The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 535 We Better Go First
Sure enough, wars are unpredictable. At dusk, Li Shimin thought that he would retreat decisively so as not to follow in the footsteps of the last time, and he would be able to preserve his vitality, but he never thought he was wrong again.The last time he did not retreat and fell into a tight siege. This time he retreated decisively. Who would have thought that the Sui army's siege was too sharp. In less than two hours, Wang Jun, who had placed high hopes on him, was defeated. The soldiers in the city were defeated by the retreat and the enemy. The army entered the city in large numbers and made a mess.

The gates of the city were already opened, and if they fled in a massacre, they would not be able to escape the Sui cavalry. At this point, it would be impossible not to fight, and the two sides must decide the outcome.

Zhuyang Pass is a pure pass, and there are still some military households in peacetime. After the war, this land is the territory of the ogre king Zhu Can, and the people are either eaten by Niu Can's soldiers or flee.Now that there are no common people, neither side has any worries about fighting.

Li Shimin divided the elite army into three, Hou Junji and Liu Hongji fought against the left and right Sui armies, while he personally commanded the Red Armored Army to face Xue Wanjun's siege camp. He is fierce, and only his Red Armored Army can confront him in the whole army.At this moment in the development of the situation, no matter how mysterious the formation of troops is, it is useless, what is needed is to destroy the enemy with a thunderous momentum!

The brave wins when we meet on a narrow road.

As long as there is a delay of one or two hours, the wounded soldiers and civil servants can board the cargo ship and go down the river. As for the Sui army behind, he has no time to think about it now.

Xue Wanjun has fought against his father Xue Shixiong since he was a child. After dozens of bloody battles, his actual combat experience is no less than that of Li Shimin, and he has cultivated the style of a famous general.He only thought about it for a while and understood Li Shimin's intentions. When he saw the cavalry of the Tang army coming from afar, he sneered. Now that the Red Armored Army has come, it just happened to give themselves a dazzling military exploit and ordered the trapped city camp to stand firm.

There are 200 Mo Dao hands in a row, a total of [-] rows. They line up neatly. Mo Dao looks like a sharp forest in the night wind. Although they stand quietly, the murderous intent hidden in them has reached the critical point of detonation.

As the red armored army rushed towards them like a black torrent, the sharp weapons of the Sui army finally appeared in front of the red armored army.Aim at the roaring Red Armored Army.

The Red Armored Army has rushed to a distance of more than ten steps. The cavalry in front looked at the dense sword forest in front of them. They all screamed, and even the horses neighed miserably.Charging and fighting on the battlefield is to advance one after another. When a soldier stops, it will affect the charge of the soldiers behind him, and the cavalry is more demanding. If the horse is running wildly, if it suddenly pulls the reins to stop, it will be trampled into a pulp by the friendly troops behind it. , moving forward is the only way out.

The Red Armored Army was like a hard sea reef hit by a strong tide, but the final result was that the sea wave was smashed into pieces, and the Red Armored Army crashed into the Dense Mo Dao. Instantly, flesh and blood flew, limbs were shattered, and blood mist filled the air. .

The smell of dust and earth rising in the air also turned into a pungent bloody smell, which made people want to vomit. As the shock wave dissipated, a fleshy wall made of broken corpses appeared in front of the Mo Dao formation, about five feet wide and long. half a mile.The corpses of horses and humans have been unrecognizable.Some of the soldiers of the Red Armored Army who died were stabbed to death by Mo Dao, and more were trampled to death by their companions behind.

But for the Mo Dao hand, this is the inevitable result of the cavalry attacking the Mo Dao formation.They have become accustomed to it, turning a blind eye to it, and the cavalry's thunderous impact, the most powerful is the first wave of impact, as long as they withstand this wave, the force of the subsequent impact will be greatly weakened.Although wave after wave of Red Armored Army attacked like raging waves, Mo Dao Shou was like a rock on the seashore, and they stood firm when they were attacked by enemy cavalry.

Under Shi Jin's order, the Mo Dao hands in the second row crossed the front row, and Mo Dao slashed out, stepping on the enemy's corpses to kill the Red Armored Army step by step, and then the third row went up alternately. The smooth street is the paradise of Mo Dao Shou. They are invincible on the battlefield alternately, like a wall of iron and steel. Wherever they pass, corpses are strewn all over the field, and blood flows into rivers...

Seeing that the Red Armored Army, which had been built with painstaking efforts over the past few years, was slaughtered without any power to fight back, Li Shimin was dizzy while riding on the horse. The enemy in front of him was cut to pieces one by one, and he took a firm step forward, step by step, gradually suppressing the formation of the Red Armored Army, making it difficult for the Red Armored Army to use their speed advantage to bring them collision damage
Helpless, they can only shoot with hand crossbows. The dense crossbow arrows shoot at the Modao army from the front, but their armor is made of fine steel, and only bed crossbows can penetrate it. They have nothing to do, and Yang Tong also wears a mask for each Mo Dao hand for safety.The arrows were like a storm, jingling on the heavy armor, but no one was shot down, and the Mo Dao army still came step by step.

Until now, Li Shimin, who was pale and chilled all over, knew how unfair it was for the monarchs and ministers of the Tang Dynasty to ridicule and disdain the Eastern and Western Turks who had suffered devastating blows.

It's not that the Eastern and Western Turks are weak in combat power, it's that the Sui army is too fierce!This devil army that treats the Red Armored Army as a vegetable is simply a cavalry nightmare. The riding and shooting and serial penetrating skills that the Red Armored Army usually practice hard are simply a big joke in front of this army. Yours Bows, arrows and hand crossbows can't kill him, so what are you talking about riding and shooting?You can't even get past the first row of other people's houses, and you still wear a fart.

It was also at this time that Li Shimin knew that in addition to the invincible iron cavalry and sharp weapons and equipment, the Sui army also had such a big killer.

When the Red Armored Army was massacred, the battle situation on the left and right sides was quite fierce. When the two soldiers and horses came to one place, there was a flash of swords and swords, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

As the battle continued, the advantages of the Sui army were revealed.

The first is the quality of the soldiers. Over the years, the soldiers of the Sui Army have defeated one powerful enemy after another. They are brave and good at fighting.

As for the Tang army, when facing soft persimmons like Liang Shidu and Xiao Xian, they did have an invincible will to fight. Even the strong army of Wang Shichong, who had been fighting all the year round, did not hesitate, but they faced the Sui army. At that time, they were a bit shorter than the congenital, just because they must lose every Sui Dynasty. He never won any of the small and medium battles, and he was unconsciously chilled in the face of the Sui army.

Although these tens of thousands of Tang troops are elite, they are equivalent to the Sui army that has been winning battles. Most of the Tang troops are recruits. The will to fight is far behind the Sui army. If you fight in an army battle in the wilderness, this gap can be made up by the commander's command ability, but in a melee or disrupted battle, this gap will be revealed.

In the offensive and defensive battle of more than half a month before, the slave soldiers not only lost the morale and energy of the Tang army, but also more than 3 people. Therefore, even if the slave soldiers are not used now, the Sui army still has the advantage in numbers and energy. Exuberant, more ferocious.

As the battle lasted until the end of the day, no one could withdraw from the battlefield. Whoever withdraws from the battlefield first meant a disastrous end. After more than two hours of fierce fighting, the war became a contest of will and physical strength. The Sui army continued for more than half a month. The impact of the siege was immediately revealed at this critical moment.

The physical strength of the weak Tang army dropped drastically, and the consequence of the decline in physical strength was the increase in casualties. On the contrary, the Sui army became more and more courageous and took the initiative in the war at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The Tang Army of the Three Routes was forced to retreat step by step, and there was a tendency to move closer to the center of the city. If this continued, the Tang Army would shrink into a ball and fall into the encirclement of the Sui Army.

"Your Highness, the Sui army is too fierce, and the brothers are almost unable to hold on. If this continues, our depth will shrink step by step, and we will not even be able to swing a knife."

"Yes, Your Highness! At that time, there will be crowds of people, and a single cross arrow can kill a large number of people."

In the center of the city, a large number of Tang troops gathered, and Li Shimin's Red Armored Army was gone, but the Red Armored Army did not sacrifice in vain. At least Li Shimin discovered the clumsy and inflexible characteristics of Mo Dao's hand, and commanded the infantry to take the spare one by one. The rolling log pushed towards Mo Dao hand. Although Mo Dao could cut the rolling log, it still caused great trouble to Mo Dao hand, effectively preventing the Mo Dao army from expanding the battlefield.

Li Shimin, whose face was as heavy as water, said to Zheng Rentai, "Rentai, go to the right wing and help Liu Hongji!"

"Promise!" Zheng Rentai accepted the order, raised a big knife, and rushed to the battlefield where Liu Hongji was in charge.

Zheng Rentai was one of the chief generals of the Red Armored Army. Tang Jun knew most of them. Seeing him coming, he abruptly made way for him.

At this moment, Gao Yan was still commanding the army to fight, and although Zheng Rentai's strength was not very high, he was brave and unstoppable in front of the soldiers of the Sui army. Under Zheng Rentai's leadership, the soldiers of the Sui army on the right were killed and retreated steadily , gave up more than ten feet wide site.

Seeing Zheng Rentai's bravery, a soldier quickly notified Xue Wanjun who was watching the battle at the city gate: "General, the Tang army has sent a general over here. This man is extremely brave and led the Tang army to push our army back step by step."

Xue Wanjun heard the words, and said with a cold smile: "The fierce generals are going into battle, which means that the Tang army is about to lose their strength. They intend to tear apart the encirclement and send orders to let Shi Jin, Gao Yan, and Yu Zhan hand over the command to the lieutenants, each leading a brigade. Elites, specially dealing with generals of the Tang army."

Generals Shi Jin, Gao Yan, and Yu Zhan are the external staff assigned by Yang Tong to Xue Wanjun. Without the command of these three, the army can still operate freely.

"Here!" The three messengers quickly rushed to the three battlefields.

After Gao Yan received the order, he immediately handed over the task and led a brigade of soldiers forward. At a glance, he really saw a tall general of the Tang army holding a heavy sword and killing his own soldiers. It was not Li Shimin. Zheng Rentai, the general of the old guard?

Gao Yan, who recognized this guy, was immediately overjoyed. He took three steps in parallel and rushed straight to Zheng Rentai.

Zheng Rentai was kicking a soldier of the Sui army to the ground, and was about to kill him with a knife when he heard a "ding dong". At some point, under his big knife, there was another horizontal knife. Zheng Rentai This blow was naturally blocked by the extra horizontal knife.

"Child looking for death?"

Gao Yan recognized Zheng Rentai, but Zheng Rentai didn't know Gao Yan, this ridiculously handsome little boy, he only thought he was a son of the powerful and powerful son of the Sui Dynasty with military merits.

Gao Yan kept in mind the idea of ​​"don't talk nonsense if you can do it on the battlefield", he didn't say a word, took advantage of Zheng Rentai's speech, and when he was a little weak, he shook Zheng Rentai's saber away with his backhand, and immediately took the knife to Zheng Rentai's head Chop down.

Zheng Rentai hastily raised his knife to resist, and in a hurry, he was shocked by Gao Yan and retreated again and again.

This is where the two torrents meet, and it is crowded with people. As soon as Zheng Rentai retreated, he bumped into the soldiers behind him. The weapons in the soldiers' hands were all moving forward. On the blade of the gun in the hands of a soldier, he was stabbed by the blade of the gun to the point of chills.

"I..." Zheng Rentai only felt a sharp pain, looked down, and saw a bloody gun blade on his abdomen.

"You..." The Tang soldier who stabbed Zheng Rentai let go of the gun in his hand with an innocent look on his face, standing there at a loss.

"Haha, I'm dying of laughter..." Seeing that Zheng Rentai was stabbed by one of his own people, Gao Yan laughed so hard that his stomach almost cramped. He kicked the Tang Jun who had made great contributions to the ground, "Haha, take this hero away, don't forget, Zheng Rentai's head."

"Here!"

Several Sui soldiers stepped forward, laughed and arrested the innocent Tang Jun, and one of them stuffed Zheng Rentai's head into his arms.

With three strong generals and more generals, the situation quickly turned around, showing a one-sided situation again.

Li Shimin had retreated to the south gate of Guancheng at this time, and the generals were also summoned by him. Seeing that the Tang army was fighting with the enemy, these generals rushed to the top one by one with enthusiasm...

Li Shimin gritted his teeth, shook his head and refused: "Xue Wanjun still hasn't moved, presumably there is still a way to win, even if we are stable for a while, we will eventually lose. Now the Sui army is temporarily restrained by these soldiers, we can just leave Tuo, if we turn around and fight, I'm afraid none of them will be able to get away... It's better for us to go first."

"This……"

All the generals were dumbfounded.

"Follow me!" Li Shimin turned his head to the south with red eyes, and shouted: "This is a foregone conclusion, and no one can turn the tide; gentlemen, besides the wounded soldiers, there are [-] fine cavalry around. They will become the souls of the Sui army's sword in the rear."

Hearing this, the generals sighed deeply, knowing that Li Shimin who made such a decision was the one who suffered the most, and also knew that his decision was right. At this time, seeing Li Shimin going south alone, he was afraid that something would happen to him , followed Li Shimin's back on horseback.

Li Shimin rode on the horse, flogging the horse with all his might, riding south along the bank under the light of the pattering water, tears were streaming down his face before he knew it, and he didn't even dare to turn his head back.

Lost again!
Another big defeat, losing almost the entire army!

All ambitions, all extravagant hopes and longings were all dissipated in the night wind at this moment.

15 of the most elite fighters of the Tang Dynasty conquered Luoyang under his leadership, but they lost their helmets and armor and suffered a crushing defeat...

How should he explain to his father?And how to face the families of those soldiers?
Li Shimin's whole heart was completely swallowed by humiliation, he gritted his teeth and wept, believing in Ma Youjiang like a walking dead.As for whether there are Sui troops ahead...he didn't care at all.

I don't know how long it took, but the sound of the hooves following behind gradually became more complicated and dull. Li Shimin looked back and saw that the generals had gathered a lot of soldiers. Immediately fell silent.

The sound of hoofbeats made the field more and more open.

Looking at the sparse soldiers, the total added up may be less than five thousand...

At the time of the expedition, a mighty 15 army supported Li Shimin's vigorous ambitions, but who would have thought how long it would take?Then lose soldiers and lose generals, and the whole army will not survive one out of ten?

(End of this chapter)