Traveling through the early Tang Dynasty starts with hanging

Chapter 1418 Night Battle (End)

Su Dingfang had successfully captured Yanmen Pass, and his troops were supporting in the south and east directions. Cheng Minzhen also successfully blocked Feihu Trail after paying a heavy price, although he had not yet been able to capture Lingqiu.

In short, although Li Shan's plan has not been perfectly realized, there is a faint possibility of success.

It's just that Li Shan doesn't know yet and is still hesitating whether to officially start a war with Tuli Khan in Xinzhou.

The situation on the battlefield changed so quickly that both sides were at a loss... Tuli Khan no longer expected to have good discussions with the Tang army. He only hoped to escape the confrontation between the Tang army and quickly return to the grassland.

In turn, Li Shan began to wonder if he could deal with Tuli Khan in Xinzhou... Li Shan did not have enough confidence in Yanmen Pass and Feihu Trail.

The key issue is that the fire in Dingxiang greatly changed the balance of power between the two sides.

Although he still cannot fully grasp it, Tuli Khan can almost calculate the troops he can control in Xinzhou now. The more than 10,000 cavalry in Xiurong County are absolutely sure, and the 5,000 cavalry led by Ashina Nishu are not sure. What a big problem.

However, the 10,000 cavalry stationed in Dingxiang County had collapsed, Ashina Suni was missing, and Ashina Jilu was even more embarrassed and fled north.

In Xinzhou, the troops under Tuli Khan were roughly deployed in three places, Dingxiang, Xiurong, and Tanglingang on the border between Xinzhou and Daizhou.

The choice of terrain is very important. Qin Qiong's choice in this regard is exactly the same as Li Shan's. The reason why he lured the Turkic troops to the west of Dingxiang County is because several nearby towns can interfere with the mobility of the Turkic cavalry, and Shahe in the north and Shahe in the south. The Muma River on both sides together formed a battlefield with a slightly narrow terrain.

However, Qin Qiong did not continue to attack recklessly, but led more than 3,000 Tang cavalry to retreat eastward to twenty miles west of Dingxiang County.

Although Ashina Nishu led five thousand cavalry to advance, after several hours of continuous heavy snow, the mobility of the Turkic cavalry on the snow was not enough to push back the Tang army... and was even at a disadvantage because of the blowing wind. In the strong wind, the arrows shot by the Turks were basically useless.

But as Ashina Jishe leads the movement north, will he take the troops stationed in Tanglingang to the south?

Tuli Khan didn't have much hope in this. He believed that his brother was more likely to flee all the way to Yanmen Pass... maybe Tanglingang's troops would follow him and flee north.

Therefore, Tuli Khan can only control more than 10,000 cavalry now, and he can no longer take advantage.

Now, Ashina Suni was defeated, and most of the defeated troops fled north. However, the Tang army was dozens of miles northeast of Xiurong. On the one hand, it was in a pincer attack with the Chinese army led by King Wei Si. He faintly threatened Tanglingang and tried to cut off the main route of Tuli Khan's northward retreat.

It was already dawn, at least we could see. Qin Qiong and Xue Wanjun each led more than a thousand Tang cavalry, suddenly turned around and launched a surprise attack, cutting off five thousand Turkic soldiers.

In terms of hatred, Tuli Khan hated the dishonest Wei Si Wang Li Huairen the most, followed by Ashina Suni... Even if Dingxiang's food and grass were burned, if Ashina Suni lost nearly If Wanqiu brought them back, Tuli Khan would still be very confident.

After easily breaking the formation, Qin Qiong left a small force to confront the Turks on the Muma River. He joined forces with Xue Wanjun and attacked thousands of Turks scattered along the south bank of the Shah River.

In the heavy snowfall, it cannot be said that Ashina Nishu suffered another disastrous defeat, but in the face of Tang Qi's fierce offensive and deliberately chosen attack direction, he had to lead his army to retreat towards Tanglingang.

After the battle report came, Tuli Khan did not dare to hesitate any longer. Although there were still thousands of troops stationed in Tanglingang, even the troops who had fled in two consecutive defeats were heading towards Tanglingang... But who knows if the Tang army is advancing, Tanglingang will still Can you hold it in your hand? "The Turks have withdrawn." Han Liang leaned to the left and reminded.

In the heavy snowfall, Li Shan hummed. He had been sitting on his mount for a long time, and he had been playing with the riding whip in his hand. This was what his wife asked the guards to send before leaving Beijing that day...it was the three-breaking Turk The captured riding crop of Jieli Khan.

"According to the distance, it is too late for Qin Wutong to reach Tanglingang." Wen Daya was very familiar with the terrain of Xinzhou and murmured: "It will take at least noon to arrive."

Li Shan hummed again. He had already calculated based on the map that Qin Wutong was stationed on the northwest side of Xiurong County, about seventy or eighty miles away from Tanglingang.

Because there are mountains blocking the way, there is no need to worry about Turks flanking them, so they can march quickly. However, because of the heavy snowfall at night, the marching speed will also be affected.

Now that it is dawn, the infantry led by Qin Wutong can only travel thirty or forty miles, and there is still half of the distance. If you want to cut off the Turks' retreat in Xinzhou, you must hold back the main Turks and let Qin Wutong and Qin Qiong There is a chance to capture Tanglingang.

There is indeed a chance. The scout just reported that Tuli Khan now only has ten thousand cavalry under his command. His own troops are not at a disadvantage, and they are attacking from two sides. What's more, the fire in Dingxiang has destabilized the Turkic army.

No one could have imagined that the situation would change so much overnight. Qin Qiong almost turned things upside down in Dingxiang County. He directly and indirectly weakened less than half of the troops that the Turkic Khan could control, and forced all the Turks to try to flee north. grassland.

Thinking of this, Li Shanlue regretted a little. Maybe he was too impatient. If he could delay a little longer and let Liu Hongji and Qian Jiulong arrive behind with their infantry, the battle would be more certain.

"Qin Qiong's side... it's up to him to choose." Li Shan looked at Liu Hei'er, Zhang Shigui, Duan Zhixuan and other generals, "General Ahei, assisted by brothers Wu An and Duan Zhixuan, led the cavalry to advance and hold back the Turks."

At this point in the war, Li Shan could no longer make detailed arrangements. This aspect was not his strong point. He could only trust the command capabilities of the leading generals.

Li Daoxuan was a little anxious and drove his horse forward, "Huairen..."

Li Shan politely refused, "Brother Daoxuan and Wang Junhao will lead the bodyguard together, and they may be able to accomplish great feats."

Li Daozong on the side nodded. Li Daoxuan had a strong temperament, and the Daizhou Army was destroyed in his hands... Although he cannot be entirely blamed, once Li Daoxuan got into the mood to kill, he might fall into the formation.

At this time, the snowflakes flying in the sky gradually disappeared, and the snow stopped, although it may only have stopped temporarily.

Liu Hei'er took Zhang Shigui as the vanguard, and he and Duan Zhixuan led two armies on both sides. They chased toward the northeast at an unhurried pace. Only a black line could be seen in front of the dark Turkic army.

"If it succeeds..." Ma Zhou tilted his head and smiled: "Huairen should recite a poem to remember it."

Li Shan said nothing. If he could block Tuli Khan south of Tanglingang, it would indeed be a success... but I'm afraid the casualties would be extremely heavy.

(End of this chapter)