Before Shang Jiezan's army reached the border of Lanzhou, he got the news that Dadou City was attacked and the entire 10,000-strong army was wiped out. This news made Shang Jiezan's head as big as a fight. Capturing Jincheng County was an extremely urgent matter in his heart.
, but if he loses Shanzhou, he will never accept it, and Shang Jiezan is in a dilemma for a while.
In the end, Shang Jiezan adopted a compromise plan. The army stayed put and sent General Zabureli to lead an army of 10,000 to attack the mouth of the Taoshui River. If the mouth of the Taoshui River could be captured, it would not be too late for the army to advance eastward.
If the mouth of the Taoshui River cannot be captured, then the Eastern Expedition will be meaningless.
Shang Jiezan immediately ordered the army to camp on the spot and no longer march eastward. He sent the captain of ten thousand men Zabu Reli to lead an army of ten thousand to attack the mouth of Taoshui River.
In the afternoon of that day, Zabu Reli led an army of 10,000 people and a large amount of food and supplies to attack the Taoshui River, which was 300 miles away.
Let us turn our attention to Fengzhou again. As Li Ye expected, 30,000 Huihe troops surrounded the surrender city of Xihou.
The lights in the camp were brightly lit, and thousands of Huihe troops were busy building siege ladders.
Attacking cities has never been the advantage of Huihe, but there was no other way. Except for the surrender of Xishou, there was no one in Fengzhou, and everyone was evacuated.
The situation is here, either we give in and retreat to the grassland, or we have to fight a fierce battle.
Of course, Gel Khan could not give in, so he could only choose to fight with the Tang army.
At dawn, the Uighur army spent three days making 120 siege ladders. It took only two days to find suitable wood. The ladders made were very crude, just like those made at Dadou Bugu.
The raft is the same.
This is what the Uighur people are good at. To make rafts, they need wooden rafts as the bottom, so the Uighur people are very skilled in making rafts. They nailed rungs on them to form a siege ladder.
In addition, two extremely thick battering rams were also made.
In the morning, 30,000 Tibetans lined up outside the North City, and Gel Khan issued an order to attack the city.
Lieutenant General Meili led an army of 10,000 as the vanguard of the siege, and thousands of soldiers rushed towards the North City carrying rafts and siege ladders.
The siege ladder is very large, one foot wide and three feet long. It is very heavy. This kind of siege ladder has a great advantage. Dozens of people run with it on their heads, which is equivalent to carrying a huge
The shield can effectively resist the powerful crossbow array of the Tang army.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Amidst the sound of drums on the grassland, 10,000 Uighur soldiers carried a hundred large raft siege ladders and ran towards the north city wall. Arrows were raining down from the city top. Arrows were overwhelmingly fired at the Uighur soldiers, but the effect was not obvious, only a very small amount.
The Uighur soldiers in the front row were shot down by arrows and had almost no impact on the attack.
"Stop shooting!"
Lei Wanchun shouted, and the shooting gradually stopped at the top of the city.
"Get ready to roll the logs and rocks, get ready to fight!"
Lei Wanchun shouted loudly, and all the soldiers were gearing up, waiting for the battle to come.
Eight thousand of the 10,000 Tang troops were deployed at the north city head, and the other two thousand were deployed at the other three city heads to prevent the Uighur army from attacking from the east to the west or from sneak attacks on other city heads.
The Tang Army consisted of a brigade of fifty people, headed by a brigade commander and deputy brigade commander, and ten brigades into a battalion, with two captains and deputy captains in charge. The responsibilities were very clear.
Each brigade has spearmen, crossbowmen, and even ten heavy armored infantry. This is also a characteristic of the Helong Tang Army. The heavy armored infantry is the main force defending the city, and the others are assisting.
The siege soldiers rushed forward like a tide, and a raft was set up on the top of the three-foot-high city. The soldiers swarmed up. The Uighur army also considered that the Tang army would overturn the raft, so they spared no effort in raw materials and made the raft extremely heavy. The Tang army
It's hard to knock them over.
The Uighur soldiers were greeted by rolling logs and stones. Almost all the houses in the city were made of large stones. After demolishing a small part, a large number of fifty or sixty kilograms of stones were obtained, which became a powerful weapon for defending the city.
Pieces of Uighur soldiers were knocked over head-on and tumbled down the ladders, but many Uighur soldiers dodged the rolling wood and stones and rushed to the top of the city wall. The heavy armored infantry attacked, and saw the cold light of Mo Dao flash past, and a row of
The head flew up, or was cut into two pieces, the body rolled down, and a lot of blood spurted out.
Gradually, the rolling wood and stones had no effect. A large number of Uighur soldiers rushed to the top of the ladder and met the Tang army in close combat. The two sides began to fight fiercely. Soldiers continued to fall and soldiers continued to rush up.
On the horse walls on both sides, the arrows of the Tang army's crossbowmen were like rapid rain, shooting at the Uighur soldiers from the side. Every arrow would hit a soldier and roll down. The Uighur soldiers could not resist and suffered heavy casualties.
Gel Khan watched the progress of the battle and immediately ordered: "Pass my order and attack another 10,000 troops!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Amidst the fierce sound of war drums, this time it was led by General Di De, and another 10,000 Huihe troops pressed forward.
Originally, the Tang army pitted 8,000 men against 10,000 men, and with condescending suppression, the Tang army firmly gained the upper hand. However, as the new 10,000 Uighur troops entered the battlefield, the Uighur army's strength greatly increased, and the battlefield situation gradually reversed. The Tang army began to
It's getting harder and harder.
Uighur soldiers from three consecutive siege rafts broke through the Tang army's defense line and rushed to the top of the city. The two sides fought fiercely on the top of the city.
Immediately afterwards, the defenses of more than a dozen rafts were also breached, and a large number of Uighur soldiers rushed to the city, causing heavy casualties on both sides.
Gel Khan was really proud and shouted: "The third army is ready to attack!"
Ten thousand Huihe troops were gearing up and preparing to rush into the city in one go.
On the top of the city, Yang Qing, the general of Ying Yang Lang, was covered in blood. He stumbled forward and said: "General Lei, the casualties are too great, brothers can hardly bear it anymore!"
Lei Wanchun looked at the 10,000 Huihe troops in the distance. They were originally cavalry, but in order to attack the city, they all transformed into infantry. They have formed a combat formation and are about to enter the siege battlefield again.
Lei Wanchun originally wanted to wait until all the Huihe troops entered the battlefield before sending a message. It seemed that the combat effectiveness of the Huihe troops was much higher than they had previously estimated.
He immediately turned around and ordered: "Light the beacon!"
The beacon fire for Xixi's surrender was lit, signaling to the 30,000 Tang Army cavalry more than ten miles away that the time had come to attack.
Gel Khan also saw the beacon lighted on the top of the city. He was slightly startled. Why did the other party light the beacon? Could it be that he was calling for reinforcements.
Thinking of reinforcements, Gel Khan immediately remembered something. He remembered that Di De said that they encountered 20,000 Tang Army cavalry, but now the Tang Army's strength on the city was clearly only 10,000, so where were the other 10,000 Tang Army?
He has now reacted that the opponent's 10,000 cavalry must be ambushing on the outside, waiting for an opportunity. Now there are 20,000 troops attacking the city, and there are still 10,000 troops without horses, all infantry. If the opponent's cavalry comes, they will attack.
Gel Khan broke out in a cold sweat and shouted: "Send the order to withdraw the troops!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The bell rang to withdraw troops, and a large number of Uighur soldiers retreated backwards.
Di De was really puzzled. He spurred his horse forward and asked, "Khan, we are about to capture the city, why did we suddenly withdraw our troops?"
"The Tang army has asked for help, there must be an ambush outside!"
As soon as they finished speaking, they felt the ground shaking. A dozen peripheral cavalry came back from the sentinel inspection and shouted: "Khan! Countless Tang Army cavalry were discovered on the peripheral guard and are coming towards us!"
There were also sentries on the other side running to report, "Khan! The enemy cavalry is coming, more than ten thousand people!"
"Retreat to the camp immediately! Withdraw the troops immediately!"
Gel Khan shouted anxiously. He ignored the siege men and led 10,000 soldiers to rush towards the Sheep and Horse City next to the camp. Their horses were all in the Sheep and Horse City one mile away.
But not far away, I saw countless Tang army cavalry rushing towards me, like a river bursting its embankment, rushing towards them. The leader of the general, with an iron helmet and golden armor, holding a dragon-like spear in his hand, and with overwhelming murderous intent, was none other than Qi King Li Ye.
.
Li Ye saw that the opponent had fallen into the trap and abandoned his horse to attack the city. How could he let go of this opportunity? The Tang army's cavalry rushed into the ranks of Uighur soldiers like a mauling force.
At a glance, Li Ye saw the Khan under the banner of Huihe, surrounded by hundreds of cavalry for protection. He waved the dragon in his hand and shouted, "Follow me to kill the leader of the thieves!"
A thousand soldiers also followed Li Ye and went straight to the Huihe Khan.
Hundreds of the Khan's soldiers resisted desperately and protected the Khan to escape. Li Ye simply stood on his horse, took out his bow and arrow, galloped forward on his horse, drew the bow like a full moon, and shot out an arrow.
The speed of this arrow was so fast that I couldn't react at all.
'Poof!' An arrow hit Gel Khan's neck. The powerful arrow shot through his neck instantly. Gel Khan screamed and was about to fall off his horse. He was supported by his own soldiers, one on the left and one on the left.
Holding his body with his right hand, everyone galloped wildly.
Li Ye stopped chasing. It would be difficult for the opponent to save this arrow.
At this time, Nan Jiyun and Pei Xiu each led 10,000 cavalry to attack, and the Huihe army was defeated. Corpses were scattered all over the field, and blood flowed into rivers. Lieutenant General Meili also died under Nan Jiyun's gun.
Lieutenant General Di De caught up with the Khan's soldiers and fled for more than thirty miles. The Tang army did not pursue them, so everyone stopped. Only hundreds of cavalry were left to follow, and none of the infantry followed.
But now they could no longer care about the life and death of the infantry. They all scrambled to put the Khan down from his horse, and immediately knelt on the ground and cried bitterly. The Uigol Khan had already stopped breathing.