Tibet

Chapter 282 The Decisive Battle in the City ([-])

The sudden fire made the food army into chaos, and the more than two thousand cavalry who had just rushed out of the line of fire were even more panic-stricken, unable to move forward or retreat.

At this moment, two thousand crossbowmen of the Tang army shot straight at them with heavy arrows. The arrows were like a storm.

But at this time the Tang army had already launched, and Bai Xiaode led [-] cavalry to kill them, cutting off the retreat of the cavalry, and more than [-] people had nowhere to go, so they got off their horses and knelt down and surrendered.

Gao Xianzhi nodded, "Tell General Bai that you can accept the surrender of the Great Food Army!",
Gao Xianzhi needed to escort these more than a thousand people to Chang'an as captives.

What's more, prisoners of war can also collect ransom from the other party, it is a pity to kill them.

Li Ye was lying in ambush eight miles west of the battlefield, and he was patiently waiting for the arrival of the fighter.

Suddenly a soldier pointed to the front and shouted: "General, the battlefield is on fire!"

Li Ye nodded, turned around and shouted: "Brothers, meritorious service is in sight, kill me!"

"Kill ah-"

Nine thousand cavalry shouted in unison and followed Li Ye to the battlefield eight miles away.
At the same time, nine thousand crossbowmen ambushed on the other side of the Taros River appeared at the same time, raising their crossbows together and shooting at the running ten thousand infantrymen.

The powerful crossbow bolts shot towards the big food army on the other side like a storm.

The [-] infantry were attracted by the flames and smoke in front of them, but they didn't expect that an army was ambushing on the other side of the river a hundred steps away. The soldiers were caught off guard and fell to the ground with arrows, causing countless casualties.

Immediately afterwards, the trebuchet threw heavy stones of one hundred catties over, and the big stones rolled in the crowd. Six to seven hundred casualties.

In addition to the 9000-man bow and crossbow formation, three rounds of arrows were shot, and three rounds of trebuchets were released. The 3000 infantry had suffered more than [-] casualties.

The infantry fled to the west one after another, avoiding the killing range of the catapults and crossbow arrows.

At this time, Abu Muslim could no longer care about the infantry being attacked by the ambushes on the other side. His whole mind was attracted by the flames and thick smoke. Although the sky was full of dust and he couldn't see the specific situation ahead, the flames and thick smoke were amazing. , the thick smoke began to cover the sky, and he also clearly felt the scorching flames. The situation was very bad. Tang Jun had an ambush,

Abu Muslim was extremely disturbed, and immediately ordered: "Stop attacking, and the army retreats ten miles!"

"Woo-woo--" the horn blew in a hurry, which was an order for the army to retreat.

The main force of the food army quickly turned around and retreated, and the cavalry retreated quickly, and they all galloped back.

The [-] infantry had just escaped the attack of the Tocharian crossbowmen and catapults on the opposite bank, and retreated a little slower. They distanced themselves from the cavalry,
At this moment, Li Ye led [-] cavalry to attack suddenly from the west, and accurately penetrated into the gap between the enemy cavalry and infantry.

Li Ye accurately judged the changes in the battle situation,
With the fire burning and the attack on the other side, the battlefield will definitely be chaotic. With the prudence of Abu Muslim, he will definitely order the entire army to retreat. This time is the best opportunity to cut off the retreating route of the attacking enemy troops.

This fire cannot be burned in vain, and the results of the battle must be maximized.

Li Ye's [-] troops cut off the retreat of the Dashi Infantry Corps and the Cavalry of the First Corps.

At this time, the Tang army on the other side also stopped shooting. Cheng Qianli led the Beiting cavalry to kill along the river. The court cavalry attacked from the east, and Li Ye's nine thousand cavalry attacked from the west.

In the chaos, the thousands of cavalry and [-] infantry of the First Corps of the Great Food Army collapsed completely, and were surrounded and annihilated by [-] Tang troops.

Abu Ziyad, who had retreated ten miles away in one breath, suddenly found that the infantry corps and the cavalry of the first corps did not follow and evacuated in time. Cavalry to meet the retreat of the First Army and Infantry Corps!"

Abu Muslim hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Yes!"

Ziad led [-] cavalry and rushed northward. Just a few miles away, there was a sudden sound of a horn behind him. This was the horn of retreat.

Ziad didn't know the reason, so he quickly stopped [-] troops.

After a while, Abu Muslim's personal soldiers rushed to him, raised his arrow and shouted: "The governor ordered the general to withdraw immediately!"

Ziad was furious, pointed to the front and said: "Our soldiers were surrounded by the enemy, but we did not save them?"

"This is a military order, General Ziad, please withdraw it immediately!"

In desperation, Ziad had to lead [-] cavalry to withdraw from the formation. He was dissatisfied, and stepped forward and asked, "Why did the Governor recall his humble post?"

Abu Muslim said indifferently: "If they can't withdraw, it means that the Tang army has an ambush. I'm afraid that if you go, you will also be caught in an ambush by the Tang army, and you won't be able to return either!"

Ziyad was filled with anger, and finally couldn't bear it any longer. He said loudly: "If I am in an ambush in a humble position, the governor will lead an army to rescue me. Let's see how many troops they have to ambush me?"

Abu Muslim was furious, and stared at Ziyad sharply, Ziyad had to lower his head, "I obey the order!"

Abu Muslim stared at the thick smoke and fire in the distance, and said coldly: "It is not suitable to fight again today, and retreat another thirty miles!"

The food army retreated slowly, and the three thousand Sogdians who had originally built a pontoon bridge on the river also abandoned the half-built pontoon bridge and retreated with the army.

Soon, the pontoon bridge was also set on fire by the Tocharian coalition forces, and the bridge was ablaze.

Abu Muslim squinted at the burning fire on the bridge, and his heart was a little shaken. Of course, he also experienced the fire oil in the war. It was the attack on Damascus. The Umayyad army who defended the city threw hundreds of barrels of fire oil and burned them to death. There are more than two thousand people.

But that was a city defense battle, and now Tang Jun actually used kerosene in field battles. How should he deal with this sharp weapon?

The siege on the battlefield was also over, and Gao Xianzhi dispatched the main force to surround the remaining soldiers and infantry regiments of the First Army of the Great Food Corps.

Li Ye wanted to drive them all to death, but Gao Xianzhi wanted them to be taken prisoner, and the last [-] people still got a chance to surrender, and more than [-] people knelt down and surrendered.

This time, the Tang army gained the greatest benefit in the fire oil battle, annihilating 2 enemy troops, reducing the strength of the Great Food Army to 5000, including [-] Sogdian troops who were not strong enough to fight.

After handing over the prisoners of war to the Tucharian coalition army, Gao Xianzhi immediately ordered the army to march south, preparing for the second battle with the Dashi army.

This is Gao Xianzhi's shrewdness. The morale of the food army suffered a blow, and the situation was favorable to the Tang army, so he had to go all out.

Abu Muslim had just stabilized the army when he got the news that the army of the Tang Dynasty was chasing him and appeared three miles away.

This news made Abu Muslim quite helpless. He also knew that he could no longer retreat. If he retreated further, his morale would be lost. If the Tang army chased them up, the whole army would be defeated.

At this time, there is no other choice but to bite the bullet and fight Tang Jun.

He immediately ordered: "The army is in formation, ready to fight to the death with the Tang army!"

Abu Muslim personally led 5000 cavalry as the main force, Ziyad led about [-] people, and General Aragorn led [-] Sogdian troops as the right wing. It was about three miles away from the Taros River, and the bows and crossbows on the other side could not do anything about them.

Gao Xianzhi also lined up three miles away. He still led [-] troops as the central army, Cheng Qianli led [-] Beiting cavalry as the right wing, and Li Ye led [-] cavalry as the left wing.

The two armies moved forward at the same time, and the two commanders knew that this battle was a decisive battle, and the strategy could be tricked at the moment to catch the enemy by surprise, but to really defeat the enemy, they had to fight head-on.

The armies of the two sides were getting closer and closer, and the distance was only three hundred steps. Gao Xianzhi raised his sword and shouted, "For the sake of the dignity of the Tang Dynasty, soldiers of the Anxi Army, kill—"

"Follow me, kill—"

Li Ye waved his spear and shouted, he took the lead, followed closely by [-] cavalry, and tens of thousands of Tang Chao rushed towards the food army like a tide.

Abu Muslim also waved his sword and shouted: "God bless us, kill—"

"Kill ah-"

Fifty Thousand Dashi also shouted and began to run. The two armies ran in the wilderness, the dust was flying, they were getting closer, and they collided with each other.

(End of this chapter)