Fifty miles south of the border between Yunzhou and Shuozhou, about forty miles west of Guji Town, the already slightly withered yellow color was still lush. A thin hare poked its head out and looked blankly at the valley in the distance. There was a slight but violent vibration, and the timid rabbit scurried into the grass.
The vibrations became louder and louder, black iron currents rolled in, thousands of horse hooves ran over the grass, and the majestic and armed warriors let out deafening shouts and attacked the Turkic army formation several miles away.
The commotion spread uncontrollably like ripples. The Turks, who were about to use a dense formation to destroy the remnants of the Tang army, warned their companions with horrified shouts. However, in such a short period of time, no matter how sophisticated or good the Turks' equestrian skills were, There is no way to quickly expand the queue using the method of gathering and dispersing.
Li Shiji, who was wearing a helmet and whipping armor, personally charged into the battle. He was holding a horse and a spear. He was different from most of the generals in the Tiance Mansion. He was truly from a grassroots background. His family was just a wealthy family, and his family background was not as good as that of the thieves who once were like mountains. Li Mengchang, whose family was in decline, and Cheng Yaojin, whose family was in decline, were not among the best even in Wagang Village back then.
Whether he was in Wagang or later returned to Tang Dynasty, Li Shiji was never a fierce general who charged into battle, but he never lacked the ability and courage to kill generals and capture flags.
Li Shiji raised his horse's pole high over the top and tilted it toward the west. He lowered his body and leveled his horse's pole. He withstood the scattered and disorderly arrows of the Turks and began the last-minute charge.
The forwards of dozens of people at the front smoothly penetrated into the formation. The blood splattered and the speed of the horses slowed down. Li Shiji stared and shouted, and the horse's spear thrust out like a poisonous dragon. Regardless of the opponent's spear that was also stabbed, Li Shiji The tip easily penetrated General Hu's chest.
Turning sideways to dodge the weak spear, Li Shiji used both arms to force Ma Shan to lift General Hu in the air. There was a huge uproar around him. The following Tang troops were greatly boosted in morale. They shouted loudly, raised their swords and guns, and charged into the formation.
The sudden appearance of reinforcements from the Tang Army caused the Turkic cavalry to fall into disarray, and General Hu, who was picked up in the air with only one face-to-face encounter, caused the Turks to begin to disintegrate.
What followed was a sweeping sweep. Thousands of Turkic soldiers were almost unable to fight back. The leader, General Hu, fled west angrily and aggrieved, but Li Shiji led his troops to pursue him relentlessly until he was shot down with an arrow. The horse will not stop until it is trampled to death by its hooves.
General Hu, who was frustrated to death, was indeed frustrated. He could not figure out how the Tang army could suddenly appear here and gather about two thousand elite cavalry. This time, the Khan brought nearly tens of thousands of troops, and the entire army Shuozhou was under surveillance by Turkic scouts. How did the Tang army get here?
Although he had been defeated at the hands of Dou Jiande and Liu Heitai, Li Shiji showed his military talent in this battle. He was keenly aware of Tuli Khan's intentions, and did the opposite, starting from Mayi. Forty miles away from Sancho Town, they secretly headed north, mobilized cavalry in three forts around Guji Town, and made a surprise attack to defeat the enemy.
This was not the first time that Tuli Khan suffered defeat at the hands of Li Shiji. He led an army of 60,000 to the south. The young Khan thought he could easily capture him. He did not underestimate the enemy and even deployed 20,000 cavalry in the northeast of Yanmen Pass. However, these few The fighting on the day made him upset.
Liu Shirang guarded Mayi, and Li Shiji personally guarded Sanqiao Town. Together with the three nearby forts, the Tang army became a horn. The other forts also maintained a close distance. On the one hand, they divided the battlefield and made the Turks The cavalry was unable to form a large-scale bypass strategy.
On the other hand, each fortress has elite cavalry, either close to a thousand or hundreds. Sometimes they can't hold on, sometimes they attack quickly, but they will not be lured away by the Turkic cavalry, which makes the Turli Khan extremely uncomfortable.
In a head-to-head confrontation, due to the equipment gap, the Turkic cavalry was no match for Tang Qi. However, under the deliberate request of Li Shiji and Liu Shirang, Tang Qi did not seek to kill the enemy, nor would he pursue the victory to expand the results, which made the battle situation stalemate.
Therefore, Tuli Khan made a plan, summoned the troops scattered in various places, personally led the army to attack Mayi, fought face to face with Liu Shirang, and then ambushed the flanks with heavy troops. He did not believe that Li Shiji of Sancho Town would remain indifferent.
In the entire Shuozhou war situation, although the Thirteen Walled Forts are very important, the most critical thing is Mayi. The core of the situation is Mayi. Once it is lost, the Tang army will lose everything.
But Tuli Khan did not expect that Liu Shirang, who had always been out of the city to face the enemy, suddenly chose to defend the city wall, which made the Turks very helpless. This method of siege by ants ascending the city became countless grassland after the battle in Guji Town. A tribal nightmare.
What made Tuli Khan even more unexpected was that Li Shiji had the audacity to go north and gather cavalry to attack the troops he had left behind... If Li Shiji hadn't been cautious by nature and didn't have enough troops, he would have directly stabbed Tuli Khan. The butt is possible.
At this time, Li Shiji, who had returned from withdrawing his troops, looked at the dilapidated forts and ordered the remaining soldiers to follow the army to the east and disperse in several forts such as Guji Town. Among the thirteen forts, this one was the most westward. It was also the first to be breached.
Although he had only been acting governor for more than half a month, Li Shiji had already won the hearts of the military. The surrounding Tang soldiers looked at him with admiration and obeyed any military order.
The reason is also very simple. Although the fortress was breached and most of the soldiers died in the battle, Cao Guogong Li Shiji, who was the acting governor, personally led the cavalry to help, took the lead and challenged General Hu. What could be more convincing than this?
Li Shiji glanced worriedly at the south side and ordered his subordinates to speed up. He was a meticulous person. On the one hand, he took such a risky attack this time because he saw Tuli Khan's strategy and did the opposite. On the one hand, he received a request for help from the defender of this fortress.
Before Li Shiji took office in Daizhou, Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling, and Ling Jing all privately mentioned that they should help each other... This was obviously a reference to the battle in Guji Town, when Li Yaoshi sat back and watched.
After arriving in Daizhou, especially after replacing Xue Wanjun in commanding the Thirteenth Village Fort, Li Shiji had a very clear feeling that the Tang army was not afraid of fighting, but what they were afraid of was that no one would come to help and they could only stand alone.
In other words, as long as there are reinforcements and even hope, the Tang army in Thirteen Village Fort can be fearless.
This was the reason why Li Shiji made up his mind to go north in person. After this battle, even if Yanmen Pass could not send troops due to Pang Yu's obstruction, Li Shiji was determined to hold on to Shuozhou... at least to exhaust the army.
Two thousand Tang cavalry quickly arrived at Guji Town. The rebuilt fort is now quite large, with a capacity of three thousand soldiers, nearly a thousand cavalry, and sufficient food and grass. It is the second most important town among the thirteen forts after Sancho Town.
Li Shiji did not rush back to Sancho Town at this time. There were thousands of defenders there. Even if Tuli Khan led the army to attack, it would not be possible to defeat them in three or two days.
Standing on the city wall, Li Shiji asked about the battle at Guji Town. One of the generals who followed Li Shan out of the city to fight to the death smiled and pointed to the open space under the city wall, talking about the miraculous archery skills of Wei Si Wang Li Huairen.
After chatting for a while, the general said with admiration: "The Duke of Cao is like the Si King of Wei."
Li Shiji smiled bitterly in his heart, Li Huairen's imprint on Daizhou Army was too deep, and these generals all compared their admiration for him to Li Huairen.
Thinking of this, Li Shiji turned his head and looked in the direction of Yanmen Pass, and sent troops to support the fort himself. Will Yanmen Pass send troops?
(End of chapter)
