On the grassland three days away from Dingxiang City, 80,000 elite members of the royal court guarded the Turkic Jieli Khan and marched in the direction of Dingxiang in a mighty manner.
Next to Jie Li's King Khan's chariot were followed by several prison carriages. The Prince of the Tang Dynasty was in a car alone, and the envoys of the Tang Dynasty were divided into several cars.
Behind the army is the Turkic grain and grass team. The grassland marching food is different from that of the Tang Dynasty. The grassland does not produce food and makes a living by grazing, so the food is mainly sheep, horses, and a small amount of cattle. The same goes for marching. They brought dried meat with them, and most of them just drove a large group of sheep to use as military rations for the war.
Of course, eating pure meat every day will make people tired and people can't stand it. That's why the grasslands are particularly fond of tea from the Central Plains, and even invented local TES - oil tea and milk tea.
"Hahahaha, military advisor, I heard that Li Jing of the Tang Army arrived at Dingxiang City a few days ago, but he did not attack and was waiting for the arrival of the Khan. I would say that these Tang people are stubborn and have too many rules that harm others and themselves. If It was Ben Khan who attacked Dingxiang City immediately." Jie Li mocked Li Jing's operation.
Zhao Deyan couldn't laugh, and guessed: "Great Khan, don't underestimate Li Jing. He has the reputation of the military god of the Tang Dynasty. He has been in the army for many years and has been fighting for a lifetime without ever losing..."
"Not defeated? Not necessarily. He was the one who guarded Dingxiang last time. Wasn't it defeated by a sneak attack by Ben Khan's dead soldiers? It was all bragging by the Central Plains people and deliberately scaring people." Jie Li was very disdainful.
Zhao Deyan did not refute, but nodded and said: "Yes, it's possible. But we can't take it lightly. Li Jing can break Dingxiang but can't break it. He must have some plan. If I'm not wrong, he probably wants to wait for our army to gather together. , then a battle will determine the outcome.”
Jieli raised his eyebrows and said in a contemptuous tone: "One battle will determine the outcome? You mean, his 100,000 people want to eat my 200,000 grassland warriors? What a joke! We are all unarmed, standing here. Let him kill, even one hundred thousand is no match for my two hundred thousand, let alone a battle to defend the city?"
Zhao Deyan did not say any more. In theory, this is the case, but grassland soldiers are better at riding horses and fighting in the field and holding on to the city. I am afraid they are not as good at it as the Central Plains infantry. If they simply defend the city, they may just fall into Li Jing's plan.
"Report, Great Khan, there is an unknown horse team twenty miles ahead, numbering about three thousand." The scout general came on horseback to report.
Jie Li and Zhao Deyan were slightly stunned. This is the territory of the grassland. Where did the cavalry come from? The generals gathered on the grassland to recruit troops, and the royal court moved the fastest. Soldiers and horses from other tribes were still slowly gathering behind them. Where did the cavalry come from in front? Three thousand? Did Dingxiang City come out to greet him? This is not nonsense.
"Go, find out the other party's identity immediately, and move slowly."
Half an hour later, the scout general turned back at a faster speed to report.
"Report! It's bad, Dahan, it's bad, it's Xiao, Xiao, Xiao Rui... Xiao Rui is alive, Xiao Rui is alive..."
Um? ? ?
who? Xiao Rui?
Jie Li and Zhao Deyan looked at each other with puzzled expressions at the same time, "What?" Wasn't Xiao Rui hidden as a trump card? Showing up at this time?
"Trash! It's just Xiao Rui who scares you like this? Xiao Rui is already dead and there is no way he can come back to life. Tell me clearly what you saw?" Jie Li scolded.
The scout general calmed down, swallowed, and suppressed his fear and said: "Khan, the flag is correct, it says the champion of the Tang Dynasty, Xiao, and by the way, there is also the flag of the Tang Xuanjia Army, with Zhai and Zhang Two general flags.”
Zhao Deyan said in surprise: "Xuanjia Army?"
Jieli asked curiously: "Is it the legendary Xuanjia Army?"
Zhao Deyan nodded, "That should be it. When the Tang Dynasty and Daxia Dou Jiande fought, the Xuanjia Army created a myth of three thousand to one hundred thousand. Later, the commander of the Xuanjia Army became the emperor, and the actual commander of the Xuanjia Army was Zhang Shigui and Zhai Changsun."
Hiss...three thousand instead of one hundred thousand? What a great name.
"Military advisor, is the Xuanjia Army really that powerful?"
After pondering for a moment, Zhao Deyan shook his head and said: "Three points are true and seven points are false. The Xuanjia Army back then was strong, and many of the founding generals of the Tang Dynasty were organizing it. Although the opponents had a hundred thousand, they were not elite, and they were all infantry. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Xuanjia Army has extraordinary results. But it is not necessarily the case now. Back then, those fierce generals all led the army alone, and the Xuanjia Army did not have a strong backbone of strong generals. If we were to face our prairie cavalry, haha, we are not Dou Jiande Those idiots under my command.”
"Don't say one hundred thousand, they will struggle even with thirty thousand."
Thirty thousand? ? ?
Jieli's face was not very good-looking. My Royal Guards are also elites. They are the elites among the elites in Turks. How can we compare with the Xuanjia Army of the Tang Dynasty, ten to one? Is the gap so big?
Narrator: Sorry, the gap is just that big. The Xuanjia Army is so powerful that it ranks among the top five in history. It's not just about personal combat power, it comes more from equipment bonuses. The Xuanjia Army is a heavily armored cavalry force that was almost equivalent to an invincible tank on the ancient battlefield.
Although the prairie cavalry are skilled with bows and horses, their equipment is backward and they have almost no armor. Most of them are covered by animal skins, and their defense power is extremely poor.
The soldiers and horses of the Tang Dynasty were different. Even the infantry wore armor. The difference was that some were leather armor, iron armor, paper armor, fish scale armor, bright light armor, etc. In ancient times, if an arrow did not hit a vital point, one arrow was generally not fatal. The soldiers of the Tang Dynasty could still fight with their bodies covered with arrows, but the soldiers of the Turks could not.
Because the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty wore armor, the arrows did not penetrate deeply into their flesh. They looked like they were covered in arrows, but in fact they were mostly lightly injured.
Historical records show that in the Battle of Xiaoshangqiao in the Song Dynasty, the famous general Yang Zaixing led 300 soldiers and horses to fight against a Jin army of 10,000 people, killing more than 2,000 enemies, and finally died of exhaustion. Later, the Jin army burned the corpses and burned as many as two liters of arrowheads on General Yang. This shows that arrows do little harm to people wearing armor.
Closer to home, when the Turks heard the name of the Tang Xuanjia Army, they did not react so strongly. But when they heard Xiao Rui's title as Champion of the Tang Dynasty, except for Jie Li and Zhao Deyan, the guards, elites, etc. around them all became commotion.
Xiao Rui's reputation was so great that three thousand people killed the Turks and wiped out the nobles of the royal court. One man fought his way into the midst of tens of thousands of troops, captured military advisor Zhao Deyan, and finally left intact. It can be said that you can come and leave as you please, and no one can stop you. We don’t want to fight with such a character.
Zhao Deyan scolded: "Confused! Xiao Rui has been dead for a long time, but the Xuanjia Army came out to scare people under the guise of Xiao Rui's banner. The whole army was on alert, and the forward general went to meet the opponent in person. Three thousand people blocked the way? Do you want to intercept and kill our royal court elites? You are just talking nonsense."
As soon as this statement came out, it really worked. Many people believed Zhao Deyan. It turned out to be just Xiao Rui's banner.
The forward general bit the bullet and led 10,000 forwards to meet the Xuanjia Army.
The imagined charge did not happen. Instead, the Xuanjia Army sent a team of small flags to deliver a letter of greeting.
"Report, the Xuanjia Army sent a letter of greeting to the Great Khan."
