Jie Li glared at Qibi Heli and said, "Okay, five thousand is five thousand, and he will be incorporated into Qibi Heli's subordinates. If you dare to fight cowardly or rebel, there will be no need for the Khitan clan to exist."
His subordinates asked worriedly: "Great Khan, what about the three thousand cavalry of the Tang Dynasty?"
Zhao Deyan said in a deep voice: "According to what the Khitan clan leader said, it should be true. Although Youzhou is not strong, it can still gather three thousand cavalry. I didn't expect that Xiao Rui would have such courage at such a young age? Think about it. Is he going to imitate Hou Huo Qubing, the champion of that year? Haha, he thinks too simply. This must be the surprise Chai Shao mentioned, right?"
"Great Khan, don't worry. You can send a message to the eldest prince of Dingxiang and ask him to be responsible for sending troops to guard the royal court. We Turks still have 100,000 warriors who have not been recruited. A mere 3,000 Tang Dynasty cavalry cannot make waves. First of all, The right thing is to recover those 20,000 war horses."
Jieli made a decision: "What the military advisor said makes sense! Okay, send someone to send a message to Wang Ting and Dingxiang, ordering them to prepare for defense. Send the order to set off immediately and enter Youzhou!"
Thirty miles outside Anle City is the defensive ditch that Xiao Rui sent people to dig. At this time, the coach Chai Shao personally stood beside Lu Chai behind the ditch, quietly feeling the vibrations from the ground.
"Here we come! Send the order, the whole army is on alert!"
Ten thousand Tang Dynasty archers and crossbowmen were all lying in ambush in two ditches. From a distance, they watched thousands of Turkic horses galloping and roaring towards them. The momentum was so great that it had an overwhelming power. Soldiers with poor psychological quality held bows in their hands. The crossbows are all unstable.
Qibi Heli was still the vanguard. He was on horseback directing the galloping. He looked around at the mountains. He always felt that this place was a bit familiar. Why did it look so similar to the place where I originally dug the ditch? But that's not right. Where is the ditch? Could it be in front? Not there yet.
At this moment, the wails of war horses falling into the ditch were heard one after another from the front. Qibi Heli slapped his thigh, "No! Stop, stop..."
Stop? Can't stop.
If it were Tuli's troops, prisoners who had participated in canal construction might be on guard, but what Jieli brought were all proud and arrogant Turkic royal court cavalry, who had never seen that excessively wide ditch, so what? Do you expect there is a trap ahead?
It wasn't until nearly two thousand men turned on their backs, and the Turkic army was rushing, that they all stopped their horses and stood neatly on the edge of the ditch, looking at everything in front of them with hatred on their faces.
"The despicable Tang Army actually dug such a long trap. Who is the person responsible for detecting the intelligence? Drag it out and chop it down! What do the scouts do for such an obvious trap?" Jie Li from the rear said bitterly.
At this time, Tuli reminded: "Report to the Great Khan, this was not dug by the Tang Dynasty. It was dug by General Qibi Heli with the help of 10,000 captured sons when he was captured."
"Qibi Heli, this idiot, summon him over."
Soon, Qibi Heli came running up on horseback with his head downcast, and was whipped three times in the face by Jieli.
"Khan, we can't go any further. When we excavated, there were two tunnels, and there is another one in front of us. Even if we dismount and pass through here, there will still be a trap ahead." Qibi Heli reminded.
"Two? Huh! You really worked hard for the Tang army. What to do now? There is no way that my army of one hundred thousand people will be blocked by two traps." Jie Li was extremely dissatisfied.
Qibi Heli suggested: "Great Khan, I suggest you go around here and ask the army to follow me. I know the end of the ditch."
But just when the Turkic cavalry was about to turn around and take a detour, the Tang army's crossbowmen who were ambushing in the second ditch stood up and fired a volley, raining arrows like locusts.
A large number of the careless Turkic cavalry fell directly, and then they panicked and shouted that the enemy was attacking...
I wanted to draw the bow to counterattack, but the crossbowmen on the Tang Dynasty used the three-stage shooting suggested by Xiao Rui. After a round of rapid fire, they squatted down and fired a volley from the back row. Until the three rounds were completed, the first row had loaded their bows and arrows. .
With such intensive firepower, the Turks were caught off guard, and they could only drive their horses back in panic, until they left thousands of corpses behind and retreated beyond the range of the Tang army's crossbows.
He Mohui, the leader of the Khitan tribe, looked at the corpses of the Khitan tribesmen in the ditch and closed his eyes in pain, remembering all the hatred for the Turks in his heart.
Seeing how effective the ditch was, Datang coach Chai Shao walked out laughing.
"Please come out and answer the question, Turk Jieli Khan!"
Soon Jieli, under the protection of the guards, drove his horse to the front of the battle. The two met peacefully, with calm anger in their eyes.
"Tang General, what's your name? You are the one who can ambush this Khan, and you are qualified to let this Khan remember his name. After capturing Youzhou, this Khan will send your head to Chang'an."
Chai Shao laughed loudly and said: "Jie Li, when we were rushing to the city of Chang'an, I will keep you in mind. I am Chai Shao, the governor of Youzhou. If you want to capture Youzhou, you have to defeat me." One level.”
Jie Li couldn't help but take a high look: "How brave! I thought you would hide in the city and wait for reinforcements, but I didn't expect you to dare to come to the first line of defense. Just with the two ditches and ten thousand crossbowmen in front of you? Chai Shao, Are you afraid you don’t know what a Turkic cavalry is?”
"Haha, it's useless to talk more. Why don't you try again? Is it the Tang Dynasty's crossbows that are more powerful, or the Turks' armor?"
Chai Shao was a bit murderous. Everyone knew that the Tang Dynasty was well-equipped, and its crossbows had a farther range than the Turks. The shortcoming of the Turks is armor. Not to mention iron armor, even leather armor cannot be worn by everyone. It is really too poor.
"Haha, are you afraid that I will take a detour?" Jie Li keenly caught the flash of panic in Chai Shao's eyes, and he was even more convinced that the detour was absolutely correct.
Chai Shao said disdainfully: "The mighty Turk Jieli Khan, a hundred thousand troops facing my ten thousand crossbowmen, were so frightened that they did not dare to advance, but instead took a twenty-mile detour? Ridiculous... After this battle, I will return to Chang'an. , worthy of bragging."
Jie Li's face turned dark and he snorted coldly: "It's a small trick! Send an order, how can Qi Bi lead the way, and send out 50,000 soldiers and horses to attack in a detour!"
After saying that, he turned around and left with the guards.
Chai Shao was really panicked this time, secretly thinking that Jie Li was a character. My provoking method worked, but he was cautious and only sent half of the detours.
Returning to his own camp, his deputy general asked worriedly: "Commander, what should we do now? If we withdraw our crossbowmen, we may be discovered by the Turks immediately."
Originally, Chai Shao planned to wait for Jieli to make a detour, and then his 10,000 crossbowmen would immediately take the opportunity to retreat back to the city. But now it was difficult, as the other side left 50,000 men to watch.
"Wait! If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move."
That being said, when the 50,000 soldiers and horses led by Qibi Heli had detoured and disappeared, Chai Shao ordered the troops to retreat. All the archers and crossbowmen evacuated from the ditch. The official road was blocked by Luchai, and then the whole army retreated madly along the official road. .
Zhao Deyan watched this scene from a distance and immediately reacted, "No, I have been fooled. They are bluffing and the Tang army is trying to escape. The Great Khan should give the order to pursue them quickly!"
Jie Li drew out his scimitar and ordered, "Lead the horse across the ditch and pursue the Tang army!"
Although they need to dismount and lead across two ditches, which will delay the pursuit for a while, the Tang army's crossbowmen are all infantry. As long as the Turkic cavalry crosses the Luchai blocking the road, get on their horses, and they can catch up with the Tang army in a quarter of an hour. What crossbowmen then? They are all dead souls under the iron heel of the Turks.
It's just that Zhao Deyan always felt a little strange when he looked at the fleeing Tang army, but he couldn't explain why?
He muttered: "Strange, Chai Shao brought ten thousand crossbowmen just to set up an ambush and cost us thousands of people? Is it worth it? Something is wrong..."
Jie Li sneered and mocked: "Military advisor, it seems that Youzhou is extremely poor. Look, Chai Shao, as the commander, doesn't even have a war horse. This shows how much they paid to raise those three thousand cavalry. "
Zhao Deyan nodded and said: "According to the scouts, the Tang Dynasty had transported all their war horses south a few days ago. After a few days, Xiao Rui re-selected three thousand cavalry. He must have sent all the best war horses knowing that Youzhou could not be defended. We went to the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty, for fear of being captured by us."
Jie Li narrowed his eyes and nodded: "Yes, that must be the case. I guess Chai Shao is a strong-willed man, and he still comes out to scare me? Chang'an City already suffered a loss from Li Shimin, so this trick won't work anymore."
Zhao Deyan just looked at the pursuing Turkic cavalry, the worry in his eyes never dissipated, and he always felt that something was not right.
