrows one after another, but to no avail. The huge bow of the ship crashed into the pontoon. With a loud "click!", the pontoon was blocked and split into two parts, and hundreds of cavalrymen on both sides fell into the water.
Although the number of Uighur cavalry on the south bank increased to 7,000, they were still no match for the 20,000 Tang army cavalry. At this time, General Ma Sui also arrived with 20,000 troops.
They cut off the retreat route for the Uighur cavalry to escape eastward. The Tang army became more courageous as they fought, and the coalition forces became weaker as they fought. Many soldiers wanted to surrender, but the chance was gone.
This battle continued until the third watch. As the last few hundred cavalry were annihilated, the battle finally ended. All 10,000 Fanyang troops were killed, and all 7,000 Huihe cavalry were annihilated. The Tang army left no prisoners of war and all the wounded soldiers.
Behead.
However, the Tang army also paid the price of 3,000 dead in this battle, and more than 4,000 were injured.
Although the first forcible crossing of the Juma River failed and cost nearly 20,000 people, Uighur Dengli Khan also saw hope.
He believed that the reason why crossing the river failed was because only one pontoon bridge was laid. If three pontoon bridges had been laid from the beginning, at least 50,000 to 60,000 people would have been able to cross, and they would definitely be able to break through the Juma River.
But the Tang Army's warships were troublesome. They had no opponents in the river, and the pontoons were hit by them at will. How to kill the Tang Army's warships was the most urgent matter at hand.
That afternoon, soldiers came to report that the Tang army's warship was on fire. This made Denli Khan energetic and hurried to the river.
Not far from the half pontoon bridge, a large boat on the river was on fire. The soldiers of the Tang Army on the boat jumped into the water and swam to a small boat not far away.
"what happened?"
"Reporting to the Khan, the ship was approaching the pontoon. Our soldiers threw in several burning kerosene cans, and the other ship started to burn."
"Fire oil!"
Denli Khan slapped his forehead, this is a powerful weapon against ships! He actually forgot about it.