October 9th, at dusk.
Thirty miles southwest of Yi County in Qizhou, there was a chaotic battle situation, the defeated Tang army, and countless horse hooves trampling smoke and dust that seemed to be able to obscure the sunset.
On a hill, the tired and excited Dubu Khan watched this scene with satisfaction. Before noon, 70,000 Turkic and Xue Yantuo troops joined forces and almost wiped out 30,000 Tang troops outside Jincheng Pass. Yi Nan, the leader of Xue Yantuo, deliberately slowed down his advance, but Dubu Khan chose to travel quickly.
Because after the scouts reported that Hezhou was empty, Dub Khan quickly determined that something had happened in the Tang Dynasty based on the intelligence he had obtained before... In all likelihood, there was an internal chaos just like his own in the past two years.
Dubu Khan selected 4,000 elite cavalry and quickly passed through Hezhou and Qinzhou to enter the pass. No one was stationed at Dazhen Pass, and Anyirong Pass and Anyi Pass were deserted. Dubu Khan let his horse run wildly without encountering anyone. They blocked the way and marched across four prefectures. At dusk, they were close to Beijing, and they caught the Qizhou Prefecture soldiers who were withdrawing their troops in Yi County.
Most of the Tang army were infantry and were inherently slow. Moreover, the soldiers from Qizhou Prefecture had just been recruited into the army, so they were delayed until dusk before they could enter Jingzhao. They were pursued by thousands of Turkic cavalry. , even if the gods come down to earth, it will be difficult to resist.
There was no doubt about the defeat. If Li Mengchang hadn't led his troops to hold on from the side, and the Turkic cavalry could penetrate a large area, go around to the front or attack from the side, the Tang army would probably collapse.
Although he failed to achieve a complete victory, Dubu Khan was very satisfied. Today's two battles will reverse the situation between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty. As for the harvest, it will depend on the day after the army presses the border.
Dubu Khan has two goals, one big and one small. The bigger one is to conquer Chang'an, which will make this empire that has been able to show its power beyond the Great Wall for ten years, even if it does not collapse, it will fall into a period of decline.
The smaller one, tens of thousands of troops came to Chang'an City and forced Tang Dynasty to hand over the head of Li Huairen, the successor king of Wei.
Thinking of this, Dubu Khan's face turned gloomy. He had fought against many Tang army generals in the past two years, but he had to admit that Li Huairen, the heir to Wei, was the most outstanding one... Even if he didn't care about personal enmity, he only talked about public affairs. I also want to cut off this person’s head.
The war situation was increasingly tilted in favor of the Turks. Chang Da led the Tang army's infantry to fight and retreat, barely maintaining their structure. If the Turks were not all light cavalry and their impact was insufficient, they would have broken up the Tang army's formation. But even so , the ground was also full of corpses of Tang soldiers.
On the side, the general manager of Longzhou, Li Mengchang, had only 3,000 soldiers, including 500 or 600 cavalry. Li Mengchang personally led the cavalry to charge several times, but Dubu Khan mobilized troops from the front, trying to bypass the Longzhou soldiers and force them to attack. Li Mengchang was left in a hurry.
At the most dangerous moment of the battle, when night was about to fall, thousands of Tang Cavalry reinforcements finally arrived.
Qin Qiong led five hundred cavalry to intercept hundreds of Turks who had bypassed the Longzhou Prefecture soldiers. Yuchi Gong led nearly a thousand cavalry from the other side to support the Qizhou Prefecture soldiers who were on the verge of collapse.
Su Dingfang did not move, but took out a telescope from his arms to watch the battle carefully. Although night was about to fall, Su Dingfang was lucky.
"Fan Shiyi, lead a hundred cavalry to explore the northwest defense line."
"yes."
Su Dingfang took the horse stick from the guard, raised it high above his head, and pointed it diagonally to the northwest.
It's a pity, Dubu Khan thought in his heart. Although Longzhou and Qizhou were almost empty, it also proved one thing. Chang'an received the battle report very quickly... But this is not unexpected. Although it fell within two days Liangzhou, breaking through Lanzhou, entering the pass, and fighting all the way to the vicinity of Jingzhao, it is not stupid to be a Tang army.
According to that information, the number of troops in Jingzhao will not exceed 20,000. Even if it is a temporary recruitment, the number of troops will not exceed 40,000. It will take time for Hedong to mobilize troops to return to Chang'an. As for the Yanzhou Road itself, There are arrangements and opportunities, waiting for the follow-up main force to arrive...
As soon as this idea flashed through his mind, the corners of Dubu Khan's eyes, who was about to ask his guards to blow the retreat horn, started to beat. A group of more than a thousand Tang cavalry suddenly left the battlefield and headed toward the hill.
"It must be Li Huairen!" Dubu Khan blurted out. Even if it wasn't Li Huairen, it must be his confidant!
Does that guy only know how to take advantage of the Chinese army?
Dubu Khan's teeth hurt from biting his teeth. Today, the next stop at Jincheng Pass was mainly composed of Turks. Although the 30,000 Tang troops were nearly wiped out, they suffered a lot of damage. He only selected 4,000 cavalry to pursue them, and almost all the troops They were all let out, leaving only a hundred guards around.
He clearly didn't set up a sweat flag, so why do these Tang cavalry have to kill here?
Well, Su Dingfang actually saw it vaguely. He just speculated that the dark crowd was watching the battle. He might be some important figure and tried to lead the cavalry in an assault. The current situation was that the intention of the Turkic cavalry must be disrupted in order to allow Longzhou and Qizhou's soldiers retreated calmly, and they still had to clean up the battlefield.
But soon, Su Dingfang was sure that he was indeed an important figure.
In the battle formation, the Turkic cavalry fought twice a day and came from afar. They were tired and lacked horses, but Tang Qi was recharging his energy. In addition, Tang Qi had an advantage in frontal attack and fighting, which led to Su Dingfang's marching speed. .
But at this time, the rapid sound of horns suddenly sounded, and several groups of Turkic cavalry who were entangled with Longzhou and Qizhou troops on the left and right broke away from the battle formation and moved closer to Su Dingfang.
Su Dingfang was overjoyed when he saw this. He was not asking for trouble. He immediately ordered two generals to lead his troops to engage in a brief struggle on both sides. He led his two hundred cavalry to increase their horse speed and gallop towards the hill.
Dub Khan's face turned green and white, but he did not dare to delay any longer. He turned his horse's head and went down the hill, preparing to take a detour to the northwest to join the main force on the frontal battlefield.
The battle situation has undergone a fundamental reversal. Although Dubu Khan's evacuation was not seen by everyone due to the fall of night, Su Dingfang could shout, and he was almost certain that the person he was chasing after him was Dubu Khan. sweat.
During the wild pursuit, Turkic cavalry were constantly shot off their horses. Su Dingfang could clearly see these Turks holding iron spears. This was a treatment that only the Wang Zhang soldiers had among the Ashina clan.
"Ashina She'er is dead!"
"Ashina She'er is dead!"
Dubu Khan in front was filled with hatred, but he did not speak out to argue. Instead, he accelerated his horse speed. As long as he could join the main force, it would be safe.
However, the two hundred cavalrymen shouting for release at the same time completely disrupted the battle situation. Qin Qiong and Li Mengchang, who had relieved the crisis of Longzhou's troops, made a prompt decision and led nearly a thousand cavalry to the north. Yuchi Gong on the other side was even more bold and actually let go The soldiers of Qizhou Prefecture, who were on the verge of collapse, ignored them and led nearly a thousand Tang cavalry to circumvent and attack from the flank.
Attacked from two directions, and with Su Dingfang still biting Dubu Khan's tail, more than 3,000 Turkic cavalry fell into chaos although they did not collapse.
It was a pity that Su Dingfang put down his big bow. He saw a long arrow shoot down a Turkic cavalry, but the knight on a war horse who had just galloped into the formation turned around to see the moonlight from the newborn moon. The person's face vaguely resembles that of Ashina Sheer.
Su Dingfang looked back, raised his horse's shaft high, and led his cavalry to continue north, slightly away from the battlefield. Qin Qiong and Li Mengchang in the rear had already increased their horse speed and launched a charge with great momentum.
