The night is bright and the stars are sparse,
Wei Xiaojie sat in front of the bonfire and ate horse meat, feeling very happy.
He was very satisfied with the on-the-spot command performance of deputy general Zheng Jun. He could defeat the Hu troops in just one stick of incense. His ability was indeed good. Given time, they will be able to shoulder the important task of attacking the Turks.
Just when Wei Xiaojie was stupidly preparing to launch a fierce attack, the scouts rushed over to report the latest news.
"Informing the general manager, Zhao Deyan sent five thousand elite men led by Yi men of the Xueyantuo tribe to stop the attack. General Zheng successfully retreated to the valley to cover the separated refugees and lost three hundred brothers."
"Hi~!"
Wei Xiaojie took a breath of air.
This young man just doesn’t deserve praise! This good news was hot just after I finished writing it, but in the blink of an eye, I lost three hundred brothers.
This elite cavalry of the Tang Dynasty is Li Shimin's treasure! If one dies, one will be lost. Zheng Jun is a good guy. For the sake of dozens of people who don't obey the arrangements, he forgets that there are hundreds of thousands of people behind him who need to be resettled.
This short-sighted, womanly behavior still won't work!
"Where is the marching Sima? Deploy one hundred and twenty brothers and quickly support the deputy general Zheng Jun. After meeting Zheng Jun, I gave him a scolding. Even if the sky falls, I must guard the Hengshan Valley for me. This is related to the Tang Dynasty. The future direction of war."
Marching Sima Cao Jie walked up to Wei Xiaojie and asked in a low voice:
"General Manager, there are still many strong people in this group of refugees. Do you want to recruit some people to supplement the logistics force? I'm worried that the brothers will not be able to bear the continuous high-intensity marching and fighting!"
Wei Xiaojie rubbed his temples, sighed and replied:
"Let brothers give it two days at most! We don't have any extra food for the time being, so we can't recruit troops. Besides, there are many Turkic spies among these refugees. Let's talk about this after I take down Tanzhou City tonight. Let’s do it!”
"No~!"
Everything that needs to be said has been said, but the specific decision still depends on Wei Xiaojie. Cao Jie followed Wei Xiaojie as a marching commander, but it seemed to have no effect. So with a wave of his hand, he rushed to the valley with one hundred and twenty cavalry to support deputy general Zheng Jun.
the other side,
After the Yi Nan of the Xueyantuo tribe won the first battle, they became even more arrogant.
He carelessly set up a temporary camp outside the valley, without doing any other fortifications, and just exposed the Chinese army's tent in front of Zheng Jun.
After a lot of fighting, Yi Nan already knew the approximate number of Tang cavalry in front of him. They did not have the two thousand fine cavalry that Zhao Deyan said.
He didn't want to tell Zhao Deyan, who was in the rear army, any useful information. He had a hunch that some of the missing troops were arranged by Zhao Deyan, and the supplies in Tanzhou City had already been evacuated by Jieli Khan and others.
Jieli Khan's tribe lacked food and supplies, while Princess Yicheng's group of remnants of the Sui Dynasty lacked city and territory. It is estimated that they have reached some ulterior secret.
Therefore, even if the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty were planning a surprise attack on Tanzhou City, he was not afraid.
Yi Nan's ambition is not ordinary. He doesn't care about the gains and losses of a city or a pond. Moreover, these cities are like hot potatoes. When the Tang Dynasty recovers, he will not be able to hold them.
Instead of wasting troops fighting against the Tang Dynasty cavalry, it would be better to turn the target towards these hundreds of thousands of unarmed refugees.
So facing Zheng Jun's iron-clad fortifications, Yi Nan ignored them. He moved to the tent on the right and fell asleep, setting up the Chinese army tent to disgust Zheng Jun.
Yi Nan's meaning is very obvious, you Tang cavalry can escape if you want, I won't stop you, just leave the people behind. If you don't want to escape, you can come and rob the camp. I won't put up any defenses. Now, the Chinese army's tent is right in front of you.
Yi Nan's series of coquettish moves disgusted the army commander Ma Cao Jie who came to support him.
Fortunately, the old man Cai Liuxin did not lie. There was a relatively hidden cave in the middle of the valley, with more than a dozen tribesmen guarding the entrance, and tens of thousands of stones of food belonging to the Lord of Tanzhou City were hidden inside.
Compared to the calm situation in Hengshan Valley, Tanzhou City is now much more lively.
Lieutenant General Zhu Xu joined forces with Sun Qun, the chief of Tanzhou City, and led more than a thousand warriors who had been improvised to go from the forest to the bottom of the city in the dark. They launched a fierce attack that night and attacked Tanzhou City at night.
The Turkic defenders in Tanzhou City were also in disarray. They originally thought that the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty was not good at attacking the city. But when they learned that Tanzhou City had been lost and the entire Tanzhou was occupied by the Turks, they would definitely give up the people and flee to Youzhou in despair.
Unexpectedly, they started a sneak attack.
The guards on the city wall were sparse, and a few Turkic veterans were lying directly on the battlements and taking a nap, so as not to worry about accidentally falling.
"Kill~!"
Zhu Xu roared, igniting the Tanzhou soldiers and civilians who had been suppressed for a long time.
"Kill~! Drive away the Turks and defend our homeland!"
"Kill~! Kill these beasts that are destroying our home!"
The simple ladder made in half a day has become the spiritual sustenance of more than a thousand warriors.
Fortunately, Zhu Xu was not low in force and took the lead. He led dozens of elite cavalry and climbed up the city wall. He quickly killed the Turks by surprise and cleared a path to the city wall.
A fierce battle began. Under the moonlight, on the road leading to the city gate, the soldiers on both sides were red-eyed. There was a corpse every step of the way, and there were stumps and broken arms everywhere. The Turks guarding the city wall were more powerful than they imagined. tenacious!
"Brothers, rush! Seize the time, quickly occupy the city wall, open the gate and let the general's cavalry enter the city!"
Zhu Xu kept roaring, and after a while, the big knife in his hand had harvested countless heads, and cracks appeared! But seeing the Turks emerging from the barracks, Zhu Xu knew that time was running out!
The space on the city wall was too small. Although the well-equipped cavalry led the battle, they could not break through the dense spear formation of the Turks.
"General Zhu, please quickly ask the brothers to stand aside and let us break the spear formation. You can take a rest and seize the city gate. Brothers in Tanzhou City, listen to the order! The middle shield rises and the crossbow arrows are fired! The big shield advances quickly, and the long archers Projectile!”
At some point, Sun Qun, the chief registrar, had also climbed onto the city wall. After seeing that Zhu Xu was blocked by the Turks' spear formation, he began to take over command and issued a series of orders.
If we talk about leading cavalry in battle and the eliteness of soldiers' weapons, then Zhu Xu can be said to be the best. But when it comes to attacking cities and villages, Zhu Xu is not as good as Sun Qun, the chief administrator who has been dealing with Turks all year round.
The Turkic generals guarding the city wall were still complacent a second ago, thinking that they could easily defeat the most elite cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, the Mo Dao Team, with just a group of spearmen advancing steadily.
Unexpectedly, Sun Qun was caught off guard in the blink of an eye, causing numerous casualties. In panic, the generals on the city wall shouted indiscriminately to the brothers responsible for guarding the city gate:
"Brothers at the city gate, please pay attention. There are many Tang troops on the city wall. They are not just two thousand elite cavalry. There should be support from other ways. Be careful of their crossbows."
