Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Su Dingfang chose the right time and the tactics he chose were impeccable.

There is naturally a reason why Li Shan decided to ambush the Hu Qi pioneers in Xi County after discussing with Su Dingfang, Yuchi Gong, and Dou Gui.

On the one hand, although the surrounding areas of Yuxian County are plains, there are high mountains on both sides of the country. To the north are the remnants of the Qishan Mountains, and to the south are the Taibai Mountains, a branch of the Qinling Mountains. The terrain is rugged, and the cavalry will be very uncomfortable.

On the other hand, there is a large river called Xiegushui in Taibai Mountain. This river originates from the depths of Taibai Mountain, flows north along the mountain, flows through the west side of Xi County, and merges into the Wei River on the north side of Xi County. It is an important tributary of the Wei River.

Yuchi Gong retreated to the south and lured Tiele's cavalry to pursue him, in order to lure the enemy to the battlefield east of Xiegushui.

It seems that this space is not small, but in fact, when Li Mengchang and Liu Heer arrived as the vanguard with two thousand Tang cavalry, Tiele leader Tu Mifen suddenly realized that something was wrong.

When they discovered that Tang cavalry was attacking from behind, the Tiele cavalry immediately spread out their formation in panic. They did not need the general's command and extended their wings... But they soon discovered that there was not enough space.

This location was carefully selected by Li Shan after consulting Chang Da, the governor of Qizhou. There are two rivers, Taochuan River and Shitou River, on the east side of the fort. On the west side, there is Xiegushui River seven or eight miles away, and on the south side, there are rolling mountains.

The Tang army cleverly used mountains and rivers to create a battlefield out of thin air that was conducive to charging, and successfully trapped thousands of Huqi in it.

Liu Hei'er was the first to break the formation, knocking over four or five barbarians with the horse in his hand like lightning. His armored mount charged into the formation with a roar while holding the flying arrows.

Li Mengchang arrived soon after. He had been a thief in the mountains in his early years. He was extremely fierce and shouted for peace. He quickly passed Liu Heier and was killed at the front.

The Tiele cavalry were already in formation, and the middle road was empty. The two thousand Tang cavalry charged into the formation effortlessly tearing apart the trapped Hu Qi. Then, under the command of Liu Heier, Tang cavalry came out of the formation and returned to the edge. Continue charging north along the Stone River.

Seeing Tang Qi chasing the right wing, Tumifen was slightly relieved. The Tang army did not have many troops, and he still had a chance... Although the battlefield was narrow, if he could go north immediately, he might have a chance...

Before Tumifen had time to make a decision, whether to run away directly or to rescue the more than a thousand subordinates who were being chased, the scouts from the front came galloping towards him, shooting loud arrows from their hands.

In fact, there was no need for scouts to remind them. The sound of silent horse hooves became louder and louder. The black Tang cavalry accelerated southward along the Xiegu water. As soon as they made contact, hundreds of Hu cavalry in the front line were defeated and fled in all directions. Tu Mifen saw this with his own eyes. Dozens of people had to jump into the river.

At this time, the gate of the fortress in the rear had been opened. Yuchi Gong excitedly waved his horse and led the remaining seven to eight hundred cavalry into the Hu cavalry formation from the rear.

A chaotic battle ensued.

It was already dark by this time, and the grassland tribes were unwilling to fight in the field. The Tang army was slightly better, but its combat power was also slightly weakened.

Liu Heier and Li Mengchang bit the fleeing thousands of Hu cavalry and headed north, having escaped from the battlefield. The two thousand entangled Hu cavalry attacked from all directions, trying to open an escape channel.

But the terrain of the battlefield was too unfavorable for the Tiele cavalry. On the battlefield that was seven or eight miles wide, every attempt by Tumifen was either head-on or side-attacked.

Su Dingfang's commanding ability was perfectly demonstrated. He did not go into battle personally, but constantly dispatched troops, placing more or less cavalry teams in the most suitable locations, and defeated the gathering troops again and again. Hu Qi.

The moon hung high in the sky, casting thousands of silver rays. The battlefield was full of corpses, blood, and horses that had lost their owners. After being defeated again, Tumifen had to take more than a hundred remaining soldiers to flee towards the mountains on the south side. . Unfortunately, Yu Chigong, who failed to capture Dubu Khan yesterday, made up his mind. He kept his mouth shut and chased for dozens of miles. He only gave up after holding up the vomiting corpse with the horse in his hand.

Su Dingfang did not leave the battlefield quickly, but calmly killed the remaining troops. He knew in his heart that even if the main force of Hu cavalry in the rear knew that the vanguard was defeated, they would not come to the rescue at night, and he still had plenty of time.

As for the more than a thousand Hu Qi who were chased by Liu Heier and Li Mengchang, their luck was not much better... Perhaps their fate was determined when they decided to go south outside the city of Yi County.

The speed of more than a thousand Tiele cavalry was not slow, and they gradually got rid of their pursuers, but they kept going north, and finally ran into the Weishui River.

In fact, the battlefield outlined by Li Shan was centered on Xi County, luring Hu Qi southward, and formed a series with the Taibai Mountains to the south, the Xiegushui River to the west, the Shitou River to the east, and the Wei River to the north of Xi County. A ten-mile prison.

If the thousands of Hu cavalry had been alert and formed their formation in advance, they might have had a chance to escape. But when they were broken by two thousand vanguards, Li Mengchang and Liu Heer, they had lost their chance.

More than a thousand Hu Qi had to flee westward along the Weishui River... they couldn't escape eastward, because Jingzhao was over there, but they were caught by Chang He and Liu Rengui, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time.

Tang Qi, who was fully recharged, only used one charge to completely collapse Hu Qi's resistance from the side. The enemy troops were no longer organized and fled in all directions... Really in all directions, some Hu people had already jumped into the Weishui River. escape.

Su Dingfang finally withdrew his troops and gathered a large number of war horses. He no longer paid attention to the small group of fleeing Hu Qi and retreated calmly in the direction of Jingzhao.

Yuchi Gong was loudly boasting about his merits, and the head of Tu Mifen was hanging on his mount. Li Mengchang smiled happily. After several years of inactivity, he finally went into battle again.

Liu Rengui and other generals all looked at Su Dingfang with admiration... Although Li Shan planned this battle in advance, Su Dingfang's commanding ability played the most critical role in achieving such a complete victory.

However, Su Dingfang himself didn't take it seriously. This battle was an ambush, and the battlefield was preset to be most beneficial to the Tang cavalry. Moreover, the Tang army's cavalry had nearly 7,000, and its strength steadily overwhelmed the enemy. A complete victory was deserved.

And there will be no such good things next.

At this moment, outside Liquan County, Li Shan finally breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and said with a smile: "Brother Dingfang has lived up to his trust."

Dou Gui chuckled and looked at Fan Tu who came to report the news, "Is it really close to total annihilation?"

"There is no doubt about it." Fan Tu said with certainty: "More than a thousand Hu cavalry fled westward along the Weishui River. Zhao Guogong set up an ambush in advance. The Weishui River was full of corpses, and there was not even a hundred corpses left."

Everyone's hearts calmed down, and Li Kai smiled and asked Li Shan to compose a poem in praise of him on the spot. Even Qin Qiong, who had never been too enthusiastic about Li Shan, smiled.

The whole army was originally dispatched to meet Su Dingfang, but unexpectedly they ushered in a great victory. Yesterday evening and today evening, the enemy army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties in two battles. Although the vitality was not seriously injured, it was definitely not It was a small loss, at least more than 10% of the troops were lost.

On the way back to the camp, Li Shan thought to himself, would Turks and Xue Yantuo still dare to act unscrupulously tomorrow?