Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

When Cheng Yaojin charged alone, Changsun Shunde and Zheng Rentai, who were leading the army behind him, were confused. Although His Highness the Crown Prince had said that if possible, he would demoralize the enemy, but he only had two thousand cavalry on his side, and the opponent looked at them at a glance... ...at least three to four thousand!

When Changsun Shunde and Zheng Rentai were about to command the troops to move forward... they couldn't really let Cheng Yaojin fall into the formation, but they didn't expect that the cavalry around him had already fired after Cheng Yaojin.

Changsun Shunde has always been recognized as a direct descendant of Li Shimin. Although he was senior, he did not participate in the battles of Qianshuiyuan, Baibi, and Luoyang. However, Zheng Rentai participated in the two battles of Hulao in Luoyang, but did not lead the way.

Therefore, when they suddenly encountered the enemy, Changsun Shunde and Zheng Rentai did not react correctly... But Cheng Yaojin, who led one of the four hussars in Wagang Village and later led the Xuanjia Army in Tiance Mansion, reacted very differently. Quickly...when the two sides meet, the brave one wins, this is also his strength.

However, Cheng Yaojin was not a reckless man. On the contrary, he was more careful than generals such as Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong. He immediately judged that this group of Turkic cavalry was the enemy's vanguard. The main force of the enemy army should not have arrived in Jingyang yet, perhaps in the west. Near the Gaoling on the side.

Therefore, a quick solution is needed.

With a bang, the dozens of Tang cavalry at the front easily broke through the gap. The leader, Cheng Yaojin, led his guards to stare at a Turkic general with a straw flag stuck in his hat... Anyway, Cheng Yaojin thought it was a straw flag stuck in his hat.

The subsequent Tang cavalry followed the gap, either piercing diagonally to the left or right, or drilling directly to the rear, hoping to expand the results of the battle.

However, the Turkic cavalry responded quickly and quickly formed a queue. The troops in the middle retreated to lure the enemy deeper, while the cavalry on both sides tried to outflank them from both wings.

The sky was full of feather arrows passing back and forth in the air, and screams of misery could be heard almost every moment. The eldest son, Shunde, was not young and was commanding from behind. Zheng Rentai led the army to charge into the battle, but he was gradually unable to charge.

Zheng Rentai already had the idea of ​​returning to the army, but found that Changsun Shunde in the rear kept sending troops to attack in all directions, ignoring the enemy cavalry that had circled to the rear.

Although Changsun Shunde has not been on the battlefield for a long time, he is a veteran. He was the one who captured Qu Tutong alive back then. One look at Cheng Yaojin's posture and he knew what the other party wanted to do.

"This is a killer!" Changsun Shunde gritted his teeth and stared at the battlefield not far away to the north. Cheng Yaojin's idea from the beginning was to kill the general and defeat the army.

Even among the armies of the Central Plains, there are not many who can maintain morale and combat effectiveness after the leader of the army is killed, let alone the prairie cavalry?

These Turkic cavalry are also composed of tribesmen. The thousands of cavalry in front of them may be composed of one, two or more tribes, but in any case, there must be a chief general.

This was what Cheng Yaojin had in mind. If he could kill the general, what would the leaders of other tribes think?

Should he gather his forces to avenge the general, or should he flee to a safe place to take in or even divide other tribes?

On the grassland, population is always the most important external factor.

Three moments after the fierce battle, it was already dusk. Changsun Shunde was already hoping that the reinforcements from the rear would arrive in time. At this time, Cheng Yaojin's violent shouts came from the north side of the battlefield. He was wearing a horse on his high horse. It also has a head with a special accessory leather hat.

The eyes on his head were still wide open, as if he still couldn't believe that he could be killed by dozens of Tang soldiers despite being protected by so many layers.

The shouts quickly spread throughout the battlefield, and uproar and commotion appeared everywhere.

As Cheng Yaojin and Changsun Shunde predicted, while the morale of the Tang army was greatly boosted, the Turkic cavalry began to rout... At first it was not a rout, it was just a withdrawal to the west. However, Cheng Yaojin and Zheng Rentai saw an advantage and led the troops. The cavalry chased after him again, chopping melons and vegetables.

After holding on for a while, the Turkic cavalry began to break up and fled in all directions... Cheng Yaojin stopped chasing. The battle situation formed by the collapse of the Turkic cavalry will become their advantage. The disadvantage of Tang cavalry in speed will be fully exposed, not to mention that they do not have an advantage in military strength.

In this battle, Cheng Yaojin's formation killed the Turkic general Ashina Dewuchu. This unlucky descendant of Ashina was first defeated by Zhang Zhongjian and Guo Xiaoke from the north and south in the Lingzhou War, and he was lucky enough to escape. Not so lucky once.

At this time, Li Shimin had arrived at the south side of Jingyang and set up camp along the Wei River, blocking the most important pass for the Turks to attack Chang'an.

"It's common to be brave enough to bite gold and kill the enemy general." Li Shimin looked at the northwest side from a distance on the hill. The enemy's strength was probably between 30,000 and 40,000, which was not much more than his own, but almost all the opponents were The cavalry can penetrate a large area... Now Jingzhao can no longer find another force to stop it.

In fact, Li Shimin, Li Yuan and even Li Shan now knew that if they wanted to survive this battle, they would have to suffer huge losses. If they wanted to turn defeat into victory, the only chance was with Dai Guogong Li Yaoshi.

There were ships on the Wei River flowing down the river. The Turkic cavalry along the coast tried to stop them by firing arrows, but they were stopped one by one with their shields raised high.

"Huairen is good at watercraft."

Li Shan's side happened to be close to the Weishui River, and a ship could directly deliver the battle report to Li Shimin at a speed that even the cavalry could not match.

Li Shimin made a comment and looked at Ling Jing with a smile, "Did Mr. Ling give the advice?"

In general, Li Shimin had no experience in this area during his previous expeditions. After all, he was from the north and was not used to using navy.

However, during Li Shan's time in Shandong, his great victory in Wei County, the capture and capture of Liu Heitai, and Zhang Zhongjian's clever naval transportation of troops to launch a sneak attack all had the idea of ​​​​transporting the navy.

Ling Jing shook his head, "Huairen has so many ingenious ideas... Of course, many of them are unreasonable."

"Huairen sent Li Mengchang to enter the Jing River at the wharf of Xianyang County and use boats to break up the temporary bridge built by Hu Qi with sheepskin rafts." Li Shimin took a few glances and said, "In addition, he sent people to prepare a large number of boats in Hu County... …It seems there is not much pressure on the martial arts side.”

This was obviously a back-up plan to come to the rescue when Jingyang County couldn't hold on any longer.

"It should be so." The one who spoke was Fang Xuanling. He, Ling Jing, Changsun Wuji, Yu Zhining, Han Liang and other staff had already rushed back to Chang'an. Among the main staff, only Du Ruhui stayed in Jiangzhou, Hedong to assist Qu Tutong. .

"The Wugong County area is full of Xue Yantuo tribe." Han Liang also nodded in agreement, "Huairen lost thousands of people yesterday, so Xue Yantuo must not dare to act rashly."

Seeing Li Shimin's silent expression, Ling Jing couldn't help but curse in his heart... Li Huairen, Li Huairen, how did you have the face to say that you are not good at charming people back then?

"Looks like there's an envoy coming?" Fang Xuanling pointed to the other side, where a Turkic squad with only twenty or thirty riders was approaching quickly.

Li Shimin's mouth trembled, remembering the all-purpose delaying tactics Li Shan mentioned in his mind, and nodded: "Let them cross the river and come closer."