It was early June in the fourteenth year of Daye in the Sui Dynasty and the first year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty.
King Li Yuanji of Qi led his troops out of Jinyang and arrived at Fenyang. Wang Zhibian, the defender of Fenyang, surrendered the city to the Tang Dynasty and persuaded King Li Yuanji of Qi to go north to Yanmen.
Li Yuanji was overjoyed when he made his first achievement. He rewarded Wang Zhibian highly and accepted his words happily. He paid attention to his general Yuan Guang to guard Fenyang and led his army north to Yanmen.
More than forty miles south of Yanmen, there is an open place.
It borders Wutai in the east and Tuoshui River in the west, with a radius of more than 20 miles, all of which is flat land.
Li Yuanji is dressed in silver armor and a cloak. He has been practicing martial arts for many years and has a strong body. He looks extremely heroic.
And when he led the troops on an expedition for the first time, Li Yuanji was also very excited.
The army came in a long way, with flags clearly visible, swords and spears standing in great numbers, orderly in front and rear, and full of morale. All aspects showed that this was a strong army without a doubt, and it also made His Royal Highness the King of Qi who led the army very satisfied, full of pride and high ambition.
A blood-red battle flag flutters in the wind. This is the battle flag of New Tang Dynasty.
It is not as complicated as the sun, moon and stars flag of the Sui Dynasty, but the colors are much more eye-catching.
This is undoubtedly the first time that the battle flag of the Tang Army has flown over Yanmen. As for whether it has any special significance, it actually depends on the result of their sending troops north.
The emerging Tang Dynasty was indeed full of vitality. During the battle with the strong troops from the northwest, the army of the Tang Dynasty had gradually begun to reveal a temperament that was different from the heroes in the world.
The most obvious manifestation is their cohesion. The soldiers and generals of the Tang Army rarely surrender without a fight, and defections are becoming less and less common.
As a result, their combat effectiveness began to gradually increase. Undoubtedly, they were inheriting the few remaining foundations of the Sui Dynasty and the momentum of the Sui army to compete first and dare to fight.
Under the banner, Li Yuanji looked at the lush fields beside the road, and laughed with Dou Dan beside him: "Li Po was born in a humble background, and he rose to prominence through his wife's family. He is not a hero, but you can see the scenery along the road. This man has a lot of heart in his heart.
There are also some hills and valleys.”
Dou Dan obviously didn't have much interest in talking about a dead person. He really wanted to take the opportunity to take a walk around Mount Wutai. After viewing the magnificent scenery, he also went to worship the Buddha. It would be even better if he could talk about Zen and Taoism with the monks on the mountain.
alright.
At this time, it goes without saying how he felt about Qi Wang Li Yuanji, and he had already kept a distance from him.
Especially the fact that the fourth prince left Yu Wenxin in Jinyang made him feel that this person was too young and vigorous. He was not the material to achieve great things at all.
Of course, he is different from Wen Yanbo. Even if he is dissatisfied with Li Yuanji, he will not show it, let alone reveal it in his words.
Hearing this, he immediately smiled and agreed, "Your Highness has insightful opinions. This person is indeed a philistine as Your Highness said. But he is not without merit."
Li Yuanji was willing to listen to such unflattering flattery and laughed loudly. He casually passed on the order, "If you pass on the order, don't damage the fertile fields. Anyone who tramples on the fields will be killed."
Dou Dan then clasped his fists and praised: "Your Highness has ancient customs..."
Li Yuanji was in a better mood, "In the past, Cao Mengde cut off his beard and took over the throne. We, the descendants, are far behind. Although we, the Tang Army, cannot commit no crimes in autumn, we still want to let the people in the north know that we are
Teachers of benevolence and righteousness cannot be compared with those tigers and wolves."
Dou Dan praised it a few more times. He felt very tired.
He has stayed in the Northland long enough to know that the people here are strong and fierce. People like tigers and wolves may be at ease here, but benevolent and righteous teachers may not be able to win the hearts of the people here.
Of course, if you don't like a person, all the words and deeds of the other person will be ignored. What Qi Wang Li Yuanji said and did will only make him feel that he is not a hero, but wants to learn.
Cao Mengde's actions can only make people sick.
At this time, Wang Zhibian came over and asked for orders to go ahead and report the good news to Governor Chen.
Li Yuanji immediately agreed, it was not a big deal.
Wang Zhibian was actually a bit reluctant. If he could stay in the center of the Tang army, and when the Tang army was in panic, he would lead his troops to rush over, and he might be able to chop off Li Yuanji's head.
But he also understood that once the army engaged in battle, the internal and external cooperation was only applicable to siege warfare. In a field battle like this, if he remained in the central army, he might be swarmed by his own people and be killed as the enemy.
Once the Daizhou cavalry charged, he had seen that scene twice in Youzhou, and the risk was too great.
So after weighing the risks and benefits, he made a wise choice and it was better to escape first.
It was early afternoon, and the army's itinerary had been decided. By evening, they would be able to rest at Yanmen.
But a general order from Qi King Li Yuanji suddenly slowed down the march of the army.
Zhang Da from the front army was so angry that he simply discussed with Dou Jingyi and ordered people to prepare torches to cope with the night march. At the same time, he slowed down the marching speed and gradually moved closer to the Chinese army.
Wang Zhibian broke away from the team and waited safely in front of the Tang army.
In fact, as soon as he led his troops to a stop, someone from the front came to report that the army was ten miles away, asking him to get out of the way and go to the left to prepare to merge into the army.
Not long after waiting, waves of scouts appeared nearby, like a pack of wolves, tearing apart the few scouts from the Tang Army's vanguard.
Not long after, amidst the smoke and dust, a tidal wave of cavalry troops came over with the deafening sound of horse hooves.
While Wang Zhibian was calming the restless war horses, he was congratulating himself on his wisdom. With such great power, if he still stayed in the Tang army, wouldn't he be buried with the Tang army?
Immediately, he led the army and merged into the right side of the army.
This army didn't care about good or bad farmland. The army spread out, destroying all the good land wherever it passed, and pounced on the enemies in front like dark clouds.
At this time, there was no need for Li Po in the army to give orders, they were already very skilled at doing this.
Almost all the generals of the Daizhou cavalry army now understand the truth. When cavalry fights, they need to be quick. They seize time from the Turks and take the lead step by step.
In Youzhou, he fought with the Youzhou Army led by Luo Yi, Dou Jiande's rebel army, Song Jingang, and Wei Daoer's rebel army, and defeated them in a single battle. With his four legs, he overturned the heroes of Hebei to the ground one by one.
It can be said that the Daizhou cavalry who have gone through wars have gathered the largest group of generals and soldiers who are proficient in cavalry tactics in the world.
And when they were in a strategic advantage, almost no one could defeat them head-on with equal strength.
The first to notice something was wrong among the Tang army were naturally the vanguards led by Zhang Da and Dou Jing. Their 5,000 troops were moving closer to the center of the army.
The scouts in front were attacked by the Daizhou Army scouts as fast as the wind, and it was impossible to send back the news.
But the smoke and dust during the march of the cavalry army could not be covered up.
Dou Jing was still very calm at this time. When she heard the report, she thought it was Chen Xiaoyi who was leading his army to greet him.
But the cavalry general Zhang Da did not have such a distinguished family background as him. His military achievements were earned with one sword and one shot. When he saw it, his face turned pale at first. There were cavalry, a lot of cavalry, otherwise the smoke would not be so big.
It won't be so condensed and unbreakable, almost like a yellow dragon.
Zhang Da was really panicked now. He didn't think Chen Xiaoyi, the governor of Yanmen, could lead so many cavalry to greet that bullshit King Qi.
This was a surprise attack. With so many cavalry coming towards them, Zhang Da felt his heart go cold.
His first thought was to turn around and run away, but his many years of military service told him that running away would lead to disastrous consequences, because two legs could not run as fast as four legs. If they were chased by cavalry, they would be like a herd of sheep being driven.
He rushed back in the same way and defeated the central army first for the enemy.
This is the most classic cavalry battle and one of the most commonly used tactics when facing infantry.
At this time, he no longer cared about where these cavalry came from, and what kind of deceitful plot put them at such a desperate disadvantage.
Zhang Da, who was furious, immediately sent an order for his soldiers to gather together and prepare for battle. At the same time, he did not forget to send someone to report to the Chinese army the news of the enemy's attack.
There is no doubt that this is a qualified general who led the army. At a critical moment, he did everything he should do and deserves praise.
But in war, no matter how good a general is, he cannot resist the consequences of strategic failure.
Dou Jing, who didn't know why, was not the highly praised agricultural officer. He was still young and was not even as good as his younger brother. At least Dou Dan had seen a million troops gathering in Zhuo County.
At this time, Shi, the chief administrator of Bingzhou, came to Zhang Da and wanted to persuade him not to act like a powerful enemy and disrupt the order of the army.
Zhang Da grabbed Dou Jing's collar, pointed forward and roared, "Look, this is the civil strife you mentioned. How come there are so many cavalry coming? Didn't you say Li Po is dead? Who is leading the troops?
?Chen Xiaoyi?"
In anger, he kicked Dou Jing to the ground. He drew his knife and was about to kill, but he was held tightly by both sides.
Zhang Dayu roared angrily, "Go away! If you don't go away, I will kill you. Go back to the central army and tell King Qi that if you don't want to die, quickly form an array."
At this time, there was actually no need to say anything else. The knights cruising around the Tang army had already been seen. Most of them turned a blind eye to the men and horses staying on the galloping road. They quickly galloped past in the distance and sent out sentries to the rear of the Tang army.
Explore.
A small group of cavalry gathered and circled the Tang army, shouting clearly audible, "The general manager has given an order, and those who lie down and abandon their weapons will not be killed. The general manager has an order, and those who lie down and abandon their weapons will not be killed."
Zhang Da finally calmed down from his rage, broke away from the hostage, and coldly ordered: "Zhang Shiju."
A young man immediately said: "The end is coming."
"You take five hundred people and send Dou Changshi back to the Chinese army. Tell me that I will lead the troops in front to defeat the enemy's edge and prepare the Chinese army for battle. The enemy's troops are all cavalry. It is best to form a formation and defend them before retreating.
If it goes down, it will definitely collapse thousands of miles...Okay, let's go."
This is not like a general order, but more like a last word.