The Western Turkic cavalry surrounded the Tang army's camp and fired continuously, bringing up clouds of dust.
However, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were protected by shields and the damage caused was minimal.
As for the arrows fired by the Tang soldiers in counterattack, because the Western Turkic soldiers would move away from each other after shooting the arrows, they did not cause much damage.
"Wandering fire can't cause us much casualties. Why do the Western Turks keep firing without knowing how to attack?" Cheng Chumo said with some confusion.
Lin Xuan frowned slightly, this was also where he was confused.
The Western Turks' wandering fire would not bring much loss to them. Normally, they should have changed their strategy long ago. However, the Western Turks kept firing as if they wanted to directly eliminate them with their wandering fire.
"I know, the Western Turks are looking for our flaws!" Lin Xuan showed a smile on his face.
The generals of the Western Turks must have seen that the stray fire did not cause many casualties to their own side. Under such circumstances, the Western Turks still did not change their strategy. This is the only explanation.
The Western Turks wanted to discover the weaknesses of the Tang army through constant wandering fire, and then attack the Tang army's camp in one fell swoop.
"Then what should we do now? Is it possible to continue the stalemate with them?" Cheng Chumo asked.
Lin Xuan smiled and said: "Aren't they looking for a flaw? Then let them discover our flaw. You go and mobilize all the repeating crossbows to the southwest. After half an hour, slowly reduce the number of counterattack arrows."
The Western Turks have too many troops. If they attack from all directions at the same time, even with repeated crossbows, it will be very difficult to defend.
After being aware of the Western Turks' strategy, they were able to take advantage of it.
"Yes!" Cheng Chumo understood what Lin Xuan meant, and a hint of excitement flashed across his face.
Shaboluo was riding on the horse with an expressionless face.
Shaboluo, a fast horse from Qianhu, a Western Turkic man, came up to him and said, "Master Qi Jin, the arrows from the southwest direction of the Tang army have begun to weaken."
A smile appeared on Shaboluo's face: "Let Drohannis and Dawa Tsering attack from the southwest, and the rest will contain the Tang army."
"Yes." The messenger hurriedly went to deliver the order.
Not long after, the 30,000 soldiers and horses behind Shaboluo began to move.
Beiying
Cheng Yaojin was on the observation deck he built, holding a telescope and keeping an eye on the battle situation in the South Camp.
Seeing the Western Turks' army heading towards the southern camp, Cheng Yaojin laughed and said: "The Western Turks' cavalry does not have any formation coordination, and their discipline is also very poor. They only rely on the mobility of the cavalry."
After saying that, Cheng Yaojin turned his head to look at Xue Rengui behind him and asked: "Rengui, do you know what are the advantages of the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty compared to the cavalry of the Western Turks?"
Xue Rengui thought for a while and said: "The cavalry of the Tang Dynasty is well-equipped, but the weapons of the Western Turks are very backward. Most of their arrows are polished with animal bones, and their lethality is much worse than those of the Tang Dynasty. In the past, nomadic people
It relies on nothing more than superb riding and archery, but with the emergence of stirrups and saddles, the level of riding and archery of the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty is not much worse than that of the Western Turks."
"Yes, the reason why the Turks have always posed a threat to the border of the Tang Dynasty is not that they are strong, but that the Tang Dynasty lacks war horses. The Turks are all cavalry who come and go like the wind, and they cannot catch up at all. But it is different now.
The Tang Dynasty has hundreds of thousands of cavalry, and they are not afraid of the Turks at all. We will definitely win this battle!" Cheng Yaojin said.
Rather than saying that he was talking to Xue Rengui, it is better to say that he deliberately told other generals.
The Western Turks had 100,000 cavalry, but our own side only had more than 30,000 cavalry. The gap was several times higher, which made the generals of the Tang Dynasty somewhat unsure.
Cheng Yaojin took the opportunity to encourage military morale.
"We must win! We must win!"
Upon hearing Cheng Yaojin's words, the generals shouted in unison.
…
While Cheng Yaojin was encouraging the troops, the Western Turks' cavalry had already approached the southwest of the South Camp.
After a round of firing, thousands of Western Turkic cavalry did not immediately retreat as before. Instead, they galloped towards the Tang army's camp. At the same time, they bent their bows and nocked arrows, and fired another round of arrows at the Tang army.
When the Western Turkic cavalry was about a hundred steps away from the Tang army's camp, the Tang army fired sparse arrows.
These arrows did not cause many casualties to the Western Turks.
"Haha~"
Zhuohannis slashed away an arrow that was aimed at him, and said, "Sir Qi Jin said that the first one to break into the camp will be promoted to the third level and rewarded with a thousand sheep!"
It is said that there must be brave men under heavy rewards, and the Tang army's counterattack was very weak. The soldiers of the Western Turks speeded up one after another, hoping to be the first to rush into the Tang army's camp and get the reward.
When Lin Xuan saw that the Turks were about to enter the trap area, a smile appeared on his face.
In the past few days, in addition to training soldiers to use repeating crossbows, they also dug a large number of horse traps around the camp and scattered a lot of caltrops.
Tribulus is an ancient military iron spike spreading obstacle. It is also called Tribulus. It has 4 protruding iron thorns, several inches long. When it touches the ground, about one thorn faces upward. The tip of the thorn is like the herbaceous plant "Tribulus" , hence the name.
In ancient wars, caltrops were spread on the ground to delay the enemy's movements, which was very effective against both cavalry and infantry.
There is a hole in the center of the caltrops, which can be connected in series with ropes for easy laying and collection.
"It seems that the Western Turks have been fooled." Cheng Chumo said with a smile.
As soon as Cheng Chumo finished speaking, one of the leading soldiers from the Western Turks stepped on an iron caltrop on his horse.
"Hiss~"
The war horses of the Western Turks did not have horseshoes. The horses stepped on the sharp and polished iron caltrops. They neighed in pain and directly knocked off the soldiers on their backs.
The soldier was very unlucky. When he was thrown away, he desperately tried to pull on the reins to steady himself. However, the horse under his legs had gone crazy and could not hold him back. As a result, when he was thrown off, his face fell down. By coincidence, the soldier was thrown off. Just where he landed, there happened to be an iron caltrop, which pierced his head directly. He didn't even have time to scream, and he died.
This scene happened in other places. Thousands of soldiers entered the trap area, and soon a large number of soldiers were thrown off their horses, some because they stepped on iron thorns, and some because they fell into the horse trap.
Zhuohannis was lucky and did not step into the trap, but he was stunned by this scene.
However, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty would not show mercy, and a large number of arrows came towards the Turkic soldiers.
The trap area is not far from the main camp. If it is too far, once the place is discovered, you only need to send people to investigate carefully.
But the distance was too close, and if the Western Turks wanted to send people to investigate, they would have to face the arrows of the Tang army.
Zhuohannis was only more than fifty steps away from the Tang army's camp. When he was stunned, a large number of arrows came over him. He had no time to react and was hit by several arrows.
"Captain of Ten Thousands!"
The shocked Turkic soldiers saw that Zhuohannis was hit by an arrow, and they were in chaos. They quickly grabbed the body of Zhuohannis, turned their horses and retreated.
During the retreat, many people stepped on the trap, and with the arrows of the Tang army, by the time they escaped from the trap area, only a few hundred people were left out of the thousands.
"Send someone to clean up the battlefield." Lin Xuan ordered.