The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 710 The rebels are iron, they have to be chewed

Su Dingfang pressed the handle of Tianxiong knife with one hand and binoculars in the other. He stood on a mountain ridge with a wide view and had a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains and roads. Liu Hongji's soldiers and horses must pass through this place. When they arrive, they can be seen at any time. .

"Tang Jun is here." After a while, Su Dingfang said.

Dugu Yanyun and the others looked in the direction Su Dingfang was staring in puzzlement, but they couldn't see anything, and looked at Su Dingfang suspiciously,
"Use this to see." Su Dingfang handed the iron binoculars to Dugu Yanyun.

Following Su Dingfang's example, Dugu Yanyun looked forward, and finally at a corner, he saw an army marching towards this side with Liu Zibai flag.

"It's fast enough, but I don't know how much combat strength I have here." After Dugu Yanyun put down the binoculars, he found that the distant scene disappeared all at once. for surprise.

Yu Qinming on the side took the binoculars, looked carefully, and couldn't help saying in amazement: "This thing is really amazing!"

Da Xi'an took it curiously and looked at it, and couldn't help but praise: "With this thing, it is almost impossible for the enemy to attack us."

All the generals played with it for a while, and they all let out exclamations of wonder.

Su Dingfang said with a smile: "At night, the telescope will not be of much use unless the enemy is lighting torches."

"It turns out that this fetish is called the telescope, and it really lives up to its name." Dugu Yanyun said.

"Where does General Dugu think Liu Hongji will go to camp?" Liu Hongji's Tang army seemed to be very close, but they arrived here in a detour, at least twenty miles away, and Su Dingfang still had enough time to prepare.

Dugu Yanyun took over the binoculars again, and after looking at it for a while, he pointed to the front and said, "It is surrounded by water and mountains, which is very suitable for the village. Even if we send troops from Gucheng, they can also line up against the mountains and take advantage of the vast Han River." , can withstand more than twice as many soldiers and horses."

Su Dingfang, watching with the Luo Shixin binoculars, nodded in praise and said, "I have also seen the place you mentioned. It is indeed suitable for setting up a stronghold, and it is not near or far from Gucheng, which is just right for monitoring our army's movements."

"We don't have twice as many troops to attack the Tang army." Luo Shixin said with a smile.

"If we occupied the narrow strip first, Liu Hongji would not be able to fight even if he had a million soldiers. In the end, he would fight one by one. They marched for a day, and they were already exhausted. The remaining [-]% of their combat power and the remaining [-]% of their strength are very good." Su Dingfang After making some calculations, he looked at the generals and said, "I am a guest from afar. I want to face the opponent head-on and give the opponent a big surprise. What do you generals think?"

"The last general asks for a fight!" Dugu Yanyun and others asked for a fight after hearing this.

Su Dingfang said: "Luo Shixin, Gao Yan listen to the order!"

"The end is here!"

"The northern part of the village is suitable for setting up a stronghold. There are dense forests. The two of you each lead a thousand cavalry troops to ambush there; Luo Shixin's task is to create a great momentum, but when he sees the battle ahead, he will attack from behind and give the Tang army a thousand horses." The galloping momentum helps the frontal infantry; Gao Yan, your task is to intercept and kill them along the way when they flee back!" In order not to alarm the Tang army on the border, Su Dingfang gave Li Yuan the illusion that the Beizhen army was fighting alone. He brought two thousand Xiaoguo troops across the river secretly, which also made him feel unsuitable for not having enough cavalry. Now he can only grab some horses, and then choose good riders to expand the cavalry.

"Here!" Luo Shixin and Gao Yan were ordered to go down the mountain.

"Tian Jin, Yi Xian, Xin Han, He Lian Chu, several courts."

"The end is here."

"The five of you each lead the fourth division and one guard to lay dry firewood, dead leaves, sulfur, fire nitrate and other flammable materials in the middle of the Lizhai point, and then lie in ambush on both sides. Remember, the main purpose of this fire is to Causing the Tang army to riot, hurting the enemy is the second priority, you should not lay too many, so as not to be seen through by the Tang army, wait for the frontal battle to happen, and then set it on fire!"

"Here."

"Dugu Yanyun, Da Xi'an, Cheng Yaojin, Kan Leng"

"The end is here."

"General Dugu led the first division, and General Daxi led the second division. They challenged from the front. Cheng Yaojin and Kan Leng assisted the two generals respectively."

"Here."

"Han Rong, you lead the third division and I will serve as the rear army, and Yu Sima will assist you."

"Here."

"Generals who have not been named, your task is to perform your duties in your divisions and guards, and you must do your best."

"Here."

"This is the first battle, and it is also a crucial battle. Whether you can avenge your loved ones or not depends on everyone." Su Dingfang said seriously.

"Don't worry, General, I'm willing to fight to the death."

Hearing Su Dingfang mention the relatives who died at the hands of Li Yuanji, the eyes of the generals of the Beizhen Army were all red, and they all blushed and roared hysterically.

The gaze and momentum full of desire for destruction finally made Su Dingfang completely relieved.This battle is not to say that the victory is guaranteed, but a group of mourning soldiers are still [-] to [-]% sure if they do their mental calculations or not.

At that moment, everyone went down the mountain together, followed orders, and marched northward. They were all descendants of military families. Now that they knew the location of the Tang army, they could naturally estimate the location of the Tang army and make arrangements in advance.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

At this time, Liu Hongji led [-] Tang troops and was marching rapidly towards Gucheng. It was like a dark cloud sweeping southward from a distance, changing the color of the sky and the earth. Trembling, the momentum created by the [-] Tang troops gave people a feeling of destroying everything.

The task Li Shimin gave Liu Hongji was to contain the Beizhen army in Gucheng, and when he and Dou Cong were in place, they would trap the Beizhen army in Gucheng.

Liu Hongji understood that Li Shimin wanted to take this rebel army for his own use, so he issued this order.

In their view, the Beizhen Army is composed of dozens of families and private armies, and the general Dugu Yanyun himself does not have much prestige. He was promoted as the leader thanks to the Dugu clan. The restraint is not high. If the Beizhen army is in a desperate situation and besieged for ten or eight days, Dugu Yanyun, who lacks prestige, will definitely be attacked by the generals, accusing him of ineffective deployment and weak ability, causing the Beizhen army to fall into chaos. At that time, as long as threats and harassment are added, this seemingly brave army will be split.

Faced with breaking up the Beizhen army at any time, Li Shimin certainly did not want to waste too much force on them, and the Tang Dynasty was in an extremely dangerous situation. Not a single soldier was lost, and it was able to grow stronger in the rebellion of the Guanlong nobles, which is of great significance.

This time, the [-] troops led by Liu Hongji were the elite Tang army, [-] cavalry, and [-] infantry. Since his mission was to defend against the well-equipped Sui army, the equipment of this Tang army was not bad. Wearing armor, prepared long spears and horizontal knives, in addition, each soldier has a bow and arrow and a round shield.

Most of the horses used by the cavalry were Hequ horses from Tuyuhun and Dangxiang. However, due to the small size of the two countries, the Tang Dynasty did not get many horses through them. Now Dangxiang has been divided between Tuyuhun and Tubo, and Tuyuhun was feared by the Sui Dynasty. After defeating Confucianism, the Tang Dynasty could no longer get war horses from Tuyuhun, and instead contacted Tubo.

Liu Hongji often travels between Xiangyang and Yincheng. He is very familiar with the terrain in this area. He knows that the Hanshui River five miles ahead is surrounded by mountains. It is wide in the middle and narrow at both ends. It is very suitable for the village. In less than ten miles, not only can they deter the enemy, but they can also use cavalry to contain the Beizhen army within Gucheng. Judging from the current weather and marching speed, it will take about half an hour before it gets dark after setting up camp, but There are exceptions to everything, and we can't generalize it in a word. In order to prevent the darkness from building a complete camp, we sent people to investigate, and at the same time ordered the whole army to speed up and march forward.

After traveling about three miles, a general stepped forward on his horse, cupped his hands towards Liu Hongji and said, "General, the scouts sent by our army have not responded yet!"

When Liu Hongji heard this, his face revealed a thoughtful expression. If the scouts they sent didn't come back, it meant they were wiped out by the enemy.

"Send a team in to investigate!" Liu Hongji carefully observed the terrain. Although the area here is vast, even if it is somewhat covered, there are not many soldiers and horses to hide.

Moreover, although the Beizhen Army has an army of [-], they have always maintained a cautious attitude since they raised their troops. They diverted from Yongqing County to capture Gucheng County because of the need for food, and there was no extra action after that. The enemy, so live a life of walking on thin ice, not seeking merit, but seeking no fault, even if troops are sent out of the city, it is estimated that there will be more scouts.

But the reality soon slapped Liu Hongji across the face. Just when the general was about to answer, he saw two cavalrymen rushing back covered in blood. They were the scouts he sent out. The scouts intercepted, and only two escaped.

Immediately, the knight reported loudly: "General, the main force of the rebel army is found five miles ahead."

Liu Hongji asked in a deep voice: "What formation do they have? How many troops do they have?"

"Reporting to the general, they number about 5000, just a single infantry."

"What did you say?"

Liu Hongji was stunned, he couldn't even believe his ears, "5000 people?"

"Yes! We can see clearly."

"No, they want to occupy the front narrow pass, so that our army has no place to stand. The whole army speeds up and must take the first step to occupy the narrow pass. Otherwise, our army will have no food and lodging tonight, so we can only retreat for four weeks. ten miles."

Following Liu Hongji's order, [-] Tang troops marched straight to the south.

Before, Tang Jun had been marching normally in order to preserve his strength, but now he suddenly marched in a hurry, and he reached the narrow mouth two miles away in less than a moment.This also included cutting off the Beizhen army scouts who appeared sporadically, which wasted a lot of time. The Tang army's march was not in a hurry.

But what appeared in front of them at this moment was more than [-] soldiers with high morale and high spirits waiting in full battle.

Looking at the murderous army formation at the narrow mouth, Liu Hongji and his subordinate generals couldn't help but look at each other: the actions of the Beizhen army were completely beyond their expectations.

They originally thought that we were strong and the enemy was weak, and that the opponent should retreat to the southern end of the narrow mouth, using the narrow strip of nearly three miles, so that the Tang army could not display its formation, so as to achieve the one-on-one strategic goal.And their Tang army used the force of 1 troops to suppress the hearts of the Beizhen army, and then divided the whole army into four divisions. They used the method of wheel warfare and took turns to fight. After a long and bitter battle, more than [-] Beizhen troops were defeated.

However, Liu Hongji never expected that Dugu Yanyun would use a small amount of troops to face the [-] Tang army from the front with such a disparity in troops.

The soldiers of the Tang army ran for a full day, and now they are facing such a situation.To fight or not to fight?
If you fight, you will definitely suffer a disadvantage if you face the rejuvenated army head-on with your tired soldiers!

If you don't fight, you will still suffer.

The reason is that the Tang army, which is short of people and horses, has no camp. This camp is not only a place to provide food and lodging, but also the most important fortification of an army. If there is no camp for protection, the Tang army will either use a large number of troops to take turns to watch the night, and suffer endless harassment from the opponent , but by tomorrow, only God knows how much combat power the [-] army has left.Either it is to retreat, but once the Tang army retreats, the Beizhen army will follow closely. The Tang army has been running for a day, and if it continues to run, the combat effectiveness will be even worse. Although the opponent will also be tired, the physical strength between the two is based on one day. The premise of the gap in distance is simply a world of difference.

Liu Hongji gritted his teeth with hatred, and couldn't help yelling: "Cunning, Dugu Yanyun is really cunning."

"General, to fight or not to fight?" the lieutenant asked with a wry smile.

"Fight, why don't you fight?" Seeing that the generals and colonels were waiting for his order, Liu Hongji said: "We have [-] elite troops. If we are afraid to move forward, even the [-] rebels will not dare to fight." Fight. Don’t let the world laugh out loud? At that time, what will the whole Tang Dynasty say? They will say that our upright imperial army is not as good as the few rebels. They no longer believe that we have the ability and courage to fight against the fierce Sui army. In order to gather the morale of the army and the people of the Tang Dynasty, even if the rebel army in front of us is iron, we have to chew it to pieces."

As a general, Liu Hongji knew very well that the significance of this battle was beyond his own. He wanted to not only fight, but also win.He pointed at the terrain with his whip and said: "Although the terrain where our army is located is flat, the narrow mouth where the rebel army is located is just sandwiched between the mountains and the Han River. No matter how many troops there are, our army cannot fight at the same time. We can only invest [-] soldiers to fight against them, but our army is stronger than the enemy, and they are all elite. We can divide our army into four divisions, one to attack, two to rest, and the remaining one to set up tents behind. Defeat the rebels, and erect a fence at the narrow mouth."

After all, he is a person with rich combat experience, so Liu Hongji quickly thought of a way to deal with it.

"The general's method is brilliant, and our army is moving forward. Even if the rebel army is a strong force, it can't bear such consumption."

"Although the enemy has few soldiers, they are well prepared. We must not be careless... especially the first round of soldiers, we must be careful."

"Here." The generals arranged according to Liu Hongji's combat intention.

Liu Hongji looked at the rows of soldiers with swords and shields on the other side, and sneered in his heart: On the surface, although you have the right time and place, you are limited by your strength, so you dare not come in to fight, and you will lose all your place; And, the soldiers of the three divisions will go up in turn, and I, Liu Hongji, will see how long you can last.

(End of this chapter)